Shopping challenge

(Food, glorious food)

A long time ago, in a faraway land, there was a wannabe coupon queen. She shopped at wonderful bakery outlets, double and triple coupon stores, clipped her coupons faithfully on Sunday nights. Her pantry and freezer were stocked. Life was good.

Then she moved to a tiny island. No Sunday papers with glossy paged ads. No weekly grocery ads to compare her coupons with for a good deal. No coupons in said paper. No double coupons. No warehouse stores. Only one store to shop at. She had plenty of groceries they were all just paid for at full price. Her grocery bill went through the roof.

OK that is my attempt at a fairy tale. LOL It is true though. Being on Guam has been rough on our budget.

I believe that as a homemaker it is my job to make our money stretch as far as it can. I am not always good at this.

Right now our pantry is FULL, our freezers are full. We are moving in 3 months. It is time to stop bringing more groceries in and start clearing some OUT!

So when I found the $60 Grocery cart challenge, I was all in! I read her blog, and made my weekly menu according to her suggestions. I went to my pantry before the grocery store. I made out my menu accordng to what was in there. Then I added items to my list that we were out of.

Today was my first trip and DRUM ROLL PLEASE $46 was my total!! I did walk past the Cadburry mini eggs and ok all the Easter candy (only stopping twice but eventually not giving in!!)and did not grab my usual after grocery shopping diet coke. (:

I am so proud of myself. My meals are planned for this week and I even have 2 "just in case" dinners planned.

I am going to keep this up until I move. Once I get back to the states, and coupons and real grocery stores, I know my plans will change. But for right now, I am cleaning out the pantry. Wanna join me?

**I am spending $60 or less at the grocery store (this includes toiletries and cleaning etc)every week

** I am not counting diapers or formula (:
** If I come under my budget, that money is going into my savings account. Some choose to move it to the next week.

** Will post some of my good deals although they are few and far between on this island!

Giveaway

I just found a fun blog called Saving Those Dollars. She is trying to feed a family of four on $25 a week!

I so miss coupons and comparing ads to coupons. That has been one of the hardest things about being over here. I used to be a coupon Queen! OK not Queen but I definatley had my fair share of good deals!

Anyway, she is having a give away for Lysol no touch hand soap! It looks so neat! So if you are interested in checking out here giveaway you can go here

Good luck!

MPM

What an expensive month February was! With Valentines Day, 3 birthdays and having to purchase a new mattress & box spring...Yikes!

I am trying to get our budget back under control and so will be planning my menu from my pantry! Which is honestly overflowing at this moment!

Monday March 1st:
B: cold cereal & muffins
L:kabobs, oranges, pasta salad, cookies, juice
D: sliced carrots in maple, ham, beans, rolls
AS: (after school snack)jello

Tuesday:
B:smoothies
L: pb &j, yogurt covered raisins, granola bar, fruit snacks, oranges, juice
D: chicken & stuffing casserole, green salad, rolls
AS: popcorn

Wednesday:
B: scrambeled eggs
L:ham wraps with lettuce &shredded carrot, applesauce, boiled eggs, cookies and juice
D: spaghetti / hamburger, corn, bisquits
AS: pudding

Thursday:
B: cereal & muffins
L: leftovers, fruit snack, treat
D:pancakes, sausage, hashbrowns
AS: nilla wafers & milk

Friday:
B: pancakes
L:homemade lunchables, dried fruit, applesauce, treat
D:sloppy joes, mac and cheese, brocoli
snack for family movie night: popcorn and choc. chip cookies from Subway (courtesy of a free coupon)

Saturday:
B: eggs & ham, toast, fruit
L:kid choice
snack: muffins
Dinner: (kids with babysitter) pizza, carrot sticks

Sunday:
B: leftover breakfast items
L: kid pick after church
D:turkey burgers, french fries, caramel apple salad, beans

Monday:
B: cereal & muffins
L: left over hamburgers, salad, treat, crackers
AS:applesauce and graham crackers
Dinner: enchiladas, rice, corn

Thanks for looking at my menu for the week!
L:

LUAU!

(He was very proud of his work!Although he wondered why he was getting his picture taken!)

(Don't those look yummy?! They were!)

(vegi trays)

(Putting kabobs together)

A long time ago, we decided to only have friend birthday parties every other year. When it is their family party, we keep it nice and simple. We had two big bashes this month. It left me EXHAUSTED! I think that is why we only do them every other year!

My son Connor turned 8 and decided to celebrate with a luau! I had the idea to do Hawaiian pizza's but he wanted to grill. His favorite? "Chicken on a stick". So kabobs it was!

This was the menu for the party:
Kabobs
hot dogs (since kids can be so picky about food (:)
chips/dip
orange slices
vegi trays
apples and toffee dip
bacon &ranch pasta salad
potato salad
deviled eggs
cake
ice cream

It was all very yummy and now we get to enjoy the leftovers!

For kabobs we had steak and chicken, with purple onions and peppers. We also had some that were just meat.

Toffee dip (sooo yummy!)
1 8 oz. brick of cream cheese,softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 pkg of Heath/Skor chips

Mix well and enjoy!

Bacon & Ranch pasta Salad ( I used to just buy the Betty Crocker/Kraft kind but now I just make my own!)

1 box of large shell pasta
1 packet ranch dip mix
mayo to taste
bacon bits ( I use about 3/4 pkg) Of course you can also cook your own bacon and then cut it up
shredded carrots
frozen peas

Eat right away or serve cold.

What are your favorite recipes to serve at parties? Do you like to keep it easy or go all out?

WINNER

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER! This morning my beautiful assistant, helped me with our very high tech drawing! (:

She had pulled 2 names out when I realized that I had missed a name! So we re-did the drawing and...the same person won! I guess she was just meant to win!

First place for the cookbook Pioneer Woman Cooks is Angie at The American Homemaker!

Second place for the Southern Living Comfort Food cookbook is Tracy Pine!

Congrats ladies! Angie I will need your snail mail address so I can get this out to you. It is Saturday on Guam so it won't get sent out until Monday!

Tracy I will send yours with Ben on Thursday!

Soon I will be posting pics. from my son's luaua, and on Monday am starting a pantry/$50 a week grocery challenge with more GIVEAWAYS! So come back again and again!

I am really trying to get this blog up and running so I appreciate all of you stopping by!

Cooking Thursday-comfort food

This will be my first time participating!! Fun Fun.

So the past few days have been rough on me and my family. So yesterday I decided that we were in need of some comfort food. Nothing says comfort to me like peanut butter and chocolate! Whoever came up with that combo...well I love 'em.

I made one of my favorite cookies, cake mix cookies! They are so easy! My favorite part is how moist they are though. I love a good soft cookie!

You can make any combo that you want.(: We also like yellow cake mix with choc. chips, choc. cake mix with mint choc. chips in them! There is a lot of variety. The recipe I follow is this

1 box of cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 c. veg. oil
a few tsps of water as needed
whatever chips or other add ins that you want!

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. My oven cooks very slowly and so I usually have to do at least 15.

I baked these and then my daughter came in with the question, "what's for dinner?"
Oops...cookies before dinner. LOL

So I looked at what I had out and decided on a quick and easy chicken, rice and brocoli casserole.

2 cups cooked rice ( I just used minute)
chicken, chopped I just eyeballed it ( I had bought a clearanced rotisserie chicken that I cut up)
frozen brocoli (defrosted)
1 1/4 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Yum!

I forgot to take a picture of it in the casserole dish but this is what my kids' plates looked like. Casserole, corn and toast. For dessert, cookies & milk! Pure comfort food!

I am also having a giveaway for the cookbook, Pioneer Woman Cooks. It is over tomorrow so if you want to enter go here

WFMW-planners

Posting this link to Works for me Wednesday over at WE ARE THAT FAMILY

I have two older sisters. And growing up, of course, I wanted to be just like them. They both organized their lives using a planner. When I would get bored in church, I would always look through their planners! (:

So I was raised with a planner in hand. I have never, ever found one that really truly works for me. Why? The squares just aren't big enough!! I write big. I make lists. I make notes. I plan menus. That little square just never has enough room.

My sweet husband bought me an ITouch to use as a PDA. But I am not very techy. So I use it for music, checking my email & facebook and playing Tetris. It doesn't work for me as a PDA because I forget it...ALOT. Usually at home plugged into my laptop.LOL

I finally discovered what works for me. I realize that this won't work for everyone, but it does for me.

I now carry a planner and a notebook. Yep. I have doubled up. I do carry a diaper bag so I don't have to worry about my purse being big enough.

I knew I needed a calender to keep track of appts. etc. But rarely, do I just need to know what day I have something. For example, today on my calender it says "E's field trip". What it doesn't say is, I volunteered to bring in a snack for his class and that the trip is $5.

So the calender portion stays next to my desk or goes to church and school with me. That way I can write down dates.

My notebook goes EVERYWHERE. To my bedroom, to the kitchen, to the living room. Next to the computer, in the car...

In here I write...a to do list for the day, (written out the night before...after checking my planner)what events, if any, and what they require. Example, "piano lessons at 3:30. Make sure to bring check to pay for this month. Also make sure all piano books and folder are brought in."

It has really worked for me. My notebook has 5 sections so I also use it to write lists, make menus etc. It keeps me organized and on track!

Also, there are still a couple days to enter my giveaway!If you are interested in winning a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks you can go here

If you are interested in checking out more tips, head over to We Are That Family!