Sunday, July 10, 2016

Chicken Fried Rice

Looking for a meal that's easy to pull together and satisfies the craving for Asian food? Chicken Fried Rice is an easy dish to throw together and in reality is very cheap to make, especially for a large amount of people!
This recipe satisfied everyone's hunger and there were leftovers even after we had seconds! Since we are doing a budget challenge I decided to work this one in. I had some carrots I bought from SAM's, chicken thighs I bought on sale from Food City, rice I bought from TJ's, and eggs and onions we already had. Total, based on the ratios of everything used (we still have a lot left of each ingredient), this meal cost less than $6 for six people to have for dinner. 


Chicken Fried Rice:

1 pound of chicken, cooked and shredded (chicken thighs were so tender and worked great!)
3 cups of cooked brown jasmine rice (or whatever rice you have on hand)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 cup of fresh diced carrots (I boiled mine just until they started to soften just a little)
1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas
2-3 T Soy sauce or alternative such as Liquid Aminos 
2 eggs
(optional) add chopped green onions on top at the end

1. Cook and shred or dice chicken. (I cooked mine in a baking dish in the oven with a soy sauce and honey mixture on top. While I cooked my chicken I was cooking my rice, my particular type of rice takes 35 minutes to cook)
2. Preheat a large skillet or wok on medium heat. Pour a bit of olive oil in the bottom to begin heating. Once oil is heated add onion, peas, and carrots, frying until tender. 
3. Push vegetable mixture to one side of the pan. On the other side scramble 2 eggs. Once you have finished cooking, mix with vegetables. 
4. Next, add rice and chicken and pour soy sauce on top. Stir and continue frying until heated thoroughly and well combined. 
5. Add chopped green onions if you like and enjoy!

Saturday, July 9, 2016

July- Week 2 Meal Plan and Why I don't Coupon Anymore

Today we are kicking off the second week of our July budget challenge. This past week was full of store visits and mainly contained purchases of household staple items such as toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. This ate up $96.97 of our $175 grocery budget for the month. Looking at those numbers and the fact that I spent another $19.34 at Food City day before yesterday, I'm getting kind of nervous about what is left in our grocery budget for the month. Right now I have $58.69 left for the rest of the month. I'm still determined to find a way to make this work. Before when I used to coupon I could have easily done it, however, having four very young children now, I honestly don't have the time to devote to it. This leads me to why I don't coupon anymore...

In the past few years we have also made many changes to how we eat. We eat mainly fresh fruits and veggies, very little processed foods, as organic and non-gmo as possible, plant based and green cleaners, and safer toothpastes, shampoos, and soaps. I cook most things from scratch so that I know what my family is eating. Most of the things we purchase don't have coupons, so that, plus the time issue is why I don't coupon anymore. I do access and use Target's Cartwheel app for some items, but otherwise, I'm couponless.

Now, onto this week's meal plan:

Saturday, July 9:

Breakfast- Egg Sandwiches
Lunch- Annie's Mac and Cheese and Applesauce
Dinner- Chicken Fried Rice (recipe to follow)

Sunday, July 10:

Breakfast- (church)
Lunch- After Church dinner
Dinner- Beef Cabbage Soup

Monday, July 11:

Breakfast- Oatmeal and fruit (blackberries growing in the woods beside the house)
Lunch- Peanut Butter wraps, carrot sticks and cucumbers out of the garden
Dinner- Leftover Beef Cabbage Soup

Tuesday, July 12:

Breakfast- eggs and toast
Lunch- Tortilla pizzas
Dinner- Black Bean and Chicken Quesadillas 

Wednesday, July 13:

Breakfast- Quick Potato Hash (Recipe to follow)
Lunch- Chicken salads
Dinner- Deer Burgers

Thursday, July 14:

Breakfast- Pancakes from fresh ground wheat
Lunch- Leftover burgers
Dinner- Pinto beans, potatoes, and green beans from the garden

Friday, July 15:

Breakfast- Oatmeal and fruit
Lunch- PB&J
Dinner- Leftovers

Saturday, July 16:

Breakfast- eggs and toast
Lunch- Any leftovers or PB&J
Dinner- Spaghetti (using frozen sauce from last week, recipe to follow)

Hope you guys have a fabulous week!

Blessings

Megan





Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Budget Challenge- Recap of Week 1

This week has gone pretty well. We actually got to save a couple of meals when we participated in community events that offered free snacks or food for July 4th. 
Many meals on our plan for this week used ingredients that had been sitting in the pantry or freezer for quite some time. However, we started the month by running out of many things such as; toothpaste, pull-ups, storage bags, and dishwasher tabs. There have been many store runs but hopefully the rest of the month require that. Here is the rundown of how much was spent;

Trader Joes: $39.36

Local veggie/fruit market: $10.38

My TJ's and market run

Sam's: $10.67

Starbuck's: about $4 (I can't remember the total)

Target: $20.75

Cookout restaurant: $11.81 (This one killed me.... one of my little ones had a doctor's appointment today and it                                 ended up taking 2 hours!)


Total: $96.97!!! Yikes! I still think we can do it, and we will! 


I will be posting my Week 2 meal plan tomorrow! 

Friday, July 1, 2016

July-Week 1 Meal Plan

Today kicked off the budget challenge! I spent some time thinking about how to utilize what we have for our upcoming meals. Clearly, I need to make a run to the store for fruits, veggies, and a few other items. Thankfully we have wild blackberries that grow next to the house so the kids and I picked some last night and used them to make our first meal this morning (be sure to check out the link for the recipe, it was delicious!).




Friday, July 1:
Breakfast- Streusel Berry Muffins (I made them exactly as written except without nuts)
Lunch- (pool day) Hard boiled eggs, chips and salsa, cherries
Snack- raspberries
Dinner- Deer Chili

Saturday, July 2:
Breakfast- Breakfast burritos
Lunch- Tuna melts
Dinner- Grilled Chicken

Sunday, July 3:
Breakfast- Banana (breakfast at church)
Lunch- Grilled Chicken salads
Dinner- Pork Tenderloin

Monday, July 4:
Breakfast- Sausage Biscuits
Lunch- Sandwiches
Dinner- Cookout with Jon's parents

Tuesday, July 5:
Breakfast- Oatmeal and Fruit
Lunch- Sandwiches
Dinner- Spaghetti and Salad

Wednesday, July 6:
Breakfast- Eggs and Fruit
Lunch- Quesadillas
Dinner- Leftovers

Thursday, July 7:
Breakfast- Sausage Biscuits
Lunch- sandwiches
Dinner- Spicy Chicken Lo Mein 

Friday, July 8:
Breakfast- Pancakes with Strawberry sauce
Lunch- Hard boiled eggs, cheese, fruit, and carrot sticks
Dinner- Pizza night (gf for Asher)