Beauty And The Beast: Pantry Day 7

This challenge is kicking me in the batootie. It's become clear that there had to be some things made for quick grab and lunch additions. That meant baking. I don't enjoy baking. Why you may ask? The MESS! I just don't get this mess from cooking. I started with a messy kitchen anyway since no one wanted to detail the kitchen after 12th night last night.
What I procured?



A double batch of Pumpkin Muffins and Granola. Doesn't sound like much does it?



Well....



Here is the beauty.....
(no pic of the granola..sorry)

And THIS ladies and gentlemen.....

Is THE BEAST!

Can someone please come and help me tame the beast!!!? Cause right now I'm throwing my head back, stomping my "I don't wanna!" foot and whining like my tween daughter.

DARN THIS PANTRY CHALLENGE...

Starting To Make Good On 2010

I spoke about my dreams for the new year a while back. This year I really want to blog about how they are coming to be. That helps keep them at the forefront of my mind as well. So, I have a few updates and then some pictures to share.

I said I wanted to run....

I've been invited to join a friend running a 5k (3 miles) through wine country on March 21. I've chosen this running plan to train once I'm feeling better, which I'm hoping will be in just a few days. I think this will be a great motivator for me to start and 3 miles does not sound too scary yet.

I said I wanted to read the bible chronologically.....

I have started this and have a widget on my side bar here on the blog with that reading plan. Feel free to follow along with me if you like. I just use the references, I don't like to read from the computer screen.

I said I wanted to remember birthdays and do something about it....

Today I'm not feeling well so I'm taking that time to pull out my 2010 calendar and write down upcoming birthday dates. I've all ready started a box for things I find, and am saving containers for things I can make.

I said I wanted us to be an active family....

On Sunday we had our first outing day. We took the kids to the coast for a long walk and beach combing time. At first it was great but as they got tired they started to get whiny about walking so long. They were also begging to get wet which I was not sure was a good idea at this time of year. Despite the dynamics not going so well as we got use to this type of outing together, I do think it was a good day and I know the kids will build their endurance as we do more. It was a long walk for starting out.

Just starting to get a bit tired...can you see the change in facial expressions?

Stopping for a break and some beautiful facial pictures.

I just can't believe she is this tall...I really can't.

Buddies.

There is something magical about Emma in piggies.

Another break, and another time to just enjoy the view.

A request to climb a few trees.

....and rocks.

They finally got to get their feet in at the end.
I was sitting watching them and thinking a lot about the sea. I just forget how much I love it.

Every time we go we say we need to come more often and this year we intend to make that happen.

Pantry Challenge: Day 4 & The Public School Mom Extra Challenge

Well, I'm sick with a virus. I'm in bed with fever and aches and meds. I'm so thankful Trish brought me canned foods she could not use because times like this usually throw me off a budget for food. I would normally have Rick pick up something for he and the kids. Tonight I had soup for me and beef stew for them. That was nice.

(go here to know what I'm up to with this challenge)

One of the ways this sort of challenge is hard for me is in the fact that everyone but me has to eat a lunch that cannot be warmed up. Therefore, leftovers (which are a frugal way to milk out your food for sure) are not usually an option for us. Knowing that I was taking this challenge I went to the Grocery Discount Store in A-town where I usually stock up on a lunchbox selection for the kids and Rick.

They have these bags there that have granola bars, snack mixes and sometimes fruit snacks. I'm not a big fan of the fruit snacks but it's a fun treat when they can have it. Each bag is usually $3.50 and contains about 24 snacks. I got 50 snacks for $7. When you consider that a box of granola bars on a good sale will run you $2 for just six, this is not bad.

Reporting this challenge I wanted to report what I spent so here is that stops rundown:

2 loaves of sandwich bread, 2 containers of coffee, 2 lemons, juice (for our picnic and more for lunch treats), lunch snacks, 6 red onions, pesto seasoning x2, and something I'm not remembering at the moment that cost $1.75 (they don't tell you what the items are on your receipt). Total cost: $21.19

Day 2 we had leftovers

Day3 We had cereal, a beach picnic (meat, cheese, crackers, carrots, juice, apricots and corn chips)

Day 4 (today) Whole Wheat Pancakes, PB&J packed (I got sick), and thankfully canned soups for dinner

Here is what's up and coming (understand that lunches are what I'm making for them and will be adding a fruit or veggie, a snack and a treat to the lunchbox):

Jan 5: Cream of Wheat and Grapefruit Juice

Pesto bowtie pasta w/ garbanzo beans and chopped tomato

Chicken Tortilla Soup w/ Cornbread (that was supposed to be for tonight)

Jan 6: Banana Muffins w/ milk

Meat and Cheese Sandwich

Albaloo Polow (A Persian Dish for Epiphany...more on that later)

Jan 7: Homemade Granola

Couscous Salad dried fruit and nut salad

Lentil Casserole w/ shredded lettuce salad

Jan 8: Baked Oatmeal

Leftover Lentils and rice

Ham and Cheese Scalloped Casserole w/ Salad

My rule for myself in this challenge is that it's better to buy a few little things to make food with the pantry than to buy normal groceries. However, so far, I have everything to make the above. Next week I hope to make some homemade things for lunches as well to milk out the snacks I purchased for the month.

Eating From the Pantry: Starting Out

Today I spent the first day of my 2010 first of all sleeping in a bit. Though it did not last long. We let our kids stay up as late as they wanted and two of them STILL don't know how to get tired enough to sleep in.

A great deal of the rest of the day, I did the inventory of the pantry, down to the detail. My strategy was to take it off the shelf, write it down, clean the shelf off, and put it back more organized than it was before. I'm not a neat freak when it comes to the pantry though so mine will never look like an advertisement for Tupperware, but this is good for me:

I was amazed at what I had in there. It really is enough to feed a large group of people for a month. However, that is if you are going to eat a LOT of legumes. Which, I dare say we will be!

I was not going for fancy in the documentation either. I simply got an old notebook out and noted what I had by "canned goods" (which I put boxes by how many of them I had so that when I use a can, I can check it off and I know how many I have left -this method works best for me), and "Dry Goods". This is just the canned goods page.

(...hey, no checking my spelling!:)

The other pages that had mostly dry goods, did not use the boxes system, I just stated an estimate of what it looked like I had such as "1 cup raisins" or "1/2 cup almond slivers".

I have yet to do the Freezer but my freezer is not too big so that should be easy. Tomorrow I hope to post the menu for the first week. This will involve school lunches and lunches for Rick so I'm pulling out the old bread machine as well and cranking her back up!

The first meal of 2010 on the Pantry challenge was not too skimpy however. We never got to have our Christmas ham due to outings for the Christmas Eve service and the fact that no one was hungry after Christmas munchies all day, so I made it for New Years. Since I agreed to document the meals of the month entirely however:

Jan 1st: Breakfast: Cereal and milk (exciting)

Lunch: Leftover homemade subway sandwich from last nights family night

Dinner: Christmas Ham w/ Pineapple and Cherries, Green Bean Casserole, and Garlic mashed potatoes.