Menu Plan Monday: January 18th

Well, another week down on the *eat from your pantry* challenge! Whoo hoo! I've been doing pretty well. Last week I only spent about $20 on some essentials like milk and eggs. My pantry is starting to look a little bare and so is my fridge. This week I spent a tad bit more because...

...my hubby threw another challenge at me. He wants to try at least a version of the Daniel fast, focusing on mainly eating vegetables and fruits for about 10 days or so. Sooo, I am now looking for delicious recipes that are strictly veggies with simple seasonings. What I would like to happen is that I find some great healthy dishes that we all like and that I can incorporate into our menus permanently. I usually try to do one meatless meal a week, but I would like to do more.

So if you have any that you'd like to share, please pass them on!

Today I went to the store and stocked up on tons of fresh veggies. I'm not feeling too bad about what I spent, since it was pretty much all on fresh produce. And I'm very excited about trying some new recipes!

Last week's menus were about 2 for 6, so we are rerunning at least one of those this week. Probably the meatless one...lol

Monday: Pinto Beans, Spinach and Cornbread
Tuesday: Baked Fish, Veggie-Stuffed Baked Potatoes and sauteed zucchini
Wednesday: Greek Caponata
Thursday: Broccoli, Butternut Squash and Roasted Carrots
Friday: Honey-Orange Glazed Ham Steaks, Acorn Squash Wedges and pureed cauliflower
Saturday: Gazpacho

I also have lots of special salads planned for lunches this week and I am also making hummus for the first time to have with some yummy pita chips that I made recently. I should have some new recipes to share with you soon!

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning. But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom. Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming. It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility. And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year. So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important. How do I do this? Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom. Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...

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