Welcome Baby

The last month has been a busy month at our house.  We welcomed a baby girl on May 9th - its hard to believe that she is a month already!!!  The addition of our little one had an impact on our grocery shopping and cooking - I was not doing much.  We were blessed to receive meals from friends, co-workers and my life group at church.  I have appreciated these meals more than with the previous births of my children - I think that is because we are so much busier than when we just had one child in the house.  So Thank you for the wonderful meals - and thanks for not bringing all pasta!!!

What meals have we received?

• Chicken Casserole, Salad, dessert
• Lasanga, Salad, Bread (the lasagna is in the freezer because we received 2 meals that night)
• Taco Casserole with tomatoes, taco sauce and shredded lettuce
• Pasta with a chicken alfredo sauce, salad, rolls, cookies
• Brats and hotdogs with buns, baked beans, potato salad, brownies
• Tacos - hard and soft shell tacos, taco seasoned ground beef, diced tomato, diced onion, cheese, sour cream
• Lasanga, salad with italian dressing, homemade bread with garlic butter
• A "Dad Meal"   - Mom was out of town but he wanted to bring us a meal - Takeout spaghetti, garlic bread, and a gondola sandwich, beverages for the boys and dad, bagged salad and chocolate Popsicle.

How are we handeling the transition to a family of five?

I am enjoying the break from doing child care and the ability to do things with just my children.  We are getting better at going places, but I do add and extra 5 minutes to get out the door.  I am working hard to not let the loss of income hit our pocketbook.  For several months I have put a little bit aside so that during my break I would have cash available. So far we have not changed much in our eating out habits - which eats up most of my cash.

We are using cloth diapers again with our little one.  It is amazing the difference between cloth diapers on a baby boy and a baby girl. I think I figured it out quicker with a boy than I have with a girl.  We are doing well with daytime diapers but she is a nighttime wetter - so I'm still trying to figure out nighttime diapers.  Two nights ago I changed her before her middle of the night feeding, in the dark.  When it she awoke a few hours later she was WET from head to toe, along with her pajamas and bedding. Where was the diaper?  Around her ankles.  She is a wiggler and kicked off her blanket and the diaper slid off too.  Back to the drawing board!

Currently my boys are playing with Trio Blocks.  (We were out and weeded the garden and planted some seeds - more about that in my post at my gardening blog - had to go outside before it got hot!  Today will be cooler at 90, but storms are predicted for this evening.  I"m looking forward to the 70's that are predicted for the next few days!)  I love Trio blocks,  I'm sure I've posted about that before. The offer SO much in the way of creativity and my boys BOTH enjoy playing with them.  Like most toys the come in "sets"  - you know, barn, castle, construction site, but once the initial set is built they have all ended up transitioning to some other creation, and that is okay with me.  It allows creativity to shine!

Menu Plan 4/10

Here is the menu plan for this week.  Its one of those busy weeks with to many activites at mealtime for the kids - so I must be creative.

• Friday - delivery pizza

• Saturday - Lunch: leftover pizza
• Saturday Supper - Steak Sandwiches ( leftover steak), buns, tatertots, spinach salad

• Sunday Lunch - out
• Sunday Supper - DH cooked ;)  Paella  - we have enough leftover for lunches this week, and supper to, lol

• Monday - ground beef - maybe slopy joes

• Tuesday - Turkey, salad, sweet potatoes

• Wednesday - Church night but I don't think we will make it to the Soup Supper in time, so I'm not sure - PB&J picnic, maybe

• Thursday - ?? Concert night and grandparents are here, hope I have inspiration by then.

What's on your plan this week?

No TV Day #6

On Friday morning I turned on the television, well attempted, I should say. I knew something was up when it was taking awhile to "warm up"...a few seconds later I heard a POP!  The bulb in the TV blew.  We had this issue with our older version of the same television. So no TV in the living room, not to big of a deal....we can watch the other one right?  Nope, it broke when we were attempting to add the adapter box to allow our ancient (10 years old) analog television to be connected to cable's digital only signal.  So that means we have gone six days with no functioning television in the house.  I really have not missed it.  However, I know others in the house have and will be glad to have the television fixed.

What have I learned in the meantime?

• It did not take the kids long to adjust to no TV.  It just is, and they accept it, and I get to see a more creative side of them - Legos, Trio Blocks and Trains have had a workout.
• Its amazing how quiet the house is after the kids go to bed without the television on.
• Thank goodness for laptops and smartphones.
• Garth Brooks still gets a lot of play on the country station - and they are songs I know from 10-15 years ago when I listened to a lot of country
• Books - they do the brain good!
• Eaglets hatching can be as entertaining as Curious George or Handy Manny!

We have also been enjoying the warmer, dare I say springlike weather of the last few days.  I just placed my first order with Johnny's Selected Seeds and now I really can not wait to get in the garden.  Now the debate begins - where to put things in the garden and will I get the garden in before the little one arrives? I should go dig up the garden and plant some spinach and salad greens, yum!

April 1 Meal Plan

Here is the basic menu plan for the next week or so...

• Friday - pizza, out (was going to be delivery but Out worked too!)
• Saturday Lunch - Out
• Saturday Supper - Chicken Stir Fry with rice - quick and easy and lots of veggies, and leftovers for lunch on Monday
• Sunday Lunch - Cheddarwurst, buns, chips, mand. oranges, and pickles, lol
• Sunday Supper - Lasagna and spinach salad - garlic bread (or cheese bread) was not served but requested.
• Monday - chicken that was thawed out will become somthing yummy!
• Tuesday - Lasanga with salad and garlic bread (any left will be frozen)
• Wednesday - Flank Steak
• Thursday - Cheese Steak sandwiches, quesadillas or something with leftover steak.
• Friday - Pizza :)

Original meal plan had chicken patties on thin buns (we call them flat bread, I can't think of the name right know.) but they will keep in the freezer until next week when we need a quick, no-brainer meal before an evening activity.  Still need to figure out what to do with mushrooms as I have 1.5 packages in the fridge that I forgot to throw into the lasagna.

No Fooling

So today is April Fools Day...I sat down and decided to turn on the TV early this morning...something was not quite right and as I was waiting for the TV to "warm up"  - not normal for this TV - I started thinking, "I wonder what's wrong."  Well I found out about 30 seconds later...the bulb blew on the TV.

Our old TV is also out of order thanks to Mediacom's upgrade to all digital TV.  When we were tryting to remove the coax cable to install the little converter box on our analog television something broke, so it can not recieve any input - antena, cable or dvd player.  UHG!

So today is going to be about spring cleaning, playing games and spending the day with NO working TV's in the house. 

PS. For the Record I don't like April Fools Spoofs or whatever thy are calling them this year...

Menu Planning again part 2

My friend is just getting back into the kitchen and  had many questions...here are some of my answers.


Q. Where do I start?  I have a few things that I can cook but I would really like to better use my financial resources.

A.  Baby steps will get you there.  Make it a goal to try 1 new thing/recipes a week...or every 2 weeks...if your family likes it put it in the keeper file (3 ring binder w/ page protectors) or make note on a piece of paper.  If they don't make a note of it and why - didn't taste good, took to long, Ian did not like it but the kids ate it up = future lunch ideas, lol.

Q. What is a coupon match up.  Is it matching up a coupon and a store ad.  How do you use store ads?

A. Yes a coupon "match-up" is matching an item that is on sale with coupons for that same item.  I have used coupons on and off - currently I'm on with them.  By making  a list of whats on sale, that your family eats or uses, will help with your spending.  There is no sense in buying spaghetti sauce on sale if no one likes it (unless you know that you need to make a donation to the food pantry soon, kwim?)  But if Stove Top is on sale and your family eats that a lot then buy it and see how creative you can be with it. (Hope that makes sense?)

I love the MOPS cookbook because its full of family friendly mom-tested recipes Last night I wanted to make meatloaf but did not have the ingredients in the house to make the recipe I normally (Its in the MOPS cookbook) so I pulled it out looking for a new variation using ingredients I already had in the house...everyone ate it up.  I have lots of cookbooks and the MOPS one is one of my top 3 go to books.  My other favorite is a Betty Crocker with the red checked cover...it has lots of b-a-s-i-c how-to's because there are times when we all need that from time to time!

(NOTE the MOPS cookbook I refer to was published by our local MOPS group. Its my favorite because it is full of tried and true family favorite recipies.)

Speaking of meatloaf did you know the same meat mix makes good meatballs?  (I just learned that in the last year when I got tired of buying store-bought ones with all the extra stuff, that my kids love...now I just make homemade meatballs and put BBQ sauce on them.  (I know its got bad stuff in it too, but its one of the few things that we eat and I try to change it up so we don't eat BBQ sauce all the time...even though my family would love to!)

Q. Roasted cauuliflower what is that?

A. Oh and as for roasted cauliflower I found that recipe about a year ago...My husband did not like cauliflower until I started fixing it this way.  Now we eat an entire head at 1 meal!!!!!  You can reduce the rosemary and garlic if its not in your diet or you don't have that much in the house.  http://www.food.com/recipe/roasted-cauliflower-16-roasted-cloves-of-garlic-106251

Menu Planning again.

Must be an April thing...I'm trying to get back to menu planning.  Since the beginning of March I have been foccusing on couponing and other ways to save money on my family's food budget.

A friend recently asked for some suggestions about how to start planning meals.  Below is part of my reply to help her get started.



Here is my thought process that goes into planning meals. You will develop your "rules" as you go...so don't stress about them.  For me just knowing what meat we are having is a huge help as is recording what you ate, it  makes repeats happen less often and helps plan the next round of meals.


I have been doing a cash envelop for food for the month of March and using coupons more.  It does make a difference.  I am best to stay out of Hy Vee and shop at Fareway with a HyVee Ad match....I stick to the deals better and don't buy the "extras" like I do at HyVee.  (I don't know why but I get annoyed with HyVee because of that. I spend at least $20 more when I go there.)


I also shop at Sams and Target.  I saved over $10 with coupons and my Target card there last week!  Now if printer ink was not so expensive! We don't get the Sunday Paper, so I've been printing out internet coupons.  I am trying printing the non store coupons from Swagbucks and curious to see if I get the points via using coupons from there...it will be a few weeks before I know if it works or not. (I hope it does so I can use Amazon cards to get the stroller we picked out :) )


Do you follow Penny Pinching Mom on Facebook?  She is my new favorite coupon/money saving Mom blogger...because she is "local", well Midwest anyway. ;)  She has Hy Vee coupon match ups and Target coupon match ups that I really appreciate.  I have searched for years for a  HyVee matchup. She also has a link on her blog to a gal that does Fareway matchups and deals and that helps too.

Good luck!  If you come across any cool or helpful resources please share! 
Karla


 - - - - - - - - - - -

How I plan meals
- Ask family members what they are hungry for...sometimes it really helps, sometimes I don't get any ideas but this is where I start.


My "rules"

- I need leftovers Sunday-Wednesday nights for DH lunch the next day. 
- Thursday night is good for fish/other single serving foods or those that don't work well in DH lunch
- What's in the fridge..this is a REAL challenge in the late spring-summer-fall when we HAVE to keep eating up what we get from our @Grinnell Heritage farm's CSA box before the next one comes.  I welcome this challenge! (Its less of a challenge in winter when I have to go to the store for produce and only buy a couple of things because nothing looks/tastes as good as the fresh summertime produce.) And yes in season we eat salad 2-3 times a week, and the boys do to.

-What nights do I need crock pot/leave in the oven meals...ie beef roast, hamburger casserole

-What nights do I need cook it QUICK or throw it in the over so I can prep it when I get home meals...ie taco salad, sloppy joes, chicken pattys (one of the few processed foods I serve on a semi-regular basis)
-How can I prep ahead?  EX Grilled chicken on Sunday night and Chicken salad on Tuesday using the extra grilled chicken...



-Keep in mind likes and dislikes...you will notice that there is not much pasta as a main dish - Jay does not like it that well, so lasagna is a once a month or two food, but pasta is often a side dish.


Pizza, every Friday?  Really?  Yes...think of all the options

-homemade  - crust from scratch
-homemade  - store bought crust
-homemade - alt crust (tortilla, hot dog bun, English muffin) (Good kid friendly lunch w/ leftover pizza toppings.)

-take -n- bake
-delivery
-dine out
-frozen (lol)


That is all food for thought. 

Here is what I do...we have a protein at every meal, if you do meatless nights include those ( I would love to but that is not fully supported here)
 1. List a protein/ for each night of the week (beef, pork, ham, fish (salmon, tuna, mahi mahi,etc), chicken, turkey, sausage, beans and rice, etc.

2. Looking at the calendar what nights do you need quick/crock pot meals - do those first
3. What is in the fridge that needs to be used up next?
4. What did your family members request - make those a priority?
5. What's left?  (pork is usually my sticking point...love to eat it but can not cook it well unless I'm grilling pork chops or making ground pork) This is also when I get out my MOPS cookbook or the most recent cooking mag to look for ideas for "something new and different." 


**Sometimes I don't plan  the full meal, just the main dish, until the day of the meal. It helps to get out frozen meat to thaw in time. (This is another time the MOPS cookbook comes out - or I search online for ideas...) START HERE!



**Record what you DID serve and use it as a reference the next time you are planing meals...or to remember on Monday night that you just had peas and tater tots as side dishes on Friday night so maybe you want something different tonight to keep from getting bored... AND HERE



Here is a sample menu. What is after the = is what we actually had to eat...



Example Menu

Friday - pizza = delivery

Saturday - beef =  steak, grilled potatoes, salad



Sunday - pork/ham =  bean soup
Monday - beef = pot roast (beef roast, potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, etc.)

Tuesday  - pork = ground pork, salad, couscous

Wed - chicken = chicken stir fry with rice

Thurs =- -salmon = salmon, sweet potato, salad

Friday - pizza = homemade

Sat - Lunch  =leftover pizza  - Supper = go Out
Sun Lunch =  out Supper  = Turkey, baked potato, Carrots



Monday pork = pork chops, flavored rice, green beans

Tuesday- beef  = taco salad

Wed -  pork = ham steak, Italian noodles, peas

Thurs -chicken = chicken patty, bun, tater tots, carrot sticks (one of *those* nights)
Friday - pizza = Go Out

Sat - Lunch out Supper - sloppy joes (pork, turkey, beef, etc), buns, chips, salad

Sun Lunch Leftovers S - BBQ chicken, stove top, roasted cauliflower