February Book Picks

In January I proposed a personal challenge to read 5 books from 5 different genres. I was somewhat successful in this endeavor, reading (1) The Hidden Art of Homemaking, (2) The Use-It-Up Cookbook, (3) The Gospel According to Lost , and (4) Murder in the Mews. However, I bit off a little more than I could chew because Dickens' Great Expectations is LONG! I am still reading it and plan to finish it in February.

Also, in January, Kate and I (well, primarily me) listened to Old Yeller. I had forgotten how sad that book is! I also read Agatha Christie's Towards Zero. Guess I am hooked on Christie!

This next month I plan to read the following:

(1) The Strong-Willed Child by James Dobson. I started reading this book when Kate was 10-months-old and need to finish it, especially since now she is 15-months-old and a little terror!

(2) Commonsense Vegetable Gardening for the South by William D. Adams & Thomas LeRoy. I am ready to start thinking about our garden and need some information about how to grow potatoes, peas, and blueberries since we are planning to add them to our garden this year. Plus, I always enjoy learning about plants.

(3) Fox's Book of Martyrs. This religious text is very long and dense, but I would like to read through it to understand what early Christian martyrs endured.

(4) Great Expectations by Dickens. So far, I really enjoying Dickens' characters; I feel such empathy for little Pip. Plus, the humor and irony in the novel is great. It keeps me reading.

(5) Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie. I revel in a good Hercule Poirot mystery. Perhaps I can get half of Christie's 80 novels read by the end of the year! It's a sick obsession, I know.

What are you reading this month? Share your book picks with me. I love to find new books to read.

Menu Plan for January 31-February 6

This week there are some great meat deals at Kroger and I am stocking up! My poor freezer is totally devoid of meat.

We will be having the following meals this week:

Sunday: Burritos with ground chuck and leftover quinoa, black beans and corn (that has been in the freezer), lettuce

Monday: Baked Chicken Fingers with Honey-Horseradish dip, Roasted potatoes, Green beans

Tuesday: Fettuccine Bolognese with Salad

Wednesday: White beans, hoecakes

Thursday: White chicken chili (with leftover white beans), guacamole

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Leftovers

A Winter Wonderland

Yesterday, true to the weather forecasters' words, the snow came! Kate and I were up early and out the door, hoping to run all our errands, plus check out some new books at the library, before the snow fell. Honestly, I didn't believe we would see more than a few flakes. I'm always skeptical when schools are dismissed BEFORE the snow even falls. But snow it did!







This snow was Kate's second of the year and third of her short life. But this time she actually enjoyed playing out in it although it was difficult to walk in, especially considering the snow came up to her mid-calf. Kate especially liked tasting the snow.





The next day the snow was covered by a sheet of ice, which meant no snowman, snow angels or snowball fights. DARN! We still managed to have some fun though walking up and down the street. Kate could actually walk on the ice although she did slip and slide a few times.

While the snow and ice are beautiful, Daniel and I both agreed that we are ready for springtime!!!

Eat from the Pantry Challenge

This week officially concludes the January "Eat from the Pantry Challenge." Whew!! What a challenge it was, too! I did have a lot of fun being creative with what ingredients we had on hand and trying new recipes like the delicious Sweet & Sour Shrimp and Creole Pork Chops, both from the Southern Living cookbook. Plus, we now have a normal looking pantry and freezer. See!









I think we could have even used up more stuff in the pantry, but the freezer is pretty bare! We definitely need some meat this week!

I did a final calculation of our expenses for the month, and we did exceed the $75 goal I had set, spending a total of $111.31. While we were over by 48% (OOPS!), considering that our regular monthly grocery budget is about $275, we actually did pretty well! We saved $163.69! YEA!!!

I will definitely be doing this challenge again, but next time I will either have to set a more reasonable goal...say, $100 for the month...or I will have to work harder to stay closer to that goal than I did this time. This challenge was certainly a learning experience!

Menu Plan for January 24-30

Sunday: Homemade pizza
Monday: Roasted Vegetable Pasta (whole wheat pasta) with salad
Tuesday: Sweet & Sour Shrimp with brown rice
Wednesday: Pintos & Cornbread
Thursday: Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, & broccoli
Friday: Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Saturday: Cream Cheese Danish (Ladies' Planning Meeting at church); Leftovers for dinner

This is the last week of the "Eat from the Pantry Challenge" and boy am I ever glad! We have run out of many of our staples like black beans, refried beans, and ground beef, and will have used up the shrimp, pork, and chicken this week. Plus, I miss doing some serious grocery shopping! However, we have saved money by not spending the allotted $60 a week on groceries. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet the $75/month budget for this challenge. I'm not sure what my numbers are right now but will post them at the end of the week. I am curious how we did overall.

I know this challenge has been an excellent opportunity for me to buckle down and control my impulse to stockpile, a discipline I was really needing! And I have had to be creative on many occasions, which has led me to find some great new cooking ideas! Since I ran out of pizza sauce early in the month, I found that using regular canned tomato sauce with canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano added, which I had a lot of, is actually as good, even better to me, than regular pizza sauce. Try it sometime! Also, I tried a lot of new recipes, some good like quinoa and black beans, and others that were just mediocre. I know that I will definitely do this challenge again in a few months because I have gotten to clean out my cabinets and freezer, which is very nice!

Menu Plan for January 17-23

This is week 3 of the "Eat from the Pantry Challenge," and I have not been very good about sticking to the $75 grocery budget for the month. So far this month, we have spent $61.22, which means in these last 2 weeks of January we can only spend $13.78. I am going to do my best to keep as close to $75 as possible.

The menu plan for this week includes the following:

Sunday: Roast beef (previously cooked, in the freezer), mashed potatoes, peas & carrots

Monday: Breakfast for Supper (Veggie & cheese omelettes, sausage, biscuits & jam)

Tuesday: Fettuccini Bolognese (ground beef) & salad with tomatoes & carrots

Wednesday: White beans & cornbread

Thursday: Quinoa & black beans with corn, roasted broccoli

Friday: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Saturday: Leftovers

Menu Plan for January 10-16

As promised here is my menu for the week of January 10th:

Sunday: (Lunch) Daniel fixed broccoli & cheese stuffed chicken, rice, green beans, & honey-glazed carrots; (Dinner) Bean & rice (leftovers from last week) quesadilla

Monday: BBQ chicken, corn, sauteed zucchini, thumbprint cookies w/ jam

Tuesday: Salmon w/ mustard cream sauce, steamed broccoli, carrot salad, & quick rolls

Wednesday: Bean Night! Pinto beans, fried zucchini, & cornbread

Thursday: Chili from leftover pintos -- or Taco Salad

Friday: Pizza Night! Buffalo chicken pizza w/ whole-wheat crust

Saturday: Leftovers

I don't know about you but planning and writing out my menu each week really cuts down on the stress of worrying: "What will we have tonight?" Plus, it helps me vary my meals and make sure we get plenty of "colors" in our diet. I try to have a "green" (zukes, cukes, brocc, spinach, lettuce, peas, green beans) and a "red" ('maters, peppers), "orange" (carrots, peppers), or "yellow" (corn, peppers) every night although some nights that does not happen!

If you don't care about my menu plan, then, for your amusement, here are some cute pictures of Kate eating.