My Shiny New Blog and Menu Monday!

Welcome to my new blog!  


First, a little bit about me.  For those that don't know- I'm Meg!  I'm a self titled Domestic Engineer.  The dictionary defines 'domestic as: devoted to home life or household affairs.  As a stay at home mom, that's pretty much all that I do.  I don't have to worry about an outside job, no worries about how to bring in an income- I am devoted to my home life.  The dictionary also defines 'engineer' as: a skillful manager.  So, I try to manage this home life as skillful as I can! 


Just before last summer I got hooked into the world of baking blogs.  I loved looking at all these wonderful sweet treats that I could be making.  A funny thing happened.  The more I read these blogs the more I wanted to write one of my own.  Then a dear friend started her own blog, and I was convinced- I needed one too!


So, here I am- with my nice new shiny blog.  The plan for this blog is to be about my home life: cooking, cleaning, child caring, homeschooling, faith, daily struggles, and so on.


Now lets get into today's topic- Menu Planning!


This is one of my new adventures.  I've not been one to plan menus.  Mainly because as a family we were always up to something, never having any real schedule.  But as the years go by, I'm realizing that I will function much better as a human if I have some sort of a plan.  You know the saying: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."


When the Back to School sales were all going on I bought a nifty dry erase calender.  I fastened a large magnet on the back, and it now hangs on my refrigerator.  I write my menu ideas on here,  This way I can see it easily, and the benefit of the dry erase is that I can change the menu around when needed.



I haven't been at this long, but know that one thing is key: FLEXIBILITY! "Blessed are the flexible for they shall not break."  Life happens, and throws off of schedule from time to time, and that's okay.  Or, sometimes the meat I want doesn't go on sale until Wednesday, so I allow myself room to move the meals around a bit if needed.  

Even since taking this picture just the other day, I've change a few things around!




Here is what I have planned for this week:


1. Linguine with Chicken Thighs- from The Pioneer Woman
         Served with roasted asparagus


2. Crispy BBQ Chicken Fingers- from How Sweet It Is  
         this will probably be served with rice and corn


3. Slow Cooker Taco Soup- from A Year of Slow Cooking
         I'll serve this will some fresh tortilla chips


4. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork- from All Recipes
        With this recipe I'm following the advice of the comments- using a shoulder roast rather than a loin, also using more pork (3 1/2 lbs) and therefore more root beer.


5. Baked Pasta Shells- from The Pioneer Woman
        Although, I will alter it slightly- I will bake it in an alfredo sauce rather than the tomato based sauce.  And probably put some meat in the stuffing.  I will serve this with some type of roasted veggie




I've only planned for five days in a week, given that we are out of town every Thursday night and we are bound to eat out at least one night per week.  


And there you have it!  Hope you enjoy my new blog!