Where to begin?

So I have not been making a prior week meal plan lately (ahhhhh, lazy?) but I am cooking every day/night. I am also back to shopping again, but now I am clipping and using coupons and trying to cut back on shopping as a whole. We have gone from spending on average $700.00 a month on food down to about $500.00 and I am still working on ideas to lower that even more. We have our milk delivered (and have for over 2 years) and that helps to keep me away from the store a bit. We spend about $80 on milk and dairy/bread per month through this delivery service (Royal Crest Dairy) and it is hormone free so that makes me feel good about giving it to my family. Recently we signed up for organic produce delivery also (doortodoororganics.com). So far I love it, and think we are getting a lot for the money. Here is the first delivery pic from the 'Bitty Box'.

 However I have noticed that the fruit is being gobbled up much faster than I anticipated. Which is a good thing for our health but it means I need to ration it a bit so it will last through the 2 weeks until the next delivery ($22 every other week). Our 2 freezers are packed full AGAIN, and the pantry seems to have the staples we need to make another go at our 'Everything must go, food experiment'. Meal planning is hard to do and I get burned out, quit planning, and start making the same old things... I would LOVE to find some sort of web site where I can punch in ingredients and get back ideas and recipes.. Other than allrecipes.com, anyone have any they use?

WHAT? No Chicken???

My hubby said to me last night, when are going to have chicken again.. We have been out of chicken for a while and I am getting down to the bare bones now in regards to meats in the freezer.. Tonight is salmon steaks and then I am going out shopping.. We have a VERY small list of only the 'must have' items (like chicken), and some veggies and snacks for little B.

Meal plan for the week:

Salmon steaks, mashed potato cakes, green bean casserole (made with stuffing mix).

Texas style Beer Chilli with corn bread muffins OR garlic cheese bread (depending on our mood)

Chicken soup and veggies (the sauce is a puree of chicken, carrot, celery, onion, and squash, so my kid will eat it) and then I add noodles.

Fish sticks... YES, AGAIN! Maybe with my mango salsa, and a salad.

Discouraged!

So here is last week in a nutshell..
The Fish sticks and Mango salsa were a hit and hubby inhaled them (little B had to be told they were chicken sticks and she loved the plain Mango slices).
Thursday we went to the In laws for Enchiladas, YUMMY! Friday was the Quesadillas and that was another huge hit.. The whole weekend was eating out or with Family and Monday we had left over chicken wings from the Superbowl party at my MIL's house.
So we were back to starting to cook last night.. I could not face it so we went out to eat!

Why am I discouraged?
I spent a lot of my day yesterday looking online for inspiration and this is what I found... I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE DOING THIS! In fact, there are a TON of other blogs and websites out there that are doing the same thing (using pantry items, or shopping cheap etc.) and they seem to be doing it much better.. I cant figure out how to post pictures inside my blog posts, they only seem to want to be at the top or bottom.. I also don't like my layout but I only am able to pick from a few choices.. Maybe it is this specific site, maybe it is my lack of experience.. Any ideas?

So my fave sites so far are.. http://www.5dollardinners.com/ who is doing the pantry challenge, while she posts coupons and store links, her monthly menu, AND her recipes (with pictures and steps)along with daily life stories.. Awesome! And http://weelicious.com/ this woman is so together that she makes food for her 2 kids, posts about it sometimes 3 times a day and manages a Face book profile where she gets her fans involved with her daily questions and recipes! So cool!

I want to know HOW these women get the time to do all this? They are also stay at home Moms, but geeze, they even have YouTube videos on 'how to' cook recipes! I feel so inadequate...

OK DONE WITH THE PITTY PARTY. Here is my new action plan.
Step 1. Find out how the heck to utilize this blog better, add pictures etc, or decide if I need to use a different blog site
Step 2. Revamp how I am going to post my daily food blogs
Step 3. Continue with my Food Experiment until the end of this month and then GO FOOD SHOPPING (I really miss it so I will need to make sure I don't go crazy and spend thousands on things I don't need)!
Step 4. Remember every day, that I am not in competition with anyone and I can go at my own pace (darn those movies like Julie and Julia, that make me feel I should be doing more with my life)! :)

Any other suggestions folks???? I would LOVE your input and assistance!

As Requested

Some friends have asked for the Mango salsa recipi from last week so here ya go!

2 Cups Frozen Mango chunks, thawed and cut in small cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 small onion chopped fine (can use yellow or red, but white can be a bit strong so use sparingly)
1 whole jalapeno diced (use less if you dont want much spice)
Juice of 1 whole lime
2 tsp of dried or fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste, you can add tobasco or any other hot sauce if you want even more spice! Taste first and remember, the longer it sits/marinates the hotter the jalapeno will get in the salsa!

Mix all ingredients together and serve fresh with fish, chicken or chips. Makes 2 large servings or 4 small servings.

And we are half way there...

Day 15 of the Food Experiment and things are going well.. I have run out of all veggies and will be visiting Sunflower market tonight for fresh, organic produce (mmmm salad for lunch tomorrow)! This week has been a bit crazy and not so tasty thus far (that will change tonight, I promise).. Left over pizza from little B's birthday party on Sunday is never ending! Had it on Monday for lunch and Dinner, and now need to give the rest to the in-laws. It was good the first and second day but Yuck, I am done with pizza for a while!

Last night I made a Sausage and tomato pasta sauce, with vermicelli. NOT GOOD! I have made this in the past with onions and peppers and it has turned out FAB, but this time all we tasted was freezer burn.. UGHHH! I am glad we are doing this Experiment to clean out the freezer so I can start over fresh. I will never keep frozen meat more than 3 months without using it again!

Tonight- Wed Feb 3rd

Breakfast, I am no longer going to post breakfast because it is always more of the same and boring (cereal, pancakes, eggs, etc) unless I make something cool!

Dinner- Fishsticks (wow we have a ton of these) with mango and jalapeno lime salsa, corn chips, and steamed edemame in the pods (little B's fave). Left over Birthday cake for desert (the last of it I hope).

Thurs Feb 4th- Crispy open faced Cheesy Quesadillas (recepi from '10 dollar dinners' on food network, below) with my spicy Tequilla/lime bean dip. (take a can of refried beans, add 1 shot Tequilla, juice of 1/2 lime, and 1 tspn chili powder and stir, yummy, yummy!)

Crispy open faced quesadilla Ingredients
2 large (10-inch) flour tortillas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Kosher salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar

Directions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried parsley)

Preheat the broiler.

Brush the tortillas on both sides with vegetable oil and lightly salt. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and cook the tortillas, 1 at a time, until slightly golden on both sides. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the sour cream, lime zest and juice, cumin, and salt and pepper, to taste, until smooth. Pour into a plastic squeeze bottle or sturdy resealable plastic bag and cut small tip in corner.

Arrange the browned tortillas on a baking sheet and sprinkle evenly with cheese. (You may need to do this in batches if both tortillas don't fit on 1 tray.) Broil until the cheese bubbles and begins to brown, about for 1 to 2 minutes, (be careful not to burn). Slice each quesadilla into 8 wedges and drizzle sour cream decoratively over the top. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

And the experiment continues...

Whoo hoo, Happy Hour with some fun gals this week, nice! OK, so I am late on my update.. Sorry bout that! The Experiment is going well and we have only gone to the store for Milk and Fruity Pebbles cereal (little B had some at Grandma's and then freaked out when I told her we didn't have any at our house (thanks Auntie!), so we did have to get a box for the poor kid).

Last week the only thing I was not able to make (due to time issues) was the darn apple torte (I really need to try out that torte pan my Mom got me for Christmas LAST YEAR) so I will try again next week!

I am trying to remember to be pro-active and take things out of the freezer for defrosting in the fridge up to 3 days in advance. I forgot to do this with the petite stakes this weekend and it was harder to cook them because defrosting steak in the microwave is GROSS and nearly impossible. Make a note of this and don't make my mistake :) Here is what is going on for this week...

Monday Jan 25th

Breakfast- Milk, hard boiled egg (no yellow part for little B) and a pancake (from the batch we made this weekend that are now in the freezer) and Fruity Pebbles.
Dinner- Cheese and corn tortilla stacked Enchiladas with sour cream (not very creative but Hubby needs his Mexican food fix).

Tuesday Jan 26th

Breakfast- Milk, Fruity Pebbles (I see a pattern forming)
Dinner- Girls Night Out/Happy Hour with some good friends.. Hubby and little B ate at Grandma's house!

Wed Jan 27th

Breakfast- Milk, Pancake, and a cheese stick and coffee for me (in the car on our way to gym class)
Dinner- Left over BBQ meatballs (made for my friend's baby shower on Sat), brown rice, and a side salad of tomatoes and the last of the lettuce. NOT MY FAVE DINNER! Hubs was not impressed and little B just ate the rice and asked for chicken noodle soup. LOL!

Thurs Jan 28th

Breakfast- eggs, yogurt and Orange juice smoothie.
Dinner- Baked chicken breast smothered in hot wing sauce (plain for little B) and fried okra (in panko bread crumbs)

Friday Jan 29th

Breakfast- Cereal (prob Fruity Pebbles?) and a strawberry yogurt smoothie.
Dinner- Chick-fil-a (we are taking Bri to get her hair cut and then out for dinner with Daddy and our in-laws)

Sat Jan 30th

Breakfast- Eggs and Bacon and mixed fruit and yogurt smoothie
Dinner- Potato Leek soup and Texas garlic toast, Popcorn for desert with a movie!

Sunday Jan 31st

Breakfast- Free day, Daddy's choice since he will be cooking!
Dinner- Pizza party for the family to celebrate little B's birthday (she turns 3 on Tues) and the Barbie cake I will make and post a picture of!

Yay, it's Friday and tonights dinner got put on the back burner because Hubby took us out to eat. How Nice!!! Back to the menu tomorrow.. On Sunday ya'll will see the next weeks menu added. Have a great weekend!

The 'everything must go' food experiment. Day 2

Slight change of plans... So tonight was supposed to be tomato soup and grilled cheese, BUT little B and I had that for lunch yesterday so I didn't want to repeate myself.. Instead I decided on BLT sammy's with a small side of potato chips. 7 peices of bacon between 2 (and 1/2 for the little B) of us and I still have about 3lbs of bacon in the freezer (seperated into smaller portions for easy defrosting). Any ideas on recipes for BACON?? Comment and I may just make something you suggest and then write about it! :)

The 'everything must go' food experiment.

I have been stuck inside with a cold for 9 days and I am going outta my mind with nothing to do. I decided today to do something about the state of my overloaded pantry.. After doing a thorough review of my pantry, freezer, and fridge it has been determined that I CAN feed my family for one month without buying anything extra (other than Milk/Dairy which we get delivered from RC Dairy, and weekly produce consisting of 1 choice of a fresh fruit and a few veggies for the week). Here is my diary (one week at a time) of what I will be making this month (posted mostly so I can keep track and also for your entertainment) for Breakfast and Dinner. Lunch is usually soup or a sammy (I have enough lunch meat frozen for the whole month) or we get something on the go, therefore I wont count Lunch in these recipes. Also Breakfast is interchangeable based on what we feel like in the morning but it is nice to have it listed on here so I can prepare ahead for the week. How freaking exciting! Check back soon for more yummy updates! LMAO!

Menu for Week 1

TODAY: Tues JAN 19TH, day 1
Breakfast: Tea (we are still feeling sick) and toast and chicken noodle soup for little B.
Dinner: English Muffin Pizzas

Wed JAN 20TH, day 2
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Tea, blueberries (But if we are feeling better and go to gym class we will have a cereal bar in the car, on the way, and the berries)
Dinner: Grilled Cheese sammy's and Tomato soup with homemade garlic croutons

Thurs JAN 21ST, day 3
Breakfast: Yogurt/fruit shakes, toast, bacon (bacon is little B's fave food!)
Dinner: Orange/soy/Ginger crusted Salmon, rice and green beans

Fri JAN 22ND, day 4
Breakfast: Brunch Baby shower for my friend Amanda (we are having a spinnach/cheese frittata, and a potato side dish, with key lime pie. YES all of this is in my freezer and fridge! Really?)
Dinner: Fish sticks with mango salsa and Edemame beans (maybe left over pie? Hmmm nope, my girlfriends will eat it all, I am sure. LOL)

Sat JAN 23RD, day 5
Breakfast: Blueberry pancakes, eggs, bacon (it is the weekend :)
Dinner: Petite steak over mushroom risotto with greenbean casserole, and a fresh apple torte for desert

Sun JAN 24TH, day 6
Breakfast: Cereal, coffee and the morning paper
Dinner: Spaghetti Squash with veggie tomato sauce, and hopefully some left over apple torte for desert