Menu plan

I am linking up to
http://www.orgjunkie.com
So glad that my neighbors are feeding me tomorrow, because I am burnt out. None of my family members enjoyed dinner tonight, and that is making it difficult to get motivation to plan. I did do a couple of fun things this week. I made pumpkin muffins and I made some Graham crackers and both turned out really well, so I did have some positive reinforcement.
Here is the plan for this week.
Breakfast -
Pumpkin muffins
Cereal
Cinnamon rolls

Lunch -
Leftovers
Hotdogs

Dinners-
Neighbors
Tacos
Church
Barbecue chicken - this is my crockpot meal for the week
Family night
Spaghetti
Battered chicken sandwich

10 weeks of crockpots

So I have been reading a few crockpot websites and I decided to try a mini experiment of my own. For the next 10 weeks I am going to use my crockpot at least once a week. Nothing like the 365 crockpot websites, but enough that I can experiment a bit with mine and maybe make better use of it in the future.

Week 1- cranberry pot roast

Menu Plan Monday - July 25th

We have been cleaning out the pantry and freezer and this week is going to be the tough week. I went to the store and picked up a few gallons of milk (my family goes through a lot of milk!), flour, oil, and some taco shells. This week we have a lot of chicken left and not a lot of anything else - and to top it off, that's not hubs favorite meal. So - creativity is what is called for.

Sunday - Chicken Rice Casserole - basically I take whatever leftover rice, chicken and soups I have and chuck it all in a pan and cook :) yum!
Monday - Family night
Tuesday - Roast, sweet potatoes, and veggies (I dug it out of the freezer, yay for not chicken).
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - Friends - probably spaghetti
Friday - Family
Saturday - Chicken Mac Bake - Chicken, pasta, cheese - need I say more.

We will survive!
For more great menu plans check http://www.orgjunkie.com

Blogging for Books - Love Food & Live Well by Chantel Hobbs

This week I received Love Food & Live Well from Waterbrook Press. I choose to review this book because I would like to lose a few pounds and I thought I might get a bit of a jump start with the help from the book. Chantel's story is motivating. She has lost 200 pounds and kept it off for ten years all while managing to be a wife, mother, and author. I loved hearing her story and a the few personal stories in the book, but if you are looking for a meal plan and scripted exercise then this is not the book for you. Well over the first half of the book was about getting your head and heart right and then the last 3 or 4 chapters had a few recipes, an interval training plan, and a strength training plan.

The book serves a purpose, but I found it to be more motivational than helpful for planning for weight loss. While I did find useful information, I felt like I there was more reading about general information than setting out my personal weight loss plan.

If you need a broad, informational startup for weightloss then this is the book for you. Complete with motivational stories. If you are looking for a scripted plan, you will find yourself disappointed.

You can read more about Chantel Hobbs and her books at her website http://www.chantelhobbs.com/

Thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for providing a free copy of this book for me to review. My Opinions are my own

Menu Plan Monday - 7/11

We are back from all of our galavanting about the country and we are ready to get back into the swing of things.  I am still trying to cook from our pantry and freezer, but I am missing a lot of things that I will need to finish meals and definitely need to buy some produce, because I have been doing better about using fresh produce I have less stocked up in the pantry and freezer than I have in years past.

Breakfasts this week:
Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Cheerios and Milk
Blueberry Muffins (from the freezer)

Lunch:
Grilled Cheese
Tuna sandwhich
Apples and Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter sandwhiches
and if I get around to making Carrot Bread - then we'll have that as well

Dinner:
Monday - Tacos
Tuesday - Salisbury Steak over noodles served with Green Beans and a salad
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - Battered Chicken Sandwhiches - We never got to these last week
Friday - Family Night
Saturday- Sloppy Joes
Sunday - Italian Mac and Cheese

For More great ideas check out http://www.orgjunkie.com

*** For whatever reason my blog isn't letting me comment, but we love the peanut butter oatmeal and actually bake up big batches and freeze it - we prefer to eat it frozen. We are also excited about trying out the Salisbury Steak***

Princess Birthday!

My little girl had a birthday this last week, and a request for a princess cake :)

Pantry Challenge :)

I decided I was going to join up with the pantry challenge as soon as I heard about it, but then Publix had there gas card deal.  (If you buy $25 worth of groceries you get 10 off of $50 of gas.)  I of course "had" to go and buy.  Of course I bought staples (which in our house includes milk (a lot of it), flour, and chocolate chips and then bought 4 cases of sprite because it was on sale buy 2 get 2 and although it takes us awhile to go through that much soda it won't go bad anytime soon and it got me to my goal of $25.) 

We did manage to eat a ham that I had stockpiled since easter (and it was good).  I tried made some good use of beef that we bought earlier this month (spaghetti, tacos, and we have sloppy joes planned). 

Menu Plan Monday

The 4th is this week, my daughters birthday, and a family reunion, and on top of that both my daughter and I are sick!  Should be fun :)

Sunday - Chicken/Salsa, rice, cheese, and cookies!
Monday - 4th of July - We'll probably grill out with the family.
Tuesday - Chicken Sandwhich.
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - Sloppy Joes
Friday - Birthday Party!
Saturday - Family Reunion

I'm hoping to also get a few other things done this week.

When I cook the sloppy joes I want to make a few batches so we have them later.
-Hamburger Buns
- Cinnamon Rolls This is my favorite recipe, I just make them up and freeze them.  The night before we'll eat them I pull out as many as I'll need and leave them out on the counter overnight to rise. 

Convenience and yumminess!!

- Banana Bread

For more great menu plans check out http://orgjunkie.com

Summertime Pantry Challenge

There is a great pantry challenge going on at Good Cheap Eats and I've decided my family should participate.  We have a lot of food in our freezer right now  (including 10 lbs of ground beef) and we need to eat that up.  I have also been wanting to put aside more into our savings acct, so I hope I can just add the majority of my grocery money for the next few weeks straight into the savings acct. My hope and plan is to clean out the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer and make sure we don't let things go to waste.  I also want to do a freezer cooking day soon, so I need to make sure that the freezer has room for my favorite meals.  I'll try to post weekly about how it is going.  :)