Hello Everyone – This is my first menu plan using the new menu plan service, E-Mealz.com. It sure made my planning easy this morning. I like that! I gave the menus to my hubby and he marked the ones he wanted to try. I figured out which days they would work best based on if I was home or not. And I am done!! YEAH!!
My garden is producing cukes, so today I need to make some refrigerator pickles. A family favorite. Now, if I could only find the recipe! Hubby will be so happy, this was a recipe I had actually added to our online cookbook of family favorites! Whew!!
Saturday – Lunch – on the go – grocery day Supper: Grilled Shrimp/Cran-Peach Romaine Salad (e-mealz -334) (Good – Add to Site)
2 – 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 teaspoons butter, melted
4 tablespoons fresh basil , chopped
Cedar Grilling Plank
Prepare Cedar Grilling Plank by soaking them for 1 hour in water. Turn Grill on High. Take planks out of water and pat dry. Put planks on grill for 2 minutes each side. Take them off and let cool slightly, then brush on olive oil on both sides of planks.
Preheat grill by setting one side of the grill on low and the other side at a medium temperature to reach an overall ambient temperature of 350 degrees.
Season both sides of salmon with salt, pepper, and minced garlic. Mix melted butter with basil and rub over both sides of salmon.
Put coated salmon on plank, skin side down and place on the low temp side of the grill. Close cover. Grill salmon without turning for 45 minutes from a completely frozen state for a 1.5 pounds filet. Internal temperature of salmon when done should be about 130- 140 degrees.
Brush on leftover basil butter every 5 – 10 minutes while salmon grills.
We are having the best summer. Hubby and I have been trying alot of new things on the grill and enjoying the variety. Last night we tried Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon and really liked that! I discovered a new menu planning site that I signed up for the summer. It is called E-Mealz.com, it has a menu focus on recipe with ingredients that can be purchased at Aldi. I am trying that menu currently. Next week will be the first week we will be trying this menu service.
Today was grocery shopping day. I budget $100/ week for groceries to feed my family of 5 or 6 depending on the day. My key to success is menu planning and only buying what I will need for the next two weeks. When I was buying food for a month, I was finding I was losing money to food spoilage. That wasn’t good either. But the less I go to the store, the less I spend is still very true! And never shop without a list!
Grcoery Shopping for 7/10/10 Bread Thrift Store $2.99 Sam’s Club – $38.55 ( ranch, potato Salad, plates, yogurt, bananas and green beans.) Aldi $111.14 Cub Foods – $ 41.21
Total Spent for 14 days – $193.89 = $13.85/Day or 96.94/week
4 Lb chicken parts (we like 2 cups favorite BBQ sauce* or favorite
boneless, skinless) BBQ sauce recipe
Place chicken in container and pour BBQ sauce over your chicken, reserving some of the BBQ sauce for basting. Turn chicken over to coat well. Let marinade at least 30 minutes.
Preheat outdoor grill for medium-low heat. Spray rack lightly with oil spray to prevent sticking. Place chicken on grill rack and grill about 5-10 minutes, basting with remaining BBQ sauce as you desire. Turn chicken over and cook on other side about 5-10 minutes more or until juices run clear
Hubby is mixing this recipe up again as it was a hit last time we had it. He said I had to type it up so I would not lose the recipe. I *might have lost a few of his favorites! I don’t like to cook the same thing over and over…
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first nine ingredients. Add the steaks; seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Drain and discard marinade. Grill steaks, covered, over medium-hot heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until meat reaches desired doneness (for medium-rare, a meat thermomotor should read 145 degrees; medium 160 degrees, well-done 170 degrees.
Another Monday morning, leaving me wondering where has the weekend gone??? Time at home is so wonderful and the weekends pass so quickly.
Since the college daycare is closed on Fridays, I was home with Tommy. He had his last day of Vacation Bible School. While he was at VBS for the morning, I cleaned up the house. What a great way to start the weekend….the chores done!
After VBS, my friend Michelle came over to see if she could use any of the left over homeschool stuff for her preschool class. I was so happy she was able to use some of the things we have left from our garage sale. After she left, Josh and I packed up the remaining things in the garage to take it to Goodwill. I am glad he got me started on this, even though I didn’t want to do it. If I had procrastinated, who knows when the garage would be completely done! There is still alot of work to do….but progress is being made.
I ran to church to pick up our “Fare For All” items. Fare for all is a cooperative food buying program, that really helps to stretch our grocery budget. Next month, I hope to post about what we received from Fare for All and how we incorperated the items into our menu.
Friday Evening, we watched a movie, but ended up watching it in the basement since the tornado sirens went off again. So we spent the evening in Josh’s room watching the original “Karate Kid” movie.
We also have started our summer schooling with Tommy. He is enjoying it and being very good. He is hoping to earn an outing to Valley Fair. He has never been there so he is very excited. This last week he put together a big mosquito puzzle and worked on various workbooks. I really like the Summer Bridge Activities workbooks so are now focusing on those. It gives him variety and the activities are short. We sit outside and spend about 30 minutes to an hour brushing up on academic skills.
SATURDAY – I was up early and working on my Menu Plan for the week. I really needed to get groceries and have not been paying much attention to our budget lately. I decided I better get on track again, since we have added expenses in the summer with full time daycare for Tommy. It took me most of the day to get the list and shopping done. I was happy with my efforts on staying on budget. You can read more about it in my Grocery Budget Post.
While I was out shopping at the various grocery stores, my hubby, son and brother in law were busy in the garage. They cut the wire racks to fit under the loft and took 2 big loads of stuff to goodwill. Our garage is a bit messy again as they brought down everything that I need to go through and decide what we need to keep. I will be able to have over 30 bins on the new shelves. It is going to be great! The best part is that when reading Michelle Duggar’s book, I discovered a wonderful organizing technic she uses to store things in bins. It will change our lives …we will be able to find things very quickly once I have it all set up. This will be a topic that will need to have a blog all to it’s self……
We had a late supper of Grilled Whiskey Ham Steaks. These steaks were part of our Fare For All items. I have never bought them before, but they sure were great marinated and grilled. And of course, my 22 year old son had whiskey in his room. Always there to help his mom with her cooking!
SUNDAY –
I worked the info desk at the church in the morning. The VBS kids sang in church.
After church we were going to take Tommy to the movie Toy Story 3, but he decided he didn’t want to go. He wanted to stay home and play with his friends. So that is what he did. He went off to play and I decided it is time to reconcile my checkbook. I had left it go for a couple of months and really needed to get things done. That was a nightmare…..I made a math error back about 2 months ago…I added a deduction what should have been subtracted. NOT GOOD! So once I sort of got that all figured out….I paid the bills.
For supper I made the Stuffed Cabbage Rolls. Very good! Since it was hot outside, I didn’t want to turn the oven on in the house. So we set up a table on the deck and brought the Roaster Oven out. I baked the casserole in there…it works just like a oven, but doesn’t heat up the house. I try not to turn on the oven in the house in the summer. This is a great alternative and works wonderfully. Thank you to the blogger, CoopersWife for teaching me about this years ago!
The guys cleaned up and did dishes after supper and Tommy and I went outside to work on his workbooks for a bit. I was determined to finish my book, June Bug by Jess Laurey, before I went to bed! Tommy works pretty independently so I can read and run and do a couple of chores while he works.
After the guys were done with kitchen clean up, hubby started a fire and we all spent the evening outside. My BIL and Tommy played catch (VIDEO COMING) and hubby enjoyed his fire.
We made smores with the giant marshmallows and enjoyed a wonderful evening in our backyard.
We called our smores, “Pig Nose Sandwiches” as the huge pink marshmallows looked like a pig snout after they were cooked over the fire. They were a tasty mess!! I stayed outside as late as possible reading and enjoying the evening.
MONDAY – the rude realization that the weekend is over!! I was up and made Chicken and Rice Casserole for the family. It is in the fridge and ready for hubby to cook tonight. I will be working late, so am going in a bit later too.
I used to feel very guilty working late, but now I try to prepare supper before hand and I leave a note how to cook it. I feel less guilty knowing my family has a good meal even though I am not at home.
Lunches are made. Tommy and Daddy are off to work and I am heading there myself. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I know I did! I love Summer and the simple pleasures in life, such as a relaxing evening with family and a good book in the backyard.!
I am trying harder to tighten up our budget here at home. We have a number of projects we would like to save money up to complete. I have also borrrowed from my Christmas fund and need to pay that back too. I made my menu for the next 16 days. My goal is to keep my budget at approximately $100/week to feed my family.
I stretched the period of time between grocery shopping trips. I started this weekend with 422.34 in the grocery budget. I am saving up some money to buy a case of ground beef at Sam’s soon. That usually costs over $100.00.
I bought the regular pack, mega meat pack and small ham at Fare For All. Fare For All is a cooperative food buying program open to everyone. Our Church is a Fare For All Express distributor, so I try to participate monthly in this program.
Grocery Shopping for 6/26/10
Fare For All – $42.00 Bread Thrift Store – $ 6.00 Aldi – $ 103.75 Cub Foods $ 52.52
Total Spent for 16 days – $204.27/16 = 12.77/day or 89.39/week
2 Lb small red (or white) new potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and quartered
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tsp garlic salt
Place potatoes in a large, non-stick skillet. Add cold water to cover the potatoes. Add the oil, garlic, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook until water evaporates, turning potatoes occasionally, about 25 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and cook until potatoes are crispy and brown, turning frequently, about 10-15 minutes.
4 large chicken breasts, with skin and bones kosher salt pepper garlic powder
Preheat oven to 375°. Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towels. Place in large, rimmed baking sheet. Season generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until juices run clear and skin is crispy and golden brown. Remove from heat and rest for 10 minutes. Cut each breast in half and serve with baked potato and a side salad.
4 Lb chicken parts (we like 2 cups favorite BBQ sauce* or favorite
boneless, skinless) BBQ sauce recipe
Place chicken in container and pour BBQ sauce over your chicken, reserving some of the BBQ sauce for basting. Turn chicken over to coat well. Let marinade at least 30 minutes.
Preheat outdoor grill for medium-low heat. Spray rack lightly with oil spray to prevent sticking. Place chicken on grill rack and grill about 5-10 minutes, basting with remaining BBQ sauce as you desire. Turn chicken over and cook on other side about 5-10 minutes more or until juices run clear
