Emily and Maddie’s Book Pick Lock Every Door by Riley Sager Emily’s Review: Overall I really enjoyed this book! It was a fast paced read that kept my attention and was hard to put down once it got going. The story took quite a turn that I wasn’t expecting (like at all). It got a bit more gory that I preferer but like I said I still really enjoyed it overall and a great spooky Halloween read. Also there we a few details in the book the bothered me a felt forced. I just went along with it though cause I ain’t over here trying to write a book. I’m just along for the ride.
Maddie’s Review: This was the second book we read by Riley Sager (Home Before Dark was our first), so it was fun to go in knowing her style of writing. Because of this, I was looking out for clues as to what was going on with the plot that might not be as it seems. But even going in with this knowledge, the twist took me TOTALLY by surprise just like Emily. It was a great read overall and once you got into it, the book was hard to put down. Definitely recommend for a spooky read, but overall preferred Home Before Dark because, as Emily said, this one got a bit gory!
Gather round! Maddie here with an easy, healthy, cheap, and delicious spaghetti sauce.
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1lb ground turkey or beef 1 onion 1 big zucchini or 2 small zucchinis 28oz can of diced tomatoes 28oz can of plum tomatoes 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy!) 1 tablespoon oregano leaves Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions 1. Set instant pot to sauté or heat up a pan. Add olive oil and ground meat. Season meat with salt and pepper. 2. While meat is cooking, dice onion and chop zucchini. If you have other veggies on-hand such as mushrooms or bell peppers chop those up as well! 3. Once the meat is cooked, add the chopped veggies. Give a good stir. 4. Add in canned tomatoes. Smash up the plum tomatoes using a potato masher. 5. Add in remaining ingredients and stir. 6. Slow cook for 4-5 hours. 7. Serve over spaghetti noodles or spaghetti squash if you are feeling healthy.
As they said on Zoom (tv show not video conferencing platform), bon appetit!
Emily here! I have been trying to buy a toddler pillow for the last few months. I found one that I really liked from Ikea but they won’t ship to my area (small town problems). So I found the same pillow on Amazon and SHOCKER it never arrived. (I got a refund don’t you worry). While stewing in my annoyance for online ordering yesterday I finally figured I could just make my own!
Supplies: Very Flat Pillow Pillow Case Sewing Machine Thread
Time: 45min with a toddler running around. 15min if no toddler around.
Cost: Mine was “free” since I had all the supplies on hand. But the pillow was $2 from Target many years ago and pillow case was maybe $5?
Directions: -Measure! Figure out how large you want the pillow. I am using a standard pillow and took off about 3-4 inches. -Next I cut the outside of the pillow (see picture) then I cut the innards. -Using a zigzag stitch I sewed up the open side. Easy! Pillow is done. -Next I made a custom pillow case! -I laid the pillow case on the ground. Put the pillow on top and left about 1/2inch on each side. -Then cut the pillow case. Turned the pillow case inside out and sewed it shut using a straight seam. If you wanted to be really fancy you could serge or zigzag seam the raw edge. I wasn’t feeling fancy at the time.
Emily and Maddie’s Book Pick Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Emily’s Review: This month Maddie and I decided to read the same book and I’m so glad we did! This book was a great read but felt slow to me in the beginning. Knowing Maddie was reading it gave me the push I needed to keep reading. This was a great fall read and felt very atmospheric. It is also a genre that I don’t usually go for but I really enjoyed escaping to another world. There was enough action to keep me interested but not so much that I was stressed out. Highly recommend this book especially for fall.
Maddie’s Review: LOOOOVVVEEED this book! It is one of those books that the characters and atmosphere stick with you long after reading it. It was such a wonderful escape each night. There was a good amount of intrigue throughout that made you want to keep going and I thought the ending was perfect. It also made me really want to eat a caramel apple! The perfect fall read!
Maddie here! It has been a minute since I have done a blog post and shout out to Emily for holding it down with her first time gardener series over the summer months!
Two weeks ago I looked at my grocery budget for the month and it only gave me permission to spend $80 for the last two weeks of September. My hubz and I are going into a big savings mode prepping for a potential move so instead of upping the budget we decided to make it work! Here is what we did:
Week 1 Grocery Haul: Baby Spring Mix…$1.92 (with coupon) Apple Bag…$.99 Bananas…$1.63 (.42 lbs) 5 Seltzer Bottles….. $1.40 (with discount) Pita Chips……..$1.35 Protein Bars……..$4.99 Spaghetti……..$1.15 Tortilla Chips…….$.92 Hot Dog Buns…….$.85 Sweet Kernel Corn…..$.36 Diced Tomatoes…….$.99 Cola……$.59 Wheat Bread……$.65 Dried Pinto Beans…….$2.16 Crushed Red Pepper…… $.79 Canned Corn…..$.36 Chicken Broth……$1.15 Soft Pretzel……$.49 Frozen Bone in Chicken Thighs (3lbs)…..$5.49 Beef Franks……$2.89 Eggs…….$1.77 Keifer……$2.78 Whole Milk……3.50 Pumpkin Ice Cream…..$2.89 Pizza…..$2.79 Total: $44.12
Week 1 Strategy: This week’s meals I heavily planned around what I already had in stock which was quite a bit for this first week. We had frozen tilapia, frozen hamburgers, turkey lunchmeat, cheddar cheese, hummus, leftover vegetables, and rice. I knew that we would need a meat to stretch us for the two weeks and I decided to go with frozen chicken thighs. Breakfast was eggs and toast! For lunches I had bento boxes with pita crackers, cheese, hummus cucumbers, carrots, and apples and the hubz was v happy to eat hot dogs all week.
Week 1Dinners: Chicken Taco Soup with Cornbread Curried Tilapia with Rice and Salad Spaghetti with Hamburger Meat (literally broke up hamburgers) and Green Beans Pizza and Salad Game Day: Hot Dogs and Soft Pretzel
Favorite Meal:Chicken Taco Soup I pretty much made this one up as I went! I started with making the dried beans in my instant pot. I covered the beans with a good amount of water, added some spices, and cooked on manual for 45 minutes with a natural release. I set aside the beans and cooked three chicken thighs on manual at 36 minutes with a quick release. I covered them with water and added salt and other spices. It created a very yummy chicken broth so I ended up not needing the chicken broth that I purchased. I then de-boned and shredded the chicken (keeping the skin as a treat for my dog throughout the week), added back in the beans, and added the canned corn and tomatoes. It made a ton of soup and I froze half of it for week 2! I also had enough items in my pantry to make my go-to cornbread from Budget Bytes: https://www.budgetbytes.com/everyday-cornbread/
Yum Yum
Week 2 Grocery Haul: Bag of Kale….$2.19 Bananas (3 lbs)…$1.25 Zucchini….$1.57 Tomatoes……$1.49 Sweet Potato…..$.60 Fehttuchini (2 boxes)…..$1 Whole Wheat Bread….$.99 Hamburger Buns…..$.59 Kraft Mac and Cheese….$.98 Chili….$.79 Energy Bars….$4.65 Tortilla Chips….$.92 Salsa….$.95 Peanut Butter….$1.25 3 Seltzers….$1.65 Cola….$.59 Turkey Lunch Meat….$2.45 Turkey Bacon….$2.36 Ice Cream….$1.89 Cheddar Block…..$1.16 Whole Milk…..$3.50 Half and Half……$1.55 Eggs….$1.18 Total (sans bleach)….$35.72 Grand Total for 2 Weeks: $79.84
Week 2 Strategy: Going into week 2 week had used up a lot of the odds and ends vegetables that we had lying around, so I knew that I was going to need to plan around something nutritionally dense and versatile that would last the whole week. I decided on using kale which could be added into dishes and used as a side salad with homemade dressing! I planned around items that we had in stock including quinoa, rice, frozen burgers, frozen fries, and a bell pepper. I made the remainder of the chicken in the instant pot and used that throughout the week as well. Breakfast was toast and eggs with banana. For lunches I had a yummy kale, tomato, feta, and black bean salad or the leftover soup from week 1 and the hubz had turkey sandwiches with tortilla chips.
Week 2 Dinners: Fettuccini with Cream Sauce and Kale Salad Sweet Potato, Kale, and Black Bean Rice Bowl Chicken, Quinoa, and Squash Topped with Egg Burgers and Fries (not pictured) Bfast for Dinner- Waffles, Veggie Scramble, and Turkey Bacon Game Day: Chili Mac (not pictured) Also pictured are the bfast tacos that the hubz made because they are a good use of using what we had at the end of the week.
Favorite Meal: Sweet Potato, Kale, and Black Bean Rice Bowl This was something we had not done before, but we loved it! I started by making the frozen chicken thighs in the instant pot (36 mins, quick release) and canned the broth. I had a half a bag of dried black beans that have been sitting in my pantry for months so I made those in the instant pot (45 minutes, slow release) using some of the broth from the chicken thighs. I made brown rice that I had on hand in my rice maker, also using some fo the broth. I then cooked the sweet potato in the microwave (rinse with water, poke a few times with a fork, cook 5 minutes), cooked the kale with an onion I had on hand and then added in the chopped up sweet potato and some of the shredded chicken. I added feta cheese to mine and the hubz added salsa.
Le Chicken Process
Overall Thoughts: Overall, we really enjoyed scaling it back with this $80 for two week challenge. I have recently been in the habit of purchasing more than we can eat in a week and needing to throw food out that goes bad at the end of the week. It is also always a good reminder that we don’t NEED that much food! If you plan strategically you can have food that is healthy, tasty, and still good portion sizes. I also lost 2 pounds over the two weeks so no complaints there! After this challenge, we have actually decided to do $50 grocery budget for the month of October. I will do a quick check in at the end of the month to let all of our adoring blog readers know how it goes! 😉
Sister Hack 