Wish Me Luck, Cheer Me On, & Give Me Recipes!

The Challenge - 200 Meals!
Week 3


What's the count?

7 meals complete so far...with 5 planned for this week!

What's for dinner?

M: Zucchini Casserole, but added noddles - lots of squash and zucchini from the garden!

T: Gounod Turkey & Noodle Bake - just elbow mac, bertolli spaghetti sauce jar (tomato & basil), can of corn, can of diced tomatos, cheese, and pop it in the oven. Boring, but so yummy and kid friendly. I sub Turkey, cause we're trying to eat less red meat---I sure with my heath decided that BEFORE i stockpiled with 15 lbs of ground beef!! ugh.

W: Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken LOVED IT!

Th: Left overs

F: Teriyaki Chicken w/ brown rice - just going to use a Lawry's Marinade and serve it with rice and veggies. Boring, but yummy!

S: Chicken Tacos - left over teriyaki chicken, mango slices, cilantro, & white rice on a lightly fried corn tortilla. (just sounds good at the moment--we'll see how it turns out :)

Sun: Heath - TBA

The Results (recorded nightly---maybe :)

Day 8: Complete. I made the zucchini casserole again, but this time without chicken and I added noodles. It was really yummy. I forgot to add ANY spices---so it was a little bland. And if you know my husband and I ----we really need lots of flavor when we eat. Oops. Had the leftovers for lunch Tuesday. Yum. Heath brought them for lunch today too. What? He actually ate some of my leftovers. Miracle!!!

Day 9: Complete. NOW THIS IS DEDICATION! Heath and I were meeting up at his work last night for a date (to the lds temple) and it would have been easy just to grab Carl's Jr or something but instead...I MADE DINNER! I packed it to go---and we ate it in his office at work. It was totally fun! I made chicken, rice, and carrots. Not the best meal ever, but totally edible.

Day 10: Done!! Wednesday...Today I made a noodle casserole thing. It was yummy. Kids didn't even touch it tho. I think both of them had tummy aches or something cause its totally a kid friendly dish. Whateva!

Day 11: Success!!! I made the Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken from my favorite site! Yum. I loved it. I think next time I might try to omit the onion powder cause my heath wasn't crazy about that part (we're picky about onion flavoring) and maybe add fresh celery and maybe shallots. Yum.

Day 12: Complete. We had chicken Tacos...yum. Loved it. I honestly don't remember if I cooked on Friday night----so---it doesn't count I guess. I think heath cooked cause I wasn't feelin it. So the count it only at 12 this week---I'll take it!

Wish Me Luck, Cheer Me On, & Give Me Recipes!

The Challenge - 200 meals!
Week 2


What's the Count?

Only 3 meals complete last week, with 4 planned this week - can she do it? Yes she can!


This Week for Dinner...

M: BBQ with my Fam...I don't have to cook!

T: Mexican Wraps: black beans, salsa, Avery Mexican Rice, cheese, chicken- from left over Honey Lime Chicken & Pineapple, all grilled in a flour tortilla.

W: Broiled Talapia Parmesan

Th: Salsa Chicken & Black Bean Soup

F: Corn Chowder - OAMC

S: Left Overs ---- gotta eat it all up sometime!--(If we don't have any cause of lunches....I'll have to think of a backup plan later in the week---I'll keep u posted)

Sun: Heath

OAMC:

Graham Crackers - link to Everyday Food Storage site---LOVE this site :) Video tutorial for the recipe too!

Corn Chowder -aka, My Favor tie Corn Chowder! I'll be doubling the recipe and freezing in ziploc twist top plastic containers as individual serving sizes for my lunches.

Meal 4 - accomplished! Mexican Grilled Wraps with Mexican Rice. Yum.

Meal 5 - done. I wouldn't say "accomplished" cause I decided I REALLY don't like Talapia. Sad face. I LOVE Sushi and will eat almost anything from the ocean...but it can't taste like salt water or "fishy". I like fish with real flavor. Like salmon, eel, crab, or shrimp. I seriously almost tossed my cookies during dinner today. Yuck. Oh well. No more Talapia - DONE!

Meal 6 - complete! I decided to stick to what my family really likes...Mexican Food. Last night (thursday) I made Tacos with Turkey meat and Mac & Cheese as a side, with salad of course. We've never had mac and cheese with dinner and heath and I loved it! Not, love it and want to have it once a week...but loved it like maybe once a month. Friday I think I'll stick to the Corn Chowder and make the black bean soup Saturday.

Meal 7 Complete! - Corn Chowder OAMC. I cooked 2 batches of my favorite soup to put some in the freezer for lunches this month. My mom is so amazing and came over to help me cook it. Thanks :) She's better at it! Now I have dinner totally done even before naptime! Wohooo! I love that. Its so hard to cook at 4 or 5 cause the kiddos are so crazy at that time of the day. Have I said it enough times....I LOVE LOVE LOVE living near my mother. I'm so grateful for her love and support in everything I do. She's always thinking of ways to make my life as a mommy and wife easier...and she's always thinking about her kids and how she can continue to teach them and set a good example. Thank you mom---you really are a rare commodity. Am I spoiled? Nope. Just really really loved by my friend and mom Julie. (yup...I'm julie jr)

That's it for this week----its saturday night and I popped in frozen pizza and had cucumbers on the side. I don't think this meal will count. But we didn't eat out AT ALL this week. yay! Heath is cooking tomorrow---so I'll try the black bean soup and the graham crackers next week. Tah tah for now. -j

Lexi Ready to Swim!

Thanks to my sister in law Tenille for forwarding me this cute picture of my little princess Lexi. She LOVES to swim and I wouldn't be surprised if she learns before Jacob---she'll just LEAP into the pool and try to swim to me without any help. Fearless. It cracks me up---and scares me to death!

oh, how I love napping kids...

All I want right this second is a red crockpot. I can't stop thinking about it today. Lol. Ok--on with the post.

I love this time.

No-I don't surf the web the whole time. No- I don't clip coupons or just watch tv.

I love this time cause I can get stuff done! And then--- spend an hour doing something I like. Love it. On a typical day, my wonderful kiddos sleep for 2-3 hours. Some days up to 4 hours. Ahh---bliss. I don't want to be doing the dishes, folding clothes, or cooking (ugh), or blogging...while they're awake---they want to play! :) So they allow me a naptime. yay.

Since my boy is such a handful---he needs at least 80% of my attention while he's awake (moms out there---we all know we don't give our kids 100%...if you think you do...I vote you for mom of the year AND most insane woman of the year. )

Today during naps so far---I pulled the chicken meat off of 2 rotisserie chickens from the grocery store, started dinner in the crockpot, unloaded dishwasher and reloaded breakfast dishes, then all the wiping and mopping involved with the kitchen cleanup, rotated laundry 3 times so far (the short special wash loads are usually saved for when I can pay most attention to them), hung clothes, no folding yet--saving that for a good show to watch, hmmm...is that it? I guess so. Kids have been napping for an hour or so I think.

Moms out there----make a mental list of all the stuff you do in a day--and pat yourself on the back...you work hard. You are an amazing housewife. Smile. :D When the days are hard---find 5 minutes of quiet to think about all your blessings. My 2 best blessings in my life want to be with me and love me unconditionally--who could ask for anything more? When I'm in a rush and feel like I can't get anything done---I have to stop and think---I want them here! I love the attention and the love. Thanks Lexi & Jacob. Love you.

ttfn

PJ

Wish Me Luck, Cheer Me On, & Give Me Recipes!

The Challenge:

Cook 200 meals in 365 days! (starting May 19th 2009)
I'm not a new wife or a new mom--but I'm a new cook!

Here's the plan - personally (husband doesn't count :) cook 4 meals a week...precooking is allowed...crockpots allowed...breakfast for dinner allowed...OAMC allowed...semi-homemade allowed!!

My Sources---the internet, my mother, and YOU! (we don't like bell peppers ;)

Wish Me Luck, Cheer Me On, & Give Me Recipes!

This Week for Dinner...

T: Zucchini Casserole , added chicken and yellow squash to the recipe
W: CrockPot Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
Th: Heath's Night (Taylor Swift Concert!)
F: Honey Lime Chicken with Pineapple, & white rice
S: Chinese Chicken Salad
Sun: Heath's Day
OAMC: Bread Crumbs, Waffles

What's OAMC? Once a month cooking---one day during the kids naptime---I'll make enough waffles for my kiddos to eat for the next month--so 10 minutes before we need to go out the door, when my 3 year old begs for waffles---I have some to pop in the microwave or toaster! And the bread crumbs are for the recipes I have coming up.

4 meals this week. I can do it! Seriously, that would be a record for me. No joke.
Maybe I'll even upload pictures... :)
Note: This is my first attempt at using Google Docs. Hope it works.

PJ

Meal 1- accomplished! I thought it might be good to start off with a picture! :D Zucchini Casserole - my mother's recipe. We have SO MANY zucchini and yellow squash in the garden so I'll probably be cooking veggie dishes a lot.

Meal 2 - accomplished! I won't be taking pictures every single time I make a meal---but I DID cook tonight :) Note: I didn't really like the flavor of the Classic Chicken Soup that I made. Here's picture of the meal. (proof:) My kiddos ATE the food! Even with the spinach, yams, & broccoli! It doesn't look appetizing---I might try a different recipe for chicken soup in the crockpot--maybe a more Asian soup.

Meal 3 accomplished! Late posting the picture :) Honey Lime Chicken, yummy!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Cookies

I feel so guilty! I got a comment from a friend requesting this recipe and I totally forgot! Rude---sorry!

Here's it is :D

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Cookies
Shauna Kerr
Yields: a ton! Let me know if you find out--I always eat too much dough.

3/4 c. shortening or margarine
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. water
3 mashed bananas - slightly brown
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3 c. oatmeal
1 (120z.) pkg. chocolate chips

Beat together shortening, sugar, egg, water, mashed bananas and vanilla. Add: flour, salt and baking soda that have been sifted together. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Drop by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.


My comments:

This recipe gives me great memories of my aunt Shauna Kerr - she loves to bake and has such a talent for it! I can remember warm cookies at her house and yummy rolls on holidays. I think my favorite is her orange rolls. Mmmm. Thanks Shauna!

Optional variations-
-Half flour, half wheat.
-Half old fashioned oats, half quick oats.
-Put the oats in a food processor or blender first, to hide them a little from the kiddos.

Good as a breakfast snack or a dessert.
Also yummy served with a scoop of ice cream and a few fresh sliced bananas.

$7.98

The bulk of the $ was spent on the easy macs ($2 something) & the ritz were .89 a box. But I'm very happy with the total spent. Yay. Having a party? I'll bring the salad! I think I would have spent over $25 for these items, and that's assuming they're on a great sale. Thanks to Deal Seeking Mom's Post about Target Deals.

Jacob Loves Legos!

Jacob and I love playing Legos! Yesterday he stacked legos on my back while I was reading a book on the floor. So funny. He looks so happy playing with his legos. Oh---new haircut...his head gets so hot...I felt bad keeping it long just cause I liked it...it wasn't fair to my hot, sweaty, son that doesn't even care what he looks like. Its been in the 100's all week. Crazy.

CVS Run...

I had another $5 off a $25 purchase coupon---and the pull ups were still on sale---so I HAD to go to CVS while I was in town today...

Sale Prices

2 Pull Ups $8.99 each
-$3 coupon
-$3 coupon
-$2 cvs coupon

2 Planters $2.50 each
-$1 coupon
-$1 coupon

2 CVS Candy $.99 each
-$1 coupon

Otter Pop $3.99 - hey, it looked yummy - good boy scout snack (every wednesday...yes...wolf leader :)

Giant Slim Jim $1.29
Couldn't say no to my VERY obedient boy.

-$5 coupon

Paid with
$11 ecb's
$5.24 cash

Pretty good today considering I stocked up on PullUps, peanut for food storage, and scout snacks. Yay. Great use of ecb's.

My Best Deals @ Walmart today

Huge picture if BBQ Sauce - Cost : $0 ... $.98 each - $1 coupons = OVERAGE :)

Checking off some of my food storage list

2 Salt: $.50 each

1 Pasta $1.50 - $1 coupon

2 Pedialyte $5.24 - $2 coupon

(I sware the shelf tag said it was only $4.24. Ugh!)

I added the Pedialyte to my food storage list---thinking of my kiddos---what if during a disaster they have major diarria!? (spelling?) Its totally worth $3.24 a bottle to have a little peace of mind until 5/2011 when they expire. lol.

Kraft Dressing - $1.58 - $1.50 coupon = $.08 WOHOOO!

I also have some $1 coupons but I'm still deciding if $.58 each is still a great deal.

It is right---this is what happens---I get SUPER cheap.

Jello - $.50 each - $1/3 coupon = $.16 each.

We only really have Jello on the 4th of July for a Red, White (cool whip), and Blue dessert. That's why I only ever buy Red and Blue Jello.

So the total for all this stuff was $9.18 + tax. Not bad.

During today's trip to Walmart I used $24 in coupons...crazy...but only felt like posting by Best Deals.

START COUPON SHOPPING! IT'S WORTH IT!

Lexi - 15 Months

Lexi LOVES this toy that Cari & Toby gave us. Thanks again!

Blurry---but still so cute.

She would NOT pose for me standing up. I guess I'll save the good pics for the professionals---Kristine?! Coming to AZ anytime soon :D

This is Lexi's Spring Dress --- she LOVES it. One day she was carrying it around the house and then sat on the couch with it draped over her like she was wearing it. She just sat there---LOVING it! So, I let her wear it :) No harm in a little dress up right? These pictures are from Sunday before church. My little princess is getting so big! Awww....time for another little baby. JK. Not yet.

PJ

CVS Week of 5/10 Round 1 & Where YOU can get the deals...

MONEY MAKER!!!

Wohooo! Back to the good old days when I was making money shopping at CVS!!!

Here's short version of the trip today.

2 Contour Blood Glucose Monitors

3 Crest Pro Health Enamel Shield Mouthwash - I'm excited to try this!

2 Nivea (new!) Body Wash...Touch of Bliss & Touch of Sparkle...ooooo!

1 Nivea My Silhouette Redefining Gel-Cream---excited to use that too!

1 Nivea Sin-Kissed Beautiful Legs

Loving ALL the stuff I bought today!

Whats up with the purchase?

The 2 Glucose things I'll resell at a garage sale for $3 or $5 each. AND I think there's a rebate available...hmm. Making even more money?!

The Nivea body wash I might use or might resell for $1.50 each.

The Crest Mouthwash will resell for $1 if I don't love the product.

I did so well this time cause I used the $5/$25 purchase that was emailed to me. If you have a CVS card be sure to register it online so you can receive the email offers! When you get a coupon emailed to you, your ALLOWED to print it and use it as much as you want before it expires :D

Yay. I used it twice today.

I rolled a ton of ecbs today so I really old spent $3 out of pocket. Love it.

Saved----like at least $200----cause the Glucose things are $70 each. Yikes.

Like this deal? Wanna try it?

Deal Seeking Mom's Post with CVS Deals.

Or You can check almost any of the Coupon Blogs on my sidebar to get tips of HOW TO coupon shop and WHERE to shop.

Mott's Apple Juice - 1 gallon - is only $2 this week at Target! (in Phoenix area---maybe yours too?!)

That's a good deal! No coupons needed. I'm not sure if its the cheapest I've ever seen apple juice---but its Motts, not the store brand!

Apple juice is great for the kiddos and great for food storage. Apple juice lasts a really long time with my family- since I dilute the juice like 75% water in the kids cups. Lol. They still love it.

PJ

CrockPot 365----awesome site!

http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/

New post of a super yummy--looking--recipe. I really want to try this one...



Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup CrockPot Recipe

Let me know if your try it -- I'm so excited. What did you think?!

Joy of Womanhood

When asked to comment on "The Joy of Womanhood" for my mother's lesson this was my response. One for the books...

Where to start? I love being emotional. Woman are notoriously emotional people, but this emotional side of the female is what makes us who we are. It's because of this uncontrollable emotional urge that we better feel Compassion, Passion, Sympathetic, Pathetic, Kind Hearted, and Kinda Crazy, Happiness, and Sadness. Our emotions, though overwhelming and unappreciated by the opposite sex, have created the balance that is so necessary in the world--our men are unable to be emotional, irrational, Talking Hearts...we gladly stepped up to the plate so as to fill this void and take the burden upon ourselves. We're just helping out, its our calling. Deal With It!

Snack Time!

Went to Target today to get some deals...here's my favorite one!

Sale price $1.79 each - (4) .50 coupons - $5 gift card when you buy 4

Total price: $.04 each.

Wow!

That's less than 1 cent per snack. I love cheap chocolate snacks.

Thinking too hard...

To twitter or not to Twitter? That's the question today. I'm trying to decide it I want to deal with one more type of communication. Hmmm. Your thoughts....

My Cari wants me to join...

PJ

only paid tax.

Here's more FREE stuff from Walgreens. Colgate: Pd $4.49 each - received $4.50 in RR each. Right Guard: Paid $2.99-$1 coupon - received $2 RR. I used RR to pay for it so very little oop. Like 2 bucks and some change from the bottom of my purse.

Yay.

We ran 4 errands this morning---marathon! Me and my two kiddos: Walgreens for cheap deals, Blockbuster in search for "the penguin movie" for Jacob, P/U Dry Cleaning, and QT for a soda run---refill cup makes it only $1.09 for a 44 oz. drink. Good deals. Then to my mother's to drop off a soda for her too.

My kiddos are so good at running errands with me. I love it. Jacob who's only 3 is so obedient and stays by me (90%) of the time. Yay! And Lexi is pretty good and being yanked in an out at multiple stops, however, she takes her shoes off EVERY TIME we get into the car. Very annoying. lol. But she's so cute. My kids actually like the errands and I'm so grateful for that.

I must have looked CRAZY carrying my 15 month old and two empty soda cups into the gas station with my 3 year old following mama duck around. Love it. We also got a donut this morning----not very good----cari made me do it. j/k. Sad face. When we got to the register I had 2 full cups of soda and a donut bag and Jacob was carrying a soda cup with lemonade---he felt so special with his own soda. lol. The guy ringing us up usually only sees me --- i bet its funny to see me in "mommy mode". All my ducks were in a row and we were happy and doing great. Again, I love that. $3.24.

Need items & great resell items!

above: most expensive items!

Not in picture: 1liter of Smart Water, 2 Vitamin Waters - gone before we got home :D Thirsty at the zoo today!

Sale prices listed

Walgreens
2 Colgate 4.49 ea
2 24pk Water 2.99 ea
4 Pert Plus for Men 2.50 ea
3 Right Guard Deoderant 2.99 ea

Cost after coupons and RR promos...

$9.23

CVS
3 12pks of D.Coke 3/$12
2 2liter D.Coke $1.33 ea
4 Vitamin Water (2 not in picture) $1.33 ea
1 Smart Water (not in picture) $1.33
4 Addidas Deoderant $3.99 ea
2 Jergans $8 ea
1 Biore Face Wash $6.99
1 Biore Strips $8.99

Cost after coupons and ecb promos...

$20.72



Total: $29.95

Saved --- too lazy to do more math...but at least 100 bucks!

Is this a record for me? I haven't posted in a long time!

Update:
My cell phone is totally out of order, So Sorry to all that have been trying to reach me....Thanks for the emails to check on me :) If you want my new number shoot me an email and I can add you to my contacts---my phone book is EMPTY!

Here's the scoop...my sprint phone broke and I have no way to pull the contacts out of my phone and sprint can't fix my phone. Ugh. My contract with sprint expires at the end of this month---so I switched to verizon. I wanted to keep my same phone number BUT I can't switch the number to my verizon phone until my contract expires. What a mess. And to boot----I can't figure out why I can't check my sprint phone voicemails from an outside line----ugh! I bet I have a ton of MAD MAD MAD voicemails. Shoot. OR old friends that think I've fallen off the planet into Arizona Oblivion. Boo Hoo.

My hubby has probably been loving me talking on the phone less. Lol. I just switched from my Sprint Unlimited plan, to a Verizon plan with 900 minutes and "my 5" --- needless to say staying within my minutes has been a breeze. I can't believe that with sprint I would use 2300+ minutes. Is that even possible? Goodness.

Tah tah for now. Going to vacuum the carpet and swiffer the tile...that always makes me feel better.

PJ

PS----LOVE MY NEW PHONE>where have you been all my life? Included a pic of my phone in the post. :D Thanks so much to my brother Stephan for helping me set up the service and choose my phone. I love love love having a big brother living so close to me...and my dad and my husband---what more could a girl ask for?