Menu for June 14th to 20th, 2010

Great news! The cold box is acting like a refrigerator again. Defrosted it and am only keeping mayo on the top shelf. Right under it, I am keeping my dairy products. I also took out the crisper trays and putting all of my veggies and eggs down there. With out the trays, there is more room. I guess I will have to keep an eye on it and defrost periodically. Hopefully I can time it when we don't have much in there. :)

I planned out my menu Thursday and then things got changed. I spent over my budget. Seen a great sale that was too good to pass up. The whole brisket was on sale and so we asked the butcher to slice it up into steaks. We cooked 1/3 of it and got beefed out this weekend. I am actually looking forward to my vegetarian dish on Monday. At least my freezer is stuffed at the moment.

I was planning on getting a large bottle of pickles so that I can make pickled eggs for the girls. But I didn't see any on my shopping adventure this week. I will try again next week.

Also trying to hunt down a Bean Breakfast Cake that I use to make that I got from the Oregon Extension Office. I was going to try converting it to gluten free and try it in the mini crock pot. It is definitely a recipe from Eugene, and uses peanut butter and banana's or applesauce. I did find a gluten free bean recipe online, but it is not the same one.

One of my girls is missing bread. Gluten free bread here is so expensive. I miss Trader Joe's and their $3 rice bread. I checked out the gluten free bread mix. For the price, why bother. I am really thinking about bringing out my bread machine and making it from scratch. Just not sure where I would store it.


I like some flexibility and so I don't assign days. Here is a legend of my notes.
- = Monday - Friday
* = Weekends
gf = Gluten Free
Of course we eat leftovers when we can. I love having leftovers, less work. :)


Breakfast

-Cold cereal
-Grits
-Hot Cereal
-Eggs
-Crock Pot French toast - didn't get to try it last week. Had leftover steak instead. (trying this recipe out) Too sweet and didn't like the bread pudding texture
*Eggs, ground sausage patties, and potato with onions and toast (P request)
*Crock Pot Scalloped Potatoes - (didn't get around to making this last week and am trying a different recipe) I use gf flour blend and cut down on the cheese. I also am adding turkey ham.


Lunch

-Egg Salad
-Tuna Salad
-Vegetarian Baked Beans with Hot Dogs (The girls loved it and it was easy) 1 can of Baked Beans, 4 cut up hot dogs, and a squirt of BQ sauce. Heat up and serve. Good
- Yum Sauce - Another Eugene, Oregon thing. Has Nutritional Yeast in it. Trying to make ourselves unattractive to mosquitoes. (I made my own variation and liked it a lot better then Cafe Yumm's sauce. You can view the post here) Good
-Lunch Meat Sandwich
* Oregon Tuna Melt - (trying this out and eating them in corn tortillas instead of the bread) Good
*Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches


Dinner

- Caribbean Blackeye Peas - (We loved it)
- Crock pot Meatloaf and Mini Crock Pot Corn Bread - Any meatloaf recipe done in the crock pot will do. (trying out the meatloaf recipe) Good
- Crock Pot Chicken Makhani - I follow this recipe, but always using my own variations. Family favorite
- Beans and Rice - Thinking with Teriyaki
- Slow Cooker Puffy Pizza Casserole - Family is craving Pizza. Found this recipe to try out. Yum
* Beef Kabobs Always good
* Chili Kraut Dogs

Menu for June 7 -13, 2010

Adjusting to my RV living with the cold box instead of a refrigerator. It was so hot yesterday that the temperature in the refrigerator was almost up to 60 degree's. The good news is, I only threw out 2 slices of lunch meat. I moved the mayo, sour cream and half and half next to the ice at the top. I also decided to buy more canned meats and store the lunch meat in the freezer until the outside temp. cools down. We also have two small fans blowing on the back of the refrigerator. Still waiting for the interior fan to come in on order. Praying that one of those helps.

We had to pay rent and so things are really tight. Another frugal week. But we are looking forward to payday on Friday. These times sure remind me of when we first got married, pay check to pay check.

I like some flexibility and so I don't assign days. Here is a legend of my notes.
- = Monday - Friday
* = Weekends
Of course we eat leftovers when we can. I love having leftovers, less work. :)


Breakfast

-Cold cereal
-Grits
-Hot Cereal
-Eggs
-Eggs
*Egg and Bacon Sandwich (as V requests)
*Crock Pot French toast (trying this recipe out) Too sweet and bread pudding texture


Lunch

-Egg Salad
-Tuna Salad
-Vegetarian Baked Beans with Hot Dogs (The girls loved it and it was easy) 1 can of Baked Beans, 4 cut up hot dogs, and a squirt of BQ sauce. Heat up and serve.
-Salmon Rice Salad (didn't make it last week) (trying this recipe out) Good
-Lunch Meat Sandwich
*Spam Sandwich
*Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches


Dinner

-Alligator Stew without the alligator. (didn't make it last week) (trying this recipe out) Will be making this in the Crock Pot. Good, but definately a winter recipe
-Cajun Dirty Rice (didn't make it last week) (trying this recipe out) Good
-Chinese Fried Rice I like to start out with this recipe and add what I have and omit what I don't have. Of course I don't make it with the pork. I usually make it with a Chow Mien, but it has been too hot to do both. Family favorite
-Curried Lentils and Potatoes (Trying out this recipe) Will be making this in the Crock Pot. Good, but needs more spice
-Crock Pot Scalloped Potatoes Will be converting this to Gluten Free and will be cutting down on the dairy portion. Also will add ham. Another one I am doing in the crock pot.
*Honey Chicken (I didn't get to make it this week) Angie made this when she had us over and it was sooooo good.)
*Gourmet Hamburgers - not sure how I am going to make these yet.

Frugal Menu Plan

May I was down and frustrated with everything. I think I was a bit homesick. We went to visit our good friends for the week-end. It really helped me come back with a better attitude and refreshed. The girls are even practicing kindness to each other. And I feel like I had a dose of being back home in Oregon, even though it was Oklahoma

Things have been really tight and it looks like funds will be tight for the summer. I decided we were going to eat very frugal, but at the same time limit what needs to be refrigerated, because the refrigerator isn't keeping things as cold as 40. It likes to wonder up to 50 degrees on hot days. I have lots of not so nice words for that cold box. Also it has been very hot and hard to eat. I pulled recipes off of

http://frugalabundance.com/

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/

And looked up for ideas off of

http://www.5dollardinners.com/


I created a menu plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner this time. I felt victory at the checkout when the grocery bill only came up to $50. What a change that was. Felt wonderful. It isn't the healthiest menu, but when people keep getting sick from the food in the refrigerator, it is time to thing outside of the cold box.

Breakfast (didn't assign days)

-Cereal
-Grits (girls love them now with maple syrup)
-Hot cereal
-Boiled eggs
-Poached eggs
-Hash - for the weekend
-Chorizo with eggs - for the weekend

Lunch (didn't assign days)

-Egg salad
-Veggie beans and hot dogs
-Salmon rice salad
-Spam and egg sandwich
-Tuna Salad
-Lunch meat (thinking of dividing this up into daily use and putting it in the freezer)
-Lunch meat

Dinner (didn't assign days)

-Taco Style Lentils/Mixed veggies with ranch/corn chips Good
-Alligator Stew/Baby Carrots/potato chips (actually split pea, but thought the kids would love the name.) Great for winter, not a summer dish
-Cheap, easy, fast chili/Crock pot corn bread/Greens Good
-Oriental fried rice/Chop suey (cheated with canned - had on hand) Favorite
-Texas Dirty rice/corn/corn chips Good
-Honey Chicken/Potato salad (fell in love with Angie's chicken) - Saving this for the week-end when I can buy chicken without storing it.

Making Friends

Making acquaintances is easy. Making friends is harder. My oldest daughter makes friends so easily, while my youngest struggles with it. She gives up at the first awkward silent moment. We decided that it was important for her to learn how to make friends and so each day we go to the park, she has homework. So she brings her notebook with her to take notes. When we get home, she has to tell us the name of her friend and 5 different things she learned about her new friend(s). This is helping her to ask questions and listen. She uses her notebook to write her new friends name.

I am enjoying getting to know the other mom's. I have met a lot of other mom's that are moving from other places across the country. I find a lot in common as we are making fresh starts. Some are at peace with the move, some are nervous and others are bitter. For the most part, I am at peace with our move and I hope that I show it. But I notice that my heart is reserved to new friends. As much as I love and miss my friends in Oregon, I do know that I need to make new friends. This is something that I am struggling with inside.

I have been really bad about bringing my camera, but with the magic of the Internet, I found some pictures of an event we didn't make it to. But we did go to the park later that afternoon. She posted some pictures on her blog of the event and you get to see how green it is. We really like that park.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/776342/

Sorry, couldn't get the link to work correctly. You can copy and paste to the browsser at the top of your page and it will take you there. The name of the blog is "Just Call Me Jamin!" It is a blog that I had been following for a couple of years.

First Couple of Weeks in Texas

We arrived the day before Easter with New Beginings in our thoughts.

Our first assignment was to find where we were going to live with our 5th wheel for a month or two until we find out where work was going to put us. We found a park in the center of everything we need. The park has two other homeschool families. One has left for a couple of months. The kids have made lots of friends in the park that we are at.

Next assignment was to move our stuff that we had shipped into a storage unit. The girls had to help and they did a fantastic job. We were all beat when we finished. They definately earned ice cream that day.

Pat has worked hard at trying to find work. He has had interest for protential clients and one small job, but that is it. He is now switching gears and is at the unemployment office and the Lutheran employment office to check out job listings. We will be working on his resume tonight. Job hunting always beats down ones confidence level and I am praying that Pat will be able to hold strong. I am understanding a little myself as I am working up my confidence level to get a part time job evenings and week-ends. It has been about 13 years since I worked outside of the home. Knowing what you ones skills are and what they are worth are one thing, puting it on paper to look good is another matter. Just praying that God opens the door to employment quickly! Bills are just about due and money is getting smaller.

We have been making connections and friends with homeschoolers. We have already been to one park day, a nature walk and are planning on attending two park days this Friday. I am really liking one of the online homeschool support groups very much. There are so many of the down here and they share information. Sometimes the event might be hosted by one group and have several groups attending it. It is a nice atmospher to live in. We are trying to get connected into the Keepers of the Faith Group for girls ages 10 to 13.

We started school again, but without unpacking the boxes in storage to find the curriculum. Which is fine for now, we needed to review and get into a routine anyway. We have been working on flash cards, spelling, reading out load, mad libs, and doing a unit study about the state of Texas. The girls are really enjoying it.

I am also checking out different grocery stores. I found Whole Foods, Albertson, and Walmart. Fred Meyers is using the name Krogers and Safeway is using the name Tom Thumb. Still need to check out a couple more stores. But there is no Trader Joes or Winco. Nothing even simular to a Food 4 less and can't find any bulk bins for dry goods. The one area where I am a little disappointed, but I will make due.

New Title To The Blog

Finally came up with a new fitting name for our family blog.  The old one was outdated the moment we left Oregon.  We arrived with Bluebonnets welcoming us as they painted the side of the freeways. So, now our blog's name is "Living Among The Bluebonnets."

Moving Camping Trip - Last day

We woke up in Odessa, Texas excited to get on the road one last day. Except, I was so excited, that I couldn't sleep. The wind was plowing making travel laboring. But we were going to make it no matter what. We were determined and when the girls were whining about being hungry, we fed them whatever chips that were in the vehicles. We weren't stopping except for gas.

We arrived in Weatherford, Texas after 4pm. We stayed two nights in a RV park called Cowtown and then we moved to a KOA in Arlington, Texas where we are paying a monthly rate.

The girls like it here, because there are lots of children living in the park. They already made friends with a homeschool family that has been living here for four months.