Guy's Afternoon

It's official, my baby is growing up and Mommy no longer rules his universe. Scotty asked me on Monday evening if 'just Dad' could pick him up from school so they could have a 'guy's afternoon' and just do guy stuff. His exact words were, 'well, Mom, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but do you think it'd be okay for just Dad to pick me up from school so we can have a guy's afternoon? We could do, well, I don't know, like, guy stuff or something like that'. Yesterday he got his wish. Apparently, guy stuff involves trips to Dad's office, the grocery store and PetSmart. He was happy, but disappointed that Scott picked him up in my car & not the truck. Apparently, guys need to ride in trucks. I can't believe how quickly he's growing up, he's matured so much in just a couple of months. I need to find a way to stop time.

This week has been hectic do there haven't been any extravagant dinners, although I did make a huge batch of chili to take to a BBQ on Tuesday night and it turned out AWESOME! Scott grilled pork chops last night. As well, and I made a salad & mashed potatoes. It was great. Tonight we have soccer practice, so dinner will be something simple. I've got to get to the grocery store & get back on track with meal planning. I'm hoping to try the monthly meal planning soon, maybe it'll help me budget my grocery spending and discourage eating out.

Here's the chili recipe I used if you need to make A LOT, this filled the big crock pot and fed a bunch of people. Great for games, cook outs, etc.
Ingredients:
-3 lbs of ground beef (I used extra lean, as draining that much meat could be seriously challenging!)
-1 large diced onion
-1 large diced green bell pepper
-1 diced jalapeño
-1 large 29 oz can if diced tomatoes
-2 large 29 oz cans of tomato sauce
-3 cans of beans, undrained (I used 1 can of light red kidney beans, 1 can of dark red and 1 can of pinto beans, but you could use whatever you like)
-6 tablespoons of chili powder
-4 teaspoons of garlic powder
-2 teaspoons of ground cumin
-salt & pepper to taste (I do this toward the end, as the liquid from the beans has a lit if sodium usually)

Directions:
-brown the meat, onion & peppers and drain in a large pot on the stovetop
-add tomatoes, tomato sauce and spices and bring to a boil, then remove from the stove and pour into your crockpot
-cook on high for 2 hours
-add beans and taste test for salt & pepper
-turn the crockpot to the warm setting and keep it there until it's gone or you refrigerate leftovers!

If you didn't want to use a crockpot, you'd bring the meat, tomatoes, sauce & spices to a boil, then turn to med-low, cover, simmer for 1.5 hours. Add beans, salt & pepper and heat on low until warmed through.



I haven't posted lunches every day, so here's a catch up: