Food thoughts.....:)

I had to laugh last night. I really tried to "cheat" and use jar spaghetti sauce instead of making it like I usually do. I added meat to it, heated it up, let my "biggest critic" try it.... her face screwed up like I had given her dirt to eat! LOLOLOLOL MOOOOM It needs rosemary AT LEAST! It's JUST BLAH! NOT your usual stuff! LOL Boy did that teach me, huh? So, I went about doctoring it up! After a while, they were somewhat happy with me (everyone in the house) but I learned my lesson.... it saved me a few minutes on the front, but in the end, I still had to do all the work I usually do...... so.....(and it cost more because 1 jar is $1.25, and I got 2 jars! compared to 3 cans of tomato paste at .33 cents each!)

It just goes to prove..... kids know quality, and the more expensive isn't always the best! What do you make that is cheap that people just can't get enough of? Have you tried "short cuts" that cost you more and people just hated it? I bet so!

When planning things for meals kids just want you to keep it simple... yes they like lots of flavors, but ask them what they like and I'm sure you might be surprised what their favorites are! When my kids as for corn chowder for their birthday dinner it shocks me every time! LOL

When we get back to "cooking from stump", as my husbands grandma used to say, the food tastes better, is more healthy, and people can tell the difference. Start cooking like that for a while, and when you change back, people will revolt. Try it! You just might be surprised what a "great cook" you become by trying out those old cookbooks from your mom or grandma!

Menu Week of November 16, 2009

Well, another week is getting ready to start, are you ready for it? Here's my menu for the week, took the recipes from other menus posted here.... so you should be able to find the recipes!

*Thursday is PTO Meeting (Middle Daughter is Signing as part of the Chorale group) so we will eat dinner at school that night

*Friday oldest daughter has a birthday party/sleepover, so we will have individual pasghetti pizzas with personal toppings as a treat!

Other than those 2 nights, the rest of the menu can be used on any days!

1 Tacos *I use 3-4 lbs of ground turkey to have leftovers* and all the fixings/salad or veggies/dip
2 chicken noodle soup (trying to put a soup night in there again. It's good, filling, my family LOVES soup, and it's cheap! :)
3. Crock Pot Chicken Divan ( http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=283 ) with buttered noodles and a salad
4. Baked chicken with garlic powder/salt/onion powder, rice and broccoli with butter, salt and parmesan cheese

* with the leftover taco meat I will make Taco Cups- take cheap canned biscuits and put them in muffin tins, add some taco meat into the center, top with cheese and any other toppings you may want. My family really loves these and they make a quick on-the-go breakfast! Make them up as you are cleaning up after taco dinner, and you are good to go for the rest of the week! :)

* I make my own taco seasoning because 1. It's cheaper, and 2. It's healthier! I will post the recipe in a bit......

Cheap Holiday Party Food

I'm sure I have posted our Fav's before, but in case it has gotten lost in the shuffle, or to remind you again....here was our list of food for the parties!

1. nacho dip and chips (recipe is on this site, and I have learned that buying chips from mexican restaurants is cheaper than store bought chips, and much yummier!)

2. Hotdogs in sauce (buy the big thing of bun length hot dogs at aldi for like $3 or such, comes like 24 hot dogs to a package), cut hot dogs into coins, put in pan or crockpot (if starting a few hrs early!), add equal amounts of mustard and grape jelly (yep!) and stir in. When everything melts together it's yummy!

3. Veggies and dip of course (gotta have ONE healthy option! lol)

4. pretzels and french onion dip (1 16 oz tup sour cream, one packet onion soup mix)

5. "witches brew" but could be used for any party and varied- 1 can frozen: oj, apple juice, grape juice (I used grape hi c!) 1 liter lemon lime soda (or ginger ale). The second party I did 1 can oj, 1 can fruit punch, and 2 liters lemon lime. Like I said, versitile.

6. Take and bake pizza from either Aldi or Walmart (about the same price)cut into squares so it goes farther! ;) I used 3 or 4 the second night and had 1 left over- but we also had 16 kids not counting our own 3 and us! ;) it was a full house!

7. Kids these days are so sophisitcated! They preferred WATER to the brew! ;) that was fine, because you can add rum, vodka, etc to the brew for an adult party! So, keep lots of filtered water on hand for kids! (you all have filters on your sinks, right? much cheaper and easier!)

Flu Helps

I know everyone these days are so concerned about the flu. I am too. I got a great email- don't know if it's a scam, etc or not, but it makes sense to me. We are incorporating as many ideas from it as we can into our daily lives. It just makes sense.

H1N1 loves to hang out in the nose/mouth area and stew until it is ready to spread, if you can kill it there, you have a better chance of NOT getting it. Here are some things you can do:

1. Gargle with listerine to kill germs in the mouth
2. Drink hot beverages all day (doesn't matter what kind, coffee, lemonade, hot cocoa, tea) to wash the germs from the throat down to the stomach and they will be killed there
3. use a neti pot at best, or at least spray saline spray in your nose and blow several times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner?) or for kids, use a q-tip dipped in saline and run it around their nostrils

My additional "words of wisdom" LOL

4. D3! I can't say it enough. We are not going to be getting into the sun like we do in the summer, so we need help with our D-3. I take 3 D-3 a day, and give the younger kids (11, 9) 2 a day. They are simple, small if you get them at walmart, and really REALLY help!
5. Don't forget to eat healthy and exercise! Garbage in, garbage out. I know it's not always feesible with the economy, our bills, etc, but if you can make a concious effort daily to eat SOME veggie and SOME fruit, and maybe wrestle on the floor with the kids, or dance in the kitchen with them while cooking dinner, at least you are doing SOMETHING!
6. Don't forget to LAUGH! "laughter is the best medicine" has been said for years, and I believe it! It releases endorphines to make you feel happier, better. Besides, it makes living with you that much easier! ;)

Recipes Week of November 8

1 Crockpot Corn Chowder
Just warning you, I am a "throw it in until it tastes good" cook, so these are just estimates!

1 pkg bacon
4-5 potatoes, peeled, cubed small
1/2-1 small onion (to your preference)chopped small
2 cans creamed corn
1 - 1 lb bag frozen corn
2T sugar
1/2-1 t salt
pepper to taste
1/4-1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1-2 cups water (to your desired consistancy)

cut bacon into 1/2" strips, cook until done. Remove from grease to crockpot. In grease cook potatoes and onions until potatoes are almost cooked and onions are translucent. Put all in crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir tombine. Cook on low 6-8 hrs, high 4-6. Enjoy with chicken wings or fresh veggies/dip. Fresh bread is always a winner too! :)

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Again, estimates....

1/2-1 medium onion chopped finely
2T olive oil
1 tsp salt
1T pre-chopped garlic (or freshly chopped)

Saute until onion is translucent.

Add:
3 cans tomato paste
4 cups water
3-4 bay leaves (whole, fresh or dried- if fresh, thinly slice)
1tsp oregano (if fresh, thinly slice)
1-2 tsp dried rosemary (if using fresh, use less and chop well)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated (yep in the sauce!)
Marjoram if you have it
thyme if you want (sparingly, it's a strong spice)

Stir with a whisk the tomato paste and water, add the rest of the ingredients. let simmer until hot, add meatballs or cooked ground beef, or bulk italian sausage (sweet, not hot)

BBQ sauce

1 big bottle ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp onion powder or 1/2 of a small onion sauteed
1/2 tsp or less salt (to taste)
pepper to taste
1 tsp worstechestershire (however you spell it!) sauce
1/2 -1/4 tsp liquid smoke

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat until sugar is melted all is good and "sticky". Flavor to desired taste.

Hot Cocoa Mix

This makes A LOT! I am storing it in a HUGE icecream container (you know, the big plastic tubs of it!)

1 box of dried milk (8 cups)
2 cups coffee creamer (no flavor)
2 cups cocoa powder
2 cups sugar

My kids LOVE hot cocoa, so this will hopefully last us a month! ;) But we had all ingredients on hand, but the dried milk (5.99 at aldi), so overall it was QUITE cheap for us! I read one recipe where you add cinnamon. I did, they didn't like it! So, NO cinnamon for kids! But this also makes a great add in for your coffee too! :)

We have a "cocomotion" which makes about 4 cups of hot cocoa at once (or a bit more). I used 1 cup of this mix in the cocomotion to make 4 cups. so, 1/4 cup per cup.....you can cut it down if you think......

Menu for the Week of November 8!

Ok, time to get back to doing this, and not just in my head!

Breakfasts:
Cereal (raisin bran, shredded wheat, honey combs)
4 boxes sausage links (the kids love these!)
eggs
Homemade Hot Cocoa (will post an article later)

Lunches:
Sandwiches (Ham, baloney, peanut butter and grape or strawberry jelly)
cheeto puffs, popcorn, doritos, tortilla chips (all off brand from aldi)
carrots, apples (my kids go through bags and bags of apples weekly!)
iced oatmeal cookies (from Big Lots on their markdown shelf- 75 cents each container- holds 20? cookies)

Dinners:
1. Crockpot Corn Chowder (one day I am working away from home)
2. baked chicken legs/thighs with garlic powder/salt/onion powder
white cheddar noodles (aldi- 79 cents/box)
Broccoli (frozen- always cheaper and as healthy as the fresh!)
3. Baked Ravioli ($2.79/box of ravioli, .39 cents/can tomato paste, 1 lb ground turkey, 1.19)
green beans (frozen of course!)
Texas Toast Garlic Bread (a splurge, $1.79/box)
4. Ribs ($1.79/lb one time! in freezer!)
Green beans or broccoli
mashed potatoes or fried
5. BBQ chicken done in the crockpot
rice with butter and salt
green beans or broccoli (see a pattern here? LOL We love green veggies and when we can't afford romaine, we go for frozen!)
6. Ramen noodles and hot dogs (one night is gonna be too busy, you just KNOW it!)

For those of you, like me, who SHOULD be eating low carb due to weight, physical needs (fibro), etc here are your options

1. Make carbs for family, skip putting them on your plate- yeah, tough to do, but you can do it!
2. on Ravioli night have a boneless chicken breast thawed out for you, bake it, put the spaghetti sauce and even some mozzarella over it! have the veggie or a salad!
3. on Ramen noodle night, have a fabulous omelette! I have cream cheese (low fat) and shredded cheddar in the fridge for breakfast ones, but don't forget sauteed onions, peppers, crumbled bacon, etc. Maybe some others will get jealous and want yours too!
4. Carbs are good, as long as they are GOOD carbs.... instead of white potatoes make them Sweet Potatoes, use brown rice instead of white. Remember portion control is important, so when you do have those, go for 1/2 cup servings only. Limit it to one meal a day, and maybe 3 times a week at most. The rest of the time get your carbs from your fruits and veggies. DON"T forget your fruits! :) They are important too!
5. Drink your water, drink your water! :)

Happy November!

Yeah, I know it's been a long couple months, but I have been crazy busy! I have a job! :) yay! I really REALLY enjoy it! Doing all the secretarial things I knew I could do, plus stretching to do some new and innovative things! It's really cool! Keeps me on my toes, and really I have had to Re-LEARN a lot of things becoming a working mom- my hats off to all you working moms! :) I surely take my "days off" or my "work at home" days much more seriously and try to throw in an extra load of laundry, etc!

But it's not just me who's busy around here! My 13 yo daughter is really REALLY busy at school.....FCA, Just Say No club, Jazz Band (practices after school), Student Council...... I think that's it! LOL She will be trying out for "Mid State" Band December 12, so she is busy working on her pieces and trying to get them right. She is learning at a young age what overscheduling can do, but trust me.... I held her back from getting into MORE things! ;)

My 11 yo daughter is pretty busy too! She tried out and got into the Chorale group at school, so they have weekly after school practices, along with her "Girls Only" club meetings (with the school counselor and one other female teacher) teaching 5th grade girls proper body maintenace, etc... it's a really good group ran by really great women. Not only is she doing this, but she has a GREAT teacher this year, along with getting help for her Dyslexia, so her grades are on the A/B honor roll! :) yay! I'm so proud and happy for her!

My 9 yo daughter gets to relax still! ;) she's in 3rd grade so, not many "groups" for her... but maybe next year she will get into the art club...she's pretty good! She is struggling with organization (hmmmmm surprise! NOT!) but overall her grades are doing well. So, she is having a great year too.

I have never had my kids in so many "things" and wanting to do so many "things" like the football games, dances, having to go to the PTO meeting for performances, etc. It's beena real juggling act. Not to mention the fact that most of the time we have to pick up the 2 girls on the same day, about 30 min apart! :) makes life interesting..... most weeks I have 3-4 days of things to do! I've never carried a pocket calendar, but I do now, so I can have it at my desk and remember, or else you know I would forget! ;)

Having a little bit more money has afforded us to be able to pay off some bills, thank goodness, or at least get caught up. We have a spot more money for food, but some weeks are leaner than others! :) Like this week! We spent most of my check on some great deals at Big Lots (Wii and Nintendo DS games for $10!)for Christmas, had to get new tires for hubby, etc...it's still a juggling act, but it's not so many balls in the air! I spent about $85 on groceries for the week, and will let you know our menu in the next post.

I will say one thing that has helped us immensely has been that we lucked up on a great deal on chicken one week. I got 150 lbs (?) at least of chicken for about $120! My freezers are full, I seperated a lot of it (100 lbs) so that it was family portions, and yeah, I think we are gonna grow feathers, but I try to break it up with cheap options along the way! The other night I fed our family of 5 for under $2 for the entire dinner! 95 cents for a bag of frozen broccoli, 49 cents for a dozen eggs (aldi!) and 60 cents for a bag of rice! We had rice with the fried eggs over the top (and butter/salt/soy sauce), and broccoli on the side. Everyone was satisfyed and so CHEAP! :) So, that was one meal w/o chicken! Thank goodness my kids love chicken! :)

We also had 2 Halloween parties in October, one for oldest daughter, one for the other two combined! All told we spent about $125 for all the food between the two parties! The rest was elbow grease getting the house ready! ;) I will put a menu up of our cheap party food so you can use it anytime!

Christmas present time! You need to start planning/buying NOW!!!!

yep, I usually start as soon as Christmas is over, but since we were so tight this year, I am starting wayyyy late, but not too late to get some GREAT deals!

We were at Big Lots yesterday- this is a new fav place since they have a "clearance" section for food and we have gotten some GREAT deals there! a box of 30 lunch size mini oreos for $2- got all 3 boxes they had! a box of 2 BIG bags of raisin bran for $2 I think, got all 3 boxes of those too! not to mention boxes of wheat thins ($1.50 I think, and it was a BIG BIG box-great for snacks or lunches for the kids), cookies, etc.

Anyway.....We got one of those "mr clean auto dry car washing" thingies. I bought one for dad a couple years ago for cmas, and I believe it was near $20.... Got this one for $4!!!!! Yes!!! Got one for us, that looks like a "regular price" for them, so may go back next week and get a few more for the men on our list, and as "dirty santa" gifts for parties.

Found my fav present.... a "cocomotion"... in the clearance section of Walmart. Think it was $10 or less... it is a neat thing that is a pitcher that heats up the water/milk, and mixes the chocolate into it, all at once. It is sooo good and frothy too! Ain't nothin better on a cold winter day!

Go to walmart and start stocking up on stocking stuffers, and clearance presents for your fav charity. Not just toys for kids, but if you are giving to a charity like "the toy store" here in our town, they are also looking for adult presents, pillows, blankets, small appliances, etc. We try to put $10-$15/mo toward gifts for our charity. You can sometimes get a LOT for that price! At least 2 things sometimes!

www.brylanehome.com is a GREAT website for great home items. If you sign up for emails and join their website, you will get codes from time to time, buy ANYTHING and get..... free.... I have gotten a wok set, knife set, big blanket, small blanket, nice bags, etc. So, if you need a pillow, or something, go ahead a shop the clearance section there, then get the free item- the most a free item has "cost" me is $10+ shipping (not much, and on the free item it's free!) and I got curtains out of the deal, which I needed anyway, so it was a good deal! I have even used these free items (including a pearl necklace for $1, and it was a real one!) as "basket auction items" for school functions. I was a big hero and it didn't cost me anything! (right now in clearance they have a "pink patchwork quilt throw" for $4.99, regularly $29.99, and that I got free with purchase last year)

www.bathandbodyworks.com is another of my fav sites. They will send you emails with great deals (buy one get one free body wash/soap is right now, up to a $12.50 savings), or buy ANYTHING and get something free (one year I got the kids bluejean bags, and they were big, for getting like a $5 item per bag!). These are great (esp the bags) for teacher gifts.. they get so much "stuff", but to get them something they can use up (I even got one super soft socks and a smelly candle and gave it to her "just because I had it"). I will even fill these up when I have an abundance of "stuff" (like candles, lotion, etc) and give to the teachers "just cuz I wanted you to know we appreciate you".

Recipes for week of Aug 17, 2009

Ok, here's the recipes to go with the meals (I will post mock mashed potatoes and homemade taco seasoning tomorrow):

Cheese Nachos- aka Nacho cheese dip

1 large block Velveeta style cheese
2 pkgs light cream cheese
1-2 cups milk (at least) to desired consistancy (the more milk you add, the thinner it is, and less likely to harden up when cool, and it goes farther!)
1 lb ground turkey/beef
1 pkg taco seasoning (or homemade)
1-2 cups salsa (your choice)

take velveeta, cut up into small squares and put into crockpot, cut up cream cheese and put in crockpot, add milk and salsa to crockpot, turn on low (or high if in a hurry)

Brown ground turkey/beef in pan, drain, add pkg taco seasoning to beef- DO NOT ADD THE WATER TO THE MEAT- and stir until all meat is combined with seasoning consistantly. Add meat mixture to crockpot. stir to combine. Stir occasionally until all cheeses are melted.

Serve over tortilla chips (or Dorito style chips) and top with your favorite taco seasonings -lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, chilies, sour cream, black beans, etc....

This can also be used as a dip for get togethers, when I do, I double it, because it WILL all be eaten- bring 2 bags of tortilla chips... they will be gone. Always a crowd pleaser!

Garlic/dill bread-
An old recipe from my grandma ;)

1 loaf french bread, sliced lengthwise, on the side to make 2 flat pieces
1/2 cup mayo (optional, but ooooohhhh so yummy!)
2 sticks butter, or margarine, softened
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
garlic powder to taste (2T or so)
Salt (1/2 tsp or to taste)
dill

cut bread and put on baking sheet. Combine mayo, softened butter, garlic powder and salt until mixed completely. Spread equally on both bread halves, take it to the edge. Top with a generous sprinkle of dill. Bake at 425 for 15-20 min or until golden brown and bubbly. Let cool before cutting into 2" rectangles. YUMMMMMMM

Cheese/bacon openface sandwiches
This my parents used to do when I was a kid....now I know why... it's soooo cheap!

hamburger buns
slices of cheese (american or swiss squares)
bacon

Bake bacon in the oven at 425 for 20 min or until cooked to desired doneness. This will make the bacon flat and easier to make all at once.

open hamburger buns on baking sheet so cut sides are up. place one slice of cheese on each 1/2, and an X of bacon on top of that. Bake at 375 until cheese is melted and bubbly. If desired, before the cheese is put on, butter each 1/2 of bun.

Menu plan week of Aug 17, 2009

Well, I MUST do this tonight, because I have all the groceries bought for the week and I need to put down somewhere what I was thinking for meals this week. Not to mention that Paige's bday is monday (9 yrs old!) so, I have "special food" decided for that day.

Monday- Paige's bday! 9 yo
Breakfast: biscuits and gravy/ sausage/milk
Dinner: Corn chowder, open face cheese/bacon sandwiches on hamburg buns

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Sausage/eggs
Dinner: Baked chicken leg/thigh quarters (with taco spice on them), mac and cheese, green beans

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Toast or cereal/sausage
Dinner: cheese nachos * recipe to follow* with lettuce, sourcream, black olives, black beans, etc

Thursday:
Breakfast: Pancakes/sausage
Dinner: Spaghetti, garlic/dill bread *recipe to follow*

Friday:
Breakfast: Sausage/eggs/toast
Dinner: BBQ chicken baked in oven, rice, "mock mashed potatoes" (made with cauliflower)

Saturday:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: at Opry Mills Mall- build a bear workshop bday party/burger king after
Dinner: Pizza from Aldi or walmart

My Review of Clarifying Pressed Powder

EyesLipsFace.com

Create a flawless finish with the silky powder that blends evenly into skin. Treat and prevent skin imperfections with key active ingredients formulated for problematic skin. Proven skin clarifiers absorb oil on contact to create a beautiful matte finish.

Clarifying Pressed Powder

The BEST for young girls....

Jennywren Nashville,TN 7/30/2009

 

5 5

Pros: Controls Shine, Easy To Apply, Silky Finish, Lightweight, Covers Well

Best Uses: Sensitive Skin, Oily Skin, Acne Prone Skin

Describe Yourself: Budget Buyer

I bought this powder as a "starter makeup" for my daughter. She was having a few breakouts, and at that time, hated washing her face! Well...This powder cleared up her acne in no time, and prevented more breakouts (imo). We have run out and she is constantly asking me to buy her more! LOL I will be buying 5 pkgs at this price, so she has on hand and doesn't run out for a while....she and I both love it for her (and me too!)

()

Have I been gone this long????

Wow! it's been almost 3 mo since I updated my blog! I am soooo sorry! Things have been crazy around here.... I finally have work! Actually, it's pretty funny, I have 4 jobs now: 1. Sub teacher 2. Baking bread on the weekends for an organic farm 3. "Executive Assitant/Personal Assistant" for a new business opening up and 4. "Sample Lady" for Kroger grocery stores (will start start in a week or so). Not to mention School being out, hubby working on studying for his Network + Certification test, and all the day to day bs that usually goes on! ;)

We have been getting Angel Food Ministries food more often, have gotten a couple bills paid off, and so far, only spent $55 on back to school clothes/backpacks/lunch boxes! I'm not counting supplies in that list, but I haven't spent much on that either! Found dd13 a new heavy plastic 3" binder at Big Lots for only $4! yay! They are like $15 at Office Depot, etc!

So, I am going to try to be more consistant and put at LEAST a menu for the week on here every week......Sorry I was gone so long! :)

Bread recipes!!!

Ok, so I may have a new endeavour- an organic farm has been in talks with me yesterday and today about baking bread for them weekly to sell at their farm for people who come in, and to put in their cooperative baskets they give to their "CSA" members (will put a link to what a CSA is later). ANYWAY, I love baking bread- have a couple tried and true recipes I am going to give a whirl to today and let the family decide what I am going to sell this weekend. As honey said "this could be something, or this could be nothing" because after the farm ends this november, maybe people will be calling and asking me to make for them on the side? maybe the start of a business? As honey said "wouldn't it be cool....you would have a job you love, AND make some money at the same time!" Yes, granted right now the money from the farm isn't TONS, but eventually.....

So, here's one of my recipes..... For white bread....

Dough ingredients
2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast or 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups flour


Heat water between 105-115°F.
I use water out of the tap, and let it run until I just can't keep my hand under any longer!
Dissolve yeast in water in a large mixing bowl.
Stir in sugar, oil and salt.
Stir in 2 cups flour until smooth.
Cover with a dish cloth and set in a warm place to rise for 15 min or until double in size.
Stir down.
Add 2 1/2 cups flour, and stir to combine.
Place 1/2 cup flour on your clean dry kneading surface.
Turn dough onto surface and knead until most of the flour is worked in, or to a nice smooth consistency, 3-8 minutes.
Cut in half and form into 2 loaves.
Place in loaf pans sprayed with oil.
Allow to rise, covered, for 20 min or until doubled in size.
Bake at 425°F, or until it is lightly browned and sounds hollow when tapped on top.
Take out of pans immediately and allow to cool.

English Muffin Bread


5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 packages active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups skim milk, warmed
1/2 cup water
cornmeal
In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda.
Add warm milk and water; beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally.
Beat on high for 3 minutes.
Stir in remaining flour (batter will be stiff.) DO NOT KNEAD.
Spray with cooking spray two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2" loaf pans.
Sprinkle pans with cornmeal.
Spoon batter into the pans and sprinkle cornmeal on top.
Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks.
Slice and toast.
NOTES : If desired wrap 1 loaf in foil and freeze.

How to break the blues cycle..... my 2 cents

ok, so I have been pretty glum lately (at least I hope mostly inwardly! LOL) and have been trying to find my way out of it.....I love reading books, but never seem to find the time, so when I substitute I take all kinds of books with me I haven't had time to read but really wanted to!

One I read lately was 'momma get the hammer, there's a fly on papa's head" http://www.amazon.com/Mama-Hammer-Theres-Papas-Head/dp/0849934176/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1241184967&sr=8-1 now, I am a firm believer in take what you need, discard the rest. There are things in there that don't pertain to me or my situation, but she has a lot of amazing things in there that do! She has written many books, and maybe another one would suit someone better. These are bible based books, so that is one reason i like them so much.

But I took many things out of her book and put them into a word document , each saying on a seperate page, and then hung them up around the house! I ended up with 19 sayings (I could have done more, and I am sure I will!) I printed them twice so I would have more, and I put them EVERYWHERE! LOL I put 4 on each bedroom and bathroom door, 2 on the pantry doors, 2 on some of the kitchen cabinets, I mean, everywhere I look I am confronted by these sayings!

I am going to post the ones I used below so you can use them if you like..... maybe research your own, find a book you like and pull some quotes out that speak to you! It is a small step, but after a while you get brainwashed! baby steps.....


NO
WHINING
ALLOWED

KNOW
YOUR
LIMITS

I HAVE
MET
THE ENEMY
AND
SHE IS
ME!

LOVE MAKES THE
WORLD GO ROUND
BUT LAUGHTER
KEEPS YOU FROM
GETTING DIZZY

THE SHORTEST
DISTANCE
BETWEEN 2 PEOPLE
IS
A
SMILE! :)

WE DON'T LAUGH
BECAUSE WE'RE HAPPY,
WE'RE HAPPY
BECAUSE WE
LAUGH!

ANY DAY
ABOVE
GROUND
IS A GOOD
ONE!

A SMILE IS THE
LIGHT IN THE WINDOW OF YOUR
FACE THAT TELLS
PEOPLE YOU'RE
AT HOME

SILENCE IS
DARNED HARD
TO COME BY
WHEN YOU HAVE
KIDS......

PROVERBS 15:15
WHEN A WOMAN IS GLOOMY,
EVERYTHING SEEMS TO GO WRONG;
WHEN SHE IS CHEERFUL
EVERYTHING SEEMS TO GO RIGHT.

GRIPING
NOT
TOLERATED

COME DOWN
OFF THAT CROSS!!!
WE NEED
THE WOOD!

GOD WILL NEVER
LEAD YOU
WHERE HIS
STRENGTH
CANNOT
KEEP YOU

ISIAH 49:16
SEE! I WILL NOT FORGET YOU!
I HAVE CARVED YOU
ON THE PALM
OF MY HAND!

WHEN YOU ARE
IN A JAM,
GOOD FRIENDS
WILL BRING YOU BREAD
WITH PEANUT BUTTER ON IT!

WHEN LIFE BRINGS
TOO MUCH
PRESSURE,
TEARS ARE THE
SAFETY VALVES
OF THE
HEART

HE WASHES
OUR EYES
WITH TEARS
THAT
WE MIGHT SEE!

YOU EARN
RESPECT
BY HOW YOU LIVE
NOT BY
WHAT
YOU DEMAND!

Landscaping on a budget....

Ok, so I am working in my garden this morning- first time all week I have been able to!- and it hits me! I MUST tell you all about what I have been doing! It rained last night, so it was a perfect time for me to pull weeds, by the way! ANYWAY! LOL

Landscaping is an expensive proposition, no matter what, extra dirt, rocks, plants,etc! On a budget? NO WAY you say! LOL Well, it does involve a bit of patience on your end. I started this last year, and am seeing great progress in my yard this spring! I am so excited! Here's what I did:

1. take a walk around YOUR YARD! yep, if you are like me...sometimes mowing is slow...... so this works best for people like me. If you are NOT like me, I know you know someone like me.....ask if you can walk in their yard... you will know them... their grass is the longest on the block! (no fault of our own this time..... the belt that turns the blade broke and we are trying to scrape together money to get a new one, and possibly have someone install it!)

In the spring you will find tons of "volunteers". NO, I do NOT mean your kids! ;) They are those pesky plants tht pop up all over the yard in the most in opportune places. some bushes, some flowers, some baby trees! DON'T throw them away! Start planning in your head how you want your yard to look! Where can you best use those plants? have a nasty fencerow you don't like to look at? put those bushes to use there! Need tall pretty flowering bushes? Put some some rose of sharon babies there. Don't like where someone else planted some iris bulbs? before they start growing, replant them!

The best time to replant things is early early spring before they start growing (bulbs) or right after they do ( the bushes, baby trees). I will tell you, Rose of Sharon bushes are very expensive, and I have probably replanted over a dozen or more last year, and will plant that many more this year. How much money have I saved? Ok, so not all make it (mowers, weather, etc) but who cares? they were free, and I will have more volunteers next year!

Granted most of the things you will replant will be green - but you will be able to shape them how you want to, and they can end up very ornamental. I have had the surprise this year of one bush I let grow (it was where I wanted it anyway!) looks like it just might FLOWER this year! how exciting! And I just thought it was a general run of the mill bush!

The best part about all this? Nope, not that it's free! It's that they were growing in your yard anyway, they are used to your soil, so when you replant them, it's not as much of a shock to their system, and they are more likely to thrive! last years "baby plants' that were mere inches grew into 2'-3' tall bushes! I will let them grow a bit more before I trim them this year, but how exciting , huh?

2. The other thing I did last year is take advantage of all the website deals on the internet for plants. I did NOT buy live plants if possible. I only bought bulbs, or perennials. Granted some can be boring, but hey.... THEY COME BACK EVERY YEAR!!!!

I will get some links on the side later today (after my field trip!) for my favorite sites.... but you can search some like burpee.com, gurneys.com, etc and usually they will have a buy $50, get $25 free, or some such deal going on. so, you are actually getting $75 worth of plants for $50.... don't forget to factor in tax and shipping! I have seen better deals than that, and you can sometimes find coupon codes but if you sign up for their emails, they will send you great codes as well!

don't forget to ask around on Freecycle for free dirt, plants, or anything else you are looking for (within reason please) to help your garden grow! right now we have no edging, but a good spade and time can take care of that, if we want to deal with it. start a compost pile to help you get good dirt going for your garden.

this you can do. if I can do it (and my family says I have a "black thumb") then YOU can do it!

Menu for week of 4/26/09

Ok, still working on keeping things lean around here so we can pay off bills.....who isn't.....so here's how to do it! Make sure every morsel that comes into the house has a REASON! Just like every dollar you make has a PURPOSE, if you don't have a reason for what you are buying, it will "poof" and be gone before you realize what you REALLY wanted to use it for!

So, try to make menus for all 3 meals... Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I usually make a 2 week menu for breakfast and lunch and just use that as a guide as to what to buy for a week or two depending on our budget, what I want to do. Here's our Menu for this week (all meals). This way, we also know we have enough food in the house to feed everyone every day! Thats always a bonus! lol

Breakfast- last week was TCAPs (standardized acheivement testing) and the kids really enjoyed the breakfast sausages we got and did on the "george foreman" every morning. They are .89/box- we did one box a day, and then if they wanted to supplement with something else, they could choose from other stuff on the menu. Here's their options this week:

Cereal : we have 3 kinds
banana muffins
fried egg sandwiches
fried eggs
scrambled eggs
toad in the holes
cinnamon toast
1/2 pb sandwich
pb toast
biscuits
oatmeal (different flavors)

Lunch: Since school is still in session, it is still cheaper to send lunches than buy. because we homeschooled for so long, my kids are spoiled and prefer hot lunches..... soooo hard! LOL

Baloney sandwiches
grilled cheese sandwiches
pb sandwiches
hotdogs (with or w/o buns)
leftovers
tomato soup
3 kinds of chips
carrots/celery
apples
ham sandwiches
cream cheese and saltines crackers

Dinners- gonna just number the dinners, they can be used in any needed order, just so I have enough for this week- and if I can for next week as well. I am just brainstorming meal ideas here now.

1. corn chowder with chicken and veggies/dip
2. overnight tuna casserole and cooked asparagus from aldi
3. tacos/taco salad
4. tuna bumsteads, chips and veggies/dip
5. baked chicken, mashed potatoes, cooked broccoli with parmesan and butter
6. macaroni and cheese (boxed then add some extra cheese) with cut up hot dogs, and green beans
7. Pulled pork bbq on buns, veggies/dip Coleslaw
8. fries with pulled pork/bbq sauce or ranch dressing, salad
9. tuna salad on lettuce and potato salad
10. egg salad on lettuce
11. egg salad sandwiches on bread with veggies/dip
12. chicken veggie soup with rice
13. Spaghetti with ground turkey meat and a salad or cooked green beans
14. "cheeseburger macaroni" with ground turkey and mac and cheese and cooked asparagus from aldi (frozen)


will post recipes to any items I don't currently have on here, or any that you all ask for explanation to! :) Enjoy!

Happy Sunday Everyone!!!! Time for Menus!!!

How's everyone doing today? well, this week my focus was on FINDING A JOB!!!! We decided on monday that I MUST find a job- at least full time, but if I can find a full and part time that would be great too- even hubby is looking for a pt job.....we are really trying to do the Dave Ramsey thing and get some bills paid OFF! we are tired of this money crunch...I don't mind saving money and getting bargins don't get me wrong.... but doing it because I MUST not because I WANT to is a different thing all together! LOL So, we are working hard this month to pay off some bills, and we are REALLY tightening the belt! Including the grocery budget!

We sat down this morning (me and hubby) and brainstormed our food choices that we remember from when we were kids and our parents were in our situation! what follows is what we came up with, I will categorize by meat :

Chicken:

leg/thigh quarters are cheap, so buy those in bulk if possible
chicken salad- sandwiches or over lettuce
baked chicken or grilled chicken
Chicken veggie soup
broccoli cheese soup with chicken added
pulled chicken over a regular salad
chicken sandwiches (not chicken salad)

Ground Turkey:
Beans and turkey (dried beans)
Bean soup and turkey (dried soup mix)
Spaghetti sauce with ground turkey (our family prefers not aldi spaghetti sauce)
tacos
chili
"beef" stew
"beef" stroganoff
ground turkey patties done on the "george foreman" or in a fry pan

Hot dogs/baloney (not my fav choice due to all the additives, but for a small span of time, it is cheap):
hot dogs and mac and cheese
ramen noodles and hot dogs
baloney sandwiches (fried or not)(grilled like cheese sandwiches or not)

tuna:
Tuna bumsteads (will post recipe later0
tuna casserole (not a fav in our house, but maybe someone elses?)
tuna salad sandwiches with a dash of curry
tuna salad on lettuce

Eggs:
Fried egg sandwiches
toad in the holes
egg salad sandwiches
egg salad on lettuce

Pork, cheese
pulled pork sandwiches
pulled pork over fries with bbq sauce and cheese or over nachos
grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
cream cheese and saltines - for lunch
quesadillas (with pulled pork, chicken, etc as well!)

extras:
1.Put rice in soup to make it go farther, add more substance
2.don't forget soup is a good main course, just add a salad or veggies/dip on side
3.get creative with soups- hubby said why did no one ever think of broccoli cheese soup with chicken added?
4.look for reduced meats- aged meat usually has a better flavor, just make sure to use it w/in 2 days or put it in the freezer.
5.If you get beef, then use it for chili, beef stew or beef stroganoff because those cuts will probably be tougher and that use will make the meat tender (especially if you use it in the crockpot)
6.Getting the large (10 lb) bags of chicken leg/thigh quarters can be daunting, but when you get home, either cut up right away the thighs from the legs, or just sort them out into freezer bags, that way they are in manageable sizes and family portions.

Happy EARTH DAY everyone!!!!

Hi! I am soooo excited about today! I don't know about you all! I know for me, it tends to be "just another day" because we already do many things around her to help the environment, but I wanted to share what some of those things are, they are some small things sometimes, and maybe you can incorporate or think of some things you can add into your life as well. Every little bit helps!

1. Cloth napkins. Yep! NO paper napkins in our house! first of all, they cost money, second of all, you throw them away! third, they use trees! Sooooo you go to Goodwill on half price day and get tons and tons, they don't have to match, they don't always have to be pretty, you don't have to have a set for your family, but have at least 3X's your family number - we have over 20 napkins currently- that way if you have friends/family/parties you have something to use! My daughter's friends thought it was cool and "old timey" we were using them for her bday party! Don't forget- throw them in with the towels, NO fabric softener or they will not absorb as well as you want them to!

2. We use corell dishes. I probably have over 20 large, 15 medium plates, 10+ cereal bowls, etc. the reason? we don't use paper plates. They are light, thin and easy to use! We put them under dishes in the microwave if we think something is going to over flow (like oatmeal), and just throw them in the dishwasher. Actually ....I can hear it now....Dishwashers use LESS water than handwashing dishes AND you are not wasting trees or filling up landfills with the plates! Every now and again (park picnics) is one thing, but not for day in day out stuff! We even use them when we go camping! And plastic cups camping and silver silverware camping too! yeah, a bit of an inconvenience, but worth it in the end, don't you think?

3. CF lightbulbs. How many do you have in your house? EVERY light in our house has one. not only is it nice to not have to change them as often, therefore not outputting that much money every month or two for new bulbs, BUT in the end, they are using less energy.

4. IF you must get a new heating/AC unit (like we did this year) make sure you try to get it with the new "PURON" (sp?) instead of freon.... it is more environmentally friendly. We also got a "dual fan" or some such so it uses less energy and only kicks on the second more powerful fan when it absolutely needs it in cold/extreme hot weather. now... I am talking electric heat here.... not sure about gas. and the higher the "Seer" the better because it uses less energy.

5. try to open windows instead of turning on that A/C! put box fans in the windows to move that air around as long as you can- we can usually make it to the end of may like this in TN- the less energy used the better!

6. do you have a compost pile? compost is the most wonderful thing if you have bad soil -like we do!- and soooo easy to do! I will post links on the side for EARTH DAY tips.....

7. How does your garden grow? have you started your garden yet? I haven't, I am going to though! we are going to have cucumbers, carrots, watermelon, cantelope, tomatoes and greenbeans, maybe even some cauliflower. we will in other areas do lettuces and herbs. This is a great way to get veggies you KNOW don't have pesticides on them and are much cheaper and not too hard to do! you can even container grow some of them! Links to follow!

8. don't forget natural cleaners! Bleach (not natural, but great!), vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, salt all are great! I will put links to how to use them. Let me just make a side note. When I was a kid I used baking soda to brush my teeth (yeah, I know) but I had pearly whites! well, coffee and years have made my teeth yellow. This week I started again with the baking soda 2x's a day, and MAN what an improvement in the color and cleanliness I have found in my teeth! Be gentle using it, I have a small mouth and used a too large brush the first couple times and tore up my gums, so I am using a pediatric brush now..... but.....if you are gentle at first you will get your gums used to it and see great results! :)

Hope you enjoy my tips!

summer fun on a budget

So, I was laying in bed last night trying to get to sleep and trying to think of what to chat with you all about today. Then it hit me. Summer is coming. Kids will be out of school soon. Vacations will be here soon. We have "no money". What to do????

I'm sure I'm not the only one having that conversation in their heads about this time of year. Some of you work and have the kids go to babysitters during the day, but want to have fun at night, or on the weekends, some of you are a single income family and want to know how to keep kids busy and not fighting. So, here are some thoughts.

1. Co-operative Zoos, science museums, art museums- these are great things! I will put links on the side for where to find your information for you state, but here's what you do. Find the Zoo, Science Museum, Art museum, Children's museum, etc in your city. See how much it is to get a "family pass" for a year. Ok, it may seem a bit excessive....So......look around your state and see where you can get the cheapest family pass! You can usually purchase those online, and they mail the pass to you. The good thing about these: They are "co-operative" meaning you will get a list of all the ones you can use them in, not only in YOUR state, but ANY state- and possibly world-wide!

So, We pay $30/year for our family pass to the science museum of our choice here, but it is 1.5 hrs away. We go there maybe once a year. BUT the family pass for the science museum in our city is $80/year. We just saved $50. We go there once a month and have saved TONS of money (they even have picnic tables so we take our own lunch!). BUT. Then we go out of state to a COOL one in Alabama for FREE. Yes, it is gas, but.... it even has "rides" like a theme park there! AND it is where some space stuff is! rock climbing walls, etc! WAY COOL for FREE! See what I mean?

Then we pay $40/year for our family pass to the Zoo in a different city. Our family pass here is about $80/yr again. Once a month here....cool area for the kids to play, awesome shows, great animals... so much fun! Then we can go to any zoo we want to for FREE!

Same with other places, you get the idea.

2. Don't forget to have your kids take a "friendship book" to school the last week so they can have all the kids they want to keep in touch with write down their names, addresses and phone numbers. You want a good group of kids to keep in mind so you can go to the park, buy $1 hamburger and fries at mcd's with and let them play there, take a walk on a nature trail in your city, go on a bike ride, meet at the SCHOOL playground and let them go crazy! Have friends over for an "end of the school year" party, a "middle of the summer" party, a "going back to school" party, and make it bathing suits required! have the kids bring something fun to eat to make it easier on you!

3. Flylady.net has a great thing she does every summer called "Camp Gonnawannafly" where you make it fun for the kids all summer, but also make sure the routine of keeping up the house continues (and you get the kids involved) That would be a GREAT thing to do too! www.flylady.net

4. Don't forget about camping! I bet just about every weekend you could go to a garage sale and find a tent to buy for $10. Grab up a few and take your family on a trip! Campgrounds are cheap, it teaches your kids new skills, gets them away from all the electronics, and helps you to "bond" as a family!

5. don't forget to let family have the kids every once in a while and you have a "get away" at the house! Plan to have nice candles you don't normally have, cook out, quiet music, turn OFF the computers, etc, and just ENJOY your partner! KNOW that your kids are having a BLAST where they are too! Because they really are! Plan to go on a walk on a trail, bike ride, etc

6. If you are lucky enough, like we are, to have a great company that gives you the ability to buy discounted movie passes then deducts it from your paycheck, then I would say "go for it!" I can't tell you how many times it has helped us to have a "night out" just for me and hubby, or even a special family night (one night we did a double feature and didn't gethome until after midnight!). Those are special times we won't forget, and it's nice to know you have that "ace in the hole"

Well, I hope you like these ideas!

Menu for week of 4/19/09

here's our menu for the week......TCAPSs are this week, so "make sure your kids have a good breakfast" as the teachers say....so you will see we have breakfast planned too. Luckily we had a lot of this food at home, so our total grocery bill this week was $37.61!

Sunday-
Dinner- chicken Casserole -see last week's recipes
green beans
mashed potatoe

Monday-
Breakfast-pancakes/sausage
Dinner- cooked for us (someone is coming to try to sell us pans and dishes, so might as well let them! They cook, bring all the food, and clean up after! sounds like a good free dinner to me!)

Tuesday
Breakfast- Blueberry and banana muffins/Sausage and eggs
dinner- Pork Roast in Crockpot (recipe to come later when I find it! LOL) http://www.recipezaar.com/Company-Pork-Roast-23939
carrots
mashed or fried potatoes

Wednesday
Breakfast-toad in the holes or french toast
Dinner- Broccoli/groundbeef casserole (If not already on my blog, I will post it) http://frugalmadre.blogspot.com/2009/03/quick-easy-dinner-for-tonight.html#links
rice maybe! LOL (do you HAVE to have a carb every night????!!!)

Thursday
Breakfast-Cinnamon Rolls/Sausage/fruit
Dinner-baked pork chops
rice
Green beans

Friday-
Breakfast- pancakes or french toast/ sausage
Dinner- pizza (homemade/bought/ or maybe pizza buffet)

Lunches:

baloney, grilled cheese or peanut butter/jelly sandwiches
Tomato soup with dill and oyster crackers
leftovers
thin potato chips
pretzel sticks
cheese crackers
carrot sticks
apples

After school snacks:

mac and cheese
flavored rice
ramen noodles
corn bread
homemade bread
deviled eggs
egg salad sandwiches

Requested Chili Recipe

I was tweeting today I was having chili and hoping kids liked the new 'recipe' and someone asked for it. Really it isn't much of anything, because I am not a big "put spices together" kind of person.... but here's what I did and how.....

3 lbs Angel Food ministries steaks (these are really tough cooked up on the grill, so this is a good use of them)
3 pkgs chili seasonings from Dollar general (.40 each)
6- 8 oz cans tomato sauce

Cut up, and take off fat as much as possible, steak into bite size pieces. Place into crockpot lined with liner bag (from Reynolds.....LOVE these, makes cleanup sooooo much easier!). These steaks also can have a good deal of gristle, so this is a good reason to use it for this or beef stew.
When all meat is in the pot, add seasoning and 4 cans of tomato sauce. If it looks too thick, add one more can of tomato sauce. 6 cans was just way too watery for us, so I added a bunch of cornstarch to thicken it up. But I said 6 cans in case you like it thinner. Cook on low 4-6 hrs or until meat is cooked through.

* add ins- 2-3 cans kidney beans
replace 2 cans tomato sauce with 1 can chopped tomatoes

to go along with our chili: Crush up fritos into the bottom of the bowl, top with chili, top with shredded cheddar and a dollop of sour cream on top. You could also add finely chopped onions and black olives, more fritos, finely shredded lettuce, etc. Go crazy! :)

hope you enjoy!

Recipe: Greenbeans with Bacon and Brownsugar

Ok, I meant to post this earlier! Sorry I didn't!!!! LOL You caught me! hehe I went out to the movies with the "ladies" and we watched "Fast and Furious"! yay! mommy time! LOL

Ok

2 bags (1 lbs each) frozen greenbeans
1/2 cup brownsugar
1 lb bacon
3-4 Tbsp butter*

*Variation You can use the grease from the bacon instead of the butter to make it a dairy free recipe.

cook the greenbeans until desired doneness (in some water on the stove or in the microwave).

cut the bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and cook until almost browned completely. Take out of grease, set aside on paper towels to drain.

Put the green beans in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Top with bacon. sprinkle brown sugar over -you may use less brown sugar if you don't want them too sweet. Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper to taste. Drizzle with bacon grease or melted butter. Cook in 350 degree oven for 20 min or until bacon is done and greenbeans are done.

Pasghetti Pizza

Ok, so this is an OOOOLLLDDD family favorite from when I was a kid.....I will tell you the recipe for a regular pan of it, and if you have individual crocks, you can just adjust to put it in those instead.

16 oz thin spaghetti noodles
2 eggs
1 cups mozzarella cheese
1 T oregano

1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Any toppings you like: sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, black olives, ham, etc

cook noodles as per package directions. When done, rinse with cold water, then put into a LARGE bowl. Add the eggs, mozzarella cheese and oregano and mix.

Place into a LARGE casserole (bigger than 9X13 I think!....can't remember what mine is....14X20?)that has been sprayed with pam or lightly oiled. press down to make a "crust" and compress the noodles flatter.

bake in a 375 degree oven for 7 min.

Take out the dish and top with spaghetti sauce, then toppings and cheese as you will. Put back in the oven for 15-20 min or as long as it takes to get the cheese melted and slightly browned to your desired doneness. cut into rectangles and enjoy!

Recipe: Chicken Casserole

Ok, this one can be a bit pricey/fattening, so here's how I am going to make it a bit better for you......

For our family of 5.......

6-8 bone IN chicken breasts (from AFM box)
1-2 cups fat free/low fat (your choice) sour cream
1-2 cans reduced fat cream of chicken soup

*1 tube ritz crackers (you can use lower fat ones)
*1 stick butter (or margarine, etc)
*poppy seeds

*as a variation.....I have used 2 boxes of jiffy cornbread mix instead for this step

boil breasts in water until cooked. Now, if you want to (not neccesary) you could add some carrots, onions and celery (even some bay leaf) to the water and save the resulting broth in the freezer for chicken broth for other recipes later on down the road in 1 cup serving sizes. Just a tip. After Breasts are cooked, LET COOL.
When cool, get all the meat off, and shred it into bite size shreds (think pulled pork bbq). Put into a bowl, add 1 cup sour cream, 1 can cream of chicken soup. mix. if it doesn't look creamy enough add more of the sour cream and cream of chicken soup until it is good and creamy.

Put into a 9X13 (or maybe 2 of them!) and top with crushed up ritz crackers that have been coated with the melted butter. then sprinkle with poppy seeds. If you don't have that you can use the jiffy cornbread mix (my middle daughter liked that a lot! My husband prefers the ritz style crackers)

Bake in a 350 degree oven until bubbly and topping starts to brown slightly.

Menu Week of April 13 2009

Ok, so I guess it has been a 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of menu for the last couple weeks, because last night my middle daughter says to me "mom, I miss your really good cooking, I really love your cooking" So, I asked her what she really likes, and it turned out, that everyone had an opinion -even my husband- and I made up the menu for the week on the spot! LOL Most of it is pretty cheap, or easy, only one is kind of expensive, but I can do it cheaper this time, and will include the recipe after this post in a new one, actually I will be giving 2 recipes! So, here's our menu for the week:

1. Chicken Casserole
Green beans with Bacon and brown sugar (it always goes with the casserole! lol)
brown rice

2. Spaghetti
Caesar Salad

3. Chili with toppings (cheese, sour cream, onions, tomatoes, maybe fritos!)
veggies and dip
chili will be bean-less because I am allergic, and we will use the steak we got from our AFM boxes because this is the best use for it because it will be tough otherwise

4. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
Veggies and dip

5. Breakfast for dinner

6. Tacos or taco salad (however they want to fix it)

7. Individual Pasghetti Pizzas (whatever toppings they want) for Friday night (as requested by the kids! LOL)
Salad or Veggies and dip or cooked broccoli

WHEW! glad for Spring BREAK!!!!!

It surely couldn't have come at a better time! LOL What a DANG busy week I had! But it was a good week non the less. I even had 2 days of "me time" with friends who I enjoyed immensly and went to the "southern womens show" where we got to go and walk around all these different booths and sign up for stuff, try to win things -which I won a 1 mo at Curves FREE!!!- and free food samples- including a little ice cream cone and sweet tea!- the Alli bus was there and really made me rethink my commitment to eating healthier, and they had great freebies too- a $20 cookbook and tshirts, and other great stuff! And let's not forget the booth I visited 2 times EACH day.....the M&M's booth that was giving away FULL SIZE boxes of their new FANCY m&m's(the really shiny colorful ones that are like $4/box), so I got 4 boxes and hid them in my underwear drawer so I can have a few a day and enjoy them w/o kiddos making me scarf them down! LOL Honestly, I think I am to the point where just a few is all I need. I have noticed that of me lately, and so that makes me really proud!

Oldest (13 now!) has become a "social butterfly" of the neighborhood and our house is now" the hangout house" so, I have a feeling it will be busy here this week.... LOL but you know, I have always wanted our house to be the "hangout house" when the kids got older, so I am extremely happy, now to get snacks here, and some fun stuff- like basketballs, footballs, and music which we just got last night- for the guys and girls to "do"..... LOL TG you can get basketballs and footballs cheap at target for just $3.99! gotta look, but they are as good as the regular ones.

So, today, my focus is on cleaning the house and doing laundry, since I was so dadburn busy last week there was NOOOOO way I did ANYTHING on the house.... and also put together a menu to post for you all so I can be prepared this week. With EVERYONE home (yep, darlin took the week off too!)) I will need to have a menu so I don't go over budget! I will post it in a couple hrs!

Getting kids moving in the morning

Ok, maybe this is just a problem for me, but some mornings I need dynamite just to get my kids out of bed, then it is like pulling teeth to get them to get ready, and out the door! Running to the bus is no fun! Taking them to school because they weren't ready is even more NOT fun! :) I was tired of the run around yesterday so I said ENOUGH! I made a morning schedule, and consequences. They have a certain time to accomplish certain things, and if they don't, they will have to pull from the "chore jar" when they get home one time for every thing they didn't accomplish. so, if they miss 2 goals, they pull 2 chores!

Today NO ONE will be doing chores today after school! As a reward for getting done so quickly, they got computer time, and got to watch tv before school! ahhhhhhhh it was soooo peaceful this morning! :) Even my 13 yr old who said she wasn't going to follow the schedule because "I always get everything done before school anyway" did it! :) I am so proud! The girls got to help me make muffins for breakfast, and middle daughter even asked how fast it took her, I told her 30 min and she said "Hmmm I wonder if I can beat that time tomorrow"!!! LOL :) Makes a momma happy to hear that!

So, I here's our schedule, you are welcome to adapt it to your family and times, and also the chores I came up with to put in the jar. Not big chores, but ones that I don't normally get to often enough, or just plain gross ones I know they don't want to do (scrub the toilet! lol) !

Morning Routine Schedule

5:30 Wakeup

5:45 Be out of bed, bed made

6:00 Be dressed to shoes, hair brushed

6:15 Have lunch made and in your back pack

6:30 Be finished with breakfast, dishes in dw or sink, teeth brushed

6:40 Leighann out the door, on bus

6:50 hannah and Paige out the door, on the bus

Scrub the toilet

Wipe down kitchen cupboards

Sweep all rooms

Vacuum all rugs

Clean coffee table completely

Clean out couch cushions

Dust pictures

Sweep front porch/doorway

Straighten back driveway

Wipe down bathroom cupboards

Wipe down all doors

Wipe down all light switches

Straighten bookshelves in family room

Wash kitchen fridge out

Wash laundry room fridge out

Check floor for gunk and get up

Dust all walls with dust mop

The "Victory Garden"

Do you remember the Bugs Bunny cartoons where they showed the "victory gardens" during WWII? Things were tough then, just getting over the great depression, a war was going on, people had rations for many different items- including sugar, flour, butter, etc. They had to make their money and their food stretch! Hmmmmmm sound familiar? I wonder how many people are going to make a garden this year? Where to put it? How to do it? Lots of questions.

I know last year I TRIED to do a garden (saw the writing on the wall) and tried green beans and tomatoes, well, I needed to keep it watered! LOL I found space for them along a fence. It was a good sunny spot, not a used area, so it was a good place for both, I could tie up the plants as needed. I think I will use that area again this year for those items.

I will also use the under used area of the clothes line for the garden. This is a large area, more than sunny, I would say 15X6 at least. I will probably leave up the poles to use as something to tie things to as well. Yes, I will miss my line, but I will probably buy a retractable clothes line to go from the house to the shed (15+ ft) and that will work well.

How to prepare the soil? Well, there are many additives you could use......just watch any show (especially Martha Stewart) or google growing a garden! But the main thing is having turned soil that you can actually work with. You don't need to go out and buy a tiller, and you don't have to kill yourself with a spade. Go to a local store and RENT a tiller. Seriously. Call around to find the best price, ask a friend to come over and do it for you and you will give them and their family dinner that day, get creative! Hey! I bet you could even find one on freecycle. it may need some work, but worth a look. After it is tilled up, you can put in your additives......how about some leaves from the winter (think gutters), grilling out yet? How about the ash from the charcoal? newspapers shredded up make good additives as well, worms love it! :) Just till it in good with the tiller and it will make a good base for whatever you will be planting! Make sure if you are preparing a grassy area that you take the grass clods out so that you have less weeding as the season goes on! I see me paying neighborhood kids this year to weed my garden! LOL

What to grow? Well, that depends on your family! Make this a family affair. Take your kids to the garden center, walmart, any place that has seeds or baby plants (depending on what you want to grow, some are better started as plants , as in tomatoes, peppers). My kids go CRAZY every year! They would grow EVERYTHING if they could! Their favorite choices: Watermelon, pumpkins, cucumbers, all sorts of lettuces, green beans, broccoli, strawberries, zuccini(for bread), they don't like tomatoes, but they love to grow them for the spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce! LOL Same with peppers. they also LOVE growing spices- dill, chives, rosemary, thyme, etc. Yeah, I have great kids! :)

Now, once you have all your seeds and plants, decide where you will plant them, and maybe you can grow some in containers in your house, or on your patio! Spices LOVE to be container plants- and are better in there because if you don't, they will spread like wild fire! Tomatoes and peppers can be grown in containers as well. I have not had much success with it, but again, I haven't been trying hard. this year is the year of trying hard! :) make some window boxes out of the plants! get creative!

Remember you will be watering every day (if you live in warmer climates like me in TN, maybe twice a day!), and soon you and your children will be enjoying watching many things growing! Decide what is a plant and what is not, pull the weeds so they don't choke out the plants and you will soon have a great harvest!

Lettuces can be planted early and if you keep harvesting them, they will continue to grow throughout the season! I love fresh lettuce! Greenbeans are so awesome fresh as well! One of the ways my parents made a greenbean lover out of me is we had a garden when I was a kid and we started eating them raw as we were picking them one day....they have a different flavor (sweet) and from that day on my sis and I LOVED them!

A garden is a great way to get picky eaters more interested in eating better! Give them the opportunity to pick out the foods, and then help to grow them, and they will be more excited about trying them! Watch your budget drop when you aren't buying all those veggies every week! (I still buy 5+ lbs of apples every week, and 3+ lbs oranges too! LOL but every bit helps!)

Preparing for holidays/birthdays

Nothing is more of a budget buster like a birthday party invitation for the kids, or the kids birthdays, coupled with holidays most months of the year, and it really starts to add up! September is my busiest month, with middle daughters birthday the 22nd, sister in law the 23rd and my mom the 24th! Also, aug 17th is youngest daughter's birthday! so, only 4 weeks in between! Now, my oldest, she is always coupled with Easter (usually within a week -3 of her birthday- last year it was the day before Easter!). Then you have Honey, his birthday is July 4thd, and mine is 2 weeks before Christmas! If we don't have a plan for presents, we are in TROUBLE! So, what to do?

Well, we decided a couple years ago after we needed help for Christmas that wasn't going to happen again, and we would be helpers instead. So, every month I try to buy 1-2 clearance toys/gifts or a group of cheap things that would be good for stocking stuffers. These go into the "gift closet" and will be pulled out at the end of the year to give to Toy Stores at churches. We look for items we would have loved or appreciated getting that year, and if the price is right.... we get it! It might be boxed jewelry (we got at claires for .50/box! usually $10/box!) One year we found "cocomotions" for $7 on clearance, I got 4 - some for gifts and some for give away. I also go to online stores like www.brylanehome.com and usually every few months they will have a "buy ANYTHING and get a free....." I have gotten a wok set, a knife set, a blanket, all for free! All I had to do was buy SOMETHING...usually it is something I need for the house, from the clearance section on the site and less than $10! I love this! I get something I need (pillow shams, curtains, etc) and I get to get something to put in the gift closet!

Right now I have my eye on some toys at walmart. They are in the clearance section for $8 right now, but they aren't selling, so I expect another drop soon. When they get to $5 I will probably get 4 of them, 2 for my kids (littlest pet shop stuff) and 2 to give away. don't forget people in need can use many different things! Shop after a holiday for decorations, 50 cents for st patty's decor you can give to a charity is cool! Imagine how much you can get! I try to stick to major holidays with that stuff.... Easter, Christmas, Halloween, etc. We got a crystal angel that year, and every year she graces the top of our tree to remind us where we have been, and where we are going, and to be grateful for what we have!

So, after buying all this stuff every month.....Ooops ! middle daughter has a birthday party to go to, no money in the budget....let's go to the gift closet...a pretty quilt, a toy and some jewelry! Cost you next to nothing at the time, but now you have a free gift and your daughter looks like a hero! :) What is left over at the end of the year goes to charity. no ifs ands or buts. You can buy things and keep them for specific people for Christmas (sil would LOVE that wok set, etc), and you can get your holidays over before they start. Just $25/mo extra to buy these things and you will feel secure, happy, and when it comes time to lay out all that money for the kids in december... well.... it won't be as much because you have the closet and you have gotten great stocking stuffers too throughout the year, and the big stuff will be easier to get because you aren't buying for everyone!

So, this is march. I would buy the $25 for this month (on whatever you think) and if you can spare an extra $10 this month to catch up with january, and $10 next month to catch up with february, you will be back on track. This is so very important to do, it makes life so much easier, and you will feel so in control in November when you say "all my holiday shopping is done!" People will hate you, lol, but be proud you thought ahead!

Have you got Easter Baskets done yet?

Yep, it's coming up....do you have your Easter baskets done? What do YOU put in baskets? Candy upon candy? Toys? Do they just get one big present?? Do they get no baskets?? Yes, this is a religious holiday, and in our house, we try to talk about what the real meaning of it is, and why the Easter Bunny brings presents. Our "theory" is that Jesus died on the cross and as a present for US God raised him from the dead and we celebrate this because it means we will have everlasting life....and the EB brings presents to symbolize the present that God gave us. Hiding and coloring eggs, well, that's just fun stuff. I think the kids are beyond thinking that the EB is real, mostly because Dad plays the EB at the work Easter party for the kids every year. But they still play along, and that is cool.

Easter baskets can be very expensive though. yeah, you could go the route of buying some premade one, or you can do it yourself. Our baskets don't usually have a lot of candy- usually a bag between the 3 girls, maybe 2 bags depending on how much is in the bag. The rest is "fun stuff". This year they are getting a shirt (Aeropostale and children's place is having HUGE sales right now- shirts were $1.99 at children's place, and at aeropostale I got 3 shirts for $22 total after tax! I also got a couple shirts at Limited too/Justice, and those were less than $5 each!), they are getting a "stapleless stapler" I got for each of them ($2 each on clearance at Walmart), the 2 girls are getting a "littlest pet shop" toy for $7 on clearance each at Walmart, and oldest is getting "skins" for her DS of her fav character for $5 on clearance at walmart. They are also getting (from dad!) each a new game for their DS that were at Gamestop (www.gamestop.com) for $5 each or less! I think they will be very happy with their baskets....candy isn't really an issue! Add some beautiful big apples or oranges, even a thing of strawberries or grapes if you must add food.

I totally say think outside the box for presents for the baskets, go to walmart, target, etc and shop the Clearance sections! All the baskets don't have to be the same, and they don't have to spend a lot on them! Each child is unique so they have different things they like. Luckily 2 of mine are still "similar" so they are wasy to shop together for, but the oldest...ya know...13 yrs old isn't into kiddy stuff anymore!

Oh, and don't forget Goodwill and other thrift stores! you would be AMAZED at the "new" stuff there, and the like new stuff. And if your child is without a basket, those places always have them, and MUCH cheaper than a store! Have fun dressing it up with ribbon, spray paint it, get creative!

Easter isn't complete w/o coloring eggs. Yes, the Paas are cheap and easy to get, and overall fun to do, but one thing my parents started with me, and it is a blast for the "science geek" in the family, is to NATURALLY color eggs! Here's a great site to have a guide to what foods color what kind, and how to do it well! http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/EasterEggDye.htm This is fun and much better for our kids bodies! Have you noticed that the paas seeps through the pores in the eggs (heaven forbid you have a crack!), well, these naturally done eggs will be just great because even if it does soak through, it is natural dye instead of crap chemicals! The colors are unusual, everyone will love them, and it is just a great thing to do! One thing my dad started is he takes a very very small spot of oil and oils the outside of the eggs, makes them just SHINE! beautiful!

I would love to see pictures of your great Easter Baskets and naturally dyed eggs! Please post when you do!

Birthdays on a budget! UGH!!!

Yeah, it's birthday time in our house! Our oldest daughter is turning 13!!! we will officially have a teenager in the house- even though she's been acting like one for months already! LOL I am not sure how I feel about this yet. LOL I was putting up pictures around the house yesterday of the family and how we have grown, etc, and WOW! is all I can say! Pictures make a house a home, for sure, but also it sure shows the progression and how we have been lax at taking pictures the last few years :( I sure will start to remedy that now! :)

Anyway! So, my daughter wants a "big bash" for her big turning a teenager thing. Well, she wanted to invite 50 people! ROFL! At a certain age you no longer have to have "fun stuff" for the kids to do physically, and you can return to doing parties at your house. Our house is not big enough for 50 kids! LOL She has invited "28" she said....will see how many actually come! So, that is ONE way we are saving money.....No money out for the "venue". She actually loves having things here, so she is excited! But we all know where the big money comes in....the food! Well I have posted our menu, but I will post it again here, and tell you how we are going to save money.......

From our Angel Food Ministries boxes we will be able to use (so it will cost us nothing this week):

3-5 pkgs meatballs with mustard and jelly sauce (I usually do hotdogs, but since the meatballs are in the boxes, might as well use them!)
2 lbs ground beef
2-6 pkgs 12 oz 'deli meat"- this will be used for the sub sandwich....sandwich was planned before I realized what was in the boxes!

From Aldi-

2 pkgs "velveeta" cheese ($4 each)
2 cans rotel (.30 each?)
2 pkgs (large) different deli meat (if we get ham with afm boxes, will get turkey and chicken)
4 pkgs sliced good cheese ($2.49 each I think I saw yesterday)
1 jar mayo
1 jar miracle whip
3 bags tortilla chips ($1 each)
1 bag pretzels($1)
1 bag chips ($1.49?)
8- 12 can pkgs of soda ($3.00 each?)
2 big buckets icecream ($4 each)
1 bag strawberries (frozen, $2?)
1 bag mixed berries or raspberries (frozen $2?)
1 pkg cool whip ($1?)

Here we are right at $60 or so. Some prices are inflated since I don't know how much for sure they will cost me. I may be able to get a deal on the soda... will look around this week. So, for 30+ kids, that's about $2/kid. Not bad. I don't have on here the french bread- that will be about another $5 to put about 4 loaves together to make a 6' long sub sandwich! woohoo! LOL

Entertainment is a movie my daughter has requested (Twilight), and music, so that's simple overall. Mostly it will be a lot of labor of love (aka cleaning the house and decorating! LOL)

Menu Week of March 15- 21, 2009

wow! I was SICK! let me tell you! If you THINK you are sick, and MIGHT need some meds- GO TO THE DR!!!!! If not, you will get worse and worse until you have to be put on the strongest antibiotics, and a bunch of other crap and it takes you 3 weeks to get over what should have taken 1! Ok, enough of that lecture for today! I am just glad I am feeling better in time to get ready for my oldest daughter's birthday party on Saturday! she will be 13 on sunday! OMG! time flies!!!!!

So, to keep me on track, here's my menu for the week:

Sunday March 15, 2009
Crock pot chicken divan http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=283
Over buttered noodles
With veggies/dip on the side


Monday March 16, 2009

Garlic Pork chops in Crock pot http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=629
Potatoes
Cooked veggies

Tuesday march 17,2009

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Family Friendly Shepherd’s Pie http://www.recipezaar.com/Family-Friendly-Shepherds-Pie-262339
Salad
Rosemary bread from store

Wednesday March 18, 2009

Chicken noodle soup
Bread/rolls
Veggies/dip

Thursday March 19, 2009

Breakfast for dinner- Pancakes
Bacon
Eggs

Friday March 20, 2009

Salisbury steak and gravy
Over toast or rice or noodles
Cooked veggies

Saturday March 21, 2009

Birthday Party! 13 yrs old!
AFM Pick up

6’ sub sandwich with fixins: cheese, onions, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, mayo, honey mustard-meat- ham/turkey/chicken (some from AFM Pickup)
Meatballs in mustard/jelly sauce (Meatballs from AFM pickup- 3-5 lbs)
Nacho meat dip (meat from AFM- 2lbs) w/velveeta, taco seasoning, rotel, chips
3 types of chips
some sodas/frozen virgin drink mixes
icecream sundae bar- 2 types of icecream, make: fudge sauce, caramel sauce, raspberry sauce and strawberry sauce, add, mini choc chips, whip cream, cherries


Sunday March 22nd- Go out to dinner at restaurant of daughter's choice, or make her a dinner of her choice!

Quick easy dinner for tonight

Since I haven't posted a menu for the week (still sick here!) I figured out dinner and will post the recipe here:

1 lb ground beef (could use ground turkey, prefer ground turkey- cheaper, healthier)
1 16 oz bag frozen broccoli
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz pkg ff cream cheese
1 pkg crescent rolls or canned biscuits (or homemade)

Empty bag of broccoli into microwave safe bowl, cook for 5 min. while cooking brown ground meat. Stir broccoli, cook 5 more minutes. Finish browning meat and drain. Add to the meat the soup and cream cheese, allow cheese to melt and all things mix together.

Empty broccoli into the bottom of a 9X13. If it doesn't look like enough for your family, do another bag! There is no right or wrong when it comes to broccoli! top with meat mixture. Roll crescent rolls, or place biscuits on top of mixture, sides touching, bake until bread is browned and cooked through according to package directions. YUMMMMMMM

***I can never make things the same way twice I swear! LOL I use what is on hand sometimes! Thought I had more broccoli than I did, so I used 2 bags of the "stir fry mix" I got from Angel Food Ministries this month- cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, onions and red peppers. so I cooked those in the microwave until done, then picked out the red peppers....we like the flavor, not biting into them! LOL Once I put it in the 9X13 it was too much, my bigger casserole it was too little, so I added the spot of broccoli I had (about 2 cups cooked). I also used 2 lbs ground meat (1 lbs beef, 1 lbs turkey), and an extra can of soup. I used 3 of the small cans of crescent rolls (4 to a pkg). This will be enough for tonight and lunches for me and dh (and possibly kids too!). Yay!

Shopping for Clothes on a budget!

Ok, here comes the groans! The seasons are changing, the kids are growing, we are wanting "something new" in our closet too. What are we to do? Go out and spend way too much on a SINGLE outfit? NOOOOOOO

I was watching Dr. Phil a couple days ago and they were showing how to save money... had the "most frugal family in america" on...whatever... LOL ANYWAY... All they talked about was shopping at thrift stores for clothes. Yes, I will admit 90% of our clothes probably do come from thrift stores, and we have great ones around here I take full advantage of, but sometimes you just want that feel of "new" on you!

So, what do you do? Well, what we do is we buy basics at thrift stores. Basics meaning Pants, tshirts, coats (if possible, usually can), and pop up needs, we also buy shoes there. During the summer months, kids are out of school, if they are going to daycare, and even if they are not, really they don't need the latest and greatest because they are going to be sweating, playing hard and getting their clothes dirty all day. That's where thrift stores come in handy. Look at the tags, before you look at the style of the shirt, pant, etc! I shop by brand at my thrift stores! I know how much things are, so that isn't an issue, I look for the brands that kids are wearing now, Abercrombie, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Gap, Limited, Limited Too, Old Navy, etc. Just ask your kids what brands... believe me, they know! One reason I go for brand is because of the name recognition, but the other is truly quality! They just hold up better! So, for summer, thrift is good for 100% of their clothes!

School time poses other issues. Wanting to "fit in" "look right" etc. It is soooo hard for kids these days. What I did this year that really seemed to work well, is I got Jeans at thrift stores (and bought more as needed from there), and shirts at stores at the mall! OK, Ok, here we go spending tons of money, right? NOPE! Some of my favorite stores for girls (since that is all I have) are Limited, Too, Children's Place, and Old Navy. These 3 stores are amazing! A lot of times you can go in there, and head straight back to the back. In the clearance sections you will find prices lowered (sometimes- eh, sometimes wow!), but the good deal is when they are slashed really good, AND there is an additional 30%, 40% or more OFF the clearance price! When we put our girls in public school, I racked up over $400 of clothes at Limited too, for about $150! doing that . That was just after labor day, fyi! Then some places will give you cards for "buy $50, save $25" good for other dates, so go back and get $50 worth of clearance items for $25! See! You can get new clothes for your kids! I'm sure there are savings like these at shoe stores, I just haven't wandered to those yet. LOL I will be looking into those this year.

Ok, so the kids are taken care of, what about the ADULTS! We have to be dressed nice for work, right? What if we want a date night? Even Stay at home Moms/Dads deserve nice clothes too! Ok, so, I already told you about thrift stores, get your basics there, pants, tshirts, some shoes. You can even find nice dress shoes there! BUT if you want to "dress for success" you want stylish, new clothes. I don't blame you. Who doesn't. So, again, go to stores and head straight for the clearance sections. Awesome places for deals. My favorite stores for clothing deals: Kohls (men/women/kids), Ross (Men/women), Target (women, men, kids), Lane bryant (women), Sears (Men, women, kids, shoes), Old Navy (men, women, kids)

Don't forget to check online at your favorite stores to see if they have a special clearance section of stuff that they don't have at stores, sometimes you can get some pretty cheap stuff!

what a LOOOOONG week! LOL

I have soooo missed you all! I have been WORKING! :) I had subbing jobs at school all week! And of course since it WAS my first week ever, AND it was the end of Feb in TN, that means that all the kids in the class (3-5 yr olds!) had "jelly doughnut" noses, which in turn, got me a raging cold, lost my voice, cough, etc! Yeah, been pretty sick this weekend, finally feeling good enough to sit here and type something to you all! ;)

This was a very eye opening week. I learned SO MANY things, as these were "special" kids! They taught me so much, their teachers did, and I soaked in soooo much! One thing I must say...You want to make extra money- sign up to sub in your school county. at this one school there had to be at least a dozen subs a day! JUST THIS ONE SCHOOL! For the week I made almost $200!!!! I am stoked! It all adds up. And every day I was home w/in a few min of my kids getting home, so they knew how to get in and didn't miss me at all!

I learned about organization from this classroom! wow were they regimented! these kids knew "check schedule" and they went right to their spot to see where/what to do next, get their little piece of the "puzzle" to do next and go where, then "plug in" and velcro it where it went when they got there! at 3 yrs old! if they can get it, we can to! lol

I learned I am probably OCD! LOL One lady lives with an OCD dh, and when I told her "I'm notOCD, just perfectionist....this is what I do" and she could finish it..... she said "oh hunny, you are soooooo OCD"! LOL Good thing I am already on meds that help it (I heard from someone else! LOL)

We got our IEP for dd10, so she is FINALLY getting the help she needs at school! They are probably going to test her for her "attention" LOL but I am so excited for her now! She is going to feel so much more confident in school! We have discovered (on our own) about Cover Overlays for her reading because the words "jiggle" so she confirmed to me this weekend, so will talk to the school on monday about it. or at least just send letter to the resource teacher. told them about her stomach aches/headaches, and they finally paid attention to it, and not sure what they will do about it, but glad the chamomile tea is working for her in that respect. Gotta love chamomile tea!

Honey has been home all week on vacation, and of course I had to work! That's ok! With me getting progressively sicker, he had more and more responsibility pushed on him, and he really stepped up to the plate on a lot of fronts! I was so proud of how well he worked with dd10 and I felt sooooo loved this weekend when I would be sitting on the couch and he would just bring me food without me even asking for it! Those are the things that make me feel loved! Poor thing is an IT geek at work, so he had to take care of my computer last night, then go into work this am at 7 because there was a virus on ALLLLLL the computers at the 2 plants there! dunno when he will be home, but I hope I can get some laundry/dishes done before he gets here, and also get the menu made.

I did a bit of "grocery gaming" this weekend.... it is now a verb in our house, not a website! LOL we were soooo out of many essentials and I was tired of it, so I grabbed a ton of different coupons and stocked up on shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, body wash, bar soap, laundry soap and softner. Yes, it was a chunk of money. Thank goodness Uncle Sam came through on friday so I could do this, but overall, I saved $100 and spent $200. That's not bad! Considering we won't be buying that stuff for at least a few months! And now I can just buy a couple things at a time, and it will be cheaper in the long run!

Ok, so, time to go figure out menu for next week, will inventory the freezers/pantry and see what we shall see. Be back in a bit!

Menu Week of 2/22/09- 2/28/09

well, here it is! simple, but yummy! At least for our family! LOL

Sunday 2/22/2009

Leftovers from lunch

Monday 2/23/2009

Spaghetti with meat sauce
green beans

Tuesday 2/24/2009
Cream of broccoli Soup
http://www.savingdinner.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=123:cream-of-broccoli-soup&catid=909:recipes&Itemid=78

homemade bread

Wednesday 2/25/2009

Amigo Chicken Tortilla Soup http://www.savingdinner.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:amigochickentortillasoup&catid=909:recipes&Itemid=78
With fun fixins

Thursday 2/26/2009

Hotdogs wrapped with biscuits
French fries
Veggies/dip

Friday 2/27/2009

IHOP at home (got changed last week due to rework of menu)
Bacon
Eggs
Pancakes
Biscuits
Etc

Saturday 2/28/2009

Kids choice/kids cook! I will let them choose that day

Grandpa/Grandma E and Grandma (Grinka) and Grandpa B

I was cooking pancakes this morning and I started thinking about these 4 amazing people. 3 were in my life, 1 was in my life by stories I heard! Sadly Grandpa B passed when my mother was 16- he was buried the day JFK was killed :( but the stories I heard from her, I could imagine the person he was! He liked Martinis after a hard day of being a country dr, loved his garden, like grilling out, woodworking and refinishing furniture, was in 2 wars (WWI and the Korean war), had a purple heart, and a heart a big as the world!

The other 3 I had more "intimate" knowledge of, and those are the 3 I am focusing on today. The saying is "be careful what you do, kids are watching" and that is so true. Without saying anything, they were such HUGE models in my life. Such HUGE influences. Not to say my parents weren't- I will talk about them another time- but my grandparents are on my heart this morning and I want to talk about them.

My grandmothers were amazing women. They lived through the depression, raised families, survived. My grandfather, he was a character, the comic relief! He was so much fun! I can still hear my grandma yell "EMERSON!!!!" when he would have all the grandkids gathered around him telling his "ditties" or stories! LOL And not all of them were "g" rated! LOL He loved his garden. Just like my other grandfather. I can remember at his last house he had 2 rows of Peoneys, like a maze in the back yard. They were so beautiful and amazing! He would mow with a push mower, NEVER owned a gas mower, EVER. Last year I started really gardening in earnest at our house, and made sure to plant at least a few peoneys in his honor. In my other grandfather's honor I have my Iris' . They are transplants all the way from IL to MI to TN! They were originally in my mother's childhood home, then to her first married home, then to michigan when we moved we took a few, took a few to TN and when I got married, I got to take some to my new home! I love seeing them every spring, and think of him when I do!

My Grandma B- we called her Grinka, not sure who started it, think it was cousin David lol and it sooo irritated her at first! lol- she was a survivor. My mom was the youngest of 3, and grandpa was "self employed" so when he passed, he hadn't paid into Social Security (it had just started too), so she was left with one choice: start working after being a Stay at home mom all those years! I can't imagine what it was like. Losing a husband suddenly, then BANG you are forced into the workforce at 56 years old! Yep! Those were TOUGH times. We think we have it "so bad" these days. We really need to look back and see what has gone on a generation ago, talk to our parents, our grandparents and see what they did to survive back then! You would be AMAZED!

I remember her as a "cosmopolitan" as I now call her woman. She smoked, wore the fashion of the day, drove a hunter green pinto, lived alone in a great apartment! she was COOL! And boy was it FUN to go to her apartment....except for having to be quiet walking/talking! LOL But we got to play dressup with her fancy gloves/scarves/beautiful jewelry grandpa brought home from hawaii when he was stationed there. We got to look through her drawers and see grandpas medals, and look at old pictures, and books. I miss her shelves with the shutter doors at the bottom, and the brown birds. I actually have found a clear owl like she had, and even though an "ear" was slightly broken, I bought it anyway. It is a memory of her, and when I look at it, I think of her and her strength through adversity. She builds me up when I see it.

My Grandma E... She was a character. Another amazing woman with strength abounding in her physically, mentally, spiritually. Dad was the youngest of 7 children, the one before him, a girl, had died before her first birthday. Growing up there wasn't a bathroom in the house, there was an "outhouse"! Yep! Dad tells the story of how the "style" of the day was to have dark blue blue jeans. They were so poor, and grandma sooo ingenius, that she would iron blue crayons into his jeans to make sure his jeans stayed the right color! Who would have thought about that these days?

When ever we went over to the house, there was always something to do, some art project she had lined up for us. It could be gluing alphabet soup letters (dry) on a doily and a felt heart for valentines day to spell out an "I LOVe YOU " message for our parents, we always played games, either UNO, Aggravation, or something else, and we always KNEW grandpa was cheating! It was sooooo much fun!

There was always so many things to look at there too! In their first house I can remember the room with the velvet wall paper! It was sooo much fun to go in there and trace the patterns with my fingers when I was little! we would ride the ottomon that had wheels on it from the kitchen to the dining room to the living room, to the entrance hall and back to the kitchen! WHEEEE she had this great lamp and when we would go to sleep, she would turn it on, and spin it, and we would watch the patterns the light would make on the ceiling until we fell asleep. I was blessed with that lamp some years ago. She had her collection of cups and saucers and her collection of plates to hang on the wall. Several years ago my parents blessed me with one of those plates. it was one they had given to her in 1979. I know because the date is on it! It says "a good mother makes a happy home" it is in blue and white and it has a little boy and girl standing facing eachother in the middle. it is just beautiful. It hangs smack dab in the middle of my kitchen above my stove. I look at it at least once a week, and strive to achieve that every day. I have plates from my honey's grandmother too, and those are in my dining room, and I am blessed to have known her as well, and am proud of seeing those and hope I make her proud and think of her when I see them!

I hope all of my grandmothers are looking down and are proud of me and the mother I am, because who they were helped to shape the mom I am today. Firm in my discipline, my love of cooking, my love of projects. To my grandfathers I credit my love of gardening. I think about them a lot while I am out there in the dirt and hope that they help me do the best I can.

Both grandmothers taught me many things. I sure do want to share their wisdom with you. Some things that I am thinking of today:

back then there wasn't a lot of "spray oils", so my Grandma E would just use a cup of oil and a brush to coat the pan before making pancakes, waffles, etc. I am doing it now because I am out of spray oil and it is working like a charm.

Grandma B had very poor eyesight, and dishwashers.....those were the kids in the house! LOL So, she taught us to use our hands to feel for dirty spots on dishes. you can feel the spots on pans, plates, etc with your fingers before you rinse to make sure it is clean

it is ok to have waffles and pancakes without syrup, in fact, that's my favorite way to eat them! just butter!

Grandma E always made tons of cakes, cookies, etc. for the kids lunches. Time to start doing that again. I can even make bread for them to eat sandwiches on.

It's ok to sell things if you need money. They are just things, they can be replaced at a later time.

Enjoy the little things in life. Playing games around the table, sitting outside on a nice day, spending time with family