Just wanted to let you all know. Hope everyone is having a great day!

The food challenge continues. This week's shopping left us with $8.00 to last until March 1st.

I think we are going to make it because most of our menus this week are based on this:



along with this weeks grocery purchases:



Saturday-Roast turkey dinner.

Sunday-Lunch turkey salad sandwiches with celery, diced bacon and walnuts. Some grapes would have been a great addition, but I was not going to buy some. Hey come to think of it some chopped carrot would have given it a little sweetness. Dinner was leftover turkey dinner for DH and I just had a salad with the leftover turkey salad on top.

Monday-Turkey enchiladas, made 2 small, one for the freezer. Used the dark meat picked from the thigh and leg.



Tuesday-New recipe adapated from Rachel Ray, http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=510

Using these ingredients and the addition of 2 cups of cubed breast meat from turkey:





This was quite tasty with enough for leftovers tonight.



You would have thought I had teenage boys in the house I did so much baking this weekend:



I used half soy flour in all recipes to try to cut down on carbs. All other ingredients I already had in the house (including a past dated tub of light sour cream in the apple/nut muffins you can see in the frig picture).

We had a moment of panic briefly when we were down to one day's worth of coffeebeans left. Then I realized we had one more package of coffee bought in December at Costco when they ran the $4.00 Starbucks. Otherwise my challenge with my sister has been easier than I thought.

I also started this quilt that I finished Monday and drove down to the fabric artist to quilt yesterday.



This is for my BFF's first grandchild, (a boy obviously) born 2/18/2010 on my granddaughter's 18-month birthday!

Spring is on it's way as evidenced by the flowers that are starting to bloom (however a storm blew in yesterday here in Northern Coastal California). My tulips are coming up too!



I have a new computer arriving today that I got at Costco.com for $499.00. Keeping up on blogs and doing my finances has been painfully slow. I had my computer checked by my IT coworker and he said it would cost almost as much to fix and upgrade as getting a new one. I am kind of excited about Windows 7.

Finally, I received 2 checks for reimbursement from my FSA. I deposited into my daughter's account to buy my granddaughter a play kitchen. We took the one we had purchased back to Costco over the weekend (we thought they were living with us for a year, but SIL's orders were changed).

I feel like I was definitely back to my frugal roots over the past week!

So I tried some new recipes this week including this ricotta cake pictured below. The link is here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ricotta-Cake/Detail.aspx#

I used half the filling mixture and it was so tasty. I used up that ricotta that was past dated.





DH called from the game and asked it I wanted to go out with the friend and his wife he was at the game with. I said NO!! We can't spend the money. I suggested they come over and eat tacos with us since that was what we had planned. They came and I had the cake for dessert. It was a great spontaneous meal with friends. I ended up taking the frozen lasagna out of the freezer and sent home with the friends since that is where we went for the Super Bowl. It felt really good to be so organized!!

This week ended up being quite a challenge in that I had jury duty that I was hoping would not happen (you know how you have to call the number the night before to make sure the case has not settled). But no chance. I ended up being an alternate and then yesterday seated as juror #11. That meant eating out for lunch unfortunately. So we have $82.20 left for food for the rest of the month.

Last week's menus were:
Sunday night-party at friend's that we contributed the lasagna.

Monday-Baked chicken breasts with TJ's sundried tomato bruschetta rubbed all over the tops.
Tuesday-Chicken Salad (leftover chicken from Monday), DH had BLT sandwich.
Wednesday-Turkey meatballs Rachel Ray recipe with gnocchi. Turned out quite tasty.
Thursday-Tacos again!
Friday-and tacos again!

I finished organizing my cupboards and pantry cupboards in the garage. I arranged all my baking things together instead of spread around different cupboards so now oil, sugars, spices for baking, raisins, craisins, oatmeal, flour and sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, etc are all together. Why didn't I do that sooner?

We don't have tomorrow or the rest of the week planned yet, but Sunday is filet mignon that DH bought at Costco some time ago for $4.99 a pound, (he says there are at least 8 in the freezer).

I also made muffins for my breakfast using leftover cooked sweet potato (instead of pumpkin) that I had used for Ally's little mini muffins I made her the day before she left. Here is the link and ingredients I used:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Wheat-Pumpkin-Applesauce-Muffins/Detail.aspx#



I substituted dried cranberries and walnuts for the raisins and pecans. I didn't have any buttermilk so I added about a teaspoon of white vinegar to goats milk that I needed to use up that was also left from Ally's visit.

All in all a fairly successful week, now I just need to get through 2 more!

Oh and then last night after getting home from jury service, I made peanut blossoms, the classic peanut butter with a chocolate kiss in the middle cookies to take to work today. Here is the recipe I used:
http://www.landolakes.com/mealideas/ViewRecipe.cfm?RecipeID=7946

I have to admit I have been having fun trying new recipes and I think DH really appreciates the break from cooking.

I inventoried the freezer and cupboards including the garage which I didn't take pictures of.


DH and I went shopping yesterday since we had a break in the storms (just rain and wind, no snow). The challenge came at the same time my older sister and I challenged each other to staying under $200.00 for the month and $100.00 for her for the month of February. I warned DH and he is on board. Our total for groceries is $76.48 for the month.


We ended up getting some bulbs and a nice set of cookware for $9.97 at Costco. We bought another set for his mother. Ours we actually took the display set.


Along with the pantry and some greens still growing in the garden, I think we can keep it under the $200.00 goal.


Especially using up leftovers and pantry items like this chili I made for DH last weekend for his lunches:


or like this weekend for my lunches:


I am glad I have something to keep me occupied so I am not missing:


Although sometimes I think Landon misses her more:




All the cherrios she dropped and eating her leftovers that she threw from the highchair to him waiting below....

Time to watch Lifetime and knit while DH is at the local college game that is being broadcast on CBSC, quite exciting for our small local college.

Another earthquake at lunchtime today. DH is out of town, the wind is blowing so hard it broke a limb on the flowering cherry tree in the front yard. Now it is pouring down rain. The weather was bad enough that DH did not want to drive home from central Northern California over the mountains here to the coast.

It was 5.9 a quick jarring sensation then over. Not like the one in early January that went on and on and on. My little dog barked and stuck right with me.

I picked chard and kale out of the garden thinking I was making stir-fry and ended up just having salad with some chicken pieces I sauteed in a pan. Then I baked the chicken breast I was going to stir-fry. The weather is so bad I keep thinking we are going to lose power any time.

Glad tomorrow is Friday. Still have only spent the $5.00 on Starbucks Monday. So I have 3 points and $195.00 left for the month for food.

prescription and found a dime right in front of the membership area. (I think my granddaughter got ahold of my AMEX/Costco membership card). I managed to browse all the food demos and did not buy anything other than my prescription!

I made lentil soup in my crockpot before I left for work and it was delicious. It's amazing what a quart of chicken broth with added water, a package of lentils, a pound of italian sausage and half an onion can make.

A coworker's partner made her a 3 layer chocolate cake for her birthday and she brought in a large hunk to share. I took a thin slice home and had it for dessert after a bowl of lentils with a big glass of milk while I watched Lost that my brother-in-law recorded on DVD for me (since we don't get local channels with Direct TV...grrrr). DH is on a business trip. His costs are all deductible so I am not counting them towards the $200.00 limit I have set for us.

Tomorrow is our middle daughter's 29th birthday... gosh I feel old....



Ever the practical mother, I sent her a $100.00 Winco gift certificate. Her she is with my granddaughter (no she is not her mother) who loved to dig in my purse during her 6 week visit. Now if I can just find my AMEX card.

challenge, but taking it a step further and trying to keep it under $200.00 for both of us. I am in a contest with my sister who is single, she is trying to keep it under $100.00.

Unfortunately I blew today. I took a break after 2 hours at work to come home and say goodbye to my daughter and granddaughter and my dear sweet 17-month-old granddaughter cried and cried when I was going back to work. I was so upset I am not going to see her for 5 months, I stopped and got a Cinnamon Dolce latte on the way back to work. So $195.00 left for food this month!

I have been very busy with the visit and spent a lot of time doing this:



I am going to try to post my grocery purchases and my menus for the month. DH made a pan of lasagna and 2 packages of 3 cups each of more spaghetti sauce. We used italian sausage from the freezer, a large can of tomato sauce from the pantry, ricotta that was about to expire and lasagna noodles from the pantry. Onion, bell pepper and mushrooms were the only additions that we bought in the past week, but not purchased in February!

Last night I ate some chinese chicken salad and finished it up for lunch today. I will probably cook up some leftover steak from Sunday night with some broccoli left from the big bag bought over the weekend.

I took an inventory of the pantry and freezer and being careful I think this is completely doable. DH normally does all the cooking, but I am going to try to do both shopping and cooking for the month, which is a challenge for me!

It is a short month so I am shooting for $200.00 this month for food only. My sister is shooting for $100.00 since it is just her. We have a full pantry/freezer so it should be doable.

My shoulder/neck are bothering me, waiting for physical therapy to be authorized (comp injury), so I am making this short.

Happy February everyone!