Sorry!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Last week my daughter and I took a trip to be with family because an uncle was dying. It was good to be with family, even though it was for a sad reason, but because of this obviously we completely went a different route with meal planning. My husband ate whatever he could find and my daughter and I depended on family to feed us. We will try to get on our feet again this weekend and try to update on Monday.

Will My Family Starve This Week (Another Failed Recipe attempt)?

Ugh! I want to love $5 dinners, but nothing I have made has tasted great. We tried again tonight, but another night, another failed recipe. This was a vegetarian meal, so I didn’t even try it out on my husband, but my daughter was sobbing throughout the meal (so NOT like her at all). Ever time she took a bite she would look at me and start crying again. I eventually gave up and gave her leftovers from lunch (and of course cakeJ ). I ate my portion, and I guess I’ll be eating it again for lunch, because I can’t stand waste, but I am not looking forward to lunch tomorrow. This meal was the gnocchi meal, and it wasn’t awful, it just didn’t have a whole lot of taste. Maybe if I added something to it it would pass, but I don’t plan on making it again. Sorry guys. I’ll let you know if I find a winner.

Recipe Review- Bacon wrapped Apple Chicken

Have to say that I am disapointed with how dinner turned out tonight. :( I made the recipe from $5 dinners and it was so dry! I have been having that problem lately with crock pot dinners, so I am wondering if my crockpot may be cooking a little bit too high? I put the chicken in for the allotted time, but alas! My husband was not pleased with the sauce either, so for 0 for 2. I knew I had him on the sweet potatoes, how can you resist all the brown sugar! Those he liked. :) Well, better luck next time...one of these $5 dinners will taste great, right?

Menu Plan Monday ~ April 19

A new week and a new plan! This week I checked out the $5 dinner Mom's Cookbook and I like the way it looks. We are going to try out two of her recipes this week (the vegetarian one I will be trying on just my baby girl and myself, DH need meat!) and I'll let you know how they go.

Sunday - Sloppy Joe's
Monday - Wrapped Apple Chicken (from $5 dinner cookbook), mashed sweet potatoes, and green beans - Here is the Review
Tuesday - Gnocchi & Spinach (also $5 dinner) - Another Review
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - Tacos and corn
Friday - Family night
Saturday - Ziti (from the freezer)

Check out Orgjunkie.com for more great ideas.

Menu Plan Monday

Sorry I forgot to post my menu plan here, but don't worry, I did post it on my fridge which is of course the most important place for it to be :)

Monday - Steak (broiled), potatoes (for my hubby), green beans, and butterhorns.
Tuesday - Calzones from our freezer day
Wednesday - Church
Thursday- Homemade Pizza (We are going to try FishMama's Pizza Crust) Don't laugh at us for the Calzones on Tuesday and Pizza on Thursday! It was because of a scheduling snaffu with Hubby's work.
Friday - Granny and Pop-pop are coming to visit!
Saturday - Tacos.

Cinnamon Rolls!

I tried FishMama's Cinnamon Rolls last night and they were amazing! My husband doesn't do particularly well with eggs, so we tried it just because it was egg-free, but they were great. I also felt a little better feeding my family something so sugary for breakfast since it was also whole grain (by the way, did you know cinnamon can help keep blood sugar from spiking). You should try it.

***update***

Finally remembered to post pictures of the cinnamon rolls before cooking, but alas, totally forgot to take pictures after they had risen and after baking, but here are the before :)

Couponing - My system

I know that everyone has their own couponing strategy, but some of them just seem so complex, I developed my own. :) When I get coupons I go through them immediately and only keep the ones that my family may possibly use (assuming good sales come up) and toss them in one ziploc bag and toss that bag into my diaper bag. That way I have the coupons if I go to the store unexpectedly (not unplanned mind you, just unexpectedly). When I plan a shopping trip I take just a few minutes to run through the coupon bag and put the ones that I am going use on that trip in a separate bag. Tada! All ready to go...no sorting into piles or any of that. I like it, it works for me. Do you have a favorite system?