Menu Planning Monday (February 8th)

Well, this week should be very exciting. My birthday is on Tuesday. I have requested a blueberry filled King cake from Paul's Pastry Shoppe. If you are from the Gulf Coast area, particularly MS and LA, you probably know what I'm talking about. These cakes are wonderful.

The plan for the next three weeks is to use up all of the food in the freezer. I am hoping to have another OAMC day in March and restock the freezer.

So, without further ado...

Monday: Ham Pot Pie, Banana pudding

Tuesday: Chicken w/ Pistachio Rice, King Cake

Wednesday: Minestrone Soup, Homemade Bread, King Cake

Thursday: Spinach and Artichoke Tortellini, Chocolate Cake

Friday: Hamburgers and Fries, Chocolate Cake

Saturday: Stitching day at Lisha's. The boys will have sandwiches.

Sunday: Breakfast Casserole

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Abundance!!!

I am very fortunate in that I have the best job ever. I teach at a local university and I have a flexible schedule. Wednesday mornings I usually spend some extra time at home taking care of the house. Today I made an inventory of my freezer. I knew that I had several meals from my last OAMC day, but after actually listing everything in the freezer I was pleasantly surprised. We have enough food in the freezer to cook for the rest of February and the first week in March. This will actually purge all of our stores, but that can be a good thing. Next month we will be receiving a large supply of beef and lamb (my family has a farm). I also plan on doing my next OAMC during Spring Break. To make the day even better, I went grocery shopping for the week and only spent $32 (plus I got a free 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk). I think this new method of planning and cooking ahead is really working out for my family.

Menu Planning Monday (February 1st)

I made a big shopping trip on Thursday and stocked up on lots of snack items and breakfast foods. Since I have a freezer practically full of entrees I wasn't worried about dinner. But this month I am going to attempt to have some type of dessert with each of our meals. I have noticed that if I offer the boys a sweet item after dinner, they don't snack later in the evenings.

Monday: Spicy Korean Pork BBQ (OAMC), Corn on the Cob, Rice Krispies Treats

Tuesday: Penne in Cream Sauce w/ Sausage (OAMC), Salad, Garlic Bread, Crescent Chocolate Treats (this is just a crescent roll with a chocolate candy stuffed inside and baked, very yummy)

Wednesday: Red Mesa Tacos (OAMC), Spanish Rice, Flan (recipe from a low carb cookbook)

Thursday: Peperoncini Roast (OAMC), Roasted potatoes, Green Beans, Ice Cream

Friday: Stuffed Pasta Shells (OAMC), Salad, Ice Cream

Saturday: Leftovers or sandwiches

Sunday: Breakfast Burritos, fruit salad

Big grocery shopping day today!

Earlier in January, Bridget (my younger sister) and I spent a day cooking and putting two weeks of meals in our freezers. We actually stretched our menus and were able to get more than just 14 meals, more like 21 or 25. Since I still had meals left over from our December OAMC day, I haven't used many of these new meals. That's great though. I have enough food in the freezer to carry us through most of February. So today I decided to do a huge grocery shopping trip to stock up on everything else we needed. I mainly bought food for breakfast, snacks, and lunches, as well as cleaning and pet supplies. My grand total was $239. That's a bit more than half of our February grocery budget. If all goes according to plan though this should be enough food to last for two full weeks. I have to admit, I hid some of the snacks. Otherwise the boys would eat them all over the weekend. I also bought a lot of baking supplies to make other snack foods through out the month. I'll keep you posted on my progress through the month and see if we stay under budget. (Keep your fingers crossed...)

Menu Planning Monday (January 25th)

Well, I managed to almost stay on budget this month. I went over $3.05. Of course, I will probably add a bit more to that tomorrow since I need to pick up milk and bread. Next month should be better since I have enough food in the freezer to last almost the whole month. That just leaves me buying food for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Patrick and I both have birthdays in February, so we will have some special cakes to purchase, but it should still be a cheap month, grocery-wise.

This past week was pretty calm. We enjoyed most of the meals I had planned. I did pick up hamburgers one night because I had a long day at work, but otherwise, I cooked at home. The funny thing about that special "burger night", about 30 minutes after Patrick and Nicholas finished eating their burgers and fries one of them asked me what was for dinner!

So, what's on the menu for this week...

Monday: Adobe Chicken, warm tortillas, chocolate cake (Once A Month Cooking meal)

Tuesday: Taco Soup (I have the browned meat in the freezer from our last OAMC day, so this should be a very quick prep, plus it clears out several cans from the pantry)

Wednesday: Spinach and Cheese Quiche (OAMC)

Thursday: Uptown Joes (OAMC)

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Baked Eggs

Hope everyone has a great week and thanks for stopping by!!

Pork Fried Rice

I love fried rice, but my version was never as tasty as the rice at my favorite restaurant. About two years ago Hobbie, the boys, and I went on weekend trip to Birmingham, AL. We ate at this hibachi place and the cook explained how he made his fried rice. I paid close attention. The "secret" was peanut sauce. I found some at the grocery store and have used it in my fried rice ever since. It taste so good. This particular batch of fried rice is one of my "clean out the fridge" versions. We had some pork loin leftover one night, so I cut it up and put it in the freezer. One batch of that leftover pork was used in this recipe, along with the last little handful of frozen corn hidden in the freezer as well as some shelled edamame, celery, onion, and carrots. It was a big hit with the boys and we actually had enough left over for my and Hobbie's lunch the next day. Not bad for "scraps".

Menu Planning Monday (January 18th)

Well, it's back to work for me this week. I have thoroughly enjoyed my very long vacation and look forward to this Spring semester. I have a lot of research to catch up on and two classes to teach, so I will be busy. Since the boys are older, I will be staying at work longer each day instead of trying to be home before them. They are old enough to hang out at the house for an hour on their own, plus they even like the little bit of freedom. What they don't know is that their dad and I think they need to learn to cook this year and that their responsibilities will also increase. It will be good for them (that's what my parents always said to me).

Last week was a bit disorganized for menu planning. I had a plan, but we reworked it quite a bit. But, we did eat at home as planned. I am also trying to stay within our $400 grocery budget this month. Bridget, my younger sister, and I decided to do a OAMC day and that used half of my budget. We also spent an afternoon making waffles. I made 5 different batches of waffles. Well if you have boys, you know how long that will last. We now have one batch in the freezer. Fortunately, our local grocery store had some really great deals this week. I was able to buy all of our groceries for the week for just $43. Not bad considering that included 3 gallons of milk. I have just over $30 for the last week of January, so it will be a challenge, but I think I can do it.

Now for this week's menu:

Monday: Pork Fried Rice

Tuesday: Artichoke & Spinach Tortellini, homemade bread

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Lamb Chops, Zucchini, Tomatoes

Friday: Vegetable Soup w/ rice

Saturday: Black beans and rice

Sunday: Breakfast Casserole

For more menu plans and great organizing advice, check out Organizing Junkie.