Life with Littles

The Best Baked Potato

I just got the new issue of Taste of Home magazine the other day.  I just happened to catch in it what they say is the best way to bake a potato.  After washing the potato you rub it with oil, poke holes in it and put it right on the rack at 350 for about an hour.  I have to say, they were really good!  I have always wrapped them in foil to bake.  Even DaddyLittle noticed the difference.  We had baked potatoes yesterday for the Super Bowl (Go Steelers!)  He took a left over potato to work for lunch and some Rotel Dip to put on it.  I had hoped to have a leftover potato for lunch tomorrow, but they are all gone.  I think I may just have to get up and put one in the oven first thing so I can take it with me!

Menu Plan Monday

In an attempt to be better stewards of our funds I am trying to cut our grocery bill.  There are 6 members of our family, there are basically 4 that eat as adults and then 2 younger littles that eat about as much as one adult together.  One of the areas that we seem to spend the most money on is snacks.  The littles will go through a bag a chips in one sitting.  I try not to buy too many of them, or shop at Aldi's if I do, but DaddyLittle thinks we need to have them in the house.  Another area that has caused our meal planning to become more of a challenge has been DaddyLittle's schedule change.  It has been really hard on me to try to work around the time that he is at home.  With all that in mind here are my plans for the week.  I plan on getting the snacks made up the weekend before so they are ready to go for the week.  Some of the cookies will go into the freezer so they won't all end up in the tummies of the Littles at once.  I am going to try a couple of new recipes this week from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook called "5 Ingredients or Less"

Snacks made this weekend: 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 2 dozen white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, 2 batches caramel chex mix, 2 batches Puppy chow or Muddy Buddies Mix

Menu:     Monday:  Breakfast  Eggs, toast, milk and OJ

                            Lunch     Chicken Strips, Cottage Cheese, Peaches

                            Dinner    Maid Rites, Corn on the cob, Orange Fluff

                Tuesday:  Breakfast   Cereal, Bananas, Milk

                                Lunch        Hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, pineapple bits

                                Dinner        Baked Ziti, Green Salad, Garlic Bread

                 Wednesday:   Breakfast     Pancakes, Sausage, Milk

                                      Lunch      Frozen Pizza

                                      Dinner     Newlywed Beef and Noodles (5IOL)

                 Thursday:      Breakfast       Eggs, Toast, Milk and OJ

                                      Lunch            Sandwiches

                                      Dinner        Mary's Pork Chops ( 5IOL), Mahed potatoes, green beans

                   Friday        Breakfast  Funnel Cakes, strawberries

                                    Lunch        Chef Salad

                                    Dinner    Chili w/ cheese, cornbread

                Saturday    Breakfast    Cereal, Milk and Fruit

                                Lunch        Savory Sandwich Ring

                                Dinner       Meatloaf, Super Potato Casserole (5IOL), green beans

                Sunday      Breakfast    Pancakes, Bacon

                                Lunch     Baked potato and salad bar

                                Dinner    Chicken and Stuffing Bake (5IOL)

             For more great menus visit I'm an Organizing Junkie .

Family Fun Friday

This post is a little late, but we have been having so much fun in the slush outside that it was hard to find the time to post it.  This week for Family Fun Friday we watched the movie "The Ultimate Gift."  It was a great movie.  It is rated PG, so you might want to view it prior to letting your littles watch it.  There were a couple of scenes that I didn't really care for, but it had a wonderful message and was overall a fabulous movie.