Beef Stroganoff ala Sherri

The Secret is in the Sauce Recipe Girls are having a great contest. I will be asking for help in voting for my recipe.

This is an absolute favorite both at our house and at the firehouse. I will never make the stroganoff that my mom used to make again!!!

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Beef Stroganoff

Round Steak - Cubed

Diced Onion

2 T Paprika

1 t fresh ground pepper

Brown and then simmer for at least one hour.

Add family size Can of cream of mushroom soup and 16 oz of sour cream and mushrooms (optional). Serve over noodles or rice. We usually eat this with green beans or steamed carrots.

I love being a mom!!!

I love being a mom!! It's hard work. I am so proud of my kids.

Caleb says, "Au-goo" ---- that means Love you! He also gives me BIG kisses!!

My sweet Micayla.... says "I love to be your daughter." I hope she still feels that way when she is a teenager.

Drumroll please......

Thank you 7 Clown Circus for giving me an award!!!! Angie is awesome! What a great blog and a great mom!I am not sure how many people I am passing this on to 4 other bloggers in no particular order.

Megan...... Her kids are so cute and her daughter and my daughter are going to be in the same Kindergarten class...

Jaime..... what a cute blog!!!

Marrdy..... This is a blog that is new to me -- but I am already a fan!!!

Shanna.....Shanna has a couple of blogs --- but I am a sucker for some yummy food!! Check out this recipe for Chicken Enchiladas with broccoli!!!!

Frugal Tip Friday, 8/8/08

Happy 08-08-08!!! Today is the 1st day of the Summer Olympics!!!

Link your your own Frugal Tip Friday post back here and leave a comment here. Keep those tips coming!!!!

My tip of the day is:

Don’t shop on payday. This is when you have the most money. You haven’t paid the bills or put money away for savings. In error, we believe that we have more money at our discretion than we really have. At the end of the shopping trip, we are a few hundred dollars in the hole and a bill goes without being paid.

Fishing for Nemo..... We are not vegetarians.......

We went fishing today. It was so much fun! We went up to a lake that I used to go to all the time with my grandparents when I was growing up. Matt and I usually try to get up there at least once a year. It is usually about 20 degrees cooler there than it is at home. Today was no exception. It was almost cold! Everyone wore long pants and for the first time in about 2 months (other than at church) my kids had to wear socks and real shoes -- not flip flops or sandals. We also had to wear jackets most of the time. We got rained on a little bit WHICH WAS SO REFRESHING!!!

Matt and Micayla were the only ones actually fishing. Micayla has a super cute pink Disney Princess fishing pole. I didn't have a license and I was trying to keep Caleb under control. He played in the mud and was covered!! I am so glad that I thought of bringing extra clothes.

We had some nice neighbors, that probably thought that there was no way we were going to catch anything with our noisy rock throwing kids, that gave us their 2 fish to bring home. Then Matt caught 4 more -- one of which was to small to keep so we released him. As Matt put the fish on the stringer the kids started calling them Nemo. Nemo is a favorite at our house!

When we got home Matt was cleaning the fish and Micayla asked to see them. She asked what was wrong with them. We told her that they died and that we were going to eat them for dinner. She got so sad!! We tried to us this as a learning opportunity. We explained to her that there are some animals that are put on this earth to be eaten. We told her that fish is good for us.

Matt actually doesn't like to eat fish so I kept the biggest one to bake for dinner and took the other's over to the neighbors. As I wrapped the fish in foil and stuck him in the oven Caleb cried out "NEMO". Yes it was a little heart breaking. When it was time to eat Micayla decided that she wasn't going to eat fish - she had such a sad look on her face. Caleb just kept saying, "Nemo."

Note to self....... Don't tell them about #57 the cow that we ate at Grandma's house.....

The 15-Minute Challenge.....

Inspired by Karen via PYP

I spend too much time blog surfing and not enough time on housework. So I have decided to implement a few 15-Minute Challenges into my days. I am inviting all of you to join with me ---that is unless your house is clean, your kids are fed, your laundry is caught up, you drawers and closets are organized and you already know what you are going to make for dinner tonight....... Set a timer for 15 minutes and see how much you can get done. Come back and tell me what you did.....

Did you set the timer for another 15 minutes? How much more can you accomplish if you try to so it 15 minutes at a time?

Do you think this could work with your kids? Of course it can. I frequently set a timer for Micayla to get her to clean up the playroom faster. She has fun racing the clock. It's amazing what she can do in just a few minutes.

Product Testers / Word of Mouth Advestising *ETA

I have been participating in Bzz Agent for over a year. This is a word of mouth advertising program. Typically they send you out something to try and then in return they expect that you will share the product or your opinion of the product with other people. Then you come back to the site and report your "Bzz" I highly recommend it! Over the past year I have received... Raid Yellow Jacket Traps, Back to Nature Nuts, Teddy Grahams Trail Mix, Ziplock Products, Glade flame less candles, a Sonic-Care Toothbrush ($199 value), Coupons for Free food at Chili's, and much much more!!! After you submit your reports you get MyPoints. I just cashed in some points for $50 in Target gift cards for school clothes.

There is a new website that is just getting started from General Mills ----I am hoping that it will be something similar!!

I love doing this stuff!! Who doesn't like FREE things?

What have you been able to get for free?

BZZ AGENT LINK FIXED!

Waitin' On A Woman.....

This Brad Paisley song is great! Watch this video --- watch the whole thing. This is a song that I imagine my grandpa would dedicate to my grandma - from Heaven. My grandma told my sister that grandpa comes and sleeps with her every night and that he told her that he loves her more now than he did when they got married.

Am I the only one?

Am I the only person not running out to get the new Twilight book? Am I the only person who hasn't read any of them? I am the only person that doesn't have a strong desire to read them?

I don't like vampires!! I am THE biggest chicken on the face of the earth --- yes bigger than the San Diego Chicken, The Coronal's Chicken, the Chick-Fil-A Chickens all put together.

OK so I am not the only person...... am I the only female under 40 not reading them??

Frugal Tip Friday, 8/1/08

Link your your own Frugal Tip Friday post back here and leave a comment here. I love reading all of your Frugal Tips!!

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Save Money at the Deli

1- Don't buy anything from the deli unless it's on sale (or you're just in desperate need of special deli foods), they are definitely more expensive!

2- Ask the deli attendant to slice meats and cheeses really thin, this will make them go a lot further!

3 - In most grocery stores the deli section is right next to the bakery which usually offers fresh baked loaves of bread for a little more than a dollar (French and Italian). The bread is definitely a good buy but sometimes I wonder if they're just teasing us with a low cost item so we'll come on over and spend a fortune on the more expensive items. If fancy cold cuts and prepared side dishes are not in your budget just grab the bread and run!

4 - If you like to have sandwiches often, instead of buying a pound of sliced meat from the deli consider cooking a half ham or turkey breast in the oven (cooking directions are often on the labels), then slice them up and divide into 1/2-1 pound portions and store in freezer bags. (Just keep one in the fridge for this week and freeze the rest until you need them!)

5- You can also save a lot of money on sliced cheeses by purchasing the prepackaged varieties when they go on sale. You can freeze cheese for up to several months.

6- Look for Reduced Price items that are near expiration and eat them right away or freeze them.

7- Watch for meal deals or one of my favorites is one of the store that I shop has yummy rotisserie chickens buy 1 get 1 half price.