Menu Monday

Menu Monday again?  Whatever happened to last week?  :-)  I hope that someone was inspired to try something new or at least fill in a slot with an old favorite that they had forgotten about! 

In spite of it "already" being time for Menu Monday again, I must confess that things didn't completely go as planned last week.  Friday afternoon, my wonderful husband took the munchkins out on an errand giving me some quiet time alone.  Aaaahhh.  I do appreciate moments where I hear only the background sounds -- the heater coming on and going off, a car door slamming across the street, the idiot who has the bass turned up so loud in his car it rattles my windows....  Needless to say, I did not take that time to cook, clean, organize.  No, no, no.  I caught up online with a few things and grabbed a catnap while they were gone.  Lovely.  So...the kids had oatmeal ("eat"meal as W has called it since he first put a word with it.  *smile*), Hubby had leftovers, and I had popcorn and apple slices. 

Popcorn and apple slices -- that's a blast from the past!  We used to have that growing up when we watched movies on our blue and white TV with the VHS player we had rented along with the movie from the movie rental store.  The Man from Snowy River, Star Trek (could the docking and undocking scenes have taken any longer????), The North Avenue Irregulars (I must find this movie!  It's a classic Disney film that still makes me laugh out loud, and made my aunt wet her pants in the theater she was laughing so hard!  Sorry, Aunt Kathy -- you have been sold out!), The Apple Dumpling Gang...I believe I hear feint strains of Memories...I digress...again!  My most humble apologies.  Chalk it up to the late hour I'm "penning" this and pregger hormones!  :-)

Here we go -- let's see if I get any wild hairs and expound on any menu choices for the week!  :-)

• Monday -- BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches (Finally!)
• Tuesday -- Potato Soup & Cornbread (because other things got moved, this did, too.)
• The high here is only supposed to be in the 20s (yikes!) -- perfect day for potato soup!
• Wednesday -- Chili & Crackers
• Thursday -- Chili & Crackers
• I'm tempted to try & make homemade crackers, but don't hold your breath on that one.  :-)  I did, however, make homemade soft pretzels last week!  Funny thing?  So did my sister!  Great minds....
• Friday -- Spaghetti & Homemade Artisan Bread
• You had to know that spaghetti was on the menu for this week!  We didn't have it last week, and I don't think Hubby could handle it if I made him go another week without it.  :-)
• I really want to try my hand at homemade artisan bread, and this seems like the perfect day for it.  Hubby gets Backwoods Home magazine, and a while back they had an article on making it from scratch.  I just have to find the magazine now.  Oh, boy.  At least I have a few days since I'm writing this on Sunday/Monday and not Thursday!  I'll see if it's on their website, and if I can share it.  You know I love y'all, but I'm not sure I'm up to typing up a full bread recipe in here! 
• Saturday -- Leftover Lunch, & Dinner Waffles
• Sunday -- Leftover Lunch & Breakfast Casserole  (I use that term loosely...maybe Breakfast Hash would be more appropriate.) 
• Cook up a skillet full of hashbrowns til they're crisp and pull them out of the skillet to drain. 
• Cook 1 cup(-ish) of chopped ham in the leftover oil with some garlic powder & onion powder (to taste).
• To the ham add about 8 eggs beaten with about 1/4 c of water & scramble it all together. 
• Just before the eggs are finished, add the hashbrowns back in and mix them together.
• Once the eggs are fully cooked, top with shredded cheddar cheese or American cheese slices.  Cover & cook til the cheese is bubbly.
• Serve with salsa or ketchup (my preference & favorite!).
• Enjoy!

Happy week!  Stay warm!   :-)

Lesson Learned for Crockpot Bean Soup

Crockpot Bean Soup was on the menu for this week.  It was my first foray into all that alone.  Growing up, beans & cornbread were a staple food during the winter.  I don't remember Mama doing them in the crockpot, though.  They were always in a pot on the stove or even, a few times, on our wood stove!  They were so very creamy and yummy.

Not being able to call Mama to ask how she did things or her opinion on how to cook things is so frustrating sometimes!  So, I googled it, of course.  One of the lessons that I learned was that even if the recipe has great reviews, it's not necessarily going to work.  Oh yeah. 

Thankfully, one of the reviews on the recipe mentioned soaking the beans overnight.  Ding!  That was a memory jogger.  I remember soaking the beans overnight before we cooked them.  Well, that knocked the beans back a day.  Ok.  I can be flexible.  Really.

The beans soaked, and then I put them in the crockpot, covered them with chicken stock, threw in a couple of bay leaves and turned them on high for two hours.  That's what the recipe said to do.  At two hours, I checked on them, added water to cover the beans, and turned the crockpot down to low for three hours.  That's what the recipe said to do.  I'm really good at following directions...not as good as I used to be, but still pretty good.  :-)

It didn't cross my mind to check on the status of the beans before I started my rice and got my kielbasa in the skillet.  Rice was ready, kielbasa nicely browned, taste the beans.  You know, crunchy beans are NOT a pleasant experience for the palate!  All of that to say, the bean soup was knocked back another day, and we had kielbasa and rice for dinner that night. 

I turned the crockpot on low and cooked the bean soup until lunch the next day.  It worked!  Granted, the darn things cooked for nearly 24 hours.  If they hadn't been done by then, I think they would have gone in the compost, and I would have chalked it all up to an interesting experience and moved onward and forward!  (After thinking about it, I had received the bean soup mix from Luke for Christmas when I had him in Kindergarten Children's Choir at church...He just became an Eagle Scout this fall.  Wow.  Beans do last forever!)

My next hurdle was W.  AB had already had lentil soup that my sister made and loved it.  I wasn't worried about her.  She still eats just about anything.  W, on the other hand, is nearly three and particular about what he eats.  Bless. his. heart.  (Yes, I am from the South, and I can say that with the full weight that goes behind it.)  I was so very pleasantly surprised when he took his first bite...and subsequent ones thereafter!  Here's what I heard repeatedly as he ate three bowls of the bean soup:  "I LIKE beans, Mommy!  Thank you for putting them in my soup!"  I about fell out of my chair.  Woohoo! 

I'll do bean soup again this winter.  Really, I will...but probably not every week.  :-)

Stepping Forward, Without a Doubt

Frugal -- "requiring few resources"    

Thank you, Dictionary.com, for providing a myriad of phrases for me to choose from to find the one that best applies to this particular circumstance.

We are now, officially, a one-car family once again.

"Again?"  You may ask.  Yes, again.  :-)

When Andrew and I made the move from Orlando, FL to Norman, OK in 2006, we decided that we didn't need to have two cars...probably a good call since neither of us had a job lined up once we got there, and since we owned both cars outright, we could sell one and make a little cash.  We stayed a one-car family until just after Annabelle was born in 2009.  It wasn't easy, but we made it work. 

Going to two cars seemed like such an amazing luxury when it happened!  And here we are, choosing to go back to one vehicle...for a few months, anyway.  (Peanut coming along this Spring will either require new carseats or a van.  We'll see how the Lord provides.)  Are we crazy?  Nope.  Really.  We've just had to prioritize, and looking at our budget, there's no wiggle room for the tires that the Mitsubishi needs, or the registration fee that's come due.  Normally, we're really good about staying on top of things, but the past year I've not been able to focus on much outside of my kids....  No excuses, just stating the way things are.

So...this past weekend we decided  that the best thing to do was to park the Mitsubishi until we sell it.  (A side note -- we don't owe any on either of our cars.  If we had a car payment, things might be different.)  I called Monday and got the insurance switched to just comprehensive.  (If we'd had a garage to put it in, we probably would have canceled the insurance altogether.)  Yeah!  A little bit to add to the pot!  :-)  Little by little, this choice is adding up the dollars...and gas will be less, too.  Wahoo!

Today was the first day that we had to get the kids around so that we could take Andrew to work.  (Wednesdays and Thursdays I need the car, regardless.)  Oh, me.  I'm a bit out of practice getting the munchkins going!  Sorry, Hubby, that you were a bit on the late side this morning!  We'll do better tomorrow, I promise!

While it's a bit inconvenient to have only one car, it's worth it.  I'm excited about feeling like I am making a choice that makes a difference in our financial health!  For those of you who feel that it's absolutely impossible to live life with only one vehicle, take a second look -- is it truly impossible (& I know families where it really wouldn't work) or is it just irritatingly inconvenient?  For us, it is definitely a step forward...without a doubt!

Menu Monday

I know!  Three posts in one day!  Really, this is more for me than for anything else -- it's a written place I can come back to and say, "Oh yes!  That's how I did it!"  :-)  And...it's Monday, and I'm posting the Menu.  Yeah me!  *smile*

I've already written myself out this morning, so on to the menu!

• Monday -- Shepherd's pie
• Tuesday -- Crockpot 10 Bean Soup with Kielbasa
• Wednesday -- Baked Burritos with Chips & Salsa
• Thursday -- Potato Soup with Homemade Cornbread
• Friday -- Crockpot Pork Loin with Potatoes, Onions & Carrots
• Saturday -- Shredded Pork Loin BBQ Sandwiches
• Sunday -- Pancakes & Eggs 

I'm tuckered out, so I won't be writing any explanations or anything like that.  If you have a question about something, make a comment and I'll get back with you!  Y'all have a wonderful week!!!

Yogurt Update

I am loving making my own yogurt!  In making it these last few times, I have discovered just a couple of things that make it closer to "right" for me.  I like my yogurt thick...if I could have it sliceable, more like flan, I probably would go that route.  In making it according to the everyday yogurt directions, it was just too thin for me. 


So...the last time I made yogurt it got left to sit about 24 hours instead of overnight.  It was the holidays, and things were crazy.  It happens.  When I pulled the lid off my crock pot, though, it was looking closer to "right" for me!  Glossy, smoother, thicker -- these were things I could get used to!  I didn't even strain it, and it was pretty good!  In doing more research, I found that one of the suggestions for thicker yogurt was to add dry milk powder to your milk. 


Hubby & I cleaned out and re-organized our pantry in the kitchen over the holidays (Thank you, Love!!!!) and I found some dry milk packets that I had forgotten about.  When I put my yogurt together Sunday, I added a non-fat packet, enough to make a quart of milk, to my two quarts of milk (1 quart skim, 1 quart whole) in the crock pot.  (Side note -- there was no skin on the milk when I went to add the yogurt this time!  I think that they dry milk took care of that for me.  Yippee!)  Normally, I would have let it sit til yesterday morning, but since I'd had such success with it sitting 24 hours instead, I left it, intending to put it in the fridge before bed last night. 


Have I mentioned that this child that I'm carrying has eaten my brain, and that I used to be intelligent and remember things? 


*sigh* 


I forgot to put the yogurt in the fridge last night...and didn't remember until 6:15 this morning. 
Joy.  Bliss.  Wondrous rapture.  STINK.  When I timidly removed the crock pot lid, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but beautiful, fragrant yogurt!  I think it's the best batch so far.  I know it's the best batch this year!  :-) 


Apparently, the longer it sits, the tangier it gets.  Good thing I like tangy yogurt.

Breakfast Cookies!

My kids have been Nutrigrain (or Walmart generic) bars since W was at least 9 months old...that's a long time considering he'll be 3 next month!  At $0.25 a bar, that wasn't too bad when I was just feeding him.  But, AB came along, and that girl was an EATER.  She would eat TWO (count them -- 1, 2) bars each morning.  That bumped it up to $0.75 for breakfast...plus milk.  The darn things are sooooo sweet on top of the fact that there are lots of ingredients that I scratch my head as I read them wondering what in the world they truly are and why was it necessary to put them in my babies' breakfast?  With my challenge to myself, I decided that I would NOT buy any more "bars."  Unfortunately, I forgot to mention it to hubby, and he came home one day with a couple of boxes because the kids were out.  What a sweet, thoughtful man!  At that point, I shared with him, in the finest Christian fashion of course, -- Don't buy any more bars. 


We had a variety of things for breakfast to fill the void of the bars -- oatmeal...lots of oatmeal, cheese & crackers, fruit with peanut butter toast, bagels....  What I wanted was something that would be easy to make, I could make ahead and would be quick to eat that AB could eat independently.  We have to leave for Jazzercise or to take W to "school" by 8:15 at the earliest.  (I know.  That really sounds late to me, but getting the kids up at 7:15 so that they can see Daddy before he goes to work leaves us 45 minutes to get three of us ready.  Sometimes it's super easy, other times I'm running around like the proverbial decapitated chicken.  *sigh*)  Ease and independence were necessities.


My first thought was baked oatmeal.  "Aunt" Jane in Papua New Guinea made the best baked oatmeal.  Oh my gravy...that was almost more like cake, lightly sweet, super fluffy, could be eaten in squares by hand...my mouth is watering now...I think I'll have to email her for the recipe....  My concern was the kids squeezing too hard and it falling apart and being more mess than breakfast.  In talking with my middle sis, I discovered that she makes a breakfast cookie.  This, I could handle, so I had her email me the recipe.  I've included the recipe as she sent it to me below.  I made it the first time according to her recipe, but it was WAAAAAAY too sweet for me.  I put notes in purple showing how I changed them up when I made them this morning.  The notes in green are for how I plan to do it next time.  I really enjoyed them this morning -- needed a glass of milk to go with them, though.  They're not dry, but very dense.


I was trying to figure out how much this recipe costs to make.  I'll have to look up some prices to find out, but today it made 16 cookies -- enough for five breakfasts for the kids and me.  So...I am confident that they're much less expensive than "bars," and I know exactly what's going into them! 


If you try these out, let me know.  I'm curious to know your thoughts and if you made any adjustments to what's below.


The recipe my sis sent me was a single recipe, but since we always make it doubled, the quantities listed below are for a doubled recipe and will make 16-18 cookies.

Breakfast Cookies
2 large bananas smashed up

1 c peanut butter

1 c honey (1/4 c honey)

2 Tbsp molasses

2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c applesauce next time

mix all that together

separately mix up

2 c oats (1 c quick cook oats and 1 c old fashioned rolled oats)

1 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c dry milk

4 tsp cinnamon  (2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice & 1/2 tsp cloves)
1/2 c wheat germ next time

1/2 tsp baking soda

it doesn't call for salt, but I add l 1/2 tsp to a doubled recipe (with decreasing the sweetness, next time I'll cut the salt back to 1 tsp)

add the dry to the wet and get everything wet, then stir in about 1 c cranberries (or whatever else you want to add -- I use raisins in 2/3 of the batter and keep 1/3 plain.  W's in an anti-raisin phase.  :)

cook on a buttered pan (I use my unbuttered baking stones) - use 1/4 cup scoops, then flatten with a wet spatula (I haven't had to have my spatula wet.)

350 14 - 16 minutes

They do keep, but it's pretty easy to mix them up in the a.m.  (If you're storing them, I highly recommend putting a square of wax paper between the cookies so that they don't stick together.)


I'm looking forward to hearing about your foray into breakfast cookies, or yogurt, or whatever else you might be venturing forth to try!  :-)

Menu...Thursday or is it Friday?

My apologies for missing a couple of Mondays already!  We were in Phoenix at my in-laws for an early Christmas on the 20th and then the 27th...I was still recovering from the previous week and a half.  We drove, yes, drove to Phoenix the 17th & 18th...with two toddlers...and then turned around and came back on the 22nd, straight.  It wouldn't have been too bad if we hadn't had projectile vomit during the first hour and a half...in the middle of NOWHERE.  Of course, being six months pregnant meant we had to stop every two hours and walk about 20 minutes.  It worked out well, though.  We managed to cram a 12 hour drive into 14.5.  Not to bad, all things considered!

But...I digress.  :-)

I'll give you the menu for this week, even though it's Thursday (woops!  now it's Friday!).  Maybe it will give you inspiration for a questionable night!  :-)

• Monday -- Turkey Spaghetti
• I tried to make this as close to my mom's recipe as I could.  It's been so long since I was home, and she was making it.  Unfortunately, I can't ask her now.  I'll give you the best rendition that I can.  Overall, I was really pleased with the outcome.  :-)
• Saute 1 chopped onion and 5-6 stalks of celery in a couple of tablespoons of butter and some salt until they're translucent.  Add 1 pound of chopped turkey, 1 can low sodium chicken broth, 1 family-sized can of cream of mushroom soup, and 1/4 a block of Velveeta chopped.  Stir occasionally to help Velveeta melt.  Season to taste.  Cook 1/2-3/4 pound of angel hair pasta according to the package directions and drain.  Grease a 9x13 casserole dish.  Place cooked pasta in the casserole dish, top with turkey mixture and combine.  (I used tongs.  I don't think it would stir well.)  Top with shredded cheddar and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes to brown the cheddar.  Enjoy!
• Tuesday -- leftovers  :-)
• Wednesday -- Layered Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas from the Heavenly Homemakers blog
• (http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/high-five-recipes-layered-cheesy-salsa-enchiladas)  Yes, you're going to have to click the link to see the whole recipe.  :-)  I did make some adjustments, so it became a little more than 5 ingredients.  I sauteed half an onion and cooked my ground beef with that.  (I cooked enough to do Thursdays dinner, too!)  Then I added a can of seasoned black beans in with the ground beef, 1/2-ish cup of grated cheddar and 2 cups of salsa (1 cup medium Pace and 1 cup of my brother-in-law's homemade salsa -- yummy!).  I cut my tortillas into 1-ish" squares instead of using whole tortillas.  I think that made it easier for the kids to manage.  When I layered everything, I did a layer of tortillas, meat mixture, glopped (what a word!) on my homemade plain yogurt, and a light layer of cheese, then repeated.  I probably added more cheese than she called for in her recipe -- love that cheddar!  I was so encouraged that my husband and kids all really liked this recipe!  And, there's enough leftover to do lunch on Thursday!
• Thursday -- Spaghetti & Cream Cheese Whole Wheat French Bread (yep, traditional spaghetti, again!  The bread recipe is on the first or second Menu Monday.)
• Friday -- Grilled Chicken Breast & Twice Baked Potatoes
• I am so very thankful for my George Foreman grill in the winter time!  It makes cooking the chicken so very quick and keeps it nice and juicy.  For my Twice Baked Potatoes I bake my clean, pierced potatoes in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes -- or until they're fork tender.  I know I could do it more quickly in the microwave, but the skins aren't quite the same.  Once they're out and cooled, I halve them lengthwise, then scoop out the innards.  To the innards I add cream cheese, sour cream/plain yogurt, cheddar cheese, chopped bacon, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder...if I'm feeling spicy, I might add a couple dashes of hot sauce.  :-)  This is really a "til it looks right" recipe.  Unless you get it to a liquid stage (which would be super hard to do), I don't think you can go wrong.  *happy sigh*  Once that's all mixed together, I refill the shells and top with more cheddar.  Into a 350 degree oven they go for about 20 minutes.  I'll probably broil them for just a couple of minutes to brown the top -- there's just something about browned cheddar that's so very yummy.  And, no, this is NOT a low calorie, low fat recipe, but you will enjoy every single mouthful.  Honest.  :-) 
• Saturday -- Shredded Chicken Quesadillas for lunch & Waffles for dinner
• Friday I'll cook more chicken than we need so I'll have some to shred and use in chicken quesadillas.  I'm loving the cooking ahead!  It doesn't take any extra time and saves so very much.  :-) 
• Saturday night we'll have breakfast for dinner -- one of my favorites!  I'll probably fry up some eggs...maybe some bacon I have in the freezer.  Waffles will be the central focus, of course!
• Sunday -- Pizza (homemade or Papa Murphy's?)
• We'll have to see how the day goes.  We have a gift card for Papa Murphy's, but I have everything to make homemade pizza.  Usually, I use tortillas for the crust, but with the quesadillas and the layered enchiladas, I think I'll need to make pizza crust.  If I do and I like it, I'll post the recipe that I use.  I've not made homemade pizza crust yet, but I'm excited to try!

I'm looking forward to being on point Monday with Menu Monday as well as making more yogurt as well as homemade applesauce.  We go through applesauce so quickly that I have to figure out if it's cheaper to make my own or continue buying it.

Happy New Year!  Here's to a year of new experiences and healthier, more economical living!  :-)
May the Lord bless each of you!