Menu Monday | The Simplest Tip for Easy Meal Planning

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // October 24, 2016 // 7 Comments

Happy Monday! Did you squeeze your menu planning in over the weekend? I snuck mine in before we headed out for some friend fun. I’m glad I did! But, when I was menu planning, I discovered the super simple tip for making meal planning oh so easy.

I asked my husband what his schedule was for the week.

Duh.

You’re probably thinking “Silly Katie. You don’t do that already?” and obviously the answer to that is no. I generally have an idea of his schedule, but I don’t have access to his primary work calendar where he keeps appointments and meetings. The last few weeks I’ve gone to the effort of preparing elaborate meals, only to find out he’s not coming home until 8:00 pm. OR pack a lunch for him, and find out he actually doesn’t need a lunch.

Yesterday, he sat down for 5 minutes with me, looking at his calendar. I was able to then easily plug in easy dinners on nights when he was working late, and note to not make him lunch on Tuesday.

So simple. But makes menu planning so easy. When you know what’s going on for the week, you can plan smart.

On the menu this week is a favorite Indian cashew curry! I also pulled out a cookbook to try out. I grabbed The French Market Cookbook by Clotilde Dusoulier. It’s a French vegetarian cookbook, with recipes grouped by season. Looking forward to trying out the Mushroom + Chive Quiche with an Olive Oil tart dough.

Normally, by the end of the month I’m sharing my favorite new Pinterest recipes. But I didn’t get a chance to try anything new. Oops! But my friends over at Come Home for Comfort, Polka-Dotty Place and Wife Mommy Me are sharing theirs! So swing over and check it out!

Anyway, here’s this week’s menu:

Breakfasts:
Plain Greek Yogurt topped with Honey, Fruit + Granola
Breakfast Tacos with Black Beans, Feta + Pico de Gallo
Steel Cut Oatmeal

Lunches:
Making another batch of Harvest Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad to eat all week. I swapped out the quinoa for lentils and added diced apple and it was AMAZING!!

Dinners:
Tacos
Indian Cashew Curry
Mexican Lasagna (swapping noodles for tortillas)
Mushroom + Chive Quiche from The French Market Cookbook
Chili + Cornbread

Need more info for how I menu plan? Check this out!
Or read up on my favorite meal planning and grocery shopping hacks!

Need more ideas for dinner?
Follow my Pinterest board – it’s where I save all of my dinner ideas!

Follow Katie | Cup of Tea Blog's board Good Eats | Dinner on Pinterest.

High Five for Friday #93 | I Couldn’t Stop

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // October 21, 2016 // 12 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Today’s featured blogger is Sierra from Beautifully Candid! She’s a wife and mommy sharing her everyday life, like this post from a family fall hike. And she sneaks in fashion posts, like this one for her amazing olive green army jacket! Go over and say hi!

How was your week? Ours felt slow…. thank goodness for Friday

1. Last weekend was a usual weekend, except that there was the most epic of Ohio State football games! I stayed up to watch the whole game. It was really a tough fought game. Wisconsin and Ohio State are both REALLY good this year! But the Buckeyes ending up beating Wisconsin in overtime. To give you a little taste of OSU, if you haven’t seen their marching band’s performances, you’re missing out. They aren’t called The Best Damn Band in the Land for nothing…

2. My workout classes this week killed me. We had a leg day, and then the next day was cardio. It is SO hard to do a cardio class when your legs feel like jello… ugh. And then arms were yesterday. I was seriously considering having my husband help me shampoo my hair last night. But I’m still loving my workout classes! In fact, I just realized I’ve been doing it for 3 months now.

3. Have you ever had one of those weeks were you had a list of things that needed done, but you ended up doing other things? Ugh that was me. So many times this week I ended up tackling the random house projects instead of what needed to be done. But, I strongly believe that if you’re in the mood to tackle something, just do it! Even if it’s not to plan. It all started on Monday… I was having some friend time, and we were chatting about organizing and purging stuff. I immediately came home and cleaned out my dresser drawers. It’s a project I needed to do for a long time. I found bonus exercise shirts!

I just recently thought "I need more workout clothes…" and now, since I'm cleaning out my dresser, I see I have 8 tops already… don't think I need more…. ?#oops #dontneedmore #closetclearout

A photo posted by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on Oct 17, 2016 at 12:08pm PDT

4. And then yesterday I decided that it was the day to go through all of our toys, sort them, and then split them up into bins for toy rotation. Once I got started I couldn’t stop. So last night I was still schlepping bins and toys around up to the attic. It took longer than expected because I had a helper that wasn’t so helpful…. but he was doing his best.

5. Can we also finish saying that the Cleveland Indians are going to the World Series???? Amazing! The last time they were there I was at a home game. It was snowing. And I was in 7th grade! Wild, friends. Wild. Friends, they haven’t won a World Series since 1948! If they win, it will be one great year for Cleveland.

What was your highlight from the week? Can’t wait to hear about it!

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

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Menu Monday | Sneaking in Favorites

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // October 17, 2016 // 2 Comments

Welcome to another Menu Monday! After a play-it-by-ear week last week, it’s nice to sit down on a Sunday, look at our calendar, and plan some meals. I know I feel a lot more organized when meals are planned and the shopping list is ready.

This week we’ve got the usual stuff. A Mexican dish, a comfort food, a soup, and a few quick meals. I’m really looking forward to food this week HA!

Anyway, here’s this week’s menu:

Breakfasts:
Plain Greek Yogurt topped with Honey, Fruit + Granola
Egg Whites with Spinach + Feta
Breakfast Tacos with Black Beans, Feta + Pico de Gallo

Lunches:
Making a batch of Harvest Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad to eat all week

Dinners:
Vegetarian Stir Fried Thai Noodles
Black Bean Enchilada Casserole
Hot Dogs + Pantry Pasta Salad
Vegetarian Meatballs, Potatoes + Brussel Sprouts
Vegetarian Noodle Soup + Fresh Bread

Need more info for how I menu plan? Check this out!
Or read up on my favorite meal planning and grocery shopping hacks!

Need more ideas for dinner?
Follow my Pinterest board – it’s where I save all of my dinner ideas!

Follow Katie | Cup of Tea Blog's board Good Eats | Dinner on Pinterest.

High Five for Friday #92 | Why I’m Missing…

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // October 14, 2016 // 5 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Today’s featured blogger is Sam from Picture Almost Perfect! She’s a mom to a family of 6! Her sweet blog is full of stories about family adventures, home projects and tons of fun. She’s been blogging since December 2015 so her blogiversary is coming up!! You can get to know her by catching up on her Blogtember posts (looked like it was a fun challenge!). Go say hello to Sam!

I’ve been so MIA the last few months… I’d like to say that bugs me, but I’m ok with that. Here’s why…

1. Family time has been trumping everything lately. With a new baby, and a big sister that needs as much mommy time as I can spare, my free time is limited. But I have actually been LOVING all this great family time. Random playground trips, play dates, trips to treasure hunt for fun things. Can’t get enough!

2. William has been such a fun baby! He’s constantly smiling, laughing and taking in all the excitement Elizabeth has to offer. He’s now 4.5 months old. Can’t believe it! And Elizabeth celebrated her 3rd Birthday on Tuesday! She had a week-long celebration with visits from Grandparents, but her official birthday was Tuesday. She is such a sweet, smart, funny girl.

3. I’ve been prioritizing quiet time lately and not doing anything other than relaxing, reading and enjoying the peace.

Elizabeth is at school… William is napping… so it's time for my favorite spot, with my favorite magazine, with my new favorite mug from @ellieandaddie ☕️☕️☕️ thank you!!! #mugloveexchange #mugswap #mommytime #teatime

A photo posted by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on Oct 13, 2016 at 7:02am PDT

4. Is the weather beautiful where you are?? After all the crazy hurricane weather Friday/Saturday last week, we emerged on the other side of it with the most perfect Fall weather. Blue skies, a little breeze, and no hotter than 70. It’s ideal!! We’ve been doing a lot of playground time, neighborhood walks and backyard stick collecting. And dining al fresco has become a daily tradition.

5. The last few months have been all about family. Time with the kids. Time with my husband. We have become the masters of last minute dates nights! We’ve got our baby sitter on text response, so if that evening we want to head out, we just text her! It’s great! (Parent Pro Tip – Always have a high school baby sitter! She’s always willing to come over!) It’s been nice having more family time squeezed into the weeks.

What was your highlight from the week? Can’t wait to hear about it!

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

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High Five for Friday #91 | Home Sweet Home

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // October 7, 2016 // 7 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Today’s featured blogger is Shelby from Life as the Coats! She’s a blogger from Tennessee, sharing all about her life as a newly married woman. She’s super organized. I mean… look at her Christmas planner prinatables!!! Be sure to swing over and say hello!

We are home! Yay! We pulled into the garage last night at 7:30pm. This trip was a little shorter because we decided to live on snacks and not stop for proper picnics. We had a great time! Let me share some of my favorite pictures!

1. One of our favorite surprises was a local museum. They had the cutest kid-friendly exhibits, including this pretend diner.

2. There was non-stop rain the first part of our trip… poo. But when the rain stopped for a moment we went to a pumpkin patch and apple orchard! We bought a ton of honey crisp apples (the best!) and fresh donuts.

3. All those apples went to good use. My mom showed Elizabeth how to make a pie. This apparently is a theme for when we visit my mom.

4. Our favorite stop, hands down, was the local zoo! They have an Africa area that is just adorable! All theme-y, with close up views of the animals. Elizabeth’s fav part was feeding the giraffes. She made friends with a giraffe named CeeCee.

This sign! HAHA!

5. I wish I had snapped a pic of this, but my sister hauled up all of our old barbies for Elizabeth to play. (How many of your barbies still have hair? We only have 2…) Elizabeth was obsessed with them. It was a hoot to watch! One afternoon, I went in there to sort through the pile of clothes to toss any that looked worse for wear. About an hour later, I couldn’t stop sneezing! I normally silent sneeze so the fact that I was sneezing out loud was a big deal HA! Turns out I had an allergic reaction to all the dust/mildew shmuck that was in those Barbie clothes. Gross!!

What was your highlight from the week? Can’t wait to hear about it!

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

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