Meal Planning Monday 3/9-14 - Vacation Edition and Fruit and Walnut Salad

We are going to the beach Monday with Jason's parents and his brother's family. We are staying most of the week in a big ol' house. Should be really nice. Our plan is for each family to take care of their own meals. I'm going to try to bring stuff from home so we can avoid "vacation-food-spending" - you know where you spend more than you usually would because "it's vacation." Like being on vacation means you no longer need to be frugal. I guess the idea is to relax and that is good, but we don't have the money for "it's vacation" this time. 

Breakfasts: bagels with cream cheese, oatmeal, egg sandwiches, toast and jelly
-pack: a bag of mini-bagels, a tub of cream cheese, some packets of oatmeal, eggs, bread, cheese , jelly, butter, juice boxes, apples
-pick-up - milk

Lunch: ham sandwiches, fruit, fruit and yogurt salad, ramen, grilled cheese, chips and salsa, hot dogs, mac n cheese, yogurt
-pack: ham, cheese, 2 loafs of bread, mayo, mustard, plain yogurt, glazed walnuts (make this tonight to take), ramen, apples (above), butter (above), tortilla chips, salsa, hot dogs, buns, ketchup, mac n cheese, milk (above), Ariel's baby yogurt, canned fruit
-pick-up: grapes, yogurt

Snacks: stuff from above, chips, dip, snack cakes, soda, water, hot tea, crackers
-pack: sour cream, dip mix, 2 12 packs pepsi, 2 2 liters of soda, water pitcher, juice (above), milk (above), hot tea, sugar, plain crackers, and snack crackers
-pick-up: little debbies, chips

Dinner: turns out this is kinda happening together (though maybe not in this order)
Monday - birthday celebration - sandwiches, nacho dip
Tuesday - Jackie's spaghetti
Wednesday - Jackie's chicken chow mein and rice
Thursday - Eat with Grandma and Papa at their house
Friday - Hamburgers and Hot dogs

This doesn't look bad at all...just a few things from the grocery store! We'll probably help get the stuff for Friday too.

Recipe from Last week:  Fruit and Yogurt Salad

We love this little snack. It's healthy, simple, tasty, and easy. I've shared the link to the recipe before, but I figure we like it so much it is worth sharing in more detail. It's a copy-cat recipe for McDonald's Fruit and Walnut salad.

I like it so much I'm actually going to type it in here, but know it's not my original (not much is).

Candied Walnuts:
1 tsp peanut oil (I usually use vegetable oil since I don't have peanut oil in the house and it works ok)
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Combine all ingredients except walnuts in a skillet over medium heat.
2. When it begins to bubble, add walnuts and stir constantly.
3. Remove from heat when they begin to carmelize. (For me, I know this is happening when they begin to smoke a little.)
4. Stir for a minute or so, then pour onto a plate. Toss so they won't stick together. (They break apart really easily if they stick, so don't worry.)

Making the Salad:

Apples
lemon juice
grapes
vanilla yogurt
glazed walnuts

1. core and slice apples into wedges (you might use red and green for color)
2. pour lemon juice in a ziploc baggie and toss apples in after slicing to avoid browning
3. combine grapes, apple slices, yogurt and walnuts...yummy (the recipe link recommends specific amounts of each, but I just throw it together to my taste)

We really love this little snack (I think I already said that, but it's true). The walnuts are good by themselves too. In fact, I often double the recipe for the walnuts so we have extra just for snacking. You can change the fruit. We've had it with just grapes, we've added blueberries, we've added sliced peaches and nectarines...all good. 

You really should try this one!!  It might be my favorite.