Menu Monday

My blog friend, Rachel, posts her meal plan for the week every Monday. I like seeing what she has on her menu because it helps to give me inspiration. I have a tendency to get stuck in a rut and make the same things over and over again. My menu may not do the same thing for you, but just in case...I think I might start doing this every week.

Here is what is on the Grizzle Family Menu this week:

• Chicken Parmesan Penne, Salad and Garlic Bread
  
• Chicken Stir Fry & Steamed Broccoli
  
• BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Corn & Bacon Biscuits
  (Slow Cooker)
  
• BLT Benedict with Avacado & Tomato Relish
  (from the March Issue of Southern Living)
  
• BBQ Pork Quesadillas & Mexicorn Casserole
  (made from leftover BBQ)

Have a great week!!!

Organizing Our Recipes

Since we are on the topic of organization (see yesterday's post) I decided to share some of my fave tips. This is probably the one that saves my life the most...a Grizzle Family Recipe Book.

When Ben and I first got married I was all I-am-going-to-be-the-best-Souther-version-of-Martha-Stewart-wife-ever. I would sift through my plethora of recipe books and Southern Living magazines for elaborate June Clever-esque meals to make for Ben. I had visions of them coming out of the oven, steam rising from the top, whilst I was decked out in my pearls and perfectly coordinated sweater set and apron. We would sit down to a candle-lit dinner of squab and asparagus with a nice hollandaise sauce.

Insert screeching halt here. Ben doesn't eat that stuff...and frankly, neither do I.

So, I worked my way through hundreds of recipes before I finally found a manageable collection of recipes that suited us.

But after all of that work, I was left with a pile of magazine clippings, books with little post-it's saving pages and scraps of scribbled on paper in a drawer. I would have to rummage through them to decide what was on the menu for the week.

SOLUTION:
I bought a cute photo album. It is a binder style with sleeves that are portioned out to fit 4x6 photos. Mine fits 2 4x6 photos in each page. I typed out all of my recipes - 4 to a page, cut them into postcard size and inserted them where the pictures should go. I also created an index for it.

I do my meal planning ever 2 weeks. I usually just flip through the index to pick some recipes and then I can turn to the actual recipe to make my shopping list from the ingredients. It is a definite time saver! Anytime I find a new recipe that works well for my family, I make a new card and add it to my rotation


Of course, I still always run across recipes that I want to try. Today, my friend Rachel from over at "The Johnson's" posted a blog with a solution for those recipes as well. Check it out!

P.S. Once you compile your book of Family Recipes you can make copies for your mom, sister, friends, etc. They are great gifts! Especially for new wives.

In the Pantry

The pantry at our apartment has been cleared out and moved to the house. This is EVERYTHING and then some that was in my old pantry and I still have room to grow. Granted I hadn't bought much groceries in the past month in anticipation of the move, but I can't wait to buy tons of containers to turn it into my dream pantry!

The Good Wife's Guide

I was reminded of this article the other day by Martina Penter. She pointed out that it would be quite fitting for "The Happy Life of a Happy Wife" blog. Please read with as much sarcasm as you can imagine...

from Housekeeping Monthly, May 13, 1955
(It's a wonder why this magazine is not around anymore.)

• Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, in time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
• Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
• Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. and then run a dustcloth over the tables.
• Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
• Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
• Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
• Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
• Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
  
• Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.
• Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
• Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone though that day.
• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
• Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
• A good wife always knows her place.

I am convinced this was written by a man.

Jamie Grizzle, INC

I have started doing a little freelance design work on the side. I am thinking about expanding this and really getting the word out that I am open to this kind of thing. Products would include, but not be limited to:

• blogs
• flyers
• invitations
• calling cards
• return address labels
• postcards
• bookmarks
  
• menus
• recipe cards
• stationery
• organizational skills
• custom calendars
• brochures

It is still something I am just throwing around in my head, but be watching for more blogs about this topic....

Grocery Shopping on a Budget

WARNING: Extremely nerdy and boring blog below. Big spenders, please avert your eyes!

I know this seems a tad OCD (even for me) but it works and, if you are a nerd like I am, is actually kinda fun. It may also be a bit TMI, but I'm pretty open about stuff and love to share tips whenever possible. So if you don't care about this and if you are bored already, feel free to quit reading. For those of you left...

Ben and I have dived head first into the Penny Pinching World of Dave Ramsey and have started trying to save money wherever we can. One of the easiest areas for us to do this in is the grocery store. Because cooking is my favorite past time, I tend to try fancy recipes with expensive ingredients and insist on using fresh vegetables and herbs in all my meals. But with the rising cost of groceries, our supermarket bill has risen significantly in the past few months. Obviously, we can't help that gas prices are ridiculous and the price of groceries are going up in response, but I can be smart about how I shop.

After budgeting and "naming" every dollar we make (as Mr. Ramsey says to do) we found we were spending nearly $100 a week on groceries. That's $400 a month. I didn't realize that was high until I saw that Jon & Kate only spend $150/week for a family of 10! I mean come on people, it's just little ol' Ben and me, so if Kate can spend that little then so can I. I decreased our grocery budget to $150/every 2 weeks. I am proud to say that Saturday we made it out Wal-Mart's door spending only $133 for 14 days worth of groceries! We were able to painlessly cut $65 from our bill. We didn't even have to put anything back. We just payed attention to everything we bought and now we have an extra $130 month (without even clipping coupons yet)!

Money Saving Tips:

1. Plan your meals! I cannot stress this enough. If you are still having trouble with this, please read my previous blog or feel free to email me for help. I really look forward to doing this every other week and would love to help our family get on a schedule too. If you are able to plan and know EXACTLY what you need when you are in the store, you will save valuable time and money.
2. Choose meals based on ingredients. For instance, if I know I am going to make chili and will have lots of leftovers, I will plan to have chili topped baked potatoes on another night. Also, I mentioned I am a fan of fresh herbs. To make myself feel better about buying them, I will make sure to plan a few meals using the same herb. That way I don't buy a whole bunch of cilantro and only use 2 tablespoons of it and feel guilty for wasting the rest.
3. Buy in bulk. We shop at Sam's for large bags of frozen items. They have great tilapia and salmon. They are also individually wrapped so they last for a long time in the freezer. We just pull out a couple of filet's the night before we need them and they are ready to cook and serve in a matter of minutes when I get home from work. We also buy the big 5 lb. packs of ground beef. It saves about .$20/lb. When I get home, I just divide it up into 1 lb servings and freeze in Ziploc baggies.
4. Shop at Aldi. We buy canned foods, bread and milk there. The milk is $1.99/gallon and the bread is $.99 a loaf. Same thing we buy elsewhere, just cheaper. This alone saves us over $5, which might not seem like much, but it all adds up.
   
5. Cut coupons. I did this when I first moved here and was living on a single gal's budget for the first time. It really saves a lot of money if you do it right. The key is not to buy something just because you have a coupon for it. I plan my meals around the coupons I have and only buy what I need. So what if that special new cranberry juice has a $1 off coupon for it? I don't like cranberry juice - no need to try it.
6. Keep a tally of grocery prices as you shop. Last week we added up every single item on Ben's cell phone calculator as it went into the cart to make sure we stayed under budget. Now this is one of the things I warned might be a little too OCD for you. But it really helps. A) Because now we notice how much things cost and are able to recognize when the price goes up. B) We realize that we are nearing our budget total and are able to make sure we do not go over. Last week we stayed way under budget without even trying. I do dread the day that we have to put stuff back, but I also think it is important not to say, "Wow, we have $20 left. What do you want to get?"

A lot of these things may be "duh" tips for you. This whole budgeting thing is new to me and almost like learning a foreign language. So the more I figure it out, the more excited I get about it! Please feel free to write back with any money saving ideas that helps your family to save money.

Handy Dandy Menus

I have been accused of being OCD for planning my meals the way I do (and for many other things, as a matter of fact). But I have to say that meal planning is therapy for me. I don't do it because I am a super-wife by any means, I do it because if I didn't I would go to the grocery store and come home with half the ingredients I need, none of which would add up to make anything worth eating. I must say that my method works great for my family. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is having the after-work-cooking-blahs.

I have shared this process with my CORE Group gals and am now bravely opening it up to the blogging world with the knowledge that I will catch some slack for it. But if one family's dinner time is saved by reading this, my purpose has been served! (insert sarcasm here)

1) I usually choose 10 meals to cover a 2 week period. As many of you may know, there are actually 14 nights in 2 weeks. But we have date nights on Friday nights and eat with our CORE Group on Sunday nights. Hence, the 10 meals. I make a menu to help me see what I have chosen (I am a very visual person) that looks something like this:2) I pull out recipe cards for each and every dish on my list from my master recipe book (blog on this at another time) and write down all the ingredients.
3) I go through my cabinets and cross off everything that is on the list and already stocked in my kitchen.
4) I make a new list from the remaining items according the aisles they are in the grocery store. I keep a count of how many sticks of butter I will need, how many, bananas, etc. Trust me when I say that this comes in handy when you get to the store and think, I know I needed onions, but how many will I need?
5) I head to the the local food provider with my handy list and husband in tow. We work our way through the list from top to bottom and head home knowing we will have everything I need for all our meals in the next 2 weeks. No more midweek grocery store runs for the banana I forgot to pick up!

Wives note: your husband's will enjoy this method because he can look at the menu and say, tonights I think I shall like Enchiladas for dinner. Makes him feel special...