Sweet Love and Ginger

Jessica

Your First Week Back to School Meal Plan

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I’m not in school any more, but I have some friends and
cousins whose kiddies are getting ready to pack themselves up and head back.
That first week can be stressful, everyone is trying to adjust to the new
schedule, and it’s hard, that part I remember.
I thought I could help those of you who are going to be
thrown head first into it by putting together a super easy 7 day dinner meal
plan. This post tells you what to cook and when, with links to all the recipes.. Everything can be cooked in under 30 minutes
and feeds a family of four. 
I know it’s awesome.

I added some suggestions and tricks under each recipe so be
sure to read through those before you get started.
Sunday – One Pan Chicken Pot Pie
Swap out the Chive biscuits in this one for the premade kind
that you can just unwrap and place on top. Also you can swap the celery, and
carrot for frozen mixed vegetables that you can stir in when you add the frozen peas,
less chopping and lots of time saving.
Monday – Crock Pot Korean Beef  w/ Rice
You can trade the individual sauce ingredients (soy, sesame,
etc.) for a premade sauce or marinade like hoisin sauce or teryiaki if you would like, but this one is already pretty easy. Also make some extra rice for Wednesday’s recipe.
Tuesday – South West Meatball Skillet
Don’t have all the necessary spices? Just grab a packet of Southwest
taco or fajita seasoning instead. Super easy.
Wednesday – Shrimp Fried Rice
To keep costs down make extra rice on Monday and use that
for this recipe, instead of the instant rice.
Thursday – Steak Salad w/ Dijon Vinaigrette 
Cooking steak only takes a few minutes, and you can buy a couple bags of salad, and serve this with a baked potato or side of crusty bread for a complete meal, then serve the leftover bread on Friday with the soup.
Friday – Minestrone Soup w/ Bread
This recipe is super versatile so here you can use frozen vegetables instead of chopping the celery and carrot. Just add it in with the spinach and you are all set.
Saturday – Tomato Sausage & Bean Stew
There’s really no corners to cut with this one, it’s already so easy. 
These are just some ideas I have had, but they are a lot of
work, so I don’t want to dive into them if you guys don’t find them useful.

Clifftop & Indian Ladder Trails

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HI EVERYONE!!!! Hi Hi
HI!Hi

 
Brody here!
I’m taking over moms blog for the day because she is busy packing up for our camping trip this weekend. I’m stoked to have four whole days of freedom; I just hope I don’t get into the bees like last year, my nose hurt for days!

Any way I want to tell you about a nice little hike me and the family did last weekend. Mom heard of this hike on her friend’s blog and decided that we should try it out. It wasn’t too far from our house and it was pretty.

 

 

 

I had a lot of fun scaring the bejesus out of my mom by jumping the stone walls at the lookouts. We went on a Sunday and there were A LOT of people. People don’t bother me because I have learned that while we are walking or running we are on a mission, and there’s no time to stop and play, or chase squirrels. There’s too much of the world to see for those kinds of things. However mom and dad kept stopping to read these stupid historical signs, they are dorks sometimes I swear.

 

The trail is super easy, and most of the treacherous parts have been made easy with steel or stone stairs. We finished the whole thing in a couple of hours. The water falls are just as cool as the views. I can see why the natives went through all the effort to get to them. I really think everyone in the area should check it out it’s a lot of fun.

Well that’s all for now, I have to make sure that Mom packs my hiking bag for the trip.

Have a good weekend!Oh PS: My mom want to tell you all to head over to The Charming Blog to check out her first contributor post. Thanks!

 

Brody

Garden Updates and Panzanella

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The garden has been on overdrive. I have been freezing more
beans than I think we can eat this year (yessss!), and the tomatoes are turning
bright colors of red and gold.

There is nothing better than fresh garden tomatoes, they are
so incredibly sweet and have so much flavor. One of my tomato plants has
actually outgrown its cage and I had to add some wooden stakes to keep it
upright. It has gotten so bushy I can’t even begin to prune it. I am not the
only one I know with this problem, so I’m thinking it must be the year of the
tomato around here.
I recently had to pull all of my arugula and lettuce mix,
since a lot of it went to seed while we were on vacation a couple weeks ago. I
think I’m going to do a late summer radish crop or maybe some other cold
weather veggies, I will have to look at what my options are. My peas are
reaching the end of days with the heat, so I’m going to pull them soon and get
ready for a fall crop of peas. Maybe this time around I’ll be able to store some
for winter, Chuck it pretty good about eating them before I can get them
stored.
In the mean time let’s talk about one of my favorite meals
with these garden treats. This year I have been loving these wonder bowls,
but also a simple classic panzanella. A nice warm panzanella with fresh garden
produce and a big glass of white wine and you have one happy camper over here.
Simple Early Season Panzanella
3 cups day-old crusty bread, cubed
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 medium tomatoes, chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
3 cups arugula
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp diced red onion
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Fresh ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. On a large cookie sheet toss
bread with1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and toast for 5-6 minutes, tossing
once. Remove from heat, and set aside. In a large bowl add all other
ingredients and toss to combine. Add the bread, and toss again. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6

Recently No. 1 – July ’14

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So I have finally made the decision to stop posting monthlyreading updates. I simply don’t read enough books lately. My focus has been on
journals, magazines, and blogs, things that don’t fit neatly into this category.
Though this might change one day and perhaps at that time I will resurrect this
series, for now however, it’s just not in the cards.
Instead I’m going to start a new series, right now we are
calling it Recently. I hope that this series will force me to become a better documenter
of our lives, something that I have been desperately trying to get better at. Besides
these are my favorite types of posts to read from other blogs, so I thought
that maybe you guys would like to see them here as well. So without further ado.
Recently.
Yes we are starting with a book, because I finally just
finished it, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next one in the series. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon they are super long, but super good!

I’ve been getting my summer frozen cocktail on, by the pool,
the beach, and on the couch. I just can’t get enough. It seems to be a pattern
though, because last year at this time I was making a different fruity
cocktail every week.

It’s Chuck’s birthday week. He’s finally reached my status
of oldness, so maybe he will start going to bed at the same time as me now. To
celebrate we are headed off to the woods for a nice long break from reality, I’m counting the days until we get there.
I just downloaded The Queen of the Tearling (Notice the $0.00 price tag!) for the trip, because ain’t
no body want to be lugging the extra 5 lbs that is Voyager (Outlander Book 3). I will be
starting that one upon our return.
My first vox box from influenster arrived a few weeks ago. I received AveenoPositively Radiant Targeted Tone Corrector. Overall I liked the product, it went on smooth and I didn’t
feel anything on my face afterward. I did notice after a couple weeks of use that some of my
darker freckles had faded. I also noticed that it took me a month to write that little
blurb for influenster and I still feel cheap. Besides I find that Vox Box Products don’t seem
to be in line with the holistic, sustainable approaches I’m currently feeling. While
I did enjoy some aspects of the program I really just don’t think it’s a good
fit here on SL&G. Readers; thanks for putting up with the little experiment though.

I read this post that lead me to this article.Yes Yes and YES. I cannot agree more. I know some of my friends think I’m crazy for the numbers of people I always have coming and going in my house (this weekend was a great example), and that I’m always cooking for these people, but this is so important to me. I grew up in a home where dinner time mattered, and it was the highlight of the day as it should be. Please read this article. It’s necessary.

My past yoga teacher wrote a book! Since we moved last year I havent been able to attend many of her classes but Jennilee is one of the most amazing and inspiring women. I would really love it if she was able to reach her kickstarter goal and get her book published. You can find more information about it all at her kickstarter page.

I was super inspired by this post, and I’m going to get my but in gear because of it.

Can we talk about this? We could all be beautiful and powerful if we had that much money too.

This article on potatoes has really got me thinking. I am amazed that this kind of stuff actually happens. Even if you don’t want to read the article at least watch this video. This girl is amazing, adorable, and the knowledge she’s giving us is crazy.

PS: Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for your free copy of the Everyday Healthy eBook! Enter Here.

Hope you all have a grand weekend!

Chuck’s Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

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It’s blueberry season in the northeast. Chuck and I try to
make time to go blueberry picking every year, but unfortunately this year has
gotten away from us. We can’t seem to make time for anything with all the
events we have to go to. I’m not loving it but I guess that’s part of being an
adult these days. I’ll be a bit relieved when this season passes for us.

Luckily a couple of friends came to visit us last weekend
and brought us a bit of the bounty from their berry picking excursions. I
couldn’t have been more thrilled that they offered to share with us! Most of
the berries were eaten just on their own, but I managed to get Chuck (the
breakfast chef of our house) to make me some blueberry pancakes.
I’m not usually a huge fan of pancakes, but these ones I just
love. They were exactly what I needed after a hectic couple days at work.
Coming back from vacation will cause some chaos let me tell you.



Chuck’s Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup unsalted butter, plus some
1 cup blueberries
In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder,
baking soda, and salt. Blend in butter, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla until it
forms a lumpy batter. Heat a small dab of butter in a skillet over medium heat
and ladle (about ¼- 1/3 cup) some of the batter into the skillet. Add a few of
the blueberries to the top of the pancake. When small bubbles begin to form in
the batter (about 2-3 minutes) flip the pancake and cook for another 2-3
minutes or until they it begins to brown. Serve warm with maple syrup. (Serves
4-6)




PS: Don’t Forget to enter the giveaway!!