Stuffed Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts
1 Package cream cheese, slice into thin strips
a few hot peppers, sliced into small pieces
1 stick butter, melted
1 C shredded Parmesan cheese
1 C bread crumbs
Tony's seasoning
toothpicks

Pound out chicken breast and fill each with a couple cream cheese and pepper slices. Wrap up and pin with toothpicks. Dip each breast in butter and roll in mixture of Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, and seasoning. Place in baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

We love this with mashed sweet potatoes!

Menu Plan Monday 3/23

Last week was my husband's Spring Break from school so my menu did not go as planned. His family was here and we were all over the place. This week we will try again!

Breakfasts: cold cereal w/ milk, Cream of Wheat, pancakes or waffles, bananas

Lunches: breakfast for lunch (eggs, bagels), burritos, homemade mac and cheese (I crave this all the time with this pregnancy!) leftovers, cottage cheese, apple sauce

Dinners:

Monday: whatever! Andy has BB games and I teach a couple classes!

Tuesday: leftovers (I teach swimming all evening)

Wednesday: Church night, burritos from the freezer or leftovers

Thursday: stuffed chicken (I didn't get to this last week. I will post the recipe for it later. My dad's specialty!)

Friday: Girl's Night for me, Andy and Eli are on their own

Saturday: Homemade pizza

Sunday: leftovers

Homemade Tortillas

This past week I made my own tortillas, which was somewhat successful. I used 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/2 white flour. They were delicious and healthy for my family! The downside: I could NOT get them to roll thin enough. Every time they were pressed thin they would shrink back up, becoming smaller and thicker. The recipe I used called for 2 C flour and 1 tsp baking powder. I think there may have been too much BP. Next time I will cut the amount in half.

If anyone has suggestions on how to make tortillas, I would love to hear them! I will keep you updated on my tortilla making adventures!

Spring Break

This week was Spring Break for my husband, Andy. It was not a break! We were busy all week and I feel like I got less done than usual! Andy's family was here this week so we played tourist with them. They went camping, fishing, shows, dinner, shopping, and more. I did love sleeping in each morning and having a nice family breakfast. An added benefit- on Monday Andy suprised me with pancakes!

This week has been great, but I am ready to go back to my normal slower-paced life!

Target Deals

I went to Target today to pickup my prenatal vitamins and thought I would use a few coupons. I got the Ziploc containers, 2 tubes of A&D ointment, and Johnson Buddies soap for $2.3x. I was pretty excited!

I had 2 $3.00/1 coupons for the diaper rash ointment, and a $.75/1 for the Buddies and a $1/1 for the Ziploc. The end price paid was $.34 each for A&D, $.25 for Buddies, $1.25 for Ziploc. I saved $8!

Menu Plan Monday 3/16

This week is Andy's Spring Break from school, so he will be around. I need to plan more meals than I have, but am going to the store tomorrow and will plan the rest then! Andy's family is also in town, so we will eat w/ them some.

Breakfasts: cold cereal, Cream of Wheat, scrambled eggs, pancakes, bananas, strawberries, toast w/ peanut butter

Lunches: bean, rice, cheese burritos, leftovers, tacos, applesauce

Dinners

Monday: mexican casserole

Tuesday: out to eat

Wednesday: leftovers or burritos

Thursday: homemade pizza

Friday: mac and cheese

Saturday: stuffed chicken

Sunday: beef skillet

The Before Baby To Do List

(This is Eli when he was just a week old! Isn't he precious? I thought he would be good on the baby list!)

1. Make and Freeze meals and snacks so we can eat after the baby is born. I will post this list later.

2. Paint baby room. I cannot do this until we know if we are having a boy or girl, next month hopefully!

3. Go through guest room, that is to become baby room, and clean out JUNK! Get rid of junk.

4. Figure out a place to put the piles of maternity clothes I have, which I am very thankful to my cousin and sister for their contributions!

5. Go through all of the baby clothes, toys, and accessories that are in storage, so I can see what I have and if anything is needed.

6. Rearrange furniture between Eli's room and the baby's. We need to move the crib and switch dressers and transition Eli to a big bed this summer.

7. Basically go through each room in the house and clean it out. I should have a garage sale, but I don't think I can do that. Instead we will be making numerous thrift store trips or posting on FreeCycle or Craigslist.

8. Deep cleaning of things like base boards, ceiling fans, walls, etc.

I will amend this as needed, which I think will be often as I realize more that needs to be done!

Deep Water

I've been reading "Don't Make Me Count To Three", a book about child training by Ginger Plowman. She discusses that you need to get the heart of the issue with your heart: why they are sinning, what God thinks of that sin.

One verse that she shares is Proverbs 20:5 which says, "A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man (or woman!) of understanding draws it out." The thoughts that are in our hearts, and even in the hearts of our young children, are very deep, and often connected to sin. When we understand, or help our children to understand, that they are sinning, are being selfish, prideful, etc. it is possible to change those sinful attitudes.

I read this and thought, I need to draw out what is in Eli's heart. But I must have understanding, and I often do not. James 1:5 is an encouragement though, it says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

The combination of these two verses have become my prayer in teaching and training Eli (and whatever other children Andy and I are blessed with!) in godliness.

Touchs of Spring

These beautiful yellow daffodils were growing in my front yard and it reminds be of Spring. I need that reminder because it is now freezing here. Just so you know, the flowers do not grow in the gravel; the neighbor kids ripped them out of the ground.

This is the tree in my front yard. It started blooming the other day. I am looking forward to when the whole thing is covered with little purple-blue flowers.

Potty Training

My son, Eli is 19 months old and we have gradually been working on potty training him. The goal (perhaps lofty) is to be mostly done with that before September, so we have just one in diapers. I think it is a little early to work on this, but Eli would always wake up dry in the morning! After 10 hours of sleep! I really don't know how he does it because it seems to be rare. I decided to take the opportunity to work with him.

Some days are good, some are not. He likes the potty most of the time, so we sit in the bathroom and sing a song or work on picture flashcard while he sits! He has never told me before going, but will let me know after, when he needs a diaper change. At this point it is me taking him consistently, but I have hopes that he will take the initiative soon!

One thing that makes this easier is pull-ups. My amazing mom is a good shopper and found several packages of size 4 Pampers training pants on clearance at Dillons over a year ago. She thought ahead and bought them from me. I think they were under $2 a package! These are nice because they go off and on without having to restick diaper tabs!

A Good Mail Day

The photo above is of the things that came in my mailbox today. There were no bills, just free stuff! I got a sample of Maybelline's new mousse foundation, an Always Infinity pad, Selson Blue w/ a new scent, and Huggies wipes w/ shea butter.

All these came from Wal-Mart. Go to http://www.instoresnow.walmart.com/ to see the samples they have now. I don't get any junk email from Walmart. Just make sure you check or uncheck the boxes. At the moment they are offering samples of Kotex, Poise, Parent's Choice Formula, Maybelline, and Gain's new scents. This changes every week or two.

Menu Plan Monday 3/9

This is my first MPM!

Breakfasts
bananas, strawberries
homemade toast w/ peanut butter
cold cereal
waffles or pancakes from freezer

Lunches
PB&J sandwiches
leftovers
burritos from freezer
hotdogs
applesause
sweet potatoes

Dinners
Monday: homemade mac and cheese, salad
Tuesday: grilled chicken, brown rice w/ veggies
Wednesday: leftovers or burritos fom freezer
Thursday: homemade pizza
Friday: out to dinner for my birthday!
Saturday: taco bar
Sunday: leftovers


Snacks
cheese and crackers
cottage cheese
PB cookies
apples

Our day at the Landing

Saturday afternoon Andy and I took Eli to the Landing to walk and play. They have a pirate ship play area and he loves it! Then we walked by the lake to look at the birds and wave at the boats. It was so nice this weekend and great to be outside. I am excited for Spring to come!

Free Stuff! (at Walgreens)

I have been learning how to coupon and bargain shop and I love it. I got a great deal at Walgreens today and wanted to share! A new Walgreens opened close to my house in January and I was excited. I had read about a Dove deal there and wanted to check it out. Dove is one brand I am pretty loyal to.

Here is what I got:
6 Dove Body Bars 1.29 each (used in store coupon to make them .99 each)
4 Dove travel deodorants .99 each (used 1.50 off 2 coupon from Sunday paper)
Walgreens brand headache capsules 2.99 (free after mail-in rebate)
Axe shampoo/conditioner 5.99 (free after mail-in rebate)

The sweet cashier also scanned a $3 off a $10 purchase coupon for me.

I Paid 15.55 cash and received $10 in register rewards (a coupon from Walgreens that I can use on my next purchase), another $1.50 Dove coupon, and I will be getting the $8 back next month from the rebates! I actually made money on this deal!

If you want to know more about shopping at Walgreens check out Money Saving Mom's Walgreens 101.

Pregnancy Update

As you may know, I am expecting our second child in late August (or early September, I was 2 weeks late with Eli!). I have been feeling the baby move a lot the last couple days, which is so exciting, because I didn't feel Eli move this early. I am 15 weeks right now. I am looking forward to the next 5 or 6 months.

I am in my second trimester now and have so much more energy. I have been working on my Before Baby To Do List. I will post that later. It gives me accountability to have someone else knowing what I plan to do. Then I am obligated to work harder!

At Girl's Night tonight we made our own pizzas, one of my favorite meals! For those girls who asked, here is my recipe for pizza crust. I modified Betty Crocker's. I do this using the manual setting on my bread machine, but have done it by hand as well.

Pizza Crust

1 C WARM water
3 T olive or vegetable oil
2 C all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour (these can be changed according to your taste, just get three cups total)
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1 package (or 2 1/4 t) yeast

Put the ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Set machine to manual or dough cycle. Start. This makes 2 crusts. When it is done, roll out onto pizza sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350. Add toppings and bake for another 8-10 minutes or till cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

The dough can be made ahead of time and frozen. Just pop in a ziploc and freeze. Take it out and put in the fridge the day before you want to use it. Then roll out and bake as directed.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, we do. Homemade pizza has become a weekly meal in our house!

My First Blog

I have been encouraged to start a blog and have now done so. I am hoping to cover a few different topics as I write.
I want to talk about my family- my wonderful husband Andy, our son Eli, and our child to be! I want to share the things I have learned about saving money and managing a household on one income, as well as hear how others do it! I also like to cook and want to learn more. I will be sharing my successes and failures in that area.