September Menus: The Long and the Short of It

I am taking full advantage of having the long weekend starting out with putting together my menus for September before we are off to have a fun day at the Great Geauga County Fair .
 It has been a good number of years since I have worked such long hours and the work week of 10 1/2 days has me pretty exhausted by the time I need to deal with dinner and chores around the house. I know that this situation will improve with time. I know myself and once I've settled into a routine these hours won't be such a big deal. But for now I'm relying on organization skills and a strict schedule. And gel inserts for my shoes because boy my feet are hurting. LOL. On the upside the tops of my feet are rocking an amazing farmer's tan from playground duty.
So I have my menus all set. During the work week I chose either quick cooking (under 30 minutes) or slow cooker ideas with quick sides. I have a new Fall Gooseberry Patch cookbook, Hometown Harvest, and I am trying a new recipe out of it as well as a couple new recipes from Pampered Chef's 29 Minutes to Dinner, volume 1. We have an anniversary party and a family reunion coming up this month as well as football/marching band each Friday night so I did not plan menus for those days. I will make a dish to share for both the party and the reunion but I have not decided on what at this time.  I won't be able to get to the grocery store until after I get my first full paycheck on the 13th( shopping on a Saturday is going to be interesting since I have not done that in about 30 years).  The first half of the month's menus are based on things still in the pantry and freezer. I will have to buy milk this weekend but that is the only thing we really need immediately. I also moved a few recipe ideas from August (the roast turkey I never made & some planned over ideas) to the beginning of September as well. Recipes using planned overs have are in bold, new recipes I am trying have an *, main dishes using items already on hand are in italics.

Roast Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn

Moroccan Lamb chops, couscous, peas

Turkey Burritos, Spanish rice

Spaghetti with marinara sauce, garlic toast, salad

Turkey ala King, steamed rice, green beans

Vermont Maple Chicken, white and wild rice, Brussels sprouts

Pumpkin pancakes with homemade cinnamon syrup, bacon

Beef stew with country vegetables, homemade Hawaiian rolls

Shrimp orzo skillet, salad

Broiled pork chops, baked potatoes, Harvard beets

Herb encrusted Eye of round, mashed potatoes, carrots

Ham Steak and Apple skillet, Scottish skillet potatoes, green beans

Pan Fried Polenta with Vegetable Marinara sauce*, garlic toast

Beef stroganoff over egg noodles, broccoli with garlic and herbs

Garam Masala salmon*, basmati rice, cucumber salad

Cranberry Pork Roast*, winter roasted vegetables

Sausage and Apple supper, spaetzle, green beans

Chicken Piccata, creamy parmesan rice, broccoli

Horseradish encrusted tilapia, mashed sweet potatoes, peas

Gremolata steaks*, noodles romanoff, capri blend veggies

Tuna and Sun Dried Tomato Penne, garlic toast

Hawaiian Short Ribs, jasmine rice, salad

Tomato-basil chicken sausages with carmelized onions and peppers, Parmesan oven fries

Getting a Grip on Dinner

 The new working hours have required a tweak to my dinner preparation routines. I no longer have time to do a lot of prep when I get home from work so I have depended on the crockpot and quick cooking ideas so far.
On Monday I used my crockpot, seasoning and putting a brisket on a bed of sliced onion and worcestershire sauce and programming the cooker so that it would be done when I reached home. A couple of quick sides and we ate about 30 minutes after I reached home.
Tuesday my college age daughter L took some chicken breasts out of the freezer to defrost for me. I seasoned these up with some Penzey's Bicentennial Rub and then grilled them. White and wild rice and corn were quickly put together.
Last night I went with an idea from my menu plans, taking planned over brisket and combining it with cooked egg noodles and brown gravy to make beef and noodles. Daughter M stopped by with a couple of summer squash from her garden so I sliced and sauteed these in garlic butter for a side. Once again dinner in under 30 minutes.
Tonight is dinner date night and Friday is the first high school football game of the school year. Youngest son H is in the band so this will be a weekly event here. GF and I will eat at the game as we did last year. GF has agreed to join a Thursday night bowling league so beginning next week I will be at home making dinner.
I think I am slowly getting a grip on this new schedule. Over the weekend I will grab a pile of slow cooker and quick cooking cookbooks and put together menus for September!

Restructuring my budget

 I got some very good news on Monday at work. Not only was I approved for a longer day doing my cafeteria job I was also hired on as an aftercare assistant. This means working 7:45 a.m. until 6:15-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Long hours but with my youngest son being a high school senior and our death benefits ending when he graduates I needed to be organized, look ahead, and get a job to help make up that upcoming deficit in income. I am thrilled to have found something that will still allow me some evening hours at home as well as free weekends. And no commute from my school job anywhere else. The drawback is no income in the summer months but I will be saving towards that and also keeping an eye out for summer employment. I will continue with my twice monthly cleaning job as well.
I have decided to begin saving as if I didn't have the benefit income still coming in. I will take my combined salary from both school jobs and figure out what it would be if spread over 12 months putting the extra in the savings. This will easily give us what we need to live on next summer. I also hope to put a bit more in towards building up my savings account for a rainy day fund.
My SUV is going to need new tires. GF says this really cannot wait until the end of October when I will have that money saved up. He has offered to pay for them and let me pay him back when I have the funds. I've agreed to that since he is insistent that the tires need replacing immediately.
Our day to day operations will continue to be austere through September. I really need to get that tire money all set. I hate borrowing but appreciate his offer to do this, I am determined to pay him back a.s.a.p. I will continue to 'shop' in my pantry but by mid September when my first full paycheck will roll in I will need to restock the freezer. Cash in hand from my cleaning job will fill the SUV and get some fresh produce. I will continue to hang laundry either outside or in the basement as long as the weather holds.
These measures should see us through.

Catching up and Financial review 8/18-8/24

It has been a busy week. I worked both my school job and my cleaning job on Thursday in order to have money to take a little weekend trip. On Friday after work I headed up to northwest Pennsylvania to visit with an old friend who has a summer home there. We had a wonderful evening and she came back home with me on Saturday. On Sunday my youngest grandson was baptized and then GF and I took my friend back to her summer house and drove home all in one day. It was exhausting but so very worth it.
Financially this has been a good week:
Sunday 8/18: $0
Monday 8/19: $0
Tuesday 8/20:$12.63 at the Farmer's Market
Wednesday 8/21: $0
Thursday 8/22:$0
Friday 8/23:$ 32.63 on gas for SUV
Saturday 8/24:$0

Not Your Normal Ratatouille

It was our last day before students arrived and as the last two have been it was a shortened day. A tech seminar, some paperwork, and making sure my food and milk deliveries were safely stowed away and it was time to come home.
In keeping with my austere August theme before I left the house this morning I had a breakfast of greek yogurt and coffee then washed a load of laundry and got it out on the clothesline, emptied the dishwasher, started another load of laundry in the washer, and decided on what was going to be for dinner. Having the veggies for grilled ratatouille on hand from my farmer's market trip on Monday I settled on that. When I arrived home I had a lunch of carrot sticks and hummus and a bread and butter sandwich on homemade bread. I'd been fighting a headache all morning and didn't feel like much more than that. After lunch I hung out the second load of laundry and helped teen son sign up for the ACTs. Then I sat down with a cool towel and relaxed for a couple of hours to try to get rid of the headache.
Once I started feeling better it was time to prep for dinner. This is a different way to prepare the vegetable stew that I quite enjoy. I peeled and cut up eggplant, cut up zucchini, an onion, a red bell pepper, and a large tomato. Then I mixed up a marinade of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and basil. I put the marinade and the veggies in a large bowl,gave them a good toss, covered and let sit for about an hour.

 

I like to serve this over linguine so I started a big pot of water and got the veggies out on the preheated grill in a grill pan:

 

Once the pasta was cooked and drained I dressed it with a bit of smart balance spread and some balsamic vinegar:

 

I tossed the grilled vegetables with the marinade before serving it on a bed of linguine. Yum.

 

 

 

$15

I made the trek into work this morning expecting my food delivery to be waiting for me to put it away and the office to be open. Well no one in the office which was locked up tight. So much for putting menus in teacher mailboxes and picking up whatever lunch packets came back. Down into the kitchen and no food. <sigh> I got on the phone with customer service and discovered for whatever reason we are farther down the delivery list than we were last year. I explained that this was ok for today but once school was in session we need to have the slot we had last year so that deliveries can be safely made when there are no students outside in the way. Of course the customer service rep couldn't tell me when the food would arrive. I wasn't going to sit there all day waiting so I hunted down the maintenance guys and they agreed to keep an eye out for the truck and to direct the delivery man where to roll the perishables and I left the walk in cooler/freezer unlocked and ready.
I really need to find my rep's business card and speak to him about this situation.
So since I was off work early and really needed to get my hair trimmed (last haircut my stylist left it too long and it is after only two weeks looking shaggy) I called my daughter K who has a natural gift for this kind of thing. She said to swing by and she'd give me a trim and I could get some cuddle time in with the grandsons. I did so and my hair looks great. I think I may work out a deal with K to do my hair all the time.
Needing some fresh produce to get through the remainder of the month I also swung by the farmer's market. I had $15 in my wallet and was determined to get what I needed for what I had in cash.
$12.63 later I came home with everything on my list:

10 pounds of russet potatoes (with a reminder to myself to buy these at Aldi where they are far cheaper) $3.99, one head of cabbage (.39¢ per pound), two Ohio grown tomatoes ($1.39 per pound), two Ohio grown zucchini ($1.29 per pound), one large eggplant ($1.29 per pound), and two red bell peppers ($1.19 per pound).

 

And I have just enough cash to pick up a can of fabric/upholstery cleaner I need!

Easing back into work mode

  Yesterday morning was my first day back to work. I didn't have to work an entire day and actually had less paperwork to get done than I expected to have. I did have a meeting with the business manager and there is going to be an exciting change to my job. Instead of having an assistant I am getting more hours and will be doing everything myself. My previous assistant quit suddenly last week after getting another job offer. The business manager and I agreed that if I feel too overwhelmed she will start to look for an assistant but if I can handle it all the change will stay. Personally I did both jobs last year several times when the assistant didn't come in or left early or came in late. I'm pretty confident with the extra time I can get this done. AND this means a much needed injection of income into the bank!!
Also another part-time job with the aftercare group is up for grabs. The pay rate is darned good (better than the rate of pay at Aldi where I dropped off an application on Sunday) and the hours are good too (4 per day M-F so no weekend hours which also makes it more attractive than Aldi). Other pluses are that the job begins shortly after my regular one ends AND I don't have to spend money on gas to get there. I'm already there!  I checked with the business manager to see if she'd have a problem with me going for this position and she did not so I emailed the director and am waiting to hear back. The drawback to this is that once again it is only during the school year. It will mean an overhaul to the household budget and a strict savings plan. But that shouldn't be a problem and I always have the option to picking up a 'summer' job.
We shall see what happens and in the meantime I am keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed!
I was only in to work until noon so I came home and did some minor chores as well as watched a couple shows I'd dvr'd from Sunday night.
Dinner was only myself and adult son J. When a package of two eye round steaks slipped out of the deep freezer and hit my foot I knew what the two of us were having. :-)  Grilled steaks and corn. Simple, quick, and delicious!