Menu Plan Monday

Sunday: Eating Out- Driving home from family camp

Monday: Skillet Chicken Parmesan & Sauteed Zucchini

Tuesday: Roast w/ Carrots & Potatoes & Corn bread w/ honey butter

Wednesday: Turkey Burgers & Fresh Fruit

Thursday: Fish Stick Sandwiches & Tator Tots

Friday: Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread & Salad

Saturday: Eating Leftovers :)

Fall Is Finally Here

I can't believe that today is officially the first day of fall. It still doesn't feel like it, but I'm excited for the weather to change. I do not like the heat and I don't do well being outside in the heat. I love the rain, the cold weather and the nice breezy days. Oh, how I love fall! I'm looking forward to doing a lot more crock-pot cooking since the weather will be getting cooler. I plan on crock-pot cooking at least 2 times a week, if not more. I want to make lots of different kinds of soup (I love soups, especially in the winter) and I also want to try a lot of new recipes. I get tired of eating the same kind of food all the time, but I don't want to try new recipes or cook much with the oven during the summer. It's just too hot! Now......it's time to experiment! Experiment with new foods, textures, colors and varieties. My boys are very picky with eating veggies, so I'm going to start making vegetable puree' so I can add this to whatever dinner I am making so they will get the proper nutrition. They won't even know I am doing it! :) I also plan on making baby food too. I have done this in the past with my older two boys and it's just so much cheaper, healthier and it's easy.

I sometimes set myself up for a challenge in wanting to do too many things and I don't have the time to complete everything. Hopefully I will find the time to do all of this. Happy 1st day of Fall! :)

Family Fun Magazine Subscription

I saw this post & wanted to share it with you. This is a great deal if you are interested! I love this magazine. They give such great tips & ideas for young children & cute recipe ideas as well, especially during the holidays.

Family Fun $4.29 for 1 Year

A Family Fun 1-year subscription is only $4.29 as the "deal of the day" at BestDealMagazines. Thanks to reader tips, try the coupon code PXSS927 to take an extra 15% off that price. Just in case you missed the short window of opportunity to get a free subscription, I wanted to tell you about this deal.I've got a list of more magazine subscriptions that are at $5 or just under. Many of the magazine deals are offered through Amazon.com, so if you're earning Swagbucks you can use one of your free Amazon gift cards for them.

Meal Plan Monday

Sunday: Leftover Pot Roast w/ Carrots & Potatoes & Garlic Bread

Monday: Tacos w/ all the fixings, Beans & Rice

Tuesday: Fettuccine Alfredo Pasta, Mixed Vegetables & Corned Beef Sandwiches for the hubby

Wednesday: Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Salad & Corn Bread w/ Honey Butter

Thursday: Fish Stick Sandwiches & Fresh Fruit

Friday: Off To Family Camp- Dinner Provided

Saturday: Family Camp- Dinner Provided

My Frugal Adventure!

This picture posted below is from my Walmart trip I made this morning using my coupons. It doesn't look like a lot, but boy can it sure add up fast. My total before coupons came out to $96.50, but I only spent $17.47. I had a lot of high dollar coupons for Air Wick I-Motion air freshener kits, so I wanted to take advantage of this before they expired.

I got: 4 packs of Chinet Paper Plates, 1 Ream of Copy Paper, 1 Plastic Tote Container (for my coupons), 9 Air Wick I-Motion Scented Oils & 6 Air Wick I-Motion Automatic Air Fresheners.




This was my Target trip I made last night. I had fun taking my two older boys with me and treated them to the .99 cent medium drink & popcorn combo, of which I had two coupons for $1.00 off of Target Cafe, so we ended up getting them FREE! Not only did they have fun coming with me to coupon shop, they were excited to get the treat too!

My total came to $96.25, but after all my coupons; I only spent $21.04! I was even able to get the travel size Connect 4 game for only .99 cents to take with us this weekend for family camp. The boys will have fun learning how to play this game! :)

Menu Plan Monday

It's that time again..........meal planning time! :) We are off to a new start of the week and we have a few busy nights ahead of us, so I thought it would be best to cook with my crock pot. I love cooking with crock pots because it's fast, simple and dinner is always ready early so it makes it easier to get out the door on time (especially when you have 3 kids in tow)!

Monday: Pork Chops (in Crock pot), Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Peas

Tuesday: Fish Stick Sandwiches, Applesauce & Mixed Vegetables

Wednesday: Roast w/ Carrots & Potatoes (in Crock pot) & Biscuits

Thursday: Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread & Salad

Friday: Eating out (I'm super excited about my date night with my hubby)
Thanks so much mom for planning on watching our kiddos to make this possible~ We love you!

Pumpkin Spice Waffles

After having a fun & adventurous morning of garage selling with close friends, I was delighted to have them over for a nice & delicious breakfast! I found this recipe online and I've been anxious on wanting to try it out, so I made it this morning. It was FABULOUS! My kids LOVED it! This had just the perfect blend of spices to make it tasty, but not overbearing. It felt as if the holidays have already arrived and winter was here! :) I will definitely make this again real soon! I also made breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs, cheese, tator tots and bacon wrapped in a flour tortilla. Those were very tasty as well. We all enjoyed a little bit of everything. :p




Pumpkin Spice Waffles

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 2/3 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in large bowl. In a second bowl, add eggs, sugar, pumpkin, milk and butter; beat well. Gently fold in the flour mixture. Spoon in about 3/4 cup of batter into the waffle iron. Cook each waffle for 4-5 minutes. This recipe makes approximately 5 waffles on my waffle iron.

Additional Notes: I spray my waffle iron (top & bottom) well with non-stick spray or these will stick to the waffle iron and make a big mess. Also, be sure to leave these on at least four to five minutes. If you try to take them off sooner than that, they will not taste as good or set up nicely.


**I wanted to share with you on how happy I was to find some Christian books at the garage sales today for .50-$1.00 each. What an AWESOME find! What a Blessing it was to find them and I look forward to reading them:

The New Dare To Discipline by Dr. James Dobson
Parenting with Scripture; A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments by Kara Durbin
Sticky Situations; 365 Devotions for Kids and Families by Betsy Schmitt
Veggie Tales Bible Story Book by Zonderkidz (for the kids)

I'm loaded.........with J & J that is!

I am totally loaded with Johnson & Johnson baby bath products for a long time. I didn't realize how many items I have purchased at Target within the past two weeks with all my coupons and freebies. I have had all my bags laying on my bathroom floor waiting to be put away, so I just started unloading the bags today. Much to my surprise, I ended up getting 17 bottles of Johnson & Johnson bath products and 10 bars of the Johnson & Johnson Soap Buddies Bars. I took my J&J coupons and stacked them with the Target coupon and paid only .54-.99 cents each for the big bottles (20 fl. oz.). What a BARGAIN! How could I pass this up. I then took the Target coupons and purchased the Soap Buddies Bars and received all 10 of these FREE! Yes.........FREE! I spent a total of $15.93 plus tax for everything. I would have paid that for only 3-4 items back when I didn't coupon shop, so I definitely SAVED big time! Having 3 little ones, I go through these bottles in no time.

My older son hasn't used the soap buddies bar yet, but I thought he's getting old enough he could give it a try. He might like the idea of holding a bar of soap and learning how to wash himself without Mommy always doing everything. He's starting to get independent now and wants to do everything himself. His saying is "Mommy, I want to do it myself"! I guess I need to let him start doing more things on his own, but that just means he's growing up way too fast and I'm not ready for that yet! :)

The Best Banana Bread Recipe

This is by far the best Banana Bread Recipe I have ever had. I have tried many recipes in the past, but this is definitely the BEST! I got this recipe off my sister-in-law (thanks Sandee) a couple years ago and I have been using it ever since. She got this recipe out of "The Best Recipe" Cookbook and they have had many more fantastic recipes we have tried and loved. After getting quite a few recipes from my sister-in-law, I put this Cookbook on my Christmas list last year and I got it! Yay for me! It also has a delicious homemade pizza dough recipe that I absolutely LOVE, but I will save that for another post! :)



Banana Bread Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups toasted walnuts, chopped coarse (optional)
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas
1/4 cup plain yogurt (I use vanilla sometimes)
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven 350 degrees. Grease and flour bottom and sides of regular loaf pan; set aside.

2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and walnuts together in large bowl; set aside.

3. Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!



I love using silicone molds for baking. Once the bread is cooked, they just plop right out of the mold making it super easy with no hassle of it sticking.




I like to make mini loaves because it's easier to cut for the kids and less messy! I also made two mini heart shaped loaves for my wonderful husband to surprise him with a nice treat to go along with his lunch and also to show how much I love him! :)

Meal Plan Monday

I plan on making simple meals this week due to our whole household being sick, including me (mommy)! Mommies are not supposed to get sick, otherwise it messes up our whole week and our routines. Hopefully we will get lots of rest and get over this cold real soon!

Monday: Grilled Cheese Sandwich & Tomato Soup

Tuesday: BBQ Chicken, Fresh Green Salad & Corn Muffins w/ Honey Butter

Wednesday: Spaghetti & Meatballs, Sweet Corn & Garlic Bread

Thursday: Chicken Salads w/ Leftover Garlic Bread

Friday: Turkey Burgers, Tator Tots & Fresh Fruit

Check This Out!

O.K.........so many of you already know I'm a bargain shopper. It may seem like I'm out shopping all the time, but I only get out about 1-2 times a week to take advantage of my coupons and shop for the items we are in need of for the week or two. Yesterday, I made a quick run to Target during nap time and look what I found.............

The Leap Frog Tag Reading System




I am so excited to share this with you because I was planning on buying this for Preston for Christmas this year. I was waiting for a good sale and this indeed was something I definitely couldn't pass up. They are normally priced at $49.99, in which I'm sure they run sales every so often, but I found this on clearance for only $12.48. BUT Wait...........I will tell you the best part next. I just so happened to find a $10.00 off coupon last week that I printed out two copies and kept in my purse just in case I found a good deal. I ended up getting The Tag Reading System for ONLY $2.48 each plus tax. I couldn't believe it myself! I used both of my coupons and got two, so I can give one away to my nephew for Christmas.