Pork chops with homemade musch room gravy with green beans and a spinach salad for 4.92

Tonight's dinner was yummy and tasty and all homemade.  And all at .98 per person not the healthiest  of meals but yummy non the less. 

Cost break down

pork chops (1.33) 

mushroom (1.39)

green beans (.50)

 spinach salad (1.70)

brown rice (free with wic)

staples

 

I wish I could tell you a recipe for the sauce/gravy but I winged it next time I will write it down to share this was very good and much lighter than they kids with the canned cream soup.  I even used water as I didn't have any stock on and and it was still full of flavor. Really it wasn't hard either and it's something I suggest you try.

Now I feel like saying sorry for the lack of posts but I have been posting more over on my other blog Spirit goes from fat to fit.  And well I have been busy just being a mom.  I have cut back on the coupons a bit but still aim to save money every time a shop and I am aim to eat better, which leaves many coupons out for us.  But it's a great thing.

I am also working on home schooling my Ricky which takes up a good part of the day.  But I will be around and posting and share with you.  Just not as much.  I have to out being a mommy first, I am sure you all understand.  I am going to aim for 3-4 posts a week over here.  And I am hoping to share more homeschool links and tips.  

Thank you for reading.

How we do chores now.

For a year now we have tried hard to find the prefect chore system and rewards.  I don't like the idea a paying kids to help out around the house, but I do agree with rewarding them.  So it took us awhile to find the prefect rewards, we did try money and the kids don't care.  So we switch off with pokemon or magic card booster packs, and time on the video game systems.  Once we had the rewards down we had to find a system.  We started of with this chore chart that my husband found at Kmart (linked at amazon and a great use of gift cards from swagbucks and bing.com).

This worked for awhile but then it was just hard to keep straight and it was an all or nothing thing when it came to the chores.  And since my oldest and I are in a power struggle over them I wanted him to see that I know he tries and be able to see where he needed to try harder.  So one night I was on Pinterest when I saw this and this.  I just had to give this a try.  So I sat down with the family and we talked about what we thought should be on them.  So we made our own for our family. And set a system up.

The System is the Chore Chart from before and our cards

On the chore chart we write out and assign the chores and track points (talk about them more when we get to the cards.)

I know it looks like a lot but really it isn't.  And as my other two get older they will get chores too.  Autumn helps who ever has her room as she is learning only reason the boys get this room right now is that they are normally the ones that make it a mess.

Now on to the cards.  We have 7 cards, we had added a chore so that everyday the boys could get the same amount of points.  And they helped come up with them I think this helped with them wanting to do them.

Cards:

Two Bedroom Cards (One for Autumn's room and One for their room)

Their Bathroom

Hallway/Linen Closet

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

Rewards Card (we will be making more of these to change it up)

Click on either card to download or to enlarge the pic.

I am sharing the cards with you so you can have a jumping off point these work for the home I have now and my kids now.  

Each card breaks down what each chore needs to be done and the things that don't have to be done everyday are freebies like dusting (which I do now anyways but hope to have them help as they get a little older).  Each item is worth one point.  When they are done with their chores we do a walk through and show them if they missed anything.  They then get a chance to fix it before a final walk through (this is more to help my 6 yo as he learns, and help my 10 yo as he likes to pretend he doesn't see things).  On the last walk through we check off what is done add up point and sign it.  Then the card goes on the ice box till the end of the night when I add up the points and wrote them on the chart.  And we start over, I then label the cards for the kids for their chores for the next day.

Right now our rewards are video games and movies from netflix or that is on tv.  Mostly video games as this is what the boys love the most and want to do the most but mom limits big time.  So they can earn up to 60 minutes for the week as the grand prize.  They are loving this and I feel better knowing they are limited. 

Anyways there you go this is what works for us if you give it a try of have questions let me know.

Thank you for reading

Spirit

Is Spongebob like Real ocean sponges?

This is a power point i am working on for my little man.  I thought I would share with everyone getting geared up to start school

click pic or click here to download

feedback welcomed

Homemade lasagna for .66 a slice.

I recently tossed my hand into trying to make homemade pasta.  And let me tell you when you can make lasagna for .66 a slice you can't beat it.  Also the noddles were made with wheat flour and AP flour.  Only thing I did wrong was have a couple thick spots.

As a child lasagna was something my mom only made like 3 times a year if we were lucky.  It always cost to much to make.  And for all my life I believed that.  But Monday I was sitting thinking about what to make for dinner and I wanted Lasagna but I didn't have ricotta or pasta for it.  So I looked around the house to see what I did have that I could use.  Well I had fat free cottage cheese that I had picked up when it was a $1,  and I have sauce 2.00 worth on hand.  And then one pound of ground beef from the butcher which was 2.38 I also had a pound of mozzarella cheese on hand.  which was 2.50 for the pound.  Thats it that's all I used and that equals what  about 7.88 for one big pan of lasagna that we got two meals out of?  I wonder what made it cost more to my mother.  I am going to ask her what she used.

Now the noddles were so easy to make and tasted like regular pasta to me.  Here is the recipe that I used. (I kind of used two different ones and came up with my own)

Homemade pasta with out a pasta machine

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 tbls EVOO
• 8 large eggs

Mix all together and kned for about 5 minutes and then let it rest another five minute then I cut it into 6 equal size pieces and then I rolled them out with the rolling pin I had.  I rolled them the size of my pan and made just a single sheet for each layer.

This is really easy and you don't really need anything special you can use veggie oil if that's what you have too.  And then I just made my lasagna like normal but used the cottage cheese instead of the ricotta.  And let me tell you we didn't miss it.  So give the pasta recipe a try and let me know what you made with it and how you liked it.  I can't wait to try it again.

Fun times

It's been a week or so since I posted and I am sorry about that thinks have been a little crazy.  I have started working out more and everything plus it's summer I need to enjoy the kids.  But I thought I would pop on and share our dinner tonight it was pork chops, broccoli and my homemade perogies that I made before and froze and to be honest I think they cooked better this time.  Anyways it was a simple dinner.

Anyways hope this finds everyone well.  not sure what's for dinner tomorrow but we are shopping so I hope something new and light.

Please help me in a referral contest

My friend Liz is having a referral contest over on her Facebook group.  What does she sell you might be asking well Scentsy.  And the prize is a free bar.  So how can you help me well go and ask to join her group and then post that Charise Spirit Clarke sent you.  And that's it.  While you at it you can check out her site and see if there is anything you need or want from her.  Thank you for your help.

Tonights dinner was Goulash and Garlic bread under $5

Tonight's meal was a simple family favorite and it was pretty cheap here is the break down.

Ground beef from butcher 2.28 one pound
1 box past .19 (had $1 off coupon)
1 Large can organic diced tomatoes 1.79
1 half onion .15 (this is a high guess but it was a big onion)

Total for the Goulash $4.41

And the garlic bread was made with staples of yeast flour and water and salt, and of course butter and garlic powder the recipe I used can be found here it's the first one on the page.  I didn't make them into a loaf though I made some into knots.  And others I made into pull apart rolls.  To make them use your muffin pan and place three balls of dough into each cup and let it rise and then back at 375 till done. brush with melted butter with garlic powder and enjoy.

Sorry for the lack of post the last week I have been enjoying family but I am back on my cooking and posting thing.  tomorrow is pork tenderloin again with roasted veggies unless i figure out a different way to cook it have any ideas?