Pantry Challenge Day 1

 Today was the first full day from the Pantry Challenge.  Well, I should say, pantry fridge and freezer challenge.  It was pretty easy today!

For breakfast we usually kinda fend for ourselves unless it's the weekend or special occasion.  The boys often have breakfast before I get up because, let's face it, I'm NOT a morning person!  They often get up before Daddy leaves for work at 730, but I don't get up until 8 or 830 (9 if I'm lucky!!)  Scrappy has a tendency to just give Monkey a granola bar since he's not a cereal eater. Sometimes we change it up with peanut butter toast.

Scrappy likes oatmeal or cereal or yogurt with cereal or granola.  Rarely he'll make an egg.

I'm more of a Maltomeal or yogurt and granola breakfast person... sometimes an egg... 

So, I rarely "plan" breakfasts.

Today, Monkey had a granola bar and peanut butter toast, Scrappy grazed on all kinds of stuff before finally making a bowl of oatmeal, and I had some raspberry yogurt with granola cereal.

Lunch was a repeat of yesterday: Italian dunkers: the rest of the garlic Texas toast from the freezer - mine and Scrappy's with some cheese on it, and some leftover spaghetti sauce warmed up.

For supper I made a banana chocolate chip baked oatmeal and sausage patties. 

I was making an apple cinnamon one for a friend, so I threw one together for us while I had all the stuff out already.  (There isn't much left.... that may be breakfast tomorrow - depending on if Princess eats it tonight after work!!)

I've started planning a little bit of the week out.  I'm not sure how true to the schedule I'm going to be able to stay.  I haven't plugged in lunches yet because if I cook depends on how much leftovers we have.  Except tomorrow since I know we don't have much.

I have a list of some foods in the fridge I'm trying to work into my plan because I don't want to throw them out.  Here is this week's plan (so far!)

Wednesday: breakfast: yogurt & granola for me and Scrappy, freezer waffles for Monkey

lunch: Egg roll ravioli (using up some egg roll wrappers) stuffed with veggies, eggs, and cottage cheese with a garlic scape pesto

supper: Egg rolls with cabbage, carrots, and Italian sausage, veggie fried rice, and dessert egg rolls

Thursday (work day): supper: Pancakes with blueberry sauce

Friday: supper: chicken tacos (I have a couple big packages - about 5# each - of taco seasoned chicken in the freezer)

Saturday: lunch: chicken tortilla soup or white chicken chili

supper: Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes

Like I said, this is the plan.  I'll see how well we can stick to it.  I'm hoping to get a chance to go through the freezer and see what else I have in there.  I want to cook up and can some of my dried beans since I'm low on canned beans.  I haven't seen a really good sale on them lately.  I did get some kidney beans in chili sauce.

Let's see how well we do!!

What did YOU make today?

Christmas Eve

We had to run to the store this morning so I could get a few things I needed to make goodies to take to my aunt's tonight.  We also decided we're going to Christmas Eve service at 4pm today so we don't have to fight with the kids tomorrow to get them away from their toys.  Pastor said both services will be the same.  Plus, with there not being Sunday School, I think the kids will be more cooperative this afternoon.

So what easy treats am I taking today?  My super easy fudge - one batch with nuts, one without (I honestly don't remember where I got the recipe from) and a pan of cream cheese bars that I got the recipe from a former coworker.  Oh yes, I will be posting the recipes :)  Breakfast tomorrow will be Amish baked oatmeal with bananas and raisins since I can mix it up tonight and just bake it in the morning.

We are trying to decide exactly how to keep with our usual tradition.  I always let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve.  For the past few years, we just spent a quiet Christmas Eve at our house.  So the dilemma - do we let the kids open a present before we go to my aunt's, or after we get home?  It's not unusual for the party to last into the wee hours of the morning.  Being the party poopers with 2 young kids, our plan is to be home around 8:30 or 9.  We still have more presents to wrap and I'm sure the kids will be up pretty early.  We have Scrappy's treatments to do too, which adds another half hour to the schedule.  I wonder which of the kids will be up first? (My bet is on Scraps - he rarely sleeps past 7!)

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas Eve!!

Recipes - P1

A few of my friends have been asking for some of my recipes lately since I've been doing quite a bit of cooking.  So I thought, why not just post a few recipes at a time as separate entries?  Maybe someday I'll post a whole separate blog for this, but this is how it's going to work for now :)

So here are the recipes for this week:

*Note - I cook like Grandma - many of my measurements are guesstimates since I don't measure most of the stuff - I go according to taste.  Feel free to alter any of these recipes to fit your particular tastes.

The base for many of my soup recipes and chicken recipes is chicken broth or chicken stock.  I've become fond of making my own.  I've tried making it using some dark meat quarters I had bought on sale, but it works much better using a whole chicken carcass.  You can buy an already roasted chicken, or roast your own chicken, serve it for dinner using the drippings to make gravy for your potatoes, then cut off the remainder of the meat.  You can leave any of the fat you cut off with the carcass for a little extra flavor. 

Chicken Stock
Ingredients
1 chicken carcass with leftover fat/skin and neck, giblets, and heart
4 stalks of celery
4 carrots, peeled
1 large or 2 small onions, peeled
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt, to taste
water

I use an about 8-10 quart stock pot.  Put the chicken carcass and other chicken pieces into the stockpot with enough water to completely cover by about 4-6 inches.  Chop each carrot and stalk of celery into 3-4 pieces.  Cut onions in half if using small, quarters if using a large onion.  Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pot.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.  Cook 4-6 hours, covered, stirring occasionally.  Pour through colander to remove all the chunks.  (I usually pour it through a couple times.  Stock will be a little cloudy.  You can also use a cheesecloth in the colander to get a clearer stock, but I like the flavor it maintains.)  To get a more concentrated flavor, you can take the strained stock and return it to heat for another hour on low.  I add about a tablespoon of salt while my stock is cooking.  Then the stock can be canned while still warm, or let cool and freeze.  I add any additional salt when actually cooking with the stock - making soup, gravy, etc.


Cheesy Potato Soup (originally from my mom, but slightly modified)

Ingredients:
1 box chicken broth (I use Swanson or homemade and then don't really measure - think it's about 6 cups...)
6-8 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 lb carrots, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 of a large block of Velveeta cheese, cubed
milk (around 1/4 gallon) (as much as necessary - sorry, I don't measure it!!!)
flour (to thicken)
1/2 c chopped onion
1 lb bacon

Chop bacon into small slices and fry until almost crisp. Drain and add onion. Cook until onions are tender. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil. Add potatoes and carrots. Add enough milk to cover all by about 1-2 inches and Velveeta cubes. Cook until potatoes and carrots are almost tender. Whisk flour with some milk and add to thicken. Cook until desired thickness and until potatoes and carrots are desired tenderness. Add salt and pepper as needed.


Creamed Chicken
Ingredients:
6 c chicken broth or chicken stock (I used homemade)
2 tbsp butter
2 c diced fully cooked chicken (I used leftovers)
1/2 c milk
flour (to thicken)
1 1/2-2 c frozen mixed peas and carrots
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring chicken broth/stock and milk to a simmer.  Remove some of the liquid to a bowl and whisk in flour to make a roux to thicken sauce (I've learned doing it in a separate bowl reduces the number of flour clumps in the sauce).  Whisk roux into the sauce.  Repeat as needed to reach just shy of desired thickness.  Add butter and mix until butter is melted and incorporated through.  Stir in chicken and peas/carrot mixture.  Simmer, stirring frequently, until meat is heated and veggies are cooked.  Sauce with thicken as it simmers.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  (You may need a little more salt if you are using a homemade stock.  I don't add much salt to my stock when I make it, so I usually have to add more to the final product.)  Serve over biscuits or mashed potatoes.

Baking Powder Biscuits (this has become a staple in our house - easy to make and goes great with soups or served with gravy over them!)
Ingredients
2 c flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c shortening
1 c milk

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in shortening (I use a pastry blender - works great!) until well incorporated and mixture has smaller than pea-sized lumps.  Stir in milk until entire mixture is moistened.  Now, the original recipe said to bake at 450, but my oven is old and goes into self-cleaning mode if I turn it up that high, so I bake at 375 for about 18 minutes, then add a few more minutes if needed.  Biscuits are done when they are browned on the top.  This recipe makes 12 biscuits.  I cook them using my Pampered Chef Pizza Stone. (I have the old one without handles, but very similar to this.)

I've also been making this amazing Amish Baked Oatmeal I got from Economical Eats by Heather - my family LOVES it made with the raisins.  They're not so fond of it with the chocolate chips.  I've also put 2 chopped bananas in place of the raisins.  I think next time I do the banana, I'm going to add some walnuts too - I think that would be a good flavor.  This is really easy to make up the night before, storing it in the refrigerator, then throwing it into the oven while the kids are getting ready in the morning.

Be sure to check out a few others that I had posted before - applesauce, spaghetti sauce, and bean and ham soup.

If you want any of my other recipes, just ask!!