Monday's Meal Plan

Well, a little late on the meal plan for the week!  We were out of town from Friday-Monday so I focused in on the laundry piles between last night and today :)  After my girls slept between 6-8 hours each night (which means I slept way less), imagine my delight to come home to a freezer full of easy food after last weeks couple of big cooking days.  Monday we did BBQ Chicken Calzones and Tuesday (tonight) we did Quesadillas.

If you are new to meal planning, let me encourage you to go for it-- What a HUGE money/time saver!  Pick a day (I like Monday) and take 15 or 20 minutes to start with your pantry and create meals out of what you have.  Create your grocery list on what you still need and make one trip to the store with your coupons in hand!

Here is the remainder of the week for us:

Wednesday- Pasta and Turkey Meatballs, steamed spinach
Thursday- Beef Stew, homemade bread
Friday- Meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, salad

What are you cooking up this week?

Final Freezer Cooking Day- A Success!

Freezer Cooking day 2 (yesterday) was a success!!  I was so tired last night, I just couldn't finish the pita bread and corn tortillas.. not a biggie.  I was really happy with the things I did get finished though.  Its hard to get an exact read on the costs, but I estimated that everything I made below cost me a total of about $15 with my biggest expense being white and whole wheat flour... What an example of coupons and sales coming through for me!

I thought I'd post my final list and some pictures for fun.  Next time I'll do more of a cooking day that focused on really stocking my freezer with complete meals.

• Pancake, Waffle and Cornbread Mixes
• Pumpkin Bread- slice and freeze
• 60 Flour Tortillas (these are amaaaazing!  I use oil instead of shortening and added a little baking powder)
• 25 Corn Tortillas
• 25 Bagels
• Pizza Dough
• Pita Bread
• BBQ Chicken Calzones- I don't have any bacon, so won't be adding that
• Chili- 3 meals This is an AWESOME recipe! 
• Spaghetti Sauce- 3 meals
• Chicken Tetrazzini
• Baked Ziti (for meals for new moms)

I am always overloading my poor Kitchenaid.. I could definitely use a bigger one! (Saving those Swagbucks baby!)

That is some pretty bagel dough right there (in a HUGE bowl!)

Can you tell which bagel my children helped with?

Boiling bagels!

And now baked.. YUM.  My hubby said they are the best bagels he's ever had!

Putting my little baby tortillas down for a long nap...

Final count: 58.. my hubby was stationed at the 2 pans to help me get it done faster!

Free Download- Chris McClarney's "Your Love Never Fails" & Donation to Haiti Relief!

Since we're all about deals here... If you haven't already heard my husband's music, you can get a free download right now of one of his songs, "Your Love Never Fails".  By doing that, a donation will be given to David C Cook's Haiti relief effort!!

Kingsway Music recently released an EP of his called "Introducing Chris McClarney".  Not only did it hold in the top 10 in Christian and Gospel on iTunes for over a week, over a month later, it is rockin' the top 100.  This is so great because literally no marketing dollars have gone into this project!  I am so proud of my husband- his heart and passion for Jesus is contagious.

Go to the CCM online magazine HERE and go to page 26.  You'll see the free download on the bottom of the page!

Baking Day Fun- What I Accomplished

Today was a great day although I forgot about an oil change and hair appointment at 2 different points of the day that took me away from home for a bit.  Combine those with breakfast, lunch, dinner for the family, and the fact that I ran out of flour- (what a HUGE oversight on my part!) my freezer baking day sort of went down the drain :)  

On a happy note, the calzones turned out delicious!  Next time I might add a little more sauce and cheese than I did on these.  Here are some step-by-step pics for a great freezer dinner on a night you don't want to cook! (the link to the recipe is below)

Next cover with the (thinly) rolled pizza dough.

Press in between with your fingers to help give a temporary seal, cut them apart with a sharp knife, press with a fork and trim edges.

Freeze on a baking sheet and then transfer to freezer bag!

Here is the final list of what I accomplished today- definitely pushing to finish the rest tomorrow while the kids are in school from 9am-1pm!

• Pancake, Waffle and Cornbread Mixes
• Pumpkin Bread- slice and freeze
• 60 Flour Tortillas (these are amaaaazing!  I use oil instead of shortening and added a little baking powder)
• 25 Corn Tortillas
• 25 Bagels
• Pizza Dough
• Pita Bread
• BBQ Chicken Calzones- I don't have any bacon, so won't be adding that
• Chili- This is an AWESOME recipe! 
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Chicken Tetrazzini
• Baked Ziti (for meals for new moms)

Monday's Meal Plan- Big Cooking Day for Freezer

I spent a large portion of last week caring for my sick babies which equals soup pretty much everyday, so I'm glad to move into some different food categories this week!  I'm going to do a big cooking day today and stock back up on things I am low on.  I actually got a head start last night by using up the last of the fresh pumpkin I had in my freezer (since November) to make pumpkin bread.  I also was able to make 3 each of waffle and pancake mixes and 2 cornbread mixes.

Mixes save so much time for me- AND my hope is that they will greatly increase my chances for my husband to bring me breakfast in bed!

Here is my ultimate game plan- this time around I'm not focusing as much on main courses as I am on the time consuming parts of meals.  I don't have an official meal plan in place yet, but it will consist of things that come out of my cooking day.  We are heading out of town on Friday so I only have a few days of dinners I'm responsible for (yay!)

• Pancake, Waffle and Cornbread Mixes
• Pumpkin Bread- slice and freeze
• 60 Flour Tortillas (these are amaaaazing!  I use oil instead of shortening and added a little baking powder)
• 25 Corn Tortillas
• 25 Bagels
• Pizza Dough
• Pita Bread
• BBQ Chicken Calzones- I don't have any bacon, so won't be adding that
• Chili- This is an AWESOME recipe! 
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Chicken Tetrazzini
• Baked Ziti (for meals for new moms)

What are things you like to bake ahead and freeze?  Is there a baking day in your near future?

$.75/1 Gold Medal Flour Printable!

Coupons have been restocked over at Coupons.com, and I just came across a $.75/1 Gold Medal Flour coupon!  I saw this on sale at Kroger last night which will equal a great deal on flour.  Be sure to hit the back button after printing to grab 2 of these great coupons!