Yep, I'm slacking again this week.

I havent' been feeling great and had a week where I needed to work 2 late nights. We decided to mostly do sandwiches and leftovers. Last night I did splurge and made a nice meatloaf with baked potatoes. Tonight is dinner at the IL's.

I'll work on next week's menu and stop slacking ;)

Brrrrrrrrr.... we had a lovely week and a half or so of perfect weather. Mid to upper 70's during the day and down to the 50's at night.

Now we're in the 50's for the day and 30's at night. Definitely time to break out the cold weather recipes! The nice part about warm weather recipes means running the oven more... which helps heat my house and lowers the use of that oh so expensive fuel oil, lol.

I'm going to make this for a cold weather treat. Hopefully I'll be able to refrigerate it so I can make a large batch and then heat up in the microwave.

You may have noticed that last weeks menu changed a bit. It was a weird week. I had a HUGE work event on Wednesday night. That wore me out and left me just flat out exhausted for 2 days. Plus Tuesday was our wedding anniversary and we ended up buying an Olive Garden Dinner last night. I didn't really want to, but Joe was determined.. I've come to realize he's the one that likes to eat out more then me. The good thing is that I tried a couple of great comfort food recipes that were so easy!

Sunday - sausage and penne pasta with steamed broccoli tossed in oyster sauce
Monday - Beef Stoganoff over noodles
Tuesday - Kate's baked mac and cheese - recipe below
Wednesday - Frozen Bertolli meal - will update after grocery shopping today
Thursday -Salisbury steaks and mashed potatoes
Friday - Slow cooker turkey chili with home made taco bread
Saturday - Slow cooker Jambalaya

Kate's Mac and Cheese - very easy and oh so good. The cheese sauce also makes a nice cheese soup however I'd recommend using 2TBS of cornstarch so it's not quite as thick.

4tbsp corn starch
1tsp salt
1tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp pepper
3 3/4 cups milk
4 cups (16 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
entire box of elbow mac (16 oz)

1. in med saucepan combine first 4 ingredients; stir
in milk; stirring constantly, bring to boil over
med/high heat and boil 1 minute. remove from heat
2.stir in 1 3/4 cup cheese until melted. add elbows
(already cooked). pour into greased 2qt casserole
dish. sprinkle with reserved cheese.
3.bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 25 min or until
lightly browned.
4-6 servings

Sunday - Quiche Lorraine
Monday - Dinner at In-laws
Tuesday -Kates Mac and cheese
Wednesday- Take out at arby's for me.. Joe was supposed to have soup, ended up with sub from pizza shop
Thursday - Salisbury steaks with leftover mac and cheese
Friday- Malaysian Fried Chicken with rice
Saturday - take out from Olive Garden

Broccoli rabe is on SALE!!! whoooo hooooo! up to 4lbs for only $.99 lb. yummmmmmm

Shopping list:
dishwasher detergent
fabric softner?
toilet paper
lysol wipes?

This morning I was packing lunch for my son to take to daycare. He went to the dr yesterday and has a very sore throat from the looks of it. I wanted to pack soft, soothing foods to eat.

I remembered that I had a container of cottage cheese I wanted to use in the stuffed shells. JP was so sick on Sunday I never made them. I pulled the container out to use for some of his lunch and noticed it looked funny when I opened it.

Turns out I'd bought cottage cheese with pineapple in it, lol. Fine in general as I love that... but not exactly stuffed shell friendly.

I don't have to do much grocery shopping at all this week. I think I'll keep planning to shop for 2 weeks at a time. Right now I'm only running low on bread. I may take JP to Panera Bread tomorrow and see if I can tempt him with a healthier bread.

I got a bunch of coupons from my mom and now need to clip them. I think that's my least favorite part of saving with coupons. I also still need a coupon holder. I want to get a big super organizer.. but let's face it... i'd be smarter to start small and see if I keep with it. I'm actually going to start with a few envelopes, can't get much simpler then that, lol.


Sunday - stuffed shells
monday - pizza or take out - may make something instead - we did take out twice last week
tuesday – moo shu beef
wednesday - frozen encore entree - i don't get home till 7:30.. at least JOe can microwave
thursday - soft chicken tacos - not using a recipe for this... just some chicken cooked in taco sauce, soft tortillas, olives, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream
friday - beef stew
saturday - Kate's bbq chicken pizza - just pizza dough topped with bbq sauce, shredded chicken and mozz cheese. thanks for the recipe and idea Kate :)

I'm also looking for a specific recipe. If anyone reading this can help he I'd be so happy.

I am continuing to make weekly treats for our office. This past week was apple squares and they went over very well. Next week I'm making oatmeal cookies. However I'd like to do them with a twist. This is the recipe help I need. I actually want to make a soft gingerbread oatmeal cookie. Anyone have a good recipe?

Sigh... I asked Joe to pick up 2 things on his way home. $45.00 later and he forgot one of them. NO wonder i have to keep cutting costs, he's the one overdoing them.

Ahhhhhhh colder weather is finally here. I know in a few months I'll be complaining about heating costs, but for now I'll enjoy the seasonal weather.

Joe and I are in a battle of sorts these days. I'm for cutting costs more and more and he thinks our spending is fine. I highly disagree. I think that with what we each spend on 'little things' or extra trips we probably spend $150.00 a WEEK on groceries... that is just way too high for 2 adults and a toddler.

I went shopping on Friday since I knew my usual grocery store was having good sales. I was thrilled with my positive trip. Step one was getting the spending to around the idea of what I want budgetted. With the sales I decided to shop for 2 weeks. Funny but thats what my mom always did when we were growing up and it was just as easy. If I time it right I'll always hit the sales. I also have decided to become a coupon fan. I spent an insane amount of time on Thursday trying to find coupons. I found many and printed them out. Then remembered my list and forgot the coupons. Oh well.. it's once again a first step. My grocery total for 2 adults and one toddler.. for a little over 2 weeks worth of dinners.. breakfasts.. and most lunches....was $138.00! I've been spending that or more each WEEK! To me this is a big thing.. but it usually doesn't take much to excite me these days, lol.


Sunday - Chicken Breast with Balsamic Glaze
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - Kielbasi and sauerkraut
Wednesday - Chicken and dumplings - slow cooker
Thursday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Friday - Beef stroganoff over noodles
Saturday - Mediterranean chicken wraps

as usual a couple of other trips have been made by Joe. I wish he'd just tell me what he wants s I can pick it up when I go. He spent about $32.. still keeping us at a new lower level... around $75 per week. Hopefully we can get thru to next week without spending much more.

This is cross posted from my regular blog as it was too funny not to share, and I know some people don't see the other.......

The following conversation came to me in an email this morning and just cracked me up. Granted I am working on sleep deprivation... and its my morning to be at work by 6:30am (6:38 was today - but I was still in first, lol).

The conversation was started last night btwn some friends and I over what we made for dinner last night. Since I do meal planning, I've gotten back into different dishes. The majority of these are very easy but sound impressive. Sunday's I do try to do something a bit more special....

......I know! Talking to Kelly is like being in one of those Lean Cuisine commercials.

Me: I had sloppy joe's

Kate: I had frozen ravioli

Kelly: I had Balsamic chicken with Balsamic reduction fancy stuff and mashed things (the mashed things were seasoned and mashed chickpeas)

If it makes anyone feel better tonight's meal is ....... Pizza, lol