Happy Birthday Anne!

And also to my sister-in-law many miles away. I made my dear 5 week postpartum friend an Angel Food Cake with mixed berry frosting. Totally guilt-free, right? If my sister-in-law was closer I might consider making her a Birthday cake but if you have seen her blog you would understand that I might hesitate. She makes gorgeous cakes, whereas I just make . . . cake. Oh and I have I mentioned that I am also no photographer.

Snow Day = Baking Day

We had a glorious snow day today. School was cancelled. Even my husband stayed home which is incredibly rare. My kids must have logged 6-8 hours in the snow taking turns on our man-made snow hill by our house. I also played in the snow a bit but I also had the kids help me bake some dinner rolls and sticky buns. I usually have such bad luck with anything that involves yeast (I buy it in bulk regardless of my bad luck and keep it in the fridge) so if I can do this recipe anyone can. My kids mixed in the flour and I split the dough so that all three had their own to play/knead. I didn’t care for thebit of chocolate chips that the recipe called for in the sticky buns but I think the kids loved them. Both the dinner rolls and the sticky buns are so pretty and so simple that I want to make some for everyone I know. Oh and I just LOVE a recipe that gives you freezing instructions. Thank you Martha!

February Menu

It seems to me that there are too many new recipes to try and too little time to try them all. I really do try to keep my menus simple but I am constantly coming across new recipes that I want to try to make. Often, as is the case for February, when I sit down to put the menu together I realize that there are about three new recipes each week. Too many new recipes can be a recipe for disaster. Not all new recipes are a success so my family and I can get tired of flop after flop so hopefully we will have good luck this February. Sometimes a traditional ethnic recipe sounds so terrible awful but has such great reviews that I must try it. So this February we will give the German dish Sauerbraten a try.

Double click on the smaller images to enlarge:

February Menu Recipes

1st: *Fast Chicken Fajitas w/ dirty rice (rice with cumin and other misc spices) & black bean/corn medley (a favorite side of my husband's) smothered in salsa
This was very simple and everyone loved it. Will definitely add Fast Chicken Fajitas to our regular meals.

2nd: Veggie Pizza w/ salad
Just pizza dough which I purchase in bulk at Sam's (but I ought to make my own and plan to one day soon) with whatever veggies I feel like putting on it plus cheese of course.

3rd: Chicken & Pork Stew with Plantains & Yucca = a new family favorite after discovering this recipe in December on St. Dominic of Silos Feast Day.
Loved this recipe again. Yum. Next time I will triple to freeze.

5th: Pasta w/ Italian Sausage & ground beef like Uncle Mike makes.
This was requested of my 7 year old since Uncle Mike visited at Christmas and cooked pasta with loads of yummy meat and spices. I will give it a try.

6th: *Wild Salmon w/ braised lentils & orange balsamic reduction
A new recipe I found that was on a healthy food blog. I don't care for lentils but this looked like it might work. We'll see.
My seven year old asked for SECONDS of the lentils so yes, we will definitely be adding this to our regular menu. We had rice on the side and it was so good with the lentils.
The sauce for the salmon was simple and yummy too.

7th: *Sauerbraten, broccoli & creamy mashed potatoes
Will keep the brine/sauce recipe as a gravy but toss the flipping for 5 day hassle.

8th: *Chicken Saute with Carmelized Ginger Sauce, leftover mashed potatoes & veggie
This was a hit even with my friend's picky kids. Yea for new yummy recipes! This should be served with rice and next time I'll add veggies to make it a stir fry.

9th: Calzones FF - Thanks to Amber, my fellow Freezer Friend, this sounds fabulous

BASIC BEEF BOLOGNESE
2 lb. lean ground beef
3 medium onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1/2 cup beef broth
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning, crushed
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil **(I used just 1 tsp. of dried)
In a dutch oven cook beef, onion, carrot, celery and garlic over medium heat until browned. Drain off fat.
Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, Italian seasoning, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt and red pepper.
Bring to boiling over medium-high heat; reduce heat and simmer (covered) 30 minutes.
Stir in fresh basil and cook, uncovered 5 minutes more, stirring often. (I just added dried basil in with the other seasonings)
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
***at this point you can divide the sauce into portions and let cool for 30 minutes then freeze for later use on pasta or for calzones.
CALZONE
1 1-lb. frozen pizza dough, thawed
about 2 cups of BASIC BEEF BOLOGNESE SAUCE
shredded Gouda, or cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese
Let dough stand at room temp. for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375. Sprinkle a large baking sheet with cornmeal. **
On a lightly floured surface roll dough to large oval.
Transfer to the baking sheet. **
Lightly brush dough with olive oil and sprinkle with oregano.
Spread 2 cups of sauce on half of Calzone to within 2 inches of edges. Top with cheeses.
Fold dough over filling; press edges together. Seal edges by pressing with a fork.
Cut several small slits in top of crust with a sharp knife.
Brush top with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes before cutting.
Serve with extra sauce.
**(I assembled it first then transferred to a preheated pizza stone -- just an option)

10th: *Chicken & Rice Soup (crockpot lady) w/ homemade bread

12th: Veggie Pasta in Crockpot
I am finally going to try to make the same old veggie red sauce I always make but in the crockpot.

13th: Steamed Flounder w/ veggie cous cous

14th: *Beef Marinated Kebobs w/ rice & side veggie (I will be using beef instead of Lamb unless I find a good price and I am feeling adventurous.)

15th: *Spicy Coconut Chicken Casserole

16th: Cheese Quesadillas (just tortillas stuffed with shredded cheese burnt over my gas stove -- however you make them - my mom used to do them in the microwave) w/ *Crockpot Salsa Chicken & Black Bean Soup

17th: *Crockpot Indian Chicken over rice

19th: Eggplant Parm from freezer
Thanks Ann S!
Olive Oil
One eggplant
3 eggs
Bread Crumbs
Red Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Oregano
SaltSlice eggplant into thin slices. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Dip eggplant slices in whipped egg and then dip in breadcrumbs. Place the eggplant in skillet and cook for about ten minutes on both sides. Slices should be brown on both sides and soft in the middle.Cover the bottom of baking dish with sauce, and layer eggplant mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and oregano. Bake at 350 degrees for forty minutes. Enjoy! Notes: 3 Large Eggplants made 4+ meals, maybe could have made 5, I threw some out and several got burnt and were tossed.

20th: Fish Sticks w/ fries & salad

21st: Turkey chili & corn bread

22nd: *Tandoori Chicken over rice w/ side veggie (I am just going to broil the chicken rather than grill.)

23rd: *Veggie Lasagne in the crockpot (Maybe I will add meat, we'll see.)

24th: *Stacie’s Chicken Tortilla Soup (Stacie's adaptions: omit water and substitute more broth, may omit green onions but not lime and cilantro and use chicken with the skin on but remove skin before serving. Also blend some if you don't like the chunks and want a smoother soup. Add corn and black beans for a heartier soup.)

26th: Chicken Parm FF (Have not received the recipe yet but will post it as soon as I get it.)

27th: Fish/Veggie Foil packets in Crockpot w/ yellow rice
Yellow rice
1. In a saucepan, heat 1 TB vegetable oil over medium heat. Add 1 chopped onion, and cook until soft. Stir in 1 cup rice, ½ ts salt, ½ ts turmeric, 1 dried bay leaf, 1 pinch cinnamon, and 2 cups chicken stock or canned broth. Bring to a boil; cover, and simmer 15 minutes.
2. Stir in 1/3 cup raisins with fork, and simmer until stock is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Set aside, covered, 5 minutes.

28th: Reuben Casserole FF - thanks Ann S

1 25 oz can drained sauerkraut
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 cup Thousand Island
10 ounces fresh corned beef cut in small chunks
2 cups shredded swiss cheese
1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup crushed rye crackers2 tablespoons softened butter

Heat oven 425 degrees. Spread sauerkraut in 9 by 13 inch pan. Sprinkle with caraway seeds, cover with dressing. Top with corned beef and cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.Separate each biscuit onto crushed crackers, roll coating the sides. Arrange over casserole. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Brush biscuit tops with butter before serving.

Pricebooking 101

What is a Pricebook? I got this term from the esteemed Amy Dacyczyn. It is a little comparison price list of items that you regularly purchase and consume. You can keep a Pricebook in many ways. You can hand-write everything in a small notebook to keep track of prices or you can keep it up to date on your computer in a word document or excel format and print it out to take with you as you shop. It is sometimes difficult to keep track of the “true” price of items (so you can compare on an apples-to-apples basis) because they are sometimes sold in different quantities in different stores. Unless you are a math whiz the best way to get a handle on how you can get the most for your money is to sit down and calculate the best price per quantity. I will not lie, it is a bit time consuming to start a Pricebook, but like a lot of organizational money-saving tools, once you have it up and running it takes very little time and effort. I have not been keeping my Pricebook up to date lately but I have been saving my receipts so today I will be updating my Pricebook.

When I first made my Pricebook I got very excited about playing the “game.” It was empowering to know that I was no longer throwing money into the wind by purchasing the wrong items at the wrong store for the wrong price. It is an eye opener.
It is also scary to see how prices have been creeping up .10 or .60 cents at a time. We have all been complaining about this price creeping phenomena in our current economy. I try to remember that Americans and other Westerners spent a small fraction of their income on food in comparison to other countries where 80-100% of people’s income must often go toward feeding their family (see More with Less Cookbook).

Keeping a Pricebook opened up an underground grocery world. I quickly found that I was not the only one keeping up with the best prices. If you shop the grocery flyers you will see that it is filled with not-so-great bargains marketed to make you think that it is a great bargain. Before Pricebooking, I didn’t realize this. Many sales prices in a weekly grocery flyer can be beat at Aldi’s or Sam’s Club. When you identify a sale in a weekly flyer that can not be beat elsewhere and therefore is truly a good bargain it means that it’s time to stock up on that item if it is a pantry item, freezer friendly item or paper item. I found that there is a whole underground world that I didn’t know about of people like me who were keeping track of these truly good bargain stock up sales because when I went to the store to stock up the item was GONE! SOLD OUT! And it was ONLY those items. Sometimes it’s like getting an A+ on a report card because if you see that the item you have identified as a true bargain is missing from the shelves or nearly missing, then you got the answer on the test right. Our local store, Giant Eagle (equivalent to Super Stop and Shop, Piggly Wiggly, Krogers, etc) will give you a “rain check” on these items that are sold out which will allow you to purchase the item at the sale price when it comes in even if it is after the weekly sale flyer. You can get your rain check at the customer service counter.

Yes I know that this is a lot for some people and most people I know that love to tease me about these things will have a field day with this, but I will tell you that I am paying less for the same stuff that they are buying and that is worth it for me. I do have a couple friends and my mom who like to do the pricebook occasionally with me by checking prices with me so that is fun. I must admit that I haven’t figured out the coupon world just yet. I have tried a couple times but I never seem to pull out the right coupon with kids in tow and I never seem to come across the right coupon so the Pricebook is my replacement for that although I aspire to get the coupon thing down. I find the Pricebook more satisfying because a coupon you can usually only use on one item whereas hitting a Pricebook bargain you can really stock up at a great price. Here is a view at how I have kept my Pricebook in word format. I occasionally just delete the stores that do not have the best price and leave just the best price on my Pricebook so I know the number I am trying to beat.

Have you Gotten Your 2009 Calendar Yet?

Every January, it seems that everyone I talk to is having calendar issues. I have friends who are missing appointments, not feeling back into the school routine and generally needing someone to kick them in the behind to get going all because they “NEED TO GET A CALENDAR". Being the planning dork that I am, I get my next year’s calendar by August. Did you know that they come out in July? Put that info. in your 2009 calendar right now (assuming you have one), for July. In big black marker letters write at the top of July 2009 “GET 2010 CALENDAR!” It feels good when it’s September and you are scheduling your next dentist appointment for March. The appointment has somewhere to go on your calendar because you already have one. Also, I encourage you to buy one with a pocket on each month (see pic). I have been using these pocket calendars for years. They are simple to use and they work. Got tickets for a football game two months away? Put the tickets in that month’s calendar pocket. Got directions to a birthday party next month? Put it in February’s calendar pocket. Flyer for a church retreat? No problem. It’s a foolproof way to always be able to find invitations, directions, tickets, and other info relating to calendar events.

Organizing the Spices of Life

Professional organizers will always cushion their advice with, "different organizational systems work for different people so you just have to find the one that is right for you." I will buy that nicety for SOME things but in some instances there are systems of keeping order that are superior to others. For instance, how DO you find your seasonings and spices if they are not in alphabetical order? This is one area in which friends enjoy poking fun at me but, really, HOW do you find your spices if they are not in order? I like mine stored on a lazy susan in alpha order. I have seen the various spice organizational mechanisms like the little shelves or the SPINEY counter-top things. Neither seems to be better than my simple lazy susan alpha system. If you put your spices on those little stair-like shelves you can see only the labels on the jars in the very front row and in the process of removing one to use it is nearly impossible to not knock down others. I don't get those shelves at all. The spice spinners that come with their own jars could work if they had space for ALL the spices but I have yet to see one that does. Whenever I pass anew spice spinner in a store I always stop to debunk it's usefulness by thinking of spices that are missing and/or would not have a place on it. (Yes, it's an obsession this organizing thing. It's what I do.) If you use only the spices that come with the spinners and you are not an adventurous cook and you know that you will never branch out to try a new spice such as tumeric, (which is almost never on one of those spinners), then I suppose it could work, but limiting your seasoning to 12 jars just sounds depressing to me. I had hope for those drawer spice organizers when they first came out but the most spice jars they can hold is 24 and you need to have a huge drawer for all 24 jars to fit. My kitchen does happen to have a gigantic drawer but if I used it for spices I would have to find somewhere else to put my knives and cooking utensils or silverware and even then my spice collection is 39 right now. So, even those drawer organizers would be limiting at some point. The 11” lazy susan fits in standard upper cupboards and will easily accommodate 13 spice jars side-by-side and if you have those little rectangle tins, more will fit. You can also stack the little short ones and store the refills in the middle of the circle. Wiggle room can be made by zig-zagging the jars, increasing the space for more than 13 jars on a susan making it expandable to grow as your culinary skills grow. It is clearly superior!

Another well orchestrated evening dinner thanks to my friend, Crockpot.

Wednesday night, I had to pick up my 1st grader from school at 4 pm, drag all of the kids to drop off dinner a a friend’s and attend a preschool open house. Once we got home I needed the 1st grader to complete his homework and dinner by 6:30 in order to get him to basketball on time. Millions of mothers, I am sure, have similar if not more hectic evenings on a regular basis. For my evening I planned on using my trusty crockpot to get me through. Fish packets is a regular meal in our house but I had never thought to cook them in the crockpot until I read a smiliar recipe on the Crockpot Lady’s Blog. When I first saw her recipe that takes 3-4 hours in the crock I thought how helpful is that? I am a crockpot purist who thinks of crockpot recipes as being convenient and delicious only if it cooks for 6-8 hours but I figured I would try this short-cook idea.

I thawed the fish for our fish packets at 3:00, in cold water and cut up the veggies, (onion, tomato, mushrooms, zucchini, peppers). Once thawed, I made the fish packets by placing each of the fish fillets on the bottom of a piece of foil and layering them with veggies, olive oil, minced garlic, basil, chopped rosemary and seasoned salt. I folded each of the layered piles up in individual foil packets and placed all the packets in the crockpot. The prep took less than 10 minutes. My husband doesn’t eat fish so I made a chicken packet for him. (So far, the kids haven’t noticed these replacements for daddy but he’ll have some explaining to do about a made-up allergy when they do figure it out). I placed them in the crockpot on high and they were warm when we rolled in the door at 5:20. Perfect! I cooked the tumeric rice in advance and warmed it in the microwave. Perfect. There was no rushing and dinner was delicious and ready to go. Thank you Crockpot!

With Kids, you Need to have a Clothing System

I have heard of several great ways to get your kids, especially girls, to put matching outfits together. You can invest in hangers of several different colors or put colored paper on your existing hangers and hang the coordinating pieces on them. Or you can put colored paper around the hangers for the same thing. I personally have no desire to have a 3 or 4 year old coordinate. I would rather see my daughter in a polka dot skirt, striped sweater with flowered tights than a perfectly coordinated outfit. It just makes me smile when I see young girls who have clearly dressed themselves. I mean really, you only get to be young and get away with it once and if it makes her happy then I say go for it. My only rules are that their clothing be weather appropriate and fit. You can bet that if there is a spaghetti-strap sun dress two sizes too small within my daughters reach during zero degree temps in January THAT is going to be the only thing she is going to want to wear and a tantrum will ensue when she is told that she can not wear it. So I must be sure that such clothing is out of reach.

My kids' closets have clothing bins that make up our simple clothing system. It has worked for us for a few years now. I put clear bins in my two oldest kids' closets that they use for clothes that are to be worn in the future. I label the bins with size and either “winter” or “summer.” Those two season categories tell me whether it’s long or short sleeved, long pants or shorts, etc. My youngest has a tall dresser of drawers so I use his drawers to do the same thing. We are often lucky to get hand me downs which go into the appropriate bin/drawer. I also try to hit big sales at the end of the seasons and I am never too shy to buy something that won’t be worn for 2 or 3 years if the price is right (if you could read the labels on the drawers in my 1 year old's room you'd see that the last drawer is for size 4). My daughter’s bins are up high out of reach (or she would cause trouble as explained) but my son’s closet makes it best for them to be piled on the floor and he doesn’t get into them.

There is a separate place in each of their closets for clothes that they outgrow. My kids are boy 7, girl 4, boy 1, so I only get to pass down the 7 year olds clothes within our house. So the oldest boy has a large bin for the things he outgrows that will eventually be worn by his little brother. When the bin is full they get filed in the youngest boy's room. The 4 year old girl has a shelf of outgrown things that gets bagged regularly to hand down to a friend’s daughter as does the youngest boy.

I find that having a place that is easily accessible to store future clothes can be a real money saver. You can buy clothes for the kids ahead on sale and you can be sure to find them when you need them. Of course I am hesitant to do this with pants because once kids have grown out of the toddler sizes they almost have to try pants on to get a good fit. However, shirts, sweaters, underwear, socks, pajamas, etc. can always be bought ahead. How many times have your kids grown something like pajamas mid season so you go and buy a couple pairs only to find that you had some tucked away in the back of a drawer. Well I have in the past, but not any more!

Another Reason to Love a Label Maker!

As much fun as friends like to make of my labeling around my house I do think it's great for kids sight words. I have my son's clothes drawers labeled more for his sight word vocabulary than anything. We have labeled socks, underwear, winter pjs, summer pjs, sweat pants, short sleeved shirts and shorts. For toys we have several bins labeled also. I'll have to quiz him some day soon to see if these words have seeped into his brain yet.

Ideas to Help you Spend Less $

Baby sit friends kids. Really. Do it a lot. Fill your calendar. Not only will you not be able to go shopping but if you have the right kind of rambunctious kids and enough of them then you will be too busy to occupy your thoughts with shopping or to browse the internet for purchases. Oh and babysitting for short spurts just happens to be fun and helpful to your friends.

Organizing Winter hats, mittens & scarves

For a long time I wondered what people could be purchasing those large plastic drawer sets for. I just love organizational tools and so I must know all the multiple uses for them. But these large drawers had me puzzled. You can’t put anything in the drawers of much weight or the bottom of the drawer will bend down below the frame making it difficult to open. You also can not pile anything on top of the set of drawers or the plastic frame will bend down preventing you from opening the drawer below it. I have found that a set of drawers works perfectly for winter hats. lint rollers (for when you are going out the door), mittens and scarves. I put a few umbrellas on top which is also a light load perfect for the plastic drawers. The drawers we have has a set of wheels on it which makes it easy to roll out of the coat closet into more light so everyone can dig for what they want before a play day in the snow. I can imagine using them to store undies, socks and the like in a bedroom closet but I'm not sure what else. If you have found other uses please share.

Making Time for Friends by “Efficientizing” a Visit

I find that this time of year has me missing friends but I struggle to find the time for a nice visit. Everyone that I know with young kids has a pretty hectic schedule and it seems that everyone is going in different directions. However, if you can multi-task a visit with a good friend you both may be more likely to make it happen. We recently had two new neighbors move in on our street. Yesterday a neighbor across the street who I just love but don’t get to see enough came over and we made brownies and took them to each of the two new neighbors to introduce ourselves and our kids. We got to visit and welcome the new neighbors together.
I have also made dates with friends to organize their kitchen and attic (which I love to do) and not only did we get a task done but we spent some quality time together. Sometimes I’ll just tell a friend to “swing by one your way to Target and chat with me while I fold laundry.” If you put it out there with the invite then it is understood that you’ll be tasking during the visit so no one cares. There are parties that couple friends of mine will hopefully hold every year which I love that is along this line. Meg has a “Christmas Card Party” where everyone brings their Christmas cards to address and stuff and stamp. It give you a due date to get your cards which is nice but one gal didn’t have her cards ready so she brought nail polish and did her nails instead while we did our cards and another didn’t have her cards yet but brought envelopes to address that she put her cards in later. That’s really thinking! My friend Sue held her first annual (hint Sue) Christmas gift wrapping party. This had to be done with a small group of course because of the space constraints. I think there were 6 or 7 of us. It was so fun to see the other gifts and to chat while getting a bunch of gifts wrapped. It was worth hauling in laundry baskets of wrapping paper and presents.

I have also gotten together with a friend to get some freezer meals assembled. Anne and I did this before she had baby #3. We each planned the grocery shopping, met at my house, did the meal prep and exchanged grocery money to even out the bill. Another thing to do for a friend who just had a baby is to tell her that you’ll come over and fold a load of laundry or sweep the floors or something while she nurses or just demand that she give you a task that would be helpful. Heck anytime you can plan to swap floor cleaning or some other daunting household task. It goes super fast with two people on their hands and knees and then you can get the other person’s house the next time and your little ones will be preoccupied with playing together. Of course maybe some of these type of tasks is left only to close friends. I have had a very good friend offer to come and paint a room with me. Now that is friendship!

There are still a bunch of friends I would like to see soon so I am considering having a little no reason party in February or March but first I might think about what I can do to “efficientize” the party. Any ideas now that the Christmas season is over?

Extraordinary Uses for Hanging Produce Baskets

Our basement is circa 1970. The ceilings are on the low side and filled with water pipes and gas pipes and some mysterious phone pipes that are no longer used. Our electric box is right behind the washer and dryer which is annoying because I would have liked to put shelves there for dryer sheets, stain remover and detergents and the like. So, I found a perfect use for this hanging produce basket which was once very useful as a produce basket at our last house which was skimpy on the kitchen cupboards. In the basement of this house I hung it over the pipes in the ceiling and it hangs at perfect arms reach for grabbing stain removers, dryer sheets and other laundry necessities above the dryer. I am sure these hanging baskets could come in handy in many places. I love finding unintended useful purposes for cheap things or in this case for something I already had.

There is still plenty of winter left to enjoy the convenience of Frozen Meals!

In case no one actually reads the details of my monthly menus (is anyone really spending time doing that?), I will brag that for the first couple weeks of December I never cooked a meal and for about 10 meals in January I will provide my family with delicious whole food meals that I simply take out of the freezer and pop in the oven. Today I made six batches of shepherd’s pie for my next Freezer Friends exchange. One of the six we had for dinner. I have organized a second group of Freezer Friends and thankfully got my dear friend Jen to join today so that I won’t have to be cooking for two groups. Thanks Jen! After talking with her I got to thinking that most of the women in the new Freezer Friends group have not been in the habit of doubling or tripling or quadrupling meals they make to be frozen but they are interested in trying it. I haven’t seen any emails yet about what they will be making for their first January 29th due date so I thought that a list of freezer friendly meals might get some ideas generated. Here is a list of things that I have doubled/tripled/quadrupled for freezing or have received in a Freezer Friends exchange. There are so many more possibilities but this is a good sampling:

Chilis, stews and soups of almost any kind

Chicken Entrees:
Chicken tortilla soup
Chicken tex mex (rice and such)
Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken pot pie Chicken Divan
Mexican chicken lasagna
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Rosemary Rasberry Balsamic glazed Chicken
Creamy Chicken enchiladas
Chicken Burritos
Baked Pasta w/ chicken sausage & spinach
White Chicken Chili
Beef Entrees:
Shepherds pie (pot roast shredded or ground beef)
Taco pie (biscuit type topping)
Moroccan Beef
Burgers (turkey, mango chutney turkey, southwest beef, bbq pork, bacon wrapped, momwiches, etc.)
Beef enchiladas
Meatloaf (many variations)
Stuffed Cabbage
Stuffed peppers
Beef Veggie soup with many variations
Meatballs (turkey or beef)
Lasagne
Stuffed Shells
Misc:
Poppy Turkey -
Creamy Cajun shrimp pasta
Eggplant parmesan
Spinach pie – a lot of egg in a spring form pan w/ phyllo on top
3 bean chili
Calzones
Gumbos (many variations)
Pasta Sauce with meat or veggies
Pizza (homemade and ½ baked can be frozen and popped in the oven)

My latest goal is to start freezing crock pot meals. Two conveniences combined! Does life really get any easier?

January Resolutions to Spend Less Money

I have heard a lot of people making New Year’s resolutions to spend less money. I have been doing that for a couple years and it has been a wonderful experience. Why do I say it was an “experience” (other than the fact that I have become a frugal nerd)? When you set out to stick to a tight budget which limits your spending to only necessities you can actually have a wonderful experience. Let me explain. I could really go on and on about the wonderful experience I have had over the last couple years not spending money but I am trying to be brief. Think about the purchases that you are considering in the near future. You may be saying that you don’t have any. Uh huh. I doubt it. You are thinking of curtains for some room or the next car purchase or perhaps a new purse or boots that you are hoping will be on sale. Even if you know you can not afford these things right now you are probably thinking of how you might be able to make those purchase in the future. If you totally forget about acquiring any of these things for an extended time, say until your student loan/ home equity/credit card/mortgage (you name your enemy) is paid off, and focus on using the things that you already have and being completely satisfied with what you have it can be an awesome experience. Not only can you experience the strength you get from setting a somewhat difficult goal and achieving it but you also free yourself from thinking about acquiring stuff or improving the stuff you have with more stuff or spending your precious time and energy shopping for stuff. To be successful at being satisfied with the stuff you have you must shut yourself off to the things you know that make you want stuff. This might mean changing who you spend time with or not looking at magazines or watching certain television shows and throwing every last single catalog that comes in the mail straight into the trash WITHOUT perusing it first or not attending an annual homes tour. Identify honestly the things in your life that cause you to want stuff and eliminate them until your goal is met.

I recently shared with a few friends that I hadn’t spent any money on any unnecessaries in about two years and how it was difficult to part with money now. My friends gasped in horror at the idea of not spending money or shopping for such a long span of time. I suppose I don’t particularly like shopping with kids in tow (and I’ve generally always been too cheap to pay a sitter to shop) so it didn’t seem like that much of a loss to me but I was surprised that my friends thought that it would be so difficult. I suppose that if you have financial goals or needs bigger than acquiring more stuff then you just do what you got to do (or don't do). I am certain that these friends of mine would be able to do what needed to be done if they were faced with a financial challenge. I know they could do it if they had to but they just have not faced such a challenge. These are strong intellegent women, don't get me wrong, they are my friends. :)

The really fun part of spending less money is the creative thinking you force upon yourself to make do with what you have. The library is a wonderful resource for jump starting this kind of brainstorming which is where I came across Amy Dzcyczyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette . Amy’s book gets you in a mind set of creative frugalism. I have established uses for things in the last two years that I will continue for years to come that saves money and encourages creativity. Finding extra-ordinary uses for ordinary items can be rather surprising and quite fun. Thinking outside of the box is what has me using bread tabs for cleaning/scraping gunk, using potato/onion sacks for scrubbers, cleaning with disinfecting vinegar water, planning our meals and grocery trips like never before, creating our invention box, mastering stain removal (I have never been good at this but I am getting better), redecorating with curtains I found in a box from our last move and mending socks and other garments rather than tossing them. Sometimes you do have to purchase a few things but you can do so in a minimalist fashion. For instance take up garage saling or searching Craigs List and surprise yourself and your family at what you can do with nearly free items. Buy shoe polish or shoe strings rather than buying new shoes, shop for kids clothes at resale shops (they keep growing so there is no way around buying kids new cloths at some point), or admit to yourself that one pair of decent shoes for a child is plenty and you do not need to buy another because those ones on sale are just so cute. Being honest about what you need versus want is a great experience also especially when you really want is financial independence.

My New Year’s resolution for 2009 is actually to spend more money. In two months we will have met a huge financial goal of paying off our student loans on one income. We have limited our spending to such a great extent that resolving to spend more money is not exactly going to be difficult or haphazard. In the last two years I think we have eaten out about four times although I can not recall the specific instances (my husband says only about two times) and visited McDonalds about 6 times (3 times involved a road trip to visit family). Up until a couple months ago I think I bought 3 shirts off the clearance rack and a skirt to get me through post partum weight struggles at discount stores in two years. So this year for us will be about putting those former student loan payments into savings (easier now that we have changed our spending habits) and trying to relax a little with some entertainment money. It would be fun to visit the movie theatre at least once and to get a sitter every couple months so we can have a date night (just did that last night and it was wonderful). Perhaps taking the kids out to dinner a few times would be nice and adding a few activities to our current fun free activities that we may not have splurged on pre-school loan pay off. I know that these little things we do will be enjoyed much more after our two year tightwad venture and knowing that we met our financial goals before enjoying them again. Karate lessons for my son and gymnastics classes for my daughter will also be a wonderful way for us to enjoy having met one of our big financial goals.

January 2009 Menu

Happy New Year! I started off my new year updating my freezer inventory list. Ahhh, that feels good.

Here is my January 2009 menu. It's going to be a month of laziness in the kitchen here. I only have 5 new recipes on this month's menu and we are resorting back to our tried and true recipes. I have baked and consumed enough cookies this Christmas season for about a year! The solution may be just to stay out of the kitchen. We will be having a lot of meals from the freezer and focusing that domestic time and energy on cleaning and reorganizing all the closets, cupboards and drawers that have gotten a bit out of control over Christmas. The storage area of our basement gets strategically very messy around Christmas for Santa so it is time to clean that area out as well, which is no small job.

You should be able to double click on these smaller images to enlarge.