Meal Planning with Connie

For years, I was very haphazard with using coupons. If I thought of them and had the time to find and sort through them for the one or two I thought I’d use, I would. A great deal of the time, it was just too much trouble. Most of the time, I wouldn’t even think about it until I was at the store. With the changes in the economy, and some added expenses to our budget, I began to want to make better use of my coupons. But, I struggled with how to organize them in an efficient manner that was easy to maintain and portable enough to wag to the stores. Just about this time, Penny at Tupelo Deals started to share with some of us about how to organize our coupons using a binder and baseball card holders. I got my binder at Wal-mart. I think it was around $20, and the sleeves were about $6. The handles are retractable. There’s a built in calculator, a pocket I use for storing a small pair of scissors, and a surround zipper that helps keep everything in the entire binder in place. It prett...

This is my very simple, no-frills shopping list and menu planner. I create my daily menu plan at the top, adding ingredients to purchase on the shopping list portion at the bottom, as I decide what we’re having each day. I place the entire form in my coupon binder when I go shopping. When I return home, I clip off the top portion, which contains the menu plan, and post it near the oven. I toss the used shopping list portion. I usually print about 12 of these forms at a time. Print page one first. Flip the stack, and print page two on the back. You may download the forms here .

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25   Cheesy Creamy Chicken Breasts, wild rice, Creamed Pea Casserole and Biscuit Rolls Monday- Cheesy Creamy Chicken Breasts, wild rice, Creamed Pea Casserole and Biscuit Rolls Cheesy Creamy Chicken Breasts 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs ½ cup Parmesan cheese ¼ cup butter, melted 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon salt dash of pepper 4 slices Swiss cheese 1 can cream of chicken soup ¼ cup chicken broth Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Set aside. Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry. Place flour, salt and pepper in a large plastic zippered bag. Shake well to combine. Place breasts in bag one at a time, and shake to coat. Brown chicken breasts in a bit of oil in a large skillet. Place browned chicken breasts into prepared pan. Place one slice of Swiss cheese ...