Meal Plan Monday Week #3

Two weeks in and so far so good! Going to be taking advantage of the crockpot and easy meals this week, working some OT.

Monday~ Chili

I like to put pureed pumpkin in ours. Find the almost recipe here

Tuesday~ Chicken Stroganoff

Wednesday~ Spaghetti

I make batches of marinara, usually enough for 2 meals at a time.

I use:

1 big can of fire roasted tomatoes (blended, no chunks here!)

1 small can of tomato sauce

Italian seasoning

little red wine

and 1/2 -1C Spicy V8

Couple splashes of Worcestershire Sauce

 Just let it simmer to combine well

Thursday~ Pork Roast & Veggies

  I watch for the pork tenderloins to go on sale and grab a couple, they are just the right size.

Friday~ Leftovers

Saturday~ Baked Potatoes

 We just wrap them in foil and stick them in the crock pot

Load them up with veggies, leftovers and some cheese.

Sunday~ Chicken Enchilada/Pasta

Sometimes I just don't have the time to put together a whole pan of enchiladas. Instead, I will throw some enchilada sauce, chicken, cheese and pasta together with some veggies and call it good!

Sticking to these meal plans where I am not buying extra ingredients or letting stuff go to waste is how we help keep our grocery budget down! So far this month I have done our big grocery trip and Costco and have spent $175.

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Organizing~Week 2

Week 1 was fun! I finally got rid of some cake pans I have had far too long, reduced some baking stuff and did some overall purging of dishes!

 

See the before HERE.

 

After

 

 

 

Donated a lot of mixing bowls, I still have too many, but they all fit with plenty of room so I am keeping them! The plastic  ones with the pour spouts are my favorite to use, the colorful are my favorite to look at :)

 

Week 2 is still in the kitchen, serving stuff. I have SO MUCH. I rarely use it but I don't see me getting rid of nearly as much. I keep a lot of it above my craft stuff which is a crazy mess right now. 2 birthday parties coming up in a few weeks.

Our kitchen looks like the clearance isle after Easter and Halloween.

I can still do a little work around the chaos. 

 

Goodness these ones are horrible!

 

Some of this stuff just is going to have to stay here but hopefully I can eliminate a little and get it set up better.

 

Anyone else start some organizing this last week? I love to see how others make things work for them! Share your posts, Instagram or Pinterest!


 



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Meal Plan Monday Week #2

Keeping up with my meal planning goal, here is Week #2

  

Monday~ Lasagna

We use Hamburger in ours, homemade sauce and ricotta when it's on sale

 

Tuesday~ Stroganoff

Since I am thawing and browning hamburger anyway.

 

Wednesday~ Cashew Chicken

This is a new one for us!

 It looks SO good! All basic ingredients we mostly have on hand

 

 

Thursday~ Grilled Cheese &Soup

 

 

Friday~ Salmon &Orzo with Veggies

I just put our salmon under the broiler for 8 min on each side with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

 

Saturday~ Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes 

Sometimes I just need an easy dinner.

 

Sunday~ Chicken Tortilla Soup

You can find our recipe here

 



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Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014! How we ended the year!

I say this every month but seriously, SO FAST!

December was amazing, we had some good times with our kid crew and extended family.

2013 has come to an end and here is how we ended up with our goals.

 

Self
 

I feel better about how I handle relationships and am realizing more and more how freeing it is to let toxic ones go, even the slightly toxic ones take more time and energy than I have to give.

I've learned I don't motivate myself enough for solo workouts and I need group exercise, that Starbucks isn't a necessity for me and how much I appreciate the little day to day things, and miss them when I am working.
None of my goals, besides the 15 pounds, are things that end, so those are all still my goal!

Home

Still love and use my HMB, added a little, removed some stuff too
I did super with clutter and getting rid of stuff, but there will be even more next year!
Not much for the DIY home/bath products
Didn't add a single thing to our puny stock pile
And one more year where emergency packs aren't complete, but better than last year.

*December was great! I got our 2014 planner all put together and ready.
We purged a whole lot of stuff and we are starting the year off with a pretty tidy house, one of my very favorite things!

Budget 

We met almost all of our 2013 goals!
Gave up paid for coffee, worked my tooshy off, paid off some debt, meal planned my brains out and Target sees me once or twice a week, usually not that much.
I didn't have time to read nearly as much as I would have liked, however, when I did they were freebies or library goodies for the most part.
I didn't sew ANYTHING. Boo, but I did decide that since I wasn't sewing I needed to go through and  pack up the fabric, got rid of about half of it.
We ended up paying off just short off just about $30,000 in 2013. Not done but that's a good chunk!


Check out our 2014 goals HERE



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