tentative update.+
*waves*
We are getting ready to go out to eat for date night, but I wanted to update and say that I am alive and I have a lot to catch up on 🙂
1. Dave Ramsey and saving money (Mom and Shelby too!)
2. Food! Some recipes I’ve been cooking lately.
3. Matt and therapy
4. Job search
5. Spring cleaning 🙂
Promise I’ll be back to update a little later about all these things!
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Ok, here I am. I need to write more often, because I always get built up with so much stuff to say. But the truth is, my day to day life is sooo boring. I keep the details of all that stuff–journal entries, recipes, to-do lists, shopping lists, etc.–in a little notebook that I take everywhere, and then I forget to come here and talk about my life.
1. It’s been almost 8 weeks since we officially started Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. I just want to get this out of the way:
I LOVE DAVE RAMSEY!!!!!!
*deep breath* k, I feel better 🙂 We have saved a little over $1800 in the past 8 weeks. Seriously… do you understand this? We went from barely paying our bills, knowing nothing about what we were doing with our money and how to get by, saving ZERO each month, deep in debt and hopeless to doing a budget EVERY month, having weekly money updates where we keep track of what we’re spending and what’s left in the budget, learning about getting out of debt, insurance, investments, and how to take care of our financial life from Dave Ramsey in our lessons every week, and we have saved ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS in 8 weeks!!!
Can you tell I’m a little bit excited about this?! Seriously, I am sooo happy and proud of us! If anybody reading me wants to get started on this program, leave me your email in a private note and I will email you the budgeting sheets and all the info that I can. This has changed my life, and I know how I sound like I’m in some kind of cult or something, but really, Dave is just a regular guy who knows a lot about how to manage money. And it’s not easy to do, it’s not a get rich quick thing. It’s hard, it’s really hard, but it is so worth it. We’ve completely changed our lifestyle, and let me tell you, being on a budget (one that doesn’t include much "stuff" because we are trying to squeeze every penny we can out to help us get out of debt) feels a MILLION times better than buying the things we thought we "deserved." Financial security is worth so much more than that new dress or new movie or makeup or dinner out that I just HAAADDD to have before.
I told you all that I recommended the Total Money Makeover book if you wanted to read some of Dave’s material. Well, we have 2 copies (they were on sale, 2 for 1 when we bought them), so I sent my copy to my mom, who then lent it to my sister. She and her boyfriend have become really excited about it, too! Which is such a blessing. I am so glad that I have been able to help her by giving her the information and the tools that she needs to get herself on a road to financial security. If she and Lance can get together on this program and make it work for them, they will have a wonderful financial life ahead of them 🙂
2. We’ve been eating some yummy yummy foods now that it’s summer and veggies are ripe and in season and we’ve been grilling a lot. We’ve had chef salad with loads of veggies and chunks of Virginia honey ham, pasta salad with cucumbers, bell peppers, shredded cheese, and yummy dill, french toast with fresh berries and whipped cream, hamburgers and homemade coleslaw, chicken salad on yummy flaky croissants and fruit salad with fresh fruits, BBQ chicken kabobs with pineapples, peppers, onions and broccoli. Most of those things I just sort of threw together without thinking much about it, so there’s no recipe, but here are a few other things we like around here, in recipe form:
Inside Out Chicken Cordon Bleu (this is MY recipe that took a long time–and many attempts at chicken cordon bleu that were less than stellar–to get right, so let me know if you try it!)
1 to 1-1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into big chunks
(about the size of a card deck each–this makes it easier to wrap with the ham)
1 package of parmesan crust Shake-n-Bake
(or your own mixture of bread crumbs and seasonings, but this is just easier for me)
1 package of white American sliced cheese
(yep, I use the cheap stuff, it melts great, tastes yummy and is cheap, plus I don’t like swiss cheese! Feel free to substitute another cheese if you prefer. Normally Swiss, Gruyere, or Emmental is used.)
1/2 lb. (or so, get as many slices as pieces of chicken you’ll have) black forest ham, sliced thinly (about a 2 or 3)
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Bread the chicken pieces one at a time in the Shake-n-Bake or breadcrumbs and line a 9×13 baking dish with the pieces.
3. Bake the chicken at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until it’s cooked all the way through and the breading is crunchy and brown.
4. Remove the baking dish from the oven and place 1/2 or 1 whole piece of sliced cheese on each piece of chicken.
5. Using tongs (and a pot holder!) pick each piece of chicken up and carefully wrap 1 slice of ham around the chicken and cheese, leaving the "seam" on the bottom.
6. Replace the pan in the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and gooey and the ham starts to curl on the ends.
Voila! I served with broccoli and sometimes rice pilaf.
Chicken Corn Chowder (super easy and quick!)
1 stick of margarine or butter
1 onion, diced
1 cup shredded carrot
2 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 cup (or so) flour
1 can evaporated milk
1-2 large potatoes, diced and mostly cooked (leave them a little crunchy so they don’t fall apart in the soup)
1 can whole kernel corn
2 14-oz. cans chicken broth
1 can white meat chicken, chopped
1. Melt butter, then add onion, carrots and celery, and saute for 2-3 minutes, until onions are t
ranslucent.
2. Sprinkle in flour slowly to make a roux, stirring constantly. Brown the roux for a couple of minutes (doesn’t take long).
3. Add the chicken broth, whisking to break up lumps and mix the roux completely.
4. Simmer a few minutes until chicken broth starts to thicken.
5. Add corn and milk and stir.
6. Add chicken, potatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until hot.
I usually peel and dice the potatoes first and put them on to cook. Then chop and dice the other vegetables and go on with the rest. By the time you get ready to add the potatoes, they should be cooked. It all takes about 20-30 minutes, so very quick and easy 🙂
Ham and Broccoli Quiche
1 frozen pie crust
1 cup chopped ham (your choice what kind, but I like honey ham)
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 onion, diced (or a teaspoon of onion powder)
2 cloves garlic, diced (or a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder)
1 cup broccoli, cooked and chopped
1-1/2 cups shredded cheese (of your choice, though I recommend cheddar or monterrey jack)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare pie crust according to package instructions.
3. Saute onion and garlic in the butter. (If you’re using powder, just add it to the egg mixture later)
4. Spread the onion and garlic, broccoli, ham, and cheese evenly in the pie crust.
5. Whisk the eggs and milk (and seasonings, if using) together in a separate bowl. Pour this mixture over the other ingredients to fill the pie crust almost full.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the eggs have set and puffed up a little and the top is brown.
Chipotle Ranch Chicken
This is totally made up and what we are making for dinner tomorrow night. It is sort of fashioned by Applebee’s Fiesta Lime Chicken, but came about because corn was 19 cents an ear this week, and I wanted something to go with corn on the cob. I haven’t made it yet, so I’ll let you know how it turns out.
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Lawry’s Baja Chipotle marinade
Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch dressing (these are just the brands I got, but you could obviously switch it up)
1 cup monterrey jack or cheddar cheese, shredded
tortilla chips or strips
1. Marinate chicken overnight, turning and basting every 4-6 hours.
2. Grill chicken (along with the corn if ya want!) on low until cooked through, about 45 minutes or so. (Totally worth it to grill chicken low and slow, it will come out sooo juicy and tender)
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Place chicken breasts in a baking dish, top each with a bit of ranch dressing and 1/4 cup of the cheese.
5. Bake chicken at 400 degrees until cheese is bubbly.
6. Serve each chicken breast on a bed of crunched up tortilla chips or tortilla strips, with extra ranch for dipping.
I’m going to make this with a mix for Mexican rice and then serve the ears of corn with chili butter (just butter softened and mixed with chili powder) and lime wedges. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
The rest of the list will have to wait. I need to go waste my life watching the antics of the Bachelorette, lol 🙂