Grocery Shopping Trips

Yep...2 trips today...to 3 different stores! In the snow. With the kids. Oh boy!

Why??!!?? Well, I had a $10 gift card to Meijer that I wanted to use to get some produce. They had a decent amount of produce on sale, so I stopped in while we were already in the area (there are 2 Meijers about 20 minutes from my house...too far to go there regularly!). And I needed to drop into Trader Joes to grab a few things for the boys, mainly Rice Milk. Thankfully, TJs is right near Meijers!

Can you spot the red 40% off "quick sale" sticker...paid "summer time" price for that watermelon :) The super expensive GF bread is hiding in the back...I want to make French Toast Casserole (similar to this one) for the boys for breakfast to see how it turns out, and if they like it! The bread seems hard, but soaking it the egg/rice milk mixture might help...one of my many GF experiments! Anyone with more GF experience...chime in :)

Total from Meijer $.95 after Gift Card
Total from Trader Joes $11.46

Later I stopped by Kroger for the essentials...

Highlights from Kroger...$.49 Cottonelle, $1.50 bag organic frozen corn, $1.75 1 lb. ground sirloin (Manager's Special - $.75 Shortcuts.com "ecoupon") to be used for 2 meals this week, $5 Coconut Oil (reg. $9), 4 packages of Tyson chicken breast/tenderloins at 1.77/lb, all produce on sale, and Kroger brand salsa for $.50 (on sale $1 - $.50 Shortcuts.com "ecoupon")

Total spent $45.45
Total saved $33.40 (42%)

Total for the week...$57.86

I have been really nervous about how being on budget with starting on the GF diet. It has been a challenge, but I do believe that baking their snacks has made a big difference in helping keep costs low. Thankfully, the GF baking supplies have been on sale at Kroger, so I'm all stocked up and should be good to go for a while :) It helped me know when the sale would expire...so I could buy one package of the GF mix each week and not run over my weekly budget! Yeah for saving and stockpiling!

AND...it's December 1st which means there are LOTS of new on the coupons.com widget in my sidebar. So...get to printing, as once they've reached their max print limit they will "disappear". Even if you think you might buy the product at the end of the month or even in early January...now's the time to print!

I'm off to eat Thai food with Hubs...hoping the spices will help clear my head!

Another Coupon Booklet

I've got another coupon booklet for you to sign up for...Click on the image or HERE to sign up for more coupons!

Also check out the new Pillsbury Holiday Recipes and the Betty Crocker Holiday Recipes. More coupons! Love those FREE coupons!

$5 Dinner Challenge and Giveaway

It's finally here.......The $5 Dinner Challenge!

Your mission...if you choose to accept it...is to challenge yourself to make a wholesome, balanced meal for $??? or less!

Why the ???...Well, $5 works for me and my family. Perhaps your family is smaller...or larger...or you live in a region of the country that has much higher prices than the middle of the Midwest where I live. I'd venture to say that prices in the middle of NYC or SF are much higher than those that I see in my grocery store. I'd also venture to say that it does indeed cost more to feed a family of 8! Or even 6! Especially if teenage boys are involved :)

The goal is to set a dollar amount for yourself based on your family size and grocery prices in your region that will CHALLENGE you to make meals for less than that amount! Every one is feeling the pinch on the budget these days. Staying in one night a week and doing the $5 Dinner Challenge will save you hundreds of $$$ over the course of a year! Start with this simple way to save :)

I can't wait to read all the inexpensive dinner recipes that you all come up with!

For a complete listing of the guidelines, click here!

To kick off the $5 Dinner Challenge, I've got a great prize to give away!

Jamie from Baby Get Green has written an ebook titled "A Month of Meals". "A Month of Meals" is all about meal planning and the basics of grocery shopping. It is filled with recipes, shopping list, and weekly meal plans for a month. Jamie loves saving money and wrote this book to help other moms who need to have a strict grocery shopping budget, but may not cut coupons and all. The book puts meals together that have similar ingredients so that food is not wasted and families save throughout the weeks.

"A Month of Meals" is a 71 page book valued at $19.95. As a busy wife and mother, Jamie has felt the pressure of getting simple and healthy meals on the table. She strives to live in peace and simplicity. Along with her eBook, she has free information on meal planing that you can sign up to get on her blog - Baby Get Green where she blogs about living simple, cheap and green. Be sure to stop by and sign up!

Just leave a comment below letting me know you'd like to win a copy of "A Month of Meals", and you'll be entered into the giveaway. If you do not have a blog, please leave your email so I can contact you! Contest will close at 5 pm on Tuesday, December 2nd. Winner will be announced in Tuesday night's dinner post.

It's YOUR turn to make frugal and nutritious meals! Starting next week, every Monday night I will post a Mr. Linky for you to link up your favorite frugal dinner meal from the week.

Menu Plan Monday - December 1st

Monday - Happy Birthday Hubs, we're going out! Kids will eat leftover GF Pizza and broccoli with our babysitter!

Tuesday - Honey Dijon Fish (Thanks Kathleen!) with Rice and Green Beans

Wednesday - Cheese Enchiladas (Thanks Rhonda!), Black Beans and Spanish Rice

Thursday - Chicken and Dumplings (Thanks Renee!)

Friday - Beef Skillet Burrito with Corn (Thanks Kristen!)

Saturday - Green Pepper Soup (Thanks Dina!)

Sunday - Leftovers

I also need to bake some more GF (gluten free) snacks for the boys. I'm planning on making more of these cookies, and a batch of GF pumpkin muffins and butternut squash muffins too!

In case you missed my December Menu Plan...Here it is! And don't forget to print coupons from the left sidebar. Coupons.com recently added new printable coupons to their rotation...be sure to scroll through them to see if you need any!

If you're looking for the Kroger deals of the week, click here. For Meijer deals, click here. I might stop by Meijer for some produce this week!

For the menus of other great menu planners in the blogosphere...visit Laura at OrgJunkie.com!

And the special surprise...The $5 Dinner Challenge is here! Be sure to stop by for the guidelines and a GREAT Giveaway!

December Menu Plan

Well, I can't believe it's almost December! I am not quite sure how I am going to "squeeze in" all that needs to be done this holiday season...even with all my shopping already done! There's Christmas cards to be made, homemade gifts to be assembled, along with holiday dinners, brunches, other fun events and much more. I sure am glad to "have a food plan" for this holiday! At least there will be no stress in that department!

You will notice that it stops on the 20th! I will be taking a brief "break", as I will not be cooking for a bit. But have no fear, I've got lots of great posts and guest posts lined up for while I'm on my "cooking hiatus"!

So, without further ado...

1 - Happy Birthday Hubs, we're going out! Kids will eat leftover GF Pizza and broccoli with our babysitter!
2 - Honey Dijon Fish (Thanks Kathleen!) with Rice and Green Beans
3 - Cheese Enchiladas (Thanks Rhonda!), Black Beans and Spanish Rice
4 - Chicken and Dumplings (Thanks Renee!)
5 - Beef Skillet Burrito with Corn (Thanks Kristen!)
6 - Green Pepper Soup (Thanks Dina!)
7 - Leftovers

A reader suggested doing a week of meals from my favorite cookbooks, so here we go!

8 - Instant Potato Pizza and Peas/Carrots
9 - Broccoli Tuna Casserole
10- Curried Split Peas and Rice
11- Fried Noodles
12- Honey Baked Lentils, Rice and Pears
13- Potato Spinach Bake with Glazed Carrots
14- Impossible Cheeseburger Pie and Sweet Potatoes

15- Chili with Cornbread and Apples
16- Asian Chicken Wraps and Snowpeas
17- Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce and Green Beans
18- BBQ Apple Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, Peas
19- Leftovers
20- Cooking Hiatus Begins...I will return to cooking after the New Year!

I linked in the recipes that I already have. For all the other meals, I will post the recipe the night that I make the dinner!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

This morning I shared a few ideas about using your Thanksgiving Leftovers on the Fox 45 morning show. And here they are for you...

Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie
In 9x13 glass baking dish, layer stuffing, then shredded turkey and top with leftover mashed potatoes. Dig a few 1/4 inch holes in the potatoes and pour gravy over the potatoes, and into the holes. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, to warm it through. Cut and serve like a shepherd's pie or lasagna.

Turkey Pot Pie
1 16 oz. bag of mixed vegetables, 2-3 cups of homemade white sauce, 1-2 cups shredded turkey, 1 homemade pie crust (I recommend the crust recipe in this post from the "Thanksgiving on a Budget" series from last week!)

In 8x8 baking dish, mix vegetables (don't have to be thawed) and 2-3 cups white sauce. Add 1-2 cups shredded turkey and mix through. Place pie crust over top of the baking dish. Vent pie crust with 2-3 small slits in the crust. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

BBQ Turkey Sandwiches with Corn Pudding
Add your favorite BBQ sauce to a whole wheat bun with sliced turkey. Serve with "cornbread stuffing" pudding.

Cornbread Stuffing Pudding
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 cups leftover cornbread stuffing
3/4 - 1 cup milk
1 large egg

In bowl, whish egg and milk. Add leftover cornbread stuffing and whisk. Add corn. Bake in a greased 8x8 baking dish for 25 minutes at 375.

Cranberry Turkey Sandwich
Grab some whole wheat bread, spread some cranberry sauce on one slice, a little mayo on the other slice. Add some sliced turkey meat, a piece of lettuce and Yum! A perfect light lunch for Friday or Saturday.

Potato-Broccoli Soup
Take 2 leftover broccoli heads, add 1 cup of mashed potatoes, 2 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of milk (0r 1 can evaporated milk), salt and pepper, and a little extra virgin olive oil. Toss in any leftover chopped celery and onion. Add all ingredients to saucepan. Stir well, bring to boil. Then reduce heat and simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. If necessary, blend with immersion hand blender. Garnish with sour cream or shredded cheese.

Sweet Potato Muffins
A perfect Saturday morning treat!
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup honey or 1/2 cup sugar
2 T butter, melted
2 cups flour (or 2 cups rice flour if GF)
2 t baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
12 pecan halves, whole
OR 12 pecan halves, crushed (Place whole pecan on top of muffin, or put crushed pecans into muffin batter)

Whisk sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, honey OR sugar, and butter. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix until batter forms. Fold in chopped pecans. Pour into greased 12 muffin tin. Add pecan half on top of batter if you didn't mix the pecans into the batter.
Bake for 20 minutes at 400.

These muffins were dense and not to sweet. I enjoyed them!

I'd love to hear your ideas for how you used your Thanksgiving Leftovers! Leave me a comment with your favorite Thanksgiving leftover meal!

Our Thanksgiving Feast

I hope and pray that each of you had a wonderful and healthy Thanksgiving feast! We had a lovely meal, sharing about all the things in our lives that we are thankful for. What a joyful day we have had!

I have a new and exciting surprise waiting for you all next week! Be sure to tune in on Monday to learn about the new adventure at $5 Dinners! I will post a few leftover recipe ideas tomorrow morning, and will be back on Sunday night for Menu Plan Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Friday!

Thanksgiving Cost Breakdown

If you are in or around Dayton, I will be doing another cooking segment on Friday morning! Fox 45 at 8:45 am! Watch if you're not out shopping!

Here's My Thanksgiving Cost Breakdown

Turkey ($18.77)
I did not buy the turkey this year, Big Thanks to my MIL! But if I had, this is what it would have paid $1.29/lb for a 13 lb bird. This cost includes the lemons and garlic that I will "stuff" the turkey with.

Gravy ($.05)
I just added some flour, salt/pepper to the pan drippings. Whisk, whisk, whisk.

GF Cornbread Stuffing ($3)
GF Cornbread Mix (on sale and I froze half of the baked cornbread in slices for later!), seasoning, homemade chicken broth (free!), onion, celery

Homemade Stuffing ($1)
10 slices of bread (about 1/2 a loaf), seasoning, homemade chicken broth (free!), onion, celery

Sweet Potatoes ($3.72)
6 pounds of sweet potatoes with carmelized pecans (LINK)

Broccoli ($3.50)
2 bunches of broccoli and 2 lemons

Cranberry Sauce ($1.50)
I made this for us last week, as I knew my MIL would be bringing her favorite cranberry sauce and jello salad. I inluded it in the final cost.

Yeast Rolls ($3)
I broke down and bought 2 packages of Sister Schubert yeast rolls...on sale and with a coupon! These things melt in your mouth. And I wasn't up for handmaking anything else!

Pumpkin Pie ($3)
I used free evaporated milk from a sale + coupon a few weeks ago, and $.50 can pumpkin from sale + coupon. Eggs, spices, homemade crust. Plus can of ReddiWhip that was on sale and had coupon and "ecoupon" for.

Apple Pie ($3)
I bought apples on sale and made this at MOPS. Stashed in the freezer for 10 days.

Grand Total $40.54

My brother and sister-in-law are bringing the appetizer and flowers for the pumpkin centerpiece.

Not included in this is the breakfast...we will be having an Egg Casserole, Fresh Fruit and these Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

Leftovers tonight! Gots to clear out the fridge to make way for the feast!

Cranberry Stew

Winners of the DiPaloSelects.com Pasta and Sauce Dinner Giveaway are...

47 - Melissa who said, "Mmmm....pasta with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Or maybe a baked ziti. I love pasta!"

4 - Angel who said, "I'd make baked ziti, I made it for 2 families at church over the last few weeks, and have been craving it again! MMM it so good with some homemade breadsticks!"

35 - CC who said, "If I won I'd make a yummy baked pasta dish! :)"

Timestamp: 2008-11-25 22:11:20 UTC

You will be getting an email from me!

Well, the official Thanksgiving feast preparation has begun! Today I started preparing this GF cornbread stuffing, and also prepared the bread cubes for regular stuffing for our other guests (photos below).

Homemade bread cubes...put them into a clean grocery bag or gallon Ziploc, add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and "Shake"! I will leave these in the bag until Thursday morning, so all I've got to do is add in the stock, onion and celery. Simple as that! (For more on Kitchen Tips Tuesday, visit Tammy's Recipes!)

I will add the broth and other goodies on Thanksgiving morning. The apple pie that I made at MOPS the other week is now thawing in the fridge. And the "to do" list is longer for tomorrow. I will post the cost breakdown of our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night.

Tonight we had Cranberry Stew, thanks to Tamy at 3 Sides of Crazy!

Ingredients
~1 lb stew beef ($2.32)
1/2 bag cranberries ($.50)
1/2 onion, chopped ($.15)
2 stalks celery, chopped ($.10)
1/2 cup rice ($.20)
8 oz can crushed pineapple ($.59)
1 granny smith apple, chopped ($.25)
1 cup apple juice ($.15) Tammy recommends OJ, but we don't usually drink/have OJ!
1/2 bag Cascadian Farm organic frozen green beans ($.75)

Directions
1. Place all ingredients EXCEPT rice in the crockpot. Set on low for 8 hours. Add rice an hour before you want to eat. If there is not enough liquid, add a cup or so of water for the rice to soak up!
2. Cook frozen green beans on stovetop or microwave. Serve on the side. This stew will certainly warm your tummy on a brisk fall day! And a perfect "pre-Thanksgiving" stew!

Cost $5.01

Lentil Burritos

Thank you Gayle for pointing me to this recipe! Rice + Lentils = Complete Protein, and a cheap one too!

Ingredients
1 cup rice, uncooked ($.20)
1 cup green lentils, uncooked ($.50)
1/2 of an onion, finely chopped ($.20)
1 small can Muir Glen tomato paste (free!) Watch for Muir Glen tomato paste to go on sale for less than a $1 and then use $1 coupon.
1 packet Taco Seasoning, or The Frugal Mom's Taco Seasoning ($.50) I omitted the flour in Donna's recipe!
1 bag corn or flour tortillas ($.69-$1.29) I used corn to keep it gluten free.
1 cup shredded cheese ($.75) Omit if GFCF!
Salsa or sour cream or other favorite Mexican garnish ($.50)
1/2 bag Cascadian Farm frozen corn ($.75)
GF Chocolate Chip Cookies ($.32)

Directions
1. Bring 2 1/4 of water to a boil. Add 1 cup of rice. Return to boil. Then reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes until rice is done.
2. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 cup lentils. Cook lentils in 4 cups of water for 20-30 minutes until tender. Drain off excess water.
3. Combine cooked rice and lentils in large saucepan. Add tomato paste + 2 tomato paste cans worth of water. Stir through. Add seasoning packet or spices. Let simmer about 10 minutes. Check on it to make sure it doesn't get too "dry".
4. Spoon lentil-rice mixture into tortilla. Add shredded cheese. Wrap up burrito style!
4. Cook frozen corn as directed. Serve as side dish or inside the burrito.
5. Have cookies for dessert!

Cost $4.41