Menu Planning Tips

 Please don't forget to leave a comment on the Lilla Rose Flexi-clip giveaway post here!  Deadline is Wednesday at midnight!

I have had a few questions and comments recently about planning a weekly menu and thought I would take a moment to answer them.

1.  What do you do for snacks?  What are those?  No, really, I don't plan much for the snack area.  We generally have homemade bread or muffins on the counter and fruit in the refrigerator.  I make about 2 gallons of granola every few weeks and all of these are free for the snacking.  My wheat-free toddler gets gluten-free pretzels and rice cakes as well.  Raisins, sunflower seeds, sliced cheddar,  peanut or sunflower butters and sometimes popcorn round the selections out.   Every few weeks or so one of the girls will make a batch of cookies.


2.  Lunches are so hard to plan.  That's what leftovers are for!!  If we don't have leftovers--and I do try to cook enough to have SOME leftovers--we will have bean or beef tostados, some type of sandwich, homemade soups, hummus and veggies, popcorn, and fruit.


3.  When I make extra food at one meal in order to put extra in the freezer, the family eats it all.  Hide it!!    Don't put it on the table.  Put it in the freezer before mealtime.  Threaten!!


4.  What is the average cost of a meal at your house.  As frugal as I try to be, I really have no idea!!  We have been eating more bean based- meals recently and spread the meat thin.  Meat tends to be the big expense.  Devin recently made a chicken dinner for us using a pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts that I bought at a great price.  There were three chicken breasts and there are eight of us at home.  She cut each piece into three pieces, so that there were nine pieces.  And can you believe there was a piece leftover!!!  My secret to eating less meat is to eat heartier side dishes and they don't miss the meat!  Or use the meat in pasta or rice dishes.  With our food allergies, we tend to not eat many casseroles  unless we want to cook two meals, but sometimes that is what we do.   And with my boys, having freshly baked bread on the table always brings smiles.


For some other frugal menu planning tips check out these past posts.


http://busyhandsbusyminds.blogspot.com/2011/03/musings-from-grocery-store-and-some.html


http://busyhandsbusyminds.blogspot.com/2011/02/lifestyle-changes-becoming-producers.html


http://busyhandsbusyminds.blogspot.com/2011/06/quit-spending-even-more.html


http://busyhandsbusyminds.blogspot.com/2011/06/quit-spending.html


http://busyhandsbusyminds.blogspot.com/2011/01/frugal-shopping.html

Giving a shout-out to Kysha!!  Hope this helps!!  Bless you as you strive to do it ALL to the glory of God!










 

http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/homemaking-link-up-46/

Simple Breakfast Prep

Feeding the family a good hearty breakfast seems to be a dying trend. I refuse to buy most processed foods and especially processed breakfast foods. Opening up a cardboard box of cereal, an instant packet of flavored oatmeal or grits or even whacking a can of biscuits or cinnamon rolls against the cabinet are just not options here.   Not only are they not as good for you due to all the chemicals and preservatives, but they can be quite costly as well.  So how do I get my family fed in the mornings without a lot of hustle and bustle?

*The first step is to have a plan!  I plan out a weekly menu that includes our daily breakfast plan as well.

*The second step is to cook even breakfast foods in bulk.  We make enough biscuits on Saturday mornings for two meals.  Sometimes we even make extra sausage and eggs and stuff those into buttered biscuits, wrap them in plastic wrap and put them all in a gallon sized baggie.  We can then unwrap to heat in the microwave or the oven.  I should probably start wrapping them in freezer paper to eliminate the contact with plastic.  And while I would love to get rid of the microwave, my dear husband would not.  ; )  We also make up two or three gallons of granola every 6 weeks or so.  It is not only used for breakfasts but for a healthy snack as well.  Our Sunday morning tradition of cinnamon rolls is easy to manage as Devin, my 23 year old daughter,  makes up a large batch every other week and freezes them in the pans that they will be baked in.

*The third step is to mix up muffin, pancake batter and baked oatmeal the night before.  The next morning we just turn on the oven and slide the oatmeal in, pour the muffin batter into tins or heat up the pancake skillet.  Not only is the prep time decreased but so is the cleaning time as all the ingredients and utensils were cleaned up the night before!  This step also leads right back to step two.  We make up large batches of muffins and have them for two mornings and as a possible snack.  Extra pancakes can be flash frozen--simply lay them out singly on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about an hour then simply put in a gallon sized freezer bag.

*The fourth step is to train your children to do most of the above!  It is very rare to find me in the kitchen in the mornings!  My children are old enough to mix up all the muffins, pancakes, oatmeal, biscuits and cook all the sides such as eggs, grits, bacon, eggs, hash browns, fried apples or whatever.  This frees me up to snuggle with the little guy every morning and to get my blogging done for the day!

A reader recently asked for a couple of our breakfast recipes so I am including them here.  Please don't miss the links above for our simple granola and cinnamon rolls.  I would love it if you were to try the recipes out and leave me a comment letting me know how you liked them!!

Applesauce Muffins

1 cup softened butter 
2 cups sugar (I actually use 1 1/2 cups with no change in taste)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp. vanilla
2 cups of homemade applesauce or natural unsweetened applesauce from the store
2 tsp. soda
2 cups unbleached flour

2 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon


Cream sugar and butter; add eggs and vanilla.  Beat well.  Sift flour and  cinnamon together.  Heat applesauce; remove from heat and add baking soda.  The applesauce with puff up a little!  Add applesauce and flour alternately to butter and sugar, mixing well after each addition.  Place batter in greased muffin pans and bake for 15-20 minutes in 350 degree preheated oven.  When done, roll in powdered sugar.  This batter will keep in the refrigerator several days or you can freeze baked muffins.  Makes 7 dozen miniature muffins.  You can also make larger muffins and even bake it in loaf pans.

You can definitely leave off the powdered sugar, but kids really enjoy them with the extra sweetener and it makes them look extra special!  If you decrease the sugar in the muffins perhaps you won't mind adding a little extra on the outside.  : )   I get rave reviews and recipe requests when I take these anywhere.  Enjoy!!

Baked Oatmeal  from Beverly Lewis' Amish Heritage Cookbook

1/4 cup cooking oil                                                  1 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup white or brown sugar                                1 1/2 c. quick or rolled oats
1 egg                                                                        1 c. milk
1 t. baking powder                                                   1/2 t. salt

Beat together all ingredients with mixing spoon; pour into buttered 9 x 13 pan.  You can sprinkle with frozen or fresh blueberries or sliced apples as well.  We love it with blueberries!

Bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes or until done. 

Linked to gnowfglins.com

homesteadrevival.blogspot.com

Dreaming

Sometimes when I am doing the dishes with one of the children, they really open up and start talking...telling me their hopes and dreams.  Today one son was telling me about some writing ideas he has and we discussed how to make them actually happen.  He has always had a wonderful imagination and is using it in his writing.  Then he went on to some gardening ideas he has that will be blessings to all of us:  a feast for both the stomach, the eyes and the soul.   Both of us are more than ready for some homegrown tomatoes and basil.

As we were finishing up I was wiping down some cabinets and started thinking about our little kitchen remodeling project that I would like to soon get underway.  I thought about adding some chalkboard paint to some of the cabinets where  I could write the breakfast menu on one, lunch on another and dinner on yet another cabinet.

Then it occurred to me that I could paint the inside of the cabinet door with magnetic paint and put needed recipes for the menus on them.  The breakfast menu on the front with recipes needed to make the dishes on the back of the door.  How handy would that be?

Then I started looking at the track lighting and had visions of changing that up as well.  The track lights could be moved to the hallway to highlight the children's photography and art work.  What a nice display that would make!

I would like to install mounted lights under the upper cabinets to light up the countertops and I am thinking about some old school house looking pendant lighting for the ceiling.  It would probably take 3-4 lights, but I think it would look very neat.

So, what are you dreaming about today?  A writing project, gardening, remodeling or just a relaxing day at the beach?

Eating from the Pantry and Freezer

I gave up on regular menu planning a while back.  It's just too easy for me to get off track and it frustrates me if we can't follow the menu.  However, getting dinner on the table is not a chore as we can usually set something out from the freezer to thaw in the morning and cook a veggie or two in the late afternoon and we are set.   This week I have stuck with cooking with foods that I already had on hand.

Sunday night we had a chicken-broccoli-rice casserole and leftover beef tips from the kids' dinner on Saturday.

Monday-seasoned white beans, brussel sprouts, stewed squash and onions with homemade bread----all pulled from the freezer

Tuesday-Devin used 8 chicken thighs to make braised chicken with potatoes and carrots--Jeff and I had a meeting that night and the next day I also discovered the kids pulled the chocolate chess pie from the freezer and ate the whole thing!!

Wednesday--bbq chicken strips, seasoned field peas, corn, and home fries

Thursday--I pulled the turkey broth and cooked turkey from the freezer to make a big pot of soup---added garlic, onions, carrots and potatoes.  It's snowing here today so this will warm up my snow babies!  I will add some homemade bread pulled from the freezer as well.  Tonight we will have leftovers from the last few nights.

So far so good!!  I did stop at a local grocery the other day.  I bought three family packs of chicken breasts at 99 cents a pound, breakfast sausage at $1.59 and bacon at $9.99 for 10 pounds.

How are you doing?

Lunch, Anyone?

I am coming up short in the lunch department here at Chambleeville. Trying to cook from scratch and dealing with allergy problems with Aaron makes lunch time a little tricky. I usually try to have some leftovers, but my leftovers haven't been very appealing to my picky children. I am working on the pickiness....I'm thinking serving rice and beans for a while may alleviate some of the complaints over the broccoli/chicken casserole and turkey pot pie leftovers that were offered this week. I think they would rather starve.

I have tried to eliminate sandwiches as I don't want to buy packaged sandwich meat with all its preservatives and we are making a move to go gluten free. Do you know how much a (small) loaf of gluten-free bread is? Why don't you make your own? Is that what you said? Well most gluten-free recipes need egg because there is no gluten to bind the ingredients together, but Aaron is allergic to egg, so that won't work either.

I don't like to buy canned soups or instant foods like frozen pizzas etc, too often. Not much good in them and lots of bad, plus too much money for too little food.

This week I served bean tacos one day with tomatoes, peppers, and sour cream. They went over OK. Today I served tacos with ground beef that I had already precooked and found in the freezer. I added some cayenne pepper powder and chopped up a cowhorn pepper from the garden to give it some spice. I purchase corn tortillas and I just put the meat on the tortilla, folded it up and browned them in a little canola oil in my iron skillet. I also made some homemade salsa using tomatoes and peppers from my garden and some garlic from the fridge. Just put it in the blender, added a little salt and gave it a whirl and it was good to go.

What are some of your choices for lunch? Do you have some ideas that I t could use? I need some inspiration before I grocery shop tomorrow and make out a menu for next week.