Wednesday, January 10, 2007

We have a new home!

Everyone please update your favorites. We have a new home at http://www.clearblogs.com/MrsB Since its much easier to log in there, there will be more posts than there was here.
Also, please tell your friends about us!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Chili and Totals

One of the things I got for Christmas this year was a Crockpot from my parents. I've been drooling over them and had planned on buying one with any gift cards I got for Christmas. Anyway I got a really nice 5 quart Rival crockpot with removable stoneware. OK to my point....I fixed a yummy pot of homemade vegetable soup in it the other day. For some reason homemade veggie soup just will not turn out on my stove! I have no idea why! I think its because my burners don't heat evenly so the bottom of the soup burns and the biggest pot I have barely holds my soup ingredients. So I took a pack of stew beef and browned it on the stove. Then I threw it in the crockpot along with my other ingredients. I let it cook on high for 6 hours and yum-o! The potatoes were kind of smushy for some reason but other than that it was yummy.

Chili....I love chili. OK I pretty much love any kind of soup or stew that you put in front of me. lol I have a bunch of recipes for chili ranging from very very very simple (hamburger, pork n beans and chili powder, super easy and yummy) to the very very complex (these recipes are still sitting wanting to be tried). Well the other day I wanted chili. I took out 2 cookbooks, Not Just Beans and a cookbook called Village Vittles that we bought in the mountains on our honeymoon, and looked for a yummy but simple chili recipe. I wanted one more complex than the 3 ingredient chili. So I took the 2 recipes I found and combined them to come up with this recipe.

1 lb ground chuck (ground beef or ground round would work to, or even ground chicken or turkey I would think)
1/2 onion
1/4 green pepper
1 1/2 TBS chili powder
1can kidney beans, drained
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1can diced tomatoes, drained
1 TBS sugar
1 TBS vinegar, I used red wine vinegar
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
Brown the ground chuck, onion and green pepper in a skillet. Add other ingredients and let simmer for 30 minutes-1 hour. Serve topped with shredded cheese.

I found my receipts from my shopping trip the other day among the inch thick stack of receipts that have been collecting in my purse. LOL I don't have the sizes on hand, but they're the "regular" sizes that you usually find at the grocery store. Make sense? lol Anyway, if anyone wants to the know the exact size of something I can find it.

Aldi:
Baby Carrots 0.99
bread 0.59
4pk toilet paper 0.89x2
Frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts 5.99 (I think theres about 7 chicken breasts in the pack??)
12" pizza 2.19
Potatoes 3.29 (I think its a 10# bag)
Tangerines 1.99
No-Bake Cheesecake 1.39
Graham cracker crust 0.89
cool whip 0.69
2oz hand sanitizer 0.69 (I was out of the bottle I keep in my purse and this is a MUST HAVE for me at all times lol)
DVD $7.49
cinnamon rolls 1.39
canned veggies 0.35x6
canned raviola 0.69x3
canned diced tomatoes 0.49
creamer 1.99
Biscuits 0.27
dozen eggs 1.09
Chocolate syrup 0.99
granola bars 1.89
cereal 1.69
Au Gratin potatoes 0.79
Cheese slices 1.49
Ketchup 0.99
canned Kidney Beans 0.35
Instant pudding 0.29x3
Fabric softener sheets 0.99
Olive Oil 3.49
Canola Oil 1.79
All Purpose Flour 1.29 (5# bag)
AA batteries 1.99
Tomato Sauce 0.19x4
5# bag Sugar 2.09
Total 60.78 (includes tax and 3 grocery bags that I had to buy b/c I left mine at home..opps)

Piggly Wiggly:
Mac & Cheese 1.69
Toothpaste 3.29
Stew Beef 2.59
Stew Beef 2.03
Boneless Pork Chops 2.69
Round Steak 1.68
Country Style Ribs 3.06
Country Style Ribs 3.22
20oz drink 1.09
Total 21.98 (includes tax)

K-Mart:
Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent $3

My total for the day was $85.76. Way over my $40/week I know, but its been ALONG time since I went grocery shopping and we needed alot of stuff. Some things listed aren't grocery items, like the DVD and batteries, and some weren't really needed to re-stock the pantry but I've got my appetite back and its fairly large since I'm pregnant so I like to keep things in the house I can snack on (tangerines, pudding, cinnamon rolls, etc the biscuits are for me to fry and roll in sugar, yummy). Next week all I should need to buy is meats and maybe a few things to snack on.

MTC,
MrsB

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hi Everyone! I wanted to wish everyone a very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas!
I know I've been hopelessly slack on posting anything even after I said I was feeling better and would start posting again. But now I've come up with a way to hopefully solve this problem. :-) I don't have the internet at home, I come next door to my mom's house to use the Net. But I do have my laptop at home. So I'm going to write my posts at home on the laptop when I have time, and then I'll put them on cd and come to Mom's and post them. :-) At least this is the plan. LOL That will also make it easier once the baby comes along. I promise to start posting my grocery totals again soon!

My DH got me a CD for my laptop for Christmas that has like 5,000 recipes, a pantry list, grocery list, etc. I think its called Mastercook. As I try recipes from the CD I'll post them for you all. :-)

When I started my grocery challenge I was only shopping the sales and didn't pay much attention to the price of the meats that weren't on sale. Well when I finally started grocery shopping and cooking again a few weeks ago we desperately needed meats in our freezer. So I had no choice but to check out the "non-sale" meats at the grocery store. I had no idea we could eat for so cheap even without sales! Now granted its just the 2 of us right now, so this may not work for those of you with larger families. Its perfect for singles or couples. At our Piggly Wiggly I can get a Pork Tenderlion that is around 1/2 pound for less than $2. Stew Beef, Round Steak, and Pork Ribs in portions perfect for one meal for us all can be bought for less than $2 a pack, usually closer to $1.50. I can get enough meat to last us a week for around $10 which leaves $30 for my other groceries (potatoes, carrots, canned veggies, paper items, etc) And I've been having alittle left over to pick up myself a quick meal from a fast food place while shopping or buying a little something we will need for the baby.

Now I'm on the quest for lots of recipes that use Pork Tenderlion and Round Steak so we don't get tired of them. LOL

OK thats all for now.

More To Come,
MrsB