Who wants Stromboli?

I finally made stromboli and it was soooo good. It was also very easy. 

You can use any kind of meat you want or none at all. Here is my recipe

Homemade Stromboli

1 batch of homemade pizza dough
1/2 lb pepperoni
1/2 lb ham
2 cups cheese (I use a mix of cheddar and mozzarella)
1 cup pizza sauce
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced

roll your dough out into a rectangle, about the size of a cookie sheet
spread pizza sauce evenly down the middle of the dough
place the meats evenly over the sauce and sprinkle the cheese over the meat
fold both ends of dough in, about 1 inch
fold both sides over the middle so everything is secured tightly
place on to a cookie sheet. the stromboli should be as long as the cookie sheet and cover half of it

mix melted butter, diced garlic and garlic powder. spread over the top of the prepared stromboli

Bake in oven at 375 for 25 minutes

I make two at a time

Very simple 2 week meal plans

I don't grocery shop according to my menu. I make a menu according to what I buy. Of course I have ideas because my family eats a lot of the same meals. But there are times (every grocery trip) I will have food items on my list that I have to substitute with something else or forgo completely due to cost or availability. I also like to explore cookbooks to see what new things I can make.
I try to shop according to what I already have on hand, what I am low on or out of. I do a pretty good job at keeping track but every now and then something gets hidden, even in my small kitchen. Last night I found a few pounds of organic brown rice and about a pound of quinoa shoved way back in one of my cabinets. I'm going to have to blame the kids for that one since that has kind of turned into their snack cupboard.

Here are my menus for the next two weeks. I like simple and easy for the kids to follow. If I need to change anything, I can either make the change on my computer and print up a new one or change it by hand with a pencil (my usual method).

2 week Neeld grocery haul

Today was my 2 week grocery shopping trip. I feed 9 people and I have a $300 budget every two weeks. That also includes non food, dog food (once a month), chicken and duck feed (once every 6 weeks) and hay(1-2 bales every few months).  We eat a decently healthy diet but my 6 teenagers, 1 husband, and 1 grandmother will never allow a 100% make over. So, I make a lot of things homemade, which allows me to control what goes in our food ( like say, a sneaky can of pumpkin and 1/2 the sugar in treats) and I squeeze veggies in as much as possible. I am not opposed to having a few quick go-tos in the freezer for super busy days or potlucks that I forgot about (it happens at least twice a month). We also have several birthdays this month so there are ingredients for cakes, brownies or whatever dessert I end up making.
I shop at Sharp Shopper, Costco and Aldi. The majority of my groceries for this grocery trip came from Sharp Shopper. They are pretty comparable to the Grocery Outlet but bigger and they also sell bulk items.

I came way under budget at $232.00. I even splurged on a gallon of apple cider which cost 2.99 at Aldi


This is my grocery haul. Since we were given 80 lbs of bananas and I have apples coming out my ears, I only bought a little bit of fruit

My new favorite thing (I have alot of favorites!)!!!!

I first saw these fun little chalk board labels at

 www.blissfulanddomestic.com. (great blog by the way)

Today, I found them at Walmart, 24 for $2.97!!

The second I got home I labeled all of my jars.
 Thanks Danielle, this is genious

Bananas and more bananas

This weekend we were given 80lbs of bananas. That's right, I said 80lbs! What does one do with 80 lbs of bananas in one weekend? Dry them, freeze them, and share them with our neighbors!

Husband filling up the dehydrator trays

Freezer full of smashed and chopped bananas

Dried bananas!

My dining room, a work in progress

My home is an unending work in progress. It is small for my family of 9 (1850sf) but it has such a homey, welcoming feel and I want each room to reflect that. At the moment my focus has been my bedroom (see faux headboard before and after post)and my dining room. Every week I try and do something in one or both of these rooms. 

Here are some pictures of my dining room. 

These curtains are temporary. I'm a bit indecisive, solid color or print??

Can I just say, I love the wall stickers! They are inexpensive and really add to a bare wall

The frame on this picture was gold for 13 years and I have always hated it. But I love the picture, so when I painted my faux headboard, I painted the frame and now I love it. And, I love the wall sticker here too! We often have dinner guests and this saying is very fitting for our home

Got any ideas? I will keep working and sharing!

Just a homemade girl style

It's been a while since I've posted a snazzy outfit with my "model". But with fall pushing summer out of the way I thought I would share one that is fitting for the season.

One of my favorite things to wear is a comfy pair of jeans(free) and t-shirt ($4.96 at Walmart). The flannel (it's my daughter's) takes it from blah to stylish

 We added a long silver necklace that I picked up from Goodwill for $2.50

And because I love boots! I found these several years ago on clearance at Old Navy for $5.00!!!

Home grown sunflower seeds!

This year I grew sunflowers. Joe eats sunflower seeds like crazy so I thought I would try my hand at growing them. They were huge! Each sunflower harvested tons of seeds. 

It was in the harvesting that Joe took interest in these giant seed producing flowers. He started researching them online and learning everything he could about removing the seeds from the flower, drying them out, flavoring them, how long they lasted. It has been interesting to watch him. It has also given me the opportunity to work on other things.

 This is the kind of sunflowers we grew. Most of them are about the size of a frisbee

These are some seeds that Joe harvested. They are delicious!

Faux headboard before and after

I have been working on some DIY home decor. My first project is the master bedroom and I started with the headboard since we needed a new one. After searching the internet I came up with a rough idea and visited the local thrift stores, antique stores and flea markets.

        I found two of these lovely little cabinet doors

 at a flea market by my house

I painted them with some craft paint. The color is called, pavement

I found this fleur de lis printed burlap material on clearance at Walmart. I glued it with a hot glue gun

This is my bed (unmade) before my faux headboard. It is so boring!

This is my homemade faux headboard and  fun wall stickers I found at Walmart

I am far from done with the room but so far, I like it

A full Summer 2014

Our summer has come to an end. School has started, I have harvested most of my garden and my chickens aren't laying as much even with the threats. This summer was different from the rest. 

It began with a death and it ended with a death

 We lost a beloved nephew/cousin/grandson the end of May.

 He was only 21.

The kids went to a youth conference, the girls went to girls camp and the boys went to scout camp.

We took family pictures. It doesn't sound like a big deal but for my family it is quite the event. As you can see, they are all smiling

We moved here the very end of March so my Garden was thrown together very quickly. I had a lot of help from my church missionaries and my kids. 

Not everything I planted did well but I still count the garden as a success.

I am still getting tomatoes, Joe and Shelby just harvested some of our sunflower seeds. I recently planted some more snap peas and I will plant garlic in October. I have enough onions, tomatoes, freezer pickles and butternut squash to last until at least February (I think). We didn't have to buy a lot of produce this summer because we ate what we grew. So overall, not too bad for a last minute garden.

I visited southern Virginia 

Picked strawberries, cherries and blueberries at a local fruit farm.

Collected chickens and a duck. And then some more ducks

We celebrated my son Gabe's birthday and my husband Joe's birthday.

We went to NYC

We stopped by Hershey, Pennsylvania, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Fort Indian Gap, Pennsylvania

August 16th,the day before Joe's birthday, his sweet Nanny passed away.

 We attended her funeral in Levittown, Pennsylvania (I think that's where we were anyway. So many Pennsylvania stops). We also got to visit with a lot of his family members, including a brother, sisters, dad, aunts, uncles and lots of cousins. There were so many great memories of Nanny shared.

Joe has a wonderful family. I love their closeness and I love how much they all love their Nanny. I am very grateful for having her for my Nanny too and I will truly miss her.