Monthly Archives: February 2020

5 Things Friday

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  1. It is an snow day here in North Carolina. Technically I have an optional work day with a three hour delay. I am opting to take the day off. I do plan to spend a couple of hours working on my Guam paperwork as I have fallen way behind.
  2. I am sick and tired of being sick. I started with the crud, coughing and sinus stuff three weeks ago. Two weeks ago on Wednesday, I woke up and could barely speak. I did go to the doctor and get an antibiotic for a sinus infection. This week on Tuesday Zach started with a stomach bug. It has been pasted around the house for the past several days and it is NASTY! Lily missed her first day of school in four years,. Kendall has missed two day not counting today and Zach missed one day but has throw up again last night. Tuesday night was the worse night I can remember with all three kids sick. I am not sure if I have the stomach virus or if the antibiotic as messed up my stomach but just want to feel well again!
  3. I am enjoying the working in Guam via the internet. I am currently scheduled to work on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. Guam is fifteen hours ahead of us for a time difference so I am technically working on Mondays and Thursdays. I have gained several school this month and my schedule is full. In fact, I am actually scheduled for at least an hour every night next week. I also have several hours of paperwork I need to catch up on but I just don’t have the time and energy to do so,. This is really a goal of mine for today but I am not sure it will happen.
  4. Matt is loving his new job. He does have enough flexibility that he has been able to work from home a couple of days. Zach was out of school last Thursday and he worked from home. Yesterday Kendall was home and Zach had an early release day so he was able to work from home as well.
  5. With our new income level, we are starting to add in some “luxuries” for me it is having my nails done on a regular (monthly) bases. For Matt is it eating out for lunch and flavored coffee creamer. Life is good but busy!

Monday Menu Planning

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This week we have a dual focus, quick and use what we have already. I mentioned last week that we have already spent our grocery budget for the month of February and I really want to control spending for the last two weeks of the month. I did spend $10 this week between lunch vegetables and CVS,  I have again picked up additional work during the evenings in fact, I am working 4 nights this week. We have an orthodontist appointment, an oral surgeon appointment and a hair coloring appointment in addition to work and regular activities. 

Breakfast– Special treat-gravy biscuit from Biscuit King.  Sunday-left-overs from Saturday dinner.   Monday- baked oatmeal  Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- choice of eggs, sausage, french toast or pancakes,  cereal or grits. 

Lunch-  Saturday- Left-overs and mozzarella sticks   , Sunday- Potato Soup or Turkey taco soup.  Matt has 2 salads, sandwiches  and a soup,  The kids have soup, sandwiches  and grab and go days. I have soup and left-overs and one salad. 

Dinner-  Saturday-Breakfast items including egg/sausage muffins and sausage crescent rolls, Sunday- boxed mac and cheese,  orooddles of noddles Monday-baked potatoes (Amanda decided to share ribs and fried chicken to add to this meal). , Tuesday- Mini Tacos  Wednesday- KFC bowls that did  not happen last week, Thursday- pizza bites and mozzarella sticks . Friday- cheese tortellini.

Menu Planning Monday

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I will be the first to admit that the possibility of jury duty this week has me super stressed. I decided to stick to quick and simple most days in order to add in the flexibility that we may  need. Good news is that we were able to do some simple prep on Sunday including making mashed potatoes and assembling the casserole for Monday. 

Breakfast– Special treat-gravy biscuit from Biscuit King. Matt and I shared our lunch money for this treat. Sunday- eggs, sausage and hashbrowns  Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- choice of toast, eggs, sausage, bagels, cereal or grits.  I may add in a baked oatmeal for one day but still not sure. 

Lunch-  Saturday- Chicken and cheese quesadillas and taco fries  , Sunday- Time Square pizza (local place) Matt has 4 salads and a soup,  The kids have soup, uncrustables and grab and go days. I have soup and left-overs and no plan for Wednesday or Thursday. 

Dinner-  Saturday-Instapot Potato Soup, Sunday- left-overs  Monday-Alfredo Chicken casserole (new recipe), Tuesday- Hamburger Helper  Wednesday- Pizza, Thursday- KFC bowls . Friday- Taco Turkey Soup from the freezer. 

Saving on Saturday

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Time for a confession, we have already spent out entire grocery budget for the month of February, well actually we spent it all by last Sunday aka “Junk Food Sunday.” I actually do know where all of it went and I am ok with it. But I definitely need to make sure that we use up all the food we have so that I am not wasting and going out to buy more. This week I have really been focused on not have any food waste. Monday, everyone took left-overs for lunch. Kendall ended up taking 3 separate days of left-over from the veggie tray to dip. On Tuesday, I made sliders to use the Hawaiian Rolls and cheese from the cheese tray. Wednesday was a pick your own left-over. Thursday, I took the rest of the broccoli and cauliflower covered with cheese slices and baked. I also used the rest of the baby carrot to cook as a side dish.

For lunch on Saturday (today) I cut up the rest of the chicken from Costco last week and made chicken and cheese quesadillas with Taco Fries. I used up the rest of the Taco dip by placing on top of French fries! This was an awesome treat at lunch! Everyone liked the fries! I am also going to count our Taco fries as a new recipe this week! We still have about 2 cups of chicken that is cut up.

I found this morning a new recipe to try in the crockpot. It calls for 3 cooked chicken breast. Instead of cooking chicken breast, I am going to use the rest of the chicken from Costco and also throw in a couple of sticks of teriyaki chicken that is left-overs from Chinese on Friday! I made 16 cups of chicken broth from the bones and skin of the chicken so I am positive that we have gotten our monies worth from that chicken.

Another way I am saving this week is by using gift card earned via Swagbucks. We hit Walmart last night and purchased some needed personal hygiene items, filters for our heating and air system and even water flavor packets using a gift card!

I am also keeping an eye on the cost of flights for our August trip to Disney. It would appear that I may be able to get round trip flights for less than $200 each!

Breakfast Casserole

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Breakfast is one of our favorite meal around here! Over Christmas I tried a several breakfast casserole recipes. Most ended up tasting the same or being more of a time consuming effort than I cared to repeat. So I was not expecting much when I tried this particular one. I am not sure where I found it and I tried to goggle with no success.

6 slices of bread ( this cause for crust removed but I left mine one)
Butter
1lb of bacon or other breakfast meat ( I used sausage)
1/2 cup of shredded cheese (increased to 1 heaping cup)
6 eggs ( I used 8 as that was what was left in the carton)
2 cups of milk
salt and pepper to taste

Butter the bread and the dish place the bread butter side up.
Top with meat
Sprinkle over cheese
Mix together egg, milk, salt and pepper
Pour over bread and meat.
Let sit for 8 hours or overnight
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes

I left the casserole in the oven overnight but the instructions say to allow to come to room temperature before heating.

A recipe winner and repeat!

Menu Planning Monday

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Junk Food Sunday is officially in the books. The goal this week is to use up the left-overs and stay sane. This is actually one of the slower weeks for us as far as activities go. I am only working two nights! Sadly, I don’t have a new recipe on the plan but I need to get motivated with posting about the last one.

Breakfast– Saturday- Bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits.Sunday- left-overs for me and the girls. Boys had men’s breakfast. Monday- muffins, Tuesday- bagels , Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- choice of toast, eggs, sausage, bagels, cereal or grits. 

Lunch-  Saturday- left-overs, Sunday-Mexican at a Resturant with friends., Matt has 3 salads, I have 2 salads and the kids have a combination of salads chicken nuggets and sandwiches. , Everyone is taking left-overs for Monday so it works out well 

Dinner-  Saturday- Rotiserie Chicken from Costco, green beans and corn (left-overs) and stuffing., Sunday- Junk FOOD Monday- vegtable tray and fruit tray with cheese tortellini , Tuesday- Han and cheese sliders and potato chips(yes all left-overs), Wednesday- Pick your own left-overs, Thursday- Salisbury steak and rice Friday- Pizza 

January In Review

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I don’t ever remember the month of January feeling so long….I honestly think someone stuck an extra six weeks in it. The good news is that it is over and we actually stay the course fairly well for the month. We were able to stick to our budget and made some really fun plans for this year. I plan to share those soon as well. As you can tell I have lots of plans!

Goal #1 Grocery Budget of $550- This was a close one at $552.98 for the month. I am going to call this one a success. I want to try and keep things on a even level more this year instead of huge month and really low months. We are headed to Costco for our monthly trip today and we also need to grab a couple more things for our Super Bowl party.

Goal #2 – Record and keep up with gas/ auto purchase- We spent $455 on auto related things including gas, oil change and wiper blades.

Goal #3-Use a cash envelope system for everything possible. Success!

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month. 13 for the month. I do have another recipe to report on but just did not get it posted. This post should have also been in January so I am very close to success.

Goal # 5- Fitness- Goal is to walk 3 times a week. I managed to walk once a week except for the week I was sick. It is a start.

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal- 3x a week – A fail

Goal #7-Attempt at least 52 new recipes this year.- This has been successful with keeping up with it so far. But the result are not so successful.
Tator Tot Casserole and Taco Tator Tots and Chicken Burrito Soup
I did try another breakfast casserole and will get a post up about it soon.