MrsB's Challenge

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!

Posted by Kelly at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

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

Posted by Kelly at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

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

Posted by Kelly at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments

Hi!
It's a BOY!!!!!!!! Yay! We're so excited. We found out Tuesday what our little pumpkin is going to be, but I hadn't been able to get into Blogger to tell you guys yet. I'm 19 weeks today and doing better alittle each day. Seeing our little guy on the ultrasound makes every day of it worth it though.

I also wanted to take a minute to tell y'all about freecycle. I love Freecycle. Go to freecycle.org to see if there's a group near you. What you do is post something you have to give away (for free) to another member of your group. Or you get things (for free) that you need. We've gotten and given tons of great stuff through our local Freecycles including 2 kittens. (now grown cats.)

MTC,
MrsB

Posted by Kelly at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments

I visit an awesome Christmas site organizedchristmas.com and today while going through the craft section I found the cutest idea! Its a mini gingerbread house made from graham crackers!

http://organizedchristmas.com/article40.html

MTC,
MrsB

Posted by Kelly at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

Hi everyone!! I hope y'all are still visiting me. :-) Sorry I went MIA. Its a long story so I'll make it short.
On August 2nd my dh and I found out we were expecting our first child. Yay!! A week later morning sickness kicked in BIG time and I spent the next 2 weeks not eating or drinking, and throwing up 24/7. I ended up at the ER and spent some time in the hospital. Now here we are 3 months later and I've been in the hospital 7 times, spending most of the last 3 months in there. Come to find out I have Hyperemisis (sp?) which basically morning sickness 24/7 that lasts beyond the first trimester in most cases. I'm on 4 different medicines to help keep me in line. I've had a good last week or so until day before yesterday when we started cleaning out closets and the nursery and I got behind on my eating and drinking. Yesterday I had to back to the ER for 2 bags of fluids but today I'm much better. Anyway, I'm 17 weeks pregnant now and we go back to the doctor on the 7th on Nov to for a weight check and to find out what gender our little pumpkin is.
I won't be here everyday like I was for now, but I'll post as much as I can. I'm getting ready for Christmas while I'm still not to big to walk around the stores. LOL

So enough about me. Let's talk about Black Friday. Last year I went shopping for the first time on BF and got some good deals. I found out that the small Wal-Mart here is better to go than the Super Centers b/c NO ONE goes there! lol I walked in, got my deals and walked out (after paying of course. lol) This year I hope to be able to do the same. We'll see. Anyway, the BF ads are already making their way to the Internet. So far all I've seen are Ace Hardware and KMart. If you go to blackfriday.gottadeal.com to see a list of the deals so far. Hopefully Wal-Mart and Eckerd will be up soon.

Maternity clothes..... Who has the best deal on these?? Our thrift shops don't have any maternity clothes what so ever. Arghhh! I checked the yard sale ads last weekend and no one listed any. I'll check again this weekend and see what I can find.

Keep an eye out for ALOT of Christmas and baby posts to be posted here. Christmas is my favorite time of year. :-)

More to come,
MrsB

Posted by Kelly at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments

Old Fashioned Snickerdoodles
1/2 cup margarine (1 stick)
3/4 cup sugar
1 medium egg
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2/3 cups flour
2 tablespoons white sugar mixed with 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
In a large bowl mash together the margarine and sugar. Add the egg and beat until everything is creamy. Add the baking powder, salt and flour. Stir it up until you have a nice thick dough. In a cereal bowl, combine the cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar.
Now comes the fun part; let the kids help. Make sure everyone's hands are clean adn then shape the dough into balls the size of a walnut, or an egg yolk. Roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place the coated balls on an oiled cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a smooth cup or glass, press the dough down to flatten the cookies slightly. Bake them at 400° for 10 minutes. If your oven runs hot, turn it down to 375°. These cookies are great in lunch boxes and for after school snacks. These are an old favorite of mine. My momma made them for us as children, and they are exceptionally good.
Thanks Miss Maggie at HBHW for the recipe!

These are so yummy! I made the dough this morning and put it in the fridge. Tonight when it gets cool again I'll bake them up. After they cool I'll be able to wrap them indivially in plastic wrap to send when dh to work.

MTC,
MrsB

Posted by Kelly at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments