Monthly Archives: January 2020

Menu Planning on Tuesday

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I am posting this menu a day late this week but I have a good reason, the crud. I actually started feeling sick last Thursday. I managed to stay in the game and work all day Friday. Saturday-I crashed and ended up staying in bed all day. Luckily that did the trick as I returned to normal and even worked on Sunday night.  One thing we have been thankful for especially with me being sick is simple meal or things that we can heat and eat.  

The evening are starting to get busier and I have increased my working time so things are busy,hectic and on some days down right crazy.  Pizza is becoming a go to easy meal for us and I am still using gift cards earned last year to cover the expense so another win win for the present. 

Breakfast– Special treat-gravy biscuit from Biscuit King. Matt and I shared our lunch money for this treat. Sunday- Breakfast casserole (new recipe) Monday- bagels, Tuesday- eggs, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- choice of toast, eggs, sausage, bagels, cereal or grits. 

Lunch-  Saturday- left-overs, Sunday-KFC, Matt has 3 salads, I have 2 salads and the kids have a combination of salad, sandwich and grab and go. 

Dinner-  Saturday- Orange chicken and egg rolls, Sunday- Church pot luck- I sent cowboy beans and cornbread casserole. Monday- Shake and bake home version pork chops, scalloped potatoes and pears, Tuesday- Mini Taco, Wednesday- Pizza, Thursday- Crockpot chicken and dumplings. Friday- Spaghetti and Meatballs. 

Recipe Challenge Winner

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I admit that I was becoming quite discouraged with my recipe challenge. I have been really diligent over the past several weeks to not only locate but make sure we cooked and tried new recipes. Everything has been eaten, but disappointing as no-one wanted to have it a second time.

I am so glad to say that we found a winner this week. Burrito Bowl Soup . This is from one of my favorite recipe site! Another giant plus was that it actually called for two cans of refried beans which we had been gifted at Christmas but I rarely eat beans so this was an item that I was afraid would go bad before it got used.

I was reluctant to try this recipe for a couple of reason, first the beans and second it only cooks for 4 hours and that included adding in rice the last 20-30 minutes. I actually stared this at lunch on Monday between the girls doctor’s appointments. The crockpot switched over to warm and I simply turned on high before adding the rice. I had some left-over rice in the refrigerator so I am sure it was not the called for two cups. But even with all these things stacked against it, everyone agreed this is a repeat!

I did run out to the store to grab a couple of bag of chips to add to the soup as it was very liquid with less rice. The other change I made was to add a teaspoon of taco seasoning instead of cumin. This helped decreased the allergic reaction for Lily as well! Chips, cheese, sour cream and burrito soup for the win.

I remember to freeze a second and third dinner as I am trying to cut down on the amount of left-overs we have and reduce food waste as well.

Menu Planning Monday

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For some strange reason, my brain was saying that because the kids were out of school a couple of days this week, things should be less hectic. Of course, my brain was wrong. In fact, we have multiple things going on every night this week. The positive- no extra eating out this week. Pizza is free with gift card.

Breakfast- Saturday- fried steak biscuits. Sunday,-bacon and eggs Monday- Peanut butter and chocolate baked oatmeal,Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday– Choice of fried bologna, omelet, pop tarts, cereal, bagels or toast. 

Lunch–Saturday- chicken stew , Sunday-Gregg’s(local restaurant). Friday both Matt and I will eat out, Monday-kids had mac and cheese, Tuesday- chicken salad plate for me. Wednesday-ramen noodles, Thursday- something left-over. Matt has four salads this week. Kids have grab and go and sandwich on the days they go to school.

Dinner – Saturday- left-overs.  Sunday–Broccoli-cheese casserole Monday-Burrito Soup Tuesday– Sweet meatballs Wednesday-Pizza Thursday– Ham Bone soup Friday- Hamburger Helper.

Saturday Activities

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Today has been a really awesome day, the reason why because I am still in my pajamas and have no plan to leave the house all day! Lily and Kendall are on a youth retreat. Zach is at a birthday party for a friend. Another parent offered to pick him up and drop him off so of course I could not refuse.

I have managed to wash both the sheets on our bed and Zach’s bed. I was not able to hang out to dry but instead ran the dryer during the day to add some heat in the house. The weather is cold with a high of 40* another good reason for me to stay inside.

I made a stop by the grocery store last night. I found whole chicken on sale for $0.99 a pound which is a good price for my area. I prefer to get the already roasted chicken at Costco but we don’t have a trip planned to Costco in the near future. So this morning, I placed the chicken in the instapot. When it finished cooking, I removed the meat and shredded it. I made a huge batch of chicken stew. I have already froze one meal. It will probably work for at least one other full meal. The second half of the chicken, I am going to use in a new recipe this week called Burrito Bowl Soup. Look for a post about it on Monday hopefully.

This coming week is a lot different as everyone is out of school on Monday. Kendall and Zach only go to school on Thursday and Friday. I went ahead and put up the schedule for the week along with meals. I actually went ahead and prepared everything thing I could so that it will be a heat and eat week.


Recipe Challenge

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I was super excited to try the new recipe this week. It is one that I found on Facebook and thought this sounds good.  I actually planned to try this recipe for over a week now.    The recipe Taco Tator Tots in the Slow Cooker..

 Everyone was excited to try it. What is not to like about taco meat,cheese and tater tots? Unfortunately, that is exactly what it tasted like. taco meat on potato.  This was a unanimous vote for not again.  

On a brighter note, I found a casserole type meal in my freezer. I thought I had labelled everything properly but this had a torn bag on top of it. I am 100% positive it was not the label on the bag. So we played freezer lotto and just heated up the dish. It turned out to be a combination of turkey, cauliflower and broccoli topped with cheese and bread crumbs. We all ate it and even enjoyed it. Unfortunately this will not be a repeat for two reasons, first I still have not a clue what it is called nor where I would have placed the recipe. Second although the casserole was good it was not good enough for me to search the internet to find out what exactly was in it.

So far we are 0 for 2 with the new recipes.  Do you have one that we should try?

Menu Planning Monday

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Things are starting to get a little bit hectic around here, cheerleading started last week, Zach has both sign language club and student council meeting, Lily will start rehearsal for her spring play next week. We also are trying to fit in some doctor appointments. Matt is no longer working a second job but I have working at least Sunday and Wednesday night.

Breakfast- Pimento Cheese and Bacon biscuits. Sunday,-Lucky Charms cereal. Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday– Choice of breakfast burrito, omelet, pop tarts, cereal, bagels or toast.  I may make a baked oatmeal for one morning just not sure yet. (Did not happen last week so it may this week.)

Lunch–Saturday- out to eat at The Classic in Denton, , Sunday-Panda Panda Chinese. Friday both Matt and I will eat out, Kids have a mix of salads, soups and sandwiches. Matt and I both has two days of salads, He will have homemade chill the other days and I have a snack tray planned and a left-over soup.

Dinner – Saturday- Salads and crackers.  Sunday–Left-overs Monday-Tator Tot Taco(new recipe) Tuesday– Find your own Wednesday–Chicken Diva Thursday– Pork Chops, scallop potatoes and green beans, Friday- probably a meal out as the girls are going skiing with the youth group.

5 Things Friday-Medical Expenses

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We are very fortunate that overall our family is healthy. As I started to prepare to file our income taxes for 2019 and because of several huge medical expenses this week, it occurred to me how difficult it could be to cover this expense. So I thought I would share some of this information with you.

  1. We are currently paying for both Lily and Kendall’s braces. Total monthly expense $266.
  2. Although we are fairly healthy we do have several monthly prescriptions, total $10 a month.
  3. Zach need to have the lens in his Rex Specs replaced. His glass that broke in October were finally ready so I went ahead and purchased the new lens. Total Cost $337
  4. All three kids had appointments at the dentist this week. I do have dental insurance but still had an out of pocket expense of $33.
  5. I do have a medical flexible spending account, which I max out each year, $2500. My year runs from July 1st to June 30th. We have already used this allotment for the year so the above expense are out of pocket for us for the next six months.

Monday Menu Planning

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We are back to a regular routine this week. The kids all have school and I am working both jobs. You may notice that several easy to fix dinners are showing up. I am also committed to trying one new recipe a week. The biggest accomplishment of the week is no planned eating out!

Breakfast- Saturday ,Eggs, bacon and toast. Sunday,-Frozen Waffles. Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday– Choice of breakfast burrito, omelet , pop tarts, cereal, bagels or toast.  I may make a baked oatmeal for one morning just not sure yet.

Lunch–Saturday-Sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls, , Sunday-Cranberry Chicken Friday both Matt and I will eat out, Kids have a mix of salads, soups and sandwiches. Matt and I both has two days of salads, He will have homemade chill the other days and I will find the best left-overs.

Dinner – Saturday- twice baked potatoes (from freezer).  Sunday–Broccoli and cheese soup Monday-Sloppy joes and French fries Tuesday– Taco pasta Wednesday–crockpot cubed steak. Thursday– Chicken enchiladas, Friday- Kielbasa and rice.

2020 Recipe Challenge

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One of the goals, I wrote was to try 52 new recipes this year. I promptly forgot about it when menu planning of the week. But as I was scrolling through Facebook yesterday morning , I found “17 instapot chicken recipes.” I decided to check this post out and found the recipe, I used for lunch today. The reason I chose this recipe was that it would encourage us to completely use up the remaining Christmas left-overs. We don’t like to wait for lunch after church so I made a couple of changes to the original recipe.

Here is what I actually did for Cranberry Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast
Can of pineapple chucks
Cranberry Sauce- I used the remaining amount from our Christmas meal, the original recipe called for a can of whole cranberry sauce.
1Tablespoon of Brown Sugar.

Dumped in the crockpot with chicken on the bottom and cooked on high for 4 hours.

The results: 3+/5. Zach was not a fan and did not finish his, Kendall statement “it is on the verge of being good.” Lily LOVED it and requested again. Both Matt and I enjoyed the meal. Matt summed it up best, “Not something I would buy the cranberry sauce for, but it was good.” The four breast were plenty, I actually have enough to use on two of my salads this week.