Monthly Archives: April 2020

April in Review

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April was not as long as March. I think we are finally settling down into a manageable routine. Matt worked from home the first two weeks of April but has returned to working at his office full time. I am working full-time at home. I am planning to continue through the month of May. I may need to return to work during our school work days in June but I will wait to see what is decided between now and then. School building have officially been closed for the year in both North Carolina and Guam. Lily will not have to take final exams but otherwise she is still completing her charter school. I am getting some limited work in Guam, a lot of IEP for the next couple of weeks. I am hopefully to complete 10 hours of work for April and another 10 for May before the school year ends. We did receive our government stimulus money this month. It was used to pay for the floor in the kitchen and dinning room which I originally budget with Guam money. The rest was applied to debit but every little bit helps!

The garden has taken up a considerable amount of time this month. We are very hopeful that it will produce some inexpensive veggies most of the summer. I have planted the majority of item from seeds this year. Seeds were purchased at twenty-five cent or less a pack. I made a trip to a local nursey and purchased both pepper and tomato plants spending $11 total. So far we are harvesting “volunteer lettuce” each week. I still have some cherry tomatoes to transfer and I am planning to plant green beans every two weeks so that we can get a more continual and plentiful harvest. I still need to purchase and plant sweet potatoes but I am going to assume that will be the last of expenses this year. We have already built an additional strawberry box so I will have to end up buying dirt to fill it this fall.

Goal #1 Grocery Budget of $550- We have exceed it again this month but $190 worth of chicken breast makes this a no brainer. But on the bright side it is still less than we spent last month! Currently we have spent $922 which also includes a stock up on Diet cokes. I think we should also note that April is a 5 week month which threw me off as well. I am hearing lots of reports of increase pricing for groceries and a possible meat shortage as well. I am planning to stock up on beef and maybe pork next week. I expect the grocery budget for May may be high as well for that reason. The good news is that we should be able to dramatically cut our grocery spending during the summer because of stocking up now. I will continue to watch prices and re-stock items as needed. I actually have started a price list on my phone to begin checking items as I am out picking up other things during the next several weeks.

Goal #2 – Record and keep up with gas/ auto purchase- We spent $$450 this month in gas! This does include the windshield purchase. We decided to wait until May for the taxes and tags on the car.

Goal #3-Use a cash envelope system for everything possible. Success! No spend days are 9 this month. This is better than March but still not my goal of 15. I am not sure what the goal will be for May. Spending will increase as we travel to the pool and as restrictions are lifted. May 10 days of no spending….. or should I just count the days?

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month. This is post number 18 for the month! Which is an increase of 1 for the month! Go Covid-19!

Goal # 5- Fitness- Goal is to walk 3 times a week. I have met this goal this month. The kids are really good at reminding us that we all need the fresh air and exercise. We actually walked 12 days this month! I should be able to continue this especially if the pool opens in May.

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal- 3x a week – Getting better but still not achieved.

Goal #7-Attempt at least 52 new recipes this year.-  For the first time ever we are ahead of a goal. We have tried 22 new recipes so far this year. We need to try 30 more. I am actually thinking we can meet and exceed this goal. The one down side is that only a handful will be used again.

Earnings_ $75 in gift cards. I did complete one large payout on Swagbucks. Matt completed another survey outside of Swagbucks and should receive another $50 gift card in a few days for Amazon. I will be surprised if this amount increase in May as people are overwhelming the system.

Except for the grocery budget, we did extremely well in the month of April. We are blessed and continue to thank God for his provisions!

Recipe Challenge #22

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The purpose of this recipe was two fold. First I was in the mood for something different for lunch yesterday. Second I have several pouches of pink Salmon that I need to find a good use for.

Crustless Salmon Quiche . This recipe is again from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures. I did make one change to the recipe itself. I decided to split it in half because I figured I would be the only one eating it. I also did not want to eat it for the next two weeks straight because I can stand to throw food away. I was able to dash to the kitchen and pull the entire thing together between students. I set the timer and enjoyed a nice hot lunch. The quiche did turn out nice and fluffy. I actually even ate a piece for breakfast but this is not a repeat.

Menu Planning Monday

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Last week was interesting to say the least. I talked a lot about it here. I will also admit that I am getting tired of meal planning and eating at home. That may have been the reason that we ate out three meals this weekend. Today, I am a little more back in the grove and since it has been finalized I need to stay in the grove until June 15th (last teacher workday). I have a goal in mind. The goal for this week is to get a new normal routine going so we can survive and thrive in the next seven weeks. Overall I want to get a lot done ahead so that when summer arrives and I am not tied to the computer for the majority of the day. We can enjoy the park, the pool, the zoo basically just relax and enjoy! One positive is for the next six weeks the kids have lunch provided by the school. I should mention that we picked up and processed 160# of chicken breast on Friday last week so you will see that on the menu more often.

Breakfast– This is the area that we are going to begin to struggle in probably within two weeks as we finish up the individual cereal boxes. I do have a plan to start stocking up on breakfast food and we will be able to use what is already in the freezer. Saturday- Bagels from a local restaurant . Sunday-Sausage egg crescent rolls and Cream cheese crescent rolls. .  Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. –Still have not gotten around to a baked oatmeal but really do need to make one this week.

Lunch-  Saturday-left-overs Sunday- Matt and I grabbed Steak and Shake while going to Costco. The kids ate left-overs .The kids will have school delivered lunches, Matt has 2 days of chicken sandwiches and 2 days of hamburger. I am struggling with lunch for me. Monday- Salmon Quiche, Left-overs and at least one day for a salad should get me through the week.

Dinner-  Saturday- Chinese from Panda Panda. Sunday- Left-overs and Chicken Nachos from Amanda. Monday- Chicken and Broccoli casserole. (made last week so heat and eat). Tuesday-Cheese Quesadilla and Mexican Rice (Zach’s night) Wednesday- Grilled chicken and salad, Thursday-Shrimp and French Fries (Kendall’s in charge) Friday- Million Dollar Spaghetti Pie( this will make 2 meals) Lily in charge.

Recipe Challenge

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I mentioned on Monday that we were going to try something different this week with meals. I had received a free menu plan from Family Freezer so after printing it twice decided I need to give it a try. I will point out that this was a free plan so I am not sure if the plans you pay for would have similar issues. I did a quick shop in my pantry and freezer and made the list of items we would need for the weeks meals.

Sausage and Peppers were on the plan. Zach had picked this as his choice for the week. However once he read it and I read it. We decided it was not something we would eat or try. The problem we saw was that it had not sausage and not real suggestion for eating. This might work out great if you wanted to add to bread but we did not have the buns to try it on.

It was easier and less confusion if we at least assembled all the meals on the plans. On Sunday. I put together and froze both the Spinach Enchiladas and Chicken Noodle Soup. I will report on these once we actually eat them.

Interestingly enough this meal plan contained 3 meatless meals. I will be the first to admit that we are meat eaters so I was very skeptical about both Lily and Kendall’s choice.

#18- Tuscan Tortellini Soup- Lily chose to prepare this meal on Monday. It was very filling without meat and even with beans both Kendall and I enjoyed. Everyone agreed that this was a repeat meal!

#19 Chicken Philly Cheesesteak sloppy joes. Zach was in charge of this meal. On the menu plan this is listed as two separate recipes but both copies of the recipes it was actually one meal. I did buy the ground chicken. I read this recipe several times and just did not get a good feel of how it should work with ground peppers and the onions and peppers. I decided to have Zach put the onions and peppers in the food processors prior to cooking. This worked out great! This meal was ok. Zach has eaten left-overs for two meals but it was really bland. Zach and Matt added hot sauce so that is what made it better for them. Not a repeat.

#20 Honey Garlic Chicken- I was in charge of this meal so it went straight in the crockpot. I ended up shredding the chicken and we ate it over rice. It was a tad bit spicy for me. But everyone seemed to enjoy. The one downside to this recipe is that it made a TON of food. I suspect it will be an entire second meal if needed. Don’t think I will repeat this one either.

#21 No Bake Lasagna with Spinach- Kendall was in charge and this was very cool for her because she really does not like a lot of meat. This recipe did take around 45 minute to prepare so it was a bit more time consuming than I like but for lasagna it was a very simple recipe. This was the best meal of the week. Everyone finished and it was awesome! Definitely a winner and a repeat.

So we are ahead! I am so excited but also have some other new recipes already picked out to try in the next several weeks. At least Coronavirus is helping me to reach one of my goals for the year!

Wordless Wednesday- Square Foot Garden

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  • strawberries! The plan is to divide into a second box at the end of the summer. so we went ahead and put the box in place.
  • strawberries
  • volunteer lettuce and oregano
  • Sugar snap peas on the top that survived with help the last two frost and squash plants started from seeds.
  • Tomatoes
  • More tomatoes but this are going to be purple.
  • Cucumbers
  • Sugar snap peas and some zucchini plants that all came from seed.
  • Green Pepper

Menu Planning Monday

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This weeks plan is looking ALOT different. In fact we are trying something total new because why not? I discovered when cleaning off my desk that I had actually printed a freezer meal plan twice. This is a free plan that included the shopping list and seven complete meals. Last week, the kids each took a day and were in charge of dinner so I asked if they wanted to help try out this menu plan. Everyone is in! I took the shopping list and of course shopped my freezer and pantry first. Matt and I headed to the store on Saturday to grab the remaining ingredients. I was shocked that I spent only $32.10 to purchase the rest of the items needed for seven meals. That breaks down to $4.58 a meal or $0.76 a person per meal. In order not to waste anything on Sunday, I prepared and froze the three remaining meals that we will not use this week. I am going to be starting back to work in Guam this week as well so quick and easy to get started meals may become very important over the next few weeks. I am not sure how I will report on the new recipes this week individually or in a group we shall see.

Breakfast– Saturday- Cinnamon Roll Waffles . Sunday-Eggs and toast or cereal.  Monday,Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. –Still have not gotten around to a baked oatmeal but really do need to make one this week.

Lunch-  Saturday- Gregg’s (a local restaurant) Sunday-charcuterie board with all ingredients on hand. The kids will have school delivered lunches, Matt has 2 days of brats and 2 days of hamburger. I will eat left-overs or sandwiches.

Dinner-  Saturday- Left-overs from Gregg’s (yes it was this much food!). . Sunday- Left-overs. We are making a dent so this is a good thing! Monday- Tuscan Tortellini Soup (Lily is in charge) Tuesday-Matt’s birthday and he chose to eat at Nick’s again! Wednesday- Sausage and peppers over Rice (Zach is in charge) , Thursday-Sloppy Joe Chicken Philly cheese steak Friday-No bake Lasagna with Spinach(Kendall in charge).

Saving on Saturday

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  • Instead of buying plants from the big store< Lowes, I decided to venture out and try and find a local greenhouse. After a little bit of searching on Facebook. I found one. I head out early Saturday because I heard they have sold out of plants very quickly. Let me tell you this was by far the best decision I have made. Plants were 3 for $1. I purchased 33 plants for $11 or the cost of one mosquito plant at Lowes.
  • Over the past year, I have been collecting different seeds. The reason, I just could not pass up a good deal. I paid as much as twenty-five cent for all the packets. Since we have some extra time with no extra activities, I decided to go ahead and see what I could start from seed. I have been able to successfully start, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, snap peas, peas and watermelon. I have also planted some green beans, dill and basil from seed as well. The only expenses so far has been dirt which I buy anyway.
  • Matt saw on-line that you could start tomato plants from slices of tomato. I was very skeptical because of the way I hear most vegetables are treated. However, we tried it with two slices of tomato and we have tiny tomato plants growing from them!
  • I have been listing items on Ebay for the past month. Originally, you could list up to 50 items a month without a listing fee. Now they have actually changed that to 200 items a month. This past week, I sold 7 out of 10 items! I also received the highest bid for one item. We are still responsible for a fee at the end but for March it was $12.45 so I am still making a small profit on most items and we are cleaning things out as they go.
  • I talk a lot about food and food waste. We have spent a total of $212 so far from our grocery budget. I expect to keep this number under $250 for the month! We are definitely trying to use what we have an still do some adventures eating and cooking this month!

Recipe Challenge #17

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The kids decided they all wanted a night to cook dinner. Thursday was Lily’s night. She ventured out on her own and found and made her own meal. I did end up helping/supervising with the dicing and cooking.

One Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Lily did have to make a couple of substitutions. She made and used her own “Italian seasoning” which did not include rosemary because she is highly allergic to this! Next we did not have mozzarella cheese so she cut up string cheese sticks and used it is place. Finally she used ziti pasta as her pasta.

Everyone cleaned their plate today! I thought it was a little light in the area of meat but really no one else complained. In fact it is said that this was a definite repeat!

Way to go Lily!

Recipe Challenge #16

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Woot Woot I am ahead of the challenge!

Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls.

Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls

I saw these on Facebook last week and knew that I wanted to add to our Easter Breakfast. Kendall ended up helping me make them. We assembled everything on Saturday night but did not add the butter, sugar or cinnamon on the top. I pulled out of the refrigerator while the oven pre-heat and it was that easy. These are a definite repeat. I would even say they could be a desert if someone wanted to use as such!