Blessings From Home

This Week's Menu

I'm working on using up what I have. I would like to start stocking up, but not sure what all I have right now, so I'm doing a personal pantry challenge of sorts. I'd like to use up all these overpackaged, preprocessed foods and start stocking up on basic ingredients and fresh fruits and vegetables to can or freeze myself. I'm really working on simplifying, and I'm starting in the kitchen. So this week's menu....

Tuesday-b-french toast sticks, l-leftovers or sandwiches, d-pizza @ Mazzios, s-animal crackers

Wednesday-b-yogurt and toast, l-leftovers or sandwiches, d-beanie weenies, mac n cheese, s-fruit cocktail popcicles

Thursday-b-oatmeal, l-leftovers or sandwiches, d-meatball subs, salad, s-animal crackers

Friday-b-boiled eggs and toast, l-leftovers or sandwiches, d-roast chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, s-fruit

Saturday-b-cereal, l-corn dogs, fruit, d-leftover chicken casserole, s-animal crackers

To drink this week, we have water, tea, kool-aid, milk, coffee, and juice. I am also going to make one dessert this week. I have a ton of canned pumpkin, so I'm going to attempt a homemade version of the hostess fried pies, and make pumpkin pie filling. I will make several, a few for this week, and some to freeze for later.

This Week's Menu-12th-16th

A day late, but my menu for the remainder of this week is...

Breakfast-(All breakfast is served with either orange juice, milk, or fruit)

-French Toast Sticks

-Muffins

-Cereal (I don't buy cereal, but we get a couple of boxes from WIC)

-Oatmeal

-Toad in a Hole (ya know, toast with the middle cut out and an egg fried in it)

Lunch-(All lunches are served with either fruit, fruit juice, or a vegetable)

-Leftovers (we eat leftovers a lot, I like to make extra just for lunch)

-egg salad sandwiches

-pb&j sandwiches

-corn dogs

Dinner-(I usually serve dinner with either tea or juice)

-Tues-Taco style lentils and rice burritos, salad

-Wed-Tuna patties, mac n cheese, green beans

-Thurs-Meatball subs, salad

-Fri-Chicken fajitas, mexican rice, salad

-Saturday-Dinner at in-laws or leftovers

Snacks-(snacks are optional)

-animal crackers

-popcorn

-fruit cocktail popsicles

Dessert-(I only fix dessert if I have the time or want)

-jello with fruit

-ice cream

-oatmeal cookies

That's about all for the week. Now that the kitchen is done, and we got our deep freeze, I'm going to start shopping for at least 2 weeks at a time, and maybe work up to a month at a time.

Have a blessed week!

Sara

Kitty Treats

I've been looking for ways for my family to not only save money but eat a lot healthier, and since I deem my sweet cat, Shiloh, as one of the famiy, then it only seem fair that I help her to eat healthier too, as well as save us some money. So I thought I'd start simple by making her some homemade treats. I did some research and found a easy, frugal recipe here.

Kitty Treats

~1-1/2 Cups rolled oats

~1/4 Cup vegetable oil

~1/2 Cup all purpose flour

~1/2 Cup tunal oil, chicken broth, or beef bouillon

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix all ingredients together. Dust hands with flour and form small 1/2" thick, round biscuits. Set on greased cookie sheet. Bake 30 minutes or until slightly browned. Cool before serving.

I am going to be trying this recipe this week and will report later how easy it was to make and if Shiloh liked it. The kids and I will also be planting a little pot of catnip for her later in the week.

Blessings,

sara

Menu for the next 2 weeks

In all fairness, I wanted to share that I'm using the premade menus, recipes and shopping list from The Family Homestead, so I can't take credit for putting all this together. Check it out, her site is in my links,  her menus are wonderful, and reasonably priced. All the meals are made from scratch and yummy!

Day 1-Crockpot Pizza Casserole, garlic toast, salad

Day 2-Homemade "hamburger helper", muffins, salad

Day 3-Black bean spaghetti, french bread, veggie tray

Day 4-Creamed tuna on toastpoints, salad

Day 5-Salisbury steak, brown rice pilaf, broccolli salad

Day 6-Chinese pork over brown rice, salad

Day 7-Chicken Broccolli bake, garlic roasted potatos

Day 8-Crab Alfredo over whole wheat pasta, cooked peas, muffins

Day 9-Mexican Fiesta

Day 10-Baked Garlic Parmesan chicken legs, baked potatos, coleslaw

Day 11-Pork steak and veggies in crockpot, brown rice, muffins, carrot sticks

Day 12-Crockpot enchilada, tortilla chips, green beans

Day 13-Creamy Broccolli soup, muffins, fruit salad

Day 14-Homemade "hamburger helper", muffins, carrot sticks and ranch

For breakfast, we have...                          For lunch we have...

oatmeal                                                   leftovers

granola                                                   mac n cheese

eggs, toast, bacon                                    sandwiches

breakfast burritos                                  bean burritos

french toast, bacon

This weekend I will make several things ahead of time. I will make....

~Oatmeal Mix                                   ~granola

~Bread                                             ~tortillas

~muffin mix                                      ~bean burritos*

*I make a huge batch of bean burritos to freeze. All I do is cook up a big pot of pinto beans, about  6 cups of them. Then when they're done, I take my cast iron frying pan, and melt about 1 stick of margarine or butter and add the beans and a little of the liquid, and with my potato masher I mash them all up and fry them up a bit. Then add what all I want to....usually some salsa and cheese and maybe some jalopenos in some of them and a little seasoning. They are yummy and freeze really well.

Blessings, sara

Thanksgiving Quiche

• 5 large eggs
  

• 2 1/2 -3 cups leftover stuffing
  
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (or any meltable cheese you have on hand)
  
• 1 cup diced cooked turkey
  
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions (optional)
  
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
  
• 1 cup half and half
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

   

Beat one egg and add stuffing to it. Press this into the bottom of a deep pie dish or a quiche pan if you have one, it will serve as a mock-crust for your quiche. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the stuffing-crust. Layer in the turkey, onion, mushrooms in any order you wish. Beat remaining 4 eggs in a small bowl. Stir in the half and half. Season with salt and pepper to your tastes. Pour egg mixture evenly over the layers in the pan. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let it stand and cool for about 15 minutes to firm up before cutting and serving

Sara's Super Simple Sugar Free Apple Butter

Here is the recipe that I promised. I have a lot of diabetics and people who are on low or no sugar diets that I like to give gifts to during the holidays. So this is one of the favorites around here, even for the sugar eaters. All you need to make it is a 4 quart crock pot, a food processor, and a little time.

Sara's Super Simple Sugar Free Apple Butter

9lbs apples

4-5 cinnamon sticks

1. Peel, core, and slice your apples. This can take some time, but let me tell you, with a few tools, you can get it done really fast. This year I found this little gadget. It's made by starfrit. It's an apple peeler...a cousin to the rotato, but made just for peeling apples and it works wonderfully. I got it for less than 10 dollars at walmart. This along with the corer/slicer tool got the job done for me in less than 30 minutes.

This Week's Menu

Here's my dinner menu for this week....

Sunday-Eat at my parents-potato soup

Monday-Hamburger pinwheels, green beans

Tuesday-Steam roasted chicken, potatos, carrots

Wednesday-Homade pizza, salad

Thursday-Lentil stew, rolls

Friday-Chicken tettrazini, salad, rolls

Saturday-Butter beans, scalloped tomatos, garlic bread

For breakfast we have....                              For Lunch we have....

oatmeal                                                                leftovers

granola                                                               sandwiches    

pancakes, bacon                                                  macaroni and cheese

eggs, toast, bacon                                              potato soup

To drink we have....                                      For snacks we have....

water                                                                    cookies

milk                                                                      popcorn

juice                                                                      muffins

tea

I'll be making our bread for the week along with our snacks. My mom and I are making a ton of potato soup to freeze so we'll have that for lunches. If you want any of the recipes, I get most of them from the Hillbilly housewife site, which you can find the link to in the right hand column. Have a blessed week.

Sara

Weekly Menu Plan

Here's my menu plan for next week...starting tomorrow:

Sunday~B~Oatmeal Pancakes(I double the recipe for leftovers during the week), bacon, OJ

L~Sandwiches/Leftovers

D~Stir Fry

S~Peanut butter crackers

Monday~B~Cereal, toast, Oj

L~Sandwiches/Leftovers

D~Taco Style Lentils and Rice on tortillas, salad

S~Muffins

Tuesday~B~Oatmeal mixed with vanilla yogurt, toast, Oj

L~Sandwiches/Leftovers

D~Corn Dogs, mac n cheese, mixed veggies

S~Popsicles

Wednesday~B~Leftover Oatmeal Pancakes, Milk

L~Sandwiches/Leftovers

D~Sauerkraut Pork Roast, pasta, carrots

S~popcorn

Thursday~B~Cereal, Toast, OJ

L~Sandwiches/leftovers

D~Red Beans and rice, fresh green beans, rolls

S~Doodle bugs

Friday~B~Oatmeal mixed with vanilla yogurt, toast, oj

L~Sandwiches/Leftovers

D~Baked beans, mac n cheese, coleslaw.

S~muffins

Saturday~B~Eggs, Biscuits/gravy, bacon

L~Sandwiches/Leftovers

D~Homemade Pizza, salad

S~popcorn

~I have a couple of loaves of bread from the store, but after those are gone, I will make our bread for the week.

~I usually serve fruit or raw carrots with lunch.

~To drink through the week, we have tea, milk, juice, water, and sugar free kool aid.

~I have a gallon of milk left and the rest of the week I'll be serving powdered milk.

~If we don't have leftovers, I make a variety of different sandwiches through the week, meat and cheese, grilled cheese, tuna/egg salad, etc.

And that's our menu for the week. Have a blessed day!

Sara

Multi-Meals

I wanted to share something I like doing...I call it multi meals. Someone else may call it something else, but that's the best I could come up with.  It's kind of like freezer cooking, only you don't have to cook all day or make a whole extra batch of what your cooking. For instance....my family likes nachos. So if I know we'll be wanting that, then I plan my menu around that.

One thing we like to do is mix a pound of hamburger meat mixed with salsa for the nachos, so at the first of the week, I make sloppy jose's, which is just that, hamburger meat mixed with salsa. I brown 2 pounds intead of one, add my salsa, and freeze half the meat for later.

Another thing we use is pinto beans, so about halfway through the week, I make up a big pot of pinto beans, and we save half of them with the juice and freeze for later, and the other half we have for dinner, usually with some spinach salad and some cornbread.

Then come the weekend, I pull both of those out of the freezer, heat them and layer them in my pan for nachos and add whatever else you want on top.

And you don't have to have all those meals in a weeks time, but we usually do.

Another multi meal we like to make starts with pot roast. I usually buy about a 5 pound pot roast (that feeds the 5 of us for what we're going to make with it) and the first night, I make pot roast, I use my favorite recipe and usually add some carrots and onions in to cook with it. Also that night, I make a large batch of mash potatoes, enough to have plenty of leftovers. That's the first night's meal. After we're done, I take all the meat left and shred it, and cut the rest of the veggies up if I need to. And save any leftover liquid from cooking that I have.  Then you can freeze it for later or leave it out for the next night's meal, which is what we usually do. And don't forget to save your leftover potatoes.

The next meal we make is stew. I take my shredded roast, my leftover veggies, and I add more veggies, like corn and peas and whatever else I have on hand. I add more water or sometimes I just drain the juice from the veggies for the extra water. I usually  serve this with cornbread and maybe a side salad. Save your leftovers. 

The third meal  we make is shepard's pie. I take my leftover stew and drain off some of the liquid and put it in a greased pan. If it's still too water, I will mix in some potato flakes or a little flour to thicken it. Then top it off with your leftover potatos and some cheese. Put it in the oven at 350 for about 30-45 minutes.

And there you have it. My multi meals. Thanks for letting me share.

Blessings,

Sara

Powdered Milk

We are not fortunate enough...yet, to have a source of milk such as a dairy cow or goat. But hopefully (or should I say prayerfully) someday we will. So for now, I'm deperate for a way to keep milk for my growing kids and nieces in my house without having to go to the store every other day. We are fortunate enough however, to recieve WIC, which provides us with milk, cheese, and a few other commodities. But with 5 children, it is just not enough. Only one of our kids is old enough to qualify, so that gives us about 4-6 gallons of milk for a month. My nieces are here with us at least 50-60 hours a week and through at least 2 meals a day. So when they are with us, we go through a gallon about every 1-2 days. That also includes cooking with it as well. And we just don't have the money to buy so much milk all the time. Which brings me to my topic. I recently read up on powdered milk on this site...Hillbilly Housewife-Intro to Powdered Milk. There I found a plethora of info on powdered milk. So I took the plunge and bought some at the store last week and decided to mix some up last night. With the WIC that we recieve I am able to mix powdered and fresh milk half and half and it really doesn't taste any different. So my milk is lasting twice as long, and I'm not having to go to the store every couple of days. My kids had it with their breakfast and there was no difference to them.  Others may not feel the same way I do about it, and I know there are things about PM that aren't as good for you as the real deal, but for us it works. I hope that this may help. Blessings,

Sara

Thursday, Shopping Trip, Menu, Pantry Challenge

What a crazy and rainy day today has been. I went shopping today to get my groceries for next week and ran my errands for the week. I did pretty good at the store and only got what we had to have and I knew I would use.

So here's what I got at the store with the price:

Fish Sticks-2.50

Fresh Mushrooms-1.68

4 cans tuna-.50 each

2 cans tomato sauce-.24

bananas-1.48

Sliced Olives-.68

Sausage-1.98

Ketchup-.93

Macaroni noodles-.50

1 can green beans-.48

1 can cream of mushroom-1.08

4pk-stick butter-.58

6lbs ground beef-3.06/lb (that may seem a little steep, but I buy it from a wonderful mennonite family on the outskirts of town and it is very lean. It's not something I do a whole lot either.)

I also got WIC, which provided us:

2 gallons of milk

1 carton of eggs

1 can frozen juice

1 lb mozzarella cheese

So total spent for the next full week with tax (April 1-7):  $35.51

Now for my menu:

Sunday-b-oatmeal pancakes and sausage

l-meatloaf, potatos, salad, homemade ranch

d-meatloaf sanwiches

Monday-b-WIC cereal

l-baked mac n cheese, carrot sticks

d-fish sticks, baked mac n cheese, mixed veggies

Tuesday-b-leftover pancakes

l-tuna salad sanwich

d-sloppy joes, salad, carrot sticks

Wednesday-b-yogurt with fresh fruit and toast

l-turkey sandwich

d-homestyle lentils and rice

Thursday-b-oatmeal

l-egg salad sandwich

d-tuna cheese magic(found on hillbilly housewife) and green bean casserole

Friday-b-yogurt with granola

l-pb&j

d-crockpot spaghetti and butter beans

Saturday-b-breakfast burritos

l-turkey sandwiches

d-mushroom and olive homemade pizza

We have milk, juice, tea, and water to drink. And I also have a couple of deserts to make up this week. One is a pumpkin pie (I've got some canned pumpkin I need to use up), and some chocolate chip cookies.

In other news:

It's raining cats and dogs out there right now. Our street is majorly flooded and I've been standing at the door watching all the little cars brave through it and some getting stuck. I've been working on some projects to send to my mother in law, yesterday I made the cutest little apron for her dish soap, have you seen those? And I also made her 2 new potholders. I think I'm also going to make her a plastic bag holder. Well, I better get off of here and go fix some dinner. Have a wonderfully blessed day!

My menu for this week

Sunday-we ate out, probably the last time for a long time.

Monday-Hamburger Potato Casserole with peas

Tuesday-BBQ chicken, mashed potatos, salad w/ homemade ranch

Wednesday-Homestyle Lentils and rice with salad and homemade ranch We ended up having baked mac n cheese instead as I was feeling under the weather and wanted something easier.

Thursday-Crockpot enchiladas, rice, and corn YUM!

Friday-Breakfast for dinner-eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy...fruit for desert

Saturday-Homemade hawaiian pizza

The only thing I will have to purchase for this week's meals is tortillas, my kids like to grab these up as a snack sometimes, unless I can find the time and know-how to make them. Any ideas? For breakfast we will be having either...oatmeal, granola, yogurt, or other WIC cereal we have. On the weekends, I usually make a big breakfast. Saturday we will have breakfast burritos, so that I can use up the rest of my potatos. For lunch, we will either have leftovers or sandwiches..meat, egg, etc. For snacks, I have carrot sticks, baby tomatos, a few cans of fruit, and some fresh fruit.  When I go to the store on Thursday, I will get WIC, which provides us with milk, cheese, eggs, and juice, and sometimes peanut butter, beans and cereal. We are very fortunate to have this. Also when I go to the store, I will be purchasing any food we need for the following week. I will only include the prices on food, not other household needs, such as toilet paper, etc. I guess that's all for now. Hugs and Blessings

Pantry Challenge

This Week's Menu

Sunday-

b-yogurt

l-eat out after church

d-sandwiches

Monday-

b-cereal

l-sandwiches or leftovers

d-chili bean with cornbread casserole

Tuesday-

b-oatmeal

l-sandwiches or leftovers

d-pork chops, mashed potatos, veggies

Wednesday-

b-cereal

l-sandwiches or leftovers

d-italian chicken with pasta and salad

Thursday-

b-yogurt

l-sandwiches or leftovers

d-bbq pork style ribs, baked mac n cheese,  veggies

Friday-

b-pancakes

l-sandwiches or leftovers

d-breakfast for dinner- eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy

Saturday-

b-cereal

l-sanwiches or leftovers

d-homemade chili mac, veggies

Menu for this week-a little late

Here is my  menu for the week, a little late, but I was just able to sit down and write it out. I went through all my freezer, ice box, and pantry and based all my meals on what I already had on hand. I am going to the store for a few things I need to make it through next Wednesday. I usually shop on Wednesday as that is payday for us, but have to go today as I realized there were just some things we couldn't go the night without, like toilet paper. lol.  So I'm making my trip now. My menu is through next Wednesday.

Tuesday-Meatloaf, mashed potatos, corn on the cob

Wednesday-Chicken Noodle Soup

Thursday-Chili beans, corn casserole

Friday-Pork chops, mashed potatos, veggies

Saturday-Hamburger Stroganoff, veggies or salad

Sunday- Italian Chicken with pasta and salad

Monday-Bbq pork style ribs, baked mac n cheese, veggies

Tuesday-eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy

Wednesday-Homemade reubens, salad

As for breakfast we usually have either cereal that we recieve on WIC, oatmeal, malt o meal, homemade yogurt, or eggs, toast, and bacon, or on the weekends I make cinnamon rolls. For lunch we either have leftovers or sandwiches. That's all for me. Let me know if you want any recipes.

Homestead Kitchen Challenge-Day 1

I saw this going around and decided to give it a try! I know I'm late,and I probably don't have all the rules, but that's okay, this is for me anyways. I would like to try and do it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but we'll see.

Pantry:

Granola

Leftover Nacho Dip and chips

Tea

Milk

Juice

Peanut Butter crackers

Tuna-2 cans

chicken buoillon cubes

flour

homemade bread

Powdered milk

2 cans carrots

Menu:

Breakfast-homemade granola cereal

Lunch-Leftover Nachos with 7-layer dip

Snack-Peanut Butter Crackers

Dinner-Creamed Tuna on toastpoints, carrots(I got this wonderful recipe from Crystal's(quiverfull) website. I bought her ebooks a while back and all of her recipes are wonderful!!!)

That was my challenge for today. These were all things from my kitchen that I already have. You may see some "junky" food used throughout the week that we are trying to use up, and no longer buy. And to think, we almost ate out tonight, only because hubby and I are both under the weather, but I'm glad we didn't)

For dinner...

Well, we ended up having the reubens for lunch, and they were quite good if I don't say so myself. For dinner, I'm making fried chicken, mashed potatos, and veggies. Yum! We will be going to a different church in the morning, which I'm a little nervous about, but am excited about hopefully finding a new church home, as we became very uncomfortable with our previous church. Be blessed in the Lord!