Recipe of the Week! White Bean and Ham Soup!

It is seriously unbelievably cold here this week. I so wish I could escape to FL like I did last year for work. Or go and visit my parents, but alas, I chose to stick with local clients in order to spend more time with friends, family and the boy. Mom and dad are loving AZ this time of year. I plan on ignoring calls from them this week where they will rub in how gorgeous it is down there.

With all of the changes in the economy, has it changed things for you? Or your outlook? Are you doing anything differently? I have started budgeting and watching the way I spend my money a lot closer whether it be on clothes, household (I include groceries here) eating out and entertainment. I know that there are places where I can make changes and cut back a little here and there, and watching things a bit closer I think will help.

One area that I am looking at more closely is the way that I buy groceries. I find that if I have a good Meal Plan Monday and a good list when I go shopping I can save some money here and there. So as I come across recipes, I put them into a plan in the future. In the past I have just planned dinners, but realistically I bring my breakfast to work (when I go into the office) or I have breakfast at home and I almost always bring leftovers or salad for lunch. I meet a friend out for lunch maybe once or twice a month, so there is not a huge expense there. I think going forward though I will look at planning breakfast and lunch a little better so that the boy and I will both have those planned too. In general though we are pretty good about this.

I really have not done too much cooking lately with the holidays and everything, but I did make this soup which has really been quite good for a few meals. I still have some ham in the freezer and I bought the ingredients to make another batch, so I think I will even freeze half of it.