Meal Plan 23!

Well, that was fun last week kind of having a week off from shopping at least! :)

We are in full force of our new budget and I have to say, it's kind of nice knowing exactly how much I have to spend on what! We are doing the envelope budget... gas, groceries, diapers, dog food, and fun money. The rest goes into our account and I have the monthly bills split equally so I pay half with Adam's first paycheck on the 5th and the rest with his check on the 20th. Leaving the rest to be transferred to our savings. I imagine there is a much better way to do this and I probably will end up adding more envelope categories as we go. OH, and any money left in the envelopes.. yup, goes directly to savings!

So, on to week 23! Again, I'm going to try to limit my grocery list for the sake of having something left over to save on the 20th :) But I also still want to try new stuff... I'm really enjoying cooking again. I know, I go through phases...

Spanish Rice Bake - I will probably use ground turkey instead of beef since I already have it on hand.
Biscuits and Gravy - Adam's absolute breakfast fav! And we bought everything to make it on Sunday but he ended up going hunting so I think I'll surprise him with it one night this week :) Also, we don't have a recipe... just buy sausage, gravy, biscuits and cook according to package directions. I imagine one day I should attempt this from scratch. I linked to the Allrecipes.com search for recipes... you're welcome! :)
Split Pea Soup - Adam said he'll hate this so I imagine I'll do this in the crockpot one day and have most of it for lunch but I wanted to include it for the recipe. I'm going to take some of the advice given in the comments to make it better :) I've been craving it for a while with all this cold weather! It's not a crockpot recipe but I'll probably make it and then throw it in the crock to simmer and stay warm.
Beef with Snow Peas - Have I mentioned I love the Pioneer Woman? Anyway, this one has become one of my favorites. Seriously.
Calzones - I linked to a recipe for your convenience but I'm going to take my pizza crust recipe and fill it with our fav ingredients {pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, onions, maybe some sausage if I can fit it in the budget}. That's called winging it. :)

The Grocery List:
1 pound lean ground beef {turkey!}

green bell pepper

1 (14.5 ounce) can canned tomatoes

1/2 cup chile sauce

ground cumin

Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

cilantro

Grands Biscuits
Packaged Gravy
Breakfast Sausage
1-1/2 cups dried split peas
1 pound ham bone
onions

dried marjoram

celery

carrots

Potato

1-1/2 pound Flank Steak
Soy Sauce
Sherry Or Cooking Sherry
Brown Sugar
Cornstarch
Minced Fresh Ginger
8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas
Scallions
Long Grain Rice
Pepperoni
Pizza sauce
Mushrooms
Black Olives
Sausage {maybe}

Not TOO bad of a grocery list {remember stuff I need is in bold} - definitely won't break my budget! :)

Meal Plan 22!

Lucky 22... lucky because this week we are starting our new budget. Saving money is hard work. Seriously.

So - my goal for this week was to spend little to NO money. Which kind of sucks because I sort of enjoy my trip to the grocery store each with Landon. At least it gives us something to do and gets us out of the house. But I suppose the weather isn't too horrible so maybe we'll take an extra trip to the park.

Anyway, I know this is a little late as I've been posting on Sundays but I figure it's going to be pretty boring. Here's goes regardless.

1. Mango Chicken Sausages - with grilled onions and red peppers. No recipe here... we bought these at Trader Joe's last time we went and have been in the freezer :)
2. Chicken Pot Pie - From Meal Plan 19... remember I froze one? I'm pulling it out tonight :)
3. Tamale Wednesday! (Sounds better on Tuesday huh?) Anyway, I guess technically we'll be buying these but Adam gets them from a local near his work who makes them fresh (wait for it...) every Wed :)
4. Cajun Chicken Pasta - Sounds yummy! And I am a sucker for The Pioneer Woman... :)
5. BBQ Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Mac & Cheese, and Cornbread :) Wholly southern night??? I think I can manage everything here but I might have to pick up some Velveeta for the M&C.

The Grocery List:
1 cup Heavy Cream
4 Roma Tomatoes
Red Onion
1 each Red & Green Pepper
Velveeta

Gotta love that grocery list eh???