It's Midterm Week!

So this week in our household (flat) it's a bit of a stress-ball of a week. Dave is in the middle of writing his first set of midterms and is studying like crazy. And I thought that I didn't see him before when he just had class....this week it seems I have had A LOT of time to myself (I shouldn't complain though, I am getting a lot of things done and organized and am so proud of how hard my husband works....I could never do what he does!).

This week I wanted to do something for Dave to try and ease the stress of exams. I started thinking and realized that the one thing that my husband LOVES (well one of many things) is home cooked meals and baked goods. He isn't really a chocolate person (which is just wrong in my opinion) but instead loves home baked cookies, pies, muffins and so on.

This week my task was to find some new recipes to try and to have a new dessert every day this week...my goal was for him to be excited to see what we were having each night and hopefully make him think less of exams...although I think it only worked for about 20 minutes (the time we were eating) and then back to the books for him...and dishes for me!

Every week (although I usually have this done about two weeks in advance) I create a meal plan and a grocery list to help try and organize our lives. To be very honest, this really is the first year of our marriage (although we have been married for four years) where we have some what been able to establish a routine. 

Our Photo, Receipts and Menu Board! I am a 'visual learner' so all of these things aid in my need to be organized! (And Mama and Papa your post card arrived...it's right above our "travel" envelope)

Our weekly Menu along with the recipes for each meal attached and easily accessible!

This weeks Menu! The times on there are not me being crazy of when to start dinner...it's so that I know when Dave will be home that day from school!

During our first three years of marriage both of us were in school and both working two jobs. Having a meal plan, let alone a dessert plan was not our #1 (Thank goodness we had Mama's Kitchen fully stocked in our freezer!!!).

I am a creative person by nature and I have found that I am loving 'creating' in the kitchen. I have realized with a little confidence, a loving and supportive husband and time...anything is possible!!!

I feel as though for the first time we are "falling" into the routine of married life and have a glimpse of what our lives will be like for the next few years (although with so much "unknown" at this point...who knows what will happen!).

One of the things that is a little hard to get use to here in England (and can be a very tiring process) is that you have to do groceries almost weekly and it isn't a "one stop shop"...Oh how I wish there was a Target!  I spent 3 hours monday trying to locate all the ingredients that I needed for this week...hence why I need to have a list (and basically a GPS that shows me the exact location of each item...hmm I wonder if there is an App. for that???).

So on today's Menu:

Dinner: Three Cheese Chicken Alfredo Baked with Buns
Dessert: Snickers Caramel Cheesecake Cookies.

I am obsessed with the site Pinterest (www.pinterest.com) (It's a love/hate relationship at this point lol) and have been getting all of these great ideas and recipes for our meal plans off of there. I actually tried two recipes yesterday but unfortunately do not have pictures to show.

But I thought I would add the pictures from today to show just how easy each one was. Both recipes turned out amazing (the Alfredo is definitely for at least a family of four. We're a family of two. You do the math of how long we will be eating this!).  And the dessert was AMAZING!!! I loved it because after words I individiually wrapped the dessert so that all you have to do is grab it and go and you have a sweet treat in your lunch.


Cheesy Chicken Alfredo Baked:

First you cook chicken breast (add seasoning as desired) and cook your pasta (I did Penne)

Cut your chicken into small cubes or strips (Leave this for now)

In a bowl you are going to mix: 1 cup Sour Cream, 2 cups Ricotta Cheese, 2 1/2 cups Alfredo Sauce ( I would add a little more), 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 2 eggs and fresh parsley. Basically add as much (or little) of each  depending on how much sauce you want. Then add your chicken and pasta to this sauce.

After mixing in the chicken and pasta with the sauce and sprinkling Mozzarella on top, this is what it will look like! Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Dave was very excited! He approved!

Snickers Caramel Cheesecake Cookies:

So I couldn't find Graham crackers anywhere...and when I asked, no one knew what I was talking about. I found this "graham cracker pie crust" and thought...yep this will have to do.

I broke the crust apart and added a little melted butter to make it all stick together.

Cut three snickers bars into small pieces (and set aside)

Added the graham crackers and packed them down to create a "shell or crust" for the filling

Baked the graham crackers for 5 minutes at 350 degrees

This is the cream cheese filling (sorry no photos of the process). Basically cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, sugar and caramel all combined and the snickers bars crumbled on top (once cream cheese filling is in the graham cracker crust). Then you bake these for 25 minutes at 350.

Individual cheesecakes! So Yummy. Wouldn't these be so cute wrapped for little gifts...hahah girls you may be getting some gifts soon!

Added a little whip cream and caramel (not in picture).

One teeny tiny bottle of vanilla...yes everything is small in England!

I had to go everywhere searching for caramel sauce! But this sauce was REALLY good!

We LOVED this dessert. We will certainly be making it again...once we have eaten all the dessert currently in the house lol!

What did you make for dinner tonight? Perhaps it will be our next meal and make it onto our "Menu Board".