A New Recipe!

I have really enjoyed taking a break from cooking a lot this week but today I dove in and cooked lunch and supper. I thought I'd post the recipe for what we had for lunch. I had some bananas that weren't looking so good and I wasn't in the mood for banana bread so I went to allrecipes and typed in bananas and found this. So, I decided we'd have pancakes for lunch. Unfortunately we were out of chocolate chips but we still made them with the bananas and they were good! I tripled the recipe so we have some for leftovers. I also put one cup of whole wheat flour instead of all white to make it a little better for us!

I'm looking for a recipe for Homemade Enchilada Sauce so if you have one please share! I can't find it without msg in it!

I'm so glad I finally figured out the how to link too!

Menu Plan Monday

In an attempt to support my last post of spending less each week on groceries, especially from WM I am creating my weekly menu from things I already have in the house. I do need to shop this week for fruit and milk but I want to use what I have before I buy more.

Sunday - Lunch - Beef Veggie soup, grilled cheese, Supper - pancakes. My family doesn't know it yet but I am going to slowly try to get them to eat pancakes with applesauce instead of syrup. I had one taker tonight and he loved it! Too much high fructose corn syrup!

Monday - We have a viewing to go to at suppertime and I am also babysitting all day for two other children so it will have to be leftovers tonight!

Tuesday - Beef Enchiladas (I already have all of these ingr. in the freezer and pantry!)

Wednesday - Homemade hot pockets and chimi's - Also from the freezer. It's time to use up all that good freezer cooking and have a cooking day to stock up again.

Thursday - Scrambled eggs and pork links

Friday - Steak, corn, potatoes and green veggie

Saturday - Leftover or freezer food again.

I know it will feel good to empty things out and start fresh again. I hope to also bake bread a couple of times this week as well as something for snacks, maybe granola bars. For more menu plan ideas check out orgjunkie.com

I want to spend less at WM!

I really want to decrease the amount of money we spend each month at Wal Mart. It seems like with each child we have our weekly spending goes up about $30-$50. Is this normal? I know to an extent it has to be. Adding more diapers and then formula is not cheap. I wish I could have nursed my babies but it just didn't work out for several reasons so I've accepted that but I still hate how much formula costs. We even buy the Wal Mart brand which is a lot cheaper! Thankfully my baby won't be on formula too much longer as we enter the homestretch to her first birthday! I'll be sad to not have a baby any longer though!

So here are some of the things I will try this year to decrease our monthly spending:
1. I am going to try to do more shopping at Aldi. They really are so much cheaper on many things. You still have to cost compare sometimes to make sure you're getting the deals but overall it's cheaper. I used to shop there when I just had one baby but Wal Mart can be so convenient with it's one-stop shopping. So now I will attempt to take three kids shopping and hit both WM and Aldi.

2. I really want to expand our garden this year. We've had a garden every year since we've been married. My husband does most of the actual gardening (I try to pitch in and weed but really he's outside all the time and does a lot) I do all of the freezing and canning. Last year we grew tomatoes, carrots, green beans, potatoes and radishes. This year I want to increase the amount of some of those and add some other things. I think we will grow butternut squash (you can add this to homemade spaghetti sauce. It will thicken it and add a richness too it and no one knows!) Pumpkins (I've been making pumpkin pancakes more so this will help.) Onions, I'd like to get a food dehydrator to keep these all year to use. I also would like to grow the traditional Italian herbs to add to my sauces. I would dehydrate those too to last. I need to think more about anything else to add but I'm excited to get started this spring!

3. I am also going to try making our own laundry soap. My sister posted a recipe for this on her website that includes Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, Borax and Zote soap. You can check it out at my sister's blog http://fitnessfriendsfood.blogspot.com/2009/02/financial-fitness-make-your-own-laundry.html. I just can't find the soap or washing soda. I actually was looking for a different kind of soap so I'll have to look for the Zote. Sorry about no link, I can't get it to work????

4. I already do almost 100% of our cooking from scratch but I am going to make more of an effort in the bread department. I've made homemade bread several times but I haven't perfected it yet. I also would like to make rolls to keep in the freezer that we can grab for burgers.

I've looked into cloth diapers when I was pregnant but I'm not sure the time is worth the savings? Is there a big savings? Let me know what you think and maybe I'll try it.

Well, that seems to have worked my brain enough for now so I will try to get our menu planned for the week now and spend some time with my kids!

Menu Plan Monday

We stuck to our menu for the most part last week but did have a couple of changes. This has really been helping me stay on track with what I make each week though so I'm hoping I stick to it. I've been spending a lot of time on another great blog called the Grocery Cart Challenge. http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/ She even has a recipe for making your own laundry soap that I am hoping to try soon! You can't really beat a penny a load for detergent!

So here is our weeks menu:

Sunday - We had leftover pizza today from the Valentine party at church and leftovers for supper too. Yeah for me, no cooking today!

Monday - Soup and sandwiches (Baked potato soup again from the soup swap! I love it!)
Tuesday - Cheeseburgers, homemade steak fries, and veggies

Wednesday - leftovers tonight, mom has to work. (as long as the snowstorm doesn't prevent it!)

Thursday - Salsa Chicken (I made this a couple of weeks ago and froze some) brown rice and veggies

Friday - Homemade pizza

Saturday - Chili and cornbread (The chili is also from the soup swap!)

Now looking back at this weeks menu it will be a pretty easy week in the kitchen for me but that's ok because it will be a pretty busy week for us. I will also try to make some blueberry muffins for my mom's group on Tuesday and maybe bake something else to satisfy our sweet tooth.

For more menu planning ideas check out orgjunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday

Here it is, another week has gone by and still no other blogging except my menu! I should blog today about how my little baby is 10 months old today! Maybe after this one I'll do that.

Sunday - Soup and Grilled cheese. Today we had Turkey and Wild Rice soup from my mom's groups' soup exchange. It was sooo good!
Monday - Meatloaf, potatoes, corn and green veggie
Tuesday - Spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans
Wednesday - Leftovers - I love these nights when I don't have to cook or clean as much!
Thursday - Asian Peanut Butter Pork from a Year of Crockpotting. I'm still learning this whole linking thing but if you just go to that website you'll find this recipe.
Friday - Sloppy Joes (from the freezer) corn and broccoli. I'm babysitting all day and will be feeding two extra kids.
Saturday - Family fun night at church - We will be having pizza!

So that's our week. If you can give me any insight on putting those links in my page I'd appreciate it. I can link to Org junkie to post this but that's about it!!

Menu Plan Monday

Well, if anything, maybe this blog will keep me accountable to doing weekly menu plans. They really help me with my sanity during the week and then when my kids ask constantly "what's for dinner?" I have an answer. Unless of course I change my mind! So here goes for this weeks menu.

Monday - Randy was sick yesterday so I'm going to skip my Mexican idea and go with something more simple like cheeseburgers, potatoes and corn. A little easier on the recovering stomach.
Tuesday - Stuffed Shells - I made these in Dec. and froze them. They are from a great cookbook called The Freezer Cooking Manual from the 30 Day Gourmet by Nancy Slagle. I first checked the book out from the library to try it and loved it so I got it for Christmas.
Wednesday - BBQ Beef in the crockpot. Veggies.
Thursday - Back to Mexican. Salsa chicken. This is soooo easy. Put 4-5 chicken breast in the crockpot. Add a jar of salsa, bag of frozen corn, can of black beans (drained) then cook all day on low. 15 minutes before you serve it chunk up a brick of cream cheese and add that. Serve over rice or noodles or whatever you like!
Friday - Homemade pizza
Saturday - leftovers
Sunday - Soup and Sandwiches

For more Menu Plan ideas go to http://orgjunkie.com/

Menu Plan Monday

One of the things I have really enjoyed since I discoverd the world of blogs is Menu Plan Monday at http://orgjunkie.com/ She posts her menu for the week and then other bloggers post theirs and link to them. I love looking at what others are planning or doing with their menus for the week. So here is my first attempt at doing a menu plan online.

Breakfasts: We usually eat the same thing everyday. The boys start off with milk or juice, applesauce, cereal and toast with honey or jelly. If they're still hungry after that they will have a banana to top it off.

Lunches: We keep lunch simple: leftovers, pbj sandwiches, turkey and cheese, egg salad, pancakes. Usually whatever I feel up to making. We always have fruit with lunch too.

Suppers:
Monday - Beef Enchiladas and mixed veggies
Tuesday - leftovers -I have to work tonight
Wednesday - Chicken Pot pie
Thursday - Mac and Cheese bake, green beans
Friday - Homemade Pizza
Saturday - Steak, corn, potatoes
Sunday - Lunch: soup and grilled cheese Supper: leftovers
The mom's group that I am in did a soup exchange this month so I have 14 frozen quart bags of yummy homemade soup in my freezer. It is so fun for me to look in there and see all of that soup. So I though we would pick a different kind every Sunday for lunch until it warms up!

Well, that's our week. For more menu ideas click on the link at the top of this post.