Menu Planning Help

Last week I worked in my kitchen doing a deep clean and decluttering the counter tops. So what did I do as soon as a corner was empty? Fill it back up!

Anyway I placed this chicken tray, which was a gift from my husband, in the corner, along with three cookbooks that I am currently cooking meals from. The tray was formerly located on top of the china cabinet, but I really like it here as a background for other items. I want to put a small lamp there too, as soon as I find one that works. I am thinking a red and white checked lamp shade would be cute.

I went through these cookbooks recently, making a list of the recipes I wanted to try, a list of items to be bought from the grocery store and the page numbers of the recipe in each cookbook. When I make my daily list the night before, I choose a recipe from one of the cookbooks from my recipe list. Since I wrote down the page number and the name of the cookbook, I can easily find it.

In the morning before work I open the cookbook to the page I need, gather the ingredients and place them in the corner of the counter. Like this:



Don't worry, the frozen sausage will be placed in the refrigerator before I go to work, or my husband will put it in there when he comes home for lunch.

Now when I get home from work, there is no question as to what will be for supper, since the cookbook is already open to the right page and I KNOW that I have all the ingredients on hand because I checked that morning before leaving to go to work.

This post is a part of Whatcha Working on Wednesday at Leslie's blog, My Country Home. I am really working on getting organized and this post represents just one of the ideas I have come up with. For more ideas on getting organized, see my POST HERE on how I make up my "To Do List".

Happy Wednesday!

The Five Minute Job Bank

I thought I'd show you my list of 5 Minute Jobs. When time is short (when isn't it?)I can look at this list for ideas to accomplish a small job. Without the list, I'd spend the 5 minute time slot trying to figure out what to do!

Clean sink
Check for cobwebs in one room
Dust one piece of furniture
Iron one shirt
Cut quilt squares
Sew quilt squares
Wash kitchen window
Wash one wall around light switches, etc.
Wipe off fronts of appliances in kitchen
Wipe off top of the refrigerator
Organize and purge magazines and books
Declutter counter tops
Wipe out under stove top
Declutter top of dryer
Wipe off washer and dryer
Address some Christmas cards
Wrap a gift
Pay a bill
Write a get well, etc. card
Call to make an appointment (Dr. Dentist, etc.)
Clean out Spice Cabinet
Plan a meal
Declutter living room for 5 minutes
Declutter a junk drawer

This week I am working in my living room in an effort to get it cleaned up and decluttered before I put out any Christmas decorations. So, when a 5 minute time slot is available, I will check the 5 minute job list for things that can be done in the living room.

This morning, I plan to work on the table beside my chair. There are lots of books and magazines on it that need to be either thrown away or given away. If I work quickly and don't analyze it too much, I should be able to do that in 5 minutes.

Its really sad when I don't even have 5 minutes to do a job, but it happens! So I must get off this computer and get at it! Have a great day!

I'm Not Ready!

I'm just not ready to start getting ready for Christmas!

Can I please have at least one more week of Autumn?!!!

I was looking at this Fall arrangement on my kitchen table and felt anxious about the fact that I should be storing away the Autumn decorations and putting out the Christmas decorations and suddenly I read the scripture on the bottom of the table topper. That's what I want.... peace.

If you look closely on the table topper in this picture you will see this scripture: You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You, Isiah 26:3.



Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and weekend!

How I make my daily "To Do List"

I am trying to make a daily "To Do List" each night for the next day's use. After recently reading a couple of books by Elizabeth George and also based on some other books already in my homemaking reference book stack, I have become really motivated to be a better manager of my time. This is an on going struggle for me, because there is so much I need and want to get done!

I use three steps to make my to do list:

1. Prioritize by categories

The first thing I need to do when making the to do list is to remember what is most important in my life. Here they are:

1. God
2. Husband
3. Children and Grandchild
4. Mother/Family
5. Home
6. Job
7. Friends
8. Everything else

So when making my to do list, I need to make sure I take care of what is most important. Sometimes they overlap but this is a good guide to go by.

2. Choose from a master list

After reminding myself of my priorities, I made a list of responsibilities, events, "wants" and "needs". I just scribbled out a bunch of items that I brainstormed. I'm sure I will add to or take away from it from time to time.

Here's my list in no particular order:

Thanksgiving
Christmas
Quilts/Sewing
Menus/Cooking
Housework/Cleaning
Yard work/Gardening
Bible Study/Prayer/Church/Ministry
Blogs
My Job
Financial/Pay Bills/Balance Check Book/Banking
Diet/Exercise
Husband
Children/Grandchild
Laundry/Ironing
My Mother
Friends/Sick/Shut ins

When making my To Do List, I scan this list to see what needs attention that day, again remembering my priorities listed above. This helps to jog my memory.

3. Check my calendar. I write every thing I can think of down in a smaller planner/calendar. Any appointments, days off work, or what ever. This is essential in making sure I don't miss a dentist's appointment or forget some other important date.

Just for an example, here's what is on my to do list for today:

Bible Study
Mail Bills
Answer E-Mails
Cut out quilt squares
Iron hubby's shirts
Blog Post
Upcoming birthdays
Mail card to Ms. B.
Thank you card
Supper is Tortilla Chicken Bake (Page 41 in Country Casseroles cook book)
Talk to daughter
Five Minute Jobs

Some items on my list have a multi-function. For instance, ironing shirts and cooking supper will make Number Two on my priority list happy.... Husband! But these also fall under the category of cooking/menu planning and housework. Working on a quilt could fall under the category of a ministry and family, since the ones I am working on are gifts to family members. I want to pursue making baby quilts for needy mothers-to-be, so this would definitely fall under a ministry. Even a blog post could fall under the category of ministry.

If you are wondering about 5 minute jobs, here's an explanation. Its hard to do a big cleaning job on weekdays before or after work, but 5 minute jobs can be done which add up to make a big difference. While the coffee was brewing this morning, I did a detailed job of cleaning the kitchen sinks. It looked so nice afterwards and gave me such a sense of accomplishment!

I hope this post has given you some ideas for getting more organized with your time management. I would love to hear any ideas that you may have. I am always seeking to learn more about time management and homemaking.

Thanksgiving Week Planning

Yes, the above is a picture of a plate of food I attempted to eat last week. I wasn't able to eat all of it, but I sure did try. Well.... every now and then you have to eat what you want. I am already back on my light eating plan.

Here are some dishes I plan to prepare this week. They might not all seem like "light" food, but I watch my portion sizes, don't go back for seconds and don't eat many snacks. I didn't include Thanksgiving Day's meal, which I will help my mother prepare at her house.

Main Dishes:

Pizza Hot Dish Casserole
Tortilla Chicken Bake
Hot dogs
Chili Beans
Spaghetti
Baked Chicken

Side Dishes:

Corn
Salad
Cornbread
Pear Salad
Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce
Mixed Fruit in Jello

I will be posting more this week about the things I am doing to get my home, yard and life in order.

Homemaking Dreams.......

......on break until November 23, 2009....

Please feel free to browse through the many older posts listed on the sidebar.

Have a great November week!

Debbie J.

My "Big" Crescent Rolls

The mood hit me this week to make some homemade bread so Wednesday afternoon while I was off work for Veteran's Day I made these big crescent rolls.

I guess I'm used to the size of the Pillsbury canned crescent rolls, but these ARE a little big, don't you think? :o) Next time I will cut the triangle shaped pieces of dough smaller!

Here is the recipe I used:

Dinner Rolls

1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1 egg beaten
1/3 cup butter or margarine softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cup all purpose flour (I used bread machine flour)
1 pack yeast
1/4 cup butter or margarine softened.

Put all of the ingredients except the last item (1/4 cup butter softened) into the bread machine bucket and set the machine on the dough cycle.

After the cycle finishes, put the dough on a floured surface and divide it into two pieces. Roll each piece into about a 12 inch circle and brush the remaining 1/4 cup butter all over each circle. Then cut the circle into wedges just like you do when cutting a pizza.

The recipe calls for 8 rolls from each circle for a total of 16 rolls. If you want your rolls to be smaller than the ones in the picture above, cut the wedges smaller.

If you've ever made crescent rolls that come in a can, you already know how to roll this dough so that it is in a crescent shape. If not, all you do is roll the dough starting with the wide end of each triangle/wedge. Place the rolled rolls on a greased baking sheet with the point on the bottom. Then bend the sides in slightly to make more of a crescent shape.

Cover the pan with a clean dish towel and place in a warm place to rise for one more hour. I didn't wait the entire hour since my supper was almost ready and I wanted the rolls to be ready at the same time. They turned out fine and as you can see they didn't need to get any BIGGER!

Bake at 350 to 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

I made one pan of 8 crescent rolls, a small pan of biscuit shaped dinner rolls and froze enough dough to make another pan of rolls for a future meal.

Of course, you can make these dinner rolls in whatever shape you like. My bread machine Magic cookbook gives instructions for making all kinds of shapes. I might do a future post showing some of these other shapes.