I'm...back?

Am I ever going to blog consistently? Who knows. But I do like to come across this thing every once in a while and swear to do better. Hey, at least it is like a journal, showing me a snapshot of where I was a year (or more!) ago.

This year? Still eating out wayyyy too much. Grrr. When we work on it, we are great. The problem is, we eventually say "screw it" and eat out twice a day for a couple of weeks. The hubby's crazy schedule doesn't help....not that is crazy by design...he is just a workaholic. Good thing we don't have kids yet.

So, I've been counting calories (good gravy, am I OOOOOOOOOver for today!!!), and I've been doing great with that. So maybe I'll start blogging more. Maybe everytime I sit down to catalog my cheesy sins (and yes...I am fat because of the cheese. I never realized how much I ate!!!), I'll post, too. Probably ramblings. Maybe I'll go back to participating in Mr. Linky type things. Who knows. Maybe it'll be another year before I'm hear again. If so...right now, life is good. Just wanted me to know that.

Love--blossomteacher

Menu Plan Monday

I know I'm not posting this on Monday, so sue me. Monday is not when I plan my menus, so getting them up before Monday just makes sense, too. Maybe this week I'll be somewhere before number 200 on Mr. Linky.

In no particular order:
Homemade pizza
Chicken stirfry
French onion chops and green beans
Pecan crusted pollack & spinach salad (pollack is on sale at HEB)
Oven fried chicken and corn souffle
Marlboro Man chicken sandwiches
Parmesan chicken and pasta or rice

Frugality of convenience foods

Let's face it...one of the first pieces of advice when cutting back on spending is "quit eating out." And hubby and I have definitely cut wayyyyy back. Another corollary of that is to cut out convenience foods...make things from scratch instead of buying prepackaged food, for monetary as well as health reasons.

As I sit here and do my weekly grocery-ad trawling, and I saw that HEB has wings on sale. 6.99 for 6 servings of heat-and-eat wings. Now I am pretty sure getting raw wings and your own fixings would be cheaper, but I am seriously thinking about adding these to my grocery list for 2 reasons.

1) I've never made wings from scratch, but I understand you have to fry them. I hate to fry, I'm not good at it, and I'm afraid I'd just ruin the whole thing, which is not frugal. I always joke that when I make a new recipe, I have to budget not only for the ingredients, but for a box of chicken in case I screw the whole thing up.

2) I've been craving wings, but they are stupidly expensive. 10 for $5 at Little Ceasars?? I know WingStop and Buffalo Wild Wings are even more expensive...more like $7 for 10. I've never seen anything so ridiculous...except a $10 bowl of spaghetti. (But that's another post.) And I can get 6 servings for $7? As long as a serving is larger than 1 2/3 of a wing, I'm good. That's my kind of wings, thank-you-very-much!

Happy munching!--Blossomteacher

This is so me

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

I like to bake, a lot. And today at school, I found myself with nearly 2 cups of pineapple juice and the light syrup from canned mandarin oranges. (My kids and I were making fruit kabobs!) Instead of pouring all that good flavor down the drain, I found a bowl with a lid and saved it all. I'm planning on using it this weekend when I bake, partly as a substitute for some of the water/milk in my recipes, partly as a substitute for some of the sugar. I've done this before with strawberry bread and it was sooo good. I can't wait to see what comes out!

Menu Plan Monday

I can't believe it's Menu Plan Monday again! This weekend before I went grocery shopping, I asked hubby if he wanted anything special, like I always do. He asked for frozen stir-fry veggies, because "we need to eat more veggies!" LOL! My thoughts exactly, babe!

In no particular order:

Orange Glazed Chicken and green beans
Homemade pizza
Chicken Stirfry
Homemade hamburgers
Chicken, either this or that way, and salad
Pork Chops and Macaroni
Oven fried chicken and potato salad

Frugal Friday—Muffins

Today is Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood. My new frugal habit is—muffins!

I stopped buying “snacky” things at the grocery store around Thanksgiving, when I started baking cookies every weekend. Since Christmas, and since I decided I was burned out on cookies, muffins have been our snacking mainstay. I make a big batch of muffins on Saturday afternoon, bag them up, and freeze them. That way, no matter how quickly or slowly they are eaten, they won’t go bad. They are perfect for afternoon snacking or a quick breakfast.

I like experimenting with new recipes I find online and in my cookbooks. Last weekend was banana nut muffins and a new recipe for maple walnut muffins. (I’ll post a pic the next time I make them!) This weekend I’m hoping to find and try a savory muffin to try, and make another batch of the maple muffins…I gave most of them to a teacher friend, but the one I had was so good.

This new habit has helped me keep our grocery costs well under $200/month for 3 adults. I know that is still high for some of you coupon mavens, but I am just getting started with couponing, so I’m still hoping to shave that down. So, break out (or invest in) a couple of muffin pans, flip through your recipe books and favorite sites, and have fun!