Ever had a meal flop?

I'm curious, have you ever tried a recipe and really thought it would be great and it was a flop?  When this happens you end up with food that no one will eat. 

I made meatloaf one time from a recipe in a magazine that proclaimed it was "Mom's Best Meal."  The meatloaf had dill in it and I thought it would be great.  My husband and sons took one bite and asked if I had put pickles in it.  I told them it had dill in it and they disliked it so much they couldn't eat it.  I ended up eating it in sandwiches for the rest of the week. 

Every now and then they say "remember when mom made the pickle meatloaf?"  This happened over 15 years ago and they still remember.  There have been a few more since then, but this is the most memorable.

So, leave a comment on any flops.  It happens and sometimes it leads to some fun memories.

Easter Menu

Putting a big holiday meal on the table the moment you get home from church can be challenging.  I have learned over the past couple of years to keep it simple.    Being in the kitchen and running around trying to get a lot of food on the table and getting all frazzled can spoil the day. 

Here is my Easter Menu:

Spiral Ham
Crockpot Cheesy potatoes
Steamed Mixed Vegetables
Tossed Greens Salad
Dinner Rolls and Hot Cross Buns
Bunny Cake

I will bake the hot cross buns Saturday afternoon.  The cheesy potatoes are made with cream of chicken soup, cheddar cheese and frozen southern hash brown potatoes.  They will go in the crockpot at 8 a.m. The spiral ham will go in the oven around 10:00 a.m. and will be in the oven while we are at church.  When I get home from church I will put the mixed vegetables on to cook and put the dinner rolls in the oven to brown. 

My FIL and MIL minister to a small congregation at a church 30 minutes south of us.  My MIL will be bringing the dinner rolls.  My DIL is baking the bunny cake that is a tradition in her family. 

As to the cost of this meal, I purchased the ham back in February when it was only 99 cents a lb.  That was a great deal.  I need to buy the hash browns for the cheesy potatoes and lucky for me a 32 oz bag is on sale this week for $1.50.  I have the cheese and the soup on hand.  The mixed vegetables are in the freezer and I have the ingredients for the hot cross buns.  The only other thing I need to buy are the fresh greens for the salad.  And that is it. 

Many years ago I would make two kinds of vegetable dishes along with two kinds of salads and even two desserts.  No more.  I enjoy a simpler menu that isn't hard to prepare.  A simpler menu also means I have more time to enjoy the company of my family on Easter Sunday.

Here is my recipe for Crockpot Cheesy Potatoes:

1 (2 lb.) package of frozen cubed hash brown potatoes
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter, melted and divided
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup crushed corn flakes

In a large bowl, combine the hash browns, soup, milk, cheese, 1/4 cup melted butter, onion, salt and pepper.  Pour into a greased 5 quart crockpot.  Cover and cook on low for 4 1/2 to 5 hours or until potatoes are tender. 

Just before serving, combine the cornflake crumbs and remaining butter in a pie plate.  Bake at 350 degrees for 4 to 6 minutes or til golden brown.  Stir the potatoes and sprinkle on the crumb topping.

Hint:  Buttered crispy bread crumbs can be used in place of the cornflakes.  Also, I place two paper towels over the crockpot and then I put the lid on top of this holding the paper towels in place.  This will absorb the liquid that accumulates on the lid that will spill back onto the food.  You will need to change this every now and then.

Meals on Saturday and Sunday along with My Grocery Expense

Before I get to the content of my post, I am making French Toast Bagels today.  My husband eats a couple of bagels a day and they can be expensive so I have decided to try my hand at making my own.  I've been tweaking a recipe so when they are done and if they pass the test, I will post it.  Let's just say I found another use for the Vermont Pure Maple Syrup my mom gave me.

This weekend was a wonderful warm weekend which meant a lot of yard work on Saturday for my husband and continued work in the living room for me.  We always have leftovers or sandwiches for lunch at noon and then for supper we cooked out hamburgers and hot dogs.  I put a casserole of baked beans in the oven and we had fruit on the side. 

That afternoon I had to make some hamburger buns since we were without.  Mixing yeast dough is compatible with painting I have learned. 

For lunch on Sunday my son and I had a meeting at church and the food was provided. My husband was happy to come home to leftover hamburgers.  He could eat them every night.  Sunday evening is always "fix your own supper" night. 

Now on to My grocery expense for last week.  I went over, not by
necessity, but by choice.

$2.99 - 30 oz. jar of Lite Miracle Whip
    .65 - Strawberries @ $1.18 lb.
  2.17 - Bananas @ 54 cents lb.
  1.50 - One Sweet Red Pepper
  1.38 - Two cucumbers @ 69 cents lb.
    .99 - Lettuce
  4.13 - One and one-half gallons 1% milk
  1.44 - One - 16 oz. pkg. Kraft Cheese Slices
  5.00 - Four - 8 oz. pkgs. Kraft Mozzerella Shreds @ $1.25
  1.98 - Two - Dozen Large Eggs @ 99 cents
    .50 - Onion Powder
  1.29 - Cottage Bread
  1.98 - One - 15 oz. box Generic Raisins
  1.60 - Ten - 7 oz. jars Jet Puffed Marshmallow Creme @ 16 cents
  3.58 - Two bags Cheese Puffs @ $1.79

$31.18  less 11 cents carryover from last week = $31.07 total spent

I didn't need the marshmallow creme but they had a fantastic sale last week of only 16 cents per jar and a limit of 10.  I use this in my frosting recipe so I bought 10.  The cheese puffs were not essential but I have found that I like to have 2 bags of snacks per week for lunch time.  I used to buy 4 bags so I have reduced that amount. We didn't need the cheese shreds, but I realized I had made a mistake when I totaled up the contents of our freezer I didn't have as much as I thought.  Instead of 17 I had 7 bags of mozzerella shreds.  This was a good deal, so I bought 4 pkgs.  If I were in stock up mode, I would have been 10 or 15.

I overspent by $6.07.  I am not going to carry this amount over to this week's grocery budget.  If I was on an extremely tight budget, such as someone who is living on food stamps, then I would not have bought the cheese puffs, the cottage bread (my son would have to eat the homemade wheat bread that I bake), the marshmallow creme, and I would have only bought 1 pkg. of the mozzarella shreds. 

We eat basic fruit in our home.  Apples and bananas are our main source of fruit.  When fresh pineapple is on sale, I will buy it, the same with strawberries.  I have found that my family won't eat oranges or tangerines, but they will drink orange juice. 

I'm happy with how this is going and I am also happy with the contents of my freezer and pantry slowly getting used up. 

Dinner Tonight - March 31st and April 1st

Last night we had an italian pasta casserole with cuban bread and fruit salad.  There was cake for dessert.  Tonight we had homemade pizza.  Normally I don't have two italian type meals two nights in a row, but my husband wanted pizza for supper and it sounded good. 

I have been buying very little from the grocery store and finally the basement freezer is starting to show that I am using up some items.  But I have really only made a small dent in it and I have a ways to go before it will be time to start filling it again with great deals. 

Dinner Tonight - March 30th and Painting

Today after doing laundry, running errands, getting my nails done (yea) and helping out with the after school program at church, my husband took me out to Subway for supper.  We're really trying not to spend any extra money but I really needed a break from cooking and he noticed.  Our son went to his youth group at church where they supply a meal, so it was just the two of us eating out. 

We took our Subway discount card with us and saved $1.00 Wasn't much but it was still a dollar saved.  I don't think a sub ever tasted so good as the one I ate for supper.  We got foot long subs along with pop and chips.  I ate half and the other half will be my lunch tomorrow.  Didn't think it was too bad for $15.00. 

I suggested we just pick up the subs and bring them home.  My husband told me that would defeat the purpose of eating out since I was so tired.  I know I am making a big deal out of a fast food restaurant.  However I feel Subway is one of the healthiest restaurants you can eat at and it is my favorite.

Here is what a portion of my living room looked like yesterday after I painted two coats of the base coat. It is a dark olive green/gold and it is so beautiful next to the furniture and the rug. I am totally thrilled and ready to get this finished.  (I just have the panels up for privacy.  I took down the valance until I am done.)

Our living room was two parlors when the house was first built. Somewhere about 30 years ago, the previous owners took out the wall and pocket doors that divided the parlors and made one open room. As I am painting I am working on one end of the room at a time. There are definite dividing points of the rooms with the wood work so painting it in two phases will work without any noticeable difference.

 

Note the masking tape on the woodwork at the top right corner of the window. That marks where the picture rail is located under the paint.  It is a long piece of wood that is placed towards the top of the ceiling where you put in a nail and hang a picture on a cord from that nail.  You can see that rail in the picture below.  I have marked it as I plan on hanging my pictures by putting a nail into this board.  Anyone who has plaster walls can tell you it is very hard to put a nail into a plaster wall without the plaster crumbling a little.

 



Here is the rug, with my dog's foot in the picture.  The wall color

matches this rug perfectly and when I am done faux painting it will look even better.

Tomorrow it will be back to painting in the living room. But taking the day off and giving my back a rest and not having to cook dinner has totally refreshed me.

Dinner Tonight - March 29th and Writing for a News Website

Tonight we had leftover turkey casserole from last night.  I think it tasted even better tonight and everyone enjoyed it.  I still have two servings left so I will freeze those leftovers for when I am the only one home for dinner.  I did add a fruit salad and since we polished off the broccoli last night we had some green beans.

I write for a News Website that covers the local and state news in our area.  I have a column that is called Living on Less and I really enjoy writing for it.  Lately I have been posting an article about every 3 weeks but I need to post at least every other week.  The problem is, writer's block.  I couldn't think of what to write, until last night when I was working on the Tightwad post.  It came to me. 

I'm going to write a series of articles about the process of deciding if a woman can afford to stay home and the steps that need to be taken in that decision making process.  Since I am a woman and I have gone through this, I can only speak to women and I hope that no one thinks I am being sexist.  It only makes sense to write from what I have experienced. 

Last night and this morning I started to make a list of the decisions that need to be made and the process that is involved in this important decision.  There are many questions a couple needs to ask themselves prior to the wife staying home full time.

Also, if it isn't possible for the wife to quit her job, then I will talk about finding happiness in your work.  I had hoped to have it posted by tonight, but it is evolving into a series that will require more of my time.  When it is posted, I will put up a link to the site. 

Dinner Tonight - March 28th, and Living Room Paint Project

Time to get back to my Dinner Tonight posts.  Posting what we are having for dinner each night might be boring but I found that it has kept me to accountability to using up leftovers and to actually plan ahead.  Planning is always a good thing but it is especially important to me now as I need to use up what is in my freezer in order to stay within my grocery budget.  The other reason is that I am busy working on my livingroom walls.  More about that at the end of my post.

Tonight we are having turkey casserole.  I pulled the following from my freezer that is above the fridge and it is thawing out right now.

1 pkg. sliced turkey - enough for 3 people for one meal
1 pkg. of cubed turkey - 3 cups total
1 pkg. of 1/2 can of cream of chicken soup (I had a recipe that I only used half a can so I froze the rest to use in a casserole)
1/4 of a pkg. of Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix
1 pkg. of celery (1/2 cup)

I took a jar of Heinz Chicken gravy out of the pantry.

The turkey is from Thanksgiving and I am going to make a casserole out of it.  3 cups would not be enough and I need about another cup and a half so I took out the sliced turkey.  I will only use half of the sliced turkey so the rest will be for sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

Usually I add a little sour cream to some cream soup for a sauce for a turkey casserole.  I don't have sour cream and going out to buy some defeats the purpose of using up what I have on hand.  Besides sour cream would take a chunk out of my grocery budget.  So I will mix the gravy and the cream soup together, will add a little milk and heat it on the stove to make sure it is mixed thoroughly together.  Then I will taste it.  If I feel it needs a little something, I will add half a slice of American cheese.  This will turn it more into a Turkey Divan casserole.  I have to be careful as my husband does not like cheese so I add only enough to change the flavor slightly.

The bottom layer of the casserole will be the turkey and then I will pour the soup/gravy mixture on top.  I have more Pepperidge Farm stuffing in the pantry so I will mix up enough stuffing using some water with chicken bouillon, the celery and a little butter.  This will go on top of the casserole.

This is how I use up leftovers.  I look at what I have and then I see what I can make out of it.  The trick is to make something that you know you're family will like.  Sometimes it can be hard as every meal cannot me a "gourmet treat."  I do try to make meals that my family will eat and enjoy.

So tonight we are having turkey casserole, broccoli, and apple salad.  We have ice cream in the freezer if anyone feels they need dessert.

And here is what my living room looks like as of this morning.

Notice the white walls in this picture from the primer.  It looks like  a hospital room - very sterile.  Also that old t.v. set of ours is so big but it works great. 

This is on the opposite side of the room.  I 'm working my way around in that direction.

Here is one coat of the base coat.  As I told my husband, "trust me. It will look beautiful with the faux painting I will be doing."  When I put the second coat on, it will then look more olive green and less like "baby's dirty diaper" as my son referred to it.

I know it is hard to see from this small sample, and in a picture no less, but this is the faux painting that I will be doing in my livingroom.  When you put this next to my rug, it looks georgeous and the same with the furniture.  I experimented with stamping a "fleur di lis" and I liked it and may do this about two feet down from my high ceilings.  The dark gold doesn't show, but the light gold looks regal.

I have been priming walls on one side of the room and then I will be painting two coats of the base color.  As I paint the base coats on the wall, I am also painting the ceiling about 1 foot out from the edges with it's base color.  Normally I would paint the ceiling first, but this room is so hard to paint with the furniture in the room.  It was easier to paint the walls and a portion of the ceiling as I go along.  When I am done with the faux painting on the walls, then I can push all of the furniture back and I will tackle the ceiling.

It is a big project and with my sore back I can only work about 3 to 4 hours a day on it.  I want to get this done.  I wanted to get it done by the end of March but I was delayed. 

Oh and since I live in an old house, and since I am painting almost a retro look to the living room, to get myself in the mood and because I love "old" music, this is the kind of music I have been listening to while I work.



My son graduates from High School on May 22 and his graduation party will be at our house on May 20th.  I wanted to not only have the entryway and living room done by then, but also his room.  The only problem with this is that I need to make up a scrapbook for him to display at his party and this will take a considerable amount of time. 

My DIL has volunteered to help me with the scrapbook.  While I enjoy looking at other people's scrapbooks, I "suck" for lack of a better word at putting my own creations onto a scrapbook page.  I did a scrapbook for my oldest son when he graduated and I kept it simple.  I will go with simple again.  That works for me. 

What's for Lunch - Sunday, March 13th

Our family including our DS and DIL attend the same church.  Every Sunday we get up and head to Sunday School and the morning Worship Service.  Afterwards everyone comes to our house for lunch.

Sometimes I serve something elaborate such as turkey or a roast, but today's menu was simple.  I served Beef n noodles, oyster crackers, fruit salad, grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberry shortcake.  We had milk or water to drink.

Usually when I make Beef n Noodles I use leftovers from a beef roast.  This time I used hamburger.  I began last night to prepare this meal so that all I would have to do after church today was to heat the soup and make the grilled cheese sandwiches.  I used 1 lb. of ground beef that I browned, drained and rinsed.  I cooked some No Yolks noodles and when they were done, I drained them into a colander in the sink.  To the same pot I added 3 cans of beef broth, the browned beef, a little beef bouillon for flavor along with some onion powder and a little garlic powder.  When this broth mixture had simmered, I added the noodles and let the entire pot cool down.  I put the pot and all in the fridge.

I was able to get a 16 oz. container of fresh strawberries for only 99 cents at our grocery store on Friday.  I sliced them and added a little sugar and put them in the fridge.  I made my mother's "cottage pudding" recipe for the shortcake. 

When we got home from church I took the pot of soup from the fridge and set it on the stove to slowly simmer.  I made the grilled cheese sandwiches and set them on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven to keep warm.  I opened a can of fruit cocktail and sliced pears for the fruit salad and set out a bowl of oyster "saltine type" crackers. 

This meal was composed entirely of items that I had bought on sale and with coupons.  The ground beef was only 80 cents a lb. bought at a mega sale last month.  The no yolks noodles were 50 cents for a large bag, the beef broth was purchased for only 30 cents a can using coupons in December, the oyster crackers were 50 cents in December, the canned fruit was on sale in January for about 70 cents a can, the cheese slices were only 99 cents a package last fall and the bread was a 24 oz. loaf on sale for $1.19.  I only used 6 cheese slices and 12 slices of bread.  And as reported earlier, I only paid 99 cents for the strawberries. 

So you do the math.  This was a simple, nutritious and tasty meal that fed 6 of us with enough soup leftover for another meal for my DH, me and our youngest DS.  This is why I scan for great deals on food.  I buy the majority of our food on sale and with a little thought I can take those sale items and make a great meal for my family.

It didn't take long to heat up the soup and put everything else on the table.  Afterwards I just had to put all the dishes in the dishwasher and that was the easiest cleanup ever.  This meant I could sit in the comfy chair in the livingroom and take a little Sunday afternoon nap. 

Sunday Brunch Menu for March 6th

Yesterday when I was pondering what to have for lunch today, I took into account that I had 3/4 of a large loaf of French bread to use up along with some eggs.  I thought about making French Toast but I hate all that mess after I come home from church so I searched my recipes and I found this recipe for French Toast Casserole. 

French Toast Casserole

1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 loaf French bread, cubed

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix and melt the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup.   Spray a baking dish with non-stick vegetable oil and pour in the the butter mixture. 

Mix eggs, milk and vanilla.  Arrange bread cubes in baking dish.  Pour egg mixture over bread; don't miss any area and use all the mixture.  Any extra will be soaked up by the bread.

Cover the dish and refrigerate over night.  The next morning, simply uncover and slip into a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, then serve.

Here is what I did to this recipe.  I used a 9 x 13 inch pan.  I also added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the brown sugar mixture.  I added 1 more egg and increased the milk to 1 3/4 cups to accommodate a larger pan.  Adding some frozen blueberries would be another great idea. 

This does not come out goopy and slices perfectly.   I served 5 people for brunch today and they had seconds and we ended up having leftovers for about 1 person.

It was very, very good.  I cut the pieces in squares and when I served them I flipped the pieces over so the brown sugar mixture was on top.  This recipe is a cross between French Toast and a Cinnamon Roll. 

While the casserole was in the oven I made some hash browns by grating 3 large potatoes and I poured the shreds of potato into a pan with some butter in it.  I put the cover on the frying pan to let the potatoes brown on the bottom and steam on the top to cook.  After a few minutes I flipped them over to brown the other side.  I also served Little Smokie sausages (heated in the microwave) and a  fruit salad made up of three cans of fruit - mandarin oranges, sliced pears and fruit cocktail.

We also had orange juice to drink.  I drained the fruit and used the juices to replace some of the water when I was mixing the orange juice. 

I will be making the casserole again for Easter morning and definitely for Christmas or for anytime we want it.  I am going to keep a bag in my freezer and put in stale bread for this casserole alone.  It was a real treat.

Dinner Tonight - March 2nd and My Day

Wednesday is fish night at our house.  I am broiling Talapia and will basting a lemon pepper sauce on it.  I have a steamfresh package of wild rice with mixed vegetables and I will also serve a tossed salad.  For dessert we have some bar cookies. 

I picked the paint colors for my livingroom today, which is good since the paint sale begins tomorrow.  I was struggling with the colors and I thought I had settled it, but I decided to take my selections to the paint store, along with my laptop that has pictures of my livingroom.

The store manager looked at the pictures and my selections and told me that the colors will look very nice in the room and he gave me some advice as to what to paint the ceiling.  I needed a professional to assure me that what I selected would work.  Now I need to calculate the amount of paint I will need. 

The wall color will be the gold on the right.  I will use three shades to rag on the wall.  Three shades of the sage green (on the left) will be ragged on the top of the wall down about 2 feet.  Then the ceiling will be sponged in the three lighter shades of the gold.

One thing I have come to realize, this is going to be a bigger project than I had planned so it will definitely take most of March to get it done.  But, when it is done, it will look wonderful and it will be well worth it.

I am glad that I have been patient as if I would have bought the paint last week, I would have missed out on a 30% off paint sale. 

I am off to our church in about an hour to help with the elementary kids after school program.  We will be baking brownies today to take to a homeless shelter this weekend.  I know that we will have to take care to really label those brownies when we put them in the freezer or someone will eat them.  I love working with elementary school kids - they are at a good age and we have a good group of kids.

This week the sun has been shining a lot and it gives me hope that winter will be over soon and before too long I will be able to start hanging clothes to dry outside once again.  YEA!!!

Dinner Tonight - February 28, 2011 and My Day

Tonight we are having chili for supper along with grilled cheese sandwiches.  I use half ground turkey and half ground beef or half ground turkey and half ground pork in my chili recipe.  For a salad, I will put some carrot sticks on the table.  All of the ingredients for my chili have been purchased on sale and this meal will be a cheap meal. 

When I serve chili, I usually have enough for two meals easily.  So, I have the option of leftovers the next night or I freeze the chili for later use in another dish.  How about chili on tortilla chips with greated cheese for chili nachos, or poured over cooked macaroni in a casserole and topped with cheddar cheese and baked til browned for chili mac.  You can do the same with rice.  Or there is always my favorite which is chili on a hot dog.  I love chili dogs and sometimes I will take my bowl of chili, top with chopped onion and a little mustard just like on a chili dog.  Of course, make sure you are staying home for the evening or you will knock everybody out with onion breath.  But it is oh so worth it.

As with all food prices, fresh produce is going sky high.  My DH will eat salad and I always have a salad for lunch but my DS doesn't like tossed salad.  However, my DS will eat carrot or celery sticks.  So, for salad tonight it will be the carrot sticks.

Today I must select the paint colors for my livingroom.  I set aside my first and second choice last Friday and have deliberately not looked at the paint samples for a few days.  Today I will look at them again and immediately pick what looks the best with no second guessing.

Also, I have been working out at Curves for 5 weeks now.  I have lost 3.25 inches and haven't lost any weight.  My goal was not to lose weight, but to tone up.  Well, it is working.  My jeans are loose and they haven't been that way for a long, long time.  It's a good feeling.  Best of all I enjoy the workouts and working out with friends is always a big plus.

Our Curves is located in a mall and when I walked into the mall entrance near Curves last Friday, there were about 50 girlscouts and their leaders standing around with boxes and boxes of girlscout cookies.  It was delivery day and the girls were picking up their cookie orders.  It was a little odd to me that they had set all of this up in front of Curves.  While working out a lot of us were joking about how we wondered if we could buy a box of Thin Mints on the way out. 

Today is also laundry day and in the meantime I need to do a lot of picking up around our downstairs.  Some of the livingroom furniture is in the den, and some of the furniture in the livingroom has been moved around to accommodate my ladder.  The result: all of us have become lazy about being neat and picking up.

It is always a challenge to keep a household organized when you are doing some work in a major room of the house.   My priorities during a time such as this is to make sure the laundry is done and we have meals prepared.  Then the rest I can deal with.

Bad Week in the News - Good Week for Me

I have been working so hard on finishing the entryway and to have it finally done feels good.  I can cross something off my to do list.  While I have been painting I have been listening to the news.  So much is happening all around the world and I find myself drawn to the latest news.  There is more and more to pray about. 

Yesterday I stopped by the grocery store where I purchased the $1.99 a lb. butter last week.  Yesterday it was knocked down to 99 cents since it was now 2 days away from the sell by date.  They had quite a bit left.  I bought another 15 lbs. for my freezer.  I have plenty of butter.

Tonight it was just my husband and me for supper so I fixed salmon, whole grain rice mixture, broccoli and a tossed salad.  I baked a salmon fillet with a little bit of oil brushed on it, sprinkled it with a Mrs. Dash mixture and baked it for 14 minutes.  It was moist and flaky and delicious.  I also poured a little bit of low fat italian dressing on the salmon for a little more flavor.  My husband loves fish and so do I.  Our son does not like fish at all so when he is gone for supper, it is fish night. 

Tomorrow I will take a look at the receipts to see where I am on the No Spend Month.  I have done pretty good this week.  Also I need to catch up on my blog reading and I will spend some time trying to get the gold paint off of my finger nails!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm sitting in the comfy chair in our livingroom with my feet propped up on the ottoman.  As I look around the room, I see furniture pushed away from the walls, a ladder up and there are a few drop cloths on the floor.  I spent time today working out and also putting a second coat on the entryway ceiling.  I'm in the comfy chair because I am in pain - lower back pain.  It happens, especially when I am doing too much.  But in my opinion the pain is worth it since I am getting a lot of work done on my house. 

Tonight for dinner instead of steak we ate pork stir fry.  Guess why?  Okay, I'll just tell you.  It is going to be in the 60's by the end of the week and we voted to save the steaks for the grill.  Yahoo.  The weather here is warm and in the 40's and the snow is melting.  But I'm not fooled, I know a spring snow storm could hit anytime. 

One more thing about meal time, we eat dinner at the diningroom table as a family about 6 days out of 7 each week.  Our son is 18 and we enjoy eating together and teasing each other, enjoying the food and laughing.  We have a good time. 

For dessert I made cut out butter cookies in different heart shapes iced with almond icing and pink and red sprinkles. 

I don't need flowers, cards or candy.  What I do need and want is to be with the family I love on Valentine's Day.

Just Not Into Spending Money

I should have joined the No Spend Challenge for February as I am really not into spending money right now.  Maybe it's the Paxil that has made me so much more focused and therefore helps me to stay on track.  Don't misunderstand me as I am not advocating taking Paxil to help you with your financial goals. 

In my quest to save $400 in February and March, I have made up a list of entrees of items I have on hand.  I did this in one sitting and I know that there are more that I can come up with over the next week.  Here they are:

1. Chili
2. Chili Mac - leftover chili with macaroni and topped with cheese
3. Sloppy Joes
4. Meatloaf
5. Stir fry with pork or chicken
6. Pigs in a Blanket
7. Hamburger Gravey
8. Chicken or Turkey Casserole
9. Chicken Pasta casserole topped with breadcrumbs
10. Pulled Pork sandwiches
11. Pork slices with teriyaki sauce on rice
12. Honey Orange Chicken
13. Pizza
14. Pasta with meat sauce
15. Apricot Chicken
16. Waffles with sausage
17. Fried Chicken
18. Quiche Lorraine
19. Calico beans with some hamburger and cornbread
20. Tacos
21. Ham with scalloped potatoes
22. Tater Tot Casserole
23. Chicken Dumpling Soup
24. Hamburgers
25. Roast Beef
26. Ham and Bean Soup
27. Beef n Noodles
28. Vegetable soup with grilled cheese sandwiches
29. Oven BBQ chicken
30. Fried Rice with chicken
31.  Sesame Chicken

These are simple easy meals to serve with a vegetable and salad.  Best of all since I have the ingredients on hand, I will be saving money on groceries to put towards my goal of saving.

Salad - My favorite lunch

My two favorite foods for lunch is a salad or soup.  I've been on a salad kick lately and have also been eating a late lunch. 

This is one of my favorite salads.  It has a little bit of lettuce, chopped red pepper, cucumber and Roma tomatoes.  I threw in some defrosted frozen peas and I always add some pieces of sharp cheddar.  As to the dressing, I don't use low fat or a reduced calorie dressing and I avoid Ranch dressing.  Instead I use a french dressing and am careful not to pour it all over.  I use a moderate amount. 

The base of the salad is always three things.  A small amount of lettuce, then red pepper and cheese.  To this I add whatever else I like, perhaps chopped carrot or even some frozen corn.  I may toss in some kidney beans or chopped onion.  Basically I look at what I have on hand and make a salad.   I have even added some chopped pear or apple to a vegetable salad and it was delicious.

I started doing this about 3 years ago and have never been sorry as I get a nice assortment of fresh vegetables in my diet.  Also, it is extremely filling.  That bowl in the picture above, well, it is a serving bowl. 

I'm always on the look out for reduced priced fresh vegetables at the grocery store to put in my salad.  A large salad such as this for lunch has helped me lose and maintain my weight.  Those chopped vegetables are really satisfying and filling.

Dinner on January 21st with some recipes

Friday night I made oven barbecued chicken, fried potatoes, broccoli, tossed salad and rolls.  We had ice cream for dessert.

For the barbecued chicken, I make my own barbecue sauce.  I make up a recipe and keep it in the fridge.  Many times you can get barbecue sauce on sale, but I prefer to make my own.  For the potatoes, we had some leftover baked potatoes in the fridge so I used them up by frying them.

Last night my husband's boss put on a "Christmas" party at his home for the employees.  I appreciate that he has this party in January when things have settled down as it makes it more enjoyable and I had the evening off from cooking.

Today my sons and husband went to a basketball game after church and my daughter in law treated me to lunch out.  This has been a great no cooking weekend for me.  Gotta love it.

Barbecue Sauce

2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
9 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

I mix the ingredients together and then warm the mixture in a sauce pan so that the sugar melts and absorbs into the sauce.  Cool it and store in the fridge.

Fried Potatoes

I cut up the potatoes and put a little butter into a frying pan to brown them.  While they are browning, I sprinkle them with chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder to add a nice flavor.  Right before serving I sprinkle them with seasoning salt. 

Dinner Tonight - January 20th - and a recipe

It's breakfast night.  I try to have one night a week as a breakfast night otherwise we would probably only have special breakfast foods on holidays.

Tonight we are having Oatmeal pancakes, homemade chunky applesauce and scrambled eggs with real bacon crumbled in the eggs. 

I love oatmeal pancakes as they are very tasty and a way for me to get some whole grains into my family's diet.  They are a little heavier than a normal pancake and more filling.  As a variation I sometimes add a little cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter.

Oatmeal Pancakes

1 cup quick cooking oats (not instant)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center.  Combine the eggs, milk, oil and lemon juice; pour into the well and stir just until moistened.  Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes.  Cook until second side is golden brown.  Yields about 12 pancakes. 

Dinner Tonight - January 19th

I've been forgetting to post what I have been fixing for dinner each night.

Tonight we had cranberry pork roast.  I made this last month and had frozen half of the sauce since I had used a small roast.  I had another small pork roast to use up and it only took 50 minutes to roast it.  I baked whole potatoes along with the roast.  The best part was that having the oven on warmed up the kitchen.  The temps here have been close to zero.

I served steamed mixed vegetables with the roast and the potatoes and I also made a tossed salad of lettuces, red peppers, cucumber and tomatoes. 

For dessert we had Skondra's Tin Roof Sundae ice cream.  This is a premium ice cream that sells for close to $5 for a 1.75 quart package.  Last week I happened to walk by the ice cream section in the local Hy-Vee grocery store and I noticed a sign posting an instore special on this flavor of Skondra's ice cream for only $1.50.  I bought two containers and probably should have bought more.  I try to make it a point to go up and down each grocery aisle in case there is some kind of instore special.  Usually things get marked down when they are close to an expiration date but the ice cream had an expiration date of October 2011.  Perhaps they are going to discontinue this flavor.

Which leads to this.  Here I am complaining about the low temps here in Iowa and I am serving ice cream for dessert.  Go figure. 

A Delicious Cake Recipe

Tomorrow our son and his wife will be joining us for lunch after church.  I always try to have something in the crockpot so we can come home and set the table and then eat.  No one likes to wait until 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon to eat. 

I keep it simple.  Tomorrow it will be sloppy joes, cheesy potatoes, steamed broccoli, fruit salad and a Cherry Coffeecake for dessert.  What makes this meal simple?  The night before prep.  I have already browned the hamburger and added the sauce ingredients and they are chilling in the fridge.  The frozen hash browns for the cheesy potatoes are thawing overnight in the fridge and I have already mixed the soup, milk, cheese and spices and poured this into a container and it is in the fridge also.  Tomorrow when I get up in the morning I will simply pour the sloppy joe mixture into one crockpot, put the hash browns and cheesy sauce in another crockpot and set them both on low. 

The broccoli is the Steamfresh kind and it will steam in the microwave.  The fruit salad is just fruit cocktail mixed with some canned pineapple.  It will be a breeze to get this meal on the table after church.

Also, in keeping with my frugal mindset, it is an inexpensive meal.  What makes it inexpensive is that the ingredients have been purchased on sale at one time or another. 

Now for the Cherry Coffeecake recipe.  But first, back in November I purchased several cans of name brand Cherry Pie Filling for only 75 cents a can.  It was on sale and I had a lot of coupons so I was able to get about 10 cans.  Cherry Pie Filling is usually over $2.00 a can so this was an excellent buy.  My husband loves Cherry pie and I love to bake pie for him but I also love this coffeecake recipe and so does my family. 

Cherry Coffeecake

Batter:

1 egg
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
milk
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Filling:

1 can cherry pie filling (blueberry will work just as well)

Topping:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup flour
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Break the egg in a 1 cup measuring cup and add the extract.  To this add enough milk to make 1 cup.  Set aside.  Cream the margarine (or butter) with the sugar.  Add the milk mixture and mix.  Then add the dry ingredients and mix with an electric mixer for about 1 minute until well blended and smooth.  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.  Dollop the cherry pie filling over the top of the batter.   Sprinkle the topping over the cherry pie filling.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

For the topping:  mix the margarine (or butter) with the sugar.  Add the flour (and nuts) to form crumbs.  Sprinkle over the pie filling.

Dinner Tonight - January 13th

My daughter in law stayed home from work today as she has a bad cold.  I took supper to their house so that she could just rest and try to get better.  They moved back to our community last summer and it has been a joy to have both my sons and daughter in law living near us. 

For supper I made beef and noodles.  Sounded like a good meal for someone who is sick.  It is very cold out so I knew this would be a good choice for the rest of us also.  I made 3 loaves of honey wheat bread this afternoon along with 4 dozen peanut butter cookies.  I rounded out the meal with a simple jello salad which I knew would be a good choice for someone who is sick with a cold.

I spent the majority of the day in the kitchen baking and cooking which meant I was staying warm from the heat of the stove and oven.  Many days when it is close to zero outside I will pick that day to do a lot of baking so that we can enjoy some homemade bread or cookies along with the stove heating up the house a little more.