Menu {November 12 – 17}

Tonight we have our first freeze warning here in the deep south.  The cold weather moving in makes me crave cold weather comfort foods:  chili, soups, and potatoes.  Our menu this week reflects my cravings as we enter the cold weather months.

Dinner menu ~

• Monday:  Chicken, mashed potatoes, salad
• Tuesday:  {David’s birthday celebration meal}  Tacos, chips & salsa, poblano chile pepper enchiladas, pinto beans, salad, and bread pudding for dessert (ice cream for the kiddos)
• Wednesday:  Slow cooker chicken with potatoes & carrots, green beans
• Thursday:  Homemade pizza night!  Cheeseburger and pepperoni pizzas, salad
• Friday:  Chili with baked potatoes, salad
• Saturday:  White bean stew, cornbread

Breakfast menu~

• Oatmeal with fruit/craisins, and walnuts  *really want to try it with pumpkin too
• Polenta with cheese, oranges
• Eggs (fried, scrambled, hard boiled) with toast or biscuits, apples
• Pancakes or French toast, with syrup and fruit
• Muffins or Quick bread with fruit smoothies

Lunch menu~

• Hot dogs with chili, side of chips/baked fries, pineapple
• Spaghetti, cheese toast, salad, fruit
• Chicken noodle soup, grilled cheese
• Sandwiches, mac & cheese/noodles, fruit
• Fried rice with chicken & veggies, fruit

Kitchen to-do list~

• bake Amish White bread and whole wheat bread
• cook pinto beans and white beans (freeze extras)
• make pepper sauce from last of garden peppers
• mix up salad dressing

What’s on your menu this week? 

Thank you, I’m an Organizing Junkie for the Menu Plan Monday link-up!  Visit there to see what others are eating this week. 

menu plan {October 22 – 26}

We went through the past week without a menu plan.  Ask me how that went…

Too much money spent and chaos…that’s how that went.

This week, we have a menu plan!  And I’m expecting a much easier week in the kitchen.

Breakfasts

• eggs with toast/biscuits/or banana bread, fruit
• oatmeal with fruit
• pancakes with fruit

Lunches (serve with carrots/salad/slaw and fruit)

• spaghetti
• hot dogs, mac & cheese
• sandwiches with chips or noodles
• chicken tacos

Dinners

•  pork loin, sweet potatoes, peas, cabbage
• chicken and dumplings, cole slaw, rolls
• fried rice with pork, stir-fry veggies
• chicken & sausage gumbo, cole slaw, rolls
• eat out (fall festival)

Sweet treats/snacks

• sugar cookies
• popcorn/salted or kettle corn
• banana bread
• carrot chips with ranch dip
• peanut butter fold-overs and/or fruit (the old stand-by!)

What are y’all eating this week?

 

Check out more menus over at Organized Junkie!

 

 

 

Simplifying meal planning with emeals

 

You will probably grow tired of me saying this but it is what it is.  And this is what it is…I am trying to simplify my life.  I am a busy mom.  Most moms are busy moms.  Being busy can bring a lot of stress so I’m on the look out for changes that will reduce (or even eliminate) this stress.  Since we live extremely frugally, it is rare that I will spend money to help me in an area like meal planning but…

I have recently spent money to help in the meal planning area.  It’s no secret that I’m not the biggest fan of meal planning.  Well, I’m a fan of having a meal plan but I do not enjoy the process of meal planning.  One day at swim, I was pulling out my papers and trying to plan our menu.  I was complaining telling my friends about how much I dislike love meal planning and that’s when a friend told me about emeals.

Emeals is described as “a meal planning resource for busy moms and frugal family cooks”.  Ummm, hello!  That’s me on both accounts.

Here is what is cool about emeals:  if you subscribe they send you a meal plan straight to your email inbox– complete with recipes, shopping lists, and prices every week.  Even better, it is based on the sales in your area. 

When you sign up, you chose a store.  I chose Wal-Mart because the sales they were using for Kroger were not the sales for our area.  (Really hope that they fix that soon.) There are a few other stores to chose from (can’t remember at the moment which ones) and you can change your store at anytime.  After I chose a store, emeals sent me a menu based on Wal-Mart prices (with the shopping lists, prices, and recipes).  They will continue to send the menus to me every week for the next three months.

I could actually just add in my lunch and breakfasts items and go to the store with the list that they give.  However, I actually just pull a few things from the list because I still like to shop the sales at other stores in addition to Wal-Mart.  And I like to omit some of the convenience items and make my own.  For instance, for Calzones, I just make my own pizza crust instead of buying it premade.  It saves us even more money.

So how has this helped us?  It has taken some of the guess work out of meal planning and it has refreshed my meal planning with new recipe ideas.  We have enjoyed every recipe that we have tried.  And I actually enjoy meal planning a little more now.  Really! 

How much money was it to join?  The prices vary but I paid for a 3 month subscription which was $21 and I got a discount using a coupon code that I found online.  So I actually paid a total of $16 dollars and some change. 

Another cool thing about emeals is that once you sign up, you are part of the referral program.  So you can then put the emeals button on your blog, etc and if people make a purchase through your link, then you get a percentage of the sale. 

Here is a button with my referral code.  And I would tell you about emeals even if I got nothing back from it.  We have really enjoyed the meals we’ve used and it has simplified my meal planning! 

 

Let me know if you have any questions about emeals or if you try it out and what you think about it! 

happy meal planning! 

Stretching an $8 pork loin

Did you know that an $8 pork loin could make three meals for a family of seven?

I didn’t either until last week. 

You know how I like to shop the sales ads for meats that are on sale.  Well, I picked up a pork loin (a little over 4 pounds) for $8 dollars a few weeks ago.  I fully expected to get two meals out of this pork loin.  You can imagine my surprise when we had three meals with leftovers!

Here are the meals & recipes that we used to stretch this pork loin to feed our family:

*quick note…I forgot to take pictures.  Sorry!

Meal #1 ~ Slow Cooker Pork Loin with Veggies

• 2 pound pork loin (I cut the original pork loin in half and refrigerated the unused half.)
• potatoes (use whatever amount your family will eat)
• carrots (same as potatoes)
• celery (2 stalks)
• onion (about 1/4 – 1/2 cup)
• seasonings (I used salt, pepper, seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder)
• olive oil and butter
• 3/4 cup of water

Directions

• Season and brown sides of pork loin in small amount of olive oil in skillet.
• After the pork loin is brown, place it into slow cooker with about 3/4 cup of water.
• Cut potatoes, celery, carrots, and onion.  Place around pork loin in slow cooker. 
• Sprinkle seasonings across veggies.  Place a few pats of butter on top.  
• Cook on high for about 3 – 4 hours.

** The measurements are not exact because I didn’t measure anything.  Just season to taste.  Also remember, more veggies helps to stretch the meat.  For us, everyone got two slices of pork with a lot a veggies and a side of green beans.  No one (not even my teenage boys) left the table hungry. 

Meal #2 ~ Shredded Tex-Mex Pork Loin Nachos

• 2 pound pork loin
• onion - chopped
• can of diced tomatoes
• small can of green chilies
• 1 cup of water
• seasonings:  salt, chili powder, cumin
• black beans (cooked separately)
• tortilla chips

 

Directions

• Place pork loin into slow cooker. 
• Pour water, tomatoes, and chilies into slow cooker.
• Sprinkle with onion and seasonings:  1 TBSP salt, 2 TBSP of chili powder, and 1 TBSP of cumin.  (Could use taco seasonings instead)
• Cook on high for 3 – 4 hours. 
• Shred meat before serving.  (I did this in the slow cooker with a fork and knife.)
• We served ours with black beans on the side (or on top) and over tortilla chips.  Top with sour cream and cheese.  YUM!  (Would have been good with lettuce too but I was out!)

Meal #3 ~ Pork Loin Burrito Bowl

• leftover pork loin from Shredded Tex-Mex Nachos (if you have any…we had quite a bit)
• leftover black beans from previous meal
• cooked brown rice
• toppings: cheese, sour cream, salsa (could possibly add corn too or any other toppings that you like)

Directions

• Heat leftover pork and black beans while brown rice cooks
• Place cooked rice in bowl and top with pork, black beans, and toppings of choice.
• Serve with a side of fruit salad and/or green salad.

*This is just a “dressed up” leftovers meal.  However, don’t let its simplicity fool you.  It is yummy!  (Possibly one of hubby’s and my favorite meals to eat! )

Even after all of this feasting on our $8 pork loin, we still had enough left for a small serving for someone’s lunch!  I truly love it when our food stretches far but satisfies us at the same time. 

Do you have any meals that you cook that stretch a little bit a long way? 

This post linked to:

Tomatoes (freezing and a salsa recipe)

 My son loved that I asked him to pose to show how tall some of our tomato plants have grown.  (But he is so sweet that he complied with my crazy request {smile}).  These plants have gotten to be about 7 – 8 feet  tall!

Last year, it was cantaloupes.

This year, it is tomatoes.

We’ve had a great year for tomatoes in the garden!

Unfortunately when the first large batch of Roma tomatoes were ready and waiting to be made in to some yummy deliciousness, I was super sick.  I had the energy to pick them but no energy to do anything else.  And it was vacation Bible school week…and I was teaching music (with laryngitis!). 

My Mom told me that I could freeze them until I was ready to process them.  So I gave  her advice a try. 

And guess what?

It worked! 

Freezing Tomatoes

• Wash tomatoes and allow to dry thoroughly.
• Place tomatoes in freezer bags and freeze.
• When ready to process the tomatoes, warm some water on the stove and fill the sink with cold water.
• Drop the frozen tomatoes into the warm water (water was hot but not boiling) for about a minute.
• Transfer the tomatoes from the warm water to the cold water.  The skins will slide right off!
• Allow the tomatoes to drain in a colander.  (They will be very wet.)
• Process the tomatoes as you had planned.  (We used ours for salsa.  The tomatoes will be very mushy after freezing so they need to be used for something like salsa or the sorts.)

(My friend Melissa at The Little Gray House blog freezes her diced tomatoes.  I want to try this with my current batch of tomatoes and wanted to pass on the link in case you didn’t want to can your tomatoes.  If you freeze per her directions, then skip my directions for freezing above.)

 

Salsa recipe

We have two salsa recipes that we love.  One comes from this book (found on pages 12 & 13).  It is very summery and fresh tasting because it contains cilantro!  Love it!

But my kids’ favorite salsa recipe comes from a church cookbook.  This salsa is supposed to taste like a very famous Tex-Mex restaurant’s salsa.  I gave some to a friend who is a very big fan of said restaurant’s salsa.  She said that she loved it and her son said it was perfect! 

Famous Tex-Mex Restaurant’s Salsa Recipe

• 8 1/2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes {I peeled and processed tomatoes in the blender so they wouldn’t be chunky}
• 1/2 cup hot peppers (chopped) {I doubled our recipe so I did 1/2 cup hot peppers and 1/2 cup bell peppers}*
• 3/4 cup white onions (chopped)
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients and cook for about 1 hour.  Stir often.  Ladle hot salsa into hot pint jars, leaving 1/2 headspace.  Remove air bubbles with nonmetallic utensil.  Adjust headspace by adding more salsa as necessary.  Wipe rim of jar and threads with a clean, damp cloth.  Place lid on top of jar and place screw band on jar.  Process in hot water bath for 15 minutes.  When finished processing, turn off fire but leave jars in water for 5 more minutes.  Remove from water and leave undisturbed for 24 hours. 

* Remember that when canning salsa, your ratio of vegetables needs to stay the same.  The ratio of this recipe is 8 1/2 tomatoes to 1/2 cup hot peppers.  Since I doubled the recipe, the ratio was 17 cups of tomatoes to 1 cup of peppers.  This is important in order to maintain the proper acidity so that your food does not spoil.

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think!  Or do you have a favorite salsa recipe?  Leave it in the comments or write about it on your blog and let us know!

This post is linked to Frugally Sustainable.

Please click the button to visit other frugal posts.

Saving money on groceries {and a menu plan}

Recently, I’ve decided to try couponing again.  Most of what we buy with coupons are beauty and home items.  Occasionally we will buy food items like yogurt, cheese, or condiments with our coupons.  We rarely buy convenience type foods because we just don’t have the budget for these items. 

Couponing has allowed us to save money on items that can be expensive and to then apply that savings to other areas – particularly for us, one area would be the feeding of five children (two of whom are older boys who eat a lot! {smile}).

Since feeding a family can get expensive, here are a few things we do to save money on groceries:

• Use grocery store sales papers and shop loss leaders.

The front page of the grocery store sales papers are the loss leaders.  Basically, the store is taking a loss on these items to pull customers in with the hopes that you will buy other items too.  When the prices are good, we will stock up on loss leaders.  We focus mainly on buying staple items, meats, and fruit. 

• Use coupons to reduce costs.

A recent trip to the store resulted in a catalina (sort of like a coupon that is money that the store gave us for meeting particular buying guidelines…and I also reduced the cost with coupons by about $10).  That catalina plus more coupons reduced a separate grocery total from $50 dollars to $35!  Not too bad!  (Visit here for some great links to blogs that will teach you how to save money with coupons.)

• Make many of your own foods from scratch.

We try to make as much from scratch as possible.  Tonight we had chicken strips, buttery herbed noodles, broccoli, and bread.  It was all homemade!  (Well, except for the pasta…I’m not there yet!)  It does take a little more time to bake bread and make food from scratch but the taste is so much better and we won’t mention the health returns from consuming less chemicals & preservatives.  Our children actually prefer homemade chicken nuggets and chicken strips…they are that good…and really not hard at all!

• Grow food in a garden.

Some people are limited by the amount of space that they have to grow food.  However, I encourage you to grow something in a few pots if you can.  A homegrown tomato is so much tastier than a store bought one.  (And cheaper) Right now our garden is giving us tomatoes, okra, and peppers so those veggies will show up in the menu more.

• Have a menu plan.

If I fail to plan, we tend to spend more.  For us, no menu plan = eating out.  Can you say “Cha-ching!”?  With a menu plan, we eat at home more therefore saving money.  {smile}

And since we are on the subject of menu plans…

Here’s our plan for the rest of the week:

(Random tip of the day:  I love all of the cool free fonts so I like to use them in random places {smile}.  Visit here to see what I’m talking about and to download some for your use.)

 

Dinners:

• Roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, fried okra
• Oven fried chicken strips, buttery herbed noodles, broccoli
• Breakfast for dinner:  pancakes, cheesy eggs, bacon
• Chicken and gravy over noodles, green beans
• Eat out - pizza

(Can you tell that we were well stocked with chicken?  Guess what has been on sale?)

Lunches: (serve with mac n cheese, chips/salsa, or popcorn and fruit/applesauce)

• Grilled or regular sandwiches
• Hot dogs
• Corn dog muffins
• Chicken quesadillas or stuffed pitas

Breakfasts: (serve with fruit)

• Granola/yogurt or oatmeal
• Eggs – fried, scrambled, cheesy, omelets
• Cheese or Peanut butter toast

 

This blog post is linked to Menu plan Monday!

Fresh from the garden {a recipe}

Is there anything that tastes as good as that first batch of green beans from the garden?  Yum-O, I tell ya!

Everyone’s got their own green bean recipe but here is my family’s favorite:

• Cook a few pieces of bacon in a pot.
• After bacon is browned, add a bit of water.  (Amount depends on the amount of green beans.  I eyeball it. {smile})
• When water boils, add some chicken base.  Again, amount added depends on amount of water.  I usually use a teaspoon or so.  (I get my chicken and beef base at Sam’s.  I’ve used bullion or pan drippings also.)

• Add a little salt to the water too.  Not too much though.  You can add more later as needed.
• When water returns to a boil, add beans.  I like to add a little potato too. 
• Cover and cook until ready. 
• Salt and pepper as needed.
• Enjoy some fresh from the garden green beans!  Mmmm….

Do you have a favorite way that you like to cook green beans?

Starting the week off beautifully {goals/menu}

It is no secret that I love to have goals for directing my days.  These past few weeks of busy life goings-on have left me little time to think over goals.  Ask any of my friends who have been around me the last week and they will tell you that I have been quite scatter-brained.  I do believe there is a direct correlation between the no thought-out goals and the scatter-brainedness. 

This week, I want to write some goals for the week so that I won’t feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants everyday.  I need some direction and focus.  To me that makes for a beautiful week.

Normally I write monthly goals.  Since the month is almost half-way over, I’m going to just go with weekly goals.  By the way, I am totally borrowing this idea from Mandy over at Biblical Homemaking.  I love the way she writes weekly goals and I love her goal headings so I’m going to copy-cat her idea.  She has a great blog so be sure to pay her a visit!

Goals for the week of April 16

Do: 

• drink 90 ounces of water a day {and only one soda a day – getting there…}
• walk 3X
• weight training 2X
• send out birthday invitations for Abby’s party
• make to-do and need to buy lists for party
• rearrange toy/shoe areas
• paint mantel/doors/trim in living room & dining room
• declutter linen closet
• clean out pan areas in kitchen

Read:

• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

Learn:

• Memorize Psalm 139: 1 – 3

Be:

• Sharing with others through hospitality – planning/preparing for a birthday party

Showing hospitality (cooking for others, opening our home, etc) is pretty hard for me to do.  I feel so inadequate in this area and always worry about what I have to give not being enough.  This month I am getting to practice showing hospitality.  I’ve all ready hosted Bunco for my friends (all though I did it at a friend’s house) by fixing the food, buying gifts, and organizing the game.  Later this month, I am hosting a birthday party in our home.  There have been other instances where we’ve been called out of our comfort zones to minister to others through hospitality this month also.  It seems to be getting easier the more I do it.  And the reward from serving and sharing with others, even if it is by simple means, is wonderfully fulfilling.

 

Menu Plan ~

• Chicken tostadas, salad, corn & pinto beans
• Slow cooker pork chops, rice, veggies
• Chicken fajitas with veggies, refried beans, fruit salsa
• Teriyaki chicken, rice, stir-fried snow peas and swiss chard
• Eat out night {busy night}

 

I hope you have a beautiful week! 

Menu plan for March

I have a confession.  (Don’t you love it when blog posts start like that? {smile})

So my confession is this:

I do not like menu planning.

And I haven’t a clue why.  But it is just not one of my favorite homekeeping duties.  I would rather clean toilets, fold clothes, and wash dishes instead.

But…

I love having a menu plan! 

Kind of ironic, isn’t it?

And since I love menu planning so much I tend to procrastinate doing it. 

But no procrastinating this month.  I went ahead and planned the whole entire month.  And boy, do I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders!

Not only did I actually plan the whole month of menus, I am trying a new approach. 

Last week I saw this menu planning post in my reader and I immediately loved the idea. 

(click picture to enlarge menu plan)

I like the flexibility of this plan.  I really like the blog author’s adorable printable that she made for her menu plan.  I just need some colored ink.  {smile}

So how does this plan work?

Instead of planning one meal for Monday, another one for Tuesday, etc., I am using categories (like the ones at this link) to plan different meals for the month.  These meals can happen on any day that I chose.  For us, some days need to be slowcooker days so there’s a category for that.  I decided that the Make One/Freeze One category would be a good one for us too.  Here are all of the categories that we have on our new plan:

• Slowcooker
• No/Less Meat
• Chicken
• Pork or Tex-Mex
• Make One & Freeze One
• Beef
• Freebie (Eat out, leftovers, or freezer meal)

 Most of these categories have 5 meal options.  I don’t have food for all of the menu items yet so I chose which ones would take us through the first two weeks of the month and bought for those meals.  I just try to make sure that I have about two meals per category for the two weeks between shopping trips.

At night, I look over the menu, decide which meal will work for us.  (Is it a busy day tomorrow?  Then I pick an easy meal.  A day at home?  I can chose a harder to prep meal or do a make one/freeze one meal.)  I pull from the freezer the needed foods and the next day’s meal is underway!

We are five days into this plan and it has really been great so far!

Want to know what we have on our menu plan?

Slowcooker meals

• Honey BBQ chicken wings
• Roasted chicken
• Roast
• BBQ meatballs
• Savory Baked Chicken w/carrots & potatoes

No/Less Meat

• Potato Soup, BLTs
• Taco Soup
• Manicotti
• Chicken and sausage gumbo
• Chili w/ hot dogs or baked potatoes

Chicken

• Chicken Enchiladas
• Chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes
• Garlic parmesan chicken legs
• Monterey chicken quesadillas
• Chicken fajitas

Pork or Tex-Mex

• Sausage with peppers & onions
• Pork chops and rice oven dinner - 2X
• Roasted pork loin (if I find a sale)
• Stir fry pork (will depend on that pork loin being on sale!)

Make One/Freeze One (recipes from the book Fix, Freeze, Feast)

• Chicken Parmigiana
• Pecan crusted chicken strips
• Teriyaki Chicken

Beef

• Beef stew
• Shepard’s pie
• Spaghetti with meat sauce
• Hamburgers
• Sloppy joes

Freebie

• Nothing planned.  This is for nights we eat out, eat leftovers, or eat a freezer meal.  (One night we did a breakfast for dinner in this category.) 

It feels so good to have this done for my family.  And I could even see just using this same menu plan next month with a tweak here or there to get us through another month. 

 

 

 

{In the kitchen} Menu for January 16 - 20

In an effort to save money, I’m trying to get better at making our menu and actually sticking to it.  We are also eating a lot from the pantry and freezer in this week.  Here is what is on our menu this week:

Monday

• B ~ Oatmeal & Toast with cheese or peanut butter, fruit
• L ~  Spaghetti, corn, fruit
• D ~ Roasted Pork Loin, carrots & potatoes, peas
• Snack ~ Bananas and Peanut butter toast

Tuesday

• B ~ Pancakes, strawberries
• L ~ Grilled Cheese, carrots, noodles, fruit
• D ~ Omelets, potato pancakes (for our studies on Germany),  strawberry smoothies
• Snack ~ Banana or applesauce muffins

Wednesday

• B ~ Cheesy eggs, toast, fruit
• L ~ Tacos, corn, salad, fruit
• D ~ Pork fried rice, stir-fried green beans, carrots
• Snack ~ Trail mix

Thursday

• B ~ Oatmeal and smoothies
• L ~ Hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, carrots, fruit
• D ~ Teriyaki chicken wings, roasted potatoes or brown rice, green peas
• Snack ~ Cookies or muffins

Friday

• B ~ Angel biscuits with eggs & cheese, fruit
• L ~ Baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese, fruit
• D ~ Either pizza or hamburgers (Eat out)
• Snack ~ Popcorn trail mix

*Fruit for meals will be whatever we happen to have on hand at the time.  It’s usually bananas, apples, oranges, or applesauce this time of the year.  We have much more variety in the summer. 

I’m linking to:

Church cookbooks and a pot pie recipe

I love church cookbooks.  I have quite a few.  Some are from churches that my father pastored, some are from the church David grew up in, and some are from other churches we have gone to or were given as gifts to us. 

Church cookbooks are usually full of yummy recipes.  Some of our family’s favorites come from the two cookbooks shown.  I’ve used this one so much that it is falling apart.  The recipes are that good. 

I love to look through the cookbooks and see the names of people whom I have stood and worshipped with.  Some of the names are those of my family.  Some of the names are church family whom I will not see this side of heaven again.  So many memories are in those church cookbooks…so much more than recipes.

The blue cookbook was given to by my Mom when I got married.  My Mom is an excellent cook.  I love to look through the cookbook and see the little smudges left by the fingers of my Mom as she worked or maybe by the fingers of my brother or me as we stole a little taste test from the dinner she was cooking.  (I think of smudges in cookbooks and on recipes as the sign of a really good recipe and a really good chef!)

I will always cherish these cookbooks and they will always find a place on the shelves of my home. 

That old blue cookbook recently gave us a yummy pot pie recipe.  We could not get enough of this pot pie.  I think it was the best I have ever had.  So I thought that I would share our new best ever chicken pot pie recipe.  (Sorry, forgot to snap a picture…)

Chicken Pot Pie with Cheese Crust (We are going to try it with turkey this week)

• 1 lg. fryer, cut up
• 1 c. celery
• 1 c. diced onions
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 c. melted butter
• 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 can mixed veggies

Cheese Crust

• 1 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 c. butter, softened
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 TBSP water
• 1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Place chicken in 2 quart pot and cover with water; add 1/2 cup diced onions and 1 cup diced celery.  Bring to boil; reduce heat; simmer, covered 30 minutes.  Cool and reserve broth.  Debone chicken and chop meat.

Saute 1/2 cup onion in butter until tender; add flour blending until smooth.  Gradually add 2 1/2 cups broth.  Cook, stirring constantly until smooth and thickened. 

Add salt, pepper, and mixed veggies including the juice. 

Place chicken in a greased 2 quart casserole and add sauce.  Top with cheese crust.

***For crust, combine flour and salt.  Cut in butter.  Add egg and water, blending well.  Stir in cheese.  Roll flat on lightly floured board to fit top of casserole.  (about 1/4 inch thickeness)

Bake the pot pie at 400 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.  Yields 6 to 8 yummy servings!

Menu plan for August 1 – 6

 These are not our eggs but hopefully I will be showing you a picture of some soon.  We are so excited to get eggs from our city chicks!

For the next two weeks, we will be getting our home in tip top shape for the beginning of the new school year.  I’m working now to do what I can to help us ease back into school and hopefully to help our school year get off to a smooth start.  A menu plan is one way that our home runs smoother during the busy school months.  Here’s what we will be eating this week:

Breakfasts ~ (served with fruit or fruit smoothies)

• Cheesy eggs, smoothies
• Banana Chocolate Chip muffins
• Cinnamon Swirl bread
• Granola, smoothies
• Peanut butter or cheese toast/Oatmeal, fruit
• Pancakes, turkey sausage

Lunches ~ (served with veggies and/or fruit)

• Grilled cheese, chips and salsa
• Hot dogs, carrots with ranch dip
• Nachos with taco meat, fruit salad
• Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, carrots with ranch dip
• Chicken quesadillas, chips and salsa
• Leftovers/sandwiches (Saturday.  Shopping day for me)

Dinners ~

• Chicken wings (teriyaki style), rice, stir-fry green beans, fruit salad
• Homemade pizzas (cheese, hamburger and veggie), salad, cookies
• BBQ chicken (slow cooker), rice, veggies, fruit slushies
• Pizza casserole, green beans, fruit
• Eat out
• Birthday meal?

Snacks ~

• Popcorn, granola, fruit, kettle corn, smoothies, muffins

 

This post will be linked to Menu Plan Monday at Organized Junkie.

A yummy snack ~

We have been so busy around the Little White House lately.  There has been lots of chicken coop building and issues with the chickens, church activities (more this evening too), and decluttering.  I have not been able to get to the blog very much to write or read but I’ve written many blog posts in my head as I’ve been busy around here.   Now to just get those posts on the blog…{smile}

At the end of the day, I’m pretty tired but not too tired to enjoy a little snack after a hard day’s work.  This snack is my new all time favorite yummy snack.

You see, a few weeks ago, I was with at a friend’s house and she said that we were going to have homemade Humphreys.  I didn’t know what a Humphrey was and found out that it is a frozen yogurt dessert found at a restaurant here in town.  I figured I’d give it a try and I am glad I did.  This is one of those desserts that had me saying “mmmmm” with every bite!

So what’s in this dessert? 

It has:

• a few scoops of frozen vanilla yogurt
• topped with granola
• topped with fresh fruit ( I like strawberries but some other choices were blueberries, grapes, and bananas.)

and the secret to all of the yumminess…

• it’s all topped with honey.

Seriously, this dessert is incredibly yummy.  I was craving it the next day…it is that yummy. 

And right now I’m wishing that I still had some frozen yogurt in the house!  {sigh}

If you try it, let me know what you think about it!  {smile}

In the kitchen {thoughts on cast iron, oranges, and smoothies}~

I love cooking with cast iron.  For one thing, it is safer than cooking with teflon coated pans.  And two, the pans are just so cute & rustic.  We are down to one teflon pan and I really want to toss it.  But anyone who has cooked on cast iron knows that it can be a chore to maintain so that the surface remains stick proof.   I have yet to toss that one pan that cooks pancakes and eggs so well. 

 

On the menu last night was potato soup and BLT sandwiches so I decided to pull out all of my cast iron pans and cook bacon in them.  Yes, there are three pans on my stove cooking bacon above!  My mom always tells me to cook something high fat in my cast iron to help season it. 

During clean up, the pans were washed again in hot water only.  (No soap.)  I always remember my mom drying her pan on a hot burner.  So I did that.  Then I rubbed them down with bacon grease again.  I even saved the bacon grease to season the pans in the future.  I’m hoping that the pans will become so well seasoned that I can go ahead and toss that teflon pan.  (Here is a great post on taking care of cast iron.  This is where I learned to rub the pans down with bacon grease again after cleaning.)

Now…on to oranges…

My kids love oranges.  I love oranges too but I’m not crazy about peeling them.  And then, sometimes the segments are hard for my younger kids to eat.  This week, I realized that if I sliced the  whole oranges into 1/2 – 3/4 inch slices and then sliced those in half that it was (a) easier for me to prepare and (b) easier for them to eat.  You probably all ready realized this but I was so excited to figure this out!  {smile}

And we can’t forget…smoothies…

We love smoothies around here.  Even my pickiest eater begs for smoothies.  He even knows that there is yogurt in it and he won’t touch yogurt with a ten foot pole!  I try to make smoothies a few times a week especially on days we have eggs.  I choose those days because my picky eater doesn’t care for eggs either.  {smile}

I don’t really measure for our smoothies but for a pitcher of smoothie that feeds 4 – 5 children I use:

• 1 – 1 and 1/2 cups of milk  (sometimes I add about 1/2 cup of kefir and reduce the milk by that much)
• 1 cup of vanilla yogurt
• 2 bananas
• 2 cups of frozen strawberries (much better with frozen)
• 2 – 3 tablespoons of sugar (can use honey, less sugar, or none at all)

Put all into the blender and blend away! 

Some of our other favorite fruit combinations are:

• strawberry and peach (use frozen fruit)
• banana and blueberry
• peach and blueberry

Do you have any favorite smoothie combinations?  I’d love to try some new smoothies!  

Tuesday is kitchen day ~

If you’re a fan of Little House books like I am, then you probably know that Ma Ingalls had each day of the week organized to focus on a particular task.  Years ago when I would read the old Large Family Logistics blog, the author, Kim also had her days of the week scheduled in such a way.  I had also ordered my days in a similar way but had gotten away from it.  So I decided to give it a try again.

Since I am in need of a day in the kitchen to help do some cooking ahead, I figured that Tuesdays would be a good day for me to do this.  I was hoping that I could make Saturdays my kitchen days so David would be home to help with the kids.  However, I tend to run errands and do outside work on those days.  It was really hard to fit in a day of cooking too.  Tuesdays tend to be stay at home days for the most part so I knew they would be good days to spend in the kitchen.

Today was the first (second time around) kitchen day around here.  I did some prep early this morning before school such as setting out ingredients and making sure that meat was defrosting.  Most of the actual kitchen work didn’t happen until after school while Baby Boy was napping. 

Here’s what was accomplished in the kitchen today:

• roast for tonight’s dinner (put this on to cook first so I wouldn’t get too busy and forget!)
• a second roast cooked and sliced for Thursday’s dinner
• 6 pints of chicken broth
• 2 quart bags of shredded chicken  (1 for this week’s lunches and 1 in freezer for a future meal)
• 2 loaves of applesauce bread for breakfasts
• prepped dinner and spices for tomorrow’s slow cooker meal
• black beans soaking to cook in the morning
• refrigerator cleaned out (did this second so I’d have room for the food)
• swept/mopped kitchen

I even enjoyed a little outside coffee break in the middle of it all when Baby Boy woke from his nap and wanted to enjoy the lovely weather outside!

It doesn’t look like that much now that I’ve typed it but it has at least made meal preparation a little easier for me this week! 

I just enjoyed a slice of that fresh, still warm applesauce bread while typing this little post.  Now this momma is off to enjoy a relaxing soak in the tub!  Goodnight y’all! 

Chicken Noodle Soup ~

They always say that chicken noodle soup is good when you feel don’t feel well.  I believe there has even been research into the benefits of chicken noodle soup.  (sorry, no link) 

Yesterday, a big cast iron pot sat on our stove making a healthy chicken stock.  Last night with the addition of vegetables, herbs, seasonings, and other yummy goodness, the stock became a big pot of chicken noodle soup.  (I used this recipe at The Urban Homemaker.  I tweaked it a tad but followed it for the most part.)

Between the soup, Emergen-C, hot tea, a lot of water, and Mucenex, it appears that the remnants of this chest cold are leaving…finally! 

A special thanks to my blog friend, Amanda for writing about Graceful Words where I was reminded of some good natural remedies. 

By the way, the soup was so good that not one drop was left.  The entire family gobbled it up!

Hoping that you have a blessed and healthy Thursday!

 

A little bit of randomness ~

Today is one of those days when I just have many thoughts running around that I want to write down.  So this post will be very random.  But I like random posts.  It’s kind of like chatting with my friends.  {smile}

Homeschooling ~

After I finish this post, I will spend some time filling out the children’s weekly lesson plan lists.  Then I will photocopy all needed work and put it into the children’s work binders.  Plus there is a stack of notebooks with Math and Grammar lessons waiting to be checked so that the owner of the notebooks can correct his work.  I must admit that I really don’t care for this part of homeschooling.  You know, the paper shuffling part.  However, it is necessary.  Our school runs much more smoothly if the kids know what is expected of them for the week.  And they work much more diligently if I am sure to check their work and have them make corrections. 

This has me thinking of my homeschool blog.  When I started that blog, I was hoping that I would be writing a preschool curriculum and I felt that I needed a separate place to link that curriculum.  Also, I was planning to link to other homeschooling blogs to share our weeks, etc.  But I have found out two things.  One, I just don’t have the time to keep up with two blogs.  (Yes, I’ve said that before.  And if you’re saying I could have told you that…well, you’re right.)  Two, blogging in another place about our homeschooling feels so…disconnected.  Homeschooling is a HUGE part of our lives.  It is something we do 24 hours, 7 days a week.  How do I separate that from our every day lives?

So our homeschooling posts will be moving back over here.  There probably won’t be many posts because I’m keeping it pretty simple this year.  But it will be here.  And I promise to try to work on not being so wishy-washy with this blog stuff.  {wink}

 

Reading the Bible in 90 Days ~

This year, I have decided to join the group reading the Bible in 90 days.  It is a pretty strenuous reading schedule. And I am behind.  I was a little behind.  Now, I am a lot behind.  But I am reading the Bible everyday.  I might not finish in the 90 days but I am going to continue to read the Bible until I finish reading it in its entirety.  I also told myself that when I check in with my group every week that I was not going to offer any excuses as to why I was behind.  And even though I am behind, I am learning some great things.  But I am still going to try to catch up! 

Losing Adriane ~

It seems that I have abandoned my efforts to lose weight since I’ve not been posting my Monday weigh-ins.  I figured around the holidays that I would just let it lay low since I wasn’t really working that hard on losing weight.  I thought that it would be best to start it back in the new year.  What I didn’t plan on was getting sick and being sick for over a month.  That’s right!  That chest cold I had before Christmas is still giving me grief.  I tell myself that if I would exercise then I would get healthier and beat this junk that is plaguing me.  However, it is really hard to exercise when you are coughing.  Last night, I was so exhausted from trying to sing with this stuff in my chest (and the coughing wears you out too).  I resigned myself to finally going to the doctor to see if she could help. 

(And before you fuss about me not going to the doctor yet:  I didn’t go at first because it was viral.  My doctor does not prescribe antibiotics for a virus nor will I take antibiotics for a virus.  Then I kept thinking I was getting better.  Only when I’m really tired do I feel really bad.  This weekend, for instance, the little ones did not sleep well so I did not sleep well.  This lack of sleep seemed to make me feel worse.  So that’s why I’ve not been to the doctor.  Not that it really matters to anyone but I know some people might want to fuss at me. ) 

But today, I am feeling better.  It’s not completely gone but better.  So I hope to get my focus back on my weight loss soon.  I’m planning on kicking off my weight loss 2011 on Monday.  Look for a post then.  (And for some good advice on weight loss, the Grocery Shrink blog is posting a lot of useful weight loss information.  Good stuff there!)

Speaking of food ~

Today I made my first ever homemade buns.  They were supposed to be hoagie buns but came out more like oblong hamburger buns.  This week, David and I have challenged ourselves to cook only using what we have in our pantry and in our freezer.  Tonight we needed buns for our BBQ beef sandwiches.  (I had to make the BBQ sauce too.)  Normally, I will call Dave and he will stop by the store on his way home to get the buns.  And then I would have also added this and that to his list.  Ta-da!  Those few dollars that we would spend grew to even more.  So this week, no little stops at the store.  Only two things will make us stop if needed:  diapers and toilet paper.  But I think we have enough to get through until Friday.  Maybe…

Back to the homemade buns…so tonight I made the buns, the BBQ sauce, and some applesauce bread for tomorrow’s breakfast.  I was in the kitchen for about 3 hours this afternoon!  I seriously don’t have time to do that everyday!  I’m thinking that it is a good time for me to start planning some Saturdays as my cooking days and filling our freezer with some premade foods to help us through the week.  I’m sure that I will write more about that soon.

I guess that I’d better wrap up my random thoughts post and get that school planning finished.  I’m hoping to fit in a little more Bible reading tonight before I go to sleep.

Thanks for reading all of my all-over-the-place post.  I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Rolls ~

Lately, we have been eating a lot of rolls with our dinners.  We love rolls and they help round out our meals.  I’d like to share two of our favorite dinner roll recipes with you today.

 

This little roll is just about the tastiest roll ever.  It reminds me of the rolls we would have at the family of a church member from a little country church where my dad pastored when I was younger.  It is a quick to make roll and easy to get on the table in a little more than an hour.  I found this recipe years ago at The Sparrow’s Nest. 

Double-Quick Dinner Rolls

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 pkg active yeast
• 2 T. sugar  (I use 4 T)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used one cup whole wheat and 1 1/4 cup all-purpose)
• 1 t. salt
• 1 egg
• 2 t.  soft shortening (I use 2 t. of softened butter)

Dissolve yeast in water.  Stir sugar, half of flour, and salt into yeast.  Beat with spoon until smooth.  Add rest of flour and beat until smooth.  Add egg and shortening (butter) and beat.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and cover it with a cloth.  Set it in a warm place for a half-hour and let rise.

Grease 12 muffin cups.  Stir down raised dough.  Spoon into muffin cups about 1/2 full.  Again, let rise in a warm place, for a half-hour.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes.

When we pull the rolls out of the oven, I always rub a little butter over the top of each roll.  Yummy!  Everyone in my family loves these rolls and they disappear quickly. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week I made another roll that I hadn’t made in a while. The kids came into the kitchen and were excited to see these rolls because these are some yummy rolls.  They were a little sad when I told them that these were going to some friends.  They made me promise to make them some this week.  {smile}

Mama A’s favorite rolls ~

• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 T salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 beaten egg
• 4 + cups of flour ( I use 2 cups of whole wheat and 2 + cups of white)
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 pkg of yeast

*A little note ~ I use my bread maker to mix the dough on this recipe.  Then I remove the dough from the machine and form into rolls before baking.

Put ingredients into bread maker in the order listed above.  Add more yeast in small amounts to machine as mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides.  After the machine is done (1 hour and 20 minutes), remove the dough to a lightly floured surface.  Knead for a few minutes before pinching small amounts of dough to create rolls.  Place into a greased pan and let rise again until double.  Bake in a 400 degree oven until browned.

*If you did not want to use a bread machine, you could follow these directions.

In a small bowl, add yeast to 1/3 cup of warm water and 1 tsp. of sugar.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of hot water, butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt.  Then add beaten egg and yeast.  Add flour until a stiff dough forms.  Cover dough with clean towel and allow to rise until doubled.  Put on a floured surface and knead well.  Make into rolls and place into greased pans.  Let rise again until doubled.  Bake in a 400 degree oven until browned.

I’m always on the look out for new recipes so if you have special roll recipe, please feel free to share it!

 

Eating for less challenge ~ Day 4~ and chatting about real foods ~

~Sorry that I’m a little late with posting this.  On Thursday evening when I was supposed to post, I decided to spend a little time chatting with my husband instead.  This will be the last eating for less challenge that I post because on Friday, Day 5 of the challenge, we ate out.  So I kind of blew my own challenge!  {smile}~

Meal for Day 4:

Pancakes with syrup, sausage patties, fried eggs, toast, and orange juice

Total Cost for Meal:

• pancakes  1.00
• syrup  75 cents
• orange juice  free
• sausage patties   free
• eggs  79 cents/dozen (sale) ~ used 8 eggs at 56 cents
• toast ~ 4 slices at 20 cents

total of meal:  $3.00  (actual ~ $2.51)

We love breakfast for dinner around here.  It seemed like the perfect week to have it too since we had some sausage patties and orange juice that someone had given to our family.  We have breakfast for dinner at least every other week.  This meal is very easy to keep affordable.  If we don’t have a breakfast type meat, I will usually serve some eggs to get in our protein (plus I have one child who does not care for pancakes).  Sometimes we will also have fruit smoothies as our dessert.

What about real foods on a budget?

For a while now, we have talked of transitioning our family to a more real foods diet.  Even though we have begun some steps towards a healthier diet, I find it hard to eat that way on a tight budget.  I realize that I can’t make all the changes at once.  I simply can not afford to do that right now.  Maybe one day we will (again) be able to afford that, but for now I have found that I will do the best that I can with the budget that I have.  And I pray for God to help me feed my family healthy meals on this budget.  As someone recently told me, “It’s not forever.  It’s just for now.” 

Anyway, this is a good blog post at Food Renegade on eating real foods on a budget.  (Here are more links that I found at Musings of a Housewife.)  We have begun to make a few changes to our diet so that it resembles a more traditional foods diet.   (For a good post about reasons for changing to a real foods diet, click here.  Also, here is a good post about making baby steps to better nutrition.)

Some steps we have taken on a tight budget:

• Eat healthier fats.  We use butter and olive oil.  Soon I hope to have some coconut oil for baking so that we can get rid of the vegetable oil.  Every once in a while, we use margarine but I try to avoid it if possible. 
• Reduce sugar intake and replace with healthier sweetners.  This is a hard one around here.  My kids like their kool-aid.  We do mix it with 1/2 cup sugar and some stevia.  Other than sugar and stevia, I use honey as a sweetener.  It (good honey) is a bit expensive so I use it sparingly.  I hope to pretty much eliminate white sugar around here.  Baby steps…
• Use healthier dairy products.  We began using raw milk a while back but don’t use it every week.  If I can afford it, I get it.  We try to use organic milk if not using raw milk.    (Read about healthy milk here.)
• Continue to wean my family off of white flour and replace with whole grains.  Those rolls the other night were 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour.  For the most part, my husband, one daughter, and I eat whole grain bread.  Everyone else prefers white bread. 

Changes that I would like to implement:

• Become a better label reader to avoid HFCS  (High Fructose Corn Syrup), trans fat, and MSG. 
• Buy meats and eggs that are grass fed and pastured.  (Very expensive to do.  I’ve still got my fingers crossed that we’ll get some venison next weekend.)
• Replace white rice & pasta with brown rice & whole grain pasta.
• Drink more water.

There are more steps that our family needs to take.  However, I feel this is a good start.  We’ll take it bit by bit, little by little until we are eating a healthy diet! 

And we will continue to do what we can to eat for less while making the transition to that healthier way of eating.

Eating for less challenge: Day 3 ~

Tonight’s Meal:

Turkey & gravy over rice, cheesy broccoli, (leftover) homemade rolls, and banana muffins (for dessert when we got home from church)

Total Estimated Cost:

Approximately $ 3. 07 or about 44 cents per person in our seven person family

So by now, you’ve figured out that I’m definitely not a gourmet cook!  I’m a pretty simple cook and my family tends to like their meals pretty simple too.  

As far as keeping it simple, this meal had to be quick and easy because it was a busy day and night for us.  On nights that I am not rushed to be somewhere, I try to cook a little extra here and there and freeze it for future meals.  Tonight’s meal was exactly that:  a combination of many different cooking ahead days. 

~ The Breakdown~

~Turkey and Gravy over rice~

• 1 pound of turkey at 39 cents a pound = 39 cents
• turkey gravy = basically free (made with turkey juices and gravy mix that came with turkey)
• 6 cups cooked rice = 50 cents

total:  89 cents

A few weeks ago, we bought a 12 pound turkey for 39 cents a pound ($4.68).  One night, we roasted the turkey and even after eating some that night, we still had quite a bit left.  The rest of the turkey went into the freezer for various meals.  Since there was quite a bit of gravy left, I decided to freeze that too.  In the above picture, the mashed potatoes went into the frig and became potato soup a few days later.  (We try to use up those leftovers.) 

Tonight, I heated the gravy and added two bags of turkey meat (which was a little more than one pound).  We ate this over rice.  It was very easy and very good.  Being this close to Thanksgiving, some might not want to eat turkey right now.  I probably wouldn’t either if our family made the traditional type turkey.  But my family does a cajun fried turkey for Thanksgiving (YUM-O!) so we haven’t messed up our turkey eating experience!  

We have been able to get many meals out of this turkey.  Actually, I have another turkey that we bought at 29 cents a pound sitting in the freezer!  I will roast it one day and freeze the meat for future meals. 

And for a few ideas on how we have used or will use that turkey:

• turkey and rice
• turkey pot pie
• turkey enchiladas
• turkey gumbo
• turkey tortilla soup
• turkey quesadillas
• turkey salad sandwiches
• turkey soft tacos

 The crockpot was busy making some turkey broth!

And the list could go on some more.  Basically, if you can make it with chicken, you can make it with turkey. 

~ Cheesy Broccoli~

• cheesy broccoli bought with coupon = 68 cents
• 1/2 bag of frozen broccoli = 50 cents

total:  $1.18

I have recently begun using coupons to help buy some of our groceries and toiletries.  (More on that later.)  One item that we bought was Green Giant Cheesy Broccoli which we got for 68 cents.  However, the box was little and would probably only feed one and a half people around here.  So I steamed 1/2 a bag of frozen broccoli, added it to the cheesy broccoli, and salted it a bit.  Voila!  Easy & cheap veggies!

~(Leftover) Rolls ~

free because they were leftover from last night’s meal

~Banana Muffins~

estimated to cost about $1.00 because I’m too lazy to compute all of the costs.  But after looking at flour, sugar, and bananas in the recipe, I think $1.00 sounds good.

total:  $1.00

A few overly ripe bananas and a late night out helped me decide to pull a premixed muffin mix from my freezer.  I added the wet ingredients to the all ready mixed dry ingredients & baked.  Easy!  Now, my family has a little sweet snack when they get home from church!

Day 3 meal total:  $ 3. 07

(now that’s what I’m talking about!)

Banana Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3 ripe bananas
• could add in some chocolate chips but I didn’t have any

Mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.  In another bowl, beat egg, add in bananas and applesauce.  Add to flour mixture.  Stir until moistened.  (Could add chocolate chips here.)  Spoon into greased muffin tin.  (I used cupcake liners.)  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes. 

Final Thoughts on Day 3 challenge:

Seeing that $3.07 total is mighty exciting!  This meal was very tasty and it was fun to see how much we could eat for so little money.  It is possible to feed a family of seven good, filling food on a tight budget.

Previous posts on eating for less challenge:

Day 1

Day 2