Meal Planning- A way to Keep it Frugal

So I am a total planner, I love to plan- a lot! But I hate to meal plan its so mundane- well, it was until I realized that our library has a sleuth of AmAzInG cook books!
So this is what we are rockin food wise for the next two weeks 😀

*Breakfast*
Waffles
Carrot Cake Oatmeal
Pancakes
Sunshine Parfait
Bursting Berry Muffins
Ba-Ba-Banana Bread w/eggs
Basic Whole Grain + Yogurt Pancakes
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Monkey Pancakes
Raspberry, Orange and Banana Smoothie
Lemon and Poppyseed Muffins

*Lunch*
Vegetable Grilled Quesadilla
Sneak-Whiches
Portable Pizza Muffins
Chicken Salad Melt
Mac-N-Cheese Muffins
Peanut Butter Berry-wich
Spring Rolls
Pita w/cucumber, feta and hummus
Bunch Box Biscuits
Peanut butter and jelly
Sneaky Bon Bons

*Dinner*
Surprise Cheese Fries
Oven Baked Crispy Chicken Tenders
Skinny Spaghetti w/ meatballs
Macaroni and Beef skillet
Healthy Potatoe Skins
Tempura Calamari
Penne Primavera
Stuffed Shells
Chicken Tempura w/ Rice Noodles and Peanut Curry
Shrimp confetti Tostada
Princess and the Pea Risotto
Grilled Pint Sized Pizza

I will coupon and buy healthy- my goal is to spend less than $200 which may not be easy seeing how we are making a trip to the infamous and wallet dreading COSTCO

I will update as I make it home from each of my five stores-
Costco
Safeway
King Soopers
Sunflower
Pacific Ocean Market

So Sleepy…

Augh my kids have taken to sleeping in my bed…yup all three of them and I swear to all high holy heaven that it doesnt matter one touch how many times I move them back to their beds I am the one that ends up sleeping in their room! I am also extra tired because its been two weeks no coffee and 1 week no sugar 🙂
No sugar makes for some interesting work with cooking! I decided last night I love being a broke foodie because it leaves me with the oppurtunity to learn how to cook the foods I love soo much! Last nigh for a grand total of $1.00 I made 16 whole wheat pitas with are you ready for whole wheat, yeast, salt and water! Nothing extra nothing preserving it, just straight up healthy flat bread 😀 ( I will be including the recipe 🙂 )
CJ may have a side job tonight to pull in extra cash to pay off the truck which puts me beyond estatic as that is our last debt and then it is all saving to buy land 😀 its amazing! 9 Months ago we foreclosed and in 25 months or less we will own land and be building a house! WITH CASH!!!

Yummy Pitas

per pita 
Makes sixteen 8- inch 
pita breads 
per pita: 
173 calories, 4g fat 
(.5g saturated), 
32g carbohydrates, 
3g fi ber, 5g protein 
2 1/2 cups warm water (105°F to 115°F) 
One 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast (not instant) 
4 cups whole-grain  whole-wheat fl our 
2 1/2 teaspoons fi ne salt 
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for cooking 
About 2 cups unbleached  all-purpose fl our 
1. Prepare the sponge for the dough: Mea sure the warm water in a 1-quart 
glass mea 
suring cup, sprinkle the yeast on top, stir with a fork until dis- 
solved, and let stand for 5 minutes. Place 3 cups of the  whole-wheat flour in a 
large mixing bowl. Pour in the yeast mixture and stir for 2 minutes with a 
wooden spoon. Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand for 
30 minutes at room temperature. The mixture will be bubbly. 
2. Sprinkle the salt and drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil on top of the sponge and 
stir to incorporate. Stir in the remaining cup of whole-wheat flour. Add 1 cup 
of the unbleached all-purpose flour and stir until almost incorporated (the 
dough will become difficult to stir). Using the spoon, turn the dough out 
onto a work surface and knead, dusting with about 12 cup or more of the re- 
maining all- purpose flour, until the dough is smooth and slightly sticky, 
about 8 minutes. (Reserve the remaining flour for rolling out.) 
3. Wash and dry the bowl. Pour in the remaining tablespoon of oil, add the 
dough, and turn to coat in the oil. Cover the bowl snugly with plastic wrap 
and let stand in a  draft-free area until the dough is doubled in bulk, about 
40 minutes. 
4. Roll out and bake the pita: Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or a griddle over 
medium heat. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and cut in half. Re- 
turn one piece of dough to the bowl. Cut the remaining dough into 8 equal 
pieces and roll, using a cupped hand, into balls. Lightly flour the work sur- 

face. Flatten a dough ball with your hand and then roll out with a rolling pin 
to a thin 8-inch circle. 
5. Add about a teaspoon of oil to the skillet and spread around with a crum- 
pled-up piece of paper towel to coat. Set a timer for 2 minutes and carefully 
lay the dough round flat in the pan. Cook for about 20 seconds, until bubbles 
appear on the surface. Flip with a metal spatula; the bread will begin to puff. 
When it stops growing, flip again and it will puff more. Continue cooking, 
flipping once or twice more until the timer goes off. Transfer the cooked pita 
to a kitchen towel and wrap to keep warm. (You may need to adjust the tem- 
perature of the pan, depending on the heat of your stove. The heat needs to 
be hot enough for the pitas to puff, but you don’t want them to burn.) Repeat 
rolling out and cooking with the remaining 7 dough balls, making sure to oil 
the skillet before cooking each pita, and then repeat the process with the re- 
maining half of the dough, making 16 pitas in all. 

Back to the Grind…What on My Mind

Haha I can rhyme 🙂
Anyways….
I am excited for the fast approaching holidays, unfortunately I can only really think of fun things to get myself for my kitchen…notice a lot of I and MY in that sentence? Ya, me too 😦 So I am on a quest I will spend 200 on everyone in our families and do my best to get them all the perfect gift! I will do it- I will!!!
So, who exactly do I HAVE to buy for you may ask…well
Corey (the hubs)
Jay (the oldest boy child)
Brett (the middle boy child)
Emmy (the youngest girl child)
Peggy (the amazing mother in law)
Whitey (the great father in law)
Joyce (the step mother in law)
Ryan (the brother in Law)
Shayna (the sister in law)
Aunt Michelle & Uncle Curt (my aunt and uncle)
Aunt Caren & Uncle Tom (my aunt and uncle)
Christy (my cousin)
Amanda (my cousin)
Robbie (my cousin)
Heather (my cousin)
Matthew (my cousin)
My Grandpa & Neicie (his wife)

Yup I will do it for under 200 so help me God! I dont know how yet but I will let you know when I do 🙂

So I have been a recipe slacker so here goes a new school year and a new sleuth of recipes…Tonight

Popeyes Paninis *OMG they are amazing*

Popeye’s Panini Presto 
Italian panini presses  were a recent rage, but two heavy skillets will work 
salad of sliced ripe tomatoes drizzled with olive oil. 
One 10-ounce box frozen leaf spinach (see Cooks’ Notes) 
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 
1 small onion, fi nely chopped 
1 garlic clove, smashed, peeled, and fi nely chopped 
3 
/4 teaspoon kosher salt 
1 
/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper fl akes 
1 1/2 (packed) cups shredded  part- skim mozzarella cheese (6 ounces) 
Four 3-ounce soft  mini- sub (hoagie) rolls (about 6 inches long), split 
horizontally, excess bread dug out and discarded 
1. Place the spinach in a strainer and rinse with running water until thawed. 
Squeeze handfuls of spinach to remove as much moisture as possible.  
Coarsely chop the spinach and set aside. 
just 
as well to make these great  spinach-cheese sandwiches. Serve with a simple 

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the on- 
ion and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the 
spinach, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes and stir until the spinach and oil 
are blended. Remove from the heat and stir in the mozzarella (to partially 
melt the cheese.) 
3. Heat a panini press (or a heavy skillet, see Cooks’ Notes). Place the split 
rolls on a board, divide the spinach mixture among the bottoms and spread 
the filling evenly. Cover the rolls with the tops. Brush the bottoms of 2 sand- 
wiches lightly with oil and add oiled side down to the press. Lightly brush 
the tops with oil and close the press. Cook for about 4 minutes, until the 
sandwiches are golden and crisp. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches 
and oil. 

 Makes 4!

from real foods for healthy kids 🙂

And so I sit

Wondering what to blog about…so I guess I will do it on budgeting for a multi-week meal plan and grocery trip! So I went shopping last weekend – I spent 161.99, I got every thing from crab legs to fresh fruit and veggies! I have atleast 2.5 weeks worth of food- I saved nearly $100 on my grocery bill! Between sales, coupons and mils employee discount I saved 30% of my bill!
So far this week we have enjoyed
Greek sampler platter
Popeye paninis
Amazing edamame and a roast!
The week is quickly coming to a close (thank God!!) and I am so delighted to say I don’t need to swing by the store this weekend! I even have an extra thing of syrup

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I went shopping yesterday

And I spent 72 dollars (after I went back and fought with the cashiers about how a coupon works grr)!
My goal is to make 72 dollars last me this week and spend 15 on food next week!!
So far food wise we have 7 sandwhiches for CJ at work, lunch for Jayden on wednesday at school I am going to make vegitarian roll ups tonight, dinner mapped out for the week as well as lunches, and breakfasts planned 🙂
I will update daily (mini note on my posts) with how we are doing!
Today we are doing awesome! I made 7 pastrami, blt, or cream cheese and apple inspired sandwhiches, I am making a cheesy skillet and later veggie roll ups for my lunches 🙂