Meal plans and the week ahead

This week is fairly tame and we're finally getting back to what used to be normal. Today we'll be going out for lunch with Kevin's family to visit with my BIL, SIL, and niece who are in town from the Grand Rapids area. Thursday I'll be in Detroit all day for work. We'll do something fun on Friday, but I'm not sure what yet. Saturday we're meeting up with our friends Lina, Sean, and Vayla in Ann Arbor in the morning to visit the children's museum there and then we're having lunch at Zingermann's Deli - yum!! Like I said, its a pretty tame week, which will be very nice for a change!

We put up our Christmas tree and decorations on Friday last week. I love having the house decorated for Christmas! I've got to do a little shopping this week to add to our decor - primarily to find a short string of lights to string through the evergreen garland on the fireplace and find some stocking holders that I actually like.... you wouldn't think they would be hard to find, but I've looked for 3 years now and never find any that I like. I also really need to get started on wrapping gifts this week. I'd like to get started on the Christmas cookie baking, too. Maybe that's what Carson and I will do on Friday. I still need to decide what kind of cookies to make this year, though. I also want to make some more homemade bread this week - I'm hoping to get into this habit so that I can stop buying bread at the store. I've got tons of bread machine and ABin5 recipes I want to try, so it should be fun! I still need to tackle our master bedroom - I started it a couple weeks ago, but I really would like to finish it up this week. We're going to move the computer desk in there so we can get going on Carson's "big boy" room, so I've got to clear some space for that, too. All of that should keep me plenty busy this week... in addition to the normal weekly stuff.

On to the meals... I'm still working on using up some stuff in the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator...

Sunday - Lunch with the in-laws. Dinner will be meatless.... roasted veggie soup using leftover roasted carrots/sweet potatoes/red potatoes/brussels sprouts/cauliflower from Thanksgiving; homemade bread; applesauce

Meatless Monday - quiche with spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots; cottage cheese; pearsauce

Tuesday - I've been wanting to make it for weeks, but just never get to making it... hopefully this week I do... pork chops with mustard sauced potatoes in the crockpot; sauteed green beans in garlic and EVOO; fresh pineapple

Wednesday - pine nut chicken; sauteed broccoli in EVOO and garlic; corn custard pudding casserole; apple slices and fresh pineapple

Thursday - eating at my parents' since they are watching Carson

Friday - artichoke chicken; roasted red potatoes and brussels sprouts; fruit smoothies to use up some frozen mango, peaches, and strawberries

Saturday - Lunch at Zingermann's. Dinner is TBD... possibly leftovers from the week... possibly homemade pizza. We'll be going out to dinner with my parents and sister to celebrate my sister's 19th birthday (it was Monday).