Family On A Budget

Last week we stuck pretty close to the menu except for Sunday. I forgot to thaw out the chicken so I am moving it to next Sunday. I tried my hand again at homemade pizza and as usual it was a disaster. Anyone have an secrets to good homemade pizza? I can never seem to get it right. I used a thin crust recipe that we liked, but the pizza didn’t slip off the tray onto my stone correctly and what a mess. Also I must not have cleaned my stone well enough from the last time because it caused a greasy smoky mess while it was heating up. I had to take out all the smoke detector batteries……

So anyway, for this week will be enjoying the following:

Monday: Asian Stirfry with chicken, potstickers and refried rice (making extra rice for Thursday.

Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, (made the meatballs over the weekend).

Wednesday: Tacos made from leftover meatballs.

Thursday: Pepper Steak with steamed brown rice. (made this weekend) – will follow up with the recipe later this week.

Friday: Cajun Salmon steaks with baked potatoes with cheese and broccoli.

A favorite comfort food, I have been making this recipe for more than 20 years. It was originally from the Betty’s Crocker’s Chicken Cookbook. I use different spices depending on my mood, sometimes it’s rosemary or basil or a combination of different herbs. The original recipe calls for a 3lbs cut up chicken pieces with the skin, but I find legs/thighs more economical and very tasty. I remove the skin to save on calories. Tastes just as good without it. For the dumplings you can use whatever spice you have on hand. I have a herb garden and it comes in handy for this recipe. In the winter I have lots of frozen herbs from the summer, but dried works well too. During the busy work week I can cook the chicken and sauce during the weekend and just reheat it to boiling, then drop in the dumplings for time savings.

Chicken Fricassee with Chive Dumplings

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 to 8 chicken thighs (I remove the skin)
1 large onion chopped (optional)
canola oil
1 cup water
3 T all-purpose flour
Milk

Below is what we are having this week for dinner. There should be plenty left over for lunches. I am still following Weight Watchers so some days I will get more to eat than others. Each dinner will be cost effective except for Saturday’s steaks.

Monday: Italian roast beef (made yesterday) on homemade rolls with horseradish sauce, tater tots, spinach salad.

Tuesday: Chicken and dumplings (made yesterday all I need to do is drop in the dumplings), green beans.

Wednesday: Foil baked cod with baked potatoes, salad (assuming I get my broken oven fixed by then), else it will be breakfast foods such as eggs and bacon with pancakes.

Thursday: Spaghetti with turkey meatballs, garlic bread (baked in bread machine), salad.

Friday: Date night out with hubby using a coupon from either the Entertainment book or Restaurant.com. I am going to shoot for either a lean fish or shrimp entree.

Saturday: Steaks (small one for me) with baked sweet potatoes and green beans.

Sunday: Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and stuffing. There should enough leftover chicken to make chicken tacos for next week.

There are some good deals at Giant Eagle this week.

PowerAde or PowerAde zero – 10 for $10.00 – 2.00 instantly. I picked up some coupons on ebay so I will have lots. I purchased 20 coupons for around $3.00. We don’t drink alot of this as my girls like water better when playing soccer, however we are always asked to donate cases for our teams so I will be prepared this upcoming season. Click Ebay PowderAde coupon search for a quick link to find your own coupons.

General Mills cereals are on sale for 4 for $10.00. Spend $10.00 and receive a $2.00 off your next order cat. Here is a printable .50 off of Banana Nut Cheerios coupon and a printable $1.00 off of 2 General mills coupon.

So I stated my 2009 Savings goals in January and it is time for an update on the progress so far.

First I wanted to contribute towards an emergency savings fund. We started it with 500.00 and have added 500.00 at the end of January. We are on track.

Second, I wanted to contribute towards a fund for a new car. Well we have 800 so far. I was hoping for 500 per month, but 800 works too. We also have a friend is thinking of selling an older used car with lower miles. We told him we would like it if he chooses to sell for around 1500.00. We could either replace my husbands car or have an extra car for my daughter.

Third, I wanted to save towards a vacation fund. I saved $118 using coupons in January so we are on our way…..

Progress feels good.