Coffee for Breakfast

I'm trying to be more consistent in menu planning. Not only does it save money, it truly saves time.  I try to make my plan over the weekend for the upcoming week. I try to shop my own food supply before making my grocery list. This one thing alone has made all the difference in sticking to my budget. It also causes me to be more creative in my meal planning which also makes the whole daily-ness of cooking much more enjoyable. For example, I only need to spend about $40-$50 this week because I'm using up what I already have on hand. I've planned to try a new recipe this week also.  My biggest money savings this week will come from a couple of meatless meals this week. Monday- Beans and Mexican cornbread✔ This will be our meatless meal of the week. Cornbread will just have some corn, jalapeños, and cheddar mixed in. Tuesday- Cheese Enchiladas, rice, and refried beans✔ This is the new recipe to try this week. I will be making homemade enchilada sauce. I will use a porti...

I've been enjoying my kitchen lately. Unusual in this hot weather, but we have to eat. I've pulled out the crockpot a few times. I also pulled out the bread maker. So far we had crockpot roasted chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts, and crusty bread the first night. I then tossed the bones back in the crockpot with a few veggies and filled with water. This slow cooked overnight to make some awesome chicken stock. After freezing an ice cube tray full, a pint jar, and two half pint jars, I added the rest to my large Dutch oven. I sautéed onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in a little olive oil, then added that to my stock. I threw in most of what was left of the deboned chicken and a half bag of egg noodles. Topped off with some salt, pepper, and a little Italian seasoning, this is a wonderfully flavorful chicken noodle soup. So much is leftover after a Sunday lunch with more of our crusty bread, we will probably have soup again...twice. I still have some deboned chicken that will ma...

Today began with coffee, as usual. Then I helped my husband get our huge yard back in order. He is such a hard worker, if I don't help him, he will spend every day this summer forgetting how to relax. Relaxing is at the top of my agenda. After I put a new routine in order, I'm hopeful that we will make a lot of fun, laid back memories. Just a few things I want to make happen over the next couple of weeks: Homemade ice cream...I bought an unused (still in the box) electric ice cream maker last year that never was used.   Keeping a large gallon of lemonade/tea made at all times  Picnic at the lake and swimming or fishing   Fireworks show  Produce stand  Popsicles for the grandkids   Lots of journaling and self care (because that is my current stage)  Finishing my 4th of July quilt (from last year) I also managed to make a menu plan for the next couple of weeks. Breakfast plan is to keep it simple. I'll just rotate bet...

I have a cute little friend who I lost touch with several years ago, when we moved away from my hometown. Actually then she was just a little girl. A playmate to my oldest daughter and a week long love interest of my son. LOL I distinctly remember her coming to my son's costume birthday party dressed as a princess. :) We moved away and have been gone for lots of years now. Facebook reintroduced us. She is now a grown up married lady! How time flies. As we reconnected through a few text messages, she told me the thing that she remembered most about me was how I always made a weekly menu plan. She thought it was a very weird thing to do. LOL Seems to me that I was way ahead of my time. Menu planning seems to be a very popular topic online nowadays. Having five children at home all day everyday made it necessary to plan meals. Who knows, my friend Summer may be finding menu planning a little less weird now that she is cooking for her own new family. This is mine for th...

I've been on a quest (a long drawn out quest) for a healthier lifestyle. I won't pretend to have it conquered. Not even close! On the other hand, we have started to make some positive changes. We are attempting to eliminate all processed foods. This is going very well. I say attempting because we will continue to use things previously purchased. I grocery shop on a very tight budget and can not bring myself to throw some items out. I'm happy to say we don't actually buy very many processed groceries to start with. This change has been fairly easy as long as we are eating at home. The only challenge has been eating out (very seldom) and fast food (daughters, quite often). The choices may be limited at fast food places, but they usually do have a few items that could be considered "healthy". I have chronic thirst. I am known to have something to drink at all times! I know this could signal a health problem or dehydration. (I'm working on it!) The ma...

The website I can't get enough of this week is... 100 days of real food Oh my goodness! If you want to eat real or whole foods, this is a good place to start. Having been a "whole foods family" in the past, I have been able to skim some of the how-to get started articles while learning a lot of new information at the same time. Eating healthy can be a challenge at times. Mostly getting started is a challenge. Once you make up your mind and stock up on a few staple items, eating healthy can become second nature. You do have to be willing to research, experiment, and if you aren't a gazillionare...you have to be willing to cook from scratch! Some successful recipes I have tried this week: egg salad (I know... this is simple. I have fresh eggs from our new chickens though, and had to list it.) banana pancakes with maple syrup (yum! these were a hit and I froze the leftovers for an easy breakfast later this week) Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (wonderful! I...

My fingers are itching to sew. With all the new babies all around me, my creative side wants to make every cute thing I see. I've managed to do a little but that is how much time I have...little. It's just one of those busy seasons in life. Not the sports season kind of busy (yet) but the season of life kind of busy. My list-making self also has a ton of homemade Christmas gift ideas that will more than likely not happen. I love the holidays but this year they will be a little different. Not a bad kind of different. Just different. We have spent almost twenty years forming our family traditions. I love the way we spend Thanksgiving. Usually, with the exception of only a couple of years, we are all together. The seven of us enjoy our traditional Thanksgiving dinner and spending the day together. Most years we enjoy watching my husband put up our Christmas tree. He is very picky and doesn't let us help. Lol This task has involved anything from power tools to well, whatever he...

On the menu: Chicken Fried Steak Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Green Beans Dinner Rolls and... Banana Pudding! Ingredients: 1 (6 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding 3 cups cold milk 1 (12 ounce) containers Cool Whip 1 can Eagle Brand Condensed Milk 1 box vanilla wafers 3 -4 bananas Directions: Whip pudding with milk as directed on the package. Fold in Cool Whip and milk. Layer wafers, bananas and pudding in a 13x9 dish. Chill. Just cleaning and cooking today. Trying to catch up so we can start over again on Monday! Hopefully I can sneak in a little trip to the fabric store and do a little sewing. I'm working on a super cute outfit for Aubree. I also would love to finish all of my Christmas sewing projects. I am running out of time!

Basketball season is a busy time around our house. I only have one daughter currently playing and it still consumes almost every day of the week. Sometimes we get too busy for dinner at home. Not only does this become costly, it also causes us to not have dinner together as a family way too often. One thing I have tried to do while raising kids is have sit down meals together. I think dinner time is where so many memories are made. I've had to re-think dinner time and come up with some creative solutions. One of the most used appliances around here is the Crockpot. We aren't all always home at the same time anymore, but if I plan ahead we can all have a home cooked meal. Last night we had a family favorite for a cold night. Secret Ingredient Crockpot Chili 1 1/2 lb. hamburger meat 1 large can of crushed tomatoes 1 can of Rotel tomatoes 2 cans of Ranch Style beans chili powder cumin garlic onion ***1 can of pumpkin Brown the ground beef with garlic and onion. Drain and add to c...

Yesterday my oldest daughter turned 22! It is so hard to believe she is all grown up. I can remember her as a baby like is was yesterday. It is so true that time flies as you get older. She is such an amazing blessing to my life. I'm very proud of the young woman she has become. In honor of her birthday, her sisters and I, threw her a little impromtu party. I cooked her a simple home-cooked meal that I knew she would love. We had pork chops, pork & beans, and noodles with tomatoes & cheese. That may sound silly for a birthday meal, but these were "comfort" foods that I knew she would love. Kyla made her strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting. We decorated the table with some princess items, because no matter how old she gets, she will always be our princess! I love you Courtney!!!

I love baking, but not All baking. I can bake a cake but I don't love cake. Cupcakes? Yeah, I like them more. I can bake a pie, but I don't love making crust! I'd rather buy it. I don't bake good cookies. Never have. I leave the cookie baking to my daughters. They do it better. The baking I love is bread baking! The bread machine is wonderful because as much as I love to bake bread, I don't love to knead! A few months ago I bought a bread machine cookbook at Big Lots for about $5. Great buy. Seven ingredients, a couple of hours, and a wonderful loaf of rectangular crusty bread. In my house it lasts about 5 minutes! This is a great and easy method, with a wonderful result, if I can be home all day. The crust isn't "crusty" if you don't remove immediately and eat while warm. Then, I heard about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. This book has given me a new love for home baked bread. This wonderful method allows you to mix a large amount of dough ...

The Pioneer Woman is keeping me from losing weight! I love her cooking blog but it is NOT lowfat! This week we have had her recipes for simple enchiladas, chicken and noodles with bacon cheese biscuits, and Italian drip beef. All wonderful. Next week I need to start counting Weight Watcher points. I also need to run about 100 miles! Oh well, I enjoyed trying some new recipes, and eating them. If you haven't tried the Pioneer Woman , I highly recommend her!

Hey, I'll take it however I can get it! I was awakened to the sound of howling wind at about 4am. I wasn't totally surprised. We had heard the forecast. We were expecting a winter storm. First came the rain, then the freezing rain, and then the cracking and breaking of tree limbs. Lots of them. I knew right away I wouldn't be leaving my house today. I decided to bake. I baked a cake . The recipe is from one of my favorite blogs , the Pioneer Woman. Delicious. I quickly realized I enjoyed the warmth of the stove. I cooked beans and cornbread. Comfort food. My sweet husband built a nice fire in the fireplace and we all snuggled under our blankets for a movie. Fitting with my cooking theme for the day we decided to watch Julie and Julia. I loved it. I have never been very interested in Julia Child but I would now love to read her cookbook. Wonderful day to be stuck indoors. I probably gained 5 lbs. But it was worth it.

Barb's Apple Chip Cake 1 1/4 c. oil (I use olive oil) 2 c. sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. baking soda 3 c. flour 1 tsp. vanilla 1 c. chopped nuts 3 c. peeled, chopped apples Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl combine oil, sugar and eggs. Beat until smooth. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon and beat into the wet ingredients to form a stiff batter. Add vanilla, chopped nuts and chopped apples and stir to blend. Spoon the batter into a greased 9x13 pan and bake 1 hour. Doesn't that sound wonderful?! I can't wait to make a trip to the apple orchard this year. I'm loving fall already.

In honor of fall, I requested pumpkin recipes from friends on the Five In A Row message boards. This is the first I have tried. It is wonderful. This comes from Debbie. This is my all time favorite pumpkin recipe. I got it from KarrieAK from the boards here. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins 1/2 cup oil 4 eggs 3 cups flour 2 cups sugar 1/2 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. salt 2 t. baking soda 1 small can pumpkin 1 12oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350. Beat eggs and sugar. Mix in rest of ingredients. Bake for 20 min. I normally make mini muffins out of this. I also double the recipe and make a lot of them so that I can freeze them. They normally don't last around here! My children love these. I'm sure we will bake these muffins often.