September Once a Month Cooking

I haven't done any OAMC (once a month cooking) since June where I did very little cooking...but a little bit is better than nothing!

I have family coming here over the Labor Day weekend so I'd like to get my plan started now. I was planning a trip to get more pork today and some things I needed, but unfortunately I needed a new fuel pump in my Tahoe. You have no idea how grateful I am that I wasn't on the road by myself or with my kids when it went out. We weren't pulling the camper through the hills...we weren't on our trip to Montana....so yeah, it's $712 that we didn't plan on, but I'm grateful. How can that be? Probably because we have money in the bank. We own vehicles - two of them...both have over 100,000 miles on them. How can it be a surprise that they need to have work done on them. I must admit that it was a surprise only because that's our "new" vehicle. Our other vehicle needs some major work too. But I tell you...money in the bank has a way of changing your stinkin' thinkin'!

Wow - that was off topic, anyway....

I made something yesterday that was a huge hit for breakfast today. I made taco omelet muffins:

1. Scramble 3 eggs...add 2 T. water (if your kid isn't allergic to milk that would be good too - cream even better!)
2. Fry hamburger and add taco seasoning
3. Mix the two together
4. Add whatever else sounds good, cheese, onions, tomatoes, etc.
5. Spray oil in a muffin tin
6. Add mixture until muffin tin is about 2/3 full
7. Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes
8. Serve with salsa

They don't look pretty, but they were a huge hit! This made 6 muffins. I think it'd be easier to put this in a 9X13 pan, cut into squares and freeze the squares so you can pull out as many as you need.

Not sure what else I need to whip up and freeze, but it makes your life so much easier. I'll have to look back at what I've done previously and see what fits in with my new cooking plans. If nothing else, having cooked meats on hand will simplify my life! Actually chili and soups that I can send in a thermos would be good as well.

I don't do a true OAMC cooking session where I don't have to cook dinner for the entire month - that's way over my head and too complicated for me. What I have found though is that one day of dedicated cooking a month makes my life so much easier. It's an extremely tiring day, but when I'm playing mom taxi or watching a cross country meet and a volleyball match in the afternoon, I can enjoy those instead of thinking about what I'll serve for dinner.

Are We Eating?

I tried making up a menu plan.

Then I looked in my wallet - why does my money keep disappearing from my envelope? When I become lazy in food preparation, unfortunately I always pay for it later...now that the kids are back in school I'll have more time to record my spending!

For now, I'm cleaning out the fridge/freezer and taking it one day at a time. I was going to run into a store today to grab just a few things, but I'm going to see how long I can make it.

Breakfast was toast and ham
Lunch was chicken salad on a tortilla (note: when one is allergic to wheat don't eat the tortilla!)
Dinner will be pork steaks, zucchini and garden tomatoes - not my garden :-(

Breakfast tomorrow will be a scrambled egg "muffin" with taco meat. I'll have to put a lot of cheese on top because they look disgusting.
Lunch - chicken salad or ham sandwich
Dinner - ???? I should make soup since it's supposed to be 72 degrees. I'll have to dig in the freezer and see what I can find.

Pantry Challenge

I've been spending WAY WAY WAY too much money on food so I'm doing a pantry challenge. Remember my pantry is any "stored food" that I have. Could be in the freezer, fridge or cupboards. We have plenty of fresh and frozen veggies to eat. Some dried fruit and frozen fruit as well.

Monday I made steaks...well technically my husband grilled them
Tuesday we had leftover steaks
Wednesday we had shredded beef taco salads and healthy ice cream
Tonight we are having beer butt chicken on the BBQ and sauteed green beans

The rest of the week will be interesting....we have 4 dozen eggs, canned tomatoes, garlic, onions, frozen cauliflower, broccoli, peas, green beans,  blueberries, strawberries, bananas as well as an assortment of meat.

Azure Standard Order

Let me just tell you that Julie's brand of ice cream is AMAZING! It's quite pricey, organic and I can read every word on the label. I will not order this every time, well maybe I will. Yummy! The hemp milk....EWWWWWW. Almond milk - ummmm not so good, but maybe we can figure out something to do with it. We're learning that my son doesn't do well eating a lot of dairy so we're trying to figure out what amounts he can tolerate.

Anyway, here's what I got:

• 10 pounds organic carrots (remember when I said I'd never buy organic - never say never). Last time we ate 5 pounds within 10 days!
• 10 pounds of frozen blueberries. Eaten plain and used in our healthy ice cream. Shared with a friend
• 3 pounds organic onions $3.40
• 1 coconut...this should be an interesting experiment!
• Dehydrated pears...these are delicious! You can only eat one though because they are so sweet. What a wonderful treat! I don't care for the pineapple, way too sweet!
• Almond meal flour to try out some baked goodies.
• The Rumiano sweet cream butter is so good you can eat it plain. Oh yeah, sometimes I do.
• some mustard, cashews, and spices
• Total with shipping $109.00
• I budget $50 per month for my Azure Standard order. I had to "find" $59 from my cash envies: $20 came from entertainment/kid stuff for the ice cream and the hemp/almond milk. $20 came from my change. $10 I pulled from my "weekly grocery shopping envelopes" and $9 I pulled from my misc. envelope.

I NEVER thought they'd deliver to my neck of the woods so call them today to find out if they deliver in your area!

This is not a paid advertisement for Azure Standard, I just like what I buy from them!

This post is linked to:
Money Saving Mom
Grocery Cart Challenge

Horse Trailer Grocery Shopping

Bought from a horse trailer - there weren't any horses in there in case you are worried. South Dakota grown food:

6 chickens
2 smoked chickens
8 dozen eggs
1 quart of honey
Cost: $73.40

Supporting your local community instead of a big chain grocery store: Priceless


This post is linked to:
Money Saving Mom
Grocery Cart Challenge

Grocery Shopping 7/21/10

• Farmer's Market
• $7.00 for tomatoes and 1 zucchini
• Gas Station
• $10 Homemade Sausage (small gas station/small butcher drops off some sausage! Best sausage around)
• Walmart
• 2 apples $1.44
• 2 plums $.38
• bunch of bananas $.75
• 1 avocado $.78
• 1 honey dew melon $2.50
• 8 oz sugar snap peas $2.58
• 1 cucumber $.62
• 2 limes $.66
• leaf lettuce $1.88
• organic spinach $2.98
• broccoli crown $.37
• $14.94 with tax

Total spent today: $32.00

Tonight we're having a big ole salad with steak on top. I'm trying out this recipe from premeditated leftovers - with a few changes.

Good thing I'm not doing the All You challenge because I'm stocking my freezer with locally grown food! Tomorrow I'm going to pick up a big order... eggs, chicken, honey....I can't wait!

I will have to pick up a 1/2 gallon of milk and possibly a few other things. We have company spending the night so I will grab a bit of money from the entertainment envelope!

My daughter is hiding in the background - too funny. We realized today that they'll be going back to school before we know it (Aug 21). My son (6th grade) is okay with it, my daughter - not so much (8th grade). I'm not ready either! I love having them home even though it means more conflict. I enjoy each day that I have with them!

Grocery Shopping Last Week

I know the kids and I went to the store last week. I know for a fact we bought food.

My awesome kids put away all of the groceries for me (without a picture) because when we got home my vacationing caught up with me and I wasn't feeling great for a few hours. We have been eating, I haven't been updating!

I am placing my Azure Standard coop order today and will pick that order up on Monday.  My order is getting bigger and bigger from them.

This week I get to pick up some locally grown food on Thursday. I can't wait to post it and eat it!

I have a friend and her family spending the night with us on Thursday...you know the friend that you have had since you were 7 years old. Wow - friends for 33 years. Holy cow now that's a lot of years! I can't wait to catch up with her!