As part of my quest for better meal planning, I promised to try some new recipes. So here we go! To start off the new recipes, here's one I found in December that we've had a couple of times and quick become a family favourite. (Sorry, no pic. I need to remember to do that....)
Chicken and Dumplings in the Crock Pot
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs chicken pieces (legs and thighs, boneless skinless chicken breasts)
3 or 4
potatoes, cut into chunks
1 large carrot, sliced thin
2 stalks of celery,
sliced thin
1 onion, cut into wedges
sage
pepper
poultry
seasoning
thyme
1 bay leaf
900 mL chicken broth
1 cup flour
1
tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp shortening
1/2 cup milk
Directions
1. Place chicken in bottom of crock pot.
2. Add in
vegetables, spices and pour broth over top. Stir as best as possible.
3. Cook
on Low for 7 hours or until chicken is cooked.
4. Mix up flour, baking powder
and salt. Cut in shortening. Stir in milk until moistened.
5. Spoon dumplings
into liquid in about 6 portions.
6. Cook for about 1/2 hour on high or until
toothpick comes out of dumplings clean.
So I was trying to think of a fun way to combine my updates on the two major topics I'm dealing with right now. I came up with M&M - moving plan and meal plan. :) Fun eh?!? Plus who doesn't love M&Ms?!? ;)
M#1 - Moving Plan: I am making progress but it's been a little slow this week. Today I had shopping to do and yesterday I played cards so no progress Tuesday and Wednesday. But Monday was a good day. I got all the Christmas and Winter stuff (decorations, dishes, wrapping, etc.) organized and packed up ready to move. I also spent about an hour sorting a bunch of the kids' toys. There's more to do but that was a big chunky of them. They were all pretty small and piled up together. Oh, and today I got two green storage containers at Walmart for $5 each. (They are normally $7.77.) I'm going to put all my other Holiday stuff (decorations, dishes, etc.) in them I think. Not sure if I'll get anything done tomorrow as I've got a meeting here tomorrow. Hopefully Friday will be a good day for more moving progress.
M#2 - Meal Plan: So my method seems to be working pretty good so far. I've got the sticky on the calendar with my lists of ideas, crossing them off as I use them and adding meals to the day we eat them. I still am usually picking something the night before, but it helps to have some ideas right there to pick from. Its definitely adding to the variety of what we eat. I haven't mastered planning farther ahead yet as different things seem to come up and would throw a meal plan off. Also, I haven't had all the meat I need to cook all the meals I listed, so it's easier to add them in once I've picked up the meat. All in all, I'm feeling good about it.
Happy New Year!!!! It's a happy one here for sure. :) Sunday was a great day. The NHL peeps announced that morning that they got their crap worked out and hockey will be starting soon. And we found out that night that we're getting the house. :D Such exciting times!!!! Now I'm starting to feel the pressure.... ;)
Our closing date is going to be Wednesday, April 17th. Hubby wants to move into the house that weekend (20th and 21st). We want to be able to rent out our current house for May 1st, which means we need to get some things finished up around here before then (trim, carpet on the stairs, ceiling in a bathroom, finish up downstairs so that it's usable). Lucky for me I won't have to do the actual work but I still have to get the house ready for moving and construction work.
So now for the plan with some dates now.... :)
I'm going to get the Christmas stuff finished up today. Everything is down and in the basement but I found a few dishes in the cupboard still this morning. I'm going to finish packing it up so that it's ready to move.
By the end of next week, I want to be through all the kids' clothes and toys, and get them posted for sale. If they aren't gone by February 2nd/3rd then I'll donate the stuff somewhere. I've already got most of the clothes done, just need to do a final check upstairs then I can start on the toys.
I am aiming to be through all the stuff in the basement (except for hubby's stuff) by March 2nd/3rd. I need to try to get it as ready as possible so he can get work done down there.
March and early April will be left for doing the last minute stuff. I need to find out about schools, transferring cable, internet, phone, and whatever else I can think of. I probably only have to get a little bit of paint as the room my daughter will be getting is not the colour she wants, but the rest of the house should be fine.
Since there are a few places in the house we don't use, I'm going to split up the piles of stuff. The selling/donating pile will be in our front porch. That gets everything to the main floor which will be easier for transporting or picking up. Our moving pile is going to start on the finished part of the basement floor against the far wall. Once I get some stuff moved around and sorted I may move it to the unfinished section but we'll see. The garbage pile will be near the bottom of the basement stairs. I'm hoping to mostly throw stuff out as I go so we don't have a lot of garbage at the end.
So that's my plan with a little more details. You'll notice some lists forming in the sidebar soon. I want to work at keep of track of what I get done. I'm going to have my to-do lists on paper but I want to have a done list on here to celebrate as I go.
Alrighty, here I go! :)
So I FINALLY sat down and did it. :) Well, started anyways.
This morning I got out my Meal Ideas list, a pen and a sticky note. I wrote down headings of Beef, Pork, Chicken and Other, and started filling in meals we like or often eat from the Meal Ideas list. I came up with 7 beef ones, 5 pork ones, 7 chicken ones, and 4 other ones. Not too bad. :) That gives us 23 meals already out of 31. There will be a few nights where we will probably have leftovers so I'm a little closer to having something for every night.
Next I'm going to go through the freezers to see what meat and meals I already have, adding whatever I don't to my grocery list that way when something goes on sale I can pick it up.
I'm going to put the sticky note on our family calendar. I'll write down what we eat for supper on the calendar each day and cross them off the sticky as I go. I may sometimes pencil things in ahead of time. I already have tomorrow's (January 1st) meal on the calendar. We're having roast beef as we're having pork dumplings tonight.
Feels good to be a little more organized and starting January off on the right foot. :)
As I mentioned not too long ago, we're looking to move. We need more space inside and out. We're staying in the same area, just farther from the centre of the city and maybe into a little town outside the city.
No matter when we purchase the home, we most likely won't move till at least the Spring so that gives me a few months to declutter, dejunk, organize and prepare. That sounds like a lot of time but I'm sure it will fly by. My plan is to do a little each day (or at least a few times a week). This will mean we won't go over the garbage limit each week. It gives me time to sell or donate stuff. It also means I can get the stuff we're keeping better organized.
Since I mentioned we're moving, I already started planning my attack on our stuff. And bonus, I've already started. :) With Christmas being over, I already took our tree down. It's a little bit early but I had a new bookcase to go in its spot so I was happy to move it. I've got four bins to put our stuff in - two red and two white. My plan is to put all the Christmas stuff into the red ones and the Winter stuff into the white ones. It's mostly already done but I still have some decorations up so it's not quite finished.
With the new bookcase, I've got all our DVDs out finally and filling up space on it. Now the boxes only have VHS movies which I hope to get rid of. And I started on the kids clothes too. I got through all their drawers and found the clothes I had put in the basement. Everything upstairs now either fits them or will fit them. The old stuff is all in the front porch for one more sort and then selling/donating.
It feels good to be making some progress already. I know the stuff I started isn't complete but it's a beginning. Sometimes it's hard to get through stuff with my daughter around since she seems to get more attached to things then my son.
More again soon.....
Oh my! Somehow Christmas is over. I feel like I was just getting things ready and it's gone already. I hope you all had a great one. Was it overwhelming? Did you feel prepared? I sure was glad I broke up a lot of the jobs I had on my list and got something done each day. Definitely made it less overwhelming.
I can't believe it's almost January. Things have been coming together for the new year but I'm still not quite ready. I'm aiming to get stuff finished up this weekend. Will let you all know soon. :)
Happy New Year my dear domestic ones. May 2013 be full of many blessings, peace and organization for all of us.
I have been very distracted lately. There's been a lot going on here and I've been having a hard time keeping balance and finding focus.
We're started looking for a new home and that seems to be all I want to do. It's taking over all my thoughts and I find myself drifting to looking at properties all the time. I found one online and we went to look at it, put an offer in and waited. After a couple back and forths, we didn't get it. I found another one and we saw it today. Another offer in and now we wait. I keep sitting down here at the computer to do something but I somehow end up on websites dealing with our local real estate. I'm really finding it hard to focus on anything else, even Christmas.
I'm going to have to get over it all soon and start focusing on other things. I need to find balance again so I can get things accomplished. I definitely won't be ready to move when we find a place if I don't. ;)
