MPM and a crazy week

Let's start with a week in review. I had all kinds of cute kid stories to tell this past week, but those all got eclipsed by THE REFRIGERATOR INCIDENT. Here's the short version ...

We've been in our house since May 6, and things have been going really well. Everyone is pretty settled and the house is almost box free. I have been a happy Mommy. That all changed on Wednesday afternoon. I found water on the floor and traced it back to the fridge. In the process of finding the source of the water, I found lumps and bumps in my NEW floor. It seems that the hose attaching the fridge to the water spigot in the kitchen had a small hole. That has been repaired and some folks are coming on Tuesday to check out the flooring issues. Hopefully all will be settled easily, but I am not convinced. There is mold on the wall, the linoleum is loose, and the sub-flooring is buckled. This is not sounding like a quick fix to me.

And it is in my NEW house!!!

Despite all of that, we have had a pretty good week. We spent a lot of money at Lowe's this past weekend and have stocked up for several projects. We also bought a new freezer! I am super excited about that. I have gone from having a shoebox sized freezer to having 2 really good sized freezers in about 6 weeks. Now I just need to plan out my menu for the month so I can do a BIG shopping trip and fill'em both. :)

Speaking of filling freezers, here is the plan for the week:
Monday - French dip sandwich leftovers and fries
Tuesday - Breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, and biscuits)
Wednesday - take out
Thursday - undecided
Friday - tacos
Saturday - grilled chicken (I haven't decided on a marinade yet)
Sunday - Steaks, salad, bread (maybe even homemade)

I tried several recipes last week that went over pretty well. I'll post recipes and links below. I finally made the chicken lasagna (I think it was on the menu for 3 weeks), and it was a big hit. We ate 1/2 a pan! I cooked the Brown sugar chicken for a second time, but added some crushed red pepper to give it a little kick. We all liked that better this time. The spicy orange pork chops were not a favorite. The meat did not have a lot of flavor, and the recipe was more work than I like for the outcome. That recipe is not staying in the file. I did make some really good potatoes to go with the meat though - new red potatoes cut in lage pieces, olive oil, freshly minced garlic and Italian herbs, all mixed up and cooked at 350 for an hour. Yum. A new one that IS staying is the Almond Crusted Turkey from the Publix grocery store website. YUM, again! That one is definitely staying in the rotation.

If you are looking for menu inspiration, check out OrgJunkie for some ideas.

Almond-Crusted Turkey

Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken

Amazing Pork Tenderloin

Spicy Orange pork chops

Chicken Lasagna (Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue by Carla Fitzgerald Williams)
Ricotta Filling
1 lg egg
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
1 (10 oz) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 tsp dried Italian herb seasoning
1/4 tap nutmeg
3 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2/3 c shredded Parmesan cheese

Chicken Filling
2 1/2 c lg shreds chicken
1 (26-28 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
1 (6 oz) package sliced mushrooms (~2 cups)
1 (8 oz) can Italian seasoned tomato sauce
1 tbsp jarred minced garlic

9 no-boil, oven ready lasagna noodles

1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Spray 13x9 pan lightly with oil
3. Make ricotta filling, but use only 2 c mozzarella and 1/3 c Parmesan
4. Make chicken filling
5. Assemble: Spread 1.5 c meat filling in bottom of pan. Top w/ 3 noodles (not touching each other or sides of pan). Spread 1.5 c of ricotta filling. Repeat 2 more times. Top with layer of meat filling and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover loosely with sprayed foil. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake until bubbly (about 15 minutes). Let rest 5-10 minutes before serving.