Happy Birthday to E!

My baby turned 2 a couple of weeks ago! It is so hard to believe. It seems like only yesterday we headed to the hospital early one morning to be induced. And now that precious little bundle has turned into an amazing little boy!

The morning of his birthday, he was greeted with Brobee when he came to Mommy and Daddy's room. He was very excited to see him. Then we brought him downstairs where he received his other gifts from us. He was so excited, exclaiming, "My pesants!" He tore right into them!

Then he got to choose what he wanted for breakfast. He proudly proclaimed that he wanted "Kispies" also known as Rice Krispies. He has recently decided that he really likes them.

 He even shared some with Slinky Dog, or "Sinky Dog" as he calls him.

We asked him several times before his birthday what he wanted to do on his special day. He got to choose between going to the park, the zoo, or the aquarium. Every time that we asked he responded, "Carium. See shocks and fishies!" So that's what we did. After some time to play with his new toys, we loaded up the car and headed to the aquarium.

He wore a special shirt that Mommy made him specifically for this day. Since he loves seeing the sharks at the aquarium and also enjoys watching Finding Nemo, I wanted to include those elements in his shirt.

Speaking of Finding Nemo, he had a great time watching the fish inside the Finding Nemo inspired tank.

No visit to the aquarium it complete without a visit with the penguins or "pig-ones" as he says. He loved laughing at them as they swam around and played.

After the aquarium, we had lunch at Salsarita's since the birthday boy wanted a quesadilla for lunch. We also made a stop off at Toys R Us where he got a free balloon and birthday crown and was able to spend his $3 gift card that Geoffrey Giraffe had sent him. He used it to buy a Ramone car from the movie Cars. Then we picked up a Hot 'n Ready pizza and came home for a pizza picnic.

After supper, he enjoyed the cupcake with candles that he asked for earlier in the day. He knew that people blow out candles on their birthday, and he talked about it on the way back from the aquarium. We hadn't planned on doing cake and candles that day since his party was the next day, but we couldn't deprive the birthday boy of candles on his birthday. So thanks to the Kroger bakery, we enjoyed watching him as he enjoyed having the birthday song sung to him as he blew out his two candles.

After blowing out the candles, he wasted no time getting into the cupcake. He plunged right in face first and then sat up and declared that he had icing on his nose.

He enjoyed that cupcake for a good 30 minutes. It was so fun to watch. After some outside play, he came back inside to enjoy an ice cream cone. We normally wouldn't have let him have this much sugar in one day, but it was his special day, and the ice cream came as a surprise to all of us! He had shared ice cream cones with mommy and daddy before, but he had never had his own. He enjoyed it so much!

It was the perfect end to a wonderful day. After his ice cream it was time to go to bed. He had a big day ahead of him the next day. But that will have to wait for another post...

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight...Part 2

Remember the chicken I roasted the other day? As I said, I will be turning it into different meals as the week goes on. We started the week with a yummy chicken stir fry and homemade fried rice that I made for under $5. Tonight we had chicken & rice casserole, vegetable casserole, and macaroni and cheese.

I looked at a variety of chicken and rice recipes to get an idea of what to do, then I headed into the kitchen to see what I had on hand and created my own recipe. I grabbed my ingredients and was ready to go.

In a small saucepan, I brought 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of water to a boil. Then I added 1 cup of rice and let the pot return to a boil. Then I reduced the heat, covered it, and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes until all of the liquid was absorbed. Remember to stir the rice occasionally to prevent sticking.

When the rice was ready, I placed it in a mixing bowl. Then I added in the 2 cups of chicken I had set aside the other night, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1/4 of a cup of sour cream, and some minced onion (I added a few teaspoons. It is totally a matter of personal preference). I mixed this together and placed it in a casserole dish. Then I crushed about half of a sleeve of crackers and mixed them with a couple of tablespoons of melted butter for my topping. I covered it with foil and baked it for about 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees. I removed the foil for the last few minutes so the cracker topping would brown.

The casserole turned out great! It had wonderful flavor. The only thing I will do differently next time is add a bit more sour cream (maybe 1/2 cup instead of 1/4 cup) so it will be a bit creamier. It wasn't dry. It just wasn't as creamy as I like.

For a side dish, I made a vegetable casserole. It is one of my all time favorites. I again grabbed my ingredients and went to work.

I drained two can of mixed vegetables and placed them in a casserole dish. Then I added a heaping tablespoon of salad dressing (you can use mayo if you prefer) and mixed it with the vegetables. Then I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced onion, 1/2 cup of cheese, and some salt and pepper. Again I mixed this together. Then I crushed some more crackers, mixed them with some melted butter and added some more cheese on the top because you can't have too much cheese, right? Then I covered this with foil and baked it at 350 degrees until it bubbled, about 30 minutes. I removed the foil at the end of the cooking time for this as well so the topping would brown and all the cheese would melt.

I also made a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for my little E. I wasn't sure if he would eat the vegetable casserole, so I wanted to make sure he got plenty to eat!

And now for the cost:

• Chicken & Rice Casserole: $4.24
• Chicken: $1.46
• Rice: $0.50
• Cream of Chicken Soup: $0.88
• Sour cream, minced onion, crackers, chicken broth: $1.40
• Vegetable Casserole: $2.36
• 2 cans of mixed vegetables: $1.36
• Salad dressing, minced onion, cheese: $1.00
• Macaroni and Cheese: $0.67 (I picked up a package of 12 boxes for $8 at Sams last week! I usually make homemade mac and cheese, but the low price and convenience make it great to have on hand.)

That means this meal was prepared for $7.27. And we had plenty of leftovers to have another full meal! So again, this meal would easily feed a family of 4 for under $10. And it took about 25 minutes to prepare (that includes cooking the rice) and bakes in 30-45 minutes. The casseroles can be assembled ahead of time and placed in the oven just before your meal.

All of these dishes are incredibly easy to prepare and are very affordable for a family on a budget. And they taste great! And it was a complete change from the stir fry we had earlier in the week, so we don't get tired of having chicken all week! 

Stay tuned for the third and final segment of this week's chicken menu in a couple of days!

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight...

In my post about saving money at the grocery store, I mentioned that I have recently become a huge fan of cooking a large portion of meat at the beginning of the week and turning into different types of meals as the week goes on. I wanted to give you a real life example of how I make this happen, so I am sharing with you what our family is enjoying for dinner each night.

This has turned into a sort of Food Network hodgepodge of Robin Miller meets Melissa D'Arabian meets Rachel Ray in many ways. Yes, I am definitely a Food Network junkie! Robin Miller hosts a show called Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller where she shows you how to cook ahead at the beginning of the week to save time on weeknights. Melissa D'Arabian hosts a show called Ten Dollar dinners where she shows you how to make a meal for a family of 4 on $10 or less. And of course Rachel Ray is famous for her 30 minute meals. I have watched all three of these ladies and picked up tips here and there from each of them, but I don't think I have ever seen any of them make any of the dinners I am preparing this week. Anyway, I digress...

This week's menu all started on Saturday afternoon when I roasted this whole chicken that I had picked up at Sams last week for $4 (plus tax, so let's say $4.40)! I seasoned it with some salt and pepper, covered it with foil, and placed it in the oven at 350* for about an hour and a half. I let it rest in the dish for a while after cooking.

Once it had cooled, I brought it out onto my cutting board to cut it into chunks to be used throughout the week. Since I had only used salt and pepper to season, it is still a blank canvas to be turned into what ever type of meal I desire.

You will notice the three containers behind the cutting board. These are the Rubbermaid screw top containers. Each holds 2 cups. I have noticed that a lot of recipes for casseroles, etc., call for 2 cups of meat, so I have become a huge fan of these containers as they don't take up much space in the fridge and are easy to measure my ingredients out. By the time I finished cutting up my chicken, I had 3 containers of meat! That would be enough for 3 separate recipes! You will recall that I paid around $4.40 for the chicken. Divide that by three and I have chicken for three recipes for only $1.47 each!

I wanted to start the week with Teriyaki stir fry, so I went ahead and added some Laura Lynn 30 minute Teriyaki with pineapple marinade to this container. Sure it only has to have 30 minutes, but all night has to mean it gets even better, right?

On Sunday evening when it was time to make dinner, I brought out my supplies. Teriyaki chicken and homemade fried rice was on the menu.

I started with the rice because I knew it would take the most time. In a saucepan, I combined 1 cup of chicken broth with 1 cup of water and brought that to a boil. Then I added 1 cup of long grain rice (not the instant kind). I let that return to a boil, then reduced the heat and covered it. I let it cook for just under 20 minutes, stirring it occasionally to keep it from sticking.

In the mean time, I boiled a little water in a small saucepan and added some frozen peas and carrots. I cooked them for about 4 minutes. Ideally I would have used a bag of peas and carrots already mixed, but we were out, so I had to use what was on hand. So after mine cooked, I had to chop my carrots so they were small enough to be added to my fried rice.

I will admit that I had never made friend rice before. As a matter of fact, rice is one of those foods that has always intimidated me. And when you can buy those Lipton or Knorr packets (whatever the brand name is this week) for about $1.50 each, why mess with it, right!? Well, this rice was way better than the packets, and it didn't take long at all. If you, too, have been afraid to give it a try, fear no more! It's easy!

As the time on the rice came to an end, I added some oil to two large skillets on the stove. One skillet was for the stir fry and the other was for the fried rice. I added a bag of stir fry vegetables and the chicken (which I had picked up for 98 cents) to one skillet. I let that cook while I worked on the rice. I gave it an occasional stir and added some more teriyaki for good measure.

In the other skillet, I dropped in my peas and carrots. I stirred those around and then added one egg which I had beaten. I quickly stirred it around with the veggies to scramble it. Then I added the rice as soon as it was finished. I mixed all that around, and added some soy sauce and teriyaki. It smelled delightful, looked beautiful and tasted delicious!

And here's what it looked like when I served it.

It was a hit with everyone, including my 2-year-old!

And it was ready in less than 30 minutes. Sure, it took a little preparation ahead of time, but it was well worth it! And I definitely made the meal for under $10, and it fed our family twice.

• Chicken: $1.47
• Bag of stir fry veggies: $0.98
• Rice: $0.50 (I paid $3 for a huge bag of rice a while back. I have used it for many recipes. I am sure this is an overstatement of how much it cost, but you get the point)
• Peas and Carrots: $0.25 (again, a bag costs $0.98 and you are only using a fraction of a bag)

All of that totals up to $3.20. The seasonings and egg are ingredients most folks have on hand, so I didn't include those, but even if you add $1.00 for the portions of those, not only is this meal under $10, it is under $5!! And it will easily feed a family of 4!

This is definitely a keeper in our house! I am including instructions for the rice in recipe form below. Stay tuned later this week as I share the rest of our chicken meals with you!

Homemade Fried Rice

1 c. chicken broth

1 c. water

1 c. rice

1/2 c. peas and carrots

1 egg, beaten

oil

soy sauce

30 minute teriyaki marinade, optional

Place chicken broth and water in medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add rice and return to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Cook for approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the rice cooks, bring a small amount of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add in peas and carrots. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

Heat large skillet and cover bottom with oil. Add peas and carrots. Stir. Add in beaten egg, stirring around to scramble the egg with the vegetables. When rice finishes cooking, add it to the egg and vegetable mixture. Shake in some soy sauce and stir, mixing well. The amount to add depends on your taste. You can also add some teriyaki sauce or marinade as well if you desire. 

Lessons I Have Learned - Consignment Sales & Craigslist

We are very fortunate to have nephews who pass their things along to our son! A steady stream of adorable clothes has been coming into our home since before E arrived in March 2009. He gets so much joy out of knowing that D and/or Z wore different outfits that he has. It makes dressing him so much easier some days! I can say, "Mommy remembers when Z used to wear this! And now you get to wear it today!" or "This shirt was D's. Wanna wear this one?" Oh if it would only remain that easy! :)

From time to time we need to add some PJs or some big orange apparel to the collection of clothing. These items can be a bit pricey, especially the orange items! But Knoxville consignment sales provide the perfect opportunity to pick up awesome big orange clothing items at great prices. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up an adorable hand painted Vols t-shirt for just $2! You read that correctly...it was hand painted and I only paid $2! And just yesterday I picked up some short-sleeved shorts pjs for just $1/pair!

Consignment sales are also a wonderful place to buy toys! We have accumulated quite the collection of Little People toys and 90% of them are from consignment. E loves his Little People, and I hope he will play with them for several years. Many of the sets were picked up for under $10. We grabbed a Craftsman work bench a few weeks back for $7.50. We also picked up a jackhammer for $3 and an air compressor set with an air hammer and paint gun attachment for $7.50. The air compressor set retails for $30. For just $14, I picked up a Bumbo with a tray yesterday for a friend who is expecting her first child. That set would retail new for over $40! I could go on and on.

If you have never tried buying consignment, I highly encourage you to give it a try. With the way kids outgrow toys and clothes, consignment sales can definitely be a great opportunity to save money. You pay a fraction of the cost for a quality item that is usually in like new condition.

But there are times when you are looking for something specific. And since the larger consignment sales only come around twice a year, they may not be the best option for finding what you need. For that there is Craigslist! Although my brother-in-law once referred to Craigslist as Ebay for rednecks, I have found it to be a great source for finding things we have wanted for our son. The latest of those was a wagon. We have been shopping for wagons on and off since he was very small. We had recently become more serious about that search and were seriously considering purchasing one for him for Easter. We had talked to my parents, and they were willing to go in with us on this purchase. And E had received some birthday money as well that we were going to put towards the purchase. During my online searching, I had come across lots of wagons which fell into different categories: dream wagons that just were out of our price range, really cool wagons that were kind of expensive and maybe within our price range, and awesome wagons that we could definitely afford. One of those dream wagons was the Step 2 Choo-Choo Wagon. To buy the base of the wagon would cost over $100. And then if we had a need for more than just 2 cars, we would have had to pay an additional $40 + tax + shipping for each car. Needless to say that wasn't happening. At least not until I decided to search Craigslist to see if I could find a deal on the wagon I had settled on. When I performed the search, there is was! Not just 1 but 2 Step 2 Choo-Choo Wagon! Each had a total of 4 cars meaning that they would retail for over $200 each. The asking price was $110 each, but I noticed they had been listed for a month and the seller had noted that they didn't have storage space for them and needed to move them quickly. So I decided to offer them a little less than their asking price for 1 of the wagons and see what happened. The wagon we had decided to buy would have cost us around $100, so if we could get this one, which was bigger and nicer, for that or less, I would feel like we had really scored. It turns out that the seller was a church daycare about a mile from our house, and they were willing to accept my offer. So E and I took our truck to the church and picked it up! And it has been the source of many smiles. We look forward to taking it on the greenway to the park and packing it in the car for trips to the zoo and other places. As you can see, it has plenty of room for E to bring along some friends.

So if you have been skeptical of Craigslist, take the plunge. Get on there and look around. You never know what you might find and what you could save!

Lessons I Have Learned - Saving Money at the Grocery Store

It is so hard to believe that we just celebrated my son's second birthday. (Pictures and a post about that will be coming soon!) As the anniversary of his birth approached, it was a natural time to begin reflecting on the past two years of our lives. Along with that reflecting, I have realized that J and I have learned so much and experienced so much with E over the past 2 years. It is truly amazing! I want to share some of those lessons with you over the coming weeks. One of the most frequent questions I get when when people ask me about being a stay at home mom is how we survive on one income. So that's why I am starting this series with a post about saving money at the grocery store.

When J and I made the decision that I would quit work and stay home with our son full time, we knew that meant that some things would have to change. We knew that any sacrifices we would have to make would certainly be worth it in the end because no one could care for our child the way that I could. But we also knew that there would not be as much disposable income as we had in the past, so we had to tighten our budget. One of the first places I started to look at was the food and grocery budget. We have never been a family to eat out very often, so there wasn't much change to be made in that area. The grocery portion of that line was a completely different story, however! Early in our marriage, I would go to the store without a list or a plan and would just buy whatever looked good at the time. That is a VERY dangerous way to shop! I could easily drop $100 or more on one trip to the store...and that was for 2 people! And I would also find myself stopping back by the grocery store every few days to pick up one or two ingredients because without a plan, I would inevitably need something else for whatever dish I planned to make.

I know folks who are really in to couponing and was referred to some blogs that show you where to get the best deals based on coupons and sales ads. I spent several days looking over those sights, but I never really got the hang of the lingo. And since we don't get the newspaper, unless a coupon is online, I don't have access to it. So I decided to take another approach...

I started planning our meals for the week and shopping the weekly sales ad for my local grocery stores! I found that creating a menu around items that were on sale (particularly the meat items on sale) really saved money. And going to the grocery store with a plan - list in hand to cover all of the ingredients needed to make each dish on the menu - really cut down on impulse buying and saved even more! And it eliminated all of those time consuming trips for one or two items several times a week (which incidentally provided more opportunities for impulse buying!).

We have quite a few favorites that I try to keep in the rotation on a regular basis, but I also try to introduce new dishes for us to try from time to time. Some of these are keepers and others are a one time affair. I also like to cook a lot of casseroles and things that yield leftovers for later in the week. This also cuts down on expense. In recent weeks, I have also started cooking one or two kinds of meat at the beginning of the week, and then turning that meat into different types of dishes as the week goes on. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I made a pork roast. We ate pork roast and vegetables one night. The next night we had bbq pork sandwiches. Then we had pork burritos. That one pork roast fed our family for the entire week, but it didn't feel like we were eating the same thing every night, and we all really enjoyed it! This will work with virtually any meat.

Here is what a typical menu might look like at our house:

Monday: Chicken pockets, mac and cheese, green beans
Tuesday: Baked spaghetti
Wednesday: Chicken pockets, green beans, carrots
Thursday: Baked spaghetti
Friday: Teriyaki chicken, teriyaki rice, broccoli
Saturday: Burritos
Sunday: Stir fry and rice

There would be leftovers from the stir fry, and that would carry over into the next week. We generally have sandwiches for lunch. And sometimes we find that leftovers carry over for more meals than expected, so I don't always make everything I had planned for the week. When that happens, I just push the meals back, and that means I buy less the next week.

Chicken pockets are great because the filling can be used for several meals. In a week where I use it only twice, there will typically be some left to freeze, which is always wonderful! They are very kid-friendly. It is one of the few mean dishes my 2-year-old will eat. I will share the recipe below.

Baked spaghetti is another easy dish because you can make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it. Then all you have to do is place it in the fridge the night before you plan to use it. It will be thawed by dinner time. You simply have to boil a few noodles, mix them together, add some cheese, add more cheese on top and throw it in the oven. I love meals like that for busy weeks! Of course crock pot meals are also great for that as well, but I will have to save that for another post.

By coming up with 10-12 recipes that your family really enjoys and rotating them, working with a menu can be super easy. And you can always feel free to add in a new recipe now and again. Variety is a good thing! So if you haven't ever tried this approach, I encourage you to take it for a test drive. Try it on for a couple of weeks and see how it fits your family. I believe you will see that it not only saves you money, but it also simplifies meal prep and reduces stress because you don't have to spend half an hour figuring out what you are going to fix before you can even begin cooking dinner. Happy meal planning and bon appetite!


Chicken Pockets

4 chicken breasts

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1 t. sage

1 t. thyme

1 t. garlic

8 oz. cream cheese

Refrigerated crescent rolls

Prehat oven to 350*. Mix together salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and garlic. Sprinkle over chicken. Bake until no longer pink, about 30 – 40 min. Place cream cheese in mixer and soften. Shred or chop chicken and add to cream cheese until combined completely. Open crescent rolls, keeping two triangles together (each can will make 4 rectangles). Place desired amount of chicken mixture onto each rectangle , then fold the rectangles over to make a pocket. Place pockets on a baking sheet and bake at 350* for 10 –15 min. (until golden brown). Serve hot. These can also be served with chicken gravy if desired.

The recipe makes a lot of chicken mixture. It can be kept in the refrigerator for several days or frozen to be used later.

A happy holiday season!

While there is no way to include all of the events in this post, I want to share with you some of the highlights from our holiday fun from Thanksgiving through the new year. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with things better this year and be a little more consistent with my posts!

While it is usually our practice to put up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, we made an exception this year because we were expecting some special guests for that weekend, and we wanted to have our decorations in place to enjoy! While this is E's second Christmas, it is the first time he has really gotten involved with putting up the tree. He LOVED this activity (as he did pretty much every holiday activity...except for visiting Santa that is...more on that later)! We started trimming the tree by placing the star on top. We read a story about how the star is what led people to where the Christ child was and talked about how every time we see the star atop our tree, it will be a reminder to us that points us to Jesus, the reason we celebrate! After the star was in place, we added the rest. Somehow we forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

 

 

With decorations in place, we were ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and visit with our friends. Our Thanksgiving celebration started out with Mommy's side of the family. While the gathering was smaller than usual, the crowd still overwhelmed E a bit. He started out sitting quietly playing with Little People. Then he chowed down on a plate full of some of his favorite foods. Once his belly was full, he was ready to mingle and entertain. Everyone enjoyed him very much.

 

 

 

 

After a delicious lunch and a quick nap, we headed to Grammy and Papa S's house for time with some of Daddy's family. Little Cousin L wasn't there because she went to Florida to see Aunt J's family, but E's big boy cousins, D & Z were. E was so excited to see them and had great fun playing with them. We enjoyed some left overs for dinner that night, then we got up the next morning and headed to Oak Ridge for E's first train ride with the whole family. When we pulled into the parking lot and he saw the train tracks, he started saying, "I ride choo choo, I ride choo choo!" This went on (literally) until the train ride began! The three boys had a wonderful time on the trip, despite of the man who found it necessary to narrate the ENTIRE trip almost. He did get off the mic for the majority of the return trip, which we really appreciated.

The boys could hardly wait to board the train.

  

He continued saying, "I ride choo choo!" until the train ride began. Cousin D posing with part of the crew.

  

Z had a great time on the train. He loved watching the world pass by from the window. He is such a cutie!

 

Aunt B and D teach E to talk with his belly button near the end of the ride. At the end of the trip, the boys were able to blow the train whistle. They loved that!

 

 

After the train ride, we said goodbye to the family and headed home to get ready for some out of town guests. One of mommy's seminary roommates and her husband and little one were coming to stay with us as they passed through town. This was the first time E met any of them, and the first time J and I got to meet Baby P. It was a great visit, although we wish it could have lasted longer!