What's on the agenda

As I have been organizing and decorating our new place, it always helps me to think a bit about what I would like to get done. I have somewhat of a running list that I add things to and cross things off as I get them done. Some of them might be smaller things like doing some laundry or paying some bills. Some of them might be more time-consuming projects like organizing and sorting through specific things.

Some of the bigger projects I have coming up:
*Sorting through and organizing old photos
*Printing some pictures for the walls
*Sorting through my arts and crafts supplies
*Sorting through my sewing and crocheting bins
*Taking pictures of and selling the cloth diapers and covers we're not using any more
*Taking pictures of and selling some baby things/clothes
*Sorting through boxes of books and selling them to cash4books.net, Powell's Bookstore, or Swagbucks
*Putting the finishing touches on decorating the kids' rooms. I'm wanting to get a decorative shelf for the girls' room and William's room, plus a couple of frames for each room to put some art into.
*Finding a good storage solution/shelving unit for the books we decide to keep

Monday is also shopping and menu planning day around here. Since my sister-in-law also uses the Gleaner's program we go to, she asked me to post what I was going to cook for dinner with the food I picked up. So, I thought perhaps at the beginning of the week I will start posting about what I pick up there, plus what I need to get at the grocery store each week between WIC checks and budgeted cash. My menu will mainly be based on what I pick up at Gleaner's. I like to try to buy as little as possible now that we're back on the program. The good news? We were able to pay $120 this month toward our credit card instead of the minimum payment! I'll try to post our menu every weekday, plus any recipes I think are worth sharing (this will be in addition to whatever else I happen to be rambling about on any particular day).

So, here's a brief summary of what I got this week at Gleaner's:

Household items
deodorant for David
3 rolls toilet paper
2 rolls paper towels
1 pkg liquid hand soap

Food items
1 pkg blueberry bagels
1 pkg sourdough english muffins
1 loaf white bread with whole grain
1 can mushrooms
1 pkg whole grain tortillas
32 oz sour cream
16 oz cottage cheese
homestyle gravy
mashed potatoes
tomato, herb, and veggie orzo pasta side dish
1 side of au gratin potatoes
8 yogurt cups
gluten free brownies
1 lb strawberries, a few might be moldy, but most are ok
1 bunch very green bananas for later this week
1/2 lb grape tomatoes
1 lg bag mixed greens salad mix (w/dressing, nuts, dried cranberries, and feta cheese)
1/2 lb sugar snap peas
2 small peppers
sandwich bag of chopped, cooked, seasoned chicken
1 jar blackberry preserves
1 bottle pancake syrup
6 applesauce cups
1 jar grey poupon
1 bottle coconut coffee syrup (Yay for coffee at home! Add a bit of hot cocoa for a "mounds" mocha :))
1 pkg decaf coffee
3 bags nacho cheese tortilla chips
1 bag avocados (need to be used now)
1 large box frozen breaded chicken breasts
1 canister table salt

The motherload of snacks for lunches
2 bags organic cheese curls
6 cans diet pepsi
8 cans regular pepsi
6 mini cherry pies
1 box gingerbread cookies
1 box chocolate mini cakes
1 box triscuit thins

I'll update later on my Grocery store purchases.

Monday's Munchies
B: Whole wheat blueberry pancakes from scratch. We also had bananas and apple juice.
L: Grilled cheese, grapes, oranges, carrots, and ranch
D: Spanish rice (recipe below) with the baggie of chopped chicken, 2 small peppers, onion, frozen corn/pepper mix, and 1 can each of organic tomato sauce and organic diced tomatoes (bought in boxes of 12 at Costco when I go with my mother-in-law and use her card ;)). I'll be serving guacamole, sour cream, and tortilla chips on the side.

coming back later to finish the plan.... gotta go cook up some grub!

OK! Now that said grub has been cooked, consumed, and approved of, here are the recipes (courtesy of the mad cooking skillz of none other than yours truly). You will not be disappointed:

Spanish Rice
2 c uncooked rice
1 c. chopped, cooked, & seasoned chicken (or ground beef!)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 29 oz can tomato sauce
12 oz. frozen corn
1 diced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin

I threw the 2 c rice along with 4 c water in my rice cooker and let 'er steam. While that was going, I chopped the veggies and sauteed them in some olive oil in a big ol' pot (I went ahead and threw in the corn when the rest of the veggies were tender). Yum! Then I added the tomatoes and tomato sauce and heated it through, adding the spices. You could add salt and pepper to taste, if desired. By the time that was all bubbly, the rice was done, so I plopped it all in the big pot and mixed it well, turning it to low, and then stirring it occasionally while I made my to die for guacamole. That way all the juices had time to soak into the rice. We ate it with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Holy Guacamole
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
3 med-lg avocados, mashed
1/2 c cottage cheese (yes, really!)
2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp lime juice (I just keep a bottle of it on hand so I don't have to run out and buy fresh limes)
1 tsp garlic powder

Dump it in a bowl and go to town with a potato masher. That's it! And it is soooo good with Doritos.

This post has been linked to The Grocery Cart Challenge.