Cooking on a budget

Lately, our grocery bill has seemed to skyrocket. It is not uncommon for me to spend 180 dollars a week for food. I still remember a few short years ago when 100 dollars was plenty. There are several factors, including the price of food and growing tummies in my growing boys! So I'm been trying to take a look at my menus and trim some money where I can. I did find a list of frugal recipes online. Most of them have been good. Let me preface this with a couple things: 1) My kids eat like kids. They are not big into rice, beans, and all the yummy things I love that are inexpensive. 2) On the same note, I don't want to serve chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for every meal. So planning is just a little tougher with these things in mind. But I found a recipe that EVERYONE seems to love, including the kids.





I LOVE Chinese food. (So do my kids!) I would eat it almost everyday if I could. I found a recipe on the above mentioned website, and tweaked it. Here is the result. Close to Chinese, but alot cheaper.



It's actually pretty easy.

Ramen noodles, the oriental flavor - (I buy 5 packages...but 2 of my kids only eat the ramen... if I were feeding Steve and I, I would probably be able to get by with 1 package)

Some type of protein. I happen to love tofu that is 'browned' in a skillet (fried in oil)

Veges- I used 1 package of frozen broccoli and 1 package of fresh baby bella mushrooms that I quartered

cornstarch

...............................................

I cooked the ramen noodles and drained them. While the noodles were cooking, I browned my tofu (you could cook chicken or beef chunks if you so choose for your protien) When my tofu was done, then I added my veges and stir-fried them. In a separate bowl, I wisked together 1/2 c. of water and 1 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch for each packet of ramen (So in my case it was 2 1/2 c. of water and 7 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch) and wisk that together with your seasoning packets from the ramen noodles. Add this mixture to your tofu/vege stirfry. Stir until thick and bubbly. Serve over ramen noodles. I REALLY like this recipe. It's a sort-of close knock off to chinese and you pick your veges and such. And, it's not expensive. And it gets a thumbs up from all my kids. Win-win situation!

One tough cookie!

( This picture shows Mason's true character-he makes our house so fun!)

Last Friday around Mason comes running up the stairs, and says "Mommy, I'm bleeding" in a very calm voice....and then turns around. I gasped. Blood was pouring out of his head. Now, Mason wasn't crying and (as many of you know), head wounds do tend to bleed a lot, so I tried to not get too bent out of shape. I quickly grabbed some towels and cleaned up his head. When I got a closer look, I knew he would need stitches. It was DEEP. Thankfully when I called the doctor's office, our pediatrician had an open appointment in 10 minutes. See we loaded (quickly) in the car and off we went.

When we got to the doctor everyone kind of had this panicked look, and the receptionist said; 'is this Matthew?' I said, "Why, sure THIS is Matthew (pointing into the stroller), but we're here with Mason." A look of relief swept over everyone's faces. Apparently the nurse we talked to accidentally clicked the wrong name when we called and everyone thought Matthew had busted his head open!!! (And they were of course, all wondering how that happened!)

Back into the treatment room we went. Dr. "S" numbed him up and Mason didn't even make a peep! I couldn't believe it. He just would squeeze his eyes shut with each poke. This little guy is tough as nails, I tell you! Three stitches later, we were on our way back home.

What I find most interesting is Mason's account of the incident of the injury. He told me...."Micah and I were wrestling, and I had a boxing glove on. Micah pushed me and I went FLYING!!! Then I landed on my head and blood came gushing out everywhere!" (That is word for word...oh and by the way, we are almost sure his head came in contact with a lego piece..causing the gash). We have since banned wrestling from the house!!

Matthew's 4th of July attire

It was almost cold here on the 4th of July. I had a cute little outfit planned for him to wear. I ended up pairing this cute outfit with a sweatshirt, socks and a pair of baby leggings. It even sprinkled a bit that afternoon.

We had a quiet 4th. The kids and Steve spent some time at the neighbors shooting off fireworks and Matthew and I chilled at home. He doesn't quite the sound of the fireworks, and he still has a cold, so we just stayed inside once it started getting noisy! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

We've been seein' alot more of this lately...

Please excuse the lighting on this picture...it was too cute though not to share!

Matthew has been almost giggly...it's been fun to see him happy...not something we get to see all the time

Matthew's new do

Matthew has had this cute little mullet growing for awhile. I finally decided enough was enough. So I got out my trusty shears and off it came. I also trimmed the top and sides, but it is not quite as noticable. Here's some before and afters

Before pictures

After in the back...it looks so much better

So Matthew had his second ride in an ambulance yesterday. All seemed well in the morning, but by 10:45, when he woke up from his morning nap, he had a very croupy cough. I got an appointment for him at the ped's office, to JUST get a breathing treatment. When we got there, they gave him a breathing treatment and a shot of steriods. His oxygen levels were in the high 80's/low 90's...so they figured he better go to the hospital. After they gave him his steriod shot, he cried so hard, he held his breath, which almost always causes him to have a seizure---which he did. I think that was the final straw for the office staff. They decided that I would not be able to drive him to the hospital and that we should take an ambulance! I'm sure that made for an interesting conversation in the waiting room!

Luckily, after about 4 breathing treatments throughout the evening and night, he just now has a slight cough and a very snotty nose. They sent us happily home today. That is one place I don't enjoy being and thank goodness it was only overnight. We're happy to be home!

Fishing

Last Friday, my brother, Curt took the big 2 kids fishing. It was actually Micah's birthday present from Curt...to take him fishing for 1/2 the day. He let him invite 1 person and he invited his sister...what a nice kid if I do say so myself! They had a blast and they caught a ton of fish at my friends private pond. They got up very early to fish and didn't even ask for lunch, so you know they were having fun!

Micah LOVES to fish!

Megan even touched the fish! This was nearly as big as her!

Curt said this one was 3 1/2 pounds! Nice fish