Hopeful Housewife

Woohoo I love pantry cleanse time!

So I think I mentioned that I bought 3 turkey breast roasts for just over 3.00 each. I made the first one last night, and it was pretty tasty! Not bad for a pre-cooked turkey breast. It also provided a TON of meat. Last night we ate it w/roasted veggies (potatoes, carrots, and asparagus…we had all three on hand) out in the back yard on our picnic table. It was so nice outside, and much hotter in the house, so it was perfect. The hubs was rather pleased with our dinner setup last night. Today, I’m taking the rest of the turkey, and chopping it up into teeny bits. I was going to make turkey salad sandwiches (think mayo, etc) but I dont have mayo, lol. Sooo I decided to take the turkey, cook up a few slices of my turkey bacon in the fridge, chop that up too, and mix it w/some ranch dressing. Considering I’m trying to save my sandwich bread for Gavin’s peanut butter sammies, I’m going to make some dinner rolls, hollow them out just a bit and stuff em’ w/the turkey salad filling. I plan on serving them with rice pilaf and iced tea. Pilaf is easy to fix, and so tasty, not to mention cheap. I also have some fresh apricots that I will slice up. (Thanks to my FIL for free fruit!)

Dessert will be a lemon cake that I have in the pantry, with lemon icing (that is also in there!)

Just for kicks, I’ll mention that breakfast is going to be cinnamon pancakes, and lunch will be soup and sandwiches. Snack will be these fruit bar popsicle things we have because its going to be HOT today. Kids will enjoy that.

I suspect it might be a little sad that I am so excited about this challenge, lol…apparently I live a pretty quiet life if this is the blog-worthy tidbits I have to share.

Happy Friday!

I’m not sure what brought this one on…just a need for a challenge I suppose. I spent less than 50 dollars on groceries for this pay period! I picked up about 25 of that last night. I found Turkey breast roasts for .75 cents a pound! I got each of them for just over 3.00 each! I also picked up a sack of potatoes for 1.75, some sandwich bread, a few staples and basics, and some around the house stuff like trash bags and the like. Before shopping last night, I was looking through my kitchen trying to piece together dinner without having to spend any $. I found a few frozen hamburger patties in my freezer, some instant mashed potatoes (which is something I rarely buy or eat, but they were in the pantry), and some asparagus in the fridge. I decided to make chicken fried hamburger steak. I battered the patties, pan fried them, and served them up w/the potatoes and sauteed the asparagus. It was remarkably good!!! Art was pretty impressed with it.

Tonight, we’re having crock-potted turkey breast, and oven roasted veggies: asparagus, carrots, and potatoes. I’m also going to bake a cake I have in the cabinet. I’m really excited to see what meals we can come up with around here without doing any serious shopping…

I have discovered some really great resources over the last few months that I have put into practice in our home.

I have mentioned www.titus2.com before, but I really recommend it! I have read a few of their books and have the “managers of their homes” book, and WOW is it helpful! In one of her books, “Homeschooling with a meek and quiet spirit”, Teri Maxwell mentions purchasing parenting resources at www.doorposts.com I ordered the entire Character pack of posters, and I am so pleased with them. For those of you against spanking, there will be stuff you dont like on the site, and although I’m not really a spanker, the information was good enough for me to overlook that. Moving along before this turns into a discipline debate…

 I set up the schedule found in the Managers of their homes book, developed a version of the Maxwell’s “chorepacks”, and have the doorposts.com character charts in the same area of the house. I cannot BELIEVE how much smoother life is with the chorepacks alone. That addition to our daily life made a huge difference.

Lemme show ya:

Each kid has their own pack of morning chores, and its no accident that the lanyards have happy faces and say “smile”

The packs get us through the first part of our day, up until breakfast. Our daily schedule takes us through the rest of the day and into our nightly routine. I’m not super anal or rigid about it, but it gives a good amount of structure to our day.

 I never thought that I would enjoy structure as much as I am.

Top ten reasons May is wonderful:

1. Flowers are pretty…and they smell good too.

2. Tree fruit is coming off the trees and finding its way to my doorstep, thanks to a wonderful father-in-law who works in farming.

3. Roadtrips are beautiful this time of year.

4. The spring cleaning bug is still alive and well.

5. My sweet baby is turning five this month.

6. White sheers on the windows are beautiful when they blow in the breeze.

7. Its not yet too hot to bake.

8. It is sometimes hot enough to enjoy the pool.

9. Yard Sales.

10. Box fans at night. There’s nothing like sleeping in a room with the whirr of the fan blowing!

Enjoy whats left of spring, ladies…Summer will be here before long. I’m not sure I can make a top ten list for summer! ha!