Updating.

I wrote this post, then forgot to publish it, so here it is.

Since Mr. M is finally taking a nap, I decided to take advantage and catch my blogs up.  Here is the whole thing in a short nutshell.

I finally got the pantry cleaned up, still need to clean out the main freezer and inventory it.  I am even more determined to get organized and back in to menu planning.  Will probably have to make more effort to post to my HOUSE blog dedicated to cooking, meal planning and such. In all honesty, I had totally forgotten I already had the blog established until I was looking at the main one to see how I linked the others up.  I am so totally full of good intentions and so totally end up in total failure.  I just can't stand a scattered blog so have to compartmentalize it all.  Yeah, I know, I am nuts.  It runs in the family though.  I have however been doing more cooking from the pantry, simple cooking but from scratch.  Hubby is sure happy with it.   I have been doing really well on staying on budget for the most part.  That is about to be tweaked up even more.  More about that when I post to my food blog.  I am pleased that I have hit some rather good sales lately at a local market, their mark downs due to date to expire soon, and have filled my freezer.  If I have planned correctly, I have all the meat I need to make menu plans and meals until about the middle of July.  We will be getting ready for vacation about then, so I will be buying as we need.  I will do a major buy when we get back from vacation and settled in.  More about those plans when I post to the food blog as well.  Needless to say, there will be a lot of menu planning, a lot of cooking ahead or freezer cooking to try and get myself a little more organized for after Miss C arrives.  Once she is born and daughter-in-law is done with her maternity leave, I will be daycare for a toddler and a newborn.  I am not going back to eating out so often (mainly I grab drive thru for lunch), buying processed dishes at the store, so I plan to stock the freezer with ready made meals or the components to throw together quick meals after the kids are picked up.

On the home business front, I didn't plan it well as far as timing, but am now a Pampered Chef consultant.  I don't have any friends that want to host a party, don't have room in my home to host any shows, so am not really sure how this will work out, but am giving it at least until the end of the year.

Sunday I am taking my first class to learn how to operate my new sewing machine.  It has been in layaway, the plan was to leave it there until about September.  I have determined however, it is really rather stupid not to have it home where I can use it.  After all, the reason I invested in the machine in the first place was to make my life, at least the sewing aspect of it, easier and faster.  With every thing going on all summer, I really do need it here where I can actually use it.  Still on the to do list for fall though is learning how to use my software programs, EQ7 and EQ Stitch, to get the most out of that investment as well.

Thanks for stopping by and come visit often.

Wednesday Wrap-up Workings

I came home Monday night and found that hubby had loaded Office 2007 on my computer. I am so happy to have my Word and Excell back, especially my Office photo manager.  YEAH!  It is so much easier to work with photos now.

Speaking of which, here is how the Nativity is looking.

At least this project is coming a long with out any problems.  As you know it is a UFO that I am determined to finish.  As slow as I stitch I am confident in saying that this will not be finished in time for Christmas.  Maybe by Christmas...2013?  It is fun to work on now, I can actually see some of the figures coming to life.  A wise man kneeling, the manger, an angel, a shepherd looking on.

Also, if you followed any of my postings, you would know that my "house" project was scrapped and am now going to scrap the SW Angel.  There is just way more work to taking out stitches and correcting stitching mistakes than is worth.  While I dearly adore the elderly friend that gave it to me, I have decided to just start from scratch and make a new one.  I will start on her after the holidays are over.  I have a few kits as well that I plan to work on.  I must say, the hands free embroidery stands are working quite wonderfully.  Just need to get the hang of tying off when I end a color.  It is awkward and bothersome to loosen a screw, flip the frame over, end that color...or start one for that matter...then flip it back over to work on.  I did see a neat YouTube video that is a basic how to for counted cross stitching.  It is really quicker stitching, with an in and out in one motion of the needle, however, with all the work I have already done on the piece it is a bit difficult at times to work the needle in and out from the same side.  But...that may be due in part to the fact that the cloth is loaded sideways in the scroll.  The cloth is way more wider than it is tall, so it only fits in a scroll frame sideways.  I am tempted to go back to a hoop frame and then place that in the floor frame.

Last night I made soup for supper.  We are all sick to different degrees.  Hubby has had it the worst, so he wanted to pass it on for our enjoyment.  I have had it, while my throat isn't so sore anymore, I have lost most of my voice, nose is running like crazy and I am so tired.  Taking care of Mr. M is not helping the matter either.  Miss Zebra has so far gotten by with barely any bug effects at all. Anyway, I made Enchilada Meatball Tortellini soup.  OH WAS IT GOOD! I really need to get my but in gear and get back to organizing a menu plan, start posting again on MPM and get this house cleaned up.  I still have stuff in a storage unit from mom.  Speaking of which, I need to make myself sit down and fill out forms for her insurance, social security death benefit, and finish up her personal papers to get ready for her final tax return.  So much to do, that I just don't really want to deal with.  And, especially this time of year, I miss them both so much.  I just get this overwhelming feeling of being an orphan.  Even though I am a grown woman with a mostly grown family of my own.

Now, hubby wants us to go camping and dirt bike riding with a dirt bike club this week end.  I am thinking that none of us are well enough to do this, and I can only think of all the things I need to do to get ready for Christmas.  I really do need to some how organize myself so that I can find time to not only stitch on my counted cross stitch project, but also on my quilting.  In January I will be building three crazy quilt diamond shapes and embellish them with embroidery and such for a swap.  The embellishment will take a little time to be sure, fortunately I sew really fast so building them will only take one evening. We will see what happens I guess.

Thanks for dropping in, come back often.

UFO - Monday Menu Plan - 10/29

Well, what a start to the week.  Storms looming in the east, earthquake in Canada, also had one in Riverside where my youngest son, Mr. G, is attending college. The one here in California was actually quite small. Only measured 3.9, son said he didn't even feel it.  For those who aren't from earthquake areas, it really has to be close to a 5.0 before  you really feel it or notice it.  Hawaii is waiting a tsunami alert as well, due to the Canada earthquake.  The latest one is being listed at 7.7 and was off the west coast of British Columbia.

At any rate, the earth is speaking and mother nature is putting in her two cents as well.

Now, it is Monday, that means menu plan time.  I haven't linked up with MPM in a while, and as late as I am getting it done today I will be far...far down on the list, but I am following through.

In no particular order, this is what is planned for this week:

Oven Baked Pork Chops, Chicken Gnocchi soup (Olive Garden copy recipe), Beef Stroganoff, Liver and onions, Chicken Enchiladas.

Today is the pork chops, Tues will be the soup as I will be baking and decorating LOTS of cupcakes, Wed. will eat at Halloween alternative carnival at church.  I am making cupcakes for the cupcake walk.  Miss Z is going to help at the booths and food stand.

Okay, as I posted earlier, I have the quilting bug.  Also the crochet bug, embroidery bug and cross stitch bug.  I have been working on trying to organize my craft room so that I can actually do some work on all these UFO projects before starting a new one.

This is a quilt top called Rancher's Daughter and is a free pattern by Debbie Caffrey.  She has a website called Debbie's Creative Moments.  I used 30's repro fabric and a white on white for the background.  I originally pieced this top to make a wedding quilt for my oldest son and his wife.  Things happened, the wedding was postponed, then called off, they they broke up, after a while they got back together, then married.  I figure I need to go ahead and finish it and hope to give it to them for Christmas.  They married in 2008.  I know, a little behind the times there.  I haven't been able to figure out what to back it with.  The finished size is 78 x 90 so thought I would get some really wide muslin but decided I didn't want a light back with their house of dogs and the baby.  I have decided to find a blue or green flannel and piece the back.  I think the flannel will be a nice soft feel for it as I want them to actually use it.

I have just ordered some quilting software, Quilt Design Wizard by Electric Quilt Company.  It is the same company that makes EQ 7 which is now on my wish list.  I use to have EQ 5 and inadvertently sold it. I never did really figure out what to do with it, so have been a little apprehensive at spending the rather pricey amount for the updated EQ 7.  It was explained to me that Quilt Design Wizard is like using colored pencils and a coloring book where as EQ 7 is like graduating to Photo Shop.  For the price, I am content to just start with beginner software then upgrade if I find I am using it a lot.  Both programs are used to design and calculate yardage for quilts.  You can play with the colors and block design a bit before actually cutting in to the fabric.  Of course, the EQ 7 has lots more features, like scanning fabric you have and seeing what it will look like in a block, which is why I will probably end up getting it in the future.  But for now, as I said I am content to pay the much lower price for the beginner software.

I have six quilts in various stages of completion that I need to complete before I start a new project.  I am really itching to use the new AccuQuilt Go that is on the way.  I think I will really like using that set up.

I also found some needle projects in various stages of progress.

 This is called Victorian House.  I bought this kit when we moved here and were staying in the hotel until we could get our furniture and get moved in to the house we bought.  That was in 2000.  You can see I just haven't gotten very far.

Here is a closer view of what it should look like when I actually do get finished.  It really is a lovely design. I would love to actually have a house that looks just like it someday.  Although I find counted cross stitch infuriatingly slow and tedious, I do love the technique.  I am actually looking in to buying some soft ware that will allow me to scan a photo and turn it in to a cross stitch or needle point chart.  Needle point goes quicker for me, but it gets boring quick for me since it is the same stitch over and over.  Counted cross stitch is that way too, but the small stitch size is what gets to me pretty quickly.

This is a stamped embroidery design.  May have been a kit, but I am just using basic colors for the project. It is the Last Supper.  I can't remember when I bought it, but it was several years ago when I was in my "every good Christian home needs to have a last supper on the wall" phase.  As you can see, it has been put up a while.  At least it has a bit more variation on stitches as it is an embroidery sampler.

Not that you can tell, but this is supposed to be a native american maiden with pottery and a wolf beside her.  I actually didn't start this one, was given to me, but I have misplaced the chart so have no way of finishing it.  I should have gotten rid of it, but am waiting a bit longer until I finish going through all my boxes in storage to see if I accidentally find the chart.  If I haven't found it by the time I go through the boxes, then after the first of the year I will either try to salvage the cloth by removing the stitches or just toss it.

Last night I loaded a Red Hat Lady design from a kit on a frame to work on as well.  It is stamped cross stitch and I have never worked on a piece like it.  The fabric has the design stamped in all the same color.  You have to read the chart to figure out which stitches or what color.  Kind of like counted cross stitch, except the x of the stitches are stamped on a white cotton fabric.

And of course, I have several crochet UFO's as well.

 This was the start of a playful ripple pattern, found it free on the internet.  I am quite a bit further a long than when this photo was taken, but not finished.  I don't know how big it will actually end up, I only have two large scraps of the variegated yarn, so will keep going as long as I have that yarn.  I was going to donate this one, but am so pleased that I actually have a ripple working out correctly for a change I may keep it.  However, every one that sees it tells me how lovely it is so I might just use it to start up my Etsy store.  With everything I have been buying lately, I could sure use the money.

This is of course a Spider man afghan, well the start of it anyway.  I have since added more rounds of blue and another set or red since this photo was taken.  I started this for my middle grand son, now two.  I haven't made anything for him yet and I need to.  I think he will like it.  I came across a fleece John Deere throw kit, one where the edges are knotted, and knowing he loves tractors, I will make that too.  Was going to sell the kit, but figure since he has a thing for tractors, I have already paid for it, well...might as well.

I made this for the oldest grand son, the middle one's brother.  Yes, he is a UT fan, and of course his PaPa is a Tech fan, so Mr. T takes great fun in purposely wearing UT clothing when ever he is around his PaPa.  My oldest daughter has two sons, Mr. T, the oldest grand son, is 9.  His brother, Mr. W is 2.  The youngest grand son, Mr. M, is my oldest son's and I keep him during the day.

Guess that is enough for today. Thanks for stopping by.  Come back and visit soon.  Got to go take care of Mr. M, eat some lunch, and Miss Zebra is home from school today, found out last week she has mono.

Menu Plan Monday - 9/24

Well, best laid plans?  What a week, what a week end. I am trying to stay on track with my menu planning, and of course that means linking my post to Menu Plan Monday over at Organizing Junkie.  I really would recommend that you take a while and look over all the other post of menu plans as well. I love reading them and getting inspired and picking up great tips.

So...went camping over the week end.  I got sick, didn't even ride my quad any this time. I was able to sit in the cooler mountains, in the quite, while the rest of the family went out on a ride and got started working on a plan for a cooking session.  I want to get back to the OAMC and hope to do this in smaller batches, working up to cooking a whole month's worth of dishes in a weekend.  Then, in the middle of all this, I realize I have not figured out what we will be having this week.  I hate coming in after a week end, rushing to get cleaned up, something to eat, get some sleep and then run full out to start another week.  Hubby is off to work, but he informs me he has done something to his knee and needs help putting on his socks and shoes because he can't bend it.  Daughter has to be at school early because she has zero period and doesn't drive yet.  For those who don't know...zero period means that they are at school way early so that they can attend a class - a whole class period - before the actual school day starts. Then it is off to meet up with daughter-in-law to pick up Mister for the day. Not to mention that the house...once again...looks like a tornado ran through it from packing for the trip. I am behind on laundry, cleaning, and sorting through the rest of the boxes in our room.

That's how it goes around here, so this week is going to be simple cooking.  Here is what's cooking this week.
Mon. - Beef stroganoff, noodles, salad
Tue. - Out to eat for youngest son's birthday.  He turned 23 this past Friday, will be heading back to college this week.
Wed. - Fish, pea salad, corn fritters (from a very old recipe book)
Thu. - Sausage, potatoes, green beans
Fri. - Meatball soup
Sat. - Sandwiches
Sun. - Roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls

No new recipes, except for the corn fritters...also known as corn oysters, fried corn...which is from a really old cookbook I have.  More about that in another post.  The rest of the dishes are either old stand by meals or pre-cooked from the store that I am trying to use up so I can have the space for meals from scratch that I have made ahead.  Bring in the OAMC strategy.

So, I am off to see what I can get done today.  Thanks for stopping in and please leave me a comment.  It is always nice to know that some one reads this once in a while.

MPM - 9/10

I have had the most trying and most fun day in a long time.

First off, I am pleased to say that I have met my goal of keeping up with my menu plans.  I want to plan several weeks ahead, but at the moment doing one week at a time is at least forward progress after going so many  months with out doing them.  I will be linking up with MPM once again.

So, I am posting this menu plan for this week:

Sun. - Slow cooker Pork roast, Green beans, homemade pasta with pesto sauce
Mon. - Stuffed peppers, rice, salad (this may change)
Tues. - Garlic Chicken Scampi, homemade pasta, green salad
Wed.  - Egg rolls, fried rice, wonton soup
Thurs. - Brisket, beans, potato salad 
Fri. - Slow cooker scalloped potatoes and ham, pea salad.
Sat. - Left Overs

The beauty of menu planning is that you can be as strict with it or just use it as a tentative guide.  Here, we use it as a tentative plan.  1. I am still getting back in to the groove of menu planning, so things come up that I forgot to plan for.  2. Our routine for the family this time of year is always last minute kind of changes going on.  That's why, for me it just a kind of road map to follow but still has room for sight seeing.  

For example, I had planned out my first menu plan for the week, making up meals that would use up the left overs.  In other words planned left overs.  Only one problem, that little 2 pound pork shoulder roast just didn't have enough meat left over for four more meals.  Also, I used a different recipe tonight, wanted a less spiced up recipe so any left over meat could be used for different recipes.  Didn't want the flavors competing so to speak.  Normally, my family doesn't much care for pork roast so there is lots of left over meat. Not this time, they really liked it.  I have to say, in all honesty, I liked it too.  I had almost given up on cooking pork roast because they just never seemed to come out right.  This recipe is out of my new Fix It and Forget It Big Cookbook that is for slow cookers.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. The recipe was super simple and has changed my mind about pork roast.

It really was good. Guess I said that already. Don't you just love those slow cooker liners? I won't post the recipe as that would be against copyright laws.

Back to the point, as I said, I had already planned the week's menu, making use of all those left overs.  Realizing there just wasn't that much left over, I had to redo the menu.  The second attempt had like three days of chicken in a row.  That would just never go over in this house.  Also, I realized as I cleaned out the fridge that I had some items that needed to be used sooner rather than later, so menu plan number three was formed. That is what I posted above, that is what I am going with.  Unless I go to the spare fridge tomorrow and find that the peppers have gone bad.  Then I will figure out something else.  My family would love to have beef and potatoes every night of the week, however, I am just not creative enough to pull that off so I try to be sure and not have the same meat two days in a row, vegetables either.  Besides, I dearly love my chicken and potatoes are not diabetic friendly to my body.

Menu planning is a best friend for the budget.  1. You know ahead and can plan for it.  2. No impulse buying because you now have a plan. 3. You can take advantage of sales or great buys you happen on. I am hoping to use menu planning and once a month cooking or bulk cooking to cut my grocery bill.  My goal is to cut it by 1/4 for the next two months, then 1/2 after that.  That is going to be hard because of holiday cooking, but I think I can do it.  I am going to give it my best try at any rate.  I actually have a very well stocked pantry, fridge and freezer so it really should be easy to accomplish.  Of course, there seems to be always something I am finding I am out of that I thought I had.  Am sure there will be small trips to the store a few times.  Hopefully a minimum amount.  If you need some inspiration for your menu planning, head on over to Organizing Junkie where she host Menu Plan Monday, hundreds of creative minds post their menus each Monday to share with all.

This was tonight's dinner.

It was really good and since there was not much left over, I know the family liked it too.  

The beans have a really long name, Pennsylvania Dutch Green Bean Casserole, but when Mom shared the recipe to be published in a cookbook for the Airstream club she called it Marinated Green Beans.  When I see "marinated" I just automatically think of Italian seasonings, oil, like marinade for meat. This recipe is sweet and sour thing with the mix of sugar and vinegar.

Marinated Green Beans

2 cans french cut green beans
1 med. onion, cut in rings (I usually end up cutting in half rings, gives me a flat side to cut the onion easier)
8 strips of bacon (I find that four is fine)
1/2 c. slivered almonds
6 T. sugar
4 T. vinegar

Drain beans, put in casserole dish.  Place separated onion over beans.  Fry bacon strips, save drippings.  Cut bacon strips in halves, lay over onion rings. (I chop my bacon before I cook it, so it is more diced) Add sugar and vinegar to the bacon drippings.  Heat drippings and pour over casserole.  Marinate several hours or overnight. (overnight is the best, but is still flavorful after about 4-6 hours) Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Takes a little prep time, but well worth it.

My other triumph tonight was my home made pasta.

 OH AM I SO GLAD I BOUGHT THIS MACHINE. I admit, there is a huge learning curve with the dough, but I am looking forward to making more.  I was a little nervous about the whole thing after reading some of the reviews of the people that did not like the machine.  I wondered if it truly was the machine, or as one reviewer put it, just a problem with their dough.  I whole heartily believe it is the dough.  My research, and an earlier attempt at making noodles, convinced me that it is very important to use the recipe provided with your machine. The proportions are different for different machines.  At first my dough was a little dry, added some water, then it was a little too wet.  I kept working with it and was able to get it going fairly well.  If the dough is too wet, it won't extrude correctly.  If the dough is too dry, the pasta won't keep it's shape. All in all, I considered it a success.  In fact, I had way too much pasta.  I have some in the freezer and will bag it up, see how that works.  I have some of the dough left over as well which I bagged up and put in the fridge.  I have no idea how that will work, but I hope to do a little more research and see if I can find away to preserve it or store it so I could make a large batch and just pull off what I need for the meal.

I don't know if it is the cat I am babysitting (my youngest son's), allergies, a late summer cold, or a mix of all three but I am sneezing, blowing my nose while trying to catch it from running away and my head feels like it weighs a ton. I am off to soak in the tub with some eucalyptus salts and then doing a little reading before I hit the bed.  Morning routine starts early around here, and then I will get Mister M. too.  Also, I have managed to go through most of my boxes of craft stuff, just have the fabric to stack on shelves.  Hubby finally got my sewing table put together tonight as well.  The diva den, craft studio, is almost back in place and ready to start having some creating going on. Kind of bitter sweet though, found three projects that I was supposed to complete for my mom and didn't.  Now that she is gone, it kind of hurts to come across them knowing that I didn't finish them for her.

Thanks for stopping by, come again soon.

Lazy Day

I had a really lazy day yesterday, went to church and that's about it.  I did look over a lot of blogs for menu planning and wandered around Pinterest looking at recipes and home decor photos.  Gotta love that Pinterest.

I am running a bit behind on my organizing, so haven't really gotten my meal plan refined, but this is what the week is shaping up to look like.

Mon. - Hubby's birthday - going out
Tue. - Pineapple Chicken meatballs, cheese tortellini Alfredo, salad
Wed. - Baked Chicken, carrots, green beans
Thu. - Sloppy Joe's
Fri. - Pulled pork, beans, pasta

I will be linking up with Meal Plan Monday over on Organizing Junkie.  If you need some inspiration, head over and take a look.  All kinds of menu plans are posted, some are special diet plans (gluten free, vegetarian, kid friendly)

I am still fine tuning the plan, am going to be getting a few more weeks planned out as well based on what I have on hand.  I am trying to knock down the budget, save where I can.  After cleaning, sorting and writing down an inventory of what I have, it will be much easier to use what I have.  I did do a massive buy on Saturday at the local WinCo store which is all the way across town, but went to the farmer's market and a couple of other errands that had me driving that way anyway. I will be having to go back to WinCo to talk to a manager about my receipt, they rang up an item wrong and I will be seeing if they will refund me the difference. Normally I wouldn't waste the gas, but this is a significant mistake, like about $7.  That is two gallons of milk, which is what I will be buying when I am there, along with some little things I forgot.  I spent $160, no coupons, mostly no sale items.  The meat was on sale, and there were two magazines.  Now that I am really seriously cutting the budget, I will be seeing just how long I can make this buy last.  If all goes as planned, it will be the end of the month before I have to do a large purchase.  I will have to of course buy the usual (bread, milk, pet food) items that I don't stock up on, that we go through quickly.

Speaking of my WinCo trip. I saw this and had to take a photo. Fifty Shades series.

Now, while I haven't read this series, I have heard a lot about them.  They have been on the top 100 books at Amazon.com for a long time.  I even, as bad as I hate to do it, had to ask my oldest daughter about the books.  She is who I go to, and my sweet daughter in law, when I need to know about current things concerning books, meaning of slang, or social issues.  All things I am some what sheltered from. At any rate, from what she told me about the books, they are NOT children's books.

Now, I told you I would post photos of my spice cabinet and product storage.

This is the before. Every thing was just thrown in where ever it would fit or land.  The products (foil, baggies, wax paper) was especially chaotic.

Now then, you have the after.  I am having a little trouble getting the photos to go where I want, but you can get the idea.So, now I have it all organized. I found that I had duplicate boxes of several items open and being used.  For example, slow cooker liners (Man I love those things) I had three boxes, all open and being used.  I took all of the bags from those boxes and placed them in to one box.  I did the same with my reusable bags. (gallon, pint, quart, sandwich and snack) Tried to put the most used at the front of the cabinet.  Kind of hard since almost all it gets used on a daily basis, sometimes several times a day. There just isn't any good way to store my baking sheets and cupcake pans. Put at least it looks a little better.  Of course, I went and bought a jumbo cupcake pan to add to the mess.  I love a big muffin for breakfast.  Cupcake size just seems a little small sometimes.  I had a mix for banana nut that I promptly mixed up to give the new pan a try.  I had a banana that was a few minutes away from needed to be trash, so I saved it and mashed it up in the mix, added a little bit of rum flavoring as well. The taste was AWESOME, the texture was not.  The bottom and sides of the muffins all stuck to the paper liners, really stuck as in 1/4 of the muffin stayed on the paper, and the texture was very dense and had large hollow spots.  Not sure what happened with that, have never had that happen to me.

On a brighter note.  My hubby finally got around to hanging one of the stain glass pieces my dad made.  This is one is called "The Cowboy" and is special because he framed it out and wired it for lighting.

When we moved my mom from Texas to California, my oldest daughter took it to her house.  That was about three years ago.  She never got around to getting it hung at her house.  When my mom passed away, we took her ashes to Texas to be buried next to my dad.  My daughter gave me "The Cowboy" to take to home for a while.  With the remodeling they are doing and two active boys, she was afraid it would get broken.  We did find a crack in the glass, but there is no telling when that happened.  It is only noticeable if you know where to look.  My dad was a veteran, so that is his flag from his funeral and then the shadow box has all the medals he earned during the war.  He also built the bookcase that we are now using to hold DVDs.  Guess my kids will tell me I have built a shrine to my dad, but I just don't really care.

Today is hubby's birthday, we will be going out somewhere this evening.  He hasn't said where yet.  Guess I better get moving, have some more cleaning to get done while I don't have the little guy.  Thanks for stopping by and drop in again soon.  Feel free to leave a comment, it is always nice to know that some one has read this.

Menu Plan Monday 1-16

Wow, the week went pretty fast.  Youngest daughter has a school holiday today so am hoping to take advantage of that and get a little work done around here.  Will see if that actually works.

So, still waiting on part for the oven, so the menu plan for the week may change a little, but here is what is planned for this week.

Mon. - Crockpot stuffed chicken rolls, veggies, foccacia bread
Tue. - Ground beef & tomato casserole
Wed. - Creamy lemon chicken, pasta
Thu. - Pork chops, stuffing, black eye peas
Fri. - Garlic shrimp, spinach pasta
Sat. - Mini shepherd's pie
Sun. - Spicy honey brushed thighs, rice, brocolli

I have to say that for the most part I stuck to the menu plan very well.  A few changes here and there because of the oven problem, but I didn't go buy any extra ingredients.  I was a bit surprised to once again see how little trash I had this week due to the real food challenge.  An added bonus from the planned meals and using what is in the pantry is that I used almost half the gas in the car that I normally do.  This week should be pretty light on the gas too as I won't be picking up the baby or doing any shopping trips for my mom.

If you need a little inspiration, go check out MPM over on Organizing Junkie.  Hundreds of bloggers link their meal plans up each week there.

I did however, make one trip to the store that cost more than I should have spent.  I purchased a generous supply of various colors of yarn.  Our church is doing a collection drive for cold weather items for a local mission.  I plan to crochet several hats and scarves to donate.  I was looking through my yarn stash, even made one set using some of it, but after looking at the finished set decided that it was just a little too feminine looking for a man.  Therefore...expensive trip to purchase yarn.  Will post my progress.

Thanks for stopping by.

Staying on Track

I know it has only been a few days, okay so it is Thursday of the first week of my new organized life, but this is actually the longest I have stayed on goal before.  Sad, I know, but true.

Tuesday meal was the chicken meatballs.  We bought these at Costco.  I fully admit that they do not fall under the rules of the "Real Food" challenge, nor did the teriyaki rice mix.  I pulled out the carrots left over from last week and served them as well.  It is extremely hard to get everything hot and served at the same time when it is all cooked in the microwave.  I will be so happy to get my oven back.  This is also not a cheap meal by any means (approx. $14 per box, two meals worth), but hubby bought them after getting a taste sample so I have to use them.

Last night we had pork tenderloin that I cooked in the crock pot.  It was supposed to cook for another hour, but I put a meat thermometer in it and it was done.  Ended up a little overcooked as it was really dry and falling apart.  My crock pot has been going south for a while, the digital timer was messed up so you couldn't tell by looking how much time you put on it.  Had to count it out when I entered the time.  It also cooked really hot on high, and not so hot on low.  I had learned to compensate for the problems for the most part, but last night I had enough.  We went and bought me a new one at Costco (the club membership was my gift from son and his wife) which was a little cheaper than the original one I purchased (several years ago) and came with a little mini crock pot as well.  I got it home, cleaned it and put it on the counter, then realized that it is about a quart and half larger than the old one (and here my family is shrinking) but I guess I can double up on some things for planned left overs.  At any rate, back to the meal, I made mashed potatoes and fried okra with it. Not the sides planned, but since it was unexpectedly just the two of us it was easy and I could control the amount better.  I froze the left over meat to make in to pulled pork sandwiches next month.  The whole meal was $3.30 for everything.

Tonight's recipe is a type of stir fry, so thankfully will be a quick cook and on the stove top.  It has potatoes in in that are cooked in the microwave first.  Tonight's meal will be 100% completely with in the rules of the "real food" challenge.  The unexpected advantage of cooking more from real foods, less processed items, and cooking from scratch is that the amount of trash we have is at least half of what it was last week.

Just another little bit of information.  Since we had fallen in to a rut lately, same old meals over and over, when I planned out my menu plans for the next few weeks I purposely planned all new dishes.  I am wanting something new, something fresh, and a bit more rounded meals for the family.  Not ground beef or chicken every night or around here, tacos and baked chicken at least once every week.  I know that these are family favorites (at least the tacos, burgers, hot dogs) but we really need a little change around here, not to mention that I am including more pork and fish (okay, seafood)

Now, I have to mention something here about a cookbook I bought recently. Well, last year sometime.

I thought this would  be a great resource book, which for the most part I guess it was.  I do however, have to challenge her price analysis of the meals.  There is absolutely NO WAY that I can purchase the ingredients of a dish for as cheap a price as she does.  I realize that she lives in the midwest, but that is just no excuse.  I even emailed her and called her out on it, she wrote back that she did calculate each recipe according to her best sale price.    Which are way lower than my best sale prices.  Here are some examples.

I just bought store brand unsalted butter on sale for 2.98 a package, there are 4 sticks, 8 tablespoons per stick, for 32 tablespoons for a package. That calculates out to .09 per tablespoon.  She calculates .05 per tablespoon.  If I use margarine it would be closer, but still not that low. The main ingredient I debate the price with though is ground beef.  She averages a pound of ground beef for $1.50. The price however is very inconsistent through out the book. One recipe has 1/2 pound ground beef for .75, one recipe has 3/4 pound for .76 and such.  You get the point.  Most of the beef dishes are just not priced accurately.  Now, I totally understand that she was shopping sales, one recipe may have been made with a better sale price than another.  I totally accept that beef prices in the mid west are most likely cheaper than here in California.  I even agree that since the recipes for the book were made and created in 2008 and 2009 that things may have been a bit cheaper.  However, my point is that it is just a bit misleading.  I mean, this is 2012 and groceries just last year pretty much nation wide took a 24% to 28% increase across the board.  But, I can get eggs, cheese, canned goods, milk, pretty close to her prices, even chicken, but I just don't believe that the beef prices are true. There fore I think that she should not keep claiming that the cost of her meals are $5 or less. She has a web/blog site and continually claims the low cost of her recipes.  The site has some great recipes though along with some really creative ideas from readers, as well as links to great coupon and highlights good sales.

That being said, she has some wonderful recipes in the book.  I will be purchasing her second book "$5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook" but will not be anticipating actually making the meals for $5 or under. She does share some great shopping strategies that I can use to get cost as low as possible.

Have you seen "Pioneer Woman" on the Food Network?  Ree Drummond is the host.  She is wonderfully down to earth with her dishes and her stories.  She lives on a working ranch in Oklahoma.  Ree stormed the blog scene with her stories of meeting her husband (she calls him the Marlboro Man - enough said), going from being a big city girl to a country gal, her children, her children's books and her photography.  Read her blog by the same name to learn more about her.  I am so jealous of her kitchen, believe it or not, her husband converted a small house on the ranch into a large kitchen and dining space.  She has three work stations so every one can cook together, 3 stoves, 3 sinks, huge counter top work space.  She is awesome and for the most part uses normal ingredients and simple techniques to cook her meals.  Oh, and did I mention that she beat Bobby Flay in a throw down?

Well, little man is awake...again, so need to jump off of here and tend to him and then grab a bite to eat.  Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment, and come back soon.