Date Night, vacation style!

Long, long ago, vacations had a complete and different meaning than they do today. ~smile~ Once upon a time, we would travel to the beach or the mountains, we would eat out fancy dinners, we would sleep late in the mornings, and we would relax all day long.

picks self up off the floor from a fit of laughter

These days, vacations include early mornings, lots of laundry, and relaxing of a different, non-laying around nature.

It's so much more fun.

But, we still like the folks we were way back when. We might not get those late sleeping mornings for many years, but we can recreate some of the fancy dinners. So, for Friday night, we exhausted our children, put them to bed at 6:30, and we had a fabulous, fancy, at-home date night.

A splurge of a drink. These come shrink wrapped in a 6 pack, with fancy paper wrappers over the top. So much more than a normal coke. Admittedly, this drink is all about my husband. They taste good, but not that good.

Our favorite salad. Tomatoes, basil, and Italian salad dressing. I could (and often do) eat it every single day. Never gets old.

This. Well, this, I could not eat every day. Unless I wanted to weigh 500 pounds. Which might not be a bad thing. This sauce will make you rise up and slap yo' mama. This stuff is so good. You could bathe in it. You could slather it on as face cream. You get the idea. You need to make this.

I served the steak and blue cheese sauce (so good!) with spanish green beans (minus the bacon and made with fresh ingredients). They are a side dish worthy of the steak. Even if you don't make the blue cheese sauce, try these green beans.

Add in some good music, some good conversation, and we could feel ourselves totally in vacation mode. All at home, all on the cheap, and all with our babies sleeping upstairs.

Now that's my kind of vacation.

Cupcakes!

A certain beloved 3 year old wanted nothing more than "pink cupcakes pwease" for his birthday this year. Trust me, we tried to talk him out of it. Pink? For a mud loving, car obsessed little boy? Really? But, then... we had told him that I'd make whatever he wanted. And, if that's what he wanted, then that's what he'd get.

So, I set out to make pink cupcakes. I had intended on adding strawberries to white cake, but the, um, well, the strawberries lingered a bit too long in the fridge. Whoops. So, I found a lemon cake mix in the pantry, added some food coloring, and I dubbed them pink lemonade cupcakes. They were a HUGE hit!

My boys have birthdays about 6 weeks apart, and we'd just had a big party for the one year old a few weeks earlier. This year, we decided to have a family dinner, a day all about Will (and he actually got two days, because his Honey came over the next day), and cupcakes in celebration of his birthday. Simple, but he still felt special.

For more cupcake stories, check out Hoosier Homemade for Cupcake Tuesday.

Kroger Bargain Meal September 13

This week's Kroger meal is an old family favorite, chicken tettrazini. It's right at the top of my list for favorite casseroles. I made and froze a couple of these for after my second baby was born. I think that they were the best hit of all my make ahead meals. My husband and I have been known to lick the pan! We really love it that much.

Chicken Tettrazini
4 tablespoons butter, divided--$0.12
5-6 tablespoons flour--$0.10
1 cup milk--on sale $1.99/gallon--$0.06
1/2 cup white wine--you know me and my $3 wine--$0.30
1/2 cup chicken stock--free
2 cups chopped cooked chicken--on sale $0.99/lb--$1
12 ounces thin spaghetti, cooked--$1
1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms--on sale--$1
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese--$1.25

Instructions
Saute the mushrooms in the butter, then add flour to make a roux (add more butter if necessary). Add the wine, milk, and stock to make the sauce. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Add the parm cheese, stirring to melt. Add cooked chicken and spaghetti to the sauce/mushroom mixture, and mix well.

Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake at 375 for 30 minutes, until bubbly. If frozen, thaw in the refrigerator overnight; bake, covered, at 350° for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 more minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Total cost for this casserole--$4.83

Serve it with roasted tomato halves--on sale $1 for 3 tomatoes--$1
Making your total cost--$5.83. Enjoy!

And, as always, for more bargain meals, check out $5dinners.com

Menu Plan Monday

Today is the first day back to normal after vacation. It'll take a bit to get back in the groove, I think. As a big treat, we budgeted for two eating out meals while on vacation. We ended up only going out once. So, I was easily talked into Chinese take out for Sunday night. That's a great way to end a vacation!

We're also nearing the end of tomato season. But, never fear! The fall garden is in the ground, with great promise and hope growing amongst those tiny seedlings! Have I mentioned how much I love having a husband that has taken to gardening? This is a very good thing.

Friday: steaks with blue cheese onion sauce (wow!), tomato basil salad, green beans

Saturday: hot and sour soup (lunch), leftovers (supper--Mike went to a football game, and it was just the boys and me)

Sunday: leftovers (lunch), take out (supper)

Monday: tamale pie

Tuesday: cabbage, ground beef, tomato stir fry (sort of unstuffed cabbage)

Wednesday: pepper steak, rice

Thursday: grilled swordfish with tomatillo sauce and roasted corn

As always, orgjunkie has hundreds of other menus posted at Menu Plan Monday. Check it out!