7 Meals from One Pork Loin – Did It Work?

October 15, 2014 by Aliesha

I was inspired recently by this post to create a week’s worth of meals from one pork loin (that’s an awesome blog, by the way)! We followed all the recipes last week, and I wanted to share the results with you!

(The recipes and the full “plan” can be found in the post I linked to above!)

Meal 1 – Pulled Pork on Biscuits with Coleslaw (Monday dinner)

This was leftover from the first night. (I cooked about half the pork loin the first night.)

Meal 2 – Mexican Carnitas with Mexican Slaw in Tortillas (Tuesday dinner)

(I cooked the other half of the pork loin the second night.)

Meal 3 – Barbeque Pizza on Honey Wheat Crust (Wednesday dinner)

As you can see, I put a decent amount of meat on the pizza! No skimping here!

Meal 4 – Leftover Barbeque Pizza (Thursday lunch, 2 adult servings)

This was how much meat was left from the first half of the pork loin after it had been used for two meals.

Meal 5 – Mexican Shredded Pork Bowl over Rice with Biscuits (Thursday dinner)

We had this much stew leftover!

Meal 6 – Same as Meal 5, served for Lunch (Friday lunch)

Meal 7 – Baked Potato Bar with Pulled Pork (Friday dinner)

I made both white potatoes and sweet potatoes.

I had just enough pork leftover to freeze to make a sandwich for Tad one day on another week!

Meal 8 – Shredded Pork Nachos (Saturday dinner)

Meal 9 – Leftover Mexican Stew (Sunday lunch, 2 adult servings)

And that’s all, folks!

So to answer the question in this post’s title… YES! It worked! We actually got NINE meals out of this pork loin (serving two adults, a preschooler, and two toddlers).

The pork loin was around 5.5lbs. and cost $16.98 at Aldi. I had most of the ingredients on hand to make all these meals, but I did spend an additional $8.04 to buy the other things I needed. (That wasn’t all I spent on groceries for the week, of course. I bought other produce, dairy, and a few other pantry staples.) This “plan” really helped me spend less money on groceries last week!

Pin it for later!

What are your favorite ways to stretch meat?

The Backpack Solution: Why I Don’t Carry a Diaper Bag Any More

October 13, 2014 by Aliesha

When we go out as a family (with our three kids four and under), I need to take these things with me:
-three sippy cups
-three changes of clothes (one child is recently potty trained, plus we usually drive 45 minutes away from home to go anywhere)
-diapers for one child (yay! only one in diapers!)
-wipes
-small wet bag for holding cloth diapers

If we’re going to church, I also need:
-two Bibles
-two notepads and crayons
-three snacks

For life group, when we’ll be out waaaaay past bedtime, I also take:
-three pairs of pajamas

Occasionally I also have to add:
-bibs
-a teether
-other food items

Can you imagine how big my diaper bag would have to be to carry all this stuff??

We’ve found a solution that works for our family!

Each of our kids has their own backpack, and as soon as they are able to, they carry it themselves! The girls each carry their own backpacks, but Jude doesn’t yet.

It’s great that when we drop anyone off for childcare, their bag is with them, has everything they need in it, AND is labeled with their name!

Also, you can just throw these in the washer/dryer when they get dirty!

Now I don’t have to lug around all their stuff, AND they are learning responsibility for their belongings!

(My sweet friend Andrea gave Vera and Jude their backpacks for their first birthdays. We got CC’s for her at that age too! You can find personalized backpacks like these by searching for “Stephen Joseph Backpacks” on Etsy.)

Share the love and

The Sauder Experience: Sideboard Restyled

October 10, 2014 by Aliesha

Sauder recently challenged me to take one piece of furniture and style it in three different ways! This was easy, and so fun!

If you remember from this post back in the summer (where you can read about my experience shopping for and assembling the piece), I selected the Shoal Creek Soft White Dresser from Sauder. This is what it looked like then.

Three months later, I still love it! I’ve been using it as a sideboard in my dining room when entertaining, and it is so great to have the extra surface to set things on other than the table!

We used it at Vera’s birthday party (see here and here), as well as pretty much any other time we’ve had lots of guests over! We had a sandwich buffet on it one weekend, and another time we used it for holding all the dishes we served family-style. I also like being able to decorate it seasonally.

Here is one new way I styled it recently… for an autumn brunch!

The next way is a bit outside of the box, but I wanted to show the versatility of this piece! Many homeschooling families I know do their school work in their dining room, so I styled this as a practical piece for educational use!

As we start to do more “official” school stuff in the future, it will be great to be able to have all our supplies in the dining room so we can work right at the table.

Think about how many school supplies you can store in those drawers! Perfect for keeping everything conveniently within reach, yet also hidden out of site!

I love using this Sauder dresser in my dining room! I can’t wait to use it in many other fun ways in the future.

For more ideas for ways to use furniture in new and unexpected ways, check out my Pinterest board: Furniture Repurposed!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sauder. The opinions and text are all mine.

7 Meals from One Pork Loin – Did It Work?

The Backpack Solution: Why I Don’t Carry a Diaper Bag Any More

The Sauder Experience: Sideboard Restyled

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