Living the Life

Cooking and freezing dried beans

2012-01-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

There are lots of ways to save a little here and there on grocery money. One of the best, in my opinion, is cooking dried beans instead of buying canned. Canned beans tend to have a lot of salt and also typically have BPA in the lining of the cans, which is something I'm starting to avoid when I can. I keep a few cans of beans on hand for nights when I need something REALLY quick (and canned chili beans to feed my child's addiction - she loves them straight out of the can), but I also try to keep a good selection on hand in the freezer.

At the moment, I have a batch of black beans simmering on the stove. The house smells great because I add a few extra ingredients to the pot to give the beans a little extra kick of flavor (more about that in a minute).

Beans are so easy to prepare. They take quite a bit of time, but it's almost entirely cooking and soaking time, with very little hands-on needed. You can cook any amount, as long as you have a pot big enough to handle it. I usually buy in bulk, so I tend to cook two cups of dried beans at a time.

First, put your beans in a dish (I use a pie plate) and pick through to remove any small rocks or bad beans. I remember watching a Food Network show where the host was picking through a dish of beans and found three rocks in it. I found it odd, because I have NEVER found a rock in my beans. But I always check, just in case. Rinse the beans in a sieve and put them in a pot (I use a two-quart stock pot). Now, you have two options:

Option one: Add cold water to cover with at least two inches of water over the top of the beans. Set aside and soak overnight.

Option two: Add water to cover with at least two inches of water over the top of the beans. Put on your stove and bring just to a boil. Turn off (do not drain) and let the beans sit for two hours.

At the end of the soaking time, drain and rinse your beans. Put back in the pot, add water again to cover by two inches. Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer. I find that if I cook the beans too hard, the skins fall off, so keep it at as low a simmer as possible.

If you want to add a little flavor oomph to your beans, add a bay leaf, a few cloves of sliced garlic, and a couple of onion slices to the cooking water. If you have a specific recipe in mind, you can also add the same seasonings called for in your recipe to help bring an extra layer of flavor to your dish. Be careful, however, not to add any salt or seasoning including salt, or your beans may not soften. Always salt at the end, when your beans are fully cooked.

After 90 minutes, start checking your beans to see if they're done. I usually taste one or two, and then add five or 10 minutes to the cooking time before I check again. Keep going until your beans are fully cooked. Be careful not to overcook them, though, or they'll just get mushy. Drain, saving the liquid if you're going to freeze them, remove any large pieces of seasoning (such as the bay leaf and onion slices - I usually leave the garlic), and let cool.

If you aren't using the beans right away, they freeze beautifully. I usually freeze them in two-cup portions, which works for me for most recipes. Just put the cooled beans in a freezer-safe container, add cooking liquid just to cover (this will help keep the beans from drying out in the freezer), and pop them in your freezer.

Enjoy your beans!

Menu Plan January 23 - 27

2012-01-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

I didn't write out a menu plan last week. I kind of regretted it. I had a rough plan in my head, but I didn't really follow it, both because whatever I was thinking about just didn't sound good (like the day I was planning on stir fry, and it poured down rain all.day.long and I just wanted comfort food), and the day when hubby said "can we have Pad Thai?", which wasn't even on my radar screen (but I had everything in the house for it, which is rare, so I made it.

I also had three days of just not so good cooking last week. It's strange for me. I'll never be a chef, by any means, but I consider myself to be a pretty darn good cook, and I just couldn't get it together this week. The Pad Thai sauce tasted weird (I think I accidentally put too much fish sauce in it). I tried using coconut oil instead of butter in my biscuits, and they tasted weird (would have been fine in a sweet setting, but not with creamed tuna). The kielbasa and cabbage turned out more steamed (and soggy) than fried. Ugh. So when hubby sent me a message on Thursday and said "let's have Taco Bell", I was happy to oblige.

But, today begins a new week, so let's put the past behind us and move on, shall we?

Here's the plan for this week:

Monday: Teriyaki chicken with sesame rice
Tuesday: Spaghetti
Wednesday: Chorizo black bean soup (crockpot, using canned beans this time).
Thursday: Beef stroganoff
Friday: Corned beef hash

Have a great week everyone! Remember to visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com for amazing menu ideas!

Pasta Fagioli

2012-01-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

Today we got our first snowfall of the year. Not much to speak of (it melted about half an hour after it hit the ground), but enough that a big pot of soup and a fresh loaf of bread sounded like just the ticket for dinner tonight. So, my daughter and I whipped up a couple of loaves of 30-minute baguettes and I made a pot of this soup.

Pasta Fagioli

1 T. olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage, removed from casings if necessary (I used chicken this time, because it's what I had in the freezer)
2 cups kale, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 quart chicken broth
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 cups uncooked small pasta (I used bow ties)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1 can cannelloni beans, drained

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned. Add chicken broth, tomato sauce, and garlic. Bring to a boil.

Stir in pasta, half of the cheese, seasoning, and beans. Cover and simmer until pasta is tender (between eight and 20 minutes, depending on what variety you use).

Serve with the remaining cheese sprinkled over the top.

Things I'm learning about the grocery budget

2012-01-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

I'm halfway through my first month's attempt at sticking to our grocery budget. So far I've gleaned a few bits of knowledge, mostly things that I already knew but have definitely been reinforced.

1. I need to stop buying organic milk. This is a tough one for me, because I love organic milk and all that it stands for (the brand I buy, while not technically local, it at least regional; it tastes fresher; and I believe in supporting the organic farming community). But really, my little family goes through at least two gallons a week, usually three. At more than $5 a gallon, that's typically 1/4 of my weekly grocery budget.

2. I spend more when I bring the coupons along, no matter how great I think the deals are. It is virtually impossible for me to stick to my budget when I have the coupons. My $60 a week budget is basically enough for us to buy the fresh food we need and whatever few pantry staples we are out of. I would do better to leave the bulk of the coupons at home and only use those for the things we actually need that week.

3. When I can shop kid-free, I need to shop at a different store. It's true, I go to one of the more expensive grocery stores in the area. Not the MOST expensive, by any means, but certainly not the cheapest. Why? They have two beautiful features - they bag the groceries, and, most important of all, they have PLAYLAND. Playland is like a mini-Disneyland to my daughter. They have amazing toys, she always meets someone new, and she LOVES the girl who works there. So, when she's with me, I either have the benefit of dropping her off there if she's healthy, or if she's not (or if Playland's closed), at least I don't have to worry about trying to bag my own groceries and keep an eye on her. These are things I'm willing to pay a little more for. Also, our inexpensive grocery store has TERRIBLE meat and produce, but I could be shopping there for other things.

4. I lack list discipline. I've known this for years, but when you're trying to stick to a limited budget, it becomes a bigger issue. Case in point - I went to the meat market this morning, to buy hamburger and maybe a package of chicken sausages if they had any. I came out with hamburger, chicken sausage, pork sausage, and chorizo. And spent $7 more than my budget. I need to keep reminding myself that the list rules - if it's not on the list, it waits till the next shopping trip.

Life's a process, right? These are things I know, and so they are things I can work on. In the meantime, I'll be interested to see how we come out at the end of the month, if I continue to be honest with myself and on top of things.

Buffalo Chicken Strips

2012-01-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

I was in the mood for something spicy for dinner tonight, and this fit the bill perfectly - quick and easy, with plenty of heat!

Buffalo Chicken Strips

1 pound chicken tenderloins (cut lengthwise if you like a skinnier strip)
1 cup flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (we like Frank's Red Hot)
1 cup panko bread crumbs

For serving: extra wing sauce (mix with a bit of melted butter if you'd like), ranch dressing, or blue cheese dressing, as desired.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Set up your dredging station - in one bowl, mix your flour with the garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Put your wing sauce in a second bowl, and the bread crumbs in a third bowl.

Take a tenderloin and dredge it in the flour to coat. Dip it (completely) in the wing sauce, then roll in the bread crumbs. Place on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining tenderloins.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until cooked through. If desired, serve with extra wing sauce and ranch or blue cheese dressing.

What to eat, what to eat.

2012-01-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

Gah, here it is, Sunday again, and I need to plan a menu. The stomach flu paid us a visit last week, and food still isn't sounding too good right now. And can someone please explain to me how a three-year-old with the stomach flu can be bouncing off the walls, while a 37-year-old with the exact same illness can barely get off the couch???

Fortunately, though, we didn't eat much from the menu last week (hubby, who won't cook for himself, basically subsisted on leftover pizza and Burger King all week), so I can pull from that again. I made the turkey tetrazzini on Tuesday, and that was it. So here we go...

Monday: Chicken casserole
Tuesday: Pork fried rice
Wednesday: Crockpot ham and potato soup
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Cabbage roll casserole

I'm also happy to report that I'm doing REALLY well in the grocery shopping arena. So far we've spent $121.22 at the grocery store, $8.99 at Costco, and $25.32 at Trader Joe's. I think the rest of my Costco and Trader Joe's money for the month will probably be spent on a trip I'm planning to Bob's Red Mill with my friends next week. I love this store with all my heart - it's a cook and baker's paradise!

But enough about my budget. Have you planned your menu for the week yet? If not, why not? Need ideas? Click on the pic above to go to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunke.com, for a ton of great ideas!

Changing the Game Plan

2012-01-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

For nearly three years, since I went back to work after maternity leave, I've been working part time. Until September, this enabled us to always have someone home with our daughter. This was always my goal - even if I had to go to work, I really wanted to make sure that she spent maximum time with one or the other of us. With my husband's impending layoff, though, we knew we needed to start changing things to ensure that we can stay financially stable. Health insurance is now a must for my hubby, and, no matter how we buy it, it's EXPENSIVE.

In September, I was given the opportunity to add an addition eight hours to my work schedule. At that point, my daughter started going to day care at a neighbor's house two days a week. It's been an adjustment for all of us, but she's having a good time being around other kids, and has learned some very valuable lessons about sharing and getting along that would be a lot harder for her to learn, being an only child.

Once again, an opportunity has arisen at work. Week after next, I will once again be working full time. My daughter will go to day care five days a week. This is not at all how I envisioned our life, and there was really no decision to make, in spite of my stress and tears as I agonized over the situation (I'm not exactly dry-eyed as I type this). I know that we have been blessed to be home with her as long as we have, and have had an opportunity that many families never dream of. We can bank some extra money now, and afford health insurance when the time comes. And, once my husband loses his job, he'll be able to be home with her until we figure out what's coming next (he's planning to go back to school).

Now I have to rethink a lot of my cooking and organizing strategies. Rather than making dinner every morning, I'll be back in the 5:30 rush as I make it when I come home from work. Weekends will be spent doing laundry and preparing for the week to come. I'll have to force myself to go to bed at a decent hour, and figure out when I'm going to have time for myself, since it will no longer come at 10 p.m.!

It'll take some adjustments, in mind and attitude, and I'm sure it'll be a little rocky at first. But we'll do it together, as a family. Look for some posts here about my trials, successes (and hopefully not too many failures) as I approach these changes.

Starting a book list

2012-01-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I bought two beautiful journals from Paper Coterie. Both of them have my daughter's picture on the cover. When I bought them, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I knew they'd have something to do with Caitlyn. I keep thinking one of them will be for writing down the funny and amazing things she says, but I seem to always forget to actually write them down (though I'd get several if I spent some time combing through my posts on Facebook).

A while back I read a really great memoir by a daughter whose father who made the commitment to read to her every night. It started when she was in fourth grade, and didn't stop until the day he dropped her off at college. The Reading Promise intertwines the stories they read with the events that were happening in their lives at the the time. I consider it a must-read.

One of the things that disappointed me, though, was that they didn't keep a list of the books they read together. I think that would be such a great resource to have - something she could build on someday when she has her own children. I remember several books my parents read to me when I was a child, but not all. I remember Mom cringing, and eventually refusing, every time I asked her to read Fox in Socks. I know they must have read Flip at least a hundred times, because it was the first book I remember actually "reading" on my own so I must have had it memorized.

So, I've decided that one of those journals will be used to keep a running list of all the books Caitlyn and I read together. Most nights, we only have time for one or two books, but some days we read more. We've been reading Walter the Farting Dog for 13 days straight, ever since she got it for Christmas, but I'm sure at some point she'll go back to wanting a little variety in her nightly reading selections!

Menu Plan January 2 - 6

2012-01-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

Another year, another menu plan. I have some leftover meat that really needs to be used up this week, so that's going to be the main focus for the menu.

Today: Pizza (last night of vacation, so we picked up a take-n-bake)
Tomorrow: Turkey Tetrazzini
Wednesday: Crockpot ham and potato soup
Thursday: Pork fried rice
Friday: Chicken casserole (I'm going to just throw something together with leftover buttermilk chicken and noodles.

Have a great week, everyone! And click the graphic above to visit orgjunkie.com for many more menu ideas!

Grocery Challenge Recap & A New Challenge

2012-01-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

Last month, I challenged myself to only buy fresh food for our regular meals, leaving the rest of our budget for all the extra food we always buy during the holidays and other special December celebrations. I did...ok. I was really, really good at the beginning of the month, only truly buying what I intended, but somewhere along the line I strayed off course and ended up failing miserably by the end. Case in point - my husband and I were off work all last week, and we decided we were going to get out the smoker and smoke some meat, something we haven't done in far too long. So off I went to the grocery store, to buy full-price roasts on a whim. Something I normally wouldn't dream of doing. Then we got lazy and didn't get the smoker out. So I added two more roasts and another pack of chicken thighs to my already-overflowing freezer.

Then, I got the brilliant idea to start couponing again. Nothing wrong with this, really, except when I used great coupons that were about to expire and were combined with a sale price, every item I bought went straight into the pantry. Kind of defeated the whole purpose of using the stockpile, right? Sigh.

So, this month, I'm going to try a new tactic. I'm going with the cash system. I'm going to take the money out of the bank at this week, and that's going to be it. We don't have any parties or celebrations planned this month, but I'll hold back a bit in case something comes up (we sometimes want candy or ice cream for "movie night" at home, or we'll get snacks for impromptu get togethers with family). Here's how it should break out:

Total budget: $350
Regular grocery store @ $60/wk: $240
Meat market: $20
Costco: $30
Saved for unanticipated activities: $20
Specialty stores (Trader Joe's, Asian market, etc): $30

Obviously, we're still well stockpiled, so we won't need much more than fresh food at the grocery store this month. I'll need to pick up a bag of chicken tenderloins and a bag or two of chicken strips at some point during the month, and the rest of my budget can go toward taking advantage of coupons and loss leaders.

I will need to pick up some ground beef at the meat market. It's a small meat processing plant a few blocks from my house. All the beef is grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free, and raised not too far from my town. Costs a bit more, but it's worth it. They also have pork - I just wish they had chicken!

We don't need much at the specialty stores this month. My mom goes to Costco for me, and I only need one or two things, so if I don't spend it all, I'll save the remainder for a future month when I need more. I really want to go to the Asian market, but I can't think of anything I actually *need*, so I'll probably skip it and avoid temptation. I will pick up some things at Trader Joe's, and I may organize an expedition across town to Bob's Red Mill - we'll see.

That's the plan! Stay tuned for updates!

Resolution Recap

2011-12-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Last January, I declared that my New Year's Resolution would be to USE IT UP. To finally use the piles of laundry detergent, lotion, soap, and other consumables that I have been collecting over the years. Looking back, I think I did pretty well.

I started out the year by cleaning out the bathroom closet, disposing of old medications and other things that were just past their "good use" days. We also took boxes and boxes of miscellaneous things to Goodwill. About a month into the year, I realized that I am just not a lotion person, so I kept the two bottles that I actually use and took the others (about 15 bottles or so, if I remember correctly), to work to be used by women living in a residential addiction program. I started using up the fancy shower gels and such that I'd been saving. I have no idea what I was saving them for - it's not like a shower is ever going to be a special occasion!

Then, somewhere along the line, my resolution shifted. My hubby has been waiting to be laid off for about three years, and sometime in late summer/early fall he got the word that he will definitely be out of a job by the end of June, 2012. He's hoping that Unemployment will pay for school, so he's not looking for a job for the time being. So, my priority has shifted from "use it up" to "stock up on stuff that keeps when you find it on an awesome sale". Thanks to my Kindle with Special Offers, I got a great deal on shampoo and soap products from Amazon. I also found a deal on my favorite laundry "soap", Econuts, so I have accumulated a three year supply of that.

So, essentially, I've eliminated a lot of excess things while building up a good supply of other things that I know we'll use over time. I think, in the spirit of my resolution, it's all good.

Handmade Holidays

2011-12-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

We were craftier than normal this Christmas. Most of it was done very last minute, but all of it turned out pretty well. Here's some of what we did:

Sequined gift tags (except none of them were actually used as gift tags, because my three-year-old made four of them and declared that they were ALL HERS).

Felted soap

Salted Caramels

Preschooler art magnets

My daughter's garland (super simple, made from ribbon and aluminum foil)

My garland (got the idea here)

Felt Christmas tree ornaments

Thanks to the magic of Pinterest, I had about 103,000 ideas for this Christmas. Most of which didn't pan out, but I can start early on next year!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season full of grace and love. Thank you so much for reading my blog over the years. Here's to a fabulous new year!

Garden Planning

2011-12-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

My first garden catalog appeared in the mail this week. I was a bit surprised I hadn't gotten any sooner, but this is the only one that matters to me - Territorial Seed. It's the only company I order seeds from (though I do usually end up picking up a packet or two of something at the grocery store or Home Depot every season). I don't order their plants, though I am considering buying an olive tree this year, just because I have three empty half-barrels in my yard and I think it would be fun to play around with curing my own olives.

This is the time of year when I start feeling completely ambitious about the garden - you know, when it's pouring down rain for days on end and I don't actually have to go outside and do any of the work! So here I sit, poring over the catalog, thinking about how much food we'll be able to harvest, how this will be the year I finally get into year-round gardening, and all that. Usually, by July, all those plans have crumbled to dust, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming anew the following winter.

The other day, a link on Pinterest led me to these plans for building your own cold frame from a sheet of plywood, some plexiglass, and some hardware. I'm seriously considering it this year. We love salad and I think it would help get us a lot closer to growing our own lettuce year-round. Of course, what I'd *really* like is a greenhouse, but since I can't get my hubby to lower his expectations on that little purchase, and I don't have $2,500 laying around, I'll improvise. I haven't used a power tool in a long time, but I did take shop class once upon a time. I can always ask hubby if I need help with something, too.

So here I sit, dreaming. In a couple of weeks, it'll be time to start the onions and leeks. I have a perfect sunny window with a wide windowsill for this - the only plant-friendly space in my house. Is it strange that I have no houseplants except for during seed-starting season??? Everything dies in here. Even the cacti. Maybe I'll start a little herb garden in that window this spring. My daughter would love it. Of course, she'd probably eat everything I plant, but really, that's ok.

Christmas week to-do list

2011-12-19T08:04:00.000-08:00

My brain is refusing to accept the fact that Christmas is now less than a week away. There is so much still to do! Thought I'd better get it all written down in one place, someplace that can't be recycled by my husband (as so many of my lists are) or erased by my daughter (who thinks the white boards are her personal art studios). So here we go!

Food:
- ~~Bake cookies for the neighbors (we made the dough yesterday)~~
- ~~Decide on appetizers for Christmas Eve (I need to take two)~~
- ~~Grocery shop~~
- ~~Make meatballs~~
- ~~Make spaetzle~~
- Make appetizers, whatever they are

Gifts:
- ~~Finish ornaments for all the kids (I'm making 10 of them for all the nieces and nephews and my daughter - fortunately they're all identical, and fairly easy. I'm about half done now)~~
- ~~Make the gifts for my work friends~~
- ~~Make the gifts for my parents and inlaws from my daughter (I'll blog about these later - I'm hoping they're going to be amazingly cute)~~
- ~~Inventory what's come in and what's still in transit (I ordered almost everything from Amazon)~~
- ~~Buy the last gift from my mom for my daughter~~
- Wrap, wrap, wrap!
- If there's time, finish up a felt tic-tac-toe set for my daughter. This is just a little extra I thought would be fun, but if I don't get it done, she can get it any time.
- ~~Have my daughter decorate gift tags for the gifts (I bought tree-print scrapbooking paper, and I'm going to cut it into tree shapes and let her glue on sequins.~~

- ~~Address and label Christmas cards~~

I think that's about it. Just a couple of things, right? My daughter just turned three, and I think this is going to be our most magical Christmas yet. She's so excited about Santa Claus that she's been known to get up in the middle of the night and ask what time he's coming on Christmas Eve. I can't wait to watch the magic unfold!

Menu Plan December 12 - 16

2011-12-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

Life has gotten a little crazy lately, and we've gotten away from a menu for a week or two. Every time I do that, we end up eating out a lot more, which proves to me the value of my menu planning efforts.

Here's the plan for this week:

Today: Hamburger casserole
Tomorrow: Spanakopita pie (using up leftover spakakopita filling from my daughter's birthday party)
Wednesday: "Little Smokie" chili (using up leftover Little Smokies from the party) and cornbread
Thursday: Bulgogi and sesame rice
Friday: chicken corn chowder

Have a great week, everyone! And remember to visit orgjunkie.com for more great menu ideas!

December Grocery Challenge

2011-12-04T22:36:00.000-08:00

The other day I was putting away a pile of groceries that had been accumulating on my kitchen floor, when suddenly I realized WHY I hadn't been eager to put them away - my pantry is FULL! I've been doing a lot of stockpiling lately, since the grocery store I frequent just finished a remodel and was having some fabulous "grand reopening" specials. I took full advantage of them - let's just say I have enough Annie's mac and cheese to last my daughter about six months!

Compounding that, my freezers are so packed that things fall out if I open the door. Not only have I stocked up on some great meat bargains lately, but much of our garden harvest went straight into the freezer.

December is an expensive month for us. Not only do we have Christmas and New Year's Eve and all that they entail, but also my daughter's birthday is this week, and this year we provided food for a special birthday party for my dad. And so, with all this in mind, I decided to embark on a grocery challenge for the month.

This month, I will limit my grocery shopping for family eating to just fresh food - produce, dairy, eggs, lunch meat. No "dinner" meat, no frozen food, no pantry food. We have four loaves of bread in the freezer, which should be enough for sandwiches for the month. As I write this, I am realizing that my darling daughter may mutiny on me if she doesn't have chicken strips, so I may have to pick up a bag of those if I can find a good deal on them. Otherwise, the only other food I will buy will be for gatherings and gifts. Much of what we will need can come from the pantry, but I may need to do some restocking on specific staples if, say, the homemade hot buttered rum mix uses up all the brown sugar (which may, in fact, happen).

And now, it's time to start thinking creatively about meals, and how best to use all this abundance!

Preschooler Chores

2011-11-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

The wonderful thing about toddlers and preschoolers is that they take great pleasure and pride in being helpful. At our house, we've decided to capitalize on this by giving our daughter, who will turn three next week (yikes!), several chores to do, both daily and weekly.

Daily chores:
1. Feed the cat
2. Clear her dishes from the table, putting leftover milk in the fridge, and plates/bowls in the sink.
3. Pick up toys and put books on her bookshelves (this doesn't quite happen every day, but two - three times a week at least).

Weekly chores:
1. Help me scan groceries (we have a computerized pantry inventory system and use a barcode scanner to log nonperishables in and out). This is one of her favorite activities in the whole world.
2. Put away her laundry (I hang up her shirts and dresses, but she puts away everything that goes in drawers).

Sometimes chore:
1. Sort silverware from the dishwasher into the drawer. This is a sometimes chore because my husband usually unloads the dishwasher before he goes to work. long before we get up in the morning. But, when I have occasion to unload, I let her sort silverware if she's around.

We also try to include her in other chores as we're doing them, if we can find small pieces of tasks that she can handle. She's been doing them for several months now, and it works out well.

I'm not sure how long this helpful phase will last, but hopefully by the time that happens, we'll have set up some good habits to keep her responsible and helpful as she grows older.

Menu Plan November 28 - December 3

2011-11-28T08:34:00.000-08:00

I'm finding it very hard to believe that December is already upon us! Hope all my US readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had two wonderful celebrations with family, one Friday and one Saturday, then spent most of the weekend cleaning and organizing our house. I spent about two hours just re-organizing my spice cupboard - it always amazes me how quickly that can get out of control!

Here's the plan for this week:

Today: Teriyaki chicken and sesame rice
Tuesday: Kielbasa and kidney beans
Wednesday: Meatloaf
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: coconut curry chicken (recipe I ran across in an old magazine this weekend)

Have a great week! And remember to visit orgjunkie.com for tons of menu ideas!

Garlicky sauteed shrimp

2011-11-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

I keep reading about how we all should be eating more seafood. That's fine with me - I love most fish and a few forms of shellfish, but in this house, the only things we all agree on are tuna and shrimp. So, every six weeks or so, when I can get shrimp on sale for less than $6 a pound, I buy a pound and bring it home for Sunday dinner.

Today I discovered, quite by accident, that the shrimp they sell in the meat department at the grocery store I frequent is the same shrimp that you can buy quick-frozen in the freezer case. Since they only had shrimp with heads on it in the meat case, and I didn't have the time or desire to mess around with that, I got a frozen bag and went with it.

The guy in the meat department told me to run it under cold water for five to ten minutes to thaw it. The guy in the meat department obviously doesn't live in this town, or he'd know how expensive it would be to just let the water run for five or ten minutes! So, instead, I put it in a big bowl and filled it up with cold water. I put my pasta water on to boil and by the time it was hot, the shrimp was perfectly thawed.

Garlicky Sauteed Shrimp

2 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup white wine (I used chardonnay)
juice from 1/4 large lemon
1 T. butter
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saute pan over low heat, warm the garlic in the olive oil for five minutes.

Turn the heat up to high, wait two minutes (or until the garlic starts sizzling), and add your shrimp, keeping them in a single layer if you can. Let cook about two minutes, then add the wine and lemon juice. Flip the shrimp over and cook an additional two to three minutes, or until cooked through.

Remove the shrimp from the pan and add the butter, salt and pepper. Continue cooking the sauce until it reduces by half. Put the shrimp back in the pan, stirring quickly to coat with the sauce. Serve immediately. We like this with buttered parmesan noodles, crusty bread, and a green salad.

Chicken and Bows

2011-11-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

After having this on my menu plan weekly for almost a month, I finally got around to making it. It just sounded so GOOD - like creamy, rich, comfort food, perfect for a chilly fall evening. And I was right - it was. I tweaked the recipe a bit (since I'm incapable of NOT tweaking a recipe), so here's what I came up with.

Chicken and bows
Adapted from Taste of Home

8 ounces bow tie pasta
2 T. olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup milk
1 tsp. dried thyme
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions, leaving it fairly al dente. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large straight-sided skillet or dutch oven. Add the bell pepper and onion and saute until soft. Add garlic, chicken, soup, peas, milk and thyme. Bring just to a boil, and simmer 5 - 10 minutes until the mixture is thick and the peas are heated through. Stir in cheese and add salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked pasta, stir to combine, and serve.

Menu Plan November 21 - 25

2011-11-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

First of all, I have to tell you, I finally made chicken and bows! Since I'm completely unable to leave any recipe well enough alone, I made some modifications and was quite pleased with the results. Only thing I didn't like was the bows - I bought some of that Barilla Plus pasta, which never quite gets to a soft enough texture for our taste. So next time I'll make it with good old fashioned unhealthy white pasta, and I'm sure it will be much better. I need to post the revised recipe before I forget what I did!

And now, on to this week. This will be a short menu week for us, as we have Thanksgiving dinners on BOTH Thursday and Friday. Have to love that!

Monday: Pasta e Fagioli (I already have the sausage cooked, and I'll use orzo pasta, so this should come together very quickly).

Tuesday: Taco salad

Wednesday: cranberry chicken (just like my cranberry pork, but with chicken tenderloins instead)

Thursday: Dinner with hubby's family. I'm taking spinach dip and an orange ambrosia-type jello salad.

Friday: Dinner with my family. I'm taking a veggie tray, jello, and my daughter's birthday cake. possibly more if my mom needs help, but that's all I know for now!

I may flip-flop Monday and Tuesday. We'll see how it goes.

To those of you in the US (and those abroad who celebrate US holidays), have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. To those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving this week, have a great week! Ah, what the heck, you be safe too. :-) And remember to visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com for lots of great menu ideas!

Toddler craft - Puffy Paint

2011-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered Pinterest. About five minutes after that, I was completely addicted. So many ideas, so little time (and money!). I've found some great ideas for crafting with my daughter, though, and this was one I couldn't wait to try out.

I found it at Get Your Mess On, but I've since seen it at least four more places around the internet, so I have no idea where it originated.

Puffy Paint:

For each color:
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
squirt of tempera paint (or a splash of tempera paint powder) - as much as you need to get the color you want.

First, gather your supplies (and your adorable assistant!). Here in the Pacific Northwest, I found the squirt bottles at Bi-Mart for $2 each. JoAnn Fabric and Craft had some smaller ones in a two-pack for $2, but I wanted the option for bigger bottles so I bought these (I think they're 12 ounce).

I began by mixing the salt, flour, and water together, whisking well to get out all the lumps. Then we poured in the color,

Stirred, stirred, stirred,

Put the paint in the bottles using a funnel (during which my daughter, who has never seen the Wizard of Oz, kept shouting "it's MELTING! It's MELTING!" Where do they come up with this stuff???), and presto! Puffy paint!

We discovered about two minutes (and half a bottle of blue) into the project that it's a less-than-perfect idea to let the two-year-old control the paint bottle without supervision. Once we got that down, though, we had a great time. Makes a great fingerpaint with awesome texture!

Menu Plan November 14 - 18 (and a question for you!)

2011-11-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

We did pretty well at sticking to our menu last week. I had the opportunity to go to work early on Friday, so we went shopping and had dinner out (with a coupon) that day, but other than that, we ate at home. I did make potstickers from the freezer one day because I just couldn't get up the energy to make dinner once I got home. That's what that freezer convenience food is for!

This week, we have a pretty routine schedule, though I do get off early again on Friday. Here's the plan:

Monday: Spaghetti (made with Italian sausage instead of ground beef - yum!)
Tuesday: Broccoli Beef
Wednesday: mushroom pork chops
Thursday: If I say Chicken and Bows will you laugh at me?
Friday: One-dish twice baked potatoes

Now, a question for you, my readers. I have four HUGE kale plants in my garden, and I'm at a loss as to what to do with them. Seemed like such a good idea when I planted them... I'm thinking about Zuppa Toscana, but I'm open to any and all ideas...thoughts?

Have a great week, and remember to visit Menu Plan Monday for more menu ideas than you can shake a stick at!

Sunday

2011-11-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

Pancakes

Harvest

Jam

Dinner

Tired.

Freezing Green Onions

2011-11-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

We've reached that point in the year where I really need to get some things out of the garden. We've had several frosty mornings, and the onions are looking especially limp. I don't want to waste all that fresh oniony goodness, though, so I decided to chop and freeze some of the green tops (I'll also chop the bottoms and freeze them separately). Here's how I do it.

First, wash and chop your green onions. Then, place them in a freezer-safe container of a convenient size. I used some silicone cupcake molds (I hate baking in them, so I might as well use them for something, right?). Add enough water to each just to cover, and put them in the freezer until they're solid.

Take them out of the freezer and remove them from the cups (that's the nice thing about silicone - you can just flip it right out). Voila! Little green onion hockey pucks.

Put into a freezer container and freeze until ready to use. I've kept these for six months or more. You can use them as is in soups, stews, and other saucy things where a couple extra tablespoons of water won't matter, or you can thaw them out before you use them. They do get a little slimy so I wouldn't use them in a salad or anything, but they're good in just about any cooked dish. Enjoy!

Menu Plan November 7 - 11

2011-11-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

We ended up doing REALLY well on our revised menu plan last week. This will teach me to actually sit down and think about my week before I plan a menu, LOL!

Here's the plan for this week:

Today: Spanish Rice Casserole - I have leftover rice and turkey in the freezer, so this will go together pretty quickly once everything's thawed.

Tuesday: Scalloped potatoes and ham - I don't have all three cheeses at the moment, so this will be made with parmesan and cheddar

Wednesday: Chicken and Bows (sound familiar?)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Chicken Cacciatore

Don't forget to visit Menu Plan Monday for tons of fabulous menu ideas!

Apple Bread

2011-11-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

Our apple tree was especially prolific this year, and after sharing a couple of boxes full with my mom, I've had plenty left for canning, freezing, and baking. Once I got tired of making apple crisp (hubby's favorite), I went searching for a good apple bread recipe. I found one here, but wanted to make it a little bit healthier, so I tweaked it a bit.

Whole Grain Apple Bread
makes two loaves

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, or cake spice
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups apples, chopped
1 cup chopped pecans (optional, but they are really good!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil, applesauce, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in flour, spices, soda, and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in apples and pecans.

Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 70 minutes at 325, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack. Let cool completely before slicing or it will fall apart a bit.

Enjoy!

Steak and Pepper Sandwiches

2011-11-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

At my house, I call these cheesesteaks. I realize, though, that in some parts of the country that will get me run out of town, so, for blogging purposes, steak and pepper sandwiches they are.

At my grocery store, I'm able to buy "thin sliced beef steaks". That's the meat I use, because it's quick and easy (and versatile!). It comes in big flat "steaks" about the size of my hand, and I slice it cross-wise into thin strips. You could also use thinly sliced round steak. If you go that route, put the meat in the freezer for a half hour or so before hand to make it easier to get nice, thin slices.

Steak and Pepper Sandwiches
Serves 4

1 T. canola oil
1 medium green pepper, sliced
1 medium red pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced thin
12 ounces thinly sliced beef
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (you could also substitute 1 clove minced garlic, just put it in a few minutes before the meat is done)

8 slices cheese (hubby likes cheddar, I like provolone)
4 hoagie, French, or bolillo rolls, split
condiments: mayo, mustard, ranch dressing, sliced pepperoncini, etc.

In a stir fry pan or large skillet over high heat, saute the peppers and onions until they just start to get soft.

Add the beef, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and cook until the meat is no longer pink.

Meanwhile, put the rolls cut-side up on a baking sheet. Lay two slices of cheese on one half of each roll. Broil two to three minutes, or until the cheese side is bubbly and the dry side is toasted. Spread with your choice of condiments, top with the meat and pepper mixture, and enjoy!

I love fall.

2011-11-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

Especially those frosty cold mornings just begging for a bulky sweater and a steaming hot cup of cocoa.

Pork and Potato Casserole with Mushrooms and Caraway

2011-11-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

I made this up on the fly today because I had some ground pork that needed to be used up (it was the sole victim of the freezer not being closed all the way - we got lucky!). This is the "convenience food" version because I was a little short on time. I'm sure in the future I'll work on a full-blown "from scratch" version with white sauce and sauteed mushrooms.

Didn't think to take a picture until we'd already dished it up!

Pork and Potato Casserole with Mushrooms and Caraway

Serves 4 - 6

4 medium potatoes, diced (and peeled if you prefer).
1/2 - 1 pound ground pork
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1/4 cup french fried onions (such as Durkee)

Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and cook until just tender. Drain and place in a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown the pork with the chopped onion. When the meat is just browned, add the garlic, salt and poultry seasoning. Continue to cook until you can just smell the garlic.

Add meat mixture to the mixing bowl. Then add the mushrooms, soups, and caraway seed. Stir to combine and pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the french fried onions over the top and bake an addition five minutes.

This week's menu, revisited

2011-11-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

Something happened to my menu this week. It was shot before the week even got started - probably because I rushed through it just to get something down on paper without really thinking about it. And then things happened to make it go even more haywire!

We were supposed to have pizza Sunday and Monday. Then I burned the pizza. Then we were supposed to have takeout on Monday so we could get to trick-or-treating that much faster, but since we'd just wasted $12 on the pizza we couldn't eat, I decided I should cook instead. So I threw some chili in the crockpot in a hurry on the way to visit my parents on Monday morning. Which was fine, except I was digging through the freezer trying to find the Soyrizo (which I still haven't found, even though I saw it on Sunday), and something blocked the freezer door from closing all the way.

So Monday afternoon my husband called to tell me that the freezer was open and thawing. Fortunately, the only thing that was REALLY thawed was a package of ground pork. So I needed to come up with something to do with that this week! I guess it's true, the only thing constant in life is change, and menus are no exception, LOL!

Here's my revised menu for this week -

Monday: crock pot chili

Tuesday: creamed tuna on toast (oh, yeah, it was supposed to be on biscuits. I got a great deal on canned biscuits over the weekend, so I was going to use those, but by the time I found them (still sitting in a grocery bag on my dining room floor, sigh) and realized I couldn't use them, it was too late to make biscuits from scratch, so we had toast.

Tonight: pork and potato casserole with caraway

Tomorrow: cheesesteak sandwiches

Friday: tacos (avocados were on sale at Safeway and when I asked my daughter if she wanted one for lunch today, she informed me that not only did she want one for lunch, we needed to buy extras for tacos. Since we have almost everything we need for those anyway, I was happy to oblige).

Maybe next week I'll have more menu success, LOL!

Menu Plan October 31 - November 4

2011-10-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

I just looked at last week's menu, and I can't actually remember what we ate! We did eat a few things off the menu, but not everything, and I'm at a loss as to what we ate on what days. On to another week...

This week is great because I have to work from home on Wednesday, so I only have one day that I work till 6:00. Wish that day wasn't Halloween, but we do what we have to, right?

Here's the plan:

Monday: Take out (not sure what yet, probably burgers. It was supposed to be leftover pizza, but we totally burned the pizza last night, so that was a complete waste of two meals and $12. I was so bummed!).

Tuesday: Creamed tuna on biscuits

Wednesday: Chicken and bows (why yes, I AM determined to make this recipe!)

Thursday: Cheesesteak sandwiches

Friday: Teriyaki chicken (I'll post a recipe for this as soon as I dig it out of my files. Super easy and really good!)

Have a great week, everyone! And please visit orgjunkie.com for tons of great menu ideas!

Menu Plan October 24 - 28

2011-10-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

We did ok last week, but didn't entirely follow our menu. I was sick all week and most days the last thing I wanted to do was cook! We did end up at Taco Bell one night and we had leftovers another, but our other three meals were from the menu.

Here's what I have planned for this week:

Monday: roast chicken and potatoes
Tuesday: leftover pizza (from tonight)
Wednesday: Turkey roast (precooked from Costco - just heat and eat)
Thursday: Chicken and bows (from last week's menu - we didn't get to it)
Friday: if I can get to the Asian food store this week, we'll have pad Thai.

Have a great week, everyone - and don't forget to visit Menu Plan Monday on orgjunkie.com for tons of great ideas!

past menu plans

2011-10-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

Since I'm consolidating my blogs, I don't want to lose the menus that I posted over on the other one. So here's a quick list. Fortunately, I wasn't very good about keeping up with menu planning, so there aren't all that many of them!

2010
June 13 - 18

Last night, I made Pad Thai. I overcooked the noodles somehow (never had that happen before!), but other than that, it was great!
Tonight, we're having taco salad.
Tomorrow, it'll be crock pot roast beef.
Wednesday, roasted Cornish game hens.
Thursday, should be leftover night but we'll see if we have any!
Friday, lemon pepper chicken.

June 21 - 25

Tonight: we had leftover fajitas.
Tomorrow: Stuffed peppers
Wednesday: Sausage and pepper penne (this will use our leftover peppers and onions. I just have to figure out how to make this a make-ahead - I'll let you know!)
Thursday: salad topped with our choice of chicken or steak (using the leftover fajita meat)
Friday: Spaghetti

June 28 - July 2

Monday, we had leftover pizza and salad.
Tonight, we had grilled chicken and creamed peas and potatoes. I don't usually grill on weeknights, but there wasn't any room in my fridge for a pan of chicken to be put in the oven, so we improvised. Oh, and the peas and potatoes were from our garden. AWESOME.
Tomorrow night, we're having spaghetti.
Thursday night, we're having baked turkey cutlets. I just need to figure out what I'm going to do to them to give them some flavor!
Friday doesn't need to be make-ahead, since we're both taking the day off, so it'll probably be jambalaya or tuna helper. We'll see.

July 5 - 9

Monday, we had grilled steak, corn, and chard. Since it was a holiday I was able to cook at dinner time!
Tonight, we'll have burgers (leftover, just heat and eat) and potato salad
Tomorrow, we'll have fried ham and baked potatoes (not make ahead, but the ham slices I bought will fry up in about five minutes once the skillet is hot)
Thursday, we may finally eat that turkey I've had on the menu for several weeks!
Friday, we'll have taco salad.

September 19 - 23, 2010

Tonight, I made buttermilk chicken, with mashed potatoes and sauteed summer squash. One of my favorite meals ever, and yes, it can be made ahead (but I didn't). I'll post instructions soon!
Tomorrow, we'll be having cranberry pork chops. How have I never posted this recipe on either blog? Must remedy that...
Wednesday, teriyaki chicken.
Thursday, something meatless. Hubby has promised we can start having meatless meals once a week to save money. I'm not sure what yet, I need to do some recipe hunting!
Friday, we're babysitting our nieces and nephews, so I think we'll just be picking up a pizza or making something super quick at their house.

September 27 - October 1

Monday, we ended up with leftovers because - get this - I FORGOT to make dinner! Craziness, I tell you!
Tuesday, we had turkey tenderloin baked in creamy mushroom sauce.
Wednesday, we had lemon chicken.
Tonight, it's baked chicken taquitoes (this is my new favorite recipe!).
Friday, it's meatless night, and I have no idea what that will be yet, but I'd better get on it!

October 10 - 16

Sunday: Creamed tuna on biscuits
Monday: Chorizo black bean soup
Tuesday: Cordon bleu casserole (this recipe, served with noodles)
Wednesday: Jambalaya with kielbasa (from a box, though I'm thinking about trying to bake it instead of stove-top, so it'll be more make-ahead. I'll let you know how it goes)
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Chicken paprikash over baked potatoes
Saturday: We'll be out of town for a birthday party that day, so we'll grab dinner on the road.

2011
January 2 - 7

Sunday: We had taco salad
Today: Chicken and Dumplings
Tuesday: Stuffed peppers
Wednesday: Chicken Paprikash over baked potatoes
Thursday: Baked pork chops and parmesan noodles, if I get to the meat market. Otherwise, spaghetti.
Friday: Tuna casserole

January 9 - 14

Sunday: Pad Thai
Monday: Pineapple Chicken
Tuesday: Spaghetti
Wednesday: Potato and ham soup - or maybe scalloped potatoes and ham. We'll see what I feel like making...
Thursday: Meatloaf
Friday: Something involving kielbasa...I need to explore some recipes. Anyone have a suggestion?

January 16 - 21

Sunday: chicken fried steak
Monday: chicken and dumplings (I use the Cook's Illustrated recipe - if you happen to be a member of their website, it's the February 2005 version)
Tuesday: tacos
Wednesday: Buffalo chicken spaghetti (we haven't ever had this, but it sounds AMAZING!)
Thursday: Spanish rice casserole (I'm going to make this one meatless by adding extra beans in place of the turkey)
Friday: Jambalaya (made from the Zatarains mix)

January 23 - 28

Sunday: We went out to Chevy's (loving their cheap guacamole Sundays!)
Monday: Buttermilk Chicken
Tuesday: hamburger casserole
Wednesday: chicken enchiladas
Thursday: spaghetti
Friday: bean/rice casserole (the one I didn't make last week!).

February 7 - 11

Monday: Bulgogi and sesame rice
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Pork chops (haven't figured out just how I'm fixing them yet)
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Pineapple chicken

May 9 - 12

Monday: hamburger casserole
Tuesday: baked chicken
Wednesday: ravioli alfredo
Thursday: pulled pork sandwiches (going to cook the meat in the crock pot)
Friday we have plans, so I don't have to cook!

July 18 - 21

Monday: meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes, green beans from our CSA box
Tuesday: manicotti (I use this recipe from the back of the Ronzoni manicotti box and add some cooked ground beef), green salad, and cheesecake (happy 8th anniversary to us!)
Wednesday: Baked chicken with roasted broccoli and cauliflower
Thursday: Kielbasa and kidney beans

October 3 - 7

Monday: lasagna (half beef, half eggplant from the CSA box)
Tuesday: broccoli cheese soup, salad, bread
Wednesday: Ham and broccoli calzones
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: potstickers

Homemade Chicken Bake

2011-10-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

Whenever I have the opportunity to eat a meal at Costco (which isn't often, since I'm a horribly compulsive grocery shopper and therefore forbidden to have my own card), I always go for the "Chicken Bake". Basically a calzone, it's chickeny, bacony, cheesy good. A month or two ago my mom took me shopping there, and I discovered Chicken Bake in the freezer section. I immediately snatched up a box for eating at home.

Last week we ate the last of our Chicken Bakes, but, when asked what my daughter wanted to eat for dinners this week, that was her request. "CHICKEN BAKE!!!" Strange, because she didn't seem all that enamored of it when we had them for lunch, but of course I was happy to oblige and figure out a way to make them myself.

There are no measurements in the assembly because, in my typical pizza fashion, I just sprinkled things on till it looked right.

Homemade Chicken Bake
makes 4 large calzones

2 tubes pizza crust in a can (could also substitute homemade pizza dough - I was in a hurry so I used the prebought).
Caeser dressing, ranch dressing, or alfredo sauce
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
1/2 pound bacon, diced and fried
2 green onions, chopped
shredded parmesan cheese
shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Divide each pizza crust in half. Roll out into a rectangle, about 6 inches by 8 inches. You want to be looking at it the long way, not the tall way (i.e. "landscape", not "portrait", if we were talking about printing).

Spread dressing or sauce over crust, stopping about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Spread toppings in a 4-inch-wide strip down the middle of the crust, stopping about 1 inch from the top and bottom. Keep a little extra parmesan cheese for the top.

Fold left and right edges over; pinch the ends together and tuck under. Place seam side down on your baking sheet. Repeat with remaining three pieces of crust.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Spread a little bit of additional dressing or sauce on top, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake an additional 5 - 8 minutes until cheese is melted and brown.

Excellent served with salad on the side.

If you want to make this in the morning, just assemble it and put it in the fridge until time to make dinner. Add an additional 5 minutes to your initial baking time.

Meatball Casserole

2011-10-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't actually made this - I saw it on an old episode of "Oliver's Twist" and I loved the idea. Don't want to forget it, so I thought I'd post it!

Quick tomato sauce:

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans crushed tomatoes (I'm guessing he used the smaller cans, not the 28 ounce).
1 handful fresh basil

Saute the onion in some olive oil until soft. Add garlic and cook until you can smell it (careful not to burn it!). Add tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in fresh basil and let it wilt.

For the casserole:

1 batch Italian-style meatballs (use your favorite recipe)
sliced fresh mozzarella
shredded parmesan cheese

Spoon the tomato sauce into the bottom of a medium-size casserole dish. Cover the sauce with meatballs, then top with sliced fresh mozzarella and sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is bubbly and meatballs are cooked through. Serve with pasta on the side.

Cranberry Pork Chops

2011-10-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

It appears that I have somehow missed posting this, one of my favorite pork recipes of all time, on either of my blogs. Time to remedy that situation!

This recipe can be made ahead or done at the last minute. If you don't want to deal with cooking the cranberry sauce, feel free to substitute a can of whole berry cranberry sauce for the cranberries, juice, and sugar.

Cranberry Pork Chops
serves 4

4 thick-cut pork chops, either bone in or boneless
1 T olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries, picked over for bad berries and rinsed
1/2 cup orange or apple juice
3/4 cup sugar
Salt and pepper

Place the pork chops in a 9x13 baking dish (or an 8x8 if they'll fit). Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until soft, about five minutes. Add berries, juice, and sugar, stirring until combined. Lower the heat to medium and, stirring frequently, simmer until the berries have burst and sauce is thickened, about 10 - 15 minutes.

Pour sauce over the pork chops. At this point, if you're making it in the morning, you can stick it in the fridge until it's time to bake it. Start it out in a cold oven and add five or so minutes to your cooking time.

Bake at 350 degrees until cooked through - 30-35 minutes for boneless chops, 40 - 45 for bone in. Enjoy!

Menu October 17 - 21

2011-10-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

First of all, an announcement. Some of you know I started a second blog a while back, My Make-Ahead Meals. Focusing a blog on one single facet of my cooking was an interesting experiment for a while, but I'm not posting enough in either place to make it worth keeping two blogs up, so I'm shutting that blog down. I'll gradually post the recipes and tips from there over here, and then I'll pull it entirely.

That said, on to menu planning!

The last two weeks I've tried something new with our menu plan. I have a small dry erase board on our fridge that I have used in the past to keep lists, notes, etc. on (we also have a large board on the fridge that we use for the grocery list, instructions for my husband when he's cooking dinner, and other important items). The small board has now officially become our menu board. This morning at breakfast, I pulled the board off the fridge and asked my husband and daughter what they want to eat this week. Here's what we came up with:

Monday: The board says spaghetti, but we didn't eat the pork chops I thawed for tonight's dinner, so we're having that instead. We'll have spaghetti next week. Not sure how I'm going to prepare them yet, but I'm looking at this recipe. It's pretty similar to what we're having Tuesday, though, so I may go a different route.

Tuesday: cube steak and potatoes. That was my husband's contribution, and one of his favorite meals. I dip it in milk and seasoned flour, then pan fry it, and serve it with garlic mashed potatoes and salad.

Wednesday: chicken bake. This will be a riff on the chicken bakes they sell at Costco - we just finished a box of them and apparently they were memorable to my two-year-old because she definitely wants them! I'll make them like calzones, with alfredo sauce (though I think the official Chicken Bake might use caesar dressing), grilled chicken, bacon, green onions, and Italian blend cheese. We'll probably have them with salad.

Thursday: creamed tuna. Just because I'm still relishing the fact that, now that I get home an hour earlier three nights a week, biscuits can be a weeknight meal item once again. I even bought buttermilk, so we'll be having the good ones!

Friday: chicken and bows. This is a new one for us, but it sounds delicious and I'm looking forward to trying it! I'll be making it with a quick white sauce flavored with chicken broth instead of the cream of chicken soup, as I'm trying to steer away from those at the moment.

Feeling stuck with the same old boring meals? Head on over to Meal Plan Monday at www.orgjunkie.comhttp://orgjunkie.com/category/menu-plan-monday and browse through thousands of menu suggestions from bloggers all over the internet!

Have a great week!

The making of a "superherio" cape

2011-08-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

My daughter is in "Superherio" mode these days. No, not a superhero, a SUPERHERIO. It cracks me up every time she says it! Anyway, last night I decided that every superherio needs a proper cape, so I broke out the play silks that I never quite got around to dying and told her that we could make her one.

I picked a big square - I think it's 24x24 (purchased from Dharma Trading Co.). I've done Kool-aid dying before, and knew that it was quick and easy, which fit the bill for this morning - we were able to squeeze it in between breakfast and a visit to the butcher shop. I followed the general directions here, but didn't follow them exactly.

First, I washed the scarf in a little Woolite-type detergent. Once it was well rinsed, I got started on the colors. Since I was just doing one scarf, I put about three cups of water in a saucepan, added a generous "glug" of white vinegar (probably 1/4 cup or so), and stirred in the Kool-aid packets. For pink, I used a packet of pink lemonade flavor and half a packet of strawberry. I heated it up on the stove until it was just steaming, then poured it into a bowl. Because she wanted two colors, I folded the scarf into a triangle, then put a rubber band in the middle, at the point. This gave the blocks of color a diagonal shape.

We dipped one end, up to the rubber band, in the dye, and I set the timer for 10 minutes while my daughter poked and stirred the scarf.

For the orange dye, I followed the same directions as the pink, but used two full packets of orange Kool-Aid. When the pink end was done, I pulled it out, running my fingers down it to squeeze out some of the excess dye. Then I put that end into a zip-top bag, so it wouldn't stain my counters or floor while we did the orange end. My kitchen may be lived in, but it's not THAT lived in, LOL!

Same procedure as the pink. If you're doing two colors, I recommend you do the darker color first, so that if the middle ends up in the second color, it won't be as noticeable.

After 10 minutes of soaking, I squeezed out the orange end and put it in the bag, taking care not to let the two sides touch.

I sealed all but about an inch of the bag, and popped it in the microwave on high for two minutes. That sealed in the color. I always double-check by rinsing out the scarf afterward, but I've never had any color leakage after the microwave treatment. Then I removed the rubber band, and we hung it out on the line to dry.

Then we ran to the butcher shop, and, by the time we got home 20 minutes later, it was dry and ready to go!

Superherio Caitlyn - off to save the world!

Kiddie Kraft FAIL

2011-02-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

Last week, I was perusing the latest issue of Family Fun magazine, which naturally is chock-full of Valentine's Day crafts. We're going to see half of Caitlyn's cousins on Saturday, so I thought it would be fun for her to make some valentines for them. My eye landed on these adorable yarn hearts. Three ingredients - cornstarch, water, yarn. What could be simpler?

So yesterday I picked up some yarn and heart-shaped cookie cutters at the grocery store. Today, we got the stuff out to start. We had to run a quick errand, so before we left, I mixed up the glue. We were gone for 20 minutes, and by the time we got home, the glue was a solid, gelatinous mess. So I stirred in the hot water, as they instructed. Seems to me, based on my knowledge of cornstarch, that it should have smoothed right out. Instead, we ended up with a clumpy, watery mess. But I decided to forge ahead and make the best of it.

Went to get the yarn. No yarn. Where the heck is the yarn? I know I bought it, I remember her scanning the coupon...it has to be around here somewhere! I still have no idea where it is, so I went and got some different yarn from my stash. No problem.

Sat my daughter down, put her smock on, and showed her how to dip the yarn, squishing it around to get the glue all over it, then how to scrape it off (since, remember, we have a gloppy clumpy lumpy mess instead of nice smooth glue). I helped her put the first piece in the cookie cutter and stood back to watch her do the second one.

If there's one thing I've learned about my daughter through our crafting, it's that she has little regard for process. Maybe that's a two-year-old thing, I don't know. But she has no interest in following steps and instead is eager to just do her own thing. Sometimes that works great. For this project, not so much! She dipped just the very tip of the yarn in the glue, and then put it in the cutter. So I showed her again. And then she asked to watch WonderPets.

Since she obviously had no interest in this particular project, I cleaned up her hands and let her go watch WonderPets. Since we had one partly done, I went ahead and finished it.

At least she'll have a Valentine decoration to hang up in her room, right? And tomorrow, we'll paint...

Homemade Playdough

2011-01-31T08:46:00.000-08:00

Here at our house, we still have our arts and crafts on. Last week, Caitlyn got to try out watercolor paints for the first time. She had a little trouble with the order - water...paint...paper...water...paint...paper...and consequently had some vibrantly colored water and some very wet, not very colored paper, but she loved it anyway. She now asks to paint almost every day. I really need to get some watercolor paper for her, because I'm still looking for my regular brushes and those teeny tiny little brushes that come with the paint sets will rip through a piece of regular paper in no time flat.

Yesterday, we made homemade playdough! That's a brand new thing for Caitlyn - she's had bread dough to play with before, but never really figured out what to do with it, other than copying whatever I was doing. But yesterday I was able to show her a few things. We used a recipe from First Art, roughly equivalent to the "Nature's Playdough" recipe found here (I used food coloring but I like their ideas for natural dye!). Caitlyn loved dumping the ingredients in the pan (helping me cook is one of her favorite activities), and then went off to play while I cooked it. We made two batches, one green, and one blue, and cooking it took roughly 20 minutes from start to kneading. It smelled pretty bad, so I kneaded in some lavender essential oil, which helped some. Then we let it cool off for half an hour or so.

They were, in a word. vibrant. I didn't measure the food coloring - I just dumped. Wowza!

I gave her just a few tools to start out with - a rolling pin (aka a leftover piece of dowel from one of her daddy's projects), my garlic press, and a little spoon/knife combination (got it free when I bought kiwis one time - it's a nifty little tool). She pretty much just stabbed it with the knife, until I showed her how to make "hair" with the garlic press. Then it was on!

She happily made blue-green hair for about 45 minutes, which is something just short of a miracle for my busy girl. The only other thing that holds her attention that long is the WonderPets...

I have a hunch this will become a regular plaything in my kitchen. And I am perfectly fine with that! Safe, fun, and easily replaced once it dries out.

My next acquisition will be a few yards of PUL to use as a drop cloth/table cover for messier projects, and I'm also on the hunt for a local source of powdered tempera paint. I have a couple of art supply stores to call today.

Experimental Alphabet

2011-01-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

Caitlyn is really starting to explore letters and numbers, so I decided it was time to get a magnetic alphabet set. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything that meets my requirements yet (no batteries required, and good reviews on Amazon). So, while I keep looking, I came up with a temporary solution. And hey, if it's successful, it may just be a permanent solution!

Armed with my usual plethora of coupons, I headed to the fabric/craft store to see what I could find that might work. In the art foam aisle, I found a huge box of letters and numbers of all different colors. Then, I found a roll of self-adhesive magnet material, and I was good to go.

I simply picked out the letters and numbers I wanted, cut the magnet strip to fit on the back, stuck it all together, and it was done! Easy as pie.

Pardon my dirty door!

The whole thing cost me less than $10, and I have enough material to make several more sets as letters get lost.

Note: This is not a good project if your little one likes to put things in their mouths. The magnet pieces are very small and, while they have a good sticky back, they could still be peeled off. We're fortunate that Caitlyn is very good about that.

Kiddee Krafts #1

2011-01-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok, I'm not really going to title this series "Kiddee Krafts". Sheesh. How cheesy is that???

My daughter and I did our first project today. It didn't exactly turn out the way I planned. See, I thought we were going to have pretty much the whole morning at our leisure, and we could hang out and make cotton ball collages. Instead, we had to make a quick trip to the grocery store because we were out of milk. Then, I realized it was almost 10:00, and that it was Friday, and that Preschool Storytime at the library (three blocks away) was about to start. Normally, that's no big deal, because we usually go to Baby Storytime (Caitlyn is seriously not ready to actually sit through a book with the preschoolers), but Baby Storytime has been canceled since Thanksgiving, and won't start up again till February, and we hadn't been in the library since mid-November. So I gave Caitlyn the choice - library or art project - and she enthusiastically picked the library. Mainly because she loves the library and has made friends with all the staff (I swear she thinks she owns the place), and because she had NO idea what an art project is!

So I figured, no problem, we'd just do the project tomorrow. After all, it's a whole weekend with no plans, so we'll have lots of time. But as soon as we got home, Caitlyn started asking about the project. "Project Mommy, Project! Do project!" I looked at my watch. 11:00. Hour till lunch time. No problem. Except...I still had to make dinner (I make dinner in the mornings and my husband puts it in the oven while I'm at work). So, here we go again, together time that isn't "together". Ah, well, best laid plans, right?

I set her up next to me at the kitchen counter, with a paper bowl of glue, some cotton balls, and some paper. I showed her how to dip the cotton in the glue and she took it from there - a natural.

(Note to the concerned - don't freak out - she can't reach those knives. I'm not sure what I'll do when she can, but we're all safe for the time being!)

I was making tuna casserole for dinner, so I had to open the cupboard in front of her to get the noodles out. I have lots of jars of noodles up there, all different shapes and colors. She started reaching for the macaroni, so I got it down and let her have some of that, too. Voila - mixed media!

She ended up just basically laying the macaroni out without any glue, so I glued it all down for her when she was done. I wasn't sure how much she enjoyed it, but when I got home from work, she grabbed the cotton balls and begged me to do another one with her. We had a little time before dinner, so I obliged. She wanted me to do this one, though, so I dipped everything in the glue and let her show me where to put it. Finally, the "together" time I intended!

When we were done, we took this morning's creation into her room, and I let her pick out a place of honor on her wall. She wanted to put it right under her bookshelves, where she can see it from wherever she is in the room. I think it's the perfect place.

Activities for the toddler set

2011-01-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

Now that my daughter is two, she's definitely showing signs that she's ready to start taking on some new activities. In the house, she's frequently coloring, or "cooking dinner" (which is cheese crackers, 99% of the time) in her play kitchen. Outside, she's constantly playing in our gravel pathway, picking out specific rocks and excitedly bringing them to me to show me how beautiful they are.

At the same time that she's making new discoveries, I'm feeling like the time we spend together isn't "together" enough. So often she's playing while I'm making dinner, checking email, folding laundry, and doing countless other tasks that keep the household running. It's really starting to bug me, so I've decided that, starting this week, I'm going to do something about it.

I recently bought a couple of great books full of ideas for activities - The Toddler Busy Book has a TON of great ideas for all different kinds of activities - crafts, songs, things to do in the car, it's a real gem. First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos has a wonderful array of art projects, most of which use simple items easily found at home or in grocery or craft stores. I've been spending my evenings reading through them, picking out some things that I think we'll enjoy doing together.

So, starting tomorrow, my daughter and I are going to take time out at least twice a week and do some kind of activity together. If it's on a weekend, I'll do everything in my power to get my husband to join in (not always easy - he's not really a joiner). It may be an art project. We may cook something together. Maybe we'll discover a new song. If it's not raining, we can go on a walk in our neighborhood. If I can figure out how to adjust her tricycle to fit her, she can go on a ride. Simple stuff. We'll just do it together.

Tomorrow, we're going to make cotton ball collages. I picked up some scrapbook paper at the craft store today - I'm planning to hang it on her wall when we're done, so I wanted something a little more decorative than the traditional construction paper. I think she'll really enjoy playing with the glue - especially when she discovers you can peel it off your hands once it dries!

I already told her we'd make cheese crackers from scratch this weekend. She's been talking about it all day!

I'll be posting here about our activities from time to time, so I have a record for my memory, which certainly isn't what it used to be. I'm looking forward to fun and adventures!

Six things

2011-01-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Just saw a great idea on Nailing Jello to a Tree's facebook page: make a list of six things to do today. Just six. Then do them. Sounds simple enough to me! Here are mine:

1. Take the cat to the vet for his checkup - done!
2. Scan recipes from three cookbooks
3. Take the "giveaway" boxes to Goodwill - done!
4. Put gas in the car - done!
5. Fold at least two basket's worth of laundry - done AND put away!
6. Update my daughter's blog - I'm woefully behind. - done!

I'll check back and let you know how I did!

Resolutions

2011-01-02T21:59:00.000-08:00

And so another year has come and gone...Happy New Year!

I looked back at last year's resolutions - in a nutshell, I resolved to read the entire Bible, menu plan each week, and get my compost pile in operational order. I finished the first, made a good effort at the second, and gave up on the third - we ended up dumping the whole pile out at my father-in-law's property and started over.

This year, instead of a resolution, I've decided on a theme - USE IT UP.

I spent a good chunk of my afternoon today cleaning out my bathroom closet. The closet holds a series of small storage boxes, each with a different type of item. Things like medication, first aid supplies. tooth care, lotions, soap and bath gel, etc. Well, these boxes are FULL. I threw out all the old, expired, nasty stuff, and we are starting over fresh (and yes, even after that, the boxes are still full).

I also did a lot of laundry today, and noticed how much detergent, soap, and general cleaning supplies I have out there.

My pantry is in a similar state - lots of odd little ingredients that sounded good at the time, but I never used.

Basically, I get bored easily and like to try new stuff. Lots of times I get things for free or at an ultra discount, so I figure "what the heck? It's not costing me much/anything." And then the stuff sits around and never gets used.

So this year, I will be making a concerted effort to use that stuff. All those little sample packages/hotel bottles of shampoo and hand lotion. The seven different kinds of laundry detergent that is currently living in my laundry room. All that shaving gel.

Also, this year, when I go shopping, I will ask myself three questions:

1. Do I need it?
2. Will I use it soon?
3. Can I make it at home for less money?

Hopefully if I am honest with myself, I will be bringing home a lot less STUFF in 2011. This will help with both the clutter and the budget, as we're looking ahead to major financial upheaval.

Happy 2011, everyone - hope it's a good one!

Pumpkin muffins

2010-10-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

I was looking in my freezer the other day, and realized that I'd better use up some of last year's pumpkin crop to make room for this year's! Every year I plant sugar pumpkins, then stew and puree the flesh and freeze it in two-cup portions for baking. Nothing says fall like the smell of something pumpkin baking in the oven! So, tonight I whipped up a batch of these and they're in the oven as I type this.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (all purpose flour works, too)
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. ground cloves
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. ground allspice
1 t. salt
2 cups pumpkin puree (or 1 small can)
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 24 muffin tins, or line them with paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Make a well in the center and add the pumpkin, oil, and eggs. Stir until smooth. Scoop into prepared muffin tins.

Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack and wrap airtight for storage.

Excellent spread with cream cheese!

Sticking to the Grocery Budget

2010-10-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name's Karen, and I'm a compulsive grocery shopper. Seriously. The only time I ever stick to my list is when my husband is with me, and that's just because he hates grocery shopping so much it's quick in, quick out. I, on the other hand, consider grocery shopping a recreational activity. In fact, it's the only kind of shopping that I enjoy. So it should come as no surprise that I have a heck of a time staying within the budget.

We budget $300 a month, which, in writing, I've broken into two amounts - $175 for the first half of the month, and $175 for the second. That way I don't spend $250 up front and have no money left for milk and bananas at the end of the month. Not that I haven't spent $250 up front and gone on to spend another $175, don't get me wrong!

Last month my husband and I took a good hard look at our spending, and decided something needed to be done. So we dropped cable, got a VOIP phone service, and made a commitment to getting our spending back on track. Not only did I recommit to sticking to my grocery budget, but we also (at that point) completely eliminated our eating out budget. We've since seen the folly of our ways, and have added a small amount back in for restaurants, but nothing at all like we have been.

So here I am, trying to stick to my grocery budget. It seems like no matter what I go into the store to buy, I end up spending $110+. I will admit that I go to one of the more expensive grocery stores in town, but I buy a lot of organic, natural, and/or local foods, which they have there, and that all costs more. But really, after visiting a couple of the cheaper grocery stores in town, they aren't really that much cheaper, and the quality is a lot lower. I also buy local, natural pork and grass-fed beef from a local butcher, which costs a little more (but, again, not that much more considering the difference in quality).

This weekend, when I went on my regular shopping trip, I had a little over $21 left to spend until the 15th. Fortunately, all we really needed was milk, fruit, and yogurt (my daughter eats Cheerios, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast almost every day). I could have made yogurt, but I had a coupon for a free pack of YoBaby and found some organic on manager's special (orange tag) for $1.49. I also got a gallon of organic whole milk (that's what my daughter drinks) on manager's special for $2.49. Those combined were less than I was planning to spend on her milk alone, so I was ahead of the game. I usually buy a gallon of organic milk and a gallon of regular for hubby and me, but got two gallons of regular instead - they're half the price of organic.

Knowing we have plenty of canned fruit in the cupboard, blueberries in the freezer, and apples in the crisper drawer, I skimped a bit on the fruit. Hubby said he could do without his usual daily orange as long as there are honeycrisp apples in the house (I buy them from a local farmstand for about $1 a pound less than at the grocery store), so I just picked up a few bananas. That left enough for a pint of heavy cream for a dessert I was making to take to the neighbor's last night, and a carton of ice cream to go with the apple crisp I knew I'd be making today (with the last of our backyard apples, which are only good for cooking!). We buy the store brand version of premium ice cream - at $2.99 a carton, it's less than half the price and tastes exactly the same.

At the last minute, I ran back to the produce aisle to pick up a bag of organic grapes - they're from California and SO GOOD right now! That was my real splurge - two pounds cost $4.20. My total came to $20.53. After all that, if I stay out of the store, I have $1.13 left to carry over to the second half of the month!

Today's safety tip

2010-08-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

You know how you can make water explode in the microwave just by bringing it to a boil in a smooth glass cup? Turns out you can do the same thing on the stovetop by bringing the water to a boil, turning off the heat without uncovering it, and then bringing it back to a boil 15 minutes later. Ask me how I know. Now ask me how glad I am that no one was in the kitchen when half the water in the spaghetti pot exploded all over the place!

Grilled chard

2010-07-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

I planted two "experimental" veggies in the garden this year - fennel and chard. Experimental because I have no experience with them, but I'm interested in trying them and if it turns out that I like them, it's cheaper to grow than to buy at the store!

I tried out the fennel in a salad a few weeks ago, and tonight it was time to try some chard. I heard someone on the radio the other day talking about grilling it. I've never thought of grilling greens, but I'm up for grilling just about anything, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Sometimes the simplest preparations can really make a vegetable sing. Grilled chard is no different. I accidentally oversalted it, but the pieces that weren't too salty were really wonderful! I'll definitely be making this again - it was so simple and so good. I used golden chard, since that's what I have growing this year.

1 bunch chard
olive oil
kosher salt, to taste

Clean chard and chop into large pieces (I just cut it cross-wise with scissors). Put in a bowl, drizzle olive oil over, and sprinkle with salt. Place in a grill basket and grill over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, or until wilty and slightly charred. Serve hot.

Two thumbs up!

Homemade laundry soap

2010-07-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

Just whipped up my first batch of homemade laundry soap since my daughter was born. She's almost 19 months old. I have no idea what took me so long - I have all the ingredients and it only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish!

As I was pouring it into the container, I noticed the label on the side where I started recording the dates I made it so I could see how long a batch would last. I've been recording dates since January 2005. I was using it at least six months before that. Six years, and I still love it!

"Homemade" is a bit of a misnomer here. It's really more like "home mixed". You're not actually making anything here, you're just grating and combining. This is wonderful stuff - you only need one tablespoon per load (yes, I said TABLESPOON), it cleans like a champ, and your clothes come out smelling like, well, like clean clothes. None of those icky artificial fragrances. I really don't like any of those (except the smell of Bounce, because it reminds me of my grandma, and I do occasionally use that on her old tablecloths). A tablespoon of this soap and a half cup of vinegar in the rinse and you're good to go. No other cleaners, fabric softeners, etc. required. I use it for everything except diapers, because I heard that the fat in the soap can make the diapers repel liquid. I've never experienced that with my towels, but I'd rather not find out the hard way with the diapers, you know?

The ingredients for this are really easy to find. I've used two brands of soap - Zote and Fels Naptha. Fels Naptha can be found at a lot of grocery stores (in the Portland area, both Fred Meyer and Winco carry it). I prefer the scent of Zote, which can be easily found at Mexican markets. Zote comes in two sizes - the white bar is larger and the pink bar is smaller. Either one works.

You'll also need washing soda, which is made by Arm and Hammer and comes in a yellow box, not to be confused with baking soda in the orange box. Two totally different products. The third ingredient is Borax, which can be found with the laundry products in a green box, under the "20-Mule-Team" label.

If you're using the larger, white Zote bar:

1 bar Zote soap
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax

If using the smaller, pink Zote OR Fels Naptha:

1 bar Zote or Fels Naptha
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax

This is done most easily with a food processor. First, cut the soap into chunks and then grate. Dump the grated soap into a bowl, change out the grating blade for the chopping blade, put the soap back in, and whir until it is finely ground (if you don't have a food processor, just use your grater and then chop it into smaller pieces with a knife).

Dump the soap back into the bowl, add the washing soda and borax, and mix thoroughly. Store in an airtight container and use one tablespoon per load. Works in any washing temperature - I wash almost everything on cold and I've never had a problem with it dissolving.

One batch used to last us six months. Now that there are three of us, including a messy toddler, we'll see how long it lasts!

Harvest Update

2010-06-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to be diligent about weighing nearly everything that we've harvested from our yard this year. I'm curious to know just how productive our efforts are. I haven't weighed the herbs and a couple of times I've skipped the mesclun, but for the most part, I've gotten it all (except, of course, for the occasional nibble that didn't make it back to the house!). At first I was weighing an entire day's picking together, but now I'm separating it out by item.

Here's what we've gotten so far since we started picking back in April. All produce is cleaned before weighing.

Radish and lettuce thinnings (combined weight) - 3.625 ounces
Radishes - 1.8 pounds
Lettuce - 1.64 pounds
Strawberries - 10.25 pounds
Spinach - 1.25 pounds
Green onions - 1.13 ounces
Peas - 1.7 pounds
Potatoes - 3 pounds

Total harvest to date: 20.3 pounds.

I also harvested some baby fennel but I totally forgot to weigh it. It wasn't more than half a pound, I'm sure.

I am absolutely thrilled with the amount of food we're getting this year. I've just about stopped buying vegetables at the store, though I have been picking up some things at the farmer's market that we don't grow. Since my daughter wants to be outside all.the.time, I'm spending a lot more time weeding and tending to things, so it's not getting overgrown and out of control like it has in past years. I'm also putting more of an effort into figuring out ways to creatively use what we have, too. It's been fun and I'm looking forward to seeing how we land at the end of the season!

This week's menu plan...

2010-06-29T21:44:00.001-07:00

Can be found here. Not very exciting, I'm afraid. But a menu plan, nonetheless!

Canning

2010-06-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a house where the canning kettle came out every summer. I have fond memories of Mom's canned cherries, peaches, pears and, yes, even prunes, which honestly were my favorite. I enjoy canning myself, and have put up an assortment of jams, jellies, and fruit over the years. Just fruits, though - I've never ventured into the wild world of pressure canning (mainly because the price of pressure canners makes me choke a little).

My husband and I used to can apple pie filling every year, until we found out that, actually, our apple pie filling recipe wasn't safe for canning. Oops, and thank you God for making sure we didn't get botulism! It's been a few years since I've stood over the kettle, though, and this year I was itching to get back to it.

Saturday my daughter and I ventured out to the farmer's market (I'm trying to go at least twice a month this season), and I picked up a half-flat of strawberries while we were there. I got them home, and the fun began!

Usually, jam requires a phenomenal amount of sugar. Something like a 1:1 fruit to sugar ratio - it's truly ridiculous. So this year I decided to try out a low-sugar recipe. I picked up some "no sugar needed" pectin (I used the Ball brand, but I know there are others out there) and some fruit juice and decided to give it a whirl. It calls for apple juice and up to three cups of sugar, but also provides instructions for using artificial sweeteners or honey. I stuck with the sugar because I can't stand artificial sweeteners, and I thought our honey would have too strong a flavor and overpower the strawberries.

I had forgotten how simple it is, really to make jam. Wash and crush the berries, add a cup of juice (I used apple-berry blend), stir in the pectin, and boil it for a while. Add the sugar (I used two and a half cups, about half of a normal recipe, but I could have gotten away with even less), boil some more, jar and process. Easy as pie.

And, from a half-flat of strawberries, we got a dozen half-pints of gorgeous (in color and flavor) jam, plus an extra pint to put in the fridge for now (because I didn't get enough jars out of the attic and didn't want to go get more, LOL!). It's like summer in a jar. Delicious!

Homemade Croutons

2010-06-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Homemade croutons are AWESOME. There's really no comparison to the store-bought kind, and they really do a great job of topping off a salad. They're super simple, too, so no excuses for not making them!

2 cups 1/2 inch bread cubes (I like using whole grain baguettes)
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/2 t. garlic powder

Put bread cubes in a bowl and drizzle olive oil over. Stir to coat. Sprinkle Italian seasoning and garlic powder over, stirring to combine. Spread on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Kool-Aid Dying

2010-06-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've been reading about playsilks a lot lately. I'm all about toys that fuel imagination and don't require batteries, so I decided to get some for my daughter. Then I read a blog post that pointed me here, where I read all about dying them with Kool-Aid. Perfect! I thought. A craft that I might actually have time to accomplish! So I ordered a bunch of scarves in various shapes and sizes from Dharma Trading Company, where they were uber-cheap (also made in China, unfortunately, but that's a rant for another day).

I've had them for a few weeks, but last Thursday I was seriously procrastinating about cleaning the house, so I decided to give it a shot. I started with grape, and dyed a couple of them purple.

First, I got them really wet and decided how I wanted to color them. The one on the left is a square, and I twisted and rubber banded it in tie-dye fashion. The one on the right is oblong and I just left loose.

Next, I sprinkled the Kool-Aid powder over the top of both scarves and squished it around until I got the level of color I wanted. Then I stuck them each in a Ziploc bag and mostly sealed it, leaving a corner open to let the steam out. I microwaved each one for two minutes, then took them out and left them in the bag to cool.

Once they were cool, I took them out of the bags, removed the rubber band from the square one, and rinsed. Not a drop of color came out - the heat completely sealed them. Finally, I hung them up to dry. The next morning, there they were, just waiting for Caitlyn to play with!

Can't wait to try this again - I think next time I'll do solid color, and mix the Kool-Aid with some water first to make it more like real dye.

Oh, and one word of warning - if you try this, wear gloves. Otherwise you, too, may wind up with grape-flavored hands! :-)

This week's menu plan...

2010-06-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

...can be found over at My Make Ahead Meals. Have a yummy week!

Garden update

2010-06-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

For weeks I've been meaning to post a list of everything I've planted in the garden this year. So far, I'm really happy with the specific selections I've made, so I want to remember for next year!

I buy the majority of my seeds from Territorial Seed. Their shipping is outrageous (this year I ordered with my sister-in-law so we could split the cost), but their seeds are magnificent.

This year, I've planted

From Territorial:

Beans: Jade and Soleil (don't know how these will do, but they sprouted just fine)
Carrots: Napa (I plant these every year - LOVE THEM!!!), and Meridia. Meridia is an overwintering carrot that you plant in the fall and harvest in the spring. Can't wait to try them out and see how they do!
Cucumber: Rocky
Lettuce: Summertime (planted this last year, too - hubby only wants to eat head lettuce and this is really good!)
Fennel: Perfection (never grown fennel before. Never eaten it before. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but it's growing really well!)
Onions: Candy and Tropeana Lunga
Parsley: Italian
Peas: Super Sugar Snap
Pumpkins: Small sugar (I planted these last year, too, and they are REALLY good in muffins!)
Radishes: French Breakfast (not sure I'll get these again - they're a little too mild for my taste)
Swiss Chard: Golden
Zucchini: Black Beauty
Basil: Aroma 1 (not doing well at all, but I think this is more due to all the rain we've been having than the seeds themselves)
Tomatoes: San Marzano Gigante (can't wait to see how big these will get!)

From other seed brands:

Dill
Cilantro

From plants purchased at nurseries:

Blueberries: Sunshine Blue
Raspberries: Fall Gold (and I had an Autumn Bliss but it died so I need to take it back and get another)
Rhubarb
Artichoke
Mesclun salad mix
A whole host of herbs - tarragon, oregano, sage, thyme, savory (what the heck am I going to do with savory?), chamomile, curry plant (what the heck am I going to do with that, too???), rosemary, etc., etc., etc. I love my herb garden.

I also started potatoes from some organic French potatoes that I bought at the grocery store. So far they're going great guns and I'm looking forward to harvesting them!

I still need to pick up some pepper plants, hopefully this weekend. I usually grow jalapenos and a couple of sweet peppers. The garden's getting pretty full, though, so we'll see what we end up with!

New Blog!

2010-06-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

I've started a second blog - My Make Ahead Meals. I wanted a spot where I could keep our weeknight dinner ideas separate from the rest of my blogging stuff (not that I've been blogging that much lately, I know!). My menus will probably be posted over there now. This blog will still have recipes that don't fit my "make ahead" criteria, gardening stuff, and whatever life musings happen to occur to me.

Feel free to check it out if you're interested!

Easy low-fat white sauce

2010-06-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I had an awesome fat-free white sauce recipe that I found in a Weight Watchers magazine. It involved toasted flour, chicken broth, and skim milk. That recipe disappeared eons ago. Well, actually, it was probably in that HUGE box of magazine clippings that my mom recently found in her basement - I told her to recycle them as quickly as possible because I didn't want to know what was in there!

Since then, I've been making my white sauce the old fashioned way - with tons of butter. Yum. Awesome for the taste buds, not so good for the waistline.

Then, a few weeks ago, I was making my Creamy Chicken Enchiladas for dinner when it suddenly hit me that the sauce, minus the chiles, is actually a super-simple, low fat (or fat free if you choose) white sauce recipe! Duh!

Here you go:

Easy Low-Fat White Sauce

1 cup chicken broth (or 1 cup water and 1 tsp. bouillon)
1/4 cup flour
1 cup evaporated milk
salt
pepper

In a small pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk the flour into the milk, eliminating any lumps. Once the chicken broth boils, SLOWLY whisk in the milk and flour mixture, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Season to taste with salt and pepper (or whatever your recipe requires).

If you're not so worried about calories, you can also use whole milk and it will come out just fine.

Enjoy!

Menu plan? What menu plan?

2010-04-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, it's been a couple of weeks since I posted a menu. I know you've all been waiting with bated breath... :-)

Quite frankly, I lost my menu planning mojo. I found myself staring at a freezer and pantry full of food and finding no inspiration. I didn't want to make ANYTHING. That's usually when I pull out the cookbooks and try to re-inspire myself, but, well, we've had nice weather so I went outside to play instead. In spite of that, we did pretty well. I picked dinner up on the way home a couple of times, but, for the most part, we were still eating at home.

This week, I'm striving to get back on track. I was lucky to be able to start out the week with a couple of leftovers meals, which helps!

Monday: leftover pizza with a salad (I've been making a ton of salad lately. It's been great!)

Tuesday: leftover cube steak, with baked potatoes and some kind of veggie. I haven't made cube steak for a while, but Friday I was inspired so I stopped and picked some up. I don't make it very often, because, well, it's not at all healthy (I basically chicken fry it), and it costs way too much for what it is, but it's one of hubby's favorites so I indulge him from time to time.

Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore (we have leftover sauce in the freezer from last time, so this will be nice and easy!

Thursday: Tuna casserole

Friday: Crock pot pot roast (last time I made a roast in the crock pot, my daughter must have pushed a button and turned off the program, because I came home to a cold crock pot and a half-cooked roast. Must remember to push it farther back on the counter this time - she's big on button pushing!).

Have a great week, everyone, and remember to go to orgjunkie.com for all your menu planning needs!

Garden 2010

2010-04-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited about my garden this year. Actually, I'm very excited about my garden every spring, and then somewhere around July I lose steam and things fall apart. I'm going to do my darndest to not let that happen this year.

We have some new hardware additions this year that I'm especially excited about. Hubby got tired of me whining about having to drag the hose across the yard, and of having to put the hose away every time the mowed the lawn (because I hate dragging the hose across the yard so I never bothered to put it away), so he put an underground water line out to a spigot next to the garden gate. Voila - garden water!

One day I read an article somewhere about the convenience of having a sink in your garden, so that you can just wash the vegetables right there and not have to bring all the dirt and crud into your house. I thought that was a brilliant idea, so he built me one of those, too. He really went the extra mile, though, because he made sure it had a counter top, so I can trim everything up on the spot and toss the trimmings right into the compost pile! It turned out spectacularly, as you can see...

The bucket, which has since been replaced by a watering can, catches the water so we can put it right back into use on the garden and nothing is wasted. We went with a regular garden sprayer instead of a faucet. Now I just need to head to Goodwill and get a colander and cutting board to live on the shelf!

We're planting a bit differently this year. Since the tomatoes take over every year (literally - last year we had a 5-foot square hedge in the middle of the garden!), we're putting them in half-barrels this year. I also bought two potted blueberries that will be going into half barrels, just as soon as we get some soil to fill them. I've been wanting blueberries for a long, long time, but, outside of the garden itself, we have the worst soil in the universe, so this seemed like the best option.

I'm planting potatoes for the first time in about 10 years. Last time, I got a grand total of three potatoes. I hope it goes better this time! I bought a couple of planting bags for them - they're pretty cool, with side flaps that you can use to access the potatoes, allowing them to keep growing even as you harvest them.

Moving the tomatoes out frees up more space for other vegetables in the garden proper. So far, I have planted peas, onions, carrots, fennel, Swiss chard, lettuce, radishes, and spinach. Things are growing nicely so far. Still to come - beans (two kinds - yellow and green), zucchini, cucumbers (also two kinds, if last year's seeds are still viable), and pumpkins.

I also need to update my herb beds this year. Last year, we pulled out a couple of mistakes that were taking over everything - namely lemon balm and peppermint. They're still trying to take over everything, so I need to get some new things planted to help keep them back. I have basil and flat-leaf parsley started on a windowsill, and next month I'll head to the garden center and pick up a few more things. My rosemary is all but dead, so that needs to be replaced as well.

Lastly, I have a 5x3 trough of decent soil in the front yard that I need to fill with something. We pulled the roses out of it last year. I may let it lie this year and put raspberries on a trellis, or something like that, in it next year. That's originally where the blueberries were going to go but we decided it wasn't big enough to satisfy them. Decisions, decisions...

Menu March 28 - April 2

2010-03-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

Here's this week's menu:

Sunday: Pad Thai
Monday: Tamale Pie
Tuesday: Sausage and potato casserole (except I used turkey italian sausage instead of pork sausage. It was so good!).
Wednesday: Crockpot pork roast
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Buttermilk Chicken

enjoy your week!

Menu Plan March 21 - 26

2010-03-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I hate those weeks when we're gone more than we're home. This is our third week in a row like that. I'm running out of quick and easy menu ideas! I'm afraid this is going to end up being a chicken-heavy week...

Tonight: we had grilled pork chops, zucchini, and onions, and boiled potatoes with butter and chives (love having a plethora of chives right in my front yard!)

Tomorrow: meatloaf

Tuesday: crockpot orange chicken (I haven't found a recipe hubby will eat, so I cheated and bought the sauce at Panda Express!)

Wednesday: apricot chicken

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: potstickers (from a bag)

Have a fantastic week, and get yourself over to orgjunkie.com for hundreds of menu planning ideas every Monday!

Menu Plan March 15 - 19

2010-03-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Another busy week! I much prefer the weeks where we are at home more mornings than we are out - it makes it much easier for me to keep up with things!

Here's my plan for this week:

Today: crock pot beef stroganoff
Tomorrow: pineapple chicken
Wednesday: chili
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: chicken enchiladas

Enjoy your week! And please remember to visit orgjunkie.com for a wealth of menu planning ideas!

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

2010-03-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm making this up as I go along today - hopefully it will turn out well!

1 pound stew beef, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
2 T. olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 T. minced garlic
1 cup beef broth (I use Better than Bouillon)
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 cup sour cream
Cooked egg noodles

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, mix the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and Cajun seasoning. Dredge the meat in the flour and saute in the oil until browned.

Layer the onions, mushrooms, and garlic in the crock pot. Put browned beef on top, then add the Worcestershire sauce over all. While the frying pan is still hot, add the beef broth and stir to loosen up the browned bits on the bottom. Pour into crock pot. Stir to combine all.

Cook on low for six hours. Just before serving, stir in sour cream and heat till warmed through. Serve over noodles.

Edit: I originally wrote this recipe to have two cups of liquid. It was way, way too much - it hadn't even finished reducing on the stove by the time the noodles cooked! So I'm cutting out the water and just using beef broth - and I may even reduce the amount of that next time. But there will definitely be a next time - this was full of beefy goodness!

Menu Plan March 7 - 12

2010-03-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

I didn't do a menu plan last week. We did ok in spite of that. I didn't realize until Wednesday that all we had in the freezer were seven different kinds of sausage and some chicken, though, so I did some weekday shopping! We ended up with:

Monday: Chicken Cacciatore
Tuesday: Turkey tenderloin baked in cranberry sauce
Wednesday: Burger King (I discovered the meat issue too late to do anything about it)
Thursday: BBQ baked chicken (because I didn't think of it on Wednesday, LOL!)
Friday: Potstickers (from a bag - we like the Ling Ling brand)

I've done my shopping and we are now stocked up! This is going to be a VERY busy week - far busier than I like. If we stick to our schedule and do both of our regular extra-curricular activities (story time and swimming), we'll be out four mornings this week. Fortunately, one of those mornings is for my department meeting at work, which means I get to come home early that day, but still... So I've taken some time this evening to do a little prep work in anticipation of the busyness.

First, I took two pounds of ground beef out of the freezer and cooked it up with onions and garlic. One half I left like that for spaghetti this week and a casserole next week (half a pound each), and the other half I seasoned for tacos. At the moment, I'm waiting for water to boil for pasta for tomorrow night's casserole. I should have done that while the beef cooked, but I forgot!

Here's what's on tap for this week:

Today: pad Thai (recipe from Hungry Monkey)
Tomorrow: Tuna casserole
Tuesday: grilled chicken and potatoes
Wednesday: Tacos
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: spaghetti

Enjoy your week! And don't forget to visit orgjunkie.com for tons of great menu planning ideas!

Buying Local

2010-03-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of years, I have made a gradual effort to incorporate organic foods into our lives. We're not all organic, not by a long shot (and never would be, unless Frito Lay starts making organic Doritos, LOL!). But, when possible, I try to buy organic fruits and veggies, if they look like good quality and there isn't a ginormous price difference. I do find that the organic produce I find in my regular grocery store tends to go bad a lot quicker than the conventional stuff. I'm not sure why that is, but I have to be careful not to buy more than we'll use in a week.

I also will buy organic grain products - cereal, rice, oatmeal, etc. - when I find them. As for meat and dairy, a friend tipped me off a while back that, at our local Fred Meyer, when the organic stuff gets close to its sell by date, the price is slashed dramatically. So when I find those beloved "orange tags", I snag them. We end up getting organic milk about half the time (though I do pay full price every week for my daughter to drink organic whole milk), and the occasional pound of ground beef, that way.

I started buying the organic eggs about six months ago - I was buying the cage free ones, anyway, and the organic ones were only about 70 cents more a dozen, so I figured, what the heck? And now, apparently, I can't go back, because a few weeks ago I was at a different grocery store, and they didn't have organic eggs, and I bought regular ones and they were NASTY.

That said, I have never made much effort to buy local food. I've almost always had a vegetable garden of some sort, and I am the occasional farmer's market shopper (mostly during strawberry season). But I never really thought about it much, or made an effort to seek it out. Over the past year that, too, has changed. Last spring, a CSA opened up down the street from my office. I couldn't convince hubby to sign up, but I did take advantage of their farm store, and bought produce from them nearly every week over the summer. This fall, they also started carrying local honey from a farmer in the next town, and I coughed up the $20 to buy a jug of it. I am so glad I did - the difference between that and the Costco honey I've been buying all these years is like night and day!

For the past eight years, I've been driving by a local butcher/smokehouse about a mile from my house. I've seen them at the farmer's market in the past, but always thought they just did bacon and sausage. Then I did a little research and found out that they also sell beef, pork, and buffalo. On Friday, my daughter and I stopped in to check them out. Turns out all the meat is raised about 20 miles from us, and it's hormone-free, mostly antibiotic-free (they give the cows antibiotics when they are first born), and grass fed beef. I was afraid the price would be completely unreasonable, but it turned out that it is the same or less than the grocery store where I usually buy my meat (depending on the cut)! I was so excited. I bought a roast, some pork chops, and 10 pounds of ground beef to try, plus some pepper bacon (which was divine - we had it for breakfast this morning). They threw in some buffalo sausage for free, since I was a first time customer. Can't wait to try that!

So there I go, expanding my horizons again. Now, I would love to find a local source of dairy products and chicken. I can get local eggs, but they're $6 a dozen so I just keep buying the organic ones at the store...

Menu Plan Feburary 21 - 26

2010-02-21T21:45:00.001-08:00

We didn't eat what we were supposed to last week. We still ate at home, except for Friday night, but the menu changed a little. That's fine with me, it didn't mean any extra trips to the store or anything!

Last week, we ended up with sausage and peppers with penne, tacos, and baked chicken and potatoes. On leftover night (Thursday), we didn't have enough leftovers to go around, so I threw a corned beef in the crock pot and ate some of that with some toast, leaving the leftover sausage and peppers with penne for hubby and the girl (since hubby hates corned beef and the girl seems to be anti-meat these days, but will eat anything involving pasta). Friday I had a buy one get one free burger coupon for Red Robin, so we went out. Love those bleu ribbon burgers!

Now, on to this week:

Tonight, we had grilled chicken fajitas.

Monday: baked ziti (with turkey italian sausage in place of ground beef. Yum!)

Tuesday: Corned beef hash (because hubby who hates corned beef won't hesitate to eat it in hash. Weird). I'm going to try cooking all the separate ingredients ahead of time and then just browning it up when I get home. We'll see how it goes.

Wednesday: Ham and potato casserole

Thursday: my birthday. I don't know what we're having yet, I just know I'm not cooking it! I'm hoping we'll go to the beach for the day.

Friday: My daughter and I are having dinner with my parents, so hubby's on his own.

Have a great week! And visit orgjunkie.com for lots of great menu planning ideas!

January Budget Recap

2010-02-16T21:42:00.000-08:00

I tracked our spending very closely last month. It was the first time in a very long time that I've done that and, as always, it was confirmed that if you want to get ahead financially, it's the only way to go.

We went over in several categories. I knew we would, I just wanted to see where we stood with my guesstimates. We overspent on water (oh how I wish our town had an equal pay plan, like we have for electric and gas!), groceries, eating out, miscellaneous, and donations. Still, in the end, I had a tidy sum to put into savings, which I divided among general savings, the car repair/replace fund (which has been practically empty since my car needed several repairs over the summer), and an extra bit toward the mortgage. That was the first extra money I've put into savings in over a year. It felt great!

I tweaked our budget a bit this month to reflect the overages, but I'll still need to watch it like a hawk. Case in point - I hadn't tracked anything, anything at all, for February until today, and I'd spent our entire month's grocery budget by the 10th. And that doesn't even include a few things my mom picked up for me at Costco last week that I still need to pay her for. So we'll be well over our budget by month's end.

I build an automatic cushion into our budget each month. I base our income off of no overtime for hubby (he goes to work a little bit early every day, so there's always some overtime in his checks), and a 40-hour pay period for me. I work 20 hours a week and get paid twice a month, so my checks can range from 40 - 48 hours, depending on the number of days in the pay period. And, our total budget is less than even our base pay. So even when we're over budget, unless we're GROSSLY over budget, we're never actually out of money.

But still, the more I spend the less I can put into savings. And I really like putting money into savings! Oh, if my Grandpa could see me now. Up until I graduated from high school, if I put money in my savings account (which had to stay there till college), he'd match it. I just had to show him my bank statement. I think he matched it twice. Just twice. When I was a kid, money slipped right through my fingers. There was always something I wanted - a toy, a cassette, candy, whatever. If it was expensive, I always tried to get my mom to buy it for me so I could pay her back in monthly installments. That worked up to a point, and then she'd cut me off, telling me that all my money would be tied up in installments forever and I'd never be able to buy anything again. A slight exaggeration, to be sure, but it was a lesson I learned well and I don't fall for those sales ploys today!

So that's where we ended up for January. On to finish February - and on to a better month in March!

sausage and pepper penne

2010-02-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

Made this for dinner tonight. Unlike my last attempt at sausage and peppers, where I basically just threw some stuff together that sounded like it might work (it wasn't bad, just not great), this one was goooooooooooood. I got the recipe out of Parents magazine and tweaked it a bit...

1 T. canola oil
4 raw Italian sausage links
1 medium onion, chopped
2 red bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 cup water
1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes, with juice
1 T. basil
1 t. oregano
1 t. garlic powder
few cranks of black pepper
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 lb. mini-penne pasta

Over medium high heat, brown sausages in oil. Add onions and peppers, continue to cook for five minutes or until onions are transluscent. Add water, tomatoes, and spices. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove sausages, slice them, and return them to the pan. Continue to cook over medium heat until the sauce is very, very thick, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the penne according to the package directions. Before draining, stir two ladles-full of pasta cooking water into the sauce. Drain the pasta, stir into sauce, and cook an additional five minutes.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

Menu Plan February 15 - 19

2010-02-15T18:10:00.000-08:00

I didn't get my act together to post my menu last week, but we did pretty well in spite of ourselves. I think it was last week that we ended up with burgers one night because hubby forgot to put dinner in the oven (oops!), but overall we did ok. Now, let's see if I can remember what we ate, LOL!

I don't remember which nights, but we had:

tuna casserole
stuffed peppers
potstickers
pineapple chicken

Plus the night I picked up Burger King.

Here's what's on the menu for this week:

Tonight we're having sausage and peppers with penne
Tuesday: baked ziti
Wednesday: tacos
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: creamed tuna on biscuits (I'll be home from work early so I can make something that doesn't involve being made ahead. Yay!)

And remember, visit orgjunkie.com every week for fabulous menu ideas!

A note about what we eat...

2010-02-10T22:23:00.000-08:00

An anonymous poster commented the other day that my menus have a lot of fat and calories. This seems like a good time for me to first point out that I hate anonymous comments! I allow them because I know that not everyone who might read my blog has a blogger or google login, but I think it's common courtesy (or at least it should be) to sign your post, even if you're "logged in" anonymously. But I digress...

I feel like I should address this person, even though I have no idea who they are or if they will ever visit my blog again. Yes, it's true, our dinners are not the healthiest dinners on the planet. And, without seeing the ingredients I buy or the way I prepare my food, one might think that some of these dinners are spectacularly UNhealthy. And yes, some of them are, LOL! Mmmmm...deep fried shrimp...

A year or two ago, we ate fast food four or five times a week. Compared to that, our menus are downright health food! But seriously, I do my best in the parameters I have to work with. A lot of what we eat is dictated by the way I must prepare it. My husband works in the mornings. I work in the afternoons, and get home an hour and a half before he goes to bed. This way we don't have to have day care, which is important to us, but it also complicates menu planning quite a bit. He's willing to put things in the oven, but is not willing to prepare anything. Which is fine, I've always been the cook in this relationship. So, on the weeknights, I am basically limited to things that can be cooked either in a crock pot or a casserole dish. No grilling, no sauteeing, no steaming (except for vegetables, I cook those up when I get home).

I'm also married to a picky eater who is deathly afraid of new recipes (in his defense, I have made a couple of doozies). So I work within the confines of what I know he will eat, with the occasional venture into new territory, and try to "healthify" where I can. When we eat ground beef, it is either 90% or 96% lean (depending on what's on sale when I buy it). When we eat pork, it's almost always loin chops. Chicken is almost always tenderloins. He detests fatty meat and all but refuses to eat it, so I buy the leanest I can find.

I use a lot of olive oil in my cooking. I also don't use a lot of convenience foods, and I typically cook from scratch. Oh sure, there are canned soups in my cooking (I keep meaning to try the homemade "cream of whatever" soup mixes, but haven't done it yet), and on a weekend we'll have the occasional box of Helper. If I'm making meatloaf or meatballs or something like that, I'll make it with half lean ground turkey and half lean ground beef. If a recipe calls for shredded cheddar, I'll use sharp instead of medium, so I can get the same amount of flavor with a little less fat.

I also don't post side dishes in my menus, which may lead a person to believe that we don't eat vegetables. This is not the case, I just usually don't know what I'm going to do about sides until I actually get to that meal. We eat baked potatoes frequently, some rice (both white and brown, depending on our time schedule), and a lot of buttered noodles with parmesan (because that's my 14-month-old's favorite food in the whole world). We also eat a good helping of vegetables with every dinner. Sometimes it's a hot vegetable, sometimes it's a salad. Sometimes it's both. We eat a lot of fruit, too, and almost always get in our five servings for the day.

So yes, some of my menu choices may look like they have a lot of fat and calories. But, where I can, I minimize that by the ingredient choices I make and the sides that I serve with them. Hope that helps clear things up! :-)

Menu Plan February 1 - 5

2010-02-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

Another week, another plan. I am feeling completely uninspired this week, and don't actually know what all I'm going to make, but here's what I have so far:

Today: leftover pizza
Tuesday: tuna casserole
Wednesday: teriyaki chicken

Thursday and Friday are still up in the air at this point. Like I said, uninspired. But I'll pull it together...

Birthday Cake

2010-01-28T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today there's a Birthday Cake Round-Up at Life as Mom, so I'm entering the contest! My first-born had her first birthday in December, so I got to have the pleasure of decorating her first cake. I knew I wanted it to be a butterfly, and I knew I wanted it to be pastel. I also had a plan to do cupcakes in addition to the big cake. So off I went to the craft store, where I purchased over $30 worth of cake stuff - cardboard bases, food coloring, piping bags (but no tips, because fortunately my mom took a cake decorating class eons ago and has more tips than I could use in a lifetime), colored sugar, little fondant cutters shaped like flowers and butterflies, and I don't remember what else.

I found a pattern online for making it out of a round cake, and away I went. I had visions of a perfect cake with many colors of decorations using various icing tips. The cupcakes were going to have butterfly shaped colored sugar spots in the middle of them. That was the plan, anyway. Then the week of the party happened. In addition to the cake, I had to feed 30 people, so it was a busy week of preparations. By the time I got around to doing the cake itself, well, let's just say I was a little burned out.

And, let's not forget that watching Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss does not make one a cake decorator, LOL!

In the end, I told myself that it was a one-year-old's cake, so it only had to look like a one-year-old made it, LOL! And this was the final result:

Far from perfect, and far from my vision. But I had fun making it, and it sure tasted good!

Whole Wheat Apple Spice Muffins

2010-01-24T21:40:00.001-08:00

Ok, I haven't actually tasted these yet - they're in the oven now. They sure smell good baking, though!

I started with this recipe for a base and went from there...

2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. milk
1/2 c. plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 c. chopped cooking apples (such as Granny Smith)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pans. In a large bowl, combine the first 10 ingredients (pastry flour through cloves). In a smaller bowl, mix oil, milk, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Fold in apples.

Put batter in muffin tins, and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Makes 24.

Menu Plan January 23 - 29

2010-01-24T21:34:00.001-08:00

Well, once again, we did great with last week's menu! We didn't stick to it entirely, but we didn't eat out, either. We didn't have enough leftovers on Thursday, so I made a pot of white chili instead. And I thought I was out of onion soup mix, so we didn't have apricot chicken on Friday, but we had chili leftovers, so between that and the leftover meatloaf, we had enough for leftovers night. I'm really impressed with my menu-sticking ability so far this month!

Here's what's on tap for this week:

Saturday: we had grilled pork chops, noodles with butter and parmesan, and salad.

Today: we had take-n-bake pizza.

Monday: leftover pizza

Tuesday: Apricot chicken

Wednesday: spaghetti

Thursday: roasted turkey tenderloin

Friday: leftovers

As always, visit orgjunkie.com for hundreds of menu ideas!

Menu Plan January 16 - 22

2010-01-18T10:42:00.001-08:00

I'm backdating this to Saturday because we ate out for lunch on Friday, and then ate at home all weekend! Go us! For the most part, we're sticking to our budget really, really well so far this month (our misc. expenses category is going to need a little work, though!).

We stuck to last week's menu almost completely. I found that by the time Thursday rolled around, we didn't have any leftovers, so I pulled a chuck roast out of the freezer and threw it in the slow cooker. I made a really good broth to put over it, too - I mixed up some beef broth (made with Better than Bouillon - love that stuff - and no, they didn't give me any free product to say that!), Worcestershire sauce, garlic, chopped onions, and thyme, and poured it over the top. Normally I just use onion soup mix and water, but I was out, and this turned out even better. It'll definitely be a recipe to add to this site!

Anyway, the nice thing about that was that I made a really good gravy from the drippings, and I've had enough leftovers to have hot beef sandwiches with gravy for lunch a couple of times Other than that, we completely stuck to the menu last week. Woo hoo!

So here's the plan for this week:

Saturday: We had bulgogi (recipe from Hungry Monkey), sesame rice, and steamed broccoli.

Sunday: We had jambalaya (from a box - I still haven't tried that crock pot jambalaya recipe I've had my eye on for months!) with smoked sausage and corn.

Today: Swedish meatballs and spaetzle (the meatballs were made ahead and frozen, but I always make fresh spaetzle).

Tomorrow: tacos

Wednesday: meatloaf, mashed potatoes

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Apricot chicken, noodles with parmesan

Have a fantastic week! And remember that there are HUNDREDS of fabulous menu ideas every Monday at orgjunkie.com!

Peppermint Ice Cream

2010-01-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

We made this over the holidays and, ohmygoodness, BEST ICE CREAM EVER. Of course, it's so fattening you should only eat it once a year, but what the heck - it was the holidays! This makes enough for a 1 gallon ice cream maker - if you have a smaller one, you can make half a batch.

4 cups milk (we used 1%)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 eggs, beaten
4 cups whipping cream
2 tbsp. vanilla extract
12 ounces peppermint candy, divided (we use three of those big peppermint sticks, but the round candies would work too.)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir together milk, sugar, and salt. Heat to 175 degrees.

Temper the eggs by whisking in a few spoonfuls of the hot milk mixture. Stir quickly so they don't curdle! Stir the egg mixture into the pot of milk, and cook and stir until the mixture reaches 160 degrees (this shouldn't take long). Remove from heat.

Let cool by putting the saucepan in a bowl of ice, stirring constantly. After a couple of minutes, stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, finely crush 2/3 of the peppermint (I find this works best by double bagging them in heavy freezer bags and using a rolling pin to mash them). Stir into the milk mixture. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Meanwhile, crush the rest of the peppermint into fairly big chunks (1/2 inch or so is good). Once the ice cream is done, stir in the chunks, put it in the freezer, and let it firm up for a few hours.

Enjoy!

crockpot roast chicken - a tip

2010-01-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today I made roast chicken in the crockpot for dinner. Now, you'd think after seven hours in the crockpot, the darn thing would be done, but it wasn't. We were in a bit of a hurry to eat (I get home just an hour and a half before hubby goes to bed), so I cranked the oven up to 400 degrees, put the chicken in a baking dish, and stuck it in for 15 minutes.

Not only did the chicken finish cooking, but the skin turned a BEAUTIFUL golden brown! Normally roast chickens come out of the crockpot looking, well, like my legs around February. Pasty white. This doesn't really matter to us, because we don't eat the skin, but if I was to ever make one in the crockpot for company, this is exactly what I would do! It was gorgeous!

Menu Plan January 11 - 15

2010-01-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm happy to report that we did really well with last week's menu plan! Other than the corned beef hash, we stuck to it 100%. I don't remember the last time that happened! We ended up having the hash today because we were short on potatoes by Friday, having had baked potatoes with our pork chops on Monday. When I realized on Friday morning that we didn't have enough, I stood in the middle of the kitchen, completely dumbfounded, looked at my 13-month-old and said "what ARE we going to have for dinner???" I have a pantry and two freezers full of food and I couldn't think of a single thing to make. Hence the need for menu planning! Fortunately I remembered that we had some leftover beef stew in the freezer and pulled it out. Once again, cook it once, eat it twice saves the day!

I'm also very proud of us because we only ate one meal out over the weekend. Usually we grab burgers or Taco Bell for lunch and go out for at least one dinner, but we're really trying to stick to our budget this month and that means limited eating out! At lunchtime we had two of our old standby's - grilled cheese and tomato soup on Saturday, and boxed mac and cheese with cut up Polish sausages in it on Sunday. If we're going to limit eating out, I'm definitely going to have to come up with more creative quick and easy lunches - this will get old fast!

At any rate, here's the menu for this week:

Monday: crock pot roast chicken (I got whole chickens for 69 cents a pound yesterday!)

Tuesday: calzones (I started with this recipe and then embellished (mine will have sausage in it, too, for instance). I made double filling last time so I just have to pull it out of the freezer this time!).

Wednesday: Chicken cordon bleu casserole

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: hamburger casserole

That should get us through the week! And remember, for more great menu ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com!

P.S. I originally messed up the links and posted this link to how to make frozen hashbrowns instead of the calzone recipe! Oops! I'm also going to try making the frozen hashbrowns this week - I just bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes for $1 and I know we won't eat them all before they go bad!

Menu Plan January 4 - 8

2010-01-03T22:19:00.001-08:00

A new year, a new week, back on track. Now, to figure out what to eat... We were supposed to have one meal of leftover lasagna from dinner with my family tonight, but of course silly me went and left it at my brother's house! Aargh!

Monday: Cranberry pork chops
Tuesday: leftovers (we have some chicken and noodles, and some chili, left from last week)
Wednesday: Tuna casserole
Thursday: chicken and stuffing
Friday: Corned beef hash

Don't forget to go to orgjunkie.com for more great menu ideas!

Just a random thought - one of my big challenges every day is that, because of our work schedules (hubby works 5:00 - 1:30, I work 2:00 - 6:00), dinner has to be made in the morning before I go to work, and then either cooked in the crock pot. This means that I don't have the opportunity to use a lot of convenience foods (there are some boxes of Helper that have been in my pantry over a year now!). But I was thinking the other day, that it's actually a good thing - we're probably getting a lot less salt and preservatives than we would if I was still cooking with things from boxes. Now, don't get me wrong, I still use my fair share of canned soups and beans and such, but overall we use so much less than we did when I worked full time and was getting home at 5:30 and rushing to get dinner on the table.

One of my resolutions is to stay within my grocery budget (well, my budget overall, but groceries are my biggest downfall), so this year I'll be exploring ways that I can make my own "convenience foods", like stuffing mix, cream of whatever soup, etc. I have had recipes for all that stuff for years, I've just never experimented with it. Can't think of a better time than now!

Breakfast

2010-01-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

For the first time in a very long time, the hubby and I both took the week between Christmas and New Year's off. It was wonderful! We spent some good quality time together as a family, started a new home improvement project (putting down a new attic floor and adding an attic ladder so I can actually go up there once in a while), and ate a lot of really great breakfasts.

Normally I'm more of a dinner cook. Now, I love breakfast, don't get me wrong, but I'm so far from a morning person it's not even funny, and just the thought of cooking a full breakfast usually sends me back to bed! But this week, I was inspired.

It started off Christmas morning with buttermilk biscuits and Sawmill Gravy. Biscuits are a regular occurrence at our house, but I'd never made sausage gravy before. It was awesome!

Then, hubby gave me a new waffle iron for Christmas, so of course the next morning we had to have waffles. I was going to try out the recipe that came with the iron, till I saw it had 20 grams of fat per serving, and instead made our regular old recipe. To jazz them up a bit, I topped them with sliced strawberries (from the freezer) and whipped cream.

We also had cheese omelets with bacon and fruit salad one day.

Another day, I made buttermilk pancakes. Best pancake recipe EVER. But they also take forever to cook (low and slow, to get the centers done), so I don't make them very often.

And, then we had waffles with strawberries again. Another day we had French toast.

We only had cereal twice, all week. Usually we have it every weekday! Fantastic!

Resolutions

2010-01-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions for a while, but I decided that this would be the year to pick some back up. My life is feeling way too chaotic lately, and I'm not feeling very grounded. So, my first resolution is to read the Bible every day. I signed up with this site to have a reading sent to me each day by email. This means that I can read it on my iPod while my daughter naps. She will only nap in my lap, so I have some quiet time for about 45 minutes each morning.

Second, I need to get back on my budget. I'm starting small with this one - just doing it for the month of January, to make sure our budget is still workable. Then we'll adjust as needed and take it from there. This means REALLY reigning in my grocery shopping habits, but I know I can do it if I plan and prepare!

Third, I'm going to do a menu plan every single week. I may not always stick to it, but just having a plan really helps bring my days into focus.

Fourth, I'm going to try to cut our food waste in half and really start using our compost pile, which will help enrich our garden. We've been doing well for the past year by having "leftover night" every Thursday, the night the garbage goes out. Any leftovers that don't get eaten on Thursdays go in the garbage. But I could do even better by incorporating leftovers into my breakfasts and lunches. Usually I just eat cold cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch, but I'm home so why not just heat up some leftovers? Caitlyn would probably enjoy a little more variety, too...

That's a start. Seems like a lot. But if I take it in chunks, it should all be very achievable!

Menu Plan November 9 - 13

2009-11-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

It's funny how quickly you become reliant on something like a menu plan. I started last week without one, and I really missed it! I did manage to pull it together, though we had takeout on Friday because I was totally uninspired. We ended up eating:

Buttermilk chicken
Apricot chicken (which I really liked, which surprised me because it's such a weird mix of ingredients!)
Apple glazed pork chops (which were nasty, nasty, nasty and I won't ever make them again!)

This week, I'm back to planning!

Today, we're having cheddar chicken and pasta bake

Tomorrow: bulgogi (recipe from Hungry Monkey)

Wednesday: Spaghetti

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: buffalo chicken

Should be a good week!

Menu Plan October 25 - 30

2009-10-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Last week we did a decent job of sticking to the menu. Friday's jambalaya didn't happen, because I forgot I had to work early and didn't get home in time to get it in the crockpot. I think we ended up going out for teriyaki instead. I did finally get that orange chicken made, and hubby HATED it. I'd love to give it one more go (it was too sweet and needed more vinegar), but he said that he'll never eat it again, so I guess that's out. I was really looking forward to having a somewhat healthy alternative to Panda Express, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

We've finally hit the rainy season (I look forward to the return of the rain all summer long), and it's comfort food, comfort food, comfort food for me! So here's the plan this week.

Sunday: I made Swedish meatballs and spaetzle. So good. I think I could eat this every day! I made a double batch, using half ground beef and half ground pork, and it made enough meatballs for three meals for our little family. My 10 month old couldn't stop eating the spaetzle. She loves her carbs!

Monday: Scalloped potatoes and ham. I didn't have the Swiss cheese, so I just doubled the cheddar. And I made it with two cups fat free half and half and one cup of milk, and it was so rich and wonderful!

Tuesday: Beef Stew

Wednesday: Hamburger Casserole

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Stuffed Peppers

Please remember to visit orgjunkie.com for more great menu ideas!

Pad Thai

2009-10-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

I made this for dinner tonight. The original recipe came from Hungry Monkey, but I tweaked it a bit so here's my version.

Sauce (makes enough for two batches):

12 T tamarind concentrate (sour soup base)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
6 T fish sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

If your tamarind concentrate is free of seeds, just mix all the ingredients together, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

If your tamarind still has some seeds (mine did), put it in a wire mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the water through it. Press it through the sieve with the back of a spoon, scraping the underside frequently, until all of the tamarind has been strained and just the seeds remain. Mix in remaining ingredients, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

The remaining sauce can be frozen.

Pad Thai (serves 4)

2 large chicken breasts, diced
1/4 cup canola oil
8 ounces pad Thai rice noodles
2 large eggs
1/2 recipe pad Thai sauce
1 T. minced garlic
3 scallions, sliced
1 cup bean sprouts, blanched for 1 minute in boiling water
lime wedges
chopped peanuts

Soak the noodles in hot tap water for 30 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute chicken in 2 T. oil until cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside, and add remaining 2T. oil to the pan. Add eggs and scramble. Add noodles, chicken, sauce, garlic, scallions, and bean sprouts and stir well until all the sauce has absorbed.

Serve with lime juice squeezed over and peanuts sprinkled on top.

Menu Plan October 19 - 23

2009-10-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Fall is in full swing and I couldn't be happier about it! Yesterday we cleaned out most of the garden (the pumpkins are still there - does anyone know if pumpkins keep ripening once the vines are dead?) and picked the apples from our tree. Today I'll be trying my hand at crockpot apple butter , and I'll probably try to make some applesauce too. We didn't get a lot of apples, but since they're all 6 - 8 inches in diameter, they go a long way!

Here's the menu for this week:

Monday: Pad Thai (I'll be using a recipe from Hungry Monkey, which is an absolutely fabulous memoir/cookbook!).

Tuesday: Taco salad

Wednesday: Orange Chicken (yes, this has been on the menu for about a month now, and I'm bound and determined to finally make it!).

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: slow-cooker jambalaya

As always, go to orgjunkie.com for more menu possibilities than you ever imagined!

Menu Plan October 12 - 16

2009-10-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Well, last week's menu plan went kaplooey on me. I'm not even sure what we ate - I do know that I picked up Panda Express on Friday because my morning got completely away from me and hubby just wasn't in the mood for chili dogs, my "no time to cook" standby. So, here's hoping this week goes better. It's a busy one, so there's lots of easy stuff on the list!

Monday: Bulgogi with sesame rice and fried cabbage (I just use the bulgogi part of the linked recipe, though the rest sounds good too!

Tuesday: chili (picked up some buffalo meat today just for this. Should be good.)

Wednesday: slow cooker chicken soft tacos

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: spaghetti with meat sauce

You know the drill. Go to orgjunkie.com for tons of fabulous menu ideas!

Menu Plan October 4 - 9

2009-10-04T21:19:00.001-07:00

All day long I've been trying to plan my menu, and now that I'm sitting here at the computer, my mind has gone totally blank...

What I really need to do is get out my cookbooks and reenergize myself. I look up recipes online all the time, but there's something about dragging out the cookbooks (I have about 200) and having a good read that makes me all warm and fuzzy and ready to be inventive in the kitchen again.

Oh, and I am totally celebrating the return of casserole season. I love casseroles. Hate putting them together, they usually seem so time consuming, what with all the boiling of noodles/potatoes/rice/whatever, and chopping of the onions and other vegetables and such, but I love, love, love eating them!

So here's what I think this week will look like:

Sunday: taco salad
Monday: Swedish meatballs and spaetzle (I think the little one's going to love spaetzle. She's a carb girl, just like her mommy, and is way into eating noodles and such these days).
Tuesday: slow cooker orange chicken
Wednesday: tuna casserole
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: possibly more leftovers, based on the menu, though if there aren't enough, I'll make chili.

As always, visit orgjunkie.com for more fabulous menus!

Last week's menu

2009-10-04T21:04:00.001-07:00

Once again, I missed the menu planning boat, but we had some good meals so I'm going to record them anyway! Now, I just have to remember...

Monday: I was home, and we had errands to run, so we ended up eating out.
Tuesday: Turkey Tetrazzini (using this recipe, but with turkey instead of chicken)
Wednesday: beef stew and corn muffins
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Ham and Potato casserole

Good stuff! Now, to plan this week's menu!

Menu plan September 20 - 25

2009-09-20T12:24:00.001-07:00

Well, the weather here is a little mixed up this week. One day it's fall, the next we're back to summer again. So it's a little hard to know what to fix, but I think my kitchen is heading into fall regardless. I like cooking fall food so much more than summer food!

Sunday: Sweet & sour pork
Monday: creamed tuna on biscuits
Tuesday: stuffed peppers (the filling is in the freezer from the last time we made it)
Wednesday: chicken cacciatore (the sauce for this is also in the freezer from last time - love the whole "cook it once/eat it twice thing!)
Thursday: Slow cooker chicken soft tacos
Friday: thinking about chicken paprikash, but we'll see!

Always remember to head to orgjunkie.com for more great menu ideas!

Last week's menu

2009-09-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

I didn't get my menu posted ahead of time last week, but let's see if I can remember what all we ate (this is important because I find myself looking back at these posts more and more when I'm trying to figure out what to make!).

Monday: BBQ pork sandwiches (didn't get them made the week before)
Tuesday: potstickers (I really need to make some potstickers and put them in the freezer. The frozen ones at the store are SO expensive and my recipe is really good!).
Wednesday: Chicken and noodles (I used this recipe, except I added onions, garlic, and celery to the cooking water, and stirred in sauteed mushrooms at the end).
Thursday: leftover chicken and noodles
Friday: tacos

Menu Plan September 7 - 11

2009-09-07T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, I guess it's been a long time since I've posted a menu! Truth be told, I haven't been planning menus. I've missed them. But, for some reason, for the last few weeks I just haven't been able to wrap my head around a plan. I've decided I hate hot weather cooking - it's so much easier to think about casseroles and crockpots when you're cooking ahead, and they definitely don't lend themselves to hot weather!

Fall is in the air, and we're having a very busy week this week, so it's a simple, easing back to comfort food menu for me.

Tonight: grilled steak, baked potatoes, corn
Tomorrow: corned beef hash
Wednesday: chili dogs
Thursday: creamed tuna on biscuits
Friday: barbecue pork sandwiches (the meat for this is already cooked and in my freezer, and if I remember at some point what recipe I used (I made it a couple of months ago), I'll post it or post a link (if it was online) because it was REALLY good!).

Have a great week, everyone!

Menu Plan August 2 - 7

2009-08-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, so it's not Monday anymore. But I had my menu figured out by Monday, so I'm calling that close enough!

Sunday: we had my parents over for dinner - grilled pork tenderloin, smashed red potatoes, tomato & fresh mozzarella salad, steamed green beans

Monday: buttermilk chicken, rice, peas

Tuesday: chicken and black beans

Wednesday: spaghetti

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: turkey burgers (the same turkey burgers from last week - I didn't make them then).

As always, visit orgjunkie.com for more great ideas!

Menu Plan July 26 - 31

2009-07-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

After about a three week hiatus, I'm back on track with menu planning. And it's a good thing, too - I've definitely missed it! Our schedule requires me to be super-organized about dinners, and lately I've been back to my old habit of standing in the middle of the kitchen thinking "uh.......uh......uh.....what are we going to eat tonight???" It's really frustrating.

Things have changed a smidge for us in the eating department lately. Hubby got his cholesterol level back from the doctor, and it wasn't good. Not terrible, but he needs to start exercising and change his diet. This is challenging - he's pretty picky and he likes what he likes. But I'm going to do my best to help him out by cooking a little better.

My plan to just buy the "orange tag" discount meat at the store has been working out well. Lately, between that and a couple of bags of frozen chicken tenderloins a month, we've been able to eat pretty well, and I can get the "natural" or organic meat for just a little bit more than I'd pay for the regular stuff.

With that, here's our menu plan for the week:

Sunday - BBQ chicken pizza

Monday - pork fried rice, steamed broccoli

Tuesday - grilled sausages (I found some chicken sausages with spinach and feta that I can't wait to try), oven fries, salad

Wednesday - taco salad

Thursday - turkey tenderloin (I got a great deal on a pre-marinated lemon pepper tenderloin, on sale plus it had an attached coupon!), boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli

Friday - turkey burgers, tater tots (tots aren't the healthiest but I'm not going to waste food!).

And remember, for tons of great menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com!

Slow-cooker chicken soft tacos

2009-07-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Made these for dinner last week. They could easily be turned into enchiladas by using the sauce on top and baking them!

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 4-ounce can chopped green chilies
1/2 onion, chopped
2 T. Worchestershire sauce
2 T. chili powder
1 T. cumin
1 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
flour tortillas
shredded cheddar
shredded lettuce
sliced olives
salsa
sour cream

Put the chicken in a small crock pot. In a bowl, mix the tomato sauce, chiles, onion, Worchestershire sauce, and spices. Pour over the chicken. Cook on low for three hours or until the chicken is cooked. Remove chicken from pot, chop or shred, return to pot and let rewarm for five minutes.

Serve on tortillas with toppings (these or your personal favorites!).

Getting up

2009-07-17T07:19:00.001-07:00

I've decided to start getting up earlier. Up till now, unless we needed to be somewhere, I've basically been going to bed about 11:00 and getting up when Caitlyn does, usually between 7:00 and 7:30. This usually means I get a full night's sleep. But, it also means I'm not really getting much done around the house during the day, and believe me, there is stuff to be done!!!

So, I'm now setting my alarm for 6:00. You'd think that would mean that I would go to bed earlier, right? Uh, no...somehow, I just can't get myself there. So, I lose an hour of sleep. I can sleep in on the weekends! Of course, if Caitlyn starts getting up in the night again, things might change, but for now she's sleeping through so I'm ok.

Yesterday, I got up and got the dishes done and something else, which I can't remember. Today I spent way too much time on the internet (there's my problem right there!), and then got the diapers hung out on the line and called to exchange a pair of diaper pants that were sent in the wrong size. Not nearly what I wanted to accomplish but now that I got a bunch of internet time out of the way, hopefully I can focus more on the house while she naps today!

And, now she's awake...hello, new day!

Pizza Casserole

2009-06-22T22:03:00.001-07:00

Made this for dinner tonight. Even hubby liked it. It's nice because it's the kind of thing you can easily personalize to suit your own tastes. I pulled a recipe out of Parenting magazine and made it my own.

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 loaf good crusty bread, cubed
2 cups shredded mozzarella (about 8 ounces)
1/4 pound pork sausage, cooked
1/2 cup pepperoni, chopped
1 small can sliced olives
1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted ones because I like the flavor)
5 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
fresh basil, shredded (optional)
grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Saute onion, garlic, and mushrooms until softened. Place in a bowl with bread, cheese, meats, olives, and tomatoes. Mix to combine. Place in a greased 9x12 casserole dish.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, milk, basil, and oregano. Pour evenly over the bread mixture in the casserole dish. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

About 20 minutes before baking time, pull the pan out of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the cover and bake for 45 minutes or until brown on top.

Serve with fresh basil and grated parmesan, if desired.

menu plan June 22 - 26

2009-06-21T21:36:00.001-07:00

Here we are, another week already. The month is flying by!

Monday: Pizza casserole (from a recipe found in Parenting magazine)

Tuesday: Tamale Pie

Wednesday: Cranberry pork chops (in the crock pot)

Thursday: leftovers, if we have enough, otherwise I'm trying to find my recipe for cabbage roll casserole!

Friday: Either leftovers (if we didn't have it Thursday) or cabbage roll casserole (if we did!).

Don't forget to go to orgjunkie.com for many more menu ideas!