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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Cooking in Bulk-A flop.


I went shopping on Saturday and actually purchased all the items on our grocery list to make the menu items from my previous post. So far, we're doing really well.  We followed the menu plan for two days already!  Ok, it's not really that exciting since the first day was "date night".  However, I did make the items listed on the menu for Sunday and so far it's been a success.  I'm determined to stick with this and already am contemplating next weeks menu.  I'm also really excited about not having to do much cooking tonight and plan to start getting on the treadmill again with this new found free time.

I got a little overzealous with this whole saving money concept and decided to make twelve sausage egg and cheese mcmuffins after I got home from the Saturday shopping trip.  I saw this post about making egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches that you freeze and figured I'd give it a shot.  (So I did get a few extra items at the grocery store, but I had good intentions for them.)  I thought it sounded brilliant and Ed and I are horrible at eating breakfast so I'm hoping this will change that.  So, around 8:30 on Saturday night, I really started getting wild and crazy and put together twelve sausage egg and cheese mcmuffins.  I precooked the eggs and sausage and toasted the english muffins.  I then assembled all of this with the cheese slices and let them dry out/cool in the fridge (we didn't have room in the freezer-watch for a post on why, coming soon).  This was the finished product-
better than mc d's?
I let my masterpieces sit in the fridge for about an hour.  I then wrapped them individually in freezer paper and some new double seal ziploc freezer bags I picked up on my shopping trip. 

Sunday morning was the first test.  I woke up early enough to turn on the oven and pop two of these suckers in there on some pieces of tin foil.  I let them bake for 25 min at 350 degrees (as I had read on the blog).  Success!  I made breakfast and we'll be at church on time.  We head to church and I hand my husband one of my greatest creations.  Ok, to be honest, I already knew it wasn't one of my greatest creations.  The cheese got a little hard on the outside so I was a bit worried.  He bit into it and some liquid poured out (i'm guessing this was from the egg).  I tried mine and it was ok, but the egg was a bit cool and the english muffin was very crunchy.  FAIL.

This morning I decided I'd give the muffins another try.  This time, I'd go against the original blogs advice and microwave it.  This worked out better for the cheese, sausage, and muffin, but the egg was still cold.  Basically, it was still frozen.  I threw the egg out and ate the rest. I think next time I'll try heating the egg seperately.  However, my first attempt at cooking in bulk was not all that I thought it'd be cracked up to be.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Wifely Duties


In honor of this whole marriage thing, I decided that I will finally start planning out our weekly meals.  To begin with, I'm not focusing on healthy foods.  Right now, my goal is to create a dinner menu for the week and then to shop for just those items (with a few breakfast items and essentials thrown in).  Once I get into the habit of this whole planning deal, I hope to start adjusting our diet to some more healthy meals.  I don't want to get overwhelmed and give up right away. 
The primary goal of this little planning mission is to save us some money.  We currently have a nice bunch of asparagus wilting in the fridge that my husband purchased the week of our wedding.  I'm not sure when he thought I was going to prepare this, but lets just say it didn't happen.  That is just one example of the many food items we purchase that goes to waste.  So, without further ado, I present to you my first menu plan...

Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Date night dinner
Chili with Cornbread
Sausage Stars/Football Snacks
Chili (leftover) Cheese Hotdogs with French fries
Grilled Chicken, rice, vegetable
Pork Chops, Asparagus & Parmesan Noodles
Taco Salad

Mac and cheese with leftover taco meat


Grocery List
        2 lb Ground Beef
        Macaroni Noodles
        Kidney Beans
        1 (15 oz) Tomato Sauce
        1 large can crushed tomatoes
        Onions
        1 package cornbread mix
        1 lb pork sausage
        1 bottle ranch dressing
        1 pkg wonton wrappers
        1 ½ c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
        1 ½ c. grated Monterey Jack cheese
        1 2.25 oz can diced black olives
        1 small red pepper
        Hot dogs
        Hot dog buns
        French fries
        Chicken
        Can vegetable/corn on the cob?
        Pork chops
        Asparagus
        Parmesan Noodles (box)
        Lettuce
        Salsa
        Cheese
        Taco Seasoning
        Tortilla chips
        Mac & Cheese

Here are a few of my concerns...What if I don't feel like eating hot dogs that night?  What if I forget something on the list?  What if the chili tastes awful?  (Those poor hot dogs will just have to be covered in just cheese the next night) Oh and will the aspargus make it in the fridge from Saturday through Wednesday?  Maybe I'll need to swap days around a bit.  This whole wife thing is a lot of work.

I also should mention that I believe this is the best way for us to save some money on our grocery bill.  Believe me, I've tried to come up with other alternatives since this whole planning is a bit boring.  The thing is, we shop at primarily two stores for our groceries-Walmart and the Dalton Market.  We don't get a paper (mainly since they won't deliver to our house) so we don't have coupons to get the discount.  The Dalton Market is overpriced (since it's supported by the 332 citizens of the town and whoever actually stops there to "check out the old store" on their way through town). 

So ladies, any tips on planning out a menu for the week? 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

...so they are no longer two, but one...

Husband and Wife
With this ring...
We became husband and wife on Saturday, September 17th, 2011.  The ceremony and reception were more beautiful than words can describe.  We had friends and family present for several days leading up to the big day and will cherish the moments with them forever.  Many of our guests traveled many hours to share in our day and the love we felt was overwhelming.

It rained on our wedding day.  Some may say that's good luck, but for me it was a reminder of God's beauty in our world.  The rain was followed by an amazing double rainbow...

Double Rainbow!