Anyways, 3 frozen chicken breasts are PERFECT when they are just set in the fridge for 3 days. And you would think, with me meal planning and all, I would know which meats I needed and pull them out ahead of time. Nope! Not there yet. After eating this chicken, I will be doing my best to make sure my meat is thawed properly-- what a difference it made.

I have to make a confession. Keenan and I are not the best chicken cookers. Really. I mean, we can cook it and eat it just fine. Just more times than not, its overcooked, too-dry or not as flavorful as we expected when we took that first anticipated bite. We have tried so many things. Grilling, broiling, baking, pan-cooking and it was always lack-luster. Until Wednesday night. I wish I had pictures of the final product but then again, your welcome, because after seeing it, you would seriously have to leave your computer right now and go make it.

I didn't even do anything that special. We just thawed the meat (correctly!), I coated the outside in eggs (I just beat 1 egg), then coated in Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) and cooked in a pan that had some heated olive oil in it. Seriously, thats it! I think the breadcrumbs were key. And I turned the chicken and took it out at the perfect time! Barely cooked- SO juicy. When we ate dinner that night.....wow! I wish I remembered to time each side but I didn't. I will replicate soon and maybe I can remember that part of it!

I also realized that I posted about our meal planning but I never really posted the plan. As you know, it is subject to change, but here goes:

Monday- chicken & beef tacos (using my homemade taco seasoning- so good!)

fresh salsa (using many BB ingredients)

homemade tortilla chips (so easy!)

Tuesday- BBQ (boston butt with some other things in a crockpot!)

grilled corn (already made, just pull out and reheat)

roasted broccoli (best broccoli ever- thanks Diana!)

**with VERY dry broccoli, sprinkle some garlic salt on, roast at 450 for 15

minutes, after it comes out, sprinkle some lemon juice on and then some

grated parm cheese

Wednesday- pork chops and pears (pull chops from freezer and pears are from BB)

twice baked potatoes (from BB!)

I am out of town so Keenan will have leftovers and some things that are frozen right now (chicken and sweet potato stew probs) so thats all I have to plan for this week. Not too bad!

I think I want to make one of those cool weekly menu boards to hang in the kitchen. Maybe that will be my next project....and hopefully I will remember to take lots of pictures!

Yesterday was epic. I have been looking forward to craft day for about 2 months. From the moment Diana announced it at church. And it finally happened yesterday! Now, I just hope we do another one....and soon! Mary and Diana (2 ladies from church) had it on their hearts to get all the women from our church together (ie- different generations together) so we could build relationships, hang out, bond, etc. They decided it would be done through crafting- yeah!

Mary hosted the event (and what a generous host!) and Diana put everything together and organized the event-- one of her many strengths. All we had to do was show up and have fun and maybe bring our own crafts if we wanted to do something other than what they had set up. And they had SO MUCH set up. They had a stamping area where you could make your own cards- I think there may have been more stamps than Hobby Lobby's stamp aisle, for real! Mary had also purchased TONS of knitting needles and yarn--- and each person got to keep their needles and yarn. So kind and generous.

We started the morning off with a crockpot demo that would end up being our lunch. So. Good. Then, the knitting lessons followed. And lots of fellowshipping. LOTS. It was amazing. A little while later, Mary did a breadmaking demo. Then, a whole group of people went to the Granary and bought bread making supplies. I stayed at the house to work on crafting but I will definitely be going to the Granary soon!

There were a few reasons I was so excited for this weekend. First, who wouldn't be excited about getting to hang out with awesome ladies and fellowship? I also have one of my best friends come up and stay this weekend and come to craft day. Yeah Bobbie! And, I have been planning what I wanted to get done on this day for quite some time. I am trying, little by little, to make some decorating changes in our casa. So, where did I decide to start? The laundry room! I have been wanted to make some curtains to go over the shelves that hang above the washer and dryer. Here is a before picture of the laundry room:

I really love our laundry room. Behind where I am taking this picture from is a shelf where I keep my stockpile. I just love how big it is. I know some people have full size rooms as a laundry room but this one is just perfect for where we live. This room really makes me happy, is that weird? And no, it doesn't always look like this. Normally there are piles of clothes that I have folded (and not put away) on the dryer. And there is a pile of clothes for the cleaners also. When I have more guts, I will put on a real picture of our laundry room. Just not there yet, sorry!

When Bobbie got up here this weekend, we headed to Jo-Ann's to get some fabric to use to make a curtain to go over the shelves. I found some on sale, figured out how much I needed (I was going to have to make 2 panels) and took that to craft day. I sewed a few things on craft day. The pictures Diana took of me (thanks Diana!) are of working on my quilt. I needed to get the binding on- now I need to handstitch the back. I will get there.

After I finished the binding, I got to work on my curtains. Got my fabric out and began making my cuts (after I measured of course). But, as luck would have it- I cut something wrong. I had my cutting board turned the wrong way and I needed 47" in length so I used to cutting board to do 18", 18", then 11"- then cut there. Didn't realize I was actually doing 12", 12", 11". After I cut it, I though there is NO way that is going to cover the shelves. Then, I realized my mistake- oops! I cut the next panel correctly and had to figure out how to fix my mistake. I didn't have enough to do a whole new panel and I couldn't go buy more fabric. I had just enough in our household fund (envelope!) to cover the fabric and a tension/shower rod. So, I cut another 12 1/2" to make them the same length. If you are adding it, it would make the new panel 1/2" longer but that is because when I stitched the two together, I used a 1/4" seam.

Anyways, stiched them and I can hardly tell they are two pieces. Yeah! I am really glad it worked out and next time, I will double and triple check my cutting board. I am used to making small cuts for quilt pieces, so using it like this was new for me.

I made the 2 panels, stitched up the sides and bottom, then made a 3" fold-over for the rod to go through. After craft day, Bobbie and I headed to the store to get a rod. When we got home, I tried it out and its looks SO GOOD!!!! Here are some after shots of the laundry room:

I am very happy with how it turned out and now my laundry room makes me even happier! Our bathroom is painted a creamy purple color and that color is in the fabric a little too. So excited with how it turned out.

After I made my curtains, I helped Bobbie sew a few more quilt squares (wish I had gotten some pics now!) and then we headed out. Craft day was SO much fun and I really hope we have one soon. Mary thought maybe a spring one and we could learn about gardening and such, but I kind of hope we have one sooner-- maybe next weekend??? Who's up for that?

My bread-making tales begin somewhere around February of 2010. Lori (my mother-in-law) had bought a Cuisinart breadmaker at Costco and told me about all the bread she had been making with it. I thought that was so cool. Then, soon after that, she gifted me one of my very own. I was in the middle of undergoing chemotherapy (month 4 of 6) and was unable to work during this time. While I still had some energy and desire to not just lay in bed all day (I had to stop work because I worked with 4-5 year olds--- ie, germ machines which would lead to infection), she thought I may enjoy making bread. And was she ever right. I made all kinds of bread-- french, italian, whole wheat, cinnamon swirl-- it was so fun. I was really good at the cinnamon swirl, french and italian. The others just didn't come out very well. They would be too dense, or the things that were supposed to be mixed in only got mixed into half of the loaf. Anyways, lots of good bread baking still!

I should also put in here- Keenan likes his bread. I mean, really likes his bread. It is one of those things that we would splurge on-- nice, Publix, bakery bread. When I started baking our bread, the crusty french bread was my best loaf, but it just was not very sandwich friendly. It was great for dipping in oil and spices but even after I got an electric knife and would do a small or medium loaf, we still had sandwiches that were really bread-y. So, I would just make an open face sandwich but after a while, the bread making became less and less. I would make it occasionally, especially if we needed a big loaf for dipping, but we were mostly back to buying our bread at Publix-- and there are rarely sales on their bakery bread. I loved the bread machine, but we were just using it less and less. It eventually even got bumped on the counter. We have very limited space, so if I am not using an appliance much, it goes on top of the fridge. Sad, I know-- its lonely up there, but what else can I do???

Fast forward about 2 years. For Christmas this past year, my mom decided to arrange a session with her friend Kathie-- the expert bread baker. I think my mom remembered me talking about baking bread all the time. I thought it was super nice of my mom but I kept thinking in the back of my head...I probably still won't bake much bread after it.....but boy, was I ever wrong!!! My mom kept telling me that Kathie just uses her bread machine to mix the ingredients and do some of the rising then she takes it out, shapes, maybe lets it rise again and then bakes it. I thought- that sounds like a whole lot of work just for some bread. I had no idea what was coming. Here I was, a simple, giant-squared bread baker and there was this whole other world out there, full of delicious bread, loaves, rolls--- I just didn't know it existed. Well, thats not fair, I knew you could make all those things, but I had NO IDEA how simple it was.

Over Christmas break (we were in Cartersville this year), my mom and I went out to Kathie's house to learn the art of bread baking. I was still a skeptic here. She had already started some bread in her machine and it was ready for the next step, she had another loaf mixing in there and we were about to make tortillas. That's right, tortillas!!! Over the next 4 hours, I just tried as best I could to keep my mouth closed, between being shocked at how easy it really was and trying not to stuff all the delicious bread into my mouth the moment it came out of the oven. Kathie even grinds her own flour. She has an excellent grinder and gets her wheat in giant tubs that she keeps in her pantry. When she wants to bake a loaf, she just grinds what she needs (it was so easy, just pour grains into the top and it comes out flour) and uses it in her recipe. One day......

We made french bread loaves (that look like long loaves of bread, not the giant square ones the bread machine makes), rolls, knot rolls (what I show you how to make below), and tortillas. Currently, I am saving up to buy some of the french loaf pans and eventually a tortillas press (also cooks them). Maybe one day I will get a grinder. But I was talking to my mom about it and I would need to find a supply of grain somewhere closer because Kathie gets hers in Woodstock. I don't want to have to rely on driving that far if I run out. I know the tub lasts forever, but before I invest in a grinder, I need a more local source of wheat, so if any of you know of one closer to Athens, let me know!!!

Here are the knot rolls that I make once a week now. They are delicious! We use them as rolls, bread for sandwiches, everything! The recipe is below all of this if you need to see it without the pics! Thanks to Kathie for letting me share your amazing recipe.

Potluck Pan Rolls

3/4 c water

1/4 c suger

1 egg

1/4 c butter or margarine (I use butter)

2 tbsp. instant nonfat dry milk

3/4 tsp salt

3 c plus 1 tbsp bread flour

package active dry yeast (I measured a pack out because I buy a jar of yeast and its about 1 1/2 tsp. per package)

Combine all ingredients in bread maker- in order above. Make a little indention in the flour for the yeast. That way, it doesn't activate in the water too quickly. **This is where my version is a little different than Kathie's because of my breadmaker. Look to the end of this post for standard recipe. If you have the Cuisinart bread maker, just do what I do.**

After I combine all the ingredients, I set mine on a medium (1.5lb) size loaf, white bread setting and begin. The time reads 3:18 til finished. There is a series of beeps throughout the cycles. The first set (of 5) comes pretty soon and it means if you want to mix anything in (seeds, nuts, etc) that is the time. I do not mix anything, so I just ignore this set. Then, my machine is quiet. It will go through 2 rise cycles. Then, somewhere around 2:10 or so, I hear a little more mixing (just a few times) and I know I have a little longer before I need to pull it out. At this point, I will turn my oven on to 150. After my light goes off indicating the oven is warm, I turn it off. I want it just warm enough to let the bread rise in a little while- not cook it.

At 1:43, the machine will do its next set of beeps- 6 this time. The purpose is so I can pull it out, pull the paddle out, reshape before it begins baking. At this point, I am done with my machine. I prepare 2 corningware dishes (my casserole and square ones) by spraying it with cooking spray. I also spray a plate that I will use for separating and shaping rolls in a moment. Kathie taught me to do this instead of flouring because the flour dries the dough out so much. I will pull dough out and set it on the plate. Then, using my hands, I will divide in half, then continue dividing in half until I have 16 rolls. This is what it looks like:

I think the make real bread/dough dividers, but I just eyeball it. Yes, one or two rolls will come out really big and one or two rolls will come out small, but it doesn't bother us! After I have 16 balls, I will take each roll, and roll it like a snake:

Then, I will tie it in a knot like this:

Press the two ends of the snake together REALLY well, otherwise when it is rising, they will pop off and you will have a funny looking knot with an end sticking straight up. Yeah, its pretty funny looking. It has happened some here, but we are not ashamed, we eat them just as quickly as the others! Once you have pressed the ends together, move that part to the bottom so you just see the knot part at the top.

Then, set it in your pan.

Do all 16 of them. I try to let my biggest ones go in the corners of my square pan and put a smaller one in the middle.

Then, put syran wrap on top of each pan and put in the oven (that was preheated and turned off, so its just warm now) for 45 minutes. The will double in size.

Before:

After:

Lets take a moment and talk about my box of syran wrap. I know the picture in your head but you're probably wrong. Look at my amazing box of syran wrap--- it will last me FOREVER!!!! Jealous, I know!

So, after you have taken the rolls out, pre-heat your oven to 375. Take the syran wrap off. When the oven is preheated, stick both pans in. I set my timer for 14 minutes. When it goes off, I just take the square pan off the top rack. They look like this:

But, the other pan looks like this:

I give them 2-3 more minutes in the oven. Normally, 3 more minutes. Then, I take them out, let them cool and bag them up. Here they all are:

Is your mouth watering yet? Kathie has some really nice bags (I think they are ULine bags??)-- here they are:

I have found that we are eating them so quickly that the food and bread storage bags (Kroger brand) work just fine.

Here are all our rolls bagged up:

Maybe if I was giving them out as a present I would use some nicer bags, but if its just for us, the cheap ones work just fine. So, I hope you try some rolls, they are so easy. If you don't want to knot them, use the same recipe and just make regular rolls. You can also sprinkle some poppyseeds or toasted sesame seeds to make buns. I have done that-- they look so nice! Let me know if you try them! I love them and have not bought any bread since Christmas. I just make some rolls each weekend and we are loving it. Keenan really enjoys them too!! My next plan is to head to the store and price each ingredient and really come up with how much one loaf of bread costs. I would like to really know how much I am saving. If I were to grind I own wheat, I would save even more, but that's another day!!!

Enjoy!!

Kathie's recipe for rolls (follow my pics if you want to make them knots and my directions and pics are specific to my bread machine, you will have to figure out exactly which setting works best for you)-

POTLUCK PAN ROLLS

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2 tbsp. instant nonfat dry milk

3/4 tsp salt

3 cups plus 1 tbsp bread flour

Package active dry yeast (I have found it to be about 1 1/2 tsp if you are measuring from a jar)

Combine all ingredients in bread maker, starting with water and ending with yeast (make an indentation in the flour to put yeast in). Set bread maker on dough setting. When dough cycle is complete remove dough from pan onto a dinner plate sprayed with cooking spray. (You may need to spray hands.) Divide dough into 16 equal balls. Place in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Bake at 375 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Rolls brown better on bottom if you use a non insulated pan.

At some point we have to stop pinning things on Pinterest, right? Yeah, I can't stop either. I know there was a time in my life that the majority of my sentences did not start with "I saw on pinterest..."-- I just can't seem to remember it. Sometime around all those new year resolutions that were floating around, I decided I needed to do something about my pins. (If you are not familiar with pinterest, you should be-- you should go check it out now!) I could just keep pinning, or I could step up and do something. I think a lot of people think I am pretty crafty, DIY yourself-y, but really, most of the things I do are because someone helped me get started. I don't normally just look at a blog or pin and just go out and do it. I can sew and quilt because I had help and I can bake bread now because I had help. I am pretty good at picking up on things if someone else is showing me. Its different when I am just trying to read and follow directions-- I can't ask questions and my steps never look like their steps. But, enough is enough. I had SO MANY PINS on my boards that I told myself-- for every 10 pins, I have to try something. And so I did! I just had to get the guts up to JUST DO IT!!!!

I remembered seeing a pin for DIY laundry soap and a teacher friend of mine told me that was what one of her relatives gave everyone in the family for Christmas (by the way, any of my family reading this-- I am officially calling it right now! haha!) and she really liked it. I got onto Pinterest that day to find (remember, lots of pins) the correct pin and I happened across a different recipe that my friend April had pinned and she had either commented there or on facebook that she had tried it and loved it. So, this recipe looked way easier than the one I had been looking for AND it came with a recommendation. So, I went to the blog that had originally posted it and it really did look easy. Off to the store I went to make my soap. In the blog, she even updated to say that her batch lasted her 9 months. And, she said she was using twice as much as she really needed to. Wow!

I made the soap 2 weeks ago and of course, did not take pics of the process. Her blog shows some pics. I really just followed her directions. Here is what I bought at the store:

-big box of baking soda (baking aisle)

-big box of washing soda (laundry aisle)

-2 kroger brand oxy-clean containers (laundry aisle)

-big box of Borax (laundry aisle)

-3 bars of Fels-Naptha (laundry aisle, but on the other side of all the detergent-- I think mine was near the stain products)

Total spent: $19.63 (before tax)

BUT----

I coupon and I know a lot of you do it. As I see one of the ingredients on sale in the next year, I will pick it up. Only the oxy-clean was store brand and none of it was on sale. (I know, I can't believe I was able to buy something at full price---but it will still save me money)

I used a 5 gallon bucket, but only to mix. I put a garbage bag inside and mixed in that. I poured all ingredients in and used my hands to mix. It did take about 45 minutes to grate the soap bars, but I have an old school flat grater and was a little nervous about using my process (I think she used it on her blog). But, I was watching 2 episodes of the Office, so it didn't seem that painful!

Mixed it all together and that's it. The grated soap bar will stay in pieces while the rest of it mixes up, so it will look like this after you mix it all together:

Transferred it to these containers-- it doesn't make that much. But if it is too much for you to store, split with someone, or make a batch and just give some away! Here is how I am storing it:

The silver spoon on top of the canister is approximately a tablespoon, so I just put 2 of them in each load. I am currently washing my fourth load with it-- and love it! I still put fabric softener in most loads but hey, maybe I can find a DIY softener soon!

Official Verdict: Its awesome! Its easy! And saves me LOTS of money!!! (This is even coming from a girl who loves her Tide.)

Let me know if you try it sometime and thanks April for pinning it! So glad I tried it-- not so nervous trying things from the internet anymore!!

Last week, I posted my picture of my produce basket and I cannot wait to see what I get in my basket tomorrow!!! Two weeks ago (I guess three now) I got cabbage in my basket. So, it sat in my fridge for over a week because all I could think was...I don't want boiled cabbage and I don't like coleslaw....but then I stumbled across a recipe for Bierocks and thought they looked incredible. So, I made them on Sunday to take to church. Oh. My. Gosh. They were so good. And if you don't believe me, the amount of time they spent on the table will tell you--gone in about 4 minutes. Really. I had to half mine with someone even. Remember my meal planning efforts. Well, I saved about 6 of the pockets for our dinner on Monday night, but Keen wanted one before church (and I wanted to make sure they were edible, so I let him have one!)- down to 5. When we got home, he warmed up 3- 2 for him and 1 for me (remember I only halved one at church!!)- so if you are keeping count. Down to 2. Instead of trying to make them last till dinner the next night, we each took one for lunch. Guess what we had for dinner?? I wanted to write eggs and pancakes, but that would be a lie. I bumped another meal, but guess what we ate on Thursday night?? Scrambled eggs- yeah.

Here is the recipe for the Bierocks. I decided it was a weekend meal- too much prep to ever do during the week. Also, overall not much time in actual labor, it was just lots of steps, then waiting for an hour, or two, or thirty minutes. It took me much longer, but that's because I had to figure out my food processor. I know, I've had it for how long. I couldn't even figure out how to get the pushy thing off so I could get more cabbage in there. Really. As I went to clean it, I thought I broke a piece but turns out, it was a little push lever to get the pushy thing off. By pushy thing, I mean that part that goes up and down and you use to "push" the food down when shredding. I'm sure it has a name and I bet you all know it but I would have to go look at the manual to see it and believe me, I looked through that thing about 100 times on Saturday. So- pushy thing. Needless to say, some of these steps took way longer than they should have. I also didn't think to take some pics until I was already putting filling in the pockets. I can describe what I did and then add my pics in when they are relevant:

Made the dough according to directions (ps- if you are like me and have a jar of yeast because you make your own bread, 1 yeast packet is about 1 1/2 tsp. of yeast). I even used my Kitchen Aid mixer-- yeah, probs the 5th use for that big guy. After this last weekend, there will be a lot more use for the Kitchen Aid and the food processor- we're friends now.

So, made my dough, put in fridge for 2 hours. As I was getting ready for the next step, I noticed that I also could have let it rise for 1 hour- so would have taken that route. Guess I should read directions better next time. Cooked the beef, shredded (through a tiny little whole) cabbage, carrot and onion. I actually pureed the onion first on accident- then proceeded to cry for the next 20 minutes as I continued with the rest of the recipe because there was literally, onion-ness everywhere. Apparently, that's what happens when you puree an onion. Lesson learned. (On a side note, I have an awesome tool for slicing/dicing onions, hear its similar to a mandolin- BUT- if you cut an onion in half, put in the fridge for 10 minutes, then remove to cut, its way less pungent. It works. I have to do everything I can.)

Ok, brown meat, add veggies and some salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes. It will look like this:

As you can see, I had already started making some pockets before I remembered to grab my awesome camera. I had taken the dough and just grabbed to make dough balls- I got 18 balls. Then I would flatten them out, put some of the filling in and press the edges together so they look like this:

Here is what they looked like when they came out of the oven:

Yum!!!!! So good. And I made a new friend during the process. He even has his own spot on the counter now.

So, thank you Jessie and Erika for your comments. Erika- homemade laundry detergent coming soon. And just in case someone is reading here that has not read Erika's blog yet, well, you should. It is honestly one of my favs to read- plus she updates almost every day!

I wanted to start this paragraph with "So" again but realized that I had started the two previous ones with that word....hmmmmm, maybe its not just my first graders who need to think about word choice. Ok, on to meal planning.

I have been officially meal planning since last March. I think like most people who begin meal planning, I began because I was tired of coming home to a fridge and pantry FULL of food (thank you Southern Savers) and still going, "Uhhhh, what are we going to have for dinner" which quickly would turn into "Want to just do breakfast for dinner....again?" So, my stockpile kept growing larger, I was throwing away way too much produce and there is only so many times in a week you should have pancakes and eggs. I decided that I was going to meal plan. At the time, I did not know of anyone who was posting their weekly plans anywhere. Sometimes, Jenny at SS would have some meals that you could make from that week's on sale items. I would use that occasionally but overall, not so excited about some of the meals that were on there. Now, I think everyone and their mom is meal planning AND putting it on their blog each week. So, if you have ever thought about meal planning, NOW is the time to start.

Anyways, when I decided to start, I printed off a blank calendar for the month, grabbed my cookbooks and my recipe folder, took stock of what was already in my fridge, freezer and pantry and began. At first, meal planning took me a very long time each week. However, each week got easier and easier. For those of you who have couponed, it is similar. The first time I couponed---at least 2-2 1/2 hours. Now, 20 minutes tops each week! Meal planning is the same. I pretty much have a weird running list in my head at all times of exactly what is in the fridge, freezer and pantry. Don't have to take stock of that each week now. I also know recipes that actually turn out yummy and not bland, which ones require way more time than they say and which ones let me sub in other ingredients I already have. I cannot stand buying a $5 or $6 ingredient only to use a tiny teaspoon and I have NOTHING else that will use it. Unless I want to remake the recipe again, which I have done just to use things up!

I have learned a lot of things since I started so I am going to quickly describe my meal planning process as of right now. I still have things I want to improve one and I will write about those too- and if you have already perfected them, tell me how!!!

Ok, I already said print off the blank calendar for the month. You could do a weekly calendar (since I plan food by the week) but I will go ahead and enter in ALL of our important events for the month at the very beginning. This keeps me from having to do it each week. So, all of Keenan's practices (I note if it is early, middle or late), his games (and note if it is home or away) any time spent out of town, people coming over for dinner, us having dinner anywhere else, my PTO nights and basically anything else that I can think of that may affect my ability to fix and eat dinner on any given night in the month.

After I have in all of those, I start planning for the week. I used to plan on Friday nights (I know, its kinda lame) and I would do my grocery shopping on Saturday morning, but since I have been doing Bountiful Baskets (if you don't know what that is, see this post) I do not get my massive amount of produce until Saturday mornings. Sometimes, their facebook group posts what is coming on Friday night and I can do my planning that night, know what I want from the store and go there as soon as I have picked up my basket on Saturday morning. We haven't had any posts for awhile so I will come home, prepare/wash/chop up anything that needs it (especially because we split our basket), then sit down and make my plan.

Now, at any given point, I have boneless chicken breast, cooked, shredded chicken, ground beef (both cook and uncooked), pork loin, pork chops, chicken quarters and an occasional boston butt or whole chicken in my freezer. I have all of those because of stocking up when they are on sale. I also have lots of soups or casseroles that I have cooked an frozen.

I will sit down with my recipes and that weird knowledge of freezer, fridge and pantry contents and decide what to cook for the week. Most of the time, I plan 4 good dinner meals. Right now anyways because Keenan generally had 2 games each week and I just have leftovers those days. I do not plan for Saturday because we will either have a date night or there is always a meal I did not get to during the week and we will cook it then. Last night for example, I had a meal I had not gotten to and several veggies that I needed to eat 2 weeks ago so we had grilled pork loin, roasted broccoli (thanks Diana!), mashed garlic cauliflower, grilled corn and homemade rolls. Don't worry- its was delicious!!!

Four meals each week, doesn't seem so bad, right? If thats too much, try 1 or 2! And in case you were wondering, I still put "breakfast for dinner" on about once or twice a month. Its so much better when its not a cop-out meal!

I will try to choose recipes that I have most of the ingredients for (which means goodbye Rachel Ray recipes) or at least the right cuts of meat and the first 2 or 3 big ingredients. I write them down on a calendar day but I keep in mind what time I tend to get home on those nights. For example, I do Zumba on Mondays from 5:30-6:30 and who wants to come home and prepare food for an hour--we would be eating at eight and let's face it, I start getting ready for bed between 8:30 or 9:00. Lame, I know, but that's what happens when you work 40 minutes away and like to get there a little early anyways.

Ok, so pick 4 meals that follow the do I have most of the ingredients guideline, pull those recipes to the side and grab your pencil and paper. I will go ahead and write down all the ingredients unless I know FOR SURE that I have it. That applies for the meat and probably the main ingredients. If I know I don't have it- it goes on the list. Then, I will go through my pantry, fridge and stockpile to see if I have them. If I do, I cross it off. But remember, I have that weird knowledge thing since I have been doing it for so long so most of the time, my list is spot on. Occasionally I might not be sure if I have a particular spice or seasoning or I want to make sure I will have enough of it. I promise, meal plan for a few months and you will suddenly know exactly what you have. Its like being in college and knowing EXACTLY how much money you have in your bank account- down to the cents!

Do this for every meal you want to make and bam!- you have your meal plan. This next part is not totally necessary, but in the long run you will probably want to do it too! I will log on to Southern Savers and look at Publix and Kroger's weekly ads. As I go through each, I will check the things that I like to keep stockpiled and any of the ingredients I need for the week that might be on sale. This is especially true for meat. I have a wide range of options in my freezer and its because even if I do not need it right then, if its on sale, I will grab it, freeze it and then it becomes an option for a later meal plan.

After I try to get as many of my needed meal-plan ingredients as possible, I print out my 2 shopping lists and add on my ingredients to the printed lists. I will try and remember if there is a store brand either and Kroger or Publix because it will be cheaper and either place then even the national brand at Kroger. If store brand is not an option, the ingredient goes on the Kroger list because it will be cheaper there than Publix. I also add things like deli meat, cheese, eggs and milk (you know, the essentials) to whichever list will make it the cheapest (generally Kroger's) and add any special treats we might want that week.

Then I have my shopping lists so I head to the stores and grab everything I need. Having my list makes my time at the store efficient and not nearly as many impulse buys. I think about how I used to go to the store and think...hmmmm, what are we going to have this week, which normally means at some point this week, I will be having the thoughts....what am I going to fix for dinner tonight.....which inevitably leads to ....breakfast for dinner again???---which is why I started meal planning to begin with.

I also started meal planning because I realized that when Keenan and I decide to start a family, I am not going to just wake up one day and be a fabulous cook. I am not just going to wake up one day and be able to conserve my time and energy at the store and cooking dinner each night while serving healthy meals to my family. I knew I had to start somewhere. So, I printed my first blank calendar, grabs my recipes and started. I have learned SO much and I have been doing this for 10 months now. It is not something that is perfected overnight. I also had to talk to my husband about this. He loves food but the process behind meal planning is kind of lost on him. I told him about why I wanted to do it (the what's for dinner feeling and to healthily feed our future family) and told him I needed his support. I needed him to compliment (I am words of affirmation!) my plans and tell me that dinner was good (even if it wasn't, at least for a little while). He can be more critical now that I am in more of a groove. I just knew that it wasn't super important to him, but I wanted him to know the why behind it and support me in feeling it was very important.

I know I have improved a ton since starting meal plans but I still have goals in mind. I want to put a cookbook together of the bigger meals I cook and ways to use its leftovers. Right now, I will just take leftover corn chowder to school everyday for lunch for at least a week. I also would like to get better and preparing ingredients on the weekends to make weeknight meals even easier. In August, I did follow a Rachel Ray monthlong plan where I prepared 5 staples (tons of them), froze them and then would just make a meal each night and pick up some extras for the meals at the store. I did a lot of subbing though because she called for some weird (ie- won't every use them again) ingredients. I follow a friend's blog and she makes a spreadsheet (my mom would be so proud!!) of meals and when she finds a great one (not many ingredients, things she has on hand a lot, healthy, quick) it goes onto the spreadsheet and takes and turn in their meal rotation. I am currently trying to take the produce we get and turn that into a bigger part of each meal with meat as more of a side dish--it will be a whole lot cheaper.

So, hope this helps some---if you even made it to the point, congratulations- this is the LONGEST blog post maybe in the history of blogging. Sorry- words just kept coming to me. Good luck with meal planning, I would love to hear how it goes-- and if you have any tips for me, please share!!!

Sarah

So, remember when we had our first day of school.....2 years ago! Guess we got a little busy!

Just in case you are so shocked by the amount of produce here and cannot quite get over it in order to count all of the items, here is what I got: broccoli (2 big bunches), pineapple, lettuce, 10 bananas, 7 potatoes, 3 onions, 4 lemons, 5 grapefruits, 3 tomatoes and a carton of blackberries. WOW!

We split our basket with Keenan's brother and wife each week, so we really end up paying between $7-$8 for half of this awesome produce. I saw in one of the first few weeks of the co-op, a man had gone to Wal-Mart to price compare the produce and it would have cost $49 for the same items. For real!

Needless to say, when I stumbled onto a pic of all this produce on facebook (a lady I used to work with in Madison County a few years ago runs the Athens division) I was amazed. Again, I signed up for the first week a skeptic but it really is one of the coolest things ever. Here is the national site where you pay for your basket- Bountiful Baskets -They also have a facebook page for the Athens division- Facebook Group -

By the way- you're welcome for just changing your life. Well, probably anyway-haha!

Ok- so I also just made a list of all the things that I should probably blog about- like my meal planning (apparently, everyone I know does that now), my homemade laundry detergent (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!), our upcoming trip to Scotland this summer, my new camera and an upcoming craft day, but alas- if I blog about them now (even though I REALLY want to), I will run out of things to write about and not post for another 2 years.

So, here's to me hopefully posting at some point again this year...and to me getting all those things done in 3 less hours than I normally have!

Sarah