May 2010 Books Read

I didn't read as much in May as I did in April. With both of us being teachers, May is crazy with all the end of the school year tasks and events. In fact, I still need to finish up grades and send report cards this week. Here's what I read this month.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom - I read this with my middle school class this month. It's a great book.
House Rules by Jodi Picoult - I have a love/hate relationship with Jodi Picoult's books. She is a good writer, but often likes to include crazy plot twists right at the end, which I don't like. Yet I picked up this book anyway, and it was pretty good.
What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. - As a classical educator, I do agree that there is a certain body of knowledge that a well-educated person in a certain culture needs to know. However, I hadn't even heard some of the stories and poems in here, so I will probably not follow this book.
Eat Well for $50 a Week by Rhonda Barfield - I read her book about eating healthy for $50 a week last month. This one about eating well was written first. I see why she needed to write another book because there are a lot of unhealthy recipes and ideas in here.
Family Feasts for $75 a Week by Mary Ostyn - This was a great book. It had some great principles and yummy recipes. In my kitchen post on Friday, I'll post one recipe that I already tried out.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Cook out for lunch, FFY for dinner

Tuesday - Steak, potatoes, salad, garlic cheese biscuits

Wednesday - Eggs, bacon, waffles, smoothies

Thursday - Grilled chicken, rice pilaf, broccoli, fruit

Friday - Chicken pizza, salad

Saturday - Nasi Goreng, green beans

Sunday - Hamburgers, hot dogs, oven fries, carrots and dip

From My Kitchen

"Cheese candles" - this is what Caleb calls it when I stick pretzels into cheese cubes. The kids love these.
Caesar salad, tomato sauce...
and homemade calzones, one of Dave's favorite meals
I saw a recipe for Orange Glazed doughnuts in Family Feasts for $75 a Week that sounded good. I've actually never made doughnuts before, but I thought I'd give it a try. I don't have a doughnut cutter, so I used a biscuit cutter for the large circle and a lid from a 2L bottle for the small circle.
Here they are in the oil.
And here's the finished product, 6 orange glazed doughnuts and 6 cinnamon sugar.
Caleb and Alexa enjoying their doughnuts

I found this preseasoned chicken on Manager's Special for $1.79/lb. It seemed a little plain to just cook and serve, so I threw it in a pan and baked it.
Then I chopped it and divided it up to use in several meals. I have some for chicken bacon ranch pizza tonight, some for Nasi Goreng on Saturday night, and 3 cups to put in the freezer for later use on pizza, in quesadillas, or with pasta.
And here's a chocolate silk pie that I made for my mom's birthday dinner. Yum!

Pool Time

Molly and Nick's neighborhood pool opened yesterday, so Molly invited us to come swim and then have dinner. And since I rarely turn down a chance to not cook dinner and/or to hang out with Molly, we went, of course.

Alexa cuteness. Incidentally, there was another girl named Alexa at the pool while we were there.
Caleb is getting much bolder in the water. I plan to put him (and maybe Alexa, too) in swimming lessons later this summer or early in the fall.
Jordanna even got in the water in my new sling.

The Grocery Weekly May 22nd - 28th

Okay, starting with $83.07 this week. Here's what I got.

Kroger - Spent $16.44, saved a whopping $.20 according to my receipt
2 loaves wheat bread
2 oranges
2 bags chocolate chips
1 gallon milk
1 dozen eggs
1 bag grapes
1 container strawberries
1 head Romaine lettuce

Kroger again - Spent $37.72, saved $27.44
1 bottle Disney vitamins
1 bag Kroger shredded Italian cheese
3 loaves Kroger value wheat bread - on Manager's special for $.39
1 package Kroger paper plates
1 gallon OJ
4 bottles Powerade Zero
1 lb Kroger butter
1 package Imperial margarine
1 roll Scott paper towels
1 package Kroger bacon
2 packages Hormel pepperoni
1 package Hormel hard salami
1 package pork back ribs
1/2 lb deli sliced Monterey Jack cheese
1 package Kroger sliced Havarti
1 carton blackberries
1 bunch bananas
1 package Hilshire Farm cheddar wurst sausage

Publix - Spent $49.59, saved $84.50
Items that were free -
3 tubs Heluva Good Dip
4 boxes Morningstar Farm entrees

Items that were less than $1.00 -
1 package Publix hamburger buns - $.89
1 package Publix hotdog buns - $.89
4 boxes Nabisco 100 calorie packs - $.63 each
4 packages Planters nuts - $.63 each
3 bags New York bagel chips - $.35 each
4 bottles Lawrys marinades - $.48 each

Other items -
1 package Publix napkins
1 head Romaine lettuce
1 carton raspberries
1 carton blueberries
1 dozen eggs
2 packages Al Fresco chicken sausage
2 bags Lays chips
1 package Publix bacon
1 bag Jonathan apples
2 bottles Coppertone sunscreen ($2.99 each, great deal!)
1 bag Dixie Crystals sugar
1 bag Publix self rising flour

So, here are my final totals.
Spent - $103.75
Saved - $112.14
Percent saved - 52%
Amount left - -$20.68 (Oops!)

From My Kitchen

Crunchy Jumble cookies (basically chocolate chip cookies with Rice Krispies in them, let me know if you want the recipe) for movie night with my middle school class on Friday and church on Sunday
Chicken pesto pizza
Brown cubed chicken in some olive oil. I sprinkled it with seasoned salt and garlic powder.
Make, buy, or otherwise obtain pesto sauce and a prebaked crust. I chose jarred pesto sauce and made a homemade wheat crust.
Spread crust with pesto, top with chicken and cheese, bake, and enjoy!
Lunch! - Pizza grilled cheese sandwiches (sandwich sliced pepperoni, provolone, and a sprinkling of Italian seasoning on Publix bakery Italian bread), carrot sticks, grapes, and blackberries
Lunch again - Smiley face (free, veggie) burgers, pickles, grapes and raspberries (Alexa doesn't eat berries; Caleb LOVES them.), carrots, chips and (free) dip
Monkey muffins
Preheat oven to 350. Makes 18.

1/c butter, softened
1 c sugar ( I used brown sugar this time because I was completely out of white. Oops!)
2 eggs
1 c mashed ripe bananas (I pulled some out of the freezer and defrosted in the microwave.)
2/3 c peanut butter
1 TB milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c self rising flour
1 c semisweet chocolate chips

In large bowl, cream butter and 1 c sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the bananas, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla. Add flour to creamed mixture, just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Teaching Time

Our author this week was H.A. Rey. Most notably, he wrote the Curious George books, but we read a few of his other books as well. We also watched two different Curious George movies.
In one book we read, Curious George made paper airplanes. I took advantage of Dave being home and got him to help the kids make airplanes.

We also made Curious George puppets and monkey muffins.


For some math fun, we placed place value bingo.

We also worked some with math blocks. Alexa got a little help from Dave.

Picnic at the Park

The weather was great here today for a trip to the park. We decided to try a new park we'd never been to and take a picnic lunch. The kids had lots of fun!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Caleb playing on his laptop.
Jordanna, who rolled off the blanket Mommy put her down on, playing happily on the floor.
Caleb and Alexa "eating lunch".
"Caleb's Rock N Roll Band" performed by Alexa

Alexa took this picture of Dave holding Jordanna
Smiley girl!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Dave took Caleb and Alexa to his school's baseball game last night while Jordanna and I did a bit of shopping for our upcoming beach trip.
Alexa found some friends to color with.
Caleb had fun with the noise maker that Mommy made for him.