"So What's for Dinner - Sunday" March 28

What a week! It has been a while since I have been able to sit down to write a post. A hectic and stressful week at work and yet another round of illness with my children set me back in the kitchen.

I've been attending some couponing exchanges locally and even went on an excursion with a few ladies who showed me and a few others how to actually get things for cheap or FREE!

It was an eye opening experience and really got me excited! Some of the principles really fit into my WAHM meals! By saving coupons and waiting for sales and stocking up on those items you can save alot of money! The great thing with the Homemade Gourmet meals is that you use simple ingredients that can stay in your pantry and get used when you need them!

I was able to snag up quite a few deals on meat this week which filled our freezer with 12 meals! The great part is, each of these meals can be used int a complety different meal the next night!

Here is what I bought:

4 Angus pot roasts $1.99/lb

6 lbs Ground Beef $1.69/lb

8 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $0.99/lb! Yes! That was a GREAT deal I snagged at the last minute!

Now I did make a special trip to purchase these meats. Here in Chicagoland anything $1.99/lb or less is a STEAL! So when I saw these prices I took the money extra and stocked up.

Here is how I used up the meat:

• Double batch of Taco meat for tacos


• Beefy Enchilada Casserole - using extra taco meat above


• Garlic Parmesean Chicken


• Italian Slow Cooker Chicken


• Pepper Pizazz Burgers (made enough for 4 dinners!)


• BBQ Chicken Sandwiches


• Burgandy Beef Tips


• Awesome Chicken Grill


• 2 - Beef Pot Roasts

What I picked up on my regular shopping trip consisted of side dishes to accompany these meals.

All of the meals, except the taco meat and burgers, were 4 meals in 4 minutes meals. Meaning, with the meat, a Homemade Gourmet Seasoning and a wet ingredient, usually something like a can of diced tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, wine, chicken broth etc you mix it all together in a bag and SMOOSH it!

My 3 year old LOVES to help with this part! After I put the meat into the bag, we both count out the scoops of seasoning together as she pours it in, and then we dump in the wet ingredients. After we seal up the bag, we SMOOSH it together! You can see her washing her hands before we began! Due to our time crunch I didn't get to take any pictures of our meal making event!

It only took us 20 minutes to put all of that together. After dinner we set up our assembly line of recipes printed out on the table, setting each canned good or seasoning on the recipe. As my husband washed the dishes after dinner and my 6 month old played on the floor in the family room, "S" and I got to work!

After the kids were in bed I finished up the taco meat while rotating loads of laundry in the basement!

Remember, dinner time doesn't have to be a chore! With a few minutes planning ahead you can have several weeks worth of dinners waiting for you!

Now as far as cooking these meals goes, each one can be made in the following ways:

1. Slow Cooker - my first choice!

2. Grill - next best choice

3. Bake - last choice

I just throw my meal under the hot water tap to loosen it from the bag and dump it, frozen and all in the slow cooker, when dinner time comes I pop in some veggies in the microwave and dinner is done!

To find these recipes visit my website: Key 2 the Kitchen

What are you having for dinner this week?