Homemaking Organized Blog

Archive for the ‘Food Stuff’ Category

One of my best friends is newly pregnant and sent me an SOS. Feeling queasy and out of energy she wanted to know what she could make for hubby for dinner that required 30 minutes or less.

If we weren’t separated by close to 3000 miles I would cook dinner for her. It’s hard when friends move. My friend is a bit of a food and a very into organic and natural foods. She has two freezers stocked with the basics.  But how to turn them into quick meals? She probably has no canned food in her home.

So what’s a girl to do? Admittedly I survived on pizza and tacos when I was pregnant. I couldn’t stomach anything else and the spiciness seemed to settle my stomach.

Quick meals in my home (that don’t com out of the freezer) are…

• Spaghetti with meatballs
• Minestrone soup (I chop quick and go)
• Canned soup and sandwiches (usually on Saturdays)
• Stirfries
• Sauteed chicken with veggies over rice
• Bakes salmon (I find this incredibly easy and it is often our Monday meal)

I’ll be coming back to this topic of course but what does one cook when one can barely stomach food?

 

 

 

One of my goals this year has been to be a bit more organized about my cooking plans. I do love to cook on the fly but it does help to have a meal plan just in case. My meal plan works more as “just in case” than an everyday rule.  I’m figuring if I keep a list of how we ate for the month it will help with future meal planning. This is a no brainer really. My software does it already for me if I bother to open it. Which I do often because it houses all my favorite dishes. I’m just not the best about the menu planning option.

So beginning on January 9th I started inputting what we ate for breakfast and dinner. This doesn’t really include side dishes, just main dishes. But give me a hand! This took some effort!

If you’re curious we always have fruit with dinner and breakfast. Pears, apples, and/or bananas. Side dishes are usually broccoli, spinach, zucchini, cabbage (I love cabbage), carrots, peas, maybe a salad but not so much in winter, some form of potaoes, rice, pasta, or couscous.

 

Menus

Monday, January 9, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Sauteed Zuchinni
Lemon Shrimp with Parmesan Rice

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Toast and Scrambled Eggs
DINNER
Stone Soup

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Cream Scones
DINNER
Garlic Lime Chicken

Thursday, January 12, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Cream Scones
DINNER
Apple Sausage with pasta, tomatoes, broccoli, onions

Friday, January 13, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Leftover Scones
DINNER
Spinach Ravioli Bake

Saturday, January 14, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
7 grain cereal and fruit
DINNER
Leftover Stone Soup

Sunday, January 15, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Chuck Roast in Foil

Monday, January 16, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Chuck Roast in Foil
These were all leftovers

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
7 Grain Cereal
DINNER
Makeover Pork Chops with Gravy

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Store bought bread, eggs
DINNER
Stovetop Roast Chicken with Lemon-Herb Sauce

Thursday, January 19, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
more store bought bread, eggs
DINNER
Skillet chili mac America’s Test Kitchen

Friday, January 20, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
DINNER
My Version 3 Bean Pasta Soup

Saturday, January 21, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
DINNER
Salmon Quiche

Sunday, January 22, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Franklins Salmon

Monday, January 23, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Leftover 3 Bean Soup

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Scrambled Eggs and Toast
DINNER
Lazy Day Lasagne

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Cranberry Cream Scones
DINNER
Garlic Lime Chicken

Exported from Shop’NCook Menu 4.0

p.s. – if you are interest in a recipe just comment

It’s Anti-Procrastination Tuesday time. Time to get a hold of whatever task you need to tackle and tackle it! Just fight through and get it done.

For me it’s making a big ol’ menu plan. Not weekly, but monthly. We don’t eat out anymore due to food allergies (And if you stop eating out you’ll notice that eating out just isn’t the same if you try and do it again. The food doesn’t taste as good as homemade. You become more sensitive to any additives, etc.) so we really vary our dinner menus.

I’m also not one to stick to one source for recipe ideas. These are my main go to sources for meal ideas and recipes.

• Taste of Home (number one right now) (link to last night’s dinner)
• Saving Dinner (number two right now)
• America’s Test Kitchen (to ge the cooking method down right)
• The Web  (for that recipe I just can’t find).

When I’m being smart I put it all in my recipe software, Shop’NCook (Which I’m opening now because I forgot to add tonight’s dinner to it) because I can make a nice menu plan and keep track of how my family is eating. Then at the end of a month I have a whole month of good menu ideas and I don’t have to start from scratch again each week. Although that is sometimes fun it’s nicer, more efficient, money savvy, and a just a good idea to have a month to look at.

This is where I fail.  I’m severely delinquent in adding recipes to the software. Breakfast and dinner. One of my lingering projects has been to keep an accurate account of what we are eating. There are certain recipes we really like to revisit and if I would just keep track it would be a lot easier.

So my anti-procrastination is to add last night’s’ dinner to my software, make a note in my-to-do list to to do this each night. Make a print out in february.

This includes breakfast.

 

By the way click the button on top and Visit Amy at New Nostalgia for some great Anti-procrastination link ups.

 

 

Gluten Freedom is having a Launch Party giveaway of a TON of gluten free foods  and such. From Bob’s Red Mill to Amy’s, to Bakery on Main and many more I have never of. My sister is very sensitive to gluten so I like to help out when I can.

Enter at Gluten Freedom here.

 

 

 

 

SavingDinner.com is officially ELEVEN YEARS OLD as of next week! I’ve been a longtime satisfied customer of Leanne’s and she’s holding her her third annual virtual clearance sale this week.

From now until midnight on December 31st (that’s New Year’s Eve day), you can get 3 different Super Bundles of her menus all for over HALF OFF:

Here they are.

Super Bundle 1 – You Get:

10 for the Freezer Volume 3 (Chicken and Beef)
20 for the Freezer Gluten Free Volume 2
20 for the Freezer Grilling Volume 1
10 for the Freezer Side Dishes
Saving Breakfast Volume 3

Not $67, but just $27 that’s a 60% savings!!

Super Bundle 2- You Get:

Casserole to Soup Volume 2
Cook Once Eat Twice Seafood
Cook Once Eat Twice Pork
Cook Once Eat Twice Beef
Cook Once Eat Twice Chicken
Now and Later Volumes 3 and 4

Not $70 but just $27 – that’s a savings of 61%!!

Super Bundle #3 – You Get:

5 Ingredient ebook
Working Woman’s ebook
One Recipe Two Ways ebook
Manner Minders
Conversation Starters Volumes 1 and 2

Not $79 but just $27 that’s a savings of 66%!!

Now, if you REALLY want to take advantage of this sale, you’ll want the Whole Enchilada; all THREE of the bundles rolled together for $77 (regularly $216). That is a savings of over 60%!

If you get the Whole Enchilada for more than SIXTY PERCENT OFF, you’ll also get FIVE gifts that you will absolutely love:
Bonus 1: CrockCooker e-cookbook Volume 1
with over 200 crockpot-friendly recipes, plans and shopping lists, too!

Bonus 2: Pressure Cooker e-cookbook
with 48 recipes with shopping lists helping you prepare dinner in a fraction of the time!

Bonus 3: Batch Cooking for the Freezer e-cookbook
12 recipes to help you get your freezer stocked with healthy meal starters right at your fingertips!

Bonus 4: Get Your Game On! Party Menu
over 25 recipes to help you entertain with ease on the big game day!

Bonus 5: Celebration for the Freezer e-cookbook we’ve got you covered with freezer menus, shopping lists, instructions and timelines for every holiday from Easter to Christmas!

That’s a lot of goodies…and you get them all FREE when you get the Whole Enchilada for $77.

Go here right now and claim your bundles before they’re all gone!

P.S. This special sale ends at midnight December 31st. If you want to get these amazing bundles and save over 50%, then go here  now.

 

This week’s menu…

Breakfast

Fruit Smoothies and homemade breakfast sandwich (just egg and biscuit)

Buckwheat pancakes with added flax and wheat germ thrown in (family LOVEs these)

7 grain cereal and boiled eggs

French toast in the oven, fruit

Fruit Smoothies and muffins (batter is in the freezer)

Cereal, boiled eggs, fruit

 

 

Lunch

A little of this and little of that. Alternate between PB& J and crackers with cheese and fruit. Always fruit with lunch.

 

Dinner

Leftovers

Crabcakes (with some alterations), mashed potatoes, and coleslaw

Homemade pasta with meatballs and pesto sauce (this has become a thing with Sweet Peanut so we make the pasta together). Salad

Crock Pot beef stew with fruit on the side

Baked catfish, wild rice blend, green beans

Tacos with all the fixin’s

 

 

I’m all about easy cooking, but it has to taste good. Many Sunday’s a month we cook dinner and invite our extended family over for a meal and fellowship after church. Since we are part of the support system in our church (I’m one of the pianists etc..) we are there early and leave later than most. So making dinners that don’t take all day to cook (unless I’m using the crockpot) are key.

Usually fish is the fare of choice. Salmon to be more precise. It’s a tasty item that cooks up well and quick. But we like to change things up a bit. You may have seen my post about Chuck Roast in Foil. That is a delicious keeper that we make up regularly but recently we decided to cook another dish that I make for the regular family meals. It’s easy and is actually in the healthy, low fat section of one of my older cookbooks.

It’s from Sunset Casserole Cooking, 1980.

Baked Turkey Legs and Vegetables

Serves 4

Bake time 2 hours

Prep time about 15-20 minutes

4 Turkey drumsticks for 2 drumsticks and 2 thighs (3-3.5 lbs total)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup white whine (I use apple juice here)

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon oil

1 clove minced garlic

1 large onion sliced into rings

2 large carrots cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

2 stalks celery cut into  1/4 inch thick slices

1 large potato ( I use more like 2 or 3)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the turkey pieces into a shallow casserole  or 9×13 inch dish. You are supposed to remove the skin but I never do.

In a small bowl mix together your chicken stock, juice/wine,  pepper, paprika, salt, and cornstarch.

Heat oil in a pan and saute your onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and just when you smell it (about 15 seconds or less) gradually add your broth mix.  Continue cooking the mixture until it boils and is slightly thickened.

Pour your cooked broth/veggie mix over the turkey legs and cover with foil. You can refrigerate this until the next day or bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Meanwhile dice the potato and place in cold water until you’re ready to add to the casserole. After an hour pull it out of the oven, add diced potato, recover and bake another hour until done (or meat near the bone is no longer pink.

We serve this with a cooked veggie. Or you can omit the potato and serve over rice which is what we do for Sunday dinner.

Enjoy!

Print a coupon and save 1/$0.75 cents on Muir Glen Organic. I buy Muir Glen when I can since they taste better than most other brands. They also won a past taste test on America’s Test Kitchen.

 

Thanks Money Saving Mom

Save from 10% to 50% on most everything at the Saving Dinner Shop this weekend (except Menu-Mailers, Clubs, and Gift Certificates).

 

If you’ve been wanting to try Saving Dinners delicious menu planning recipes now’s the time to pick up some at a savings.

Leanne has a deal going. Pick a coupon code…any code…and the savings will be anything from 10% off to %50 off but she’s not telling which coupon code is for which discount.

So go pack your Saving Dinner online shopping cart with the menus of your choice and enter any one of the following codes  to see how much you can save.

Coupon Codes:

turkey

gravy

stuffing

cranberry

hotrolls

Find Menus on…

Freezer Menus: Delicious recipes for the freezer using your chosen meat. In the 10 for the Freezer ebook pick Beef & Chicken, Chicken and Fish, or Chicken and Beef part two (Vol. 3). Much, much more.

Morphing Menus : These are now and later menus. Cook one now for dinner tonight and prepare another for the freezer.

Weight Loss : If you’re trying to lose weight  I highly recommend go the route of Leanne. There’s the Detoxing Plan, Losing it With Leanne, Gluten Free Volumes (plural), and so much more.

Ebooks

Find much more to tempt your palate at Saving Dinner

 

 

If you have been thinking about signing up for Plan to Eat and simplifying your cooking, shopping and life, but couldn’t justify the cost — this is a great time to start!

Save 50% OFF sale this weekend only (Friday 25th – Monday 28th) for all yearly subscriptions. That’s only $19 (or $1.58 a month) for a whole year!