Menu Monday- Feb 28

I haven't blogged in a while, though I check out other blogs nearly daily.  I guess it's hard to blog when you don't have much goin' on!  Maybe I should work on that.

I also haven't read for my 11k in 2011 goal.  I'm falling WAY behind.  Gotta get on that too!

So let's start this week off right- here's a menu!  I haven't done one in forever, because I felt it was sort of redundant.  But the less I did them, the less I actually wrote out a menu, and then I just stopped having one, which is SO BAD!!!!

So I took the time to write the menu this week.  It's based entirely on what's left from freezer cooking, so there are a few items that will show up more than once.  Oh well.

Monday- Maple Glazed Chicken with rice and peas
Tuesday- Chili with cornbread
Wednesday- Shake & Bake (homemade style) chicken with corn on the cob!
Thursday- Pork Chops with green beans and mashed potatoes
Friday- Maple Glazed Chicken (or maybe grilled chicken cob salad)
Saturday- Chili and Cornbread
Sunday- Baked Potato Soup or various leftovers

Have I shared my homemade chili recipe yet?  I know winter is almost over (woohoo!) but maybe you might still want it?  It's quite yummy.  We have around 4 bags of it left in the freezer actually.

Menu Monday- Picky Eaters

Dear future children- please be like your father and eat everything.

I don't deal with picky eaters well.  It's frustrating. 

My mom is a picky eater.  And when I say picky I don't mean to a huge extreme.  Just mainly vegetables.  Green vegetables.  And we put vegetables in pretty much everything we cook.

So naturally, when she stays with us (which is twice a week- she commutes to work, so it helps her out), dinner is a little bit of a challenge.  There are a few meals that I make that she likes.  But not a lot.  So I plan it all out.  And then Mr. Snow comes along and changes her schedule.  Now it's Monday, she's staying with us tonight, and the pot pie or beef stroganoff I had planned for when she was coming are frozen solid.

Darn.

I guess I'll make the dinner tonight and throw the veggies in after she gets her portion?  I think that'll work.  I'm not really good at this "adjusting" yet.  How do you all do it?  I don't want her to feel she has to get her own food, and I don't want her to feel bad because we have to change our menu.  How do you balance things?

Anyways, here's the menu

Monday- Chicken Alfredo
Tuesday- Spaghetti
Wednesday- Maple Chicken
Thursday- Beef Stroganoff
Friday- Pot Pie
Saturday breakfast- Eggs and Biscuits
Saturday dinner- Eating out! (We still have 1 more giftcard from Xmas)
Sunday breakfast- Pancakes?
Sunday dinner- Maple Glazed Chicken

I had planned on packing Chili and cornbread for my lunch this week.  However, I used an old stockpot for the chili (I had made a double batch) and it was too thin of a pot- it burnt the chili.  I froze it anyways hoping it would be fine if I didn't scrape the bottom... But it tastes burnt.  I couldn't even eat it.  How awful to waste so much chili! (A double batch, people...)  So now I have a dilemma- do I go to the store and buy ingredients to make the chili again?  Or do I just buy cheap-y soup for lunch?  I can't decide.

Link up, folks!

So I have no menu today.  I don't know what we're eating this week, because quite frankly, once you freezer cook you don't really look at the menu so much.  I know tonight is leftovers of Benihana's (sans Benihana.  It was delicious).  I think I have maple chicken on the menu, and I know there are shredded chicken sandwiches and tacos.  Other than that?  Who knows!  So I'm not posting a menu this week.

But today!  Today I start classes, officially.  Yeah, I already watched the intro and did the first 4 tasks for my one class that starts today.  But I'm sure he'll post a lecture soon and then I'll have homework, and maybe I should consider checking to see if I have school supplies?  Because I haven't yet.  I have the book, though.  And 2 chapters to read this week.

At least I can count the textbook reading assignments towards my 11k for 2011, right?

Wish me luck!  I just might need it.

Starting off right- Menu Monday- On a Tuesday

Yay for being late on the first week of the year!

Who's ready for 52 Menu Mondays?????????

Ok, so... Me.

This week, the menu (by memory, so be patient)=

Monday- Taco Melts.  They weren't that good.  We'll have to tweek the recipe.
Tuesday- Chili that I forgot to thaw... and cornbread (of course)
Wednesday- Chicken Pot Pie (One of our faves)
Thursday- Pot Roast with potatoes and carrots
Friday- Date night (maybe... Mike works)
Saturday breakfast- Eggs, bacon, and muffins
Saturday dinner- leftovers.  Mike is recording a wedding.
Sunday breakfast- Supposed to be Breakfast burritos, but I didn't like them
Sunday dinner- Benihana style shrimp, rice, and veggies.  :)  Let's hope they turn out!

Lunch for the week- Soup and sandwiches.  It's a good one with lots of variety, and it seems to shrink the waist (which is nice after the holidays).

Ok, so there isn't a lot of variety this week, and I'm not posting any recipes because the ones I like you've seen and the ones I don't, you don't want.  BUT, if Benihana's style goes well I will share that experience!

Link up, folks!

Happy Christmas! Merry New Year!

Hope you don't mind my absence.  I was slaving away enjoying my days off before Christmas and didn't put blogging very high on the priority list.

I'll do a post later about all that, but to get to current topics- MENU MONDAY!!!!

On a Tuesday.  Again.

Anyways, food this week?  There's a lot of it.  I mean, hello stuffing your face week!

Monday- Christmas dinner out with the Brudders!!!!  Both of my brothers work at a casino (in the restaurants) so they never get off for the holiday.  SO.  To deal with that and the fact that we live a sizeable distance apart, we met half way and ate at the Fuji Steakhouse.  It's like Benihana's, only a little cheaper (same great taste if you ask me!).  Boy was it yum.

Tuesday- Lasagna
Wednesday- Take your pick of leftovers- Christmas dinner or lasagna
Thursday- I'm thinking Taco Melts
Friday breakfast- Doughnuts!  We love us homemade doughnuts.
Friday dinner- Maple Glazed Chicken with rice and carrots.
Saturday breakfast- Breakfast burritos- if we like them I'll share the recipe.
Saturday dinner- Probably Chili or eating out- it's my cooking day
Sunday breakfast- Pancakes?
Sunday dinner- Beef stroganoff?  I think so...

As you can tell, this is all made up on the spot.  I have a menu, but we've drifted so far off the map that I don't remember what it says- just what's in the freezer.  The good thing is I have probably a week's worth of meals still in the freezer!  Yay for not needing to make so much this month!

PS- The Christmas ham (and apple dumplings) were delicious.  Recipes to follow... Probably tomorrow.  I will try, though!

PSS- Link up ya'll

Menu Monday- Crunch week

Can you believe it's already Dec. 13?

I was doing so well this year, and now I feel lik I've fallen behind!  I can't believe it's already Dec. 13!!!!

Shopping- almost done, thankfully.  I still have to buy a few things, but I'm going out tomorrow with a friend to do just that, so hopefully I can check that off my list!

Baking- I have 4 batches of cookies on my table, 3 batches of dough in the fridge, and 3 more batches to make!  Plus the 2 batches of fudge.  I have a lot left!  And then to divide it all up.  I hope I have enough- I had to cut down on the snickerdoodles because I ran out of flour and cinnamon.  Crazy.

Homemade crafts/gifts- I still have 1 to finish and 1 to start AND finish!  This is where it's really getting down to the wire.  I'm a littler worried here.

Christmas cards- I still have TWENTY to finish!  That can probably be finished Wednesday, though, and I'm not mailing most of them, so I should be ok there.

Oh, wait, I'm supposed to have a menu? Yeah... a menu.  It's crunch week.  It's really a good thing I freezer cook!!!!

Lunch- soup and sandwiches all week!!!!  This has become a fave.

Monday- Baked Potato Soup and salad
Tuesday- More baked potato soup and salad
Wednesday- Pineapple pork chops with rice and veggies
Thursday- Taco Melts
Friday- Maple Glazed Chicken with rice and veggies
Breakfast Saturday- Oatmeal
Dinner Saturday- Beef stroganoff with veggies and rolls
Breakfast Sunday- Waffles and smoothies!
Dinner Sunday- Christmas dinner with my family.  I can't believe it's already here.  I'm making Mashed Potatoes and possibly Apple dumplings if they ask for them.  If they don't I'm sure Mike will.  He asked for his own batch for Christmas.  I think he might want some.  LoL.

I love the Christmas season!  Maybe I'll get some Christmas photos taken soon and post them for you to see.  Including pictures of "the white death" (We don't like snow here in Cincy.)

Post edit- I forgot to link up!  Here you go.  I also forgot last week...

Menu Monday- Freezer cooking!

This is the start of a wonderful relationship.  I love freezer cooking.  I went to the grocery on Saturday for a whole month!  I thought the lady at Meijer was going to blow a gasket or something!

It was fun though, and pushing the cart was a workout.  I had all my groceries, plus all the stuff for my Christmas baking, plus supplies to make a Christmas gift.  Which I will begin posting information on great gift ideas here soon.  I promise.  **NOTE** I don't want to post a lot of ideas on here now because I don't want certain people guessing what they will be getting!  That would just be silly.

Some of them I think I can post, though.  A few, at least.

Anyways, where was I?  Oh, Menu Monday.

Monday- Spaghetti with green beans, corn, and rolls
Tuesday- Leftover spaghetti
Wednesday- Dinner out (I'm Christmas shopping)
Thursday- Tuna Noodle Casserole
Friday- More casserole, cuz it's big.
Saturday breakfast- Oatmeal
Saturday dinner- Maple Glazed Chicken with rice and carrots
Sunday breakfast- Waffles and smoothies
Sunday dinner- Chicken Tortellini with broccoli and corn

Brown bag- Chicken Pot Pie
Breakfast all week- Muffins, bacon and egg whites

Enjoy your week, folks!

Menu Monday- Again??

It seems like Monday happens a lot around here, don't ya think?

It's always so easy to do my Menu Monday, though, because freezer cooking really is the shit. Plus I spent less than $15 at the store this week.  BOOYAH

Thanksgiving was divine, by the way.  I hope yours was just as swell.  I made a turkey.  I'll try to write a post on that tomorrow.  It really is a story.

So without further ado, here's the menu!

Monday- Beef Stroganoff
Tuesday- More beef stroganoff (maybe... or leftovers from Thanksgiving.)
Wednesday- Mike's birthday!  Chicken and dumplings with ice cream cake
Thursday- More chicken and dumplings
Friday- Chicken sandwiches
Saturday breakfast- waffles and smoothies
Saturday dinner- maybe a date night?  Only if Mike's off work.
Sunday breakfast- Cinnamon rolls, please!
Sunday dinner- Probably more chicken sandwiches (we love our leftovers)

It looks like a boring menu, I know, but sunday is a cooking day for next month, and we have leftovers, and we love chicken.  Actually my whole week is the same color- I must not have thought this through very well.  And I miss spaghetti.

Enjoy, and I'm linking up here.

Menu Monday- On a Tuesday

It occured to me that I do this a lot- write a post a day late, ya know?

It also occured to me that I don't think I've blogged much lately besides our menu.  I will work on that.

Today's budget sucked.  I went over for Thanksgiving, but there were things I hadn't predicted like a roasting pan for the turkey I didn't know I was cooking.  Oh what's that?  Why yes, I am actually cooking my first turkey.  Ever.  I also needed wine for my turkey and myself.  (who doesn't, right?)

Ok, so the menu:

Monday- we had leftover pot roast!
Tuesday- Maple Glazed Chicken with rice and veggies
Wednesday- Chicken Alfredo
Thursday- Thanksgiving will be at my aunt's house with the usual turkey, spoonbread, green beans, dumplings, sweet potatoes, green stuff, jello salad, rolls, and of course pumpkin pie.  I will be making the mashed potatoes and the apple dumplings (a delicious dessert).
Friday- Leftovers, anyone?
Saturday breakfast- Waffles and smoothies!!!!
Saturday dinner- Probably more leftovers.  But if not, we have stuff to make chicken sandwiches.
Sunday breakfast- Biscuits, bacon, eggs, and fruit
Sunday dinner- Thanksgiving again!  Dinner with my brothers, where I will be making the turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

Menu Monday- Freezer Cooking Round 2

And couponing round 1.

So, in recap, the freezer cooking worked SWELL!  So I thought I'd give it a go again, only this time for 3 weeks (to close out the month).

So, step 1- I decided to try couponing as well.

It was a miserable failure.  For various reasons-
#1- I don't have newspapers.  Only the circulars they deliver every now and then.
#2- I dropped a few of my coupons in store... Oops.
#3- My printer decided to turn satanic and spew out 200 pages of coupons, wasing tons of ink and paper.  Along with time and dignity... How does that look when I tell husband I'm trying to save money?  Oh and the coupons... They were repeats.  A lot of them.
#4- I gotta learn my grocery stores.

Step 2- buy groceries.  MISERABLE FAILURE

I went to 4 stores.  FOUR.  That is like... way too many, people.  I first went to Aldi.  I've heard raves.  I was disappointed.  I think it might just be my aldi, though, so I'll probably research and try again.  They barely had anything.  I spent $14.  I then went to Meijer.  Again, raves on prices.  And cheap chicken.  I was actually able to buy most of the items I needed.  And in truth, I think I saved money merely because of Meijer.  But either I don't know the store well (I don't) or they just suck sometimes because they didn't have some certain items I needed.  Like egg whites.  Or Bob Evans Mac N Cheese.  And Green Peppers (who sells produce without green peppers?  Maybe I missed them somewhere).  So the remaining 2 stores (walmart and kroger) were my solution to the missing items.

It was a frustrating day, but I will improve.  And if I had more than 3 coupons I probably would have saved more.  In the end I was still over budget, but by way less than normal.

So step 3- Prepare.  I passed this with flying colors.

I made a list of all the food that needed to be made.  I marked off items that had to be made fresh the day of.  I then made 4 lists of what needed to be done- prep work, cooking (stove top), baking (oven), and assembly.  In each one I numbered them in a reasonable order.  Then, I took my 4 lists, and combined them into 1 big list in a numbered order.  I tried to guestimate how much time each would take and lay out a plan that wouldn't overwhelm me at some points but leave me waiting on a timer at others.

Step 4- execute.  And execute I did.  It was smooth, easy, and QUICK!  3 hours for 3 weeks (not counting thanksgiving!).

Menu:
Monday- Maple Glazed Chicken with rice, carrots, and green beans
Tuesday- Spaghetti with rolls, corn, and peas
Wednesday- Leftover spaghetti
Thursday- Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, and Green beans with a mushroom gravy
Friday- Leftover pork chops
Saturday breakfast- Cinnamon Rolls, Eggs, Fruit smoothies
Saturday- Leftover pork chops (we love this meal.  It's our fave).
Sunday breakfast- Biscuits, eggs, sausage (or bacon)
Sunday dinner- Pot Roast, Potatoes, Carrots

AND I'm linking up here.  Sorry this post is so long!

Menu Monday- Adjusting to freezer cooking

Last week we decided to try out the "freezer cooking" method.  We made a menu for a month, made a grocery list covering 2 weeks worth of that month (it's a trial, remember), and then went out and spent a ton of money at three different stores.

The idea was that we'll (eventually) make a menu for a month at a time.  We'd go to Sam's Club at the beginning of the month for the bulky items.  Then every other week we'll head to Walmart for the items we don't need in bulk.  Then once a week we'll head to Kroger for the fresh items (like fruits.  We love us some fresh fruit).

So far, we're way over budget.  But to be honest, it's mostly because a) we bought enough toilet paper (and other items) to last us forever.  b) I bought cookie dough (and other unneccessary items).  c) This is a trial, and I seriously think we will survive a long time with what we have.

This week I was supposed to only need to go to Kroger.  However, I had to go to both walmart and kroger because I hadn't realized we'd run out of certain things when we did.  Like face whipes.

Other than that, we are as we predicted.  There's a ton of food still at our house.  I imagine we will probably survive a total of 3 weeks on what I cooked versus the planned 2.  With that, here's this week's menu:

Breakfast for the week includes a muffin, a banana, egg whites, and turkey bacon.  And coffee, of course.

Lunch is soup and sandwiches again.  It's plain but pretty healthy.  And cheap.

Monday- Spaghetti with peas, corn, and rolls.
Tuesday- Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo
Wednesday- Leftover fettuccini alfredo
Thursday- Pineapple pork chops with rice and broccoli
Friday- Taco Salad
Saturday breakfast- Biscuits, eggs, bacon/sausage
Saturday dinner- Maple glazed chicken
Sunday breakfast- Waffles and fruit smoothies
Sunday dinner- BBQ Meatloaf

I'm super excited to see how this week goes, because I can already tell I've left at least 2 meals off of the menu that are already cooked.  I also have lots of leftover pork chops that I have yet to use, along with lots of left over veggies.  I'm predicting that the spaghetti will last 2 days, the alfredo might last 3, and the meatloaf will probably have leftovers as well.  We'll just have to wait and see!

AND I'm linking up here.

Menu Monday- Freezer meals!

Has it seriously been a week since I blogged???  And where are those pictures I promised you?

I have a few posts written, and pictures on my camera.  I swear.  I just need to upload them so I can post them!  I will I will I will I swear.

Just a preview- I was really really ecstatic about the way a certain meal came out last week.  Also, I should have some Halloween pics if anyone else took them I was bad... I didn't.  Maybe some homecoming pics? And this week I hopefully will be... dum-du-du-dum! RUNNING!  I'm terrified, but hey... it'll be worth it, right?

So the menu, right.  Just a quick pre-note: We are trying something different in our house.  We keep trying to take baby steps towards saving money and time.  So this week we planned out the whole MONTH of meals (that's gonna help a lot).  THEN we went shopping for 2 weeks worth of meals at 3 stores.  We are trying to do the whole "freezer cooking" idea.  Eventually I will shop for a month at a time (at Sam's) and have one big cooking day where I freeze just about everything I can for a whole month of meals.  But since this is our first time, we only did 2 weeks worth because I honestly think it'll last a lot longer than 2 weeks.

But it was SO EXPENSIVE!!!!  Ok, it probably wouldn't have been $300 but we needed a lot of other things like laundry detergent and toilet paper and cat food.  We bought those at Sam's too, and seriously.  If they don't last a whole year, I'll be shocked (ok... 3 months).  We won't need things like that every month, so to me, we didn't do so bad.  Oh, and we had to renew that membership too.

So this week, I have already cooked everything!  Here's the menu-

Breakfast- egg whites, turkey bacon, and chocolate chip-banana muffins
Lunch- Rich and Meaty Chili, cornbread, and applesauce

Monday- Maple Glazed Chicken, rice, and veggies
Tuesday- Beef Stroganoff, rolls, and veggies
Wednesday- Chicken Pot Pie
Thursday- Chicken Pot Pie (there's a lot of it)
Friday- Spaghetti, Rolls, and veggies
Saturday breakfast- Waffles, eggs and fruit smoothies
Saturday dinner- Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings and veggies
Sunday breakfast- Cinnamon Rolls, Sausage, and Peaches
Sunday- Taco Salad (not made yet due to needing fresh veggies)

You'll see a lot of repeat foods in our house, because we love our favorites, and it's hard for me to find new things that I'll like.  I'm kind of picky.  Plus, obviously with freezing meals, we'll probably have more left overs than I anticipate.

Oh, and here's the link up.

Menu Monday- Halloween time!

There were a lot of meals last week that I didn't end up cooking, oddly enough.  Mainly because everyone was so busy!  We had a football game, and I was helping my mom pack for her big move this week... So we weren't always home.

That means?  That means a lot of meals from last week are now on this week's menu!

Monday- Chicken alfredo with peas and corn
Tuesday- Cheeseburger macaroni with carrots and green beans
Wednesday- Maple Glazed Chicken, rice, and broccoli
Thursday- Chicken, mushrooms and tortellini in ragu with green beans
Friday- Chili (I've been dying to make this for weeks) with cornbread
Saturday breakfast- Biscuits, eggs (egg whites), turkey bacon, and fruit
Saturday dinner- left over chili (Homecoming weekend with Halloween party)
Sunday breakfast- toast, eggs (egg whites), turkey bacon, and fruit
Sunday dinner- Tuna mac.  YUM!  It's easy, it's processed, it's so unhealthy, but yum-o.

Breakfast for the week is a cinnamon bagel with a banana.  And coffee.
Lunch for the week is soup and sandwiches with applesauce again.
Snacks- grapes and string cheese.

I'm going to attempt to drink more water, but it'll be tough today because I forgot my waterbottle that clearly marks the ounces.  Oops.

Oh, and I'm linking up- need ideas for your own menu?  There are tons right here!!!!

Chicken Pot Pie

This is one of my all time favorite dishes- it's a great comfort food, it's extremely easy to make, and EVERYONE loves it!

I got the original recipe from Paula Deen (Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie).  But then I made adjustments to it for my own preferences.  Feel free to do the same.

Ingredients:

1.25 lbs (1 regular-sized package) of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
Canned veggies (just drain and rinse off)
-Corn (only use about 1/2 the can)
-Peas (also use only 1/2 the can)
-Carrots
-Potatoes (diced)
-Green beans
Regular sized can of Cream of Chicken
1 cup Chicken broth
1 1/2 cups bisquick (or similar product)
1 cup milk
Large casserole dish

1.  Preheat the oven to 450*
2.  Cook the chicken so that it is mostly cooked through (or more, but it's not necessary).  Drain off the grease and layer in the bottom of the casserole dish
3.  Mix the veggies (after draining and rinsing) together.  Pour evenly over the chicken in the casserole dish.
4.  Mix the chicken broth with the cream of chicken soup.  Pour evenly over the chicken and veggies in the casserole dish.
5.  Mix the milk and bisquick together.  I like to pour this evenly over the casserole dish, but leave room on the edges because it expands.
6.  Place in the oven and bake for 35 - 45 minutes.  Mine is usually done in the 35 minutes, but my oven is amazingly accurate.
7.  Sit back and relax!  Let it cool before eating.  It gets really hot.

This is also one of my favorite meals for lunch ideas because it's nice and big, which is easy to split up for 5 lunches.  I also use it for any sort of "cook for others" events, such as new neighbors or deaths.  It's a great comfort food for just about everyone.

Menu Monday- With actual food this week!

Last week was horrible for food, I must say.  We practically starved, but we survived without leaving the budget!  Until we bought groceries this week... Apparently skipping a week means you will stretch out the money the next week- we needed everything.

But going over the budget was acceptable for us this week.  We just had to.  I'll find it somewhere else in the budget.  Or cry.  But that's later today.

Monday- Spaghetti with corn and green beans
Tuesday- Leftover spaghetti (I love the stuff)
Wednesday- Taco Salad
Thursday- Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
Friday- Leftover Chicken Pot Pie (I will be at yet another football game)
Saturday breakfast- Pumpkin muffins with eggs, turkey bacon, and mixed fruit
Saturday dinner- Chicken and rice (maybe will try a maple chicken glaze found in the link below)
Sunday breakfast- Pancakes and eggs, with mixed fruit
Sunday dinner- Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo

For breakfast all week I have cinnamon bagels and bananas.  Plus my coffee... Oh how I love coffee.  For lunch I'm back to soup and sandwiches- it's becoming a quick favorite.  I also have fruit for lunch- no sugar apple sauce, pears, and peaches.  And for snacks?  I skipped the string cheese this week, but I have low fat wheat thins, applesauce, and apples.

I'm linking up- check out the other menus, along with the Maple Glazed Chicken