Fail

I have neglected this thing... mostly because I haven't made anything really noteworthy. This month I have been recreating meals by cooking one big meal, and using the left-overs in new ways. It has been successful, however I have still had left-overs that ended up getting thrown away... Even when I try not to waste there is still waste :(

I did manage to remember to freeze the ham. There was soooo much. It was maybe an 8 lb ham, supposedly servings for 10, but I made 5 meals for the two of us, breakfast a couple days and still have half of what I started with!

I did make my Stuffed Shells... had to. The ricotta was about to pass its sell by date. This recipe makes enough for 3 meals. I'll post it soon. Hopefully.

I am having a Pampered Chef Cooking Show here in July, and am trying to save my pennies to go out for a nice anniversary "linner" So my July shopping will be limited. I have made my menu and list and think I can buy everything I need including miscellaneous stuff (Keira's stuff aside) for under $150 for the month! AND I'm only shopping at Jewel and Aldi (ok ok and probably Target too) - trying to save gas!!

Keira has begun solids. We have only tried rice cereal and carrots so far, but not bad for her only being 4 1/2 mos old. I will be picking up oatmeal for her, and trying out some jarred baby food to see what she likes before I go forward with my making of the baby food since I hate waste so much. I had carrots in the fridge and made that for her for the heck of it, since she's not a huge fan of the rice cereal. She doesn't seem to be much of a fan of carrots either, but she's getting the hang of eating. I'm thinking applesauce or sweet potatoes will be next.

Shopping aside, have I ever mentioned how much I love freecycle??! Cause I do, I really do. Not only have I gotten tons of unopened formula through freecycle. But DIAPERS! I love finding the post of someone who bought diapers in bulk and their baby grew out of them and have a ton left! YAY for me. I'm picking up almost 2 full packages of Huggies and Pampers Size 3 dipes tomorrow. Thank You Freecyclers!

OK I'll stop rambling - I will post my stuffed shells recipe soon, and my July menu/grocery list too. AND I made up my own pancake recipe after much pancake research, and they were freakin' delicious, so I'll post that recipe too.

A Whole Week

Wow, busy-ness and sick make me a dull girl...

So last week I made a whole chicken, and then made meals all week from the chicken... AND still had left-overs (that need to be thrown away yet)

This week = HAM!

I made a 8lb spiral ham yesterday that I got for under $9!
We just had some box scalloped potatoes and some Green Giant Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Carrot in Cheese sauce frozen thing, and a salad with it yesterday.

Tonight:
Cheddar and Ham Mac and Cheese
(Cheap and Delicious and easily enough for 6+ people... really its a TON of food!)

Ingredients:

2 boxes of Mac and Cheese, prepared
about a cup of frozen peas
between 1 and 2 cups of ham
about a cup of shredded cheddar cheese
between a half a cup and a cup of ritz crackers crushed, with a tbs of butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Prepare the Mac and Cheese as directed. Add the peas and ham, mix and put in a baking dish. Top with cheese and then top with ritz crushed crackers. Bake for 15 minutes.

ENJOY! :)

Proudness

So I ended up spending more money than I wanted to this month, but than I realized... I didn't spend all of it on food! I got some things for Keira, some of the usual household stuff, and something Mike needed... Although I really spent $195, only $141 of it was on food, averaging out about $28/week, $4/day!! Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner accounted for, for 5 whole weeks - and I'll still probably have more food than I know what to do with - since that is always the case...

ah, thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

My other proud moment of yesterday... I made a whole chicken! I don't know why, but those whole birds intimidate me, I made a turkey breast a while back for the first time and was so impressed with how good it turned out for having never done it before, so I tried out the whole chicken.... DELICIOUS! I'm so happy that I've conquered a fear, and it turned about awesomely moist and delicious!
Now to use the left-overs for the rest of the week... I'm making myself some chicken salad for lunch today YAY!