Check Out My Clubs

I apologize for not having posted since last Saturday. Life just kind of got away from me, I had a bit of writer's block, and we were pretty busy. I'm back in the game now though.

Check out these babies! My husband calls them clubs because they could be weapons of mass destruction. When my 3 year old saw them she said with wonder in her voice, "Mommy, look at the giant pickle!"



Thanks to my friend Sara, I was gifted with these two huge Zucchinis to do with as I pleased. They're each a respectable 22 inches long! I plan to grate most of them and freeze it for future use in sauces, baking and what not.

What do you do with your Zucchini?

Baked Ziti

I tried to make this recipe back in April, but if failed miserably. I actually did everything ok, and then once I put the cheese on, I found it was moldy. I guess I had bought a bad bag of it. Oops!

Last week I decided to try again, and it turned out FANTASTIC!!!

Baked Ziti

12oz uncooked Ziti

1 tsp Olive Oil

2 cloves Garlic

1/3 lb Ground lean beef

1 tsp dried Oregano

1 tsp Dried Thyme

1 tsp Rosemary

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

28 oz crushed Tomatoes

1-2 cups Mozzarella cheese, grated

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350

* Cook pasta according to directions without added salt or butter, drain and set aside

* Meanwhile, heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat; add garlic and saute 2 minutes. Add beef and cook until browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks, about 3-5 minutes. Drain any fat and return to pan to heat.

* Add all spices, and stir to coat beef. Cook until the herbs become fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

* Spoon a small amount of tomato mixture into the bottom of a 13x9" pan, just enough to cover the surface. Top with half of the cooked ziti, and then layer with half of the mozzarella cheese. Layer remaining ziti on top and top with remaining sauce and mozzarella cheese. Bake until cheese is golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

It fed the kids and I comfortably, with left overs. I served it with a salad on the side. It was proclaimed to be one of my best dishes ever, so I will be making it again! It was very easy to make, and very delicious!!

Simple, But Yummy, Strawberry Sauce

The kids and I went berry picking today. We came home with about 25lbs of strawberries, half of which I promptly spent the afternoon making Strawberry Preserves with. I had picked up an Angel Food cake at Safeway today, so I decided to serve it up with some whipped cream and a strawberry sauce.

The kids proclaimed it to be the best dessert ever! It was divine, if I might say so myself.

I did not measure anything at all, I just dumped and poured.

Strawberry Sauce:

Clean, hulled strawberries.

1/2 cup to 1 cup white sugar

Crush the berries with a fork in a pan.

On Med heat, add the sugar and mix till evenly distributed, and you get a nice liquid sauce. Bring to a boil, and simmer for a minute or two till it thickens up.

Let sit for a few minutes to cool down, then pour over the dessert of your choice. Top with a dollop of whipped cream, or ice cream.

This would make a great topping for ice cream, short cake, pancakes or waffles even. It's very versatile, and very very tasty. I loved it because there was a bit of a tart undertone, as well as a nice sweet sauce.

*please ignore the white clumps falling down the sauce. Some of the whipped cream moved around. You can see that it was melting a bit from the heat of the sauce*

Recipe Re-Post, Chicken Pot Pie

I made this tonight for dinner. It's part of my "Rubber Chicken" meal week (well, half a week! lol)

Can you say Yummy?

I made roast chicken yesterday for dinner, and today used the left overs to make a pot pie. It is such a good comfort food. Tomorrow I will make soup with the left over carcass and meat.

Chicken Pot Pie

2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 can, drained, mixed veggies
two large peeled, diced potatoes
1/2 large onion
1-2 cans of cream of chicken soup
Salt, Pepper, Garlic salt to taste

So if you are crunched for time like me, go ahead and use a store bought pie crust. It just makes it easier for me. Put the pie crust in your pie plate. Mix all the ingredients above in a medium size bowl, and then pour into the crust/pie plate. Top with the other pie crust and cut a slit or two on top. It should cook at about 350 for an hour, mine took that long. I think next time I'll do 400 instead.

Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

I really am in a rut with the cooking, but this is so delicious! Pot pie is not a hard meal to make, just mix up some chicken with cream soup and veggies and a few spices.

Simple Chicken Parmesan and a Fat Smash Update

I'm on the "Fat Smash Diet" right now, so I wasn't able to eat what I made the kids for dinner. I had a nice HUGE green salad, tossed with some chopped up green pepper and tomato, as well as a touch of light ranch dressing. I also had 4 boiled egg whites (I boil the eggs, give the kids the yolks, and eat the whites myself), and a Yoplait Key Lime Pie yogurt. I'm still hungry.

This will get better, or so I've heard. My stomach just needs to get used to less food and then it will shrink. I've done it before, I can do it again. When I was 6 weeks into the diet last time, I remember I had no cravings whatsoever for "bad" food, so I know that this too shall pass.

I'm still hungry

I cheated just a *little* bit today. I had a Fiber One granola bar for an afternoon snack with my fruit. Yeah yeah, I know they're not allowed, but they aren't really that bad. It has 9 grams of fiber! I still came in way way under my calorie limit for the day, so all's good! I'll probably have a bowl of strawberries after the kids are in bed.

Tonight for dinner I made the kids this Simple Chicken Parmesan recipe I found on Allrecipes.com. It was a big hit with the kids, with the exception of a picky 3 year old who will eat only the chicken, and no sauce or cheese.


Simple Chicken Parmesan

INGREDIENTS

* 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese



DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dip the chicken breast in egg and then breadcrumbs. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Brown chicken on both sides and drain on a paper towel.
2. In an 11x7 inch baking dish evenly spread 1/2 of the tomatoes. Arrange chicken on sauce and top with remaining tomatoes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

I found it funny that there was no Parmesan in this recipe, so I added some myself. The kids said it was really good! It certainly smelled that way. I think I'll be making this when my husband comes home in two weeks so that I can try it too.

Vegetable Beef Soup from Scratch

I don't know why, but I've got this black cloud above my head threatening to break open any time. I guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, but that happens sometimes. I'm going to exercise in a few minutes after my daughter is done watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and hopefully that will help clear that cloud away. I just didn't have the energy to go to the gym today.

Anyway, last night I made a yummy yummy dinner. Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup in the Crock Pot. I was a little hesitant, as I have never made soup in my crock pot. Ever. But it turned out delicious, and we loved it. We had left overs, so guess what is for dinner tonight? I accompanied it with a nice loaf of crusty bread that I made in my bread machine. Gone are the days of me making bread from scratch! My mom brought me my old bread machine when she came to visit last month. Hooray!

Vegetable Beef Soup

1lb stewing beef (my pkg was 1.25)
several peeled and sliced potatoes
2-3 peeled and sliced carrots
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn, undrained
1 can green beans (I used french cut since we don't like the other style), undrained
1 28oz can Crushed Tomatoes
2 pkgs/1 box of "Beefy Onion" Lipton soup mix
salt/pepper to taste

*I also added a few beef bouillon cubes as the dry soup just didn't add enough taste"

Just toss everything in your crock pot, along with enough water to fill to about 3/4s of the crock pot. Cook on high for the afternoon, and enjoy!

I made ours about 11:30 yesterday morning and it was ready by 5PM or so. I suppose it took longer because the beef was raw when I put it in. If you want, you can brown it a bit first, but it isn't necessary.

Where Is That Grocery Money Going?

I was thinking about this while I talked to MamaBear, who says that for their family of 3, she spends over $400 a month on groceries.

That led me to ponder where exactly my grocery money is going. What do we spend it on?

A couple days ago I wrote about the last month's grocery purchases. We spent a total of $758.51 for a whole month, including replenishing all the cleaning supplies, all our toiletries, all our pet care needs (that runs close to $100 a month alone sometimes), and groceries. That was an exception though, because we had two birthdays to buy for, my husband was home for a week, and my mom came to visit for a few days as well, so that obviously added money onto my bill.

The other day I spent $229 at Wal Mart for two weeks worth of meals for me and the kids, including some pet supplies, toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo/cond. for everyone, and jet dry. I then went to Safeway to purchase a few more items that were on sale for super cheap. I got 5 two liters of various Pepsi products for only $.75 each, 5 bags of mixed salad for $.75 each, a box of Popsicles (24count) for desert for only $3, two gallons of milk for $3.98 total (I don't buy milk at Wal Mart), and 10 boxes of cereal for $1.50 each. I spent about $30. Granted, I don't normally buy 10 boxes of cereal, but these were cheap and they were small boxes too, so I have some room to store them. I did buy some candy for the kids' Easter baskets, and had to replenish my reusable bags, because I forgot them at home.

I guess I am wondering how I can do it for relatively cheap (seriously, I am not counting last month, it was really odd) for a family of 5-6 (depending on when my husband is home), but others can't. I don't even use coupons!! Couponing here is not really an option because the coupons are all for products I don't use, considering I buy mostly store brands. And Wal Mart is pretty cheap already for groceries. Is it because you don't want to? Can you not find good deals? How big are your families? Do you cook gourmet and fancy foods? Do you not use left overs? Please don't take offense, I am just really curious as to how other families do this. Enlighten me! I bet that there are families that can do it for even cheaper, I'd love to learn how!

I like to cook hearty food, yet simple. I really think that helps keep our grocery costs down, as does using left overs. A family favorite of ours is Roast beef. Roast in itself is expensive, but if you can find a large roast on sale, you can make it last for 3 meals if you try hard enough. I bought a 5lb roast a few weeks back, and the kids and I had roast beef one night, stew the next, and then I froze the last hunk of beef and made stew last week. 3 meals for $11, divided by 5 people..basically 11 divided by 15 = $.73 per person per meal. Plus I had enough left over for me to have stew one day for lunch.

If anyone wants to comment, I'd love to hear what you have to say. How do you make your grocery money stretch, and what do you spend it on?


**** Just wanted to add, while I was at Target this afternoon (we had two birthday parties to shop for), I found a GREAT deal on cereal. I know I just bought a bunch for the kids, but this is for me. Selected Quaker products were on sale for $2.50 each, and if you bought 5 products, you got a $5 gift card. So I bought $12.50 worth of cereal (Quaker Oatmeal Squares Cinnamon flavor), and then was able to use my $5 gift card as well. I got the cereal for only $1.50 a box!!!! ****

Skillet For Breakfast

Yesterday for breakfast I made a new favorite of ours: Skillet. It is such a simple name for something so delicious. My husband is a big advocate of the kids having a hot breakfast as much as possible, so I usually make this or pancakes on the weekends. I don't have time on school days, so usually we just have hot oatmeal.



Skillet:

You will need a large frying pan

2-3 small to medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 dozen eggs, whisked with a bit of milk, salt and pepper
chopped cooked ham
Cheddar cheese
Optional: diced onion and green peppers

First you're going to take your potatoes, and fry them up with a dash of salt and olive oil. Wait till they are nice and golden brown and easily pierced with a fork, and then take them out of the frying pan and place into a bowl.

In the same frying pan, now pour your eggs and let them cook for a few minutes before they start to solidify. Then start to scramble them. Once they start to solidify, add the chopped ham. I usually use 1/2 to 1 cup ham. Let that cook for awhile longer until the eggs are more cooked.

Lastly, add your already cooked potatoes and as much cheese as you want, to the frying pan, and let cook till you think your eggs are done.

Voila, you're done!


It is so easy to make, and even more delicious! It feeds about 5 people a substantial breakfast. That's me and the kids. You could also add some green pepper or onions, but I ran out of those so I didn't add them. I can imagine it would taste even better with those additions.

Amish Bread, Day Two

Yesterday I made Homemade Amish Bread, but didn't have the greatest results. It was good, but very heavy and dense.

Today I tried again. I haven't had the opportunity to taste it, as it is going out with my husband. I might make the kids and I a loaf tomorrow.

What I did differently today was to first use 1/2 cup less flour, and 1/8 tsp more yeast. So I did 1 1/4 teaspoons of yeast instead of 1 1/8th. I also made sure the water was a lot hotter when I was disolving the yeast. And lastly, I made sure that the bread was in an even warmer spot than yesterday. Luckily I was baking cookies today (another post to come about that later), so the oven was on and the bread rose nicely. Twice.

Here is a picture of the bread right before I put it in the oven:



And here is one of it after baking. I also brushed butter on the top to soften it.



Please pardon the fuzziness, my camera battery is dying.

I'm guessing the final verdict will be tomorrow when my husband tells me if it was good or not!

****

2/15 I forgot to update. He said the bread was much much better! Still a little dense, but not nearly as bad as last time, LOL. As you can see the bread turned out beatifully as well, but I guess it "kneads" a bit more "kneading", lol.

Homemade Amish Bread

Since my last post about making bread, Not To Toot My Own Horn, I have been much too scared to even try making my own bread again. My confidence from last time completely vanished. I haven't found anyone to fix my bread machine, so the general consensus in our home is to just toss it. I'm sad though, because it has been a faithful friend in my kitchen for the last two years. Ok, not really sad, but you know what I mean, right? Now I get the pleasure of spending $100 on a new one next weekend once our tax return comes. I'd still rather keep my old one if it were working.

My dear husband has been patient with store bought french bread from Safeway, but today he asked me to try make some from scratch again. I did try everything to get out of it, even offer to go to Safeway and pick some up, but he wouldn't have it.

So out came the Amish cookbook that I have, and I found a recipe for Homemade Bread, as follows. However, I will make a few suggestions; if you halve the recipe like I did, only add 3.5 cups of flour, not 4. With 4 you are going to have to add more water as you knead it because it gets too try to do anything with. The original recipe yields TWO two lb loaves of bread.

Homemade Bread

1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast (for one loaf of bread I used 1 1/8th tsp)
1/2 cup plus 2 cups warm water or milk
1 heaping tablespoon lard or shortening
1 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
7-8 cups all purpose flour (I used Gold Medal "Better For Bread Flour)

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the lard, sugar, salt and the remaining 2 cups water. Into the mixing bowl, stir the yeast, and enough of the flour to make a soft, elastic dough that doesn't stick o the sides of the bowl. Knead well with your hands.

Cover the dough with a loose piece of cheesecloth or plastic wrap and let rise till double (about 1 1/4 hours) in a warm, draft-free place, such as a table close to the stove or a sunny windowsill.

Punch the dough down, and divide it into 2 balls. Form 2 loaves with your hands. Put the loaves in greased loaf pans. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise again until double (45 to 60 minutes). Bake in a 325F oven for about 45 minutes. The bread will sound hollow when it's done. After removing the bread from the oven, brush the top with butter. This will make for a softer crust.

I took this recipe from "The Amish Cook", written by Elizabeth Coblentz

Right now my loaf is in the first rising stage. I have the timer set and it should be done in about 45 minutes. I will update later!

******

Well, some people are very impatient. I happened to be away at a Valentine's day performance for my middle daughter, which is why I didn't post earlier.

So, the verdict is in. The bread was very good, but VERY dense. It definitely needed to rise longer, and it definitely needs 3.5 cups flour, not 4 cups. I'm making another loaf tomorrow, so hopefully it will turn out better. Oh, and a pinch more salt is good too. It definitely tasted a bit bland.

Pizza Pizza

I love pizza. Adore pizza. I could eat pizza every day. I simply love, love, love, Pizza. Unfortunately because eating out is so expensive, we can't afford to eat it all the time. So I thought it was time to take the plunge and make my own. I've done it before, but never with great success b/c I always used a store bought crust. Never again my dear readers!! I can make it myself!!!!

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I have a FANTASTIC bread machine. And with my fantastic bread machine, I can make even more fantastic pizza dough.

If you don't have a bread machine, I can't help you with the crust, I'm sorry!

Pizza Crust Dough Recipe for 2lbs of dough


*it makes two thick crust pizzas* However, I have a 16" pizza pan and a 12", so I get one thin and one thick. The kids always get the thick crust and I make a thinner one for myself

1-1/4 cups 80*F Water or 27*C
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dry powdered milk
4 cups bread flour
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

Make sure you add the ingredients in the order given.
Put it in the dough cycle in your bread machine and wait. Mine actually has a pizza dough cycle, and takes about an hour.

Once your dough is prepared, divide it up however you want. I usually do 2/3ds and 1/3d, mine being the smaller. Roll it out and make sure you use a slightly floured surface. Place your prepared pizza dough in the pan and start with your ingredients.


Pizza "fillings"

Pizza sauce (our favorite is actually WalMart's great value brand with the green lid)
Pepperoni
Ham/Cdn Bacon
Pizza blend Cheese
Pizza Sauce

I usually do a mix of that for the kids. For myself, I always do pepperoni first, then ham, and then finely diced onion, and then the cheese. We'll be trying something different though, I think I might make an all meat pizza, or Hawaiian if the kids will eat it.

Bake one pizza at a time for about 11 minutes at 425. My recipe calls for 20 minutes, but my pizzas were way over-cooked and slightly burned at that time. 11 minutes is just perfect, in my opinion.

So now that you know how to make your own pizza, you can save yourself a few bucks and not have to go out. Now, I'm not saying we won't ever buy pizza again, because we absolutely adore Papa Murphy's Chicago style stuffed pizza, but this is an almost-as-good substitute. And my pizza tastes better cold anyway!

Thick And Hearty Pea Soup, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Don't you just love a good thick soup that warms your bones? I'm a big fan of Pea soup, beef stew and the like. It's perfect on a winter's day. I made this for dinner last night, and it was a big hit with me and the girls. Of course, the baby didn't like it as she is a picky almost 3 year old (and the boy is sick, so he didn't eat).

I'll be keeping this recipe handy and plan to make it again.

Hearty Pea Soup


* 3 cups dried split peas (1 bag of split peas)
* 3 quarts cold water
* 2 pounds ham bone
* 2 onions chopped to your liking.
* salt to season
* ground black pepper to season
* 1-3 pinch ground marjoram
* 3 carrots, chopped
* 1-2 potato, diced


DIRECTIONS

1. In a large stock pot, cover peas with 3 quarts cold water and soak overnight. If you need a faster method, simmer the peas gently for 2 minutes, and then soak for l hour.
2. Once peas are soaked, add ham bone, onion, salt, pepper and marjoram. Cover, bring to boil and then simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove bone; cut off meat, dice and return meat to soup. Add celery, carrots and potatoes. Cook slowly, uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

This soup was as thick as a London fog, lol. When I reheat it for lunch today,I think I might dilute it with a bit of water to thin it out a bit. I usually make a nice loaf of white bread in my bread machine to go with it, but due to the boy being sick yesterday, I wasn't able to find the time. I might attempt to make bread bowls the next time I make it, I think it would taste fantastic that way.

Check out the other great entries at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Bisquick Chicken Fingers

I made this tonight...no pictures yet, they're in the oven. I've had great success with these in the past, and they are DELICOUS!!!


Ultimate CHicken FIngers- This is the original, I always double the recipe.

1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips (or do like I do, and buy pre-cute boneless skinless chicken tenders)
2/3 cup Original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (i just use cheddar)
1/2 tsp salt or garlic salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
3tbsp butter, melted

Heat oven to 450F. line cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. In a 1 gallon ziplock bag, mix the bisquick mix, cheese, salt and paprika.

Dip half the chicken stirps into the egg, and place in bag. Seal the bag and shake to coat. Place chicken on cookie sheet. Repeate to use up remaining chicken. Drizzle melted butter evenly over the chicken.

Bake 12-14 minutes, turning halfway through bake time with a pancake turner, until no longer pink in the center.

makes 4 servings.

Like I said though, I always double so we have enough for everyone. It's delicious! And tastes so much better than the storebought ones.

Ok here are the pictures!!!

An Oldie But A Goody

I am sure that everyone and their dog has made "Muddy Buddies" or "Puppy Chow", but I'll share the recipe anyway! I made it for the kids this afternoon. I had planned on making some cookies for school snacks, but I realized I only had enough eggs for my meatloaf for dinner.

Chex Muddy Buddies

9 cups Rice Chex, or "Shreddies" if you live in Canada
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup PB
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups icing sugar or "powdered sugar" if you live in the USA

In a large bowl, place the cereal

In another bowl, mix the chocolate chips, butter and PB and microwave for 1 minute on high or until the mix is smooth when you stir it. Stir in the vanilla when it is smooth. Pour the mix over the cereal in the bowl and stir till well coated. Pour into a large, preferably 2 gallon, ziplock bag. I only had 1 gallon on hand, but it worked fine.

Add the icing sugar and shake, shake, shake, till all the cereal is coated. You can leave it in the bowl to cool, or you can spread it on wax paper to cool as well. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

It is an easy, quick snack, but man does it give you a rush! I had a small bowl, maybe a cup worth, and I have a headache already!

Make Your Own Pizza Night

I got a wild hair up my butt and decided to let the kids make their own dinner tonight! We had fun and the kids got to make their own pizzas.

Fun+easy+cheap = Happy Mommy

First pre-heat your oven to 450F

You will need, depending on many people you're feeding:

12 pack of English muffins
1 small bag of pizza pepperoni
1 small bag of pizza ham/Canadian bacon
grated cheese (i bought pre-grated pizza blend)
1 bottle of pizza sauce

We went though 7 English muffins for the 5 of us, and had a half jar of sauce leftover. Most of the pepperoni was left too, but that is because most of us wanted ham.


I layed out all the ingredients on the table and gave each kid two halves of an English muffins. They each spooned their sauce on-about 1 tbsp does it. And then I let them do what they wanted with the ham and pepperoni and cheese.

Bake on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes at 400F.

A fun and easy meal for the kids to make. I think we'll do this again, the kids really enjoyed it.

Carnivals And Grocery Shopping

Thank you so much to Tara at Feels Like Home for including my post, "M&M Cookie Goodness" in this weeks edition of the "Make it From Scratch Carnival".

Check out the entries, there are some really really good ones!!

On to the Grocery Shopping!

I decided to plan for two weeks so I wouldn't have to worry about the budget. I don't think it will be too bad, we still have a few staples left in the pantry, so I don't need to purchase a lot of canned veggies. I'm tired of the same old thing, so about the only thing we are "repeating" for the next two weeks is hot dogs. I try to make those 1 or two times a month, we usually use them for Karate nights when we get home at 6PM, and we'll only have them once.

So I need two more meal ideas, something easy and cheap and not involving beef, pork or turkey. And I'm kinda sick of chicken! lol

Any ideas?

Grocery Shopping, It's A Budget Week

Well rent is due next week as are a couple other bills, and I have a big gift to buy this week, so I am going to have to cut down on our grocery bill. I'm trying to think of some cheap meals I can feed the kids and I, any ideas?

Last night I made a HUGE pork roast, that will feed us tonight and then Tuesday night too. I'm not quite sure what to do with it on Tuesday though; I could make BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, but I don't really want to eat that. I thought about doing a Pork Pot Pie, but the thought of that grosses me out. What else can you do with pork roast? So I have Monday and Tuesday taken care of. I might even get Wednesday night taken care of too...I'll have to see how much the boy eats.

Thursday for us is obviously Thanksgiving, so we will have two meals out of that, and I can save left over bird for soup etc. That takes care of Thursday and Friday. But what do I do for Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday? I should probably buy groceries for two weeks, but I'm feeling a bit lazy with my menu planning this week...ooops!

I was thinking of making meat loaf one night, and we always do something easy or out of the crock pot on days we have Karate (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Anyhow, I am feeling very un-creative, can anyone give me some good ideas? I'm open to anything tasty and cheap for the menu for the next couple weeks.

Christmas Traditions

I am happy to say that this year I am actually looking forward to Christmas! Last year it was so-so for me, and while I did do our usual things as normal, it didn't seem right to me. But this year I think I have the Christmas spirit. I think maybe because I am not so focused on it, and have left everything for the month of December. We won't be putting up our tree till next weekend, or the beginning of December, and I am happy about that because it kind of starts the "Christmas Season".

While I am on the topic of Christmas though, I wanted to talk about traditions we have with our kids and family.

When I was a little girl, my dad's twin brother had a long time girlfriend. So much so so that we actually referred to her as "Aunty". Every year, even a couple years after they split up, she would come to our house and make a gingerbread house with us. I've since started that tradition with my children, and it is something we look forward to every December. I usually buy a Wilton one, and then also pick a pre-assembled one from Safeway. The kids and I spend an afternoon decorating them and eat as much candy as we put on the house. This year I was lucky to find a "gingerbread village" kit at Michael's. It has 5 3-4" tall gingerbread houses that will be a nice compliment to our large one.

Another tradition we have is making Cinnamon Ornaments


Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

Recipe 1:

The recipe that I use is

* 1/2 cup ground cinnamon,
* 1/3 cup applesauce, and
* 1 Tbs. Tacky glue

Mix in bowl and stir until well blended. Work mixture in hands for three minutes to form a ball. If it is too dry, add applesauce, if too wet, add more cinnamon. Knead ball on cinnamon-sprinkled surface until it holds together well. I roll this out and use cookie cutters for the shapes. I also use a drinking straw to cut a hanging hole. These can be air dried for 24 to 48 hours. Turn several times. They can also be baked in a slow oven.

And we can't forget baking. Oh the baking I do! Shortbread, Gingerbread, chocolate chip, no-bakes, apple pie, fudge, truffles, chocolate pie... all sorts of wonderful tasty treats. We usually decorate sugar cookies too, but I'll be phasing that out this year as no one ate them last year, they only wanted to decorate. And we LOVE to decorate Gingerbread men.

Every year the kids get a new ornament for themselves. I haven't bought them for this year, but I usually let them pick something out. Last year they got mini nutcrackers. Maybe we'll make an ornament this year.

Other traditions include my mom coming to visit around SinterKlass (I am a 100% pure, bona-fide Dutch Girl), putting a Christmas orange in the kids' stockings, buying a new Hallmark ornament each year, and driving around one night in December looking at all the pretty Christmas lights. And we always, always, open our gifts on Christmas morning.

I'd love to incorporate some new traditions this year, so share with me what sort of traditions you have with your family? Is there anything new you are wanting to try this year?

Easy Peasy Bran Muffins

When I was growing up, my mom always made bran muffins. I loved them! loved loved loved, them. But I have never, not once, made them and I haven't lived at home since 1998. So I thought last week, that maybe it was time to make some for my kids. Especially since we are trying to cut down on the type of snacks they take to school, and make some more healthy snacks they can take instead. They turned out great!
I'll add in my few modifications to her recipe., and please note, the recipe list is by section, it would take too long to make it all one big list and then tell you what order to go by. So just go by section ;o). Please note, if it is italicized, then that is the actual name of the cereal you're supposed to use.

Easy Peasy Bran Muffins

Step One:

In a med size bowl, mix together:
2 cups boiling water
3 cups of raisins (her recipe calls for 2, we liked more)
2 cups of " ALL BRAN " cereal

set this aside


Step Two

In a large bowl, mix:

3 cups of white or brown sugar
1 stick of softened, room temp, butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/c cup molasses
4 cups buttermilk

mix it up really well and set aside again.

Step 3

In an even bigger bowl (make sure it will fit in your fridge first), I used a huge one, mix the following ingredients:

5 1/4 cup flour, wheat or white. Doesn't matter
3tbsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
4 cups "NATURAL BRAN" (my mom says this is by the flour in the grocery section, I couldn't find it. I looked all over, and had no luck. It is supposed to be "powdery". But since I couldn't find it, I used "QUAKER OAT BRAN", in a little red box that was with the baking stuff. It is similar enough, and worked for us.

mix all the dry ingredients together in your huge bowl, then add Step Two ingredients and mix well. Lastly, add Step One ingredients and mix with a mixer. You should use a mixer when you add step 2 and step one actually. Please make sure you used a big enough bowl, because this recipe yields a TON, and I mean a TON, of dough.


Now that all of your ingredients are mixed up in a bowl, put it in the fridge overnight. You don't have to, but it helps the dough set better. In the morning, the dough will be very thick, this is normal. You'll probably have to use a spoon to scoop it into the muffin pan like I did.

In the morning, preheat your oven to about 375 and get out your muffin pan. Line it with paper cupcake/muffin papers and fill each one about 3/4s full. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. I originally started at 350, but 20 minutes in and they were still doughy. So experiment a little and see what your oven needs. 375 did it for us.

I only do 12 at a time, and we enjoy them when they're warm still with a bit of softened butter. Mmmm Yummy!!

This recipe actually keeps for 6 weeks in the fridge! So you can make fresh bran muffins every morning without having to worry about all the prep!

Chicken Pot Pie

Can you say Yummy?

I made roast chicken yesterday for dinner, and today used the left overs to make a pot pie. It is such a good comfort food. Tomorrow I will make soup with the left over carcass and meat.

Chicken Pot Pie

2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 can, drained, mixed veggies
two large peeled, diced potatoes
1/2 large onion
1-2 cans of cream of chicken soup
Salt, Pepper, Garlic salt to taste

So if you are crunched for time like me, go ahead and use a store bought pie crust. It just makes it easier for me. Put the pie crust in your pie plate. Mix all the ingredients above in a medium size bowl, and then pour into the crust/pie plate. Top with the other pie crust and cut a slit or two on top. It should cook at about 350 for an hour, mine took that long. I think next time I'll do 400 instead.

Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

I really am in a rut with the cooking, but this is so delicious! Pot pie is not a hard meal to make, just mix up some chicken with cream soup and veggies and a few spices.