Busy weekend.. and *YUM* menu

We have had a busy weekend! I actually can't wait until tomorrow so that I can just spend a day at home! I love getting out and doing things but sometimes it's nice to be home too! Friday we took Luke to the Zoo for the first time. He had a great time. The weather was nice... just a little humid. Luke recognized a lot of the animals too. Saturday we went and had lunch with some of R's family. We had a good time visiting and Luke enjoyed running around and being a boy! Yesterday afternoon I spent cooking and cleaning for family to come in today. Then, this morning at church we had baby dedication. And although Luke is 16 months old (Ahh.. is he really that old??) he has never been a part of a baby dedication.
Just to be clear about a baby dedication, here is what it's about: A baby dedication is where the pastor recognizes the baby & the baby's parents. It's a charge to the parents to bring their child up in a God-fearing, Christian home. Luke was presented with a blue New Testament and a certificate. The pastor spoke for a minute about the greatest responsibility a parent has- raising their child! We were all prayed over and that was it. Our desire as Luke's parents is to raise him to know who Jesus is... what He did... and why He did it! We want Luke to know what real faith is... nothing watered down. It's our responsibility as parents to help him learn these things. So, that's basically what a baby dedication is all about.
Anyways, after church we had lunch with my parents and R's mom and step dad and grandparents. Luke got a few gifts and had a blast being the center of attention (just like his daddy!) even though he seems to be getting a cold. BTW, he did great up in front of the church. He had a moment or 2 where he wanted to get down but he really did pretty good! I was kind of worried because usually the only time he's in the sanctuary is after the service where he can kind of run around and play!

So because of the busy weekend I did not have time to post our weekly menu. Here it is (plus a recipe from last weeks menu):

Mexican Tortilla Pie, salad
Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie*
Chicken Noodle Soup, corn muffins
Meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Last weeks menu had 'Golden Chicken w/ Noodles (crockpot)' recipe from a Campbell's cookbook. Well, I had intended on making it Thursday but my chicken didn't thaw out in time to get it in the crockpot... anyways to make a long story short I made it Friday night in the oven. I changed the recipe a lot and it was so yummy. R even said it was good... And cleaned his plate.. and he doesn't do that often. He's so picky and finiky!!! Anyways, here is my new recipe:

Baked Chicken w/ Carrots and Peas

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 onion chopped
3/4 c carrots chopped (I used baby carrots)
3/4 c frozen peas
1 clove of garlic chopped (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 can, 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
1/4 c water
The juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1/2 Tbs dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pound of egg noodles, cooked

Preheat oven to 425. Heat 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil in skillet on med heat. Add onions, garlic (if you're using garlic powder add it in with the soup) and carrots and let cook for aprox. 10 min to soften. Meanwhile, season chicken breast w/ salt and pepper. Heat a small amt of oil in large skillet on med high heat. Add chicken and sear meat on both sides (about 5 minutes on each side. While chicken and carrot mixture is cooking, in a seperate bowl, mix together soup, water, lemon juice, and dijon mustard (S & P to taste). Reduce the heat down to med-low and add soup mixture to the carrots and onions and stir. Bring the soup mix up to a bubble and then turn off heat. Stir in frozen peas and arrange chicken in pan. Cook covered in the oven for about 15 minutes and unovered for another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. The last 5-10 minutes of cooking time should be uncovered for sauce to thicken. If your skillet is not oven proof you can easily put this into a baking dish. While chicken is baking, boil egg noodles. Serve chicken, veggies and sauce over egg noodles.
So yummy and can easily be doubled!! We had this with a side salad. I usually only cook just enough for the 3 of us with maybe one leftover for lunch the next day because I'm the only one who really eats leftovers! I hate to waste!
Some notes: I don't use a lot of butter to cook but sometimes a little is ok. I always use real butter, usually unsalted... no margerine for me! I mean really, what is margerine?? I'd much rather eat something a little fatty than something that I'm not even sure what it is! I read somewhere that margerine is just a few molecules away from being plastic! YUCK! When you mix the butter w/ olive oil, it doesn't burn as easily as it would on it's own in a hot pan.

Not sure why I rambled on today... :)