Disney Shopping Bags

I found the PERFECT solution!

I purchased ten of these bags at the Disney store for $2.50 EACH!

They have a big wide base and aren't too tall. I'm loving these!

We have really gotten our shopping down! Since we fill a cart when we go, right before checkout, my son grabs a second cart (empty) and we push it through to the checker. Then we unload our cart and she has an empty cart to load (like Costco does). Then she doesn't have to stack all the bags on her shelf, waiting for us to unload. It is streamlined!

We keep our shopping bags in the backseat of the van. Then on shopping day, move them to the front seat so I don't forget to take them in. What a huge convenience and I feel good about reusing them. It makes hauling the groceries inside a lot easier, too.

UPDATE: 01/16/2013...I need to put "grocery bags" on the top of my shopping list so I don't forget to take them into the store!

Easy Chili and Cornbread

Super quick and easy chili and cornbread...the recipe was given to me by my friend Barbie who helped me see that I needed to actually cook for my family in the first place. That's what started this blog. I'm so grateful for her!

I make browned hamburger and put one pound ziplocs in the freezer when I can. Easy to add one pound ground hamburger to any recipe by pulling it out of the freezer. I like to use ground turkey in this recipe, though I use twice the amount of meat because turkey doesn't have the bulk/fat that the beef does, it is just more tender.

Phillip's Chili
1lb ground hamburger browned (I prefer more protein. I can add 2lbs turkey in addition because it shrinks, or another pound of hamburger for my carnivore family)
saute onion and garlic
3 cans black beans
3 cans pinto beans
1 can garbanzo
plus 1 can water
1 small can corn
30oz tomato sauce
1T coriander
1/4C chili powder
2t cumin
Bring to boil. Simmer 15 minutes. EAT!

Cornbread
I think I made the cornbread recipe on the back of the corn meal box but added a half cup of sour cream to make it more moist. I poured the batter half full into a large muffin tin. Add butter and honey. :)

UPDATE 01/12/2012: We are loving the cornbread (I did not add sour cream, it doesn't need it!) and I usually pour it into a 9x13 pan as the portions are too big in the muffin tin.

Salad System

I started eating a salad once a day starting in May of this year. Recently, I did some "salad evaluation" to make my salads more efficient. It seemed I was always running out of one thing, while another item went bad before I could eat it all.

Here's what I like on my huge salad. Yes, I weigh everything, every time so I know my calorie intake.

75g chicken breast (ziploc in freezer)
75g romaine (bag)
25g spinach (bag)
50g cucumber (pre chopped in glass container)
50g celery (pre cut in glass container-chop fresh daily)
50g red pepper (pre chopped in glass container)
15g red onion (pre chopped in glass container)
4 sliced snap pea pods (chop fresh daily)
50g garbanzo beans (glass container)
20g salsa
1 hard boiled egg
35g salad dressing (my favorite is Newman's Own Lite Balsamic)
7g unsalted Hoody sunflower seeds
10g sesame stix
5 craisins or fresh blueberries
This is about 400 calories, 30 protein, 30 carbs, 16 fat, 10 sugars, 9 fiber

Fills me up until dinner! I don't like it really cold, so I make it early in the afternoon and let it sit out for a bit before putting on the dressing and dry ingredients.

I decided to buy bag-o-salad and prepare chicken ahead and freezing the portions in ziplocs. Each day when I make my salad, I pull out a ziploc of frozen chicken and put it in my salad box for the next day. I have to pay attention to inventory control on the cucumber, celery, red pepper, red onion and snap peas, but that isn't too difficult now that I'm doing the grocery shopping.

The garbanzo beans last a few days, so I pour them into a glass container with a plastic lid. The hard boiled eggs are easy because I do several at a time. The salsa and salad dressing are easy along with the seeds, stix and craisins. I have a large plastic "shoebox" in the frig to hold all my containers. Making a salad everyday is EASY, just pull out the box! A little planning and refining have made having a delicious fresh salad everyday possible!

Mrs. Grocery Shopper

It is official. After five years, I have taken over the grocery shopping from my husband. He kinda came out of the blue and suggested it. I've been telling him for about a year that it would be okay for me to do it.

The first couple times was really difficult because I hadn't been grocery shopping for YEARS and I didn't remember where anything was. It has been a couple weeks and I'm doing really well! It doesn't take as long to get through the store, but I need to improve on our bag issue. I was thinking collapsible crates might work instead of shopping bags. I'm still thinking on that. The kids are a huge help and it looks like we've been going every six days or so.

UPDATE: 11/21/2012 I found the best solution for reusable grocery bags!

Camping Food

 

I've agonized over camping recipes as we just started being more outdoorsy. We got a camp stove this spring which allows us more flexibility. Here's what we did for meals this summer:

We eat dinner on the way to the campsite on Friday.

Saturday AM:
scrambled cheesy eggs (I scramble the raw eggs and put the liquid in a double ziploc in the cooler)
bacon

Saturday Lunch:
peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
apples
carrots
chips

Saturday Dinner:
macaroni and cheese (bring a splash of milk and chunk of butter and strainer)
hot dogs
canned chili

smores

Sunday Breakfast:
oatmeal (just add water)
hard boiled eggs (boiled at home, put in ziploc bag in cooler)
blueberries
brown sugar

Same Lunch again on Sunday:
peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
apples
carrots
chips

Snacks:
polska kielbasa (pre-cooked, just unwrap and slice)
cheese slices
crackers
apples
blueberry bagels
cream cheese

Eat out on way home Sunday night if we aren't home yet.

Dan Dan the Broccoli Man

Not only do the kids EAT their food now, but they help COOK it!  My son makes the meatloaf (about once a month) and helps with the broccoli along with helping cook breakfast, lunch and dinner most days.

This is insanely delicious and I'm too embarrassed to admit how often we eat this roasted broccoli!

A few handfuls of broccoli, washed and dried
some olive oil
some garlic
some lemon juice
some salt and pepper (or better yet, Montreal Steak Seasoning!)

Mix it all up. Line cookie sheet with foil. Bake at 425° for about 12 minutes. The more olive oil, the better!

After about a year and a half of cooking dinners and eating dinners together every night together at the table (except for those fun nights of eating pizza in the living room while watching a movie!), we've finally established new patterns. I just realized while updating this blog, that we don't have ANY (A N Y) complaining anymore. Dinner is served and "you get what you get, so don't make a fit". How grateful I am to have made it through the child training that should have been done when the children were toddlers. Better late than never. (I wrote about the complaining in a post here).

Cranberry Orange Chicken Casserole and Roasted Broccoli

I love the flavors!

Mix frozen vegetable medley (carrots, corn, peas, green beans) with cream of chicken soup and some sour cream, put in 9x13 pan. Put cooked chopped chicken breast over the mixture. Prepare box of stuffing (if it takes 1 1/2 cups of water, make it 3/4C water and 3/4C frozen orange juice concentrate). Toss into the stuffing some craisins and chopped pecans. Spread the cooked stuffing on top of the chicken and bake. YUMMY! (I think it would be even better with two boxes of stuffing).

Morning Shopping

So much has changed since my last post. One of the big things is that I'm eating more salad! The other is that I am doing the shopping now...and in the MORNING, no less!

I've been really bored lately with the menu, so I've been getting some recipe books from the library to spice things up a bit. My son ASKED for me to make meatloaf this weekend, yay!