Cheesy Sausage & Veggie Casserole

• 2 lbs. potatoes, cubed (peel if desired)
• 2 t. oil
• 1 lb. Polish or smoked sausage, sliced
• 3 T. flour
• 2 c. milk
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheese
• 1 t. cumin
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. black pepper
• 1/2 lb. California-blend frozen veggies, thawed

1. Place potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for about 15 minutes, until fork tender.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add sausage and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3. Whisk flour into drippings in skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Add milk and bring to a slow boil until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add cheese and seasonings. Stir until melted.

4. In a large casserole dish, layer the potatoes, veggies and sausage. Pour cheese over the top and stir to incorporate everything. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until bubbly and lightly golden brown on top.

I realized today that although I’ve been sharing recipes for things we’ve eaten, I haven’t really done a meal-by-meal accounting of our days this week. So, I thought I’d take some time to get caught up on that.

Wednesday morning started with a breakfast of cinnamon-sugar toast, bananas and milk. That has become one of our biggest stand-by breakfasts on really busy mornings.

For lunch, the 4 of us at home had tuna pasta salad and nectarines. The tuna pasta salad is a favorite with the kids, although to be honest, my husband and I are a little tired of it. But we still eat it because it’s quick and filling. I basically just stir together some mayo, a can of drained tuna, a few spoonfuls of relish and salt and pepper. Then toss in some noodles and call it lunch. Easy enough!

After school, our oldest daughter and I made cookies together for a school project. The assignment was to make cookies as a way to fit in some fraction practice. We made Fruit Loop Cookies. (Which is the same recipe as the Apple Jacks Cookies, but with fruit loops instead.) We also made 1 1/2 times the recipe, fitting in some extra fraction practice!

For dinner we had a simple casserole of Polish sausage, potatoes, veggies and homemade cheese sauce. I put this dish together in a hurry in the morning and then just baked it for about 45 minutes before dinner. It was great!

Today (Thursday) was our youngest’s third birthday. I let her call the shots for meals, at least as much as a 3 year old can. So we had cereal and bananas for breakfast, leftovers for lunch and barbecue meatballs, Ranch pasta salad and peas for dinner. I find it kind of amusing that my 3 year olds favorite dinner is barbecue meatballs, but I’m not complaining.

She also decided she wanted cupcakes for dessert. I have a confession to make – I don’t think I’ve ever made cupcakes before…ever. Personally, I’ve never been a very big fan of them although I know they’re all the rage currently. But, my baby girl requested cupcakes, so cupcakes she got.

I figured if I worked with a recipe that I knew we all really loved, I’d up my chances of creating a successful batch of cupcakes. I used my all-time favorite white cake and buttercream frosting recipe. I changed things up a bit by adding 1/3 cup of chocolate sprinkles to the cake batter and replacing part of the powdered sugar with cocoa powder.

I am definitely pleased with the results, although the cake will still be my go to. And for the kids, I believe the novelty of having cupcakes was more important than the taste. But, they all finished in record time, so I’m guessing they enjoyed them.

Today also included a quick grocery run for a gallon of milk and powdered sugar. The total for those two purchases was $3.99. Add that to the $368 we’ve already spent this month and we’re up to $371.99, leaving us $78.01 in the monthly grocery budget.

Tomorrow I’m planning to answer a few questions that I haven’t gotten to yet, so feel free to ask away if you have any questions.

And make sure you visit The Happy Housewife and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for more 3 Moms, 3 Kitchens, 31 Days.

1. It tastes amazing!
2. The family loves it.
3. It’s easy and stolen moments friendly.
4. It’s frugal.
5. It’s versatile.

Anytime a dish meets all 5 of those criteria, you can bet it will get added into our regular rotation and be made on a fairly frequent basis.

This dish delights all the senses. It smells as good as it tastes and looks. It’s a simple sauce that bursts with fresh flavors. I could give you a whole string of adjectives and write paragraphs of praise for this sauce, but that would be overkill, at least a bit. So I’ll just get on to the recipe and urge you to give it a try. You won’t be sorry!

Chicken Pomodoro

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 t. sugar
• 3 T. pesto or 1/3 c. fresh basil leaves, torn or cut chiffonade style
• 1/2 lb. chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until onions are nearly translucent, about 3 minutes.

2. While the onion and garlic cooks, pour the tomatoes (with liquid) into a food processor or blender. Process until coarsely chopped to desired consistency. (Process less time for a thicker, heartier sauce or longer for a creamier sauce.)

3. Add the tomatoes and sugar to the skillet. Simmer for about 5 minutes, until very fragrant and somewhat thickened.

4. Stir in the pesto and simmer an additional 5-10 minutes. (If using fresh basil, let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes and then stir in the basil after removing from the heat.)

5. Stir the chicken into the sauce just until warmed through. Serve over pasta.

Personally, I love the pomodoro sauce as is (pictured above), without the addition of the chicken. But the chicken does make it a complete meal and my husband swears the only way to eat this is with the chicken. It’s really up to you.

Stop by Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

I’ve actually started to look forward to my big ground beef batch cooking days. It doesn’t take very long to get everything prepared and I know that everything I make will be useful throughout the month. Plus, I know that the things I freeze will, for the most part, be versatile enough that I can change up plans as needed.

Here’s what I did with this month’s batch of ground beef:

• Meatballs for 2 dinners (tentatively planned serving ideas – bbq meatballs and sweet and sour meatballs)
• 7 bags of browned ground beef (each bag contains at least 1 lb. of ground beef)

• Salisbury Steak with Pan Gravy for 1 dinner (this will go perfect with mashed potatoes I plan to freeze later this week)
• 1 mini meatloaf (to be used for sandwiches or for the kids if my husband and I have a date night this month)
• 1 bag of Beef & Rice Burrito filling
• 1 casserole of Cheeseburger Pie (which we ate for dinner)

The beef and rice burrito filling is super easy, freezes perfectly and will mean dinner on the table in under 15 minutes.

Beef & Rice Burrito Filling

• 1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
• 1 1/2 c. cooked rice, white or brown
• 1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 2 t. chili powder
• 2 t. cumin
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. garlic powder

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir to combine. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

2. To serve: Spoon (thawed) filling down the center of a tortilla. Top with shredded cheese. Roll up and repeat, using about 8 to 10 tortillas total. Place rolled tortillas in a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until heated through.

If you have the available freezer space, you can assemble these completely ahead of time and freeze. Then just bake from frozen for about 45 minutes. But if your space is at minimum like mine, just freezing the filling is a perfect solution.

Don’t forget to see what Toni and Jen are cooking up in their kitchens. Toni just saved a cake wreck and Jen’s talking about tracking your food expenses. Sharing tips and keeping it real…what’s not to love?

So one of the first things I did after unloading groceries was make a huge batch of pesto. I love pesto! Plus, it’s the perfect treatment for prolonging the life of basil since it freezes so well. I like to freeze my pesto in ice cube trays so that I can just pop a cube or two into whatever I’m making (especially soups and spaghetti sauce) for an extra kick.

As soon as I tasted the pesto, I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied with just packing it all away in the freezer. I wanted to eat some immediately. So I quickly threw together some French bread pizzas and they were a huge hit all around.

Pesto Chicken French Bread Pizza

• 1/2 – 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Desired seasonings
• 2 loaves French bread, halved lengthwise
• 1 – 1 1/2 cup pesto
• 2 c. Italian or pizza blend cheese

1. Season chicken breasts to taste. (I used a Tuscan spice blend, but even just some simple salt and pepper would work.) Bake at 350 degrees until fully cooked, about 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into thin slices.

2. Spread pesto on each of the four halves of bread. Evenly layer the chicken pieces on top of the pesto.

3. Cover completely with cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until cheese is completely melted and lightly golden brown.

If I had been thinking ahead a bit, I probably would have picked a big tomato to slice and add to our pizzas as well. That would have added some nice contrasting texture and color. But they were still great as is.

We enjoyed the pizzas for dinner with a salad and some grapes, but they’d work equally as well for an appetizer when entertaining.

Toni and Jen have been cooking up lots of great stuff in their kitchens, so don’t forget to visit The Happy Housewife and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

This post is being linked to:

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• $5 Dinner Challenge at $5 Dinners

We ended up splitting our shopping trips into two days instead of just one. Saturday morning was a busy, get-stuff-done-around-the-house kind of morning. There may have a Wii competition or two going on also. So by the time we made it out the door, it was already 2 pm.  And since Sam’s Club really does become an event for us (browsing all the aisles, looking at books, enjoying samples, etc.), we didn’t get home until almost 5:30.

But it actually worked out perfectly since I got to take our 5 year old son on a date to Kroger today. It seems like he and I rarely get to do stuff together alone anymore, so we both really enjoyed our time at the store. He is becoming an awesome little helper and such a gentleman too! Makes my mama-heart proud.

Anyhow, on to the shopping.  Here’s where we started from.

And here’s where we ended up.

It’s definitely a huge difference.

Some of the highlights from this months’  purchases include:

• 17 lbs. ground beef
• 3 lbs. each bacon and breakfast sausage
• 6 lbs. chicken breasts (+ the 6 lbs. already in the freezer from last month)
• A huge bottle of olive oil that will probably last a year
• Loads of snack foods for the kids at school and after school
• 6 lbs. of nectarines (If these start to good bad before they’re all eaten, I’ll slice and freeze for use in smoothies.)
• 6 lbs. of coffee
• Enough rice, barley and elbow macaroni to last 2 months, at least

Altogether, we spent a grand total of $368. That leaves $82 for two or three quick milk and fruit runs the rest of the month. Judging by what we have on hand now and my plans for putting it all to use in the freezer and such over the next few days, we probably will not need to use all of that. But, we’ll see.

Here are the post-shopping pictures:

From the Sam’s Club trip.

From Kroger. My helpers were just too anxious to start unpacking for me to get a picture with everything unloaded, but hopefully you get the idea.

Now the fun really begins! I’m formulating batch cooking plans over the next several days to put all of this to good use without any going to waste. The freezer will be stuffed, that’s for sure.

I’ve noticed from the comments that several of you grocery shop once a month too. For our family, it’s become a huge time saver and a huge money saver. And I can’t even begin to tell you how much I enjoy filling the fridge, freezer and pantry to overflowing at the beginning of each month. There’s just something so simple yet so beautiful in seeing those shelves abundantly filled.

Our first trip is always to Sam’s Club so that we can stock up on the big quantity stuff. Then the Kroger trip becomes the fill-in for everything else – things we don’t need to buy in bulk or things that are just cheaper there, which are usually store brand products.

I love the set up of the Sam’s Club website because I can go through almost all of the food items and write out my list, including prices. That way when we get to the store, I already have an almost exact total of what we’ll be spending. And the few items that aren’t listed on their site are easy enough to estimate. I’m not sure if the other warehouse clubs have similar features on their sites, but I bet they do.Once I’ve finished the list for Sam’s, it’s easy to go through and write my list for Kroger. Lists are definitely the key to monthly shopping success for me. They keep me organized, on track and help me stick to the budget. Lists also mean we are able to get each trip done in about an hour, although the Sam’s trip tends to become more of an event than a chore.

Like many of you, our largest monthly expense is meat. That’s followed by produce, then dairy. (We eat a lot of cheese!) And can I just say that I’m immensely jealous of those of you who are able to purchase your meat in bulk once a year? That is definitely something I think is worth looking into for anyone that has the room to store it.

Our trips each month look very similar. I could probably just use the lists from month to month. Although we do swap out snacks and produce each month so that we don’t get tired of those same things all the time. But 12 pounds of frozen chicken breasts, 20 pounds of ground beef and 5 lb. bags of pasta are always standard.

So, that’s the basics, at least for how it looks in our house. Do you purchase the same general things each month too? What is your experience with warehouse club shopping?

Pictures to follow…after the shopping is done!

And don’t forget to visit The Happy Housewife and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam to see what Toni and Jen are up to.

So Saturday is going to be our day to get all the shopping done. Fortunately, the kids view these shopping trips as fun excursions and they’ll serve as our weekend entertainment. (We really are simple folks at our house!)

I did manage to pull together some really nice meals today from our February grocery leftovers. In the process, I also cleared out some space in the fridge and freezer, which is always a good thing. Having so many extras at the end of the month is really showing me the benefits of stock piling and I’m feeling like I need to do whatever it takes to find some extra room to stock up in the future.

For breakfast, we had toast with peanut butter and the kids each had a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast drinks. (Free swag coupon from Blissdom. Definitely not a regular purchase for us. Although I’d do just about anything for a box of Carnation Instant Breakfast Bars. Remember those? They were my snack of choice as a kid.)

Lunch for the four of us at home was a breakfast-for-lunch feast. I had one roll of pork sausage left from February and a handful of homemade waffles in the freezer.

For dinner I whipped up a very simple Chicken Nacho recipe. I adapted our favorite Mexican Chicken & Black Bean filling to use what I had on hand. Dinner doesn’t get much easier!

Chicken Nachos

• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/2 – 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 t. cumin
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. black pepper
• 1 jar salsa
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/2 t. cumin and chili powder
• Tortilla chips
• Shredded cheese
• Any other desired toppings

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Season both sides of chicken with cumin, salt and pepper. Add chicken to skillet and cook just until both sides are slightly browned, about 2-3 minutes per side.

2. Add salsa, water and remaining seasonings. Cover skillet and simmer over medium low heat for at least 20 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked. (You can simmer this all day as you would in a crock pot, if desired.)

3. Remove chicken and shred. Set aside. Bring remaining liquid in the skillet to a boil and simmer until thickened and reduced by about half. Remove from heat and stir chicken back in to skillet.

4. Spread tortilla chips on a cookie sheet and pour chicken mixture evenly on top. Add shredded cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until cheese is melted. Top as desired and serve.

By the way, one of the best ways I know to really enjoy being in the kitchen and get in some extra bonding time is to make sure I have a constant counter companion.

Tomorrow, back on track with budgeting and list making.

Don’t forget to stop by Toni’s and Jen’s to see what happened in their kitchens today.