Menu Monday #46

On Friday night, we decided to visit our favorite local seafood restaurant, Riverfront Seafood Company. We've never had anything bad to eat there, and this time was no exception. Josh and I both decided we wanted to try one of their newer dishes, pasta jambalaya. It had great flavor and we both really enjoyed it! I also really love their Caesar salad, too. The plate was huge, so we were both able to save leftovers for the next day. Had we known, we could have just split an order! For dessert, we indulged in their blackberry cake with cream cheese icing. It's delicious, and inspired me to make my blackberry cupcakes a couple years ago! :)



On Saturday morning, I made whole wheat pumpkin pancakes with cream cheese icing, per the boys' request. I escaped took off after that to get my hair done. ;) After much internal debate, I decided to go for it and get some bangs cut again. I've spent the last couple years without them, so I guess I decided it was time for a change again. I'm so glad I did, because I'm loving them!! :) For dinner, we went to one of our favorite pizza restaurants, Scratch. It had been ages since we'd been there and Josh had been bugging me for weeks to go. I love their pizza, just not their wait times, so with three little ones now, I was afraid it might be rough. The boys did really well though! We ordered the pesto cheesesticks for them (they can tear them up!), and a "full trust" pizza for us. This just means that we let them decide what they want to put on our pizza! :) This time I know we had red sauce, spinach, jalapeño peppers, mandarin oranges, tomatoes, peperone, another homemade meat, and feta cheese on it. I may have missed something? It tasted great, as it always does! After dinner, we finished up a beautiful night at Menchie's with some frozen yogurt, and actually enjoyed eating it outside!

To finish up a fantastic day, we finally got some movement on the potty training with Noah! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, he's only gone once since then, but we're hopeful, now that we've actually been able to get him to consider the idea! I'm doing his potty chart a bit differently than I did Ethan's. For Ethan, he put a star on the calendar every time he went, and also got a Hot Wheels or Matchbox car with each star. Yes, that quickly became expensive, but it worked! Haha! So, we quickly changed it to a car for every 5 stars, then 10, etc. He was trained in a very short time, so we were spoiled with him. For Noah, we're going to do bigger prizes, but he has to fill up an entire line on the chart before he gets it. Hopefully it will work well, too. Time will tell. If you are interested in downloading a copy of this chart to use for your training toddler, see the bottom of this post!

On Sunday morning, Josh made our usual egg sandwiches for breakfast. After church, we checked out the buffet at our local Indian restaurant, Sahib. We love their food, but they also make for a very long meal when we order from the menu. So, we thought that'd make for a win-win to enjoy some Indian food without the wait! It was also a great way to sample a lot of other dishes that we don't normally order. Everything was really good, but did lack a bit of the heat that we typically enjoy.

Sunday: Grilled chicken salad

After a heavy lunch, we needed something lighter for dinner, so we had spinach salads topped with grilled chicken strips. I also put cilantro lime ranch dressing, sunflower seeds, basil pesto croutons, and a little shredded mozzarella cheese on mine. Yum!

Monday: Blackened cajun salmon, brown rice, oven roasted asparagus

We'll season our salmon filets with Josh's homemade cajun seasoning, grill them, and serve them over the rice. On the side, the asparagus. It's one of my favorite meals!

Tuesday: Melt in your mouth baked chicken, tricolor rotini, oven roasted brussels sprouts

We haven't had this one in awhile, so it will be good. I'm trying brussels sprouts for the first time, too! I'll let you know how that goes! ;) The recipe I linked to coats them in a mixture of EVOO and balsamic vinegar, then roasts them just like any other veggie. I've also found a few other recipes I'd like to try if we like how these taste. :)

Wednesday: Cajun pork chops, roasted sweet potatoes, vegetable quinoa
We'll either grill or sear the pork chops on the stovetop, depending on what the weather is doing. I'm changing up the sides a bit this time. We'll do sweet potatoes (so I can introduce them to Amos!!), and some quinoa on the side.

Thursday: Stuffed chicken meatballs with linguine and spaghetti sauce

I'm trying another new recipe this week. I saw it on one of the blogs I read and thought it sounded good! The boys love meatballs, and cheese, so I'm hoping this will be a hit! :)

Friday: Girls night out!

I'll be attending my first GNO since before I had Amos!! Can you tell I'm excited? Haha! I love going out with all of my guys, but sometimes it's nice to be able to chat with some ladies, too. ;)

Saturday: TBD

We'll probably go out, unless I decide to make some pizza at home. We purchased the movie Frozen (since I've heard nothing but good things about it!!) this past weekend, so we need to find sometime to watch it! So maybe we'll make it a movie night at home?

What's on your menu this week?

And here is a downloadable potty chart:

This should be printed as an 8.5" x 11" sheet. We're using the toilet graphic for #1 and the toilet paper graphic for #2. ;) I have little star stickers that he gets to put on the chart when he's successful! :) Once an entire row is filled, then a sticker is placed on the star and he'll get a big prize!