Sometimes chores just all work out well, even without a grand plan

I didn't plan for this to turn out as it did. It all just happened this way. We had completely run out of bread and were eating rice, oats, grits, and potatoes for many meals. I needed hot dog buns for our cook-out on Sunday. I wanted to make a special breakfast bread that would last the weekend. And Friday night is our usual scratch pizza night. 

So. . .

I mixed my usual amount of dough for making sandwich and toast bread, enough to make 3 loaves. Instead of making all three loaves in bread pans, I took one section and made hot dog buns. So our hot dog buns were part whole wheat. (Actually, all of our bread products this week were part whole wheat.)

My daughter was making our Friday pizza, so I asked her to double the dough and save half for me. I used the extra half of pizza dough to make scratch cinnamon rolls.

At one point I had 2 loaves of bread dough, 

1 pan of cinnamon rolls, 

1 pan of hot dog buns, 

and 1 baking sheet with pizza dough stretched out on it, all at the same time.

This all worked out so well for baking, too. The loaves of bread went into the oven first. As soon as they came out, the hot dog buns had risen enough to bake. So in they went. Then the pizza was ready to top and bake. In it went. And finally, while we were eating our pizza, the cinnamon rolls were risen enough to bake. The oven only had to preheat once and I could chain bake all of those bread products.

I love it when my work just all lines up like that. We needed 4 different bread products, and without any major additional work, we were able to make them all in a short time period.

It's the little things in life that make me happy.

How my weekend budget meal plan went, and what changes I made last minute

Since life never goes exactly as we plan, I thought I'd share with you how we modified the plan as the weekend ensued. Some meals did go as planned, but several were changed in small ways.

Friday Dinner:

Scratch Pepperoni Pizza

Sautéed Turnip Greens and Onions

Applesauce

Change: Needing some orange vegetables for the day, we swapped out applesauce for carrot sticks.

Saturday Breakfast:

Scratch Cinnamon Rolls

Microwave Eggs w/ Spinach and Cheese in Custard Cups

Change: We enjoyed the cinnamon rolls, but everyone got their own protein --yay! less work for me!

Saturday Lunch:

Peanut Butter and Jam on Homemade Bread

Apples

Carrot Sticks

No changes

Saturday Dinner:

Homemade Beef and Bean Burritos in Scratch Tortillas

Fresh Tomato Wedges w/ 1000 Island Dressing

Frozen Corn

Change: Swapped out the tomato wedges for radish greens and onions from the garden. Radishes were all pulled up on Saturday. And I added garden-fresh strawberries, as we had a small bowlful that were ripe.

Sunday Breakfast:

Microwave Oatmeal Topped w/ Fruit and Milk

No changes

Sunday Lunch:

Leftover Mexican Beef and Bean Burritos

Tangerines

Leftover Corn Reheated  w/ Salsa

Change: Reheated all the Mexican leftovers (beans, meat, corn) and set up a buffet. No burritos -- we ate all the tortillas on Saturday. In place of the tortillas, I found a container of cooked rice in the fridge, so added that along with a jar of homemade salsa to the buffet. We had lunch on the deck before doing all the prep work for the evening.

Father's Day cook-out dinner went as planned. My son and daughter-in-law brought tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole to add to the meal. I picked up beverages that I didn't mention in the meal plan, sparkling water and some nectars and pomegranate juice to mix with said water. As we sat around the fire ring after dinner and dessert, we also decided to roast marshmallows. A fun evening of conversation and food, sharing what's been going on in our lives since we saw each other last. 

Although we made changes throughout the weekend, it was still very budget-friendly and easy on the cook.

For tonight, we'll be eating all of the leftovers from last night. An easy cooking night for me!