A Better Breakfast: Strawberry Muffins

When you've got over 17 1/2 lbs of strawberries, you tend to come up wth multiple ways on how to use them. Aside from making homemade jam, slicing them on top of cereal, having them on the side at dinner, and snacking on them during the day, I also made a double batch of Strawberry Muffins. These are so yummy! I've made them several times over the past year and they're always a hit with the whole fam. Plus, they're fun to make with the kids. :)

Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped strawberries
3 tsp sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse, hull and chop strawberries, then place in a medium-size bowl.


Line muffin pan with paper cups.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer.

Mix in egg.

Measure the flour (note, we used the knife to level off the measuring scoop and scraped away from us, not toward us as it may look like in the picture below!).

Place flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl; mix well. Add some of the flour mixture into the butter mixture; beat together gently.

Beat in some of the milk, then alternately add the remainder of the flour and milk, beating on low speed until incorporated.

Don't forget to lick the beaters! :)

Using a spatula, gently fold in strawberries.

Using an ice cream scoop, measure and spoon batter evenly into muffin cups, about 2/3 full.

Gently sprinkle cinnamon/sugar mixture over top of muffins.

Place muffins in oven and bake for 16-18 minutes.

Wok's For Dinner: Mediterranean (or Cobb) Wrap Sandwich

These turned out WAY better than I could have imagined, and even my husband was impressed. I also had been concerned that hubs and I would be hungry 30 minutes after supper was over, but that wasn't the case at all. So success on my first attempt at wraps! The only drawback is that they were less "Mediterranean" and more "Cobb" style. I didn't really follow my recipe too well and instead threw stuff together. Still, they turned out great, and I'm happy with that!

Mediterranean (or Cobb) Wrap Sandwich

Ingredients:
6 wraps (I used "low carb" version but you could use flour tortillas)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1 tomato, diced
1 avocado, chopped
3-4 Romaine lettuce leaves, torn in pieces
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
Salad dressing such as Italian, Ranch or Honey Mustard (your choice! :)

Directions:
Evenly divide up all ingredients into each wrap. Roll-up wrap tightly, enchilada-style. Serve and enjoy!

To make these more "Mediterranean" style, use cucumber and red pepper, slicing both into strips, and omit the carrot, tomato and avocado.

To-Do Tuesday

I've missed out on my weekly To-Do List for a couple weeks now. It's silly to admit that I have to remind myself to do my To-Do List so I can remind myself of the things that I need to do, and even then I have trouble doing that. Oh well! :)

I'm keeping this week as light as possible. I'm stressed to the max between work and home activities, even though this is a light week for home activities.

• Plan May freezer meal list. Once A Month Cooking day is now officialy May 15. It's on the calendar and not going to change this time! :)

That's all!

Don't forget to take a quick peak at To-Do Tuesday at Crazy Adventures in Parenting! :)

Menu Plan Monday--5/3-5/9/10

Last week was crazy, I mean CRAZY, busy!! If your spouse tells you that he's thinking about coaching a baseball team, I strongly suggest you tell him "no". We had 4 games in 3 days, plus 2 days of practice, on top of everything else that was going on. I had a couple days where we were simply unable to stick to last week's menu plan. Sad, but true. And although this week is a snooze-fest as far as activities go, I'd like to say that I'm in "recovery mode" this week, but it just isn't so. I've got a huge audit at work coming up in 2 weeks, and it just so happens that I've been called to jury duty that same week.

So not only am I busy & stressing on the homefront, I've got to deal with hectic & stressful hours at work as well. Not good. It is very likely that my postings may be a little light for the next few weeks. Please bear with me as I try to keep things prioritize and balance all the tasks that need to get done while trying to maintain some level of sanity. Baseball season is over at the end of this month, and the calendar is looking MUCH better starting June 1. Hooray!

Here's the menu plan for this week. I intended on posting this last night, but my kids did not cooperate at bed time and we spent a good 2+ hours battling out the "I can't go to sleep"-"I'm thirsty"-"He's talking"-"She keeps waking me up" routine, so I didn't get a chance to get this out when I wanted to.

Monday--Hot Dogs, Cantaloupe
My husband was smart and picked up on my not-so-subtle clues that I've been dropping--no baseball practice on Monday nights! So there was no practice this evening, and we were able to have our weekly Family Home Evening activity. I prefer to have it on Monday evening. After a really hard day at work, there's nothing like spending really good, quality time with the family. For our activity, we sang karaoke-style, singing songs the kids have been learning at church. Afterwards, we made Strawberry Muffins to use some of the strawberries we picked last week (did I tell you that we picked over 17 1/2 pounds? there really is such a thing as TOO many strawberries, believe you me!). The muffins are for our breakfast in the morning.

Tuesday--Hot Pork Sandwich With Gravy
I have a meeting at church this evening, and hubs and our Little Man have a baseball game. Hubs gets to prepare supper so it's ready when I get home from work so we can all eat together before heading our separate ways for the evening.

Wednesday--Mediterranean Wrap Sandwich, Oranges

Thursday--Beef Macaroni
Another meal for hubs to prepare since we have a ball game this evening.

Friday--Chicken Pasta Stroganoff, Salad

Saturday--Meatloaf Pie, Green Beans

Sunday--
Breakfast: Caramel Rolls
Dinner: I have no idea...literally, no idea. It is, after all, Mother's Day, so do I really have to cook? My brother-in-law's birthday is Saturday, and my mother-in-law says she's planning "something" for the whole family so we can celebrate the birthday, but didn't mention if it will involve a meal for everyone. So right now, it's kind of up in the air.

Need some menu planning ideas? Visit OrgJunkie.com for over 300 ideas!

Making Your Own Sale Part 2

Also known as How to Make Your Own Sale. :)

So if you missed my last past, let me catch you up to speed. I live in a semi-large town that has a military base. The stores in my area do not like to compete with the commissary, so we don't get all the good deals that so many other bloggers seem to get. I feel so robbed!

Buying every single thing on sale here is not an option, neither is using every single coupon that I find.

I've had to work around my challenges. Using the resources that are available--and there definitely are a LOT of resources--has helped me keep my spending in check. I can still get some great deals without putting a big dent in my budget.

Here are some of the resources that I use to try to find the best deals:

• Bloggers such as Melissa's Bargain Blog, Money Saving Mom, Moms By Heart, and Attention Target Shoppers may not have the same sales ads that are in my area, but they certainly are an inspiration and a great place to start. Melissa posts scenarios to help you get started with your "extreme couponing," Crystal and Lori both post links to all the best coupons and free samples, plus Lori has a great weekly post on $0.50 or Less Shopping (love it!). And Ginger provides some of the most comprehensive Target deals you can find.
• Coupon generatorating sites, like Organic Grocery Deals and Hot Coupon World let me know some of the Target web coupons that are available, and I can print innumerable copies of as many Target coupons that I think I might need.
• The forums at Startsampling are also really great for letting me know about all the free samples and Internet coupons, taking out a lot of guesswork and hunting around. I love knowing that I can get something for free if I can't actually buy it for cheap (every little bit helps, right?). And, I just have to repeat this, no guesswork! They've done all the hard work for me and posted everything right there in the forums.
• All You magazine has been another excellent resource. I took the plunge last Summer and paid $16 for a two-year subscription. Not only are the articles and recipes great and full of frugal living tips, each edition is also loaded with coupons, even Free purchase coupons. You can click here to receive a free two-month trial for All You and check for yourself just how many coupons there are.
• Friends and family. My mother-in-law and husband's grandmother will occasionally give me a stack of coupons that they doesn't plan on using. And likewise, I'll share coupons with them or other friends who might be able to use them.
• And don't forget the store sales ad! Most stores post their sales online, which saves me from having to get an ad to the local paper, or driving across town picking up a sales ad from each store. This is another area where my mother-in-law is a life saver. My in-laws have a paper subscription, so they usually send the flyers home with my husband or one of the kids each week, which gives me a hard copy to work with as I plan my shopping.

Where do you go to find the best deals? Do you have a no-fail-go-to site that you visit? Share your tips with a comment below. :)

Coming up next, Part 3, or Putting It All Together!

Note: These are suggestions that I find works for me and my family's situation. The important thing is to find what works best for you, and sticking with it, or finding a way to improve upon it. :)

Making Your Own Sale Part 1

I live out in the boonies. At least, sometimes it feels that way. The town I now live in here in Eastern North Carolina is much larger than the college town in Central Texas that hubs and I lived in when we were first married. In Texas, we had two grocery stores to choose from, HEB and Walmart. Here, we have Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, IGA, Save-A-Lot, Super Target (which, by the way, does not carry produce or fresh meat) and Walmart, plus Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid. Food Lion also has several convenient locations to shop at, so there's always one nearby no matter what part of town I'm at (no wonder they're so expensive--gotta pay the mortgage!! lol).

So with so many options, it would stand to reason that the stores here should be really competitive, right?

Wrong!

We have a military installation located in the heart of the big city, smack-dab in the middle of town. And the stores here just will not compete with the commissary on base.

So while I follow a couple blogs that match sales ads with coupons, like Melissa's, I rarely get to utilize their extreme couponing methods because the stores here, including Target and the 3 pharmacies, don't always have the same sale. Or, the stores have the sale, but the coupons aren't available in this area.

That means that I have to resort to extreme measures, like creating my own sale!

When I first started serious couponing a year ago, I felt as though I had to use every single coupon that I got my hands on, and felt like I had to buy everything that was on sale, whether I needed it or used it or not.

That meant, if an item was "on sale" in the posts according to other bloggers, but not on sale here in my area, I still bought the item. OR, if I couldn't get a coupon, I still bought the item.

*GASP!* What was I thinking??

Let's just say that train of thought didn't last very long!

It's taken some self-discipline, but I've come to learn that I don't need every single thing that is on sale. And I don't need every single coupon either.

If I miss a sale item because it's simply not on sale in my area, that's okay! That means that something else is on sale here. We're not brand specific either, so I'm perfectly ok with buying store brand or generic. And if I do manage to clip "the perfect coupon," then I'm happy to buy a name brand item.

Coming up next, Part 2! Also known as, How to Make Your Own Sale!

What shopping challenges do you have? Are you in the big city, college town, small town, or military town, and do you have to get creative with your shopping? Please post a comment below and share your tips! :)

Wok's For Dinner: Sausage & Zucchini Skillet (with meal price!)

This is really tasty and inexpensive meal. My husband really flattered me by cleaning his plate, getting seconds, and cleaning his plate again! I normally serve this over white rice, but I was strapped for time, so I made some potato flakes instead. It was like having Shepherd's Pie.

Sausage Zucchini Skillet

Ingredients:
1 lb mild ground sausage ($1.19)
2 large zucchini, chopped (free from our garden, last year's crop that's been in our freezer)
1 large onion, chopped ($0.10)
2 garlic cloves, minced ($0.20)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained ($0.50)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper ($0.03)

4 servings prepared potato flakes ($0.20)

1 16oz bag frozen mixed vegetables ($1)

Total Cost = $3.22!!

Directions:
Brown sausage with zucchini and onion in a large skillet over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add garlic; cook an stir until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in tomatoes and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 4-5 minutes or until liquid is evaporated. Serve over prepared potato flakes.

If freezing: Place cooked sausage mixture into a gallon-size freezer bag, squeeze out air, seal, lay flat and freeze. Thaw 24 hours in refrigerator and heat sausage mixture in microwave. Serve over cooked rice or mashed potatoes & enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday: 4/26-5/2/10

I have officially decided that my life no longer belongs to me. I thought I was busy before. But after looking at the upcoming week, I've realized that my life belongs to work, baseball, meetings, dance class, and everything else that is going on. Well, I take that back. I do have 1 day of vacation scheduled this week. The kids' have a field trip to go strawberry picking, and we're going to make a family activity out of it. There is, however, something going on EVERY SINGLE NIGHT this week. EVERY night! I don't know whether to scream or cry. And I don't see much of a break in sight until June, when baseball season will be over.

So if you don't see much of me, don't panic. I'm just on stress overload and will be on a mental break. I'm going to try to keep my life as simple as I can make it for the next 5 or so weeks until some of our activities clear out. All part of trying to maintain a semblance of balance! :)

Monday--Chicken Pot Pies, Peppered Cottage Cheese
The menfolk have baseball practice this evening, so we moved our weekly "Family Home Evening" or FHE night to Sunday night. The Pot Pies are really nothing fancy--just the frozen single-serve box kind that you toss in the oven, bake & serve. Hubs and the Little Man have to head out early in the evening, so hubs chose to make this meal so they can eat before leaving.

Tuesday--Tomato Pasta Bake, hubs chooses the sides
Baseball game night! And I have a meeting at church and will leave straight after work. Because of the game, Little Miss will go with me. Hubs is playing "Meals On Wheels" and will prepare/heat the meal, feed himself & the kids, then bring a plate of food to me when I get off work so I can eat on my way to my meeting. I'll need to remin him to pack a backpack of distractions like coloring books and toys or Little Miss so she won't be bored while I'm in my meeting.

Wednesday--Taco Casserole, Oranges
This is my vacation day and our strawberry picking day. I have a ton of errands to run once we get home, but I will actually be able to put supper together for a change. Because of baseball, hubs has had to step up to the plate a little more and put together supper more & more often so he and our son can eat instead of starving themselves by waiting until they get home. Hubs also has a meeting this night, but with me having a full day of vacation, there should be no problem with me having supper made at a decent time so he can eat before needing to leave.

Thursday--Teriyaki Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Pineapple, hubs gets to choose side #2
We have another baseball game on this evening. I plan on going to this game, so hubs will need to have dinner ready to eat early. So early, that I'll probably have to take a plate with me to the game. We could just plan on taking some cash and eating hot dogs from the concession stand--and the kids would absolutely love doing that--but that means spending money, and in my opinion, taking the easy way out. I've got these freezer meals in the freezer, and hubs doesn't work, so in my opinion, we should just use what we have and save our money. However, I know that there's a lot going on, and I can foresee one or the both of us being stressed out by this night, so I'm fully prepared for my husband to proclaim, "I give!" and refuse to make any dinner this night. It happened last week (instead of cooking up supper on Thursday night, he made peanut butter & honey sandwiches for dinner before the baseball game that night).

Friday--Hubs is on his own
I'm scheduled for a girls' night out for a monthly scrapbooking crop. I just might actually get some stress relief after all. :)

Saturday--Baby Back Bash Ribs, Sweet Corn Bread, Beans
It's baseball tournament day, and the team is scheduled to play two games (yes, two games on top of the two games and baseball practice earlier in the week). I also had intended on this day being my Once A Month Cooking day, but that was before learning about the tournament that was scheduled. Now I don't know what I'll do. I might do half a month's worth of cooking, instead of a full day. I haven't completely decided what to do. There's supposed to be a trophy presentation late in the evening, so I want to make sure that I'm able to go to at least one game and the trophy presentation, assuming my son's team gets a trophy.

Sunday--
Breakfast: Cranberry Orange Muffins
I still, STILL have not had a chance to make these. I didn't have enough flour a couple weeks ago, and I intended on buying some this week but never made it to the grocery store.

Dinner: Church potluck, bringing Chicken Salad Sandwiches and Cantaloupe
Our church meets late in the afternoon, and choir is meeting each week immediately following. We've decided to have a potluck the first Sunday each month after choir practice is over, as an opportunity for fellowship and to give us a little break from rushing to get the family fed once we get home.

For over 300 menu plan options, remember to visit OrgJunkie.com!

Garden Update

With the warmer Spring weather we've been experiencing, our family has been able to work out in the garden more, setting up tomato cages and planting the transplants.

We've only had one little glitch that caused us to go to Plan B. We were supposed to get a large shipment of compost through a friend who is a landscaping contractor, but that fell through. So instead, hubs bought several large bags of special soil for vegetables, mixing some of it into the ground when he planted the transplants.

Everything's really starting to take off. Here's some of what we've planted:

Peppers, peppers and more peppers. My in-laws bought us several varieties of peppers--spicy, mild and sweet varieties, such as tabasco, cayenne, jalapeno, hot banana, green bell, and more.

My son's Mammoth Sunflowers are also growing. Two of the ones he planted really shot off and got an early start, even though they were planted the same time as others. We started most these out in Jiffy pots then moved them into the soil. The rest were planted right in the soil a couple weeks ago.

Last Fall, we bought 3 different varieties of grapes. We didn't know if they survived the Winter, unti a week or so ago, we saw the tiniest little leaves budding out. It hasn't taken long for these to take off, either!

Our garden was ravaged by bunnies last Spring, one of the many pests (although cute pests, to say the least) to attack our garden. The bunnies ate up several of the green leaf lettuces, and chewed up all the blueberries, plus most of the blueberry bush as well. They finally went away for good after I brushed down the dogs and gave the menfolk a haircut, and put all the fur and hair around the perimeter of the garden. I suppose that I could do that again, but we opted to try out a fake owl to start off with. So far, so good. We've seen a couple bunnies in a neighbor's yard (I know they're eyeballing our garden from a distance) but they haven't actually ventured into our yard yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work!

Another new addition to this year's garden is potatoes. We planted several red seed potatoes in these 4 blue barrels. The bottoms are cut out of these barrels, and we filled it with good compost. As the plants grow up, we'll lift up the barrels little by little to keep the leaves from falling over. The potato plant will stop growing potatoes when the leaves "fall over" the edge. As long as you can keep the plant growing "up", it will keep producing potatoes, which you can pull out from the bottom of the barrel as you lift it up.

The seed potatoes definitely seem to like their home. We've got quite a lot of little plants growing in each barrel.

In addition to the blueberries, the bunnies also helped themselves to most of last year's strawberry crop. Last year's crop didn't produce a huge number of berries, but holy cow, we have a ton of little white flowers and little green strawberries growing this year! I sure hope that the owl does his job and keeps out the bunnies so we can truly enjoy our strawberry crop this year!

Here's our blueberry bush, full of new little blueberries. It will be awhile before these ripen. Again, keeping our fingers crossed that they'll be able to ripen to maturity before the bunnies devise a way to sneak into our garden! lol

When we planted the blueberry bush last year, we also planted a blackberry bush. It had just started flowering, and when we planted it, all the flowers died off but didn't produce any berries. We pretty much missed the timing. The plant, however, continued to grow. And this year, it's loaded with beautiful white flowers. I'm looking forward to when it produces berries--they'll be great as a topping in some yogurt or for cereal!

Are you growing a garden this year? What are you planting? What are your success stories? Are you going organic? Lots of questions, but feel free to leave a comment and share your gardening story! :)

Wok's For Dinner: Moroccan Pork Chops

I found the basic recipe for this meal at Taste of Home, but used chicken thighs when I first prepared it several months ago. It's definitely different from what I grew up on. I don't think that it ever occurred to my mom to use ingredients such as raisins and cinnamon in a main dish. But I liked it, that's for sure.

Moroccan Pork Chops

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tsp flour
4 pork loin chops
2 tsp olive oil
Sauce:
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp chicken broth
1 1/2 oz raisins
1 tsp flour

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients. Set aside 1 tsp spice mixture. Add flour to remaining mixture, and coat pork chops. In a large skillet, brown pork chops in oil on both sides. Remove and keep warm. Add green onion to the pan, then stir in broth and raisins. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and return pork chops to the pan. Cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes or until pork chops are cooked through. Combine 1 tsp flour with remaining broth until smooth; gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve sauce over pork chops.

If freezing: Place cooked pork chops and sauce into a freezer bag, seal up and lay flat in the freezer. Thaw 24 hours in the refrigerator, and heat in the microwave. Very convenient when you've got events going on in the evening like Spring ball games! :)

Wok's For Dinner: Crispy Mustard Pork Chops

I absolutely love these pork chops!! The tangy mustard flavor blends perfectly with all the flavors. Really, really good. I got this recipe from Angel Food Ministries in one of our orders several months ago.

Crispy Mustard Pork Chops

Ingredients:
2/3 cup sour cream
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 cup crumbled Parmesan cheese
4 pork loin chops
salt and pepper
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the sour cream and mustard. In another medium bowl, mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Dip each chop, one at a time, into the sour cream/mustard mixture and then into the breadcrumb mixture. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add chops to skillet and cook 6-8 minutes per side, until no longer pink in the middle, pressing down with a spatula so crumbs adhere. Serve and enjoy.

If freezing: Prepare and cook chops as directed above. They'll freeze good in a food saver bag. Thaw 24 hours in the refrigerator and heat up in the microwave. Note that they breading won't be "crispy" but the flavor will still be just as good.

Wok's For Dinner: Lemony Chicken Saute'

I kid you not when I say that my husband declared this to be the best-tasting chicken dish he'd had in a long time. What an ego booster for me! Especially considering last time I made this, probably 2 or 3 years ago, he did not like it at all. What a difference a few years makes. Actually, the big difference this time is that I used cooked chicken, instead of cooking the chicken up the night we ate this meal.

Lemony Chicken Saute'

Ingredients:
1lb cooked chicken (about 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves)
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 green onions, sliced
1-4oz can sliced mushrooms, or 1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes

Directions:
Melt butter in 10-inch skillet until sizzling; add garlic, green onions and mushrooms. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 1-2 minutes. Stir in salt, pepper and lemon juice. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Add cooked chicken; simmer over low heat for 5 minutes or until heated through. Stir in parsley and serve.

The cooked chicken was made using my slow cooker, one of the best and certainly easiest ways to cook chicken in advance if you ask me. If you buy your chicken in bulk, (10lb bags of chicken leg quarters often go on sale down here for $0.48/lb) then throw all the chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours. Remove the chicken and use the bones to make Homemade Chicken Broth. The cooked chicken can be frozen for a really delectable roasted flavor in your next meal!

Menu Plan Monday: 4/19-4/25/10

Both of my kiddos have been sick this weekend. It's been a long time since either of them were ill. I even thought to myself recently, "Wow, I'm so lucky because my kids hardly ever get sick." Sure enough, no sooner did that thought pass, and both kids wind up with fevers and coughing spells. My daughter is fairing better than her older brother, who is a miserable sick patient, to say the least (coughing, complaining, whining, and high maintenance). My daughter is a much quieter sickly, preferring to just lay on the couch and do little more than blink. My son got sick first, and his fever has passed, but my little girl is still running a fever. I didn't get as much accomplished this past weekend, dealing with sick kiddos. So I missed out posting my menu plan on Sunday evening like I normally do. Better late than never, right?

Here's the plan for this week. We're just as busy as ever. I've tried to plan meals that are already prepared as a freezer meal, or will be very quick to put together. Recipes will continue to be posted throughout the week.

Monday--Crispy Mustard Pork Chops, Sliced Apples, Ants on a Log
Mondays are usually our "Family Home Evening" or FHE night, where we have a special family activity and spiritual thought. That's kind of gotten thrown out of whack due to baseball season. Not only is my son playing ball, my husband is also coaching. My son was too sick to play tonight, but I heard from hubs that they won the game, and the county sheriff--who oddly enough is sponsoring the Enforcers, my son's team--was there and took pics with the kids. And all of the kids were there. Except my sick little boy. :( Perhaps the sheriff will show up at the next game.

Tuesday--Barbecue Chicken, Cantaloupe, Corn
Nothing special about this meal--just cooked, shredded chicken mixed with barbecue sauce. Hubs gets to play "Meals on Wheels," preparing dinner and bringing it to me after work so I can eat on my way to a meeting at church.

Wednesday--Moroccan Pork Chops, Green Beans, Oranges
The menfolk have baseball practice this evening.

Thursday--Sausage Zucchini Skillet, White Rice, Carrot Sticks
Another ball game. Hopefully my son will be feeling better by then so he'll get to play.

Friday--Hubs & the kids are on their own
I'm going scrapbooking for a Relay For Life fundraiser immediately after work until late at night. They are serving dinner, so I don't have to worry about dinner for the family. That's up to my husband to decide (knowing him, they'll probably eat hot dogs or macaroni & cheese--or both! lol)

Saturday--Baby Back Bash Ribs, Mixed Veggies, Beans
I'll be spending the better part of the day at the scrapbooking fundraiser again. I'm excited because, not only will I be supporting a good cause, I'll also be working on a favorite pasttime and activity--scrapbooking!

Sunday--
Breakfast: Cranberry-Orange Muffins
Dinner: Lasagna Roll-Ups, Broccoli
I was going to make both these muffins and the roll-ups last Sunday for dinner, but I didn't have enough flour to make muffins, and I was too caught up cleaning and organizing the kids' room to have any time to devote to cooking and rolling lasagna noodles. So we'll just try them out this week instead.

For well over 300 menu plan options, visit OrgJunkie.com!

Macaroni Casserole

I made this recipe once before, but it's been a very long time. I think it's a great dish that uses simple ingredients found in every pantry. Not a lot of fuss, and a good, home-cooked meal for the family. It also freezes well, which is an added bonus. :)

Macaroni Casserole

Ingredients:
1 cup macaroni noodles
water
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2-4oz cans tomato sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 cup grated cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large saucepan 2/3 full with water and bring to a boil over high heat; add macaroni and cook according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown ground beef and onion in large skillet over medium high, stirring occasionally, until meat is no longer pink and onion is tender; drain grease. Stir in tomato sauce, salt, garlic powder, and chili powder; simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Mix together tomato/beef mixture with cooked macaroni, then pour into a casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes.

If freezing: Prepare the macaroni noodles, and cook up the ground beef and onion. When done, stir in tomato sauce and seasonings, and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix tomato/beef mixtre with macaroni. Allow to cool slightly, then place in gallon-size freezer bag, seal and lay flat in the freezer. Thaw 24-48 hours in the refrigerator. Place in baking dish, sprinkle with cheese, cover with foil, and bake in 350-degree preheated oven for about 30 minutes.

It Pays To Contact Manufacturers

I was really, really surprised and literally TICKLED this afternoon when I checked the mail and found this!

A few days ago, I tried printing an Internet coupon for Classico pasta sauce, but was very disappointed because I got an error message saying I had exceeded the number of prints allowed. Which was ridiculous, because it had been several months since the last time I had printed one. Shouldn't the coupon have reset itself by now (at least, that's what I figured)?

The coupon had not been reset, and I really wanted one because Classico does go on sale occasionally in my neck of the woods.

So I completed an online contact form at www.classico.com, explaining the problem I had encountered. I also stated how much I like the Classico product line, and that I thought it was a great value considering the low price plus the great taste.

So that was just a few days ago. Thursday, I received this email:

Heinzconsumeraffairs@us.hjheinz.com
to me show details Apr 15 (3 days ago)
April 15, 2010
Dear DeAna,
Thank you for your email about Classico Sauces.
This special offer was intended to encourage purchase of our product. We sincerely regret it's been a source of dissatisfaction to you. We appreciate your comments and
have shared them with our Marketing Department.
Thanks again for contacting us. As follow up, we will be sending coupons through postal mail, to arrive within the next 7-10 business days. If we can be of more help, please call
us at 1-800-255-5750 Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Time.
Heinz Consumer Resource CenterHeinzconsumeraffairs@us.hjheinz.com
When contacting us, please refer to the following reference number: 003xxxxxxx
HEINZ/JNEEL
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And today, in addition to the thank you card, I also had TWO $0.50/1 coupons!

Completely and totally unexpected, but definitely welcomed into the Boren household!!