Meal Plans

Christmas week already?! Holy cow! Where did the year go? Seriously. This week will be a busy one. Lots of parties and get-togethers, lots of food to prepare, and still more baking to do. As well as finishing up some projects at the ranch - Kevin made good progress on the insulation last week, but he'll be working on it some more early in the week, as well as finishing trimming out the door in the breezeway (which by the way makes a HUGE difference in there, we were losing so much heat and gaining so much cold air from the old door). I'll be doing some painting of the doors in the hallway so we can FINALLY say the hallway is complete. My priority will be getting all of our gifts wrapped, though... I'm making good progress, but still have so many left to wrap!

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking for meals at the moment. I should have lots of recipes to share by the week's end. Some new recipes, some tried-and-true.

Sunday ~ Christmas celebration with my Grandma on my Dad's side, parents, sister, and her boyfriend. We're just ordering pizza, salads, and breadsticks. And I'm using up a box cake mix so I don't have to throw it away (not buying them anymore) to make cupcakes, as well as some chocolate pudding for desserts.
Monday ~ something with chicken... maybe Ethiopian chicken, or chicken curry, or chicken divan, or chicken and brown rice in the crockpot, or bbq chicken and cornbread casserole in the crockpot... and maybe we'll end up seeing Jaime and Jeff either today or tomorrow for a little Christmas celebration, so that will change things up a bit if we do. chicken, brown rice, veggie soup in the crockpot, hopefully with some homemade bread
Tuesday ~ I think maybe sausage smothered in cabbage... or broccoli cheese soup... or both, though they don't sound too good together, do they? :P homemade chicken nuggets baked in the oven with homemade french fries
Wednesday ~ Christmas Eve with my Mom's family in Fenton. I'm making hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls and a dessert or two... either cheesecake bars, s'more cookie bars, or oatmeal carmelitas... and of course cookies! Everyone always brings lots of cookies to share, then we swap at the end of the night.
Thursday ~ Christmas morning with just our little family of 3+2 - I'm going to make an overnight french toast bake for breakfast. Then Christmas Day with Kevin's extended family in Grand Rapids in the afternoon. I'm bringing some form of dessert... either cheesecake bars, s'more cookie bars, or oatmeal carmelitas... or some of each maybe since I have the ingredients for all of them.
Friday ~ Christmas celebration with Kevin's family in Grand Blanc. I'm making a fruit salad and bringing cookies and maybe fudge if I get around to making any.
Saturday ~ Christmas celebration (kind of) with Sara and her fiance, Adam, in Saranac (near Grand Rapids). Sara's mom is making us a nice dinner and I'll probably bring dessert type items or appetizers. We'll talk more later in the week to figure it all out.