Cooking for 1.5

Before Kyle left for deployment he asked me what I was going to do with my time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when Brennan starts school. I told him one thing I would probably do was go to the commissary and get groceries for the week. His response, "How long could it possible take to buy cereal and nachos at the store?!?!"

I've been known not eat so great when Kyle is out to sea. When it was just me I would eat cereal for dinner some nights and make myself some nachos most other nights. But now it is different. I have to not only feed myself, but also Brennan and the little one growing inside of me.

I planned out our first week of meals before Kyle left and have now planned out our second week. I'm feeling pretty good about what I'm fixing and that we are eating at home when it might be easier to just go grab McDonald's each night. Pinterest has certainly helped me with my meal planning and I've been good about splitting up all my meat before freezing it, so I can just fix smaller portions and not have tons left over.

Here are few of our meals since Kyle's been away.

Garlic Cheddar Chicken - This was a new recipe and was soooo yummy! Brennan and I shared one chicken breast and it was the perfect amount. You bake the chicken and I also baked some parmesan zucchini.

Pepperoni Roll-ups - We've made these before with Dada and they've always been a big hit. I used the entire can of crescent rolls. Brennan ate 1 and I ate 3 for dinner and then we fixed the leftovers for lunch the next day. They were still super tasty warmed up and I'm very picky about my leftovers.

Crock-pot Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli - This was another new recipe. I picked it because Kyle hates broccoli, so it was the perfect time to test it out. It was super delish! It was supposed to be served over white rice, but it wasn't until I was ready to fix the broccoli and rice that I realized we didn't have any rice. So we just ate it this way and it worked just fine. I cooked my one chicken breast in the crock-pot all day and it worked great.

Taco Soup - A staple at our house. We love taco soup even in the summertime. It makes way too much for just the two of us because even after eating leftovers the next day, there was still a lot left. There are lots of different versions to the soup. I use ground beef, taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, can of corn, can of rotel, can of black beans, can of green chiles, and water.

Baked Penne - Again nothing fancy, but so tasty. There was just enough left over for me to fix this for my lunch today.

It's so nice that Brennan is able (and most of the time willing) to eat what I'm eating. That certainly makes dinner much easier. We have also taken advantage of eating dinner with friends when their Daddy's are working. The kids get to play and the Mommies get to talk! I'm hoping this week to have some people come join us for dinner.

We are staying pretty low key for our lunches and doing his usuals: mac and cheese, hot dogs, quesadillas, pb&j, and chicken nuggets.

Here are some of the dinners I have planned for next week!
-Shake n Bake
-Fettucini Alfredo
-Southwestern Stuffed Peppers
-Spinach, Feta, Mozzarella Roll-ups
-Velveeta Skillet