Meal Plan Monday

Well last week didn't go exactly as planned--Ryan had to work late a couple of nights, etc. so we ended up eating some ready-made meals from the freezer. This week I am committed to sticking with my plan! Ryan and I talked today about how we need to add more fruits and veggies to our diet so we've decided that one night a week, we will have "veggie night". I am super excited about this and hope that we can committ ourselves to it! Here's what we'll be having this week:

Sunday: Hot Turkey and Cheese sandwiches

Monday: BBQ pork/mac&cheese
1 pork picnic roast (on sale at Publix)
1 bottle BBQ sauce (on sale at Publix, but already have several bottles in stockpile)
1/2 cup water

Place roast and water in crock pot and cook on low for 8-9 hours; add BBQ sauce last hour. Serve on toasted buns.

Tuesday: Veggie night
Ranch potatoes
Fresh corn on the cob
Peas
Salad

Wednesday: dinner at mom and dad's

Thursday: Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled
2 bunches broccoli, chopped and cooked
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 c sour cream
6 oz shredded swiss cheese
6 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
8 oz shredded italian blend cheese
Italian bread crumbs

In a large bowl, combine chicken, broccoli,, cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, sour cream and cheeses. Place in casserole dish. Top with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve over rice.

Friday: Ryan has to work, so we will have dinner with mom and dad

Saturday: Grandmother's birthday!

Weekly totals

I set out on what I thought was going to be a "promising" grocery trip today--I had my coupons and shopping list ready and I was excited to save some money! Well, when I got to Publix, the free milk I was going to get was gone! How does a grocery store run out of milk?? Then I hurried over to the health and beauty aisle to pick up some free razors and shaving cream and guess what?? Gone! Ugh, I was so frustrated. But I just sucked it up and gathered the rest of my groceries and I did a good job of sticking to my list. All in all it wasn't a bad trip--$110.41 worth of groceries for $61.37, a savings of 45%. I wasn't too disappointed because I have a bunch of stuff in my stockpile to ensure that I won't have to do a "big" shopping trip in July, especially since we will be at the beach for a week soon.

A few highlights of today's trip include:

4 blocks of Cracker Barrell cheese
On sale 2/$6
Used 4 $1/1 coupons
Final price: $2 each
I was excited to find these because we love this cheese and it's great to have on hand for company!

2 Eggo waffles
$1.99/each
Used $1/2 manu coupon
$1/2 Publix coupon (found in today's paper--had to use up the manu coupon before it expires this week)

2 boxes of Ritz crackers
BOGO $3.39
Used $1/2 coupon

Tons of produce for our new "eat healthy" initiative in our house!

Till next time...!

Please pray...

Hey everyone, please pray for Brennen Lyons. I don't know this little boy or family personally, but I saw a post on facebook from a high school friend regarding him. He was diagnosed with leukemia this week. I can only imagine what this family, especially this mother, must be going thru and it just breaks my heart. I pray that we all have a child like faith as He has called us to have and that we choose to believe that He and He alone will cure this little boy. I do know that regardless, He will be glorified thru this situation. FOr more information, please visit his website at www.caringbridge.org/brennenlyons.

"My heart need not be troubled nor be afraid" (John 14:26-27)

Meal plan Monday

After a week of cereal and many fast food dinners because of work committments, I'm back in the kitchen this week and plan to do a little home cookin'. My three big recipes this week are brand new, so I'll report back next week with a mini review. By the way, last weekend we cooked out with friends and I brought
orgjunkies twice baked potato casserole. It was awesome and recieved rave reviews!

Here's my plan for the week:

Monday: Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled
2 bunches broccoli, chopped and cooked
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 c sour cream
6 oz shredded swiss cheese
6 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
8 oz shredded italian blend cheese
Italian bread crumbs

In a large bowl, combine chicken, broccoli,, cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, sour cream and cheeses. Place in casserole dish. Top with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve over rice.

Tuesday: Parmesan-Garlic chicken
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 c parmesan cheese
1 envelope italian salad dressing mix
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400. Mix cheese, salad dressing mix and garlic powder. Moisten chicken with water; coat with cheese mixture. Place in shallow baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: Chicken Enchiladas
1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled
16-18 flour tortillas
1 jar of salsa
2 C whipping cream
3 C shredded cheese

Mix chicken and salsa together. Coat bottom of greased 9x13 inch baking dish with a little cream. Fill and roll tortillas with chicken and salsa mixture and cheese, layering side by side closely in baking dish. Pour whipping cream all over. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Top with cheese and bake 10 minutes more.

Friday: work party

Saturday: date night!

Good day at Publix!

Ok, so I've been couponing over a year and it still confounds me that people can get their totals down so low. I usually save in the 50% range, which is great, but for someone who has been doing it for so long now and who understands how the system works, I would hope that I could be one of those "look at me! I spend $.75 for $300 worth of groceries!" Not so much--today I went to Publix and spent $14 for $35 worth of groceries. Not bad, but I hope some of you out in "blogland" can re-inspire me or show me how you do it. I didn't realize until I got up to the register that my Cabot coupons were for $1/2, I thought they were $1/1--oh well, we can always use cheese! Here's the breakdown:

3 Eggo waffles
BOGO at Publix this week
$1/Target coupon
$1/2 manu coupon *blinkie*
Final price: Free

4 International Delight coffee creamer $1.99
2 BOGO *blinkie*
4 $.55 coupons/yellow advantage flyer
Final price: $.45 each

3 Cabot cheese $2.00
$1/2 yellow advantage flyer
Final price: $5.00

1 Cascade dishwasher detergerent $4.99
No coupon

Total savings: $21.00 or 60%

A day at the movies...

So we decided to take Mattie to the movies today--her very first one! We were a little (a lot!) nervous, and a little excited. Well, it turned out to be a bust! She sat thru many, MANY previews and about 15 minutes of the movie before we finally decided to suck it up and forget about the $30+ dollars it cost us to go to this glorious "first" with our child. Oh well!