Changes ahead

  The day finally arrived where the 2015-2016 contracts appeared in our mailboxes and yes I actually received one. Of course it is a contract I cannot sign as it is written. Once again my hours have been cut, this time from my aftercare aide position. We cannot tolerate any more cuts in the amount of money coming in so I will work out the remainder of this school year at that job. Next year I will accept just the cafeteria manager job. And I am seriously hunting for a full time second shift position. I already have two leads to pursue thanks to my adult daughters. I settled on going for a full time job so that I can build up the savings account, pay off my car loan early, and possibly be in a position to then cut back to just the full time job and the twice a month cleaning gig. After discussing the situation with friends and family and praying and sleeping on it I am actually feeling hopeful. And as if a burden has been lifted. And I haven't even gotten another job yet. Just goes to show how anxious my current situation has been making me.

Table for One

Monday night was another evening where I found myself making dinner for just me. I went totally off the menu plan when college age son mentioned that he and his girlfriend had made themselves chicken and cheese Panini for dinner over the weekend and there was one ciabatta roll, two slices of gouda, and one breaded chicken breast left in the fridge. I grabbed all three, added some pesto and a sliced tomato, and VOILA a Pesto-Chicken-Gouda Panini for dinner! I just wish I'd taken a picture to share. So off the menu path but frugal none the less.

Sunday Supper

I spent all of yesterday and most of today dog sitting for GF's dog while he was away at a bowling tournament. Meals were simple since it was just myself, I had boxed mac and cheese for lunch yesterday, leftover pizza that GF brought home from work for dinner last night and lunch today. Doughnuts that GF bought before leaving on Saturday were breakfast with coffee both days.
GF is home now and I am making us an actual meal. I originally thought I'd try the new Maple glazed stuffed pork roast recipe I have put on the monthly menus but the weather was beautiful and fairly warm so I changed the plan a bit and decided to do pork chops on the grill. I  took some thick cut pork chops out of his freezer to defrost then seasoned them with some McCormack Brown Sugar-Bourbon rub. I will grill them and finish them off with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce:

He had two boxes of scalloped potatoes mix in the cupboard so I grabbed those and popped them into the oven:

A can of corn heated on the stovetop:

Here are the chops ready to be served:

 

And GF's plate:

 

Food Stamp Challenge

  Recently I had read an article about Gwenyth Paltrow and the food stamp challenge. Mostly I rolled my eyes and chalked up her experience to her lack of familiarity with how most of the country lives. Then I read the follow article which I thought was interesting and insightful and had a lot to say. The only thing that bugged me was that the author who has a food related job was so uncreative in what she did with the food she bought. She just kept reheating leftovers. Surely she could have done better (I kept wondering why she didn't turn that chicken carcass into soup or a chicken and rice dish or a stew.. and why she didn't divide that whole pound of ground meat into some type of meatballs plus the meatloaf she made or even made herself a burger patty or Salisbury steak with it and why she didn't buy two different veggies instead of two bags of one veggie) even if she did way better than old Gwenyth did. LOL.
Here's the link to this article:
https://gma.yahoo.com/try-day-friday-taking-food-stamp-challenge-150240471--abc-news-Recipes.html

May dinner menus

  With the budget issues I have there will be no grocery shopping of any kind happening in May except for perhaps milk and fresh produce. I've barely made any kind of dinner in the last month, college age son has been working two nights a week or joining his girlfriend's family at the dinner table. Adult son has only eaten dinner at home twice in the last month due to his crazy work schedule and college age daughter mostly joins her boyfriend for dinner, either cooking them a meal at his house or joining his family meal. Cooking for one person generally means not really making a whole meal at all. A lot of nights I've brought home leftovers from school lunch and reheated those, or eaten cereal, or salad, or an egg and toast. This means we still have nicely filled freezers and pantry shelves. Weekend cooking has been at GF's house using the food he buys. And while I was home with shingles I really didn't feel like eating at all.
This means I can plan out some nice meals for May. Whether or not I make them is another thing. This is final exam week at college for the youngest two so I anticipate that college age son will work additional evenings and college age daughter has told me not to worry about feeding her this month as well as over the summer as she has gotten a summer job (her current job is aftercare at the school where I work which will end in 5 weeks) whose hours mean she probably won't be home for dinner. Adult son of course continues on with his unpredictable schedule.
All of these dinner plans are based on food already in the house except for salads.  If I can get salad fixings I will but if not I will substitute a cooked frozen vegetable for the salads. Everything else is already on hand (including two cans of German potato salad and two cans of three bean salad and a turkey at GF's house that needs to be cooked to free up space in his tiny freezer). Mother's Day has been spent at oldest son's house for a family picnic. I don't know if that is happening this year but if not it is still a day I do not have to cook. GF also has a picnic each year at his place the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and we usually have leftover picnic foods on Memorial Day itself so I did not plan meals for those two days either. All Fridays are GF's choice since I will be working later at the aftercare job until school is out. I am doing my 'quick meal'/slow cooker meal plan for weeknights except that now that it is grilling season there are more quick meals using my grill.
Here are the meal plans I have put together. Meals using the slow cooker are in bold. Meals using the grill are in italic. Meals using planned overs are underlined. They aren't in any type of order except that the pork roast will be today's dinner. It is a new recipe I am trying.

Maple Glazed stuffed pork roast
scalloped potatoes
garlicky green beans


Chicken picata
penne with oil and garlic
green salad

Pork fajitas
Spanish rice

Swiss steak
egg noodles
peas

Cheddar brats
German potato salad
green beans

Chicken Marsala
Rice pilaf
Salad

Hot dogs
Baked beans

Honey Mustard pork scallopine
rice a roni
corn

Spaghetti with marinara sauce
broccoli

Garam Masala salmon
basmati rice
green beans

Grilled lamb chop
baked potato
peas

Roast Turkey
 mashed potatoes
candied carrots

Turkey curry
basmati rice

Swedish meatballs
egg noodles
beets

Turkey stir fry
steamed rice

Bangers and Mash
peas

BBQ Ribs
potato salad
corn

BBQ chicken thighs
home fries
three bean salad

Country Beef stew with veggies
rolls

Teriyaki chicken
basmati rice
cucumber salad

Grilled pork chops
parsley potatoes
corn

Herb crusted spit roasted roast beef
white and wild rice
Harvard beets

Health Issues and the budget

 Apparently focusing on the positive isn't enough to keep bad things from happening. The day after my last post my MTW 'assistant' came down with shingles and missed those work days. Did the boss suggest a substitute come in? No. Did she suggest I get more time to do all the work? No. <sigh>.  Instead I rounded up my TH-F assistant to give me a hand on Monday and Wednesday and did everything myself in my new shorter hours on Tuesday. I know we all have problems at work and that this was relatively minor given everything else I've dealt with the last couple of months.
And then the other shoe dropped. I woke up last Sunday with a suspicious rash on my torso that felt mildly 'stingy'. Everything I read about shingles led me believe this was not them. The rash wasn't painful and you have to have skin to skin contact to contract them from someone else which I did not have obviously. I went to work on Monday even though the rash felt a bit like a mild sunburn.  I began to worry so I got together with the school nurse and the principal who insisted I go to the ER and be checked out. Better safe than sorry. And they were right. I did indeed have a mild case of shingles. The ER doctor was awesome (helped that middle daughter is their evening unit co-ordinator and she called in and spoke to staff before I arrived) and said it was good that I'd come in right away (which in all fairness I would not have if the assistant hadn't had them). I am on a 10 day course of an anti-viral and I had a three day "vacation" from work until they all scabbed over . And the staff is now better informed about the causes of shingles (chicken pox virus+stress and/or fatigue). The really horrible part is that the medication cost me a whopping $163. ACK. I also realized that the diocese does not issue prescription cards unless  you call and ask for them (?????). I phone call has been made and as soon as I have the card in hand I can return with it and the receipt to the pharmacy for a partial reimbursement of what I paid out.
Of course this unexpected expense left me without enough in my checking account to cover some bills that are due. We are running so very close to the line with the cut in hours that any little thing is going to be a major thing. I spoke with GF about a short term loan. He had another idea. Instead of loaning me the money I'd spent on meds (not to mention the copay at the ER) he offered to pay me $200 to do some major cleaning at his house. I'd much rather earn the money than be in debt so I jumped on the idea.
So today I will be doing a big clean at his place and another one later in the month in addition to cleaning out the coat closet in preparation to him once again putting the house on the market.
I also filled out and mailed in an application for a seasonal guest services job at the zoo and am pursuing a couple of other seasonal leads. Contracts for next year will be in our mailboxes tomorrow. If inclined please say a prayer that I get one, I am not entirely sure that will happen ( I did after all miss three days of work with the shingles and they can't cut anymore of my hours and still have lunch program so what else is left to punish me with?).  If it does appear I will move on to looking for something part time to make up what I've lost in pay due to the cut hours. If not I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Simple Sunday

I have decided that my last several posts have been too depressing for words and it is time to stop having a pity party and concentrate on the positive. I have also come to the conclusion that it is not healthy to focus so much on work to the point of not enjoying my life. To that end this post is dedicated to the simple yet wonderful and relaxing Sunday I am enjoying. A hot cup of coffee enjoyed to the sound of church bells began the day. GF and I had a nice breakfast out followed by a trip to the car wash and then a leisurely Sunday drive along some country back roads.
I did a load of wash and then ran out to Aldi to pick up supplies for the two Make & Take baking classes I am giving this week and a stop at the gas station to fill up for the week. Funny thing about the gas station, when GF and I went to breakfast the price of gas was $2.19 a gallon ( compared to $2.25-$2.37 at other stations). When I returned with my vehicle it had gone down to $2.17! Score!
Returning to GF'S house I settled in with my kindle to read some food magazines and begin to prepare May dinner menus.
I also did some prep on tonight's dinner by mixing together a marinade of olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, some balsamic glaze in his fridge, and a bit of Montreal steak seasoning. I have a smallish top round steak marinating in this.

GF had four russet potatoes that needed using up so I washed and diced these and put them in a pan of water to cook 

The steak went on the grill

The potatoes became my Mom's parsley potatoes 

And I put together two individual salads

Dinner was served!