Homesteading: A Woman's Journey
Would you like 1 bean or 2?
Today, I am making taco soup for dinner. Abbie, age 2, came into the kitchen wanting to help. So, I set the bean pot on the table with my gallon jar filled with dried kidney beans. Abbie climbed up on the chair and started putting the beans into the bean pot......1 bean at a time! LOLThis was so cute! Her face had a very intent expression as she took her task very seriously. She loved putting them in for me. Never mind that a job that would have taken seconds for me to pour the beans into the bean pot turned into a 20 minute task. Abbie was having fun while also learning to help out.
Here is our recipe for the Taco Soup:
Cook up enough kidney or pinto beans for your family. When fully cooked, add a pint of tomatoes, a pint of whole kernel corn, taco seasoning to taste, some onions, and green chilies to taste. You can also add some browned ground meat.
I serve this with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese, and sliced olives. It is a very basic soup that I often will home can the extras from.
Down-home Breakfast treats
Isn't it great when you think back & remember the down-home foods that your Grandma made? When I was a kid, there was a breakfast treat that I loved - fried Cornmeal Mush. This humble food is wonderful for breakfast, but often used in other recipes as well. I have been surprised at how many people had no idea that cornmeal mush and polenta are the same thing! Funny how something given a nicer sounding name is so popular in recipes, but the more common name has people making weird facial expressions.
Here is the simple instructions for making Cornmeal Mush
* 1 part cornmeal + 2 parts water
In a saucepan, heat up the water to just about boiling. Stirring quickly to avoid lumps, gradually add the cornmeal to the water. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens, usually in less than 5 minutes. NOTE: the cornmeal will go from thin to very thick seemingly all at once, so watch it very closely.
When mixture has thickened, pour it into a loaf pan that has been lined with waxed paper. Smooth the top and place waxed paper over the top to prevent it from drying out. Let cool, then place in the refrigerator overnight to get very firm.
In the morning, remove the mush from the pan and slice about 1/2 inch thick. Fry in a little bit of butter or oil in a pan until browned on both sides. Serve warm with butter and honey, maple syrup, or molasses. We used to eat this as a side dish with our eggs or pancakes.
Other favorites were homemade donuts, buckwheat pancakes, corn cakes, sausage gravy over fresh baked biscuits, and eggs with fried potatoes.
A rather new favorite that I love is to make homemade hash brown potatoes. Instead of using russet potatoes however, make them with sweet potatoes! These taste wonderful! Just dot with a little butter when serving.
Friday Pizza & a Movie Night
Each Friday night, we have homemade pizza and watch a DVD. It is a tradition that Joe and I started a couple of years ago. I make a homemade dough for the crust and then we each make our own pizza. It is so cute to watch Abbie use a basting brush to "paint" the sauce onto her pizza. We set out all the toppings and everyone just loads up their pizza with whatever they want. We take a little dish with sections in it to give Abbie a selection of toppings. Half the time, she loads up her pizza, then starts eating the toppings off of it right away. We have to rescue the pizza and put more toppings on for her before baking it. The following is the recipe we use for the crust. The dough is a yeast type and makes a wonderful soft thick crust that is similar to a hand-tossed crust at a pizza shop. The recipe will make enough for 3-4 of the round 12" pizzas depending on how thick you want the crust.
Seasoned Pizza Crust
2 Tbsp. dry active yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar (or 1 Tbsp. honey)
2/3 cup of warm water
2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
3 large cloves garlic, freshly minced
1 Tbsp. Oregano
6 1/2 - 7 cups flour
In a large bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar (or honey), and the 2/3 cup warm water until the yeast is dissolved. Let set for about 3-5 minutes or until bubbly.
Add to the yeast, the remaining water, olive oil, garlic & oregano. Stir in 2 cup of the flour to make a smooth batter. Gradually add the remaining flour until you have enough to make a workable dough.
Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise until doubled. Punch down and press into 2 large pizza pans that have been lightly oiled & sprinkled with cornmeal or sprayed with non-stick spray. Let dough rise about 20 minutes. Add toppings.
Bake in a 450*F oven until crust is lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
If you try the recipe, I would love to hear how you like it. It is a favorite of ours.
Amish Sugar Cookies
These are the fluffy melt-in-your-mouth type that you can often find in Amish stores. The recipe makes a batter more than a dough consistency. The recipe will make 12 dozen.Amish Sugar Cookies
3 cups vegetable oil
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
8 cups flour
2 teas. baking soda
2 teas. baking powder
2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teas. salt
1 1/2 teas. vanilla
Cream together the oil, sugar, and eggs. Mix in all the remaining ingredients, blending well.
Pour about a teaspoon of batter on the baking sheet leaving plenty of room between teh drops of batter. As they bake, these cookies will puff up and get quite large.
Bake at 350*F for 8-10 minutes.
For a variety, I will sometimes separate the batter into 2-3 portions. One I will make as directed above.
The second, I will add a little cocoa powder to make a chocolate cookie. The third, I will make as directed then half way through the baking, I sprinkle a few chocolate chips onto the cookie.
You can also change the flavor by substituting the vanilla with hazelnut or almond flavoring. To the chocolate, you can use a mint flavoring to make chocolate mint cookies.
Another window opens
"Where one door closes, the Lord opens a window in our lives." Howe often I have heard that phrase during my lifetime. As I have gone through the years, I have often found a great truth to those simple words. Last night I received yet another confirmation of the truths in that phrase.
A few months ago when my Beloved was looking for a job, I started selling home baked breads. They sold very well and at that time helped a great deal is providing the money we needed for Joe to have fuel for his little truck to look for work. At some point after he was working, the bread sales slowed down. While the income from it wasn't as desperately needed, it has been missed.
Yesterday, Joe took to work some molasses cookies that I had baked the night before. He took enough for his own snack and also to leave some in the break room for the mechanics. By the day's end, one of the mechanics asked him if I would be willing to bake him 5 dozen cookies and quoted a price that was very generous, yet still lower than what he would pay for specialty cookies at a store. Of course, I am more than willing to bake them!
I have always thought of my cooking & baking as simple farm fare. My Gram and a Amish neighbor were the most influential in teaching me to cook & bake. It is their styles of cooking that I do the most often. Joe takes alot of pride in my cooking abilities and often shares the snacks and such that I make with co-workers.
I had not thought about making cookies and snack type foods to sell, but maybe this is a window that is opening for us. Beloved was so excited about it. The baking orders will only be on pay weeks, but that is fine. It will allow me the rest of the time to spend on other tasks.
Today is a baking day here at home. I am baking bread for our family. There is a really easy Amish Sugar Cookie recipe that I am also making. The recipe makes 12 dozen cookies. I am making half of the recipe as the recipe calls for. The other half is being made as a chocolate mint cookie. Likely, Beloved will take some to work tomorrow. Whether it brings new cookie orders or not, I am enjoying the baking. Abbie loves to make cookies with Momma, so it is all good.
Dinner in a Pie
This is a very hearty meal that is great for using up leftovers. I had some ground venison on hand, so I browned it along with some onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Next, you add assorted vegetables and just enough seasoned tomato sauce or a gravy to moisten the meat & vegetables. You don't want too much liquid as it will cause the bottom crust to become soggy.
Make enough pie crust for a 2-crust pie. I rolled it out abit thicker than I would for a fruit pie so that the bottom crust would hold together better when I served up the meal. Line a deep dish pie pan with pie crust. Fill with the meat & vegetable filling. Top with the second crust and seal the edges. Poke holes into the crust to allow steam to vent.
Bake in a preheated 350*F oven for about 1 hour or until pie is bubbly and crust is a golden color.
There are many variations to this pie. Any combination of meat and vegetables that sounds good to you will work. These pies can be made vegetarian style or with meat. Try making the pie with a tamale pie filling and serve with cornbread. Other simple variations could be: fajita mix, chili with cheese, loaded up with your favorite pizza toppings, chicken/broccoli/cheese mixture, beef stew leftovers, or philly steak/bell peppers/onions/cheese mixture.
For vegetarians, you can make any vegetable and grain combination that you love and bake it in the pies. The options are only limited by your imagination. You can use any vegetarian stew recipes and the pie would be great.
For those who do the once a month cooking, this is a great meal that can be frozen for later. You can also scale down the size to use the small single serving sized pie pans to make your own homemade pot pies. Prebaked, these would make a great meal to take to work and heat up in the microwave for your lunch.
Enjoy!
Home Canning for the lunchbox
One of the pleasures that I have as a wife is to make home canned lunches for my husband to take to work. It is something that started while he was truck driving. I would make enough home canned meals in pint jars to last him the full month that he was gone. Even though he no longer drives the truck and is working a local job, I still home can his meals.I have often been inspired by the websites that teach about once-a-month cooking. The only down-side was that most of the meals they prepared were stored in a freezer. Homecanning was the option that I found that allows me to use the concepts of the once-a-month cooking without needing to buy a freezer.
Home canning his lunches is a much easier than most people imagine. Often, I will make a double sized batch of soup or some other meal with the intent to can the left overs. One night, I made a pot roast with vegetables. Once dinner was done, I split the leftover roast & vegetables into 6 jars. I then added the broth to each jar and finished filling the jars with water. Once processed, the roast & veggies were canned with a rich looking broth.
Yesterday, I made some homemade Cream of Tomato soup - one of my husband's favorites. The recipe yields 12 pints, so is a great way to stock the pantry quickly. The soup, once canned, is thick and very rich in tomato flavor. He often eats it as it is. When making it for our daughter & myself, I usually treat it the same as a condensed soup and add a little milk to it to cut down on the strong tomato flavor.
Nearly all homemade soups can be processed in jars for your pantry. The only ingredients that I don't put into the soups that I home can are pasta and cheese. I have canned jars of: vegetable soup, chili, lentil soup, tomato soup, and various soups containing beans and barley.
Other meals that I have home canned for the pantry are: beef stew, pot roast & veggies, stuffed cabbage, stuffed bell pepper, potatoes & cabbage, chicken with celery & potatoes, chicken pot pie filling, beef pot pie filling, taco meat, sloppy joe meat, and tamale pie filling.
There are many more possibilities of meals that you can prepare ahead of time and process in canning jars. You are limited only by your imagination. You can also save money by making your own meat stocks and vegetable stocks to be used later in making your dinners. A good chicken stock complete with chicken, chopped carrots and celery makes a wonderful base for making homemade chicken noodle soup. Another popular meal using a chicken stock canned with chunks of chicken, potatoes & celery. When heating it up on the stove, add dumplings for a fast chicken & dumpling meal.
A couple of days of canning meals will very quickly add to your pantry fast to prepare, wholesome, nutritious meals for your family. Using pint jars, you have meals for quick lunches for a hard working husband. I can the meals in both pint and quart sized jars so that we can use them as lunches or for family meals.
These meals are also a great way to prepare for power outages. When the power goes out and you are unable to cook on your electric stove, these meals can be easily heated up in a pan sitting on your BBQ grill. When we had the ice storms last winter, the home canned meals were a blessing. They cooked up quickly on the wood cookstove and provided us with hearty meals.
I hope that as the summer's gardening season and harvests are in full swing, you will have the time and inspiration to prepare your family's pantry for the upcoming winter. If you don't have a garden, take advantage of the farmer's markets and stores to buy vegetables in season when their prices are their lowest. Utilize your slow cooker to make the soups and stews for canning.
I pray that this has helped to give ideas and inspire you.
May the Lord's abundant blessings be with thee.
Homemade Fruit Snack Pies
One of our family’s favorite treats is homemade snack size fruit pie. I make the pies like a large empanada. They are very easy to make and once you do, you will wonder why you ever bought the ones from a store! These have a very light and flaky crust that makes the store bought, name brand ones taste stale!
My favorite piecrust recipe is the Refrigerator Pie Crust Mix. Here is the version that I use.
6 cups flour
1 Tbsp. Salt
4 tsp. Sugar
2 ½ cups shortening
Mix the flour, salt & sugar together. Cut in the shortening to make a mixture that resembles cornmeal. Store in a container in the refrigerator. This mix is enough to make 3 double crust pies.
For a single crust, use 1 ¼ cups of the mix, ½ tsp. Lemon juice and 2-3 Tbsp. water
When mixing the piecrust dough, you use only enough water to make the mixture stick together. I also like to keep all the ingredients cold and work the dough as little as possible. This will also help to give you a flaky crust.
*For a double crust pie, use 2 ½ cups mix, 1 tsp. Lemon juice, and 3-5 Tbsp. water.
To make the fruit snack pies, I roll out the piecrust and cut out a circle about 6” diameter. Using your favorite fruit pie filling, spoon about 2 Tbsp. of filling into the center of the crust. Fold the crust in half and seal the edges, dampening the edge with a little water if necessary to help seal the dough. Place the pies on a baking sheet and bake at 350* F. for about 15 minutes. If you want a little extra sweetening, you can sprinkle a bit of sugar on the pies before baking.
Enjoy!
Mini Baking Spree
Today was a mini baking spree. I have been baking loaves of bread to sell to neighbors and others in our area. Last night, a couple stopped by to place an order for 8 loaves of bread to be picked up today. With the bread I already had planned to bake today, that made a total of 12 loaves!
I spent the day baking in between tending our kids, cleaning the kitchen & doing abit of laundry. The house smelled wonderful with the scent of bread baking in the oven. I managed to get everything finished that I had hoped to.
The couple who bought the 8 loaves asked me tonight about making snack sized fruit pies. I make them from time to time for our family but have not considered making them to sell. It seems that the man's co-workers would enjoy them as they snack often at work. Tonight, I am going to figure up my costs in making the fruit pies. They are very easy to make, so wouldn't be difficult. In fact, the most difficult part that I would have is in keeping everyone out of the cooling pies until I have enough made to fill an order.
Joe has always loved my cooking, but it never fails to amaze me that I am able to sell so much baked goods. What a blessing to be able to do this and earn alittle extra while still being able to be home with my family. I am so grateful for having a Grandmother who taught me the enjoyment in baking & cooking. Her attitude and abilities were an inspiration to me when I was growing up. I am so blessed to be able to take skills that she helped teach me and use it to help provide for my family.
Canning: Cream of Tomato Soup
This is one of my Beloved's favorite soups. It is very inexpensive to make, yet tastes better than the major brands at the store.
Home Pastuerizing Milk
I have had questions lately from people wondering how I pastuerize raw milk at home. First, I want to clarify that Pastuerizing removes alot of the active bacteria. There are varying views on whether or not pastuerizing is necessary. Some feel that killing all bacteria can be bad. Personally, we see the pastuerizing process as necessary for our toddler's needs. Homogenized milk, often confused with pastuerizing, is the process of treating the milk so that the cream does not separate from the milk.
I found my information for home pastuerizing milk through the internet. The Minnesota Cooperative Extension Service had an article on the topic. It also confirmed what I had been taught to do years ago.
Here is the process:
Start with sterilized containers. I use a large enamel kettle that fits into my canner so that the handles of the kettle rest on the canner - in effect it acts as a double boiler. I heat the milk in the double boiler method as this prevents the "cooked" flavor that many people complain about. It also prevents scorching.
Heat the milk to 165*F. and let it rest at that temperature for 15 minutes (according to Canadian resources, they recommend keeping the milk at temperature for 30 minutes). Next, place the kettle into a sink with cold ice water to quickly cool the milk. Stirring the milk every few minutes will help to cool it faster. When it is cool enough to put into jars or other containers, do so & place into the refrigerator.
Hope this helps!
Canning: Apple Butter
One of my favorite memories growing up was a day when I had walked down to our Amish neighbor's home to buy eggs. It was a crisp fall day and Katie (the Mom) was making Apple Butter. I remember the smell of those apples and spices she had simmering on the cookstove. There was also the scent of bread baking in the oven. I love making apple butter. It has always been hard though to find a recipe that resembled Katie's. I finally found one quite a few years ago, recently found it again. It is a "southern" style recipe, but the flavor is wonderful! Best part is, if you are short on time (or fresh apples), you can make the apple butter using applesauce & simmer it in the slow cooker.
Here is the recipe:
Apple Butter Recipe (I double the recipe if I am making it on the stove.)
7 cups applesauce, natural
2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 cups honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on LOW for 14 to 15 hours or until mixture is a deep brown. If using the stove, simmer at a low temperature being sure to stir it from time to time to prevent it from scorching.
Spoon hot apple butter into hot sterilized jars and seal, then process half-pints or pints 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Make 4 pints or 8 half-pints.
I can't wait until Joe is home. I plan to make this while he is here, complete with some fresh baked bread to serve it with. There are many other fruit butters that you can make. Check online and see what may interest you. I know that many people enjoy Pear Butter, though I have never tried it.
Enjoy!
Bread & Butter Pickles
When Joe and I were team driving a couple of years ago, we traveled through Wisconsin. At a little deli in an out of the way area, the lady was selling some Bread & Butter Pickles that a local woman made & canned. These pickles had not just thinly sliced cucumbers, but also had chopped up onions and red & green bell peppers in them! These peppers were wonderful!
At the time, I was pregnant with Abbie and many times, Joe would look in the bunk area of the truck to find me sitting on the bunk, snacking on these pickles - straight from the jar! He would laugh and talk about how "cute" it was.
Well, I have been getting hungry for these pickles again lately. Living in Oklahoma, I have no way of finding that little deli again. Does anyone have a recipe that sounds similar to these pickles? I remember the pickles were very crunchy and had a bit of a sweet flavor to them.
I would really appreciate any recipes or replies on this!
Thanks & God Bless!
Eating Naturally
I am so excited. Over the past few months, I have been eating a vegetarian diet. During that time, I have lost 2 dress sizes and my fibromyalgia is gone.
One of the other benefits is amazing to me. For years, people have talked about the fact that it costs more to eat a healthy diet than it does to eat the convenience foods you find in boxes and cans at the store. I now know from experience how wrong that assumption is.
Eating the vegetarian diet can be an adjustment. Where I live, I have to travel about at the minimum 70 miles to get to a well stocked health food store. So, once a month I have to make the trip and get supplies that I can't get at the grocery store.
The great part though is that even having to get some supplies at the health food stores, my grocery bill has dramatically been reduced. Once my garden is growing and I am able to eat fresh produce from the garden, the grocery bill will drop even further. I plan to preserve as much as possible. I have been doing searches online and am finding free plans for building solar food dehydrators. I may give that a try also.
Besides fresh produce, the main two ingredients that I am using are wheat & chickpeas. It is amazing how versatile these are. Wheat can be used ground into flour to make your breads, crackers, tortillas for wraps. Cracked wheat (bulgur) is used in salads such as Tabouleh and other foods. I have been making hummus from the chickpeas. Another food I am experimenting with is tofu.
My average grocery bill for my vegetarian diet is under $150 a month. The only time it goes up is when I buy the supplies for canning Joe's meals. Each time he goes out on the truck, he takes along cases of home canned soups, stews, pot roast with veggies, etc.
Abbie is eating the same diet I am having. Only additions that she has is chicken and steamed veggies on the days when I am eating a food that would be difficult for her to eat at her age. One of her favorite foods that I have been making is the homemade Muesli. Unlike the muesli cereal that you got in the box at a store, this cereal is more like a cooked oatmeal. You can eat it hot or cold. We prefer it warmed up in the microwave. Here is the recipe that I am using:
Homemade Muesli
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats (not the quick type), 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup chopped nuts, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 2 cups milk. Mix the ingredients all together, cover & put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, if desired you can add more fruit, yogurt or milk. When I make it for Abbie and I, we just warm it up and eat it as it is. If anything, I may add a little extra cinnamon. This recipe makes quite a bit. Depending on your appetite, it is enough for 2-4 servings.
Enjoy!
Homemade Graham Crackers
One of Abbie & my favorite snacks is graham crackers. I recently found some Hodgson Mill Graham Flour in the WalMart so thought I would try making my own crackers. On their website http://www.HodgsonMill.com they have alot of recipes and also a catalog for their grain products. They also have the soy flour and other gluten free products for those who are eating a wheat-free diet.
Here are the recipes they had for the Graham Crackers. I am also including one for Honey Graham Crackers.
Homemade Graham Crackers
4 C. Graham flour
1 C. Butter
1 C. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 C. hot water, approximately
Preheat oven to 350*. Cut butter into flour until coarse. Add sugar, soda, cream of tartar, egg and enough hot water to make a dough that can be rolled like pastry.
Roll 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick on a board sprinkled with a little flour. Cut dough into 3 inch squares. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 15 - 20 minutes. Cool on a rack. Brush tops with butter.
Yield: 40 crackers
**NOTE: I thought that these are good without the butter brushed on top. For a variation, you can also sprinkle the graham crackers with cinnamon sugar before baking to get the cinnamon sugar graham crackers.
Honey Graham Crackers
2/3 C. graham flour
1/3 C. white flour
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. milk
Combine flours in a bowl with sugar, baking powder, salt. Cut in butter. Whisk milk & honey together. Sprinkle enough milk over the surface of hte dry ingredients to moisten for gathering into a ball. Knead dough in bowl until smooth and manageable, if necessary add more flour. Flatten dough on a greased 12" pizza pan, pressing dough evenly to fit the pan. Cut dough in 20 wedge-shaped sections. Cut each section into 2 peices by cutting a circle around the dough 5" from the outside edge. Prick the dough surface with a fork. Bake at 350* for 15 minutes or until crisp but not brown.
Yield: 40 crackers
Blessings in the Kitchen
It is amazing the generous blessings that the Lord provides to each of us each and every day. Sometimes the blessings come in unexpected ways. In this case, in my kitchen.I recently made more changes in my diet. Up until now, I had been removing processed and refined foods & food products from my diet. I noticed fairly quickly that I felt a bit of a lessening in my pain levels. The next change happened in December when I began taking a gel-cap vitamin suppliment to help with my anemia. I have had an increase in my energy levels as my anemia has been improved.
Now, the most recent blessing. When Joe is on the truck, I am eating a vegetarian diet. Lots of vegetables, some fruit, and whole grains. When Joe is home, I eat a non-vegetarian diet since that is what Joe is used to. In the past week, I have been losing weight and have more energy than I have had in some time.
I had been researching a diet called "The Maker's Diet". In short, it is a diet based on the dietary instructions given in the Old Testament in the books of Deuteronomy & Leviticus. I found though that living in a rural area such as we do, that diet is not practical. Many of the Kosher and Organic foods the diet requires are not readily available. I continued researching and trying to find a way to use the basic ideas of this diet, but in a more practical way.
I finally decided to go vegetarian, at least during the week when Joe isn't home. As I continued to research, I found that the raw vegetables and fruits are lower in calories than the caloric rate the body uses to burn them. Simply put, your body burns more calories digesting the foods than the foods contain. Some refer to this as negative calorie or low calorie foods.
In the first week, I started losing weight at the rate of 1-2 pounds per day, losing 5 pounds in the first 3 days. I have had issues in the past with becoming sick from losing weight too quickly, so I am slowing down the weight loss alittle by eating proteins one meal a day. I still watch the way the food is prepared to keep the fat levels down. I also eat non-meat proteins, such as eggs or dried beans, during the week. I am enjoying this way of eating. Instead of eating the usual 3 somewhat big meals a day that we are accustomed to, I am following what many doctors recommend. I eat small amounts about 5 times a day. This allows me to keep up the energy levels, while also keeping my body burning the calories. I am feeling better than I have in quite some time. I am looking forward to summer when the garden is producing the fresh vegetables. One of the best points is also that Abbie loves the same foods that I am eating. She is going to be growing up with good eating habits.
What a wonderful and awesome Lord we have. I am so grateful to Him for the bounty He gave us. The basic foods that He provides for us are the same things that can help us to improve our health without having to take so many medications. A true blessing, indeed!
Once a Month Pantry Shopping
As mentioned in my last blog, we are starting a new way of shopping for our pantry supplies. We live about 45 miles from the store where we get our supplies. Having to go there each week to shop takes away from the time we have to work around the homestead. With Joe having limited time at home, we have to utilize it the best that we are able to. This is where shopping once a month will benefit us. Here is what we are doing.I'm writing out 12 weekly menus. Each menu also lists on each day the location of the recipes used. On the back of the menu page, I am listing the shopping list for the menu. To make a month's menu, I choose 4 of the weekly menus. Then, I combine the shopping lists. This makes the basic list that I will need for that month. Since we don't have a freezer, the perishables will be bought every 2 weeks instead of once a month. Bulk pantry items, such as flour, are going to be purchased in large quantity. I bake alot, so I easily can use 20 lbs. of white flour a month, depending on how much wheat I grind and use. Some items are best purchased at the membership stores. I can purchase a twin pack of 1 pound bags of dry active yeast for about $4. This is enough yeast to last me several months. If I had to buy the little packets of the yeast at the grocery store, I would spend a great deal more.
With the autumn's cooler temperatures, I am now making alot of homemade soups and stews. This requires that I store the dried beans, lentils, split peas, and rice. Rolled oats, cream of wheat and grits also get stored in larger amounts. We love hot cocoa on cold evenings so I store extra baking cocoa powder. Popcorn is another family favorite that I store in quantity whenever possible.
One of the things that saves alot of time and money is make my own mixes. You can find many recipes and resources online for these. Some of our favorites are: the baking mix (similar to but better tasting than Bisquick), brownie & cake mixes, pancake mix, cornbread mix, homemade "hamburger helper" type meals, and flavored rice.
Hope that this gives you some ideas on ways to build our pantry.
What's your favorite winter comfort meal?
I have been working on my menu for the upcoming week. I do this each week to make meal preparation easier and grocery shopping more thorough and less expensive. Through the menu planning, I shop according to the menu. This helps me remember the ingredients we need to buy and prevents too much impulse shopping.In planning the menu, I have been going through the recipes and started thinking about my family's favorite meals. This is one of the meals on our upcoming menu. It is one that we enjoy on the cold days. I am including the recipes in case you would like to try it for yourself.
Here is what I am going to make for Friday's dinner. Joe gets home that night and put in a special request for this meal. I am sloww simmering a slow cooker full of Chili Con Carne. I am also making some cornbread.
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Chili Con Carne
1 lb. dried kidney beans
1 lb. ground beef
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 lg. can diced tomatoes
2 sm. cans tomato paste
chili powder, to taste
1 tsp. dried basil
The night before cooking the chili, sort & rinse the dried kidney beans. Place into your slow cooker and fill completely with water. Cook on high for 2 hours, then reduce to low adding more water if necessary. Cook overnight. Check water level before going to bed and add more if needed.
The next morning, check to see if the beans are soft. If not soft, turn heat back up to high to finish cooking. Once they are soft, drain the water off the beans. Return beans to the slow cooker.
Brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic. Cook untli meat is browned and onion is transluscent. Drain the meat mixture and add to beans. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer on low all day until dinner time in the evening.
Serve with more chopped onions to spoon on top and some shredded cheese.
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My Favorite Cornbread Recipe
*I found this one on allrecipes.com. I normally didn't like cornbread because of the dry texture. This recipe, however, is moist and almost cake-like in texture.
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (I use olive oil)
1 cup all-purpose white flour
2 Tbsp. white sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
Mix the ingredients very well. Pour into a greased 9x9 baking pan. Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
What is your family's favorite cold weather meal?
Compiling a Family Cookbook
I collect recipes from all types of resources. Years ago, I had a huge collection of cookbooks, but lost them all during a move. I have since then been searching out the recipes I enjoyed the most and also finding new ones. One of my big pitfalls is that I go through notebooks very quickly. Each year when the stores have their back-to-school sales, I buy a full case of 24 of the spiral bound notebooks. I have been writing my favorite recipes in these books. Problem is, when I want a specific recipe, I have to search through my notebooks to find the recipe I am needing.To solve the problem, my beloved has been encouraging me to scrapbook my recipes in binders. We bought 3 of the cheap 3-ring binders at WalMart to use for now. The binders were 99 cents each. I am organizing the recipes by categories and placing them all into the binders. As I have time, I am going to scrapbook a recipe and replace the notebook page with the scrapbooked copy of the recipe. Some of my must treasured recipes are ones that I have received from family members. For example, I have a recipe for a melt-in-your-mouth peanut butter fudge that my Uncle made at Christmas time. The recipe is even more precious now because of my Uncle's death on Palm Sunday this past spring.
The scrapbooked recipes that I received from family members have the relative's picture and a little story about them and their recipe. Things such as any special occassions when they made it, where they got the recipe, etc.
I have 3 binders at this time. One has recipes of all categories. One has master mixes. The third has my most often used recipes. I have all the typical categories normally found in cookbooks with the addition of categories such as slow cooker recipes, freezer meals, homemade baby food & teething biscuits, and recipes for special celebrations among others.
By the time I am done, I will end up with several more binders. Joe is such a support in this. He thinks the idea of scrapbooking the recipes will make a nice thing to pass down to Abbie one day. I agree wholeheartedly!
Thursday tasks & Recipes
I love Thursdays. It is the day when I finish up any projects in preparation for my beloved getting home on Friday. Today, I am working on my little one's clothes again. At 4 months old, she has only just recently out-grown her newborn 0-3 month sized clothing. Over the past couple of weeks, she has grown taller, so I am now making clothing closer to a 6 month size. Being that they are all dresses, she will be able to wear them right away. Her feet are still so small that even the newborn sized shoes are too long, so I traced around her foot and took measurements so I can design little shoes for her to wear with her dresses.My 3rd planting of squash is growing really well. It seems that each day as I look out the window, the plants are alittle larger than they were the previous day. I have alot of tomatoes that I am cooking today to make sauce from. They are all the paste-type tomatoes, so they should do really well in a sauce.
If the temperature doesn't get too hot today, I hope to get some bread baked. Otherwise I will be up very early tomorrow to do the baking. I am going to be making some more flat bread tomorrow also. My beloved takes the flat bread out on the truck with him and uses it in place of regular loaves of bread for his sandwiches. He also likes to snack on it while driving the truck. Here is my recipe for flat bread:
Flat Bread/Tortillas
1 cup milk, scalded
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
1 teas. salt
1 teas. sugar (can use up to 2 Tbsp if desired)
1/4 cup warm water
2 teas. dry active yeast
4 cups flour
1 large egg
Put the 1/4 cup warm water, yeast and sugar into a bowl. Mix together to dissolve the yeast and set aside for 15 minutes. If you are wanting a very light flat bread, let the yeast mixture turn completely to foam before mixing into the flour. While yeast is working, scald the milk. I microwave it on HIGH of about 4 minutes. Put the butter into the hot milk to melt the butter. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Make a small "well" in the center to pour the liquid ingredients into. Add the egg and all the liquid ingredients and mix slightly. Add the yeast. Mix the dough well until it is no longer sticky. Turn out on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until smooth. Separate the dough into 16 balls. Cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Roll each ball into a 8"-10" round. Place on a hot griddle and "dry fry" to cook the bread. When the underside of the bread is starting to get browned, turn over to cook other side. NOTE: the bread will rise slightly while cooking. Adjust the diameter of the bread when rolling it out to get the desired thickness you are wanting.
When the bread is completely cooled, store them in a gallon size baggie or wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
This bread keeps very well!
For tortillas chips: brush the fresh tortillas with alittle oil on 1 side and stack several together. Cut into strips or wedges. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes. For flavored chips, sprinkle the chips with seasonings, the powdered salad dressing mixes, or powdered cheese mixes before baking.
Here is another recipe idea that I thought I would share.
On the weekends, my beloved loves to BBQ. I started making homemade buns for the burgers and hotdogs and he loves them! It is super easy to make them. Start with your favorite bread recipe. Make the dough as you normally would. Roll the dough out about 1" thick. To make the burger buns, I use a wide-mouth canning jar ring as a cutter. For hot dog buns, I cut out 2" wide x 5" long strips of the dough with a pizza cutter. Let the buns rise on a baking sheet. Bake at 350* for about 25 minutes or until done.
Enjoy !!!
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