Menu Plan Monday

Already the end of June?? Where'd time go? I wonder even more where the last 6 years have went? My little fella will be 6 on Friday, how can that be? And my little lady.. 6 weeks! :( I don't know if my poor heart can handle them growing up so fast! Here's this week's menu plan..

Monday- Chinese buffet at home.
Tuesday- MIL's for dinner
Wednesday- Crockpot bbq country ribs, mac salad, and baked beans
Thursday- Calzone and salads
Friday- Anthony's Birthday, if we get a chance to go out we will but Daddy works till 6pm. Perhaps we'll go to the local amusement park with Grandma during the day if its not too hot for the wee girl.
Saturday- Skillet lasagna and if there is salad stuff still here that too, maybe garlic toast. I gotta get making some cup cakes and whatever else I get figured out for his birthday party.
Sunday- Anthony's birthday party in the evening.. hard to tell what we'll have during the day..

Recipe Review: Sweet BBQ Chicken Kabobs

I was blog hopping and came across this recipe for the grill, and with these temps, I love making dinner outside.

Sweet BBQ Chicken Kabobs
found at Hoosier Homemade

Ingredients:

• 1-2 pounds chicken, boneless skinless, cut into chunks
• 1 whole fresh pineapple, cut into chunks
• 1 each red, yellow and green peppers
• 1 cup BBQ sauce
• 6 tablespoons orange juice concentrate, thawed

Directions:

1. Soak wooden skewers in water about 15-20 minutes.
2. Thread chicken, peppers and pineapple onto skewers.
3. Mix barbecue sauce and orange juice concentrate in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Heat the grill to medium-high.
5. Brush half of the sauce onto the skewers.
6. Grill 8-10 minutes or until chicken is done, turning occasionally.
7. Brush on remainder of sauce while skewers are cooking.

Servings:
This recipe makes about 18-20 skewers, with a little sauce left over. You can easily cut the recipe in half.
To grill pineapple, cut a 1/2 inch thick slice of fresh pineapple and place on grill. Turning once until the pineapple is slightly brown and there are grill marks on the pineapple.
Variations:
In place of chicken, you can also use salmon, pork or shrimp. In place of the fresh pineapple, you can use a can of pineapple chunks.

These are delish! They are a bit time consuming to chop, and thread everything but it works nicely when your hubby helps and your sister is in visiting to hold the baby :)

I enjoyed it all, including the pineapple, that we only put a few on in case we didn't like it, hubby, and my sister like it also. The bbq sauce I used was Wegman's brown sugar sauce & I used regular OJ since that is what I had. Next time I'll use some red onions too.

Me- 5/5 rating
Hubby-5/5
Kiddo- he ate it so he must have liked it, but left some peppers behind

Menu Plan not on Monday..

I'm late, I had the plan on the fridge but just not here. Wee girl and her brother have been keeping me busy. Suppose I didn't say much about having the baby.. yup.. May 12th, 2011. I will elaborate more later.

Monday- Picnic at my Dad's just some burgers and hot dogs
Tuesday- Cowboy burgers potato salad & corn on the cob.. corn on the cob has become an expensive treat.
Wednesday- BBQ chicken wraps with pasta salad I think.
Thursday- Hot dogs with baked beans and leftover salad
Friday- Slowcooker lasagna with texas toast
Saturday- Chicken bbq that our grandmother got us tickets for, its a fundrasier.
Sunday- ?? Not sure quite yet.. we'll see :)

Kiddo gets out of school on Friday so its the unoffical start to summer for us! :)

Tear Pad Coupons.

You probably see them all over the stores, little tear pad coupon booklets. Often when I see them, the product isn't on sale nor a good price including the coupon. However, you can take a couple and use them when you see fit. I did this a couple weeks ago at the Family Dollar. I saw Ragu coupons, for .50 cents off a jar of sauce they had priced at 2.99 each. The coupon and their prices wasn't good to me but I knew if I used that coupon at the grocery store they'd double it to a dollar. I took a couple for later. This week a local store has Ragu 10 for 15, if you buy all 10 at once they were 10 for 10.. I had a couple coupons so I went back for more, and they were still there. I was able to double all 10 coupons and get free Ragu sauce. Since there is no limit I might go get 10 more. We will use it all up. I know there is a hording issue lately for couponing but I can promise I have no desire to clear the shelves. I think if I got 20 its a reasonable amount for my spaghetti and pasta loving boys to finish within the year.

So the next time you see a tear pad of coupons, grab a couple, ya never know.

CVS Trip & Chatter

For those of you who think clipping coupons and watching the ads is a waste of time, you are in for a surprise. A little time and effort goes a long way. Now that I'm a stay at home mom again, I'm getting back into the swing of things. Part of my job now is to make sure the money my Husband makes stretches as far as it can, allowing me to stay home. We by no means have a lot to spend any ways. Its such a good feeling when I can make the money he works hard for go further.

Today at CVS I got:

8 pack of bounty paper towels- sale price- 7.99 - original price 9.99
3 pack of Ivory soap on sale for .99 cents - ?

Use a .25 cent coupon for bounty and a 1.00 coupon for the Ivory.
-4 ECB (had to be used today it expires)
Total- 3.96 and got back 2 ECB.

Awesome deal. I use the Ivory to make homemade laundry soap..even more frugal :)

Menu Plan Monday

Still no baby. Her official due date is Thursday & I have an appointment tomorrow so we'll see how things are going then. As anxious as I am, I want to enjoy these last few days of being pregnant with her. This is the only time in her life that I will be able to completely protect her from everything else. I have a ton of emotions running threw me. I've had a stressful week too.. lost my purse, car broke down and too much to fix, need new car, hubby works 12 hour shifts over night.. ahh! Just a few crazy things but if I keep praying God will help me threw.

Sunday- Pork chops seasoned and fried, baked potatoes, and peas.
Monday- Meatloaf using this recipe but not in the microwave or with that sauce. I will use ketchup and brown sugar on it. Mashed potatoes, Gravy, Corn & Salads.
Tuesday- Taco Pizza here eventually I can get the recipe up. I am just going to use crunched up tortilla chips instead of shells. That is what I have.
Wednesday- Buffet, whatever you can find in the fridge you can eat. I just planned this far so we can see what the doctors say... I didn't wanna get too much then have it go bad or whatever.

Happy May ya'll. Hope all the April showers bring you May flowers.
You can find loads more menu plans if you visit Organizing Junkie

Recipe Review: Cheddar Ranch Dip

For my baby shower in March I made a few different dips and served them as part of the meal/snacks. One of them was Cheddar Ranch Dip aka Crack Dip. This was crazy good.. in fact I made it the day before and it almost didn't make it to the party! LOL I wold suggest eating it the next day because after a day or two it starts to get funky.


Cheddar Ranch Dip

1 16 oz Sour Cream ( you can use fat free)
1 Ranch Dip Packet
1 3 oz jar of bacon bits
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mix the sour cream and dip pack together then add the cheese and bacon bits. Mix well and chill for at least 20 mins.

I served this with wheat crackers and club crackers There were other veggies and chips everyone could mix up whatever they wanted but I liked the crackers best.


5/5 stars for sure!