Day One

Well now, how hard could it be after only one day? Not really, to be honest. Especially when it's 30 degrees wicked cold outside and I have not a desire to step a foot out of doors.

Add to that, that we have the sniffles over here and Quint and I had an easy go of our 1st day of "nothin". We watched too much TV, napped, and had a nice fire in the fireplace. (So much for nothin' - we had everything we wanted as far as I can tell) We cuddled, and snuggled, and wiped our noses, and waited for Daddy to get home so he could join us.

Now, I'll say this much...we have to do some marginal grocery shopping to help us get through the month (necessity only for the most part). Outside of that, of course, the goal is to spend as little as you can within the boundaries of reason. Obviously, we're not going to skip getting milk for the baby. So there are some things we will be purchasing. However, we are both committed to seeing just how empty that pantry can get and just how much we can actually keep in the bank account this month.

On the menu today was a simple variety, mainly because the pantry is still full! (that helps) Give me fifteen more days and I might be whimpering loudly about my fifth tuna sandwich in a row. Ooooh, I can feel a whimper coming on now just thinking about it....we're so spoiled.

Breakfast: Cereal and breakfast bars
Lunch: Turkey, Salami & Cheese Sandwiches with chips
Dinner: Mexican Casserole

AB gets all the credit for dinner, as per usual. But I want to clarify a trick. I get tired of forgetting to lay out something to defrost for dinner. It's partially why we end up eating out too often. Nothing is ready! So today I laid out four items. One for tonight, two for the coming nights, and one for breakfast on Saturday. This way, we're good to go with no excuses and AB has choices about what to make. Now, back to the casserole...

He took maybe twenty minutes to put this together and it was off the cuff - ground beef, beans, flour tortillas, and Spanish rice. Layered in a dish with cheese and enchilada sauce. Covered with more cheese and sauce and put in the over for about 35 minutes. Done and seriously delish! He had never made it before and literally threw it together with what we had on hand. Soooo good that I forgot to take a beautiful before pictures, so all you get is this lousy "we ate a bunch and saved the rest for leftovers" afterthought. The after pictures were not too flattering, considering we dove into it like a pack of hungry wolves (small child included). So, maybe another night on the cutsie "look what we ate" pics, eh?

See you for day 21....oops, I mean day two. Sigh...already going too slowly...