Meal Plan Monday: End of 2014 beginning of 2015 DInners

Today is my seventh wedding anniversary, so I'm making steak for David and he's taking me to see a movie. Super romantic, right? I'm actually excited, this is one of the few nights a year we actually manage to make it out for a date.
This week is going to be full of unpacking, so I tried to make most of the menu fairly easy. Have a great week!

Anniversary:  Steak, baked potatoes, salad, and carmelized brussel sprouts
New Years: Pork loin and roasted cabbage wedges.
other dinners:

• pasta w/ bacon and brussel sprouts
• Creole chicken
• tacos
• Tortellini soup
• pizza sticks

What is your favorite New Year's meal?
This post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Merry Christmas plus an Easy Holiday Treat

I love this time of year and am happy to report that I aced my classes this semester. Why I thought that going to school full time and paying attention to my family would be easy, I don't know. Next semester I'm only going half time so that I can spend less time being the crazy lady that is always worrying about the status of her grades.

If finishing up my classes last week wasn't enough, my family decided to move too. We've known about the move for awhile, so it's not like it was last minute. The hardest part about moving was having to give up our animals since they aren't allowed. Fortunately, a family friend close to our new home has a little farm, so we still get to see him when we go over there. The animals have actually been gone since before Thanksgiving and I miss the fresh eggs. The move has gone mostly smooth so far, aside from a little stomach bug that we're currently passing around. 

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen the pictures of our simple Chritmas craft treat. The treat is super quick and easy.

Christmas Tree Pretzels

Ingredients:
1 part green candy melts
2 parts almond bark
pretzel rods
mini candy coated chocolates

Melt candy melts and almond bark together over a double boiler or in a chocolate melter (affiliate link to the one I have). You can just use one or the other, but i prefer the consistency of the 2 put together
Place pretzel on wax paper covered flat surface.
Drizzle melted candy across the pretzel as desired and decorate with mini candies.
Allow to dry completely -about 15 minutes and enjoy!


Wishing you and yours a healthy and happy holiday!

Snow Day Recipes Round-up

It's the time of year for snow days. My kids already had one last month during my $300 grocery experiment, so I had to go to the grocery, but normally I like to stay home and get some comfort food going. I've compiled this list of snow-day recipes to give you some ideas and so you can get the ingredients into your pantry.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins

Finnish Oven Pancake (from Farm Fresh Feasts)

 Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole (from StockpilingMoms)

Lunch/ Dinner:

 Tortellini Soup (slow cook)

 Loaded Potato Soup (slow cook)

Simple No-Boil Pasta Bake

Taco Soup (from Neat Nest Organizing)

White Chicken Chili with Corn (from Letters From Sunnybrook)

Super Easy Biscuit Recipe with No Shortening (from Thrifty Jinxy)

Snow days usually say yummy treats to me, so here are some easy treats that the kids are sure to love.

Cheerio Treats

Easy 3 ingredient Maple Syrup Pancake Mix Cookies (from Mama Likes to Cook)

3 ingredient peanut butter cookies (from Poems and Quotes Finder)

Jan Hagel cookies (from Once Upon a Time in a Bed of Wildflowers)

Carmelized Brussel Sprouts

This is my hands-down favorite way to prepare and eat brussel sprouts. This method is quick, easy, and is enjoyed by everyone I've made them for.

You'll need:
1 1/2 lb brussel sprouts
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Preheat oven with baking sheet on bottom rack to 500 F
Meanwhile trim the bottoms of each sprout and remove any undesirable leaves, then cut in half.
Drizzle sprouts with oil in a large bowl, then toss to evenly coat.
Sprinkle with salt and sugar and toss gently to combine.
Transfer sprouts to preheated baking sheet and spread evenly. For best results, turn sprouts flat side down.
Roast in oven til browned and tender about 12 minutes, turning halfway for even browning.

Serve and enjoy immediately (they cool down quickly).

Lessons to take away from $300 grocery experiment

My experiment was a success, I was able to feed my family of 6 with a mere $300 that included the purchase price of everything even spices.

As I went through the experiment, I had several thoughts go through my mind and instead of allowing them to get lost amongst the menus and financial reports, I thought I'd share them all in one place.

• Getting started on a tight budget isn't the most fun thing in the world and you may feel the temptation to buy premade frozen meals, because you can get a bigger variety for about the same money, but it quickly pays off to buy the ingredients. 
• Our first week was pretty slim, my kids were not pleased that I wouldn't allow them to go pick whatever food they wanted from our food storage because they were less than thrilled by their options.
• By the second week, I was able to afford a bag of pretzels for them and whole wheat flour to make a more filing bread, so we didn't plow through all of the jam again.
• The third week was a comfortable week. I was able to budget over $20 towards meat even though a power outage at Aldi forced me to do all of my shopping at Kroger.
• Week 4 could have been a completely typical week for my family had I not purchased so much for a Thanksgiving feast.
•  Food storage is incredibly important. On shopping day for week 3, we had a snow day and a closed grocery store. 
• Normally on a snow day, I would have just stayed home and waited to go to the grocery, but the terms of the experiment required that I go to the store or make dinner using only leftover ingredients from weeks 1 and 2.
• Technically I could have figured something out, but we were pretty much looking at bread and pasta with chili tomatoes.
• Pulling up to the deserted Aldi parking lot was a reminder that just because we have money and want to buy something doesn't mean we can have the opportunity. Had Kroger been closed, the experiment would have dictated that I go home empty handed. Not everyone has several grocery stores nearby to choose from.
•  Planning ahead is key. I already mentioned it in week 3, but sometimes the only way to fit a big celebration into the budget is to think ahead.
• I kept each week at or under $75, so when the fourth week which was also Thanksgiving rolled around, I had an over $10 leftover to add to that week's $75. 
• I gradually stocked up on butter when I found it at a good price, because I knew I'd need a lot for Thanksgiving. Had I really been thinking ahead, I would have purchased some of the shelf-stable holiday items earlier on, but no one's perfect, right?
•  I budgeted for the turkey in week 3 to give it enough time to thaw, had I waited until week of it may have been harder to get the size I wanted or to have it thawed in time.

 I hope you enjoyed this experiment of mine. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section or you can find my email address in the "contact me" tab above.

Could your family eat for 4 weeks on just $300?

$300 Grocery Experiment: week 4 finance report

This post wraps up the last of the details for the 4 week $300 grocery experiment. I budgeted everything needed for a full, yet basic Thanksgiving feast. This was only possible, because I thought ahead. To see what all was on the menu, check out the meal plan for week 4. To see all of the other posts in this series, click here.

bag flour $1.38 aldi
10 lb bag potatoes $1.99 aldi
2 lb butter $2.29 each aldi
3 gallons skim milk $2.79 each aldi
2 3lb bags sweet potatoes $.99 each aldi
marshmallows $1 Kroger (aldi was cheaper, but they were out)
pecan pieces $2.79 kroger
2.45lbs green beans $1.69/lb kroger
celery $.59 aldi
clementines $4.99 kroger
jam $2.59 kroger
shredded mozzarella $1.99 kroger
tomato sauce $.25 aldi
5lbs apples $3.99 kroger
pasta $.89 aldi
pasta sauce $.99 aldi
4.32 lbs bananas $.55/lb kroger
breakfast sausage $2.50 kroger
vinegar $.89 aldi
eggs $1.59 aldi
frozen broccoli $.99 aldi
cheddar cheese $1.89 aldi
2 pack pie crust $1.69 aldi
bread pieces $2.99 Kroger
cranberry sauce $1.49 kroger
carrots $.69 kroger
bacon bits $1.49 aldi
2 blocks cream cheese $.99 each aldi
2 cans pumpkin $.89 each aldi
pretzels $1.29 aldi
3 bags frozen peas $.89 each aldi
cool whip $.89 aldi
peperoni $1.99 aldi
2.5 lb frozen chicken tenders $6.29 aldi
pears $1.99 aldi
everything bagels $1.69 aldi
almond slivers $2.09 kroger
sage $1.29 aldi

Total for the week: $85.05
Total for the 4 week experiment $298.88

Meal Plan Monday: Fridge and Freezer Cleanout

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I spent a lot of time with family and ended up with a sick baby. She required lots and lots of snuggles so I only barely finished my school work and haven't been able to do any blog work until this morning. (The $300 Grocery Experiment was a success and I'll tell you all about it this week)

We're cleaning out the freezer and fridge this week to eat up some of those things I neglected the past month in order to do the experiment. Here's my tentative meal plan:

• Cheesy Zucchini, Kielbasa, and Pasta Bake (ricotta in my fridge and cheese and kielbasa from the freezer)
• Gyros (olives and feta in the fridge, gyro meat and pitas in the freezer)
• Enchiladas (freezer meal already made up)
• Spicy Brown Crusted Pork Tenderloin with veggie and bread or potato (veggie and pork from freezer, spicy brown from fridge)
• Homemade Pizza (cheese and yeast from freezer)
• Chicken Pot Pie (chicken and veggies from freezer, pie crust from fridge)
• leftover night

What needs to be eaten from your fridge and freezer?