Make it Monday: Banana Bread and Pies

This week I have the opportunity to bring pies to a number of Thanksgiving get-togethers.  So, I decided to get all my baking done on "Make it Monday."  Here's what I ended up doing:

• 5 pies, 2 shells (plus dough in the freezer for another 1 or two, I ran out of pie tins!) 
  
• 3 loaves of banana bread (I got a good price on bananas last week and bought a ton.)
• 2 pre-measured bags for rolls or breadsticks (these are just all the dry ingredients minus the yeast to pop in my breadmaker, I read somewhere about doing this and thought I'd try it.)
• 1 pan of breadsticks (my family ate all of these before I could get a picture!)
• precut bags of carrots, celery, broccoli and cauliflower (for a relish tray I'm bringing to another dinner)
• Chex Muddy Buddies (with all the Chex we have been collecting lately my husband and kids made this treat while I was doing my cooking, again they ate it all before I could get a picture!)

We had a blast and the only reason I was able to get so much done was because my husband was home and helped.  Thanks honey!  I am learning that having a baking day is really a lot of fun, it is a lot of work and cleaning up, but it's only on one day.  The rest of the week we get to enjoy homemade goodies and the kitchen stays cleaner.  Plus we are saving money.

I was doing a little figuring and realized I spent under $1.50 for my two 9-inch pumpkin pies and one of the grocery ads was advertising bakery pies for $9.99.  You can't beat those savings!

Thank you for joining me on this journey of saving money and providing for our families, may it inspire you to get up and make something for your family today.