On the Menu

I’m sure I have mentioned this stuff before. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!  Seriously we would eat it all the time if I wasn’t afraid of losing my LOVE for it. We put it on our pizza, in our pasta dishes and anywhere else we think could use a little extra zest. We mostly just use it as our sauce for our Friday night pizza. Pictured below.

We make our own whole wheat pizza crust but any crust will do. Bake crust in oven as directed, or for at least 12-15 minutes.

2 cups chicken, 1/2 jar of tomato pesto sauce, sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, garlic, (our children insist on pepperoni, so I just add it to their side)

You can add any toppings of your choice, but we have found that we love this simple recipe.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until all the cheese is melted.

You can see lots of other yummy treats and eats at Blessed with Grace  and Good Cheap Eats

Revamping the menu planning

I have been quite terrible this past few weeks with grocery shopping and menu planning. We have been going to the grocery store and just buying things we think we might use or need for the next week. This has led to multiple trips to the store for forgotten or needed items, and as a few of you know, shopping isn’t really my favorite thing.

Realizing this wasn’t working for us, I spent some time (two evenings, to be exact) and came up with a menu plan for the entire month. Along with the plan I wrote out a grocery list for every item I would need for all those meals. Then… I went shopping! I spent $156.00 on groceries for 4 weeks, although I still need to return for the store for ground beef. Without the ground beef, we are averaging around $39.00 a week. I expect this number to go up some after purchasing the meat and having to return to the store for fresh produce a couple of times.

I don’t know how this will work for us in actuality but I am going to give it a month and then reevaluate. 

You can check out the menu and the grocery list here and here.

Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups

These Spinach Lasanga Roll Ups are one of our families favorite dishes to make. They are flavorful and filling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Pkg (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry  (sometimes I use 3 cups fresh spinach)

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 cup cottage cheese ( I will sometimes use 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1/2 cup ricotta)

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

1 egg lightly beaten

6 lasagna noodles

2 cans (15 oz each) seasoned tomato sauce for lasagna- you can also use a jar of spaghetti sauce

1 lb ground beef or turkey

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

 

Brown beef/turkey  with garlic and Italian seasoning, drain beef

In a bowl, combine spinach, mozzarella, cottage cheese, 1/2 cup parmesan and egg.  Add ground beef Spread a heaping 1/3 over each noodle

Roll up; secure with toothpicks and place seam side down in a baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Pour the tomato or spaghetti sauce over the roll-ups. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 33-38 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Discard the toothpicks.

Note: This recipe was adapted from the 2008 Quick cooking cookbook. I don’t usually refrigerate overnight, I do however usually prepare dinner in the early afternoon and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. I also added the ground beef and seasonings.  My husband insist upon meat with his meals 🙂

Stuffed Shells

 

This is another one of our families favorite dishes. I believe I originally found this dish on Tammy’s Recipes. We have changed it up a bit, but even without our changes it’s a great recipe

20 Large Shells

Meat filling:

1lb hamburger or turkey

basil, oregano, minced garlic, salt and pepper- To taste

Inside Filling:

1 cup cheddar cheese

 1/2 cup mozarella

 1/2 cup pizza sauce

2 cups cottage Cheese

2 Tbs onion

oregano and basil to taste

1/4 cup sundried tomato basil pesto

On Top:

2 cups Pizza sauce

3 cups Mozarella

oregano to taste

Cook Meat filling add inside filling. Cook noodles as directed. Stuff shells with filling, place in greased baking dish. Top with 2 cups pizza sauce (about 1-1/2 Tbs) on each shell. Sprinkle with 2 cups Mozarella and oregano to taste. Bake at 350 for 25-35 min

Note: We added the pesto to this and it just made a great dish, amazing. We often add frozen or fresh spinach as well. Anytime I can add veggies to a meal I do. I will also sometimes add ricotta if we have it on hand.

You can find other great Tempt your Tummy recipes at Blessed with Grace

How to Grocery Shop

Over the years our grocery shopping budget has fluctuated from $130 a week to $40.00 a week. This due to us going from two jobs to just one and me learning how to menu plan and work the store sales. Right now we average about $80.00 a week. For some this is high and others too low. But this seems to get us what we need. When we were on a budget half that, I would often get asked how we are able to survive on so little. It wasn’t always easy and there are lots of different methods but here is how I did it and still do today.

We have a family notebook/binder that I keep all relevant day to day living things in, one of the sections is our favorite recipes. I usually browse through those and write down the different meals that I want to make for the week. I then have a section of the binder where I have created a sheet that lists the ingredients by recipe. I did this so that I would have a quick go to place when I need a list of ingredients, I add these to my grocery list. Of course If I’m trying something new, I just add the ingredients to my list.

I then go through the store ads for the week, Sometimes I start here and decide whats on sale and then I choose the recipes. As I look over the ads I circle anything that is on sale from my list or if there is something we need I circle it and add it to my grocery list. I do this because if I am price matching at Walmart I don’t want to be standing in line searching through my ads for what I need, and because sometimes grocery stores don’t have their sales labeled on the shelves. If there is something I’m price matching I place a small (pm) next to that item on my list so that I remember to tell the cashier.

I then go through my coupons –  I use a coupon binder- but there are many ways to organize and keep up with coupons. I look to see if I have any coupons for the items that I need, If I do, I take them out and  place them on a small clipboard that I take to the store with me and I add a small (c) for coupon, next to that item on my grocery list so that I don’t forget that I have a coupon for that item when I’m checking  out.

Lastly, I organize my grocery list by the layout of the store. I know when I walk into Walmart I head to the back first and that is where they keep dairy, so Dairy is first on my list with all of the items that I need from that category, and so on. This is something I have recently started doing after being frustrated with getting all the way through my trip only to find out I forgot something that was 7 aisles back. It has been a huge time saver for me.

I always take to the stores my sales ads, my coupon binder, my mini clipboard with my grocery list and coupons attached and a pen. I don’t know if I look crazy or not… I probably do, but I figure the savings are worth it!

I do mentally add up my groceries as I go along, usually just rounding up or down so that I can keep up with how much I’m spending.  I used to use a calculator but it was slowing me down and somewhere along the trip, my not so fancy calculator would lose power and lose data, this works for me.

If you are the “wing it” type then I’m sure this will seem like way too much work. I started doing this in stages and have gradually incorporated things, but when money is tight, priorities change and you do what you have to do. I also look at it as being good stewards of what God has given us.

Note: Sometimes I shop for just the things on sale at particular grocery stores, I get great deals when I do this but my system is a little different. I’ll share that in another post.

Best Enchiladas Ever

These really are some of the Best Enchiladas I have eaten. They take some time to prepare but so worth it!

cook Chicken breast and shred

chop onion  into small pieces

The recipe doesn’t call for cilantro, but we love cilantro!

3/4 cup of salsa, this is Walmart Brand, but you could use any kind

Heat up the tortillas until they are nice and brown and a little bubbly. This makes a big difference in the taste of the tortilla.

Wish I was having them right now 🙂

 

4 chicken Breasts

16-20 Tortillas

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

¾ cup salsa

¼ cup butter

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 8 oz container sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheee

Cook Chicken Mixture First, Cut chicken and onion into small pieces. Cook chicken, onion and garlic in butter. When almost done add in Salsa. ½ tsp of cumin, salt and pepper and cook for 5 min. This is also where I add the cilantro

Next Start the Enchilada process

In another Pan add some drips of olive oil. dip the tortillas one at a time until they bubble. Put the tortilla in a 9×13 pan. Put 2-3 Spoonfuls of the chicken mixture in and add cheese to each one. Roll seam side down. After you have done all the Enchiladas you will make the sauce.

Sour Cream Sauce

Mix the cream of chicken and sour cream as well as the cumin into a small pan. heat to boiling. Pour sauce over the Enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese and paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min.

Thank you to my friend Carrie for sharing this great recipe!

You can find other great Tempt your Tummy Recipes at Blessed with Grace

Frugal Friday

I haven’t done a frugal friday  post in a while, so I thought I would throw one in today.  My tip is on menu planning. I have a house hold notebook that among other things I have a section entitled meals. I sat down one night and wrote a list of all the dinner meals we enjoy as a family, along with a list of all the ingredients in each meal. I plan to do this with breakfast and lunch but haven’t gotten around to it yet. This has been very helpful because I can easily go to this list to plan my meals for the week, I can see right away the ingredients I need,  check to see if I already have them on hand, look to see if any of them are on sale and then I plan accordingly. This has saved me time and money, because I’m not just shopping on a whim and I’m less likely to forget something and have to go back.

Menu Planning Monday

Ok, this title is kind of a joke for this week, because I haven’t even thought about what we are going to make for meals this week, nor do I really plan to. I’m hoping to just wing it. A group of us women from our Sunday School decided that we would do some bulk cooking together this weekend so we all got together on Saturday and spent about 4 hours cooking 8 different meals. It was a lot of fun, well actually more work than fun, but at least I have some dinners set aside for weeks like this one where I don’t feel like planning or cooking. Tonight we ate one of them. Mexi Chicken, it was really good.

I did manage to get some pretty good deals at Kroger tonight, I stocked up on salad dressing, Jam, and got 6 bags of cheese, which we go through pretty quickly around here. I also got some good deals on a few other things we don’t usually buy but they were so cheap I couldn’t resist. With coupons I spent $16.00 and  saved $23.00

Menu Planning Monday

Ok this week, we went WAY over the grocery budget. I’m pretty sure it’s because Steven and the children shopped with me, and when I shop with Steven I always go over the budget!!! I’ll just have to make up for it the rest of the month. Ok as for the Menu for the week here goes:

Monday: Chicken Parmesan, french bread, salad

Tuesday: Spaghetti, french bread, salad

Wednesday: Vegetable beef soup, rolls

Thursday: Chicken with gravy over egg noodles, salad

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Leftovers

I always try to plan some pasta meal and some kind of soup every week because they are quick and cheap.