Pantry Challenge Day 16 and 17... I'm SORE!

 The white chicken chili on Monday was pretty good!!  Princess's boy was over, and he ate 2 bowls, besides the homemade bread we had with it.  I couldn't find a recipe that I had all of the ingredients to, so I improvised with what I had!

I had to work Monday night.  After work, I also had to meet with Princess's dad because she forgot her laptop there over the weekend.  Instead of driving over an hour to get it, he met me on my way home from work, about halfway between our towns.  I also got a new friend Monday night!  His name is Shadow.  He's a Holland.

I had been planning on leftovers for supper on Monday, but we didn't have enough so I threw together some cheesy potato soup.  There was only one bowl left after everyone ate! WOW!

Yesterday was Tuesday, so the truck came.  I went to see what there was to offer.  It was unusual that they had a TON of spices!!  I saw some ground cumin, which I'm currently out of, but somehow didn't manage to get one of those.  Some of the herbs and spices they had multiples of (big glass jars of ground coriander!!) but some they only had a 6 pack (like the cumin.)  I also got a case of plums, 60# of carrots, some red peppers, and part of a produce box (they only had 4 produce boxes this time.  I got a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, some pears, and a bag of apples in it... I shared the other stuff that had been in it) 

Yesterday I worked also. We had leftovers for lunch.  Princess requested some potato chips to go with the 2 containers of French onion dip in the fridge.  I also ran out of soy sauce a few days ago, so I stopped at the store and picked some up (farmer's market is in the store parking lot.)  I had some leftover rice in the fridge, so I made a fried rice for supper.  Generally when I make that, I put in mixed veggies, but I didn't know we were out of them.  I did have some plain veggies in the freezer though.  I added sliced carrots, corn, and green beans and made a pretty hearty meal.  I didn't have any meat to put in it but I did add 4 scrambled eggs.  It seemed to go over pretty well.

This morning I was pretty sore when I got up to do my workout.  It's been a while since I've been doing it, so I'm using muscles I haven't used in a while!  I chose just to do 15 minutes with MyFitnessCoach and it was recommended to be a "core" day, so I obliged.  I REALLY need to find my yoga mat - doing crunches and ball rolling on the hard wood floor is not comfortable!  My lower back has been aching all day.  I think it's a combination of the exercise and the canning.  I usually end up with some back pain during canning season with all the time on my feet.  The back problems go back to a car accident I was in my senior year.  But we'll talk about that another day.

Today was my day off, but I think I worked harder today than most normal days.  It was a canning day!!  I had 3 of my Cornish in my big roaster that had cooked overnight and made a BEAUTIFUL broth, and one cooking in my crockpot.  I peeled about half of one of the 30# bags of carrots and probably 10-15 pounds of potatoes, diced up 3 HUGE onions (I probably only needed 1-1 1/2) and blanched some sweet corn I had in the fridge from the last box.  (I also got a couple in this box).  I have to say.. I LOVE my Pampered Chef veggie peeler!  It makes peeling carrots SO EASY!!!

I put up 3 quarts of just carrots, 4 quarts of corn chowder base (onion, garlic, corn, potatoes, carrots, chicken stock), 7 quarts plus 9 pints potato soup base (onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and chicken stock), 9 pints of chicken, sliced up enough apples to fill 4 ice cream pails (2 were gallon sized, 2 were "family sized"), cooked down about 20 pounds of apples to make applesauce and eventually apple butter, and had a "family sized" ice cream pail of chicken stock left that went into the fridge.  It's getting too late to finish that up.

Chicken waiting to be canned

Even with all that I did there, I STILL have 45# of carrots and a case of plums left to process.  The sliced apples are for future use in apple pies and apple pie cookies (which I need to make tomorrow, along with bread for market and a birthday cake for Hubs!)

I admit, I don't always cook from scratch.  Today Princess wanted mac and cheese, and the boys wanted hot dogs.  I LOVE mac and cheese - but ONLY the blue box can do it!!

Supper we decided to try a chicken taco soup.  I still have a couple BIG bags of preseasoned chicken taco filling.  Princess thawed one out, and I improvised to make a really good, filling soup.

Recipe: 1/3 bag preseasoned chicken taco filling
2T taco seasoning
1 pint homemade Rotel
1 pint tomato juice

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

1 1/2 c frozen corn

1T paprika

2 c cooked beans

I also threw a little more chicken in there as I was deboning it.  Topped it with crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese.  (One of these days I'll remember to take the guac out of the freezer too!!)

Tomorrow's plan for supper is meatloaf patties with potatoes and glazed carrots, and Friday is enchiladas.  I do have to pick up some tortillas for the enchiladas...

So now, where am I for the pantry challenge budget?

Monday: Spent $2 at the Dollar Tree to get some GOOD coffee creamer.  (I made some homemade and it just isn't the same.  I'm going to keep trying, but it's nice to have the good stuff around too)

Tuesday: Spent $7 at the local store, and hubby spent $5 at the other store on his way home.  I got 2 bags of chips and a bottle of soy sauce, he picked up a loaf of bread and 2 jars of pb. (Since the pb is on sale right now 2/$3, it told him to pick up some more - maybe a dozen jars - this week.  This will not come from our grocery budget, but our stock up budget since it will be going into storage.)

Total spent this week so far: $14.  Looking good to me!

A Homestead Workout, and Pantry Challenge 10-12

It's been a busy week here on the farm!!

Wednesday we continued on our CAT5 test and spent the afternoon on a field trip at The Evergreens, a Christmas tree farm owned by my friend and fellow homeschooler Jamie.  We learned about insects and creepy crawlies. (Did you know insects and bugs aren't the same thing??? Actual BUGS have an X on their back, everything else is an insect??)  I really wish I would have gotten some pictures, but we were having too much fun.  (And now I have to make the boys some insect nets to catch their own!) It was very interesting learning about the different ones too, like how to distinguish a female from a male cricket.  Thanks for the fun Jamie!!

Yesterday was a busy day as Thursdays usually are.  I spend the morning baking, then off to market in the afternoon. (It was a REALLY DEAD market day, unfortunately.)  My daughter also sold her car that the insurance company totaled (due to an accident in January... a lady was texting and driving and hit her.  The body repairs were expensive enough they totaled the car.)  Her dad bought it for a daily driver, so he came to get it last night so I had to be home for that since she was working.  (She has been saving up, and after she FINALLY got the insurance check, bought a REALLY NICE car - all by herself!)  Proud Mom moment!!

Fridays I don't work, and didn't have a whole lot planned.  Scrappy has been working on finishing his CAT5.  Monkey and I are working on letters and sounds.  He was really getting in to his favorite ABC YouTube video today!

We did some signing practice with Jack Hartman, which is another of his favorites.

We changed up PE a little today.  Mama needed a workout, so I went to split some wood.

And the boys got to stack it up.  It was pretty warm in the barn today!

It's not all work and no play, though.  We ventured out into field to see if we could find any pumpkins....

And we did!

And now on to the Pantry Challenge for the last couple days!!

Here's what we ended up with on Tuesday night....

I had leftover chicken thighs for later, and Hubs took one of the peppers to work for lunch.  We also had squash for leftovers.

Wednesday for lunch we had leftovers.  Hubs called me before he left work to see if I needed anything from the store when he stopped to get his Coke.  He remembered I was doing a budget/freezer challenge.  I said only if cheese is on sale!

He called me 20 minutes later - cheese WAS on sale... for $1.78/bag.  Around here, that's a GOOD price (he said the tag said "You save $1.61")  Since I had only spent the $2 earlier this week on the squash, I told him to go ahead and get 10 bags divided between colby jack, cheddar jack, and mozzarella.  He didn't tell me right away that he'd bought a loaf of bread.  That set us $2 over this week's budget.  But I guess it's OK since we were able to stock up a little on cheese (my family LOVES cheese!)

Supper was mock lasagna with rustic bread.  I was able to use an entire container of cottage cheese that was in the fridge, and some Italian sausage from my freezer.  My kids are LOVING this bread and eating a loaf a day when it's made!

With everything happening on Thursday we had leftovers for both lunch and supper.  Cleaning the fridge out.

Today Princess was home (staff workshop day at school to get ready for distance learning starting next week) so I cooked lunch.  Her boy was over too.  I had been watching one of my favorite YouTubers Christine at Frugal Fit Mom and was inspired for lunch.  I can't eat much pasta, and spaghetti is really difficult for me.  I had some frozen meatballs still from a spaghetti dinner a friend had sent when Monkey had his surgery. Christine was making teriyaki meatball bowls in the latest video, so I decided that would be fun but substituted the frozen meatballs.  I baked them for half an hour while I was making the sauce and rice.  Scraps really likes teriyaki anyway.  It was actually pretty good!  And I got a bag of meatballs and a bag of green beans used up from my freezer!

We have some leftovers for lunch this weekend too.

Yesterday I asked a friend for suggestions on how to use up a few containers of French Onion dip I got for free.  Other than for chips or on potatoes, we were both lost.  Google to the rescue!!  I looked at several suggested recipes but decided a cheesy hash brown casserole sounded best.  I used this recipe as inspiration, but made a few changes based on what I had on hand.  I didn't have any cream of onion soup, so I made some from scratch using this recipe.  The changes I made were 1) I shredded potatoes because I didn't have frozen hash browns (and I have a TON of potatoes I need to use), 2) I used open cheeses already in the fridge instead of a block of cheddar (chipotle cheese inside the casserole and colby jack on top), and 3) I used the rest of the bag of sausage from the mock lasagna on Wednesday, browned it up, and put it in the hash brown mixture.  

I had to put one of my bags of cheese in a tortilla bag cuz it had a hole in it.

It was a hit with the whole family!!!  But when can you ever go wrong with cheese and potatoes?!?!

Sharks and Dragons

Day 12 of my Whole45 and I am doing well!!

OK, I am struggling a little bit.  In the bujo world (this is a little TMI) this is called Shark Week, so my Sugar Dragon is coming out and wanting to attack.  I'm a little tired and battling with a mild headache.  It started yesterday, so I went to bed early in spite of it being Valentine's Day.  I got close to 10 hours of sleep last night!! 

I was too broke to buy anything for my sweetheart, but I cooked him a good meal and gave him my first drawing that I've done. 

I can't draw to save my life, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying to learn!  He was impressed :)  He didn't believe me at first that, besides using a compass to draw the circles themselves, everything else was done freehand!!  I'm happy that he liked it!  For supper I had made Whole30 beef and broccoli except I didn't have any coconut aminos so I told everyone else to just add soy sauce to their meat.  The kids didn't like the sunshine sauce, but he and I really did!

For lunch the boys and I had made zoodles with my Veggetti.  We had gotten it at Walmart a while ago for only $7 on clearance.  I wish I would have opened it earlier - it's so easy to use!!  I cooked some chicken with garlic powder, salt and onion, then tossed to zoodles in the pan with some fat and cooked those for a few minutes, and topped them with the chicken and some tomatoes.  Soooo gooood!!

Veggetti

Zoodles with chicken and tomatoes

I know it's against the rules to weigh during Whole30, but I had an appointment with the dietitian earlier this week.  She wanted to see how I was doing with my weight loss because that was the reason I was seeing her, and we discussed W30 a lot.  I'm down 5 pounds since my last appointment with her!!!!  I told her about my plans to do Whole45 and she was fine with that.  I asked for input on doing it long term.  So we have a plan.

Long term is fine, as long as I take some breaks in between... 30-45 days on, 2-4 weeks off, reintroducing beans, grains, and dairy, then 30-45 (60/90) days on.  If I decide I want to do more than the 45 I should let her know.  Sometimes people do 60-90 days, but I'm not sure if I want to do that long.  I think doing 30-45 is a good amount of time to keep me on track and compliant.  My journal and blogging should help me keep on track too.

Emily, the dietitian, also said it's OK to break one of the rules - which isn't a food rule.  I should continue with my weekly weigh ins because I'm doing the Whole45 and because I need to get myself into a healthy weight range.  Weight actually IS an important part of this for me. 

We set a goal of another 5 pounds for my next appointment in a month.  I wasn't getting all the water I need to in each day, so that's another one of my goals, and to get my 30 minutes in 4x a week, since I'd been slacking on that.  If I can get my exercise back on track I will really be doing amazing!!

Here is my tracker from my bujo.  I really love the quote on the top:  Do not reward yourself with food.  You are NOT a dog!!

Recipes - P4

Lo-Cal Chicken and Dumplings (8 servings, 272 cal per serving)
(I got the calorie count by entering the recipe into http://www.myfitnesspal.com/)

Ingredients:
Soup:
6 cups homemade turkey stock
3 split chicken breasts
3 cups water
2 cups frozen peas & carrots
3 tbsp corn starch mixed with 1/2 c water
salt and pepper to taste

Dumplings:
1 1/2 c flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 c 2% milk
3 tbsp veg oil

Directions:
Add stock, water, and chicken to a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove chicken, allow to cool enough to handle (I stuck it in the freezer about 10 minutes). Remove meat from skin/bones, chop meat into bite-sized pieces. Discard skin and bones. Return chicken to stock and heat to boil. Add frozen peas and carrots. Return to boil about 5 minutes. Add corn starch mixture, reduce to simmer. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

While the soup is simmering, in a medium bowl, combine all dry dumpling ingredients thoroughly. In a separate small bowl combine all wet dumpling ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, add the wet mixture, and stir just until moistened.

Drop dumplings by spoonful into soup. After adding all dumpling mixture, cover the pot and simmer about 12 minutes, until dumplings are done.



Crock Pot Maple Ribs
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds country style pork ribs
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 dash ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine ribs, maple syrup, soy sauce, minced onion, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, garlic powder and pepper in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 7 to 9 hours.


Loaded Nachos
tortilla chips
refried beans
salsa con queso or nacho cheese
chopped tomatoes
chopped lettuce
shredded cheese
sliced black olives
sour cream
guacamole

Heat beans until warm/hot on stove or in microwave.  Heat salsa con queso or nacho cheese in microwave or on stove until hot and runny.  Lay tortilla chips out on plate.  Top with refried beans.  Drizzle on salsa con queso.  Top with additional toppings (lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, guac, olives, etc) and serve!  My kids LOVED it!!

Recipes - P3

Crockpot Smothered Pork Chops and Rice
6 pork chops
1 pkg fresh mozzerella cheese
1 pkg white button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bag fresh spinach
1 1/2 c uncooked brown rice
1 1/2 c water
1 can great northern beans
1 qt fresh canned tomatoes, pureed
1 tbsp ground cumin
Dash of cayenne pepper

Mix rice, beans, pureed tomatoes, water, cumin, and cayenne in crock pot.  In a deep skillet or saucepan, heat oil.  Add onions and mushrooms and saute until tender.  Add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted.  Remove from heat and stir in salt and garlic powder.  Place pork chops in crock pot on top of tomato and rice mixture.  Top with spinach/mushroom/onion mixture.  Slice mozzarella and top the chops and spinach mushroom.  Cover and cook on low 6 hours or until chops are done.

Breakfast Sausage I love sausage, but at times the sausage I get from the store is too spicy or too bland, so I prefer to make my own.  This sausage can be mixed up and frozen or used right away.

1 lb ground pork, chicken, or turkey
1/4 c diced red onion (you can use whatever you have on hand, but I prefer red for this recipe)
1 clove minced garlic (to save time, I usually buy the jarred, pre-minced garlic)
1 pinch (or more, depending on preference) ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground oregano
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together.  Form into patties and pan fry, or crumble and fry as you would hamburger. 


Fudge
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)
butter

Use butter to grease 8x8 or 9x9 pan.  Over med-low heat in a med sauce pan, melt together chocolate chips with milk.  When mixture is melted and smooth, remove from heat.  Mix in vanilla and nuts, if using.  Mix thoroughly.  Pour into greased pan, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until thoroughly cooled.

**If you're feeling adventurous (or not sharing with kids) add 1 tbsp Amaretto, Kahlua, or other hard liquor.  The fudge will also be a little softer.**

Cream Cheese Bars
2 cans crescent rolls (I prefer butter flavored)
2 8oz blocks cream cheese, softened
1 c + 1/4 c sugar, divided
1 egg, separated
1 tsp cinnamon

Grease 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350.  Unroll one can crescent rolls into bottom of pans.  Pinch together all seams, creating a bottom crust.  In a bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 c sugar, and egg yolk.  Mix with electric mixer until thoroughly combined.  Spread on top of crescent crust.  Unroll other can of crescent rolls onto waxed paper.  Pinch together all seams to make top crust.  Flip on top of cream cheese filling.  Beat egg white until foamy and brush onto top crust.  Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar and sprinkle on top.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Ham and Swiss Stuffed Pork Roast
3 1/2 lb pork roast
12 slices ham lunch meat
3 slices Swiss cheese (I cut them from an 8oz block - cutting them the long way)
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425.  Cut 3 long slits into the roast going the "long way."  Wrap each slice of cheese with 4 slices ham.  Stuff one wrapped slice in each of the 3 slits.  Tie roast together to hold cheese/ham in the roast.  Season on all sides with salt and pepper.  Cook for 15 minutes at 425.  Reduce heat to 350, bake approx 45 minutes or until cooked through.  Let rest 10 minutes before removing string and slicing.

Rice and Milk
1 1/2 c rice
6 cups milk
cinnamon (to taste)
sugar (to taste)
1 c raisins (optional)

Put all ingredients except raisins into a crock pot.  Cook on high 3 hours.  Add raisins, then reduce heat to low for 5 hours.  Stir occasionally.  Add more milk as necessary.  Serve as dessert or breakfast.  (can make it at night to be ready for breakfast, just leave set on low all night.)

Recipes - P2

Cheeseburger Broccoli Chowder
Ingredients:
6 c chicken stock
1 1/2 lb ground beef, browned and drained
2 tbsp Worchestershire Sauce
1 c milk
1 bag frozen broccoli
8 potatoes, peeled and cubes
1/2 of a large block of Velveeta, cubed*
1/2 medium onion, chopped
flour to thicken

*In place of the Velveeta, you can use 2 cans condensed cheddar cheese soup.  If you use this method, only use 3 cups chicken stock and increase the milk to 4 cups.

Combine hamburger, Worchestershire sauce, milk, and chicken broth in 4 qt soup pot.  Add potatoes and simmer about 15 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients except flour.  Simmer another 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and potatoes are tender.  Remove some of the broth to another bowl, whisk with flour, and use as a thickener.  Serve.

Apple Butter
Ingredients:
Apples - peeled, cored, and chopped (approx 2 qts after prepped)
Water
Ground cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
Sugar
Salt
Ground cloves

Once the apples are peeled and cored, I cut them into quarters (since they're small apples), add a little sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little water, and cook covered about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After that, I remove the lid and cook until desired tenderness, mash with my potato masher, and cook until desired thickness.  A little taste test here and there and maybe a little more sugar or cinnamon.  I don't have a preference for a type of apples (besides free - that always works good for me!!), but I have been getting Wealthy windfalls from FM.  They are a little bruised, but that doesn't matter.  If it's too bad I might cut it out, but so far it's been pretty good!!

Salsa Chicken
4 small chicken breasts or 2 large, cut in half
6 tbsp cream cheese
1/2 pint salsa (I use homemade)
1/2 c shredded cheese - cheddar, colby jack, or whatever your favorite is

Place chicken breasts in 8x8 casserole or similar sized baking dish.  Spread 1 1/2 tbsp cream cheese on each chicken breast.  Top with salsa.  Cover with foil and bake approx 30 minutes at 350.  Remove foil, sprinkle with shredded cheese, and continue to bake until chicken is no longer pink and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Chicken and Mushroom Sauce
2 medium chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2-3 tbsp garlic flavored olive oil
1/2 stick butter
1/4 c diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c sliced white button mushrooms
1/4 + 1/2 c milk
2 tbsp flour
1/2 block cream cheese, cubed
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp parsley

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet.  Add cubed chicken breasts.  Sautee until chicken is no longer pink.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Add butter to pan.  When melted, add onion, garlic, and mushrooms.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are thoroughly cooked and tender and onions are translucent.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Add 1/4 c milk to pan and heat to simmering, scraping up all tidbits from bottom of pan. Add cream cheese and gently whisk until well incorporated and melted.  Gradually add in remaining milk and bring to simmer.  Whisk in 1 tbsp flour.  Add mushroom mixture and chicken back into sauce.  Simmer approximately 10 more minutes.  Add more flour if necessary to thicken sauce. Stir in parsley.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over mashed potatoes.

Taco Salad
1 lb hamburger
1/4 c diced onion
1 packet taco seasoning
1 head lettuce, chopped
3-4 medium tomatoes, chopped (more if desired)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
tortilla chips
Salsa or French dressing

Cook hamburger with onion.  Use taco packet to make taco meat (follow packet directions).  Be sure to drain grease from hamburger before adding seasonings.  Combine meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and black beans in large mixing bowl.  Mix thoroughly.  Crush up some chips and put on a plate or in a bowl.  Top with meat/veggie/bean mixture.  Top with salsa or French dressing.

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!!

Domestication :)

I have to admit, I love being a housewife.  I love being domesticated.  I love spending an afternoon cooking up a storm to feed my family a good hearty meal.  It's even better when my husband decides he's going to do the dishes for me :)  (Yes it happens quite often too!!  He's the best!!)

I know it's early for nesting for this little one.  Actually what I'm doing is preparing.  The plan had been to make a bunch of freezer meals so they can go right from freezer to oven and we can still have yummy home cooked meals every night this winter without much work.  Well, considering my 7 cubic foot freezer is full (and I mean FULL) already, why not do some canning?!  (No, it wasn't originally my idea - it was Opa's).  I have 23 quarts of fresh tomatoes from my Opa's garden that we blanched and froze, plus 8 quarts of green and yellow beans.  Thursday we decided to do 'a few more' tomatoes since he wanted some canned to take on the road.  We ended up with a total of 18 quarts and 18 pints of tomatoes.  I know I could just say 27 quarts, but we did them in both sized jars so we each have 9. 

A lot easier than I thought!!  1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp salt, then add your tomatoes and squish the air out.  Opa told me to be sure there's about 1/2 inch of headroom too.  We kept the juice separate (since the tomatoes had plenty of their own) and he cooked that down for a few hours, skimmed off the water after letting it sit and cool over night, strained out the seeds, and froze it.  Perfect for homemade soup :)

I thought today would be a good day for doing some more canning - the weather was beautiful, in the 70's, and the kids could play outside while I was working in the house.  Hubby was gone, putting some hours at the shop, so it was perfect.  Kids and I went to Farmer's Market (one of my FAVORITE places in the summer and especially the fall!!  Yeah, some stuff is a little more expensive, but you can't beat the freshness!!)  I made the mistake of letting the kids pick out my onions and ended up with one bad one.  But we got 2 good sized bags of apples for $2, 2 pumpkins about the size of volleyballs for $4, a pimento pepper for $0.50, and a couple onions for $1.

Picked the ripe tomatoes and a couple yellow peppers from my garden, so I put tomato sauce on my list.  Found out my cousin absolutely LOVED the pumpkin butter I gave out for Christmas last year, so I promised I'd make her some more.  Beau was begging for homemade applesauce for lunch, and I didn't want to open a jar I'd already sealed, so why not make some more :)  Also decided better use up the ham hocks and ham pieces that were in the freezer so bean and ham soup was added to the list.  And while I'm at it, why not make chicken stock and can some chicken too??

Well, that's NOT what happened :( 

Yes, the applesauce was made, courtesy of my Pampered Chef goodies (since I only had a few apples to do, I didn't get out my apple peeler/corer/slicer, but I DID use my serrated peeler and my apple corer.)  Super easy - I can't say I really have a recipe, since I cook like everyone's grandma - a pinch of this and a pinch of that.  My method?  Once the apples are peeled and cored, I cut them into quarters (since they're small apples), add a little sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little water, and cook covered about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After that, I remove the lid and cook until desired tenderness, mash with my potato masher, and cook until desired thickness.  A little taste test here and there and maybe a little more sugar or cinnamon.  I don't have a preference for a type of apples (besides free - that always works good for me!!), but I have been getting Wealthy windfalls from FM.  They are a little bruised, but that doesn't matter.  If it's too bad I might cut it out, but so far it's been pretty good!!

While the applesauce was cooking, I started what was going to be tomato sauce but ended up turning into spaghetti sauce.  (I thought it tasted really good when done, just a little sweeter than the canned stuff.)  I started out with blanching and shocking my tomatoes so I could remove the skins.  The tomatoes were pretty firm, so they didn't give off a lot of juice when I did this.  I cut out the stems and threw all the tomatoes into my 4 quart soup pot (it was about 1/3 full), cut a yellow pepper into big chunks and added about 3/4 of that, 1/4 of an onion in big chunks, some Italian seasoning, and about 2 tsp of garlic.  I had to crush the tomatoes down a little at first to get some juice for it to simmer in, then used my immersion blender to chop things up a little more.  I let this all cook a couple hours, sampled (needed a sprinkle of salt to combat the sweetness), then removed this lid to cook down a little more.  I REALLY hate it when the tomato sauce splatters all over the stove, so I went to the Devil Store (WalMart for those who don't know DS) and had gotten a screen to prevent grease splatters for bacon - works great with the tomato sauce too!!!  Didn't can this one - just ended up in the fridge in a Tupperware container.

Got my bean and ham soup started too!!  Super easy - add 2 bags of dried beans (no, I don't pre-soak mine) and the package of ham hocks and just boil the crap out of it for a few hours until the beans are soft.  Scrape the meat off the bones, discard the rest, add the already-cooked-leftover ham, then can it!  Ended up with 4 quarts.  Unfortunately that was the last thing I made for the day.

I LOVE homemade chicken noodle soup.  My mom and I had canned some chicken and broth a couple years ago and it was really good and makes it easy to make soup whenever I want, and it tastes so much better than using bouillon.  Even though hubs doesn't like chicken noodle soup, I can still use the canned meat to make chicken gravy for biscuits or other things like that - or hot dishes.  Decided I wanted to do that today, but didn't have everything I needed.  Made my shopping list, plus I had to get a few things to make Snicker salad for the family reunion tomorrow. 

I was putting my shopping list into my purse, stepped on a toy that had been left out, and hit the hardwood floor.  Hard.  It hurt.  So, of course, I didn't go anywhere until hubby came home.  Called him, in tears, and told him what happened, plus I was having horrid pains in my side.  Felt a little better by the time he got home, so I convinced him to take me to the store, but went pretty slow.  But I got all my stuff I needed.  Hopefully I'll get my chicken started tomorrow - it takes 2 days to make.  Once I make it, I'll share the 'recipe' since I don't use a real one.  Same thing with the pumpkin butter.  But for now, I'm off to bed.  Hoping to get updated again in a few days, hopefully with some pictures too!!

Oh, and to update the TOPS weigh in and pregnancy weight loss/gain:  I was down 1/2 pound this week, bringing my total loss to 13 1/2 pounds.