Sadness about Eggs...but with gratitude!

I have been getting my eggs from the same people for about the past 8 months or so.  I stumbled across their ad on a community website selling fresh eggs for a BUCK a dozen!  Regular, yucky, commercial eggs sell for more than that AND I usually pay about $3 a dozen for fresh eggs.  I hit the jackpot and had been buying 10 dozen at a time.  We use a lot of eggs because we both take them to work everyday for a great source of protein.  And according to the USDA, eggs stay good for MONTHS!  

Now for the sad part....they sold their chickens....sad, sad, sad.  I finally got in touch with them a little over a week ago and the guy said that although they have no more chickens, they still had lots of eggs and could hook me up.  These are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet.  He told me to come by that evening and they would make it happen.

All of my yummy eggs!

When I got there, they had my eggs (10 doz) ready to go.  As I tried to hand him a 10 dollar bill, he told me no, they're yours.  So, so kind!  That made me smile but I am still sad about the thought of having no more!  They had all kinds of breeds even Easter-Eggers which lay eggs in gorgeous hues of green.

Pretty, huh?

What's in Rich's Bento _ Friday Edition!

A little late here...sorry!!  My guy had a really sucky week last week so I wanted to make him an extra special Bento!  It drew TONS of comments on Facebook (he's cute bc he always takes a pic and posts it). Here is my guy's bento from this past Friday:

Top left: Watermelon from my sister's garden cut into heart and star shapes with a few pieces of a sprite melon underneath, below that is a bear-shaped boiled egg(Rich's daily staple). In the big section, he has a mini star-shaped ham and colby cheese sammie with a homemade peanut butter/choc chip/oatmeal cookie on top. Right beside that is an oatmeal/raisin pawprint. In back, is a mini cheese biscuit and beside that are 2 picks of black olives and colby cheese cubes, all topped off with an Mini Iron Man gummy! :) This is what he eats on throughout the day, hence the variety of things! I think he also brought a dab of homemade chicken orzo from last night. :)  He is holding up the note that I tucked into it the night before so he would find it when he got to work!

 

This made me laugh....

He posted this on Facebook and his caption said, "In case y'all are wondering, it was good!"  I like how he truly appreciates my efforts.  Makes me enjoy doing it for him!

What's in your lunchbox for Monday-Monday??

FREE ZonePerfect Bar

This is totally FREE!!  Limit ONE per person, THREE per household!  Go HERE and simply fill in your mailing info and choose 1 of the 3 flavors.  FREE is always good!!

Thursday's Bento...a Day Late!

Yep...I'm late but what can I say?!  Rich had a pretty simple bento yesterday.  He is a tad bit picky so it's tough at times.  I love him no less, though!!  Hubby took the pic at work so I apologize for anything you can't see very well!  Here we go....

Starting in the large compartment in my $1 lunch container with built-in utensils on the lid:  Heart and flower shaped cukes with a cute heart pick in the white silicon muffin cup (Dollar Tree - huge pack for a buck), a Tony's Ham & Cheese stuffed Sammie (I wrote his nuking instructions on it w/ marker so he'd know), bunny rabbit-shaped boiled egg.  Filling in the spaces around it all are 2 Hershey's Kisses and a handful of mixed nuts.  In the smaller compartment I put a cut up Gala Apple (sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning - and it held up nicely from the previous night when I made it) and a little container of Cookie Butter underneath to dip the apples in.  All topped off with a cute flag/star pick from a big pack of stuff from Big Lots!  Cheap is good!  Rich loves to have a boiled egg each day....I'm happy to oblige because it is great, lean protein!

There ya have it!  :)  Oh, I'm going to include a cute pick from a couple of weeks ago.  My niece, Taylor, and I decided to try our hand at homemade sushi.  I really wish I liked it!  Tay and Rich thought it was yumm!

It's pretty, though!  It had avocado, cucumber, and red bell pepper in it (if I am remembering correctly)!

Have an awesome weekend!!  Oh, btw, my birthday is coming up on Monday...know what I want for my bday?  More followers!  Help a sister out!  :)

Peace!
Joy

What's Rich's Bento??

I crashed Tuesday night!  Hendrix (my youngest lab) snuggled up to me and we were out!  I woke up at around 4amish and realized I had not made Rich's bento!  Being the wonderful wife I am, I got up and made it so he would have it for breakfast/snack/lunch!  Check it out!  I am always, always looking for new, simple bento ideas...please lend me your creativity in the comment section!

Large section: Cute lil' guitar container w/ 4 Hershey's kisses in it, a Teddys Grahams soft paw cookie/muffin thingie with a mini homemade granola bar underneath, homemade flour tortilla half with ham and cheese inside. The smaller sections: top- a few GINORMOUS grapes with heart-shaped cucumber slices underneath.  And finally, a homemade blueberry/cream cheese muffin. I Used the last precooked boiled egg yesterday (which Rich usually has in these for protein), but I am boiling more today! ♥  I try to boil 8-12 at the beginning of each week to use for lunches.  I didn't this week bc I still had a few leftover from last week...there are more now!  They were mint and olive green eggs!  These are laid by Easter Egg Chickens!  ;)

What's in his Bento Today?

I'm still learning when it comes to the whole Bento Box thing.  I try to have themes and such, but I usually just end up putting in things that I know he will like and that we have on hand.  I'm all about some ease!  He had leftover salad that I got at Backyard Bistro for his actual lunch, so I made a breakfast/snack Bento that he could just munch on when he got hungry.  Let's see what Rich had in his Bento!

Starting at the top, right, is some homemade chicken salad with almonds and grapes.  Below that are the crackers to go with it as well as about 10 M&M's as a treat!  In the large section he has orange slices, kiwi and apple hearts, cucumber stripes, and a little container of my yummy fruit dip is underneath the little love note...which he NEVER mentioned!  Sometimes you gotta ask yourself, "Why do I bother?"  He is usually very appreciative so I guess I can let him slide this one time!  lol

I just had to include a pic of the salad I got for lunch that Rich took the leftovers from.  This is a Cobb Salad from Backyard Bistro in Raleigh and let me tell you...it was HUGE!  It is one of my fave things there...with their homemade avocado-ranch dressing.  My niece and I went there because I had a $20 groupon!  Her salad is below....

My niece, Taylor, had a lettuce bowl salad with all kinds of veggies and some kind of seasoned, grilled chicken.  The presentation was so pretty!

Purex Insider: Honey Bunches of Oats

About a year and a half ago I became a Purex Insider.  This means I sample products for various companies therefore I receive lots of freebies!  The latest product came in the mail last week...a full-sized box of Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal.  Hubby was VERY excited because he loves this stuff, but due to the price, I don't buy it on a regular basis.  

What did I think?

That had to be the freshest box cereal I have ever had!  I'm not gonna lie, I usually do not like cold cereals that much.  This one definitely was a step above the others.  It had just the right amount of sweetness without being over-powering.  I had it with both plain and vanilla almond milk...yum to both!  If I could get a hold of some coupons, I would buy this stuff!  Quick, easy, filling, and tasty...awesome!

Weekly Meal Plan via the SMARTSHOPPER!

I follow a couponing/deal blog on WRAL.com hosted by a friend of mine and local celebrity, Faye Prosser.  This lady rocks!  She teaches you how to coupon the RIGHT, ETHICAL way!  We call her the "SmartShopper" and her blog is called that too!  Anyway, I just posted my weekly menu plan there so I thought I'd post it here as well!  Hopefully, I will be able to incorporate a few bentos as well!  What do you think??


Monday - Homemade "Hambone Veggie Soup", blueberries/strawberries
Tuesday - Corned Beef Brisket, carrots, potatoes, cabbage (St. Patty's Day again - will be making corned beef hash for breakfast Saturday)
Wednesday - Leftover soup and our fave grilled ham n' cheese topped with a thin slice of tomato (produce box) and fresh basil leaves (YUMMM)
Thursday - Cheese enchiladas (with homemade sauce put up last year), corn on the cob, salad (weekly produce box)
 Friday - my version of Sesame Chicken, broccoli (weekly produce box), roasted new potatoes (produce box) Saturday - HUGE Sea Scallops (Trader Joe's has the BEST), garden peas (produce box), new potatoes (box) and strawberries/blueberries (also from box)
Sunday - Sounds like a great day to use a GROUPON at Backyard Bistro!!
Wow...didn't think I had it in me! Sounds like a yummy week...if I follow through!

Soup is always a win in our house!  Leftovers for lunches!  :)

Puzzle & Penguin Mini-Bento

I have felt pretty close to death for a couple of days!  I hate being sick!  Anyway, I finally cooked tonight...I'm sure my hubby was happy!  I made a big pot of ham/veggie/misc soup...the best!  We are having that for lunch tomorrow.  I made each of us a little breakfast/snack bento to munch on throughout the day.  I bought 2 new sammie cutters from Wally World.  They are CUTE!  I got the puzzle one and a penguin duo!  I hate Wally World but was there checking out a phone deal someone had told me about.  Out of stock - go figure!

Each has a mini penguin sammie and 2 puzzle pieces - filled with....wait for it....COOKIE BUTTER!  YUMMO!  The penguins each have a flower sprinkle for the eyes.  The chili pepper is made from a Trader Joe Fruit Leather.  The ABC cookies are also from TJs and are quite tasty!  Hubby has organic white cheddar mini cracker sammies and a tiny Fruit Stripe packet!

 

 

 

 

 

A Yummy, Good 4 You, CHEAP Breakfast!

I hate Sunday nights....that means Monday morning is coming up!!  I've had a good weekend celebrating hubby's birthday as well as snuggling w/ my furry babies!  No reality!!

My Sunday night ritual is to sit in front of my Excel spreadsheet and ponder over the food in our house.  From this, I create our weekly meal plan.  I was doing it 2-3 weeks at a time when I first started the Pantry Challenge, but now that I'm having to be creative, a week is all I can do!  I have had to go buy a few things here and there but I have saved AT LEAST 75% of my monthly grocery bill since I've started this!  :)  Awesome!  Oops...ADD moment!

Anyway...most Sundays I make a large pot of my "gourmet" oatmeal.  I wasn't an oatmeal person until the last few years.  I started buying Quaker Instant Raisins and Brown Sugar (or something like that).  At $3 for 8 packets (I think it has 8), I decided I had to do something different!  Now, I LOVE Oatmeal and HUBBY DOES TOO!!!  Wow!!  I also love starting the day w/ something warm on those cold mornings.  Here is my breakdown:

Oatmeal (Aldi) – 2.03 (tax inc) for 42oz. = 30 (1/2c)servings = .07 per serving

Walnuts (Aldi) – 2.34 (tax inc) for 8oz. =  8 (1oz) servings = .29 per serving

Golden raisins (Aldi) – 2.03 (tax inc) for 15oz. = 14 (1oz) servings = .15 per serving

Brown Sugar (Aldi) – 1.32 (tax inc) for 36oz. = 36 (1oz) servings = .03 per serving

My pot of oatmeal:

3c oatmeal - .07 x 6 =.42

2oz walnuts - .29 x 2 = .58

2oz raisins - .15 x 2 = .30

2oz brown sugar - .03 x 2 = .06

Made 6 servings

1 serving =  .22 per serving!!

VERSUS Starbucks @ $2.65 per serving AND theirs is instant…it’s good but mines better!

VERSUS McDonald’s @ $2.15 per serving…I’ve never had it.  I am not a McD’s fan unless it’s their unsweet tea w/ Equal. :)
                                                           My 6 meals of Yumminess

                                                               The finished product!

With Visions of Sugarplums Brown Sugar Dancing in my Head,

Joy