Meal Plan Monday!

Happy Monday! We had a very low-key weekend around here, and a fairly slow week planned. Hopefully that means I won't get crazed and cranky and end up throwing my meal plan out the window. (This happens a lot.) Here's what we'll be eating for dinners this week:

Monday:
Turkey Meatloaf, quinoa, steamed broccoli and steamed greenbeans

Tuesday:
Quinoa Bites and steamed broccoli (me)
Annie's Mac & Cheese, peas and broccoli (kids)
(I don't like making two different meals, but quinoa bites aren't something the kids like at all, and I really do, so I make the exception.)

Wednesday:
Dinner at my mom's house

Thursday:
Chili in the crock pot, steamed broccoli (yes, we're having broccoli almost every night. I bought a huge bag at Sam's Club and want to make sure we eat it before it goes bad.)

Friday:
Birthday Party for one of the kids' friends

Saturday:
Tuscan Italian Chicken in the crock-pot, pilaf rice, quinoa (i'm trying to eat quinoa when I make rice for the kids and Dan) and a vegetable. We have corn, mixed vegetables, green beans and peas in the freezer. I'll let Dan choose whichever he's in the mood for.

Sunday:
DATE NIGHT! We haven't been out for dinner by ourselves since early December. I'm VERY excited to be going somewhere nice together without the kids in tow. They will be spending the night at Nana's house.

One of the things I've been asked since starting this grocery budget blog project is what else do we eat during the day. I wrote a post about breakfast (you can read it here) and I list our dinners in my weekly meal planning posts. But there are lunches and snacks in between, and changes to the meal plan. So today i'm taking a picture of everything I eat and I'll post it tomorrow. I admit I'm doing this for selfish reasons as well. Not only am I trying to save money with this grocery challenge, but I'm on a quest to clean up our diets. I'm trying to make the switch to mostly whole, minimally processed, healthy foods. Taking a picture of everything I eat is a good way to make sure I stay away from junk and hold myself accountable! Stay tuned :)

***If you missed it, I recapped our February Challenge in this post: http://ababymakesfour.blogspot.com/2014/03/february-grocery-challenge-re-cap.html

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Tasty Tuesday: Crock-Pot Sausage & Tortellini Stew

Happy Tuesday! Today i'm linking up with my friend Candice over at The New Modern Momma for Tasty Tuesday.

I've been using my crock-pot a lot this winter because it's such an easy and quick way to get a hearty meal on the table for my family. I love being able to prepare dinner in the morning or afternoon instead of in the evening when we're all getting tired and cranky.

One of my favorite crock-pot meals is Tortellini Stew. I've been making this recipe for years, and all four of us love it. (I think I originally cut it out of Family Circle magazine.)

It's quick and simple to prepare and only takes about 15 minutes. My favorite kind of meal!

Ingredients
4 Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage links, casings removed
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes w/basil, garlic & oregano (if I don't have a can of tomatoes that has the spices in it, I just add them myself.)
1 9oz package of frozen cut green beans
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1 9oz package of frozen cheese tortellini
1 Tbsp fresh oregano

Directions

1. Crumble sausage and stir with tomatoes, green beans, onion and italian seasoning. Cover crock-pot and cook 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.

2. When 20 minutes of cook time remain, stir in tortellini, oregano and 1 cup of water. Continue cooking. Serve immediately.

I highly recommend this recipe, it's so easy and delicious!

*If you have time, head on over to Candice's site and check out all the other linked up recipes! I find a lot of good meals through this weekly blog hop.*

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January Meal Planning part 1

If you remember, I embarked on a monthly meal planning adventure for the last few months of 2012. I loved doing it because it made dinners and grocery shopping so much easier and we saved a lot of money on food. BUT it took so much time to create and I just didn't have time to plan for January in the midst of all the holiday hoopla in December.

So for this month i'm planning on a weekly basis, and will jump back into monthly for February.

Here is last week's menu:

Tuesday 1/1: Wendys (I know, not the healthiest. But we were driving back from NY and it was on our way. At least I had a salad...)

Wednesday 1/2: Pasta with homemade sauce & peas and corn on the side

Thursday 1/3: Chicken Pot-Pie

Friday 1/4: Out to dinner. We were having a family day and Stephanie suggested we go out to Newport Creamery, a local family restaurant. We couldn't resist her request.

Saturday 1/5: Crock-Pot Sweet and Spicy chicken with brown rice and cauliflower on the side

Sunday 1/6: Sausage and Peppers in the crock-pot

Monday 1/7: Chicken pot-pie leftovers

And this week's menu:

Tuesday 1/8: Take-Out Pizza (Ok so apparently the non-monthly meal planning means we eat out a lot...)

Wednesday 1/9: Soup & Crescent Rolls

Thursday 1/10: Leftover sausage and peppers, supplemented with a bag of frozen vegetables

Friday 1/11: Chili

Saturday 1/12: Birthday party in the afternoon. (Cereal for dinner if anyone is still hungry when we get home.)

Sunday 1/13: Leftover chili for Dan and I, Annie's Macaroni & Cheese w/peas for the kids

Monday 1/14: Baked Italian Chicken with steamed broccoli and pilaf rice

I took the recipe for the crock-pot sweet and spicy chicken from The Frugalette's blog (she did a month of slow cooker dinners and I've gotten some great meal ideas from her!) Here it is: (original blog post for the recipe found here)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Chicken boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 20 oz. Can of Pineapple Chunks
• 1/4 cup of Soy Sauce
• 1/2 cup of reserved Pineapple Juice from can
• 1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 tsp. Ginger powder
• 1-2 TBS. Brown Sugar
• 1 TBS cornstarch to thicken sauce at end

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients in slow cooker, except cornstarch. Mix together. Cook on low for 4 hours.
2. When chicken is done, move to plate with slotted spoon. Pour remaining liquid and sauce in small saucepan.
3. Mix cornstarch with 1 TBS. water until dissolved and whisk with sauce to thicken. Bring to boil, lower and continue stirring until thick. Pour over chicken. Serve with brown rice. (we had cauliflower on the side too)

It was a really simple recipe and came out so delicious!

*I'd love some meal ideas for the rest of the month! Feel free to share :)

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Monthly Meal Planning: November

At the end of September I wrote about how I'm meal planning on a monthly basis now, to save money, save time, and be healthier.

I'm on my third month of meal planning this way, and November was definitely the easiest. I started the process half-way through October and it felt more organized and stream-lined. It's still a lengthy process, but I think it will continue to get easier each month.

Here are the steps involved in my Monthly Meal Planning Process:

1. Enter meals into my calendar.

2. Go through meal-by-meal and make a list of all the ingredients I need for each meal. (This will turn into the master grocery list.)

3. Write down things we need for breakfasts and lunches (I only meal plan for dinner)

3. Cross-check the grocery list with what I already have in the cupboard and freezer.

4.  Go through my coupons and pull out any that correspond to items on my list.

5. Organize the list based on what I'll by at each store. (Since i'm on my third month, I have a general idea of which store offers the best prices for different things.)

6. Spend one day going to three different stores and buy everything that is either non-perishable, can be stored in the freezer or will last the entire month. (I highly recommend doing this without children in tow! I've convinced Dan to take one Thursday morning off each month. I drop Stephanie at school and spend the entire 2.5 hours getting our shopping done.)

I now have all of our food for the month, except for fresh fruits/veggies, yogurt and milk. I'll be buying those things on a weekly basis, and am hoping to keep those weekly trips to $25 or less.

And now the good part:

November Meal Plan

1. Meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes and peas.
2. Crock-Pot Sausage and Peppers over egg noodles
3. Eating out
4. Homemade calzones
5. Leftovers from the past 4 meals
6. Barbeque Chicken
7. Pasta & Homemade Sauce
8. Tuna sandwiches, pickles and celery sticks
9. Tacos
10. Ham, baked beans, greenbeans, cranberry sauce
11. Leftovers
12. Chicken Pot-Pie
13. Macaroni & Cheese, carrot sticks
14. Crock-Pot Hawaiian Barbeque Chicken, rice, broccoli
15. Soup & crescent rolls
16. Rotisserie Chicken, cranberry sauce, green beans, stuffing (I didn't realize how chicken-filled this week was until just now. Oops!)
17. Pasta and Sauce
18. Crock-Pot Beef & Broccoli
19. Breaded Pork Chops, applesauce, corn
20. Waffles & fruit
21. Leftovers
22. Thanksgiving (We'll be in NY with Dan's family)
23. New York
24. New York
25. English Muffin Pizzas
26. Chili
27. Macaroni & Cheese (Dan isn't home on Tuesday nights, hence the "kid food" you'll notice each week.)
28. Chicken Pot Pie
29. Crock-Pot tortellini stew
30. Lemon Pepper Pork

*Let me know if there's any meals you're interested in seeing recipes for! And if you have any simple, easy meals you'd like to share, I'll be thinking about December before you know it.

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Menu Plan Monday

A few weeks ago I wrote about my goal to meal plan on a monthly basis. The first week of October is over, and I followed my plan! I also did almost all of my grocery shopping for the month this past week. I bought all the meat, canned goods, snacks and frozen items I need for each meal, including breakfasts and lunches. The only things I'll need to pick up for the rest of the month are perishables. (Milk, fruit, and fresh veggies.)

Here's what we ate last week:

Monday: Chicken nuggets and peas. (I went out with my blogger friends, so this was quick and easy for Dan to make for him and the kids.)

Tuesday: Frozen pizza and fresh vegetables (Dan has a class on Tuesday nights so the kids and I were on our own.)

Wednesday: Crock-pot sausage and peppers, served over egg noodles. This was a pinterest recipe and it came out fantastic! We all loved it, and I'm definitely adding it into our monthly meal rotation.

Thursday: Crock-pot teriyaki chicken with broccoli and rice. This was ok. Dan and Joseph loved it, Stephanie hated it, and I thought it was too salty but not the worst thing ever. I probably won't be making it again anytime soon.

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Joseph's birthday party. My mother-in-law was in from New York, so we went out to dinner with her, her husband, my brother-in-law and his awesome girlfriend.

Sunday: We went out to an all you can eat brunch with the relatives before they headed back to NY, so Dan and I were stuffed. I fed the kids some party leftovers.

I'm proud of myself for sticking with the plan! I've already had to rearrange things for this week, because we have a ton of party leftovers that we ate for dinner tonight. Since a big part of why i'm doing this is to save money on groceries I couldn't let food go to waste just to stick with the plan. So I sat down and moved some things around and we should be back on track for the rest of the week.

Let me know what you've been having for dinners...I'm going to be thinking about November soon. :)

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Tasty Tuesday: Chili Edition!

The air is crisp, the humidity is finally gone, and we actually had to wear sweaters yesterday morning. All of this means that FALL, my favorite time of year, is almost here.

One of my goals for the fall is to use my crock-pot once a week. For my first fall crock-pot meal yesterday, it was only right that I make chili, one of my all-time favorite meals. (And in the interest of full disclosure, I must say that I make chili all year long. But it reminds me of fall every time I make it.)

I use my mom's chili recipe, with a few tweaks here and there. Dan, Stephanie and I love it, and last night Joseph had his first taste. It was a hit with him too!

Ingredients:

2lbs ground beef 

1 Tbsp chili powder

2 tsp salt

1tsp sugar

1.5 C chopped onion (I hate onion chunks, so I use onion powder)

.5 cup minced green pepper (I use 3/4 cup because we love pepper)

2 (15oz) or 1 (29oz) can tomato sauce

1C water

1 clove garlic, crushed (I use garlic powder if i'm out of garlic(

1 pinch cumin (optional, but I always add it)

1 can small red beans, undrained (I drain them, for no particular reason.)

Cook meat in dutch oven or heavy pan until it loses redness.

Sprinkle with chili powder, salt, & sugar. Blend well through meat. 

Add onion & green pepper, cook stirring occasionally until vegetables soften.

(At this point I transfer everything to the crock-pot. The recipe calls for it to continue to cook on the stove top)

Add tomato sauce, water, garlic, cumin 

*Simmer covered 1-1.5 hours (I cook it on low in the crock-pot all day long)

Add beans, simmer uncovered .5 hour or until desired consistency (I add the beans an hour before we want to eat)

Serve with whatever side you enjoy with chili. We always have Tostitos scoops chips. If you use my recipe, be sure to let me know what you think! Enjoy! :)

*Today i'm linking up with Candice over at The New Modern Momma! Head on over to check out other tasty recipes! 

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