Soup Night!

I have been attempting to include at least one soup night on my menu each week. Soups are some of the most frugal meals that I cook. I can stretch a little bit of meat to feed all seven of us, and I can use up a few leftovers in the process. I have been getting a bit bored with soup, so I decided to try to "spice" things up a bit.

Last week I made bread bowls for the first time. I used this recipe with fresh ground whole wheat flour, and Mark and the kids really liked them. That is not too suprising, since none of us have met too many carbs that we do not like! The bowls did make soup night a little more exciting.

The week before, I made some homemade croutons. I usually have a few pieces of bread at the end of a loaf that do not get eaten before they are past being fresh. I decided to cut them up and keep them in a bag in the freezer. The bag was getting pretty full, so I melted some butter and poured it in the bag with some garlic and shook it around. Garlic and butter make most everything taste better! I baked the bread pieces until they were crunchy. We called them croutons and ate them on our soup. The kids were impressed, and I did not feel guilty for throwing bread away. Soup night has at least been a little more interesting around here lately!

Uncle George

We were blessed to spend time with my Uncle George in December, 2010. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel, and he got a kick out of seeing the kids and playing tractor with Eli. At the time, we had no idea that he was sick. He found out in August that he had small cell lung cancer, and that he did not have much time left. He died on Christmas Eve. Life is so short. Uncle George will be missed!

"As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone..." Psalm 103:15

Menu Planning

I have been really concentrating on menu planning this month. Feeding all of the mouths that live at our house is expensive! It is worth every penny, but I am trying to work on cutting our costs a bit. We usually budget $1000 a month for groceries/toiletries/diapers (gasp!). It sounds like such A LOT of money, but somehow I still have a hard time staying within that amount. This page made me feel a bit better. According to the USDA, a family our size on the THRIFTY plan (as opposed to the higher low cost, moderate or liberal plan), spent 1008.30 to eat in the month of December. That helped me feel better about how much we spend, but I still want to try to cut back on costs, or at least keep them from going up. I try to cook mostly from scratch, and fix fairly healthy meals.

I seem to drop $200 each time I step foot in Walmart. I thought it might help if I simply stayed out of Walmart more often! This month, I decided to try to do a REALLY big shopping trip at the beginning of the month. I planned our supper meals and bought everything to cook them all. I also bought enough toiletries, diapers, Good Nights, kitty litter and food, paper products and cleaning supplies to last the month. After my first big trip, I will just do quick dairy/produce trips into Kroger once each week.

So far, my plan is working well. I am hoping to come in $200 under budget. We are buying 1/4 of a cow this month, so I would like to put some of our grocery budget towards the beef. We will see if my goal is realistic!

Here is my menu plan--

1. Creamy Rice and Chicken
2 Out for Anna Grace's Birthday
3. Breakfast for supper
4. Supper at a birthday party. I am taking bean dip.
5. Salad Bar
6. Bible Study -- Chili
7. black bean & corn chicken taco bake
8. Chicken and rice soup in bread bowls
9. Pinto Beans & homemade macaroni and cheese
10. Homemade pizza
11. Breakfast for supper -- eggs, pancakes and bacon
12. Barbecue chicken and baked potatoes
13. Bible Study-- Mexican Night
14. Sloppy Joes & home fries
15. Terriyaki Chicken
16. Vegetable Beef Stew
17. Homemade pizza
18. Shepherd's Pie
19. Taco Potatoes
20. Bible Study--Finger Foods
21. Enchiladas & Mexican rice
22. Cheeseburger Macaroni
23. Black Bean Soup
24. Book Club-- New Orleans Celebration-- Jambalaya
25. Breakfast for supper
26. Spaghetti Carbonara
27. Bible Study
28 . Tacos/ Mexican Rice
29. Peanut Chicken & rice

Snow

It is all fun and games until....

I love snow! I always crave one or two really good snow days each year. I guess it is a left over feeling from wanting school to be out when I was younger. It could also be that six years of living in Baton Rouge made me crave the white stuff. My children share my snow cravings. They have been known to go out and play in the frost.

We have had a really warm winter this year, and I have just about given up hope of a blizzard this year. So, I decided to go ahead and post pictures of our one "faux" snow that we had before Christmas. There were only supposed to be flurries, but we woke up to two inches of snow. Thankfully, I decided to post phone school for the morning, because every flake was gone by the afternoon. It kind of felt like we had been cheated of fully enjoying the white stuff. Mark, who is a bit of a snow humbug, thought it was a perfect snow. Maybe we will have better snow next year!

Christmas Tea

Our girls have gone to a Christmas Tea for the past three years. It is a tradition that they love! They get to dress up in Christmas dresses, eat "fancy" foods and practice their "fancy" manners. They enjoy drinking their tea (which usually has LOTS of milk and sugar cubes in it!). The girls each bring a $1 gift to exchange, and there are lots of "oohs" and "aahs" as they unwrap their treasures. I am thankful for fun traditions and good friends!

Pickin' Pumpkins

We headed out for our 11th annual trip to a pumpkin patch last month. We have visited patches in three different states, and our trips have changed quite a bit over the years. I remember my very first trip, where I followed Isaac as he toddled around in his little denim overalls. I have snapped pictures of my babies propped up on pumpkins and my toddlers trying to pick up pumpkins as big as them. I have quite a collection of pumpkin pictures that show the growth of our family.

In 2008, we went to pick pumpkins just a couple of weeks before Eli was born. I looked like I was trying to sneak a big ol' pumpkin out under my shirt! The farmer driving the tractor was a bit worried when I got on the hayride. I think he was afraid each bump was going to send me into labor!

We enjoyed our 2011 trip. We picked cotten, explored the corn maze, took a hayride (pulled by a John Deere tractor, which thrilled Eli's heart!), petted animals, played on the playground and spent time picking out the perfect pumpkins. Our front porch now has more pumpkins than I know what to do with, but I love our pumpkin pickin' trips!

Those Johnson Boys!

Our boys have been keeping us on our toes the past few weeks. The day after Halloween, I left Eli unattended with his bag of candy (not my best mothering moment, but we were having great school time!). Not only did he eat almost all of it, but he also managed to put a candy nerd in his ear! I pulled out the tweezers, but I was scared to death of poking a hole in his ear drum, so we headed out to the E.N.T. It took the doctor a few minutes to get it out, and he discovered in the process that Eli had quite an ear infection. So, it was a blessing to discover the infection, but it would have been easier for him to just tell me!

Last week was Isaac's birthday, and one of our sweet friends gave him two tickets to the Tennessee/Arkansas football game. His friends' dad also planned an exciting day of tailgating. So, it was to be a fun "man's trip" up to Fayetteville, which is about four hours away. Mark, Isaac, his two friends and their dad made the drive up last Saturday. During the tailgating, the boys decided to play football. Isaac was running (wearing Crocs) and tripped and ended up at a walk in clinic with seven stitches! They had a good experience, and were back by the second quarter (the game was pretty much done for Tennessee fans at that point!). Isaac said it was a birthday to remember! He said he learned three things-- doctors were wonderful, you should not run in crocs, and you should respect rocks!