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!