Budget Meal Planning with Teens

Meal Planning on Budget with Teenagers

This past weekend I have slept on the floor of the Franklin Institute with 400 5th graders.  Needless to say 2 days later my back has not yet recovered.  Meal Planning has become an important part of scheduling my week and saving my family money.   I always looking for a great way to fill up my teen and also have leftover for my husbands lunch that he wont mind eating a second day.

After-school Snack Ideas:

 

  • Pop Corn Sprinkle with Powder Sugar
  • Baked apple in the Microwave with butter and brown sugar
  • Mug Cake –  here is 20 recipes
  • 4 ingredient cookies no butter recipe  here
  • Berry Spring Rolls recipe here
  • Easy Banana Ice Cream recipe here
  • Chocolate covered Clementines recipe here
  • Lazy Cookies recipe here

This week is  a slower week than last so I am looking forward to great cooking and family meals.

Monday :  Honey-Garlic Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs ($3.46 sale) with simple Fried Rice ($1.30)  and steamed  broccoli  ($2.20)

Tuesday :   Smoked sausage, green beans and Potatoes  from sixdollarfamily

Wednesday: Shrimp and Veggie pasta ($9.00)

Thursday: Whole Chicken brined baked with rosemary, Roasted cauliflower, and acorn squash ($11.00)

Friday : Soup Night  Zuppa Toscana (olive garden copy cat)  Fresh bread from my favorite bead book ($11.00)

I am Linking up with

Organizing Junkie Meal Planning Monday

Motivation Monday

 

Pokemon Mew Costume

Pokemon Mew costume for Cosplay or halloween costume

Pokemon Mew Costume: This year my daughter has been really into Pokemon she likes the Mew character.  I made the costume for her this year,  I started with a generic dress pattern top and added the circle skirt.   The fabric was a anti polar fleece  perfect for trick or treating  she thought she was going to be cold but after running around from house to house she was sweating.  I don’t think she will be able to wear the dress for Comic Con during the month of May, great for the winter months.

Pokemon Mew costume for Cosplay or halloween costume

Pokemon Mew costume for Cosplay or halloween costume

I made the hat by copying a hat she had making the hat larger,  I added the eyes using turquoise polar fleece and white felt the beauty of polar fleece is that it does not fray so you can cut the shape for the mew eyes and don’t have to worry about applique edges just single needle the shapes.   I add the eyes did a dart on top of the hat to allow for the curve of the head.  The ears were added when I sew the front to the back.

Pokemon Mew costume for Cosplay or halloween costume

 

Tip make the outside of the hat longer then the inside lining  of the hat so when you line the hat .  I also use a lighter weight cotton knit jersey so the hat is not too hot to wear and the liner lays flat when worn.

The gloves had an eye on each glove and the dark pink paw mark on the palm.

Pokemon Mew costume for Cosplay or halloween costume

The tail was not stuffed the thickness of the polar fleece it was not needed.   The boot covers using tissue paper I careful traced my daughters boots pattern.   I sewn them and made a few adjustments to make sure they fit snugly.  Once they fit I serged them and clean finished the top

The entire project took about 2.5 yards of pink 56″ wide fabric-  I was good with the scraps.

Pokemon Mew costume for Cosplay or halloween costume

Pokemon Mew Costume

Pokemon Mew costume for Cosplay or halloween costume

Be sure to check out My Superhero Capes store :

Babypop Superhero cape store

Or if you want to learn more about my Adult Humor finger-less gloves store:

alien gloves avaiable at sickos on etsy

alien gloves from sicks on etsy

willow tree gloves on sickos on etsy

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Hero with La Brea Bread #ThanksgivingHero

Disclosure : This a Sponsored Post by Single Edition Media on behalf of La Brea Bakery

bread basket

Thanksgiving Hero with La Brea Bread :  This time of the year we are all looking forward to the holidays.  Thanksgiving is a spectacular meal that hours of planning and preparation go into.  In my family it is my fathers meal to cook he takes such pride in ensuring the entire family is fed.  Where turkey is not my favorite protein, don’t tell my Dad.   I love all the sides his savory stuffing is the best with sausage bits,  My father is the king of gravy I seriously could just eat or drink it all day.  Just give me a loaf of bread to go with the gravy and I am happy girl on Thanksgiving.   The joy of food and family spending time with my cousins and their kids is a day I look forward to all year.

During this special Thursday,  I spend time talking to my husband’s aunts and they share their stories of how many holidays they have worked as nurses.    I have always been very thankful for my job being flexible and I am off on holidays.  It saddens me to think of the people who serve others like Nurses, fire fighters, police and food service workers, don’t always get to be with there families on the special family holidays.  Mainly because, they are caring or even feeding others families.  They are all really special people to care for others.

La Brea Bakery is running a Thanksgiving promotion where you will be able  nominate your “Thanksgiving Hero” – people you know and love who regularly work on Thanksgiving serving others (such as firefighters, police, waiters, etc.). La Brea Bakery will deliver fully catered meals to 5 finalists across the nation on Thanksgiving. Submissions close Nov 15th 2015.  Sounds like a great opportunity to share with your Thanksgiving Hero.  Do you know someone? To learn more read further, check out here,  and watch the video.

 

 

La Brea Bakery is the leading artisan bread in the United States, and is sold in 7,000-7,500 accounts (retail outlets and chains) nationwide. Learn more about La Brea Bakery.

How to enter your Thanksgiving Hero?

CONTEST ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS: To submit an entry click the “Thanksgiving Heroes” tab to create your form submission by including: your first and last name; zip code; email address; an essay of 100 words or less telling about your family member that you will be unable to share Thanksgiving dinner with and submit at least one photograph showing both you and your family member that you will be unable to share Thanksgiving dinner with. Submissions must be received by November 15th 2015. Finalists will be announced November 17th 2015, after which the public will have a chance to vote for their favorites through November 20th 2015.

NOW Enter your “Thanksgiving Heroes” To submit an entry

 

la brea bread logo

Be sure to follow along La Brea’s social media to get update on the #ThanksGivingHeros and the La Brea Bakery wonderful bread update

La Brea Bakery Facebook,

La Brea Bakery on Instagram:

La Brea Bakery onTwitter:

La Brea Bakery on Pinterest:

Sponsored by Single Edition Media on behalf of La Brea Bakery

Menu planning with teenagers and Royal Icing

Meal Planning on Budget with TeenagersMenu planning with teenagers This past week was busy. With Halloween and parties we have been crazy. I am looking forward to a week of less sweets.  This past week i have done a cooked or baked for everywhere I was going.  I made toffee bark, and cheese ball which I am blogging about sharing more toward the holiday.

candy corn sugar cookies

I also made these cookies with my favorite sugar cookie recipe with royal icing.  I found these great videos on how to make royal icing and ice cookies without using a pastry bag.


This week slow down will be nice I have some closet clean out planned and sewing ahead for my Superhero Cape store BabyPop.
My teenager is also moving into swim season. He has to get back into shape. So less carbs and more meat for a few weeks prior to the start.  This week buy 2 Sams club rotisserie chicken and

Menu planning with teenagers

Monday: Sausage and onions and potatoes

Tuesday: Sam club Chicken rice and sauteed cabbage and carrots

Wednesday:

Thursday: Lemon Thyme Chicken Noodle soup (My Night out)

Friday : Ravioli bake

 

I am linking up to

Motivation Monday

Organizing Junkie

 

Babypop Superhero cape store

Toshiba satellite radius at Best Buy this Holiday Season

bestbuy_disclosure_001

Holiday season is upon us and tech is the gift that is most loved this season.  I loved learning about the new option at  Best Buy  for exciting new mobile PC devices, including the new Satellite Radius 12 by Toshiba.  With the launch of Windows 10, now is the time to gear up and get a laptop built with the expert technologies, flexible 2-in-1 design and fast mobile performance.  Toshiba satellite radius laptop is great it is convertible to be able to be used also as a stand up touch tablet.

The world’s first 12.5-inch convertible laptop with a 4K Ultra HD display , the Satellite Radius 12 will arrive in Best Buy stores on October 18, just in time for the Holiday’s.

Designed with color accuracy in mind, the Technicolor-certified wide gamut RGB display supports 100% Adobe® RGB color space reproduction, making it an ideal choice for mobile content creators and action cam enthusiasts.  On this screen, what’s shot with the camera can be viewed with the same color fidelity, making editing a breeze.

Designed for Windows 10, the Satellite Radius™ 12 is one of the first small-screen PC’s to enable facial authentication with Windows Hello, enabling a more personal and convenient way to log in to the laptop.  It’s also among the first Windows laptops to run on the power and performance of Intel’s new 6th generation Core processors, delivering maximum mobile performance for mobile content creators and multi-taskers.

Featuring a sleek, highly-mobile compact design, Gorilla Glass damage resistant screen and an LED backlit keyboard, the Satellite Radius 12 is designed for travel.  A 360-degree precision hinge enables greater flexibility as the screen rotates into five unique viewing modes – giving the right view for every occasion.

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free

 

Meal Planning with Teens

Meal Planning on Budget with Teenagers

This weekend has been a busy few days Halloween isn’t even here and I am exhausted.  I had a an Octoberfest at a friends hour I brought Bacon 3 ways to go with the beer,  all sweet.  I made Candied Bacon, Chocolate bacon, and toffee bacon.   I would love to say I have pictures but I was making it last minute and none survived.  I have to say all of it went, I brought none home.  The Candied bacon was  the bacon everyone raved about you can find the recipe here.  The candied bacon is very  labor intensive because you have to flip and basted every 5 minutes for 35 minutes,  yea to much up and down next time I need netflix in the kitchen. I would just sit down when you have to flip the bacon again and basted it.

candied bacon

This weekend was  also Community service day or what we call “The Church has left the Building. ” At church instead of a sermon and service we reach into the community helping others.  250+ people served all day doing various task from raking leaves for a older person in need to working in a soup kitchen. We took some preteen kids and picked up trash. The kids were surprised at the amount of cigarette butts yuck.. But they cleaned up. Teaching kids social responsibility.

social good with kids

This week is also my annual Pumpkin Carving Party.  I have hosted this event 8 times.  For many of the moms this is the only pumpkin they carve.   They also get to get out, drink wine, eat, and socialize till after midnight.  I love it every year many say it is their favorite event in our moms group.   Check out last years pumpkin art.

pumpkins

This week with Halloween there is a ton on our schedule but with a Teen I want to make sure I’m feeding them and they are not just eating candy.

Meal Planning with Teens

Monday; Roasted,  Chicken Carrots, and Potatoes

Tuesday Pumpkin Carving:  Crockpot Smoked Sausage and Hash browns (easy for a busy night)

Wednesday: London Broil rice and beans

Thursday (trunk and treat) : English Muffin Pizza and Tator Tots

Friday: Halloween Party : Cooking night off

Saturday : Halloween Easy Ravioli Bake

baked ravioli

I am linking up to

Motivation Monday

Organizing Junkie

Connected Home Philips with Best Buy and NetGear

This Past week I received from Best Buy product review new Philips hue White and Color Ambiance Starter kit (former generation 1 starter kit but improved) to revision. Installs easily, the A19 bulbs have been upgraded from 600 to 800 lumens, providing brighter light. My husband installed the lights in seconds after the Netgear® Nighthawk™ DST Router and DST Adapter was installed.

Phillips Hue

We loved the easy of this system we were able to add the other light like the Hue G. Which my daughter fell in love with.

Works with Apple HomeKit (iOS users) so you can control your lights with Siri voice control on your iPhone. Turns your existing hue lights into HomeKit controllable lights and discover exciting new use cases through 3rd party home kit apps that also control door locks thermostats and more.

Also OpenHome certified, so you can create your own ecosystem

The hue Go is a portable, completely wire free smart light that offers a lot of versatility for any lighting need. Take it or put it anywhere: plug it in or carry it with you with up to 3 hours of rechargeable battery life. Although Hue go is not waterproof, it is designed to withstand high humidity. Control your way – with the on/off switch on the light, or via the hue app (hue bridge required). Use it as personal reading light in a dark room, create bright lighting in a room with little existing lighting or no electrical outlets, use it as a kid’s night light, or take it outside to provide ambiance on the patio. hue Go helps you to wake up fresh and energized in the morning with deep dimming. The gradually increasing light intensity gives you the feeling you are waking up from sunrise – gently and naturally

My daughter was digging the Hue Go We were having some homework drama, simply bu reducing the lights to a more somber color put her in a better mood to face Long division.

phillips hue go

My daughter also took the lamp to sleep.  Dont worry I moved it to a table top.

philps hue go

Home Philips Overall for hue lights:

You can manage hue lights from your smartphone or tablet and all hue lights work together. The free iOS- and Android-compatible app lets you adjust colors, brightness and functions without leaving your seat. Create a hue account to access your lights remotely by app or Web browser. Get the full functionality of the Philips hue app when connected to the Hue Bridge – adjust colors, set timers, notifications, alarms, geofencing and more

Choose from preset light recipes or create your own with 16 million colors – create and save scenes using your favorite photos as palettes. Choose from fine-tuned shades of white including the soothing “Relax” setting, the vibrant “Energize” setting and more – no need for buying different white bulbs. Create custom schedules: program your lights to match your routine, from gradual sunrise every morning or automatically illuminate your entrance way at sundown, to movie night settings

Phillips Hue

Netgear® Nighthawk™ DST Router and DST Adapter with Geek Squad included – new and exclusively at Best Buy

This is a brand new router that was exclusively developed between Netgear, an industry leader in the networking world, and Best Buy, to help provide consumers with an easy, all-in-one solution to support their home’s connected devices. As the number of Wi-Fi dependent products increase in a home – the average US household has 7 “connected devices” – from smart phones (often several in a home), to tablets, to laptops, to computers, and Wi-Fi printers, this puts a strain on the home’s network, especially the router. With the interest in online gaming and 4k TVs, connected devices such as smart thermostats, plus the need to stream shows from Netflix or hulu, it places even more demands on the network. Many households may experience slow Wi-Fi, dropped calls, or experience “dead zones” – which could be improved upon with an “AC” router, Wi-Fi extenders and expert help.

The AC1900 comes with one DST, or “Dead Spot Terminator,” adapter – to eliminate your Wi-Fi dead zones; place it in an area where you get little/no reception, to improve Wi-Fi access. Additional adapters can be purchased for other dead zones. This high-performance router was built to support 10+ connected devices – you can also prioritize devices for streaming videos or music, and included advanced features for lag-free gaming. Best Buy makes it easy with this new high performance Wi-Fi router, which includes a Wi-Fi extender and Geek Squad Set Up and Support via phone & web, for one full year. The Geek Squad service via phone & web allows customers to call or get help 24/7 whenever they want, vs. the need to schedule an appointment.

Watch at home or on the go – Sling TV is available on multiple devices:With Sling TV, you don’t have to worry about equipment and set-up fees, and there’s no annual contract. Simply sign up online, download the app and start watching. TV and video players, including Amazon FireTV and Roku Xbox One Smartphones, tablets, laptops and computers (select operating systems)

There is also a $50 off compatible device offer – available with 3 months of prepaid Sling TV service; this offer is available in Best Buy stores only, and not online; the $50 discount is given in the form of a Best Buy store coupon.

To activate the optional one month free service, please see the detailed steps below. NOTE: to receive the one month of free Sling TV service, you will need to click on the link below to sign up, and provide the needed info, including a credit card number. You will not be charged for the first month and MUST cancel within the 30 day window to avoid any charges – below are detailed instructions on how to cancel.

To sign up for the optional Sling TV one month of free service check it out here.

Disclaimer: All posts must include the following disclaimer: The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free

 

 

 

Meal Planning on Budget with Teenagers

Meal Planning on Budget with Teenagers

Meal Planning on Budget with Teenagers : Having a teen can be over whelming on your budget.  Adult size clothing and a growing appetite.  I find meal planning is the only way that I will make it through the next 8 years as my kids make it through their teenage years.  My son is a 6′ 1″ at 14 and he can put away the meat with the best of them.  I live near Philadelphia so I like to say I don’t get the buying or sales that the lady’s in the Midwest get. Food is expensive and it I don’t plan I could spend close to $1000 a month on food.  My goal is to keep it under $500 a month.

I do stock up if I see a sale on meat.  Like 2 weeks ago Predue ground chicken was $2.57 a pound. Turkey bacon was on sale 3 for $5 which is a huge help because I make an egg sandwich for my teen every morning.

This weeks meal plan

Meal Planning on Budget with Teenagers:

Monday : Chicken Pasty  Left over Chicken,  Potatoes, carrots, in a homemade Pastry $8.30 for 8

Tuesday: Fried Rice Rice $1.30, 4 carrots $1,  onion $1, Mushrooms $1, Broccoli $1, Diced Ham $2.99 – $8.20 for 10 cups

Wednesday : London Broil $6, squash $3, broccoli  $2= $11 for 5 servings

Thursday: Sam Clubs Chicken $4.88 , homemade mash $2.50, Green Beans  $2.50- $10  for 5 serving

Friday: My Blue Ribbon Chili– Ground Chicken (family fun night at school need a quick dinner)  $13 for 18 cups enough to eat for lunch all weekend

Saturday : Fend for yourself night Left overs

6 night dinners with left over for my husbands lunch for $50.50

Check out my post on Tips for Budget menu planning with teens

Tips for Menu Planning with Teenagers on a Budget

I am linking up to

Motivation Monday

Organizing Junkie

Meal Planning on Budget with Teenagers