meal planning: saving pennies & calories

I've lived on my own since I was 18, and I got married at 25. In the seven years I have lived on my own, I quite possibly have only cooked about 100 meals. Perhaps I am exaggerating, but it can't be too far off from the truth. I wasn't really raised in home where we all gathered around the kitchen to watch mom cook. Most of our meals consisted of whatever canned food concoction my mom could throw together, or the cheap fast food deal of the week 

(Sunday .50 cheeseburgers from McD's, anyone?).

As I was approaching marriage, I told myself that I wanted to change this. I wanted to start our marriage off on the right foot. I read a few blogs about meal planning, and how it was a really efficient method to stick to a budget and also enforce nightly dinners at the table. I brought the idea up to Jamey and he was all for it! We are coming up on four months of being married, and I can confidently say that meal planning has been such a blessing to our home. I am no expert in this area, and I have a long way to go before I enter to be on Master Chef, 

but I'd love to share some tips that work for us!

• Choose a day where you will go grocery shopping every week (ours is on Sunday)
• Look at your planner or calendar to see which nights you will be at home. This is helpful for budgeting purposes. You won't always need to plan out 7 meals for the week, so don't waste food (or money)!
• When planning your meals, gather all of your cookbooks and pull up any recipes you've pinned.
• Don't do it alone! Your spouse has a voice too! Make sure to discuss the meals together, this way you're both included on what you'll be having for dinner.
• Make a list. I don't know about you, but the second I get to the grocery store, I tend to go blank on what I need. Having a list will help you stick to the ingredients you need to make the meals you've already planned. Again, helping to save those pennies!
• Write down each meal in your planner/calendar. This way you're more organized, and there are no surprises as to what you'll be having for dinner. We especially need to do this because we use our crockpot for half of our meals. Ever get up in the morning and realize you have to prep tonight's dinner? Not fun. Which sometimes means you decide to eat out instead -- meaning, not saving pennies and not saving calories!
• Thumbs up or thumbs down? Be sure to talk about the things you like and don't like about the meal. We have our top go-to meals, and then we have meals that only lived to be tasted once, and now we've buried them for good. 
• Love brews in the kitchen (cheese, I know!). I absolutely LOVE cooking with my husband. It's one of my favorite things to do. By the end of the meal, we both feel accomplished and appreciated. I don't know about you, but our meals taste much better with a dash of love in them. 

A meal that we planned out for this week turned out to be one of our favorites, 

so I figured I'd share the wealth!

Mini Pizzas 

(BBQ Chicken & Pesto Chicken)

Items Needed:

• Sandwich thins (we used the Sara Lee brand) 
• Pesto Basil spread (we used Classico)
• BBQ Sauce (we used Lucille's - delicious!)
• Grilled chicken pieces
• Mozzarella cheese
• Cilantro
• Red onion
• Minced garlic

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees
• Begin prepping your mini pizzas by spreading the sauces (pesto basil & bbq - separate, not together!) on the sandwich thins
• Add minced garlic on top of the sauce
• Add a layer of mozzarella cheese 
• Add chicken pieces
• Add another layer of mozzarella cheese
• Add red onion and cilantro
• Place in the oven for about 8-10 minutes

**Note: We do not own a stove (crazy, right?) so we used a toaster oven. 

Adjust the temperature and time according to your own oven.

And there you have it, your very own mini pizzas! I can't wait to make these again and experiment with other ingredients. I also want to find a way to make the sandwich thins come out toastier like a real pizza. If you have any ideas or suggestions, make sure to comment below! 

I'd love to hear what you come up with.

XO

Brenda

Creative Challenge Almost Completed!

So, I realized that I miscounted my creative challenges. I thought I was on number 24, but I actually labeled one of them incorrectly on a blog. Lucky for me, that means I've done one more challenge than I thought! Here is my update (which seems pretty pathetic to call it that, since it's only 3 items) for this last week! Enjoy <3

Day 23 

My good friend, Sean, and I made Thai Yellow Curry Chicken.

I have this odd fear of cooking chicken. 

I am convinced that I will be so absent minded when cooking it, 

and get salmonella. 

Anyone else share this fear?

Day 24

You've seen this guy before, his name is Chris. 

I tend to do a lot of my random art projects with him. 

We spent all Friday afternoon gluing square pieces of paper onto a thick poster board. 

500 pieces to be exact. 

This was a mosaic art display for a show we had at our church.

                                   

Day 25

I've always been fascinated by those neat melted art canvas pieces, 

so I decided to do one for my creative challenge, but add my own personal touch to it. 

*I created a stencil that said the words "give grace"

*I glued the words onto the canvas

*I organized and glued the crayons by certain colors to the top of the canvas (I didn't have any hot glue sticks, so I used a glue stick)

*I blow dried the crayons on high heat (warning: this WILL get messy, be careful!)

This is a super fun and relatively easy art project to do. 

The best part is that the wax from the crayons melt quickly, and also dry just as quick. 

After I was done, I peeled off the glued on letters so that the white from the canvas could pop.

My inspiration for the words "give grace" come from a book in the Bible called Ephesians. Lately, Ephesians chapters 4 & 5 have been coming up in my life, 

so I wanted to do an art piece to reflect the season I am in as well as these chapters. 

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, 

but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, 

that it may give grace to those who hear." 

Ephesians 4:29

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One of the highlights of my week was spending quality time with my best friend, Becky. We hung out Saturday night and went to dinner with some friends, Karoke (yes!), sleepover, morning breakfast, lunch in Orange and drove around town. I really love my best friend. She's definitely my better half. Some people don't get it, and lots of people don't get us, but that's okay. 

Love you, Best.

Sunday afternoon lunch at The Filling Station in Orange, CA

(Becky: left, Me: right)

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I hope you're having a great start to your week! There's still time for you to submit to me your ideas for my creative challenge (I have 5 more to do!)

XO

Brenda