Fast & Frugal

Aaah!  It's Monday.  Do I really need to say anything else???  I decided to take the "if you can't beat 'em... join 'em" philosphy today and dove head first into housework.  With the help of my iPod and a great playlist I made it through the day. Somehow I accomplished doing ALL the laundry (including putting it away!), cleaning all the bathrooms, sweeping, mopping, AND picking up the house.  (Never underestimate the power of music!!!)  Whew!  I'm beat!!!  Not exactly a good thing seeing as I have a run planned later this evening.  No pain no gain right???  Sigh! Yeah, that's what I thought too.  Ha!

Another reason I'm a little more sluggish is that we had to get up EARLY today (7:30 - hard to believe that in a little over a month we'll have to LEAVE the house at that time to get to school... Blah!)  However, the sacrifice was WELL worth it!  Colby is going to Boy Scout day camp this week!  He is thrilled and although he's been yawning almost constantly since we picked him up, he hasn't stopped talking either!  LOL!!  I love it!  Where else does a 7 year old boy get to go swimming, hiking, shoot BB guns, do archery, and make art & crafts?!?  So FUN!

That brings me to "The Fast & The Frugal" -- the "theme" of this weeks Meal Plan Monday.  I'm feeling a bit like Rachel Ray with my 30 minute meals because we don't get home from getting Colby until 5:30.  Seeing as we're a family that runs on a pretty regular schedule and dinner is typically at 5:00 around here, Mommas got to act fast!  LOL!  The frugal part comes in with my creativity to try to use up what we have around the house.  We've been gone a lot this summer and this coming weekend is no exception.  As much as you all know how I LOVE the grocery store and the joy that it brings me, I am equally disheartened when I have to throw away perfectly good produce because of poor planning.  So, here we go.... (drumroll.......)  Ladies & gentlemen... let's give it up for ....

MEAL PLAN MONDAY

Monday:  Smothered Hamburger Steak, Sugar Noodles, Fried Okra (from the garden), Zuchinni with Cheese Sauce (garden too!) 

We FINALLY ate this today, & I changed it up.  Instead of doing mushrooms, onions & gravy, I did bacon & onions sauteed together and topped it all off with shredded cheddar!  As Rachel Ray would say... "YUM - O!!"  It will definitely be a repeat in our house!  

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Breasts, Green Beans (garden!), Garlic Rice Pilaf, Salad, Watermelon

Wednesday: Chicken Parmesean, Alfredo Noodles, Ceasar Salad 

Thursday: Grilled Sausage, Cornbread, Honey-Glazed Carrots, Fried Zuchinni (garden!)

Believe it or not I don't have to get a single ingredient for all this food!!!  I was a bit bummed when my grocery list only consisted of milk & bread!  Yup, that's it!  I suppose I could pick that up from the convenient store out here, but then I would deprive myself of one my favorite things and I just can't justify that!  LOL!

I can't believe how well our garden is providing for us!  It's been so fun and such a blessing!  I love to be out there in the mornings when it's still cool!  Who knew I had a little farm girl growing in me all this time!  LOL!  Oh, and be expecting zuchinni to be on the menu a LOT!  Check out this bad boy we found last night when we got home!!!  Guess all that rain was just what the garden needed!  LOL!

In case you were wondering why my week menu stops at Thrusday... that's because I'm going on my very first girls' weekend this weekend!  I'm SO excited!  Never fear... Jarred has every intention of taking the kids back down south to his mom's.  I have no doubt they'll be very well taken care of!