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Well here it is again! Man That week went by so quick. So how did you do on your menu planning? Were you able to stick to it and stay within budget? If not its ok just try again this week. We did not completely follow the menu either partially due to unforseen events and partially due to us receiving some awesome produce from a friend that needed to be cooked right away. Looking back we ate very little off of our menu because of this. Oh well. We can use some of the same dishes this week. Here is our menu for the week...
Breakfast:
Same as before
Lunch:
Sandwiches and leftovers
Dinner:
Meat Loaf and green beans
Navajo Tacos
Turkey Burgers and corn
Baked Flounder and salad
Eggplant Pasta Bake
Leftover Day!!!
Hotdogs and Hamburgers (Cookout Sat Night for Hubby)
I am so grateful to Nicole for helping me out with this project and love to receive her little pearls of wisdom as well. Here is one of her contributions for Super Saver Sunday!!...
My best super saver idea is that I pick everyone elses brains for good ideas!!! I love gathering money saving ideas from friends, online, and through newletters. I get this free bi-montly enzine called Counting the Cost that has great saving tips and tricks. http://www.countingthecost.com/subscribe.htm
There's a lot of great information out there if you just look and ask around!
Too true!! There is a ton of wonderful info out there! It just takes looking around a bit! One of the things that I found while looking and blogstalking ;-) was the success that some people were having with the Dave Ramsey Program. It is a really nice budgeting program to help you take the money you have right now and pay off your bills, learn to live debt free, and save for the future. Now I haven't subscribed to his program but did find his worksheets for free on his website. Since DH is always gone I have just always managed the bills and the budget and that has always worked for us. We have debt but we always justified it with "It wasn't as bad as all those other people!" (I know real healthy huh?)
Anyways one of Ramsey's biggest suggestions is to tell your money where to go down to the very last cent, and this planning should be done with your spouse. I had no problem telling my $$ where to go but we had never sat down together and hashed it out. But really it worked! A huge burden was lifted off my shoulders because now I shared the responsibility of the budget and DH now understood I wasn't just being "mean" when I told him the $$ wasn't there. I am interested in reading Ramsey's book as soon as a friend finishes it, in the meantime check out his budgeting sheets on his website. www.daveramsey.com/fpumember
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Family Dinner Friday---Only one day Late ;-)
Fridays I would love to start posting different recipes from your family dinners. I personally feel as though whatever meal it is, that a family meal at the table is the most important meal of the day.
Sometimes though we get into ruts and end up tired of our own repertoire of recipes. That is where Family Dinner Fridays comes in. A good friend of mine told me once to participate in as many potluck functions as possible because that's the quickest way to develop your choices. Seems like a pretty common sense suggestion, which is working well for her as she and two of her friends are currently working on a cookbook. For more info check out the blog http://www.eatatmomscookbooks.blogspot.com/ Now on to the food!!!!
Nicole Elliot was the first to respond to the Family Dinner Fridays request (honestly I think she's my only fan at this point, come on prove me wrong!!). Here are her words on how her dinner turned out....
Since money's been a little on the tight side lately I decided to use Allison's great suggestion from last week's Super Saver Sunday and throw a meal together using things I already had in my pantry. The result was the creation of this meal (I came up with the recipe myself!) and I was so happy that it actually turned out super tasty! Here's the recipe!
Fettuccine Pesto Chicken
1/2 a box of fettuccine pasta
Classico Creations Pesto Sauce
3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Bacon
Cook pasta according to box directions, set aside. While pasta is boiling cut up chicken into small, bite sized pieces. Cook in a skillet with butter about 5 minutes or until the pieces are cooked all the way through. Cook bacon and cut into small pieces. Mix everything together and serve. Enjoy!
MMMM!!Looks great!!!
Here is my own add for this weeks Family Dinner. Unfortunately this was not Friday's Dinner (Little Ceasar's Pizza, which was NOT on the menu this week but life happened), but was a meal I had cooked last week that was so scrumptuous that it had to be photographed! Now with recipes I am not too religious with since I cook by smell and eyeball things a lot. Which is why Rachael Ray is one of my Favs and like her I am not a stellar baker. But I will try to do my best to remember what I put in this bad boy.
Summer Squash/Leftover Casserol
2-3 Yellow squash and or Zucchini
1 1/2 c frozen corn
2 carrots peeled
2 egg whites
1c brown rice
Salt and pepper to taste
pinch of Basil
pinch of parsley
Bisquik (enough prepared to cover the top)
Prepare your rice as instructed minus 15 min (It will finish cooking in the oven
When rice is prepared preheat oven to 350 degrees
Chop all veggies and steam them (for 2 min ONLY!!!)
When rice is cooked, sautee for a few minutes with egg whites
Add veggies and spices
Spread entire mixture into a casserol dish and top with Bisquik mixture
Bake in oven for approx 20 min or until top is nice and brown. Serve and enjoy!! This is a great healthy comfort food too! And my carnivores didn't even complain that there wasn't any meat!!
Sometimes though we get into ruts and end up tired of our own repertoire of recipes. That is where Family Dinner Fridays comes in. A good friend of mine told me once to participate in as many potluck functions as possible because that's the quickest way to develop your choices. Seems like a pretty common sense suggestion, which is working well for her as she and two of her friends are currently working on a cookbook. For more info check out the blog http://www.eatatmomscookbooks.blogspot.com/ Now on to the food!!!!
Nicole Elliot was the first to respond to the Family Dinner Fridays request (honestly I think she's my only fan at this point, come on prove me wrong!!). Here are her words on how her dinner turned out....
Since money's been a little on the tight side lately I decided to use Allison's great suggestion from last week's Super Saver Sunday and throw a meal together using things I already had in my pantry. The result was the creation of this meal (I came up with the recipe myself!) and I was so happy that it actually turned out super tasty! Here's the recipe!
Fettuccine Pesto Chicken
1/2 a box of fettuccine pasta
Classico Creations Pesto Sauce
3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Bacon
Cook pasta according to box directions, set aside. While pasta is boiling cut up chicken into small, bite sized pieces. Cook in a skillet with butter about 5 minutes or until the pieces are cooked all the way through. Cook bacon and cut into small pieces. Mix everything together and serve. Enjoy!
MMMM!!Looks great!!!
Here is my own add for this weeks Family Dinner. Unfortunately this was not Friday's Dinner (Little Ceasar's Pizza, which was NOT on the menu this week but life happened), but was a meal I had cooked last week that was so scrumptuous that it had to be photographed! Now with recipes I am not too religious with since I cook by smell and eyeball things a lot. Which is why Rachael Ray is one of my Favs and like her I am not a stellar baker. But I will try to do my best to remember what I put in this bad boy.
Summer Squash/Leftover Casserol
2-3 Yellow squash and or Zucchini
1 1/2 c frozen corn
2 carrots peeled
2 egg whites
1c brown rice
Salt and pepper to taste
pinch of Basil
pinch of parsley
Bisquik (enough prepared to cover the top)
Prepare your rice as instructed minus 15 min (It will finish cooking in the oven
When rice is prepared preheat oven to 350 degrees
Chop all veggies and steam them (for 2 min ONLY!!!)
When rice is cooked, sautee for a few minutes with egg whites
Add veggies and spices
Spread entire mixture into a casserol dish and top with Bisquik mixture
Bake in oven for approx 20 min or until top is nice and brown. Serve and enjoy!! This is a great healthy comfort food too! And my carnivores didn't even complain that there wasn't any meat!!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Super Saver Sunday!
On Sundays I would love for us all to share different ways that we stretch that dollar for our families. I know in these times of economic uncertainty sharing gems like this can be invaluable to all of us. If you have a super saver idea please e-mail me at coastiewivescorner@yahoo.com to share with us all.
Here's Mine
One of the best ways to save is to budget, writing down all of the places you want your money to go and then to write down all of the places that your money went is a great way to keep up with things. After all of that you may still feel a little discouraged at the need to cut corners a bit more tightly. Telling your money where to go is a really great step. Budgeting out every cent before it comes in is a great way to prepare.
One of the areas of budgeting that always got me was in the grocery area. Sure I could always find a great deal to make our money go further, but I really wasn't taking a true look at what I was buying and what plans I had for it. A great way to combat that is to plan your menus.
Now to do this first you should go to your freezer, pantry, or whatever and see what you have in stock and try to make as many meals from that. A great tool to use is www.allrecipes.com Here you can put in the ingredients you have and the ones your don't and it will give you a list of dishes that fit your list. That way you aren't running to the store everyday because you forgot something. If something you want to cook calls for an ingredient that you don't have, no need to panic just write out your shopping list then as you are planning your menu.
Now some people plan their menus for the month. Since a lot of my grocery allowance goes to an organic co-op that I belong to I cannot do that as the produce changes every order. I choose to make my menus a week ahead of time. That way if there is any really good sale on an essential at the store I haven't already budgeted out the money to something else. Here is our family menu for the week.
Breakfasts:
Cereal, Eggs, Pancakes
Lunch
Sandwich, Leftovers, Wed McDonalds $.59 cheeseburgers
Dinner
Navajo Tacos
Meat Loaf with Corn on the Cob
Twice Baked Potatoes
Grilled Chicken and Salad
Chicken Fried Rice
Fried Flounder with zucchini
Leftovers with cantalope
Out of all of that I only have to purchase 2 things from the store, my milk and my bacon bits for the potatoes. This way I already know that I won't need to spend too much this week (like maybe $5 at the grocery store) and hardly anything at McDonalds (with fries and drinks my kids and I usually eat for $5 total!!). As you can see it's always best to have a plan for your money, even your grocery money. So go plan out your menus and have a great week! Don't forget to have a photo shoot for your food too and send it in as we celebrate out first Family Dinner Friday this week!
Here's Mine
One of the best ways to save is to budget, writing down all of the places you want your money to go and then to write down all of the places that your money went is a great way to keep up with things. After all of that you may still feel a little discouraged at the need to cut corners a bit more tightly. Telling your money where to go is a really great step. Budgeting out every cent before it comes in is a great way to prepare.
One of the areas of budgeting that always got me was in the grocery area. Sure I could always find a great deal to make our money go further, but I really wasn't taking a true look at what I was buying and what plans I had for it. A great way to combat that is to plan your menus.
Now to do this first you should go to your freezer, pantry, or whatever and see what you have in stock and try to make as many meals from that. A great tool to use is www.allrecipes.com Here you can put in the ingredients you have and the ones your don't and it will give you a list of dishes that fit your list. That way you aren't running to the store everyday because you forgot something. If something you want to cook calls for an ingredient that you don't have, no need to panic just write out your shopping list then as you are planning your menu.
Now some people plan their menus for the month. Since a lot of my grocery allowance goes to an organic co-op that I belong to I cannot do that as the produce changes every order. I choose to make my menus a week ahead of time. That way if there is any really good sale on an essential at the store I haven't already budgeted out the money to something else. Here is our family menu for the week.
Breakfasts:
Cereal, Eggs, Pancakes
Lunch
Sandwich, Leftovers, Wed McDonalds $.59 cheeseburgers
Dinner
Navajo Tacos
Meat Loaf with Corn on the Cob
Twice Baked Potatoes
Grilled Chicken and Salad
Chicken Fried Rice
Fried Flounder with zucchini
Leftovers with cantalope
Out of all of that I only have to purchase 2 things from the store, my milk and my bacon bits for the potatoes. This way I already know that I won't need to spend too much this week (like maybe $5 at the grocery store) and hardly anything at McDonalds (with fries and drinks my kids and I usually eat for $5 total!!). As you can see it's always best to have a plan for your money, even your grocery money. So go plan out your menus and have a great week! Don't forget to have a photo shoot for your food too and send it in as we celebrate out first Family Dinner Friday this week!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Historic Fort Macon
This is an awesome stop for those history buffs, and even the kids to be able to climb around an olde fort and have a ball. Admission is FREE, and the beach is right there perfect for picking sea shells or flying that perfect kite. You can make a day of it and visit the current Fort Macon (possibly where you are stationed) and about half a mile up is the public beach access that is suitable for swimming, sand castles, and body surfing.
Make sure to check out the local papers for the dates and times of the re-enactments performed at the Fort. It is truly amazing to watch and interact with volunteers who completely get into character to answer just about any question you may have about the Fort and the battles that it endured.
Friday, May 22, 2009
The North Carolina Aquariums
These are really beautiful places to visit and see all sorts of sealife. It's also one of those great rainy day visits or when the sun is just too hot to bear, scoot inside and check out the Aquarium.
Now our family lived near the Aquaruim at Pine Knoll Shores, but there are two other locations in Roanoke and Fort Fisher. If stationed in the area, getting a family membership really pays off, but if that is not in the budget for you, don't worry the aquariums usually have plenty of free or reduced days to check out the facility, they also have a military discount if the tickets are purchased in advance.
Be sure to check out their calendar and their "What's New" page to find events from fishing clinics, day camps, to toddler activities. It's an awesome way to spend a day. http://www.ncaquariums.com/
Here is another awesome page created by Nicole Elliott with photos from the Aquarium. Doesn't she do a great job? Thanks Nicole!!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
So what are YOU doing this Memorial Weekend??
I know that for many of us a holiday weekend for the Military either means BIG cookout with the unit, or just another day because our loved one is gone. If you are anywhere near the Virginia area and love a little history, check out the deal Colonial Williamsburg is giving all active duty and their families!! For Memorial weekend all active duty members, reservists, retired and their families get in FREE!!! http://www.colonialwilliamsburgresort.com/tickets/general-admission
This is truly a wonderful and fun place to visit. I have been quite a few times as a kid and can't wait to go back to enjoy the history of it all.
http://www.history.org/
This is truly a wonderful and fun place to visit. I have been quite a few times as a kid and can't wait to go back to enjoy the history of it all.
http://www.history.org/
A Beautiful Stop in North Carolina...
As a native of North Carolina I must say I am truly ashamed to say that I have never personally visited this place, but thanks to fellow coastie wife Nicole Elliott, I have a new number one place to visit when I go back! Not to mention the beautiful digital scrapbook page she did! Check out what she has to say below about Tryon Palace and remember, if you have a juicy find feel free to pass it on with any pictures to: coastiewivescorner@yahoo.com
Tryon Palace:
The Tryon Palace in New Bern is an amazing way to spend a day! They have a military discount for the full package which includes a tour of the palace and 3 or so of the surrounding homes and access to the gardens. The tour guides dress up in period costumes and provide interesting and funny information during the tour. If you'd just have a more relaxing-less learning oriented experience you can opt for just a garden pass which is around $5-8 per person. They also offer many "free days" when you can access the gardens for free--of course these are usually on the weekend and packed full, so the money is well worth it! I have been several times and really enjoyed the tour and the gardens are GORGEOUS! I would go back weekly if I had the money :) I would definitely recommend checking it out at least once, and it's a great place to take out of town visitors while you're showing them the sights :) Check out their website at http://www.tryonpalace.org/
Tryon Palace:
The Tryon Palace in New Bern is an amazing way to spend a day! They have a military discount for the full package which includes a tour of the palace and 3 or so of the surrounding homes and access to the gardens. The tour guides dress up in period costumes and provide interesting and funny information during the tour. If you'd just have a more relaxing-less learning oriented experience you can opt for just a garden pass which is around $5-8 per person. They also offer many "free days" when you can access the gardens for free--of course these are usually on the weekend and packed full, so the money is well worth it! I have been several times and really enjoyed the tour and the gardens are GORGEOUS! I would go back weekly if I had the money :) I would definitely recommend checking it out at least once, and it's a great place to take out of town visitors while you're showing them the sights :) Check out their website at http://www.tryonpalace.org/
Monday, May 18, 2009
Fabulous South Florida
There are so many things to do in South Florida, the unfortunate side of that is that most of them cost. There are ways though to get around such things if you just know where to look. A friend of Mine turned me on the The Parents Academy, which is a website filled with all sorts of family friendly information from classes, to support groups, to the inside scoop on the free events at the local Museums. One of my favorite is The Children's Museum. Here they have created a child's dominion of real life businesses, places, and events all down to "little people size".
Every 3rd Friday of the month starting at 3:30 they allow anyone to come in and experience this awesome "kid world" absolutely FREE!!! It's well worth the trip and right near the Coast Guard Station in Miami so it's a really great reason to swing by and say hi to my honey (if the boat's in). Check out the website at http://www.miamichildrensmuseum.com/
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Let's begin at the beginning...
It was about this time last year when I was completely pulling my hair out. We were moving down here to Sunny Miami Florida. It wasn't the move or the fact that I had not even set foot in our house that we rented already, but the fact that we had not been contacted yet by ANYONE at our new duty station. Since North Carolina had been my home for well.. all my life I had had no trouble picking up and moving when my hubby and I had gotten married because he was stationed IN North Carolina (lucky me!!)
Anyways we arrived in Homestead in the middle of June and spent the majority of the time doing what you do when you move and live on the economy... set up utilities, unpack, test out the gps to see how accurate it is (or isn't), and find a grocery store. After all of the housekeeping items had been accomplished we gingerly went out exploring and knowing no one it was a bit intimidating.
Heaven shined down on us in the form of the YMCA. Being a "Y" kid growing up I figured it would be a good start for the kids and I to make some friends over the summer and for me to continue my fight against the bulge (which I lose more oftern than I win these days)!!! On the counter in the lobby was a flier for a new Charter School starting up, and since I literally cried when I went and picked up my son's "welcome kit" from the public school he was to attend, I immediately jumped on that opportunity.
The biggest relief came when I visited my son's school and the daycare center next door. The director was really helpful and showed me around and told me all about their toddler/pre-k program. I wasn't really ready to put my daughter into daycare, but I was afraid that she would have no one around her other than myself to talk with and I was overly paranoid of speech delays. That's when the director asked me if I had heard of the Meetup group in the area. Meetup?? What's that? And do they speak any english? Some of you are laughing... you should I am a dork.
www.meetup.com is a group hosting site where people of like areas and interests come together and get together!! I found the Happy Homestead Kids group and the Natural Parenting group and immediately we were transitioned to Florida!! We have made tons of friends and explored all sorts of things down here together, so if you are stuck as to how to meet new people, check out Meetup!!!
Anyways we arrived in Homestead in the middle of June and spent the majority of the time doing what you do when you move and live on the economy... set up utilities, unpack, test out the gps to see how accurate it is (or isn't), and find a grocery store. After all of the housekeeping items had been accomplished we gingerly went out exploring and knowing no one it was a bit intimidating.
Heaven shined down on us in the form of the YMCA. Being a "Y" kid growing up I figured it would be a good start for the kids and I to make some friends over the summer and for me to continue my fight against the bulge (which I lose more oftern than I win these days)!!! On the counter in the lobby was a flier for a new Charter School starting up, and since I literally cried when I went and picked up my son's "welcome kit" from the public school he was to attend, I immediately jumped on that opportunity.
The biggest relief came when I visited my son's school and the daycare center next door. The director was really helpful and showed me around and told me all about their toddler/pre-k program. I wasn't really ready to put my daughter into daycare, but I was afraid that she would have no one around her other than myself to talk with and I was overly paranoid of speech delays. That's when the director asked me if I had heard of the Meetup group in the area. Meetup?? What's that? And do they speak any english? Some of you are laughing... you should I am a dork.
www.meetup.com is a group hosting site where people of like areas and interests come together and get together!! I found the Happy Homestead Kids group and the Natural Parenting group and immediately we were transitioned to Florida!! We have made tons of friends and explored all sorts of things down here together, so if you are stuck as to how to meet new people, check out Meetup!!!
Friday, May 15, 2009
And we're off...
Ok so apparently I am not the first to think of this (suprise suprise) but we are going to give it a shot anyways in the hopes of easing the lives of a few more families like ours, who do not necessarily know where to look for the answers.
This blog will be a place where we can share all of our positive experiences and exchange needed info of the areas in which we are stationed with our loved ones. Hopefully this way we will be able to build a solid "real world" directory as we move to a new location.
As a fairly new "coastie wife", I sometimes get the feeling that the Coast Guard and their families are left out in the cold when it comes to support, info, and opportunity. This can make life very difficult for everyone involved.
Contacts will be monitored by me through coastiewivescorner@yahoo.com , So come on send me your goodies, your cool finds, your neat tricks that work for your family and we will post them here to share and to always be..
"Semper Paratus"
This blog will be a place where we can share all of our positive experiences and exchange needed info of the areas in which we are stationed with our loved ones. Hopefully this way we will be able to build a solid "real world" directory as we move to a new location.
As a fairly new "coastie wife", I sometimes get the feeling that the Coast Guard and their families are left out in the cold when it comes to support, info, and opportunity. This can make life very difficult for everyone involved.
Contacts will be monitored by me through coastiewivescorner@yahoo.com , So come on send me your goodies, your cool finds, your neat tricks that work for your family and we will post them here to share and to always be..
"Semper Paratus"
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