Chocolate Chip Muffins

Tony's parents came to visit during our pantry challenge.  When they were here, we did go out an buy a few things.  Sunday morning, we were planning eggs and sausage for breakfast.  I wanted to do something else with what I had.  Since I didn't have any fruit, chocolate chips were really the only mix in that I had.  They were quite yummy and I've made them a couple times since!

CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS (from Taste of Home)
Makes: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Sugar crystals (optional) *my add

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk and oil.
3. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
4. Fold in chocolate chips. 
5. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.  Sprinkle with sugar crystals (optional)
6. Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Enjoy!!

Pantry Challenge: Completed!

Live has been crazy the past few weeks and I really haven't had time to post.  I'm getting back into it now.  We've gone on vacation, I've traveled for work, and Tony has officially moved to first shift!

We completed our pantry challenge at the end of July.  It worked out really well!  For the month of July, we only spent $38 on groceries.  Here's the final comparison!

Freezer

Fridge

Cabinets

Thanks for stopping by!

Pantry Challenge: Update - Week 3

Tuesday was the completion of week two of our pantry challenge.  It is going pretty well!  Last week, we ran out of milk and eggs (and dryer sheets and hair gel).  I had to make a grocery store run to grab those few items. 

In the past two weeks, Tony and I have cleared out our crackers, tuna, yogurt, ground beef, lean pockets, juice and pop.  We ran out of bread so I made wheat bread from some flour we bought when we went to Tennessee.  Last Friday, we had Chicken Continental for dinner.  My mom made it a while ago and it's been in our freezer since.  Since Tony's parents came into town this past weekend, we picked up a few items (milk, cheese, and crackers) at the store before they came in.  We still kept it pretty minimal.

Here's where we are:

Freezer

Fridge

Cabinet #1

Cabinet #2

Cabinet #3

I think that we'll last until Friday but after that, I think we may need to end this and make a run to the store.  It's getting pretty sparse!

Stay tuned for the final outcome!

Pantry Challenge: Update - Week 1

Today marks one week of the pantry challenge.  The weekdays went well but the holiday weekend not so much.  While we were home, we were good.  I made spaghetti with meat sauce a couple times and had sandwiches, yogurt and oatmeal.  With us traveling 5 1/2 hours Friday, this led to lunch in the car (~$15).  Saturday night, we went out to dinner with friends which added to our food bill for the month (~$20 thanks to having a gift card).  Then traveling home on Sunday, things fell apart.  We stopped at the Italian bakery where our wedding cake was from and picked up way to many sweets (cannolis, wedding cake, cookies) (~$18) and then we stopped for dinner (~$15). 

This week should be better since we'll be home all week and Tony works next weekend.  This week, I plan to do something with the frozen ham in the freezer and finish up the ground beef that I cooked and re-froze last week.

Here's where we are now:

Freezer

Fridge

Cabinet #1

Cabinet #2

Cabinet #3 

We'll see how long we can hold out...

July Pantry Challenge: Day 1

I have seen Pantry Challenges all over social media.  Tony and I decided to give it a try.  From January - June, our average spending on food is $650 per month.  This includes eating out, lunches, and groceries. 

The (30-Day, New Mom, The Great) pantry challenges all have different ground rules.  If you read through them, they talk about well first you have to re-organize, then plan your meals, and sometimes fill in the gaps.  This fill in the gaps is the thing that get's me the most.  If you are trying to not spend money and empty your pantry, then why do you fill in the gaps?  I wanted to do something more passive.  With Tony and I working opposite hours, it's hard to plan big meals.  Our pantry challenge would make do with what we have.  It'll force us to clean stuff out but also get creative with what we make.

Here's the ground rules that we agreed upon:

1. The pantry challenge would last as long as possible without running out of food.
2. When Tony's parents come to visit, we will take a 3-day pause.  During this time, we will only buy what we need for those meals.
3. Okay to buy only if/when we run out and it is needed - milk, eggs, yogurt, bread (if Jen's homemade bread doesn't come out), meat
4. Try to cut back on eating lunch at work and eating out (plan ahead)

Fortunately for us, we don't have a large pantry so we are limited to our fridge and freezer and three small cabinets.  I'll be surprised if we make it past week 3.

I did a quick survey of what we had where and did a quick date check.  This whole process only took me about 15 minutes.  The biggest concern I have is with our meat supply.  We'll see how things go.

Freezer

Fridge

Cabinet #1

Cabinet #2

Cabinet #3

With today being day 1, here's where I started:

Breakfast - yogurt and iced coffee
Lunch - yogurt and oatmeal
Dinner - pasta (cabinet #1) with meat sauce (freezer ground beef & pasta sauce)

Since I cooked a pound of ground beef, I didn't mix it all with pasta sauce.  I only used a what I needed for dinner.  This allows me to have ground beef for the next few meals.

I think Tony's probably looked like this:

Breakfast/Lunch - yogurt with granola
Dinner - Sandwich (bread, turkey, ham, cheese) and yogurt

Stay tuned for updates on our pantry challenge!