End-of-the-Month Meatloaf

I mentioned in my last blog that I put together a random meatloaf with ingredients we had left at the end of the month. As promised, here is my recipe! I'll list the actual recipe below, with my substitutions (out of necessity, not creativity!!) in parentheses.

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (1.2 lbs turkey meat)
3/4 cup diced onions (1 2-oz envelope onion soup mix)
2 cloves garlic
1 cup shredded italian cheese (1 cup mozzarella)
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups saltines, finely ground (1 cup oatmeal)
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup barbeque sauce

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, combine beef/turkey, onion, cheese, parsley, eggs, and saltines/oatmeal. Add the water and combine. Transfer meat mixture to baking dish and form into 9-inch loaf. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the meat and pour barbeque sauce on top. Return to the oven for about 15 minutes more (total of 40 minutes bake time). 


BONUS RECIPE!  Meatloaf has a great left-over recipe! When I waited tables in Hawaii, I worked at a southern bar and crab shack called Dixe Grill. We had a sandwich on the menu called Mealoaf Grilled Cheese... so ono!! Take 1-2 slices of meatloaf and re-heat. At the same time, butter 2 slices of bread. Place one slice of bread to toast on a skillet. Place a slice of cheese and barbeque sauce on top of bread. To save time, you can do this with the other slice of bread. Place the heated meatloaf between the slices of bread. Cut in half and delight in the cheesy, meaty deliciousness :)

Our Cash Journey...

This month, my husband and I went on what my friend Anne calls "a cash journey... because that's exactly what it is, a journey". I blogged earlier about how we've set out to decrease our debt, increase our monthly cash flow, and tighten up our budget. Though we're big Dave fans and are following our Baby Steps, I'll admit I've never adhered to the part of Financial Peace University where you use cash for groceries, eating out, etc. Well, this month, we tried it.

In months past, my husband and I budgeted a certain amount for groceries and eating out, and "tracked" how much we spent with the debit card with each purchase. Trouble is, as the month went on, we slacked on the tracking and forgot small purchases such as a trip to the store for milk. In discussing our financial strategies with Anne, she mentioned her family's cash plan... using cash rather than debit. So this month, we figured out an amount for groceries and eating out/entertainment (our two "frequently used" categories) and took that dollar amount out of the bank. The only other budget category that is irregular for us is gasoline. But I didn't want to rely on us having cash when stopping for gas, so we left that as a "debit permitted" category.

I have to say, I am pretty proud of my husband this month. I really thought this was going to result in fights over used debit cards and overdrawn accounts. But here it is, the 25th of the month (4 days to payday), and we have $5 left in an envelope, and about $18 in the checking account with no bills left to come out (we're doing a zero-based budget, we have some $ in savings!). We had a few slip ups... my husband forgot his food on a long day of school (8am to 10pm), so he bought Subway, and I got to the grocery store for a few things and realized the cash was at home. Dave would say I should go home and get the cash, but I was just too tired from errands to actually do that!

Our original budget was off by a bit... we ran out of grocery money and dipped into the "eating out/entertainment" budget quite a bit. We actually made it through this month with only treating ourselves to pizza one night, and a "quality time" lunch at Subway another time, the rest of our eating out budget went to groceries. But we had more home-cooked meals and got creative with our recent end-of-the-month dinners! Doug made pasta with meat sauce one night and I improvised a meatloaf with turkey meat, oatmeal, and BBQ sauce (recipe to come!).

Overall, we gave ourselves a B+ for this month (we reduced from an A to an A- because we used the debit a few times, and down to a B+ since our allotted money didn't go to what it was intended). But to be honest, I am pretty darn proud of ourselves! For those out there struggling with keeping on a budget, I'd highly recommend trying the "cash journey". It's very easy to track and actually helps keep us disciplined with keeping in the budget. 

We're looking forward to next month, seeing how our trimming of last month's expenses will pay off for October, and improving our B+ up to an A. Hey, maybe even an A+ (that's when we have money left over!). On that note, I'll leave you all with a picture of our "end of the month" refrigerator"... :)

Quick and Easy Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Every weekend, I am plagued by the same dilemma... what am I going to bring to our small group?? Each Sunday night, our small group from church meets to fellowship and discuss "healthy marriages", but first we share a meal together. You would think I would have learned by now to think of what to make ahead of time, prepare and shop earlier in the week, but no. Every Sunday afternoon, I say, "Ah! I need to come up with something to bring to group!"

I found this recipe and thought it seemed fairly simple and tasty... and it was! Rave reviews from the group, and one friend even commented that it was better than the spinach dip he ate at a restaurant earlier that day for lunch!

1 10-oz box frozen cut or chopped spinach, thawed

1 12-oz jar/can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

1/2 cup whipped cream cheese

3/4 cup sour cream

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

pita chips, tortilla chips, or bread pieces

1 lemon cut into wedges (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Squeeze the spinach between paper towels to remove excess water. In a medium-large bowl, combine the spinach, artichokes, cream cheese, sour cream, and grated cheddar. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape the mixture into an oven-safe baking dish (a 1.5 qt size works perfect!). Bake until lightly golden and heated through, about 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with the chips or bread and the lemon wedges, if desired. 

(I forgot my lemon wedges!! Oh well, there's always next time!)

Trimming the Fat...

Let me just say, I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan. HUGE! About two years ago, I took my first "Financial Peace University" course, and did fairly well. OK, I think I did a pretty darn good job; outside of the money we received from our parents for part of the wedding, we paid for our wedding ourselves. And it was a fabulous wedding :)  Once we got married, my husband and I took the course again and have been doing our monthly budget, rolling our debt snowball, and taking each Baby Step "one step at a time". So why am I so stressed out each month about finances?

The start of this new school year has had me rethinking our budget and financial habits. While we are doing fairly well, I have felt like our money is tied up in so many things that there isn't much left over for saving, debt snowballs, and treating ourselves every once in awhile. My husband and I have renewed our desire to really stick to Dave's plan. While we know that once we have two incomes, we'll have more "breathing room", we're hoping that the credit card debt is gone by then and all our second income can go to paying off those pesky student loans. In order to get our debt paid off sooner, we started with taking a look at our monthly expenses and trimming off some of the things that aren't really necessities. 

One in our family that made a big sacrifice was our four-legged child. When I bought my dog as a puppy, I had money within my budget to pay for her "daycare" several times a week; it helped with her housetraining, socialization, and saved me the time of having to walk her and give her exercise. Plus, it was nice to come home to a tired dog! (Side note, let me just say, for those thinking this "doggie daycare" is a pampered place for pooches, it's a big yard like a dog park where they can just run and play all day). When we married, we dropped her down to two days a week, but now looking at our monthly expenses, we could save $60 a month by going to just one day a week. This means more trips to the dog park, even in the midst of work/school stress, but we've already found it's a good reason to get out of the house and not think about anything else but throwing the ball to our dog. Eventually, we'll probably get rid of this luxury altogether, but this is a process after all! Baby steps, baby steps...


Another big cut to the budget was the cable. If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would ever give up my DVR, I'd answer with a resounding NO!! With today's modern technology though, DVR and even cable is unneeded. Almost any show is available to watch online, and that was the biggest selling point for me. We looked through our expenses and decided that the nice little $13 basic cable package would be a stepping stone for us. I am also hoping for the added benefit of finding other things to do than watch TV (like reading the stack of books I've been meaning to, or... take the dog to the dog park!).


There are other things we've discussed too, my husband may put his gym membership on hold and use the gym at his college (which is free!) and I've been going to the library rather than the bookstore. Last year, we looked at our phone plans and reduced minutes and texting packages that were within what we actually used rather than "unlimited" plans. 

If there are other "trimming the fat" suggestions out there, feel free to share!

rosemary chicken with zucchini.... an easy, healthy dinner

I found this recipe in an old copy of Real Simple, one of my favorite monthly reads (though in an attempt to trim the budget, I didn't renew my subscription... regretting that!). It's fairly simple, has healthy ingredients, and best of all, tastes great! (the husband says, "it's good!")

Ingredients:
1 pound new potatoes (about 5-6)
2 carrots (or 16-20 baby carrots)
2 small zucchini
olive oil
whole-grain mustard
several sprigs of rosemary
salt and pepper
4 chicken breasts

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Quarter the potatoes. Peel the carrots. Cut the carrots and zucchini into 2-inch sticks. Mix the potatoes, carrots, and zucchini in a bowl with 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp mustard, 1 Tbsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Season the chicken with 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Put chicken and vegetable mix into a baking dish (I needed an 9x12 as well as a 9x9 dish for all). Bake for 25 minutes. Toss the vegetables, turn the chicken, and continue roasting until the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes more. Makes 4 servings. Hands on time, 15 minutes; total time, 1 hour 15 minutes. 


Helpful hint: This is a great dish to prepare ahead of time! Season the vegetables and chicken as instructed above, then divide everything among 4 1-quart resealable plastic freezer bags. Freeze until ready to cook, up to 3 months. When you're ready to cook, remove bags from freezer (1 bag is one serving), empty into a baking dish, and roast as directed above. 


We tried this meal for dinner and our house smelled wonderful! The chicken was moist and juicy and the veggies were well seasoned. A definite hit, and for my husband who is very health-conscious, this is a great option for a meal... he doesn't even need to use a "cheat day" from his high protein, low-carb diet!