Catz in the Kitchen

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Weekly Menu 6/22-6/28

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I am really hoping I do get to the grocery store today...however, I am not at all sure how realistic it is. My husband's grandparents and Aunt and Uncle are flying into SeaTac tomorrow from Africa. Yes, Africa...they are missionaries in Malawi and Liberia and we only get to see them once a year or in the case of Josh's aunt and uncle, every few years. So even though I know I need to have a dinner menu planned out...( I hate to assume I won't be cooking) I don't expect I will be cooking much at home from Thursday on to much. When family is in town...Josh and I make the effort to get as much time with them as possible. This next week and a half will probably result in a lot of gas...were driving 40miles round trip and very late nights for the kids and Josh. But in the end...it's worth all the gas and the coma-like days to be able to make memories with family.  So here is what I have thus far...

Monday
Steak marinated in a baja chipoltle sauce, corn on the cob,
Cheddar potato bake, and crescent rolls( Josh wanted those)
Tuesday
Grilled Chicken Drumsticks marinated in a honey mustard sauce (it's so good)
leftover potato bake, and green beans
Wednesday
Ground Turkey Quesadillas filled with veggies and cheeses
Thursday
(here's where it get's tricky)
Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs, rice, and a veggie ( not sure)
Friday
Breakfast Burritos
Saturday
I don't really think I'll be cooking at all today. Josh and I will be spending the day with my in-laws at the home school conference in Portland
Sunday
Generally, on Sundays we have Pizza...but I imagine it will be Pizza with the Family
Monday
Haha...not a clue, perhaps one of the previous 
Like I said, a bit of uncertainty with the meal planning this week. But I think us menu planning woman can handle life's curve balls right? I know it's a good exercise in relinquishing my control on every area of my life, haha! Because of family being in town...I'm not sure how much time I will have to blog some of the meals and what not. I do plan on doing a Kitchen Item of the week and of course my Food Network Star recap, and I have a new "How To"...but aside from that...there probably won't be much...unless I can get Josh to do another Guest Blog. Last Friday, he made some amazing Burgers and the pictures (he took) look amazing! I'll do my best to get that post up for you all! 
Have a great week everyone!!

Weekly Menu 6/14-6/21

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Sometimes it just amazes me how quickly one week goes by. I feel as though I was just writing this same post. Well, in a sense...I guess I am. The forecast for "this" week started off promising...what I mean is...when I looked at the forecast Saturday for this week, I thought, "perfect...we can grill all week long." Mmm, not so much. So far, the weather has been an awfully bright shade of grey  that doesn't get above 65 degrees :( So, now I'm having to almost rearrange my menu for the weather. I hate that!

Monday
Pancakes 
( I wasn't feeling great and pancakes sounded yummy)
Tuesday
Train wreck 
Wednesday
Grilled Chicken fajita pasta 
with Avocado slices
Thursday
Cheeseburgers, fries, and fresh fruit
Friday
Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs, rice,
and green beans
Saturday
Marinated Steak with Corn on the cob, 
and maybe cheddar potato bake
Sunday (Father's Day)
I'm not sure...I know we'll be with Josh's family
so we will probably grill something.
Being as that this week is Father's Day Week, that means I am also going to be baking up a storm. Every year for Father's Day, our church woman make or buy pies to serve to the Father's (everyone, but the dad's get first dibs) after the service. Being Josh's wife, means I get to cater to his pleasure. Josh is a Coffee, chocolate & peanut butter, and cheesecake kind of guy. So this year, I will be making two pies and one cheesecake. Yeah...3 desserts...kind of insane right? Well I was going to add two more to the mix...but do my own dad being gone (again) this year for Father's Day...I won't be making a pie for him. I might make it for him later on though. So...what pies will I be making???
2 Peanut Butter & Fudge Swirls Pies

&

1 Raspberry Cheesecake

My goal is to make ahead the Peanut Butter Pies on Friday so then Saturday, I can work on the Raspberry Cheesecake which takes a bit more time.  Wish my luck guys :)

Albertson's Savings 6/14/10

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Every Monday, I look forward to getting into my inbox. Whether it's my email or my blogspot account, I am always eagerly anticipating what goodies I can find this week. It's just happens that Albertson's is the place to shop. Hurry up and go there to find some great bargains for oober cheap. Their sale ends tomorrow. It is after all double coupon week! Our actual grocery shopping day will be tomorrow but these were to good to pass up! We'll just finish up everything else tomorrow evening :)

I got the email from Frugal Living NW on Sunday, but...as I do most Sunday's...I'm rarely on the computer. So I got excited to dissect the email this morning. Check out all the different double coupon scenario's here and find what works for you.  I had every intention of driving down to Albertson's tonight after Josh got home, but I ended up feeling a little under the weather, so my darling hubby...made the trip for me, quite happily actually.

I sent him with a list of a few things with coupons to help. My listed consisted of this:

Bagel Bites. On sale for $1.99. Use the $1.00 coupon from Sunday Paper and double coupon from Albertson's making it Free. Actually, they paid us $0.01! ( We do not ever buy these kind of items, but since it was free, I thought it might make a nice late night snack for the hubs)

Ronzoni Pasta. On sale for $1.69. Use the $1.00 coupon (from a previous Sunday Paper) and double coupon making it only $.19! ( Josh was awesome and picked up Whole Wheat- go Hubby)

Rhodes Warm and Serve Rolls---( I haven't had time or the budget yet to buy a whole thing of yeast to make my own rolls) On sale for $2.50. Use the $1.00 coupon from Sunday Paper along with double coupon and it was only $.50!!!

I also had Josh pick up Pam for Grilling. It was on sale for $2.50. We used a $1.00 off coupon ( no more doubling...only allowed 3 per transaction) but still not bad. Only paid $1.50...much cheaper than if I were to buy it off the shelf.

Berries were on sale for 2 for $3.00. I had Josh pick up one container of Raspberries and one container of blueberries.

Our Grand Total for all items purchased....$6.67!!!! We saved a total of $15.56!!!! Wow, huh!!!

Bottom Line, savings are everywhere. The key is to use the resources given to you. For me, this ended up being Frugal Living NW. If you haven't checked out Angela's website, you really should. She and her team of writers are extremely helpful in helping stretch a buck!!

Sun meets grilling = accessories

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I am so so excited! Lot's of fun things are coming about. One piece of good news is the weather is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL this weekend and SUNNY!!! This is huge for us Oregonians...and though I know as an allergy sufferer, I might be miserable at certain points...it is worth it for the weather we are promised to get. Good Weather means prime time for grilling. That's the other thing I am really excited about.

We have been grilling a lot despite this awful weather, but it will be nice to grill...when the weather is actually sunny and warm. I'm already in the process of working out next week's menu and one of the meals I have on the list is kabobs. That's all I'm going to say as far as the actual meal goes. But you know what you need for any kabobish meal? (I don't actually know if kabobish is a word. I'm assuming not since it has the little wavy red line under it, but who cares :)) You need Skewers.

When picking out Skewers, you need to know which ones are out there and what you prefer to buy. You can buy a whole pack of Bamboo Skewers for $3.99 a pack at the Thriftway across the street from us. But after doing a little reading on "wooden" skewers...I felt they were to much work for me. Wooden Skewers need to soak for at least 30 minutes in water before placing on the grill or they will burn and die!

But thanks to good ol' Google, I was able to find some beautiful metal skewers at Crate and Barrel for super oober cheap! I love me a good deal. So Thursday night, after running over to Washington Square Mall, ( for some errands) we decided to head over to Bridgeport and pick some up. I hope you looked at the Link because how can you go wrong with that price. We ended up buying only 4 for the moment. But I do plan on getting at least 2 more...and I cannot wait!!!!

Celebrate the little victories in savings

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Sshh, Eden is sleeping...which is giving me a chance to blog, YAY!

Last night, (Tuesday) we went grocery shopping. Generally we go once a week with a budget of $75.00 a week. We don't always include our diapers into that budget because it varies on how often we have to buy them.

When Josh and I first got married, we would grocery shop every two weeks; and we did that up until last year I would say. I am so glad it's weekly...it makes shopping for things a lot easier, things don't get forgotten and the produce is always fresh.

But, normally there will always be a week within the month (almost always the last week before our first pay check of the month) where things are "REALLY" tight.  Last night, was that shopping trip.  On top of the groceries we had to buy, we also had to buy diapers, cat food, cat liter, and a genie refill...plus hair gel for Gracie. (we want to try something different with her hair) All of that, had to fit into our budget. Yikes...that's a tall order.

First we went to Target. I almost always like to go there first because most of the time their prices are a bit cheaper and if I already know what something will come out to at Fred Meyers, then I like to check there first. So...my list of things at to buy at Target Consisted of:

Diapers
Genie refill (for the diapers)
Cat Food
Cat Liter
Feminine product
hair gel (last minute item)
I will only buy Pampers diapers. Call me a snob if you like, but Huggies, gives my girls a rash, and I will not go generic brand. Pampers is just awesome and there is always a coupon. :) You all know how I love coupons. We ended up buying all of this:
Diapers
Genie Refill
Cat food
Cat liter
hair gel
Mayo
I had a coupon for all of those items except the hair gel and genie refill. The mayo was free because I had a try out this product coupon. So our grand total for that shopping trip was $37.43 but we paid $29.75 for a total savings of $7.68 Whoohooo!!!
Now onto Fred Meyers. I'm not going to go into my whole long list of things, but I will say that Josh and I worked very well together and we compromised on some stuff and put some stuff back with the promise of buying it next week.  Our grand Total at Fred Meyers came out too $69.46 but we paid $56.27 for a total savings (with just coupons, not including sale items) $13.19!!! Whoop Whoop
Okay, enough celebrating. Back to reality now. I said our weekly budget for groceries is $75.00. We ended up actually spending $86.02 which puts us over budget by $11.02 :(
Though the savings for us were huge and should be accomplished, we were still over budget. Now I can reason and say, well this trip had things we don't normally buy except for maybe once a month or once every 2-3 months...such as Fem. Hygiene, cat food & liter, etc. And Honestly, if I were to subtract the total spent on those items, we would of been under budget. But I'm still disappointed. I'm proud that Josh and I work so well together as a team and can get the job done...but, I still would prefer to be right at budget or under. Hopefully, Next Month will be better. A lot of it depends on what coupons are out there and what were needing at the time. 
But at the end of the day, I celebrated the victory that I, saved us $20.87 in coupons all together. Now that is something to smile about!

Weekly Menu 06/07/10 - 06/13/10

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It's that time again; My weekly meal plan!!  I did pretty good last week. We had maybe one or two meals outside of the home, whether it was family or Josh went to get something because we were both tired. But at any rate, those unused meals from last week have carried into this week.

Monday
Grilled Chicken Bruschetta, Baked Potatoes,
and Seasoned Peas
Tuesday
Pasta Stuffed Shells, Corn, and 
Garlic Bread
Wednesday
Black Bean Chili
Thursday
Roasted Sock-eye Salmon with a White Wine Sauce, 
Garlic Potatoes, and Green Beans
Friday
Teriyaki Chicken Thighs, Rice, 
and Salad
Saturday
Train Wreck
Sunday
Dinner out...I think
I'm excited about this week's meal plan because I'm making Salmon (which I love) and I'm making some new meals. Thank you to my parents for handing off the Salmon to me. They gave me enough to make two meals!! I've blogged about the Black Bean Chili before. That was a recipe from a friend (it's in the Mexican Food Folder on the blog), and Train Wreck is a Rief Family favorite and quick and easy go to meal. I'll be using ground turkey instead of Ground Beef, since it's better for you. Tonight's dinner was a success! We had the Grilled Chicken Bruschetta and it was lovely as always. Josh and I got some great pics and Josh or I will be possibly blogging that dinner tomorrow sometime. So please look forward to that. 
I hope everyone has a wonderful food filled week and I look forward to hearing what you all are making/reading any blogs you write on the subject :)

I promise, the gym made me forget about dinner!

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I'm really kind of disappointed with myself.

Tuesday, I blogged that my hubby would be guest blogging his Baked Penne Pasta. It's super delicious and easy...well it looks easy since he's the one that makes it. Well last night, we had the kids down (okay, they aren't really kids in my eyes...but it's easier than saying we had the young adults down ) and I had been texting Jewelissa back and forth throughout the day since we were going to finish the Lord of the Ring trilogy and she offered for them to come down a bit early so I could squeeze in my workout at the gym. (Yay)

Josh knew he was going to be blogging this meal...it had been discussed, but while I was gone at the gym, I forgot to leave the camera out for him and then with company over...it got overlooked. An easy thing to do when your laughing in the kitchen...which is what I walked into as I got home from the gym. By that time, the pasta was nearly cooked and the sausage and sauce was already made. It just needed the assistance of the oven. But...I can't claim this as all of Josh's fault. I did forget to leave the camera out and he could of tried and remembered. But still, walking in the door, sweaty, gross, and tired...it slipped my mind too and I did not remember till the food was coming out of the oven.

So, I'm disappointed with myself for not remembering. For not making a point of remembering to remind Josh as I was talking to him on my cell phone while I walked to the gym. And I'm disappointed you all are missing out on his amazing writing skillz :)

You did however, get a story from me and you were able to enjoy my misery too ;) I'm just kidding about that last part...! Stop laughing at my pitiful self, haha. Okay, I'm laughing too :) LOL! See?!

I suppose the meal will have to wait for another time...unless Josh decides to wing it anyways and post it with one picture...of course I will be there, at his side, telling him to not even bother. Haha!

Weekly Menu

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I put a little bit more thought into this weeks menu. Last week, was an off week for me. I think we all have them from time to time. But This week I think is a good mix of different foods for us all to enjoy.

Monday
Grilled Cheddar Wursts with fresh Cantaloupe
Tuesday
Mom's Cheese Enchiladas with beans and spanish rice
Wednesday
Roasted pepper & Asiago Chicken Sausage
Mediterranean  Pizza
Thursday
Teriyaki Chicken Thighs with rice and green beans
Friday
Baked Penne Pasta with Moroccan Olive Bread
( Guest Blogger; Josh)
Saturday
Nancy's Black Bean Chili
Sunday
Grilled Chicken Bruschetta or Chicken Tacos 
As far as desserts go this week...I thought I would take a week off from baking sweets. We have some Ice Cream in the freezer...that I know Josh will have to be the one to eat because I'm not a big fan of the selections...which is a good thing for me, maybe not so much for Josh, LOL. 
This is the order of the Menu I hope to go by....but we'll see. Things can always change :) 

How to freeze Berries

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I thought it would be fun to do a "How To" series. When I first started out cooking, I wasn't sure how to do a lot of things. And then as I got better, I learned more tricks and techniques to help me out in my quest to be better in the kitchen. And so, without further a do...let's begin!

Before last year...I can't say I really thought to much about what was the best way to freeze berries. I just kind of through them in a ziploc bag (any ziploc bag) and put them in the freezer. Well as you can imagine...it never turned out well. That's also about the time I discovered my love of freezer bags. Freezer bags are awesome and they come in all different sizes and brands ( I prefer Ziploc, even though they can be spendy without a coupon).

When it comes to freezing berries, the sooner you do it, the better so you can store in the freshness. Start with taking your berries and rinsing them through so they are clean. I rinse mine and then I will continue to let them drain for about 10 minutes. After they have drained, I make a bed of paper towels and place the berries on the towels to help remove any excess water and pat them down with another towel.

Place them on a baking sheet...try not to let them touch, because then they will stick together because your going to place them in the freezer for a few hours. I did this yesterday while the kids were napping and I sat down to watch a movie I've had in dvr for probably close to a year now. I watched August Rush. Have you seen it? It's a brilliant movie and now I have to have the soundtrack!

Once the berries have chilled in the freezer for a few hours, take them out and relocate them to a freezer bag. I like to be ahead of the game and since berries have the tendency to unthaw quickly I had my freezer bag already labled and ready to go before I took the berries out...Can we say OCD?

Your set to go after that. Could it be any simpler? I think no. I also like to put the date on the bag as well as how many berries are in my bag and how many calories apprx.

Find a system that works for you and start freezing those berries. I know that as soon as the stores place the pints on sale for uber cheap this is what I'll be stocking my freezer with. How about you? What do you stock your freezer with?

Weekly Menu

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Here it is, Monday morning and I am still in my pajamas and have yet to take a shower. I really do hate when I get a slow start to the day. At least I've brewed my coffee or we would really be in some trouble. I was a little late in the game this past week in making the dinner menu. Normally, I'm working on it through out the whole week and I can rely on 2-3 dinner not being made that I can transfer over to next weeks menu. Apparently last week I was on it, because every dinner got made except for one.

When Saturday rolled around it was already a busy day. But when I got home from my sister in law's baby shower...making the grocery and dinner list was the last thing I wanted to do. It took me 2 hours to complete it! But for the record, some of the time I wasn't working on the menu. I was eating a bagel, and sitting in my fave white chair (named the white elephant) and trying to get my extremely intense stressed induced headache to magically disappear. That didn't happen till 11pm :( Anyways, if my menu seems boring and full of Mexican meals...well then this is why. They are in no order at all. LOL! Wow I really dropped the ball this week, lol!

My mom's Cheese Enchiladas
Teriyaki Chicken Thighs (new recipe)
Ground Turkey Taquitos
Pork chops with Fennel and Rosemary
Tacos
Corn Dogs
Fish sticks
Wow- I really outdid myself there huh? Looking at this is just depressing. I'm sure I have side dishes to go with this but right now...I'm sneezing to death and I need a shower and I can't really think straight. Next week I promise...it will be more impressive.
As far as blogging meals this week...I'm not sure. I'm going to see if my Hubby will guest blog again since he is the Taquito maker in the house. And I might try and work on the Pork Chops and Chicken Thighs this week. Try...key word here :) Any hoo, I'm off to the shower. It's calling my name :) Happy Monday morning to you all :)
P.S. I am going to make my mom's amazing Blackberry Cobbler though. Maybe today :)