January is always a challenging month for us.  Between Christmas and only getting paid once a month the budget is already hard but add to that we get paid 1 week early because of Christmas and for some reason January always seems like an incredibly long month (could it be because of the 5 weekends?  I don't know)
Anyway, at the end of January there is usually no money and we tighten our belts.  Grocery shopping just doesn't happen unless there is something we really need.  So my challenge is always to come up with something good to eat with what is in the freezer, fridge and pantry!  This year has been fun!!!  So far I've managed to come up with some amazingly good dishes (albeit vegetarian or close to it) that use mainly what's here.  One big one is the dinner from last night.....I don't have a picture but am posting the link because it's definitely worth it.  I LOVED it. The kids were on the fence, Hubby LOVED it!  Kids are weird anyway!  What do they know.
So what we had was brown rice and Aarti's Indian Summer Stew

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/indian-summer-stew-butternut-squash-coconut-and-lentil-stew-recipe/index.html
And the only thing I had to buy was Cilantro!  YIPPEE!

Tonight's dinner:

Lemon Chicken Pasta with Peas and Red Bell Pepper. 
I cooked up some Gluten Free Spaghetti I had on hand and then made this yummy sauce with the other ingredients I had laying around:
1Lb cut up boneless skinless chicken breasts sauteed in Olive oil, then add:
1/2 diced onion
1/4 C Lemon Juice
1 diced red bell Pepper
1C frozen peas (these also make a great easy frozen pack to ice down sore shins or whatever else - I always keep a few bags around in the freezer!)
1/2 C. goat milk (thankfully I still have a few girls in milk right now but you can use any milk you want)
1/2 - 1 tsp tapioca starch to thicken sauce.  ( you can use cornstarch but because I have a family member who is gluten and corn free we use tapioca!)
Mix it together and throw over the pasta - YUM!
Added to that is this Gluten Free Homemade Foccacia Bread
and some Pesto Spaghetti Squash  - how can you go wrong!!!!!