Meal Planning during a busy schedule: I haven't been on here to do Meal Planning Mondays lately (writing a blog post every day is pretty hard!). So, I will include meal planning in my Tip Tuesday.
Three days a week I teach piano until 6:00 (or 6:30 on Thursdays). So those three days I need to have a simple meal ready by the time I am finished. Sometimes this simple meal can be spaghetti - Brian and Lydia's favorite meal and a meal Brian can make all on his own. However, Brian struggles with the cooking-while-caring-for-a-baby thing. And I don't like hearing Gideon cry while I am teaching lessons. So....crockpot meals it is! This will be my third week having a different crockpot meal for three days out of the week. And most of them are pretty yummy. And super simple.
Sometimes there might be a dinner where Brian has to get the meal ready - like shredding the cooked chicken in the crockpot, or making rice in the rice cooker, or making some pasta. But really the meal is ready once I'm done with lessons without much effort from Brian. Which is a plus. I don't like expecting him to cook dinner right when he gets home, plus expecting him to watch both of the kids. On nights when I don't have piano lessons, he comes home and watches the kids so that I can make dinner. We have a pretty good routine going here.
Anyway....crockpot meals are a lifesaver for this family. I usually put the meal together between 2:30 and 3:00 and let it cook on high for 3 to 4 hours. The house smells yummy and dinner is ready when everyone is hungry. Unfortunately, some of these meals aren't as "kid friendly" as I would like them to be. So Lydia will end up eating mac and cheese or a lunchable (which she's always happy about). After teaching lessons I don't feel like fighting to get Lydia to eat something new. That's saved for days when I don't teach. Plus, I want her to eat quickly so that we can start our evening routine and head off to bed.
I have been getting my recent crockpot meals from Mix and Match Mama's Foodie Blog (http://www.mixandmatchmama.blogspot.com/). I have been following this blogger for awhile now (I actually watched the Bachelor when her brother was on) and she's so funny and interesting! I love her meals. They're healthy but super yummy. She has some great crockpot meals to choose from.
Our three crockpot meals this week are:
Mexican Beef over Cornbread (except not cornbread because Brian doesn't like it...over cheesy biscuits)
Slow Cooker Chicken (with pasta)
Chipotle Corn Chicken (over rice)
