Pantry Cooking

Until Justin starts his new job we are uber short on cash. And now we need to get some money together to move back into our house. To save money this week I decided not to go grocery shopping. I have a gallon of milk, a gallon of orange juice, and a gallon of iced tea (for the adults). If there is no drink specified we are drinking water. The only fresh produce I had in the house was a red pepper, a bag of baby carrots, and a bag of celery. I don't have any fresh meat in the house, but I do have 18 eggs (well 14 as of this morning) and some bacon. We will be making due with some seafood I have in the freezer, peanut butter and canned tuna/salmon. We have plenty of canned and frozen vegetables as well as frozen, canned and dried fruit. Everything I planned for a week's worth of meals is coming out of things I have on hand. I think the most important part of being frugal with food is having desert everyday. It keeps you from feeling deprived.

Saturday –
Breakfast: Bacon, Cheerios, Raisins, Milk
Snack: Fruit cups
Lunch: Tuna & celery sandwiches, carrots
Dinner: Grilled cheese sandwiches, sliced red peppers
Dessert: Popsicles

Sunday –
Breakfast: Eggs, Toast, Orange juice
Snack: Yogurt
Lunch: Mexican rice (rice with tomatoes & seasonings)
Dinner: Steak (from freezer) & cheese sandwiches, green beans, Milk
Dessert: Berries (from freezer) with Cool Whip

Monday –
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Milk
Snack: Dried apricots
Lunch: PB & J sandwiches, carrots
Dinner: Salmon (from canned) Patties with Biscuits and Lima beans, Milk
Dessert: Brownies

Tuesday –
Breakfast: Raisin Bran with Milk
Snack: Fruit cups
Lunch: Canned soup
Dinner: Tuna & mushroom casserole with Peas, Milk
Dessert: Leftover brownies

Wednesday –
Breakfast: Pancakes, Orange juice
Snack: Yogurt
Lunch: Ants on a log (celery, peanut butter, raisins)
Dinner: Spaghetti & Meatballs (from freezer), Milk
Dessert: Jello-O

Thursday –
Breakfast: Hash browns, Eggs, Orange juice
Snack: Crackers & cheese
Lunch: Any leftovers, remaining celery/carrots/dried fruit, Yogos
Dinner: Shrimp (from freezer) Fettuccini Alfredo, canned corn, Milk
Dessert: Cinnamon sugar toast

Friday –
Breakfast: Cinnamon Raisin Bagels (from freezer), Milk
Snack: Fig Newtons
Lunch: Souped up Ramen
Combine 1 package Ramen noodles, 1 can condensed mushroom soup, 1 can water, 1 can tuna (drained), 1 cup peas, & ¼ teaspoon each of salt & pepper (or to taste). Cook on medium-low until noodles are soft & everything is warm. Remove from heat & stir in 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.
Dinner: Tilapia filets (from freezer), Broccoli & Cheese, Mashed Potatoes (boxed)
Dessert: Graham crackers

Hallelujah

Justin got a new job!!! The pay and benefits are so much better than what he is getting now. We are going to go over our finances and talk with our lender but we are thinking about moving back into our old house. That will be my fourth move in one year! I need to look up the Guiness record on moves in one year. When he lost his job we put our house on the market and moved into the city where he got his new job because they required him to do so. Then our house was condemned because the landlord refused to fix the heating system. So we moved into the first place we found that would take us and it is very small. But our house never sold, as I'm sure plenty of people in the country are currently going through. So if we can afford it I don't see why we can't live in the house that we had built for our family. However we are currently a few months behind on the payments and we don't have the money to pay them for those missed months. Hopefully we will be able to work something out. I do miss that house and all the space to run round and spread out.

WAH Job Opportunity

I know of a job opportunity with Babytobee.com (the opening is not listed on the website but you can check it out to see what their business is all about). If you'd like information set up an email account that is your first and last name at hotmail or gmail (I used ashleyfishbein@gmail.com), if that is taken add a number to the end of your last name. It cannot be an yahoo address or anything else. Then email Jessie Sconzo in Human Resources at jessie@babytobee.com telling her that you are interested. You need high speed DSL or cable internet (NOT wireless) and you'll have to have Windows XP (NOT Mac) and a headset to use. The pay is $10-$13 per hour and you'll be eligible for bonuses. You have to work a minimum of 10 hours per week from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., no scheduling neccessary. Just log in whenever. You are paid for the time you are available for calls, not just when you are actually on the phone. You'll have to pass a background investigation which costs $25 but there aren't any other costs.

Save Money With Redbox

Every Wednesday you can find a code for a free nights rental from Redbox at http://blog.redbox.com/redblog/ . You can also sign up for a text message of a code for a free nights rental every Monday here: http://www.redbox.com/Help/Signup.aspx

We use this service atleast once a week. Justin happens to have Mondays off so it works out well for us to get the movie on Mondays. This way we get to do something special without having to spend money and we don't feel deprived. It's nice to do something special and it gives us something nice to look forward to.

What a blessing

Today I want to take some time to talk about what a blessing my mom is. We are so grateful to have her in our lives! She is constantly thinking of ways to help us or encourage us. She is always there for me, supporting my decisions and not judging me. It doesn't matter if she's at home, at work, or in the grocery store, she always takes the time to talk to me when I call her. She finds time in her schedule to visit us several times a month and her doors are always open for us to come stay at her house, even if it is a last minute decision. She is generous and thoughtful and incredibly loving. She is forgiving and understanding and lots of fun! Whenever the doorbell rings my girls run towards it shouting "Nana! Nana!" hoping as hard as they can that it's her. And today they were so thrilled because it really was her. She heard that we were sick and she came over bearing movies and food and cleaned up the house for us. We love you Nana!!!

We were so close!

Well we finally got sick. We haven't been sick all winter and I thought we were actually going to make it through the whole season healthy. We have been sick for several days and I'm hoping it won't last much longer. We are having house guests this weekend and I feel so bad for them. They'll probably leave here with an awful cold. I did forewarn them but they insisted on coming anyways. I'm also getting way behind with school work with my girls. I know I don't feel like teaching and I can't imagine that they feel like sitting and trying to concentrate. They don't even feel like playing, they just laid around all day drawing and "reading." Someone shared this recipe for frittata muffins and I can't wait to make some for breakfast:

INGREDIENTS:
8 eggs
2 pkgs frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesean or asiago cheese
1 clove chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450. Combine ingredients in large bowl and pour into large muffin pan (the kind of pan that gets 6 jumbo muffins instead of 12 small) filling cups all the way to the top. Bake for 15 minutes. Enjoy."

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=293286.0

The woman who shared this with me used a regular-sized 12-muffin/cupcake pan and baked them for about 12-13 minutes. She also sprayed the pan. You could probably adapt this to use with any frittata recipe that you like.

Undershirts

Today I noticed that I could see through my eldest daughter's shirt alittle bit. Not so much that I would call it see through but still. I found this kind of disturbing because I think that modesty is important no matter what age you are. This has me thinking about finding some undershirts for my little ladies to wear. The ones I saw at Target look much more like a negligee than I comfortable putting my small child in. I mean they look like something my DH would like to see me in after the girls are in bed! I considered buying an assortment of tank tops to put under the clothes but they are thicker than I'd like (so the outline would show under the clothes) and alittle more expensive. I'm hoping to find something more like onesies without the snap close bottom. Preferably some in short sleeves and some in tank top style. Does anyone have any suggestions? Does your child wear undershirts? All the time or just when a shirt is a bit tight or thin?