Menu Plan Monday 9-26-10

Well, I did better on the plan last week, but I forgot to buy cheese when I went to the store. Let's just say that Lasagna did not happen that night :) I went back the next day and made my lasagnas, but they are just in the freezer now waiting to be eaten. I also started marinating my pork chops just in time to get a call from in-laws wanting us to eat with them, so they are all "snuggled up" in my freezer next to my lasagna. So, with that in mind :)

Sunday - Lasagna from the freezer
Monday - Pork Chops - In a great marinade - I'll post it later, rice, greenbeans, and maybe a salad
Tuesday - Chicken, rice, greenbeans - I haven't done the mushroom-onion chicken in awhile, so probably I'll do that.
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - Burritos
Friday - Family night
Saturday - Football night - pizza??

For more great plans check out orgjunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday 9-20-2010

Last week we ended up with my in laws almost every night, so needless to say the plan was out the window. I did make the chicken pot pie (and took it with me one night) and we made the shrimp alfredo last night.

This week we are going out of town one night and have football another night, so we are going tohave to be a little flexible. Here is the plan.

Monday - Tacos

Tuesday - Lasagna (and I'll make an extra for my freezer), garlic bread, salad. This is the BEST lasagna recipe ever. You should all try it. :)

Wednesday - Church

Thursday - Pork Chops - I haven't decided what I am going to do with these yet, so if you have ideas let me know. I just know they were a lot cheaper than the steak I wanted to have. My parents are coming, and I want it to be good. :)

Friday - out of town - We are going to Disney, so I am going to make some baked oatmeal, granola bars, and maybe one other snack to take with us. Does anyone know if frozen peanut butter and jelly can handle a ride in my packed back pack??

Saturday - Game day - We'll probably have hotdogs or hamburgers this night...anyone with favorite game day foods??

Sunday - Chicken, rolls, green beans, salad, mashed potatoes.

Menu Plan Monday - 9-13-10

Another exciting week, although this week we nay have some extra time, so the plan reflects that.

Monday - Salmon (baked with dill and brownsugar), broccoli, rice
Tuesday - Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - Tacos
Friday - Family
Saturday - Shrimp Alfredo
Sunday - Pizza (homemade).

Sorry there are no links this time, but they are all simple family meals. :)

Yum - Baked Oatmeal with Apples.

My daughter and I love oatmeal in the mornings, especially baked oatmeal. When I saw this version I had to try it. We both loved it the first morning, and I was able to eat it for a few in a row, even after she had tired of it. I'll post my picture later, but here is the link.

Modified Freezer Week

I see out there in blog world right now that it is freezer cooking time again, and I want to participate, but I don't think I will get in a full afternoon with my buddy this month. So here is my alternative plan. I will probably wait until I get with bud to do the main meals, but we need some snack and breakfast stuff.

Baked Oatmeal - I love this and my daughter asks for them all the time. I think it is great. Granted it has chocolate in it, but it also has protein and whole grain. :)

Quick Bread - Mix and Match Recipe from Frozen Assets. We will probably try to make an applesauce version, carrot version, and possibly a banana version.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

mmm....love chocolate. :)

I also did a couple of sloppy joe batches last night. (It is really just ground beef, tomato soup, brown sugar, and mustard.)

Chicken Pot Pie - I just put leftover chicken, mixed veggies, cream of chicken soup and a little bit of milk in a pan ready to go for whenever we want to have it.

Finally, I will probably do either a lasagna or a penne rustica next week. I will decide when I set up my menu plan and will just make two at once.

I guess that's enough to keep me busy. Have fun everyone.

For more ideas check out Money Saving Mom's Freezer Round Up

Our not so amazing Publix trip

I think I was still on a high from my CVS trip when I went to publix today, because I did not have my thinking cap on. I made several great buys and made up for those by buying tons of bags that were not on sale...what was I thinking? I needed to buy bags, but I could have just used my coupons on the size I needed and bought more later when they were on sale, instead I just bought to use up coupons...urg! Maybe I will return them tomorrow :) Ended up spending $100.13 which is way high for us, but I was also completely out of meat, poultry, fish, and shrimp. I didn't buy any fish, but I bought the other 3 in fairly large quantities. Luckily the shrimp was on sale. Had a really good deal on Cheese - there is a Kraft coupon fo $5 off of 5 items and the chunk cheese was on sale for $2, so I think that was pretty great. Got some yogurt packs for under $1, and I ended up with $25 in coupons all told, so I'm not unhappy, just wish I had been thinking on ZipLocs. I guess I can just learn from my mistakes...right?

Menu Plan Monday

Football season has started again, and in our house that makes life a little crazy because of all we have to do, so here is our plan, but no guarantees.

Sunday - We are ordering Pizza with family
Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - Popcorn Chicken (Excited to try out a new recipe, I think both my daughter and husband will enjoy this).
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - hmmm...I haven't decided yet.
Friday - Family night
Saturday - Football - we'll need something, but I will probably decide later. :)

for more great menu ideas check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com

CVS Deals - Sept 5, 2010

****UPDATED 9/6/2010***

My daughter and I try to go to CVS on our way to church (when your day starts before 6am you have plenty of time before a 9:30 service) every sunday. This week we went for our weekly deals and I think we did a pretty good job.

We picked up the 2 pack of Dawn Ult that is on the monthly deals for $6 and had a $.25 coupon for that plus we got back the 2 ECBs.

With those ECBs in hand we got
2 Wisk Ultra on sale B1G1 for 8.49 - We had 2 $3 off coupons on these, so this was our deal of the week!
Then we got 4 of the St. Ives soaps that were 2.99 if you bought $10 worth then you got $5 ECBs. If you are looking for the best deal on this this week you should go to Walgreens, but I don't love our Walgreens, and I didn't want to make a second trip, so I went with this deal. :)
Finally, the pullups were 8.49 (or maybe 8.99) this week, so we got a small pack of these.

We used our $4 off of 20 coupon, our $2 ECBs, and our 2 $3 off Wisk. In all we spent $23 and change on this transaction. So in all for under $30 we walked out with Pullups, 2 laundry detergents, 4 soaps, and 2 dish soap. I think we did pretty good.

UPDATE!!

My daughter and I went back to CVS today because one of the coupons the machine spit out was a $3 off of $10 in Grocery items. Milk was on sale for $2.99 and cereal was on sale for 1.77 a box. We Brought our $5 ECBs from yesterday, our coupon from the machine, a coupon for 2 boxes of Raisin Bran and a coupon for 2 boxes of Corn Pops. Walked out with 2 Gallons Milk, and 4 boxes of cereal for $2.56 OOP. Man did that feel good! :)

Unintended Consequences

My mom got my 2 yr old a really neat responsibility chart a few weeks ago that has magnets with written chores and responsibilities and different colored reward magnets. She is a little young for the whole thing, but we got it out anyways and just let her play with all of the magnets. As she was playing with it the most amazing thing happened, she learned her colors! She would ask me what each of the reward magnets were and then repeat the color. The next day she brought me the magnets and told me about the colors. Now, the really funny part about this whole thing is that I have been trying to teach her colors for weeks then the moment I backed off she learned it on her own. Amazing!

French Dip: A Resounding Success!

We made the french dip from our meal plan on monday and had a few people over for dinner. It was great! My husband doesn't love the sandwhich idea, so we just sliced some roast for him, and the rest of us had french dips w/ aus jus (Did I spell that right?). This definitely goes in the recipe keep pile! Yum!