Menu for Week of February 28th

Well hello there!  I got a reprieve from my in-laws this weekend; they watched our two year old son on Saturday night and all day Sunday.  It was really nice to get a break, but we spent time getting the house picked up and re-arranged so we can start taking down the bassinet, infant car seat, and infant swing thing.  I feel bad that new baby won't have a true "nursery" waiting on their arrival, but 1) they'll have no memory of it and 2) why do that when we are about to sell our house anyways.

Keep it simple.  Although I didn't write that down as my new year's resolution, I think that I'm going to try and continue that as my theme for 2011.

Last week's menu was a truly budget conscious menu, although I am challenged to do even better. We only spent $67 of the $92 weekly budget we had set aside.  This week, we were in great shape to do it again, but our local supermarket had a GIANT meat sale. So we bought a lot of bulk and spent the time on Sunday (kid-free) to package it up and separate into the freezer. That's going to help a lot for the upcoming weeks that I am home on maternity leave. 

THIS IS LUNCH:

Monday	Taco Salads (Hubs said these were so good Friday he wanted them again!)
Tuesday	Baked Potato (Bacon, butter, sour cream, cheese)
Wednesday	Chicken Salad in Pita Sandwiches
Thursday	Cuban Sandwiches (bake 'naked' pork chops with Tuesday night dinner)
Friday	Open/BLT Sandwiches (Hubs wants to go out for lunch, I will probably just make easy sandwich)
Saturday	Left overs from dinner
Sunday	FFY

THIS IS DINNER:

Monday	Left over Lasagne
Tuesday	Breaded Pork Chops with Mac and Cheese, Mixed Veggies
Wednesday	Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Thursday	Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce (has Italian Sausage in it too-yum)
Friday	BBQ Chicken Pizza - there are so many different options! Finding a good pizza dough has been so helpful and then we just add toppings.
Saturday	Tacos, Enchilladas...maybe something different in "mexican" style
Sunday	Family Dinner - it was our turn for Oscar night, so we are back to the other families.

Thanks for stopping by!

Menu for Week of February 20th

Budget troubles.  Within the past two weeks, hubby and I are noticing increasing difficulties with sticking to our "cash envelopes" budget. We have 4 months left to be very close to debt free (house & student loans will still be there).  As I'm sure we've all noticed, gas prices have been rising across the country.  We raised our weekly budget for gas from $50 to $60 a week (we carpool to work), but in the past two weeks it doesn't seem to be enough. 

Groceries, is another area that we are "overlapping."  When I refer to this "overlap," I mean that we have to take money out of our other budget envelopes (i.e. Wham money - walking around money) and move it over to groceries because we are having an overage for the week.  We use a lot of coupons and shop the sales; however, I'm convinced that prices have to be rising here too because we've been fine on our grocery budget for the past 7 weeks.

Do you have a cash budget plan?  Have you experienced/noticed similar rising costs? How are you coping?

On that note, I offer a much simpler menu this week so that we can try to keep some under-budget this week on our grocery bill.   Please share if you have a "low budget menu" or if you have other strategies your family implements during crunch times.

THIS IS LUNCH:

Monday	Left over Ziti from last week with side Caesar Salad; Jello, Yogurt, Mixed Nuts
Tuesday	Baked Potatoes (butter, cheese, bacon, sour cream); Jello, Yogurt, Fruit
Wednesday	Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup/Chicken Noodle (Hubs gets another catered lunch in at work this week because of training)
Thursday	PB & J (Haven't had to resort to this in months so maybe with some potato chips and Carrot Stix) Apples
Friday	Taco Chips Salad; Beans, Lettuce, Tomato, cheese, Sour Cream and Olives
Saturday	Macaroni & Cheese
Sunday	Brunch - Waffles and eggs

THIS IS DINNER:

Monday	Sloppy Joes
Tuesday	Sweet n Sour Chicken with rice (we didn't make this last week)
Wednesday	Oven Ready Lasagne
Thursday	Breakfast for dinner: French Toast and Bacon with Fruit
Friday	Homemade Pizza
Saturday	Hopefully, we'll have extra this week (as payday will have passed by this point) that we can either make a short trip to grocery store or grab Chick-Fil-A.
Sunday	Dinner will be our turn this week - yikes! Probably something in the Crockpot or Chicken Fajitas

Thanks for stopping by!

Menu for Week of February 13th

I ended up straying a little bit from last week's menu, due to the weather!  Hubby and I are finding that despite how fun this is and that we are re-purposing the money we used to spend on eating out, to pay down debt...it can, quite honestly, be numbing.  Another words...it's taken us 6 weeks for this to get annoying.  
The extra cash we have had is going towards extra payments at the end of this month, but its very difficult to have Valentine's Day coming and we're not doing anything.  We haven't been extravagant in years past, but it seems the more cash we have - the less we have. Right now, we are on a pretty strict budget and so we've made a promise to not eat out. It'll be worth it at the end, when it's all paid (e.t.a.=May) - just right now is harder to get past then we thought it'd be.  
The better news is that our 2 year old is eating again...cleaned up his toys last night with very little prompting, and getting the hang of potty training.  Find joy in the small things, right?
I also have a new goal of trying to incorporate steamed/roasted vegetables in as snacks.  It's simple to re-heat and definitely a way to make sure we are getting the right veggies each day - without having another thing to cook at dinner.  I could just as well re-heat at dinner, but sometimes the veggies don't go with the meals, and it's just something else to remember to do at 7pm when we are trying to get dinner on the table.


THIS IS LUNCH:

Monday	Baked Potatoes with Cheese, Sour Cream and Bacon;  Waldorf Salad (still didn't make this), Granola Bars
Tuesday	Chicken Quesadillas; chips and salsa, Jello and Yogurt, Broccoli with butter
Wednesday	Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (Hubby has work lunch); Celery with PB, Yogurt and Orange
Thursday	Left over Ziti from Tuesday dinner; Carrot Stix with Ranch dressing, Pudding
Friday	Santa Fe Salad  (this sounds so tasty); Sliced strawberries and kiwis, Yogurt,
Saturday	Egg Rolls (I think I'm going to get adventurous Friday night and make these or empanadas - I'll let you know how it goes)
Sunday	Greek Chicken left over mixed in with pasta and feta cheese and Greek Salad Dressing

THIS IS DINNER:

Monday	Beef Stroganoff  steam broccoli for tomorrow
Tuesday	Ziti with Salad and Bread Hubby makes his own tomato sauce, so I'm going to try and get him to make a tomato soup too.
Wednesday	Greek Chicken, Tabouli and Pita (we didn't make this from last menu plan)
Thursday	Taco Soup or Taco Salads
Friday	Sweet n Sour Chicken with rice
Saturday	Ham and Pineapple Pizza - there are so many different options! Finding a good pizza dough has been so helpful and then we just add toppings.
Sunday	Family Dinner - we canceled last week, so it's still not our turn yet! Yay!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cake mix extension

My hubby is going out tonight for a friend's birthday.  They aren't doing anything special - but I decided that I would make them a cake...well, they are big Star Wars fans (what guys aren't?) and we happen to have a Darth Vader cake pan from when I purchased it for hubby's 30th birthday, years ago.


Problem: I only had one cake mix and the cake pan needs two mixes (and no, I do not do from scratch...I'm too intimidated and short on time.)  But I thought surely, this has to have happened to someone else once...so I googled it.  Well, wouldn't you know; there are many!  So I thought I would share (except I modified this from a few sites that I visited):


1 box regular cake mix - prepared as it says on the box.  To that, add:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/3 cup from a package of Instant Pudding
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla


If you are making a chocolate cake, I went ahead and added a few (3) teaspoons of cocoa powder just to make it even.  Also - I didn't have an extra egg!  Geez, I need to go to the grocery store.  You can just substitute 150ml of milk (which is just about 2/3 of a cup) for each egg - or a banana, or I've heard of applesauce, yogurt, etc.


Anyways - this makes a perfect cake mix extension and filled the cake pan! Who knew?
Do you have any secrets of extending any baking recipes? Please do share.


Thanks for stopping by!

Snow!!

We got snow last night and a snow day from work! Woo hoo.  I headed to the park early this morning to take some maternity pictures while it was still snowing.  It was a little weird since I didn't do that with our first child...but that will be something special I will have for just her.
While we were there, we saw some beautiful cardinals in the snow....  I love these birds.
I'm also now thinking about Valentine's Day.  My husband and I are really close to paying off another credit card and I want to do something fun, but I want to be practical.  We've done coupons, single chocolates, baking, crafts, etc.  Is there anything special you do that you can share your ideas?

Thanks for stopping by!

Menu for Week of February 6th

Our menu got a little messed up last week because we were snowed in Tuesday and Wednesday.  It was really nice being home though because I was able to stay at home and do some baking!  I have really enjoyed getting connected to new blogs and feeling more confident in my cooking and baking.  I am already looking forward to new goals/projects for February.  The biggest challenge is trying to decide what to accomplish!  Happy February!

THIS IS LUNCH:

Monday	Veggie Quesadillas, Sour Cream, black bean and corn salad; apples & cheese slices, yogurt
Tuesday	Grilled Veggies in Pita Pockets with swiss cheese, Brown rice; Canteloupe and pita slices with hummus
Wednesday	BLTs and Corn chowder; corn chips, grapes, Yogurt and Bananas
Thursday	Left Overs, Tomatoes with mozzerella, Applesauce
Friday	Pad Thai; strawberries, canteloupe and grapes (fruit salad); although I'm headed to a big craft fair, so it might be a Fend for Yourself day (FFY).

THIS IS DINNER:

Monday	Fettucini Alfredo with broccoli OR Steak, Asparagus and mashed potatoes We have some errands to do and it will depend what time we get home. roast or grill veggies for lunch tomorrow
Tuesday	Kielbasa & Saurkraut, with pierogies cook bacon for lunch, make corn chowder
Wednesday	Meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green veggies or salad
Thursday	Pork Roast, Mac n Cheese, Carrots make pad thai
Friday	White Pizza, Caesar Salad
Saturday	Left overs
Sunday	Chicken fajitas, Mango Salsa salad

Thanks for stopping by!