Margarita Cupcakes

Surfing Orgjunkie.com on her Menu Plan Monday, I found Hoosier Homemade and her amazing looking cupcakes. Allow me to let you know that these are AMAZING. Made them for work as just normal cupcakes, but also made a cute one for the hubby.

Here's her recipe. I did pretty much the same thing. My frosting was vanilla frosting with lime juice added as well as green food coloring.

Lawnmower Taco

First things first. This is not my creation. I take no credit whatsoever for it. LifeAsMom was the one who created it. I just made it ;) You can see her receipe here But allow me to break it down and show what I used. When we ate it we just put taco sauce on top. But LifeAsMom says you can add other items too it too.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
yellow corn tortilla chips
2 cups nacho taco blend cheese
1 14oz can chicken broth
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1/4 cup all purpose flour








Crunch tortilla chips.





Brown some ground beef (She says use turkey as an alternative)










Then add your taco seasoning and chicken broth






then the flour









Let cook for a little bit until thicken

Layer 1/2 meat, then 1/2 cheese, more chips, meat and then finally cheese. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly, then enjoy!

Menu 4/18-4/23

Now that I have a laptop maybe my menus will be posted with more frequency. I was pretty lazy before because it would mean having to turn on the computer and then because it has an error when it boots up have to make sure to boot the "master" and then sign my password because I have it locked and then wait for the computer to finally be ready to work. This was probably a 5 minute process. I'm just lazy. But now with my laptop I can now just boot it and sign my password and be ready to go in 2 minutes. What have I become ;) But the real reason for getting a laptop was because I'm going back to school. I'm pursuing my MBA with Grand Canyon University. It is an online school and I'm really excited about getting it! One of my life goals was to get a Master's. Any way. On to the menu! Be sure to check out Orgjunkie.com for more plans!

Monday - Stirfry veggies with rice

Tuesday - Pizza Pasta Casserole from the freezer

Wednesday - Lawnmower Taco

Thursday - Hamburgers on the grill, pending weather.

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - completely depends on what the weather is and what I feel like. I'll probably be working on Easter lunch stuff :)

BLT Bites

BLT Bites

I take no credit for these at all. My co-worker Karen from AZ made them once and I had to have the recipe! They are so easy and so yummy. I of course like both of those options :)




Ingredients:
1 pound bacon cooked and crumbled (or use Real Bacon Bits)
1/2 cup of Miracle Whip
1/4 cup chopped green onion
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
24 cherry tomatoes

Slice top of tomato and scoop out seeds. Mix together remaining ingredients. Stuff tomatoes and serve cold.

Menu 4/11-4/16

What happened to to this month! It is already in the middle. Oh well, that just means 1 more month till Farmer's Market and our CSA! WOOHOO! This past weekend was wonderful weather. upper 70s with sunshine. But the humidity was quite high. One thing I don't like about central IL. But at least there was sun. And the rest of the week is suppose to be 50s and cloudy and rainy. blech. But if it means summer is coming I'll live with I suppose. At least it isn't 100+ yet. Remember to go to Orgjunkie.com to check out more Menu Plans. They are awesome!

Monday - BLTs

Tuesday - Small group

Wednesday - Spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread

Thursday - crockpot baked potato soup

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - we'll see what we feel like.

Menu 3/28-4/2

Sorry for no posting last week but I was soaking up the sunshine in AZ :) It was wonderful! We had a blast seeing all our friends. We didn't get to see some, but it was only because we were so busy trying to see everyone! I did get to do some cooking last week which was great! Our friends Josh and Cheri who we stayed with were super awesome! We loved getting to stay with them. Plus she didn't mind having dinner ready a couple of the nights. This week I'm feeling a little lazy still and therefore we are going to be cleaning out the freezer. I plan on keeping stuff simple and easy. I am getting the spring cleaning itch and want to open the house up, but with highs in the upper 30's lower 40's we need to hold off a little bit...

Monday - diced chicken with Rice A Roni (chicken and broccoli)

Tuesday - fish and chips

Wednesday - meatloaf and scalloped potatoes

Thursday - Spaghetti and meatballs

Friday - pizza

Saturday - left overs or BBQ from freezer

Menu 3/14-3/19

It is suppose to be upper 40's here this week and even possibly in the 50's. WOOHOO! So excited. I'm just tired of being cold. This week we are going to be trying some new stuff. But we also are going to be getting ready for our trip to Arizona. Can't wait to be out there in the sunshine and warmth! Thursday we are going to have a family dinner with my mom and dad and possibly my brother. Be sure to check out more at Orgjunkie.com

Monday - Chicken with honey balasmic glaze*new

Tuesday - Gospel Community, I'm bringing salad

Wednesday - Orange Chicken with rice*new

Thursday - St Patricks Day! Crockpot corned beef with Young's Chocolate Stout, cabbage, new potatoes and a dessert. Can't decide between Irish soda bread or Guiness Cupcakes...

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - Eating with Andrew's mom before our flight out!

Menu 3/7-3/12

Yet another Monday! Today it is chilly and cloudy. I'm so tired of winter! I love the snow, but am ready for spring and sunshine! This week I'm working some overtime again. And also planning for our trip to AZ. Can NOT wait for Arizona :) have to plan a menu out there. Some of the nights will be eating out at some of our favorite spots, but we are staying with friends and I want to make them dinner some nights :) Plus we plan on having a get together the Friday night so we have to plan that out too. But on to this week! I didn't plan for 3 meals to be Mexican, but it worked out because that's what I had. Be sure to check out Orgjunkie.com for more ideas

Monday - Chipolte (Buy one get one free coupon for burritos)

Tuesday - taco ring (new receipe to try out)

Wednesday - enchiladas, black beans and cheese

Thursday - tomato soup and grilled cheese

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - leftovers or something I make up.

Clean up Junk Room

Yes we have a Junk room. It is because we are renting the house we are in right now from family. And we would have a basement to use if the house was ours, but right now it is full of Grandpa's stuff. Grandpa has been dead since 2006. Nevertheless we have our junk room. I'm happy to report it is now clean! :) it is one of 2 spare rooms we have. Most of the time if I keep my friends kids they get this room with air mattresses. So here with out ado is my lovely new junk room, which is also going to be my craft room :)

Before:














After:

Menu 2/29-3/5

I can't believe it is going to be March tomorrow! But I'm sooooooo very excited about spring. I never thought I would be but I'm beyond excited! I'm ready for warm weather and no more snow until November! Sadly I'm not ready for the humidity here in Central IL either. Don't forget to check out Orgjunkie.com to check out others

Monday - Broccoli and Cheddar soup with bread bowls

Tuesday - orange chicken with white rice

Wednesday - BLTs

Thursday - Pizza Pasta Casserole

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - leftovers.

Delay cleaning post

I had this done last week, but didn't get around to posting about it on Friday like I had planned. Rats. But I am slowly but surely getting thru my list of items to organize/clean up. This is my counter space. It is the place where everything gets thrown when I come home or when hubs comes home too. We toss our crap there. Every now and then I do do a good clean to it. BUT this time I'm sticking with it being clean.











And here it is finished! Woohoo! The small basket you see in the back houses our cell phone charger and some pens and paper. Not that we need them there, but they are there. Wonderful isn't it?

Menu 2/21- 2/26

Can I just start this post with an apology? I have been awful this past week with my menu and planning and getting it done. I had it all written up to post and I was exhausted on Monday and didn't even post it. And then to make matters worse I didn't even post it later in the week! I had been working overtime at work and I sure hope my paycheck reflects my hard work. On the plus side you get to see me now :) I even will have a post for Friday's clean up day. Remember, more menus at Orgjunkie.com

Monday - BBQ Pork

Tuesday - Broccoli and Cheddar soup

Wednesday - Parmesan Chicken

Thursday - tacos

Friday -pizza

Saturday - fish and chips

Menu 2/7-2/12

This week is going to be a very long week for me. I'm working overtime at work so I'll be working 8am - 7pm pretty much all week. Saturday I get a break and get to leave at 5pm. Still a very long week. Plus I'm doing a fruit flush for the first 3 days. I feel bad for my husband, but he can survive with a frozen pizza and corn dogs. I'm looking forward to Sunday for not working and just relaxing.

Monday - For me, salad with egg and olive oil. Hubby on his own

Tuesday - For me salad with egg and olive oil, hubby on his own

Wednesday - Salad with salmon for both of us.

Thursday - turkey in the crockpot and taters. (gotta make up for not eating :))

Friday - Lasagna roll ups from freezer

Saturday - pasta of some sort.

Menu 1/31-2/5

A day early even! Woohoo! I actually got everything I needed for this month minus one thing for one recipe. And I have 2 days right now that are blank because I don't know what to have those days. One day is when I'm going to be doing a freezer cooking day and the other is because I'm going out to lunch for my dad's retirement and we are going to Biaggi's which is a pretty fancy Italian restaurant. So not sure what will happen those days, but they are later this month. But on to this weeks!

Monday - Enchiladas

Tuesday - veggie soup from the freezer with bread

Wednesday - BBQ from the freezer

Thursday - Pizza Bowties with sausage (new recipe will post review later)

Friday - Pizza night!

Saturday - This is my dad's birthday and so we are going to take him out if he is feeling better. He has been not feeling so well the past couple of weeks. But hopefully he'll be well enough to go out with us. Or we might just have dinner here. Depends on what he wants to do. It is his day after all :)

Pantry decimation

I started today out with mentally preparing myself to do this by going out to eat with my friend Laura for breakfast. Then I played with my kitties with the hubby. Then went out to eat with my mom and brother to Flat Top Grill. Can you see how prepared I was ;) Then I went to Target and bought 3 new containers to house some stuff. Then it was time to tackle this....


Man, I can NOT believe it was so terrible. Stuff everywhere. Didn't have a system or anything. I did have some help from the kitties who decided everything and I mean everything had to be sniffed. Like they didn't know it was there before. I also got some help from WCIC which was nice to have in the background. I continued until it looked like this...


It hasn't been that clean since we moved in a little under a year ago. I continued. And now the final product! WOOHOO!


Now if you look hard enough you will see I have room for my KitchenAid Mixer and my coffee maker that I only use for making hot water. This is such a great feeling!!! I feel great now that it is done. And I also realize how empty it was...

Quick apology post

I want to say sorry for not posting my menu on Monday like I thought I would. I just have no excuse why I didn't. I had it written on my whiteboard. And honestly we didn't do a great job of staying to the meal plan either so it would have been a bust. I promise to update you for next week's.
Tomorrow I'm going to tackle my pantry for organizing. I am really not looking forward to it only because I know it is going to take a while. I am planning to take it a shelf at a time. Before I do anything I'm going to go buy some storage containers for my stuff. I did some searching at the dollar store and honestly nothing is big enough. So stay tuned for pictures tomorrow...

Organizing this year!

I was reading Orgjunkie.com the other week and she challenged her readers to do 52 weeks of organizing. Well I thought that would be a great thing! Except I couldn't think of 52 things in this house that I'm allowed to organize. The basement is pretty much full of Grandpa's things and I could organize them, but I can't throw away anything because I'm not allowed. Which is ok, but annoying. SO instead I focus on the upstairs and will work with all that I can. First things first was my spice cabinet. Yes I have a cabinet. I love it :)
Here is the before
What a mess! Ok, so it was mostly organized in the sense that I had most of the spices on the bottom on 2 lazy susans. Which are wonderful in themselves! But everything else. Yikes :) So after about 20 minutes of reading labels and cleaning up I show you the after!

What a great feeling! I have to ground the bread that I have dried into bread crumbs and find a cute container for them. But working on that.

And the bug bit! It was such a great feeling. so I tackled 2 projects in one night. The second was our main bathroom linen closet. It has been one of those where I just throw our towels and other "junk" for the bathroom. Before....



This just took be about 5 minutes of going thru because it was mostly stuff I needed to rearrange. Now I will be honest, I don't like the towels how there are in this after pictures. The towels we own are very big and fluffy which I love, but they don't quite fit in this closet because it is small. But it is ok for now.

Pizza Soup

One of the things that my work is doing this year is to post recipes that are from people from around the area. Which I think is pretty cool. It makes it nice. So I got this recipe from a "coworker" who I don't really know. :) But it was so yummy! And I did adapt it a little...so this is my recipe that I used.




Ingredients
2 Cans Progresso Minestrone soup
1 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 pound ground sausage
oregano flakes
garlic powder

Cook sausage and drain on paper towels. Pour soup and tomatoes in pot. Add 1 soup can of water add sausage and spices. Allow to heat up/simmer. I did it for 10 minutes and I thought it was alright. You can then add mozzarella cheese and crackers like we did. Or you can omit those. Best with both tho.

Menu 1/17-1/22

Last week went alright. Wednesday both of us had the day off so we spent some time together and went out to eat at Olive Garden instead of enchiladas. We had a gift card ;) Gotta love those. And my sweet and sour pork was a disaster. I can NOT for the life of me make it. I don't know why. I just seem to fail. Perhaps it is because I don't have a fryer. But one day I will succeed. And Friday I didn't feel like coming home to make pizza dough so we had Papa John's instead. I'm already working on my February menu! Just need to make a few changes here and there. Then I will also make sure I have ingredients for what I need.

Monday - Spaghetti with homemade meat sauce

Tuesday - chili and cornbread

Wednesday - chicken fajitas

Thursday - Steak and potatoes (yummmmm!)

Friday- home made pizza

Saturday - leftovers

Challenge 2011!

Ok, I have made a couple of resolutions this year and so far a couple of them are stuck in limbo. I'm asking for you, my readers, help to me keep with these little goals. Now mind you, I have one that I've made for myself that I have NOT even started yet so I'm not going to post about that one.

1)Menu plan! I want to get my month planned out and then be sure to post on Mondays in conjunction with Menu Plan Monday on Orgjunkie.com

2)attempt to blog all my recipes that I have written up with photos

3)Work on my organizing list. I have thanks again to Orgjunkie.com started a list of 22 things that I need to organize in my house. Granted it says 52 weeks for her site, but I can't think of 52 things! I'll post that list and what has been completed WITH photos on Fridays.

4)Save up for a down payment on a house. Ok, first of all, this should be easy for us since we have 1 debt and that will be paid off by July. So....now just to save our money instead of spend our money.

5)Try at least 50 new receipes. That is less than a new one a week. I can do that. And to blog about them.

Sounds not too bad right? I think I can handle. Now...just to actually do :)

Menu Plan 1/10 - 11/15

So far this year hasn't shaped up very nicely. I have been sick more days than healthy so far this year! And I rarely get sick. So for me, not happy at all about it. Last week's menu went pretty ok with the exception of I didn't make the veggie soup as planned. And other than that I made what I thought I would. Which is great! So you will see veggie soup for Tuesday which is going to be made. Wednesday I have the day off because I worked Saturday so I plan on making some homemade bread that day and work on my 52 weeks of organizing. Be sure to look up Orgjunke.com for both.

Monday - Mac and Cheese*using my mom's cheese sauce*

Tuesday - Beef Veggie Soup and bread

Wednesday - enchiladas*beans and cheese*

Thursday - sweet and sour pork with rice noodles

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - leftovers or whatever we find in the freezer

Happy New Year!!!! (five days late...)

Man, the time has gotten away from me. I apologize with my whole heart! I have no good excuses for you. My birthday is over, of which I got a Wii from my mom and dad. I love them so much! And my mom in law gave me socks! I love her so much! Christmas is over and it was a wonderful time with my family on both sides. New Years was spent with hubby's family on his dad's side. It is wonderful to see how that side of the family really took in my mom in law when hubby's dad died when he was just a year and half. Such a huge blessing to have such a caring family! I can't imagine why people don't like their in-laws.

This past December I made a few resolutions for the New Year. One was to get our budget down to only spending what is absolutely necessary. Food and shelter. So far so good. It helps when you get your hubby a Miata calendar for Christmas for us to write what we spend down on :) In order to help with that spending goal I have made the menu plan for the entire month of January excluding weekends. Now my goal is to spend less than $200 for the month on groceries. Now, I don't know if that will be feasible right now due to the fact that we are just starting. But I have made it on $300 a month, so I'm sure I can do $200. Plus this will help out on our eating out budget to be much lower. ***DISCLAIMER*** we are not in debt up to our eyeballs. I just want to live within in a single salary if possible.

SO with out further ado....my menu plan for this week! (I won't overload you with the entire month)

Monday - Pizza Pasta Casserole * this was from the freezer and wasn't made due to me being sick*

Tuesday - Veggie Soup and bread *this wasn't made because day 2 of being sick, but I did warm up the Pizza Pasta Casserole for the hubby to eat when he got home for lunch/dinner from work

Wednesday - tacos * I made a taco seasoning mix from someone I found online and not a fan too much of it, so I'm glad I didn't make it all with the taco seasoning. will have to find something else.

THursday - Chicken stir fry and rice

Friday - home made pizza *Taking this over to hubby's mom's house for dinner before she leaves for Phoenix. She's visiting her friend out there and going to a work conference.

Saturday - leftovers *I'm probably going to make the veggie soup today because it will be a nice crockpot meal.