So I was pretty much off the internet yesterday (see previous entry) and didn't get to put in my pantry quest info. We had frozen hamburger and buns and cheese on hand, so last night we made cheeseburgers for dinner. I add about 4 tbsp of tomato sauce to my burger meat. It keeps the meat a bit moister while cooking. We had 1.09 pounds of meat and made five burgers with it (Mom ate with us). Each patty is sprinkled with onion salt and Lawry's seasoning. Delicious.

I also made up some simple cole slaw. Cabbage keeps for a long time until you cut into it and I have several in the fridge, so when I need a quick go to veg for dinner I make cole slaw.

DS added some dried mango slices, but no one else was really in the mood for fruit or had filled up too much on the cole slaw.

My favorite store has started one of its stupid game promotions. Now is a good time to be spending less time in the grocery store, that's for sure.

I will be paying my medical bill in full today as well as sending a payment ot AMEX and the mortgage and maybe one or two smaller bills as well. I wish I'd done this before my laptop screen busted. Now I will have to transport the Excel file into Open Office and set up the March Budget template in it and then transer it all back when I get my laptop back. If I hadn't procrastinated and done it earlier in the week that wouldn't be an issue now.

I forgot to blog about this yesterday as DH came home and we were running around a lot. DS had a doctor's appointment in the middle of the school day and another appointment after school so it was just hectic.

But we had chicken from the freezer, green beans from the pantry, and some fresh corn from Florida that was on a really good sale when I bought produce.

There is leftover chicken so I think lunch is going to be quesadillas today (or after school snack for the kids). I have tortillas in the fridge and plenty of cheese and it's such a fast, go to option.

Dinner tonight I'll have to think about a bit, but I am definitely saving money by doing this. I did finally remember to buy peanut butter and brown sugar when I got milk yesterday so now we should be good for a while.

I had the leftover crockpot soup for lunch today while my daughter had her standard take to school lunch (whatever leftovers look good to her plus a wrap) and my son had hot lunch. He has it three to four times a month on nuggets, green beans, and mashed potatoes day, so every six or so weeks we deposit $15 into his account. I don't consider this outside the pantry challenge as the money was already in his account. Oh, and pancakes and eggs were for breakfast.

Today I made a simple pot of cappellini pasta for dinner. I almost opened a new package, but my sharp-eyed daughter noticed we had an open package with half a pound left. We used two cans of tomato sauce from the pantry and a pound of hamburger from the freezer. Not very fancy, but the kids like it more plain. We have leftovers and the kids eat pasta leftovers more readily than any other kind. I also made my simple cole slaw and opened a can of pineapple. At one point I must have bought two cases of pineapple from Costco so we have quite a bit to get through.

Tomorrow I really do need to remember to go to the store and get brown sugar and peanut butter. I will remember to get the milk, but I am sure I will forget the brown sugar and peanut butter, two things we actually need pretty desperately.

Tomorrow's breakfast is going to likely be cold cereal. I have three boxes of Joe's O's, but really only the space to keep two, so one of them needs to get eaten up. We'll have eggs with it.

I am really proud of the chickens. They are still laying well despite the cold and dark weather. Mom is talking about getting some new chicks soon and buying a brooder. She would keep that in the garage until they were big enough and the weather was warm enough to introduce them to the rest of the flock. It would be nice to extra eggs again. When DH is away, we do okay on eggs but when he is home we tend to run out and have to actually buy them sometimes.

The kids are trying to convince her to get ducks again, but they are really such a big pain and they don't behave as well as chickens. I think she should get a turkey. There are a couple of people in town who have small turkeys and they do really well in a chicken flock apparently. I want her to get more bantams, since of the four types we have the bantam's eggs are the tastiest, but she wants to get some chickens that are different colors than the ones she has. She wants a pretty flock. Oh, well, they are hers, so I guess she gets to decide, but I would go for the yummier eggs, if it were my choice.

She gave me the seed catalogue today and wants to know what I want out of it. It's Johnny's and boy do they have such a huge selection it's going to be tough. I know I want lettuces, radish, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, basil, oregano, majoram, thyme, rosemary, parsley, green onions, green beans, summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, snow peas, mini-cabbages, corn, carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes, but really, the specific types may be harder to narrow down. Faster growers, certainly, but other than that, I don't know. I should see if there is a variety of sweet potato that will grow here. It probably doesn't get warm enough for long enough, but it's possible.

So last night I threw all the ingredients in to make the soup Frugal Foodie posted last night, only I used quinoa instead of barley, and instead of two cans of diced tomoatoes with garlic, I used one can without garlic, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and a small jar of salsa, because that is what I had. I also used multi-colored baby bell peppers instead of one green bell pepper because I had a bag of them, so about a cup and a half of that diced.

I had about a pound of leftover pot roast so I didn't add any stew meat to start with and I threw the cut up pot roast leftovers in during the last hour of cooking. I also added a tbsp of dried basil and oregano each,1/2 tbsp of dried marjoram, and 1 tsp of fresh ground black pepper to adjust it to my tastes. It leaned more heavily towards Italian flavors after that. It was salty enough from the broth, tomato sauce and tomatoes to not need to add more.

It turned out really well. I put it in containers to cool for an hour and then put it in the fridge. I will freeze half of it, and the other half put back in the crockpot to warm up right before I pick up the younger one from school and run a couple of errands and it should be heated through by dinner time. I'll start a batch of bread going in the bread machine later and have its baking finish up about a half hour before dinner time so we can have fresh bread with the soup. If the kids decided they don't like it they can always have canned soup and I'll just freeze the excess for me.

I am really enjoying the challenge of eating as much as possible from what is already on hand in the house. I think it will make not only a difference in the pocketbook, but in the waistline. We've been eating out a bit lately and it's starting to show.

So my bid to eat mostly from the pantry or freezer, supplementing with fresh greens/veg and fruit for the next month or so is going well so far.

Yesterday I used one of my Rustic Crusts to make a pizza. Not quite as good as a homemade crust, but about ten times better than anything else out there and certainly better than that other really well known pre-made crust in a plastic wrapper. It was a parmesan herb crust which I like even better than the plain one.

I made my own sauce by adding basil, oregano, thyme, and marjoram to a cup of tomato sauce. I have plenty of cheese on hand so used 2 cups of shredded mozzarella and a sprinkling of extra sharp cheeddar. We had some Canadian Bacon in the freezer so I thawed that out the night before. I ate the leftover slice for lunch today and the kids ate leftover baked potato soup.

For dinner tonight I thawed out a pot roast and threw it in the crockpot. It'll be done at 6:00. When it is around 4:30 I will throw a couple of potatos and a sweet potato into the oven to bake. Then about ten minutes before the roast is done I will make the broccoli. I'll slice up a couple of oranges for the table and that should round it out nicely. There will be leftover potroast for lunch tomorrow.

I am hoping to only have to use half of my grocery budget this month by relying mostly on what's on hand. If I didn't want fresh veg and fruit and milk I could do better than that. We just really don't care much for frozen veg (other than frozen corn on the cob or frozen potatos) and the only canned veg we like is green beans. I do have some canned pineapple and pears that will get used up during this month, though.

I do need to go buy some brown sugar and peanut butter though. I forgot to get them both and they are pretty necessary to our monthly cooking/eating habits. I will buy some tomorrow when I pick up milk for the week and hopefully I will be able to keep it to that until next week.

I am just glad we don't have to buy eggs. The chickens keep us well supplied and homemade pancakes and eggs or toast and eggs or muffins and eggs never seems to get boring. I do need to sit down and figure out meals for the rest of the week. DH comes home on Wednesday so amounts will have to go up. I'll probably do one spaghetti with my special homemade sauce and my special meatballs and then I can do meatball sandwiches on the next day with the leftovers. I'll have to make homemade buns, though.

I'm going to make blueberry cornbread muffins this afternoon. The house will smell so wonderful and make staying in on this cold, snowy day so much nicer.

Why is it just when you finally get one kid well enough to be back in school for a day or two, the next kid in line thinks it's time for them to be sick, too? All I really want is one day to myself right now. One day. Really. Is that so much to ask. One day where maybe I can sleep and get well and not be running around with a low grade case of the yucks? Or even, you know, one night of uninterupted sleep?

I am very glad payday is here. Not for any specific reason other than that it means another step forward on my march towards financial freedom. I have the propane bill to pay, but most of the money for that has been set aside already. The water bill for the old house is due I wish they would switch to metered already, they said they would five years ago when they installed the fancy new meters we had to pay extra for and we are still on a straight rate out there. Since no one is out there more than once a month or so the water almost never gets used. I'll turn it off as soon as we're done cleaning out there.

All of the autopays will come out the first few days of the month, the insurances, storage, and security system. I'll pay the AMEX and the mortgage. And I'll see what I can squeeze out for medical.

I need to do a minor grocery run for things like milk, brown sugar, yeast, potatoes and some fruit (still have most of a case of oranges from the last trip to Costco). Also a quick run to Trader Joe's for dried mango slices, additive free bacon, and additive free all beef hot dogs. I am well stocked on fresh veggies (red and green cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, peppers, broccoli, onions, scallions, celery). My freezer is doing great on protein. I am well stocked on chicken. I am well stocked on hamburger. I have one beef pot roast and some stew meat (for either stir-fries or chili). I have a couple of game hens.

I would like to get some codfish since they are having a major seafood sale for whatever that thing is that the Catholics do right now where they give stuff up (a lot of times beef, apparently) for a month. I was hoping for a good beef sale, but that's not in the cards right now. Maybe there will be a marked down for quick sale steak or two, but otherwise my grocery dollars are going to be as stingy as I can make them the next four weeks.

I think I will make baked potato soup today. I have all the ingredients and it is such a feel good food for such a nasty, rainy day with under the weather children. Either that or my all meat chili. Another feel good food for a day like today. If I make the potato soup today I will at least char the peppers as well for the chili.

I started my quest to eat mostly from the freezer/pantry right now last night. I made two Cornish game hens. We cut them in half and everyone ate half of one. We also had canned corn and canned green beans to round it out and an orange.

It was fast, too. I saw some tips for making a quick chicken noodle soup using these teeny little pasta noodles that look like the type used in school lunches circa 1979 in chicken noodle soup or what they have in Mrs. Grass's Noodle soup. Well, I didn't have those, but I had Capellini (Angel Hair) that I broke up into inch long pieces.

Anyway, I brought some free range organic chicken broth (I bought on a really good sale, 16 ounce box) to a boil and dumped in the noodles. I then quickly cut up a boneless, skinless chicken thigh and dumped it into the boiling broth at the five minute mark. While that started cooking I quickly diced a scallion. I grated half a carrot on my big cheese grater. As soon as the chicken was opaque I dumped in the carrot shreds, added a few grinds of sea salt and pepper and let it cook another minute. Then I added the scallion and turned off the heat. I let it set a minute for the scallion to cook in the broth and then it was done. It was really good. I did miss celery, but that doesn't really shred.

I like my noodles limp and not al dente so if you like them al dente you could boil for a little less time. The chicken only takes five minutes or so, so change your plan accordingly, by having everything ready to go at the start.

It really didn't take that long. Maybe 15 minutes from start to finish, including clean up time. I know a can of soup only takes a few minutes, but to have fresh soup in very little time was quite nice. It also served all three of us and usually one can serves 1 person around here. Since most soups cost at least a dollar a can and the healthier soups $2 to $3 now, I did well on cost of ingredients versus 3 cans of soup. And no MSG or major amounts of sodium, either.

I cleaned out my purse from the week's purchases and had $8.94 in ones and coins. I transferred that to the coin jar.

I bought $60 worth of Chinese food last night. I am still having a lot of stomach upset, so that gave us food for several days without me having to cook. I got mild dishes with lots of veggies so they would be easy on my stomach. It seems to be working. I am keeping it down and was able to take my blood pressure medication and keep it down for the first time in 4 days.

I am waiting to hear back from DH on whether or not I need a referral to make an appointment with the gastroenterologist. If I don't, I can make the appointment tonight. I've seen one before from when I had my gall bladder out and he's still in our practice so I would just have to call up before five. Otherwise I'll have to wait until Tuesday to contact my regular doc and have him write me a referral. Long weekends are such a pain sometimes.

DH has really been a dear with helping me with meal planning since he got home. It is so much easier when I've got support in place and someone to do half the work. Tonight's dinner is teriyaki beef skewers with leftover stir-fry vegetables and various other leftovers. I have some corn and some potatoes and some broccoli that all need using up so they'll go on the table as well. DH cut up the flank steak while I mixed the marinade and inventoried the fridge for leftovers.

I've got some milk that is about to hit the sell-by date and there is no way we will drink it in time, and some sour cream that has, so tomorrow we will be making baked potato soup for dinner. I have all the ingredients for it, so not even a last minute run to the store. And chicken and a new batch of cole slaw will round it out.

Then I think chicken enchiladas and rice on Wednesday to use up the leftover chicken. I'll add some sort of green vegetable. Maybe green beans.

Thursday I am not sure about. Maybe pork chops and fried potatoes and salad. The pork chops are getting close to when they don't want to keep in the freezer any longer, so that would be a good thing to use up.

I'm thinking about potroast for Friday since I am going to be busy during our usual meal prep time. If DH will remember to put them in since I'll be away from the house, we can have baked sweet potatoes, too. And then finish off the cole slaw.

Saturday I am hoping to slip away for the afternoon with DH so we can go out to dinner alone as a birthday present to me. My birthday isn't until the 12th, but he leaves that evening. We'll celebrate with the kids on Sunday, but I'd just like it to be me and DH on Saturday. I have $45 worth of Outback gift cards from Christmas time, which should cover things or most of things. I usually only eat an appetizer (kookaburra wings and celery sticks) there as my meal and add a baked potato and side of mixed veggies.

It is nice having the whole week planned out in advance so that I don't have to worry about what we are going to do at the last mintue.

Why is it the simplest of homemade things can often taste the best? Tonight's meal was an example of that. For dinner I pan-fried some wild Alaskan true cod in just a little bit of e.v. olive oil, lightly seasoned with fresh ground sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and Lawry's seasoning. Along with that we had some Trader Joe's corn, some boiled broccoli, and my homemade cole slaw. Milk was the beverage of choice and the four of us split an heirloom navel orange. It was mostly mine (I had half), but everyone wanted a wedge or two because when I peeled it the aroma it produced was staggering.

My cole slaw is incredibly simple. It takes me a minute and a half to make. Three minutes if I have to shred the cabbage myself, but I generally get the 1 pound bag of pre-shredded from Trader Joe's for $1.29. My dressing is easy, 1/4 cup of organic Canola mayonnaise, 1/4 cup of canola oil (olive oil flavors it too intensely) and 2 tbsp of honey. Stir with a whisk until blended and dump into the cabbage. Mix. Done.

From start to finish dinner took 15 minutes to make and everything was fresh and easy. I love that in a dinner. It was fast because I was organized. First I put on the pan to boil water for the broccoli, then I started the fish cooking. I cut up the broccoli and washed it and dumped the cabbage into a bowl. Then it was time to flip the fish and by then the water was boiling so I put the broccoli on to steam. I turned down the heat on the fish, covered it and mixed up the dressing. I put the corn in a bowl with some butter and salt and put it in the micro for two minutes. I dumped the dressing on the cole slaw, pulled the fish off the heat, returned to the slaw to mix it, then pulled the broccoli. By then the corn was done. Presto chango, dinner in 15.

Faster than driving to get fast food and 100 times healthier. It was about $12 for the whole meal and McDonalds would have been about $25 to feed us. So all around a much more convenient use of time and a better use of money.

Well, it's been a couple of days since the stomach virus ended the worst of its activities and today I decided that it was time to start eating well again. I watched that documentary Forks Over Knives last night, and though I will never give up meat or animal products, I think there was some decent information there.

I've tried to eat vegetarian in the past and was always starving. I hate beans and soy products and I dislike lentils. That pretty much screws up the idea of any kind of healthy vegetarianism.

I am going to lean towards more vegetables, though. My go to veggies tend to be green beans and organic instant potatoes. It isn't because I don't like other vegetables. I do. It's just always been easiest to open a can of green beans and nuke them for 2 minutes and instant spuds are self-explanatory. But it's probably the least healthy option, what with them lining cans today and plastic packaging.

To that end we bought lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, broccoli, radishes, green cabbage, purple cabbage, scallions, onions, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, oranges, pears, and strawberries. We got some dried mango and dried bing cherries and some raw almonds.

My goal for dinners is going to be a plate that is half lower glycemic vegetables, 1/8 other type of vegetable like corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or carrots. 1/8 fruit, and 1/4 animal protein from as natural a source as I can find. If I have room at that point I might add 1/4 cup of oat cereal. I'm not particularly worried about whole grains and bread for the most part. Hopefully it won't get too expensive and I won't get too lazy to actually cook.

A foot of snow melted overnight. It's hard to believe it could be gone so fast. There has been some flooding, but surprisingly nothing major. There are a few wet basements being pumped out and some creeks that went over their banks, but the rivers seem to be holding it in.

I never thought 45 degrees F would feel warm! But it does. I hope this is the last of the winter stuff. I could easily go without anymore snow this year.

Of course, my biggest impulse right now is to go and get takeout after more or less being trapped for so many days. I'm not going to, but why is that my biggest impulse? Why is my head screaming pizza, or burgers, or Mexican food? I've gone longer than a week without getting takeout before. Why is it such a big deal to me now? I don't think I'll ever understand how my mind works.

Anyway, we are having breakfast for dinner. Pancakes and and ham, with green beans on the side. Fast and easy and no need to spend money at all.

The mortgage posted to my account. The new mortgage balance is now at $18,544.28.

I added $6.70 to the coin jar.

We filled up the gas tank on the van for $53.84.

We paid $4.74 for a prescription.

I need to pick up psuedophederine, a NyQuil/DayQuil pack, and potassium today, so that will likely be a little pricey.

I have sent a total of $4600 to credit card debt.

DH had to pay $900 for a round trip ticket to work and back. He waited too long and the return part was twice as high as it should have been. *sighs*

I am trying to determine what to make for dinner tonight. Maybe pizza. I still have one of those Rustic Crusts, leftover spaghetti sauce, and some mozzarella cheese. There are a few meatballs left from last night's meatballs so I could crumble them on top of the pizza. I also have yellow onions so could dice some, saute them for a couple minutes, and throw them on as well. Oh, I think there's a ham end as well I could dice up. That sounds good. Not too much work and we can have a laid-back Friday night.

The new mattress is great to sleep on. I've now had two really good sleeps on it.

The PA took x-rays of my hip on Thursday. There is nothing wrong with the bones, so he thinks it is either muscular or nerves. He changed my physical therapy orders to lower stress therapy. If I am still in pain in 2 to 4 weeks he wants to send me to a neurologist, and possibly get an MRI of the area. I really don't want to pay for an MRI right now as we have started our deductible all over again. Oh, I know I have the $2500 set aside already, but I hate to blow through it this soon in the year.

We did run $2500 through the HSA though, just in case.

I'm still behind on reading the blogs, but I've caught up to where everyone is talking about meatballs and it gave me a craving so I decided to make up meatball sandwiches tonight, since I had some hotdog buns that were needing to be used up, some leftover homemade spaghetti sauce, and a lot of cheese that has just been sitting there for a while. It's an easy enough recipe to make (and I need easy things right now due to pain). The meatballs themselves are low carb if you want to eat them on their own. I've posted a picture of these before, but realized I never shared the recipe.



Meatballs

1 pound ground beef (or half pound beef and one half pound ground pork)
1/4 cup shredded romano
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
1/4 cup shredded cheddar
2 Tbsp minced garlic

Mix together and make into 1.5 inch diameter meatballs. Cook on high in microwave for five minutes. I use the stack cooker by Tupperware to make these. It's the one with the strainer holes so the fat can drip down beneath, but in a pinch they can go on a bacon cooker.

Warm up your leftover spaghetti sauce (or from a jar) and toast your hot dog buns (just on a hot frying pan is fine, don't try to stick them in a toaster). Spread sauce on each hotdog bun half and then place three meatballs on top. Easy peasy. (I usually make a double batch because DH eats a lot, but I am personally satisfied with one sandwich half and a salad). These meatballs are great with spaghetti or by themselves as well.

I really, really hate to do it, but I am going to have to raise my grocery budget. I spent so much time getting it down from $800 a month to $500 a month, so to raise it just feels like I'm taking a step backward. I know that I'm not. I know that it is that prices on real food are rising and that real food seldom has coupons. But it just annoys me so much.

It's like the year I spent getting my electric bill down by doing things like line and rack drying my clothes, cooking more than one thing in the oven at a time, replacing all the light bulbs in the house with CF ones and making sure lights weren't left on all night or radios, TVs, and fans weren't left on all day. I got my bill down to $90 and then a few months later they raised the rates and it was right back up to $109 again. It was so frustrating.

I know it's not me or my shopping habits. It's simply that the cost of food is going up and there just isn't really any other option (for now) but to pay higher prices or go back to eating manufactured foods. Well, I won't do the latter. We have too many allergies.

I've been keeping track of prices the last few months just to make sure that what I've been seeing is real, and I haven't just been hitting a high price week at the stores. But it is. Milk has gone up 50 cents a gallon. Chicken has gone up 30 cents a pound. Beef has gone up $2 a pound (except hamburger which has gone up $1 a pound). The all beef hotdogs I buy at TJ's have gone up 50 cents. Pork has gone up 20 cents a pound. Turkey is up 50 cents a pound (not counting the on sale for the holidays whole ones). I'm assuming eggs are up, too, but we have chickens so I don't pay attention to that much. Butter is up by $1 a pound. So are most of the cheeses (though they do still go on sale). Yogurt is up from $1 to $1.25. Ice cream is about $1 more per container. The fish counter scares me. It's not worth buying fish anymore unless you buy the whole fish and have it filleted in the store (much cheaper and they let you take the backbone, head and tail for making chowder since you've paid for the whole fish).

It's not just meat and dairy prices, either. Canned goods have risen anywhere from 20 cents to $1 more per can. Frozen foods are up about $1 a box or bag. Fresh produce, well, you can still get cheap bananas, oranges, onions and cabbage, but forget cheap potatoes or apples. They don't exist anymore, not even in this prime apple growing state. Most apples are $1.29 a pound and the specialty apples are closer to $1.79. I can still remember when you could get a couple kinds of apples for 29 cents a pound. And it wasn't my childhood. It was only ten years ago.

Even broccoli and cauliflower, which should be low right now are over $1.50 a pound. Although the $2 lettuce seems to be a thing of the past (mostly because people wouldn't pay it) I am keeping a sharp eye on it. I am eyeing unfamiliar vegetables like mustard greens, kale, and chard simply because the prices are lower. I will be looking up recipes to see if there is anything I might like with these veggies. I am making sweet potatoes more often because regular potatoes have gotten so high.

But even so, I have decided I will have to raise my grocery budget from $500 a month to $600 a month. Hopefully that will be enough to make up for the rising prices. And hopefully the prices will hold steady for a while. Because I'm tired of the only beef we ever eat anymore being hamburger or pot roast.

Next fall I hope to order half a beef and maybe a lamb. At least I'll be able to get some decent prices then. For now, meal planning will get more strict, I'll have to make more stews, chilis and stir-fries and less of the traditional big chunks of protein with two sides meals. Hopefully I can keep it to $600.

Do you ever feel like you're just marking time, waiting for something to happen? Right now I've been feeling that a lot lately. Like I've been marking time, waiting for payday to come this week, so I can get on with things. Even though we are not living quite paycheck to paycheck anymore, with money in the bank, I still have to wait on some things for payday. Like debt repayment. And tomorrow I get to make some.

This week has dragged by, not helped by the fact that DS was sick all week. He went to school today for the first time on the condition that he call me if he starts feeling yucky and needs to come home. I excused him from PE today so he can just sit it out and be a zombie all day if he needs to be.

Of course, I also feel like I am marking time, waiting for the yearly bonus to arrive. Checks are to be mailed on the 16th. In the past when they've mailed a check it's arrived on the day that it was supposed to be mailed on, so a part of me can't help hoping it will show up on Saturday, though the more practical part of me knows it may be a few days longer. I just want to know the amount so I can plan how much debt gets paid off from it.

I'm also marking time until DH comes home, which is Wednesday. And of course marking time until Christmas. I'd kind of like to get this mentality out of my head and just enjoy the next few weeks.

I added $5.43 to the coin jar this morning. I have $44.49 left in checking and $15 in cash until tomorrow. That gives me enough to go ahead and buy the pure maple syrup for DS that we ran out of. I hadn't balanced the check book yet this week and didn't realize there was still that much in there.

Syrup is about $18 or $19 a jug for the kind he uses. He'll be happy to have pancakes again tomorrow morning. I was going to make some homemade syrup but then I got sick and didn't. He's been eating toast with his egg the last three mornings, but he much prefers pancakes and being as I've been buying bread instead of baking it lately, pancakes are much cheaper to make as well, even with the cost of syrup since he doesn't use that much, and the cost of his special bread is $5 a loaf.

*yawns* Okay, I'm going back to bed. Maybe a nap will help fight off this lovely cold DS was so kind to share with me.

Last night I assembled some homemade stir-fry kits. These are similar to what you can buy in the store, generally in the Asian section of the freezer aisle, but of course I get to choose the ingredients and make sure that everything is just to my liking.

Because I happened to have 5.5 pound bag of stir-fry veggies on hand I used that, but any fresh veggies cut into strips or any pre-frozen veggies will do. First I will show you how I made my kits and then I will add some recipes for making them from scratch.

First I started with 3.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs (after shrinkage this will make 3 packets). You can choose white meat if you prefer it. We like dark.



Grill chicken pieces or cook in a pan. I used a George Foreman grill. I seasoned with salt and pepper only, however much you'd normally put on. Then I cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.



Once the chicken has cooled, place approximately 1 pound in a baggy. You can use a freezer baggy, but I used sandwich ones because they will be placed in a larger freezer baggy at the end of assembly.



Put two cups of your vegetables into a baggy.



Put one baggy of chicken and one baggy of veggies into a gallon size freezer bag.



For your sauce you have a couple of choices. For a dark sauce combine 1 cup of soy sauce (I use a gluten free, low sodium, no preservatives type), 1/4 cup of honey (or 1/4 cup brown sugar), 1 inch of fresh ginger peeled and grated (or 1/4 cup ground ginger), and 2 large cloves of garlic peeled and minced (or 1/4 tsp garlic powder or 1/2 tsp dried garlic). I usually use fresh on the garlic and ginger, but I was out of fresh ginger. I had some leftover sesame seeds from the last time we got takeout so I dumped a tablespoon of those in, too. For a light sauce use chicken broth instead of soy sauce.



Combine ingredients for sauce in a bowl and whisk together. Whisk the sauce for each packet by itself. If you combine it all together you may not have an even distribution of ingredients as the honey can make things sluggish. You can either dump this into a baggy or pour into a 1.5 cup plastic container. Freeze the sauce upright before placing in the gallon size Ziploc with chicken and veggies. Your kit is complete. I don't have a photo of this final step as my camera batteries died.

When you are ready to make this, first take out the sauce and put it in a hot water bath to thaw. It probably won't be completely frozen if you use honey. Heat oil in a wok or deep saute pan on medium high heat. I use peanut oil or olive oil depending on what I have. When oil is hot add the frozen chicken packet and stir for 3 to 5 minutes until chicken is thawed and hot. Add frozen veggie packet and stir for about 3 to 5 minutes until veggies are thawed and hot. Your sauce should now be thawed. Dump into pan and stir for one minute. (If you want a thicker sauce you can add a tbsp of corn starch now, but I don't bother). Turn heat down to low and cover, simmering for 2 minutes. It's done.

For my family one of these stir-fry kits would be enough to feed me, my 15 year old daughter, and my 11 year old son. If DH is home I would make 2 packets and there might be a little left over for his lunch the next day.


Other recipes to prepare the same way:

Pork Stir Fry

1 pound cheap pork loin or boneless chops, grilled (s&p) and cut into bite sized pieces
4 green onions
6 ounces snow peas
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut thin on the diagonal
8 ounces fresh or canned bamboo shoots

Sauce:
1 cup low sodium, gluten free soy sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes


Beef and Peppers Stir-Fry Kit.

1 pound chuck steak, grilled (s&p) and cut into bite sized pieces
1 white onion cut into strips
2 cups of bell pepper strips (red, yellow, orange)

Sauce:
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup low sodium, gluten free soy sauce
¼ cup honey
2 tbsp sesame seeds


Chicken and Vegetables Stir-Fry Kit

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, grilled (s&p) and cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups mixed vegetables (snow peas, carrots cut on the diagonal, broccoli, cauliflower, celery cut on the diagonal, 1 can water chestnuts)
1 regular yellow onion cut into strips

Sauce:
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 large clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 cup low sodium, gluten free soy sauce
¼ cup honey

I spent $17.70 at Fred Meyer today. DS got his pillow and DD got her box of hair dye. Had a coupon for the hair dye. Then we stopped at Trader Joe's and got their nitrate/nitrite free pastrami, black forest ham, and roasted turkey for school lunches. The regular roast beef looked weird (kind of shiny and scaled) so we got the pastrami instead. I still have plenty of tortillas and baby spinach for wraps which is what they like in their lunches these days.

We also got a bag of peppermint taffy (no artificial ingredients or food dyes). All of the other kids have been bringing in Christmas candy and DS wanted something he could have that he's not allergic to so he doesn't feel so left out. This fit the bill. I spent a total of $15.56 there.

Has anyone else noticed that often cashier's fail to give you your total at the end of checking your groceries these days? It happened at both FM and TJ's today and I have noticed this more and more of late. Only one of these had a easily viewable screen for me to see the total on. The girl finishes checking and then starts wiping her stuff down without ever telling me the total. I don't like that type of customer service. Maybe they are so used to people just swiping their cards, but what about those of us who still use cash or write checks? It's not as bad as the checkers that talk to each other over your head and never greet you, but close.

I should be able to stay out of the stores until Friday now. That is the plan anyway, though I might have to buy bread. Or just download the manual for the bread machine Mom gave me and make some.

I made broccoli and beef stir-fry for dinner. It was the last of the bagged kits. I'll be making them from scratch from now on, but I am going to make my own kits, because it's really the prep work that takes the time. If I pre-do all the prep work then I will still be able to have dinner on the table in 15 minutes, which is quicker than driving to pick up a pizza or burgers and much, much healthier. I've got some time tonight so I will make up some of my own kits. I will let you know how that goes.

Though I got at least six hours of sleep last night, it does not make up for the less than three the night before. Today after my doctor's appointment I am taking a nap. I meet with the knee surgeon today so cross your fingers for me that I can get in for surgery this month and not have to wait until January or February on the new deductible. I would really prefer not to have to hand over $2500 right out of the gate.

Was extremely tempted to break my no eating out challenge this morning on day one, but didn't. I wanted to go to McD's and get a large hot chocolate because it was just so cold this morning. And an egg McMuffin. I do not need either one of these when I am trying to eat healthier right now and lose another 10 pounds. I resisted. Instead I am having chicken sausage, oolong tea, and cucumber slices for breakfast. Much more satisfying and definitely much better for me.

I found a New York strip steak that I got on mark down a while back in the freezer so I am having that for lunch with a lettuce, baby spinach, and e.v. olive oil salad.

Dinner will be roasted turkey thighs and necks that were marked down after Thanksgiving, baked sweet potatoes, and green beans. We all love turkey necks here. They are so tender. Most people just throw them in the gravy or use them for soup stock because there isn't too much meat on them, but they are wonderfully delicious roasted.

I've been sort of at a loss lately on what to do about dinner. Meat prices have skyrocketed so I am trying to make do with poultry as much as possible. We have a lot of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer. By a lot, I mean 32 pounds. And I've been trying to come up with alternate ways of making it than just grilled with seasoning on the George Foreman or in stir-fries.

I was perusing some of my old recipe files and came up with something I haven't made in ages, a recipe I made up several years ago when I first started eating controlled carb: Chile Cheddar Chicken.

It's so simple I can't believe it has skipped my mind all these years. So I'm making it for dinner tonight. And the best part is the leftovers are great in a bun or shredded up and rolled in a tortilla.

Chile Cheddar Chicken Recipe:

1 4 ounce can diced mild green chile peppers
1 pound package of boneless, skinless chicken parts
As many slices of cheddar cheese as you have chicken pieces (I slice my own off a brick or sometimes use shredded)
Olive oil

In a medium sized skillet put in enough olive oil to cook the chicken. Dump in the can of peppers and saute for a minute on medium high. Arrange the chicken pieces evenly and turn heat down to medium. Cover with lid. Turn after five minutes and cook another five. Check for doneness by slicing into a piece and cook longer if necessary. Top each piece of chicken with cheese and let melt. Remove from pan. Spoon green chiles on top of the chicken pieces. Voila. You are done. Jack cheese works well, too.

So I ended up with some serious, serious pizza cravings tonight. I didn't want to order out and I didn't have the time to make dough from scratch, but I did have one of those ready made pizza crusts from

http://www.rusticcrust.com/ in the house, plenty of tomato sauce and herbs, shredded cheese and sausage, onions, and peppers, so I made it and it was delicious (though I still prefer my own dough) and perfect for a fast pizza without buying a frozen pizza, store made one, or ordering out.

I love Rustic Crusts. We've tried a couple different ones and find them very flavorful. (Crazyliblady, they have a gluten free one). I find they taste way better than Boboli which I have never liked either the thickness or the flavor of or all the additives and preservatives. (DH thinks Boboli are great, but then he likes those cheap cardboard pizzas, too). And, at least in the store where I buy them, they are less expensive than Boboli as well, despite being organic.

So far every time I have bought one there has been a coupon inside for 50 cents off your next purchase.

So today we are going out to eat mid-way between lunch and dinner, since the restaurant we want to go to is slowest at that time. This is the only meal out we are planning for during the next two weeks. I figure with Thanksgiving next week there will be plenty of leftovers. I have a bunch of divided containers that will be perfect for freezer TV dinners of leftover turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. Then just pop one out, cook it, add a salad or other green veggie, and you're set for a future dinner.

With the leftover turkey I will also make turkey enchiladas, turkey pot pies, and turkey vegetable noodle soup, some to be frozen, some to be eaten. I will make quesadillas at least one night.

DH's work gave him a $40 gift card to Safeway for Thanksgiving so our turkey will be free. I am going to get the biggest organic free range one I can find for that amount. I don't generally like going to Safeway as it is a 30 minute drive away. I am hoping to have enough leftover for two bags of Great Horn Valley bread for my simple stuffing. If not, I'll make a couple loaves of homemade bread myself on Tuesday. I just have to download the manual to the bread machine my mother gave me when mine went kaput.

DH's family should provide the potatoes, sweet potatoes, milk, butter, pumpkin bread, pies, salad, green vegetable, and not green vegetable (probably corn). I will make one chocolate pie myself so my son can have something he's not allergic, too. I just need to find the right kind of graham crackers for the crust and TJ's chocolate pudding mix. There will probably also be apple (he's allergic to apples), pumpkin (he's allergic to cloves), and lemon meringue (usually a store bought one so usually has yellow #5). I may try my hand at a key-lime this year if I find the right kind of graham crackers.

I am slowly catching up on all the stuff I have been ignoring this week. I think mostly I've just been exhausted and pushing myself too hard on not enough sleep. I still don't quite feel like I've caught up on sleep even though I slept nine hours Thursday night and eight hours last night. I kept waking up and then going back to sleep. I'm not supposed to have this kind of night restlessness on the medication I'm taking. It's supposed to knock me out cold. Still, I got more sleep in the last two nights than in the rest of the week combined so there is a bit of a difference.

I'm still fighting some kind of ick. Or a new ick that ran across the end of the old ick. Feels like I've been sick with something or other since September and I am tired of it. I can't remember the last time I actually felt like myself.

I have to go grocery shopping today. I have no appetite so that should make it easier. No picking up impulse items just because they look good. I've done pretty well with meals the last couple of days and today is leftover clean up day.

I've got leftover taco meat, cheese, and lettuce for making taco salads. I've got leftover chicken and noodles. I've got half of a very large pork chop and some cooked broccoli. And I've got half a tray of homemade enchiladas, so we are pretty set for the day. It's nice to not have the pressure on there of what to come up with and not be inclined to hit some pizza place or drive-thru.

We actually got paid on Thursday this week because of the holiday and I didn't really notice. Just went on as usual on Friday than saw the date and went, "Oh." I have worked up the budget and just need to write out a couple of checks and mail them off. These are places that don't take online payment and it would waste more gas to drive to them to pay than it would use a stamp.

Once I figure out how much is left I will send it to ING. I think it's going to be right around $3000 or so. This is mostly January/Future HSA money.

We had a hail storm last night. Actually we had two, or at least we had hail a couple of hours apart. They were the size of peas. Really weird weather around here lately.

I need to finish up laundry. I have three full baskets to put away and another load to wash. Wonder if I can get the kids to clean the bathroom? And all the sheets need to be changed. It never ends.

I just do not want to cook right now. Oh, I don't mind cooking breakfast for the kids and assembling their lunches, but by the time I'm done with that I am no longer interested in cooking for me. Today after I dropped kiddo the second off at school I swung through the drive-thru and got food. This is so ridiculous. I suppose part of it, is that DD is on a pre-diabetic diet so she eats one way, and DS is on Feingold diet for his allergies, so he eats another way, and then I am doing controlled carb diet so I eat yet a third way (and that way does NOT involve the drive-thru of a fast food place, normally, there is nothing healthy there).

What I need to do is make up another batch of beef sausages ahead of time and then all I have to do is nuke one in the microwave, add some sliced cucumbers and call it breakfast. I need to get my head on straight about this, because I've frittered away money on lunch this week, too.

So dinner is going to be something very easy tonight to help me get my act together again. I'll roast a whole chicken (rubbed with olive oil, basil, oregano, salt and pepper) and bake some potatoes with it. I've already got some pre-cut broccoli so my only effort with that will be boiling the water. I can get myself back on track if I can just straighten out my mindset.

After dinner, I'll pick all the meat off the carcass and throw the carcass in the crockpot with water, rough cut carrots, celery, onions and garlic and make stock overnight. Then we can have chicken and noodles tomorrow. And there should still be enough chicken left over to make enchiladas and quesadillas.

I'm just a bit frustrated because I could have fed the entire family a meal for the amount I paid at the drive-thru for just me. Maybe it's time for another no eating out challenge.

We are really eating up the leftovers this week or making use of some of our free items (like eggs, blueberries, gifted jelly). I froze some of the leftovers a while ago and have thawed them to get them eaten up. I only count the cost of something the first time I serve it, even if it does not all get consumed as it is too hard usually to break the price down into individual servings of casseroles, soups, or stews.

Breakfast:
Free eggs (from our chickens)
Milk $1.50
Cornbread Muffins with (free) blueberries .79

Total: $2.59

Lunch:
$3 DS Hot Lunch
DD Peanut butter and apricot jelly (free, homemade from aunt) sandwich .75
apple .50
small baggy chips .50
DH leftover pizza (free)
Me porkchop (.75) and salad (.25) with cheese (.25) and basil infused olive oil (.10)

Total: $6.10

Dinner:
Milk $2.00
Leftover ravioli and leftover lasagna (free)
Leftover meatballs (free)
green beans ($1.00)
salad (.50) with dressing (.50), cheese (.50) and sunflower seeds (.25)

Total: $4.75

Grand total: $13.44 Doing well today because of all the leftovers. No temptation to break the No Eating Out challenge today, but boy did I want to yesterday.

With no more bills left to pay until the 28th, it's sometimes hard to know what to post about. I earned a small amount of interest on three different CU accounts for the last quarter, but I misplaced the statements so I'm not sure exactly how much for the one. The other two were both .23 cents each. I need to look around for those statements so I can figure out the other one.

Mom had her first physical therapy session not in home today. I took her up to St. Luke's (techinically St. Joseph's, because they bought it out years ago, but it was St. Luke's when I was little and all long time Bellinghamsters still call it that). It went pretty well and it looks like in the future I can just drop her off and pick her up and not have to stay, which will be nice. It'll mean having an hour to myself which hasn't happened basically since she had the surgery.

Meal planning today was a bit erratic because we all sort of had different things.

Breakfast:
$2.50 all natural breakfast sausage
$0.25 oatmeal
$0.25 pancake
$0.25 real maple syrup
$1.50 milk

Total: $4.75

Lunch:
$3 DS hot lunch
Free leftover pizza
.50 apple
$1.00 2 all natural beef hotdogs
$2.57 can of chili
$1.00 milk
.50 cucumber

Total: $8.27

Dinner:
Free Leftover potroast
Free Leftover ptoatoes and gravy
$1 can of green beans
$2 nectarines
$2 milk

Total: $5

Grand total: $18.02 So I'm well under the allotted $20 per day today. I haven't added the numbers up in a while so it's nice to see that I am naturally under the daily grocery budget without trying.

Recently I finished reading the last book in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series Victory Conditions. I decided to start the series over since it had been years since I'd read the first few books and the library had them (I have them in storage, but I wasn't going to try to find them there), so I checked out the first one, Trading in Danger, yesterday and I'm already over halfway through it.

It was fun meeting some of these characters again for the first time. I also picked up the first three Herris Serrano books in a compendium and a book of short stores by the same author. I am finding much more time to read these days and I love Moon's military in space sci-fi novels with the strong female leads.

Not much else going on. DS has his belt test tomorrow. He's going for his purple belt. Then on Saturday he goes to his first tournament which I will have to miss as someone has to stay home with my Mom and of course no one in the family has time to come stay with her. Not that they have bothered to come over much at all. One sister came over for 2 hours and one granddaughter came over for four hours. My other sister hasn't come at all. DD will tape it though so I can see it.

I am really kind of annoyed at my family right now. I know parental care usually falls on one child, but they could help a little bit. This is an important day for my son and it just irks me that no one is willing to do this for a few hours so both his parents can be with him.

I fell into bed face first last night at 10:15 and was out cold by 10:30. I did not move again until 6:36 a.m. I don't think I've slept that hard in forever. It is exhuasting taking care of Mom now that she is home from the hospital. They really should have kept her in there for five days, but Medicare will only pay for three. It took an hour to get her ready for bed last night. A half hour of that was just going to the bathroom and back with a walker and the other was getting her far enough onto the bed so she could lay on her side without falling off. Very difficult. I will be glad when she can ditch the walker and use a cane, but that is a while off.

I didn't do any of the payday/budget stuff yesterday. I'll have to carve out a couple of hours to do it today. I really need to go grocery shopping, too, but I'll have to have someone here for Mom. Maybe my sister can come over for a couple of hours. My daughter might be able to do it, too, so long as we take her little brother away with us.

I made it to the end of the month with the No Eating Out Challenge but not sure if I will continue that into October. The last thing I want to do is cook, but I know that I should regardless. I need to sit down and make out a menu plan for the week's dinners. It's just hard to find the time right now. Still, I know I have plenty of fixings for just about anything so wasting money eating out is stupid right now. If I have to, I should save that for later in the week when I'm so worn out I can't move.

My mom is going in for knee replacement surgery in a few hours. I'm a little nervous about it as she is 72. Please pray for her if you pray.

After a year of working 3 on/3 off, DH will start working 2 on/2 off when he returns to the slope after this time home. While this is good news, it is going to screw with the budget I had figured out through the end of the year. And it means he'll be working through Thanksgiving and Christmas this year instead of having them off.

2 and 2's are way better emotionally and financially in the long term, it's just that it would work for our budget so much better if he worked 3 then had 2 off instead of having 3 off and then working 2 for the changeover. I guess I'll see how far things will sretch. Again. Don't know what I'll do about January if he has to stay home that extra week. Maybe we will still be able to swing it. I won't be able to make maximum payments on anything though, which will be annoying.

This will definitely help with the no eating out challenge. We simply won't be able to waste any money at all until the end of November. On the bright side (and I always try to find one of those), DH will be home for my next follow up trip to Virginia Mason. I was going to try it by myself, but now I won't have to.

I think we'll continue eating as much as possible from the pantry and the freezer to try to cut grocery waste. I am really glad cucumbers, cabbage, bananas and lettuce are cheap at the moment. I think that's going to have to be the main produce for now. And pretty soon the cheap oranges will be in as well. And DH is going to have to cut back his milk consumption, too. No more going through 3/4 of a gallon on his own, per day.

I need to do some serious meal planning so we can figure out the best way to save money on that. Today will be spaghetti and meatballs, and then not sure for Wednesday since DH's flight gets in at 6. Maybe I can make a lasanga since I will have sauce leftover from making the spaghetti. I'll just do up extra meat for that. I can always grill up some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on the George for my diet.

I am still going strong on the no eating out challenge, though today was, well, a challenge, as I totally forgot to put a roast in the crockpot. We almost always have roast on Sundays and I didn't even think about it today until 3:30. And the kids were wanting McDonalds and I was very tempted because of the buy one get one free quarter pounders. But I did not give in to this.

Instead I looked in my freezer and saw some beef ribs. It took about 15 minutes to thaw them and a little over an hour to cook them. Dinner was still on the table by 5. The nectarines have been lovely right now so we had those and I had a salad and the kids had green beans. They are not really lettuce eaters, though DD will have it in tacos or on a cheeseburger. DS hates lettuce, but will eat baby spinach and cabbage, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't give in. I'd really like to make it to the end of the month without eating out at all. Starfishy, are you going to join me for another week? Or anyone else, if you want to. It's nice to have at least one other person doing it with me.

We went to The Market to buy the additive free deli meat for lunches. I actually did it by the slice this time. This is such expensive meat and I am tired of having it get to Thursday and having to throw a little bit out because there are no preservatives and it goes off. So I asked the kids exactly how many slices they use per sandwich and then added it up and had the deli girl slice me exactly that much. The girl laughed at my specific requests but cheerfully did it, commenting that a lot of people aren't that smart about it. I wish I had been sooner. I also got milk while I was there.

Tomorrow I have physical therapy, so that will be $60 out. Then I should not have to spend any more money until Friday.

The ridiculous heat we had yesterday (86 degrees) is gone. It's resting at 73 with a nice breeze today. The sky is overcast, but not the type that makes you think it's going to rain, just the type that makes it be not quite so bright outside.

The kids went for a walk to return the two DVD's we rented from the DVD Express box and some library books. Our local grocery store has a public library turn in box in it. It's kind of wonderful. They pick up on Wednesdays and Saturdays and backdate anything to the time of their last pickup, so it's not overdue just because you turned it in elsewhere.

DS's alarm clock is malfunctioning so we went to get him a new one and it doesn't work. Or it doesn't fully work. It doesn't light up one of the digits. So say it is 12:35, the three is missing. It's just not there. Weird. So I will be taking it back, but not today. Maybe tomorrow.

I also bought a small salad spinner. I was being lazy about eating the veggies I need to eat, because if I didn't prepare it ahead of time I wouldn't eat them. But if I did prepare it ahead of time they would get soggy in the Ziploc baggy (paper towel included) and start to go off. With the spinner I can keep it nice and crisp and have it prepared ahead of time.

I have hit the 11 pounds lost mark since starting this diet and 37 pounds since my surgery. I am going to swim laps today in a little while.

Oh, yeah, I also bought a garlic press. I am tired of peeling it and mincing it and this just makes it so much easier. Both of these gadgets will make meal planning so much easier because I will stick more closely to what I plan to make, and that makes a lot of difference.