Mmm..Meatloaf!

Well, its been an eventful evening. 
First. I finally decided what I was going to be for the Halloween lunch party at work tomorrow, where there is a costume contest and prizes.  I'm usually a party pooper, but I decided that I should probably dress up this year!  I'm going to be a hillbilly...the costume will be a little too easy, as I already have everything, overalls, hair ties, plaid shirt and even straw.  Creepy, huh?  Makes me wonder if I really am a hillbilly....I'm okay with that.  But, I think I'm gonna run by the store and see if I can find some hillbilly teeth and a straw hat, that would add to it I think. 

Second. Hubby, who most of the time acts like he's 12 but I love him for it, has been playing SimCity on our Super Nintendo quite a bit lately.  He has made almost every effort to get his population over 500,000 but hasn't made it over like 420,000.  In my online search for tips to assist his game play, I found THIS web site.  It has a ton of tips on how to beat the game and how to cheat your way to the top, to which we owe everything in the following pictures to. 

Notice the population number..500,560!!

Yaaay....officially a Megalopolis!

AND...the coveted Super Mario Statue!!!  ..I was a little too excited about this.

Thirdly, and finally...I made, I think, the best meatloaf I've ever made.  Observe...

Isn't it beautiful? (sorry its kinda blurry)

Here is how you make the same thing...

3 slices bread, crumbled by hand into kind of small pieces (I used bread heels for this)

1 pkt meat loaf spice mix (western family)
half medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c ketchup
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 egg
1-1 1/2 pounds ground beef

Glaze:

1/2 c ketchup, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 1/4 cup-ish apple cider vinegar, 1/2 c packed brown sugar

Put everything but the glaze in a big bowl, mixed together by hand, formed into loaf and put on roasting pan with slots in the bottom to let the fat drain away.  Mixed glaze and used half to glaze the loaf before I baked at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, then glazed with the rest of it and baked for another 20 minutes (or until it reaches 160 degrees inside, mine was just fine).  Let rest for 10 minutes and serve. 

I also made real mashed potatoes with 4 medium potatoes, skinned, cut up, and boiled for about 30 mins, then mashed with salt and half a stick of butter (real butter...mmm!). 

Also, of course, a can of green beans split half between the 2 of us.  

I'm not one for pretty pictures and super duper beautiful plating, but this looks pretty darn good to me... 

Enjoy! :)

Oh, and fourth.  I got my 4 newspapers this morning.  Felt like a super dork picking them all up and taking them into the house. 

First coupon shopping trip..

Ok, so since I'm not sure what to regularly talk about on this blog, and nothing exciting is going on in my life, other than we finally moved out (its great!), I made my first real chicken pot pie (Thank you again, Betty Crocker) and I finally checked out that "the Stocked Kitchen" book from the library...Because of that, we get to talk about this coupon experiment once a week.  Shopping day has moved from Wednesday after payday (twice a month), to probably every Tuesday, because I drive by 2 stores a day in my new commute and its way more convenient than it used to be.

Ok, shopping list consisted of the following items: pears (because they were on sale and are delicious), potatoes, chicken, lunch meat, bread, sloppy joe sauce (because it was on sale for .99/can), granulated garlic, cereal, veg. oil, Excedrin (because we were looking for a ibuprofen alternative anyway, I had a coupon, and it was really cheap), dry milk, olives, corn, refried beans, pork & beans, cheese, ritz crackers, napkins, orange/cinn. rolls, shampoo and freezer pizzas (those Totino's party pizzas).  That list was exciting, huh?!?!

After everything was rung up, it came to $100.10.  I had I think 5 coupons that were relevant and they took off a whopping total of (!!!!!)... $5.40.  On my overall purchase I saved $14.97, because I'm already a super frugal shopper anyway...Example.  Last night I had 2 coupons to save $1.00 off a package of 14-16 oz Gold 'n Plump chicken.  Okay, great!  I'll save $2.00 because we're out of chicken and need 2 packages, its on sale for $3.99 so that's only $3 a package, essentially per pound! So far so good, then, I look over and see that the store packaged chicken breasts are $2.09 a pound!  So, I'm planning on spending $6.00 anyway, so I might as well get an additional pound for the same price!  So...I spent $6.10 for 3 pounds instead of $5.98 for almost 2.  I don't feel bad.  :)  SO...after we put in the 5 coupons, my total came out to be...(dun dun duuunnn...) $94.70!!  $5.30 that I can roll over into next weeks shopping trip!  ..Yaay!

Sorry coupons...Its not looking too good.  But, don't worry, you still have time to redeem yourself... (get it...redeem! haha!!)

As I promised...

Finally, the pictures I've been threatening of the newer former flock.

Group Picture!!!!

Mottled Cochin Bantam hens (a little different, but really awesome!)

Patty...My little Silver-Laced Cochin Bantam hen (she has such a great personality...had)

Golden speckled bantam couple...not sure what kind they were but super unique and really cool!

These were kind of Aracauna (what with the flippy feathers on the cheeks), but I'm not sure, they're bantams, hens, feather footed...

Silver/blue sebright-ish hen, not sure what kind she is/was either

Golden sebright rooster, isn't he handsome!

And...as an honorable mention, Henny Penny, in her nest, upset that I'm going to get the eggs from her.  

Isn't she beautiful?

I miss my babies...

Chicken Enchiladas

I think I made the best chicken enchiladas so far last night...Super duper simple, and they were really good!
The recipe includes like 3 cups of chopped chicken, 2-3 cups of shredded monterey jack/cheddar cheese, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, multiple spices, water, and of course, tortillas.  Shredded the cheese from the block, set aside, chopped the chicken, set aside, then made the mixture of the sauce.  In the cream of chicken soup, mix enough water to make it relatively saucy (like tomato sauce consistency), then take it to the pantry and dash in a whole bunch of spices.  I think we had sage, paprika, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, cayenne pepper, cumin, onion powder, lowry's season salt, ...I think that's it.. But we just dashed in a bit of each of them and it turned out really good, I think next time we should do a tiny bit less of the cayenne pepper and cumin (only because my tastebuds are really sensitive).  Then put most of the sauce, except for like 1/3 cup or so in a skillet, mix in the chicken, cook til warm, warm up your tortilla, put down a bunch of cheese, then your chicken mixture, roll up, and put in the pan.  In the 1/3 cup of sauce you had leftover, mix some more water, so its more soupy (you like my words? soupy, saucy...oh yeah!), and pour over the top of your enchiladas...put a little bit of cheese on top and bake at 400 for like 11 minutes or so, 'til its slightly golden brown and delicious!  It has a zing to it, but it was just there, it didn't get worse or anything like that...Actually really good! 
Anyways..that was exciting, huh?!  We just always have a hard time finding good chicken enchilada recipes, you can always find beef ones, but not chicken (at least that we think are really good).

So, I think I'm doing couponing in conjunction with all this. 
I'm kind of excited, hubby can't say the same (something about getting 4 newspapers in one sunday doesn't appeal, haha), but we're gonna try it for a little bit.  I just hate how much we spend on groceries for just us 2...it seems unreasonable!  And it doesn't seem like most of these coupon people get real food, they get like 10 bottles of musturd...who eats that much mustard?  So, I'm gonna try and do it with realistic regular food, and not buy things we don't eat just because they are on sale!  So, I've got a month! :)

Well...

Since we sold all of our chickens, (sad!) I need to find something else to talk about on here, so I believe it will be food!  Last night I roasted a chicken (my fave dinner ever, plus the leftovers are super duper awesome-I think we're having enchiladas on tuesday and pot pie sometime next week), and we had roasted corn on the cob (cut off the cob after roasting).  There is nothing like fresh corn!!!  Soooo much more delicious than canned or even frozen (I think, its been a while since I've had frozen).  Mmmm...  Also, I've been really intrigued with a book called "The Stocked Kitchen"...I bought it for my ipod touch, but I don't really like reading books on there, so I might check out the real book from the library.  Also got the stocked kitchen app, but that doesn't do much good because I haven't read it yet, so its temporarily on the side.  Maybe I'll run to the library tonight after work, and maybe I'll also get that "How to Cook Without a Book" book again....That was a really good book!  We'll see.

Hubby and I moved out into our own apartment!  We're grown ups again!  YAAAY!  So I've been doing a lot of baking lately...mmmm!  Plus the dinner options open up a little bit, but they also narrow because of financial reasons.  But we're gonna try to still eat real good even on our budget..  :)