February Meal Plan

I skipped couponing this week at my normal drug stores.  Nothing really struck me to make the trip there.  I did my big first-of-the-month shopping yesterday since Wednesdays are my normal shopping day and Friday begins February.

I made a February menu plan after flipping through a few cookbooks and thinking of things we hadn't had in a while, plus using what we had in the freezer.  This is not complete (again) but will get us going.

1.  Cuban Black Bean Soup
2.  Hariyali Chicken (this has become our favorite at the Indian restaurant and I am going to try the recipe I found on allrecipes.com)
3.  Salmon Teriyaki
4.  Chicken/Sausage Kabobs
5.  Chickpea Salad
6.  Mediterranean Chopped Salad
7.  Peking Chicken
8.  Omelets
9.  Fish In Packets
10.  Spicy Pork Saute
11.  Fajitas
12.  Ravioli
13.  French Dip Sandwiches
14.  Pot Roast
15.  Homemade Pizza
16.  French Toast & Sausage/Bacon
17.  Chicken & Rice Soup

I can't wait to show you my "new" basement.  It makes me very happy!

Family Christmas Gifts

Every year, as our extended families grows and changes, Christmas gift exchange can change also.  In the past, we have tried just about everything.  We have all drawn names.  We have excluded adults and only allowed the cousins to draw names and exchange gifts.  Once we gave $5 gifts to everyone.  One year we gave only stocking stuffers.  Last year when we were all together for Thanksgiving, we had the kids swap gifts and the adults did a White Elephant gift exchange.  (BTW, I still haven't gotten to use my snow ball throwers I won since we haven't had a good snow in almost 2 years.)

This year we were not going to be together.  I proposed we each have a theme, and we exchange family gifts according to our theme.  The money amount was $30-40 for each gift basket and there are 4 siblings.  Each sibling makes 3 identical gifts to give to each other.

My theme was Movie Night and gave them boxes of microwave popcorn, theater candy and 2-3 movies (some I got second hand and some were kid movies).  I bought large Christmas tins to pack them in.

My big sis had Game Night, since her family is the game fanatics.  I didn't photograph our gift from her because it gets used every other day around here.  She got us Apples to Apples, Headbands and 2 decks of cards with Elvis on it (to commemorate our Memphis roots).

My brother (actually his wife) got the Payne Family Sunday Night Supper.  Growing up, our Sunday nights were Mom's night off to cook.  She usually just did finger foods buffet-style, but when we went to my Payne grandparents, Sunday night was ice cream and popcorn for supper.  My favorite!  The ice cream was usually homemade coffee or mint chocolate chip.  My SIL got stuff to make sundaes with all kinds of toppings, plus microwave popcorn, a Kroger gift card to buy the ice cream and a really cute reuseable bag.

My little sis got S'mores Night.  She did graham crackers, chocolate bars, marshmallows, Reese's (which she says make super yummy smores instead of just plain chocolate!), glow sticks, a blanket and outdoor fire pit skewers in a cute, reuseable grocery bag.

I think all of us loved having our family themed gifts this year and would like to do something similar next year.  We just need to come up with 4 more themes.  It was lots of fun.  Any theme ideas for us?

Clean Shower

This past week I tried one of Pinterest pins on "For the Home."  It said that this homemade cleaner was a great way to clean soap scum off of the shower.  We have a glass walled shower and it easily gets covered with soap scum when I haven't faithfully cleaned it each week.  I tried the pin and it worked great.  It's a one to one ratio of vinegar (heated) with Dawn dish soap.  It did suds up quite a bit, but after rinsing well, it worked wonders on my glass shower.  I'm hoping it will have a super effect on the whirlpool tub too.  Anyone else have a great Pinterest pin try?

Back to Saving

Kroger had some great deals this week. The store I went to was remodeling and had some great clearance items. I bought lots of Kellogg's cereal for under $2 a box.

I spent $68.65. I saved $88.67. Of that savings $38 was in coupons and $50.67 was in Kroger savings.

9 boxes of Barilla pasta
2 Colgate toothpaste
6 Dial hand soap
5 Post cereal
6 cans of Pringles
9 bags of Ricola cough drops
10 boxes of Kleenex
10 boxes of Hefty storage bags
4 bags of conversation hearts (for school)
5 Pure Protein bars
1 large Ivory liquid soap (clearance)
12 Kelloggs cereal (clearance)

It was a good shopping day.

Walgreens Run

Spent $11.01. Got $4.50 in Register Rewards. Saved $9.62.

Great Goals for 2013

Still playing catch up so bare with me, but loved this post I read this morning.

I think we can all benefit from it as we make our goals for 2013.

I'll be back soon.

eMeals Blog - 13 Ways for your Family to Eat Healthy in 2013

January Meal Plan

We are just now feeling normal after our jetlag is tampering off from our 10 day trip to Turkey to see family.

The Christmas decorations got put up yesterday and school starts back after the weekend.

It was a wonderful time and I'm trying to get caught up on my homemaking duties before hitting the normal school routine on Monday.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's holiday.  We sure did.

Thank goodness I used my Pinterest recipes and doubled freezer meals before leaving, because that is what we have been living on since coming back home.  One pin had 3 recipes:  Goulash, Healthy BBQ Chicken and Chicken Curry.  In my 17 years of marriage, I have never purchased fresh beets.  Also in 17 years of marriage, I have never cooked a meal that 100% of our family members said was gross.  That has all changed.  DON'T TRY THE GOULASH!  One Fish Stick said it looked like bloody stew.  It did and the taste wasn't much better.  The good thing is that the dogs liked it so maybe it wasn't all a waste.  We ate the BBQ Chicken last night and since it had sweet potatoes and zucchini in it, I decided to put it (minus the chicken) in the food processor before serving.  Most all Fish Sticks (plus a friend staying over) enjoyed it and had no clue what good veggies it contained.  My Man said it wasn't his favorite though. 

For this month, being a new year and all, My Man and I are attempting to lose the pounds that we put on over the holidays plus a few so nutrition and less is going to be key for us.  I plan on using the frozen meals in the freezer and making lots of salads and soups.  Here's what it looks like for us taking into account leftover night and a few breakfast suppers:

1.  Goulash (already choked down)
2.  BBQ Chicken (last night)
3.  Chicken Curry
4.  Sesame Ginger Chicken
5.  Pineapple BBQ Pork
6.  Crock Pot Ravioli
7.  Beef Taco Soup
8.  Lemon Garlic Chicken
9.  Baked Tilapia
10.  Salmon Patties
11.  Grilled Chicken Salaad
12.  Chef Salad
13.  Basic Stew
14.  Cheddar Ham Chowder
15.  Chicken Rice Soup
16.  Chili
17.  Lentil Soup
18.  Split Pea Soup
19.  Creamed Cabbage Soup
20.  Vegetable Soup

Hope to check back in more often than I have lately, but trying to catch up on our Turkey adventures on the family blog so bare with me.  Can't wait to show you our Christmas gift exchange idea we did this year that was a big hit.  Also, I just knitted a super cute cowl for less than $5 in just a few hours that I want to show you how to do.  My couponing was totally put on the back burner since Thanksgiving so hopefully I can get those filed and start saving again.  Last I have an idea of a family ministry that we all can do together easily.  Stay tuned and happy weekend!