Monday's Menu

You would think that since we live in Dallas and it's May the weather would be hot! It's not, well not really it's been humid up here but I'm from Houston and can take the humidity. One day it will be almost 90 degrees the next day 70 degrees. Planning a dinner menu has actually become a bit difficult due to this. (do we make a salad or a soup) However I have finally planned it all out!
This weeks Dinner menu has 2 crock pot dishes due to the weather. If it going to be a hot day I don't have to heat up the house cooking in the kitchen and if it not going to be a hot day we have something from the crock pot that isn't like a stew but still warms the belly! Kind of a win win for me. Also we  are eating out twice both are because of Mother's Day.

Saturday:

Panda Express 

Sunday:

Crock pot Chicken Black Bean Soup
I have all the ingredients in the chicken for this meal. 
Cost This week: $0


Monday:
My Daughter is taking us out to eat for Mother's day!!!


Tuesday:

Crock pot Baked Potatoes with LLOYD's BBQ meat 
This is one of the freezer meals I made a few weeks back. 
http://newleafwellness.biz/2015/02/17/17-freezer-meal-prep-sessions-that-will-change-your-life/
Cost this week $8.89 

Wednesday:

 Patty Melts
This is a new Recipe
Cost this week $4.83
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/08/patty-melts/

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

Chicken Enchiladas

Cost this week $7.62
New Recipe! Stay Tuned

So when I went grocery shopping this weekend I went with this in mind: Lets buy all the meat, dog food for the month of May, and try to get as much as I can so that the rest of the month I don't have to do much shopping.
My Hubby's eyes almost popped out of his head when I came home.I told him with Summer approaching I'm going to have to make sure breakfast and lunch and snacks are planned out for all 4 kidos so I am starting early.
 With that in mind I spent $118.45 at Sam's and $109.95 at Kroger's. I know I will have buy a few things but the expensive stuff has been purchased for the month. 
The goal is next week to only have maybe 3 items to buy and week 3 and 4 only buying fruits, vegetables and bread. I want to work it up to where we are shopping 1 time a month.

Sam's cart what isn't pictured is water, Dog food or the 15lb bag of potatoes.

Kroger's cart. There is some much stuff that I couldn't fit it on the table without piling it up. The best buy at Kroger's was Jeanie-o Sweet Italian Sausage for 1.00 each package and 4 came in a pack. I bought 2 packages.

Update: The year long crafting project

The goal was to have completed 1 box from my Spring at Hawk Run Hollow pattern. I am happy to say:

 GOAL WAS MET! 

Talk about last minute to I completed it at 9:30 last night. (May 8, 2015) I had even told my hubby earlier in the week that I was worried I wouldn't get it done. He gave me words of great encouragement that helped me out a lot! He knew I could do it I had been working on it all month and was almost there, so what did this wonderful man do? He played movies on the TV that I could listen to while stitching my little heart out sitting next to him.
 I changed the color of her dress to a darker purple and I almost changed her hair color to red, because I'm a red head.  That's the wonderful thing about this if I don't like the color I can change it. My favorite thing to stitch was the cats and the big tree.

Now it's on to the next box! This box it a very simple box and I KNOW I can get it done in a month's time.

I get so excited when this blank canvas starts to show a picture and I have been looking forward to stitching this box for a while! I think the thing that will feel like it takes the longest is the outline of the box itself.

Cute Book Markers

Hello all. Over the next month I am going to reviewing items I have purchased, the good the bad and the ugly!

 For today I first feel I need to express my love for books. I have tons of them and are known for reading more than one book at a time. Yes, I do have a Kindle but it's not the same as holding a big book in your hands or the way it looks on your bookshelf.

 With all these books I have I am always on the lookout for book markers. I found these online and fell in love with them! Yes I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.

When they arrived I was impressed the case they came in was a nice wooden box with a glass front. They are really cute, tho they seem a bit flimsy; However they work really well. Plus I can, if I choose to display them on my bookshelf. Win/win!

Recipe of the week

First off, WOOHOO it's my 100th post!

The recipe for the week is great for those spring and summer afternoons. A nice cool Chicken Salad Sandwich. I have to say I was amazed at how delicious this was and how full 1 sandwich kept me through the work day. This recipe was easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked chicken (I boiled mine and used chicken tenders)
1 hard boiled egg
2 tbsp of sweet relish
1/3 cup of mayo
salt & pepper to taste
a pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of mustard
Bread of your choice

Directions:

Combine chicken, mayo, mustard, cayenne pepper, egg, salt & pepper.
Add chicken salad to bread.

 It's that simple.

and I packed them for our lunch

What is coming in May

Well last weekend was way relaxing. We did not do much except plan what we want to do for May.

 May's room makeover is, well, it's the front yard. The hubby and I have been debating about making flowerbeds and putting some curb appeal to our front yard.So after an extremely long talk about what we want to do we have finally come up with a plan. The hardest thing about our front yard is that there is a lot of shade (7 huge trees) so we have to be very picky about what plants to pick!
Also we will be cleaning out the garage. YIKES!!

My daughter Abby is going to be posting here ever Thursday. I can't wait to she what she has!

 May also bring's Memorial Day and my son's graduation! 

So get ready and bring on MAY!!!

Monday's Menu

For May I am going to be focusing for my Monday Menu's on Dinners. If I have a recipe I will put the link under the dinner. 

I was surprised after I made my menu the amount of groceries I did not have to buy!

Everything on the left side of the list is everything I need for breakfast,dinner's and lunch's. Right side is things that are on sale or things that we use weekly. All the numbers on the pages are the sales going on at Kroger's.

This list is before I ask kids and hubby if they need anything!

Saturday:

 Popeye's Fried Chicken (It was a treat for everyone! I bigger treat for Momma!)

Sunday:

 Mexican Chili with Cornbread Topping 
This is one of the freezer meals I made a few weeks back. 
http://newleafwellness.biz/2014/10/06/crockpot-mexican-chili-cornbread-topping/  
Cost this week $0

Monday:

  Chicken Alfredo
Cost this week $3.81

Tuesday:

Nacho Casserole
Cost this week $1.00

Wednesday:

 Chicken Roll-ups
I'm looking forward to  making this again!
Cost this week $4.01
http://amylynntitus.blogspot.com/2010/10/chicken-roll-ups.html

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

Meatloaf
Cost this week $2.50

This is new recipe!

http://dancingthroughtheminefield.blogspot.com/2012/03/secret-ingredient-meatloaf.html

So the total cost that I had to spend at the stores on dinners only was $11.32. That is not counting Popeye's that was $32.00. 

Crafty Saturday- May's Wreath

I have been waiting all year to be able to make this wreath! I thought it was super cute and very different.
http://www.createcraftlove.com/garden-hose-spring-wreath/
What all you need:
a 15 ft water hose
a bunch of flowers
ribbon
garden gloves
twist ties
You can add a garden shove as well

I spent $10.88 for this wreath. Very budget friendly! I took me 30 minutes from start to hanging on the door! LOVE IT!