Spaghetti Sauce

I got this recipe from a dear old friend I've known forever! Thanks Shannon Clark Davis! I can't wait to try it!!!

Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb meat (if you want meat)
2 large cans of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic (less if you are not a garlic fan)
1/2 large onion chopped
some salt and pepper...you know...enough (no clue how much)
a few spoonfuls of sugar

brown meat olive oil garlic and onions. Put tomatoes in the blender and chop up a little and add to the meat mixture with the rest of the ingredients. I cook it for about 3 hours (or the crock pot works too) The longer you cook it the better it will be!

Rebecca's Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I got this recipe from a friend I used to teach with. Thanks Stacia Nuessle!!!

Rebecca's Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole - Shared by a friend at church
(I double the recipe to get TWO for me to freeze.)

Ingredients
* boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped (3 to 4 breasts)
* 1 box of Uncle Ben's Original Wild Rice, cooked according to directions on box
* 1/2 lb. sausage, cooked and drained
* 1 pt. fresh mushrooms (sauteed with onions)
* 1 medium vidalia onion chopped (sauteed with mushrooms)
* 1 can cream of mushroom soup
* 1/2 pint sour cream
* Nature's Seasoning to taste

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

Sautee mushrooms and onions until tender. Mix all ingredients together adding Nature's Seasoning to taste. Pour mixture into casserole dish and bake for 40 min. or until hot and bubbly.

Planning

Well, today I did not get as much done as I wanted to. It took a while to plan and then I decided to stay home today and cook what I already had in the house. We did 2 weeks worth of menus and made our list. If I double everything then I should get 4 weeks out of it, but I doubt I'll do that on things I'm not too sure if we will like or not. I found some really great menus to print out and plan on. I still prefer paper and pencil to do this part.

Things I did today:

Pumpkin muffins (I left out the chocolate chips since I don't like chocolate unless it is chocolate chip cookies or a brownie.) I made 24 muffins.

Pancakes-I only doubled this recipe to make sure we were going to like the mix. I made 30 big pancakes and 20 mini pancakes. They were delicious so I will be making more tomorrow! Mollie and I mixed them up and Madison cooked them. We make a GREAT team!

Taco Soup-I doubled this recipe too! I'm not sure how much I have to freeze yet because I put it all in a big Tupperware and in the fridge till tomorrow. I used all my freezer bags on the pancakes so I need to get more!

Hamburgers-had some meat left over so Brad grilled 6 patties. He, Madison, Mollie ate this for dinner (he also grilled some deer sausage for him to take to work!), Margaret ate pancakes, and I had Taco Soup. What a conglomeration!!!

Chicken and Vegetables -I really don't have a recipe for this. I had some frozen chicken breast in the freezer so I just threw them in the crock pot and seasoned them with a little of EVERYTHING we had in the cabinet. I had some squash I needed to cook so I threw them in there along with some fresh broccoli, potatoes, and purple onions. I added a cup of water since these are boneless, skinless breast and I wasn't too sure how much water they would release while cooking. This will be our lunch for tomorrow.

My plan for tomorrow is to go to the grocery store and get the things I need to make the rest of the items on my list.

French toast sticks

Waffles

Pancakes

Chicken Rice Casserole

Pasta Primavera

Lasagna

Spaghetti Sauce -thanks to Shannon Clark Davis!

Chili -I use the recipe out of the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. I use the Easy Chili recipe on page 38. I can post for anyone that needs it.

Whole Chicken -we get 3 meals out of 1 whole chicken. I put the whole chicken in my crock pot with a little seasoning salt, Cavenders, salt, and pepper. DO NOT ADD WATER!! I cook on low ALL day or night. I half this and we eat it as a meal with vegetables, I use the other half and the broth(make sure you save it!) to make chicken and egg noodles, and chicken and rice. I may cook 2 this time since there are so many recipes that call for cooked chicken and I will have it for when I need it. (Chicken Macaroni Bake, Chicken Tetrazzini, Chicken Divan, Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole)

Salmon fillets -I cook these on my George Foreman. I wash the salmon and sprinkle with Blackened Redfish Magic on both sides. It only take a few minutes for these to cook on the George Foreman. I make sure I cook enough so I have leftovers. I use them for Salmon Cesear Salad and Salmon Salad. I also found a great recipe today (thanks Jennifer Earp!) for Firecracker Salad so I will be trying this too. I will probably mix everything up and freeze so all I will have to do is bake them.

Vegetable Soup

Hamburger meat-plan on cooking this so I can make Taco meat, Sloppy Joes, spaghetti sauce, Chili

Let's hope I can get it all done tomorrow after church. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Now, do I have room in my freezer for all of this?

Baking Day Plan

Thanks to an idea I got from Money Saving Mom I am going to attempt to make a plan and have a baking day. I absolutely LOVE having things already cooked and in the freezer. This makes for very quick dinner nights. Also, we seem to be getting busier with our school work and extra activities so I want my life to be as easy as possible. The girls and I are working today on our lists and menus for the next 2 weeks to see how this is going to go. If all goes well, my next challenge will be to follow her $40.00 week grocery budget. We are an "eating" family of 5 so I will probably spend a little more than this, but I really want to try to stick with her budget.I know this sounds impossible, but it is working for Money Saving Mom so why can't it work for us too? I'll post our list and plan when we get finished. Wish me luck!!!