Waffle maker giveaway

I happen to love fresh, homemade, from scratch waffles. And so I love my waffle iron. :) I like to do waffles on batch cooking days and freeze some of them to have yummy homemade waffles anytime. Heart N Soul Cooking has a great giveaway right now for a waffle maker. Check it out:
http://heartnsoulcooking.blogspot.com/2010/01/all-you-have-to-do-to-qualify-for.html

I love the Mega Sale at Kroger!!!!

I got everything pictured (and a couple of things not pictured like sour cream and bananas) for $33. It is $128 worth of groceries. Lots of TP and paper towels and cereal bars and crackers and other snacks. It was a good grocery run. :)

Chicken ranch pizza recipe

Ingredients:

pizza crust (could use homemade...this time we purchased one to get dinner prepared in a hurry)

1/4 cup of ranch dressing

3/4 cup shredded mozerella cheese

1/2 to 1 grilled chicken breast, chopped into bite sized bits (I used shredded chicken from a whole roasted chicken)

1 tomato, seeded and diced

2-3 green onions, chopped

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees (if using homemade dough) or follow directions on refridgerated dough. Once dough is rolled out, spread ranch dressing in thin layer on unbaked crust. Sprinkle with shredded mozerella. Top with the chicken, tomato, and green onion. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Bake for 10-12 minutes (if using the homemade dough) or follow directions on package. Allow to cool a few minutes before slicing.

This was a pretty tasty recipe and reheated well as leftovers. My husband wasn't crazy about it but I enjoyed it...it was a nice change from a traditional tomato sauce pizza. It was popular with the little guy too.

Kroger Mega Sale

There is a mega sale going on at Kroger right now and there are a ton of coupon match ups for this sale! I love mega sales, they allow for major stockpiling opportunities.

Pictured above:

9 bags of shredded Kraft cheese

1 package of Kraft singles

2 bags of goldfish crackers

6 cans of Hunts tomato sauce

2 cans of rotel

Total: $8.85

Got back $10 in catalinas to use on my next grocery trip so basically these groceries were all free. I had coupons for all of the items except the goldfish. The cheese alone would have normally been $35 so there are great deals to be had!

This was just round one, I am definitely going again this week. :)

Menu plan Monday

Monday- Mexican chicken and rice skillet

Tuesday- chilli and cornbread

Wednesday- pinto beans and cornbread

Thursday- Taco joes (like sloppy joes but with taco seasonings :)

Friday- Red beans and rice

Saturday- something with ground hamburger that I have already cooked in the freezer....not sure what yet

I am making these meals mostly from ingredients in the pantry again this week and we are trying two new recipes so it should be a tasty week. For more great meal ideas, please check out orgjunkie.com

Free diapers for a year.

I have two children and both of them are currently in diapers although we are looking to begin potty training our two year old very soon. Still though, I could not pass up a chance to win free diapers for a year. Pampers (which are diapers that we love!!!!) is holding a giveaway that you can enter simply by becoming a fan on facebook and then entering. Please check it out:
http://www.facebook.com/pampers?v=app_260676879928&ref=search

Lacing buttons giveaway

Although my husband and I are not planning (at least at this time) to home school our children, I have been doing a home preschool program for our two year old. He is such a smart little guy, he knows his letters and we are working on their sounds, he knows numbers up to fifteen, he knows all of the continents and can point them out on the map, the days of the week,and knows lots of colors beyond just the basics. I love home schooling sites, especially the ones that have ideas for toddlers and preschoolers as well as the bigger kids. Check out this giveaway for lacing buttons: http://delightfullearning.com/2010/01/lacing-buttons-review-and-giveaway/. I know that my guy would love those and she has one of my favorite sites to find inspiration for teaching my toddler. :)

Menu plan Monday

One day late again this week...Mondays are crazy around here. :)

Monday- chicken ranch pizza (very yummy, will post the recipe soon!)

Tuesday- taco soup and sour cream mexican rice

Wednesday- chicken and vegetable pastina with salad

Thursday- easy pasta bake

Friday- chicken and peppers in cream cheese sauce over fettucini

Saturday- not sure on this one yet, will go to the grocery store again Friday

Reading goal for 2010

Reading is a passion of mine, it is something that I have always done. I began reading when I was four years old and I haven't stopped! Even when in college with papers and tons of assigned reading, I still made time for pleasure (non-required) reading. And then I had children. I have much less time for reading now than I once did. I have a seven month old daughter that is nursing and some of my best reading happens during her middle of the night feedings. (which I am keeping my fingers crossed will end soon.) My children are in bed by 8pm, so there is time in the evenings for reading. Of course there also is my husband looking forward to talking to me without being interrupted by our two year old and laundry to fold and coupons to clip and a million other small household chores that seem to be unending at times. We also have a couple of tv shows that we enjoy watching as we savor the quiet. :) The bottom line is that most days are so crazy that by bedtime I am wiped out and sometimes my idea of getting to read for a few minutes isn't as easy to acheive as it once was. I still read and I read a lot but I want to make time for even more this year without taking away time from other important things, like my family.

So here are my goals for reading this year:

1. The Bible: last year we were doing so well following a one year reading chart. Right up until the end of May when we brought our new daughter home from the hospital. We never did manage to get back on track with it. I still did some daily Bible reading but not every day the way that I would like to. I did a really wonderful study on the book of Luke that took me around six weeks and was life changing. (Luke was a man who was really in love with Jesus and you can't read his book without growing to love Christ even more than you did when you started reading.) This year, I have decided to begin the year with a focus on the new testament and I am going to start with the book of James. I would like to acheive daily (or at the very least regular) Bible reading in addition to any other reading that I am doing.

2. Cookbooks: I have always loved cookbooks and cooking. I will usually check out two or three at the library each month when we go. I try to always find at least one recipe to try from each one, to broaden our horizons. :) I love the $5 dinners website and can't wait to get that cookbook. I received a Barnes and Noble gift card for Christmas and I already know exactly what my purchase will be. I am always on the look out for recipes to feed my family that will be nourishing, taste delicious, and be fairly frugal. I am loving my recent discovery of several wonderful food blogs online.

3. Finance: We are a family of four living on a single income (I have a couple of things that I do to earn extra money for us, including a bit of office work for my dad and keeping kids, but it doesn't nearly equal a second income so our money is tight. We do pretty well with budgets and try to be fiscally responsible but there is always room for improvement. I would like to find books by Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman and read through them.

4. Sewing: I am interested in learning to sew...I would love to make play food for my kids, among other things. I don't have a sewing machine yet, but I have access to several and I know a bit of handstiching things already.

5. Fiction: this one is purely pleasure and a little something that I do for myself. I feel better if I can read a chapter a day. I am currently reading "The lost symbol" by Dan Brown.

6. Children's books: I love reading with my toddler. It is something that we do a lot during the day. Even if the day is hectic with lots of errands or spending time with family and friends away from home, we read together every single night. It is very important to us in our home. I taught pre-school for several years during college so I was already familiar with quite a few children's authors but with my son I have discovered many more. I am looking forward to discovering many more this year with the kids.

Let's read!!!

The holidays are over...

I took a break from blogging the past few weeks with all the fun (but sometimes chaos) of the holidays, but I am hoping to do some new things with this blog in 2010. I have lots of ideas...more to come. :)

Menu plan Monday

Monday- eat out (tons of stuff was going on last night!)

Tuesday- homemade potato soup

Wednesday- chicken tetrazini

Thursday- spicy white chicken chili

Friday- cheesy beef skillet meal

Saturday- shredded chicken tacos

I'm not sure what sides we'll have with each night yet, I am trying to do a lot of meals from the pantry so these meals were designed to use ingredients that I have on hand with maybe a fresh ingredient needed from the store. I know that one night we are having roasted caramelized carrots.

For more menu ideas, please visit www.orgjunkie.com.