Meal Plan Sunday

Meal planning has been hard lately since I go to school every other Tue. night and every Wed. and Thur. night. I have to make enough for leftovers or keep some frozen items on hand. I have about 5 more weeks like this, so I just try to make extra on the nights I cook so my family can eat off that when I am at school.

Sunday- Tri-tip strips, garlic mashed potatoes, beer cheese bread and green beans

Monday- Asian meatball subs and salad

Tuesday- Pork stir fry with oyster sauce and veggies

Wednesday- Leftovers

Thursday- Their choice: Pizza, chicken nuggets, fruits and veggies

Friday- Out to dinner

Saturday- Early Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's. Turkey with all the fixings...yum!

Enjoy the Perfect Thanksgiving

Enjoy The Perfect Thanksgiving.

You’ve come to the right place to make your holiday truly special. This is time to spend with family and friends over the biggest meal of the year. Not scrambling or stressing out to get dinner on the table. Which is why we created this comprehensive Thanksgiving resource for you. Here you’ll find answers and advice for everything you need to know to make this holiday smooth, enjoyable and, of course, delicious.
(From Thanksgivingtips.com)

Check out Thanksgiving Tips for Thanksgiving resources and the recipe for Crispy Onion Twice Baked Potatoes.

Spooky Lunch

This is what I packed in little man's lunch today. The cheese and meat were in shapes of little pumpkins and the flat bread in moon's and ghosts. He has a side of pumpkin seeds and a pumpkin cookie. For a mid-morning snack he has freeze dried apple slices.

Day Trip on a Budget

This past Saturday my family, 2 adults and 2 kids went to Gilroy Gardens for the day. Gilroy Gardens was decorated for halloween through October and we thought that would be a fun time to go. Admission for Gilroy Gardens is normally $44.95 for an adult and $34.95 for children. This is pricey since the park is only open from 11am-5pm. This is how our family of 4 got in for $30.00!

Plum District is a coupon site like Groupon for the San Jose area. Recently they ran a deal where you could buy 1 ticket for $15.00. I bought one ticket and my husband bought one ticket, total cost $30.00. 
My husband is a Coke drinker so he gets the codes off the packs of Coke and submits them to My Coke Rewards. He had enough points for 2 general admission tickets for FREE!

Even if you get in cheaply, food is still expensive. If you are a member you can save 20% off all food and merchandise, but we do not have a membership. The last couple of times we went we packed sandwiches and snacks. This past time the security guard checked our backpack and the bag I had our lunch in. He asked how many kids we had and looked at the food items again. We had 2 sandwiches, some hummus and flat bread, string cheese, a lunch size bag of chips and 2 juice boxes. He said that was fine since the food was for the kids (I think he was being nice). My husband and I ate whatever the kids did not eat knowing we were going to dinner at 5:30pm and we both had a big breakfast. We did buy 2 ICEE's for the kids and for ourselves 2 soda's totalling $16.00! And that is why we take the chance and bring food.

For dinner we stopped at the Chili's in Gilroy. I am a member of MyPoints (like a swagbucks type of program) and turn in my points for gift cards. We had a $10.00 G.C. and 2 coupons for free kids meals. Our dinner came to $11.00 that evening after coupons and G.C..

We were able to have a fun filled day for $57.00 and it only took a half of a tank of gas to get there and back to Fresno.

What I have been up to.....

I just love fall colors!

I have been MIA for awhile now. I have school every other Tuesday nights and on Thursdays I am gone from 8am-8:30pm. I just finished up helping with little man's school carnival (yay!) and next week I start a 6 week class on Wednesday nights. That's why I have not been doing a lot of meal planning lately. It's back to the basics and I try to cook extra for leftovers during the week.

I am also trying to cut out another $200 from my grocery budget per month, which has been difficult. I have been baking all snacks like cookies and breads. I also have been making my own ranch (not from the packets), from herbs and spices. If we want BBQ sauce I will be making that from scratch too. It's amazing how the little things add up (plus it's better for us if I make it from scratch). I think I am on the 5 ingredient fix right now for dinners. I hope it gets cool enough so I can make soups for lunches.

I can't wait for the holiday's, I am ready for a break! I have 7 more weeks of school...ugh. I just want to wear my sweats, head to the beach and Shaver and enjoy my family and friends.

Meal Plan Saturday

I picked up 10 lbs of potatoes at Save Mart this week since they were on sale for .97 for 5 lbs. I am going to incorporate them into our dinners this week. I hope they like the baked potato soup (I love it). Happy cooking!

Saturday- Out to dinner

Sunday- Homemade chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, green beans and biscuits.

Monday- Frito Boats (Homemade chili)

Tuesday- Baked potato soup, french bread and salad

Wednesday- Beef stroganoff (never made it last week)

Thursday- Leftovers

Friday- Harvest of Talent at little man's school (carnival)

Makes and Bakes:
Peanut butter cookies

Homemade Berry Sauce

I like plain oatmeal with berries and nuts, but now berries are just about out of season I thought I would make a berry sauce out of frozen berries. I poured it over my oatmeal this morning and it was really good.

Berry Sauce:

3/4 cup frozen berries
1 1/2-2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1/4 cup water

1. Pour into a saucepan and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Blend berries and if you want it without seeds strain out the seeds.

You can add the berry sauce to milk, use as a syrup for pancakes or over vanilla ice cream.