Menu Plan Monday

This week's meal plan is a pretty easy one seeing how I'm buried under tax returns at the moment.

Saturday: BBQ Ribs, Potato Salad, Rolls

Sunday: Out to Dinner (I had fish and George had the brunch buffet)

Monday: Leftover BBQ Ribs and Potato Salad, Cornbread

Tuesday: Deluxe Turkey Sandwiches on Homemade Bread, 3 bean salad

Wednesday: Grilled Cheese (with the good bread!) and tomato soup

Thursday: Eggs, Bacon and Toast

Friday: Hawaiian Pizza

This week's food plan:

Last week I made a pan of dill cottage cheese casserole bread and it was so good I wanted to eat all of it! It made the most delicious grilled ham and cheeses sandwiches you can imagine. So, the plan this week is to try and make this bread in regular loaf pans instead of the big round casserole dish to get nice sized slices for sandwiches.

Most of the time spent in making homemade bread is the rising time; I usually do something else while the bread is rising. Since tonight's supper is just a quick reheating of leftovers so I'll make the bread tonight.

At the grocery store this week: 

No really good deals to be had. Our normal grocery budget is $50, but I spent $74 this week. I do that from time to time when I stock up on meat, but this time there was no stocking up going on what-so-ever. I did buy quite a bit of produce, butter and a few baking products we were running low on.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Shepherd's Pie, Pickled Beets and Cornbread

Tuesday: Chicken Fajita Burritos with all the fixin's

Wednesday: Salmon Patties, Asparagus, Roasted Potato Wedges

Thursday: Chicken 'n Dumplings with mashed potatoes, garden salad

Friday: Pizza Night

This week our store had a great bargain on strawberries, $1 per pound. I picked up three pounds. Gave one to my mother and will use the other two for strawberry short cake this week. The berries are smelling up the house with their sweet syrupy smell -- they must be good ones!

The Year of Organization: The Linen Closet 30 Minutes!

This week's organizing project was the bathroom linen closet. The linen closet is something I need to stay on top of by regularly re-organizing it. If I have to reorganize something often does it mean the space isn't set up right for my needs, I've got too much stuff, or I'm a slob?  In this case it feels like a little of all three.

My preference for linen closets is that they be wide and not too deep. In old houses linen closets tend to be an after thought, much like the bathroom itself. And, they tend to be narrow and deep -- not your easiest storage solution. Over a hundred years ago when our home was built there was no bathroom, let alone a linen closet. Most folks didn't have a stash of rugs, towels and personal care items to store away.

We use this space is for storing our towels, bath rugs and the bulk of our personal care items. The things that we use most often -- the towels and personal care products are within easy reach. The very top shelf is for the things that I nearly have to kill myself trying to reach like the back up bathroom rugs. Which have been stored for so long the rubber backing has disintegrated.

What's Not Working For Me

Each time I reorganize the linen closet I find myself sorting out the lotions, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner and shaving gel into neat little rows with the partially used containers in front so they will actually get used up. The only problem is after a few days I find myself grabbing for one of other conditioners or hair styling products at the back of the row and then not putting it back. After a few weeks the front row is one big mish mash of products and I can't find a thing. Any suggestions?

If You Don't Use It - Lose It!

We had a similar situation with the bath towels but I think it will be better going forward. In the photo above you see one row of towels; there is one more row behind those. Before organizing things, we had three rows of towels and we were always messing up the piles to get to the towels we liked best -- so with in two weeks we had another jumbled up mess. Prior organizing efforts were simpling straightening up the piles but we kept messing them up. This time around I eliminated all of the towels we don't like.

It nearly killed me to get rid of a stack of big white fluffy towels. It feels so wasteful!We've given them a fair chance several times and they just won't absorb water. We've tried all the tricks but they just won't absorb water.  How yucky it is to dry off on a non-absorbent towel -- you just keep pushing the water around.  I said "get rid of". By that I mean they are sitting in a big stack on top of the washer because I'm just not sure what to do with them. I feel so guilty getting rid of them because the look so nice and new. Should I make them into rags for my husband? Perhaps not because only absorbent material works well for his rags. Donate them? Try to sell them on Craig's List -- I feel thinking of pushing these off on anyone but somebody out there might have a good use for them.

For more organizing ideas and inspiration, visit Org Junkie's 52 Weeks of Organization.

Groceries -- Budget, Brand Names, Stocking Up

I try to stick to a $50 per week grocery budget (there are 2 of us). This amount provides enough of a challenge but not so much that it's stressful to shop. Often I find that one week I'll spend upwards of $60 or more and the next week only $30 or $40. This week it came out pretty close to $50.

*Please note our $50 grocery budget is for food. Things like toilet paper, kleenex, trash bags, and personal care items fall under different budget categories for us.

Generally I start out looking at the weekly ad for Meijer. Meijer is the store I shop most often. Every couple of months I'll go to Aldi and Walmart to stock up on some things. For quite awhile I did Kroger and Meijer each week, but I prefer the convenience of only one store, plus I found I was buying too many things that looked good but weren't on the list at Kroger.

How I Plan What to Buy

First I note any really good deals that I want to take advantage of -- including any non-food items. Then I look at the list of items we are out of on the fridge door and check out all of the hot coupons I want to use right away -- generally, these are coupons that will expire soon or are for free items. I also look at menu ideas from last week's list. We usually have enough staple items on hand to make 3-4 weeks of meals. So I'll choose meals that I need to buy only 1 or 2 ingredients for, hopefully those ingredients are on sale -- even if they aren't I will still probably pick them up. I also try to buy anything my husband requests -- like his favorite Chex cereal or the items to prepare a meal he wants. This week brats were the only thing he wanted. If I have a real craving for something, I'll add that in as well which is why you see Totino's frozen pizzas on here. I also add in anything I want to pick up in the next week or two -- this time around it was trash bags.


banana .16
2 avocados 1.00 (markdown)
3 tomatoes 1.18 (markdown)
4 cokes .40 (free + deposit)
green pepper .82
Hellman's mayo 2.24 (.75 coupon)
2 pkgs chi chi's tortillas 1.58 total (used 2 $1 coupons)
cheese 1.88
bread 1.89
gallon milk 2.29
frozen fish 2.99
brats 2.00
ice cream 2.50
brussel sprouts (free, on sale + used coupons)
ketchup 1.00
3 frozen Totino's pizzas 2.00 total (used.75 coupon)
cole slaw 1.00
Kashi cereal .18 (used $3 off coupon)
take and bake pizza 6.98
3 pkgs gum $6
3/4 lb ham 3.56
1 lb butter 2.98
sour cream 1.34
cottage cheese (free, used coupon)
creamer 1.82
eggs 1.64

Grand total: $51.43

We Don't Cheap Out on Everything

In this day and age of blogosphere comparison it's easy to feel pressured to get our grocery budget down to impossibly low levels so we can feel as economical as sister so and so. Sure we could eat for less, probably a lot less, but we don't because we like some brand names and we like some treats now and then. Right now, this budget works pretty well for us. If groceries go a lot higher in the next few months we will probably raise the budget to $60 per week.

This week's list started out at about $75, but it wasn't stuff we really needed so I started paring it down and ended up with what you see above. It seems like a real hodge podge of stuff, but it's mostly items that work well with what we already have on hand or they are stock up items like the tortillas. We have enough of those now for 5 meals, so I likely won't buy anymore for another month or so.

Name Brands 

I went with a cheaper bread than planned and a tried a new cheaper brand of sour cream. The bread turned out to be a winner but the sour cream was thin and runny. I'm sticking with my Daisy sour cream from now on. It's the only light version of sour cream that is so close to the thick, rich full fat sour cream that it's hard to tell the difference. A lady at work turned me on to Hellman's full fat mayo --I think this is known as Best Foods west of the Rockies. I've previously been a light Miracle Whip gal and low fat Kraft Mayo. To be real honest the appearance of any kind of mayo or sandwich spread creeps me out. It just looks so gross! But I do like the taste of a thin smear of it -- so I try not to look at it, and it's great in potato and pasta salads. Even though the Hellman's costs more I'm still going to go with it.

What brand names will you stick with no matter the price? What's your grocery budget  and for how many people? What part of the country do you live in?

Menu Plan Monday

Saturday: Brats, Baked Beans and Broccoli Salad

Sunday: Sloppy Joes and Broccoli Salad

Monday: Turkey Sandwiches, Fresh Veggies and Dip

Tuesday: Chicken Fajita Burritos (I’m going to use up some leftover fajita filling, add some black beans and cheese and call it good)

Wednesday: Fish “Fry” Night – Baked Fish, Au gratin Potatoes and Coleslaw

Thursday: Chili and cornbread

Friday: Homemade Pizza Night

Grocery Bonus

Last week I brought home a couple bags of 16 count hamburger and hot dog buns leftover from a recent potluck. For those of you with a large family, I know these wouldn’t last long, but at our house they will last for about 8 meals. As I was picking them up I was reminded of the time years ago when my sister who has 7 children looked into my freezer and saw that I had a package of individually wrapped hot dogs. She incredulously asked why on earth I would buy individually wrapped hot dogs! I reminded her I was only feeding me and that package of 8 would last me 2 months (I had one a week in the summer). We both had a good laugh.

Anyway, not being the one to let something go to waste, I tossed the buns in the freezer to keep until we can use them. Each week I’ll try to have one meal that uses buns – this week it’s two because brats are on sale and George has been wanting some. I think he’s getting in the mood for spring by the way he’s always mentioning foods that can be prepared on the grill.

Groceries

I keep hearing how grocery prices are on the rise around the nation and we can only expect higher prices to come. So far I haven't noticed a huge increase and haven't been having too much of a problem sticking to our $50 a week grocery budget. Of course that doesn't mean I get to buy whatever I want -- there is a process I go through to eliminate a few things off most every grocery trip. That sounds kind of restrictive, but I actually like the feeling of sticking to a budget (and yes, there are some times I go over) and it keeps our cabinets from being stuffed to the brim with stuff that might go out of date before we can eat it.

It's been quite a while since I've shared a grocery shopping trip with you and I've been enjoying Tammy's Costco Series so much I'll share how Saturday's grocery trip went with you later this week.

The Year of Organizing: The Office Miracle

This week's organizing project is the office. It's a pretty accurate statement to say that my work life has been crazy lately.  One big project on top of another and another and another...  top that off with needing to hire two more employees and you can image how challenging it is to pull off our work load.

We are all working full tilt and then some... guess what the very last thing on our priority list is?  Keeping up on paper.  And, boy do we have a LOT of paper. If they gave out prizes for pushing paper I think my department would win the blue ribbon! Know that old saying: the buck stops here? Well, there's a new saying: the paper stops here.

Simply Overwhelmed

Lately I've been feeling so very overwhelmed. I felt like I would never be able to get a handle on my own desk and filing space. The disorganization and paper clutter made my projects even more difficult because I was worried that I would misplace important pieces of work and screw something up because of it and miss crucial deadlines. I was tense and sick with worry.
The Best Laid Plans...

It's easy to think the best way to handle this type of of situation is to delegate more, clear my schedule and just "make" the time or come in on a weekend and do it, work harder, work smarter.  Been there, done that. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, things just don't work out they way you plan for them to. Sometimes you need God.

This week has been the worst I've been sick about it all -- the fear of not being able to keep up with my projects because of all the mess was really getting to me. Finally (aha, the finally bring God into it deal! WHY do I wait so long?!) I talked to God about it -- all the stress, pressure and responsibility I was drowning under came pouring out. I immediately felt better!  God already knew I was struggling, but admitting to Him that I was struggling just about fixed everything. Emotionally, spiritually and paperly.

A Paper Miracle
Yesterday afternoon, on what would normally be one of my busiest of days, something miraculous happened: the clouds parted and the crisp clear blue sky appeared. A window of about 3 hours opened up yesterday afternoon and I started by cleaning off my desk and sorting a few files. Slowly I began to realize this was a God thing -- the phone never rang, not one person needed something from me ASAP, and that never happens. It was wonderful! After my desk was immaculate, I moved on and purged my main file cabinet and then one drawer in another cabinet. All totaled, I filled one large recycling bag and have a much neater and better organized office space and most importantly peace of mind!

Be sure to stop by Org Junkie for more organizing inspiration. This week Laura is talking about our "good enough" level of organization. After all, our goal is not to be perfect, just to have our homes good enough to work for us.

Chicken Cordon Bleu with Sauce

Last week's chicken cordon bleu recipe turned out great. Normally chicken cordon bleu isn't something I would make on a weeknight because it's pretty messy and labor intensive or, at least it was the last time I made it several years ago. Apparently I was so traumatized I couldn't bear the thought of all that mess again.

This time involved an easier recipe, a few tweaks and prep prep. That folks, makes all the difference in the world! The night before I used a rolling pin to beat the chicken breasts to smithereens. George came into the kitchen as I was just getting started and watched me for a while. Finally he asked if I was imagining the chicken was his head.  I replied "not today sweetie" : )

One special addition to this meal was a quick sauce/gravy. My husband likes all meat served with some sort of sauce/gravy/bbq sauce -- anything so that it's wet. BBQ sauce didn't seem to fit this meal at all so I went with a concocted version of a sauce. Made from one a chicken gravy packet I got for free, some sour cream and a tablespoon of honey mustard. I would normally never think to put these ingredients together. Surprisingly it didn't turn out pretty good!

Here's my recipe:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 thin slices deli ham
4 thin slices of swiss cheese
3 tbsp prepared honey mustard dressing
1 packet (or jar) of chicken gravy
.5 cups of sour cream
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
toothpicks

Place one chicken breast at a time between sheets of waxed paper. Use a rolling pin or mallet and beat until very thin. The chicken breast should be about double the size you started out with. Season with salt and pepper.

Lay all four breasts out in a row and spread a thin layer of honey mustard dressing on each. Top with a slice of swiss cheese and then ham. Carefully roll each one up as tightly as you can and use 1 or 2 toothpicks to secure it. Set them aside. 

Beat one egg in a pie plate. Use a second pie plate to hold the 1 cup of bread crumbs. Carefully -- this might be messy -- dip each rolled up chicken breast into the beaten egg and let the excess drain off and then roll in bread crumbs.  Place seam side down in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. Depending on how big your chicken breasts are, you may want to cook yours longer -- cut in half to make sure it's done before serving.

Right before serving, make the sauce. Prepare instant gravy mix according to package directions, or open a jar of gravy and heat in a saucepan. Once the gravy is hot, add lots of pepper, 1 tbsp of honey mustard dressing and 1/2 cup of sour cream. Heat on low until the gravy warms back up. Be very careful to not over cook because the sour cream will curdle.

Picture to follow as soon as I download it :)