Grocery Shopping again! and more

You know for someone who doesn't like to grocery shop I sure have been doing it an aweful lot lately. Today's grocery trip went much faster than last weeks as far as the actual trip itself....preparing for it still took HOURS!!! BUT, it was worth it. Spent $149.09 and saved $83.33. LOVE saving money. I am determined to "beat the game"...one of these days it WILL happen.

So dinner for the last couple of nights has been very interesting to say the least.

We had Cheesy Stuffed Shells on Saturday..it received a 1 out of 3 kid approval rating. The rest of us thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't take full credit for it though, found the recipe in the "Best Loved" edition.

1 container (16oz) low fat cottage cheese (I substituted with ricotta)
1 pkg (10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
1 cup 2% milk shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
10 jumbo pasta shells, cooked, drained
1 jar (26oz) spaghetti sauce
1 large tomato, chopped

To make it:
Heat oven to 400*F. Mix cottage cheese (or ricotta), spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella, parmesan and seasoning; spoon into shells.

Mix sauce and tomatoes; spoon half into 13x9-inch baking dish. Add filled shells; top with remaining sauce. Cover

Bake 25min or until heated through. Top with remining mozzarella; bake, uncovered, 2min or until melted.

Very easy to make and really delish!


The girls have been protesting having chicken pot pie for the better part of 2 weeks. It's something that has been on the menu and been replaced a couple of times. With the latest time being yesterday...gotta have chicken to actually make it! Go figure. BK to the rescue!!

I'd rate this 1.5 out of 3 kids for approval and that may be a stretch! I'm giving it this rating because they ALL ate it, they may not have liked it, but they did eat it. This is another Kraft recipe.

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 pkg (16oz) frozen vegetable blend
1/2 lb (8oz) Velveeta pasteurized perpared cheese product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 can (10 3/4oz) reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can (8oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

To make it:

Heat oven to 375*F

Combine first 4 ingredients in 13x9-ince baking dish

Unroll dough; place over chicken mixture.

Bake 20 to 25min or until crust is golden brown.

Healthy Living: save 40 calories and 5grams of total fat per serving by preparing with Velveeta 2%, ff cream of chicken, and reduced fat crescent rolls.

All in all a very good dish...would be perfect for the Fall/Winter...a good comfort dish. For us moms in a hurry this is one you can prepare ahead of time and throw in the over....but being the slacker that I am, it didn't take that long to throw together. I combined all of the other ingredients while the chicken was cooking.

Back to school

We're off and running! The girls have had a good week so far and I am utterly thankful for that.

Morgan got a good schedule at school, PE at the end of the day and what could be more important than that!

Meredith's school is doing things a bit different this year, she'll be changing classes for every subject. This is odd for elementary school and not something that as a family we have experienced. She seems to be okay with it, I'm curious to see how it will go. Today is the first day of switching classes...we'll see. Her biggest complaint is that the bus driver seems to be an erratic driver.

Madyson's schedule was wrong, but she handled it all by herself! They still had her enrolled in Orchestra (she decided that she didn't want to continue at the end of last school year), after the front office mad her go get the teacher sign off that she had in fact dropped it they corrected her schedule.

Much to my surprise dinner has been a breeze this week! *Keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of the week* Did things a bit different this week, in that only planned for 1 week at a time as opposed to 2. Definately easier to compile! Meredith told me yesterday that I did a good job in planning for this week...made me smile. A step in the right direction considering where we were 5 weeks ago.

Grocery shopping this week was actually somewhat enjoyable! Trying to figure out this couponing thing...it is more difficult than I ever thought it would be. Went to the 3 stores I had mapped out and ended up saving $41.32!!! Not too shabby. I'm hoping to get better and faster at my planning and shopping while still increasing our savings. Still have A LOT to learn!!!

No new recipes tried so far this week....will be trying one on Saturday, keep your fingers crossed!

the last week

Well we survived back to school shopping with relatively NO fighting amongst the girls and I cannot state enough how happy that makes me. I was really amazed at how supportive they were of one another. Shopping took a totally different turn in what it has been in the past...I am thankful for that. I always enjoy spending time with my girls, can't say that it doesn't make it that much more fun when they are getting along too!

This is the last week of calm before school starts. The calm before the storm! YIKES!!

I'm praying that God will put into their lives teachers that will impact their lives in a positive way.

Morgan entering High School scares the crap out of me. So not only am I praying for positive impact of her teachers; but I am also praying for her safety, praying for her to make good solid choices with respect to friends, her body, sex, drugs, and boys. She has a good head on her shoulders and I can attribute that to God and guiding her. Jason and I will have to work harder than ever to keep her on the right path during these years.

Madyson entering 7th grade, my biggest fear with her is friends. I pray that she is able to continue to make good choices when it comes to selecting her friends.

Meredith will be going into 5th grade this year! I pray that she has a better year this year than she did last year with being more self confident and making friends that will not be caddy. She had a difficult time last year with feeling accepted by her peers.

Admittidly, we have been slacking in attending church on a regular basis...we will have to change this! I really believe that keeping the girls surrounded by those that believe the same things that we believe will not only strengthen their believe, but also keep them on the path that God would have them to be on. Keep us accountable for raising the gifts that He has given to us in a way that He would have us.

In addition to back to school shopping this past week, we had a flurry of doctors appointments for the girls. I'm happy to say that everyone is in good health and all received good reports at the doctor. Meredith had her nose cauterized in hopes that she will be free of nosebleeds for quite some time!

I also had to get my head in the game for August during this past week for myself. I had decided that August was going to be the time that I get my nutrition back on track. I have slowly been gaining weight (I guess not all that slowly really) and I don't like that! So knowing that I am the only one that can change what I put into my mouth I am committing to making healthy choices.

Yesterday being day 1, I did pretty good. I am going to be journaling my food, but I don't think I'll be committing to logging it on here every day. (As I type this there is a segment called "The Cheater's Diet")I haven't been very good at getting on here anyway and I have to do something that I am going to do everyday. What I am hoping is that I develop a habit that doesn't disappear in 2 wks.

Hmmmmmm....now that it is 11 o'clock, maybe perhaps my girls should join me in the land of the living/productive :)