Books Mar 17th Through Mar 31st

In my world of audio books the next one I listened to was You Are Not Special and Other Encouragements which I liked but did not love. I think he is a great teacher and had several valid points but felt that the audience for the book kept changing. As soon as I finished that one I started America's Women and enjoyed it as well. It was not as in depth about any one women which I was hoping for but covering 400 years of women's history could have been over burdensome. It was a couple of days before I was up on another audio book I requested so I am currently listening to The Opposite of Spoiled. I still on the fence about this book but I just started it yesterday so it deserves more time.


Success with finishing print books has come in spurts. I had to turn Books to Die For back in and so was forced to pick up a different book. I finished Heirloom Gardening In The South last night. It was a great book but I do not think I will purchase it as I am trying to plant native and not just heirloom. I decided to start one that was not already on my currently reading list. I have a lot of heavy non fiction that I have been going through so I picked up Notorious Nineteen. That is where I stand today.

Pantry Challenge Light

I have decided to continue another month on the pantry challenge. I am calling it pantry challenge light because I will attempt to be as focused with not buying any staples this month but if I find a good deal I am not going to beat myself up over the purchase. I am really going to just work on being more conscious about the items I have at home.

I took pictures of my fridge, freezer and 1 of my pantries when the challenge was over. I should have taken a picture of the pantry where I keep my canned goods and pasta but did not think about it until I had already gone grocery shopping.

I have since cleaned up the door to the fridge and brought most of the restaurant condiments to work so anyone who needs them can use them.

Week 4 Finale to Pantry Challenge

This week started out cold and with me breaking the rules for a jar of jam! I owned up to that and posted a picture in the last post.  The produce I have to work with this week from the co-op is pictured below.

I knew we would not eat the guava, avacados, cilantro or onions so I put them up for trade on BBT. She was supposed to swing by today with a trade so I will see what I received in trade. Other than the slip up at Winco on Saturday I am happy with myself and the ability to cook without constantly going to the grocery store. At the end of this I am going to take a picture of the cabinets, freezer and refrigerator. Other than the lack of meat I honestly think I could go another month on a pantry challenge.

With that being said this is what this week's menu plan looks like:

Things may get shuffled around due to Phillip's birthday and meeting friends for dinner 1 night.
Here is what has actually happened:
Sun Mar 20th: leftover beef stew over steamed rice

Mon Mar 21st: I thought we might go out as it was Phillip's birthday but we stayed mostly on the plan. I baked the chicken and started some stock. This was served with the broccoli with cheese sauce and shells with white cheddar. I know it was a lot of cheese but it was Phillip's birthday and those are among his favorite sides. I also made a red velvet cake to go with it.

Tue Mar 22nd: Chicken nachos, there was much drama with this one that I have blogged about in this post.

Wed Mar 23rd: Cheesy chicken broccoli rice

Thur Mar 24th:  I meant to take a picture of the soup. It was quite yummy even if there was only a whisper of chicken in it. I used some of the stock from earlier this week with celery, carrots and garlic to start. I then added some tomatoes and black beans because tortilla/southwest soup sounded good to me and because I thought this would bulk it up and disguise the thin amount of meat. I added the chicken near the end since it was already cooked and then right at the last minute added spinach. I topped mine with some shredded cheese. 

Fri Mar 25th: We had pigs in a blanket with green beans 

Sat Mar 26th: Way off course for this one.....we had spaghetti. 

Start Over or Just End

I am not sure if I want to just start this week over and hope for different results or just want it to end.

Monday morning started off rough. I drop Clark off first generally and Monday was no exception. The sitter however took 10 minutes to come to the door because she had a rough night with her little one and had fallen back asleep.  I left there and raced to get Logan to school and get on the highway to work. Work went off without any hitches and the evening started out ok. It was Phillip's birthday but he we decided to eat at home so I went with the menu plan. The kid's played while I did some house cleaning and then while Logan was in the bath I sat down with Clark. He was worn out enough that he felt asleep on my chest so I just sat there with him. Logan came back in there after his bath and about that exact moment Clark coughed so hard he threw up down the front of my shirt. Not down the front, it managed to go down the neck of my shirt and be contained completely on me. Logan was sweet and got a towel because as I stood up the vomit was running out the bottom of my pant legs. I handed Clark off to Phillip and went to get in the shower. Taking off my shirt spread the vomit to my hair and face. It did not occur to me until a coworker told me the next day, I should have just worn my clothes into the shower and rinsed off.  Everyone got to sleep after this except me as I needed to at least start a load of laundry before the smell of vomit overtook the house.

Tuesday morning's only hitch was Logan forgetting his juice at home and having to do a work around on that. Tuesday evening however was another story. I arrived home with the boys to discover that Turbo had thrown up by the back door. I was trying to get everyone settled so I could clean this up and ended up dropping Logan's cup full of apple juice.  After getting that all cleaned up and the floor mopped I started on dinner. Keeping on plan I got out all the ingredients and the leftover chicken. Easy does it, chicken nachos in the oven. While they were cooking I unloaded the dishwasher, loaded the dishes from the sink and cleaned up the counter top. I checked the nachos by pulling them out and decided a few more minutes would be good. I was going to use this "few" minutes to tell Phillip dinner was ready and grease down a couple of cast iron skillets I wanted to season. I was proud of myself for thinking of using the already hot oven for this task and thus saving some energy. This plan all ended when I went to put the nachos back in the oven and DROPPED them UPSIDE DOWN in a HOT oven. The beans immediately started cooking onto the oven. My first reaction was to cuss like a sailor which of course alerted everyone in the house that something was going on. I then cleaned up the oven the best I could with a spatula since it was still hot. I initially thought I could wipe with a sponge but burned fingers quickly ended that plan. I was soo angry by this point that while Phillip tried to entertain the kids with other pursuits I nearly cried. Then I dumped that pan of nachos out and started over. Of course Phillip was incredulous that I would start over and push dinner out even further but nachos over all do not take that long so I popped another batch into the oven. This time while they cooked I pulled the bottom drawer out of the oven, cleaned all the cast iron out of it and put it on the sink to wash after dinner. After dinner the kids got baths and then I set to cleaning up the floor where the nachos fell through the partially open oven door. I was mortified by the amount of debris and dog hair that was under the oven. It is currently as clean as it can be with kids and a dog who is shedding his winter coat.  I went ahead and started the self clean cycle on the oven knowing it would end about 1:30 in the morning which is generally about the time Clark wakes up. True to form he woke up about 34 minutes before it was set to finish so I got him back to sleep with 6 minutes to spare. I hung out for the 6 minutes, shut the timer off and unlocked the oven. I left it to clean up the next night.

Wednesday morning Logan was up and ready really early as he wanted to go get donuts. I agreed since we were out of the house a lot earlier than normal. We dropped off Clark went through the drive thru at the donut place and on to school. Logan saw his friend in the parking lot and wanted to walk in with him so we headed toward him. The closer we walked the louder the crying was becoming. Once we got to the van with his friend, the friend's twin and their cousin  I could see why there was so much crying. The friend's twin had started to run into the school and instead ran into the metal pole holding the awning up and split his forehead open. Logan's friend has a full time nurse with him but she is on vacation this week and it was the replacements first day! His twin ended up going and getting some steri-strips applied and then came back to school.

As I said, not sure if I wanted this week to end or start over.

Edit: I forgot to mention that on Sunday of this week we were almost to church before Phillip asked about the eggs for the church's egg hunt. I ended up dropping them off at church and then heading all the way home getting the eggs and going back to the church. This added an hour and a half on the road for me. 

Good Deeds...1 a Day?

I will start this story with a brief explanation for those who have never been to Winco before. Winco is a store with no sackers. There are 2 belts side by side so the cashier can continue to check out customers while the previous one bags their own groceries. I have no issue with this as I like my items bagged a certain way and I understand this is one of the ways they keep costs down. Now to the story: I swung in on Saturday morning early after I picked up from my produce co-op. After I checked out and was bagging my groceries I heard the elderly lady checking out behind me ask if someone could help her bag her groceries because she just had wrist surgery. I finished quickly as I did not have a lot of items and knew that the cashier was going to end up having to bag the groceries as there is really no one to call over. I just ask the lady if she wanted paper or plastic and then started bagging for her. Her only request was they not be heavy which was an easy one to overcome. As we were parting ways she said "Now you have done your good deed today". This really made me think, it is something I have said and have heard my whole life but why? Why is it only 1 good deed a day? Our lives should be lived so that we are kind and helpful to others which inherently should lead to more than one "good" deed each day.

Week 3 Update From Pantry Challenge

I started out week 3 thinking I was over the shopping hump. I went to Target with Clark to pick up some diapers I had coupons on as well as a couple of items for projects at the house and felt no need to roam through the grocery section. There was a sense of euphoria that I had passed that hurdle and then we went to Winco for milk. Being in the midst of a grocery only store brought all the desires back. I wanted to check out the sales and stroll the aisles looking for good deals and dinner ideas. I managed to refrain but really had to work at it.

Winco Trip:
~3lbs bananas
2 gallons milk
1 pkg sliced cheese
1 pkg shredded cheese
1 pint blueberrues
1 lb strawberries
1 loaf wheat sandwich bread

Total: $14.02

 I was still on the mend over the weekend and trying to get a couple of projects done so I neglected to make a menu up until Monday.

It was harder to make one up as the meat stores are getting low and so I am trying to come up with more meatless dinners that are appetizing to the others in the house.

Sunday Mar 13th: Grilled hot dogs and potato chips ( totally healthy I know)

Mon Mar 14th: bean burritos with leftover tortillas and beans from Sunday lunch out after church. I added a can of refried beans to the leftovers and it was plenty with a smidge to spare. Logan will probably eat them Tuesday.

Tue Mar 15th: Veggie stir fry using snap peas, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, and noodles served with some pre-made dumplings and egg rolls.

Wed Mar 16th:  Pizza Ring which was good but I overlapped it too much which led to a couple of gooey spots. I will have to be careful next time when originally laying it out.

Thur Mar 17th: Grilled cheese! Served with fruit smoothies, using up some of the frozen fruit we have on hand.

Fri Mar 18th: I made slow cooker beef stew using this recipe. The changes I made first were: Cut the salt since I was using bouillon and soy sauce. I also used frozen lima beans because that is what I had and let them cook in the juice for 1 hour before serving. I also used only potatoes and carrots since I did not have the other suggested root veggies. Now the review: it was just ok. I generally do not like beef stew and so made this hoping I would grow to like it and to use up some stew meat I had in the freezer.

Sat Mar 19th: chicken nuggets and corn on the cob. I was making pies for Sunday's potluck and the whole chicken was still frozen so we went off plan. The pies turned out great!

On Saturday morning after produce pick up I went by Winco to pick up some milk and actually broke the rules. There was an awesome jar of blackberry jelly which is my favorite on the clearance rack. I ended up buying it.

Winco Trip:
2 gallons milk
1 pack of Best Damn Cherry Cola
1 jar of blackberry jam
2 tubes deodorant
~4 lbs bananas
~1&1/2 lbs grapes
6 donuts
2 lbs strawberries
 Total: $22.19

Books Feb 23rd Through Mar 16th

Since the last post I have listened to A Troublesome Inheritance which was interesting. I am taking it with a grain of salt as I do with most theory based books but some of the theories make sense.  Once I finished that one I immediately dived into The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith and Idiocy.  I really did enjoy this one and it was a quick listen. It was full of information about Rainn that I did not know and has made me want to stream The Office and binge watch it.  Since finishing this one I have not had any books to listen to but have been working on knocking out the rest of the books on my currently reading list.

At the last post I was reading Blessing the Hands that Feed Us and ended up having to turn it in and then check it back out. I did finish it though!!! This has brought the list down to 24 items which is thrilling me! I feel like I might actually accomplish clearing the list this year! In addition to Blessing the Hands though I finished off Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century. This was an interesting book that I think I might purchase if we ever move out of the city. After finishing these I picked Books to Die For back up and I am trying to make headway before it is due. Of course this book in itself is adding a ton of books to my to-read list.

Week 2 Update From Pantry Challenge

A meal plan for week 2 was hard for me but it was truly a blessing later in the week that I had made a plan. I picked up a co-op basket on March 5th and used that with existing items to make up the plan for the week.

Clark was not feeling well on Saturday although he was a trooper on all of our errands and played outside while I planted some stuff we bought at the nursery. Sunday morning was a different ball of wax. Clark was coughing but up and going strong. I, on the other hand felt horrible and started having some of the same symptoms the boys had over the past couple of weeks. The drainage was going strong and my eye was starting to mat shut. Due to this Phillip ended up not taking the roast he had smoked to the church for potluck. As the week went on I felt increasingly worse and ended up at Care Now. I had a sinus infection, ear infection and pink eye. Once the meds were on board I have been slowly getting better. This is the reason I was glad that I had a meal plan in place and did not have to think about the meals. Above is the plan, below is what actually happened.

Sun Mar 6th: smoked roast with Crispy Parmesan Asparagus

Mon Mar 7th:  tostadas ( JBF pick up but boys did not panic this time)

Tue Mar 8th: Beef Stroganoff with leftover roast

Wed Mar 9th: Taco soup which I had put in the crock pot that morning with leftover tostada ingredients. ( no panic from the boys this night either even with me at Carenow)

Thur Mar 10th: Baked potatoes ( I had a sweet and Phillip an Idaho) with salad and Easy Cheesy Pull Apart Rolls

Fri Mar 11th:  Dinner was a disaster waiting to happen. I got started on the waffles when I got home. They did not turn out as I plugged in the waffle iron and thought I turned it on. I had turned it on but not hot enough to cook the waffles.....it has a waffle setting which I just did not use. I gave up on that and started pancakes. For some unknown reason my pan was sticking despite being seasoned and using butter. I ended up with 5 pancakes which I fed to the boys. Phillip had scrambled eggs and bacon and I ate a bowl of cereal and some bacon.

Sat Mar 12th:  I had not taken the chicken out to thaw so I went with Creamy Pasta with Asparagus and Bacon which allowed me to use up the leftover bacon from the night before.

Pantry Challenge Catch Up

I started the last post at the beginning of the month when I had barely scratched the surface of this marathon of not grocery shopping.  This weekend I actually thought I was over the need to grocery shop and then I had to go into Winco for some milk and the desire to shop was hard to resist. Seeing good deals lining the aisles was really hard to resist but I made it out of there without breaking the code of dairy, milk and bread only.

The first week I was on a high with starting something new and despite urges to stop at the store I made it through fairly easily. I was still working from the previous produce pick up and this is what the menu looked like:

 And what actually happened was:

Sunday Feb 28th: pancakes with bacon ( always a winner here)

Mon Feb 29th: pizza ( had JBF drop off and the boys panicked so they bought pizza)

Tue Mar 1st: Corn Dog Mini Muffins which ended up looking like:

 not really like the recipe picture and did not taste as good as the option in the corn bread pan so I will probably never make them this way again.

Wed Mar 2nd: Grilled ribs and baked sweet potatoes

Thur Mar 3rd: Mushroom Florentine Pasta which was ok. I thought it clumped together too much due to the cheese, would have worked better as a casserole. Served this with the garlic breadsticks I bought on my last Winco trip before the challenge started.

Fri Mar 4th:I made a version of Baked Eggs in Ham Cups using my cast iron biscuit pan. They turned out good although it is really just another version of a quiche.

Sat Mar 5th: I took the Mushroom Florentine recipe and  browned some hamburger meat with jarred spaghetti sauce. I mixed that with the leftovers  and covered it with mozzarella and some Parmesan. Phillip did not realize it was a leftover remake. He thought it tasted like an alternate version of lasagna and really liked it. 


I made a trip to Winco on the 5th to replenish milk. It was really, really difficult to not buy anything other than the agreed upon items but I managed it. Clark was with me and the need to get out of the store quick helped with this. 

Winco Trip:
1 case diapers
2 donuts for Clark and I to eat while out and about
2 gallons milk
1 pkg wipes
1 loaf wheat sandwich bread
bar soap

Total: $32.12

How Has the Pantry Challenge Been Going?

How has the Pantry Challenge Been Going? In a few words......it has been tougher than I thought. Using the ingredients I have on hand has been something I have always tried to do but staying out of the grocery store has been incredibly hard for me.

I will got back to this past weekend. I made the decision to try the Pantry Challenge and took myself to Winco to get the items I knew the other people in my house could not do without.

Winco Trip:
 2 gallons whole milk
3 bottles apple juice
2 cases dr.pepper
1 case root beer
1 case gatorade
6 boxes snack cakes
1 package bottle nipples
1 box beef bouillon
2 bags fritos
2 containers nutella
1 bottle stir fry sauce
2 bottles gatorade
2 cans tomatoes
1 dublin root beer
1 pkg ham
1 pkg garlic bread sticks
2 pkgs pepperoni
3 pkg cinnamon rolls
1 bottle soy sauce
1 container gorgonzola cheese
1 pkg egg rolls
1 quart whipping cream
~1&3/4 lbs grapes
~1 lb baby spinach
1 pkg sliced swiss cheese
1 pkg crescent rolls
1 quart strawberries
~.07 lbs dried kiwi
~3/4lbs raw sugar
~.18 lb yeast
~1&1/4lbs baking soda
~1/2 lb banana chips
1 loaf sandwich bread
3 pkgs pecan rolls

Total: $86.28



More to come!!!