Love enchiladas? Our family has been making this Green Chili Enchiladas Recipe since I was a child and it’s SO yummy, easy to make, and freezes perfectly!
Guest post from Brigette Shevy
Green Chile Enchilada Casserole Recipe (Family Favorite!)
Green Chile Enchiladas is a recipe our family discovered many years ago in the cookbook, Once-A-Month Cooking, and it immediately became a family favorite!
These creamy, cheesy enchiladas are easy to put together and freeze beautifully.
Growing up, Green Chile Enchiladas was always a personal favorite of mine. Now that I have my own family, I’ve come to appreciate it even more! After all, any freezer-friendly recipe that is simple to make and uses inexpensive ingredients plus tastes amazing is a winner in my book!
Green Enchilada Casserole Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
- 1 ¼ cups finely chopped onion
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 8-12 flour tortillas (I use the large size)
- 12 ounces (3 cups) of shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (or homemade equivalent)
- 1 ½ cups sour cream
- 1 4-ounce can of diced mild green chiles
Should enchiladas have corn or flour tortillas?
Flour tortillas will be easier to roll without cracking, but if you are gluten-free or simply like the taste of corn tortillas better, they will work fine too.
Just make sure the corn tortillas are warm before you try to roll them with the ingredients — otherwise they might crack and the filling will spill out.
What cheese is best for enchiladas?
Any cheese that is gooey when melted will work well for enchiladas. Try using a Mexican blend of shredded cheese, or even a spicier Pepper Jack if you want.
Avoid mozzarella as that can be too “thick” when melted.
Hatch Chile Enchiladas Recipe Variations
This recipe as written is mild, so if you prefer your Mexican food spicy, you will want to jazz it up with some real hatch chiles (that are more traditional and a little bit hotter than regular green chiles), hot peppers, or extra seasonings.
I usually serve jalapenos and hot salsa on the side, but feel free to make it your own and to the spice level of your liking!
How to make Green Chile Enchiladas
1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease a 9″ x 13″ pan and set aside.
2. In a skillet, brown ground beef and onions. Drain grease and return meat mixture to pan.
3. Stir chili powder, salt, and pepper into the meat mixture.
4. Spoon some of the meat mixture into each tortilla and top with cheese (remember to reserve 1 cup of cheese for topping).
5. Roll up tortillas (I usually tuck the ends inside while rolling them) and place seam side down in your 9″×13″ pan.
6. In a medium-sized bowl, combine soup, sour cream, and chiles and pour over tortillas. (If you are making this up ahead of time, cover the pan with foil and stick it in the freezer at this point).
7. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.
8. Remove from oven, sprinkle reserved cheese on top, and bake (uncovered) for an additional 10 minutes.
Should you cover enchiladas when baking?
Yes, you should cover the enchiladas with aluminum foil if they start to look a little too brown on the top, or if the sauce soaks in and they look a little dry. Using aluminum foil will lengthen the cooking time a bit, but keep the enchiladas soft and pliable.
That said, you will want to keep them uncovered for the last 10 minutes so the cheese gets nice a melty (and doesn’t stick to the foil!)
How to Serve Green Chile Enchilada Casserole Recipe
We often pair this recipe with Spanish rice, a tossed salad, and some chips and salsa for a simple, budget-friendly company meal that will feed a crowd!
You could also serve with a “buffet” of condiments — sour cream, guacamole, salsa, queso dip, spicy peppers, tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, shredded lettuce, etc.
Green Chili Enchiladas Recipe Storage
You can make this recipe in advance and store in the fridge for a day or so (covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil). You can also freeze it in a covered pan for several months.
Store any leftovers in a food storage container — they are great reheated for lunch the next day!
Green Chile Enchiladas FAQs
The nature of this dish is to saturate the tortillas with sauce… so they will be very “soft”, possibly soggy. If you don’t want soggy tortillas, you can use less sauce or bake for longer.
We use cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and diced mild green chiles — but other recipes may call for different ingredients.
It depends on the ingredients you use — you can make/buy mild, medium or hot enchilada sauce that’s red or green.
The main difference between green enchilada sauce and salsa verde is that enchilada sauce is cooked, and salsa verde is raw. Enchilada sauce also requires liquid (either stock or water), but salsa verde ingredients are simply blended together and eaten as is.
You’ll want to add the sauce before cooking, otherwise the tortillas will become very dry and crack.
Hatch Chile Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs ground beef
- 1¼ cups onion chopped
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 12 flour tortillas
- 12 oz Monterey Jack cheese shredded and divided
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1½ cups sour cream
- 4 oz mild green chiles diced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease a 9″x13″ pan and set aside.
- In a skillet, brown ground beef and onions. Drain grease and return meat mixture to pan.
- Stir chili powder, salt and pepper into the meat mixture.
- Spoon some of the meat mixture into each tortilla and top with cheese (remember to reserve 1 cup of cheese for topping).
- Roll up tortillas (I usually tuck the ends inside while rolling it) and place seam side down in your 9″×13″ pan.
- In a medium size bowl, combine soup, sour cream, and chiles and pour over tortillas. (If you are making this up ahead of time, cover the pan with foil and stick it in the freezer at this point).
- Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle reserved cheese on top, and bake (uncovered) for an additional 10 minutes.
Nutrition
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Brigette is a full-time wife and mother who is blessed with three amazing bundles of energy and another on the way. She enjoys music, experimenting in the kitchen, homeschooling her children, finding great deals, long-distance running, and anything chocolate.
This Valentine’s Day, Fall In Love With the World Next Door (a special request)
This Valentine’s Day, Fall In Love With the World Next Door (a special request)
Today I’m going to ask you to join me in something big. Something that has the potential to change hundreds — if not thousands — of lives in South Africa.
I get requests all the time about projects and needs and I just can’t post about them all, otherwise this blog would be overrun with requests for you to donate money to causes. And I know many of you are living on extremely tight budgets right now.
However, today, I’m going to break tradition. Because I just can’t help myself.
My friend, Lisa-Jo Baker, is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met. She just oozes with love and grace. And she’s hilarious, too.
I had a chance to read a pre-release copy of her new book, Surprised By Motherhood, and I loved it so very much that I wrote her and asked her how I could help promote it for her. Well, the email she sent back just blew me away. She shared with me about this huge vision she has to impact the culture in South Africa — where she grew up, where three of her siblings are adopted from, and where her parents still live and minister.
As she shared about this massive dream she had to encourage women around the globe to come together to change a community of kids in South Africa, I knew I had to tell you about it.
Here’s what she says:
What if between changing the diapers, the laundry and the dishes a community of mothers around the world could change the future for a community of kids in South Africa?
What if 1 blog community could build 1 South African community a safe place for sustainable food, child care, economic empowerment, job skills trainings, a gathering place for church, classrooms for HIV/Aids education, and a playground for their kids?
What if love was more than a date on the calendar this year?
What if we fell in love with the world next door?
Read her full post here to catch of glimpse of her vision behind this.
Today is Valentine’s Day and I’m going to ask you all to prayerfully consider giving something to help fund the Maubane Community Center in South Africa. Every little bit can make a difference.
If you can only give a dollar, give a dollar. If you have more wiggle room in your budget, would you prayerfully consider giving whatever amount it is that you can give?
Special Bonuses:
1. Give a donation of any amount and you’ll get the free downloadable print above emailed to you after you donate.
2. Give a donation of at least $20 and you’ll get the free downloadable print above, plus I’ll send you a copy of my book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. Just forward the email you receive after you donate to [email protected] and include the amount you donated and your mailing address and I’ll send you a copy.
3. Give a donation of at least $40 and you’ll get the free downloadable print above, plus I’ll send you a copy of my book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, and I’ll pre-order you a copy of Lisa-Jo’s book, Surprised By Motherhood. Just forward the email you receive after you donate to [email protected] and include the amount you donated and your mailing address and I’ll send you a copy of my book and pre-order you a copy of Lisa-Jo’s book.
If you can’t give right now, would you consider tweeting about this project (you can retweet my tweet here) or sharing this post or Lisa-Jo’s post on Facebook or via email with your friends? Let’s all band together to help change this community in South Africa!
Psst! You can also buy one of these beautiful necklaces for $24 and $12 of your purchase will be donated to this project!
52 Different Ways to Save $100 Per Year: Limit Eating Out {Week 44}
52 Different Ways to Save $100 Per Year: Limit Eating Out {Week 44}
Every week, I’m sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you’ll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you’re already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.
This is one of those ideas that pretty much everyone knows: when you eat at home instead of eating out, you’re going to save money. However, it can be easier said than done — especially when you have busy schedules.
Here are some suggestions to make it easier to eat at home instead of falling back onto restaurant meals:
1. Calculate the Savings
Take a little time to review your budget and see how much you’ve spent on eating out over the last few months. Often, just reviewing these numbers will be enough to encourage you to consider cutting back — because the savings could help you pay down your debt more quickly or to put extra toward your current savings goals.
Crystal from Serving Joyfully wrote a post on how they made the decision to stop eating out. Here’s what she says:
My husband and I live on a meager budget and are trying to get out of debt. We can’t afford all the meals out (we were spending our entire “spending money” budget, plus “borrowing” from other areas to fund it!)
So this year for Lent, we did something drastic — we stopped eating out.
While there are ways to save money when eating out, a meal out for a family of four will typically cost at least $10 for fast food, and $30 for most sit down restaurants. If you are like us, or like the typical American family, just cutting one meal out per week can save you $520-$1560 per year!
Read her full post for details on how they are saving $2600 per year by not eating out.
2. Plan Ahead
Taking a little time on the weekends or at the beginning of the week to plan a menu can make a major difference in your success in eating at home more. Because when you have a plan, it’s a whole lot easier to actually work the plan. 🙂
When you have a plan and you have the groceries to carry out that plan, it’s a lot harder to justify ordering pizza at the last minute. I’m pretty sure most of us agree with this in theory, but we have to have more than good intentions if we want to follow through.
So find a set time every week to plan your menu and buy the groceries for it. Put it on your calendar and commit to sticking with it. Find an accountability partner or sign up for a menu plan service like eMeals, if need be.
And then plan ahead at the beginning of the day for what you’re going to make for dinner that evening. Set out the meat to thaw, do any early prep work you can do, dump the ingredients in the crockpot… think about what’s for dinner at breakfast time and you’ll be glad you did when it’s 5 p.m.
3. Keep it Simple
One of the biggest pitfalls to being successful with eating at home is often planning meals that are too time and labor intensive. If you typically don’t have a lot of time and energy at the end of the day, don’t set yourself up for failure by choosing recipes that require a lot of effort.
I’m all about keeping it simple, as you can tell from our weekly menu plans. Why? Because I know that many evenings I’m pretty tired by the time dinner prep time rolls around. So the simpler I can make dinner prep, the better. If I have more time and energy, I can always make an additional recipe.
A few of my favorite really simple recipes are: Homemade Pizza, Italian Chicken, and Southwest Roll-Ups.
4. Use Your Freezer
I don’t know about you, but there are some days at our home when life whizzes by so quickly and all of a sudden, it’s 5 p.m. and dinner isn’t even a figment of my imagination. Before I started regularly cooking ahead and freezing meals, I’d be tempted to call my husband and ask him to bring something home for dinner.
Freezer cooking has solved the 5 p.m. “What’s-For-Dinner” panic. If I forget to pull something out earlier in the day, I’ll just pick a meal from my freezer stash that defrosts quickly — such as meatballs. I pair this with some frozen veggies, rice, and maybe a fruit salad. No one even has to know I forgot about dinner until 30 minutes before it was supposed to happen!
I’ve found that doing mini half-hour or one-hour freezer cooking sessions works really well for this season of our life. And while I might not be making 20 or 30 meals at a time, by consistently cooking ahead once or twice a week, we always have some meals in the freezer for those busy days when I don’t have time or energy for cooking.
Instead of having to make meatloaf three times in six weeks, I just triple the recipe and make meatloaf once and stick the extra two dinners’ worth of meatloaf in the freezer. If I’m going to be making one meatloaf, I might as well double or triple the recipe saving me the effort and mess later on in the month. After all, it really doesn’t take but a few more minutes to make two extra batches of meatloaf — and the clean up time is pretty much the same!
Freezer Cooking Links to Check Out:
- Start Where You Are and Learn As You Go
- How to Plan a Freezer Cooking Day (and find more ideas here)
- How to Cook for Your Freezer When You Don’t Like Casseroles
- Can You Have a Freezer Cooking Day if You Don’t Have a Lot of Freezer Space?
- How to Store Your Freezer Meals
5. Use Your Crockpot
It’s hard to say whether I love my crockpot or my bread machine more. Both of them are invaluable tools in my kitchen that I use again and again and again.
I love that I can stick the ingredients in the crock pot and then basically forget about it! Plus, there’s something so wonderful about smelling dinner simmering in the crockpot all day long!
One great way to use your crock pot to make dinner preparations easy-peasy is to whip up some Crockpot Freezer Cooking meals:
- Crockpot Freezer Cooking: 40 Meals in 4 Hours
- Crockpot Freezer Cooking from Loving My Nest
- Crockpot Freezer Cooking: 20 Meals in 2 Hours
- One Afternoon of Chopping = 14 Crockpot Freezer Meals
- Printable Crockpot Freezer Meals Weekly Menu
6. Give Yourself Grace
One of the most important things I want to stress, though, is that you need to give yourself grace. If you have the wiggle room in your budget to eat out and it’s something that your family enjoys, I encourage you to budget it in. It can be a fun change of pace and it can be a nice break for mom, too.
Plus, when you budget it in, there is no guilt with enjoying eating out. Maybe that means you budget to go out to eat twice a week, once every other week, every six months, or not at all. Figure out what works for you and your family and then do it!
Carmen from Life Blessons shares ways to save on eating out:
Eat out for lunch instead of dinner. Eating out for lunch can cost considerably less than when you eat out later in the evening. Plus, you’re usually not quite as hungry, so you eat less. That right there will cut down on your spending!
Instead of going out for entire meals, go out for treats. One thing we’ve done to trim our spending is to go out for things like ice-cream or coffee, rather than full-fledged meals. Sure, you can have coffee or ice-cream at home, but when it scratches the eating-out itch at a fraction of the price, it can be well worth the splurge!Read Carmen’s full post on how to spend less money eating out.
What advice and tips do you have for a family who wants to cut down on eating out?
Gretchen’s $38 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan
Aldi
2 pkg Carrots – $0.99 each
1 pkg Roma Tomatoes – $1.29
1 gallon Milk – $2.98 (Will get $0.50 back from Checkout 51)
2 blocks Cheese – $1.99 each
1 pkg Flour Tortillas – $0.99
1 pkg Broccoli Crowns – $0.99 (Will get back $0.25 from Checkout 51)
3 pkg Strawberries – $1.79 each
1 bag (3 lbs) Gala Apples – $1.88
2 cans Green Beans – $0.49 each
Total with tax ($1.48): $22.12
Dillons
2 Barbara’s Cereal – $3.39 each, used $4/2 printable – $1.39 each after coupon
1 Cucumber – $0.75
1 Green Bell Pepper – $0.75
1.96 lbs Bananas @ $0.55/lb – $1.08
1 Red Leaf Lettuce – $0.99
6 Jenos Pizza – Marked down to $0.50 each
1 lb Simple Truth Organic Beef – Marked down to $5.49, used $1.25/1 e-coupon – $4.24 after coupon
1 Kroger Sour Cream – $1.25
Total with tax ($1.56): $16.40
Total for all grocery items: $38.52
Menu Plan for this Week
Breakfasts
Cereal, Granola, Toast
Lunches
Leftovers x 2, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Cheese Quesadillas, Fruit/Veggies/Cheese
Dinners
BBQ Meatballs (using ground Venison and beef), Butterhorns, Green Beans, Tossed Salad
Chicken Enchiladas, Fruit Salad, Steamed Broccoli
Omelets, Sliced Strawberries
Roast, Potatoes, Carrots, Tossed Salad
Pizza Bread, Tossed Salad, Steamed Cauliflower
Chicken Stirfry, Biscuits, Fruit
Life is meant to be enjoyed and savored…
Sponsor Spotlight: Motivated Moms
We’re excited to have Motivated Moms as one of our sponsors. We had the opportunity to interview them and get to know their company a little more recently:
Tell us about the history of Motivated Moms.
Deann Polanco and Janet Russell created and collaborated for several years on the Motivated Moms chore planning system. They first started selling the planner as a physical planner — copies placed in a binder and mailed to customers. Later they moved to the ebook format.
Beginning in 2005, Janet wanted more time to spend on other interests and Deann took over the business. I (Susan Cramer) met Deann at an online message board for Dave Ramsey fans several years ago. We had a lot in common — both Texans, born the same year, even owned the same model first car! She was my dear friend.
In early 2012, when Deann realized she was likely losing her battle to ovarian cancer, she asked if I would be willing to buy Motivated Moms. My husband had started programming the app for her a couple of years earlier so we were already very familiar with her product. I said yes: I was happy to carry on her legacy.
Can you tell us more about how the Motivated Moms Chore Planning System works?
Motivated Moms is a chore planning system designed to make housework easier for anyone, not just moms! It is a preplanned checklist of chores covering most common household tasks.
Each day has a manageable list of chores to be completed. Just do that day’s tasks, check them off, and you’re done for the day. If housework has been hit or miss for you, within just a few days of following the system you will notice the difference, both in your home and your sense of accomplishment.
The system is available as an ebook (several variations available) as well as an app for iPhone/iPad/iPod touch and Android (including Kindle Fire).
How can the Motivated Moms Chore Planning System help save you money?
Motivated Moms is a product that helps users to quickly accomplish necessary household tasks, freeing up time for other endeavors. There are even coupon-related tasks listed to remind you to stretch your dollars. In addition, Motivated Moms costs just pennies per day — it’s easy on the budget!
Do you have any new products or promotions coming up?
In the 2014 ebooks, we have added versions that have a touch of color to coordinate with our new logo.
We have just added a sync feature to the iOS app allowing users to share their task list with other iOS devices in their household. Our next step is to add this capability to the Android app and to make the list shareable cross-platform between iOS and Android! Syncing is our most-requested feature so we are thrilled to begin implementing it.
As for promotions, we currently have a coupon code good for $1 off the ebooks: SAVE1. We’re also planning a sale for Mother’s Day.
What would you most like your customers to know?
I want them to know that I love to hear from them! I love answering questions, hearing suggestions, getting feedback. We are delighted when someone finds our product helpful. It is really a joy to communicate with you!
We work hard to provide outstanding customer service because we want you to have the best possible experience with Motivated Moms — we stand behind our product 100%.
Is Motivated Moms just for stay-at-home moms?
Motivated Moms is used by all kinds of people: stay-at-home moms, work-outside-the-home moms, dads, grandparents, people with no children: really, anyone who wants an already-figured-out-for-you plan to get their housework done.
For people who work outside the home, we recommend they look at the week as a whole and move the bigger tasks to the days they will fit best for them.
If you have children, we highly recommend assigning tasks to your children. They will learn valuable life skills and they enjoy checking off their chores, too.
It takes time to teach them how chores are to be done, but it’s worth your time! For the printed version, different colored highlighters work great – just use a different color for each person. Similarly, the app gives you the ability to color code different people’s responsibilities.
Anything else you’d like to share?
One principle that guides me daily is that if I have the opportunity to do good, then I should do it—based on Galatians 6:10. Motivated Moms gives me the chance to do good every day and make every day count.
Interested in becoming a monthly sponsor or advertising with us? Find more details here.
Freezer Cooking in an Hour: Butterscotch Brownies, Cinnamon Roll Cake, Baked Chicken, and Taco Meat
Freezer Cooking in an Hour: Butterscotch Brownies, Cinnamon Roll Cake, Baked Chicken, and Taco Meat
Kaitlynn and I did some freezer cooking earlier this week.
I made a triple batch of Taco Meat and stuck some chicken in the oven to bake for some baked chicken.
The finished frozen Taco Meat and baked chicken.
Then, mixed up a Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake.
This was fun to make and so, so good!
In fact, the pan never made it to the freezer. 🙂
Kaitlynn helped me mix together the Butterscotch Brownies.
And the Butterscotch Brownies were also a huge success — so delicious!
Recipes Made:
Butterscotch Brownies
Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
Baked Chicken
Taco Meat
“I’m Stressed & I Know Something Needs to Change!”
Carrie Willard is working her way through Say Goodbye to Survival Mode and posting about her progress along the way.
Here’s a small snippet of her progress:
Seriously though, there’s more to my decision to buy this book however. For the last few weeks I’ve been feeling unusually stressed, and I know something needs to change. I’m just not sure what. (I’ll explain more about this in a later post, as well as what I intend to do about it.)
I’m hoping the book will help me – I’m not usually in “survival mode”, and I normally have a good grasp on my life and my time, but I am feeling tired and overwhelmed in a big way right now.
As I re-read through the book, I have decided to document my thoughts and notes here and invite you to share those with me. What do you think?
Still wondering if Say Goodbye to Survival Mode is something you should read? Take a sneak peek at the introduction and first chapter here.
How Our Family Saves (& Earns!) Through Consignment
Guest post by Anita of Traveling Along
Wouldn’t it be great if kids only grew at Christmas, or on their birthdays — you know, those times when Grandparents happily purchase gifts? Thankfully, one of my mother-in-law’s love languages is “gifts” — specifically expressed via yard sale shopping!
Often what she picks is perfect, but sometimes it is too big or too small, not for the right season, or just not right for that child. However, I have a system in place for the clothing that doesn’t work, and we still benefit from her purchases!
I have learned to consign anything superfluous that is in decent shape, no matter its origin. There are different shops and they have varying payment methods.
This is what I do…
A: Charity Thrift Shop
The charity thrift shop by us will take up to 20 items a week, split the profit 50/50, and send a check when my total is over $10. I have received several checks — usually about every other month.
The store by us also takes household items and adult clothing — and since I get a check that turns into cash, I am able to purchase anything we need anywhere I want!
B: Children’s Consignment Chain
Our local children’s consignment chain will only take children’s items — toys, shoes, clothing etc. They will often pay cash on the spot or store credit. If you opt for store credit you get 15% more than in cash.
Currently I have about $4 in store credit, which isn’t a lot, but at their prices I could easily buy a pair of shoes and probably a pair of pants for a child who suddenly complains of sore toes or worn out knees.
In addition to consigning the kids clothes, I do whole closet clean outs for my husband and myself, stuffing bags full and delivering them for consignment. This will turn into cash in my pocket as well as clean out my own closet space, which has a therapeutic effect and clears the head. BONUS!
A few more tips for consignment:
1. Keep nice clothes nice. Dirty, stained, or damaged clothing will not sell and will be donated or tossed. Be sure to fold them neatly — presentation matters!
2. Clean out the closet regularly. If it is a good item but just doesn’t get worn, bag it and sell it!
3. Don’t just clean out clothes. Take in those dishes you haven’t used in years, clean out your purses, scarves, jewelry and other accessories.
4. Pick a day a month (ex. first Tuesday of the month) and fill a box!
5. Call your local consignment shops before going in and ask about their policies. You don’t want to waste your time or theirs.
I am not even half as intense as I could be with this, but in even the past few months we have added over $40 to our buying power through consignment. This will go a long way, especially buying back at thrift store prices!
I hope these tips can get you started!
What are YOUR best consignment tips?
Anita lives in Virginia with her husband and kids on a hopeful micro farm in the city. When she is not fine-tuning the budget, she can be found canning, cooking with spare parts, helping with math, praying the garden will grow, attending to a sick chicken, or covered in clay at the potters wheel. She blogs at Traveling Along.
I’d LOVE to meet you at one of the Teach Them Diligently Conferences!
I’d LOVE to meet you at one of the Teach Them Diligently Conferences!
I’m excited and honored to be speaking at all four Teach Them Diligently conferences this year!
Teach Them Diligently celebrates the focus of Christian families — that is, the discipleship of children to glorify God. More than simply a convention about home education, they purposefully develop the themes of Missions, discipleship, and Christian parenting in addition to the traditional academic “how-to’s.
The locations and dates of the four conferences are:
- Nashville, TN — March 20-22, 2014
- Spartanburg, SC –April 3-5, 2014
- Washington, D.C. — May 15-17, 2014
- Dallas, TX — June 26-28, 2014
If you are a Christian homeschooling family (or one who is considering homeschooling), I’d encourage you to attend one of these events. I think you’ll be blessed and inspired! I was able to attend some of the sessions at the Nashville conference last year and was really encouraged by the speakers.
Get $5 Off the Registration Price!
Teach Them Diligently is offering $5 off any family registration to all of my readers when you use coupon code MoneySaver at checkout. Go here to register.
Psst! If you’re planning to attend, I’d love to meet you there! If you can’t make it to one of my sessions, we’ll also have a special meet & greet/book signing time at our booth at each conference. I’d love for you to stop by so I can get a chance to meet you personally. Meeting my readers face-to-face and getting to hear your stories is one of my very favorite things in the world!
Tired of Missing Deals?Join Our Hot Deals List!
Click here to sign upOlympic Rings Pizza
So I had initially thought I would use mini pepperonis to make Olympic Rings like this picture.
But I realized that my round pan wasn’t really big enough to do that… so I just used larger pepperoni pieces and did a simple Olympic Rings Pizza.
I guess you can call this Super Duper Easy Olympic Rings Pizza. 🙂 My kids still thought it was very cool! And it was yummy, too!
Need a good pizza dough recipe? Be sure to check out my Freezer-Friendly Pizza Dough recipe.
Stop stalling and start working…
SavedPlus: Save Money When You Shop + Try it and Get a $15 Savings Bonus
SavedPlus: Save Money When You Shop + Try it and Get a $15 Savings Bonus
Need a little discipline to help you put money in your savings account? SavedPlus is an app that helps you automatically build your savings when you shop. Here’s how it works:
- Download the SavedPlus app to your smartphone, or use it online at SavedPlus.com.
- Register with SavedPlus.
- Set the savings slider. Decide how much you want to save every time you spend. 5% to 20% of your purchase amount will be automatically transferred from your checking to your savings account.
- Link your bank accounts to SavedPlus. SavedPlus is bank independent and should work with any bank that offers online banking.
- Choose your source and destination accounts. If you have more than one checking or savings account, you’ll choose the accounts you’d like to use with SavedPlus. You can set your savings to deposit into a traditional savings account, a money market account, or even long-term savings like a 401(k) or an IRA.
- Set your savings goals. Save for your emergency fund, a college fund, debt retirement, and more.
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This post was underwritten by SavedPlus. See our disclosure policy here.
Gretchen’s Walgreens Shopping Trip: Spent $5.16
Walgreens Shopping Trip
Transaction #1
2 Mitchum Deodorant – $3 each (Buy 2, Get $4 Register Rewards)
Used 2 $2/1 coupon from the 1/12 SmartSource insert1 Christmas Tree Ornament – Marked down to $0.10
Redeemed 1,000 points (like $1) from previous shopping trip
Tax: $0.44
Paid $1.54 out of pocket, Received $4 Register Rewards
Transaction #2
2 Colgate Total Advanced – $3 each (Buy 2, Get $4 Register Rewards)
Used 2 $0.75/1 coupon from the 2/2 SmartSource insert1 Christmas Tree Ornament – Marked down tot $0.10
Used $4 Register Rewards from Transaction #1
Tax: $0.44
Paid $1.04, Received $4 Register Rewards plus 300 points (from Walgreens Winter Beauty Event)
Transaction #3
2 Axe Body Spray at $5.49 – On Sale Buy One Get One 50% off (Buy 2, Earn 2,000 Balance Rewards Points)
Used 2 $2/1 coupon from the 1/26 RedPlum insert1 Rockstar Energy Drink – $1 (Buy 1, Get $1 Register Rewards)
1 Russell Stover Valentine Chocolate – $0.39 with in-ad coupon
Used $4 RR from Transaction #2
Tax: $0.59
Paid $0.86, Received 2,000 points and $1 Register Rewards plus 350 points (from Walgreens Winter Beauty Event)
Transaction #4
1 Scope Mouthwash 1 L – $3.49 (Buy 1, Get $2 Register Rewards)
Used $1/1 coupon from the 2/9 RedPlum insertRedeemed 2,000 Balance Rewards Points from Transaction #3
Tax: $0.25
Paid $0.74, Received $2 Register Rewards
Transaction #5
2 Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo – $2.69 each (Buy 2, Earn 2,000 Balance Rewards Points)
Used 2 $1.50/1 coupon from the 1/26 RedPlum insert2 Christmas Tree Ornaments – Marked down to $0.10 each
Used $2 Register Rewards from Transaction #4
Tax: $0.40
Paid $0.98, Earned 2,000 Balance Rewards Points plus 250 points (from Walgreens Winter Beauty Event)
Total for all transactions: $5.16, plus $1 Register Rewards and 2,850 points (like $2.85) leftover
Q&A: What do I do when I get thrown off my routine?
As I am reading your book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, I am trying to do one thing at a time… I began to implement a morning routine. That worked for about 2 days. We had to put my kids (ages 1 and 5) in the same room to sleep, as we are renovating the room my youngest was in. Now, the older one falls asleep sooner, and gets up an hour earlier. When she opens the door to the room to come out, she wakes my youngest up, too.
So they are both awake an hour earlier than normal and my routine doesn’t work. Since I am not a morning person, simply pushing my wake up time back an hour is an agonizing thought, though it may be what I have to do.
My question is this: this happens to me in some form or fashion ALL THE TIME. I struggle to get a routine, then once I get one and settle in to it, a wrinkle comes and throws it off. I get out of my groove and consequently seem to never find it again.
Do you have any suggestions for getting back into the routine (for whatever area) after I get out of it? I thrive on order, but cannot seem to keep it. -Kasie
Oh, Kasie! I so know this feeling — and I think many others can relate, too! Here are some ideas I had after reading your email:
1. Make Sure You’re Not Biting Off Too Much
After years of trial and error, I realized that the reason I was failing at my goals and ambitions was because I was trying to take on more than I could handle.
So step back and evaluate your morning routine (or whatever area you’re trying to change) and make sure you’re not biting off more than you can chew. Maybe just start with getting up 10 or 15 minutes earlier and doing one thing, every single morning.
This might seem discouraging because it feels so small, but starting somewhere and doing something is better than trying to overhaul your life overnight and ending up burnt out and overwhelmed. In addition, if you make tiny little steps in the right direction, they’ll add up to big progress over time.
2. Get an Accountability Partner
It’s amazing what a difference accountability can make! Think about running a race: if you have people running alongside you and cheering you on the sidelines, you’re going to have much more motivation to keep going and stick with it.
It’s the same in our lives: if we want to stay the course and follow through with our goals, we’ve got to be intentional about finding accountability partners and surrounding ourselves with cheerleaders.
Maybe ask a few friends who also want to make some small and steady progress in areas in their own lives to keep you accountable to stick with your morning routine. Text, call, or email them to check in on a daily or weekly basis. If you have a blog or Facebook account, you can also post your goals and progress there. I’ve found public accountability to be extremely helpful.
3. Ask a Trusted Friend for Ideas & Encouragement
In addition to having accountability partners and cheerleaders, I’ve found it’s imperative to have people in my life to bounce ideas off of and who can give me wise counsel. Find a few people that you can be 100% honest and vulnerable with about areas in your life you’re struggling with. These should be people who are committed to you, who will celebrate your successes, and who will love you enough to speak the truth to you when you need to hear it.
Ask these people for their advice and input when you’re having difficulty in a particular area. They will know you and your situation well and can give you counsel that’s tailored to your needs and specific situation. They’ll also be there to encourage you when you are feeling like you’ve fallen off the bandwagon and can help you get back up when you’ve fallen.
A Few Practical Ideas That May or May Not Work For You:
- Switch Most of Your Morning Routine to the Evening: Can you switch some of your morning routine to before bed to simplify your morning routine?
- Give Your Children Something to Do in Their Rooms: Could your children have a special basket of toys they could play with in their room if they wake up early to give you an extra 20 or 30 minutes to
- Have Your Children Join You in the Routines: Could your children join you in your morning routine if they wake up early?
- Try Getting Up Earlier for Three Weeks: I know you said you are not a morning person, but maybe consider going to bed a little earlier and getting up a little earlier for three weeks to see if it works for you?
What advice or ideas do the rest of you have for Kasie?
photo credit; photo credit: photo credit
Want some practical help with setting up your day for success? It all starts the night before! Be sure to grab a copy of my brand-new online course, Make Over Your Evenings.
This 14-day online course includes videos, a workbook, and step-by-step projects and is designed to help you maximize your evenings in order to experience more success in your life, more order in your home, and more joy in your soul.
It’s time to stop sleep-walking through life and wake up to the amazing excitement and fulfillment that comes when you follow my simple plan to Make Over Your Evenings.