Week #5 Pasta-riffic

Doing New Things

Isn't Nana a beautiful lady?

I always thought as a young kid that she looked Italian. 

It certainly was not her cooking that misguided me. 

Nana is amazing at many culinary practices but Italian is not her strong suit.

Yep, Yep, Yep

I can't say no to carbs. Love um', I  do. In moderation ofcouse…sometimes.

Now for those of us on a New Years health kick, paleo, whole 30, diet of choice, keep in mind all the

amazing substitutes to good ol' traditional pasta. 

You can use spaghetti squash, rice noodles, zucchini noodles, exedra exedra.

Malta-wah?

Maltagliati literally means "badly made".  

I have been trying for months to perfect a MYO pasta recipe with no avail! I just can't seem to get the hang of it.

Luckily for me, my 16yr old is a pasta savant and has saved the day on many occasions.

When I found this recipe I jumped for joy! 

Now I don't have to worry about wasting a batch of dough when my noodles don't turn out picture perfect.

I'll just chop up the dough and wa-lah we are having Maltagliati!

This Week We Purchased The Following: 

5# Chicken leg quarters,  5# Ground Turkey, 3 dozen eggs, 3 LB's Bacon

Tomatoes, Broccoli, Onion,  Peas, Spinach

 Peaches, Pineapple, Blackberries, Cantaloupe, Mangoes Bananas, 
Cheese - Cheddar, Cottage, Parmesan, Butter, Buttermilk, Milk

TP, Dog food, Diced tomatoes, Cream of Ck soup

 The total spent was $76.18

Our allotted budget is $130 but the goal is to stay under $100

Breakfast Options For The Week

• English Muffins  
• Bacon Egg & Cheese Burritos (make and FZ)
• Fruit & Yogurt
• Bagels & Cream Cheese (FZ)
• Apple Cinnamon Muffins 
• Copycat Burger King French Toast Sticks (FZ)

Alright, I only have to make the
english muffins and burritos. Both
are super easy.

Monday:

Lunch - BLT & Potato salad (LO)

Dinner - Spinach Stuffed Manicotti (make 2 batches freeze 1)

Tuesday:

Lunch - LO Manicotti OR Hawaiian Chicken Salad & Potato Salad (LO)

Dinner - Honey Ginger Dump Chicken, Rice

Wednesday:

Lunch - Poor Boy Sandwich

Dinner - Maltagliati with Peas, Onions & Bacon 

Thursday: 

Lunch - Veggie Quiche

Dinner - Beef & Broccoli Casserole (but with Turkey)

Friday:

Lunch - Egg Drop Soup OR PB &J

Dinner - MYO Shake-N-Bake Pork Chops, Lemon Dill Rice, Roasted Asparagus

Saturday:

Lunch - Pizza Pasta (Try Try Again)

Dinner - Fridge Dive - eat up those leftovers or package individual servings and freeze for quick meals)

Sunday: SUPERBOWL

Lunch: White Chicken Chili, {Copycat Ruby Tuesday} & MYO Jiffy Cornbread

Dinner: Dinner At Friends House 

Snacks:

• Pineapple, Mango, Cantaloupe Mix
• Popcorn
• Muffins
• Fruit & Yogurt
• Funnel Cakes 

Drinks:

• Coffee and Hot Tea
• Water - that's a biggie here
• Cocoa Mix 
• MYO Arizona Green Tea 
• MYO Lemonade Concentrate 

I Don't Leave Home Without It

I generally plan on Wed when I have 30 minutes  before mass chaos begins.

I shop on Fri so our family menus (posted on the fridge) run from Fri to Thur.

How do I keep it all straight without pulling my hair out? I use Pepperplate.   

This site/App keeps all my recipes, super easy to upload from other sites, 

my shopping list which automatically uploads, my weekly/monthly planner, 

AAAND  (with best infomercial voice I can muster)   So Much More! (Nope I 

didn't get paid to say that either.)

Ecclesiastes 1:9

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Week #4

The Good Ol' Days

Having spent so much time with my Nana, I inherited a few perspectives. 

One is to use what you have. 

Coming up in the 30's and 40's gave my grandparents the application of provision. 

Being thankful for what the Lord has provided, their needs namely. 

Wants, were frivolous and unnecessary.

I have many fond memories of watching my Papa till and prep the garden. Toil, tend and harvest. My Nana diligently canning and freezing. These were necessities for them and so they became a part of their lives. They are well into their 70's now and continue to cultivate and stock pile.

Although I haven't learned, yet, how to mass produce my own food in the same manner, I have begun to find ways, small as they are, to provide for my family using the provisions I have been given.

Old Wisdom

START WHERE YOU ARE...

I totally did not get to where I am in my grocery budget overnight. I remember a day where we were spending well over $250 every week and that didn't even count the eating out we were doing. Where did I start. I started with what I knew. 

Take a look at your spending on food for the last few months. 

Now a little math.

If your looking at three months divide by 12, if one month divide by 4. This will give  you a general idea of what your spending on food each week.

USE WHAT YOU HAVE…

Step two, seriously look at what you have on hand right now. In the fridge, freezer, and pantry.

Brain Storm… Pintrest… Google…

If you have enough on hand to make 2 or 3 quickie meals that's $20-30 less dollars you're going to spend at the store this week. 

DO WHAT YOU CAN...

Now give yourself a little challenge. If you spend any less then what you spent last week or month your on the right path.

Maybe you try to eat out just one less night this week.

Maybe you decide to make your breakfast instead of buying convenience foods.

Perhaps your goal is to prep lunch to cut down on grab n' go food on the run.

Meets New Wisdom

 The total spent was $67.84

Our allotted budget is $130 but the goal is to stay under $100

We did it again, what a way to start the year!

Now I'm gonna put the other  $32.16 into an

envelope. Just ask for the difference in cash

when the sweet young cashier asks you if 

you'd like cash back.
NOW HOARD IT AWAY AND WATCH OUT FOR THOSE HOLES IN YOUR POCKET!

Breakfast Options For The Week

• Egg-N-A-Hole
• Bagels and Cream Cheese (almost gone)
• Blueberry Muffins 
• Copy Cat Burger King French Toast Sticks (FZ for later)
• Banana Walnut Instant Oatmeal (Plenty Left)
• Crumb Coffee Cake
• Veggie Frittata

Breakfast is the most important 

part of the day right?  Make it 

easy on yourself and your kids.

Monday:

Lunch - Pizza, Copycat Bobli Pizza Crust

Dinner - Grilled Steak, Baked Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus

Tuesday:

Lunch - Tuna Salad Wraps

Dinner - Winter Lentil Soup

Wednesday: 

Lunch - Salad and LO Baked Potatoes

Dinner - Pot Roast

Thursday: 

Lunch - LO Soup

Dinner - Hand Held Meat Pies

Friday:

Lunch - Salad with Hard Boiled Egg

Dinner - Ocean Wiggle

Saturday:

Lunch - Salad or Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Dinner - Cauliflower Snob

Sunday:

Lunch: Worlds Best Potato Salad, BLT

Dinner: At Friends House

Snacks:

• Oranges, Bananas, Apples
• Popcorn
• 100 Calorie Snacks *Great Ideas for simple handy snacks
• Meringue Kisses
• MYO Yogurt

Drinks:

• Coffee and Hot Tea
• Cocoa Mix
• Water - that's a biggie here
• MYO Arizona Green Tea
• MYO Lemonade Concentrate

I Don't Leave Home Without It

I generally plan on Wed when I have 30 minutes  before mass chaos begins.

I shop on Fri so our family menus (posted on the fridge) run from Fri to Thur.

How do I keep it all straight without pulling my hair out? I use Pepperplate.   

This site/App keeps all my recipes, super easy to upload from other sites, 

my shopping list which automatically uploads, my weekly/monthly planner, 

AAAND  (with best infomercial voice I can muster)   So Much More! (Nope I 

didn't get paid to say that either.)

Luke 12: 22-26

22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or

about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[b]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Week #47 Reduce, Reuse, Re-Leftovers!

So The Government Did Care?

**We are interupting your regularly scheduled blog for this short history brief. **

Well, yea, a long time ago in a not so far off land. 

World War II was on the horizon, it was the spring of 1942, and the federal government put the food rationing program into motion. They needed to control supply and demand. Rationing was introduced to avoid public anger with shortages and not to allow only the wealthy to purchase commodities.

Can anyone tell me what happened 72 years later?

I try to have no real political opnions but if you really want to know check out "Food INC" on Netflix, you can decide for yourself.

Oh, That Explains SO Very Much

That just happened to be the eria my Nana & Papa grew up in.

Having spent a large part of my childhood with Nana,  "We don't waste food" was not only something that was said but that was imparted in most every form of food that was eaten. If it had mold on it, don't worry, just cut it off. Well that one kinda didn't stick, something about that just doesn't settle well with me. Giving something multiple uses, however, did. Today we are going to explore the 3 R's of cooking

REDUCE - REUSE - RELEFTOVERS

Can you believe this still applies today!

You may think, my God that women must have an unlimited supply of time to plan everything, prepare it, oh yea, and blog about it. Well I hate to burst your bubble but I really don't. Buying something with thought to me just means how many uses can I get out of this thing. For me, that is cooking with care.

I can't believe the number of times I hear nay sayers tout that to buy fresh food is too expiensive. Really? Well maybe we will just have to get into that in future blogs. I can't afford to purchase endless amouts of prepackaged food that lasts only days in our house but I can stretch one $0.99 squach into 3 meals. You do the math friends.
OOPS, I think I just slipped off my soap box and busted my ass. Serves me right.

Serve just enough & use what is left, now I call that a golden rule. If I left a whole roast of anything setting out I guarentee my family would eat the whole darn thing. Portion control didn't seem to trickle down the generations in this country nor my home. So before I holler "DI-NER!!!" from the bottom of the stairs, I take just a moment and hack out what I need for later. By the way it helps to save on clean up time.

"NO, Pork Again, Please Make It Stop"

Think of this as great practice for turkey week. 

Why on this green earth would I make my family eat pork all week, that seems a bit excessive! October was national pork month, there were amazing pork sales and I waited until they were all sticker marked down. In budget talk, a $20 hunk of meat only set me back $11. That and, honestly, because I have an enormous Pork Shoulder in the freezer and pretty soon we will need the grocery savings to restock staples for the year like butter (freezable), flour, sugar, and the like. Which all get price marked down during the holiday season.

If you are a little shy about plaqueing your family with night after horrific night of pork, don't bail on me now. Once you cook the big'ol hunk of meat there is a few things you can do: 

Shred up 3/4 or 1/2 of what you've cooked and freeze it. When you want quick BBQ sandwiches or Lunch Wraps, simply place the freezer bag in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes to revive the meat. This will help to keep it moist and you can go about steping on lost legos as your searching for that matching sock.

OR

If you have a few extra minutes, try the soup rescipe below. Place it in a freezer bag, and repeat the above process when your ready for a meal on a hectic night.

This Week We Purchased The Following: 

I KISSED the Budget this week  (kept it simple stupid).

We didn't need much of anything, just what I call the fillers.

Coffee, milk, eggs, some fruit, and bean sprouts

 The total spent was $55.18

Our aloted budget is $130 but the goal is to stay under $100

Anything not spent gets rolled into the pot for restocking

or end of the year reallocation, like vacations! 

Or, more realistically braces, college, prom.

Breakfast Options For The Week: 

• Cinnamon Rasin Bread (machine)
• Land Of Nod Cinnamon Buns
• Pumpkin Spice Buttermilk Scones (last weeks LO's or what's in the FZ)
• Autum Apple Cereal Bars (great to add to school lunches too)
• Apple Rasin French toast (made from last weeks LO Bread)
• Banana Bread

Wow, that seems like A LOT of breakfast, well, we have

much left from last week, and anything I make that

doesn't get devoured goes to the freezer so I don't have

to make it later.

Monday:

Lunch - Chicken Salad Wraps (using LO's)

Dinner - Chinese Chop Suey, Rice

Tuesday:

Lunch - LO Chop Suey

Dinner - Grilled Lemon Pepper Pork Chops, Grilled Onions, Mashed Potatoes 

Wednesday:

Lunch - Pork Sandwiches

Dinner - Italian Sausage Subs

Thursday:

Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches (this link has an easy index of 18 differant ways to make egg salad)

Dinner - Pork Picnic, (in the crock pot) mashed califlower, pickled beets

Friday:

Lunch - Pork Carnitas (there is no recipe - take hashed up pork, a tortilla, and whatever else makes a good mexi-wrap)

Dinner - Southwestern Pork Soup, Cornbread

Saturday:

Lunch - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Dinner - BBQ Sandwiches, coleslaw, baked beans

Sunday:

Lunch: Fend for yourself (there's usually plenty in the fridge and it needs to go)

Dinner: Thanksgiving Dinner at a Friends - Cranberry relish and mashed Rutabaga. 

Snacks:

• Apples, Pears, and bananas
• popcorn (air popped)
• Granola Bars
• Cheese Dip and Tortilla Chips

Drinks:

• Coffee and Hot Tea
• Water - that's a biggie here
• MYO Arizona Green Tea
• MYO Lemonade Concentrate

I Don't Leave Home Without It

I generally plan on Wed when I have 30 minutes  before mass chos begins.

I shop on Fri so our family menus (posted on the fridge) run from Fri to Thur.

How do I keep it all straight without pulling my hair out? I use Pepperplate.   

This site/App keeps all my recipes, super easy to upload from other sites, 

my shopping list which automatically uploads, my weekly/monthly planner, 

AAAND  (with best infomercial voice I can muster)   So Much More! (Nope I 

didn't get paid to say that either.)

Proverbs 31:15

She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls.

Week #46

Week 46, 2014 - Yes, this is next week

But My Kids Won't Eat That!

There's a strong chance that if you've been serving your family out of boxes and bags, you are going to hit a wall of resistance. For me, cutting the budget meant growing a pair of you know whats. Oh the whining was torment and I so very much wanted to cave just to make it stop. Than there was the "I'm starving" ploy that tugged on my heartstrings. 

I Don't Want To, You Can't Make Me

Suprisingly enough, when I said "that's okay, it'll be here tomorrow when you are hungry", they began to concede. If I learned one thing, kids won't go hungry, not really. They may opt out of my less than desireable available choices but when hunger really does strike, they'll eat pretty much anything, than your in.

Time Is Precious, Just Shop Smart

Our weekly grocery budget is $130, the goal is to spend less then $100, but also I spent $0 dollars last week AND this is a restocking week. 

Prepare yourself, there will be a little math here. 

I will need to roll over from lasts weeks budget OR/AND save the differance for stocking the freezer with meat later. 

By the way, I DO NOT use coupons! Just like I don't have hours for cooking I also don't have hours for clipping coupons. Not to mention I don't need 120 boxes of junk food sitting on a shelf that I wouldn't want my family to eat anyway.

Where'd All The Money Go?

This Week We Purchased The Following: 

Restocking = all the stuff we don't eat and some we do.

Along  with the usual fruits, veggies, meats and canned

goods that we purchase weekly, this week we needed "big

ticket items" like detergent, dog food, 10#'s of ground turkey,

and paper products. The total spent was $155.01, divided by 2

because we spent $0 last week =

DRUM ROLL PLEASE……

$77.55!

Tis' The Season For Soup

Breakfast Options For The Week: 

• Homemade Instant Oatmeal
• Scrambled Eggs and Toast
• Pumpkin Spice Buttermilk Scones (Freeze For Later - FFL)
• Autum Apple Cereal Bars
• Biscuts & Applebutter or Jam

Monday:

Lunch - LO Chili

Dinner - Sweet & Sour Pork (Crock Pot), Habachi Fried Rice,  Shrimp Sauce

(**make twice as much rice - before following the recipe - and save half for Saturday)

Tuesday:

Lunch - LO Pork in a Wrap

Dinner - French Onion Soup 

(**Cook Bacon in the microwave and you'll have lunch for tomorrow) 

Wednesday:

Lunch - BLT's

Dinner - Tortilla Soup with Black Beans, Cornbread

Thursday:

Lunch - Bacon Egg Salad Sandwiches or Wraps

Dinner - Chipotle Turkey Burgers, Kale Chips

Friday:

Lunch - Tuna Salad Wraps

Dinner - Sailsbury Steak with Gravy, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Side Salad

Saturday:

Lunch - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Dinner - Roasted Lemon Chicken, Cumin Rice, Roasted Rosemary Corn

(**hold on to these leftovers for meals next week)

Sunday:

Lunch: Fend for yourself (there's usually plenty in the fridge and it needs to go)

Dinner: Dinner at a Friends - We don't have to bring a thing.

Snacks:

• Apples, Pears, and bananas
• popcorn (air popped)
• Cherry Cheesecake Cookies
• Homemade Eclairs

Drinks:

• Coffee and Hot Tea
• Water - that's a biggie here
• MYO Arizona Green Tea
• MYO Lemonade Concentrate

Tip #1

Living on a budget is "Progress NOT Perfection". Going out and buying everything at once is a sure fire way to break the bank. Making small changes over time, however, will add up.

I used to go straight to the bakery isle for all my spices but I found an easy cheat. Before filling the cart, check out the "ethnic" sections in your local store.

McCormick's spices are $3.99 in my store, but over in the Hispanic section the same spice pouches are $0.59. I would call that a considerable savings!

I Don't Leave Home Without It

I generally plan on Wed when I have 30 minutes  before mass chos begins.

I shop on Fri so our family menus (posted on the fridge) run from Fri to Thur.

How do I keep it all straight without pulling my hair out? I use Pepperplate.   

This site/App keeps all my recipes, super easy to upload from other sites, 

my shopping list which automatically uploads, my weekly/monthly planner, 

AAAND  (with best infomercial voice I can muster)   So Much More! (Nope I 

didn't get paid to say that either.)

Proverbs 31:15

She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls.