Menu Madness Jan 19th-25th

 
This use to be called "Menu Monday" but because I'm starting it technically on Sunday...it's just madness. 
 

The leftovers on Monday are from you sandwiches you made on Sunday (last weeks menu). If you make enough, you can use the meat in tortillas, nachos or just eat another sandwich. 

I realize that I post to have a lot of left overs but we're a busy bunch. It's so much easier to cook extra and have it later.

I post the links to the original sites if you want to see the source.

Here is your list that you should have on hand just in case you want to make it all on one day. It's so much easier to cook with what you have then to realize what you are out of.

I've made a printable menu that has the recipes for each item so you can download or print it. 

• Monday
  Left Over's (Fend for yourself aka leftovers)
• Tuesday
  Catfish
  Shrimp
  Rice Pilaf (make a double batch)
  Black eyed peas
  Chili cheese fries
• Wednesday
  Cheeseburger soup

 

• Thursday
  Leftovers
• Friday
  Crock pot ranch pork chops
  Rice Pilaf
  Mac & Cheese
  Crescent Rolls

 

• Saturday
  FFYS (Fend for yourself aka leftovers)
• Sunday
  Ribs
  Baked beans
  Potato salad or loaded potato
  

The cost of this menu for me was $90.66 which included some snacks, meat that I didn't get from last week and extra deals I found. Yours will depend on the staples you have and the meat. Of course if you find better deals or coupons you can save more. 

I hope this helps. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.  

Remember at the end of the month we are going to see our total. We're working on saving money! :)

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Valentine's Day Table Setting

I love to decorate for different holidays. Especially my kitchen table. 

Unfortunately, as most of you may know, if you have more than one child, you can usually only decorate a table...for a day.

So for that one day, I will enjoy it!

I have a friend who has a table setting for almost every holiday and I absolutely love them. 

Some of her settings are china and because one of my resolutions is to "save money", I'm not going to buy any china soon. 

Because #5 is half Tasmanian devil, I'm not sure I can have "glasses" either. They need to be plastic. Actually, my plates and bowls would have to be plastic too....

The Dollar Tree has really cute dish ware to make something similar to the ones she has. The napkin holders look hand made so you will have to get creative on those. The table cloth is so cute and you could get creative with this too. Look for see-threw material at Jo-Ann's or Hancock's. Then add the ribbon around the edges. 

Here are some of her other table settings. I told you they were cute!

Easter

Summer

Fall

Christmas

Do you have some really creative settings you would like to share? I would love to see everyone's different ideas.

Homeland Coupon Books

If you are an avid couponer, you have heard about the Homeland Coupon Books.  

This is part of my fundraiser for #2 abroad trip. 

Each book is $5 a piece. I can mail them if you like. It's just $1 to ship.

 

 

Here is a list of the coupons included in the book. Remember you can use all manufacturer coupons anywhere, not just Homeland. 

$5 of purchase of $50 (which pays for itself)
$1.00/1 Superior Selections Snack Nuts
$1.00/1 Best Choice Dog or Cat Food
$1.00/1 Best Choice Laundry Detergent
$1.00/1 Best Choice Supreme Jumbo Diapers

$1.00/1 Best Choice Ranch Dressing
$1.00/1 Best Choice Ultra Strong Bath Tissue 24 Double Rolls
$1.00/1 Velveeta
$1.00/1 Sargento Tastings Cheese
$1.00/2 Cartons Egg Land's Best Eggs

$.60/2 Red Gold Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
$.50/1 I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!
$.50/1 Country Crock Spread
$1.00/2 Borden Cheese Packages
$1.00/1 Planters Nuts
$1.00/1 Kraft Deluxe Mac & Cheese or Velveeta Shells & Cheese
$1.00/1 Orange Juice when you buy 1 General Mills Fiber One Cereal
$1.00/1 Eggs when you buy 1 Pillsbury Refrigerated Cookie Dough
$1.00/1 Old El Paso Dinner Kit
$1.00/1 90-ct Totino's Pizza Rolls
$1.00/2 Florida's Natural Brand NFC Premium Juice
$1.00/1 20lb or Larger Purina Tidy Cats Scoop
 

Rump Roast

This is the roast I made off of my menu madness. I actually had it on my menu to make Sunday but I thawed it yesterday because I was out of freezer space. I guess I shouldn't consider that be a bad thing. 

I used some of Tip Top Recipes for pot roast which is what was on my menu. But my family is not very fond of rosemary so I left it out. 

I don't have a dutch oven and my husband believes I have enough kitchen items (not sure what world HE lives in. You can never have enough!) So I used my roaster. I was going to use my slow cooker but I took to long to get started. My family would NOT be happy with me eating around 8 o'clock tonight.

Preheat your oven to 250. I usually forget to do this. 

First I made my beef stock, using Knorr Homestyle Stock. I added two of the cups to about a cup of water and turned up the heat. 

Not realizing it, I was out of olive oil, so I used vegetable oil. Still did the same thing, just not the flavor. 

People always say to mix your seasonings in a small bowl then place them on top of your meat. I guess they have people who wash their dishes, so to me, that's just extra. I always do it when the meat is in the pan. 

Add your oil to your pan and let it get warm. Then add your meat. I seared one side of the meat, seasoned the upside, then flipped it and added more seasoning. Then held the meat with my tongs to get the sides. This only takes a minute or two. Once that is done I put it in my roaster.

Then in the same skillet I add my red potatoes and carrots. I let them sear for a minute then added them to the roaster.

Now for the skillet with all the yummy flavors still in it. I took about 1 tablespoon of corn starch and added it to the skillet. I actually used a little more but I fixed it later. Whisked it for a second to get all the flavors moved around and took the now boiling beef stock and added it to the skillet. I didn't pour the whole thing in, just a little at a time, whisking the whole time.

Once my corn starch had incorporated with everything I took the awesome brown gravy and poured it over my meat and veggies. Some of the corn starch was being difficult so I poured it threw my grease strainer to keep the juice without the clumps. 

Place it in the oven with the lid on and let it cook for about 3 hours. It's almost a 3lb roast. You cook your roast about an hour per pound. That's the best way to remember. 

Once it's done, pull it out and let the meat sit for a few minutes. You can pull it apart or cut in pieces.

How yummy does that look?

I cooked some egg noodles and mashed potatoes to go with it. My little ones are picky eaters so I thought this would help fill them up. Not in the mood to hear "I'm hungry" at 9:30 tonight when I sweated over this home cooked meal. ;) Sshhhh...They won't know how easy it really was unless someone tells them... and I'm not gonna. 

List of Ingredients

Ziplist

• 1 rump roast (mine was 2.5 pounds)
• Olive oil
• 1 pound Baby carrots
• 1 pound red potatoes whole
• 2 Knorr Home style Beef Stock
• 1 tablespoons corn starch

SEASONING MIX -

• 2 tablespoons steak seasoning (mine has a blend of peppercorns, garlic, paprika, parsley and salt)
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Menu Monday 3/4-3/10

I realize my menu is late but I'm Indian and that's the time I usually go on...

I have been trying one recipe from Pinterest each week. You can follow me A Mom's Krazy Life to see what I've tried. Do you have a Pinterest that was awesome that you would like to share? 

Remember:

HL=Homeland

SAL=Save A Lot

FL=Firelake Grocery

W=Walmart 

Breakfast

Cereal

Homemade sausage biscuits

PB&J Sandwiches

Snacks and Desserts

Cupcakes

Dinner 

Monday

Monday Madness from Little Ceasars $3.99 pizza- It's baseball night so who has time to cook?

Tuesday

I had a ton of stuff that needed cooked plus I have to work tomorrow night so they will starve if there's not left overs

*Chicken Fried Steak-(HL $2.85 for 2 x 3=$8.55)

 Now I'm a Food Network junkie, like my DVR is set several times a day junkie. My favorite Chicken Fried Steak is Sunny's Chicken Fried Steak with Diced Potato Gravy. Now I'm not making the gravy tonight but I have before and it is GOOD!

*Garlic Mashed Potatoes

*Shrimp Scampi (Shrimp HL $4.99 lb, Sauce HL 29¢)

 I used Campbell's Skillet Sauces. It was all right. I was out of angel hair so I used spaghetti. Maybe that was the difference. I personally like mine better.

*Okra (SAL 90¢)

*French Fries (Walmart ??)

*White Gravy (Firelake $2? a huge package)

Wednesday

Left Overs

Thursday

Baseball night- Pizza?

Friday

Baseball night- Hamburgers?

Saturday

undecided

Sunday 

undecided

Chicken Enchiladas

Enchiladas are my families favorite but they just seem to take FOREVER!
Maybe because I put too much into. What do you think?

How I make my chicken enchiladas:

First cook your chicken on medium heat. When you have really huge pieces, I like to cut them up so they cook easier. Once your chicken is done, add taco seasonings and water. Let the juices flow.

Now while my chicken is cooking, I made my salsa. That way I'm only dirtying up my processor once. 

Add cooked chicken in processor to shred, with your choice of enchilada sauce, a spoon full of sour cream, jalapeno sauce (I get this from Homeland in the $ isle and my family loves it!) and a little more salsa if you like. 

Get a baking pan out and cover with tin foil. Then spray with a non-stick cooking spray. This way when your done, you do not have to work as hard to clean the pan. (Unless someone thinks these are so good and are willing to do dishes afterwards, but not likely in my house).

Then lay your tortilla out, scoop a spoon of chicken mix on tortilla and add a few slices of Velveeta cheese. Roll up and place in pan, folded side down. Continue until all mixture is gone. 

I pour enchilada sauce on top then cook on 350 for about 15-20 minutes, then I pull the pan out, cover in shredded cheese and cover the pan with tin foil to melt the cheese while I get everything else ready. 

That's it! And they are GGGOOOOODDDD!

Now on a normal blog this is where the recipe would be. Put everything is pretty much Rachel Rayed but I'll list everything anyway.

2-5 lbs of chicken

your choice of flour tortillas

Velveeta cheese

enchilada sauce

salsa

taco seasoning

sour cream

jalapeno sauce 

shredded cheese

cooking spray

Menu Monday Feb 18 - Feb 24

My menu is not complete because I haven't been shopping in 2 weeks so I really don't know what I have. 

I have been trying one recipe from Pinterest each week. You can follow me A Mom's Krazy Life to see what I've tried. Do you have a Pinterest that was awesome that you would like to share? 

Remember:

HL=Homeland

SAL=Save A Lot

FL=Firelake Grocery

W=Walmart 

Breakfast
Cereal
French Toast Sticks
Homemade sausage biscuits

Snacks and Desserts


Dinner
Monday - 

Source: therecipecritic.com via Wendie on Pinterest

This was just awesome and the kids liked it too.

Tuesday -
Grandma's chicken and dressing
I'm not sure where I found this but it's not my grandma, that was just what the recipe was called.
I posted the recipe on Ziplist.

Wednesday -
Left overs

Thursday -
Cheeseburgers and loaded fries

Friday - 
Undecided

Saturday - 
Undecided

Sunday - 
Undecided


I will have to go back and look at prices. Two weeks from shopping, I can't remember anything.

My weekly schedule

I don't know about you but my life is super busy and crazy. If I do not have checklist for almost EVERYTHING, I forget. Which includes a house cleaning list. I really don't remember to dust or wipe off door knobs. 

Since my blog is here to share my life with you, I wanted to share My Weekly Schedule. Feel free to share how you keep everything on track cause Lord knows I always need suggestions.

Daily: (well, I try with good intentions)
10 mins kitchen clean up
10 mins bathroom
10 mins computer room
10 mins bedroms

Monday:
Menu
Kitchen
Batch Cooking
Bills/Budget
Schedule for the week
*Shopping


Tuesday:
Bathrooms
Towel Tuesday
Tim's Clothes 
Parent Committe Stuff
 
Wednesday:
Living Room 
Boy's Clothes
Shopping Day
Non-profit Stuff

Thursday:
Bedroom 
My Clothes
PTO Stuff

Friday:
Popcorn Friday
*Shopping


Saturday:
Work outside (when it's nice)
Enjoy day with kiddos


Sunday: 
Coupon list


*On Monday's and Friday's my stores get trucks in. So if something wasn't available on Wednesday, I can get it the other days. Plus Monday is another good day for Homeland because new coupons came out on Sunday to match up to the ad.

Back on track

Did you see us on the weather channel?  They were questioning us about the F7 that went through our house. 

Ok, so maybe it just looks like 4 small and 2 large tornadoes hit, but none the less, my house is a national disaster.

With Valentine's Day fundraisers, several basketball games, Pow Wow, baseball practice and just plain life, I have not worked on anything in my house. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have tons of dirty dishes piled up in the sink that smell, but my cat refuses to walk on the floor. One of my bathrooms are half way clean because #4 went to use it one day last week and decided to hang out and clean it. I've been trying to get him to use the other one ever since.

Now I told my self this week I was getting on track no matter what. I'm a couponer for crying out loud and I'm almost out of deodorant! I HAVE to shop this week.

So I'm going to work off check lists and weekly schedule to get back on track.

My checklists include:

50 Bible Verses to learn (an all year deal)
21 Day Organization Challenge and adding 21 days 21 bags with it. (which I was suppose to start 2 weeks ago...Oh my jeeze I suck!)
Spring Cleaning (post coming soon)
My weekly schedule 

Now hopefully it won't be 2 weeks before I get started again.

Menu Monday 2/4 - 2/10

      My menu is really short and sweet this week. We have homecoming, a pow-wow, 6 basketball games, and a birthday party so we're going to be pretty busy.

HL=Homeland

SAL=Save A Lot

FL=Firelake Grocery

W=Walmart 

Breakfast
Cereal
French Toast Sticks
Homemade sausage biscuits
Homemade Pancakes on a stick

Snacks and Desserts
Monkey bread
Cookies
Pudding

Dinner
Monday - Chicken Enchiladas, Homemade Salsa
   (FL-whole fryers 79¢lb, tortillas 99¢. HL- Velveeta $3.99, canned tomotoes .05¢)

Tuesday - Indian Tacos
   (Nichols-hamburger meat $1.79 lb, HL-fixings roughly $4.00)

Wednesday - Left Overs

Thursday - Eat Out

Friday - Cheeseburger soup
   (Nichols-hamburger meat $1.79 lb, HL- Velveeta $3.99)

Saturday - Eat Out

Sunday - Not sure yet


So right now we're sitting at a little over $16 because I do not include seasonings and such. What's going to kill me is eating out this week but I will sure enjoy not cleaning up after wards.

21 Day Home Challenge

I realized I have been slacking on my New Year Resolutions. So since I am rarely on time for anything, I didn't figure it would matter if I am late on getting started with this. Plus the fact that basketball season is almost over and baseball season is basically here it has put me in action mode! Which for those of you who are not baseball moms, that translates into non-stop on the go starting mid-February until July. I am going to be super busy this year because all three of the boys will be playing league baseball so because I do not want to be the mad mom trying to find everything, I better start getting organized NOW.

I have found a couple of websites to help me do this, Holiday Sparkles: 21 Day Organization Challenge and  Finely Ground:One-A-Day Challenge: Spring Cleaning. Of course I am just going to borrow their ideas and adjust it to my house. 

My weekly cleaning schedule is really Monday through Friday but I'm trying to change that some. I changed the challenges to match the rooms I will be in and my upcoming schedule.

•  Monday - Kitchen
• Tuesday - Living Room
• Wednesday - Bathrooms
• Thursday - Bedrooms
• Friday - Computer Room
• Saturday - Ball games or outside work
• Sunday - Relax

My 21 Day Organization Challenge is:

1. Her's was Medicine Cabinet so since I do not have one, I really thought about skipping day one but I better not. All my medicine is on top of my frig, so that's where I'll start.
2. Coat Closets
3. Linen Closet
4. Under Beds
5. Hand Bag/Camera Bag
6. Fridge/Freezer
7. Living Room
8. Her's was Make Up Case but I have make up drawers!
9. Bedroom Dressers
10. Jewelry Box
11. Kitchen Cabinet
12. Craft Supplies
13. Under Sinks
14. Bedroom Closets
15. Laundry Room
16. Her's was playroom/den but we have a Computer Room
17. Car
18. Garage
19. Backyard
20. Her's said Attic/Basement but there's no way you're getting me up there so I'll have to figure out something for here. I'm sure I've missed something.
21. Revisit all your hard work and enjoy!

Here is the Spring Clean Challenge but I will have to adjust mine later.

1. Dust light fixtures and ceiling fans--microfiber dampened with vinegar is good.
2. Sweep cobwebs in corners and along the ceiling.
3. Dust all horizontal surfaces—tops of doors, picture frames, shelves, baseboards, counters...
4. Magic Eraser or spot-clean the walls.
5. Wipe down circulating fans, wall, and floor vents with a cloth dampened with vinegar.
6. Get a new  vacuum filter (seriously, when's the last time you did it?)
7. Take everything off the bed and launder, including things you might wash less often like comforters or bedskirts.
8. Sprinkle the mattress with baking soda and let sit for at least an hour, then vacuum it all up with the brush attachment. You can do this while your bedclothes are in the wash to save steps!
9. Vacuum all upholstered furniture and vacuum or launder curtains.
10. Take rugs and mats outside and beat with a broom handle.
11. Vacuum the floor REALLY thoroughly before you put the rugs back down.
12. Spot-clean the carpet.
13. Give the kitchen a deep clean, especially the parts you usually skip (drip-pans, anyone?)
14. Check expiration dates in your fridge, pantry, and medicine cabinet, and bring things to the front—or to the garbage!—accordingly.
15. Give the bathroom(s) a deep clean, especially the parts you usually skip. Here's an easy, green method for the shower!
16. Go through your make-up and throw out anything that smells funny or you never use.
17. Wash windows inside and out. A mix of water and vinegar with a microfiber cloth work great!
18. Scrub out all window tracks with soapy water and an old toothbrush.
19. Go through your wardrobe and if there's things you never wear or have worn out either donate them or put them in a rag-bag (for craft projects!)
20. Bring summer clothes to the front and hide winter clothes in the back.
21. If you have a wool coat, bring it to the dry-cleaner's—I know, not cheap, but it's only once a year!
22. Treat any dingy whites to a soak in vinegar or borax. Might be a good time to do the dishcloths, too!
23. Polish and condition wood—anybody know a good green way to do this and nix the orange-glo?

Your welcome to follow me each day to see how it goes and give your suggestions and thoughts. Cleaning is never fun so I will probably need all the support I can get.

So without further ado...let's get cleaning and organizing!