Recipe Organization and Menu Planning

I have been realizing more and more lately that I love cooking for my family! It brings me such joy to make them happy with the food I prepare. I am constantly looking for new recipes to try. That is actually one of my favorite things to do! The other night I was telling Craig about how much I love to do that, and he kind of snorted-laughed and said, "That sounds so boring!" Well lucky for us he isn't the one doing the cooking!

I wanted to share a great new system that I have come up with. I have recipes galore, and they are on cards, papers, magazine pages, in cookbooks, everywhere! I wanted to come up with something that organized all of our favorite recipes in one place. This is my answer:


I LOVE my little binder! I found it online through Amazon. It has tabs that I have labeled "Breakfast" "Lunch" "Dinner" "Sides" "Breads" "Desserts" etc. When I find a good recipe to try in a magazine I tear it out and put it in another binder that is my "To Try" binder. When I find a recipe online I copy and paste it to a Word document and save it on my computer. Then after we have tried it we determine if it makes the cut or not into the Recipe Saver.

Every Saturday morning is my time to prepare the next week's menu and grocery list, then go do my shopping. I write out the menu on a white board that we have sitting on the kitchen counter. Craig refers to it often throughout the week when he is curious about what's for dinner. I love this routine! It works great for us. I would love to hear what you do! So come on all you "shy commenters" out there...Let me hear from you!

Good Times

It is definitely time for an update from the Engelbrecht Household! As I previously posted, Craig is now lifting the boys again, which makes my life so much easier! Those 6 weeks were grueling, but we had some great times in there too!

Craig's brother Kevin and his family came to visit! Dalton is just one month older than Gage, and Bentley is 3 months now (2 months when they were here!).

We had lots of fun having them here!

And these two little leprechauns were here for a few days during Spring Break.

Gage had fun watching Will play the Wii.


And we went to Jordan Creek for some shopping and playtime.

That afternoon while we were enjoying the beautiful weather, Gage locked himself in the Envoy ...long story! But the good news is that our 2 year old is so smart, he can also UNLOCK the door as well!


We also visited Gma & Gpa E. in there, and had visits from GrandMary too. So really, as you can see, those 6 weeks went by very WELL!

Here I Come!

Well, a GREAT thing happened last week...We (or should I say Craig) hit the 6 week mark of post-surgery recovery!!! So that means he can start lifting more. He is still taking it easy, but I am no longer tied down to being the only one who can lift Gage and Eli, which means I can actually leave the house, alone! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my boys, but everyone needs a little freedom too!

So miscellaneous appointments, women's Bible study, Bunco, and girls night out...here I come!