Cook with Me -- Baked Spaghetti

Join me as I cook baked spaghetti as part of a two-part series.  I also make extra to go in the freezer.
Next week I'll share how I canned the extra sauce.

Frugal And Fun Happenings Last Week of March

I always start with the frugal, but how about the not so frugal first this time.  Just to change things up — Haha!

1.  I ran the dryer.  I’m on a time crunch with work and needs must kind of thing.
2.  I ordered a few scrapbooking supplies....low cost as I could, but still an expense.
3.  We had to replace a scanner — never inexpensive.
4.  The coffee pot died.  As in smoking!!!!  We had to replace it.  (I did use some rewards to help with part of the cost.  Then the carafe was broken.  They sent me back more than double what it cost to replace the carafe, which reduced the cost even further.)


On the frugal front:

1.  I have been using Dollar Tree supplies in my planner.  Nice since I am still learning how I want to set it up.
2.  I canned 8 pints of spaghetti sauce.
3.  We did a reasonable job of sticking to our menu.  Not perfect, but not too bad.
4.  I made a clean out the fridge salad to make sure we had zero waste on our veggies.
5.  For Easter dinner, we decided to cook ham steak instead of a ham.  We just don’t need a whole ham.
6.  We packed my daughter’s lunch for the two days she is on campus full time.


On the fun front:  (I feel like fun should be included because life is short!)
1.  We had guests over and spent a fun night just talking.
2.  We caught up on some Murdoch Mysteries.
3.   I worked on a sweater I am knitting for myself.
4. I made great progress on an afghan I am crocheting.

Review of March and April's Goals

I can't believe another month has flown by, and it is already time to review March.

My goals were:

1. Finish the skull shawl.
2. Film one of my grandmama's recipes.
3. Spend a week with my grandson.
4. Rotate spring clothes out and update.  I got rid of a lot in a major purge last fall.
5. Plant flowers to go by the front entrance.
6. Clean out and organize my coat closet.
7. Read one good book that isn't associated with school work -- a pleasure read.
8. Work on a give away.
9. Have a girls' night
10. Catch up on all my correspondence.

I was pleasantly surprised to find I had accomplished most of them.  I'm glad I didn't plant the flowers given our weather.  The book reading -- I feel slack about, but I just had other things I wanted to do.  

Now for April's Goals:

1. Eating down the freezer to empty to clean it out and organize.
2. finish a summer sweater top for myself
3. work on my quilt
4. work on my afghan
5. finish out tax season work without losing my patience
6. try at least one new recipe
7. finally plant those flowers
8. sew myself a summer nightgown
9. make pinto bean burgers
10. make some brownie mixes

It's not a bad list.  I'm not sure if it is too ambitious given that tax season goes until the 17th, but who knows -- maybe I can do it all.

Finishing off March and Plans for April

I've finished off my shopping for the month.

(I'll be sharing a recipe and a canning session later this week.)

The plan for April is to work on using what is on hand and to only fill in as necessary.

Since I am doing that, I am not going to make a monthly menu.

I'll do it week by week and see where we stand.

Planning This Week

We have a relatively full week coming up.  Nothing too hard or difficult, just busy.  Probably like everyone else, we are also planning for next weekend's meal.  I want to have all my "stuff" done so I can spend Friday and Sunday with my family.  (We do have to work on Saturday.)

Getting to Know Me

I was asked to join in a questionnaire type thing on YouTube.  This is just a cute and easy getting to know me kind of thing.

So I am curious -- if you could pick any law or trend and change it, what would you pick and why?

My answer is in the video toward the end.

Where'd the week go?

Goodness, I cannot believe it has been a week since I have posted anything.

In no particular order, I've worked.  I've knitted some.  I've had a flu/virus/something.  Doesn't sound like a lot when I look at it.

On the frugal front, we've been doing an excellent job at sticking to our menu.  When I got sick we fell back on my home canned soups and stockpile of hot teas.  We did however splurge on a bag of tootsie rolls. We're big spenders here.  Haha!  I wanted chocolate.

I did share two videos this week.  One is on a give away and there is still time to enter if anyone is interested.  Comments have to be left on youtube to enter, but it isn't difficult.  The other is just a get to know me.

Monday's Retro Makings

I have three ongoing projects that I wanted to share.  They're all at various stages of completion, and I feel like they need to be completed. The hardest one is going to be the quilt, but I'll keep plugging away at it.

My Busy Week

This week I have a full week.  It is kind of funny when I look at my planner, because it doesn't look that full.  However, each night I have work hours from 5:00 until the last person leaves kind of thing.

Easy Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese

This is my grandson's favorite mac and cheese.  It's my idea of fast, easy food.  A win-win!

Although I made this in the Instant Pot, I have tried it in two other electric pressure cookers with good results.

Closet Organization on a Budget

This project wasn't a zero cost project.  I allotted $50 to spend and came in under that so I was quite pleased.  No matter how many things I had tried in this coat closet, nothing seemed to work.  This set up seems to be doing the trick though because there is a place for everyone and everything.

March Snow?

My grandson is spending a week with me, and this is a quick VLOG of what we have been up to....

We included some snow footage and a quick, fun spring art idea that can be adapted to all ages.

Written Directions for the Chinese Pot Roast

Teddie, I think this is what you need.  -- Shara

Chinese Pot Roast Crockpot Style

3 pound beef roast
2 tablespoons flour
salt/pepper

Flour roast and brown in oil. Put in crockpot and add sauce.

Sauce:
1 cup water
1/2 cup soy sauce (or liquid aminos)
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 medium onion sliced or 1/2 tsp. onion powder

Cook on high, 10 to 15 minutes.  Turn to low and cook for 8 to 10 hours. 

Grandmama's Jelly Roll (Recipe included)

This is how to make my Grandmama's Jelly Roll.  I use homemade jelly in mine, but you can alter it with any flavor you like.  (The recipe is posted under the video on YouTube. It is pretty simple....and a great use of pantry staples.)

Chinese Pot Roast -- Crockpot Recipe

This is a family favorite -- even my pickiest loves it.  As always it is a versatile recipe and you can alter the veggies to suit personal preference.  You can use almost any cut of beef because of the slow cooking.  You can also use the same concept with a pork loin.

Second Grocery Shop of the Month

I went slightly over my budget on this one, but when I take out the pantry items and a special meal I was pretty good.  (My sister just got engaged, and I wanted to have one of her favorite meals.....read that as I needed an excuse to have her come over so I could see that beautiful ring of hers.)

Getting to Know Me

This is just a quick "getting to know me" video.

I'd love to hear about your coffee and/or tea preferences.

Cute Easter Wreath for less than $10

I made a cute little wreath using supplies from Dollar Tree.  I came in at $9 in supplies (with some of them leftover for a future project).

Cook with Me -- Chicken Fajitas

We tried a new to use chicken fajita sauce and it was a hit.  I found it at Aldi.  Even my daughter loved it, which is saying something.

Cream of Whatever Soup

Carol, sorry it took so long.  On a good note, I've finished both my classes this week.  I'm slowly working on catching up on the rest of my commitments.


An easy how-to for making any kind of creamy soup you would like for use in casseroles

Frugal Happenings for the Last Week of February

Maybe I should entitle this true confessions....lol

1.  I used the dryer one day.  Yeah, I know.  It's been that kind of week.
2.  We ate whatever I could pull together.  We didn't go out and pick anything up though.
3.  I went to Michaels, but I did use coupons to get the best price on what I was after.
4.  I ordered a couple of summer dresses from ThredUp.  (very pleased by the way)

None of that was particularly frugal, but I had some positives come out of this week.

1.  I made an A in both my classes. (98 in one and what I think will be around a 97 in the other)
2.  I picked back up my hand projects.
3.  I had guests over for the first time in a while.
4.  I tried a new to me sauce for a recipe.
5.  I took advantage of some sale prices on my Sam's Club order.
6.  I made friends with a possum.....

and no number 6 wasn't just to see if you were still reading.  I really have.  He comes up to my patio to eat.  He doesn't run when I talk to him or anything.  Just kind of sits there and happily munches.

Feels so good!

It feels so good to have yarn back in my hands.

I'm about 7 rows from finishing the white shawl.

March Menu Plan and My Sam's Club Grocery Haul