Party Food and Menu Planning

We've had a lot of visitors from out of town lately, and to add to that, we've been busy celebrating birthdays. Since we have been feeding lots of extra people, I've had a lot of fun menu planning the past few weeks.

Menu planning for large groups of hungry party-goers is a lot different than the usual menu-planning I do (for two)! Its been fun to make and serve things that I normally don't make, and I want to share our dinner menus for the last few weeks. Part of the reason that its been fun is because we're kind of on a budget, so I didn't want to go crazy and serve everyone filet mignon, but I also didn't want to seem cheap! Ha!

So here you have it!

3/7 Monday:
Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

3/8 Tuesday:
Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Crema and Crunchy Apple Salsa

3/9 Wednesday:
AJ's Birthday! We ate out at Red Robin

3/10 Thursday:
Sausage, Cheddar, and Onion Quiche with Spinach Salad

3/11 Friday:
Cowboy Skillet Casserole

3/12 Saturday (D's family came to town):
BBQ Chicken Thighs, Steak, Macaroni Salad, and Grilled Asparagus

3/13 Sunday (Party Day!):
Spaghetti and Meatballs with Homemade Sauce, Garlic Bread, Salad and Birthday Cake

3/14 Monday:
Take-out Chinese

3/15 Tuesday:
Stuffed Pepper Casserole

3/16 Wednesday:
Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw, Roasted Red Potatoes

3/17 Thursday (St. Patty's Day):
Corned Beef and Cabbage

3/18 Friday:
Chili and Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread

As always, my preferred recipes are linked up, so try them out and enjoy!

I've never made corned beef and cabbage before, so it should be interesting. I'm hoping that it turns out, because I really love it and I'll be super disappointed if its yucky!

Breakfast, Anyone?

I've never been a breakfast at breakfast-time person. I much prefer cold pizza or leftover chinese food in the morning. Coffee? No, thanks, I'll have a Dr. Pepper at 7 am any day, though!

Does that make me weird? Is it gross that its 9:45 am and I'm eating hot and sour soup and pork fried rice? No, I'm not pregnant, I've just always been this way. Its not that I don't like breakfast food, I like bacon, eggs, pancakes, and waffles as much as the next girl, just not for breakfast.

D, on the other hand couldn't be more obsessed with breakfast. In fact, his favorite dinner is, you guessed it, BREAKFAST! The man could eat eggs until he turned into one.

AJ seems to be taking after her Daddy. Her favorite thing to eat in the morning is eggs! I've started adding shredded cheese to them to get some more calcium in her diet and she is in heaven!

We've noticed lately that she doesn't seem to be eating as much as she has in the past (we're thinking she might be sprouting another tooth here soon) and eggs are always a sure hit with her. At least I know that she's eating a good breakfast, even if I'm eating crab rangoon. ;)

If You Love Barry Manilow, You're Going To LOVE Insane Clown Posse!

What do you do when you officially have no furniture in your house and the baby goes to bed at 6:30 pm?

You watch stand up comedy, of course!

We're currently watching Zach Galifianakis (the weird guy from The Hangover) and he is so funny! (The title of this post is a line from the show we're watching right now.)

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I have always been a fan of stand-up comedy and I am really enjoying the time we've spent sitting around watching funny, funny people the past few nights.

I have been working on my cross-stitch stocking that I'm making for AJ and just laughing. I'm looking forward to ordering Chinese food and spending some more QT with D tomorrow night. Even though moving is pretty stressful, its helpful to relax and decompress by laughing together.

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We always order Chinese food the first and last night we're in a house. Its kind of a tradition we have.

What are some of your moving traditions?

I'm Horrible at Updating...

So, considering the fact that I sent out the link to my blog you would think that I would actually be posting on a regular basis. Not so! LOL. This week has been crazy busy!

Friday 9/25:
Woke up at the crack of dawn and flew to Chicago (yes, my arms were really tired by the time I got there). Had fun and hung out with friends and headed up to Milwaukee for a wedding.

Saturday 9/26:
Wedding festivities in Milwaukee.

Sunday 9/27:
Ate Portillo's for lunch! Flew back to Seattle, got in late-ish Sunday night (it was dark).

Monday 9/28:
Took a day trip down to Portland for D's work, since I am the FRG leader he thought it would be a good idea for me to see the rehab facility down there since several of the soldiers are there or will be there in the future. This allows me to talk to the wives about my experience there.

Tuesday 9/29:
Had a meeting with Family Advocacy to learn more about what they do for soldiers and families and make a contact (as the FRG leader) with the woman who runs it.

Wednesday 9/30:
So tired, but had to get on the phone and figure out a bunch of bills that were perplexing us! Turns out that we are only billed for utilities every 2 months (would have been nice to know so I didn't stress about it all weekend!). The bank had the wrong address on file for us for our car loan, so that is why we never received a bill from them! Whew! Crazy day!

Thursday 10/1:
An intriguing and interesting Town Hall meeting for the Battallion. At least I got to sit next to D. ;) After that I had my first pre-natal massage and it was really nice! The lady was a little rough, but overall, worth it! Then we hit Farrelli's for dinner to celebrate one of D's NCOs graduating from BNOC (some NCO school).

That leads me up to today! I went to Barnes and Noble to get the book I need to read by next Friday and on my way home I finally wandered into the produce mart by our house. WOW! This place is fabulous! I bought a bunch of produce and some other stuff too, all for about $20!

One of the things I bought was creme pumpkins and peanuts to make the most fantastic fall treat ever. Well, turns out the peanuts I bought were "raw" so I attempted (and succeeded) at roasting my own peanuts! LOL.

I think D and I are going to go see a movie tonight. He really wants to go to Zombieland, so that may just be something we end up doing. I am planning on making dinner, but I could be talked into Chinese food! This baby may as well be part Chinese and part Mexican because that is what it LOVES to eat!

Gender determination in 16 days! Eek!