SATURDAY'S MENU

We decided to start the day with something fun. Movies!
To save money I popped some corn and packed some other snacks and water for the kids. But I forgot to get drinks for me and the husband. OMG! Big mistake! I never realized how much things cost at the cinema's concession. I paid 3.75 for a small soda. WOW!

The movie was great and I got the family involved in getting the table ready while I was cooking.

Lunch - Mongolian Beef with Noodles and Mandarin Cake.

Kids snacked away with stuff we had around and later I made a treat.

Dinner - Grilled Ham and Cheese with organic Cheese Puffs, Cheerios Peanut Butter bars.

FRIDAY'S MENU

So far so good! No restaurants yet.
We had another early day and my husband may have to go out for dinner with a work buddy from overseas. So tonight might be me and the kids again.
I did have ingredients ready for an oriental supper, but we might have to pass it.

After my daughter's Taekwon Do class I called my husband to check on dinner plans. The answer was yeas, he had to go with the friend. Since he was going out and the kids haven't had "junk" in a while I made another call. PIZZA NIGHT!

Dinner - Cheese Pizza and Mandarin Cake

Thursday's Menu

My husband had to leave really early and I had to wake my 3 year-old at 6:30am to tag along on the ride to my daughter's school. No! The school is not that far, just starts really early 7:45am.
By the time we came back home I was already getting dinner started.

Cleaned the split chicken breast I found on sale for 89c /lbs. Put the chicken to marinate in Italian Dressing and placed in the fridge. Then I moved on to the Green Bean Fritter. I had the batter ready in a bowl to be spooned and fried later. By 9:30am it was ready to go.

Then I was off to drop my son off at daycare and headed to my dental appointment.

I was a busy, busy day! But I managed to have dinner on the table one more night.

Dinner - Grilled Chicken, Green Bean Fritters, White Rice and Peaches

Wednesday's Menu

Wednesdays are my carefree days. Is the only afternoon my daughter has no extra activities and I try to take the kids to the pool, so we all can take a break. Because of that I debated the entire day if I should also give the kids a break and stop by a fast food drive-thru or not. At the end I went home and made ourselves the same meal they would have ordered anyways. They just didn't get the toys and the cost of 3 meals was the same as 1 kids meal at the fast food place

Dinner - Chicken Tenders, Fries and Yogurt.

Tuesday's Menu

So once again I was craving my grandmother's pasta with shrimp. So I got some nice clean shrimp and started cooking. Than I realized that I wasn't serving any veggies. I then decided to add some ingredients. This time the shrimp had the company of mushroom, peas and white corn.

Lunch - Chicken Tenders and left over Cauliflower Souffle / Peaches
Snach - Pao de Queijo ( Brazilian Cheese Rolls)
Dinner - Grandma's Shrimp Pasta with veggies / Honeydew

Grilled Chicken Success

I can not believe my 3 year old son ate the grilled chicken and asked for more.
It was probably the easiest chicken I have ever made.

Gabriel's Grilled Chicken ( I'll name it after my son so I remember he loved it)

8 boneless chicken thighs
1/2 bottle of Newman's Own Italian Family Dressing
Sea salt

Add all ingredients in a marinating bowl and place it in the fridge for at leat 1 hour. I got it ready in the morning and grilled for dinner.

Bom Apetite!

ON TODAY'S MENU

Here is today's menu:

Lunch - Mac&Cheese for the kids
Afternoon Snack - Red Velvet cake made with beets
Dinner - Grilled Chicken Thighs, Cauliflower Souffle, Rice and Beans

New Budget Challenge

So here is the deal. Nobody is swimming in money these days and we are no different. Sure we have some room, but not that much. I believe in active children and even with just two kids, those sport's classes and gear started to get really expensive. In order to be able to afford the extras we decided to cut back on restaurant bills. We will allow ourselves to eat out once or twice a week.

So far so good. We are ending the weekend and nobody had to go out to eat yet.

It's a learning process. I need to plan meals ahead so I have the ingredients ready. Also try to prepare some dishes ahead of time.
Here is what we had in the past few days that might inspire others to cook something different:

Wednesday's Dinner - Brazilian Chicken Strogonoff with Rice
Thursday's Dinner - Chicken Tenders and Egg Rolls
Friday's Dinner - Beef Tacos
Saturday's Lunch - Calzones
Saturday's Dinner - Chicken Taquitos
Sunday's Brunch - Waffles, Scrambled Eggs, Maple Sausage and Tater Toots
Sunday's Dinner - Burguers and Chips

How many dishes can you make with ground beef?

Any ideas out there?
I think ground beef is one of the most versatile main ingredients of all times.
I'm in a quest for new dishes to add to my menu. And if anybody would like an idea of what to make with ground beef check out my list.
Already cooked the ground beef can be:

Served straight with rice and beans
Sheppard's Pie
Enchilada's
Tacos
Crepes (Panquecas)
Spaghetti Bolognese
Stuffed Zucchinis
Stuffed Peppers
Lasagna
Empanadas (Pastel)
Frittadas


Different ways to start the cooking process such as mixing ingredients before baking, grilling or cooking can include:

Meatloafs
Burguers
Stuffed Cabbage Leaves
Stuffed Grape Leaves
Salisbury Steaks