Menu Plan Monday August 8-13

We’ve had an eventful weekend, starting with J’s birthday party Thursday night. I’ll have to post photos from it – it was so much fun! We had it at a local gymnastics place, and I really think the adults had just as much fun as the kids. J liked it so much that we signed him up for gymnastics classes that start this week! We’ve had family in town and have been on the go most of the weekend! The boys and I managed to fit in naps this afternoon. If only the boys appreciated the greatness of naps like I do. :)

Tomorrow is J’s actual birthday, so we’ve still got some celebrating left to do – we like to spread birthdays out in our family! Brian and I are picking him up to have lunch, and we’re surprising him with a trip to the store to pick out his present from us – a big kid bike! I think Brian and I are just as excited about it as he will be. He has been talking about wanting a bike for months, so we can’t wait to see his reaction.  We’ll also go to Chuck E Cheese for dinner, which is partially blog-related – we’re (well, the boys and Brian are) reviewing the new pizza recipe they’ve recently started using. There will be even more celebrating this next weekend when my parents & brother are in town, so that will be fun!

I did well with meals today, although I learned that Sundays are a little tricky with lunch. I ate my breakfast before church, but then it’s just easiest to go straight from church to lunch, so I did order a side of cantaloupe to eat while everyone else had burgers & fries (and J had a hot fudge sundae… have to admit that was slightly tempting, but I didn’t give in!).

Breakfast: Roasted Vegetable Egg Scramble with Fresh Fruit and Grilled Foccacia (290 calories)

The egg scramble was good, although I avoided the mushrooms. I know, you mushroom lovers think I’m nuts. I’ve got to learn to like them more! The foccacia bread seemed a little dry to me, but it was perfect paired with the eggs, and the flavoring of the bread was nice. The fruit was incredibly fresh. I have to say, it’s a huge treat getting all this fresh fruit!

Lunch: Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad (410 calories)

This was a really filling salad with a lot of flavor! It came with the lettuce, half of a hard-boiled egg, carrots, a ton of Canadian bacon, and grilled chicken. It also had a lemon to squeeze over the top of it, and a nice creamy salad dressing. This salad was a good lesson to me in how I should be eating salads. I learned I can still get a lot of flavor without drowning the salad in dressing. The lemon juice was a nice addition to the salad, too – it gave it a fresh, bright flavor.

Dinner: Basil Crusted Beef with Green Beans & Red Rice (310 calories)

This was SO good! The beef was tender and had a great flavor from the basil. The rice was blended with veggies and was just the right texture for me, and the green beans were fresh and lightly seasoned. I could seriously imagine getting this meal at a nice restaurant. I would eat this again any day! C came over and started snagging some of my green beans – he kept coming back over to “see me” and grabbing a green bean each time.

Dessert: Sweet Potato Chip Cookies (160 calories)

I wasn’t sure what to expect with these, because I’ve never had any sort of cookie with sweet potato in it before. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that these were a real treat! The “chips” in the cookies almost had the texture of little toffee bits, but with a sweeter flavor. It was nice having two of them, because that felt a little indulgent to have more than just one. I did pour about 1/3 cup of milk to have with the cookies, because they were a little sweet… and, well, I just love milk with cookies!

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On to meals for the week. I’ll be continuing with my Freshology meals, but here’s what the guys will be eating:

Monday: Chuck E Cheese!

Tuesday: Hot dogs & ranch style beans. This is a favorite of theirs, and a least-favorite of mine, so it’s perfect!

Wednesday: Burritos – Brian requested this, and I’m fine with that because it makes great leftovers. Speaking of leftovers…

Thursday: Leftover burritos – shocking, right? The boys eat theirs deconstructed, because they’re all gourmet like that. :)

Friday: Pasta with marinara, green beans, and raw carrots.

Saturday: We haven’t quite decided yet, and will probably see what sounds good to my family since we’ll be celebrating not only J’s birthday but also my brother’s (the 20th) and my dad’s (the 29th). August is a busy birthday month for our family!

Don’t forget to check out Weber’s grilling recipe of the week. This one looks like something Brian would love – scallop salad with citrus vinaigrette!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Note: I received food from Freshology to facilitate my review. I was not compensated monetarily. All opinions shared in this post are honest and are entirely my own.