Ongoing's from My Loft

Menu Plan Monday January 12

2009-01-12T12:57:00.001-06:00

You may notice that I switched my 'week' and moved the weekend to the front of the line. I shop on the weekends and it just makes more sense for our family right now. Maybe when I am not working any more and go back to shopping at the beginning of the week I'll go back to Monday through Sunday again.

Dinners
Saturday: Spaghetti, green salad
Sunday: Baked chicken drumsticks, rice pilaf, and corn
Monday: Lasagnia and green salad
Tuesday: Shredded pork loin crockpot, twice baked potato and broccoli
Wednesday: Leftover night
Thursday: Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and green beans
Friday: Tacos

Reality is the days will get shuffled around but as long as Saturday and Monday happen then everything else is good.

Again this week I will make a breakfast bread and a sweet (most likely it will be Magic Bars).

Looking for more menu ideas? Check out I'm an Oranizing Junkie. Have a great week!

Menu Plan Monday January 5

2009-01-04T13:30:00.005-06:00

Menu Plan for January 5, 2009

It will be a busy and changing week so the plan is to keep things simple and dinner going on the table so we stay out of the restaurants.

Monday: Spanish Rice, Tossed Salad -moved to Thursday

Tuesday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Salad - Moved to Monday

Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore (crockpot), Rice, Salad - Didn't happen

Thursday: Leftover Buffet

Friday: Chicken ala King, Puff Pastry, Cranberry Sauce

Saturday: Lasagna, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread - moved to this coming Monday but did make spaghetti so the sauce is ready for Monday. ;)

Sunday: Roasted pork, twice baked potatoes, broccoli - moved to this coming Tuesday made baked chicken and rice with corn

I also plan to make banana bread, regular bread to go with some tuna salad to take care of lunches, and perhaps some croutons to use up so going stale bread. Banana bread was a great idea, tuna salad didn't happen so the reg bread became bread pudding Saturday night.

Looking for more menu ideas? Check out I'm an Oranizing Junkie. Have a great week!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T13:29:00.001-06:00

MY 2009 GOALS
These are my GOALS!! I do not need to have everything on here accomplished by December of 2009. The list is way too long. Goals are something to work towards, not something that must be completed. As long as I accomplish at least 2 items from each category, then I will have met my goals for 2009.

Spend more time in God’s Word.
§ Have Daily personal Bible Study.
§ Have daily prayer time.
§ Start attending church again.

Keep in touch and spend more quality time with my family and friends.
§ Invite friends over once a month.
§ Have a Date night two times a month, even if it’s at home.
§ Send cards to family members on regular basis.

Make our house feel like a home.
§ Continue de-cluttering. Find at least 5 things each weekday to get rid of.
§ Learn how to deal with mail correctly.
§ Organize, straighten and make sure everything has a place.
§ Make home a place we can rest, relax and be refreshed.
§ Follow my routines list and PCC
§ Dishes need to be done before bed to enable the morning and next evening’s dinner to go better.
§ Create appropriate storage for games so they can be used.
§ Create a more permanent office area for dh.
§ Work out a reasonable system for seasonal décor.

Health
§ Exercise more.
§ Trim down enough so my clothes fit nicely. The scale is my enemy so this goal will have to do for the year.
§ Learn how to cook even more without using packets or canned goods.
§ Drink at least 4 glasses of water a day.
§ Add an additional serving of vegetables to each day.
§ Get physical and take meds on time.

Communication
§ Post to my blog at least twice a week.
§ Keep in touch by phone or email with extended family at least once a month.
§ Spend more time sharing my thoughts and ideas with dh.

Become better organized.
· Update and use Home Control Journal
· Update and use Christmas Planner
· Create a more workable plan for once a month cooking
§ Put together a workable menu plan each week and post it for dh to see and use.
§ Make an accurate grocery list and stick to it.

Do something for myself once a week.
§ Take a bubble bath, give myself a manicure, or do something else to take care of me.
§ Work on my paper crafting either going to an event or at home.

Financial
§ Use coupons and sales regularly for all purchases.
§ Save additional money by keeping a price book and track for appropriate stockpiling of non-perishable goods purchased at the best prices.
§ Find year long employment.
§ Focus more on paying down debt and working my FPU plan with dh.
§ Make sure quarterly taxes are paid on time.

Menu Plan Monday August 18th

2008-08-17T23:30:00.004-05:00

What's new for this week? I am starting to add recipes for some of the meals. If you need them scaled larger please let me know as I have that done since I enjoy freezer cooking. Also note that I will play with recipes. What that means is if I am short on something or have a bit more I will adjust to make it work for what we will enjoy.

Last week had a few bumps and it caused some problems but it is a new week and a new menu. I will be going shopping today and in an effort to avoid some of the issues from last week I plan on correcting the menu if I am unable to get the needed items. I will not wait and hope to get them later in the week since that didn't work last week.

Here goes:
Monday - Steak, seasoned potato cubes, and broccoli (hold over from last week)
Tuesday - Italian sausage with peppers over spiral pasta, Side salad

Wednesday - Rice bowls (using pork and broccoli)

Thursday - Chicken with wine sauce, side salad

Friday - Leftover night as I'll be busy prepping for Saturday

Saturday - Block party no real cooking just "doing it all, LOL!"

Sunday - Birthday party so no cooking :)

Looking for more menu ideas? Check out I'm an Oranizing Junkie. Have a great week!

Chicken with Wine Sauce

2008-08-17T20:52:00.002-05:00

Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 Boneless chicken breasts (yes, you can use bone-in)
6 slices ham
6 slices provolone cheese
¾ package green onions chopped
12 oz sliced mushrooms
2 cups half and half
2 cup water
2 teaspoons chicken base
½ cup white wine
½ cup sherry
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoon butter
1 package dumpling noodles

Directions:
1.. Place chicken in baking dish
2.. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees
3.. Saute garlic, green onions, and mushrooms and set aside
4.. Make a roux with the butter and flour
5.. Mix water with chicken base and add to roux, along with sherry and wine. Stir to thicken.
6.. Add garlic mixture and half and half. Heat through and turn off.
7.. Turn chicken and lightly salt and pepper
8.. Arrange slices of ham and cheese on top of chicken.
9.. Pour sauce over the top of chicken
10.. Bake for another 35-40 minutes until chicken is cooked through and sauce is bubbly.
11.. Serve over lightly buttered noodles.

Freezing:
I freeze chicken portions in rigid freezer containers and reheat in the microwave.

Spanish Rice

2008-08-17T20:13:00.004-05:00

Recipes: 1
Servings: 8

Ingredients:

2 pounds Ground beef
1 medium onion
1 medium Green pepper
28 oz tomatoes canned
16 oz tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 ½ tsp Chile powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup rice, uncooked

Assembly Directions:
Brown ground beef. Onions and peppers chopped. Place everything in Crock pot. Stir. Cover, cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3 hours.
***Can be done stove top about 25-30 minutes.

Freezing Directions:
Freeze in plastic containers.
***Optional: Put all ingredients in a bag and freeze prior to cooking in a crock pot

Serving From Frozen Directions:
Heat and serve.

Italian Sausage with peppers and onions

2008-08-17T19:57:00.005-05:00

Recipes:1
Servings: 4
Makes: 1.5 Qt

Ingredients:
1 pound Italian sausage
26 oz Garden style Ragu (T, O, & G)
1 Multicolor pepper (I like yellow, orange, and green in this)
1/2 Onion
1 pound pasta (we like spiral)

Assembly Directions:
Cook sausage and cut into bite sized pieces
Clean and cut veggies then lightly brown them
Add cooked and sliced sausage, Ragu and seasonings.
Simmer between 20 minutes and 2 or more hours (the flavors meld as you cook longer but it is good both ways).

Serve over cooked pasta

Freezing Directions:
Freeze sauce mixture separate from pasta

It costs how much!?!?!

2008-08-12T10:48:00.001-05:00

I am sure I am not alone in having this statement run across my mind and even my lips lately. I was chatting with some ladies a few weeks ago, grumbling about prices and mentioned that I guess I was going to have to dig out my price book again and start using it. I had used one for a number of years but then realized that I had learned and was keeping most of the information in my head so I gave it up as other things in life became more important. Well, my freezer is pretty much empty of meat that was bought before prices took off and as I try to find replacements to at least make dinner I am confronted with prices I just can't understand. I know I am not alone. As I started learning about the world of blogging I have found several people who came to the same conclusion recently as well.

I also ran across a lady's blog yesterday that is trying to keep her budget for food and such to only $50 a week. I am still processing this idea. It is very similar to the pantry challenges that run regularly on Friendly Freezer. I do need to work on doing a good look through the cupboards and use up what is in there. But I also know that much in my cupboards is really a rotation of items.

Example: This week I made a version of Chicken Cacciatore and used a large & small can of diced tomatoes and a medium can of tomato sauce. I will replace them most likely when I go to the store next because they are items I keep on hand and use regularly. This is how much of my pantry items are used.

So what does this all come down to?
I have started my price book up again and am going to pay more attention to what is in my freezer and pantry that need using at the same time, I am going to see about paying additional attention to how much are meals costing for the week. It may cut down on variety but will most likely add to my account balance. I'll keep you all updated as I continue.

Menu Plan Monday August 11

2008-08-11T09:00:00.006-05:00

As you can see by the missing menu week we ended up with that emergency trip out of town for 11 days and during that time we had a power outage. :( I checked the freezer and it must not have been out too long as the ice cream in the freezer shows no sign of ever softening but as I check refrigerator items I wondered just how long it was out. DH & I together decided to error on the side of caution and pretty much pitched everything from the fridge that would spoil. Talk about putting another dent in a much dented budget!

Oh BTW, I am actually linking up to MPM on "I'm an Organizing Junkie" this week!!! I had planned on doing this a couple of weeks ago but it took me some time to figure out how to do links and such so I waited and I played and then I went back and fixed some previous weeks so welcome!

Anyway, on to the meal plan for the week! Note that we will have guests here for a few days so I will do my best.

Dinners: (yes, I included Sunday as I wanted it planned since I didn't get a menu done last week)

Sunday - Chicken Cacciatore served over rice with a side salad - Went over well with the company including a picky teenager.

Monday - Lemon & Pepper Hamburgers, pasta salad, & fresh fruit salad ~moved to Tuesday since company ordered a pizza for lunch at 4pm

Tuesday - Grilled Steak, slice & bake seasoned potatoes, & broccoli ~ moved to Friday as we had leftover buffet of pizza, hamburgers, and Chicken Cacciatore

Wednesday - Turkey & gravy with mashed potatoes, salad, & cranberry sauce

Thursday - Grilled Pork chops, rice pilaf, corn, & applesauce ~ messed up and made the Taco Ring here

Friday - Taco Ring ~ became pork chop night

Saturday - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, & broccoli ~dinner out

Sunday - Freezer buffet

I do want to mention here how I plan to deal with the other meals of the day since I have extra people in town this week and dh may or may not be working the whole day all week.

Breakfast choices:

Hot cereal

Cold cereal

Toast

Pancakes

Bagels and cream cheese

eggs & bacon

fresh fruit

Lunches:

Leftover buffet

PB & J

Macaroni and Cheese

Canned soups

Salad

My first challenge card!

2008-08-09T09:04:00.004-05:00

I finally got a chance to do a SCS challenge and I am thrilled to share it. I know, you are wondering what challenge this was for. It was the July mini-VSN challenge number 1 "Distressing Times" and yes, this was my very first attempt at doing a "distressed" looking card. Talk about going outside my comfort zone, LOL! I had problems with my computer and camera working together so I was not able to get my project loaded onto SCS before the cut off but I hope you enjoy viewing it here.

I will try and get back on here to add the materials list soon.

Please note that any projects I share may have unknowingly been CASED. If I know for sure I copied an idea I will post a link and credit back to the originator but since so many ideas come and go to many of us with the same materials at hand I will not drive myself batty by going and searching out a card that may or may not have inspired me. Feel free to send me a private note if you feel I copied an idea more directly from you and failed to mention it. I will happily correct the oversight.

Regrouping from travel

2008-08-09T08:43:00.003-05:00

Have you ever noticed how tired you can get after being away from home for a few days? Of course, it does not get any easier when faced with a pile of laundry and luggage to sort through clean and put away. That is what I am doing this weekend. Trying to recover from being away from home. You could say that the one good bit of news is that I had just finished giving the house a good pick-up and clean-up before we left so I didn't return to that mess as well.

Menu Plan Monday July 28

2008-07-28T16:06:00.005-05:00

As you can see, last week did not go as planned but at least I had some ideas available to me and the stuff to make them. I will have company again for a good part of the week so we will see how that all plays out.

Monday- Chile with corn chips (Yeah! We followed the plan!)

We however got an emergency call out of town and did not return for 11 days so the rest of this week went out the door. I froze what I could but.....
Tuesday - Leftovers / sandwiches since dh is on call and I am supposed to be out
Wednesday - Stuffed peppers and salad (hold over from last week)
Thursday - Pork chops, rice pilaf, applesauce, and broccoli
Friday - Lemon Chicken recipe I found on this MMP site
Saturday - Dinner out or leftovers
Sunday - Spaghetti with salad

Menu Plan Monday July 21

2008-07-21T07:25:00.007-05:00

It is time to get back in the habit of meal planning so I thought a post would be the best way to help with accountability. Of course this first week we are having company from out of town but we don't know when so I decided to just put up the menu that would be if it was just us and roll with the punches.

I picked up the idea of posting my menu at http://orgjunkie.com/ hop over and take a look.

Monday - Stuffed Peppers and rice - Switched with Spanish Rice meal
Tuesday - Steak, cubed potatoes, and salad - Didn't happen :(
Wednesday - Pork chops, rice pilaf, applesauce, and broccoli - Didn't happen
Thursday - Chile - Nope :(
Friday - Leftover buffet
Saturday - Dinner out
Sunday - Spanish Rice and salad - used earlier in the week so made Turkey w/ Mashed potatoes and corn

Just getting started.

2008-07-18T14:13:00.001-05:00

After a lot of thinking I have decided to go ahead and start my own little blog. I never thought I would take this step but I have fallen in love with all of the wonderful things that so many writers are sharing. With encouragement from family and friends in real life and on the net I decided to take the plunge. Who knows where this will lead.