Cheap and Yummy!

 Yesterday Ben was home, as his hours at work are shorter now, and so he, Eliana and I got to spend some time together! It was strange being just the 3 of us. Eliana definitely didn't mind the extra attention:) We had to hang around home for awhile so that our maintenance guy could do the yearly home inspection and then we made a trip to one of our favorite libraries and Goodwill. Ben scored several Shakespeare books (he is a VERY well-read individual!!) and Eliana and I found a few little treasures, too. We found a few good children's books to add to the prize bucket, a couple canning jars and a pair of summer shorts for Samuel. I also found this adorable set of Alphabet flash cards:

I must've had my phone turned the wrong way because both pictures are a little off. Oops! They are brightly colored on one side...

And have cute old-fashioned pictures on the other side. They are really sturdy and cost only .99 for the set! Eliana has been having fun with them.

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So far my first month of budgeting is going SO well!! E and I did our 2nd grocery shopping trip today and once again made it just under $100! I even found a couple of really good deals! I am not a couponer, as I mentioned in my first budgeting post, but I went ahead and checked to see if anything I was buying had a coupon and found one at Target for noodles and for pasta. I was thrilled to see they were already on sale so I grabbed 7 boxes of various noodles for $.78 each and got 3 jars of spaghetti sauce for only $2.12! Stocking up on things like that will only help my subsequent shopping trips be even cheaper!

I was much better this time about sticking strictly to my list. Last week really opened my eyes to how easy it is to impulse buy. I practically put blinders on this time and forced myself to keep walking and not even be swayed a tiny bit by the sweet 3 year old voice saying, "Can we get that?" every few minutes. I am feeling really good about this so far. We were out of eggs by Sunday night and worked hard to ration our milk so we had a little left this morning. We are going through about 2 gallons a week! This is really helping us be aware of how much/how often we eat and really appreciating what we have around the house.

And get this: (READ CAREFULLY) Budgeting meals do NOT have to be boring!! Really. So far, we have all really enjoyed the meals and I have tried several new things like Broccoli Rigatoni (SO good!), Mexican White Bean Soup (It made enough to freeze some, too!), and tonight's meal Bean Burgers on Pretzel Buns with Roasted Veggies. I will share some of the other meal recipes soon! Here is the Pretzel Bun recipe I used. They were great! Next time I would make them a little ahead of time because there was a lot of preparation going on at the same time. I would also double the recipe and freeze some. Yum!

The bean burgers were great! I started with an original recipe on allrecipes.com but changed it up a bit. It made enough for all us for dinner, a couple for leftovers for lunch tomorrow for B to take to work and 19 more to freeze.....that's right. 19:) My freezer is getting stocked with all of these extra meal portions!!

I cook up 2 lbs of dried beans this morning (and afternoon) and froze a couple of quart jars of them and had enough for all of the bean burgers!

Bean Burgers

1 lb. dried pinto beans, soaked, cooked and drained (follow directions on bag!)
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
4 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper
3/4-1 cup flour
oil for cooking
cornmeal

Preparation:
1. Saute onions in 1 TB oil until nicely browned, stirring often. Set aside.

2. Put well-drained beans in a large bowl and mash, mash, mash!!
3. When beans are well-mashed (or as mashed as you want), add in eggs, breadcrumbs, onions and seasonings and mix very well. Add in flour 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture is just stiff enough to form into patties. It will be a very soft mixture and your hands will get messy!!

4. Heat oil in skillet (we used our cast-iron skillet). Sprinkle cornmeal on a large plate or cutting board. Grab a handful of bean mixture and lightly pack into a ball. Gently press the ball into the cornmeal on the plate to form a pattie. Repeat on the other side.

5. Fry the bean burgers in the skillet on both sides until cooked through. Serve on a bun with cheese, lettuce and tomato. YUM!! They were a huge hit with everyone and I am so happy that the extra work of making them all resulted in 2 bags of frozen burgers for later meals!!

I served the burgers with a side of roasted broccoli and cauliflower, which was delicious!

Who said cheap has to be boring??

Busy Days!

It was one of our busy days today! We had Baby C today and we all headed out for MOPS Bible study, which takes some doing with 4 kids! My boys took such good care of Eliana. When I came to pick them up from the classroom, the boys were standing on each side of her, holding her hands. Such a sweet picture:)

I was very late getting dinner on the table tonight so I let the kiddos get in their jammies/and or bathed and then watch a cartoon while they were waiting. They chose "Bugs Bunny," which we got from the library the other day. They just love it so much! I told them it was what I used to watch when I was a kid. Cartoons are so weird these days!

The nice thing about feeding kids is when I am lacking time to prepare an elaborate meal, they are thrilled with frozen veggies and noodles:) For B and I, I made up a quick salad with leftover grilled BBQ'd chicken from last night, some cut off corn on the cob (also from last night), cucumbers, egg and avocado on lettuce. Easy and delicious! (the goal motto of my life:)

I got these awesome cards from a toy store awhile ago that I keep in my purse for emergency distractions in public (a must with kids!). They are faces and scenes that the kids can fill in or decorate with a dry-erase marker. You wipe them clean and they are ready for use again! I love them.

I took a picture of this card because it was Eliana's first attempt at drawing faces! I was so impressed with her drawing skills! (even if they look a bit like zombies:) The boys were no where near as skilled with coloring and drawing at 2 years old. It's neat to watch kids' progression of drawing and according to my mom, you can tell a lot about kid's emotional development and sense of self through their drawings. I'm pretty sure Eliana is confident in her self-worth:)

The kiddos and I made a quick trip to Goodwill yesterday and scored an almost brand-new bread machine for $3.75! I decided it was worth checking it out since it was so cheap and made our first loaf of bread today. It turned out pretty good! It will take some getting used to since I loved my old bread machine so much. But beggars can't be choosers and that was too good of a deal to pass up!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the past couple of days!! It has been in the 70s and cool enough to open the windows and enjoy fresh air. I really wish it would last! We also realized that school starts FOUR weeks from today. Yikes! I cannot believe how fast this summer has flown. It has been so busy and full. Part of me is glad that school will start because it is nice to have routine and structure to our days but part of me is sad. The boys have SO much fun spending hours playing outside with friends and it's nice to have them around talking and giving extra hugs. Not to mention, playing with Eliana, who just thrives off of their company. I wouldn't be surprised if she cried the first few days of school again, like she did last year. I may shed a tear or two myself...

Friday Snips

A few snippits of our day:

*I was Mystery Reader for Zakkai's class this afternoon. Oh, if only you could have seen his face light up! It feels so good to have the power to make your child feel special and loved! He got to come sit on a special chair next to me and he was beaming the whole time:)

*It was actually sunny today! I thought I'd document it for proof that the sun does actually shine....:)

*Our bread machine, after 10 years of faithful service, is going to be laid to rest. The stinky part? The machine itself is working pretty well. It's the bread pan that is shot and there are NO replacement parts that are sold or fit it! I am SO sad because I have adored this bread machine. It has made countless loaves of delicious homemade breads and endless batches of pizza dough. Wiping a tear....

*We hauled up the train/lego table and legos to the boys' room this afternoon and set up rules so it won't become a declared disaster zone like it has been in the basement! I think they will really enjoy having a nice space to play legos in their room. The empty space in the basement is going to become an art area and I will be happy to share pictures once I fix that up!

*Eliana and I trekked over to Goodwill this morning to drop off some things we were able to weed out in the room transitions and to look for some lamps, as we have some dark zones in our house. I got 2 lamps (shades and bases) for a total of $8! Eliana is SO excited to have light in her room:) I also picked up the first 4 books in the Mitford series for only $3.50 total. I always think of my family when I see those books, knowing how much some of them love that series!

*Ben and I gave up tv for the first week of Lent. It didn't seem like a big deal, as we are not big tv watchers. But sometimes you do something more than you think you do or at least take for granted its availability and when it's not available....We usually watch a movie Friday nights, let the kiddos watch a cartoon a couple times a week and maybe a movie on Saturdays and I like to turn on a show while I fold laundry. Not this week! I folded in silence tonight and did some praying instead. Maybe I have been filling silence with noise and time with mindless activities when God could have used that time to speak to me? Just a thought....

*I am doing much better with computer time since I wrote my post. A half an hour a day and being much more intentional about being quick and conscientious of time. I think Saturdays will be my off-limits day, which I think will be harder than I thought. No email, no quick WWF game, no blog......just time focusing on my family. Probably a good thing....

See you Sunday!