Recipe for the week~!~

Chicken Chili

(feed 12 for around $9.00 or so)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion chopped

3 cloves garlic chopped

1 can green chiles

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 boxes of chicken broth (or you can use your own stock)

2 cans of great northern beans

2 bone in chicken breasts boiled and shredded

2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Sour Cream, for garnish

Cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. Put oil in the bottom of soup pot.

2. Add onion. Cook until tender.

3. Add garlic and green chile. Cook for 1 minute. Stir so you don’t burn garlic!

4. Add cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper. Cook for 1 minute. Stir so as not to burn the garlic.

5. Add chicken broth and beans.

6. Add shredded chicken and 1 cup of the monterey jack cheese.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. Let simmer on the stove for about 30 minutes. Then enjoy!

9. Garnish with fresh cilantro and sour cream. Add a pinchful of the remaining cheese to each bowl.

This week's menu:11/8/09

This list cost me around $96.00

Sun-eat out

Mon- Shrimp Tacos or Shrimp Fried Rice

Tues- Chicken and Rice Soup

Weds-Chorizo-potato frittata and green salad

Thurs- Balsamic Garden pasta salad

Fri- Salmon with Browned Butter and mashed brco potatoes

Sat - Breaded pork and mozz stacks and garlic broccoli

Walmarts at it AGAIN!!!

There offering CRAZY online deals every day again....

Walmart Crazy ONLINE ONLY DEALS!

Freebies:)

I am a freebie addict, and I love getting the goodies in the mail. Today In my mailbox I found ..

• My Free 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly ( Thanks Cozi!!)
• My free 12 Christmas cards from Shutterfly.. And there are so CUTE!
• Coupon book from The swiffer people
• coupons from Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, a one day pass to Sams, and Taco bell.

 

Some good Freebies or Coupons I have found in my email box latley are....

 

Ny& Co

Surf Sample
Bath and Body Works Coupon

Menu for the week: 11/1/09

Menu Plan for the week of 11/1/09

Sunday- Hotdogs ( we only eat Kosher)

Monday- Shrimp Tacos,Rice,beans

Tuesday- Chicken, steamed veggies, and rice

Wednesday- Chicken Pot Pie

Thursday- Lasagne

Friday- tilpia, pasta, and veggies

Jiffy Lube $35 Gift Card Giveaway

Sweet Deals for Mom is giving away a $35 gift card to Jiffy Lube.... head on over here for your chance to win.....Sweet Deals for Mom

Mummy Dogs.....

I found my attempt at getting a good picture of one at dinner amusing.. here is my fave one..

Not so fave...

Ha ha I sent a pic to my mother in law, and she said it looked like something but she wasn't

about to tell me what, ha ha.

Here is how to make them!!

INGREDIENTS



1 can (8 oz) crescent  refrigerated rolls ( pillsburry)


2 1/2 slices American cheese, quartered (2.5 oz)


10 large hot dogs


Cooking spray


Mustard or ketchup, if desired

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 375°F.

2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate at perforations, creating 4 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles.

3. With knife or kitchen scissors, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough. Slice cheese slices into quarters (1/2 slice cheese, cut in half).

4. Wrap 4 pieces of dough around each hot dog and 1/4 slice of cheese to look like "bandages," stretching dough slightly to completely cover hot dog. About 1/2 inch from one end of each hot dog, separate "bandages" so hot dog shows through for "face." On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped hot dogs (cheese side down); spray dough lightly with cooking spray.

5. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot. With mustard, draw features on "face."

Dinner with my son, the autistic one ( warning graphic nature)

Dinner time has always been a challange, between the smells, textures, and for the longest time getting him to just sit still eat. Let's not forget the challanges he had with holding a spoon or fork.  So his biggest issue is textures or the smell now, he has actually vomited from eating certain foods. Last time as he puked his dinner on his plate, he said "See Daddy I told You I hate these kinds of beans" hurl, then said it again " See told you"..... anyways tonight I tried something new called Chili Cheese Bisquit bites, I made green beans and carrots with which some days he likes. Anyways he looks at his plate, and says MOMMMMM this looks like vomit. Great son, make mom feel good for cooking you a homemade dinner, then his sister laughs and goes but it tastes good mom.It looked like a lovley chili bean meal with bisquit, to be honest it kinda looked like vomit, .... anyways he ate everything but it first, and I said just try one bite for mommy. It has cheddar you love cheddar,which he does, because he sings " i love cheddar" all the time. To which his reply was not this kinda of cheddar... ahhh Ok son just one bite please. He tried it, and gagged and I thought we were going to vomit.. my thing is he has to try it, and sometimes I think he uses the vomit thing as a way not too try food,... I always make him try one bite, sometimes he is suprised and likes it, others his issues kick in, and we have a gag like response.

Just had to share how our dinner was tonight.... Hope you all have a great week.

How I Grocery shop, and my meal plan for the week.

I am once a month shopper, I buy all meals for the month at the first of the month, and only go back for a few things like bread,milk,produce. We spend $650 a  month on our groceries.  That's buying  Organic Milk, and having a child who is allergic to eggs,nuts, soy, to name a few things.  That averages to about $162 a week. Have to say I probaly spend less on meals because of things like my husband's soda addiction ( which costs about $40 a month), and his chocolate obession. I do buy in bulk when the price is good. I am a BIG coupon hunter. I do only use coupons for things I use regularly but it's easy to find them with sites like coupon.com, and the local paper. Most are meals average $4 to $8 a meal. We only buy 2 kinds of cearl in our house for the kids to eat and that's honey nut cherrios and wheaties, I make breakfast about once a week, and muffins once a week. Little man is obessed with Blueberrys, so I try to let him have something blueberry once a week rather waffles or muffins. His fave snack is Blueberrys mixed in applesauce. Well enough with all of that, on to the meal plan, here is what we are having this week. I do use recipes, I have collected, and I am really good at making up meals with whatever we have on hand.

Meal Plan:10/25

Sun: Chili Cheese Bisquit Pies ,carrots, and tators.

Mon :Mummy Dogs, My famous  mac n cheese,and green beans

Tues: Chicken Pot Pie, mashed tators, and peas
Weds: Salmon, rice, veggies
Thurs:Turkey Stromboli
Fri:Cheeseburger pie
Sat:  Out to eat with T&T, probaly Salsaritas where I can feed us for about $15 or less ( One kids meal free with each entree, which works out since A man doesn't eat kids meals)

Photos from Lowes Workshop for kids..

The kids loved it and enjoyed a grand time!!  Here is a few photos...

The finished project!!

Yard Sales are my weakness...

When we have some extra cash on hand, I wake up on a Saturday morning to go hunting for

wonderful things for a very low cost. I think if everyone realized the things you find at yard sales, more

people would be doing it.. I have found brand new things in the box, or with the tags for $1 or $2.

Here are few of my biggest treasures I have found...

                                   Boat table, for our nautical themed living room..

                                                       a whopping $25 including the glass.

And my beach framed photo for a whopping $10, the shelf my hubby made for $10 too.

Seashells were free, I am quite the sea shell hunter.

Fall has arrived in our home...

I love wreaths, I have several for every holiday,some I have made ,others I bought at walmart for a whole $10.. Here is our front wreath for our door, very affordable when you make it yourself. :)

Free Chicken...

KFC has declared Monday, Oct. 26, "UNFry Day" and restaurants across the country will be giving away free* samples of Kentucky Grilled Chicken (KGC). Since KGC was introduced in April, more than 60 million Americans have joined "Grilled Nation" by trying the product at a KFC restaurant. Now, you can join the Nation for free by stopping by KFC on Oct. 26.

KFC previously held "UNFry Day" on April 27 and more than four million Americans took advantage of the free offer and sampled Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

Be sure to stop by your neighborhood KFC on Oct. 26 and taste the UNFried Side of KFC. For free! And in the meantime, check out www.grillednation.com. At
the web site dedicated to citizens of Grilled Nation, you can even witness the population explosion of citizens via web cam coverage of our Times Square billboard!

* Free piece of Kentucky Grilled Chicken offer is valid at participating U.S. KFC restaurants October 26 only. Limit one free piece per person. Free piece selection is at manager's choice and may vary by location.

A fun activity for the kids,

And it's FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Check out Lowes Hardware's Build and Grow Workshops. My kids love going to these, great way to make some homemade presents too!

https://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/

Made another tutu

This is from stuff I had here, I have some pink and purple somewhere, I want to find too. This one is going to be my Under the sea one, It has greens and blue colors, and I want to find some seashells/fishies to put on it. THe photos don't do the colors justice!

Pumpkins, I love pumpkin anything!

I love Pumpkins, I love to decorate them, with them, and eat about anything made out of them. I have recipes for soup,casserole,pie,cookies,bread.... And I will be sharing them!! But what do you do with your pumpkin seeds??

We roast ours, here is 2 yummy different ways to do it!!

Maryland Style:

What ya need:
4 cups raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
vegetable oil cooking spray

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Rinse pumpkin seeds in a colander. Spread out on paper towels and pat dry.
Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray and spread the pumpkin seeds out in a single layer. Spray the tops of the seeds with additional cooking spray. Sprinkle the seafood seasoning evenly over the tops.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted. Cool for a few minutes before serving.


Or...
Sugar N Spice Pumpkin seeds:

What ya need:
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted. Larger seeds may take longer.
In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of white sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts, about 45 seconds. Pour seeds into the bowl with the spiced sugar and stir until coated. Allow to cool before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

It's Thursday night.. ya know what I am doing?

Everything Thursday night Old Navy Weekly http://www.oldnavyweekly.com/ resets it's coupons. Sometimes there are $75 off $100, and $50 off $100, they are very hard to get. I usually get 20% off coupons, not the Golden coupon, but it's still a good one..

Anyways Thanks to Sweet Deals for Moms...http://sweetdeals4moms.blogspot.com/

You can always know where to find the coupons.



Coupon hiding locations for 10/22

10% off purchase when you buy something plaid-
Red scarf from bag around Amy's neck (Modelquin in pink plaid shirt)

15% off your entire purchase - Move the white plaid shirt from the middle and place it on Kelly. (Wearing blue cardigan)

20% off purchase - Click the pigeon that lands on Heather's head.

$10 off of $50 purchase - On the far right - take the orange scarf in the stack & put on top of the green sweater.

Made my first Tutu...

Most tutus store bought or handmade start at $20 and work there way up. I decided to try to make my first one, for my daughter's Halloween Costume. She is going to be a bumblebee. The cost of this tutu ran me $14, but that's including the bumblebee buttons I added, normally it would have been a little cheaper.


What ya think?

XoXo

K

Another hobby I enjoy

is photography..... just a few recent favorite photos...

Fun way to decorate a pumpkin...

Very Simple too... just get some White Acrylic Paint, and a black pain marker... the kids helped with this one..

Welcome, and Hello.

Hello Blog world!!

I have always been a thrifty, crafty kind of person. I make most my Christmas presents, every year, and I never spend much $$ on making them. I have made about every idea out there, and thought I would start sharing them here with the blog world. Heck I did my entire wedding myself, with lots of volunteer help, but everything from the centerpieces to the food displays was done from me. I have put on many a event on various budgets, mostly I have volunteered for, some I have been paid for. I love throwing birthday parties for my children, and it's probably my biggest money spending problem I have...ha ha.

A little bit about myself, I am a mom to three kids, one is allergic to most of the world, one is trying to conform himself to the world ( he's autistic) and one is on the verge of puberty. Two boys, and a girl.... all who keep me busy. I am stay at home mom, we live near a warm sunny beach, and my hubby is gone most of the time driving a 18 wheeler.

I will talk about crafty, neat ideas, my crazy kiddos, and trying to make it in this world,with all the challenges we face.

xOxO

K