Menu Plan Monday

After a few very hectic weeks and really, a very full summer, I'm ready to get back into some sort of a normal routine this week. Whatever that is!

Anyways, here's what we'll be eating for supper this week:

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: eat at church meeting

Tuesday: Israeli Spice Chicken, baked brown rice, green beans

Wednesday: tuna melts, carrot and celery sticks, fruit smoothie

Thursday: Taco Soup in crockpot, corn muffins

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Saturday: Pancakes, sausage

For more menu plans, visit Organizing Junkie!

Super Savings Saturday: Weekly Grocery Trip

The deals didn't seem to be that plentiful this week and I was low on time and energy. Besides that,I was running low on some of the basics!

I shopped at Bi-Lo and Aldi this week. I used 7 coupons total. After last week's triple coupons, that seemed like not very many coupons! But I got what I needed at great prices and that's what matters.



Highlights:

--Breyer's yogurt on sale for $.50 each. Used a printable $1/2 any Breyer's product coupon to make them FREE!

--Fresh Express salad marked down to $.99.

--Bag o' Bananas marked at $1.49. I regularly purchase bags of marked down bananas for $1.49(usually about 6 lbs.) instead of paying $.65 or more a pound. My Bi-Lo often has these in the mornings, and some of the bananas are still green.

--FREE Suave body wash. Bi-Lo is running a deal where you buy 3 Suave products and get a coupon for a FREE Suave product. I bought 3 body wash at $1.99 each, used 3 $.50/1 coupons. Since the coupons doubled, each bottle cost $.99. I got my FREE coupon at the register and the manager asked if I would like her to go get me another one so I could use the coupon right away, since no one else was in line in the whole store. :-)So I got 4 bottles of body wash for $2.97 or $.74 each. A great deal! My husband will be smelling of Ocean Breeze scent for a while!:-)

What I spent:

--Bi-Lo: $11.27
--Aldi: $10.99
--Bread Outlet earlier in week: $2.00

Grand total for week: $24.26

Note: This is not all I spend on groceries. My grocery budget is broken into different categories: a Sam's Club/Costco trip, local grass-fed beef, bulk items such as wheat berries, money for drugstore shopping, buying the Sunday paper for coupons, etc. Right now that leaves me with about $25 a week for general grocery shopping which doesn't sound like a lot but really works out pretty well considering that most of our meat and many bulk items such as spices, olive oil and large amounts of cheese are being purchased out of the other categories. I also work on keeping a well-stocked pantry and freezer which I plan my meals from each week. This works for me right now!

**This post is part of Super Savings Saturday hosted by Money Saving Mom!

My Birthday

Even though my birthday was almost a month ago, I thought I'd let you have a peek into the celebration! I've had this post and the pictures hanging around so I wanted to go ahead and get this up.

We like to keep things pretty simple around here and that includes birthdays! We give small gifts to each other and budget for a nice meal out. We do make a big deal about making the birthday person feel special and celebrated, though!

Over the past few years, we've signed up for various birthday freebies from local restaurants. This makes our birthday week really fun as we use the various FREE coupons that are emailed to us.

My husband took me out for a nice dinner to Longhorn Steakhouse a couple of days before my birthday. (I had a coupon that was expiring!) The day of my birthday, he gave me the gifts he had picked out. In addition to this gift, he also gave me a sweet flower necklace that I love and have been wearing almost daily. (You can see the necklace in the picture below.)

One of the boys I babysit showed up with this bouquet of flowers. How sweet!

His mom also surprised me with a bag filled with lunch for us!

She had made ham and asparagus lasagna, salad with fresh strawberries and nuts and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, bread, and delicious brownie cupcakes for dessert! I was blown away by her thoughtfulness.

For supper, we went to McAlister's deli and used my $5 coupon they had sent me. In years past, we would share a big nacho plate that was priced at a little over $5. This year, however,I really wanted a chicken and basil panini so I got that with my coupon.

After supper, we went to Cold Stone Creamery and used my birthday coupon for a FREE "Like It"(their small size) cup of ice cream. I chose dark chocolate ice cream with Reese's peanut butter cups mixed in which we shared. It was beyond delicious!

What a picture! Not sure if I look scared or scary! haha

In addition, I had many birthday emails and phone calls. My favorites were my nephew calling to sing "Happy Birthday" and also birthday wishes via phone by the other little one that I babysit who was not at my house that day. A friend called and wanted to take me out for supper the next day, too!

Needless to say, I felt so loved and my birthday was very special! Birthdays like these make heading into my mid-thirties not seem quite so bad!:-)

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's for supper this week:

Sunday: Leftover egg salad sandwiches, pretzels, super easy pretzel dip(recipe below)

Monday:Eat at meeting. My contribution: French bread.

Tuesday: White bean salad, crostini, grapes

Wednesday: Salmon patties, green beans, rice

Thursday: Chicken and stuffing bake in crockpot; my own concoction!

Friday: Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday: With family celebrating my nephew's 4th birthday!

Super Easy Pretzel Dip

Ingredients:

--Ranch dressing
--Yellow Mustard

Mix ranch and mustard together until desired taste is achieved. For a snack for just the two of us, I usually use about 1/2 or 1 cup of dressing then add mustard until the taste is right. My husband doesn't care for ranch but loves this dip! For us, the key is to add a little more mustard.

Serve with pretzels.

**This post is part of Menu Plan Monday.

Super Savings Saturday

I shopped at Harris Teeter and Bi-Lo this week, then made a quick stop at Aldi's on the way home for 2 items!

Harris Teeter is tripling coupons this week (through Tuesday the 18th)so I definitely wanted to take advantage of that! Although Bi-Lo didn't have that many great deals running this week, I had found a few good prices!

Highlights of this week's trip:

Bi-Lo:
--Boneless, skinless chicken breast: $1.79 lb.
--2-1 lb. bags Earthbound Farm organic carrots: $.99 each. Used $1/2 coupon and got 1 bag FREE!
--2 boxes Total cereal marked down to $1.91 each with additional $.50 peelies on them. Used 2 $.75/1 manu. coupon which doubled to make each box FREE!

--1 box whole grain spaghetti marked down to $.67.

Harris Teeter:
--Red grapes: $.88 lb.
--2 lb. bag marked down apples: $.70

The following items were purchased at HT using triple coupons:
--2 GUM toothbrushes: FREE
--3 Edge shaving gel: FREE
--2 Zone protein bars: FREE
--2 bags Utz pretzels: FREE

Total spent this week: $19.01 for approximately $60 worth of groceries!

Did you find any great deals this week? Tell us about it!

**This post is part of Money Saving Mom's Super Savings Saturday!

A Week Off

I took the week off from reading blogs in order to spend more time in prayer for some specific needs.

I asked God what I should "fast" (give up) for the week and He immediately gave me the answer of not reading blogs for the rest of the week.

This is an area that can easily get out of balance for me. I can get started reading and before long, I'm neglecting more important things. Some folks play computer games, read novels or watch T.V. for downtime. I read blogs.:-)

I was apprehensive about taking time off but it has been so good! It was difficult at times but not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I also thought it would be better not to do much blogging myself during this time since that would make it that much harder to stay away from reading other blogs!

Even though I'll be back to catching up with you all soon, I hope to continue to use discipline and keep all things in my life, including reading blogs, in balance.

Menu Plan Monday

Well obviously, it's Tuesday night already and not Monday. But I still like to plan a simple menu plan whether I get it up here by Monday or not!

I love my menu plan each week! It's a simple way to make meal times/cooking run more smoothly and eliminates a lot of the last minute, "let's go out to eat" trips.

If you don't make a menu plan currently, you should try it! My weekly menu plan is just that, a plan. It isn't set in stone and sometimes meals get switched around and occasionally we'll go out to eat instead of eating the meal I've planned. Most weeks I do follow my plan pretty closely because it just makes life so much simpler. I make better use of the food I have in my pantry and this saves me a good deal of money and time in the long run.

So without further adieu, here's our supper menu for the week!

Sunday: We drove 2 hours to meet Andy's sister and family for dinner at Chili's. It turned out to be pretty frugal as unfortunately, the service left a little to be desired and we got our food for free! So I guess it was a good thing although my first choice would've been to have had better service! We did have a great time seeing family and were glad we could arrange a visit, albeit a very short one, while they were traveling through our general area.

Monday: Eat at church meeting. I took chocolate-peanut squares. One of our favorite not-so-healthy treats!

Tuesday: Beef and veggie stir fry with rice.

Wednesday: Bacon-Tomato Quiche, sliced cucumbers, cherries. (I'm planning to share my quiche recipe soon!)

Thursday: Crock pot chicken made into bbq sandwiches, tomato-cucumber salad. Can you tell what we have an abundance of in our garden right now?

Friday: Picnic. Menu TBD. Something with chicken?

Saturday:Egg Casserole,bacon or sausage, fruit smoothies.

What's cooking at your house this week?

For more menu planning inspiration, visit The Happy Housewife who is hosting Menu Plan Monday for the Organizing Junkie this week!

Finer Things Friday-Sweet Singing

My nephew called me this week to sing "Happy Birthday" and then he proceeded to sing "Jesus, Thank You", a song that they sing in church. So precious!

The one little boy I care for has been singing all week. "Twinkle, twinkle little star", "Rock-a-bye Baby" and any part of any Veggie Tales song he can remember are the most common.

The other child I babysit chimes in when I sing, catching the last word of every phrase of the Little Einstein's theme song.

Hearing each child sing is one of the sweetest things I've ever heard.

I wish I had an audio clip for you to listen to today, but I don't. So you'll have to imagine! On-key, yet off-key with that squeaky toddler sound. I just love it!

To me, hearing little ones sing is definitely one of the finer things in life!

**Thanks to Amy for hosting Finer Things Friday!

We Have A Winner!

Thanks to my faithful readers who entered my giveaway. I appreciate you coming by to read my blog!

The winner of the purse is:


Lyn!

I've emailed her and as soon as I get her mailing address, I will send the purse to her!

Congratulations!

Creative Advertising

I laughed so hard when we saw this sign while driving to the church picnic on Saturday. Certainly an attention getter!

Followed by this one:


This sign was posted about 3 miles from the sale! Fortunately we were headed out that way so we stopped to see what they had. They had lots of stuff and certainly great prices although I only bought one small item.

The signs were still up the next day so I had to stop and take pictures! I got lots of funny looks from people in the cars stopped at the light. But, oh well, it's worth it for blog fodder!

This is almost as good as the yard sale ad we saw in the newspaper the other week: Come early, bring your truck!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Kitchen Scale

Recently, I picked up a small kitchen scale at a yard sale. I had never seen one like this and almost didn't pick it up to see what it was!

I knew I would want to buy one eventually. It's just a nice addition to my kitchen. I use it to weigh fruits and veggies when recipes call for pounds and ounces. I use it to weigh some of the food I eat. "How big is an ounce of cheese, anyways?" I use it to weigh balls of bread dough to make more uniform loaves of homemade bread. It's much more exact than eyeballing everything. And it's so compact and comes with a lid(not pictured) that it fits right in my cupboard.

I'm sure as time goes on, I'll think of even more things to weigh on my little scale!

So that's my kitchen tip for today. Use a kitchen scale! Or at least, if you think you might use one, start looking for one at yard sales!

For more kitchen tips, visit Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy's Recipes!

**While you're here, please check out my giveaway that's open for entries through midnight tonight!

Gratituesday: Scrapbook Paper and The Guy Who Gave Them To Me!

Today's my birthday. My husband presented me with a gift first thing this morning. I love birthdays. I love gifts. That's just how I am!

He always takes great pleasure in going on long drawn out shopping trips whenever he is shopping for me for a special occasion. During which, I will call him repeatedly on his cell phone and try to figure out where he is and what he's buying. I'm just really sweet and caring like that.

Well, he went shopping last week and came home awfully excited about what he had purchased and what a great deal he had gotten. Fortunately for him, we had a really busy weekend and I didn't have time to badger him about it. Well, not too much.

So this morning he handed me two gift bags. In the biggest bag were 5 packages of Martha Stewart scrapbook paper. I had mentioned that one thing I'd like is some big packs of 12 x 12 papers or those blocks of paper that I've seen at different craft stores.

If you're rolling your eyes right now and wondering if I'm really going to write a whole post about how thankful I am for scrapbook paper, I will tell you. Yes, why yes, I am!

You see, I'm frugal and practical. The man I married, not so much. When we got married, he barely knew what the word budget meant, let alone how to live on one. How far we have come! Nowadays, he looks for deals when shopping and is careful to live below his means.

So when he says he got a really good deal, I get excited about that! Again, it doesn't take much to make me very happy!

After I opened my gift of paper, he could hardly wait to tell me what he spent on it. It turns out he went to Michael's and saw a Clearance display of these scrapbook papers outside the front door. "These are nice," he thought to himself as he picked one out that was marked at $6.98 and went to pay for it. After ringing it up, he was surprised when the cashier said the total was $.98! He was shocked and went and picked out 4 more packages. "The ones I thought you'd like the best," he told me. "I left the ones that weren't very pretty."

So I agree, he did really, really good. Really. $.98 a pack! I'm going to have so much fun creating with this wonderful paper.

But of course, I'm not just thankful for the paper. The paper is just a reminder of my husband who loves me just the way I am and seeks to bless me with little things that show his love and care. And since he knows how excited I get over a good bargain, he gets excited, too.

This is just one more reason I'm thankful for this man who is my husband!

**This post is part of Gratituesday hosted by Heavenly Homemakers.

**While you are here, please check out my giveaway. It's open for entries through midnight tonight!

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of my woods:
--Very hot. In the 90's.

A simple pleasure I enjoy:
--Homemade chicken salad!

On my bedside table:
--Need to get to the library sometime!

On my TV:
--The Cosby Show.

On the menu for tonight:
--Eating at a church meeting.

On my to-do list:
For this week:
--Final details for coupon class.
--Pay bills.
--Celebrate my birthday!

New recipe I tried last week:
--Chicken Salad with peaches from Southern Living magazine. Delicious!

In my craft basket:
--Still need to work on finishing my skirt.

Looking forward to:
--My coupon class on Saturday.
--My birthday!

Homemaking tip for the week:
--A little straightening up and cleaning every day can go a long way to keeping the home more organized!

Favorite blog post for this week(mine or other):
--Making Lunch Special at The Pleasures of Homemaking.

Favorite photo from the week:

--Hmmm...I don't think this is a red bell pepper plant after all!

Lesson learned the past few days:
--Not sure at the moment!

On my prayer list:
--my husband
--our church fellowships
--opportunities to pass the hope of Christ on to others

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen." I Peter 4:10,11


**Thanks to Sandra for hosting Happy Homemaker Mondays!

**Be sure to check out and sign up for my giveaway!

Menu Plan Monday

We've got a lot going on this week so I'm trying to keep things as easy as I can. I'm also due for a stock-up of pantry staples at the beginning of the month so this menu is based on what I have on hand to use up!

My crock pot will come to the rescue this weekend as we will be busy. Letting the crock pot cook my meals is one of the best ways to avoid going out to eat when I'm tired and extra busy!

Here's what's cooking this week:

Sunday- My husband took me out for a pre-birthday steak dinner. Yum!

Monday-Eat at church meeting.

Tuesday-My birthday! I have several FREE birthday coupons to use so I think we'll plan a fun meal out with those!

Wednesday-Chicken gravy on toast, veggie

Thursday-Crock pot Shepherd's Pie(new recipe), bread

Friday- Eating on the go since we'll be set up at a show most of the day. I'm planning to pack the cooler with sandwiches, a main dish salad of some kind and some snacks to make sure we don't go hungry!This will be for both lunch and supper.

Saturday- Crock pot Sweet and Tangy Twisted Beef served over brown rice.

What's cooking at your house?

For more menu planning inspiration, please visit Organizing Junkie!

**While you're here, check out my giveaway. You could win a handmade purse!

Blog-iversary and a Giveaway!

This weekend marks my blog's 4th birthday!

To celebrate, I'm giving away one of my handmade purses.

I made this purse from a recycled denim skirt. Lined with cheery red gingham, this is one of my favorites!

Here's what you need to do to enter the giveaway:

--Leave a comment on this post. Make sure the comment includes your name and email address.

**I am unable to ship internationally. Winner must be a resident of the USA.

Giveaway will be open through Tuesday, July 28. I will then choose a winner through random selection.

Thanks to all my faithful readers who make blogging that much more fun!

Blueberry Picking

Last week we went blueberry picking at a local u-pick farm. This is by far the most affordable blueberry place we've discovered around here. Thanks to my friend Abbie for telling me about it!

Andy and I had such a good time picking blueberries. This was our second trip this season. We also went the week before and picked one gallon. They were so yummy that I wanted to get two more gallons to freeze!


We've had blueberry pancakes, several blueberry cobblers, blueberry muffins and I've been able to freeze almost 2 gallons for the winter. Before I froze them, I would grab a handful of berries everytime I walked by. They are so delicious! And healthy too.

Wonder who this nice lady is?!? Whoever she is, she looks like her mom!:-)

Fresh (unsprayed) and local blueberries. It doesn't get much finer than that!

Stop by Amy's blog for more Finer Things Friday posts!

White Bean Salad

As requested, here is the recipe for my White Bean Salad that was mentioned in this post.

The real name for this is Blue Cheese Bean Salad but since I don't always have blue cheese on hand, I call it White Bean Salad and then add whatever cheese I want!

I'm printing the recipe as it is then I'll add my variations at the end.

Blue Cheese Bean Salad
Recipe courtesy of my sister-in-law, who always makes such yummy gourmet foods when we visit!

2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 (16 oz.) cans cannellini or any white beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Crostini, optional

Directions:
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add oregano and garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add vinegar and remove from heat. Combine vinegar mixture and beans in a bowl. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon oil, diced tomato and the next five ingredients to bean mixture and toss well. Serve with Crostini, if desired.

Crostini:

24-(1/2 inch thick) slices french bread baguette
1 garlic clove, halved
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put bread on baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes or until toasted. Rub cut sides of garlic over 1 side of each slice. Spray with cooking spray. bake for 3 more minutes.

My variations:
--Other cheeses work well in this recipe. I have used feta with good results and shredded Parmesan cheese on top at serving time is delicious as well. Or you can totally omit the cheese altogether. My husband is very fond of blue cheese, so I like to add that whenever I can.

--I usually used dried and cooked beans. About 2 cups cooked beans for each can.

--Regular vinegar works ok.

--Add other herbs if desired. Basil is very tasty!

--If in a hurry, I'll skip the chilling step. Instead, I'll just add everything together and throw into the fridge until serving time.

Enjoy!


**Does anyone have tips for photographing white foods? I have tried to take photos of several different white dishes and they come out horrible. Any tips would be appreciated!

Yard Sale Deals

I haven't shared any of my yard sale finds in a while. But I found a couple of cool things this weekend that are worth sharing!


My husband found this in a FREE box:


It's a vintage 1950's Pyrex bowl complete with lid! I love the red. I love old bowls. The lid shows a bit of wear but still, I can't believe it was free!

I love the looks of Vera Bradley products but not the price so much. So I keep my eye out for these things at yard sales. I've found that if they're in really good condition, they're priced pretty high. If they're cheap, they're pretty worn. But occasionally, I'll find a Vera in the $1 purse box. In the past year or two, I've purchased an almost brand new Vera purse that I sold on ebay and a slightly worn Vera tote bag that I use and love! Both were $1.

This past Saturday, I found this for $1:

A Vera Bradley "Ditty Bag". It is just so pretty! I know I'll enjoy using it. Wouldn't this be a charming way to carry my lunch?

What kind of cool yard sale treasures have you found recently?

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of my woods:
--Relatively clear and very warm!

A simple pleasure I enjoy:
--fresh-picked blueberries

On my bedside table:
--Still finishing some books from last week and need to go to the library!

On my TV:
--Other than Super Why or Veggie Tales for the kiddos or a little Fox News, I really don't watch much TV, especially on Mondays.

On the menu for tonight:
--Eating at a church meeting. I'm taking blueberry cobbler.

On my to-do list:
For this week:
--Finish material for coupon class.
--Freeze peaches and blueberries.
--Bake bread.
--Weed garden and plant some more beans and possibly some fall crops.

New recipe I tried last week:
--Nothing new this week!

In my craft basket:
--Still need to work on finishing my skirt.

Looking forward to:
--A fun weekend of picnics, fellowship, swimming and a baptism with our church family.

Homemaking tip for the week:
--Make room for little splurges and touches of beauty in your budget. I saw the most beautiful sunflowers at the farmer's market this weekend. I bought 2 of them and they are so cheerful and fun to look at. At $1 a stem, this is an inexpensive simple pleasure.

Favorite blog post for this week(mine or other):
--I've been enjoying the Mommy,Come Home series at The Finer Things In Life.


Favorite photo from the week:

The blueberries we picked last Friday!
Lesson learned the past few days:
--When out in the sun for more than a few minutes, pack water and sunscreen. We went out blueberry picking last Friday and I foolishly didn't bring either. The water situation was easily remedied; the sunburn not so much. Ouch! On my list for this weekend: plenty of water, sunscreen and a hat!

On my prayer list:
--my husband
--our church fellowships
--opportunities to pass the hope of Christ on to others

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." II Timothy 2:20 &21

This stood out to me this week because of the hope in Christ Jesus that is there for each person. Each person can be a a useful instrument for noble purposes!

These verses also remind me of my significance to God. He has made me holy and useful to Him! I pray that these simple words will encourage someone today. As you allow Christ to cleanse you, you also are made holy and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work He calls you to do!

**Thanks to Sandra for hosting Happy Homemaker Mondays!

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's on the supper menu this week:

I use a simple meal rotation each week for easy planing!

Sunday-leftovers

Monday-church meeting; I'm taking a blueberry cobbler.

Tuesday-BBQ ribs in crockpot, corn on the cob, cucumber salad, sliced peaches

Wednesday-salmon patties, green beans, homemade bread

Thursday-chicken pot pie**, steamed veggies

Friday-homemade pizza

Saturday-picnic lunch; leftovers and smoothies for supper

**indicates freezer meals

Kitchen To-Do List:
1)bake bread
2)freeze peaches
3)freeze blueberries
4)cook chicken in crock pot
5)bake muffins

For more menu planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Switching To Google Reader

I'm in the process of switching all my blog subscriptions from Bloglines to Google Reader.

I've been using Bloglines for over a year. I love the idea of going to one place to read all the updates instead of hopping from one blog to another to find updates.

I've been very happy with Bloglines except for the fact that they have continually dropped feeds. Suddenly, I no longer receive updates to certain blogs. What is the point of using a reader if you are back to clicking around looking for updates?

Bloglines also gets confused regularly and suddenly I have several thousand new posts which are really old ones that are showing up as new. This is annoying.

So I've switched to Google Reader since I've heard good reviews about it. I'm planning to try it out for a while and see what I think.

What about you? If you use Google Reader, do you like and not like about it? What other blog readers do you use?

Summer of Picnics #3 & #4

I'm a bit behind on recording our summer picnics. We were so busy in June that we didn't go on even one picnic. And last weekend, our date was to Chick-fil-a. Hopefully, we'll get back to our picnic schedule this week.

In the meantime, here are the details on our two last picnics from May. Yes, May...I told you I was slow here. :-)I'm almost embarrassed to be posting them now but I guess it's better late than never!

For picnic #3, we decided to try a small park in town that we hadn't been to yet. When we arrived, only a few people were there for what looked to be baseball practice. We set up our picnic and began to eat. A few minutes later, park security came and told us that they were getting ready to lock up the park and would we please finish up? It was only a little after 7 pm, but we packed up and went on home. About a mile down the road, it began to storm so we would've had to leave our picnic early anyways!

On the menu:
--white bean salad with crostini
--cheese and crackers
--grapes
--Hershey's 100 calorie chocolate covered pretzels

Picnic #4 took place in our living room since we got rained out on Memorial Day. This is proof that you can have a picnic anywhere!


Our menu:
--chicken salad sandwiches(recipe below)
--carrot sticks
--tortilla chips
--watermelon

Mary Ann's Chicken Salad with fruit and nuts

This is more of a guide than an actual recipe as everything is added to taste. It is so yummy; one of our favorites!I concocted this simple recipe after something similar was served at one of my bridal showers.

--chopped cooked chicken
--sliced red grapes or apples
--walnuts or pecans-I like them chopped but still pretty chunky.
--chopped celery
--chopped onion, if desired
--mayonnaise
--yellow mustard
--garlic powder
--salt
--curry powder, if desired

Mix first 5 ingredients in bowl. Add a couple spoonfuls of mayo until the right consistency. I don't like it too runny, so I put in less or add more chunky stuff. Add a squirt of yellow mustard then stir in small amounts of the remaining spices. Unless you really like curry powder, add only a tiny bit of it. I like to add just a smidgen to add a different flavor. Taste and adjust seasonings until just right.

Spread on crackers, bread or serve a spoonful on a bed of lettuce.

Our cherished dog Rock joined us. I believe that he was hoping for a bite of people food but we ate it all ourselves. We're just selfish like that. ;-)


Our picnic entertainment: Nascar's Coca-Cola 600.


Fun times!

Picnic tip: Be flexible!

Easy Crockpot Roast Beef

I wanted to cook a roast in the crock pot yesterday and wanted to add some kind of spices or a marinade to it. Since I was planning on using the meat as an ingredients in 2 other dinners this week, I didn't want it to be too overly spiced or drenched in salsa or anything.

I found this yummy recipe in my favorite crockpot book and poured it all together in the pot. The result was one of the best roasts that I've ever eaten!There was a slight kick to it but definitely not overpowering. The meat was so tender and flavorful! This smelled so good while it was cooking!

Easy Roast Beef

1 roast- I used a 3.5 pound chuck roast.
1/3 cup water
1 can (4 ounces)green chilies, with liquid
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 1/4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Plop meat in greased crockpot. Combine all other ingredients and pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Makes 4-6 servings.


Update on the grass-fed beef: This roast was from our recent beef order and was absolutely delicious! So far we've loved the beef that we got. Our first try was some grilled hamburgers and while they were delicious, we could detect a slight "grassy" flavor. I think it's something we'll get used to. The rest of the meat has been added to casseroles and such so we didn't taste anything different.

Due to the lower fat content, it's recommended that grass-fed beef is marinated and cooked slowly. I've also been following the farmer's advice to add a bit of olive oil when browning the ground beef since it produces so little grease in the pan. I've been careful to cook all of this meat at a lower temperature and so far it has all been wonderful and not at all dry or tough.

Happy Homemaker Monday

It's been a while since I participated in Happy Homemaker Monday. I've missed it! I enjoy keeping track of these simple things from week to week! Hope you enjoy reading along!

The weather in my neck of the woods:

It's cooler today. 79 degrees and a bit cloudy and rainy. It's nice that it's a bit cooler. Summers can be quite hot here in the South!


One of my simple pleasures:
Homegrown tomatoes. They're so delicious!


On my bedside table:
The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace.
Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney. Love this book!
The newest Sisterchick book by Robin Jones Gunn.
(I raided my sister's library for anything that looked interesting last time I visited!)



On my TV:
Trivial Pursuit

On the menu for tonight:
Eating at a church meeting. I'm planning on taking some homemade cookies and a cucumber and tomato salad.

On my To Do List:

For this week:
--Clip and sort coupons.
--Pick more blueberries.
--Work on material for the coupon class I'm teaching in less than a month. Yikes!

New Recipe I tried last week:

I canned bread and butter pickles using my mom's recipe. Delicious!

In the craft basket:

I have a skirt that is half-sewed that I really want to finish. Not sure when that will be though. :-)

Looking forward to:

Having my house back after the last of the visiting family leaves tomorrow. Don't get me wrong-I love having family and friends visit. But it is nice to get back to normal again, too!

Homemaking Tip for this week:
Keep it simple and enjoy the little things each day. Even if your to-do list never gets done!

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
The Biggest Kitchen Table series at down-to-earth.

Favorite photo from last week:

I love this picture of my brother with my nephew and niece, Knox and Leila. My sister took it last week while he was visiting them. Leila is 5 weeks old already!

Lesson learned the past few days:
Letting God be in control of every detail of our lives and trusting Him to work every single thing out.

On my Prayer List:
--my husband
--our nation and President
--friends and family

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things."
I Timothy 4:8

For more Happy Homemaker posts, visit Sandra's blog!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm actually getting a menu plan post up this week! Yeah for me!

June was a very hectic month for us and so far July has been the same. We've had family in and out a couple of times, we've been here and there and then several other events and busy, busy weekends.

My brother is flying back home tomorrow morning, the last of the visiting family for now. Hopefully with this whirlwind behind us, I can get back to more regular blogging. Maybe. I have a list of posts to write; blogging just has not been a top priority during this busy season.

Our gardens are in full swing. I've canned some pickles and froze some green beans. We picked blueberries last Friday and I have a cookie sheet of them freezing now. We've been eating fresh zucchini, a few yellow squash and green peppers, lots of green beans and piles of cucumbers! Tomatoes are just starting to ripen and I have a small basket of them on my kitchen counter. There are very few things so delicious as a homegrown tomato!

Here's what's on the supper menu for the week:

Most meals accompanied by some fresh veggies from the garden.

Monday-Church meeting. I'm taking a cucumber and tomato salad and some homemade cookies. (My young cookie helper this morning pronounced the cookies "not yucky or gross." I am so glad!)

Tuesday-Crockpot roast beef

Wednesday-Beef and rice salad

Thursday- Beef and gravy over toast

Friday-Homemade pizza night

Saturday-scrambled eggs, toast, smoothies

My meal rotation is here. You will notice that I am not following it very closely this week. I'm using the crock pot on Tuesday so I'll have the meat cooked for the other meals!

For more meal planning inspiration, click on over to Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Free Food- Not For Chikins!

What do we do for fun on a Friday night?

Dress up like cows and get a free meal!

Today was Chick-fil-a's Cow Appreciation Day and they were handing out free food to people dressed like cows. For wearing a cow accessory, you got a free entree and if you were dressed head to toe like a cow, a free meal.

We figured that if we were going to do it, we might as well do it right and get the whole meal! And we love Chick-Fil-A!



Our costumes were created using only stuff we had on hand:
--black fabric for the spots, ears and my tail
--Chick-Fil-A tie for Andy's tail
--bandana
--cardstock, markers and some recycled twine for my sign
--sewing thread, needle and tape
--our regular clothes-white shirts and khakis(closest thing we had to white pants!)

**No clothes were harmed in the making of these costumes!:-)

Thank you, Chick-Fil-A for a fun and free date night!

For more photos of Cow Appreciation Day participants, moo-ve on over to Money Saving Mom!

I Won, I Won!!

I was quite tickled yesterday when I received an email from Coupon Teacher telling me that I had won her June giveaway- a $10 CVS gift card. Yeah! What a blessing that is to us!

She has details on her July giveaway here, so run over and say hi!

Works For Me Wednesday: Creamy Cole Slaw

Today's Works For Me Wednesday is the Summer Recipe Edition.

I'm sharing a quick recipe for cole slaw. It's delicious, cheap and easy to prepare and won't heat up your kitchen. It's a great side dish to many summertime meals, especially here in the South! If you have access to a food processor, this salad can be whipped up in about 10 minutes flat!

I've been making this for our church fellowship and other gatherings this spring and summer and it usually gets eaten right up!

Here's what you do:

Shred a medium sized head of cabbage and pour into a bowl.

Mix dressing ingredients together:

2-3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
4 tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon onion salt(I use a little garlic powder or omit altogether.)
2 tablespoons vinegar
6 tablespoons mayonnaise

Pour dressing over shredded cabbage and mix. You can chill the salad in the fridge for a little while to let the flavors mingle or serve right away!

For more cool hot weather recipes, visit We Are THAT Family.

Garden Bounty

Our gardens are beginning to yield quite the bounty! I picked all of this last night and this morning.

Here's what I'll be doing in the next few days:

--Freezing green beans.

--Baking zucchini bread.

--Making Garlic-Dill Pickles. I've wanted to try my hand at these since trying something similar at the farmer's market a few weeks back. They were delicious!

--Freeze shredded zucchini to use in zucchini bread through the fall and winter. I freeze in 2 cup portions as that is the amount my recipe calls for. Just shred and freeze in a baggie. When ready to use, thaw and pour the contents of the bag, including the liquid because that's part of the zucchini, into the batter. Fresh zucchini bread made with a pureed orange added to the batter makes a delightful Christmas gift!

How are your gardens faring? What fresh foods are you eating now?

More Than Free Cheese and Very Cheap Waffles

I don't often shop at Harris Teeter but went this morning all geared up for their Super Double Coupon sale. Well, it doesn't start until tomorrow as I found out as soon as I got inside the store!! Since I was there anyways, I went ahead and looked at a few of the coupon deals, checking prices and such and then remembered this sweet cheese sale.

Kraft Cheese was on sale for $1.47 a bag. I had $.50/1 coupons from the little coupon dispensers/blinkies in the store.

Harris Teeter doubles coupons $.99 and under. So I got $1 off each bag of cheese, bringing the price per package to $.47 each. That is still pretty good but not the best part!

Kraft is running a promotion through July 12 at different stores where you get a catalina coupon (These are the coupons that spit out with your receipt.)good on your next order at checkout.

I bought 5 packages of cheese and paid $2.40. Because I purchased 5, a catalina coupon printed at the register for $4 to be used on my next Harris Teeter shopping trip!

The cheese was free plus I made $1.60 on this shopping trip!

Note: I personally really don't care all that much for pre-shredded cheese. Kraft is better than some brands, but I don't think it tastes quite the same or melts like cheese I shred myself. But for free, I'll deal with it! It will come in handy and shredded cheese keep well in the freezer, too.

This is the last day for the Harris Teeter sale on the cheese. But the catalina promotion continues through July 12. (I think that these can be done numerous times, too.)Starting tomorrow, the cheese is $2 a package and can still be a sweet deal if you're able to print these coupons.

Maybe some of you will be able to stock up on inexpensive cheese, too!

This deal has been going on for awhile, but is worth mentioning.

Super Target has some flavors of Kashi waffles on price cut for $1.79. A recent Vocalpoint mailer supplied me with five $1.50/1 coupons. I got all of these waffles for $.29 or a little less each(some were marked even lower). It turned out that all five boxes cost me about the same as one regular priced boxes! Money Saving Mom has the scoop here: scroll down to see details on the Kashi deal.

Again, I prefer to make waffles from scratch but I can't beat this price! I haven't tried any yet but my sister says that the blueberry variety are delicious!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Milk Substitutions

I wanted to bake a couple of items several weeks ago and discovered that I was out of milk and both recipes called for it.

Rather than changing my mind and not baking those two items, I decided instead to try to substitute something I had on hand for the milk.

I did have sour cream and plain yogurt so I decided to try both of those as substitutes.

I used plain yogurt in the cinnamon rolls and sour cream in the rhubarb dumplings. I thinned both with a bit of water to make it a bit more of a milk consistency.

Both turned out great! Since the cinnamon rolls were a new recipe, I can't compare them to anything, but the rhubarb dumpling dough was especially rich with sour cream instead of milk.

What milk substitutions have you discovered as you cook? Please share!

**Thanks to Tammy's Recipes for hosting Kitchen Tip Tuesdays!

Baby Leila

Leila and Mommy

We got to meet our new little niece, Leila Grace, last Sunday soon after they got home from the hospital. She was born June 4th, so she's now 1 week old. What a blessing she is!

My camera batteries died after only a few pictures. I was so bummed! Oh well.. we'll get more pictures later! Here's the best of the few that I took.

Leila and Daddy


Leila with Mommy and her big brother Knox. I think we interrupted mealtime!


We had Knox with us for several days while his mommy was in the hospital. He was so excited to see his new sister. We saw the pictures on the hospital website, but I don't think it was real to him yet. When we got to their house on Sunday, he walked in and saw the baby. He had a huge smile on his face and his eyes welled up with tears. He said, "Is that my baby sister from your tummy, Mommy?" It was so sweet!

Of course, I'm a bit biased but I think she's precious! She actually looks a lot like my mom(her grandma).

We praise God for her safe delivery and for a healthy baby!

Newborn babies are definitely a finer thing in life!

Baby

by Helen Steiner Rice

A wee bit of heaven
drifted down from above-
A handful of happiness,
a heart full of love.

The mystery of life,
so sacred and sweet.
The giver of joy
so deep and complete.

Precious and priceless,
so lovable, too-
The world's sweetest miracle,
Baby, is you.



**Thanks to Amy for hosting Finer Things Friday!

No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls

I don't often make cinnamon rolls for breakfast just because it takes a lot of time with the rising and such!

So when I saw this recipe for No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls at The Happy Housewife, I knew I wanted to try them. They sounded so easy and quick! And cinnamon rolls for breakfast would be a welcome treat!

Sure enough- these cinnamon rolls were quick to mix up and easy, peasy to make! They were delicious, although more like a cinnamon biscuit or coffee cake texture and flavor than a traditional yeast cinnamon roll. I didn't have any cream cheese on hand for her frosting so I mixed up my usual cinnamon roll icing of hot water and powdered sugar. I bet the cream cheese frosting would be delicious though!

The Happy Housewife says these can be made ahead and frozen unbaked in rolls. Just thaw, slice and bake! I'm thinking this would be a great make-ahead breakfast treat for guests.

I'll be making these again!

Grass-Fed Beef

We are so excited about our first order of grass-fed beef!

For our first order, we kept it pretty small to try it out.

Here's what we got:

--3 packages of ground beef

--3 packages of stew meat

--1 chuck roast

--1 eye of round(I am excited to try this cut. They said this is their personal favorite and is very tender cooked in 1 inch slices, as cutlets.)

--1 big bag of bones for broth, soup and maybe even one or two for the dog!

If we like the meat, our next order will be larger.

I did gulp a bit at the price. But I then realized that it's probably not that much more expensive than regular-priced meat at the grocery store. From what I've read about grass-fed beef, I'm hoping that the health benefits will far outweigh the price and be totally worth it! Another positive aspect is supporting a local family farm. I love it!

Dinner tonight: Grass-fed burgers on the grill!

Works For Me Wednesday: Shampoo For Stinky Hands

Anyone who deals with changing diapers or any situation that somehow involves coming in contact with, shall we say, human solid waste, knows how annoying it is to have your hands smell like the diaper you just changed.

After you've washed your hands.

With soap.

Several times.

Since I'm once again in the midst of potty-training, this tip is one I'm rather familiar with these days. I got this tip from an experienced mom somewhere along the way!

Squirt a small amount of shampoo, such as Head & Shoulders or equivalent, onto your hands. Work into a lather, making sure to scrub all the cracks and crevices. Rinse well.

Your hands should smell a whole lot nicer now! You might actually like to sniff them continually just because.

Getting the poopy smell off my hands certainly is working for me!

**Head & Shoulders was the shampoo recommended to me for this purpose. Works well for us since we use Head & Shoulders shampoo anyways. Not sure if other types of shampoo will work the same. Try it and find out!


**This post is part of Works For Me Wednesday, hosted by We Are THAT Family.

A Busy Week!

Whew! This week has turned out to be more hectic than I had planned.

I made a to-do list for Monday and finished most of it by Wednesday. That is just the kind of week it's been!

My sister called Wednesday to inform us that she was being scheduled for a c-section the next morning since her amniotic fluids were quite low. We had planned to have my almost 4 year-old nephew come to visit for a few days when she had her baby, so we met them Wednesday night and brought Knox home with us. He was so excited to come to our house again!

Thursday was a bit hectic since I had my regular childcare boys as well as having Knox here. The boys enjoyed playing together most of the time. Life was interesting with a 3 year old and two 2 year olds.

Knox's baby sister and our new niece, Leila Grace (pronounced Lee-la)was born yesterday morning around 11:15 am. Mama and baby are both doing well and will be going home sometime this weekend. Once they are home, we'll be taking Knox back home, too. We can't wait to meet little Leila! Knox is excited about his new sister, too. He calls her "Weewa". It is so cute!

This morning we went out to run some errands and get some groceries. Knox had been complaining of a sore tummy off and on since yesterday but seemed to be playing and eating fine. Leaving Super Target, he threw up his breakfast in the car. We went back into Target to get some baby wipes, Clorox wipes, Febreze and some 7-up. We cleaned up the car and by that time he was feeling better. We continued on our errands and so far seems to still be fine even after devouring a huge slice of pizza at the Sam's Club cafe! (We had told him we would eat lunch at Sam's Club and he continued to remind us while we were shopping!) Hopefully, he will continue to feel ok and not be any sicker!

I have several posts half-way done and a list of more posts to write! Thanks for your patience!

I hope everyone has a blessed weekend!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: No Pan Spray?

Lately, I've been trying to go without buying and using pan spray. Something about spraying that aerosol onto the pans my food is cooked in doesn't sit well with me!

For a while I used this homemade "Better than Pam" pan release. But since I've stopped using shortening as well, I've looked for other options.

Here's what I've discovered so far:

--Butter. Rub the stick of butter on the insides of the pan or use a pastry brush to brush it on.

--Butter wrappers. I save these in a sandwich bag in the butter compartment of the fridge. Use the wrapper to grease your pan. This is a great way to use something that you would ordinarily throw away. It does take several wrappers to effectively grease a larger pan, though!

--Coconut oil. Brush this on your pans. I like this for cookies and other treats.

--Olive oil. Again, just brush the oil. I've heard of putting this in a spray bottle but so far haven't had success with this. Let me know if you're successful with this or you've found a sprayer where the oil doesn't clog. I like to use olive oil on breads or non-sweet dishes. A little goes a long way! Too much gets pretty oily! :-)

What do you find works the best as a substitution for pan spray? Please share with the rest of us!


For more kitchen tips, please visit Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy's Recipes!