Feb. 11, 2008-Menu Plan Monday

Here's my Menu Plan for this week including Valentines Day!  

Monday - Stir Fry with snap peas, sweet red pepper, mushroom, onions and flank steak served over brown rice.   I'll "kick it up a notch" with some chili garlic sauce!

Tuesday - Chicken Strips and Mac 'n' cheese (This is an easy dinner that my 14 yr. old can make - hubby and I are going out!)

Wednesday - Pot Roast with potatoes & gravy, carrots.  For delicious pot roast  use "beef round rump roast" and cook it in a covered pot on top of the stove (as the recipe name suggests!) - skip the crock pot, it's just not as good!

Thursday - Our Valentine Meal with the family will include:

Easy Lasagna (recipe below),

mixed green salad,

heart-shaped foccacia,

strawberries & whipped cream,

sparkly pink ginger ale served in tall glasses.

Friday - Turkey Soup & biscuits (Friday's are super busy as we are gone all day so I'm pulling this out of the freezer,  my wonderful friend gave me some last week! :D)

Saturday - Cheeseburgers & fry's,  plus Saturday is always Ice Cream Night!

Here's the Easy Lasagna recipe:

16 oz. package of Wide Egg Noodles - boiled

1 lb. ground beef (or mix 1/2 beef and 1/2 italian sausage)

large jar of spaghetti sauce

16 oz. cottage cheese

16 oz. sour cream

8 oz. shredded mozzerella

Brown & drain beef.   Mix noodles, cottage cheese, sour cream & beef.  Spread a layer of sauce in a 9x13 pan, spread a layer of beef mixture, then more sauce & some shredded mozzerella, rest of beef mixture, more sauce and top off with remainder shredded mozzerella.

Cover with foil and back at 350 F until heated through, (maybe 40 minutes- you know your oven!) and then uncover and finish baking about 10 minutes more or until cheese is melted and lasagne is bubbly.

To see many more great menu plans visit  I'm An Organizing Junkie.

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Oct. 27, 2007-Cutting Grocery Costs

I'm always looking for new ideas on ways to save money on groceries.  Sometimes I think I've just about heard everything and tried them all.  Today I'm here to share a way to cut your grocery costs that I don't recall anyone ever mentioning.....

CHECK YOUR RECEIPT!

Maybe it's just the grocery store that I normal shop at but I would dare say that they make at least one mistake WEEKLY!   Of course,  it's generally not the poor clerks fault,  it those crazy cash registers with all the codes etc.,  someone is imputing these codes and error's are made and they typically do not benefit the consumer!    Often I will catch the error while they are checking out the groceries because I am watching the digital read out and making sure things are coming up on sale or the correct price.  I also watch them type in the produce codes because many of the checkers don't know their fruits and veggies and will type in the wrong code!  You especially have to watch if your purchasing a clearance item or other special sales because so very often the prices do not ring in at a discounted price!!

I think I had the mother of all error's happen to me today... 

I rushed into the store to buy a handful of items (which turned out to be small cart full, of course!) and was so surprised at check-out to hear my total was over $100.00 .   "What??  $100.00 for this?", I'm thinking.    I started feeling guilty about the organic wheat crackers and white Vermont cheddar I purchased "just because I like them".   But as we (had 2 boys with me) strolled away I decided to stop and re-check the receipt. 

My eyes are scanning down the list,  reading over the price of each item .... "yep, that's right", "yep, OK", etc.... until I hit the end of the list.  There at the very bottom,  the very last thing entered in my list of groceries was a Relish Tray for 49.29!   Relish tray? What is a relish tray?    I searched my cart for the mysterious relish tray that I thought was put in my cart by mistake or something.... no where to found. 

I'm happy to say that the front-end manager was very sorry about the error and refunded me right away but still.... this proves my point... you must check your receipts!   and leave me a comment telling me how much save next week!  

I'm adding this to my list of blessings ...
Thank you, Lord, for helping me to quickly find this error and allowing us to keep the $50.00.   Thank you, too, for letting me find the mistake while I was still at the store and did not have to drive back.!

And here is a copy of the receipt....

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Oct. 22, 2007-Here's What's Cook'n

Is anyone out there watching "Just Cook This" on Discovery Health?  We're getting a kick out of Sam, the Cooking Guy!    Last week we made his Mushroom/Spinach Pizza (no goat cheese)  and I'm trying one of his dishes this week too...

Monday - Sloppy 'Janes',  made with ground chicken;  steamed broccoli

Tuesday - Pot Roast with mashed potatoes, gravy and roasted carrots

Wednesday - Spicy Sausage and Pasta (recipe from Sam the Cooking Guy)

Thursday - Chicken & Rice, steamed french green beans

Friday - Chili Supper at Friends Home! 

Saturday - Chicken Wings done up spicy with mac n' cheese on the side (we didn't have these the last time)

 You can see over 175 other menu plans this week at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

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Oct. 15, 2007-Menu Plan Monday

Need menu ideas?   View many more great weekly menu's here.

Monday - Grilled burgers w/ chipotle cheese & onion rings,  with a side of steamed asparagus

Tuesday - Spaghetti Carbonara and tossed green salad.    (I add some sauteed garlic and fresh ground pepper to the recipe)

Wednesday - Taco's!  Hard or soft taco's filled with beef and beans.  Guacamole & all the toppings too

Thursday - Chicken wings,  mac n' cheese and broccoli

Friday - Pizza and a movie night

Saturday - Belgian Waffles for breakfast and I'm still thinking about what we'll do for dinner! 

Happy Cooking!

"Taste and see that the LORD is good,  blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."  Psalm 34:8

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Oct. 8, 2007-Menu Plan Monday!

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Apr. 22, 2007-Sunny Spring Weekend

It's just lovely here in New York this weekend.  Really gorgeous!   After complaining about all the cold and snow on Monday, here it is practically summer! 

I stopped into the Garden Store Saturday to buy mulch, top-soil and more birdseed.  It was packed!  ( Looks like I'm not the only one with Spring clean-up on my mind.)  I spent some time admiring their pretty annuals – tempting, but too soon for me to be planting up my outdoor pots.  I’ll give it about 2 more weeks.  We will also put in a small vegetable garden in mid-May.

We did get some yardwork done.  (I say “we” but it’s more like “he”, my hubby).  I’ve got some Hosta’s that need to be divided so I dug up some of the grass to make an area for transplanting the new ones.  I have a terrible time with anything growing in the front yard because our home faces North and it gets so much shade.  It also could have something to do with my "brown" thumb.  LOL.

This morning we were at church.  My 2 yr. old was cranky so I ended up spending most of the morning in the Nursery,  he didn't want to be left in there.  3 of my neices and a nephew came home with us after church.  My sis (in-law) is helping out today with a funeral service at the church so we get to have the kids. We had spagetti and tossed salad for lunch.  Do you know what?  I fix spagetti almost every Sunday after church.  It's simple to fix (jar sauce) and I always know what we are going to have when we get home and we're "starving"! One less meal I need to plan because I always keep the ingredients on hand.   After lunch, we have spent the majority of the day playing and biking.  I made them some kool-aid slushies but the little ones wanted to come in and that's why I've got a minute to post here!   I did have to wash some dirty little feet in the tub first!   We'll go back to the evening service at 6:00PM.

I hope your enjoying your weekend!

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Mar. 20, 2007-Making Laundry Soap

In a past issue of The OldSchoolhouse Mag.  they had an article about making your own liquid laundry detergent.  It involved mixing washing soda with hot water, etc..    Looks interesting but maybe a little too involved for me.   I was really happy to read MamaDuke's post about making powdered laundry detergent and I decided to give that a try. 

You only need 3 simple items which I found at my local supermarket (TOPS).  View pictures of these items at Soaps Gone Buy.

1 box 20 Mule Team Borax
1 box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 bar Fels Naptha Soap

To make the detergent I took 1 cup EACH of borax and washing soda and mixed with 1 bar ofgrated soap.   You use 2 to 3 TBLs.  per load (depending on your load size).  I got the bigger boys involved by breaking the bar of Fels Naptha apart and giving them each a grater.  It took just 10 - 15 minutes to get the job done.


(finished laundry detergent)

HERE ARE MY RESULTS:

I have been really pleased with the way this home made laundry detergent is washing our clothes!
It smells very fresh but doesn't leave a scent on the clothes.  They are also very soft and require no fabric softener!  It dissolves completely - even in cold water.   I haven't tried it with anything too tricky like grass stains or mud but I plan too. 

I tried to come up with a good estimate of what it costs me to use it.   I never buy regular powdered detergent because it seemed to clump up some times in the wash.   Buying a 100 fl. oz. bottle of liquid laundry detergent would average $2.99.  That's 26 loads (according to the bottle) or .12 per load.

20 Mule Team Borax is $3.50/box for a 76 oz. box.    (9 cups total or .39cents/batch.)
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is $2.50/box for a 55 oz. box   (7 cups total or .35cents/batch)
1 bar of Fels Naptha Soap is $1.09  - you need a whole bar

That's comes out to be about $1.83 per batch and I'm thinking I will get roughly 20 loads per batch so it would cost me .09 cents per load.   Not a huge savings but it's very easy to mix this up and if I find the ingredients on sale it would be even less expensive.  If you omit fabric softener you would save even more $.  (FYI, if my memory is correct, making the liquid detergent was only about .05 cents per load)

 For everyday washing its great.


"But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags..."  Isaiah 64:6

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Mar. 2, 2007-Tackling Laundry

                                                     

If you (or your laundry helper) hasn't remembered to dry your load of laundry by lunch, then this is the time to do it.  Set a timer for yourself at first but later this will also become routine.  Perhaps you have another "trigger" you can use to remember to do this task such as baby's naptime, or clean up time, etc....  If you dry your clothes on the line -- more power to you! 

4.  Remove that load as soon as it's done.

When the dryer goes off, make every effort to take that load out (remember its the only one you have to do today!) and fold it before it gets all wrinkly.  Try and give this job to an older child.  Have them bring the laundry to wear you want it folded.  I don't know why but we always fold laundry in our family room.  I guess so we can have a comfortable seat and continue on with the day while it's being folded.  I can still give someone math help or watch the toddler or just keep an eye on things while completing this job. 

5.  When the load is folded you place it in the basket and you, or your helper, deliver it to its appropriate spot. 

OK.  realistically, the clothes are not always put away immediately after they are folded.  Sometimes the basket gets placed at the foot of the stairs and the next time I (or a big kid) goes up it gets "delivered".   Any child capable of taking care of his/her own clothes gets a clean pile on their bed to be put away.  The toddler's clothes get set on top of the dresser so that if he is playing in his room before I get a chance to put his clothes away he doesn't unfold all his clean clothes.

THERE!  Now the basket is empty!  and that feels good. 

HERE's THE SECOND SECRET!!!

6.  Enlist help!

Age 2 and up can put their own clothes in the hamper.  Age 3 and up can help put clothes from the washer to the dryer and (especially for this age) be a Laundry Deliverer.  This person takes clean and folded clothes from the basket and places on the owner's bed.  Age 4 and up can fold washcloths & small towels.  Age 5 - 7 can fold big towels nicely and sort socks.  They can also take their clean clothes and put them in their own drawers.  Age 8 and up can remove laundry from washer and put in dryer alone (might need a step stool and maybe a younger sibling to hand the wet clothes too) and be taught to set the dryer appropriately.  Age 10 and up can start loads of laundry independantly (remember, it's already pre-sorted!) or get the dry laundry out and start folding.  Any teen can take care of this whole process if needed.

Training a child to do a few of these steps might take a while at first but it will pay off for you in long run.

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