Sunday, April 23, 2017

Weekly Meal Plan Week 10




My goal this year is to cook more for my family.   We are very busy and as a result, we eat out a LOT.  This year, I want to serve food at home that is fast, easy and nutritious.  No frozen dinners high in sodium, I want real food.

I would love for you to join us on our facebook group here:  FACEBOOK
The first 2 months, I looked online at blogs and found recipes.  I want to try something different though.  I want to try out different cookbooks.  Each month, I will cook recipes from a different cookbook.  It could be a side, main dish or dessert, but I will try to incorporate new dinners into our rotation.  So far the family is loving it.


This month, I am cooking out of this book:






This is in addition to our typical meal plans.    On Saturday nights, we have a family pizza night, and sometimes one other night per week we do not eat at home (usually at a friends house, we rotate).  This means 5 to 6 meals per week I need to plan.

Please note that some of my meals may seem a little heavy.  I am feeding three teen boys, so I cook to fill them up.  Some people may omit the starch from the meal and be just fine with the meal plan.

This week's meal plan:


Buttermilk Oven "Fried" Chicken  Page 151 of the cookbook.  I plan on serving this with cole slaw and potato wedges baked in the oven.

Mongolian Beef and Broccoli  Served with rice.  Page 190 of the cookbook.

Teriyaki Chicken Bowls.  Here  A family favorite

Steak Kabobs and roasted corn on the cob.  Steak Kabobs

Taco Casserole  Recipe  I plan on making this one ahead then heating it up to eat.

Leek and Garlic Chicken  Recipe  If I told them they were eating leeks and garlic they would probably refuse, but I serve this recipe with mashed potatoes and I never have leftovers.



If something isnt to your taste, check out my other weeks for different recipes.  Weekly Meal Plan Index



Saturday, April 22, 2017

Declutter Your Home Free or Nearly Free Books - Free Motivation!



If you are a KonMarie fan, did you know you can already pre-order her next book? It's due out in June and if you pre-order, it comes in the mail. I got my last book on the release date and I didn't even have to put on shoes to go get it! I can't wait to read this one.



Join us on facebook for cooking and cleaning and other household stuff. https://www.facebook.com/groups/263214524048715/




Even if you dont have a kindle, you can get these free books. First go to the link below and download the free kindle reader for your computer. It's FREE!!! Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices




Next check out the books below.  The books change often, so I will try to keep these updated, but If one stops being free, there are others you can buy.

When you want to buy a book for free, simply click the "buy now with 1 click" button and tell it to send it to your kindle or your kindle app, then you can open it and read it.  It does not require you to have kindle unlimited.

So why do people give their books away?  They would like you to review them.  They cannot require you to review them though, so they offer them for free hoping you will.  Some books are only free for a short time though, so grab it when you see it!


Here are some I found:

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Weekly Meal Plan Week 9




My goal this year is to cook more for my family.   We are very busy and as a result, we eat out a LOT.  This year, I want to serve food at home that is fast, easy and nutritious.  No frozen dinners high in sodium, I want real food.

I would love for you to join us on our facebook group here:  FACEBOOK
The first 2 months, I looked online at blogs and found recipes.  I want to try something different though.  I want to try out different cookbooks.  Each month, I will cook recipes from a different cookbook.  It could be a side, main dish or dessert, but I will try to incorporate new dinners into our rotation.  So far the family is loving it.


This month, I am cooking out of this book:






This is in addition to our typical meal plans.    On Saturday nights, we have a family pizza night, and sometimes one other night per week we do not eat at home (usually at a friends house, we rotate).  This means 5 to 6 meals per week I need to plan.

Please note that some of my meals may seem a little heavy.  I am feeding three teen boys, so I cook to fill them up.  Some people may omit the starch from the meal and be just fine with the meal plan.

This week's meal plan:


Petite Baked Crab Cakes.   These are on page 115 of the cookbook and they look really good.  My family will eat salmon patties, so I figure this will be a light refreshing change that they will eat.  I plan on serving it with steamed green beans and rice on the side.


Bangin' Good Shrimp.  Page 116 of the cookbook.  My entire family loves bang bang shrimp, and I cant wait to try this lighter version.  I got some shrimp on sale this week, so it's time to try it!   I will add oven fried potatoes.

Baked Ribs, broccoli and carrot mix, baked potato halves.  You can find this recipe here:  Baked Ribs

Tostadas    In a rush this week, so I am buying premade tostada shells (they are sold near the tortillas in the grocery).  I am  making them with chicken, so I will add a little taco seasoning to the shredded chicken meat, top with cheese then place them under the broiler just long enough to melt the cheese (watch carefully they burn quickly).  I then serve them bar style with chopped tomato, peppers, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, extra cheese and beans in bowls.  The family tops them with their favorite toppings and dinner is done.

Best Beef Stew Ever.   Crock pot meal!  This is one of those busy days when we all arrive home at different times, but everyone arrives home hungry.  I've found the best result of keeping them out of mcdonalds is to know that they have food waiting in the crockpot.   I buy dinner rolls and place them beside the crockpot.  Everyone eats when they have time.  The recipe is here:  Best Beef Stew Ever


Hope you enjoy!  Here is to eating at home!

ps: If you cant see the book, turn off your ad blocker.  I've had many posts that they can't see the book until it's turned off.



Want to see other weeks?  Here is the index  Weekly Meal Plan Index




Tuesday, April 18, 2017

My review of the Shark Vacuum nv752 Rotator Powered Lift Away TruePet Bagless



I really really wanted a Dyson Cinetic Pet vacuum, but hubby refused to budge.  He flat out refused to pay over $500 for a vacuum.  I still have a vacuum cleaner at home,  but I noticed that it is losing suction and it's well over 10 years old.   I started my search while I still had my eye on that Dyson.

First, I had to narrow down which Shark to get. The choices seemed endless and the differences between them weren't always clear.  I nearly bought one that did not have a hepa filter, but a washable filter.  Who wants to wash a filter????  Why would they even make that model?

My needs were a vacuum cleaner that can do stairs easily, that can switch from hardwood to carpet easily, a bagless model and of course, one with a hepa filter.

After much sweating, I decided on










I got free next day shipping and it arrived the next day.  I was a little worried when I tried to get the box into the house, because it was HEAVY.

I opened the box and found it on the easy side to put together.  There is only one design flaw that I found putting it together.  If you have the cord rapped up, you cant use the lift away because the cord is in the way.  You have to unwind it to remove the canister.


There seemed to be a lot of parts that I was not using.  It came with a huge bag of tools and a piece that makes it a canister vac.   It also had a swiffer looking piece that cleans up dust on a wood floor.  I will try to use that later.


After about 20 minutes of assembly time (I am not good with assembly and it only took me 20 minutes), I was ready to go.   I took the vacuum to my front room.  It's a room we dont use very often, but I wanted to test out the carpet thickness.

The first thing I noticed is that if you put the setting for the highest carpet pile, it feels like the vacuum pulls itself away from you.  I did not see that it is self propelled, but it felt like it was.  I still am not sure if it's self propelled, but that was different.

I vacuumed the front room we rarely use, then decided to have a look in the canister.  It was almost full.  WOW.   My other vac did not get hardly anything up from that floor.  I also noted that it was dust and dirt and not carpet fibers.  I've had a vac before that pulled my carpet up as I vacuumed and made it wear out fast, so I was happy to see only dirt in the canister.

Next I decided to tackle the stairs.  I knew the stairs would be bad because my other vac wasnt really cleaning them and I could see the dirt on them.

I had to empty the canister halfway up.   The stairs look new now.

I then went upstairs and vacuumed my daughters room.  This was when I found the second design flaw with the machine.  My daughter has long hair and she leaves it all over the floor in her room.  Our other vac was not picking it up, but boy this one was....but it was also rapping itself around the roller.

I tried several different ways, but there was no easy access to the roller to remove the hair.  Hubby walked in and saw me poking a screw driver into the machine and offered to do it for me.  He used the screwdriver to remove the hair from the roller and there was more around the roller than in the canister and let me just say that the ball of hair he pulled out was larger than our small dog.    I do wish there was an easy way to remove hair from the roller, but this is common with vacuums.  The last one we had did not even allow screw driver access.  The machine had to be taken apart to clean the roller.  At least I could get to it, but in a perfect world, the roller would be right there for me to access.


I am going to end this review before I even get to all the other wonderful tools and I will do a followup.  We all know that vacs lose suction over time, and I want to see how well this one does over time.  Over the coming week, I will try out the tools and post about how well they work.

I am only one day in and have used this vac only a few hours, but I am in love with it.  I cant wait to pull out the attachments and clean under things, and I am also going to try to clean the curtains later this week.


If you have questions, post them below and I will try to answer them.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Free or Nearly Free Books on Decluttering and Organizing Your Home



If you are a KonMarie fan, did you know you can already pre-order her next book? It's due out in June and if you pre-order, it comes in the mail. I got my last book on the release date and I didn't even have to put on shoes to go get it! I can't wait to read this one.



Join us on facebook for cooking and cleaning and other household stuff. https://www.facebook.com/groups/263214524048715/




Even if you dont have a kindle, you can get these free books. First go to the link below and download the free kindle reader for your computer. It's FREE!!! Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices




Next check out the books below.  The books change often, so I will try to keep these updated, but If one stops being free, there are others you can buy.

When you want to buy a book for free, simply click the "buy now with 1 click" button and tell it to send it to your kindle or your kindle app, then you can open it and read it.  It does not require you to have kindle unlimited.

So why do people give their books away?  They would like you to review them.  They cannot require you to review them though, so they offer them for free hoping you will.  Some books are only free for a short time though, so grab it when you see it!


Here are some I found:



If you want to join us in organizing our home, our 5 weeks to a clean and organized home starts Tuesday of this week! You can read about it here :
5 weeks to a clean and organized home

Friday, April 14, 2017

Instant Pot Cookbooks for Free or Nearly Free

Join us on facebook for cooking and cleaning and other household stuff. https://www.facebook.com/groups/263214524048715/





Even if you dont have a kindle, you can get these free books. First go to the link below and download the free kindle reader for your computer. It's FREE!!! Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices




Next check out the books below.  The books change often, so I will try to keep these updated, but If one stops being free, there are others you can buy.

When you want to buy a book for free, simply click the "buy now with 1 click" button and tell it to send it to your kindle or your kindle app, then you can open it and read it.  It does not require you to have kindle unlimited.

So why do people give their books away?  They would like you to review them.  They cannot require you to review them though, so they offer them for free hoping you will.  Some books are only free for a short time though, so grab it when you see it!


Here are some I found:

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Instant Pot Cookbooks for Free or Nearly Free

Join us on facebook for cooking and cleaning and other household stuff. https://www.facebook.com/groups/263214524048715/





Even if you dont have a kindle, you can get these free books. First go to the link below and download the free kindle reader for your computer. It's FREE!!! Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices




Next check out the books below.  The books change often, so I will try to keep these updated, but If one stops being free, there are others you can buy.

When you want to buy a book for free, simply click the "buy now with 1 click" button and tell it to send it to your kindle or your kindle app, then you can open it and read it.  It does not require you to have kindle unlimited.

So why do people give their books away?  They would like you to review them.  They cannot require you to review them though, so they offer them for free hoping you will.  Some books are only free for a short time though, so grab it when you see it!


Here are some I found:

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Get Free Instant Pot Recipe Cookbooks On Amazon

Join us on facebook for cooking and cleaning and other household stuff. https://www.facebook.com/groups/263214524048715/



Just an FYI Update:  Most of the books below are now charging..check back here once a week for new lists of free books.

Even if you dont have a kindle, you can get these free books. First go to the link below and download the free kindle reader for your computer. It's FREE!!! Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices




Next check out the books below.  The books change often, so I will try to keep these updated, but If one stops being free, there are others you can buy.

When you want to buy a book for free, simply click the "buy now with 1 click" button and tell it to send it to your kindle or your kindle app, then you can open it and read it.  It does not require you to have kindle unlimited.

So why do people give their books away?  They would like you to review them.  They cannot require you to review them though, so they offer them for free hoping you will.  Some books are only free for a short time though, so grab it when you see it!


Here are some I found: