Grow.Swap.Share featuring Sarah!

Hey Gais!
Today, I'm participating in the Grow.Swap.Share. I'm posting over at Fantastical Sharing of Recipes about Menu Planning! I'd like to welcome Sarah from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes.

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Hi everyone :) I'm Sarah from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes.

I'm super stoked to be swapping with Mrs. White and posting over here on Little Homemade Housewife. Mrs. White threw out some amazing ideas and we decided to share our expertise on meal planning - and then share 5 go-to awesomesauce recipes. Yup, that's right - there's awesomesauce involved! I figure I can just walk ya'll through what I do and give you as many tips as I can! :)

I am a list person, by nature.
I have lists for everything, so meal planning was a given. In high school, my family went through a bit of a rough spot where it was just my mom, younger brother, and I. My mom was never great with handling finances, so I took over. All three of us worked and my paycheck went to groceries. Obviously a high schooler isn't going to make much money, so I had to learn how to be frugal from the get-go.

#1. Recipe Index: One of the biggest tips I have is to have a recipe index. Know what recipes/food you have and are capable of making. When I first was married, I had my recipe index on a piece of college-ruled notebook paper. Now I have a 26-page list of all the recipes I've acquired over the last 10+ years that are sorted into different categories, like breakfast, main dishes, side dishes, etc. This helps because it gives you all of your choices right in front of you.

#2. Frequency of Shopping: Figure out if you are going to shop once a week, once every other week, once a month, etc. Whatever works for you. I used to go once every other week when it was just my husband and I - and baby Matthew. Now that my baby is a preschooler and he has a partner in crime, his sister Cami - I shop once a week, so my fridge isn't busting from the seams. You can still make your menu plan months in advance, but I find I like to do it for each week because I may be craving something totally different from week to week.

#3. Menu Type: Decide what you kind of menu you are planning. How many meals are you going to plan? Will you plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner? What about snacks and dessert? Will you do themed nights, like Meatless Monday or Taco Tuesday? Are you going to plan around your store's weekly sales? Do you have coupons you want to use?

#4. Write it Down: Sit down with your index, a pen, and paper - and go for it! Plan your week, two weeks, month, etc.

#5. Make a Grocery List: After you have everything you want to make, walk through your plan and write down exactly what you'll need for each meal. I pull out my recipes and write down exact amounts and double check what I have on hand. I don't want to run out of ingredients or have way too many taking up space in my fridge - this helps so food doesn't go bad and you're able use what you have on hand!



Here's a quick peek at my recipe index and handy dandy calendar that I use for my menu:


My menu plan consists of at least 3 breakfast recipes, like pancakes, muffins, etc. We do cereal or oatmeal for the other days. For lunch, we rotate leftovers, sandwiches, spaghetti or mac 'n cheese, wraps, chicken nuggets, etc. For dinner, I plan one meatless or leftover night each week, one to two red meat dinners, one ham, pork, or tuna, and the rest chicken. I also try to do only one pasta or rice dish and one soup a week. Each week, I try to make 2 extra recipes - a snack and a dessert or something like that. I also plan to grab 2 to 3 different things for snacks each week like yogurt, graham crackers, chips, cheesesticks, etc. I strive on variety! And by planning everything, I don't get a bunch of extra food and I don't have two hungry kids begging for something to eat :)



Now my top 5 go-to recipes:
Homemade Pizza Dough - I am in love with this recipe, that makes two pizzas. Our favorite pizza is bacon, pineapple, and jalapeno.

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Quick and Easy Cinnamon Butter Buns - 4 ingredients for these delicious babies :)

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese - we have these almost every single weekend!

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Fauxtisserie Chicken - you can do many variations with this one and it's a crockpot recipe!

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

and last...
Ranch-Style Spaghetti - this one is packed with flavor and we have it a lot for lunch.

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I hope I was able to give you all some handy tips - just remember once you get the hang of menu planning, you'll never go back to not menu planning. It saves you so much food (from spoiling) and so much money. Plus you don't have to worry about what's for dinner and make last minute decisions or go hungry!

And a special thank you to Mrs. White for being a total sweetheart and letting me take over her blog for a day - bwahahaha!

Guest Post with Sarah @ All Things Blogs

Hey everyone. Today we have one of my stellar swappers here to share a bit of bloggy goodness about what she does over on her space of the blogosphere. Hope you enjoy!
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Thanks for having me!

Hi There!

I'm Sarah over at All Things Blogs!

Thanks for having me here today Mrs. White!

This post is about my blog, why I started my blog, keep blogging, and what I hope for my blog to become.

I started my blog because I kept looking at blogs, I felt restless like I should be doing something else.  I realized I wanted to start my own blog, I thought what I wanted was to make my blog all about other blogs and giveaways.  I was totally wrong, I wanted my blog to be a craft blog, this is why my blog is called All Things Blogs.  I actually changed my blog to a craft blog, in March of 2012, that is when I started collecting followers and my blog started coming "alive", I enjoyed building my blog up, linking up to linky parties, doing ad swaps, and guest posting.  I love guest posting on blogs and ad swapping!

Currently I do 2 sponsor spotlights a month, I do guest posts on my blog every 1st of a month.  I do a Blogger Meet and Greet Friday one Friday in each month.

I have currently 25 spots open for ad swaps, 10 open for large spots, which you can only win from giveaways at my blog or others blogs.

I keep blogging because I love to create things and write on my blog.  I am currently working on making my blog bigger and more well known, my bloggy friend taught me how to link up at linky parties, I had heard of them, but at that time I did not know how important they were for getting followers and page views!  She also taught me how to make buttons for my blog, she helped me customize my blog, she basically helped me make my blog what it is know.  I really appreciate all her help.  If my blog wasn't as successful as it is right now I probably wouldn't keep blogging.

My stats as of May is around 151 followers, around 100 page views a day, more if I linked up to more parties. Around 173 comments, my total page views since January 2012  5,867 page views, last month I got 2,139 page views. I am currently trying to get on Craft Gawker, if you have any tips on getting on Craft Gawker please email me at sarah.allthingsblogs@gmail.com.

I have hope for some day that I charge for ads, and that my blog is really well known, you never know it might happen, I hope that someday I will start making money from it, maybe open my own Store Envy shop.

At the time I love to have guest posters and ad swappers! I would LOVE if you would ad swap or guest post on my blog, click here.               

Thanks so much for having me Mrs. White!

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A Little Inspiration from Digger...

Hey everyone! It's that time again for another wonderful guest post! This one is from Digger over at Digging Deeper Design! I was so excited to have her posting up on my little ol blog, and I am definitely not disappointed! So here's your chance to learn some more about her, and if you dig it (hehe) go on over to her blog and pay patronage to her wonderfulness! Or you know, follow and keep watch. Either way. Either way.
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"What is your main creative aesthetic and how did you find it/start?"

So I've been contemplating this question all. day. long. and it's hard! lol. 

Here's what I've come up with: 

my main creative aesthetic would be writing. 

I love to tell stories. 

I always have. 

It sort of runs in the family. I have very vivid memories of my grandparents and my mother sitting down and telling elaborate stories with gestures and props and character's voices. I loved it. I loved how I felt. I loved how it bonded us and gave me the most incredible memories! I loved learning the fables and finding the truths behind the words. 

Source: kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

So that's what I do. I tell stories. 

For now, they're just stories about who I am and my journey into finding that, but eventually, maybe I'll share some of the crazy imaginative ones that my boys stay up late to hear. ;) 

So, *phew* Part 1 - check.

All that being said, I get a lot of my inspiration from my readers. I won't lie. When I log on and see 8 new comments waiting to be moderated, I get excited. And it's not because I want to be the "popular blog" girl, see my name in print, have a mass following, or win some crazy big giveaway. I have no desires to be anything bigger than what I am. I just want to know that somebody is listening. And I want to know that my views and messages are coming across clear.

It doesn't matter if we're carbon copies of each other or complete opposites, it doesn't take a lot to find inspiration. It's in the pieces we pick up; in the small corners and rural roads of life. It is next to impossible to find it on the freeway or when we're too busy trying to climb the ladder and our eyes are only focused on the next rung. 

I could list a thousand things that have moved me over my lifetime. But they're not the same things that have or would have moved you. I could bore you to tears with story after story of why this song means more than that song, why this scent ALWAYS makes me cry, and why I search so deeply into every ounce of my life for reason and meaning. Those questions I could answer; this one I cannot. 

My inspirations are just that, mine. I don't say that to come across rude or even cruel-hearted. It's just that my list won't have the same effect on you that it does on me. I can't tell you what inspires me, but don't misunderstand, I love to share what moves me, that's what my whole blog is for. That's why I write. And I hope that I can inspire you with my lists and my thoughts.

Guest Post from Pig & Paint!

Hey everyone! We have a brand new guest poster today. I've been talking her up something wonderful here, Alison. She's got some great projects to share, as well as her answer to her creative side. Hope you enjoy! P.S. I hit double digits in my followers. To you that might sound underwhelming, but to me, with how I feel like I've worked for that many, I'm quite excited! Now! Onto Alison!
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Howdy! I am honored to be able to spend some time on Little Homemade Housewife today. My name is Alison, and I write a blog called Pig and Paint, where I feature my adventures in foodie-ville (Pig) and home décor-mania (Paint). First, allow me to tell you a little bit about…um, me. I work for a great company in the wireless telecom industry overseeing marketing and communications, and am married to a pastor. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area -- literally a stone’s throw from Napa – and are parents to a hilarious boxer dog and a crazy parrot. My husband is brilliant! No, seriously – he is.

Mrs. White posed the following question to me, and I really had to give it a lot of thought:

“What would you say is your main creative aesthetic, and how did you start/find it?”

{hmmm…}

Let me start by explaining that I am extremely right-brained (creative) and extremely left-brained (analytical) – there’s not much going on in the middle. So, naturally the frosted side of me wanted to respond with “EVERYTHING!!” but the wheatie side of me pumped the brakes and forced me to really think about what ultimately led me down the road of starting Pig and Paint.

I’ve had a lot of great influencers in my life, who have helped shape who I am today. My mother taught me to be proud of the person God uniquely designed me to be, and to stand up for what I believe in. My dad taught me that with a little determination, some krazy glue and rubber bands, you can fix just about anything – and if you put your mind to it, you CAN do anything you dream. My husband taught me that some of the best experiences in life are, in fact, spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment, and completely unplanned. My mother-in-law taught me to savor life’s precious moments, and that food is a language of love. My sister taught me to truly enjoy the things you love (read that one again…it’s harder than it sounds in today’s “always connected” world). With these great encouragers in my life, I’ve poured myself into my hobbies in a big way.

Food and I are great friends. We hang out after work and on weekends. I love inventing new recipes on the fly, like my Truffled Shepherd’s Pie.



I enjoy following a trusted source’s recipe to a T, like my made-from-scratch mozzarella.



I love putting my own spin on the classics, like my Split Pea Soup with crispy shallots, prosciutto and charred bread.



I am a restaurant hunter. I constantly seek out new and exciting food adventures for my friends and family. But is food my main creative aesthetic?

DIY and craft projects are also good friends of mine. Awww heck, decorating too! One of my proudest moments has been sharing my DIY capiz shell chandelier with the world.



Before that, my painted rug and framed wallpaper were the most exhilarating projects I had tackled to-date, and they make me smile every time I walk by.



Watching a room or a project come together is exciting for me…. But I’m not sure I would label those things as my main creative aesthetic either.

So, if I had to boil it all down into a gooey, caramel-y sauce…..my main creative aesthetic isn’t cooking or eating, decorating or DIYing. It’s simply creating. It’s that sense of determination, coupled with krazy glue, that my dad taught me. It’s loving something because I (me, no one else, Alison) love it, so I’m going to craft it into my own meal, wall art, chandelier, rug, whatever. It’s being able to say “I made that. And I had a good time making it.” Not every project turns out beautiful, but there is beauty in the journey of creating.

Thank you so much to Mrs. White for letting me share my thoughts with y’all today! I hope you all will visit me on Pig and Paint someday soon and share your creations with me.

Cheers!

Alison

Guest Post from the Guest Room

All right fellow fans, I've been building this up since the end of January, and the time has finally arrived! Here awaits you a wonderful post by Kate. She has a wonderful blog that I've been talking up since I first found her, full of fun and interesting tidbits and fashion. She is also one of the kindest, most encouraging people I've ever had the great fortune to meet, so I'd highly suggest dropping by her blog and getting to know her!
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Hello! My name is Kate and I blog over at From the Guest Room! I am very excited to be apart of Mrs. White's blog today and share a little bit about my creative thought process!

What would you say is your main creative aesthetic, and how did you start/find it?

I have been creative since I was a little girl. I went through many many phases, trying to figure out what my niche was. I wanted to be a fashion designer, then a photographer, then a musician and so on. In high school, I kind of got lost in the crowd of my friends and ventured into sports more so then the arts. I don't regret it, because it really did teach me a lot about myself in other areas that might not be as dominant in my life today.

After college, I actually moved to Australia. In that time, I was away from all that was familiar and I was confronted with having to figure out who I was and how I was going to choose to live my life. This is where I really started to discover just how creative I truly was. However, I also realized just how organized and particular I was as well. Many artists I knew were very un-structured and so for me to see myself as an artist, I thought maybe that structured part of myself had to go. Thankfully, I started to realize that that was what made me, well, me!

I read an article about dancers who perform with harnesses attached to the ceiling. They are limited in some sense, but in another, they are able to move much more freely. After reading this piece, I identified with what the writer was sharing and felt that I was that type of artist. I loved to create with in structure. So, to this day, much of my creativity is very organized and thought out. When it comes to decorating my home, colors coordinate and the layout of furniture is very even. In my fashion, I love to match and I prefer that my clothes fit my body in just the right way. I am not obsessive about looking perfect by any means, but I definitely will notice if a shirt does not lay nicely across my waist or shoulders.

In my writing, painting, DIY projects or sewing, I like to have all my supplies organized and in one area, so if you would take a look at my desk, everything is very orderly. I have learned to be okay with this. I feel much more able to express myself in an environment where I know where everything is. Though, I am not limited to my desk. I also like to take supplies on the go and create outdoors or in places like a coffee shop. I respect and admire my creative friends who have a crazy "mess" of a studio, but I also know, that would not serve me well in my creative process!

Creativity is not reserved only for the un-structured and eclectic. That is something I had to learn and I am so glad I did, because I surely can not imagine living an un-creative life!