Smothered Pork Sausage in the Crockpot

This week my kids have swim lessons and it is right in the beginning of the evening! Which means dinnertime and dinner prep time is interrupted! Crockpot meals are a must every night!

Here is my recipe from last night:

1-2 lbs Uncooked Pork Sausage
3-4 onions
1 bell pepper (optional)
Salt & Pepper
Seasoning of choice (I use Cavendar's, you could use Tony's)

Place uncooked sausage in crockpot
smother with onions & bell peppers
Let cook for 3-4 hours on high
Season with salt, pepper & seasoning of choice

Serve over potatoes or rice!

OH SO GOOD!!

Kiss the Dinner rush GOOD-BYE!

One thing that is SO important about exclusively (atleast almost) eating at home is to have a PLAN!

You even need a plan for when you plan fails!

Any good mama can get lost in playing with there kids or folding laundry mountain, look up and realize it is 30 minutes until dinner!!! and the chicken is NOT thawed out!

You need to have atleast 2 or 3 go to recipes. Go ahead and excuse yourself, these recipes do NOT have to be as healthy as your normal meals. They will probably be more healthy than McD's and OH so much cheaper!

I wanted to share 2 of our favorites

Taco style lentils & rice

&

Hillbilly Enchiladas (yes these are high fat - deal with it!)

You don't have to use my suggestions but decide on 2 last minute meals and always have them in stock. Another favorite is Bacon & Eggs OR Pancakes & Sausage

Menu Plan - January 2nd - 8th

This picture doesn't have anything to do with menu planning but I thought it was sweet of me and my baby. And yes, that is my favorite shirt...I wear it all the time, living on less, remember?

Second week of $75/week budget

- Well last week went so well with spending no money (except that stint at Mcd's), I think I will do it 1 more time to get us deep in the black and start the new year off right.
This week I will be relying on leftovers….still (heard of the roast beef that wouldn’t die?) and meats that I have stocked up on in the past when the price was right.

DINNERS
Grilled Chicken Leg Quarters w/BBQ sauce & veggies (such a deal at less than $1.50 for my chicken)
Turkey Spaghetti w/fresh garden salad (fresh from my garden!)
Chicken & Dumplings (The other $1.50 of those leg quarters and homemade dumplins!)
Shrimp fettuccini or red sauce which ever I have on hand
Beans & rice w/a little leftover ham (see below)
Mexican Beef n rice casserole (this is that roast beef again)
Left over ham sandwiches from our New Years ham – from Logan Farms w/$50 gift card from Billy’s work (yep The Lord will provide!)

Breakfast
Yogurt w/fruit
Eggs & cheese w/toast
Oatmeal w/ pure cane syrup
Cinnamon & sugar nuggets w/ syrup
Cereal
Blender batter waffles made with whole grains (literally…they have not been ground)

Lunch
Tuna sandwiches
ramen noodles
Pb & J, fruit & yogurt
Mac N Cheese w/hotdogs wienies
smoothies
Spagettio’s
frozen pizza (I know soooo bad)
Well, this is going on my second week and I am super excited. This has allowed for us to use our money elsewhere.

All of these items I have in my storage/leftover except I will need the following:
- milk (whole milk) - 3 gallons - $4.50/gallon - $13.50
- creamer (coffee is my major weakness) - 2 quarts - $2.70/quart - $5.40
-cheese – three 8-ounce bags of shredded cheese about $6

$24.90 + tax

Turkey Stew

I am excited to report that my first 3 days of my new goal have gone exceptionally well. (except we did spend $17 today on McDonald's chicken nuggets and a newspaper)(we stayed in town too long and the kids were starving and we ALL know that hungry kids make stressed out parents!)

1. I cooked the BBQ sanwiches and it was edible. Note to self: next time you are turning any beef into pulled beef (beef falling apart in BBQ sauce) start the crockpot in the morning when you make breakfast. My sandwiches were like sliced beef bbq...not my style.

2. The Turkey Stew was surprisingly FANTASTIC! What I did was put the turkey bones with meat intentionally left on (you dont have to carve it so closely to get all the meat off) into a crockpot Saturday night. Sunday morning very early (too early if you ask me) I was awoken by a delicious smell in my house....it was the turkey simmering in water and spices. I added the leftover roasted potatoes and half a bag of frozen (gasp) mixed veggies. *remember I am on a budget now and that means I HAVE to use those bags of frozen stuff/or canned stuff that has been hiding out waiting for its expiration date to be tossed into the trash.

I walked in the door from church with an optimistic attitude and the stuff was GREAT! We put a roasted red potato in each bowl, mashed it, covered it with the veggies & turkey and added some of the broth. It was really good. So there was a free meal from leftover Christmas turkey.

***I forgot to mention that Billy did pull the turkey out of the crock, deboned it, and put the edible meat back in all before I got out of bed this morn. He know I hate that part.....awe.....

2 poor man meals down, 5 more to go!!

Menu Plan - December 26th to January 1st

Well, I am gearing up for my Live on Less challenge this coming year! I am so excited, I hope I will be this excited in 4 more weeks!

Since I have company (which I love play hostess!) I need to be sure that my meals are feeding 7-12 people each night. I also am coming off of spending hundreds of dollars for Christmas dinner and gifts (which I am purposing not to do this next year! In part by planning ahead.) SO....I am going to reuse a lot of leftover meats and make them into totally different meals.

Here is my plan:

First week of $75 budget
- Actually use $25 for this weeks budget
- $50 for the next week

7 Dinners
Turkey stew – turkey, pasta, veggies (leftover turkey &veggies/pasta is in the freezer)
Gumbo – Chicken & sausage (all leftover)
BBQ beef – (leftover brisket)
Roast w/rice & gravy – gravy packet (roast is in freezer, I bought it on sale)
Spaghetti w/fresh garden salad (ground beef I bought on sale - in freezer)
Beans & rice (in the cupboard - always a low price go to! Keep bacon fat/lefovers to flavor)
Beef & cheese quesadillas (use part of that leftover brisket for these)

Breakfast
Leftover quiche & fruit
Yogurt w/fruit (I make my own yogurt to save a TON of money and it is whole fat)
Eggs & cheese w/toast
Oatmeal w/cane syrup
Cinnamon & sugar nuggets w/ syrup
Cereal

Lunch
Tuna sandwiches
ramen noodles
Pb & J fruit & yogurt
Mac N Cheese w/hotdogs wienies
smoothies
Italian chicken w/corn
Hot dogs w/buns & fruit

All of these items I have in my storage except I will need the following:
- milk (whole milk) - 3 gallons - $4.50/gallon - $13.50
- creamer (coffee is my major weakness) - 2 quarts - $2.70/quart - $5.40

$18.90 + tax

I may need to pick up the 3 packs of ramen noodles as well (my kids LOVE these stinkin things!)

This menu will use lots of leftovers (not wasting food is key when trying to keep a low budget) and it will provide larger 1 pot meals for feeding big groups.

Now lets just see if I can get out of that store without spending a ton of money! haha!

UPDATE: I did make it out of the store without buying ANYTHING extra!! YEAH!!

MY secret: I sent Billy to the store...hahaha

Living on less!

This is my New Year’s Resolution….to live on less.

Live on less money, live on less STUFF, live with less commitments, live with less stress.
I think it is sad that I have failed at properly budgeting our money. I am inconsistent with my spending in every category. In groceries I fluctuate by well over $100-$200 each month. In clothes, I spend large amounts ($600-$1000) twice a year. Now, if I would set the monthly budget aside to make those bulk clothing purchases it would not be such a big deal but I don’t.
Needless to say, consistency is not my strength.

My plan to live on less is as follows….(no gasping allowed)

Spend $75 a week for all grocery items
• Clip coupons
• Plan budget conscience menus
• Limit snack foods
• Focus on whole food & meatless meal diet
• BE ACCOUNTABLE
Spend $5 per week/per child for clothing - $25/week total (this one scares me!)
• Sew as many clothes with repurposed materials as possible
• Buy used clothing
• Save clothing for younger siblings
Grow 75% of all produce this year

Plant 5-10 more fruit trees to increase fruit harvest in coming years

Spend no more than $75 per child per birthday (party & gift)

I am committing to bring $100/month into our family budget through talents I have.

I am so excited and optimistic about this plan. I have had these ideas and desires floating in my head for a couple of years at least but I never made a plan. I am so nervous and so excited at the same time. Of course while I want to sew everything the kids wear, I also have to realize I do not have much extra time. SO….I must budget my time with a balanced schedule and plan ahead.
I will plan at least 3 months ahead. I will hold 1 major planning day at the beginning of each month and then 1 smaller planning day each week.

On Wednesday’s I will plan my menu for the following week based on my coupons and the sale papers. I will go to the store on Thursday or Friday and report my success/failure. I am tracking the prices so that I can accurately plan my menus.
I will be working on clothing items each week and will post about those as well.