Tips For Everyday Life

On my searches through the internet I have come across a few posts I wanted to share with my loyal followers. Please like and share these bloggers if you enjoy them. They need the likes too.

First up is a brandy new meal planning list. Everyone gets sick of the same old thing every week. Chicken, hamburger, pizza, mac and cheese and so on and so on. So I am always on the look out for something different or something interesting. I like breakfast for dinner for sure and anything stuffed inside dough is sure to be yummy.

This blog has some great ideas and recipes to try out.
Babies And Seeds - Meal plans


My family lives on a single income at the time being so we have to budget tightly. Here are some interesting ways to do that and some of these I do myself and have had great results. No budget cant be fixed.
Try these tips at

Babies And Seeds - Budget Trimming

"For Anything" Jalapeno Popper Dip

I get rave reviews on this stuff, I make it every year around the holidays and the first cook out of the year. Since the first cookout is fast approaching I thought I would share this wonderful little tid bit.

Jalapeno Popper Dip

2 blocks Philadelphia Cream Cheese room temp.
approx. 1/4 cup Mayo
1/2 Jar Jalapenos roughly chopped
Dash Worcestershire sauce
          Parmesan cheese
          Crushed Ritz Crackers (optional)

That's it, I know, a lot right....
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Mix and mash the cream cheese, Worcestershire, jalapenos and a shake or two of the Parmesan cheese.
Press the mixture into a ceramic mini loaf pan or something oven safe that the mixture will fit into.   Sprinkle cheese and a few jalapeno slices on the top and cover with the crackers.
Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.
Uncover and pop back in for about 10 minutes.

Once cooled slightly its ready to be served. You can dip crackers, chips, even veggies. Top your dinner roll with it for a little kick in the pants.
Enjoy!

My Famous Corn Chowder

As the wife of a picky husband choosing my meal plans can be a bit of a struggle. This, however, is sure to please even the pickiest of diners. How can you go wrong with bacon, potatoes, corn and cheese.

Famous Corn Chowder
Serves 4
4-6 Bacon strips
4-5 medium potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces and rinsed
3 cups chicken broth, (or 2 bouillon cubes and 3 cups water.)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen onions
2 cans corn
2 cans creamed corn
1/4 cup heavy cream
couple cups of shredded cheddar cheese to taste
1/2 tsp Garlic salt
salt & pepper

You're going to need a big ol' pot. By that I mean one of those big metal pots that your Mom or Grandma made soup or chili out of, although, any 'large serving' pot will work. Heat the pot to med high heat and fry up all that yummy bacon. Once crispy and crumbly scoop it all out and set aside. Leave behind the fat and toss in the potatoes. Fry those up until slightly browned on the edges. Add the onions until smelling good and you can see through them.
Pour in the broth and bring to a light simmer until potatoes are cooked through. Dump in those cans of golden deliciousness and reduce the heat so the chowder stops boiling and shake in all those wonderful seasonings. Slowly add the cream, (go easy here, if the liquid in the pot is still boiling the cream will curdle and I can assure you that is NOT yummy.)
Sprinkle in the cheese, (go ahead, add a little more. No ones watching.)
Once all that yumminess is melted scoop and serve.
We usually use Vienna bread, toasted in the oven, but crustier breads, like french or italian, are great for scooping the cheesy goodness.
Garnish with shredded cheese and the bacon you made in the beginning.

I will let you know you can add more bacon if you like but the extra fat and bacon bits in the bottom of the pan will turn your chowder mixture brown. I can assure you it tastes just fine but as we, now, call it, it looks like poo soup.

That said give it a try and let me know how it comes out!

Feeding Your Toddler

Anyone who has ever had children knows that when it comes to meal times it does not always go smoothly. Of course, by that I mean it's a flipping nightmare, (trying to really curb my language but saying fudge just ticks me off more.) they tear apart sandwiches, squash the grape tomatoes and smash anything soft into the floor boards or curtains. Not only the mess but it's difficult to plan out regular meals with out feeding them pop tarts everyday. Don't get me wrong I'm not above throwing the occasional pop tart in the toaster or some crackers to keep her happy. Still, it's nice to try and get some real food into them so I'm here to reveal my current weeks meal plan. (I change  these up all the time its a little easier to have some ideas worked out ahead of time to choose from.)

This week I got a little lazy, I like to make batches of pancakes to freeze or french toast sticks but with the move I have too much other crap to do, so here is a menu example of a typical week for us.
(P.S. I also have another post about Meal Planning that's worth a peek, I promise. Here)

Day 1:

Waffle (cut up) Strawberries (cut up) bananas (cut up)     Lets just assume everything is cut up.
Turkey and cheese roll ups, cucumbers, grape tomatoes
Spaghetti and Meat balls

Day 2:
French toast sticks, halo's (those tiny oranges)
Peanut butter sandwich, cucumbers, pretzels
Sausage and peppers

Day 3:
Oatmeal, strawberries, halos
Chicken fingers, grapes
Stir fry

Day 4:
Waffles, banana's, yogurt
Chopped salad chunks with a dressing I make
Honey Dijon chicken, broccoli, potatoes

Day 5:
Bagels, applesauce
Leftover chicken and individual canned veggies. (I care for two kids so it all gets eaten.)
Burrito bowls, (This way she can eat what she wants.)

As you can see she pretty much eats what we do and not every meal is a success. I have found, however, that she is more willing to try and to eat something if we let her do it herself. She has always been a really good eater and I we have been lucky for that but we still face the challenges of pickiness and mashing food instead of eating it.

The trick to plan out your week but not set it in stone. You're not always feeling like chicken one day and ground beef the next but, instead, use it like a guideline for your grocery shopping and to give yourself ideas so your not getting sick of the same thing over and over again. This plan has saved us a ton of aggravation from avoiding the "What do you want for dinner?" "I dunno, what do you want?" All those blank stares into the back of the freezer and not seeing anything you want.

All it takes is 5 minutes and an open pintrest page.

Meal Planning, Saving Time And Money

So you have to go grocery shopping, huh? Don't pull your hair out or do any creative accounting to pay for it. I plan out our meals and saved my family hundreds of dollars every month. No you don't need to be an extreme couponer and you certainly don't need to make it your new part time job.

Here is a little back ground into why I started doing this. Before our daughter came along I was the manager of a portrait studio 45 minutes from my house. I worked 45 to 50 hours a week on a constantly changing schedule and sometimes, (about twice a week) I wouldn't get home until nearly one in the morning. This meant I ate lots of takeout  and slept when I was off to try and maintain some sort of normal schedule so real food and a full refrigerator was a bit hard to come by. Then I got preggo and quit my job to become a SAHM and nanny. Now we were down by nearly half our income and I am eating all my meals at home and thus, my meal planning began.

To start with you should know I like lists. A lot! So I have dozens of yellow legal pads all throughout the house and I highly recommend this because I hate hunting for paper every few hours. So I start by making my meal list.
MEALS: This part is fun. Write down your favorite recipes for the week, or two if you are like us and get paid bi-weekly, cruise those pintrest recipes you have been pinning all month, add in a few staples your family loves. Here is my list for this week,
Meatball subs
Homemade chicken fingers and oven fries
Stir fry (stressful days require and easier, one pot, meal.)
Spaghetti and Meatballs, (make your meatballs ahead and save yourself a step.)
Honey Dijon Chicken
Sloppy Joes
Wet Burritos
Lemon Chicken Pasta
Roasted Chicken with Mashed potatoes

Sometimes it's a challenge to plan too far ahead because fresh ingredients don't last as long so if your an every two week shopper then you should plan to pick up a couple more fresh things the following week or keep some frozen veggies on hand. I like to chop fresh veggies and freeze them. Bell peppers freeze amazingly and you can add a little healthy to almost any meal.
I also add an extra meal here and there because sometimes you just don't feel like having that for dinner and sometimes it is just easier to order some pizza. So don't feel like you have to follow your list to a T.

Now you got your list so now you need to scan through and figure out what you need for ingredients.
SHOPPING LIST:
Now you have an exact shopping list and you can stick to it. This can prevent impulse purchases, aimless wandering and strategically placed, over priced items. You just have to stick to it. (Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about the oreos or the fun sized twix bag.)

I am a Walmart shopper, okay I know they are a big corporate meenie but I don't work there, they are cheap and mama has gotta save some coin.

So you have your shopping list, let's go right? Nope, almost though. Walmart has a weekly flyer, like most grocery stores do so where ever you shop go ahead and flip through the sales. If you need corn anyway why not get the kind that's on sale. While this is a great strategy you have to keep your eyes open, I have noticed a lot of times the store brand, (for Walmart this is Great Value), tends to be still cheaper than the name brands sale price. We are all brand loyal to certain things like toothpaste, coffee or even TP and that is just fine but you can have your Crest toothpaste and generic canned veggies too.

Alright, you have your meals, your shopping list and you know what is on sale. You could head on out to fill your car with food but I have another step for you. I can assure you all this extra work pays off in the end. Most people shop at the same stores and know the layout like the back of their hand. This is a great skill to have, when you make your shopping list you should then make a second when the list is finalized. Ugh, I know more lists, I told you I like em. However, the second shopping list is to reorganize  the items by how your store is laid out. I start from the back and work my way up.

While this seems like a pointless step it really does serve a purpose. This prevents unneeded trips around the store, lots of back and forth and when you're walking back and forth you tend to see things on end caps and little odds and ends that you normally wouldn't buy but when you have walked by it six times you are more willing to snag it off the shelf. So I'm saving you time, money and hair pulling. Plus, a little heads up, produce is usually kept in the front of the store. If you grab that last you don't have to worry as much about weather or not your fresh food is sitting a room temp for too long. Besides, since you know exactly what you will need for the week, what's on sale and where everything is you can cut your shopping time and budget in half.

I hope this was at all helpful for you guys and I'll keep sharing my money saving tips and tricks. If you want to know more or share some of your ideas feel free leave a comment and feel free to share it up.
Happy shopping!