EASY Wedding Budget Spreadsheet

For any guy or gal planning their own wedding, you know that the problem you run into again and again is money!  No matter how much of it you have, you still need a budget.  

Step one of planning a wedding is setting your budget, which can be difficult.  I am sure if you're reading this you already know that you need to find out if your families are helping you first.  If they are, then great!  If not, then you are not alone!  Either way, you need a way to manage your money during this stressful time.

In the beginnings of our wedding planning I created a simple spreadsheet to manage our money.  Okay, I'm not going to lie-what I call 'simple' now would not have been 'simple' to me a couple of months ago.  I was lucky to have taken a grad class last year that taught me a lot about Excel (good timing!).  Anyway, even if you are not good with Excel, it's okay, because all you have to do is plug in numbers to this spreadsheet and it will do all of the adding and subtracting for you!

Click here to download the blank spreadsheet! 

As you can see from this screenshot, you may want to reformat or rename somethings...and you should!  Everyone's budget/wedding is different!  If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to comment below!

Beef and Potato Empanadas

I made these for the first time last spring after craving Julia's Empanadas in D.C.  They are nowhere close to Julia's, but they're still delicious.  I think I will try making them with chorizo in the future to give them a taste closer to Julia's.  Anyway, this is an easy dinner and something different that your family is sure to love.

Ingredients:

• 2 Peeled and chopped potatoes 
• 1 Chopped onion
• Olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 10 oz can of tomato paste
• Garlic to taste
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Cumin to taste (I just lightly sprinkled it)
• Shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese
• Pie crusts
• 2 eggs

Step 1: Sauté the potatoes and onions in the olive oil until the potatoes are slightly tender, they'll cook up more in step 2.

Step 2: Add the ground beef and cook until browned.

Step 3: Add in the can of tomato paste and all of your spices.  Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. 

Step 4: Lay out your pie crusts on a cookie sheet and place the meat and cheese on it like shown below.  You can cut your pie crusts in half to make smaller empanadas, my fiancé just likes them macho sized!

Step 5: Use a fork to pinch the ends together.

Step 6: Beat the eggs together and paint them onto the pie crust.  This will give it a shiny, crusty finish.

Step 7: Bake at 400 for 20 minutes and enjoy!

Chicken Delight Casserole

This is seriously one of the easiest and most delicious dinners ever.  I just found the recipe in November and have made it four times already!  I never have leftovers either!  My dad, who is the pickiest eater I have ever met, coined the term Chicken Delight.  Let me know if you like it.

Ingredients:

• One rotisserie chicken
• 1 box of Chicken flavored Rice A Roni
• 1 container of French Fried Onions
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 container of sour cream (8 oz.)
• 1 to 2 cans of string beans

The sour cream is not pictured here or the string beans...but I did remember the wine!

Directions:

Step 1: Cook the Rice A Roni according to the directions on the box.

Step 2: While the rice is simmering, pull apart the rotisserie chicken.

Step 3: Mix together the Rice A Roni, cream of mushroom soup, and sour cream.

Step 4: Mix in the chicken and lay it out in a sprayed baking dish.  I used a 13 x 9” baking dish, but the size doesn’t matter too much.  If you use a smaller dish, the casserole will just be thicker.

Step 5: Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.  Take out the casserole and add the container of French fried onions to the top and bake it for an additional 5 minutes.

My fiancé dug into this before I could get a completed picture!  Go figure!

I think next time I'm going to add the string beans into the casserole rather than having them as a side because we always mix them in with it anyway.  Give it a try!

Enjoy!