Tomato, Basil & Parmesan Soup

There are so many different varieties of tomato soup out there, it is very hard to choose a favorite. I'm sure you would all agree that on a crisp fall day, tomato soup and grilled cheese sounds like a winner combination!

It's an easy meal full of flavor! I found this recipe on my morning Pinterest search one day and saved it for a dreary, cool day. While I followed the recipe, I added a secret ingredient that brought this soup to a whole different level! I hope you give it a try, it is an amazing soup!

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1 bay leaf
2 cans diced tomatoes with juice
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups light cream or skim milk
1-1 1/2 cups of grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Drum roll please......the secret ingredient...........oh the suspense........

1 can of condensed tomato soup!

Directions: Heat oil in a 4 quart+ pot, add onions, celery and carrots. Let cook for 5-10 minutes until onions are translucent. Add oregano, basil, bay leaf, tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer for 15-20 minutes until vegetables are tender. In a small sauce pan, melt butter and add flour to make a roux. With continuous mixing, slowly add 1 cup of soup broth, then add 2 more. (The mixture will still be thick, don't be afraid!) Add the mixture back into the soup and stir until soup is thickened. Remove the bay leaf before continuing.

At this point, I used an immersion blender to puree the soup. If you do not have one, you could add the soup to a blender.

Next add cream/milk, condensed tomato soup and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes so flavors can combine.

The end result is a creamy, slightly rich bowl of tomato and parmesan goodness!

 Pair it with a grilled cheese and fill that tummy up!

Enjoy!

How to Budget and Meal Plan: Topic #2

For years, my husband and I just spent what we wanted. If we knew there was money in our account, then we were fine. All we had to do is take out that little evil card we had tucked away in our wallet.....our debit card. The one tiny piece of the puzzle that stands between you and your checking account.

My husband always said he never had a debit card until after he met me. He always kept cash in his wallet for the things he might need. I've heard some people still in the year 2012 refuse to have one, for it takes away from the human interaction, and they are correct. It also burns a hole in your pocket if you use it for every.single.little.thing that you may need or think you need. It's easy to do, but if you take the time and break down your monthly bank statements to see what your debit card is REALLY costing you, it's an easy thing to change.

Topic #2: Tracking Your Spending

I know we all live crazy busy schedules and the thought of doing one more tedious task every month, might make you cringe. It is a task though that I support 150% because it allowed me to see that our $2 coffee runs really add up! So do your measly $5 purchases, $10, $20, etc. It all adds up, to a lot in a month. Especially if you are taking that card out multiple times a day. So here is what I did...I tracked every single purchase for three months in a row.

Being that we are a technology based world these days, online banking made it easy for me. To be able to see every transaction and place it into categories, let me see where we were way over spending. I broke it down into these categories:

-Bills
-Gas
-Groceries
-Restaurants/Take Out
-Extras

You don't realize how much you spend when you wing it! My mouth dropped the first month when I saw we spent $1700 on extras! What?!?!?! I won't get into details about any of our purchases, but to see that number flash in front of my face, it was a jaw dropping moment. So I made sure it changed. It has been a slow steady decline over the past few months. I am proud to say that our extras are now about $100 a month.

Just by seeing all those numbers in front of me, I knew what needed to change and it will be the same for you. We all have different financial situations, but in the end we are all trying to live. The goal in life is to do what we can while we are here and enjoy it. Just by taking these little steps, you can save yourself a lot of money and be happier. We are.

We also put the debit card away. When we do our grocery shopping, we stop at the bank and draw out the amount we have allotted ourselves in our monthly finances. If for some reason we have any left over, than maybe we can treat ourselves to a coffee or save it for next time! It makes you stick with your budget if you only have X amount of dollars because you have not left yourself any other choice, right?

SO PUT THE DEBIT CARD DOWN! It's a life saving step, I tell you.

Until next time,

How to Budget & Meal Plan: Topic #1

It happens to all of us. That unexpected time in life where things don't go as planned, and you have to make it so you DON'T break it. Your bank that is.

For the past two months, I have relied heavily on sales, coupons, budgeting, and meal planning. Without these concepts, I wouldn't have been able to stay home while trying to find a job. Times are tough, the economy doesn't make finding a job easy, but you still have to eat, right?

I've tried budgeting before but I guess I wasn't fully prepared to go all out. I still knew that if I went over, there was still more money to do what we had to do and then some. It is different for us now.

We use to spend about $60-$100 a week on groceries. In total, we could have spent $400 a month for two people. We would just pick up things we thought looked good and while I liked a good sale, it wasn't my priority. I wanted what I wanted.

Having a very tight budget has allowed me to see what good sales actually are. Having a husband who works in food service has also shown me that all sales are not worth it, and sometimes you can find a better deal with a full priced item! <----- weird concept, right?

Through my coupon clipping, grocery store circular sale searching, and waiting for the right deals to pop up, I have been able to reduce our monthly grocery spending to $80-$100 a month! That's right folks, that's a $300+ savings! If I didn't do it, we wouldn't be able to afford our bills and I wouldn't be able to find the right job for me. I am completely grateful that we have been able to stick to our guns to get through this time. So I decided to write this blog series to maybe help someone else who wants to learn how to properly budget and plan to have delicious meals without going broke. I hope you enjoy and can learn some tricks to help you!

Topic #1: Making a budget

1. Write down all your bills and your projected payments. Tally them all up so you know exactly how much you need to have each month.

2. Write down exactly how much money you make each month that is deposited into your bank account. Subtract your bills from this number. (I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but some don't write it down. If you SEE the numbers in front of you, it allows you to make a budget.)

3. Go into your bank statements for previous months and add up all the money spent on gas and groceries. Place them into their separate categories, Gas and Groceries! (I'm so smart! :-) )

This is where I noticed that we unfortunately spend a lot of money on gas for getting to and from work. Until we can afford a new non gas guzzling car for my husband, this isn't something we can change. We did however make changes that we don't just waste gas to go on long drives anymore. Every gallon of that expensive car juice has to actually take us where we need to go.

4. Subtract the $$ you spend on gas from the remaining money you had after step #2. This amount will be what you have left in a month to buy groceries, save, buy extras, etc.

This is where you need to come up with some numbers and goals for you and your family. Do you want to save a certain amount of money in a year? Do you want to buy a new couch? Do you need to replace a costly household item? What are your goals?

5. After finishing the above steps, (which took you far less time than I took to explain!) how much money you have left is what you can buy groceries with.

For example, after all your bills you have $300 left. You want to save some of it, so you put $200 in the bank each month, which would give you $2400 savings in a year! Then you take that remaining $100 and you make it work for you and your family. I realize some families are far bigger than mine! So you find a budget that works for you.

It may seem like such an easy thing to do, but if you don't see those numbers in front of you, you could be way overspending. Some think it's easier to just wing it and that is fine. I can tell you that wingin' it never worked for us! We would be in a much better place financially, if I had started doing this budgeting and meal planning earlier in our relationship. We didn't, but we are now!

It takes little steps to get to where you want to go, financially or otherwise. I hope you stick around to learn what has helped us.

Until next time,

Cleaning Your Microwave

A few weeks back when I was still working night shift, my husband put some sort of sauce dish in the microwave. I don't use the microwave all the time, so when a little while later I opened the door..... this is what I found.

I guess it's just not in a male's DNA to clean up what they spill/explode/dirty/etc. You know what would be a good money maker? A book entitled "All the Things Your Guy Will Do to Piss You Off!" At the same time, it's those little things that annoy us, that in the bigger picture - just don't matter.

So off to my favorite website ever made, to Pinterest I went.

How To Clean Your Microwave

Take 1 cup of vinegar and place into a microwave safe bowl. Add 1 cup of hot water to the bowl. Close your dirty microwave's door, and microwave that magic concoction for 10 minutes. Open the door, remove said bowl and wipe clean all the hatred you have for your husband disgusting food off from the microwave's walls.

I believe the website stated that you would just have to wipe clean with a paper towel. Well, due to the state of my microwave I used a wet sponge and put some elbow grease into it. But it was much easier coming off than an old microwave explosion in the past!

The end result- a nice clean microwave that you can use to warm up some leftovers found in the freezer, especially for your husband. Just kidding. Maybe.