Mea culpa....

I have been so derelict in posting. I'm sorry if you've been popping over to see my recipes or meal plans and have got nothing but bupkis.  We've been having a season of absolute craziness here.  We kind of hit a wall financially, and it was bad enough to make us panic momentarily...but God is so good, and He provided a second job for DH. So he has tacked on another 22 hrs + to his already busy schedule, and we have all had to make some big adjustments to our schedules.  But we'll be able to make our bills and still eat, so we're very thankful. 
I've also been busy with planning a special Christmas party for the ladies at church. We'll be having a traditional tree trimming party that should be a lot of fun. Yesterday, I made a bunch of those cinnamon applesauce ornaments that we've all been seeing on pinterest lately. My house smelled so cinnamon-y that it was almost too much. Almost. But word to the wise...if you are going to make those suckers,  make sure you use a really good non-stick pan. A pizza pan works well. The ornaments I baked on that came out great, but the ones that I put on my cookie sheet...not so much. They got stuck in a serious way.  By the way, I am now in the market for a new cookie sheet. LOL :)
In getting ready for the Christmas season, the church is also busily preparing for our annual Candlelight service in the park. Every year the church rents out the park on the beach and does a special outdoor service. The community really seems to enjoy it, and we end up with a few hundred people attending. I think that is pretty good for a little church of 50. We've had some big changes since we put this shindig on last year, so we have been restructuring a bit. That means new responsibilites for some, and more responsibilties for others, but I am confident we can pull this off well.  I am, however, trying to figure out what to do with my kiddos during that service.  They are so little that they really can't be expected to sit still very long and certainly not be quiet for a somber service. I'd prefer to keep them home but I am very much required to sing with the team, and my family is a little too far away to come out and babysit.  And, really, who else can you ask to babysit on Christmas Eve? It's a dilemma. I may have to sing the first part of the service and then drive them home. DH would have to hitch a ride home after the service and he'd have to set that up in advance...I wonder who we could ask. See? I have had quite a bit on my mind, but I digress.
 I have also been busy planning activities for my little ones for the advent season. They are already so excited about Christmas, and I want to make it as special as possible.  I am sure that leaves you wondering; "what does a Pastor's family do about Santa?" Well, let me tell you what we do. DH and I have come straight out and told our girls that pretending that Santa Claus comes to our house on Christmas Eve is a really fun game people play at Christmas time. We still do all the regular Santa-related activities, like going to see Santa and having a picture with him,  putting out Christmas cookies, and watching holiday movies, but we're honest about it. We avoid lying to our kids, but we don't want to rob them of the joy of  pretending either. It's a delicate balance, and every once in awhile we have to slip in a gentle reminder, but our kids are quite happy with knowing it is a game.
Hmmm...what else can I slip in to this very hodge-podge post?  Oh yeah, meals. We were out of food earlier this month, and had no prospects of getting more any time soon. But a lovely caring person (okay it was my MOM!)  shared out of her own pantry and got us through until we got a paycheck. It has still been very lean, but I am thankful for Mom's generosity that ensured my kiddos were well fed.  I am also very thankful that this should be the last month that things get that lean.   Hooray for hard-working husbands and a God that provides.

Now that I have caught you up, I will try to be more diligent in working in some time for blogging. I will feature some of the things we are doing for the advent season, and definitely the meal plans and special recipes we are using. 

Frugal Friday! Weekly Meal Plan

Goodness, I cannot believe that it is Friday again. This week has been ridiculously busy and it pretty much flew by. We made some good headway on our diet/nutrition/exercise plan, and I started using livestrong.com to track my calories because it has a much larger database than the government one. It's super-easy to track my meals now, which should make it easier to succeed...But I digress. You're here for my cheap-o meal plan. So here it is!   It's not very diverse because we are so short on cash, but it's nutritious and keeps our bellies full, so we're thankful for it.  Enjoy, and as always, if you want a recipe leave a comment, and I will get back to you.

What-I-Made Wednesday: Spaghetti Squash!

Here I am again, faithfully posting! Aren't you proud of me? ;)  (shameless, I know. LOL) It's time for me to share another recipe for What-I-Made Wednesday. Today's selection from the meal plan is Spaghetti Squash. This is a new one for me, so you are going to see photos of the inaugural squash-ing.  As you know, we're trying to shed a few pounds while staying healthy AND spending very little. That is a tall order, but I'm committed to it.  Having spaghetti squash instead of regular pasta is an excellent way to do all of that. It's only 33 calories per cup as compared to 222 calories in regular spaghetti, it is full of all sorts of vitamins and minerals, and it's pretty cheap. Even down here in the waaaaaaaay-south, it's only $1.88 /lb. The squash I used tonight was only about 2 pounds, so it wasn't very expensive. 

I didn't know how to cook a spaghetti squash, so I went to my trusty advisor Pinterest. I typed in "how to cook a spaghetti squash" and lo-and-behold there was a plethora of options.  My favorite was a link to a you-tube video with a microwave method! Yay! I love that I didn't have to heat my house up in the 90 degree weather. So I will share that link with you so you can share in my happiness.  Here you go!

Basically, you just take your spaghetti squash, stab it a bunch of times (like when you cook a baked potato) and put in a microwave-safe baking dish. Stick it in the microwave and zap it for about 12 minutes for a 2 lb squash, rotating it halfway through. Let it stand for 5 minutes or so and then slice the end off. Slice it down the middle and split it open like so.

Remove all the seeds and stringy guts parts from the center, and then use a fork to shred the inner flesh of the squash. It'll look like spaghetti. Surprise! :)

And that is all there is to it, really. I had some beautiful pasta sauce made with ground turkey in my freezer from last week's spaghetti night, so I thawed that on my stove top while I was microwaving the squash and making the steamed broccoli.  So, I added my sauce to my squash, topped it with a little grated Parmesan, plated my broccoli, and capped it all with a beautiful slice of Texas Toast garlic bread.

Yum! That's a good dinner anywhere folks! I have to tell you, that 4 hours later I am still full, and that just doesn't happen with pasta. DH really liked this too, and actually asked if we could switch permanently.  Yep! :)  If you would like my recipe for my pasta sauce with lean ground turkey, leave me a comment and I'll gladly share. Enjoy!

Frugal Friday: Meal Plans for Next Week

Friday is my grocery shopping day. That means we went from our empty pantry and feezer to nice and full today. This makes me happy. :) On Thursday nights I take time to plan out my grocery list and meal plan according to sale items and what I have in my kitchen. I know that some people look at multiple stores and store hop, but I just don't think it is wise for me because we live paycheck to paycheck.  I stick with one store that offers us gas reward points for using their store card, and the rest I get at Sam's Club. My weekly budget for 4 people is 100 bucks. That has to cover food and toiletries/laundry items. Down here in the waaaaaaaaay-south it is very expensive to live. Housing and food prices are ridiculous, so 100 bucks really doesn't go as far as you might think. I am very careful about what I purchase because it is important that my kids get as much nutritious food as possible.  So here is my weekly meal plan. If you want a recipe, just give me a shout and I'll get it to you. :)

So there you go! Enjoy!

It's "What-I-Made" Wednesday!

Can I hear some applause? I am actually posting twice in a row! woohoo!   :)  Okay, now that I am finished patting myself on the back, I can fill you on the title of my post. Like I said in my post yesterday, I got a nice little organizer for my blog and was able to come up with some ideas for posting regularly. I thought it might be nice to share some of the recipes I made in the past week. I enjoy blogs like those, so I figured "why not?" 
As I have mentioned in the past, Pastor's don't make a whole lot of money and we actually bring in a whole lot less than most. Because of that I have to use all my magic-frugal-wizard skills to make sure we can eat healthfully AND on the cheap. Now, I'm not saying it's always possible to have perfect meals. Sometimes it's not. I have a big ol' box of Ramen noodles in my pantry for when things get tight. That's when the kiddos get the nutritious stuff and DH and I just fill our tum-tums with those dorm-room staples. :) But anyway, God is good and right now, though we're down to our last 3 bucks until Friday's paycheck, we have exactly enough to eat well. 

Yesterday, I welcomed fall with a beautiful pot of Barley Beef Vegetable Soup. I love soup so much. It instantly transports my mind to images of pumpkins, changing autumn leaves, cool temperatures, and that wonderful fall smell that I enjoy so much.  So even though it's still near 90 degrees here in the waaaaaay-south and the humidity is about 100%, I just lived in denial made the soup anyway.  Here is a picture of that little pot of heaven:

I know: the picture is wicked-dark (you like my New England-speak there?) but I'll work on that in the future.  The recipe is pretty simple and the results are oh-so good. I encourage you to try this one. It is very high in nutrition but low in calories and cost. The 4 of us ate it for lunch yesterday, dinner yesterday, and we'll have it for lunch today too. :) The soup actually freezes very well, but I forgot to soak the beans for the meal I had planned and therefore had to feed everyone soup again. My bad! No one minded though, because this soup is so good.  Here's the recipe:

2 boxes low-fat, low sodium beef broth
2 small cans V-8 juice
1 beef bouillon cube
1 can of water
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (sans Lima Beans...yuck!)
1 small onion, chopped
2 Tbs veg. oil
1/2 lb extra lean stew beef
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 cup Barley
a sprinkling of Mrs. Dash Table Blend
a generous dash of dried Basil (I don't always measure. sorry)

Cut your stew beef into 1 inch cubes, and slice off any fat they might have left on it. Add your veg. oil to your soup pot, and heat on medium high. Add your beef and cook it until cooked through, stirring often. Add your onion and cook it until it is translucent, then add your garlic. Next, throw in  your V-8. Tomato products are fabulous for helping you get the beef off the bottom your pot. Then add in your broth, water, bouillon, spices, and veggies.   Once that comes to a boil add your barley. Reduce your heat to medium and let the whole thing simmer for about 40 minutes. Make sure you leave your wooden spoon on top of the pot so it doesn't boil over. :) When the barley is cooked, the soup is ready. Let it cool a little and enjoy. Mega-nutrition in a tiny little package.

Enjoy the soup, and if you are lucky enough to be above the Mason-Dixon today, enjoy the beautiful fall weather for me.

So...I'm not good at this yet. :) Let's catch up.

If you are one of the few who follow my Blog, I offer my deepest, most heart-felt apologies for not posting anything in about a millennium.  So often I say to myself, "Self, you need to get on there and update that blog you crazy nerd." I inevitably agree with myself, but obviously I do nothing about it. Truthfully, there has been so much going on in our lives that I really can't share with the online universe yet. So, it was a little taxing to try to come on here and try to mentally sift through it all and find something I could tell you about.  I'm sure you are now wondering what spurred me to finally pop on here. It was the lovely email I received from Erica over at  Confessions of a Homeschooler. Among many others things, she offers these beautiful little planners and organizers for Blogging, and today's email sent me a link to the 2012 and the 2013 versions. It was inspiring, really. (You can get them for yourself and check out her great site here.) So now, armed with a plan and a schedule in my home organizer (my giant pink binder that pretty much keeps this house running) I have come up with some ideas for posts this month. But first, I have to take care of business...I owe a book review to the wonderfully kind and patient folks over at Bethany House. Hopefully, they'll let me continue reviewing their books despite my tardiness.

 So, finally, I give you my thoughts on "To Love and Cherish" by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller. 

The book is described as following on Tracie Peterson's website :

When Melinda Colson's employer announces they'll be leaving Bridal Veil Island to return to their home in Cleveland, Melinda hopes her beau, Evan, will propose. But Evan isn't prepared to make an offer of marriage until he knows he can support a wife and family. Evan works as the assistant gamekeeper on Bridal Veil but hopes to be promoted soon.
Letters strengthen their love, but Melinda remains frustrated at being apart from the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. Then she learns of a devastating hurricane in Bridal Veil and knows she must give up her position as a lady's maid and make her way back to Evan.
The destruction on Bridal Veil is extensive, meaning every available person is needed to help with cleanup and repairs. Melinda finds a new job on the island, but Evan seems even busier than before, meaning she still never gets to see him. Has she given her heart to the wrong man?
And when Melinda overhears a vicious plot against President McKinley, who is scheduled to visit the island, is Evan the one she should turn to? Will Melinda and Evan ever get the chance to stand at the front of a church and promise "to love and cherish"?

This book is the second in the Bridal Veil Island series. I didn't read the first book, "To Have and To Hold" but "To Love and Cherish" was written in such a way that it didn't really matter. The setting was the same but the characters were all different, so I wasn't lost in some previous plot, nor did the authors have to rehash the plot of the previous book. I like that. It annoys me when the first half of books I'm reading are catch-ups to other books...but I digress.  I felt the characters in this book were very likable, though they seemed fairly modern to me. They presented interesting points of view on marriage and how men and women see things differently.  The thing I didn't like about this book was that I didn't get the sense of history I usually get from Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller's work. There was certainly some mention of historical markers, but I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more. Over all, I did enjoy the book and if I were to have the chance to read the third book in the series I would certainly do so.


And that's it for today folks. The littlest one just woke up from her nap and is now snuggled up in my arms. That is wonderful for my mommy-heart, but it makes it super-hard to type with any kind of accuracy or speed.  My plan is to post more tomorrow. If I do, make sure you cheer for me. :) What an achievement it would be!

Worst Blogger Ever Right Here!

I last posted in the beginning of July...July!!! It's near the end of August! What is wrong with me? Oh, that's right; I'm busy as heck! ;)   I have been filling in for the Sunday School director while she is on her 3-4 month vacation (ahem, yes, "month" is the correct word here), doing nursery every Sunday (yes, "every" is also the correct word), and homeschooling the kiddos... that is all on top of the regular Bible study we host here, the baked goods I prepare for said Bible study, all the housework and errands....I'll stop now, I am making myself tired.  But I will do a quick review of some of things we've been dealing with this past month.

As you know, I had switched over G-Pants cloth diapers for DD2. That was going pretty well, and I was pretty much used to the yuckiness :).  So notice I used that good ol' operative word "was" in that sentence.  DD2 had a MASSIVE growth spurt. Massive!!  She now fills out a 5T/size 5 very well. She is only an inch or so shorter than her big sister. This means the XL g-diapers no longer fit.  Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!  So, we're back to disposables and have not saved all the money I had hoped. But we did pretty much break even on the cost of the diapers, so I can't complain (too loudly anyway).

Along that same vein of bodily-function related topics, DD1 has decided she is not going to be potty trained and is trying to overthrow her potty-opressors (aka Mommy and Daddy).  Her tactics have included misinformation campaigns ( "no, I don't have to go peep-peeps"), rioting (No, No, I won't go! *tantrum tantrum tantrum),  and my personal favorite, going off the grid (Me: "Honey, where are you?"  DD1 from a closet or under the bed:  "Uh, Mommy, I poop-pooped. Can I have a diaper?").   So, there are many accidents with this child who could certainly do this if she was inclined to do so. 

On the homeschooling front, things are going very well (and certainly better than potty training). DD1, loves hearing the read-alouds and gets so excited over the projects we do.  For one of our stories the first week we planted a bean in a jar with some damp paper towels. She loves this science experiment and we check the plants progress every day. She still jumps up and down proclaiming how well her plant is growing. And it really is growing quickly. It's pretty huge up there on the top of my fridge. I think it's trying to reach the skylight.  She (DD, not the plant) is able to read and spell some sight words, and has a great grasp on counting 1-20 forward and backward. We're still working on cutting with scissors, but I think she'll get that very soon. Pretty good for barely 3!

In other news, there is a hurricane headed straight for us. :) Isn't that fun?  Seriously, we're considering evacuation if Isaac is expected to become a Cat 2 storm.  I used to far more adventurous, but now that I have these sweet little people to care for, I err on the side of caution. People here probably think we're nuts because they've all been through Charley....but that's okay. I'm willing to look foolish in this case.  So this week will be spent in preparation. I'm not sure if we'll drive or fly, but I will have to mkae some lists on what to pack for each situation.   That being said, it will probably be awhile before I blog again, which is a shame because I am behind on my book reviews. I will say this; Dee Henderson's new book "Full Disclosure" is one of the best books I have ever read; ever! So when it comes out read it. ;)