June Menu

We're winding down our school year and enjoying the first weeks of our CSA.  That means loads of greens and spring onions, so this month's menu is planned with that in mind.  We're also, as always, trying to make good use of what we have on hand.  And, of course, we're trying to keep the kitchen cool by doing cooking in the morning or in the crock pot.

Here's the plan:

Breakfasts:

• Overnight crock pot oatmeal with added cinnamon, chia, and flax seed
• Breakfast casserole with potatoes, onions, and spinach/chard (and bacon if we have it)
• Smoothies with greens, berries, and coconut milk
• Gluten free biscuits with eggs, greens, and cheese or bacon
• Breakfast snack plate with hard boiled eggs, fruit, nuts, and maybe small yogurt parfaits
• Fried eggs with sweet potato hash and greens

Lunches:

• Leftovers
• Picnic with fruit, nuts, energy bites, seaweed snacks, etc.

Dinners:

• Crock pot Asian chicken with egg rolls and Asian slaw
• Salmon with green salad
• Crock pot cilantro lime chicken for tacos with greens, spring onions, and radishes
• Dinner salads with spring onions, radishes, seeds, nuts, and hard boiled eggs
• Grilled hot dogs (of the all natural, nitrate free variety) with veggies and dip and fresh fruit
• Crock pot Asian chicken lettuce wraps (different recipe from above)
• Father's Day meal:  mini meatloaves, baked potatoes, and salad
• Community meals with our Children's Council support groups
• Black beans and rice with fixin's
• Chili with frozen tomatoes, leftover black beans, and ground beef/venison from freezer

Groceries to buy:

• Eggs (some will come from CSA)
• Almond milk or soy milk
• Canned coconut milk
• Hot dogs
• Sausages for breakfast
• Organic bell peppers
• Chipotle in adobo (I saw a trick for freezing it, since I only use a small bit.  But it adds so much flavor!)
• Plain yogurt
• Corn tortillas (non-GMO)
• Egg rolls
• Gluten free hot dog buns
• Fresh, seasonal fruit

How will you live and save green in the kitchen this coming month?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments Last Week of May

We worked really hard this past week to save where we could.  Our side hustles on eBay and Amazon are proving to be a little fruitful, and I did some more cleaning out to find even more things to sell, and donate to Goodwill.  We spent some great time with friends over the holiday weekend, camping and using what we had on hand to feed everyone.

Here's what else we did to save money this past week:

• Cooked meals at home including:  beef tacos/nachos with grassfed beef, radish greens, spring onions, cheese, and salad greens; smoothies; overnight oatmeal in the crock pot; snack plates with dried fruit, fresh pineapple, veggies, hard boiled eggs, and nuts
• Enjoyed yoga and a fabulous dinner from Chick-Fil-A with salad stuff and fresh oranges.  Yoga class was great and we had wonderful discussion.  I came home with leftover nuggets and had them on a salad the next day for lunch.
• Cashed in baby bucks for a Walmart card at the Children's Council.
• We had several shared meals including ones at our children's council groups, with our Tang Soo Do family for belt promotions, dinner with Mom, and meals with friends camping.
• Used a few other gift cards that were floating around my wallet for groceries.  Bought a watermelon and pineapple on sale for $3 total.  I also bought frozen berries for smoothies on sale for $6/48 oz and some bananas.
• We camped out with friends over the holiday.  They have a wonderfully flat yard, so we camped there and had a bonfire (we had helped clear some sticks from their yard and they had cut some limbs recently).  We pooled our resources in terms of food and had a great spread.  There wasn't enough wood to cook dinner over the fire, but we did do s'mores, which the kids loved.
• I took some time to clean out the garage at Mom's where we have some things stored.  I mostly organized, but did find a few boxes and toys to donate to Goodwill.  I made sure to get a tax receipt.  
• I found some toiletries in my clean out that we can use, saving us purchasing new.  I also found some more t-shirts for the boys.
• I cut both the boys and Benny's hair.  They got their summer cuts and all look very nice.
• The boys had a blast playing outside most evenings and even got to build a fort with some scrap plywood.

What did you do to live and save green this past week?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments 2nd Week of May

We worked really hard this past week to stretch our budget and still do things we wanted to do.  We did make one large purchase of an infrared sauna, which I need for health reasons, but we'll all benefit from.  Thanks to our frugal ways, we are able to pay for it without going into debt.  I also asked if they offered an educator discount, and they took an additional $300 off the sale price.  It will ship this week, so I'm looking forward to having one at home and saving on the travel costs to the one that's about 30 minutes away.

Here's how we saved last week:

• All meals were prepared at home including:  smoothies, overnight oatmeal, breakfast for dinner, roasted veggies and homemade chicken tenders, mini meatloaves (we made a double batch), salads, and yogurt parfaits
• We enjoyed shared meals with family and at our parent support classes through the Children's Council
• Earned baby bucks at our Children's Council classes, so we now have enough for a Walmart card.
• Checked out free toy boxes at the Children's Council.
• Made use of our Playhouse membership to play on Saturday.  I was grateful for the free coffee.
• We were grateful for my mom watching both boys on Saturday night.  It meant that we had our first overnight without either kid in over three years.  It was really nice, though we kept it very low key and cooked a meal at home together and watched some of Chef's Table.
• Gladly received some leftovers from yoga class dinner including hash brown potatoes and applesauce.  This applesauce got us through with fruit for the week when we were running low.
• Gleaned greens from the food pantry.  We took radish greens that most would toss and made pesto with some.  I also chopped some into our meatloaf mix.  I plan to chop, saute, and freeze the rest for soups later.  They are also good sauteed in scrambled eggs.
• I used a mesh basket for steeping loose tea rather than a tea sack.  This saves these for when we're traveling.
• Composted some kitchen scraps in the bottom of one of our larger containers with tomato plants.  I layered the compost with potting soil and added a bit of garden soil, so it should add some nutrients to the tomatoes.  I also composted some coffee grounds by mixing them with potting soil.
• Reused some boxes to make solar ovens with the kids using black paper and aluminum foil.  They want to test them out to make s'mores this weekend.  Hoping it will be sunny.
• Stopped at Aldi on the way back from a funeral out of town.  We don't have an Aldi in town, but we enjoy shopping there when we can because it's so cheap and they have a good organic selection.
• Exercised with the boys by running races around the yard.  They make up various paths around trees and we just run.  It's fun, and great exercise for everyone.
• I began getting up a little earlier to pray.  The goal is to get up by 5:00 to pray and exercise before anyone else is awake.  I'm slowly inching there, but I at least am feeling better prepared for the day with the few minutes in prayer.  I try to combine this with some yoga breathing exercises to really help me focus and push other thoughts to the side.
• Mom kept little man a little later on Tuesday afternoon.  He really enjoyed the time and had the chance to earn a little money for our summer trip by doing some garden work with her.

What did you do to live and save green this past week?  I'd love to hear from you!

May Menu

This month's menu will make use of fresh local produce, items in our freezer and pantry, and trying out a few new recipes.  We'll probably also try to glean some things from the food pantry when we volunteer. 

We generally try to have a loose weeknight schedule of meals that looks something like this:
Sunday:  Dinner with Mom, roast two sheet pans of veggies for the week
Monday:  Leftover roasted veggies, salad, and some sort of protein
Tuesday:  Crockpot meal night, usually paired with salad
Wednesday:  leftovers or breakfast for dinner (usually sauteed greens or veggies, eggs, bacon/sausage, and maybe pancakes or waffles)
Thursday:  Dinner at yoga
Friday:  Pizza night with gluten free crust or snack plate
Saturday:  Leftovers, tacos, or a new recipe (I try new recipes on Saturdays because I generally have more time for meal prep)

This loose meal plan helps us to use things we have on hand.  It also makes planning pretty easy, and the boys generally know what to expect.  Of course, there are times when things get changed up, but overall this is the plan we follow.  You'll notice that many of the meals are ones that could use multiple proteins, which allows us to always pull from our freezer stash.

So, here's the plan for May

Breakfasts:

• Overnight crock pot oatmeal (I always make a double batch for easy weekday breakfasts)
• Eggs and tomatoes or veggies
• Breakfast tacos with scrambled eggs and guacamole
• Breakfast hash with sausage, roasted root veggies, and fried eggs
• Gluten free coffee cake or biscuits
• Smoothies
• Paleo pancakes or waffles with fruit

Lunches:

• Leftovers
• Salads with protein (chicken, fish, sausage, nuts/seeds, hard boiled eggs)

Dinners:

• Roasted vegges and fish
• Mini meatloaves or meatballs served over sauteed greens and sliced tomatoes
• Dinner salads with protein
• Tacos with ground beef and fixin's
• Crockpot chicken catchatore with salad
• Almond flour pizza and salads
• Crockpot cilantro lime chicken for tacos/taco salad
• Beef and cheddar pie or quiche with broccoli, cheese, and dried tomatoes
• Paleo chicken pot pie (new recipe)
• Crock pot Asian chicken with Asian slaw
• Breakfast for dinner

Snacks:

• Nuts
• Dried fruit
• Popcorn
• Energy bites
• Yogurt parfaits with organic yogurt, berries, chia/flax/pumpkin seeds and cocoa powder

Batch cooking:

• Roasted veggies (two sheet pans)
• Herb crusted chicken
• Energy bites
• Crock pot overnight oatmeal
• Meatballs

What do you plan to make this month?  How do you live and save green in the kitchen?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments 1st Week of May

We did a lot this past week to work with what we had.  We're always trying to make things special for our kiddos but also keep it within our budget.  We've been working hard to side hustle a bit and pay off some bills, as well as saving for the new house.

Here are some of our accomplishments:

• Cooked meals at home including: smoothies, overnight oatmeal, salads, guacamole, herb crusted chicken, roasted veggies, breakfast for dinner (sauteed cabbage and sausage, eggs, bacon, and fruit), pasta with salad, energy bites, and chocolate caramel popcorn (we used walnuts rather than peanuts because that's what we had, though peanuts would be cheaper)
• Saved glass jar from olives and salsa for our home fermented veggies and food storage
• Found some items at school that were being tossed that we can resell on Amazon or eBay
• Walked several days with the dog, getting us both some exercise for free.
• Participated in our children's council parent support groups, appreciating the free meals, childcare, and support.  Yoga was great with a new teacher.  We earned baby bucks for our participation, getting us closer to a Walmart card.
• Took part in a county wide conference on Saturday to find ways to be a more compassionate community and support those going through trauma.  It was great to work with community organizations like DSS, Montessori schools, and others in the school system.  The school paid for my registration and it included breakfast and lunch (both of which were fabulous!).
• Have enjoyed visiting a new church.  The boys have really enjoyed Sunday school there and have much larger peer groups.  It is also closer to home and they offer an early service, which gives us more time on Sundays as a family.
• Enjoyed some shared meals with family and friends.  We shared some veggies and chicken and helped prepare the meal.
• Had a lovely visit with a friend we hadn't seen in a long time.  She shared some plants with us including tomatoes, raspberries, and herbs.  We're looking forward to planting these and then taking many of them to our new property once we move.
• Stopped at Aldi on my way back from a workshop.  I stocked up on avocados, cilantro, frozen berries, organic coffee, and more.  It was more than I normally try to spend for the week, but many items will last us several weeks.
• Benny brought home a flat of tomatoes from the restaurant.  We used them in salads, guacamole, and just ate them in wedges with salt and pepper.
• We gleaned several items from the food pantry pick up.  Farmer's market season has begun for us again, so we're helping with the gleaning project from the market for the food pantry.  Some of the items won't last from Saturday to Wednesday (greens are really sensitive and the food pantry doesn't always have enough fridge space to store ideally).  This meant that we came home with three bags of greens (radish, spinach, and mixed greens) and some turnips with greens.  We also were able to get some fruit from the grocery pick up and mushrooms.
• We're finalizing our details for vacations this summer.  We plan to use credit card points to pay for flights and hotel.  The hotel will include breakfast and have a pool, so it will help with food costs and entertainment.  We'll be visiting a family friend, so many of our meals will be shared with him and we'll source things locally through the farmer's market there.  It will be an exciting trip and we can't wait!
• I saved egg cartons to give to a coworker in exchange for fresh eggs.  What a deal!
• We began planning for our outdoor clothesline at the rental house.  There's a logical place for one, we just need to get the line, which I think we can get with a Walmart card that we earn for free.
• The boys are thrilled that their seedlings are beginning to sprout in the garden!  We should be harvesting radishes and greens in 3-4 weeks.

What did you do to live and save green this past week?  I'd love to hear from you!