gingerbread play-dough

My kids love play-dough!  And since we are reading books and doing learning activities with gingerbread people (more about that soon), we made some gingerbread play-dough! 

It is so easy to make.  Littlest Man helped me put the ingredients into the pan.  I handled the food dye, cooking, and kneading of the dough.  It is super easy and quick.

Gingerbread play-dough

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup of salt
• 2 TBSP cream of tartar
• seasonings such as cinnamon, ginger, and ground cloves (these were what I had in my pantry)
• 1 cup of water
• 1 TBSP oil
• a few drops of food coloring (I used the brown from my cake decorating kit)

Put flour, salt, and cream of tartar into a pan.  Mix in seasonings.  (I did not measure these but if I had to guess I probably put in about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of ginger, and 1 tsp + of ground cloves.  I just kind of smelled it to see if it smelled about right.  Sorry for the lack of exact measurements.  That usually drives me crazy when I want exact numbers. {smile}) 

In a separate bowl, mix the water, oil, and food coloring.  Add to the pan of dry ingredients.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture stiffens and forms a ball.  Spoon onto a lightly floured surface and knead 1-2 minutes.  (It’s quite warm so be careful.)  Store in an air-tight container so your play-dough won’t dry out.

There you go!  Easy, easy.  And fun!

 

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.

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?

{Recipes} Angel biscuits and pancakes

I love church cookbooks.  Oh wait…I’ve said that before.  So I guess it’s no surprise that these two family favorite recipes are both from church cookbooks. 

While I try to lean towards healthier whole grains for our family,  I have to admit that both of these recipes taste better with white flour!

{Gasp!}

I have tried 100% whole wheat for both.  Hated it.  And hate is a strong word so that’s how much I disliked it. 

I’ve also used a 50/50 mixture for both and that’s ok.  Not the best but ok.

I still love them with 100% white flour.  But it’s not so bad… I’m using unbleached white flour so that’s a little better.  Right?  {smile}

And now for the good stuff!

Angel Biscuits

• 1 pkg dry yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 5 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 4 TBSP sugar
• 1/2 tsp.  salt
• 2/3 c. oil
• 2 c. buttermilk ( I was out of butter milk so used milk with a smidge of vinegar to sour it.)

Sift dry ingredients together and add milk, oil, and yeast mixture.  Mix well.  Turn out on a floured board and knead a few minutes.  Roll out and cut into circles.  Place into a lightly greased pan.  Bake 12 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  (I like to brush ours with a little butter when they come out of the oven.)  Recipe says that the mixture can be stored in an airtight container for about 1 week in the refrigerator.  We just bake all of ours at one time.  This recipe makes a lot of biscuits.

It is odd for a biscuit recipe to have yeast.  I like it because I’ve not quite mastered biscuits without using the yeast to help me out.  These are incredibly yummy biscuits.

 

Pancakes

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 TBSP sugar
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 c. milk (I add a bit more – probably a couple of teaspoons)
• 1/4 c. oil

Mix all of dry ingredients together.  Then mix in wet ingredients.  Beat until blended and pour onto hot griddle.  Flip when bubbles pop.  Enjoy with favorite toppings!

Years ago, we gave up using Bisquick for pancakes.  For quite some time, I searched for a pancake recipe that we enjoyed as much as Bisquick pancakes.  And for quite some time we were disappointed with the findings - until we found this recipe.  It is really good and makes thick pancakes.  I always thin our batter out by adding a bit more milk. 

Both of these recipes are found in the First Baptist Church of Zwolle, Louisiana cookbook.  Actually, they are from the one that I showed here with the broken binding.  It is a wonderful cookbook!

 

 

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!

My honey’s birthday and a honey bun cake

Wednesday was the birthday of my “honey” (aka David).  Since Wednesdays tend to be busy days we decided to celebrate his birthday on Tuesday night.

Storms were rolling into the area and it was getting quite dark outside so we decided to make a sign for Daddy’s birthday as we passed away a rainy evening.  David was out of town for work.  What we didn’t anticipate was that he would be two hours late getting home.  But that’s ok…it gave us plenty of time to work on this:

This is a honey bun cake and it is yummy!  (Recipe to follow.  And about  the candles…for some reason the birthday candles were missing so we just used what we could find.   There is no rhyme or reason in relation to the birthday honey’s age.)

Daddy and his little buddy

  Little Buddy singing his heart out

Happy Birthday to our honey!  We love you!

And as promised…a honey bun cake recipe.

Honey Bun Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

3/4 cup oil

1 cup sour cream

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and sour cream.  Mix well.  Pour half of batter into a greased and floured 9 X 13 inch pan.  Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over batter and swirl together.  Pour and spread remaining batter on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30ish minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Pour glaze over cake while still warm.

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 TBSP. milk

Easy and yummy!

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 our homeschool {butterflies and playdough}

We have been busy  and  we’ve been having fun in our homeschool.  Here’s a little bit of what we’ve been up to in our home school. 

Butterflies ~

Last year, the girls received a Butterfly habitat from their uncle, aunt, and cousins as a birthday present.  Since we were studying biology this year, I waited a bit to order the caterpillars.  But for the last few weeks we have watched these  caterpillars turn into…

 

pupae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then into butterflies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had fun observing them for a few days and recording our findings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, we decided to let them go so they could be free and experience freedom in their short little lives.

The butterflies could not wait to get out once we took them outside.  They were flapping with all of their might to leave that little mesh bag and experience life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you see the butterflies flying away in the picture above?  It all happened rather quickly so there was not much time to snap a good picture. 

Unfortunately, as we released our butterflies, one of the newly freed butterflies was soon the lunch of a bird flying in the air.  So now we will be studying the food chain.  {smile}

Resources used this week:

Butterfly garden

Real Science Odyssey by Pandia Press

Playdough ~

Playdough is a good way to keep the preschool crowd occupied during school time.  We love to make our own playdough and since our old playdough was gray from mixing all the colors, we decided to make a new (or three new) batches. 

Here’s our favorite recipe for playdough:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of salt
• 1 TBS cream of tartar
• 1 TBS oil
• food coloring

Heat all ingredients in a saucepan, slow to medium heat.  Stir continuously.  Once dough is at the consistency you want, remove from heat.  Cool slightly.  (We don’t put food coloring in before cooking.  We knead the color into the dough after it is cooked and cooled slightly.) 

*I’ve read not to double playdough recipes because they won’t come out correctly.  So we made three individual batches and then split those into two before coloring.  Honestly, the playdough cooks rather quickly so three batches did not take long at all. 

This playdough lasts for a very long time when stored in an air tight container.  Have fun!

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!  

Garden harvests and a recipe ~

~Before I post, I want to thank those of you who have been praying for Tori.  Some have asked me to give a little update on her.  First, she came through the surgery well.  She had some problems with headaches and double vision while recovering but she was able to move out of ICU quicker than expected.  From one of Penny’s updates, the tumor that the doctors removed was malignant.  On May 2, they will be doing a spinal tap and putting in a line so that Tori can receive the medications needed.  (Penny, if you read this and I’ve relayed any information incorrectly, please let me know.)  Please continue to pray for Tori, Penny, Todd, and Hunter.  Thank you. ~

Our little white house garden is starting to reward us with some yummy treats!  The kids are loving looking through the strawberry patch every day and finding sweet treats.

I’m loving the fresh salads at lunch and dinner everyday!  YUMMY!  Today before lunch I was surprised to find some snow peas that were ready to pick.  (I looked yesterday and didn’t see them…those sneaky little snow peas!)

I picked all that looked ready, hurried in to wash them, and promptly ate them for lunch.  (Well, I ate them after I took the picture.  My mouth was watering the whole entire time!)  They will be wonderful in tomorrow night’s stir fry too!

I try to avoid MSG because it does not agree with my stomach.  (MSG is just not good for you.  More here.)  Since many salad dressings have MSG, I’ve been making salad dressing for our family.  Here’s a Ranch dressing recipe that we all LOVE.  I’ve had this recipe in my recipe binder for a while but don’t know where I found it.   If it looks familiar, please let me know so I can give credit.

Ranch Dressing

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
• 1/4 teaspoon parsley  (I was out of parsley so I used the garlic and herb seasoning pictured above)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic (I omitted because I used the garlic seasoning.)
• 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• sprinkle of chives

Mix all of the ingredients together and enjoy.  It tastes better after it has set for about 24 hours.  I don’t know how long it would last in the frig because our dressing didn’t even last a week with all of our fresh salads!

If you have a garden, have you been eating any of your harvests yet?  I’d love to hear about it! 

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!

 

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 1 ~

 Tonight’s Meal:

Roasted Chicken, Oven roasted potatoes, Green Beans, Cornbread, and fresh pineapple & banana fruit salad

Total Estimated Cost:

Approximately $ 6.00 (give or take) or about 86 cents per person in our seven person family*

This meal is definitely not the most colorful meal in the world but it is a family favorite around here.  After the meal, I heard two people say, “That was really good”.   One child commented, “I am full” after he had cleaned every bit of food from his plate.  Two people went back for cornbread seconds and one went back for extra chicken – twice!  Even though we didn’t have a rainbow of colors at this meal, we did have full bellies! 

* Before I share the costs & recipes, I need to explain a bit how I calculated the cost.  Since it is about impossible for me to calculate the cost of my staple pantry items such as flour, corn meal, sugar, oil, eggs, etc., I have just simply rounded up the known costs of the main meal items to the nearest dollar.  After figuring that my flour probably cost about 10 cents a cup {I bought some on sale this past weekend.  I believe it was $1.25 a bag.}, I decided that trying to figure out the exact costs of my staple items & spices would be a bit time consuming.  I still believe without every exact nickel and dime that these prices will closely reflect how much I spent on these foods. 

~The Breakdown~

~Roasted Chicken ~

* recipe below

Chickens were on sale this weekend at Kroger for 49 cents a pound.  At another local store, they were 69 cents a pound.  Even when whole chickens are not on sale, they are still a good buy for us.  The most a chicken costs us is about $ 5 – $6.  However, at 49 cents a pound these 4 pound chickens were $1.96 each.  We cooked both chickens tonight but our family only ate one chicken.  The other chicken was deboned and the meat will be used for another meal.  The bones were also saved to make broth in the morning. 

I do realize that these chickens are not organic.  As much as I would love to feed my family organic meats, it is not in the budget right now.  Hopefully one day we will eat organic meats but for now, I just try to fill their bellies the best way that I can.

Estimated cost of one chicken:

$ 2.00  (actual: $1.96)

~Side Dishes~

Side dishes are the secret to making this meal work.  Since there will not be large amounts of chicken for everyone, the side dishes are what help to round out the meal and make the family feel satisfied. 

~Oven-roasted potatoes~

Estimated cost:

3 pounds at 60 cents a pound = $2.00  (actual: $ 1.80)

~ Green beans seasoned with bacon ~

Estimated cost:

• 2 slices of bacon at 36 cents
• 1/2 bag of frozen green beans at 63 cents
• green beans from the garden (free) =

$1.00 (actual:  99 cents)

~Cornbread ~

I did not figure the cost of the cornbread.  One, all of the ingredients came from my pantry.  Two, the cost of most of the ingredients is just mere cents so I’ve rounded the cost of the other items up in order to reflect the cost of the cornbread.   Maybe one day, I’ll find some time and compute the price.  {smile}

~ Pineapple & banana fruit salad ~

Pineapples were on sale this weekend for 94 cents each.  The banana was just a few cents. 

Estimated cost:

$1.00 (actual:  94 cents + a few)

~ The recipes~

Roasted Chicken

• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 tsp paprika ( I was out but I like to add for color)
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 roasting chicken
• olive oil

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl except the onion and chicken.  Wash and dry chicken.  Place spices under the skin and push it under the skin with a wooden spoon.  (This gives a lot of flavor to the meat.)  Place leftover spices inside of the chicken and rub onto the skin.  Also, put chopped onion inside the chicken.  Place chicken breast side down into a roasting pan.  Sprinkle with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees until done.  (Usually about 2 hours, give or take.  Check to make sure that the juices run clear.)  This recipe does well in a crockpot also.

Oven roasted potatoes

This is a very simple recipe but my kids love it.  Scrub and cut potatoes.  Place into an oven safe dish.  Sprinkle with spices and stir.  (We used salt, pepper, and seasoned salt.)  Place a few pats of butter on top of the potatoes and bake in a 350 degree oven until ready.  We’ve also made these in a microwave but would stir the potatoes every five minutes until ready.

Cornbread

We like sweet cornbread in our family so this recipe has sugar.  I’m tempted to try this with honey instead of sugar one day but this recipe works so well that I’m afraid to mess up a good thing!

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup corn meal
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. cooking oil
• 1 1/2 cup milk

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.  Pour into a baking dish.  (I love to use cast iron for cornbread but mine needs to be seasoned.)  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.  Be careful to not overcook. 

Final Thoughts on Day 1 of eat for less challenge:

My family (including older children) was impressed when I told them the cost of the meal.  They even commented how they enjoyed this 6 dollar meal much more than a $30 dollar meal from McDonald’s.  That made my day!  My husband also thanked me for working so hard to lower the cost of our food budget.  My family blessed me tonight with their appreciation and thankfulness.  That definitely makes the extra work of sticking to a food budget worth it.  See you tomorrow night with meals for day 2. 

 

A little extra…

I just posted a blog post about this little kershaw (or cushaw) and went on to google it.  I found this blog post about it and possibly a new blog to read (like I needed another one…why are there so many good blogs out there!? ;)  Anyway, posting this link here and I’ll let you know how our pie turns out!