Saturday, December 29, 2012

Whats For Dinner ~ Beef and Been Enchiladas ~ Saving Money Eating Mexican At Home

When I crave Mexican I refer to my cookbooks rather than going out for an expensive dinner. Tonight on the menu was Beef and Bean Enchiladas, side of Refried Beans and Taco chips.  Tonights dinner came from Favorite Brand Name Incredibly Easy Weeknight Meals. Recipe was tweeked with some changes due to our likes and what I had in the pantry.

needed
nonstick cooking spray
3 cups of shredded mexican style cheese
1 1/2 cups sour cream divided
1 can of Rotel with green chiles
1 pound of ground beef ( if you want chicken use 2 cups of diced chicken)
1 10 oz can of Ortega Enchilada Sauce
10 8 inch soft flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 , spray 13 by 9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray
Reserve 1 1/2 cups of cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream
Brown hamburger, degrease and add drained can of Rotel with green chilis, add remaining sour cream and shredded cheese. Mix and warm
Spread about 2 tsp of enchiladas sauce over each tortilla. Top each with about 1/2 cup of meat mixture and 1 or 2 small teaspoons of refried beans. Roll up tortillas, arrange seam side down in baking dish.
Top tortillas with remaining enchiladas sauce. Sprinkle with reserved cheese
Cover with foil. Bake 50 or 60 minutes or until hot, remove foil and bake 5 more minutes.

Serve with some sour cream, side of refried beans and some chips. Dinner is ready.

We saved money eating at home and it was so tasty. Hubby and I ate 4 of the 10 enchiladas,  I was able to freeze remaining enchiladas. Hubby and I will have dinner some evening with just having to thaw and reheat.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

2013 My 13 Goals For The Year PLUS update on my 2012 Goals HOW DID I DO

Now that it is time to think about what my goals are going to be for 2013 I was looking back on what I had written at the beginning of 2012. There they were right on my side board looking at me was my 2012 Goals .

I have to admit that I have not looked at it in months. I wonder if I accomplished any of these goals. The following is what I wrote.


Hard to believe that 2011 is almost gone. Just days away till we start a new year. Time to work at planning what I would like to accomplish this next year.

1. Cutting down the cost of eating out expense. If we do eat out try to find a coupon to reduce the price or bring home some of it to eat another time
2. Pay down debt of $2610 this does not include our car that has a balance of $7500
3. Work at decluttering our home by selling items I buy items to resell faster. Boy things pile up fast. Cookbooks, books, barbie clothes and dolls and so much more.
4. Build up our eBay and Amazon sales to about $1,000 a month net

5. Read the New Testament on a daily basis. I have a 5 minute a day New Testament to help me accomplish this
6. Try one new meal a week and blog on it
7. Eat better and find time to walk daily with the goal to eventually lose about 40 pounds
8. Work on my family research on a weekly basis trying to break down some of the brick walls
9. Read at least two books a month one being a non fiction book.
10. Spend more time with family and friends and less time watching TV

11. Be more organized around the home with chores, coupons organizing

Regarding my goals for last year

1.  Still eating out a lot but we are using coupons, deals or eating at places that cost less. This is our main entertainment and works when we are out hunting for items to resell. We have been known to buy a sub sandwich on sale and a McDonalds $1.00 soda and eat in a park.
2.  Personal loan is $300 and car loan is $4,200, if we make normal payment March of 2014.
3. Working at decluttering is hard when we buy to resell, as items go out we add more to the pile.
I just bought more Barbie and friends dolls and items and I am busy listing and selling.
4. I have added etsy to the selling menus besides eBay and Amazon. We are selling a 1,000 or more a month among the three before costs. Hope to increase that by quite an amount so that it is $1,000 net
The rest of the goals have been hit and miss. I did not lose 40 pounds so that is on this years goal list. Did not get out and walk 1/2 hour daily.  I did read some books but did not get read as many as I would like to have done.
I did try a few new meals but did not do it on a weekly basis.
Lots of improvement to be done this year, but alot of goals and dreams to get done. Emergency fund is not there at this time

For this year Goal of 2013

1. Get that $1,000 in emergency fund
2. Pay off the $300 personal debt and attempt to get car paid off by end of year or sooner.
3. Work at selling some personal items that we do not need or want to accomplish goals number 1 and 2.
4. Continue to sell on eBay, Amazon and etsy working to increase sales above the $1,000 total.
5. Lose at least 25 pounds and hoping to get it to the 40 pounds by eating less and walking more.
6. Read my New Testement this coming year. I did that on and off this year. Into it this week and hoping to get into the habit before the New Year comes.
7. Continue to work on my photo and genealogy project. You can read about my family at my other blog My family Roots Run Deep.
8. We have joined a reading group based on Religion and Science. Our book for January now and into January is " The Great Partenship"  by Rabbi Jonathan Sachs. Hubby and each bought the book and hope to start this week. Goal is to read first 77 pages by the 9th of th of January.
I also hope to add a fiction to the reading list every month. I am in the process of reading  " Stalked"  by Brian Freeman. It is the third book in his series.
9. Look forward to finding more interesting recipes to try out and share with you.
10. Hubby and I hope to work towards a goal of traveling around the country this next winter. Means saving money and decluttering some of our items. Will share more of this if we go to the next step.
11.Continue spending more time with friends and family each  month.
12. Contine to work on being organized with meal planning, coupons, rebates and chores around the home.
13. To be find ways to make life happier and better for myself, hubby and family.

This is a good start on what I would like to accomplish this next year. Sounds like a lot but just a little every day will help on some of these goals.
Do you have any goals you would like to accomplish next year?
Thanks for stopping by.. hope to see you soon and lets keep saving together.. Grace