5 packs of ramen (4 chili lime, 1 chicken)

5 scrambled eggs

1/4 of what was left of a “seasoning” bag of frozen veggies (chopped onion and peppers).

Dinner for less than $3 bucks. Hel-lo. (And NO complaints!!!)

It’s _____day night and you’ve hardly had a minute to spare, jetting from one place to another…

What’s for dinner?

Easy Roast Beef Subs

Busy night, thank goodness for pre-planning a meal. What could have turned into a$20 plus drive-thru meal, was instead a 15-minute prep and eat meal. And it was good, just as good as if we were to eat out. It is satisfying to save a little bit of money. I realize that there are definitely times where our family needs to stop somewhere, shove some food in the kiddo’s mouths so they can eat and get some shut-eye, but I would much rather those days be lessened, and not feel like they are forced. I really prefer it to be enjoyable to eat out, rather than necessity.

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted, I know. I took a little break.

My husband and I had a few days off together, and we spent our time doing non-essentials, as well as essentials that relieved us of some stress (getting some papers handed in, meal-planning, etc.).

Today, after 2 days of slowly gathering my coupons, and some meal-planning, I finally went grocery shopping. My budget was $400, with stops at 2 stores (Sam’s and our local mega-grocer, Woodmans). I spent a little over $100 at Sam’s and $340 at Woodmans (saving close to $19 with coupons). There were a few things I didn’t get, because I know it would have put me over budget and we can live without them until Frank gets paid on Thursday, but for the most part, I got enough to make meals each night, and fillers for lunch and breakfast.

Tonight we had Turkey Maid-Rites. I wasn’t sure how they would go over, but by putting the ingrediants in the crockpot this morning, we were able to have early dinners (for those of us ready to eat early) and then later dinners (for the hungry footballers after practice).

I absolutely love to have my meals “planned” for the most part. Ingrediants on hands, recipes picked out really does help and saves money on quick, thoughtless trips to fast-food, or ordering pizza because there’s no time or brain power to throw together a meal.

Next week the kids go back to school (already), so lunches will be eaten outside of home for the most part. I hope to also be able to start making ahead some meals, too, in addition to planning things out a bit better.

It is still, technically Monday. Not too late for a weekend wrap-up.

We did a lot this weekend. Friday night we went out with my brother, Frank’s cousin and a couple friends. It was a long night, but a nice time. We covered lots of ground, had plenty of fun, and finished the night off at a favorite Mexican restaurant with a delicious platter of shared food.

Saturday I woke up and made pancakes. Mmm. Later, we bummed around and then stopped at an anniversary celebration (parents of a boy on Dante’s soccer team). Got to catch up a bit with folks we don’t always see. Then it was home to watch some television with the family.

The next day we went to an impromptu soccer tournament, local festival where we played BINGO and the kids played some cheap games to win cheap toys. Oh, and I made waffles Sunday morning (they didn’t turn out so well).

Nice weekend. But back to the pancake-making. My mom’s been making buttermilk pancakes for the boys for lunch the past few weeks on occasion. She’d watch them (actually, she’d entertain them) for a few hours while I went in to work, and they would delight in some of her “famous,”  “best-ever” pancakes. I’ve been requested to make them at home, but keep forgetting to get the recipe. So I had to improvise. A try at it last week left me with some not-so-good ‘cakes. But this recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes was a keeper (not only is it a keeper, but it introduced me to Google’s Knol, which is pretty darn cool).

My favorite eggs.

What happens when you get too cocky…

What happens when you pay attention… (this is Lootie’s batch, he has a syrup-love)

For Franny and Dante, who love chocolate chips.

It was a yummy recipe, with great instructions (read the instructions, if you like making pancakes… I like his way of mixing in 1/2 of the dry to wet, and then mixing in the rest of the dry). I tried using it for waffles and it was a bummer; didn’t work. But that’s OK. It makes delicious pancakes. Will have to make a point of getting my mother’s Famous, Best-Ever Buttermilk Pancakes recipe to compare.

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GIVEAWAY – Good-As-Money

I have 2 coupons to give away, courtesy of Eggland’s Best Eggs (they sent me some for me and some to share).

(1) for a  Free carton of Eggland’s Best Eggs
AND
(2)  50¢ off coupons for Eggland’s Best Eggs

Simply leave a comment here telling me what you’d use the eggs in and I’ll pick a random winner on Friday. Make sure you use an email address I can contact you with. Yup, that’s it. You don’t have to follow me, you don’t have to blog about it. Just leave a comment so I have a way to contact you.

Sophia (who will be 18 next month) called me the other day and asked if I’d like to come over and have breakfast with her. She’s staying with my parents right now (with the hopes of acquiring a JOB and moving into her own apartment), gaining her “independence” and sparing her brothers some of her teenage angst. The first week was… questionable. She spent most of her time there avoiding all responsibility and hanging out with friends. This second week, though, has gone better. She’s applied for some jobs, went to youth group, and is working on being more responsible. Baby steps.Very tiny, wobbly, and sometimes messy baby steps.

It was a nice shift to have her be making me breakfast. I thought for sure there was some catch. Come for breakfast… andtakemeshopping or Come for breakfast… and borrow me some money or Come for breakfast… and — wait, money, shopping… what else is there?

No catch though, and I checked myself for assuming there would be. Skeptical mom. She simply wanted to make me breakfast.

I’m generally a picky breakfast eater. I don’t like too many carbs (at least not “bad” white ones), and if I do allow myself a treat (generally waffles), I bang up on the protien and fiber.

White bread, Honeybun, eggs with bacon and cheese, yogurt with blueberries and strawberries and coffee.

I was hesitant to even touch the “white death” bread or honeybun because of my carb/breakfast issue. Do it for the kids, I told myself. Do it for Johnny!!

And I did. And… it was good. Not the honeybun, gosh those things are like eating sugar-speckled chemically processed carpet fibers in the shape of a doughnut. But the eggs? Yummy. Toast — everyone can benefit from some nutritionally-void buttered white bread now and then. Coffee, good (surely made by my mother or father before they left), but whatever.

Conversation was nice, the food was good. Finally. Finally a respite between the head-butting that has become so common over the past few years. Just as it was years ago, watching her take baby steps, make friends at the park or accomplish other rights-of-passage as a baby/toddler/pre-teen, it is also satisfying and gratifying to see her making those same steps into adulthood.

Now if I could just get a picture of her that doesn’t look like it fell off of Myspace.

Our livingroom table has turned into a classroom. Franny has a tutor (who comes once a day for two hours), being taught mostly while on his back on the couch. He was progressing to sitting up, but then had the surgery and was on above the heart leg-elevation orders again. Tomorrow he should be able to sit up more again.

It has also become a place where I do my work. Although, it was that way before, too. Calculators, box of writing materials, reading books, sticky notes…

My mom came over today while the tutor was here so that I could get into work for a couple hours. I also needed to gas up our van, which I was actually excited to do, since I would get it for 90 cents off per gallon due to Fuelperks. Work was methodical and predictable, which was fine with me. I stayed a little longer than I thought I would, and by the time I was ready to leave my stomach was completely obnoxious, begging for something to fill it up. A tootsie roll from my candy dish did not suffice.

I did save a nice chunk of change, but the savings didn’t fill my tank (limit of 20 gallons, the tank is 30). But I was still a happy lady. But on the way home, I was wracked by the temptation to stop (anywhere!!!) and get something quick to gobble down, my hunger was so atrocious. I passed one, two, three fast food restraunts. I knew if I could hold out for the last one, I would be fine, with no more options. I reminded myself of the turkey and salami I bought from the deli two days before.

Make a sandwich, make a sandwich.

Willpower prevailed (this time), and I did not spend money on lunch. Instead I had my new favorite mix (Sierra Mist and cranberry pomegranete juice) and a sandwich.

With hunger manning the ship, I used about double the turkey I normally do. It was still very good.

If I were really smart, I’d make another one of these for myself to either take to work tomorrow or to eat right when I get home. Mmm.