{365} Challenge: March Meal Plan

Sorry for the delay!  In the past week Baby B has turned 6 months, started crawling, and had her first tooth break through.  Time has been moving quickly and I completely forgot to create the meal plan.  

This month also kicks off baseball season in our home.  That puts us out of the house and at baseball games and practices most nights of the week.  In order to avoid eating out a bunch, relying on my crock pot and fast meals becomes an art form.  My focus with my menu planning this month is to keep it quick!  This coming Sunday I will be working on prepping most of the meals that can be frozen so they are even quicker to make come the night I am serving them.

Go Royal Blue Rangers!

3/1: Buffalo chicken sandwiches (4 chicken breasts, a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Buffalo sauce, and a packet of Ranch dressing seasoning in the crock pot on high for 5 hours, then shred!)
3/2: Oscar Night!  Appetizers for dinner: BBQ meatballs, fresh veggies, hummus and crackers, and of course, "Red Carpet" Red velvet cookies!
3/3: Tonight is Bunco night, which meant that my mom babysat and brought the kids dinner.
3/4: Did you know today is National Pancake day?!  I will be making Potato Pancakes with applesauce
3/5: Slow Cooker Moo Shu Pork with fresh asparagus
3/6: Another rainy day in the forecast, so we will be warming up with Chicken Tortilla Soup, topped with avocado.
3/7: Lemon Pepper chicken with a salad
3/8: We will be super busy with Opening Day Ceremonies and a birthday party today so this recipe is great because I can prep it the night before and let it cook while we are out most of the day.  Slow Cooker Apple BBQ Burgers.
3/9: Breakfast for dinner night!
3/10: Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken.  Bacon is always delicious!
3/11: Taco night!  
3/12: Beef and Barley Stew (I still have some made that needs to be eaten)
3/13:  Teriyaki Honey Chicken (multiply and freeze!)
3/14: Slow Cooker Carnitas
3/15: Chicken Ranch Ranchero over rice
3/16:  Crock Pot Lasagna 
3/17: St. Patrick's Day and date night!  We are going to go to a pub for dinner and green beer; kids will get their request.
3/18: Baked potato "bar" 
3/19: Buttermilk Chicken Breasts (Multiply and freeze)
3/20:  Santa Fe Soup
3/21: Sausage and pasta
3/22:  Grilled Bruschetta Chicken
3/23: Homemade pizza night
3/24: Italian Flank Steak pinwheels - another recipe to multiply and freeze.
3/25: Chicken Taco Melts
3/26: Bacon Mac n Cheese - just like it sounds!  Crumble bacon and mix in to mac n cheese.
3/27: Fried chicken (a Paleo version to keep it healthy with coconut oil and almond flour)
3/28: Chicken bacon sandwiches - an easy to fix to take to the ball fields!
3/29: Ham and Potato pockets - make a bunch and freeze for later!
3/30: Nachos in the cast iron skillet
3/31: Grilled sausage and asparagus


Catch up on my other challenges here.

DIY: Lucky Letters

I don't know why, but I love St. Patrick's Day.  Something about all of the bright greens, rainbows, and green beer makes me happy, I suppose.  I decided that this year I would create something fun for my home for this holiday that typically lacks in decorations.

Materials:

Paper mache letters

Rust-Oleum gold glitter spray paint

green & gold glitter combo

self-adhesive spray

clear coating spray (Hairspray also works)

Isn't this gorgeous?!  I bought it to add a little base shimmer on my letters.  You don't need it, but I figure with spray this pretty, I could use it again for Fourth of July or Christmas.  Note: The spray isn't a solid glitter like on the cap - it is a spray to make things sparkle.

First I sprayed the letters with the Rust-Oleum spray.  Notice the sparkle?  Trust me, it was there haha!

After the letters dried, I sprayed them, one at a time, with self-adhesive spray and then coated them liberally with the glitter.  This took a few applications to get all of the visible sides covered.  I decided not to glitter the backs since they will not be seen.

After they were glittered and dried (boy was that a fun mess!) I sprayed them with the clear coating to keep the glitter from flaking off everywhere.

This WILL happen.  Embrace it.

I think they look beautiful!  I am going to add some more green to my mantle to complete the look.

Don't you just love my empty frame?  My rotten cat jumped up there a few weeks ago and knocked it down, breaking the mirror inside.  Yes, he still lives, but he is on my naughty list.