FREEBIES #4--Homeschooling Resources

***These freebies are no longer available!  However, you can still purchase them at  CurrClick!***

Another day of freebies over at CurrClick!!!

To celebrate Mother's Day, CurrClick is giving away FOUR freebies today for you to download each day for the next five days!! The freebies will change each day! The days that they will still be offering the freebies are May 11, 12, 13!!! So do not delay in taking advantage of this wonderful resource!!

Today's Freebies are:

1. Simple Rhymes for Little Children Coloring Book--rhymes and poems found in the book are being reprinted from a booklet by the same title put out by the American Sunday School Union in the 1830’s.
   
   
2. My Book of Continents-- geared towards ages 5 to 8 years old. help you teach your early elementary-aged children about the seven continents. Introduced to the physical world and the different cultures that live on it. Included a list of the books we read for this study.
   
   
3. Psalm 16 Copywork Notebook--includes a cover page as well as both basic and primary-line options. Memory cards with a pocket are also included for ease of memory work.
   
   
4. Silly Snail: Parts of Speech Game--Review parts of speech (common noun, proper noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, and adverb) with this game. Reinforce your language arts curriculum in a fun way!
   

Don't miss out!!!

Where to find the freebies: You can click on the picture above to get to CurrClick's homepage (or the CurrClick links in this post)and then click on the same picture over on the homepage to find the freebies!!

Menu Plan Monday 5/10-5/16

Last week's menu plan went pretty smoothly!  I did have to rearrange a few days due to schedules and “stacking” the same meat day after day.  I am not sure what it is about my family but they just do not like having chicken meals three days in a row! LOL!

For this week’s shopping trip, I only had a $100 to work with and I was determined with calculator in hand that I was not going over that amount. I did it and still have some change leftover.   Sara over at Learning the Frugal Life is having an Eat from the Pantry Challenge during May and you can read a glimpse of the positives and negatives of the week here.

The new recipe in last week’s menu did NOT go over well with the family!  I ended up having to throw a majority of it away! So for this week, I am taking a breather from trying new things and sticking with the tried & true meals.

Lunches listed are for the kids & me. Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or baby carrots along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 400 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie’s site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists! 

Sunday (5-10) Happy Mother’s Day!

Breakfast: eggs, sausage or steak, hash browns, and jiffy muffins

Lunch: Wendy’s for Mother’s Day

Dinner: “Mom’s Buffet” aka leftovers

Snack: snack basket

 

Monday (5-11)

Breakfast: cereal, and toaster strudel

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: chicken rice casserole served with homemade honey oatmeal rolls

Snack: snack basket

 

Tuesday (5-12)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: roasted pork loin served with mashed potatoes & gravy, and corn on cob

Snack: snack basket

 

Wednesday (5-13)
Breakfast: bagels, and cereal

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: spaghetti served with garlic toast and leafy green salad

Snack: cookies & milk 

Thursday (5-14)

Breakfast: French Toast and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  bacon cheeseburgers served with pan fries and fresh veggie tray

Snack: snack basket

 

Friday (5-15)

Breakfast: cereal and toaster strudel

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: grilled chicken & fish served with fries and corn

Snack: ice cream night                                          

 

Saturday (5-16)  

Breakfast: “Cook’s Choice”

Lunch:  chicken nuggets

Dinner:  probably leftover makeover of the pork loin and ??

Snack:  snack basket  or popcorn

 

 

 

 

Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $57.20

This week instead of using my checking account debit card for groceries, I used the $100 cash that my aunt blessed me with after helping her and other family members go through my Grandma's belongings after Grandma was placed in an assisted living home last week. So with cash in hand, I headed to the stores determined not to spend over the hundred dollars.  I am happy to say that I did it and have money leftover!

Here is the breakdown of the purchases that I made this week:

Meijer:

• 6.85 lbs ground beef from round $12.25 ($1.79/lb)
• 5.55 lbs whole roaster chicken $5.44(98¢/lb)
• 5.13 lbs pork loin $9.18 ($1.79/lb)
• 1 head lettuce 88¢
• 2 bags iceberg salad mix $1.96
• 2 cartons sour cream $1.98
• 2 gallons milk $3.96
• 2 lbs strawberries $2.49
• 4 cans green beans $3.00
• 4 cans green peas $3.00
• 1 cantaloupe $2.00
• 5 cans Grands biscuits $5.00
• 2 cartons(64oz) orange juice $4.00
• 2 lbs tilapia fillets(frozen) $7.00

Total OOP: $62.14

Total Savings: $43.27

Total without sales and coupons: $105.41

Family Fare: 

• 2 bottles(64oz) Hawaiian Punch $2.50
• 8 lbs potatoes $1.99
• 2 gallons milk $3.96
• 4 lbs sugar $1.50
• 4 cans frozen juice $4.00
• 2 dozen eggs $1.96
• 1 bottle(21 loads) Downy $2.94
• 10 ears corn on cob $2.00

Total OOP: $20.88

Total Savings: $13.93

Total without sales and coupons: $34.81

Grand Total OOP: $83.02

Grand Total Savings: $57.20

Grand Total without sales and coupons: $140.22

This post is linked at: 

•  MoneySavingMom's Super Saturday Savings
• BeCentsAble's Centsable Savings Stories

Mexican Bubble Pizza

I was called earlier in the week by one of my church's compassion ministry coordinators asking if I was available to bring a meal to a couple who just had a baby within the last week.  I told her sure I would do it and once I hung up from the call, the fun began as to what to bring to this couple.  There was just the two of them and the new little one so I had to think small rather than feeding my army.  Usually when I get these calls I go for something quick, easy, and can be made ahead without affecting the taste along with not breaking the bank.

What I came up with is a new recipe that will become another one of my "leftover makeovers" or a quick  pantry meal.  It is called Mexican Bubble Pizza.  I got the recipe off of Pillsbury's site.

First you make your taco meat.  I usually take 1lb of browned ground beef, 1 can tomato soup, 2 tbsp. taco seasoning, and 1/2 cup water and stir together.  I had made tacos earlier in the week so I had some leftover taco meat already mixed up that I used for the bubble pizza.

You take an 8ct tube of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits and cut each biscuit into 8 pieces.

Take the biscuit pieces and the meat and stir them together and place in a 9x13 pan.  I put the mixture into TWO 8 inch round pans.  One foil pan to take for the meal and another pan for us to have it for lunch.

Put in the oven at 375° for 18-23 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.  I had the 8 inch pan baking for about 20 minutes. I should have let it go a little longer as the biscuits were still a little chewy/doughy in the center. 

*photo courtesy of Pillsbury

Once the dish is baked. Place 2 cups of shredded cheese on the top and put back into the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  I turned off the oven and put the dish back in for about 3 minutes to melt the cheese. 

Let cool for 5 minutes.  And enjoy!!  Eat as is or pile with taco toppings of your choice!

It is a different twist to the palette and yet is quick, easy and frugal all in one.

I took an iceberg lettuce salad,  fresh strawberries & cantaloupe bowl, and mini no bake cheesecakes along with the bubble pizza to complete the meal for the couple.  

This post is linked at: 

• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge!
• Mouthwatering Mondays at From the Land of Monkeys and Princesses!
• $5 Dinner Challenge at $5 Dinners!

Weekly Glimpse of Pantry Challenge

Sara over at Learning The Frugal Life is having an "Eat from the Pantry Challenge" during the month of May and I am joining in even though I did something similar last month.  I am thinking that doing these challenges is helping me to use those items that have been sitting in my pantry & freezer over the last few months.  It also is helping me to keep my grocery budget low and in check as well. 

So here is the results or update of how things have gone this week:

1. I made a new recipe with some of my abundance of browned ground beef in the freezer and it flopped big time!!  I think I am going to have to trash the leftovers because no one wants to eat them!
   
   
2. I didn't seem to take too much out of the freezer or pantry this week!  I gotta get on the stick with doing more baking so that I can move more out of the pantry.  Hard though to do baking when the weather has been sunny and 70°+ days!
   
   
3. Despite having to rearrange the menu plans for this week, we have not gone for take out food! Who wants to turn on the oven when it is 75° outside...that is grillin' weather so I pulled some premade burgers out of the freezer, frozen fries, and purchased some corn on the cob(on sale for 5/$1) for a summertime meal!
   
   
4. I was able to make a meal for a couple at church who just had a baby a week ago! (I got to hold a week old baby girl who was sleeping sooo contently when I dropped the meal off. Oh! such sweetness!)
   
   
5. Last week, my Grandma was moved to an assisted living home so my aunts, cousins, my parents, sister, and I sorted through Grandma's things on Tuesday so they could be put in a yard sale or sold online.  As a result, I was able to get a stack of plastic/Tupperware containers to add to my stash for leftovers and such. When I was finished for the day, my aunt gave me $100 for helping them out.  Since there was only $16 left in my checking account until payday(15th), that $100(still have some change left!) was used for groceries for the upcoming week.  You can read and see pics of my purchases in my weekly shopping post. 

I think that about covers the week in the area of food details at Sonshine's house.  Take the time to let me know how you did this week!  Also don't forget to blog about it and then link up the post over at Sara's!

This post is linked at: 

• Eat from the Pantry Challenge at Learning The Frugal Life!