My White Board

When we first got married, I bought this super cute white board from Target. I was really excited to use it, until I found out it started on Monday instead of Sunday. Not that it was a big deal, it just threw me off for a while until I realized it wouldn't be bad to write over the top. So I did. Now it is the main source of budgeting and scheduling for our married student life.

Cheap Groceries = Big Blessing

I realized this week an amazing blessing of tithing = inexpensive food. Every time I go to the store and they tell me my total, I'm shocked. The Lord truly does bless those who keep the commandments. It's also been fun with this blog to make sure my recipes and meal plans are college-budget friendly.

Here's what this week is:

M-Taco truck tacos...it's the last weekend our favorite taco truck will be in town so we had to celebrate $1 tacos.
T-Chicken fettuccine
W-Teriyaki pork and rice
R-baked potatoes (My parents got us 50 lb. bags of russet and red potatoes so we'll be eating them a lot).
F/Sat/Sun- We are staying at my parents house for General Conference and to celebrate my sister Whitney being home. Thank heavens for generous family.

Groceries: $35 total

Doritos/corn chips
shredded cheese
match stick carrots
chicken breasts
milk
pork chops
sandwich cheese
bananas
green beans
bowtie pasta
canned biscuits (for biscuits and gravy and donuts)
Oreos
Orange juice

Can't wait for conference snacks and family time.

College Student Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuits and gravy are one of my favorite breakfast foods. Growing up my mom would make homemade gravy and biscuits that were baked in heaven. When I got married, I realized that I couldn't make biscuits like her. I didn't have time, for one thing, and I just didn't have the skill set to do so. But yesterday I started craving it so I decided to figure out a cheap easy way to make this home kitchen favorite. And it was delicious! Here's what I came up with:

First Day of Fall!

Who else is ready for all this?!

Plato's Closet Woes

Lately I've been on this "clean out the closet and get cute clothes" kick and it's been so fun. Well I filtered through my closet and picked out things that 1. didn't fit me (we don't need to talk about married life weight gain today) or 2. just weren't MY style anymore. Not that they were out of style, just not the image I wanted anymore. So I bagged it all up in nice neat folds and took it to Plato's Closet.

Fiesta Pasta

I have been so excited to make this! And it turned out so delish. I promise I will work on my food photography.

Now if you're like me, you hate scrolling to the bottom of a blog post past all the commentary so I'm going to give you the recipe up front and then you can decide if you want to see how I cook.

Ingredients

• 2 Tb Olive Oil
• Taco OR fajita seasoning
• 1 diced onion
• 2 diced bell peppers
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 c. chicken broth
• 1/2 c. cream
• 1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies
• Penne pasta (about 10z oz)
• 1/2 c. favorite cheese

Grilled veggies in olive oil with 3/4 of the pack of taco seasoning. Saute until soft. Add garlic and stir until you can smell the aroma. Remove from heat.
In skillet add broth, cream, can diced tomatoes, and pasta. Stir all together. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat, and let simmer until the pasta is cooked and the liquid is mostly gone.
Add veggies back into skillet until heated. Sprinkle with cheese.
 Served with garlic bread, or veggies, with some cheese on the side for garnish.

OPTIONAL: Saute sliced chicken breasts to mix in.

And that's it! Took about 40 minutes between slicing everything and waiting for the pasta. Serves 4-6 people. It was good.

PHOTOS BELOW: Don't mind the iPhone quality. My kitchen has horrific lighting.

Slicing the peppers and the onions is what took the longest. Plus I don't have the best knife so my cuts weren't as even as I like them to be.  

I hate cutting onions because I am so sensitive to them so I wear goggles to prevent my eyes from burning. So what if I look silly, at least I'm not blind the rest of the evening. 

 Just grilling some veggies! I love the color they turn when they are sauteed up. I put a little too much of the taco seasoning packet in them so I'd just watch for that next time I make this dish.

Adding the broth, pasta, can of tomatoes and cream. I wish I could post smells! 

About now is when I started the water for the corn. Corn is super easy for me. Pot of water. Ears of corn. Bring to boil. Reduce and eat. So simple!

Adding the veggies to the pasta. 

Serve with cheese and voila! Fiesta pasta. 

Meal Plans--Yay or Nay? (Sept. 19-25)

So for those who read this (all 4 of you) do you like the weekly meal plans or not. I recognize I need to post more recipes and other things but for me sometimes having someone else plan my dinners and grocery lists helps a ton. PLEASE let me know by commenting at the bottom of this post. Thanks!

But for now, the schedule:

M-Fajita Chicken Pasta
T- Zucchini Stirfry
W- Ward Potluck--I have no idea what to bring...
R-Crockpot Taco Soup
F- OYO-Connor is going to Scout Camp so I'll be by myself for dinner. Sad? Maybe but it means I can eat what I want.
S-Women's Broadcast-I wish I knew my plans for this night haha.
S-Reed's for dinner and we will be making Mtn. Dew ice cream as an experiment.

And that's it!

Groceries:
spinach
apples
peppers
bananas
zucchini noodles
Doritos-Connor needs his munchies
diced tomatoes and chilies
chicken broth
penne pasta
chili beans
8 oz tomato sauce
peeled, diced tomatoes
green chilies
milk
cream

I have to be honest, I thought everything would be so pricey but it came out to be only $35! I was shocked and so happy. Gotta love sales.

Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs

I realized that for a cooking blog I sure don't post a lot of recipes. The last two weeks I haven't cooked much just because of things I can't control. But a dear friend requested this recipe from me and I realized I need to share what I make more. So I'm going to make a better effort to post about my favorite foods. One day I'll have them all organized. 

This meal was seriously one of the favorites here. I made once back when we were first married and I had no idea what the heck I was doing in the kitchen. A year later I've figured out a few things. 

I got this recipe from Dishes and Dust Bunnies and man was it good. On the original site it talked about marinating it which I haven't tried (yet being the keyword) but the other times I've made it it was great. 

A tip for this recipe: follow the directions. I know that sound so silly  but honestly if you want it to turn out every time make sure you spoon the sauce, thicken the sauce, use bone-in chicken cuts that sort of thing. 

When we ate it I served it with brown rice and green beans. So yummy! Enjoy. 

Ingredients

• 3 lbs chicken thighs (you can use any chicken you like really, not only thighs)

• 4 - 6 cloves garlic, finely minced

• 1 small onion, grated or minced into fine pieces

• ¼ cup soy sauce (I used the reduced sodium kind)

• ⅓ cup ketchup

• ⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp honey

• Pinch of red pepper flakes

• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

• 1½ tbsps brown sugar

• For the Sauce on the Side:

• 2 tsps cornstarch

• Drippings from the baking dish

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
In a glass 9"x13" baking dish whisk together all ingredients except for the chicken. Combine well.
Place the chicken into the dish and spoon some of the mixture over top of each piece.
Place the baking dish in the oven uncovered and bake for 45 - 60 minutes.
Once the chicken is finished cooking, remove from the baking dish and place on a serving plate.
Serve with rice, veggies or anything else you might enjoy it with!

Sauce:

Skim the fat off the top of the drippings as much as possible. If there's a little fat left, that's ok too.
Combine about ¼ of the drippings and the cornstarch in a small dish and set aside. Mix it together using a whisk to make sure there are no lumps.
Pour the remaining drippings into a sauce pot and bring to a boil.
Add the cornstarch mixture and lower the heat. Stir constantly using a whisk until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Remove from the heat and serve with the chicken.

The Challenge (Sept. 12-18)

This morning Connor went to his parents' homeward to be there as his dad got released from his calling as bishop. I'm in the Primary presidency in our ward so I stayed behind to help with the preparation for the program. I let myself be lazy but I'll be honest, I was completely bored without Connor there to talk to.

Yellowstone Trip 2016 // Pt. 2

 I already explained the first half of this trip in a post you can read here. Our second day we woke up to our truck bed freezing cold and a layer of ice as thick as frosting on the window. We cleaned up quickly because we had to get to the Tetons fast. When you camp in in the Tetons, it's a first come first serve basis. We didn't want to stay too far from all the stuff we wanted to do so we it booked down.

The Red Rug

A few nights ago, I got home from work to hear the vacuum whiring away. My dear sweet husband had gotten off work early and started cleaning. He had vacuumed, dusted, swept the floor, and even mopped. Laundry had been folded and put away and the bed made to military exactness. The cleanliness of the house and the realization that it was one less thing on my plate swept over me.

I gave him a huge hug and a kiss and began making dinner. As I went in the kitchen I noticed the red rug under our sink had also been swept. That red rug collected everything, food crumbs, grass, straw, things mysteriously appeared. For weeks I had been trying to clean it with sweeping, vacuuming, lint roller, and it would not be clean. But Connor, my husband extraordinaire, had cleaned it. I don't know how he had done it.



Gratitude came over me as I stood on my clean rug. Sure there were a few stains that would always be reminders of our first apartment, but there were no crumbs, no pieces of field grass. He knew how much I wanted that rug clean and he had done it.

Sometimes in a marriage, love notes can only go so far. I learned that day that actions truly do speak louder than words. I love this quote by President Spencer W. Kimball:

"Some think of happiness as a glamorous life of ease, luxury, and constant thrills; but true marriage is based on a happiness which is more than that, one which comes from giving, serving, sharing, sacrificing, and selflessness."

 How do you make sure you serve your spouse each day?

Frugality (Is that a Word?) Sept. 5-11

This is one of those weeks all about "what can we make without spending money." When I sat down to plan I tried to think of things in my kitchen I could use up. Here's what we came up with:

Monday-Labor Day
Tuesday- Homemade Mac'n'cheese
Wednesday- Grilled cheese and tomato soup (Fall anyone??)
Thursday- Baked Potato bar
Friday-Panda Express and Movie -Date night!
Saturday-Golf tournament burgers
Sunday-Reeds

I have been craving Chinese so to compensate we'll eat cheap-ly for the rest of the week and have a date night Friday night!

Groceries:
Apples
Watermelon
Strawberries
Frozen burritos-a staple for Connor
Granola cereal
Tomato Juice
Granola bars
Greek yogurt-this is what we use for sour cream. I'll never go back!
Regular yogurt
Eggs

That easy! It's been really fun to try and stick to this under $50/week budget. I hope it's helping you!