Goal Update- Week 3

 1 ) Work / Life Balance- Well it was an interesting week to say the least, it started as a short week do to a holiday. Then the district added 2 more days off due to the amount of sickness making its way around. Of course our whole house ended up being added to those who were sick, so we also stayed home on Thursday and Friday. So there was no outside the home work, but there also wasn't much going on here at home as we rested and did what needed to be done to survive.

2) Menu Planning- Since we were home all week , the menu was followed.

                                             

3) Blog More- this week I managed to write 2 Blog entries, and take lots of naps.

4) To Do List- Most days the list was to just feed the family, sleep and do one chore. I feel that this upcoming week really is going to be one that needs to to do list.

5) Game TIme- We played Ticket to Ride again, this time Aidan was the winner. We will start rotating the games we play but since most of us were coughing we didn't want to play a game that we had to talk a lot or that would take to long. 

6) Personal Goals - 

a) Get Up and Move- We spent the week sleeping, I did spend a few hours working in the yard yesterday as I was feeling better.

b) Drink More Water- I did drink water this week, lots and lots of water and tea anything to help my throat.

c) Fast Food- Since we didn't leave the house this week not much of a temptation. We did pick up hamburgers and chicken sandwiches on Saturday for lunch just as a treat.

7) Clean Kitchen before bed- I have been doing great at this, I am thinking of next month of adding another little habit,

8) Garden- I was able to get outside and lay down some cardboard, I am going to win against the weeds this year. I also was able to refill the bird feeder, so hopefully some of the song birds will be back.

Menu Plan 2022- Week 2

 Menu Plan - Week Two

Sunday- Chicken Enchiladas

Monday- Alfredo pasta with Chicken

Tuesday- Pizza- made by Conner

Wednesday- Sausage and potatoes

Thursday- Beef Pot Pie ( from the freezer)

Friday- Meatloaf ( from the freezer) 

Saturday- Chicken Noodle soup

What we ended up eating

Sunday- We did the Chicken Enchiladas and I also made one for the freezer. Plus I made pizza dough for the next few weeks.

Monday to Wednesday we followed the menu

Thursday- I had forgotten to pull  the beef pie out the freezer, so we had salisbury steak instead

Friday- I was very sick, so I had ramen and toast and the rest of the family ordered subs.

Saturday- The husband had pizza overnighted from Buffalo,NY to enjoy because of the Bills wildcard game on Saturday. 

Goal Update - Week 2

1 ) Work / Life Balance- It has been a crazy week at work. But I continue about not worrying about the next day, I control what I can and work hard during my work day but at the end I leave it at work. Well accept the aches and pains. 

2) Menu Planning- For the most part we followed the menu, there were some changes, on Friday as I was not feeling the husband order subs. He also treated us to pizza overnighted from Buffalo for the Bills game on Saturday.

                                             

3) Blog More- this week I managed to write 5 Blog entries, and what seems to be working is noting ideas on paper and then once a week sitting down and writing.

4) To Do List- Not so good on this one, didn't even try. I had long list for this long weekend, but the household has taken ill. So nothing on the list, but rest, and the least about of work needed to keep the household running. In fact today list consists of write blogs, rest, sweep floors, kitchen, and play a board game. 

5) Game TIme- We didn't get a chance to play on Friday since I came home sick from work. On Saturday we also didn't play as there was a Bills game. We do have plans on playing a game today.

6) Personal Goals - 

a) Get Up and Move- I worked at a school 5x this weeks so that was a solid 5 hours of moving each day. As far as family the youngest did TKD 1x last week.

b) Drink More Water- I did drink water this week, but also had more caffeine than I should have to try to get through the week. 

c) Fast Food- during the work week I did once for a breakfast. The work week didn't really go as planned at all . 

7) Clean Kitchen before bed- I have been doing great at this , and it's also making the rest of the household help. I was able to do this every night but Friday, when I was sick. But the other family members stepped up and took care of it.

8) Garden- nothing yet, but I have been thinking. 

Chicken Egg Rolls and Pizza Logs

 So last week we made chicken egg rolls and pizza logs, we make these about every 4 to 5 months. My husband is the best at rolling the egg rolls and I handle the pizza logs. 

Due to the amount of work and the mess when we make them we do it in bulk, I think this time we did 75 egg rolls and 96 pizza logs.

                                              

These are the wrappers that we use and they can be found in the freezer section of most Asian stores. If you can't find these the egg roll wrappers that you can find in the produce section of most major stores will also work, they will just look different and be a bit thicker.

For the pizza logs, you will need string cheese cut in half the long way, pepperoni, and spring roll wrappers. You could also use any veggies you would add to a pizza. If you don't have string cheese you can use shredded mozzarella but I find that the string cheese works better.

The pizza logs are easy, one piece of cheese, 6 pepperoni on a spring wrapper and roll. Seal with a egg wash and then fry. I like to cook all of them before I freeze that way I only need to make a mess with frying oil once, but you can freeze them un- fried To reheat from frozen you can use the oven, air fryer, or even microwave. 

Serve with pizza sauce on the side for dipping them in.

For the Chicken egg rolls, you will need ground chicken I used 2 pounds this time, 2 heads of cabbage sliced thin, a one pound of baby carrots chopped up in the mini food processor. I also like to season the mix with ginger and some oyster flavored sauce. Insead of cabbage and carrots you can use coleslaw mix.

Fry up the ground chicken in a bit of olive oil, remove from the pan. Add the cabbage and carrots and cook them down add the ginger and oyster sauce. Mix the cabbage mix with the chicken and let the mix cool. This time we lucked out as it was a very cold winter day so we set the mix outside to cool.

When you go to wrap them use about 2 TB of mix on a spring roll wrapper and seal with egg wash. And then fry. Same as the pizza logs you can re heat in the oven, air fryer, or microwave. 

He is the best at rolling the egg rolls.

I am in charge of the frying and this time I only burned myself once. 

Price Book- Week One

 I normally keep a paper price book, and I will also do that but I wanted to also use my blog to help keep track of prices for items like milk, bread, meat to see how prices go up and down during the year.

Week 1

 ALDI= A

Walmart= W

Sam's Club- S

Item	Store	Week 1
Bread	A	0.79
	W	0.89
Milk 2% Gallon	S	3.22
	W	2.98
Eggs 18ct	W	2.2
Ground Beef 90%	S	3.44lb
Chicken Tender Fr	S	2.79 lb
Moz Cheese	S	2.51 lb
Canned Chicken	S	1.39 8 for 10.98

Menu Planning 2022 Week !

 So the plan for the first week of the year was :

Saturday- Chicken Soup

Sunday- Hamburgers-  Aidan cooks

Monday- Turkey Club sandwiches w/ leftover soup

Tuesday- Pizza- Conner cooks

Wednesday- Taco- Nolan Cooks

Thursday- Chicken w/ Chicken Rice

Friday- Snack Dinner

Saturday- Potato Soup

What we ended up having:

Saturday- Chicken Soup w/ bread from Wheatfields bakery

Sunday- The best Aidan made hamburgers, with fresh veggies

Monday- BLT sandwiches w/leftover soup. What happened was when I went to use the turkey it was moldy which was a disappointment as I had bought it only 2 days before and it was with in dates. I had gotten it at Sam's, never have had an issue before with lunch meat from there, but since it's on the other side of town I was not going out of my way to return it. I did take pictures and the next time I am there I will stop by the customer service desk.

Tuesday- Conner and Shadow came to make dinner like they do every Tuesday but instead of the usal pizza. Shadow made her chicken and rice fajitas which the boys who live here had been asking for, many happy people that day at dinner. This is also the day that my phone met a unfortunate incident with water, and while the phone still works my camera  not so much. 

Wednesday- We did have tacos, but I made them and I have been told that only Nolan should be making Taco dinner nights. I guess I might have seasoned the meat a bit to much. 

Thursday- Chicken w/ Chicken Rice - Well this meal turned into Chicken and Biscuits w/ mashed potatoes and corn/ broccoli and there was a bit of a incident with my pressure cooker and the stove top.

 Yes I melted the bottom and the house smelled like melted plastic on the coldest day of the winter so far.I had moved the pressure cooker to the back of the stove, so that I could use the front burner to make the gravy and I must have bumped the dials and turned on the unit at the back. Good news is the pressure cooker is usable, and I was able to scrape all the melted plastic off the stove top.

Friday- Snack Dinner- Well we went to see Wicked the play and decided that we would get dinner in downtown KC. We ended up eating at brgrkitchen , I had the mac and cheese and the Cobb salad both delicious. The guys had the Juicy Lucy,  Portabellas Mushroom Burger and the New Burger all with fries. Aidan actually ordered something other than chicken strips for dinner out but then they didn't have chicken stips on the menu 😃

Saturday- We wrapped up the week  with Potato soup, and cheesy bread along with ice cream sundaes for desert as it was family game night. 

Time to go plan the menus for the coming week.

How did your dinners go this week ? 

Goal Update 2022- Week One

 It has been a good week as far as working on goals and I am hoping that it keeps on going this well.

1 ) Work / Life Balance- It has been a crazy week back to work thankfully it was a short week. I have been much better about not worrying about the next day, I control what I can and work hard during my work day but at the end I leave it at work. 

2) Menu Planning- For the most part we followed the menu, there were some changes but we did eat at home every night but Friday.

3) Blog More- this week I managed to write 3 Blog entries, and I think I may have found a way to make sure that I take time to blog. 

4) To Do List- Not so good on this one.

5) Game TIme- we did play a family game this week, it was Ticket to Ride and for the first time in a long time I won a game that we played. Some things that we did to make sure this happened was to let everyone in the house know that we were going to play a game on Saturday and the time. 

6) Personal Goals - 

a) Get Up and Move- I worked at a school 2x this weeks so that was a solid 5 hours of moving each day. As far as family the husband and older son did go to the gym once and the youngest did TKD 3x last week.

b) Drink More Water- What I did this week was drink water all morning and not have any soda till the afternoon when I needed some caffeine. 

c) Fast Food- during the work week I didn't get fast food at all, but I was tempted. Then I remembered this goal, and drove on past. I have started placing some snacks into my work bag so that I have something in the car to eat between different schools. We did have fast food 2x on the day that we went to my daughters school once for breakfast in the car, and to bring home donuts from a great place near her school as a treat. 

7) Clean Kitchen before bed- This goal has been the hardest and also has made the most impact. I was able to get it done every night but Friday night. Making sure that this was done , made the mornings and dinner each night easier. 

8) Garden- nothing yet.