Ready to face the week!

This upcoming week is the first week I will work 5 days since mid December.  It's going to be a long week!!  I decided to simplify my evenings by cooking our meals for the week this morning.  From start to finish (including clean-up), it took less than 2 hours.  We also have plenty of leftovers from yesterday's cooking to help cover lunches for the week.

It's a messy process!

Every time I make the effort on a weekend to prepare our meals for the week, I am sooooo glad to have it done.  It makes our weeknights go much smoother.  I selected three different dishes that use ground beef as a base so that I wouldn't have to cook multiple meats today.  I started by chopping some onions, garlic and scallions to cook with the beef and then went on to assemble the following:

1. Hamburger soup
2. Taco Meatloaf Pasta Casserole (pasta-based)
3. Beefy One Pot Dinner (potato and baked bean-based)

Hamburger soup freezes well and is such an easy lunch.  I was also able to throw in some extra squash that I wanted to use.  My mom suggested the Taco casserole.  I wanted a third recipe that would use some of the homemade baked beans, so the beefy one pot dinner seemed to work.  I'll just need to make a side salad each night and get something for Cameron since these are definitely not his type of meal (anything with food mixed together does not sit well with Cameron).

Hamburger Soup - tomatoes, squash, pasta, green/yellow beans, ground beef, carrots, onions, beef broth, French onion soup:

Taco Meatloaf Casserole - beef, tomatoes, taco seasoning, spices, pasta, cheese and tortilla chips (to be added before baking):

One Dish Dinner - beef, potatoes, carrots, baked beans, onion, BBQ sauce, cheese:

It's funny how everything looks the same when there's cheese on top! 

Skating
Since Cameron's class is going skating this week, we thought we should do a little refresher skate this afternoon as a confidence builder.  We chose to skate at an indoor rink because it's -20C with windchill right now and that's just too darn cold.  I was coerced/guilted/prodded into skating with the boys so I put on my skates for the first time in several years and remembered just how small my skates are.  Ouch.

Picture while I was still on the ice (I also got a lovely video until I started to fall backwards):

Picture from the sideline when I could bear the pain from my skates no longer (it was so busy!):

After skating, we came home for homemade pizza.  Pesto pizza with spinach, red pepper, mushrooms (before adding cheese):

After baking:

Half-marathon? 10k?
I'm still following my pre-plan training schedule for the half marathon this spring.  I think I need to bite the bullet and sign myself up for the half, otherwise I'll let myself slack off and do the 10k.  I need the extra motivation that comes from paying an entry fee to keep on track with my mileage.  I had a good run on Friday and today (both on the treadmill) and it's encouraging me to increase my weekly mileage.  Must keep up with the foam-roller though!

Book Talk
Now, time to return to my book.  I've been reading the Agatha Raisin series by M.C. Beaton.  I love light-hearted mysteries!  I think I'm on book 8 or 9 in the series  and they're quite humorous at times.  I definitely go through cycles with my reading and I'm currently in the mood for non-thought provoking literature.  This series fits the bill!