Raising my Blood Count with Iron Rich Green Smoothies

At my 24-week blood test, my blood count (HGB) was lower than they would like to see at a 10.8. So the goal is for me to get that much higher for my 36-week draw. My midwives really recommended me upping my iron intake naturally and gave me a list of iron rich foods. Looking at the list, the easiest way I could think of getting my daily dose of iron was to make green smoothies.
I have tried green smoothies in the past and they are definitely an acquired taste and texture, but for Minion's sake I knew I need to suck it up.

4 Ingredient Brownies in a Mug

Every once in a while I get a huge craving for something sweet and brownies are the perfect thing. We try too always keep a mix on hand but sometimes we are fresh out. This led to me discovering how to make 3 ingredient nutella brownies.
They are quite yummy, but I also love the whole baking in a mug movement. What I couldn't understand though is why all the nutella brownie mug recipes I found called for so many ingredients.

Blue Moon Roasted Turkey

While we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, every few years I'll end up making a turkey on Black Friday because they are the cheapest they'll get that week. This year worked out nicely because my FIL was in town helping Luke with our living room remodel. We invited over a couple more friends and had ourselves a real feast.

Postpartum 30 Day Dinner Plan

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As the main cook in the family, I knew as soon as I found out I was pregnant, that I would need a plan in place for meals during the first few weeks of adjusting to motherhood. I've known about the Once a Month Mom style of cooking for a while but haven't had the desire to do such a thing before. But for postpartum recovery, it seemed like the perfect idea. So at 35 weeks, I plan to take a day with my mom to prepare 30 days of freezer meals. Since she has a deep freezer, I'll have everything labeled with cooking instructions in there. That way, each day she can just throw the ingredients in a crockpot, stockpot, or the oven, and dinner will be ready in a jiffy :)

Easy Sausage Jambalaya

A go-to dinner for our family is Jambalaya. It's so easy to make and always delicious. What I especially love about this recipe, is how easy it is since it only calls for a handful of ingredients.
As I was making it tonight, I decided to share my recipe with you all...

Sprucing up Store-bought Spaghetti Sauce

So a couple weeks ago, I was able to snag a great deal on Reduce-Fat Ground Pork and Prego Jarred Spaghetti Sauce. I know some people are very picky about their spaghetti sauce but I'm not. That's not to say that I don't think some taste better than others. It's just that no matter what brand I buy I always add my own flavoring to spruce things up.
The other day when I was heating up a batch I decided to take photos to share my process.

Menu Plan Monday: April 1

We had 3 meals left over to cook from last week. And half of this week I will be just cooking for me and Luke,  so Luke sat with me to pick out what he wanted :)

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino 

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

• 6 Chicken Breasts
• Bottle of BBQ Sauce
• 2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 Tbs Liquid Smoke
• 1-1/2 C Brown Sugar

Crock Pot Lasagna 

Sriracha Pesto Shrimp Pizza

Oven Tacos 

And as a bonus treat...

Homemade Dunkaroos 

Menu Plan Monday: March 25

Not only is the Memorial tomorrow night but we have CO's visit this week. That means every single night there is some sort of meeting or activity. So not a whole lot of time for preparing dinner. Therefore, I am preparing mostly Crock Pot meals and quick pastas.

Menu Plan: March 18

Didn't end up cooking every night last week so had some spill over to this week :)
So on the menu is...

Mexican Casserole 

Colombian Steak 

Mozzarella Broccoli Pasta 

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino 

Taco Soup 

Pizza Stuffed Chicken Breasts w/ Angel Hair Pasta 

Easy Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore  

Menu Plan: March 11

This week I am going to make the following yummy meals :)

Mexican Casserole 

Colombian Steak 

Oven Tacos 

Corned Beef & Cabbage 

Jalapeño Popper Burgers 

Mozzarella Broccoli Pasta  

Menu Plan: February 25

My diet is still going strong. I am slowly losing the weight and am continually trying to find healthy yummy meals. Here is what we have planned for this week:

• Colombian Steak
• Slow Cooker Thai Chicken 
• Barbacoa Beef over Cilantro Lime Rice and WW Guacamole
• Mexican Casserole 
• Potato Topped Beef Bowl 
• Beef Stroganoff

Menu Plan: February 4

Crockpot Korean-Style Barbecue Beef w/ Minute Rice - p. 131 WW Ready Set Go

Swedish Meatballs

Skinny Baked Broccoli Mac & Cheese

Buffalo Chicken Salads w/ Skinny Ranch

Bobbie Sandwiches

Menu Plan: December 17

This week is a "short" week for us so I only needed to come up with 5 recipes. I checked the sales ad to determine what meats to cook and here is what I came up with:
Crockpot Pork Ribs
Luke's Jambalaya - He made this tonight and it is always super yummy!

Pork Bourguignon - I am making it the same as the beef version but just using a big pork roast. I usually don't eat pork but I figure if I cook it like beef then I won't mind the taste.

Jalapeño Popper Chicken - this was a huge winner in our family! Excited to make it again :)

Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole - I'm actually going to try it with some of those canned sliced new potatoes that we got from some friends.

Menu Plan Monday: November 26

Tortellini Soup

Bacon & Cabbage

Lasagna

Crockpot Chicken Fajita Tacos

Jalapeño Popper Chicken with Rice

Ginger Soy Tilapia with Rice Pilaf

Menu Plan Monday: November 12

I cannot believe it is already mid-November! O_O Last week we ended up eating a lot of left overs so 2 recipes got rolled over to this week. Plus I decided to shop the sales this week on Stuffing and Bell Peppers and I snagged some cheap stew meat last week so here's what I will be making:

Italian-Style Beef & Pepperoni Soup

Mexican chicken Tacos

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Mashed Potatoes

Simple Stuffed Peppers over Rice

Easy Beef Bourguinon 

Menu Plan Monday: November 5

Pantry Pasta - use whatever ingredients we have in the pantry to make a pasta dish
Potato Topped Beef Bowl 
Italian-Style Beef & Pepperoni Soup
Mexican Chicken Tacos
Cajun Fettuccine Alfredo

Menu Plan Monday: October 22

Since it's toward the end of the month, I shopped our freezer meat supply for the menu this week...

Rio Grande Valley Sombrero Platter
Beef fajita cooked with onions, bell pepper, topped with Mexican melting cheese and cheese quesadillas. Served with chips and guacamole.
Tortilla Soup
Slow Cooker Creole Chicken
Stir Fry Al Pastor
Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings
Skinny Spaghetti
Toss pasta with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil, breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon juice, garlic powder salt, and black pepper.

Need help menu planning this week? orgjunkie.com has hundreds of user submitted plans each week!

Menu Plan: September 24

Asian chicken

Lasagna

Tacos

Homemade pita Pizzas 

Chicken Piccatta w/ Pasta

Slow Cooker Goulash

Menu Plan Monday - September 17

Last night as I was menu planning, I was so stuffed from lunch still that nothing sounded good so it took me way to long to come up with this list. But here is what we are having this week:

Tortilla Soup

Recipe from my friend Lyzette: Bring to bowl chicken broth, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of corn, Rotel, and cooked shredded chicken. Serve with cheese, chips, and avocado.

Grandma's Pork & Cabbage

Dad requested this recipe this week so I had to ask my aunt for it. You chop the pork up in bite size pieces. Brown them in a skillet. Then chop the cabbages into chunks and place on top. Also chop some onion if you want. Cover and let steam till cabbage is translucent and pork is cooked. Then shake in some Worcestershire sauce and that about it. Serve over rice.

Asian Chicken

A friend gave me this recipe in a fun swap game. All it requires is 1 part peanut butter and 1 part soy sauce that you coat over chicken pieces. Cook the chicken and I serve it over those Asian noodle kits you can buy at Walmart.

Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake

Bobbies aka Thanksgiving Sandwiches

We first had these at DOMA and they are amazing. Just make a sandwich out of turkey breast, stuffing, and cranberry sauce stuffed into a big hoagie roll. So yummy!

Menu Plan Monday: September 3

This week we will be noshing on...

• Potato soup in homemade bread bowls
• Spicy Amish casserole

• Crock pot beef and broccoli

• Summer Pasta
• Jambalaya
• Breakfast for Dinner

Don't these sound so yummy? :)