Update of my night

Well, I am pretty proud of myself. I set my goals for last night, and I accomplished pretty much all of them. I cleaned the kitchen, and mopped the floor. I cleaned the living/dining room, and I vaccumed the stairs. I do still need to move the couch out and vaccum behind it, but thats no big deal. I read the first chapter in our Dave Ramsey book & workbook. And I did 3 loads of laundry. I worked on our menu and grocery list, but when I got done, I realized that I was going to end up spending WAY too much, so I'm going to have to make some changes. All in all, I had a very successful night.

On a different note, I have lost 4 lbs on Weight Watchers in the last week and 1/2, and I am SO excited!!

Here are my goals for tonight:

- Finish laundry (assuming that i have enough laundry detergent!)

- work on menu/grocery list, and organize coupons for grocery trip

I have to go over to my moms tonight, so I won't get as much done, but I will be happy if I complete these 2 things.

Making myself accountable

Lately, I have been trying to have more of a routine in my life. (And by "routine", I do not mean coming home, eating dinner, and watching tv every night!) Since I started my diet and excercising last week, I've had more energy, and I am taking full advantage of that. I'm trying to get back on my weekly cleaning schedule, and got off to a good start on Monday, but last night I got home, and it was so cold, and I did NOTHING. But I am determined to get back on track tonight. Here is what I plan to accomplish:

- Clean living/dining room, vaccuum behind couch and vaccuum stairs.

- Clean kitchen, put all dishes away, and sweep and mop floor.

- Do AT LEAST 2 loads of laundry

- plan menu and make grocery list for next 2 weeks

- Read Chapter 1 in Dave Ramsey book/workbook

I'll report back in the morning on what I got done. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get most of it done!

I am SO behind!!

Ok, I realize that I haven't posted in quite a while, but to be honest, I haven't done much cooking. I did some baking around Christmas, but we were so busy that I didn't cook much. Then, on December 19th, my husband came down with pnuemonia and between that and tonsilitis, he was sick for 22 days. So I was on my own most nights for dinner. I started doing Weight Watchers a week ago, and I am really excited about it. I've lost 2 lbs already, and I feel very motivated. I will be going grocery shopping later this week, and I have lots of exciting recipes coming up. I have several from Cooking Light that I can't wait to make, as well as some WW recipes. So hopefully, I will have some updates very soon!

Cheeseburger Stuffed Mushrooms

So tonight is my Bunco night, and I decided to take 2 things. I am going to be making my version of herb& cheese monkey bread (recipe to come tomorrow, if it doesn't suck!), but I don't know how it will turn out, so I wanted a back up. I had torn out a page from one of my Rachel Ray magazines that had several different stuffed mushroom ideas, and this was one of them. I've done the prep work already, so when I get home from work all I have to do is stuff them and bake them. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Cheeseburger Stuffed Mushrooms
16 stuffer mushrooms
1/2 lb ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
olive oil
worchestershire sauce
american cheese

Saute onions in a little bit of olive oil until tender. Add ground beef. When cooked through, drain grease. Add a couple tablespoons of worchestershire sauce and salt & pepper. Stuff each mushroom with hamburger mixture. Top with a 2 inch square of cheese. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Top with a dollup of ketchup.

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

So I sort of just made up what I cooked for dinner Friday night. It is WAY past time for me to go to the grocery, but I just haven't had time, so I worked with what I had. I had actually bought the stuff to make stuffed green peppers a few weeks ago, but never got around to it. So my peppers weren't in great shape, but they were still usable, so I didn't want to just throw them out. Here's what I came up with...

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
4 green peppers, chopped in quarter size chunks
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
garlic salt to taste
onion salt to taste
black pepper to taste
Italian seasonings (my diced tomatoes weren't seasoned, but if you used the kind with italian seasonings, you might not need as much of this)

Brown ground beef in a skillet with onions. Drain grease and add green peppers, diced tomatoes, 1/2 can of tomato sauce, and seasonings. Cook on med-low until everything is heated. Pour into a baking dish and cover with remaining tomato sauce. Put in 350 degree oven for about45 minutes.

Sesame Chicken

While I have a spare moment, I figured I would go ahead and post the recipe for our dinner tonight. I've made it several times already, and it has been awesome every time. I found the recipe on Carrie's Sweet Life, and almost every recipe that I have gotten off of her blog has been phenomenal. So anyway, here it is...

Sesame Chicken (Nestie: TexasSmith)
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. toasted sesame seeds, divided
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
1.5 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 package chicken breast strips, cut into chunks
8 tbsp. teriyaki sauce
6 tbsp. honey (I ended up using a little bit more, because I'm impatient and want my sauce thick!)
oil for frying
In a large ziplock bag, combine flour, 1/4 c. sesame seeds, black pepper, red pepper and Chinese spice. Place chicken in bag and shake to coat.
Heat oil in large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Place chicken into skillet and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.
Remove chicken from skillet and empty excess oil from pan. Reduce heat to low and return chicken to skillet. Mix in teriyaki sauce, honey and 1/4 c. sesame seeds, and stir until sauce thickens.

I serve it with white rice or fried rice, whichever I happen to be in the mood for.

I need some help.

I am so behind right now, not just with my blog, but with EVERYTHING! I cannot believe that it is already December 10th. I haven't accomplished anything this month. I do have my Christmas tree up, and my wreath on my door, but that is literally the extent of what I have done. I've bought ONE Christmas present, and the only reason I've done that is because I ordered it online. So needless today, next week is going to be a CRAZY week for me. My goal is to go out every evening after work and do a little at a time so that by Saturday, I will have all of my gifts bought, and I can spend the day wrapping and doing my Christmas baking. Because I have so much to do, I'm not going to have the time or money to put into my grocery shopping next week. What I would like is to try to plan the next 2 wks worth of meals with things that only require a couple of ingredients. So that is where the "help" comes in. I need dinner ideas. Low cost, quick dinner ideas. So if there is anyone that actually reads this...HELP ME!! :)