Freezer cooking recap....

Last week, I finally was able to do some freezer cooking. I haven't had many Tuesdays free which is when Garyn is at mother's day out. I am either working the night before or have had doctor's appointments.

I got a good bit done, but not as much as I originally wanted. I also had a major flop trying a new recipe.

I have been wanting to make some type of pizza pockets and I got this recipe from a kids-meal-ideas website. First off, they were really small, so after making a few I made the circles bigger. And then you couldn't put much filling in or else they overflowed. Then I cooked them. As you can see the filling spilled out and the crust is dry having a strong corn meal taste (corn meal is the main ingredient). I just don't think they will get eaten. I threw out all but the ones that weren't overflowing. Oh well, I'll try a different recipe next time.

I did try some new burritos and they are good! I made the normal Brown Bag Burritos and some chicken burritos that I made up along the way. Basically, they have everything the Mexican Chicken Casserole has in it. Rice, shredded chicken, rotel tomatoes, corn, black beans, cheese and salsa. I let all this simmer together a little while and then rolled them up just like the brown bags. I did add some sour cream when rolling up but stopped because it was just melting from the heat and I worried about freezing and then reheating it.

I also made the Mexican Chicken Casserole which as usual I divided into 2 separate dinners. Then I tried money saving mom's brown sugar twists. I like them but will add more sugar and cinnamon next time. They aren't quite sweet enough for us. But are great dipped in honey!



I also froze some cooked ground hamburger meat and shredded chicken for use in other meals. So here is the final tally:

2 Mexican Chicken Casseroles
10 Brown Bag Burritos
10 Chicken Burritos
bag of shredded chicken
not pictured:
bag of cooked ground beef
20 brown sugar biscuit twists
and a few pizza empandas

I may try to have a smaller freezer day in the next couple weeks. I had some meat recipes I wanted to try that are just marinated or somehow prepared meats to add sides to when making dinner. We'll see if I can get some more stocked away before Ansley comes! Less than 7 weeks until my due date!

Yummy Yummy...

So last month I set out to make a couple new recipes and I found them worth sharing.

I made Easy Tomato Chicken....

and it was easy. I am not a big fan of using the grill. I love the taste from the grill but our grill is hard to get lit and I am not one to give it time to cook, therefore I end up burning the outside. Anyway, this was just throw everything in the dish and put it in the oven. I thought it was juicy and tasty; Garyn ate it well, and Tyler surprisingly ate it even with the tomatoes. He did complain a little but that was to be expected. :) And it is a Weight Watchers recipe, I believe, that I got at MOPS, the moms group I am apart of at church.

Easy Tomato Baked Chicken

1 small red onion, thinly sliced (I omitted this, since I didn't have it and we aren't huge onion fans)

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb)

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Reduced Fat Dressing

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Place onions in bottom of 13 x 9 inch baking dish

Top with chicken

Combine tomatoes, dressing and garlic powder and pour over chicken

Sprinkle with cheese

Bake 30 min. or until cooked through

Yields 4 servings and is 4 points per serving

Another night, Tyler wanted to have some Steak Nachos that he had at a restaurant while in Nashville. I was not in the mood to come up with anything, so we tried it.

Basically, you put black beans on bottom then layer with strips of steak, tortilla chips, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes and lettuce. We didn't have any lettuce, though, and I was the only one bummed.

Then, the best one we made was Maple-Glazed Chicken with Sweet Potatoes. I had this recipe from a Better Homes and Garden magazine. It was so good! Tyler actually cooked it and he also loved it.

Maple-Glazed Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

1 lb. chicken breast tenders or breast (skinless boneless)
2 tsp steak grilling seasoning, such as Montreal
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup maple syrup (we used plain pancake syrup)
1/2 cup sliced green onions (again, omitted this)
Also calls for 8 oz. package of refrigerated mashed sweet potatoes, but I just made them from real sweet potatoes just like making mashed potatoes and added brown sugar and cinnamon

1. Lightly coat chicken with steak seasoning. Heat butter in large skillet over medium high-heat, add chicken
2. Cook chicken 5-6 min until no longer pink turning once halfway through. Remove from skillet and keep warm.
3.Stir maple syrup into hot skillet cook 2 minutes and stir in green onions
4. Divide chicken and potatoes among 4 plates and drizzle with maple syrup mixture.

Serves 4. Each serving has 384 cal, 7 g fat, 4 g sat fat, 6 g fiber

If you want to try any of these, I would totally suggest the Maple Glazed chicken, but they were all good!

Freezer Cooking Day!

I am so proud of myself for doing freezer cooking today. I totally decided this morning. We have been saying over and over that we needed some freezer meals, especially BB burritos, to keep us from eating out as much. Garyn goes to Mother's Day Out on Tuesday and when I saw the rain, I decided going Christmas shopping and running errands wasn't going to be any fun. (I avoid getting out in rain since breaking my foot!) Which equals: impromptu cooking day!

Anyway, I got 4 dinners done and 10 burritos to put in the freezer (actually only 9 cause one I ate for lunch). I tried one new chicken casserole that I had gotten out of the Better Homes and Garden magazine a while back. Hoping its good!

Hot N' Cheesy Chicken Casserole
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 14 oz. pkg. frozen broccoli
    (I left this out since my boys don't like it)
2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 10 oz can cream of chick. condensed
1 10 oz can fiesta nacho cheese soup
    ( I substitued nacho cheese dip....?)
1 10 oz ca rotel
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup crushed rich round crackers

1. Preheat overn to 350 F. Place chicken in bottom
of 3 qt. casserole dish. Combine broccoli, rice, and peas.
Spread over chicken. Then combine cream of chicken,
nacho cheese, soup, rotel, milk, and red pepper. Stir in
1/4 cup of cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup of mozz. cheese
Pour mixture over everything. Then sprinkle crushed
crackers and remaining mozz. & cheddar cheese.

2. Bake, uncovered, 35-45 mins or until topping is
golden. Makes 8-10 servings.

I split this into 2 dishes since there are only 3 of us.
And I didn't put the topping on cause I was worried the crackers wouldn't be crispy after freezing.

I also made the Mexican Chicken Casserole and split it into two dishes.

Just to let you know how we roll around here....I made all this, planned for us to eat one of the dishes, and my wonderful, sweet husband wants to go out to eat. Of course! And he talked me into it because he is leaving for a conference in Nashville for work tomorrow and won't be back till Friday.....oh the irony!

Freezer Cooking Day FINALLY!

After not having a freezer cooking day since this one.......I am determined to not miss a month again. I couldn't believe how long it had been! I can see a difference too. We have been eating out a lot lately, even Garyn and I for lunch. Partly because I get so hungry and only certain things sound good to me. Cooking (mainly just strong smelling meals) makes me nauseous, too, so I have my excuses I guess.

But yesterday I hunkered down and got two things done to put in the freezer!

First, I made Brown Bag Burritos. I took advantage of the taco night we had for the football players on Wednesday and browned extra meat. (Tacos were one of the things that I could hardly stand in the kitchen while it was cooking.......don't care if I eat a taco for awhile.)

I got 12 done and hope this curbs the lunch-out issue!

Next, I made apple pies. I mixed the Slab Apple Pie recipe and the Mini Apple Pie recipe some, to get the best of both. I am not sure, though, how the crust is going to turn out. I used the Slab Apple Pies crust and it didn't do so well in the muffin pans. It turns out as a flakey, buttery good crust and that didn't want to stick together in the muffin pans. So I used the rest for 2 mini Slab Apple Pies.

So I now have 12 brown bag burritos, 9 mini apple pies and 2 small slab apple pies in the freezer! Better than nothing!

Dinner Menu

(My beautiful hydrangeas that are giving me fresh flowers to place on the table)

I haven't been doing good these last couple weeks at making a meal plan. I have been trying to write something down, however, we still are eating out too much lately. I have got to get back into this habit of posting because it helps me stick with the plan. I am too easily swayed by Tyler if I have no plan at all!

Sunday- Ruby Tuesday's
Monday- Mexican Chicken Casserole
Tuesday- Grilled Chicken, veggies and cornbread
Wednesday- Waffles, eggs, and sausage
Thursday- Barbecue Chicken Pizza
Friday- Frozen bagged meal
Saturday- eat out

Lunches-
  brown bag burritos
  egg sandwiches
  Chicken salad sandwiches
  hot dogs
  eat lunch out
  leftovers

Rich Updates...

I haven't been blogging as much lately. I thought I would update a little through some pictures of what all we've been doing the last couple weeks...

We have been swimming some these last couple weeks. Garyn is enjoying it and is able to stay afloat with just his arm floaties, instead of the whole garb he had to wear last year. These pics are when Lakelin stayed with us after the Memorial day gathering and we went out to my dad's pool. We have also been to a neighborhood pool that Tyler's mom got us a membership to. I am pretty excited about it. It's Stuart Height's pool, only 5 mins from our house and they give swim lessons to members.

I have also been working a lot lately. I just finished 3 nights. During the summer, I try to sign up for some extra nights. I always wonder why I do it though, because its hard to work 3 nights and Tyler is still busy during the day. Nana and Poppa like to keep Garyn more in the summer, but it doesn't always work out for them to. However, we are trying to save up money for our trips, as you know. More importantly, I am going down to just working 3 days every two weeks this fall! I am currently doing 4 days a pay period ( twice a week) so it is going to be so nice to have that one less day every other week. I'll explain why in a minute... 

This picture is from last week when our pastor's wife, Heather, had her baby. Garyn and their oldest Carson were born 40 mins apart and had their first baths together. Heather and I have been friends since and I had the privilege of giving their second his first bath!

After working all those nights, I came home to this today just waiting for me to attend to......

There was another one on the floor, too. But I am not complaining one bit, because at least they are clean and not dirty all over the floor.

My sweet hubby has been helping out a lot with such things, I even came home one morning and he had clipped my coupons! They were even divided up into piles of like products. He knows what grabs my heart!

Speaking of my sweetie, here are some pics from our anniversary day

We went down to Ocoee to go White Water rafting. We used to love doing that sort of stuff, but now with Garyn its harder. I arranged for Nana and Poppa to watch Garyn while we went. I didn't tell Tyler, until the night, before what we were doing. This is us in the car waiting because I wanted to leave 2 hours before our scheduled time. Ocoee is only 40-45 minutes away if you didn't know. We had time to enjoy each other, though, I tried to convince him I planned it that way.

Here we are in our rafting attire! We look pretty goofy. We enjoyed the trip, Tyler voluntarily jumped in once and involuntarily fell out another time. I was holding on for dear life because I really didn't want to get in involuntarily. Actually, it scares me a little, especially now with Garyn. I felt really safe with the guide and such but those waters are powerful and rocks are everywhere! When Tyler fell out, he fell backwards head first with his legs and feet still in the raft. He tried to pull himself back up but then let go and went under the raft! The guide grabbed his life jacket but couldn't get him out from under so he let go. Tyler popped up quickly, BUT boy was I freaking out a little on the inside! The guide was very cool and nonchalant about it so I guess it happens all the time. The whole event lasted maybe 1 minute, that was 1 minute more than I could stand, though! I was pretty close to screaming "Help him!" or something similar! Whew, definitely an adrenaline rush! lol! Tyler said he was a little worried at one point, too.

Here we are after, on the bus ride back. You can tell that even though I did not go into the water, I was drenched!

The rest of the day was spent consuming way too much food and donuts (it was National Donut day which equaled free donuts!) We also got to see a movie, Prince of Persia, which was unplanned and good.

That same weekend, I got to go to Goodwill half off day and yard sales. I have been finding some good toys for Garyn. I got both this Woody and Buzz for him at yard sales. He is getting into Toy Story. I think that is what we will be doing for his birthday. I also can't wait to take him next weekend to see the new movie.

Isn't he such a cutie?

Garyn has been doing awesome with potty training. He has been getting to play lots of Wii games which means he has been pooping in the potty a lot! We still have some issues when we are out and about but I am not complaining! He has gotten pretty good at playing Wii and can do more games now. This is him playing swords, that's his favorite.

Tyler is taking 2 classes right now and will be finishing up his masters by August. He is having to work really hard on these classes because one is supposed to be done after the other but he got approved to do them together. They are his research paper classes so the different chapters of his paper are due at the same time. Thankfully, his mom helps him a lot! I have no interest to write a paper or do research. Nursing school did me in!

Tyler also is busy with football and now baseball! The head baseball coach is leaving and the previous assistant is now the head coach. That opened up the assistant spot. Tyler had been thinking about coaching baseball for awhile so this was the perfect opportunity. Graduating with his masters and getting an extra supplement check is the reason I get to work less in the fall. I am happy for him to do baseball for that reason!!

Well, that's what going on in this "Richest Life" for us

June Goals and meal plan

June Goals

Fun:
Go to pool at least twice a week!
Go to Chester Frost "beach"
Go to Myrtle Beach, the real beach :)
Take Garyn to see Toy Story 3
Take Garyn bowling with friends
Have a great anniversary with my hubby!

DIY/Home:
Paint something in basement
Clean off deck

Craft:
Coasters
Finish the bazillion gift baskets for the bazillion baby showers

Cleaning:
Deep Clean- under couches and beds
                   clean up laundry room
                   clean/ straighten Garyn's toys
                  
clean and vacuum car before vacation
Give dogs a bath

Cooking:
Freezer Cooking day
meal plan for lunch ideas and dinner
Eat at home all but 5 meals each week (including lunch)

Financial:
Continue to save for trips! They will be here soon!!
Itemize bank statement for last month

Health/Wellness:
Go bike riding sometime
Continue Tyler in taking multivitamins (he conveniently forgets when I don't tell him to take them)

Reading:
Finish "Don't Make Me Count To Three"
Begin "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and attend book club meetings for it
Catch up on daily Bible readings and limit Internet time when behind

Meal Plan:
(Changing this up a little to account for flexibility)

Lunches-
Hot Dogs
Sandwiches-roast beef included
Barbecue Sandwiches
pizza
brown bag burritos
pizza pockets (will give recipe later)

Dinners-
Mexican Chicken Casserole
Barbecue grilled chicken
Steaks, baked potatoes
Taco salad
frozen skillet meal (I have several taking up freezer space)

Dinner Plans....

Sunday- Frozen Pizza , we tried the new DiGiorno's with bread sticks, and the bread sticks were really good
Monday- Tacos or Taco salad (or maybe both!)
Tuesday- Barbecue Potatoes and baked beans (* new recipe for baked beans)
Wednesday- Breakfast
Thursday- Tuna Noodle Casserole * new
Friday- Hamburgers
Saturday- Eat out

Pray that Tyler will stick with it this week.... :)  Hope you enjoy your dinners!

Menu Plan and withdrawals

Monday- Spaghetti Pie
Tuesday- Mexican Chicken Casserole
Wednesday- Barbecue Chicken sandwiches
Thursday- Breakfast??
Friday-??
Saturday-??

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are iffy because Tyler has informed me not to make any plans. He even wanted to know if there was a way I could get off work Friday night. I am not sure what he has up his sleeve, but I like surprises. I just hope he can keep it a secret! He isn't always good about being careful in what he says around me. Or maybe I am just trying to put things together to figure it out!

Can I just say that I love making meal plans, but I have to keep in mind it can change. Or I should say, Tyler can change it!  Spaghetti Pie is on the list because Tyler did not want it last week, I tried to change it to a different day and he still protested. So I made it yesterday, while he was taking a nap! He ate it without complaining and that's all that counts!

Yes, Tyler is a tricky one. He called me last week during the day and said, "Honey, I'm having withdrawals." I said, "To what?!" (you never know with men) He said, "To eating out, I feel like I haven't ate out in months! I'm tired of eating at home." He is truly addicted.

And now, we have a new goal to work on, not eating out for lunch! This guy has started calling us during the day to meet him for lunch. He is awful! He thinks since we are eating at home for dinner, he'll just get his fix at lunch. It is a rare opportunity for us to get to see him at lunch, so I have been falling for it! But here lately, work is less hectic for him and his planning period is during lunch so he calls. I am gonna have to work hard this summer while he is out of school to keep us from eating out one meal everyday! The thought tires me, whew!

I tell you most of the time it is easier to discipline Garyn than Tyler! Not that I discipline him, but he told me the other day, "You're my conscience, you keep me from doing anything and everything I shouldn't." I don't like having to be the bad guy, though. So I give in half the time and encourage the other!

The REAL menu for this week!

That Tyler thinks he is sooo funny! But you see that list, if I would let him, we would go out everynight like that! I guess I'll learn to not leave my half done post open on the computer anymore!

Sunday- Baja Chicken Tacos
Monday-Curried Chicken Casserole
Tuesday-Barbeque Chicken Pizza *new*
Wednesday- Hot dogs and chili
Thursday- Spaghettie Pie
Friday-? left overs or eating out
Saturday- eat out

What's on the menu

Sunday- Baja Chicken Tacos
Monday- 5 guys a fries
Tuesday-O'charley's
Wednesday-Logans
Thursday- Amigos
Friday- Big River Grill
Saturday- Eating out
Just trying some "new" things this week-Tyler

Dinner Plans and Freezer Cooking!

Sounds like I am cooking a freezer from that title!

We have been having internet issues the last couple of days. I was sure it was because of all the storms we have had lately, but Tyler sat down to try and figure it out and found the reason it wasn't working. Garyn had pressed the button, evidently, that turns the Wi-Fi off. One click and the internet was back up! So I wasn't able to get my meal plan up yesterday because of one click of a button! Such is life with a 2 year old.

Dinner Plans:
Monday- Breakfast
Tuesday- Eating out (me with SS girls at Ichiban and the boys are going to Amigos with Nana & Poppa)
Wednesday- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans
Thursday- Chicken Stir Fry * new one
Friday- Eating out
Saturday- Tacos and Roasted Corn
Sunday- Deep Dish Pizza casserole * new one

Freezer Filling Day was today {cooked things to fill the freezer :) }

I got a lot done this time! I was shooting for making 3 casseroles/ dinners, atleast. I ended up getting this done:

I made 2 meat loafs, 2 Curried Chicken Casseroles, 2 Mexican Chicken Casseroles, 11 Brown Bag Burritos, 11 Mini Apple Pies { 6 already made and 3 already eaten} + one bigger-mini apple pie for 2
 * I split the 8 serving casseroles into 2 that will be more our size. If some friends or family come, I can easily put the 2 together to cook.

All together thats 8 + meals plus a dessert. I worked longer, of course, and made a bigger mess, but now I can have 2 dinners a week until next time I freezer fill/cook!

One trick I have learned from http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ is to bake the chicken I need.

 It cooks in about 30 mins at 350 and is tender. It also keeps the stove top free. I actually started cooking them this morning when getting Garyn's lunch ready for school. I placed them in frozen and then approx. 30 mins later I pulled them out. By the time I got back from taking Garyn to school {a.k.a. Mother's Day Out}they were nice and cool for cutting.

Tyler came by to pick up some lunch during his planning period and actually helped me some. He wanted to try some of the mini apple pies so he prepared the first 6. Not so sure he was a big help since he made a mess making hot dogs and chili for his lunch, and then spilled coke all over the place that I had to mop up. BUT I enjoyed his company for an hour or so!

Speaking of the mini apple pies, they are pretty good, not so sure that they are easier than the Slab Apple Pie. The taste, obviously, is very similar. I halfed this recipe and either I measured wrong or Tyler made the first 6 crust too thick, but I ran out of crust. When I made extra it was in between 1-2 muffin cups so I opted for the small oval pie. I froze the ones I didn't cook for a yummmy dessert.

The Curried Chicken Casserole, I had made once before awhile back and came across the recipe when planning. I LOVE curried chicken. I, also, love all the food groups being in this one....isn't it colorful?

Well, you can't quite see it all, but it has carrots, celery and apples. Better yet, here's the recipe:

Curried Chicken and Rice Casserole:
2 Tbsp. butter
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 med. onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 apple (granny smith is the best) peeled and chopped
2 cups brown rice (uncooked)
2 cups diced cooked chicken
5 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk or plain yogurt
1 Tbsp. curry powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

1) Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a skillet and add celery, onion, carrots and apple, cook and stir for a few minutes. Add remaining ingredients and combine well.
2)Pour mixture into an 8 inch sq. casserole dish. Sprinkle with additional curry powder if desired.
3)Bake for 45 mins approx., until rice is tender and it is bubbly

I made my Mexican Chicken Casserole, again. It is an all time fav around here. I love how colorful it is too! Lots of veggies for these non-veggie boys of mine.

Tyler loves meatloaf and just until recently was stuck on no onions in it. I put some in this time, so we will see how he likes it. This recipe isn't anything grand, because its so plane for Tyler. I may be able to try some other recipes now that he is branching out.

Meatloaf: { I doubled this}
1 cup tomato juice ( I use ketchup and a little water)
3/4 cup Quaker Oats
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 lbs ground beef

Last, I made Brown Bag Burritos again. I switched it up a little this time because I didn't have enchilada sauce. I added a can of Rotel and some taco sauce. I got 11 from halfing the recipe.

I am so excited to have 2 meals a week that can come from the freezer!

What's on the menu!

Monday- Chicken Alfredo and salad

Tuesday- Three Cheese Ziti

Wednesday-Petros {Yes, this is the same thing as the restaurant that I miss so much!}

Thursday- Roast Beef sandwiches and chips

Friday- Left overs?

Saturday- possible eat out

Sunday- Nana and Poppa's before I go to work

note: Tyler is leaving Thursday for Disney World with the seniors. He is so lucky; I am so jealous! He won't be back til Monday. Our second long weekend without him this month!

Also, I made a list of all the meals we like and want to try....its long! It is highly suggested to do by the meal planner gurus out there so that you have a base to start with. I think I am going to like it!

Family time...

We went down to my brother's house this weekend since Tyler was gone with the football coaches to Ohio. We got to spend lots of time with some of Garyn's favorite people. Garyn has his list of people that he lights up when they are around. Lakelin, Lornie (Lorna), Josh, and Karen are 4 of those such people!

Lorna and Lakelin were having sleep overs that night so there were a total of 9 11-14 yr olds there! Garyn loves watching the girls dance and the boys play video games. He was just beside himself. I hardly saw him the 2 days we were there! On Saturday night, we went to a Bon Fire at 2 of the kids house and my brother's friends. We made smores...yumm! I managed to get a few pics there....

Lakelin and Garyn on the golf cart. Garyn got tours around their house. Lakelin is his favorite!

Garyn and uncle Josh, he loves his uncle!

Garyn played basketball with all the teens, they would pick him up to let him dunk. He was in hog heaven! Its amazing to me how good they were with him.

I just love family time and seeing how much Garyn loooves them all. They live an hour away so we don't see them but once a month, which isn't enough!

Meal Plan for the week:

Monday: I will be eating something from home at work, Garyn and Tyler will be eating at Nana
and Poppa's

Tuesday: Taco Salad

Wednesday: Lasanga and salad

Thursday: Grilled Chicken and veggie sides

Friday: Game Night! will be making some Barbeque Potatoes and extras

Saturday: Eating out

April Goals

Fun:
Game Night! I think we have one weekend this can happen out of this month, but I am going to shoot for it!
More dinners with new/old friends
Take Garyn to zoo ( haven't been since this day)

DIY/Home:
Get main basement area cleaned out and ready for paint
Paint master bedroom
Finish putting up cork boards for Garyn's many art projects in playroom

Craft:
work on scrapbooks
coasters?

Cooking:
Meal plan every week!
Eat at home 4x a week at least
Freezer cooking day

Cleaning:
deep clean once a week
put dishes away before bed
stay on top of laundry better

Financial:
Keep saving for trips
try to do cash only for gas, grocery and eating out $$

Health/Wellness:
Keep supporting Tyler
Try to muster up some motivation on my part now that its warming up
Eat more veggies

~New:Reading~
I have been attempting to read through the Bible in one year, and keep falling behind so
Goal is to catch up and then stay on task with the days reading

I would also like to do a bible story time with Garyn each day, we have a couple different books we use

March Goals Completed....

Fun:
Did eat out with some new friends and some old, more than I can count!
Didn't take Garyn to fly a kite..........bad momma

DIY/ Craft:
Did Garyn's toy bin labels! I am so excited, hoping he can sort them better on his own.
Did painitng activity plus some...remember...
I painted my cabinet door as extra, Tyler hasn't put it up yet but its a start!
Didn't do my coasters!UGH! I didn't have all the pics I wanted to use, and being frugal I am waiting for a free prints ( Every couple months someone like snapfish, shutterfly, walgreens offers free prints and I haven't paid for any in like a year!)

Home:
Worked in the basement a good bit, on days that Garyn had Mothers Day Out & I didn't work
Part of that was the consignment stuff, I made about $95 off the sale!! woo hoo!

Cooking:
Did eat at home a lot! Most weeks we hit 5x a week!
Made several new meals.....Lasgna, Baja Chicken Tacos, Barbecue potatoes.......
Freezer cooking day: check

Health/ Wellness:
Walked once a week.....not twice
Eating veggies still, Garyn now knows that carrots go with sandwiches! Tyler is doing better!
Tyler is also running and working out a lot! I am very proud, he is now doing P90x with a group
of guys at work.....guess I need to be more motivated

Financial:
We have been saving for our trips! Never got to say that we are going on 3 trips this summer
1 beach/ 2 mission- one mission trip is only me (if I can get off) to here
Home improvement fund hasn't really changed much! We are focusing on the trips right now
BUT we need to do better! We have talked about doing a cash only system for the extra
expenses. I have been getting $ out for the groceries, but other than that we haven't followed
through with it

Cleaning:
Still been cleaning something each week, I don't really remember all of them but I know I
cleaned out Garyn's closet some more in preparation for the sale and summer clothes
Also cleaned under the beds and couch. I did another cleaning on Garyn's bath toys, too.

Well thats the month of March! I know I want ever get all of them done cause I keep increasing my goals. However, I'm still loving the accountability of these monthly goals! Keeps me focused!
Check back for April goals tomorrow!
(sorry no pics, can't seem to find my camera)

Freezer-filling day!

I have been trying so hard to make things easier on myself and my husband to eat from home and healthier. Tyler is a lot less picky now! Somehow, he has put aside his previous view of some foods and will just eat it while saying "Man, this is good". I'm proud of him and shocked!

So today I made some Brown Bag Burritos that I had read about over here. (The recipe is here) You supposedly can easily take them out of the foil and heat them in the microwave. I ate some just now fresh for lunch......oooohhhh were they yummy! I hope he likes them, I think he will. If not, I only halved the recipe so I'm sure Garyn and I will eat them pretty fast. It made 11; 9 to freeze, 2 for lunch. (Refried beans is a new food to Tyler)

I also did some ingredients to freeze instead of a whole meal. Onions are normally left out of any recipe we make, but not anymore!! Tyler will eat them now. He said "You really can't taste them." I wanted to slap him! I have watched him pick at his food for so long telling him if he just try it he wouldn't taste them! So I cut up some onions before they went bad and froze them. I also boiled rice (extra from the below recipe) and bagged it. (Got that idea from www.moneysavingmom.com, too.)

Then I made my Mexican Chicken Casserole. I split it into 2 meals.
Last but not least, I did some freezer cooking last week when I made pancakes. I made a second batch while we had the grill out and everything. We have already been eating on them. You really can't tell they were frozen! This is another thing Tyler can pull out of the fridge easily. Garyn wants pancakes every morning! He doesn't get them but he still asks for them. Having them frozen to heat up quickly is great.

Overall, it was a successful day. I really only work for a couple hours and then I'm tired of cooking. Maybe one day I'll have a full table and my dream!

Getting the goals done!

Its almost April! Wow! I hate March has gone by so fast, but I love looking over the goals to see where I end up. I also like making a fresh list for the next month. The little excitements of my life!

Here are some pics from today:

Maddox playing while the boys were painting. He kept wanting to put the hat in his mouth so I put it on his head......

As you can tell, Braxton and Maddox were over and we decided to paint. Remember I had that as a goal....well I couldn't really manage with Maddox painting outside so we painted inside and with friends! Garyn also helped me paint the cabinet door outside the other day, therefore we technically did paint outside! {I know, only I am keeping up with the rules...lol}

They really enjoyed it and wanted to mix colors to make new ones. It wasn't too messy either, surprisingly.

Tomorrow is freezer cooking day!

I've got other goals I am finishing up here at the last minute! You will have to wait and see them in a couple days, though.

Meals for this week are:

Monday: Grilled chicken, bow tie pasta, and some type of veggie

Tuesday: breakfast- Tyler's favorite!- biscuit, eggs, sausage, & gravy

Wednesday: Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Thursday: Possible meal out/ barbecue chicken potatoes

Friday: Hamburgers/Hot dogs and sweet potato fries

Saturday: Family Easter dinner (I believe)

Tyler and I did really good last week eating off our meal plan. I did feel more at ease having it decided already, but had a since of flexibilty, as well. Maybe this week we'll be successful, too!

yUmMy YumMy

We have been having some new recipes and yumminess this week. We have ate at home every night since Sunday! The only slip ups have been that Tyler and I went to eat lunch on Tuesday at Zaxby's while Garyn was in Mother's Day out. He had just enough time while out on an errand to eat so we took advantage of it. Otherwise, we have stayed on our meal plan except for we didn't have hot dogs because Tyler wanted breakfast for dinner.....

I tried these blueberry pancakes that I kept seeing on moneysavingmom. They were so good! I didn't use whole wheat flour so they weren't quite as healthy. I used frozen blueberries, too, instead of fresh. Tyler didn't want blueberries in his, but loved them plain! You should try them.

On Sunday, we had our barbecue potato skins. They were so good! There is really no recipe out there for these so I was worried a little. I always seem to mess up the easiest of things, but not these guys......

I used left over Pot Roast meat that I just shredded and covered with barbecue sauce earlier in the day. Then prepared the potatoes as you would for twice baked potatoes. Layer them up with cheese and put back into oven for a little bit. Topped them off with sour cream then devoured! Baked beans went well with them, too. Garyn ate them like it was candy, which surprised me because he normally doesn't like potatoes. We can judge how much he likes something by whether or not he feeds himself. If he hates it, he won't eat it unless you force him to, and sometimes not even then. If he kinda likes it, he will eat it when you feed it to him. If he loves it, he feeds himself!

I made the Pork Tenderloin and wasn't that happy with it. It was simple, but the marination that came on it wasn't very flavorful. We ate it, though, I just won't be buying that type again. Then, I also made Lasagna for the first time. It was yummy, but messy to assemble. Didn't look like a pretty rectangle! I guess I need a rectangular pan to put it in, although that wasn't what the recipe called for. Anyhow, there is no picture. Garyn feed himself the Lasagna so it will be back!

I get the night off, though, cause we are heading over to these guys house. We will have our Baja Chicken Tacos tomorrow night before I head out to work. Then Saturday is date night!

Meals for next week

So I am going to meal plan for the first time!
The funny part is that Tyler initiated it....we came up with it together

Sunday- Bar-B-Que potato skins and baked beans { I am using some pot roast meat from last week, attempting to replicate the Sticky skins from Sticky Fingers}
Monday- Hot dogs and chili
Tuesday- Pork Lion, peas and new potatoes {first time making Pork Lion}
Wednesday- Baja Chicken Tacos, rice and beans
Thursday- Lasagna and salad {first time making, unsure of recipe}
Friday-left overs or frozen dinner
Saturday- Eating out

Otherwise, we have been enjoying this beautiful weather this weekend. Tyler got a lot of yard work done today and I got the cabinet door painted finally! Will post pics when it is installed.....

Garyn is talking so much and beginning to say funny things; here is the latest:
1) Just today, we were in Home Depot in the bathroom, I gave Garyn the option to stand or sit. He stood up to pee. Then I said, "Stand over here while momma pees". He said. "Momma, you wanna stand up to pee?" I couldn't help but laugh, and said "No momma can't stand"

2) In the car one day, we turned onto no-particular road, and he said "Oh, look momma, its so beautiful, I love it!" Not sure what he was referring to, he is real expressive and imaginative about silly things.

He also has been doing some funny things.......
He has discovered deodorant, and has put Tyler's on several times. He puts it on his side put under his arm. Cracks me up! He always does it when I am getting ready, and says "Garyn put some on, Momma?"

So we are just loving this time together. He is hilarious.....