Monday's Menu and Goals Update and Tuesday's Goals

oregano and thyme from the garden~ready to dry!

 

I know posting my daily menus and goals may not

interest everyone but I, personally, enjoy having a peek into

other people's menus and the things that fill their days. It

often gives me motivation and inspiration when I'm feeling

"blah" as far as the "day in and day out" goes.  So...I thought

I might offer the same. Besides, it keeps me accountable

when I know others might be looking on.  And that, in itself,

keeps me motivated!

Monday's Menu

 

Breakfast~ scrambled eggs with American cheese; hubby

had toast; coffee 

Lunch~ I had an Atkins meal replacement bar

Dinner~ I had a shrimp salad with homemade creamy herb

 

dressing; hubby had a

blt & dinner salad with Thousand Island (both

homemade~trying to use up

what we have on hand before going grocery shopping)

 

***water for beverages unless noted. I'm also trying to

 

incorporate drinking a glass

of water with 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar mixed in.

Since my Monday didn't go quite as planned, I only

 

accomplished the first three things on my list. So they will go

 

on my Tuesday list.

 

 

Monday's Goals (Update)

1.  take hubby to doctor appointment

2.  misc. sewing/mending~

3.  powder room windowsill hotspot~ clean it off & wipe it down

4.  spend 15 minutes in craft/sewing room cleaning and organizing

5.  go through seeds and choose next ones to plant

6.  harvest sage & (since I didn't do it Sunday) basil to dry

 

                             ~bonus (if I can get to it project(s):

* clean out cabinet under microwave

 

 

 

Tuesday's Goals

 

1.  Wait for dishwasher delivery/installers (thank the Lord!)

2.  go through seeds and choose next ones to plant

3.  harvest sage& (since I didn't do it Sunday) basil to dry

4.  Pack modem for return and take to UPS

5.  spend at least 15 minutes working on more misc. sewing/mending

6.  Spend 15 minutes cleaning and organizing sewing/craft room.

 

~bonus (if I can get to it project(s):

* clean out cabinet under microwave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturdays and Sundays Menu; Mondays Goals

Saturdays Menu

Breakfast~ I had plain yogurt with honey; hubby had fried eggs and toast

Lunch~ ****crickets chirping****

Dinner~ We had Taco Bell~~~hubby=2 Quesaritos; me= Chicken Cantina Bowl...nummy!

Sundays Menu

Breakfast~ I had a protein smoothie; hubby had cold cereal & milk

Lunch~  I had an Atkins bar; hubby wasn't hungry

Dinner~  homemade chicken, mushroom, wild rice soup

 

 

Monday's Goals

1.  take hubby to doctor appointment

2.  misc. sewing/mending~

3.  powder room windowsill hotspot~ clean it off & wipe it down

4.  spend 15 minutes in craft/sewing room cleaning and organizing

5.  go through seeds and choose next ones to plant

6.  harvest sage & (since I didn't do it Sunday) basil to dry

                             ~bonus (if I can get to it project(s)~

* clean out cabinet under microwave

  Have a great day y'all!~ TJ

 

 

 

Ebates~My New (Savings) Love!

Please note: This post contains affiliate or referral links.
I always seem to be a little late on any new bandwagons. Recently, after hearing about it, I discovered

Ebates. I did a bit of clothing shopping and a few weeks later got a check from them for $9 & change. Cool! Shopping with a money kickback? Yep. I'm sold! Last night, when ordering out regular coffee order, I remembered to check on Ebates for the online store (I'm still getting used to remembering to use it---can you imagine?!) and found they were giving 2.5% cash back plus 5% off any order. After getting on the coffee website, I found they were offering a back to school 6% off any order special that trumped the 5% on the Ebates site! Add in the free shipping on orders $45 or more, plus the $1 off I used from "Loyalty Points" earned from out last order and we saved a total of $11.18! I truly love saving money! It becomes addictive. I learned frugality during a time when it was a necessity for survival but now I can't see any reason not to be prudent with money. It makes it go further even in the abundant times (i.e. there's more money left over to buy other things!).
If you're interested in saving money when you shop online and haven't heard about Ebates yet, I encourage you to check them out by clicking any "Ebates" word in this post and it will take you to there website where you can sign up and begin earning cash back on your online purchases. 

*when you follow the link and sign up with Ebates through my blog, I will earn a small referral fee, and I thank you and very much appreciate it!


Sunday Morning Smoothie

Sunday Morning Smoothie 

This morning, I decided to have a protein smoothie for breakfast.  My smoothies never

follow a particular recipe (except once when I tried to follow a recipe.  But after several

days of shopping at different stores trying to find the special ingredients-with no luck-I

decided to go back to my way.). My recipe is always just simply recipes of

experimentation. 

I make different types of smoothies: protein smoothies, fruit smoothies and green

smoothies. And as I've mentioned before, I always use what I have on hand. Sometimes

the "experiment" turns out yumilicious and sometimes they turn out, well, not so great. 

This morning was yumilicious.

I used *1 scoop of protein powder, 1/2 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder, a handful of

 

frozen blueberries, most of a whole frozen banana, 4 cubes of frozen plain yogurt (which

 

I freeze when the yogurt is getting close to it's expiration date), 4 frozen strawberries, 1/2

 

cup of apple juice and 1/2 cup of water. At the last minute (and why it's not pictured) I

 

decided to add a tablespoon of ground flax seed for more fiber. I popped all the

 

ingredients in my ninja blender and voila! Breakfast!

Now, I may never make this exact "recipe" again. But only because being the frugal girl

that I am, if I don't have this combo of ingredients on hand again, it ain't gonna happen.

But...there's always tomorrow, and I still have the ingredients...

 

Have a great day y'all!~TJ 

*I purchased all these products myself

Friday's Goals~Update and Menu

 

 

 

Friday's Goals

1. raspberries~ freeze the 5 pints I bought on sale for $1 each at Randalls on Wednesday. (I rinse, air dry for a bit on paper towels and then spread out on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet before popping in the freezer for and hour. Then into zip top gallon bags before placing back into the freezer. Some I might use the food saver on for longer storage.

2.  chicken stock~ strain and place chicken stock that I made in the slow cooker from

 carcass of  the baked chicken we had last week. Place into freezer containers and into

freezer. (The one chicken was eaten baked the first night, and then we used some meat in

 a green salad another night. Any bits of chicken that is strained out of the broth will be

a treat for the kitties. OK...and maybe Dollface too.)

3.  vacuum downstairs

4.  oregano, thyme and basil~ cut and prepare for drying. (I just lay herbs out on a flour sack towel lined baking sheet and cover with paper towels so that air circulates but no dust settles on them.)

5. tackle kitchen hotspots~ the table and windowsill by the back door become a catchall for things that need to go out in the garage,garden or recycling bin. ugh...

6.  bathe Dollface~ so `tinky toes can become twinkly toes! (did I hear a puppy "ugh"?)

~bonus (if I can get to it project(s)~

*misc. sewing/mending

Above, I marked through the "to do" items I accomplished. The ones I didn't

complete I will do on Sunday as I set aside Saturdays as a Sabbath/day of

rest/rejuvenation of my mind, body and spirit. My to do lists are by no means the only

things I do for the whole day, they are things that don't fall into my "dailies" category,

such as meal preps, watering plants/lawn/garden, laundry etc.

Speaking of meal preps, I also want to, again, try to remember to keep track of my daily

menus/meal plans here so that when I lose my "what should I cook for dinner" mojo, I

will be able to review menus past for some inspiration. I'll start with today!

Fridays Menu

Breakfast~ scrambled eggs on cinnamon raisin english muffin, coffee (hubby had a slice

 of american cheese on his)

Lunch~ frozen fruit/spinach smoothie (me, hubby didn't want anything)

Dinner~ macaroni & cheese (boxed. We prefer our homemade stovetop version but I had

 a couple of boxes in the pantry and wanted to use them up before they went bad.);

dinner salad, water to drink.

Nothing exciting but nourishing and comforting. And fairly frugal! (Because to be

honest, I was tempted to go pick up burgers for dinner ; D )

Have a great day!~ TJ

 

 

Fridays Goals

gifts from the garden~arranged in a vase saved from a Mother's Day arrangement



 

Friday's Goals

1. raspberries~ freeze the 5 pints I bought on sale for $1 each at Randalls on Wednesday. (I rinse, air dry for a bit on paper towels and then spread out on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet before popping in the freezer for and hour. Then into zip top gallon bags before placing back into the freezer. Some I might use the food saver on for longer storage.

2.  chicken stock~ strain and place chicken stock that I made in the slow cooker from

 carcass of  the baked chicken we had last week. Place into freezer containers and into

freezer. (The one chicken was eaten baked the first night, and then we used some meat in

 a green salad another night. Any bits of chicken that is strained out of the broth will be

a treat for the kitties. OK...and maybe Dollface too.)

3.  vacuum downstairs

4.  oregano, thyme and basil~ cut and prepare for drying. (I just lay herbs out on a flour sack towel lined baking sheet and cover with paper towels so that air circulates but no dust settles on them.)

5. tackle kitchen hotspots~ the table and windowsill by the back door become a catchall for things that need to go out in the garage,garden or recycling bin. ugh...

6.  bathe Dollface~ so `tinky toes can become twinkly toes! (did I hear a puppy "ugh"?)

~bonus (if I can get to it project(s)~

*misc. sewing/mending

    

 

 

Oatmeal Cream Pie Cake



Oatmeal Cream Pie Cake

I mentioned recently that I came up with an oatmeal cream pie cake recipe that my family adores so I wanted to share the recipe. One, so I don't forget it and two, in case anyone else out there would like to give it a go and become a dessert heroine to anyone who happens to have a fondness for a similar factory made delight. Now I'm not claimin' to have the keys to the oatmeal cream pie kingdom with this recipe. No, there are many others out there so individual tastes may vary. Try 'em all!!! I probably will eventually :) 

Here we go...

Oatmeal Cream Pie Cake

For the cake:

2 1/4 cups AP flour
2 cups ground (in my blender) old fashioned oatmeal (or instant oats can be used)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup softened butter (let sit at room temp 'til softened)
2 cups brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

For the cream frosting:
1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar (confectioners)
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
a couple of dashes of sea salt

Now, let the fun begin! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spray a 13"x9" baking pan with a baking spray or grease and flour the pan.

Combine first four dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Set aside and in a large bowl, cream the softened butter with electric mixer until smooth. Add brown sugar and mix until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla, blending until well incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl occasionally to be sure no ingredients are being left out )': 
Add dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture and combine well.

Spread the oatmeal dough mixture into your sprayed/greased/floured baking pan and pop that baby into the preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes (or until you can insert a toothpick about an inch from the edge of the pan and it comes out clean). Let cool completely while you make the creamy, dreamy frosting...

Frosting directions:
with your electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth then add the powdered sugar, combining until well incorporated. Add remaining 3 ingredients and blend until well combined. Frost the cake when completely cooled and enjoy!

If you make this, or have any questions, let me know! I love hearing from you!

Thanks for stopping by!~TJ