Meal plans and the week ahead

A new week already? Last week went by way too quickly for us. I hope this week goes by fast, too. Kevin found out last week that he needed to go to Mexico this week for work. He's leaving tomorrow morning out of Detroit at 6am and won't be returning until Saturday afternoon around 2:30pm. Carson and I are going to miss him - and we wish we were able to go with him! Maybe next time, though. Although, Queretaro wouldn't be my first pick of places to go in Mexico... but it'd be something, I guess. We'll see what Kevin thinks of it while he's there, but his colleagues have all said it's quite a nice place to go.

Yesterday, Kevin took a quick drive out to the Grand Rapids area to pick up our beef. We shared a half-side of beef with my SIL and BIL - my BIL's uncle raised the steer. So now we have 95 pounds of good, hormone-free, mostly grass-fed beef to get us through the next year! Yeah! We decided to try out a steak last night, rather than making the soup I'd planned and it was soooo good! I'm so glad we decided to do this! We'll be going to the local farmer's market this afternoon to pick up some local, hormone/antibiotic-free, free-range chickens, too! And we're still making our way through our hormone/antibiotic-free, mostly grass-fed lamb and pork, too. So I think we'll be totally set on meat for quite a while now. :) If only I could find a really good, more affordable source for seafood...

Since Kevin is gone this week, I'm not really sure how much cooking I'll really end up doing. I'll have to make something for Carson and me, so I'll still plan out some ideas - completely focused around what Carson loves or eats really well right now. We'll just have to see how much I stick to them this week, though.

Sunday ~ grilled burgers (pre-made ones with Laura's Lean beef that I'd frozen, not from the new beef), baked russet potato fries, home-canned peaches
Meatless Monday ~ whole wheat penne pasta with pesto and cherry tomatoes, home-canned peaches
Tuesday ~ baked chicken tenders, roasted asparagus, fresh pineapple
Wednesday ~ eating at my parents' house
Thursday ~ leftover pesto pasta from Monday, fresh pineapple
Friday ~ It depends on what we do today, but if we're out and about, I'm thinking we might just eat out as a treat for Carson... most likely nuggets and fries for Carson and grilled chicken (minus the bun) for me.
Saturday ~ Carson and I will be out at my uncle's private lake all day for the Jason Amy Memorial slalom tournament (Jason is my cousin that passed away last year from carbon monoxide poisoning) and Kevin will be flying and then driving home. I think we'll plan to grill something since its quick and easy. I think we'll grill some lamb chops, potatoes in foil, and asparagus. Maybe we'll take a walk down to the ice cream shop a few doors down as a special treat for dessert.

As far as things to accomplish this week, I'll have my hands pretty full with managing everything at home on my own. If I'm feeling ambitious on Friday morning, I'll make up a triple batch of that balsamic BBQ sauce from last week and will can it in half-pints. Otherwise, Carson and I will go work out in the veggie garden, pulling weeds on Friday morning... and MAYBE put in yet another round of green beans. If its warm on Friday afternoon, I might take Carson out to the lake - we'll just have to see what the weather is like. Otherwise, maybe we'll go visit Grandma Jackie (Great Grandma Moore). I'd also like to throw together another batch of the ABin5 bread dough on Friday morning so that it's ready to go next week for some things. At some point during the week, I plan to blanch and freeze some spinach and pac choi from the garden, too.

And even though I haven't mentioned it in awhile, I am still trying to find as much time as I can to exercise. I've been taking a walk with Carson in the BOB almost every night that the weather is nice. It depends on when we go how far we walk... sometimes it's only a little over a half-mile, other times it's a little over a mile, and other times it's even further. I'm going to start adding a little jogging into the walk, too. I figure even if I start by jogging a quarter mile at first, that's a start. I miss the days that I used to love to run... and when running was so easy! I'm also trying to make the time to take walks during the day at work when the weather is nice. I often go with my friend, Lina, but sometimes just go by myself, too. I'm also trying to get in as many stairs during the day as I can. I work in a four-story building with two underground levels that has two normal-sized flights of stairs between each floor. I try to at least go from the third floor down to the first floor and back up again, but will do more than that if the day allows for it. I figure every little bit will help, right? I still need to take my initial body measurements so that I can tell if it's doing much of anything. The number on the scale has been going down again, at least. A couple months ago, I'd dropped a few pounds, then put them back on, but now am down 6 pounds just in the last two or three weeks. I'm still struggling with the pop thing... I wish I could just drop it completely and just watch the pounds shed... hopefully one of these days I'll be able to, though. :)