Another week, another goal met... so far

So last week my husband and I met our goal of eating dinner at home at least 5 nights a week.  We had homemade spaghetti, gumbo (my husband made), hot dogs with mac and cheese, enchilada casserole, then dinner at families one night so we're counting that as eating at home.  We also set a budget for ourselves (under $100) for the breakfast for 7 days, lunch for 7 days, snacks and the 5 dinners.  We were right at our budget last week, give or take a few.

We went to the grocery store last night as planned, and spent approximately $60 on the food for this week.  We took about 10 minutes and planned out what we wanted and made a list before we went.  This week for dinner we will have pork-chops with broccoli and rice, homemade pizza, italian stuffed shells, and chicken with risotto.  The 5th missing meal will come from my husband bringing home some food from work.  The trick we've found is to buy things that will will either A) give you leftovers for the lunches, B) buy foods that you can use in more than one meal, such as the rice for this week (pork chop meal and in the risotto) and the tomato sauce (made for the pizza and the stuffed shells).  Any ideas for our meals next week?

Blog Issues

There's been a lot I've wanted to add on here but Blogspot was having some issues and I couldn't post pictures and upload things.  After trying a ton of things and talking to someone with Google, I finally have it working, and figured the issue out on my own.  The Sushi post was suppose to be added two weeks ago but I'm just now getting it loaded.  Oh well.  If you come across an issue similar to that let me know and maybe what I did with mine will work for you as well!

At home meals, Sushi

To reserve money, plus have some fun, my husband and I cook at home as frequent as possible. When we both go back to work next month,we want to cook 5 dinners a week at home. We plan to go to get groceries on Sunday, getting everything we will need for breakfast and lunch all week, plus everything for the 5 dinners. By doing this, we can budget our food spending better, which had gotten a little out of control, plus we can monitor what we eat and hopefully eat healthier.

One night last week, we made sushi at home. We didn't use raw fish of course but were able to use some ingredients that made it taste pretty similar to some of the rolls we'd get at a restaurant. We used cucumber, low-fat cream cheese, crab, sushi rice, and made a spicy sauce. Here's the outcome:

Golf

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, my husband couldn't decide what to get me. He said either golf clubs because I'm always talking about how I wanted to try golf again, or a Wii because I have a Wii fit without a Wii, go figure. He decided on the golf clubs because it's something that him and I can do together and bond over, plus it will be nice to do over the Summer and in the Fall. He said maybe we'll get the Wii for Christmas when it's freezing cold and we'll want to be inside. Although, it has been a record hot summer here, so staying inside during the heat isn't bad either. So far we've gone every Wednesday morning. There are a lot of starter sets that you can get. Most of them include a driver, a pitching wedge, a putter, irons, and maybe hybrids and a wood. Here are mine!

There are definitely times that I get frustrated, but it's good exercise and a good stress reliever (wacking the club at the ball). I think it's important for everyone to have AT LEAST one activity that is somewhat active and one that can help reduce stress and take your mind off of problems. I'm also thinking about taking up knitting. It's something I'll do mostly when I'm bored, but maybe I'll end up making some decent looking things! Another thing I'd like to take up is calligraphy. My husband surprised me with this talent of his when we were planning our wedding. He did the calligraphy for our envelopes on our save-the-dates and on our invitation envelopes. Anything you've been wanting to take up but haven't done yet?

YUMMY....

I've talked about my love for food before. My husband and I love watching The Food Network or the Cooking Channel. I could spend an afternoon watching Paula Deen, Giada de Laurentis, Bobby Flay, The Neelys, pretty much all of them. While watching these shows, we have heard about a local place here in Raleigh called The Pit. It's been featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Good Morning America, on the Travel Channel as well as in Bon Apepitit magazine to name a few. We have been dying to try it and finally got the chance last weekend. You would think a place called The Pit might not sound that fabulous but it really is. The restaurant is in a 1930's meatpacking warehouse in the warehouse district downtown. Being a place that mainly serves BBQ and pork dishes, you would think it wouldn't have that much charm or ambiance but it does! Brick walls and decorative light fixtures add to it. No matter what kind of BBQ you like (Western or Eastern), they have it. Along with yummy sides like mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra and sweet potato cornbread to name a few. For the vegetarians there are options for as well such as vegetable dishes and tofu barbecue! Check it out if you can!

Cutest thing I've seen in a long time!

I saw this on the news a couple of weeks ago and just saw it again recently. I LOVE animals and this is the cutest animal I've seen in a while. I wish I could see him in person!

This is Einstein, a miniature horse. Weighed 6lbs and stood 14 inches tall when born. SO CUTE!

Photo via www.examiner.com

My new computer has landed...

in my lap! We decided on a Macbook. I love it. I hope this one isn't a lemon as well. The old computer completely stopped working and we didn't want to put more money into fixing it. I still have to get all of my files off of my old one, well hopefully I can. I'd be upset if I lost all my documents and pictures. Anyways, so now that I have a computer that actually WORKS, I will be updating this a lot more!