Thursday, November 25, 2010


Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!!

This was the first year that The Man and I have been married that we cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner. The first two years The Man was deployed. The second two we ate at my mom's house. Last year my parents were here visiting and I didn't want to cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal. We chose to go to the local pub and have dinner and watch and Elvis impersonator. It was a great evening and the kids were amazing listening to the music. This year I finally decided that we were going to make our own Thanksgivng meal and it turned out great. We had a chicken breast, homemade jellied cranberry sauce, homemade hawaiian type bread, mashed potatoes, stuffing, broccoli, gravy, sweet potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie. I did pretty well. I did make a few of the items homemade because their canned/store bought counterparts had high fructose corn syrup in them. I did cheat with the stuffing, potatoes and sweet potatoes due to the quality of the fresh items at the store and having to store them for more than a week before cooking. It all turned out great and we are all super stuffed now.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday K!! Today is my sweet little guy, K's, birthday. I can't believe how fast time goes when you have kids. I love this little guy he is sweet and cuddly and most definately a mama's boy. He still is very needy of my time, attention, and affection but that is part of what makes him special. He makes me smile every day watching him learn new things. Tonight we will celebrate with some cake and his few presents from us and his grandparents after dinner. Maybe this weekend if the weather will cooperate we can go to a park or something fun. Happy Birthday K!!!!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Meal Planning

I find that it is hard for me to figure out what to make for dinner every night. On a few of the thrifty blogs I read they make out a meal plan for a week to a month at a time. A lot of their meal plans seem to be very detailed including all three meals and snacks. I have decided to try figuring out dinners for a pay period at a time. I found that when I tried to make it specific to a day that on that day I did not want to eat what I had planned. I then decided it was better if I just came up with the 15 or so meals on a list to choose from each morning. This worked better for me since I don't like to eat things too similar two nights in a row but also want to be able to use up leftovers before they go bad. I have done this for 3 pay periods now. Not only is it saving a little bit of money because I am not stressed out trying to figure dinner and end up going out to eat but also I have been able to get the majority of our groceries in one shopping trip per pay period. I get everything to make those planned meals and a few extra items that may be on a great sale or for lunches, breakfasts, or snacks. I only have to go back to the store for milk, bread, and produce. It is working well so far. Here is my list for this pay period.

1-chicken broccoli rice casserole
2-crockpot chicken pot pie
3-impossibly easy cheeseburger pie
4-teriyaki chcken and rice
5-stir fry
6-lasagna
7-Thanksgiving turkey dinner
8-chili & cornbread or rice
9-chili dogs
10-spaghetti
11-tacos
12-homemade pizza
13-chicken noodle soup & grilled cheese
14-slop and rice
15-mini meatloaves, corn, mashed potatoes

Tonight we are having chili.