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Menu Plan Monday: Week of 2/28

February 28, 2010

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Last week's Ancient Multigrain Bread was so good, I'm planning to make it again this week :o ) I love having good, crusty bread around for sandwiches and dipping into soups! Mmmmm!

For those of you that only pop by on Menu Plan Mondays, I added a post about our family last week. Sometimes it's nice to put a face with the menu plans, don't you think?

Here's what we're planning for the week of 2/28:

Breakfasts
Oat groats with blueberries, pecans, and maple syrup
Homemade yogurt with fresh fruit
Farm fresh eggs and toast

Lunches
PB&J
Leftovers
Tuna fish sandwiches

Dinners
Spaghetti with bacon and onions
Chicken and rice soup (I add a handful of wild rice, too)
Latino chicken and rice
Lentil Dhal with chapatis
Grilled chicken, rice, salad (having company!)
Leftover buffet
Dinner out once

I'm linking up with Orgjunkie.com for this Menu Plan Monday. Be sure to check out the other meal plans there! You might find some great new recipes.

Filed Under: Meal Plans, Recipes 1 Comment

Ancient Multigrain Bread ~ Bread Machine Recipe

February 24, 2010

Do you love bread, too?

In the last couple weeks I'd gotten stuck on a french bread recipe that my family really enjoys, and I felt awful feeding them so much white flour. We don't usually eat much white flour, but the crust on this french bread was sooo good! I tried making it 1/3 wheat, but still wasn't feeling good about it, and I began to search for a simple 100% wheat recipe that we enjoyed as much.

We found it. It's yummy, healthy, simple, and the crust is wonderful.

This recipe is for your bread machine. Please check in advance to be certain you have a multigrain setting on your machine.

Ancient Multigrain Bread

3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
2 TBSP dry milk
2 1/2 TBSP butter
3 TBSP brown sugar
3 TBSP Quinoa
1 TBSP Flax seed meal
1 11/16 cups water
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

Put ingredients in order listed by your bread machine's instructions, on the multigrain cycle.

The multigrain cycle on my Panasonic takes a whopping five hours, but it is worth it!

(This post is linked with The Nourishing Gourmet's Pennywise Platter Thursday and the Ultimate Recipe Swap.)

Filed Under: Recipes 7 Comments

Frugal Living, Staying Home, and a Mother’s Priorities: Blog Posts Worth Mentioning

February 24, 2010


Don't miss these great posts from these last few days:

Jess wrote a guest post for At the Well where she combats against the "you should get out of the house more" mentality. She says that "it's strange that it's politically incorrect to say that moms are needed. At home. To be there for their children."

Mrs. June Fuentes @ A Wise Woman Builds Her Home shares a provoking look at a mother's priorities. This post spoke volumes to me. How will answer when God one day asks us, "Where are the boys and girls I gave thee?"

Happy Wednesday to you and yours,

~ Jaime

Filed Under: Budgeting & Frugal Living Leave a Comment

Menu Plan Monday: Frugal & Healthy Meal Plan, Week of 2/22

February 21, 2010

Last week's chili pie was so good; if you haven't already, check out my post about it here.

Our supermarket has some great sales this week on roast, potatoes, peanut butter, and yogurt. We'll definitely be stocking up, while staying within our $65 grocery budget.

I've built the meal plan around this week's sales and what I have on hand. I'm especially excited about finding a good recipe for fish tacos! I'm not much of a seafood lover, but being that my hubbie is from the Caribbean, he has fond memories of fish tacos and has been asking me to make them. I'll be trying them out for the first time this week!

Here's what's planned:

Breakfasts
Oat groats with blueberries, almonds, and maple syrup
Yogurt and fresh fruit
Cereal
Eggs and toast
Pancakes and turkey bacon

Lunches
Leftovers 3x
PB&J
Tuna fish sandwiches

Dinners
Roasted zucchini and fish tacos
Ultimate potato soup with turkey bacon
Chicken fricassee with potatoes
Black bean Chipotle-style tacos served with cilantro rice
Beef barley stew
Leftover buffet
(and eat out one night)

I'm linking up with Orgjunkie.com for this Menu Plan Monday. Be sure to check out the other meal plans there! You might find some great new recipes.

Filed Under: Meal Plans, Recipes 2 Comments

Have You Heard About Swagbucks?

February 20, 2010

Search & Win

Want to earn some rainy day money?

Using the Swagbucks site is a great way to earn cash and prizes just by searching the web. When you search on Google (or another search engine), they are making money from your search. You may have noticed that the first few links that appear in the Google results are sponsored links. They are getting paid by the advertisers to show you these advertisements, or as they call them, sponsored links.

Swagbucks, though, pays you back a part of their profit. By simply switching search engines, you can earn a few dollars each month. I downloaded the Swagbucks toolbar just to make searching easier. Why? Because I can earn a $5 Amazon gift card for only 45 Swagbucks! It's that easy!

And, just so you know, Swagbucks is powered by Google and Ask.com, so you are still getting great search results.

Why not do it? It's free, it's easy, and it's a great way to start earning a few extra dollars to set aside for a rainy day. I have a friend who earned enough money using Swagbucks that she was able to buy almost all of her Christmas gifts with them.

Don't forget to download the toolbar to make searching and earning Swagbucks easier!

You should get three Swagbucks to start just by signing up here.

Filed Under: Budgeting & Frugal Living, Frugal Living Leave a Comment

Chili Pie with a Cheesy Potato Topping… Cooked in a Cast Iron Skillet

February 19, 2010

Oh, chili pie is wonderful comfort food! It feeds our little family for less than five dollars, and we can use any leftovers on baked potatoes the next day.

This will fit nicely in a nine inch round cast iron skillet, similar in size to a deep dish pie plate. If you’re feeding a larger family, you may want to double the recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 tbsp olive oil
½ medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp chili powder (or more, if you like a stronger flavor)
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ c tomato paste
½ lb ground beef
1 cup diced tomatoes
2 cups dark red kidney beans
1 cup chili beans
4 small to medium potatoes, peeled
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Warm oil over medium high heat. Brown the beef in the skillet, then set aside in separate bowl. Add onion, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper to skillet; cook for about five minutes, until onions are softened, stirring as you go. Add beef back to the skillet. Stir to combine.

Stir in tomato paste and beans. If the paste is too thick, add a couple tablespoons of water. Bring to a simmer; reduce the heat to medium low and let it warm through for five to ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, use a food processor to make hash browns with the potatoes, or use a bag of store-bought hash browns if you prefer.


Toss the potatoes with salt and pepper. Scatter them over the chili mixture; sprinkle with cheese and a dash more pepper.


Bake 25 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Warmly,

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Filed Under: Frugal Living, Recipes 20 Comments