There’s a $.75 Off a 10.5 oz or larger bag of Chex Mix Muddy Buddies Coupon available.

Thanks, Hip2Save!

You can make your own Homemade Muddy Buddies with this recipe: Note: I usually use Crispix Cereal, but you can also use Chex Cereal:

1) Melt together 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 stick of butter in a medium saucepan. You’ll have to stir frequently or it will burn on you quick. I’d recommend keeping it on a low to medium heat.

2) Once melted, pour over Crispix cereal. (1-12oz. box) Stir the cereal mixture (gently or you’ll break them) until all the cereal is covered.

3) Immediately put it into a brown paper bag that’s been filled with 1/2 bag (1lb.) of powdered sugar. Close up the bag and shake it until the sugar covers the cereal.

This last week, we had a loaf of bread that got stuffed back behind a few other bread products and I didn’t notice it was even there. By the time I realized it, the bread was fairly stale. In the past, I probably would have fed this to our wild birds or worse…even tossed it. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, there’s usually a way you can use things that aren’t still the freshest, but are still safely edible. I’ve turned stale bread into bread crumbs before but I wanted to try to make some croutons this time.

I found a real basic Crouton Recipe on AllRecipes.com. This one was just for regular croutons with a little garlic flavoring. You could probably toss in some spices if you want more flavoring.

1) The first thing you need to do is to cut off the crusts of your bread. This will give you a typical crouton. If you want to leave them on, I’m sure you could.

2) Next, you need to butter both sides of the bread with melted butter. I had my kids help with this. They kept saying they were “painting bread.”

3) Once buttered, cut the bread into cube shapes. If you want them to have a garlic flavor, sprinkle them lightly with garlic salt. Then place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4) Bake them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until browned. If you want, you could flip them over halfway through for an even cooking, but I didn’t and they turned out just fine.

That’s it. Simple and a great way to be sure any stale bread you have doesn’t go to waste. I put these in a Ziploc bag and we’ll be enjoying them on several salads we’ll pick from our garden.

I’m hoping that if you come across things in your house that aren’t the freshest but are still safe to eat, that you’ll find other uses for them, too. If you need some inspiration, I love to follow Teresa from Money Saving Maine-ac in her “Yucky Stuff is the Lucky Stuff” series. She always has such great ideas!

This was a fun little activity for me and the kids. I got a good laugh over when I told my kids that we were going to make Croutons and my son said, “We’re going to make Coupons?!” Can you tell Coupons are a big part of our life?

As I’ve mentioned in the past, my son is completely in love with trucks right now. So it was no surprise to me when he told me he wanted a dump truck cake for his birthday earlier this year. My first instinct was to call a bakery and have them make up some fancy design but I wanted to take a stab at making one myself.

Those that know me know how hilarious that might sound because I have no talent when it comes to making cakes. But this one is really easy. REALLY easy.

The first thing you need to do is plan ahead and find coupons for a cake mix and frosting and match them with a hot sale to get it for Free or close to it. OK, sorry, I couldn’t just let you pay full price now could I? But seriously, try to plan ahead so you get a good deal on it.

You can use any store bought cake mix and make it according to box directions. I usually go with a Funfetti one as my kids get a kick out of the colors inside the cake.

I then wanted frosting that looked like a dirt color—chocolate was too dark so I lightened it with a Buttercream one. Just mix and blend until you get the color you want then spread it over the cake AFTER it cools. Important or you’ll rip the cake. Yes, I know this from experience. A few times. I get impatient as there’s always too much to do before the guests arrive!

Next, position some trucks around the cake. I found a great set of 5 little trucks at Walmart for around $5. (I only used 3 on his cake.) I’m not sure if they sell them still but keep your eyes open especially around the holidays, if you are planning ahead, as they have cute sets then.

I then added some chocolate rocks around the cake to look like something a dump truck could haul or diggers could dig up. Don’t forget to leave space in the middle for the birthday message. You can even stack a bunch in one corner to look like a rockpile. Some specialty candy stores sell the chocolate rocks. I ordered mine online from Nifty Nut House. I saved some of the rocks and I’ll tell you why in a minute.

The hardest part is the birthday message. Just go slow and take your time writing it and you’ll be OK. I also added a numeral candle to mine as I found it at our dollar store.

Overall, the cake is pretty easy to make and if you plan ahead on your materials, it shouldn’t cost an outrageous amount. If your family prefers cupcakes, you could maybe find a larger dump truck toy and fill it “dirt-colored frosting” cupcakes with the chocolate rocks on each one and have a cupcake holding your candle in the middle–and the rest of the cupcakes around/behind it.

As for the extra chocolate rocks I saved—I used those as party favor gifts for everyone. I just put some in a Sandwich-type bag, hole-punched some paper with a thank-you message and tied it on with ribbon that I got in the dollar bins. For the little kids, I gave them each a truck filled with chocolate rocks .

And that’s the easy way to make a dump truck cake. I hope your child enjoys it as much as my son and our family did–the chocolate rocks were a big hit with everyone! And what’s nice about this one is–they still have truck toys to play with from the cake when the party’s over.

One of the things in season right now, or soon to be for your area, are green beans. I had a plethora of them in my garden this week so I thought I’d take some and freeze them for when prices on green beans go up.

Freezing green beans is fairly easy. You need to cook them in a process called “blanching” and then put them in ice cold water afterwards to stop them from cooking more. The times cooking and soaking in the water should be equal. Green beans should take about 3 minutes for each step. (Information according to pickyourown.org)

If you don’t grow your own, several farmer’s markets will sell them, typically in large quantities for a good price. I didn’t grow any last year but bought a bunch at the markets and had farm-fresh tasting green beans during the winter months. While you might be able to get regular frozen vegetables in the store fairly cheap, there’s nothing quite like ones straight from a farm or your garden.

1) The first thing you need to do is wash your green beans and then pick over the green beans and pull out any that are blemished. Some of those you might be able to cut off parts to still keep. Cut the ends off your green beans. Next you cut them in 1″ pieces or you can keep them longer for things such as stir-fry recipes.

2) You’ll need a big pot of water to boil. Be sure you have enough water for the green beans to cook easily. Once it gets to a rolling boil, carefully place the green beans in, put the lid on and bring it back to a boil. Begin the timer for the blanching time as soon as you drop them in. Green beans should take about 3 minutes of blanching time.

3) As soon as the time is up, carefully drain the green beans and then submerge them in a bowl of ice cold water. Let them cool for 3 minutes.

4) Once the time is up, you’ll drain them and put them in Ziploc bags. I usually try to dry them off with a clean towel first, as I’ve found it helps them from clumping together or getting freezer burn.

5) Don’t forget to label your bag. It may seem obvious what’s in there but you want to keep track of the date so you know when to use them by.

This entire process is fairly simple. A lot of times, I blanch vegetables when I’m already in the kitchen getting supper ready and waiting on our dinner to cook.

I hope that you try to take advantage of Seasonal Savings and get some farm/garden fresh green beans in your freezer for when prices go up. It’s a great way to save on your grocery budget–and get some Organic veggies on your table.

Here are a few recipes that I’ve seen recently that I thought were cute ideas:

Scissors & Spatulas – How to Make Jelly Bean Bark

All Things Heart & Home – How to Make Chocolate Cookie Nests with Eggs

Our Best Bites – How to Make Silly Cupcakes, such as Spaghetti w/ Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, Peas and Carrots, Popcorn and Corn on the Cob. (All sooo cute!)

Just thought I’d share in case you needed a little cute inspiration added to your tables.

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn.

This last week, I wanted to try a recipe that I could make in my new Cuisinart Cast Iron Dutch Oven. I found it on a great deal on one of those daily deal sites. While I knew the pans tend to be heavy, I wasn’t quite prepared for just how heavy. I was off balanced grabbing the box from my front step and almost fell off of it as I was bowled over by its weight. I keep telling myself I’ll have to continue to keep cooking with it more so I can build up those biceps!

Anyway, when I was checking out reviews for it on Amazon, I saw that several people also bought the Glorious One-Pot Meals: A Revolutionary New Quick and Healthy Approach to Dutch-Oven Cooking book. So I had to check it out to see what kind of recipes it offered. When I was flipping through it, the one that caught my eye was one titled, “African Peanut Butter Stew.” Hmmm, a peanut butter stew sounded like something I might be able to get the kids to try—so I chose that as this week’s adventure.

Here’s the recipe and some pics to follow:

Canola oil or 2 tsp peanut oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
3/4 cup white rice
3/4 cup plus 1 TB broth (chicken or vegetable) or water
1/2 to 3/4 lb chicken breasts or thighs
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced
2/3 cup milk or water
2-4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1/2 tsp cayenne
Sea salt, to taste
3 TB peanut butter, chunky or creamy
3 to 4 tomatoes, diced or one 14 oz can diced, drained
1/2 sweet potato, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 handful of fresh spinach or 5 oz frozen

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2) Spray the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven with canola oil or wipe with peanut oil
3) Scatter the diced onion in the pot.
4) Rinse the rice in a strainer under cold water until the water runs clear. Add the rice and the broth/water and stir to make an even layer.
5) Place the chicken on the rice. Add the bell pepper.
5) Whisk the milk, garlic, cayenne, sea salt, and peanut butter in a measuring cup until the peanut butter dissolves. Pour over the chicken.
6) Layer in the tomatoes, sweet potato, and spinach.
7) Cover and bake for 45 minutes or “until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven.” Serve immediately.

Here are a few pics from ours:

This is how the pan looked after it was done.

This is a picture of the meal, though not a good one as the veggies all seem to be hidden on the bottom.

VERDICT:
I did enjoy the stew but I think I will do a couple things differently next time. I put the chicken breasts in the pot whole, and I think they’d be better cut-up and spread out across the stew as it will be easier for the kids. I also will add more spinach to it. While it looked like a lot when I put them on there, I forgot how much spinach wilts down and it didn’t seem like much after they were cooked. (If you don’t like spinach much, though, stick with the original recipe!) And lastly, I will definitely check my rice before taking it out of the oven. Only some was completely cooked, while the other was only halfway done, making it a crunchier stew.

So this was my cooking adventure for last week. (Side Note: Jenn won’t have recipes up for awhile. While she’s continuing to make one each week, she’s in the process of moving–and with three little kids. So you can all imagine just how busy she is and hasn’t been blogging much! ) Did any of you try to make anything new? I’d love to hear about it!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

My apologies on getting this posted late. I got caught up in some other projects and forgot to post it this week! This week’s recipe challenge was a fun one. One that was several months in the making. Oh, it didn’t take that long. But I’ve just had the book about that long with the intent of “someday” hopefully happening. My dear friend, Christy, put up a posting on how she makes homemade bread using Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients. I left her a comment saying it looked like fun and I’d have to get the book sometime. Well, immediately she sent me a text message saying, “Jaycie, No! Don’t buy it! It’s already on its way to you.” The sweetie sent me a surprise copy. We do this sometimes when we come across something we love. We’ll surprise the other one with something just to brighten their day. I am so truly blessed to have her as a friend.

I couldn’t quite get to making the bread as I didn’t have any of the supplies that I wanted to use. Well, over the holidays, I watched for deals on a Baking Stone, a Pizza Peel and worked on finding the right sized container for the bread to rise. (Found a set at Sam’s Club) You can make it without the stone or peel, I’m sure,  but I planned on making this frequently enough to make it worth the investment. The Pizza Peel I found is so gorgeous that I just hang it up as a wall decoration in my kitchen, when it’s not in use!

This was a simple recipe so I let the kids help me with it. I always let them help me in the kitchen when it comes to just dumping in ingredients and stirring. When it comes to hot ovens/stoves, that becomes their playtime and I finish up. Here’s how the process went:

We mixed up all the ingredients in a 6 quart container, put a lid on it (popped a little to vent) and then it rise at room temperature for 2 hours. No kneading involved! It then said it was easier to work with cold and the flavor is best if you wait for 24 hours. So after it was done rising, we put it in the fridge and waited.

Then, I took out the dough, dusted it with flour and cut off a 2 pound piece and formed it into a loaf shape. I placed it on my pizza peel, covered it with saran wrap and let it set for 90 minutes.

30 minutes before baking time, I preheated the oven to 350. After the 30 minutes were up, I placed the loaf onto the baking stone and let it bake for about 45-50 minutes.

When it looked nice and golden, I took out the loaf and let it cool on a Cooling Rack. We had warm bread for some sandwiches and more dough in the fridge for more loaves later in the week.

Now the reason I’m not sharing the recipe with you is because there are so many recipes in the book. This particular one was for soft whole wheat sandwich bread. Also, Amazon has a great video clip of How To Make The Bread. They used a different recipe than I did but it’s one you can try.There are far too many varieties to post. The book is well worth checking out at your library–and then purchasing if you find it’s right for you.

I’m excited to see that they are also coming out with a pizza and flatbread recipes book that is scheduled to release October 2011. And they also have another book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

This was a fun little adventure for me and the kids. They got the biggest kick out of watching all the steps in the bread-making process. We are going to be adding this to our weekly routine as there’s just nothing like the taste (and smell!) of homemade bread.

Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s adventure this last week, too. Did any of you try a new recipe this week? I’d love to hear about how it went.

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

This week, I wanted to try something that  my son could help me make–and that I could turn into a Dinner & a Movie night. I have never made homemade spaghetti sauce before–always just dumping something out from a store-bought jar– nor have I ever made an attempt at homemade meatballs. So this was my “challenge” for this week.

Up until this point, I didn’t allow my son to help me cook anything involving raw meat. But I figured if I watched him closely, he’d be just fine. I’m glad I did as he had a blast rolling up some meatballs with me. I spent quite a bit of time stressing the importance of washing your hands very well after handling raw meat and how he shouldn’t touch his face, etc with his “grimy” hands. I had to laugh when the rest of the week he kept asking me if it was “good meat” or not whenever I’d make something. And we chuckled as he explained to his Daddy that it goes in yucky meat and comes out new cooked meat that we can eat. Just when you think they aren’t listening to you, right?

So for this recipe, I just followed a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. My favorite part was how the house filled up with a delicious smell of garlic. The least favorite part (which was my own fault) was not reading the recipe completely to see that the sauce simmers for 90 minutes, and then takes another 30 minutes after you add the meatballs. I really just skimmed it too quick.  The plan was to make this and then watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs but we ended up starting the movie and then pausing it when supper was ready. It worked out just fine, though.

Here’s a picture of the meatballs my son and I made:

And here’s a picture of our meal:

VERDICT: I am definitely adding this one into my monthly meal plan as I thought it was a fabulous recipe. It makes a lot of food so we had plenty of leftovers for another meal, or two. Had I been thinking, I would have saved some of the meatballs to make meatball sandwiches the next night. I actually want to try to freeze them, and the sauce, so I can see how it tastes for a night I need to make a quick meal. Next time–we’ll probably watch Lady and the Tramp , as I love the scene of the dogs eating the spaghetti and the kids haven’t seen it yet!

Next week, I’ll be sharing a recipe that goes very well with this one! Did any of you try to make anything new this week? I’d love to hear about it! Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s latest adventure this week –she made a Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal Recipe. You can also check out some of the past recipes I’ve tried this year.

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

I didn’t feel very adventurous this week. So when I saw that All Recipes had a recipe of the day for Baked Chicken Nuggets, I knew that would be what I’d make this week—something simple yet still something I had never tried before.

I have two toddlers and they are in that big chicken nugget phase. So I like the idea that I can make my own and I’ll know exactly what ingredients are in it. When I made this, I picked up some Organic Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts. The first thing you do is to cut them into 1 – 1/2″ pieces. I made some of ours a little smaller since the kids are still fairly young.

Next, you mix up the spices and Parmesan Cheese. The cheese is what makes these taste really good! You’ll keep those in a separate bowl from the chicken pieces.

Then, you’ll melt your butter and keep it separate from the other two bowls. After that, spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. When your prep work is done, it will look like this:

Now begins the process of coating the chicken pieces. You’ll first dip them in the melted butter. Then coat them in the spices and Parmesan cheese mixture. After this step, lay the coated chicken pieces on the sprayed cookie sheet. Continue doing this until all the pieces are coated. It will look something like this:

When I was reading the reviews on this recipe, a lot of the commenters recommended flipping the chicken pieces halfway through. So I set the timer for 10 minutes instead and then flipped them over and reset the timer for another 10 minutes. I had no issues keeping the coating on and they didn’t seem to be greasy that way, either. (Don’t forget to check that your chicken pieces are fully cooked!) This was what ours looked like when we were done:

During the cooking time, I had chopped up some watermelon and I also steamed some Organic carrots in one of those microwave steam bags for our side dishes. It worked out perfectly for time!

The Verdict:

I didn’t have any Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs so I had used regular and threw in some Italian Seasoning. I put a little too much but it still tasted really good. I’ll be looking for a sale on the Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs when I make these again. These were very tasty and not one bit greasy. I liked being able to eat chicken nuggets that tasted like real chicken instead of that processed stuff. We’ll be making these for a lot of future lunches! I’m going to have to test out how these freeze so I can just pop them in the microwave on busy days.

Well, that was my new recipe for this week. Did any of you try to make something new, too? I’d love to hear about it! Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s site later for when she posts her latest cooking adventure, too!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

So I was debating what I would make for my new recipe this week and then the new Taste of Home Magazine showed up and as soon as I saw the cover, I knew I had to make some Crockpot Beef Stew. It’s perfect for this time of year on a cold night.

If you subscribe to their magazine, you’ll find this recipe on page 45 of the Feb/March 2011 issue.

Ingredients
1 lb. of Beef Stew Meat
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can (14.5 oz ) beef broth
1 can (11.5 oz) V8 juice
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp pepper
2 TB cornstarch
1 TB cold water
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas

Your prep work will consist of peeling/cubing potatoes, peeling/chopping carrots, chopping celery, chopping the sweet onion and cutting up your meat if you don’t buy it pre-cut. When I made this, I bought a roast and cut it into 3 – 1lb sections. I weighed it out with my Kitchen Scale and then put two of them in their own individual Ziploc bags so I can now easily make up two more batches of beef stew. I saved money by not buying the pre-cut beef stew meat as it cost quite a bit more per pound.

After all your prep work is complete, you’ll put the first 12 ingredients into your crockpot. (That’s everything from the beef stew meat down through the pepper.) Cover it and let it cook on low for about 7-8 hours. Now, my crockpot tends to run a little hot, so mine was good to go soon after 6 hours. So make sure you check to see how yours is around that time, just to be sure.

After this time-frame, be sure to carefully pick out your bay leaves. Don’t worry that your stew is a little liquid-y. It will thicken up soon as your next step is…

Combine your cornstarch with the water and stir it until it’s smooth. Stir it into the crockpot. This will help thicken up your stew.

Next, you’ll add your frozen corn and peas. Turn your crockpot up to High now and let it cook for about 30 minutes or until your stew thickens some. And your end result should look something similar to this….

This was my new recipe that I tried for this week. Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s adventure this week as she made Mini Taco Cups, which might make for a great Super Bowl Sunday appetizer, too! Did any of you try to make something new this week? I’d love to hear about it!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

Between my son’s birthday party and being at a conference most of the week, I honestly didn’t get to squeeze in a new recipe last week. The night before I left for my trip, I stood there with all my ingredients ready to make this next recipe and I decided that spending that last bit of time with the kids was my higher priority. So first thing when I got back, I whipped up a batch of the recipe I had chosen for last week which was Acorn Squash Soup.

I had some leftover squash from the CSA I belonged to and I was looking for a unique recipe to use it in. My hubby isn’t very fond of squash and when I saw this one, I thought it might be one he might like, though.

You have to start off with some prep work of cutting the onion, dicing celery, cooking the bacon and cooking the squash. Once you get the prep work done, the rest of the recipe goes fairly fast. If you wanted to save a little time, you could probably use real bacon bits from a jar, since the bacon is really just sprinkled on top of the soup for a little extra flavor. (I’m wishing I had chopped mine up finer instead of bigger chunks.) I personally like to microwave my bacon using this Presto Microwave Bacon Cooker so I just had that going while I was chopping up veggies. But here’s a tip: If you are like me and find it impossible to cook and chop bacon without eating it, you may want to cook up 6 slices instead of 5!  I just cooked the whole package hoping to save some for sandwiches the next day but my kids and hubby stole them on me!

To cook the squash, I microwaved mine in an 8×8 pan with a little water in it. (The squash was cut in half, seeds/strings removed and turned upside down.) I want to say it took closer to 12-15 minutes per half. If I had followed the directions on the squash for cooking in the oven, it would have taken 40 minutes.  I was able to mash up the first half while I was waiting for the second half to cook, so it worked out real nice. Just be very careful when removing these from your microwave as the dish, squash and water will be very hot.

After having all my ingredients cooked, chopped and measured correctly, I started sauteing the onions and celery in the butter I had melted in the pan.

Next, I added the flour and spices mixture and stirred them until blended.

Then I gradually added the chicken broth and evaporated milk, stirring frequently, until it boiled for about 2 minutes.

Next I added the salt, pepper and the squash that I had cooked and mashed up with a fork beforehand, stirring that into the recipe. Then came the fun part. You need to blend the soup. I didn’t want to mess with a blender so I looked online for a deal for an Immersion Hand Blender and ended up finding a good price on Amazon for it. (Yup, that’s where that deal came from!)   It was so easy to blend and I’m so glad I picked one of these up. I plan on using it for a lot of soups coming up. Just be careful and follow all manufacturer’s directions when using this. I was very happy with how easy it was to clean and I didn’t have to mess with pouring this into the blender in batches.

The end result:

The verdict:

When my hubby saw it, he wasn’t sure if it was cheese soup or what. After tasting it, he said that if I hadn’t told him it was squash, he might not have guessed that’s what it was. I was in complete shock that he liked it. It just has this super creamy texture and it’s delicious! I think part of why it’s so tasty is that little bit of curry powder. My kids did eat theirs but I think next time I make it, I’ll put theirs in a bread bowl since they like dipping things.

I think this recipe is perfect for the fall when squash is in season and the weather typically gets a little cooler. I definitely will be making it again–I am actually looking forward to the leftovers!

So that’s my recipe for last week. I will still have a new one coming at you on Friday for this week. Did any of you try to make anything new this last week? I’d love to hear your stories!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

Oh, this week I had such high hopes for new recipes. I had three of them picked out ready to go and then life happened. My family and I all caught a terrible flu bug. And let me tell you, the last thing on your mind when you have the flu is food. Especially new recipes. I was fortunate enough that a few days before the sickness hit, I did get to try one new recipe called Lemon Garlic Tilapia. One of my goals this year is to try to get more fish/seafood into our monthly menu plan. I’m not one to like the more smelly or strong tasting fish varieties so I’m usually pretty leery about venturing out and trying new fish. I had heard a few good things about tilapia so I figured that would be one for us to try. I wanted a very simple recipe—and one that I had all the ingredients on hand–so I choose the Lemon Garlic Tilapia one I found on AllRecipes. (one of my favorite recipe sites)

I was very surprised at how simple the recipe actually was to make. It didn’t require much prep work and while it was baking, I had time to clean up my kitchen. You gotta love multi-tasking!

The Verdict: I think we’ll definitely be adding this into our menu routine randomly. I made the mistake of not cutting back on the lemon, as I only used three fillets but it still tasted pretty good.  I think next time I make tilapia, I’ll try a breaded recipe, possibly this Ranchy Breaded Fillets one.

Well, that’s my small cooking adventure for the week. I’ll have to save the other two I had planned for another week. Did any of you branch out from your typical menus and try something new this week? I’d love to hear about it!

Welcome to my new series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

The whole reason for me wanting to start this series was to push me to make the things I’ve been wanting to make for awhile. Awhile back, I ordered some Tahini and Organic Garbanzo Beans on Amazon when I found a good deal on them. I didn’t realize how long it had been until I went to create the links and saw it say, “Jaycie, you ordered these on September 20, 2010.” Wow. Talk about procrastination, right? This is just one of the many things I’ve bought last year with hopes of trying to create them. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has done this. (and if so, please lie and tell me I’m not alone….)

The original recipe I found was for a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus but when I was at the store and saw the price of them right now, I cringed and debated making a plain hummus. I caved and bought one and I’m glad I did. Not only did the red pepper add a nice additional flavoring but it gave the hummus this amazingly beautiful red/orange coloring, making the dish all the more appealing. So, I did follow the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus recipe this week but first, I had to find out How to Roast a Red Pepper. These instructions were really great and actually fairly easy to do. While it was roasting, I was putting together other ingredients so it didn’t add much time to the process. The skin peeled off so easily and I’ve now found something to add to our sandwiches and such during the week. (when peppers are in season!)

I also wanted to try my hand at making my own Homemade Pita Chips. These are just made from store-bought Pita Pockets so they are only slightly homemade. Here’s how everything looked mid-stream:

Chips coated and ready to bake. This was just batch #1 and I only used half the pockets, overall.

This is my roasted red pepper split up. I am still shocked how easily the skin peeled off and how easily the seeds and stem came off, too.

This is the hummus right before I blended in the red peppers and basil.

And this is our delicious little afternoon snack! The kids got a kick out of how I displayed it on the plate. The side bowl is what I saved for later in the week.

As I mentioned, I only used half of the pita pockets. The other half, I kept to make chicken pizza pockets for supper. I just threw in some leftover chicken from earlier in the week, along with some black olives, pepperoni, tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. I baked them at 400 degrees just until they were heated and the cheese melted. Not much more than 5 minutes. I added some fruit for a side dish and we were all set!

Verdict:
I thought that the hummus might have had a little bit too much Tahini in it. On my next batch, I’ll think I’ll dial it back just a touch. I also liked my pita chips super crispy. So I flipped them over on the other side for just an extra minute and I liked how they turned out. My kids loved this little snack and I thought it tasted a lot fresher than the store bought stuff, which I loved.If you buy garbanzo beans with no salt added like I did, you may have to add a little salt for flavoring later. But I’d wait until everything’s blended in your food processor just to be sure you need it.

This was my “What’s New for Dinner” for this week. Did any of you attempt to make anything new this week? If so, how did it turn out? Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s adventure this week. She made some Slow Cooker Southwestern Chicken Chili this week for her family.

Welcome to my new series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

The recipe I tried this week wasn’t the one I originally had planned. I found my original one to be a little more involved, like something I should try to make on a weekend when my hubby could watch the kids. But I’m really happy that it worked out this way as I stumbled onto a great recipe.

I had done a search on allrecipes.com for anything I could make using a Beef Rump Roast. Isn’t it great that you can search by ingredients there? I then scrolled through them to find one I could make with what I had on hand, and in the end, deciding on the recipe for Breaded Beef.

This was a fairly simple recipe to make. The kids got a kick out of the big mound of bread crumb mixture and were content to watch me dip the beef into the egg mixture and then the crumbs. If it wasn’t raw meat, I would have let them help.

Since the recipe is simple, I’ll let you refer to allrecipes.com for it. But here are the basic steps:

1) Cut the meat into 1/8″ pieces. (no picture on this one)

2) Whip up the egg and water mixture.

3) Mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and salt.

4) Dip the meat into the egg mixture and then the bread crumb mixture and then place onto a foil lined cookie sheet.

5) Fry up the breaded beef in some hot oil. Note: Always use caution when working with hot oils. You’ll fry it up a few minutes on one side and then the other, until fully cooked.

I then needed a side dish. I had a lot of root vegetables left over from my CSA so I decided to make a batch of Oven-Roasted Root Vegetables, but I only used the vegetables that I had on hand. If you’ve never tried Celeriac, it’s an interesting root vegetable that tastes a lot like celery. It was a new one I tried this fall.

I whipped up a little salad from leftover taco filling we had from the night before and topped it with some star and flower shaped croutons the kids had made. (I’ll share later how to make those!) Here’s what our end meal looked like:

The final verdict: Two thumbs up! I turned my head for a few minutes to help the kids with their plates and my hubby had gobbled down most of his. It was decided that this must be worked into our monthly meal plan!

And this is the “What’s New For Dinner?” for us this week. Did any of you try anything new, too?

RedPlum has a new $1/2 Kellogg’s Cereal Printable Coupon that’s valid on Rice Krispies, Crispix, Corn Flakes or All-Bran Cereals.

I thought I’d share as I know several of these cereals are used in holiday baking items.

Here’s one recipe you can make with Crispix:

“People Puppy Chow”

1) Melt together 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 stick of butter in a medium saucepan. You’ll have to stir frequently or it will burn very quickly. I’d recommend keeping it on a lower heat.

2) Once melted, pour over Crispix cereal (1-12oz. box) that you’ve already emptied into a large bowl. Stir the cereal mixture (gently or you’ll break them) until all the cereal is covered.

3) Immediately put the chocolatey mixture into a brown paper bag that’s been filled with 1/2 bag (1lb.) of powdered sugar. Close up the bag and shake it until the sugar covers the cereal. It will look like this when you are done:

I usually put some of these into small sandwich bags and tie with a red ribbon as a little gift for someone.

I thought I’d share this recipe in case any of you had some leftover turkey and were looking for ideas on how to use it. This recipe is one that you can freeze for a later date when you are hungry for some of that yummy turkey again!

Ingredients:
96 oz. of Turkey or Chicken Broth
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
1/2 Cup of Diced Onion
1/4 Teaspoon of Pepper
1 lb. of Frozen Noodles (I love the ones by Reames in the freezer aisle)
1/4 Cup of Flour
1 1/2 Cups of Milk
4 Cups of Cooked Turkey
Salt

How To Make:
In a large pot, heat broth to boiling. Add salt, onion and pepper. Add frozen noodles and bring to a boil again. Then reduce heat to keep from boiling over but let it still bubble freely. Cook for 10 minutes. In a bowl, stir flour and milk together and then add to the bubbling pot. Cook until the juices are somewhat reduced and slightly thickened. Add turkey. Salt to taste. Cool.

Once cooled, divide into the portion-size that you like and freeze. Don’t forget to label and date your freezer bag!

When you want to make this on a later day, thaw, remove from freezer bag and then reheat in a saucepan on low heat or you can also reheat in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave.

If you want a little color and veggies, you can consider adding some peas or carrots to it.

I typically make this and serve it over a nice heaping of mashed potatoes. It makes for a great meal just like that.

Thanks to 30 Day Gourmet for this recipe! It’s become one of my favorites that I make with any of our leftover turkey.

Welcome to my series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

My kids absolutely love pretzels! I was really excited to see that my Make-A-Mix book had a recipe in there for them. What’s cool about this book is that it will give you a Master Recipe for something, and then share several recipes you can make from that one mix with additional ingredients.

For the pretzels, you need to make their Hot Rolls Mix. (They also give you 19 other recipes you can turn the Hot Rolls Mix into!) The Hot Rolls Mix makes 22 Cups but you’ll only need 5 Cups for the Pretzel Recipe. I just save the extra for another day or another recipe.

Prep Work: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease the cookie sheets that you’ll be using.

Hot Rolls Mix
5 lb. (20 cups) of all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 teaspoons salt
1 cup instant nonfat dry milk

Mix all of those ingredients together in one bowl:

After making the mix, then proceed with the recipe for Pretzels. Here are the  ingredients you’ll need:

5 cups of Hot Rolls Mix (above)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (or 1 of the 1/4-oz. packages)
1- 1/2 cups of lukewarm water, about 110 degrees
2 eggs, beaten -in one bowl
1/4 cup veg. oil or melted margarine
1 egg, beaten – in a second bowl
2 tablespoons of coarse salt

1) In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Then stir in the 2 beaten eggs and add the oil or margarine.

2) Add 5 cups of the Hot Rolls Mix and stir well. (You can add more Hot Rolls Mix if you want to make it a softer dough.) You’ll then knead the mixture for 5 minutes until the dough is fairly smooth.

3) Take parts of the dough and roll them into ropes about 1/2″ diameter and about 18-24″ long. (The kids did these. They had so much fun rolling them!)

4) To form the pretzel shape, you make a circle shape and then twist the ends twice. Then bring the ends up onto the circle shape. For the kids, it was easier to just make the shape pictured above and then take each end and bring it to the opposite side of the pretzel. Place the pretzel onto the greased cookie sheet.

5) Then take the 1 beaten egg mixture and brush a little bit of it onto each of the pretzels. Finally, sprinkle the coarse salt on top of each pretzel.

6) Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes until brown and crisp and you get something yummy looking like this:

I made a pretty big batch and then froze any that we didn’t eat, after they had cooled. On the days when the kids are hungry for one, I just take some out of the freezer bag and microwave them on a microwave-safe plate until they are warm.

I store my leftover Hot Rolls Mix in a secure air-tight container for another day when we feel like making more pretzels. It saves me time to not have to keep making that mix over and over.  Or I can use it for another recipe in the book.

This was just one fun adventure that I had with the kids. Remember to always keep your kids safely away from the oven and hot cookie sheets!  I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. Not only was it a fun afternoon activity but we made our snacks for the day plus are ready with future snacks for another day!

You can check out past Conveniently At Home Recipes that I’ve shared, too.

Disclaimer: Always practice safe cooking and handling methods when in the kitchen.

I shared a link on the Coupon Geek Facebook Page about freezing zucchini and a few of my sweet readers offered some recipes that they use for zucchini. I thought I’d share them with all of you in case you have an over-abundance of zucchini or wanted to try something new.

This one comes from Reader Lisa R.:

BLUEBERRY WALNUT ZUCCHINI CAKE

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350
Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan

In medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside

In large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add in eggs one at a time. Add in vanilla and make sure mixture is smooth and creamy. (Next, Gradually stir in dry ingredients mixture.) Fold in zucchini. Fold in blueberries.
Pour into greased baking pan. Top with chopped walnuts

Bake for 55-60 minutes until top is golden brown and toothpick in middle comes out clean.

Let cool. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Cut serve and ENJOY!

This next one is from Reader Nikki L.:

ZUCCHINI CAKE

3 cups sugar
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups grated Zucchini

Sift dry ingredients into LARGE bowl. Add eggs, oil, zucchini and nuts. Stir until no dry pockets remain. Pour into greased 9X13 pan. Cook @ 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick (or knife) poked in center comes out clean.

Nikki shares that they eat theirs without frosting but that a cream cheese frosting might be a nice addition to it.

A very big thanks to both Lisa and Nikki for taking the time to share these with my other readers. I greatly appreciate it!

I actually made Lisa’s Zucchini Blueberry Walnut Cake tonight, since I had all the ingredients here. I took a picture of a slice. It smelt so good that I couldn’t wait for it to cool completely before I stole a slice. I meant to add the walnuts to half before I baked it and the kids distracted me and I forgot. I gave my son a slice and he said, “Yum, yum, yum!”

Welcome to my series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

There’s just something about sun-dried tomatoes that seems to make a regular pasta dish seem a little more gourmet. I’m not sure what it is about it or maybe that’s just me. I finally splurged the one day and bought a bag in the store. The price seemed high but after making these, I can see why. It takes a lot of tomatoes to make one little bag. But, with summer here I know that soon some of you will be like I normally am each year and having an over-abundance of tomatoes and no idea what to do with them. So I thought I’d share this simple recipe that I found online at AllRecipes.com. I often find a lot of good ones on that site.

I had to laugh at how simple these are to make. Now, I haven’t ever tried to make these outside as real “sun-dried” but I did find this was a nice thing to make on a cooler summer day in the oven to avoid turning on the heat.

What you’ll need:
4 lbs of tomatoes (Roma tomatoes work best)
Salt (to taste, optional)

(Yeah, it’s that simple!)

How to Make Them:

1) The first thing you must do is cut them in half and cut out the seeds. Roma tomatoes work best for this recipe.

2) Next, cut them into small pieces/strips. (You can keep them in just halves, but they take much longer to cook.) I laid mine on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Some I added salt to, others I didn’t. In the end, I think I did like the salted ones better, but you may want to try it both ways at first, too.

3) Then you are going to cook them at 200 degrees. Now it takes a long time for these to cook, so plan accordingly. I cut mine in such small pieces and our oven cooks fast so it took me about 4 hours. But some take up to 12 hours or more. (This is why you’ll want to do it on a colder day to utilize all that extra heat!) This is what mine looked like when I was done and I had less than the 4lbs when I started:

You’ll want to bake them until they take on a leather-like feel and still pliable. You don’t want them crispy (or over-dried) but still juicy in the middle. I can’t tell you how to store them as I gobble these down within a day or two and I’ve just kept them in the fridge in a Ziploc bag. I’ve heard you can store them in olive oil, but not sure any specifics.

These have come to be a nice little snack for me. Even the kids love eating them plain. And they are just fabulous when added to pasta dishes. They are a great way to use an over-abundance of tomatoes from the garden!

If you have a favorite recipe that you order when you dine out or have been getting store-bought, you should see if you can find a comparable one online to see if you can make it Conveniently At Home, too!

Since I posted my last Freezer Cooking Session, I’ve had a quite a few people wanting to know about Freezing Seasoned Hamburger. To tell you the truth, up until then, I had no idea myself that cooked hamburger froze so well. I had made up the recipe for Mini Beef and Bean Burritos from the book Fix, Freeze, Feast: Prepare in Bulk and Enjoy by the Serving. Well, I had run out of shells and decided just to test out freezing the leftover seasoned meat and it worked like a charm!

What’s great is, the original recipe of the mixture calls for 6lbs of meat. You’ll often find that stores will discount hamburger in bulk “family packs” of 3lbs or more. So you’d just pick up two of those at a great price. But you can alter the recipe for any size – just re-figure it accordingly.

What You’ll Need
6lbs of Hamburger
1 cup of Taco Seasoning (around four packets, but measure to be sure, as packet size varies)
3 cups of water

How to Make It

1) Brown the hamburger over medium heat and cook thoroughly until there is no longer any pink–about 20 minutes.

2) Drain and discard properly, any fat. (I even rinse mine to get more fat off.)

3) Add the Taco Seasoning and then stir in the water.

4) Simmer over a medium heat, for about twenty minutes. You’ll want to check it and stir it, if needed. Cook until the liquid is almost evaporated.

5)  At this point, I drained off any extra liquid that didn’t evaporate. Cool the mixture completely. This is important or you’ll have more of a chance of freezer burned food if you add the mixture while it’s still a little warm.

6) Label and date a Ziploc Bag, add the mixture and freeze. I lay my Ziploc bags flat to save room in my freezer. (Just make sure they are sealed really good if you do that!)

If don’t want to freeze all of the hamburger mixture but want to make some burritos to freeze, try this:

Spread a 1/3 cup of refried beans and 1/4 cup ground beef onto a tortilla. Wrap the tortilla burrito style and then wrap in tin foil, place them in a labeled Ziploc Bag and freeze. To cook, take them out of the Ziploc bag and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes if frozen or at only 300 degrees for 30 minutes if thawed, prior. These can make for a simple lunch.

It’s really quite simple to make this hamburger mixture. I love doing these big batches and freezing them so I can quickly pull out a bag of it and make some quick tacos or nachos, etc. You just take it out of the Ziploc bag and defrost in the microwave. Or you can defrost it in the fridge the night before and then warm it in the microwave the next day (after you take it out of the Ziploc bag!)

Freezer cooking is a great way to cut down on your time in the kitchen on busy days. I find that making meals ahead and freezing them often helps me avoid carry-out food or the quick processed foods.

If you make this recipe, please use all proper food safety guidelines. I hope that you find this little make-ahead recipe will help you save some time in the future!

My son and I have been watching a lot of Emeril together on the Food Network lately. He’s always saying, “He’s silly, Mommy!” It’s a way for us to spend time together and I’m hoping it’s increasing his love for cooking and baking.

The other day, we saw an episode where they made “Pizza On A Stick.” I was intrigued and Nathan thought it looked like fun. So last night, we all have a blast creating our own Pizzas on a stick. This recipe comes from the Emeril show but I’ll post it in case they ever take it off their site:

What You’ll Need:

* 1 cup sliced pepperoni
* 1 cup sliced Italian sausage
* 1/2 French bread loaf, toasted and cubed
* 1/2 green pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces (but large enough to not fall off skewers)
* 1/2 cup halved fresh mushrooms
* 1/2 cup zucchini slices (or any other veggie of your choice)
* 1/4 cup Italian dressing
* 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
* 1 cup spaghetti sauce, warmed
* You’ll also need a baking/cookie sheet, cooking brush and skewers.

Here’s how you make them:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) The first step is to cut your French Bread Loaf into pieces and toast them. (Just warm them in the oven until they are nice and toasted. Mine took about 5 minutes but our oven heats fast.)

3) Next chop up all your ingredients. I put all of mine in separate bowls so everyone could access them easier. I also microwaved my Italian Sausage so it would cook faster in the oven.

4) Take all of your ingredients and thread them on the skewers, rotating the ingredients. You can do this however you want. We’d pile on meats and veggies and then put a bread layer in between the next layer.

5) As each skewer is finished, lay them on a baking/cookie sheet in a single layer. After all of them are completed, brush each skewer of ingredients with Italian Dressing.

6) Next  sprinkle cheese on each skewer of ingredients.

7) Then they go into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. You’ll want to watch them, though. Our oven cooks very fast and they were done a lot sooner. You’ll want your meats cooked thoroughly, your veggies heated throughout and your cheese melted but not burnt. I recommend watching them close, at least the first time you make them to judge how long is needed.

Allow them to cool for a bit afterwards and then serve. What I did was grabbed a new (cooled) cookie sheet and served them right on that. You’ll use your warmed sauce to dip them in if you want.

While these can be a fun activity with the kids, please make sure you use your best judgment and always be extra safe when making them. The ends of the skewers tend to be very pointy. My hubby helped my son make his but I didn’t allow my daughter to use them. She had fun just stealing ingredients from the bowls, though. I also took hers off the skewers when I served them to her and she didn’t mind one bit. She was too busy dipping everything.

What I loved about this recipe is that I kind of just used whatever ingredients we had on hand. Though, I’ll think twice before using cherry tomatoes with the kids next time as they get pretty hot and squirty when bitten into.

I found our skewers at Jewel in their kitchen area. But I’ve also seen them sold at CVS in the summer in their summer section for around $1.99. (Possibly a good “filler item” for your next trip!)

I hope that you have as much fun making these as we did if you try to make them!

Welcome to my series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

It’s been awhile since I posted one of these. I knew that when I went to revive the series that it had to be with a good recipe. And I think you all might like this one. I am a huge fan of pork tenderloin sandwiches. When I was searching online for a recipe to try, there weren’t too many out there. I kept reading how the pork tenderloin sandwich was more of a Mid-western U.S. food. I’m not sure if that’s true or not because I’ve lived mostly in the Midwest and I’ve always seen them. But all the same, if you’ve never tried one, they are really great!

I eventually found a recipe on AllRecipes.com. The recipe was so simple that I knew I had to try it.

Ingredients Needed:
1lb of Pork Tenderloin
1 cup of Flour
1/2 cup of Yellow Cornmeal
1 teaspoon of Salt
1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper
Cooking Oil
4 Large Sandwich Buns
Condiments such as Ketchup, Mustard, Pickles–also Lettuce and Tomato (all optional)

Tools needed:
Meat Tenderizer
Saran Wrap
Cutting Board
2 Large Dishes
Large Skillet
Tongs
Foil & Waxed Paper (if freezing some sandwiches)

Prep Work: You’ll need to have two large dishes for dipping the tenderloin into. One for water and one for a cornmeal mix. Pour some water into one dish and in the other, mix the flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. I used 8×8 Pyrex Dishes and they worked really well.

1) The original recipe says to start off by cutting these into 1 inch pieces and then “butterflying” them, which means cutting down the middle but not all the way through. But when I did this, I had better luck just cutting them into the 1in pieces. I’ll explain what to do next.

2) Place the pork tenderloin between two pieces of Saran Wrap. (I placed mine on top of the cutting board, too, to save my countertop!) You are now going to use your Meat Tenderizer’s flat side to pound the pork tenderloin into a very thin piece, about 8-10 in” wide. I had the best luck starting on the outer edges and kind of pulling the tenderloin while pounding it at the same time. It’s kind of tricky to explain but you’ll figure it out quickly. If it’s too hard to get it to flatten, butterfly it as the original recipe mentions. When you are all done, it should look something like this: (very thin–almost to the point of being see-through but with a little thickness to it.)

3) Remove the saran wrap and then dip the tenderloin first in the dish with water and then in the dish with the cornmeal mix, being sure to coat it on both sides.

When you are all done with the dipping/coating process, it will look something like this:

4) Now you are going to heat some cooking oil in a large skillet. You want it to be enough oil to cover the tenderloin. About 1/2 in of oil. Once the oil is nice and hot, (original recipe says 365 degrees F) you are going to slowly drop the tenderloin into it like this: (You must be extra careful and use caution when adding it to the oil so it doesn’t “spit” the oil back up at you. I use my back burner and it helps some.)

You’ll cook both sides, flipping once or as needed, until they are a golden brown, but not burnt. It’s about 5 minutes. Just make sure that you cook it thoroughly but not too much so that you dry up the meat. When it’s done, use a pair of tongs to pull it out of the oil and just let the oil drip off, if there’s any. And then, you place that awesome tenderloin onto a hamburger bun or kaiser roll:

You can now add your favorite toppings such as ketchup, mustard, pickles, lettuce and/or tomatoes. I actually will eat mine without a bun sometimes and just break it into little pieces that I dip in ketchup.

I hope that you find that you love these sandwiches, too. When I made them, I cut up a very large pork tenderloin and made several of these. I put them (uncooked) on a large piece of foil and put waxed paper in between each tenderloin piece. I then wrapped the whole thing in the tin foil, covering everything completely to prevent freezer burn, and put them in the freezer. So now when I get hungry for one, I can just pull out some and fry them up. It’s makes for a quick meal and it saves me from paying the $6-8 for one when I get a craving for them. I do recommend not stacking more than you’ll use in one meal. They can be a little tricky getting them apart when frozen.

Looking for a good side dish to go with it? Try my American Fries Recipe. They go good together.

If you have a favorite recipe that you order when you dine out, you should see if you can find a comparable one online to see if you can make it Conveniently At Home, too!

I hope that you have enjoyed my Freezer Cooking February Series this month. I will continue to share Freezer Cooking info. and recipes with you but I did want to wrap-up the series. I have one last guest posting to share with you. This one comes from Tanya of The Domestic Contessa. She shares great recipes for breakfast burritos and banana chocolate chip muffins! Yum!! And here’s Tanya:

For me, breakfast is the hardest meal to plan for. I was finding that we were getting stuck in a rut – always the same thing. Cold cereal, hot cereal, eggs… repeat. Then, when I started working to keep our grocery budget at a lower number, the cold cereal was no longer an option. Between actually buying the cold cereal and then paying for the milk needed, it’s quite a budget drainer.

So that left us with hot cereal, eggs…repeat.

I started doing some research and brainstorming for easy ways to add variety to our breakfasts. Getting up early to spend a lot of time making something extravagant was not an option. Not to mention, I still had the budget thing to consider.

I finally found the solution to my dilemma – using my freezer! I try to plan for a day or two each month to cook batches of breakfast foods. I then wrap individual servings separately and freeze them. Then, in the morning, I just grab the amount of food we need from the freezer, thaw, and we eat!

I have found muffins are easy to make and freeze very well for at least a month. With the muffins, I wait until they are fully cooled and then place each muffin in its own sandwich baggie (the kind without the zipper). I then put all the muffin into a large freezer bag. When I need a muffin for breakfast, I take it out of the freezer bag, unwrap it from the sandwich baggie and put it in the microwave on defrost for about a minute. If we have yogurt, I’ll serve a muffin with that – or, it’s a nice thing to serve with a fried egg to add some variety.

Here are a couple of breakfast freezer foods that are a hit around our house:

Easy Freezer Burritos
I once made about 100 of these for a ladies brunch at our church. I made them up several days in advance and cooked them the morning of the brunch. They were a huge hit – no one would believe me when I said they were frozen!

12 eggs, beaten
2 TBS butter
1 lb. sausage, cooked and drained
½ cup chunky salsa
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
24 flour tortillas

In a large skillet, melt butter. Add beaten eggs and cook in butter, stirring often, until scrambled and set. Add the cooked sausage and salsa; mix gently.

Place ½ cup egg mixture onto each tortilla and sprinkle with cheese. Roll burritos and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets; freeze until solid. Wrap each individually and place in freezer bags. Freeze.

To eat: Unwrap burritos. Loosely wrap in paper towel and microwave on High for 1-3 minutes. Makes 24 burritos

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed bananas (2 medium)
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
¼ tsp. vanilla flavoring
2 TBS oil
½ cup mini chocolate chips

Grease muffin tins. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients separately. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir JUST until mixed – do NOT over mix! Add the chocolate chips. Pour into muffin tin. Bake for 18-19 minutes. Remove to cooling rack. Freeze them as I mentioned above. Makes 12 muffins.

Thank you so much to Tanya of The Domestic Contessa for sharing these fabulous recipes. I can’t wait to try the burritos one! I was wishing I had the sausage on hand this weekend to make them in my last Freezer Cooking Session, but no such luck. It gives me something to look forward to for next time, though!

A very big thank you to all of my guest posters this month! I know that it takes awhile to type up information for these and it’s so greatly appreciated. Thank you for sharing your successes, failures and recipes with all of us.

And another big thank you to all of my reader friends for showing your interest in this series with your feedback and excitement. That increased the fun for me to do this! Stay tuned as even though February is over, the recipes are not! I’ll continue to share some with you all and do my best to help save a little time in your kitchen, as well!

In case some of you were wondering where I’ve been, I’ve basically been in my kitchen ever since my last posting! I’ve been working on my latest freezer cooking session. I took on quite a bit this time since we were out of meals. Right away, I ran into a huge glitch–I cooked my chicken instead of marinating it. What a huge and costly mistake. I had to stop, losing precious time, and dig up another recipe that used cooked chicken. In the end, I switched out Turkey Enchiladas for Chicken, added a Turkey and Noodles recipe and saved the extra chicken to add to pasta dishes. (Even the best planning can go awry sometimes!) Honestly, I’m glad I made that mistake for two reasons: #1: I’ll always check my meats to make sure I’m writing them down correctly on how to “prep” them and #2: I really wanted Turkey and Noodles and got to use up a bag of Homestyle Noodles that was getting close to it’s expiration date. Bonus! So in the end, after hours of cooking, this is what I ended up with:

40 Mini Beef and Bean Burritos
23 Pizza Burgers
16 Chicken Enchiladas
Extra Chicken Enchilada Mix (Had more than I had tortillas for)
Around 50 Whole Wheat Pancakes
4 Tangy Pulled Pork Sandwiches (Taste of Home Feb/March 2010 Issue)
Enough Mix for 4 more Tangy Pulled Pork Sandwiches (wanted to make sure they froze well in the buns)
2 Turkey and Noodle Entrees
2 – 3/4lb bags of Seasoned Hamburger Meat (for quick tacos – used leftover from Burritos recipe)
2 Bags of Cubed Chicken (to add to pasta dishes)
1 Bag of Roasted Turkey (for hot turkey sandwiches)
3 Italian Beef for Sandwiches (I kept one for us for supper tonight)

Tonight, Nathan and I will make up some Banana Bread and some Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. I also have ingredients for (but enough energy to make) Hot Rolls Mix and Corn Bread Mix that I can use to make pretzels, Swedish rolls, corn bread and corn dogs. I’ll save that for later in the week.

I know some of you are leery about trying a freezer cooking session because of limited freezer space, but if you choose the right recipe that you can lay out flat and stack, you can actually get a lot of meals right into your freezer about your fridge. I stacked a few of mine to give you an idea:

Just in this limited space, I have 2 Turkey and Noodle Entrees, Mixes for Pulled Pork and Enchiladas (to quickly add to rolls/tortillas), Seasoned Hamburger (to quickly make tacos) and Cubed Chicken/Turkey to add to pasta dishes, sandwiches, salads, etc.

Just these few things can help save you lots of time in the kitchen. Save them for when you know you’ll have a busy day.

I was actually thinking that for my next freezer cooking session, I would “pretend” I only have a freezer above my fridge and see what meals I can come up with to help you all get some of them stacked and save you some time, too.

And now, time to catch up on a couple postings and then relax!! Thanks for letting me share my day with you.

If you are new to the blog, you can check out the other postings I’ve done on the Freezer Cooking February Series that have tips on how to get started on your own freezer cooking session.

I hope you all are enjoying the Freezer Cooking February Series this month. I have another Guest Post to share with you today. This one is from Cristi of The King’s Court IV:

While I have only been Freezer Cooking for a few months now, I can truly say that it has changed the way things run in my household. Things run so much smoother! On those crazy days where everyone is going everywhere, for me to just pull out something healthy, pre-made and frozen, saves so much time and money. Most of the time when we are in those situations, the easiest thing to do would be to stop at some local fast-food place and grab a bite to eat, oftentimes to be left broke or feeling like that money could have been best spent elsewhere.
Here are some tips that have helped me so far:

* Try to menu plan around freezer cooking so that you make the most of your ingredients and reduce waste. I’m a little bias towards menu-planning anyway because I found myself several times with an abundance of fresh ingredients going bad, or having too much of an item that I only needed a small amount of!

* MAKE A LIST of what you are going to cook! I try to plan my meals around a few key items for that particular day so that way I’m not spending a lot of extra money buying items that I’ll only use once or twice. For example, for one package of blueberries I can make blueberry pancakes to freeze and use the remainder of them in muffins!

* MAKE A LIST of the groceries that you’ll need!! Nothing is worse than getting ready to “do your thing” in the kitchen only to find out that you are missing an ingredient!

* Remove air from freezer bags to reduce freezer burn.

* Allow foods to cool completely prior to packaging and freezing, to reduce freezer burn. There is nothing worse than a sad bag of meatballs to ruin a spaghetti dinner!

* Always label/date your items.

* Although you can keep things frozen for some time (depending on what you are freezing), I typically try to use up my dishes within 2 months.

Pot Pies Recipe:

This is an easy recipe because it is very flexible yet filling!
*You can substitute this recipe with turkey (great around the holidays) or beef. You may also use whatever veggies you have on hand! I always go heavy on the veggies and tend to use at least 1 cup each (or 1 can each depending on the vegetable), which helps me stretch this into 2 batches.
3 cooked chicken breasts*
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
¼ cup chopped celery
¼ cup chopped carrots
¼ cup chopped onions
Salt & Pepper to taste
¼ cup corn
¼ cup snow peas
2 ½ cups chicken stock
¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary and thyme

Pastry: (if you increase the amount of vegetables, you’ll need additional puff pastry sheets)
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break chicken breast (or other meat) apart into small pieces then set aside. Heat a medium size pot over medium high heat and coat with olive oil. Add garlic, shallots, celery and carrots, stir. Add onions, corn and peas. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour in chicken stock and ¼ cup heavy cream. Add unsalted butter and stir. Add pieces of chicken and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and water to create thickening agent then pour into the pot. Add chopped rosemary and thyme then stir. Stop here if you would like to freeze this. You can divide this mixture up into freezer bags (2-3) and freeze until ready. Just pull a bag out and thaw in the refrigerator when you are ready!

Simply reheat the mixture in a pot while allowing puff pastry to thaw as directed. Depending on the size baking dish you are using, cut the puff pastry sheet accordingly and set aside. Beat the egg to create an egg wash and set aside. Fill the baking dish with the chicken mixture. Cover with puff pastry and then cut off excess around sides. Take a fork and poke a few holes in top of puff pastry and brush egg wash onto puff pastry. Place in the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown.

Optional- When you are ready to bake, I like to use the aluminum tart pans for this, and I’ll make individual/smaller pies for everyone!

*BONUS- I almost always have leftover scraps due to using 2 sheets/tart pans. So with the leftovers I brush melted butter on them and sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar. Then I’ll make a glaze using powdered sugar and milk to pour over them, yummy!

Cristi
The King’s Court IV

A special thank you to Cristi for taking time to share this guest posting with us! I love her bonus tip on how to reuse those scraps of pastry–waste nothing and get a delicious treat, too!

I have another guest posting to share along with my latest freezer cooking session. So stay tuned!

In case you are new to this series, so far I’ve covered a few Freezer Cooking Methods, Resources/Books to consider, Supplies to Have on Hand and Tips on Recipe Choices.

In this segment, I’m going to go over a little bit more on planning, shopping and prep work. I’d done a few freezer cooking sessions where I just jumped right into them and they turned into complete disasters. So now, I spend about an hour prior to my sessions putting together a plan for my cooking day. It may seem a little “Type A” but when you’ve had a few chaotic messes, you’ll be thankful for the times you planned in advance.

At this point, I’ve chosen some recipes that I think I’ll use for my big cooking day. But this doesn’t mean these will be the ones I will definitely proceed with. I write down my recipes and then put them in order of heating element. Crockpot #1, Crockpot #2, Griddle, etc. I do this now because in my frantic rush to put together a session, I’ve actually “double-booked” my crockpots and oven! And this just put extra cooking time into my day (or even caused me to skip a recipe entirely before.)

After it looks like everything is going to work out smooth, I then take it one step further and write down my “End Results – Meals” plugging in Breakfasts, Lunches, Entrees and Snacks/Desserts. One time, I did an entire cooking session and had almost all soups and desserts when I was done! So this is why I do this now. I also make sure and jot down my plans for my meals on cooking day. Several times I’ve forgotten to allow for a lunch/supper on cooking day and had to quickly put together something or wait for one of my meals to finish. (which took away from what I could freeze to help me on a later busy day.) This is what my first list looked like when I was done:

Now that I’m sure of my recipes, I create a shopping list. There are several great spreadsheets that you can use. 30 Day Gourmet has some in their book but I just use an “old school” method. I jot down my recipes in order (making a note in the sidebar as the next recipe begins) and then add any duplicate ingredients on the original line. Then I can tally then when I’m done. (Don’t forget to add your freezer containers to your list of things that you’ll need!) I can then cross off any ingredients that I have on-hand. If for some reason I didn’t notice that I picked too many recipes without enough ingredients on hand, I can quickly find a recipe that requires me to not need as many items and switch it out.  This helps me do my best to stay within my budget. This is what that end list looked like (prior to the tally):

Now before setting off on your shopping trip, I highly recommend that you consider doing the following:

*Cleaning out your fridge & freezer. You’ll need room for all of those groceries! Plus you might be surprised and find that a missing ingredient truly was hiding in there.

*If you find you have a lot of veggies on your list to chop, you might want to consider grabbing some frozen ones to speed up the process. One I love to get is chopped onions. Keeps my from crying on freezer cooking day!

On the last list that I make, I create my “Cooking Agenda.” I divide this into two areas: Prep Work and Cooking Day. There are several things that I can get done the day before my big cooking session. Prep Work items might include:

*Prior to starting, cleaning all counter tops, emptying the dishwasher and washing any lingering dirty dishes.
*Chopping Veggies that won’t wilt or turn brown
*Browning meats, such as turkey or hamburger
*Cooking Poultry and chopping them into correct sizes, such as strips or cubes, etc.
*Soaking Beans
*Preparing Marinades
*Cooking Pastas (I haven’t tried this yet.)
(These items, except for the beans, would go in the fridge until you need them the next day.)

It’s very important that if you are planning on cooking things such as whole chickens or turkeys that you plan on that extra day or so for them to thaw. You don’t want your day to be ruined by having a turkey that’s still frozen solid!

Now for my “Cooking Day” part of the list, I write up all of my tasks that I won’t complete during my Prep Work. I try to put them in order of how I want to complete them. This task is a good one to complete because sometimes, it’s just not obvious on how much you are about to undertake until it’s all listed. You might be surprised to realize you really planned on taking on too much for a one/two day cooking session. This is what my completed list for that one looked like:

I usually try to complete all of these before I do my shopping trip. That way, I can rearrange my game plan without causing an extra grocery trip or digging any deeper into my grocery budget if I find my original plan wasn’t going to work.

Yes, it all might seem a little extreme but when your cooking day goes a little smoother and you find that you are getting so many meals completed in one day, you’ll be patting yourself on the back for taking a little time to plan ahead – especially weeks later when you get to have those quick meals instead of spending hours in the kitchen!

At this point, I’ve shared with you all the information that you need up until the big cooking day. On cooking day, it all comes down to a little juggling act and hopefully you’ve planned it all out well so it will go smooth. Don’t forget to get plenty of sleep the night before, wear comfortable shoes the day of and drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated! It really is like a work-out in your own kitchen!

Also, I found another resource that I think might help those of you that have never tried a cooking session before. It’s called Frozen Assets: Lite and Easy. They have little “mini-sessions” completely laid out for you. They have detailed shopping lists, prep work and recipes for you. They are lumped by similar things, such as Chicken Mini-Session, Turkey Mini-Session, etc. They also have the nutritional values at the bottom of the recipes, which tend to lean more toward the healthier-side.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to get in a successful freezer cooking session this weekend that I can share with you. I also have some more guest posts to share with you, as well. So stay tuned!

I hope that you are all enjoying the Freezer Cooking February series. Today, I have another Guest Post, this time from Ann of 3 Girls and a Pug. She shares some Freezer Cooking Failures along with a great Chili Recipe. Take it away, Ann:

Freezer Bombs: Tips for Tasting Success With Freezer Meals
By Ann Springer (www.3girlsandapug.com)

From the second I turned on the “Baby Songs” DVD for my two toddler daughters – ages 18 months and 2 ½ at the time – I knew I had exactly 28 minutes to whip up a good meal. No, I wasn’t trying to impress Rachael Ray. Rather, I knew I had a small window of time before the clock figuratively struck midnight and I would again struggle to juggle cooking with one baby on my hip and the other one at my feet crying.

So, when I heard about the concept of freezer-meal cooking I couldn’t wait to test out this ingeniously efficient cooking method in my own kitchen. I made out my menu plan. I carefully crafted my shopping list and tied on my apron. Part way through the process, I decided I was a genius and I declared myself Best Homemaker Ever. Here I was preparing a month’s worth of meals so I could have more time to spend with my children, all while saving money on my food budget.

Later, when one of my many prepared freezer meals for the month thawed, so did my 15 minutes of fame. I lifted open the carefully wrapped tinfoil expecting to find delicious homemade chicken pot pie; instead I discovered a soupy, gray-colored mess. Words can’t describe the disgusting, watery meal before my eyes that I knew I could never allow to pass my lips.

I feared more disasters—like the chicken pot pie—were carefully sealed and labeled in my fridge like mini-bombs ready to ruin my night. Then I relaxed and realized that like all other failures in life, this was a learning experience. It wasn’t the end of a great relationship—it was merely a setback. It also meant we were ordering take out (which isn’t exactly a horrible end to a day either).

With that learning experience behind me, here are three tips from me, a self-proclaimed, freezer meal-diehard.

1. Figure out the quirks. -  I pushed ahead despite my failures and discovered some things don’t freeze well – particularly raw items like potatoes, dough toppings, and items with cooked rice. Some sauces separate when frozen, too. I realized that this was just a matter of trial and error, with successes for some recipes and others I wouldn’t feed to the dog.

2. Be flexible. -  Some recipes could be made up partially, frozen, defrosted, and then finished up the day we ate them. For example, I make one of my mom’s recipes that requires a mashed potato topping. (Mashed potatoes don’t freeze well.) I make the rest of the casserole and freeze it. On the day we eat it I add the potato topping while the casserole heats up. While this does take a bit more time it still saved a lot of time and money in the long run. It’s worth it if it’s a meal your family adores and loves.

3. Take breaks from the ritual. – It does take careful planning and a good chunk of time to commit to creating freezer meals, so it’s good to take a break from it for periods of time. As my kids have grown I’ve discovered freezer meals all over again. I’m able to involve the kids in the cooking process now and there’s nothing better than heating something yummy and healthy up after a long afternoon of soccer practice and piano lessons.

Below I share one of my favorite freezer meals. This meal makes me feel like I’m back in the running again for some sort of mommy accolades. It’s healthy, cheap, and easy to make, so you can’t go wrong.

Chili

1 package of dried beans (15-bean soup mix)
1 pound of ground meat (Turkey is the leanest. Or you can omit the meat if you prefer a vegetarian chili.)
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon garlic
1 small container of fresh salsa (from the refrigerated section)
1 package taco seasoning mix (or 3 tbsp. from a jar)
2 packages ranch dressing Mix
1 small can of corn, drained
1-2 cups of water
1-2 tablespoons of Tapatio or Tabasco hot sauce

1. Soak 1 package of beans overnight. Fill water ¾ of the way full in a large bowl. The beans should swell up and absorb a portion of the water.

2. Brown onion and garlic with meat.

3. Drain the beans and put them in a crock pot with the meat.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients in and stir together.

5. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or on low on the stove top for 1 to 2 hours.

Freeze the remainder into serving size, plastic re-sealable bags for lunch, campouts, or for a night when you’re too busy to cook a full meal.

Ann Springer is a published author of many magazine articles. Someday her tombstone will read, “Killer of Plants,” because in her house if you don’t bark or cry you just don’t get fed.

I had to laugh at her closing. I’ve given up on house plants myself right now because I can’t seem to take on the simple task of watering them regularly. Thank you, Ann, for sharing your tips and recipe with us! Make sure you check out her blog at 3 Girls and a Pug. (She has the cutest picture of her girls and pug together!) And stay tuned as I have the next installment of how to get started on freezer cooking coming up soon!

In my last segment, I talked about two of the methods of freezer cooking along with some book resources to check out for potential recipes. If you missed it, you can read it HERE.

This time, I want to get into how to get started on a long-cooking session and some of the things you’ll want to have in place. One of the worst things you can do is to jump right into it without any planning. Without proper planning, you’ll be going in seven different directions, the sessions will take longer than they should and you’ll possibly not finish your goals. There are basically four stages to freezer cooking: Plan, Shop, Prep and Cook. This segment’s focus is going to be on part of the planning process.

Supplies You’ll Need
Now while I try to keep up with dishes as I cook, when it comes to long freezer cooking sessions, you might just be better off having some spare kitchen equipment handy. When I first started, I had only one set of measuring cups and spoons and it was an absolute nightmare. I spent so much time washing and rewashing that I really lost some time-saving ground throughout the day. Here are a few items that I recommend you have:

Multiple Measuring Cup Sets
Multiple Measuring Spoons
Multiple Cutting Boards–at least one for raw meat and one for veggies
Slotted Spoons
Whisks, Tongs, Spatulas
Strainer/Colander
Sharp Pairing Knives
Glass Dishes, if freezing casseroles
Several Cookie Sheets
Oven Mitts/Pot Holders
Sauce Pans/Skillets, preferably at least one with a lid
Some type of Roasting Pan or equivalent
Crockpot for slow-cooker recipes
Storage Containers – Ziploc, Food Saver, etc.
Sharpie Marker for dating all your food
Extra Kitchen Timers, if you don’t have a few already (Microwave, Oven)

Most of these items you probably have on hand. And if you don’t, I’m not recommending that you rush out and buy up everything in one shopping spree if you don’t have it. But as you see things on a good deal, add it to your collection to help you on future sessions. The multiple measuring cups and spoons are the ones I use the most and you can pick those up at most dollar stores if you need extras.

Recipe Choices & Planning Ahead
Everyone is different in how they plan their sessions. Like I said earlier, I usually just double recipes lately. But when I do decide to get in a freezer cooking session, I usually try to utilize every heating element I have, such as Crockpot, Stovetop, Griddle, Bread Machine and Oven. I have found that this is the best way for me to get the most recipes done in a shorter time. So, this is how I’ll choose my recipes, too, picking one for each area.

Since the Crockpot ones take the longest, I’ll start there. Then move on to the Bread Machine. Followed by the Oven, Griddle and Stovetop. I guess I just started doing it this way because I got tired of waiting for one recipe to finish before I could start the next. I can have a soup going in the crockpot, bread in the bread machine, a casserole dish on the stovetop, a turkey/chicken cooking in the oven while I’m making pancakes on the griddle. Yes, multi-tasking is key to getting it all done! During downtimes, I’ll bag/mark the previous recipe or make up mixes, such as a pancake mix, etc. until I can proceed with another oven or stovetop recipe.

When I go to choose my recipes, I keep in mind that I’d like to use all of these elements and pick them accordingly. Also, I try to find recipes that use similar ingredients but will still taste unique. For example, if I’m buying a bag of carrots, maybe I’ll make a soup in the crockpot and then a potpie in the oven and use up as many carrots as I can. This also comes in handy during “prep time” when I can peel and chop carrots all at once and have ingredients set to go for multiple recipes. The same goes for meats. For example, if you have a lot of chicken on hand, you can cook up several chicken pieces at once and then use them in various recipes. You can even cook some chicken strips/cubes to freeze separately to have on hand to throw into pastas, salads or casseroles.

The best way to make the most of your money is to try to make recipes around what you already have on-hand along with what’s on sale for that week. Now if you plan your session weeks in advance, you can keep your eye out for deals to fulfill those recipes that you want, too. Also, by using what you have on hand will help to free up some of the extra freezer space that you may need. You may find out that several of your current recipes will even freeze well. So don’t just stick to recipe books when making your choices.

I highly recommend that before you start a long freezer cooking session, that you test out your recipes first. Can you imagine making 5 meals of something you find out later that you don’t even like? When it comes time to do your first large session, you’ll still want to start yourself off with just a few recipes until you get the hang of everything. I took on too much my first time around and had to force myself into a second long cooking day to finish. Timing is everything so allow yourself a chance to learn how to time things properly.

Another great way to get several meals in a short session is to swap with friends. You can eat make one or two meals with enough food for each participant and then swap. This is a great way to try out and learn new recipes, too!

So up to this point, you have heard about the two methods you can choose from, resources to find recipes, supplies you’ll want to try to have on hand and what to consider when picking your recipe choices. Next time, I’ll talk about getting your shopping trip planned and prep work you’ll want to do before the big cooking day. So, stay tuned!

This is a guest post from my friend, Jenn of Super Jenn and Wii Mommies.

I really discovered the art of freezer meals after I got pregnant with my second child. I knew what I was in for this time around (or so I thought!) and I wanted to be prepared. I cooked and I froze…from casseroles to cookies, cakes and bread I was SURE to be prepared! Let’s suffice it to say I learned a LOT about how to, and how NOT to freeze food for my family that year.

Now I freeze food on a fairly regular basis. Meals that prepare a 9 x 13 casserole can most often be split into two servings and one saved for later, cookie dough in the freezer will save ANY rainy day in a house full of toddlers and breakfast on the go is super easy when you can pull muffins or waffles out of the freezer. I’m a big fan of sharing food with my pregnant and “new mom” friends…having a small stock pile in the freezer can make that any easy way for me to help them out as well.

Here are a couple of tips I picked up in my experimenting:

• “Flash Freeze” items that might stick together like cookie dough. Put them on a lined cookie sheet in the freezer for 8-12 hours uncovered then move them into your storage container or freezer bag. This way they won’t stick together and you can still avoid freezer burn.

• Whenever possible freezer items flat. Soups and stews can be frozen in a bag lying flat on a cookie sheet then stacked later. This makes them easier to store in your freezer and quicker to thaw when you are ready to use them. (This works for breast milk, too!)

• Always wrap your food in waxed paper or cling wrap first…then tin foil. I found out the hard way that if you put the foil on first you will have one heck of a time unwrapping it later!

• When possible, add items like cheese and sauce when you take the food out to prepare it. This just helps your meal to retain its texture a little more.

• I like to prepare meals in a glass square pan lined with plastic wrap. I fill the pan as I would if I were baking it then “flash freeze” it for 8-12 hours. Wrap it up the plastic wrap, then remove it from the pan and wrap it in foil and stick it in a gallon freezer bag and label with cooking directions. When I’m ready to prepare it I take it out and stick it back in the square glass pan. This saves me from losing my dishes to the freezer.

This is my newest favorite freezer recipe: Quiche in a Bag! This is also a great recipe to use when you are taking meals to others because it is a little more creative than your average pasta or chicken dish! It is so variable, it can be vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten free! We’ve made a few adjustments but the original recipe is from The Freezer Cooking Manual

Photo Courtesy of TheKitchn.com

Quiche in a Bag

1 c. Cooked meat (any meat diced or browned and crumbled)
3/4 c. Vegetable (any raw, blanched; thawed frozen; or canned, drained)
1 c. shredded cheese (you can exclude this or just add feta)
1/4 c. diced onion
1 c. milk (can sub dry milk and water, soy milk or rice milk)
4 eggs
1/8 t. Tabasco Sauce
1/2 c. flour (may substitute rice flour)
2 t. baking powder

Combine ingredients through Tabasco Sauce. Just throw it all in a gallon ziplock bag. Mix dry ingredients and add them to the bag. Seal bag. Squish to mix.

Seal, label and freeze. This works best if you freeze it flat on a cookie sheet first and then stack like I mentioned above.

To serve, thaw completely (take it out in the a.m. for supper). Shake and squish bag well. Pour into a spray-treated pan. (This is a crust=less quiche!) Sprinkle with paprika if desired. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes until lightly browned on top and well set in the center. Cool about 5 minutes. If you are looking for a quicker cooking time you can make these in sprayed muffin or mini muffin tins as well.

This Guest Post is by Jenn of Super Jenn and one of the founders of the Wii Mommies. She is the sweetest person and a very good friend of mine. I hope you enjoy this recipe and tips she has shared. Thank you so much for your help, tips and recipe, Jenn!

Stay tuned for more recipes and info on how to get started on Freezer Cooking! And in case you missed it, you can read my first posting on Freezer Cooking Methods and Resources.

As I mentioned several weeks ago, I’m doing a month-long series on Freezer Cooking. It’s just one of the ways I am trying to achieve my Goals of 2010 to get healthier. I’m doing this by not only choosing a few healthier recipes but also, by having food on hand, ready to cook, I’m avoid the evil takeout food that’s loaded with so many calories!

Once-a-Month vs. Doubling Recipes
Freezer cooking can seem daunting to some because they have only heard of the weekend long sessions and just don’t have that much time to spend on cooking. Once-a-Month Cooking, as it’s often called, is not the only way to “freezer cook,” though. In fact, I rarely do big sessions anymore since I have the two little kids and a blog to keep me busy.

One way to get in some freezer cooking is to just simply double your meals whenever you can throughout the week. This is how I normally get in my “spare” meals. When you think about it, it’s actually quite easy to double a recipe. The time-consuming part of meal prep is the chopping of the veggies and or meats, such as ground hamburger or turkey. It only takes a few extras minute to chop up an additional carrot or cook up two pounds of hamburger instead of one.

Often, I’ve even cooked up double the hamburger recipe and put the extra half in the fridge after it’s cooled. Even just having that part done is a huge time-saver for the next night. I can quickly just throw that in a casserole or heat it up for Tacos, etc.

I usually recommend that those new to freezer cooking start off with just doubling recipes. Once you get the hang of what freezes and doesn’t and which meals you do like, then try the Once-a-Month method. While the Once-a-Month method can be exhausting, it’s also great not to have to spend much time in your kitchen for the several weeks that follow.

Resources
Now, when I first discovered Freezer Cooking about 3 years ago, the first book I read was 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy. It’s still one of my favorites. Not only is it a book full of recipes, but you also get access to their online recipes after you buy it. What I like about the book is that it has the recipes in a grid so you can easily make them according to how many servings you need. There’s no messing with fractions or scratching your head to figure out if you doubled or tripled the recipe right.

Here are a few other books that I’ve either enjoyed myself or have had recommended to me:

Fix, Freeze, Feast: Prepare in Bulk and Enjoy by the Serving – More than 125 Recipes

Don’t Panic – Dinner’s in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead

The Everything Meals For A Month Cookbook: Smart Recipes To Help You Plan Ahead, Save Time, And Stay On Budget (Everything: Cooking)

Once-A-Month Cooking

Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites

Frozen Assets: Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month

How to Freeze: Everything You Need to Know About Freezing

Make-A-Mix

Now, while I am a self-proclaimed book junkie, I highly recommend that for recipe books, you try to flip through them first at a book store or library. I’m a simple recipe person and I often find that some books are too gourmet for my taste. While you could be the opposite and want more of a gourmet meal on most nights. Recipe books are by far the books I end up buying the most so I can easily reference them later.

I want to keep these segments reasonably short so that’s all I’ll share so far. This should give you an idea of the two ways most people freezer cook and also some recommendations on books to check out for more ideas and recipes. Next time, I’ll go into how to get started and I also have recipes from some Guest Posters that I’ll share throughout the series.

One of the ways that I find that I can stretch my grocery budget a little farther is with “freezer cooking.” This is basically where you make meals ahead of time and freeze them for quick meal-prep later. I’ll go into the ways to save in one of my “Long-Term Savings” postings but I wanted to share with you my plans for February.

I’ve been wanting to get in another good Freezer Cooking session coming up. Well, I’ve been sitting here for days saying how I’ve been fr-fr-freezing and I thought it might be fun to do a month-long Freezer Cooking theme for February to go along with the cold we have outside here in Chicagoland.

While I am still learning the do’s and don’ts of freezer cooking, I know some of you have also had success with recipes, etc. So I’m opening up to some Guest Posts if anyone is interested. I’m keeping them real simple with just bloggers/readers sharing some freezer cooking recipes that they’ve had success with–and maybe some tidbits of what you’ve not had success with, too! If you are interested in doing a guest post, please send me an email with the subject line “Freezer Cooking Guest Post” and I’ll get back to you with more details.

And what fun would another monthly theme be without some great giveaways? I’ll also be hosting some giveaways for some Freezer Cooking books and some supplies to aid in the freezer cooking process. I’ll do a link-up, as well, for you all to share your freezer cooking sessions.

I hope you all will enjoy the theme and not only find more ways to stretch your budgets farther, but that you’ll also find some great recipes in the meantime! Stay Tuned!

This is a series my fellow blogger friends and I were doing for two weeks. (This is the second and final week.) We are sharing recipes and also doing giveaways. Here are their blogs–I’ll update with their giveaway links and their recipes/traditions when they are posted today:

(Please note: You must put the giveaway entries for these on their blogs to be counted.)

Moms By Heart- Cookie Cutters Giveaway HERE
Coupon Gal – A Christmas Story DVD Giveaway HERE (I love that movie!)
A Thrifty Mom – 20 Coupon Inserts Giveaway to Help w/ Baking Costs HERE
Give Me Neither -Matching Set of Aprons Giveaway HERE
Couponing For 4 – Non-stick Cake-scicle Pan Giveaway HERE (looks so cool!)

A couple of years ago, my sister, BIL and I were supposed to go downtown Chicago to the Christkindlmarket. They had already scheduled the day off but as it got closer, they were predicting cold and rainy weather. We decided that instead, we’d bake cookies. Lots of them! My kitchen was filled with ingredients and plans of so many different recipes. About halfway through I realized…I had been way too ambition!

We were all exhausted and there was so much left to do. Each year, I learn a little bit more about how much is too much! Unfortunately this year, I had to do most of the baking myself. But, partway through, my almost 3 year old son decided to join me. We had so much fun together, despite how much work was involved. Here he is after enjoying the spoon from the brownie batter: (and being a goof when I said, “Smile Big!”)

What do I do with everything when I’m done? My hubby works for a smaller company so I make each of his co-workers their own little “goodie bag” of treats. They are all so sweet in that they’ll take it home to share with their spouses and family. I also try to reserve a plate to take over to our librarians. But they are projecting very cold temperatures today so I’m thinking it might not happen.

Every year I look forward to the annual baking fest. I’ll have to plan better next year so I can make sure my family can join me again. But it was fun having one-on-one time with my son. Here’s what we ended up with:

Brownies, Rice Krispies Treats, Sugar Cookies, Oatmeal/Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, “People Puppy Chow” and Cupcakes. I had planned on making Peanut Butter Blossoms but ran out of energy. So those will go in tomorrow or Friday. Here’s the recipe for those:

Peanut Butter Blossoms

1/2 Cup of Shortening
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
1/2 cup granulated Sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. Milk
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
Sugar (to roll them in)
48 Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped

Cream together shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup of sugar. Add egg milk and vanilla. Beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Beat on low speed until stiff dough forms. Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bakes 10-12 minutes (or until brown) in an oven at 375 degrees. Top each cookie immediately with an unwrapped chocolate piece, pressing down firmly so that cookie cracks around the edge. Remove cookies from cookie sheets to cool.

This recipe came from an insert in the December 2009 Food TV Magazine. But it’s been around for years.

People Puppy Chow

Melt together 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 stick of butter in a medium saucepan. You’ll have to stir frequently or it will burn on you quick. I’d recommend keeping it on a low to medium heat. Once melted, pour over Crispix cereal. (1-12oz. box) Stir the cereal mixture (gently or you’ll break them) until all the cereal is covered. Immediately put it into a brown paper bag that’s been filled with 1/2 bag (1lb.) of powdered sugar. Close up the bag and shake it until the sugar covers the cereal.

This recipe was given to me years ago by a co-worker but it’s been around for years.

White Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I usually use the Baker’s white chocolate squares. Follow melting directions on bag. You simply just add the pretzels to the chocolate and cover them. But I wanted to share a tip my BIL taught me. Use two forks to hold onto the ends of them after the pretzels are covered. This allows the chocolate to drain from the holes in the pretzels.

I have to add that the Rice Krispies Treats that I made—I used the caramel & vanilla marshmallows that just came out. They gave them just a touch of caramel flavor and were actually pretty good. There should be instructions for how to make these on most marshmallow bags or on the back of cereal box.

Everything else, I took the shortcut route this year and used pre-made mixes. It’s the only way I could get everything done by myself. But next year, I might see if my friends want to do a cookie exchange and each make a few dozen cookies to swap. I’ve always wanted to do that.

Here’s hoping you are able to get in some baking time this year, too!

I happened to see an ad when I was on Tablespoon.com and I’m glad that I clicked through. It brought me to the Betty Crocker Cake Pages. And they are sooo cute! The first one that caught my eye was the Fire Engine Cake, as my son is big into trucks right now. There’s a how-to video on how to make it HERE.

I’m not that great with the hands-on stuff but this one looked like one that I might be able to handle! And the reviews for it were 5 stars.

There’s also one for a Panda Bear Cake that got good reviews. I did watch that one and it looked fairly simple, too. (You can always make it into a Teddy Bear Cake w/ Brown & Tan frosting colors.)

I’m always astounded by how expensive these “cutesy” type of cakes are in the stores. These two recipes that I watched looked like some basic ingredients that if you watch for sales ahead of time, you could probably make these fairly cheap. (Such as cake mix, frosting, candy items and using a Ziploc bag for “piping” the frosting.)

There were more cakes HERE.

These aren’t affiliate/sponsor links but just something I ran across and thought I’d share. I’m really debating making the Fire Truck one now!!

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

I was inspired by Amy’s Finer Things Zucchini Recipe Round-up for this week. Since I couldn’t decide which one to do, I did 3 of them! I had plans for a few more but I was so exhausted after all the cooking that I had to crash. So sorry I didn’t get this up last night!

The ones I tried were: Zucchini, Carrot and Black Bean Quesadillas, Zucchini Applesauce Bread and Cheesy Zucchini Crisps.

Here are our pictures of them:

Quesadillas w/ a side of salsa for dipping!

Yummy Zucchini Applesauce Bread!

Cheesy Zucchini Crisps

MY NOTES:

Quesadillas – I love veggies so I kept the recipe the same for me and Nathan. But I added chicken cubes to Rich’s. We also dipped ours in salsa! Yum!

Bread – I made two loaves. One with raisins and one without. I should have cooked the one with raisins a touch longer. When I went to flip it out of the loaf pan, it was still a little gooey in the middle. I kind of pieced it back together and cooked it for another 10 minutes or so. It’s all still good!

Cheesy Crisps – I am pretty sure I was supposed to cut these even smaller. But they made for a nice appetizer last night. And I love the breading. I think I may try it on some homemade chicken nuggets!

I still want to try the Zucchini Chocolate Pudding Muffins and Stuffed Zucchini. I plan on freezing the muffins. I also froze some of the bread for quick little snacks down the road.

Well, those were my homemade recipes that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

For some reason this week, I decided I was hungry for Sloppy Joes. When Matt sent over the link for the FREE pork chop recipe book HERE, I decided to search the Recipe Lion site to see what they had. Something caught my eye; Hot & Spicy Sloppy Joes. The recipe called for jalepenos and I had some ripe in my garden. Perfect timing!

MY NOTES:

So I was petrified to cut up my jalepenos. I’ve heard stories of people wiping their eyes or skin with the juice and had some major burning. So I was very, very careful! I’m not sure if the jalepenos were too ripe, not ripe enough or if I cut out too much of the ribs but the Sloppy Joes really weren’t that spicy. It’s of no fault of the recipe. I am not a big fan of spicy food and I could eat the jalepenos without feeling the heat. It was a bummer but the recipe was still sooo good, regardless. One important note is that time may vary by crockpot. Mine was bubbling and almost burning the edges of the crockpot after 1-1.5 hours on high. I turned it down to low for the remainder of the time.

Here’s a picture of them after I topped them with cheese:

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

I was flipping through my Taste of Home Magazine and I found a recipe I couldn’t resist trying—Double Cheese Macaroni! It was perfect timing as I had a few bags of cheese that were nearing their expiration date. So moving right along, here’s the recipe:

1 pkg (16 oz.) elbow macaroni
3 cups (24oz.) of 4% cottage cheese
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
3 cups of half-and-half cream
1 cup milk
4 cups (16oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

For topping: 1 cup dry bread crumbs and 1/4 cup butter, melted

Cook macaroni according to the package. Meanwhile, place cottage cheese in a food processor, cover and process until smooth. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt, peper and garlic salt until smooth. Gradually add cream and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes until thickened.

Drain macaroni; transfer to a large bowl. Add the cheddar cheese, cottage cheese and white sauce; toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 13-in x 9-in baking dish. (Dish will be full.) Combine bread crumbs and butter; sprinkle over the top. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

MY NOTES:

So by far, this isn’t as easy as making boxed Mac & Cheese but it sooo yummy! It’s not really difficult to make but you do use a few pans & the food processor. So if you hate lots of dishes to clean, it may not be a recipe for you. But once you make it, it will probably become a favorite!

I had never put cottage cheese in the food processor and I was amazed at how smooth it became. I was kind of wondering if smooth cottage cheese could replace cream cheese in some recipes. One thing to note, when you are making the white sauce, don’t be distracted or you might burn it! Keep stirring! (I didn’t burn mine but I came close.) Since we have a smaller family, I cut the recipe in half and had an 8×8 pan full! The hardest part of this recipe was finding the white pepper, to which my husband joked, “Isn’t that salt?”

Some of you asked for pics in my recipes. My camera doesn’t take great food shots. I couldn’t get a good one showing you how cheesy and yummy this looks but since you asked here’s one of the finished product with that great breadcrumb topping…

When Nathan and I cook, Kaydi usually sits in her high chair and plays with toys. She loves banging measuring cups on the highchair. Today, she must have got bored watching us because…

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! I was just glad to have had another reason to use Black Beauty! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

NOTE: Looks like Mr. Linky is having issues once again so I’m removing it for now. Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to put a link on the posting for you.

Here are a few more recipes on other blogs to check out:

Far Above Jules – Slowcooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Chantelle’s Adventures – Italian Beef Sandwiches w/ Squash and Corn Casserole

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

I received a gift certificate for this great little nearby cafe/pancake house. It was the perfect gift because I love to eat breakfast and Rich could go without ever eating eggs! I immediately turned to the omelets in the menu and one struck me as one to definitely try—Baked Potato Omelet! Now that sounded interesting. And it was delicious. So this week, I tried to duplicate it, so I wouldn’t feel compeled to pay restaurant prices for it! And I thought I’d share a really good American Fries recipe with you that I learned in a restaurant where I used to work. The secret? After you boil the potatoes, you let them chill in the fridge before cooking to prevent them from turning to mush! So here are the recipes:

AMERICAN FRIES

You’ll Need:
Small Red Potatoes
Butter
Onions, chopped into medium pieces
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

Boil the potatoes, with the skins on. They are done when they can be easily pierced with a fork. Drain and let cool in the pan for a bit. Then transfer them to the fridge to let them completely cool. Once cooled, cut potatoes into quarters, still leaving the skins on. Next, melt a little butter in a skillet and add the chopped onions. Once the onions are mostly cooked, add the potatoes and keep turning them until they are cooked thoroughly. When the potaotes are almost done, sprinkle the entire mixture with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and stir. The mixture is done when the onions are cooked and the potatoes are heated. Transfer to plate and enjoy.

These are also a nice side dish and are especially good dipped in Ranch dip.

BAKED POTATO OMELET

You’ll Need:
Eggs
Milk
Butter
Shredded Cheese
Red Potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
Bacon, cooked and chopped into bite-sized pieces
Chives
Sour Cream

As with all omelets, the amount of ingredients is dependent on how big you want the omelet to be. The general rule is that you add 1 TBSP of Milk per egg. It seems to work out. So you’ll mix the eggs and milk, accordingly. Heat some butter in a skillet. Add the egg mixture and cook on a medium-low heat. Once the mixture is almost cooked through, add a layer of cheese, chunks of red potatoes and pieces of bacon. Sprinkle chives throughout. Fold the omelet over in the pan. Add a few more sprinkles of chives. Once it’s cooked completely, transfer to a plate and add a small dollop of sour cream. Super Yummy!

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

I decided last minute to change this week’s recipe because I realized…it’s 4th of July weekend coming up, and this one would be PERFECT to share right now! This recipe comes from my dear friend Kristen. I was so incredibly grateful that she’s allowing me to share it. Her mother has been making it for her family for over 15 years. Super Yummy!

Here are the ingredients needed:
*4 strips of bacon
*1/4 cup of vinegar
*1/2 cup of brown sugar
*2 Large Onions- cut into rings
*1 can of Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained
*1 can of Large Butter Beans, not drained
*1 can of Bush’s Baked Beans, not drained, taller can
*1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
*Pinch of Garlic Salt
*1/2 tsp of dry mustard (optional)

In a large skillet, cook the 4 strips of bacon. Right before it turns crisp, add the 1/4 cup of vinegar. Then add the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and large onions that are cut into rings. Cook for about 15 minutes on low heat.

Next, you’ll have to decide if you are going to bake these in the oven or use a crockpot. Either way, pour the 3 different kinds of beans in the proper dish, making sure to drain only the dark red kidney beans. Add the bacon mixture. Next, add the baking soda, pinch of garlic salt and dry mustard (if you are using that).

For the oven, you’d cook them at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. For the crockpot, you’ll cook them on High for around 2 hours, if your crockpot runs hot.

Then…enjoy!

My Notes:
I love how this recipe has so many different varieties of beans. I did ask Kristen what she thought of using Turkey Bacon in the recipe and she really thought the recipe was better with the added grease of “regular” bacon. (I’ve found this to be true with some recipes, too!) The only thing I don’t like about this recipe is that I can’t stop eating them! They go perfect for BBQs!

Thank you again, to Kristen, for sharing this wonderfully delicious recipe with us!

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

This week, it was all about pizza! I thought I’d take a break from the food processor and drag out my bread machine instead. This was a nice find at $3.50 at a Thrift store! It was in mint condition and only missing the manual. ($3 on eBay!) So if you don’t have one and want one, definitely try your local thrift store or garage sale! Anyway…

I had pizza on my original “goal list” and All Things Frugal For 4-U and Me was sweet enough to share her recipe with me. Lucky me because it’s delicious! I had to laugh when it was time to bake the dough because I didn’t see baking instructions on there. Veteran cooks know timing. Newbies like me don’t. She was sooo sweet to email them over to me. (FYI – 350 degrees for 10-15 for dough alone. Add toppings and bake until cheese melts.) Someday, I hope to just know things. It was always horrible asking my grandma for a recipe because she’d always say, “I don’t know measurements, my dear. I just do it by touch and look.” Sigh.

The pizza turned out great! I did like she suggested and cooked the dough alone until golden and then added the toppings. I actually had enough dough to make 3 pizzas–2-13″ and 1-11″. So I became this adventurous little baker, making pepperoni/olive, taco and BBQ chicken pizzas. I’m not sure who I plan on feeding but Nathan and I had fun!

My Notes:
If you’re new to rolling out dough, you’ll definitely want to know that a little touch of flour on the surface and rolling pin prevents a sticky mess. (This, I did know.) What I found as a surprise on the first pizza was…the dough bubbled high. I did remember someone saying to stab a few fork marks into dough, so I tried it. Worked great! I even rolled up the edges a little to make an actual crust. I had to stop myself from tossing the dough up in the air. (I’m not against fun–I’m just not good at catching things!)

While I won’t be opening my own pizzeria any time soon, I did make some tasty pizzas! And the sauce is delish! I had some leftover since I only used it on the one. (I used beans for the taco and BBQ sauce for the chicken.) I’m thinking I can add a little beef and veggies and make a good spaghetti sauce from it. Next time, I think I’ll split the dough into four pieces and freeze two of them. I like the idea of smaller pizzas. By the way, I used the pizza pan HERE. It was inexpensive and worked well.

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! Thanks to All Things Frugal For 4-U and Me for sharing a great pizza recipe with me! I’ll add some pics on Thursday w/ my $2 Tater Thursdays posting.

If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

So, this week, I had a little fun with the new Food Processor. I made up two different kinds of bread crumbs, baby food applesauce and sliced up some carrots. (I’ll later make some baby food from the carrots, too!) Now, here’s where the geek in me will show—I am a little intimidated by my food processor! The girl’s got some major power to her! As I was slicing up the carrots, all I kept thinking was, wow, that could have been a finger! (Did I tell you that I named her Ms. Black Beauty? I figure we’ll make beautiful things together and she’s got major horsepower!) Anyway, as bread crumbs, baby food and carrots didn’t sound like a thrilling posting, I also whipped up a batch of some Crockpot Applesauce. Yum!

Yes, I have made this twice before. But it’s been soo long ago. I had some apples left over from making Kaydi’s baby food and I just couldn’t resist the temptation! I’m telling you, it’s really the best air freshner–the sweet smell of baking apples filling the house. I kept thinking I should have called this “Home Sweet-Smelling Home” series.

I am looking forward to picking apples from an orchard again this year. If you are planning on doing the same, keep this Crockpot Applesauce recipe handy! You’ll love making it! What I love is that it uses such basic ingredients and is so simple to make.

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! Thanks to A Year of Slowcooking for the fabulous recipe!

MY NOTES:
I was completely surprised to find out I didn’t have any brown sugar! Lesson learned to always double-check everything when making recipes! But then I decided, you know, I really don’t need all that sugar anyway! I had doubled the recipe and instead of 2T of brown sugar, I just added a little less than 1T of regular sugar. It still tasted yummy! I also tried something different this time and mixed red and green apples to mix up the sweet and tart flavors! Tasted delicious!!

If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

For those of you that are new, this is my “journey” to switch from processed to homemade!

We have a “Dinner Club” with our friends taking turns making meals at our houses for everyone. My friend Cassandra made this delicious Peach Stuffing and immediately I said, “OK, Cass, I need this recipe!” It’s quite a switch from the normal stuffing recipe. So this week’s Conveniently At Home recipe is for Peach Stuffing!

Now, in the past, I’ve been a Stovetop Stuffing girl. I mean, seriously, boil water/butter, dump in stuffing and five minutes later you have a “side dish.” Talk about convenient. But at the same time, there’s nothing that tastes even close to homemade!

This is one of those recipes that I feel is best the second day. It gives everything a day to just marinate together. The peaches and raisins make a nice sweet mixture to the rest of the ingredients.

What You’ll Need:

1-1/2 Cups of Water
1 Cup of Butter/Margarine (Divide into 3/4 cup and 1/4 cup parts)
1 (15 Ounce) Bag of Seasoned Bread Cubes (How-To Make Your Own HERE)
1 Cup Chopped Celery
2 Medium Onions, Chopped
1 (16 Ounce) Can of Sliced Peaches, Chopped (Keep liquid!)
1/2 Cup of Seedless Raisins

On To The Recipe:

1) Heat water and 3/4 cup margarine in a large heavy pot and bring to a boil. Remove from Heat. Add bread cubes and toss lightly with a fork. Set aside.

2) Cook and stir celery and onions in remaining margarine (1/4 cup) in a large skillet over medium-high heat until tender, about 5 minutes or so.

3) Add celery/onion mixture, chopped peaches w/ their liquid and raisins to bread cube mixture. Toss lightly to mix well.

Transfer to an over-safe pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

You can make this ahead of time and pop it in the over to cook/re-heat. If you use real peaches, as opposed to canned, don’t worry about “liquid.” I just used the peaches and it was fine. It took about 6-7 peaches but it all depends on how much you need to cut off. (as in bruised areas) Since I was nervous about not having the liquid, I did stir it twice w/i the 45 minutes that I cooked it. It seemed to help keep the juices in the stuffing.

MY NOTES:
Can you all believe that I actually not only made my own bread cubes but I also used fresh peaches?! I know, right?! It was a lot of fun. I had made the bread cubes a few days before but didn’t have enough. So I had to whip some up last minute. I think I should have waited a little longer for them to dry out because it was a tad bit mushy…at first. But as everything sat, the recipe turned out great! For those of you with less time, canned peaches and pre-made bread cubes works just fine! How did it turn out? Yummy, but here’s a picture:

That was my homemade recipe for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home!

If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! I’ve been checking these and what you’ve all emailed over and I’ll be making some of these up for future postings. Thanks for sharing!

Welcome to my new weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

This week, I made a Beef Vegetable Soup. Now, since I haven’t got to the whole making my own broth lesson yet, (as in, I don’t have any made-up/stored yet.) I did use canned broth. But this is definitely many steps above dumping a can of Campbell’s or Progresso in a pan.

The recipe comes from The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy:

What You’ll Need (This is for 8 Servings):

1 Cup Onion
1 Cup Celery
28 oz. Can of Tomatoes, canned, chopped, undrained
5 Cups of Ground Beef, cooked and drained (This is about 2 lbs of hamburger pre-cooked.)
15 oz. can of Tomato Sauce (with bits, optional)
2 teaspoons of Salt
1 teaspoon of Pepper
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of flour
48 oz. of Beef Broth (I use reduced/low sodium)
10 oz. of Mixed Vegetables, Frozen

How to Make It:

In a skillet, mix the onion, celery and canned, chopped tomatoes and their liquid. Simmer until the celery and onion are tender. Stir in the ground beef, tomato sauce, salt and pepper.

At this point, you can freeze the mix after it cools. To continue on here are the next steps: (if you freeze the mixture, just follow these steps after defrosting the mix)

In a large pot, melt butter over medium low heat. Stir in flour and continue to cook and stir until a bubbly paste forms. Then pour in the beef broth and bring to a boil. Be sure to constantly stir the mixture. Add thawed vegetables and beef/tomato mixture. Return to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.

My Notes:
I found the recipe to be very easy and tasty! I’m not sure I’ll ever buy canned b/v soup again unless to donate! One thing I noticed is that after I eat canned soups, I tend to get a headache. I think it’s the high sodium content of most of them. That’s what I like about making it myself. I can adjust those levels to what suits me best!

I haven’t tried this with fresh vegetables yet, but I’m sure it would be even better! A great recipe to make in the summer when your garden is overflowing with an abundance of veggies!

That was my homemade recipe for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home!

My grandmother was one of those people where a bus load of people could show up at her door unexpectantly and she’d dig out some flour and pull together a bunch of ingredients and boom, everyone’s eating this amazing homemade meal. She never measured anything. She knew exactly which spices to add to make the perfect taste. And I wish I had spent more time learning from this genius of a cook (and woman!) I had posted how making convenience foods on your own can help to save money on your grocery budget. Well, this new series, called Conveniently At Home, is my attempt to transform my style of cooking into one of more of a homemade nature. I’d love to someday be the amazing cook, like my grandmother. But for now…baby steps. I dream of someday living off a huge garden in my backyard that I’ll can/preserve and only need to buy simple basics, like meats, flour, eggs, butter, etc. (I don’t quite envision myself raising chickens, turkeys, pigs or cattle!)

Here are a few of the items that I am going to work on making first. While I’m not good enough, YET, to come up with my own recipes, I will share those that I find. So, here are my first set of goals:

~Pancakes & Waffles
~Pizza Dough & Sauce
~Spaghetti & Alfredo Sauces
~Breadcrumbs
~Homemade Bread
~Salsa
~Homemade Soups of all Kinds…especially:
*Beef Veggie
*Chicken/Turkey Noodle
*Stuffed Green Pepper
~Creamed Soups
~Homemade Egg Noodles (My grandmother’s specialty!)
~More Pastas (I can already make tortellini. Can you believe it?!)
~Amazing Gravys
~Jams & Jellies

Latest Additions
~Pies! (I usually just stick to cookies.)

Well, that’s just the start. If any of you have any great recipes to share, please, leave a comment with the recipe and/or a link to your blog.

In the end, I hope that my grocery store pictures start turning into more of basic ingredients and less of pre-made anything.

Is there anything “homemade” that you are wanting to learn how to make?

NOTE: Like the image for this posting? I found it HERE. They sell the cutest things at this site! I am going to have to convince my sister to make me an apron with it! I just wanted to use it so you see what cool things are at this site. I’ll have a new one going forward.

If there’s one thing I need to work at, it’s definitely meal planning. I guess I tend to wing it quite often because I like to cook whatever I am hungry for that day. But since I have such limited time with having two little ones now, I do try to save some time in the kitchen by doing some freezer cooking.

A few years back, I went to one of those places where you pay $$ to go in and make up meals for yourself to freeze. It was so nice not to have to grocery shop or cut up items, but the price was quite costly. Afterwards I thought, I could do this myself!

So I scanned the Net for freezer cooking books. I stumbled upon The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy. I liked that the recipes were simple to do and very simple tasting. We aren’t big “gourmet” eaters here!

What I like about the book is that not only do you get the recipes in the book, but you are also given a username/password to access their website full of more recipes! Some of my favorites that I make are from their site!

There are basically two ways to freezer cook. You can double your recipe for every meal you make during the week and freeze half. This will give you a few nights of “freedom.” Or you can set aside a long weekend and spend it making up meals for a few weeks or a month. If you choose this method, I definitely recommend that you start off small and plan for just a few recipes- just until you get at least one sesson under your belt.

I am hoping to get in another session here soon. I’ve been keeping busy with exercise and planning Nathan’s b-day party. But when I do get my session in, I’ll be posting the recipes to share with you.

So if you aren’t that great at meal planning either, consider trying freezer cooking. You can have plenty of foods frozen that you can just throw in the fridge the night before and warm up for supper the next day.

Is your Doritos bag down to the broken crumbled chips? Don’t throw them out! They’ll be perfect for this recipe!

You’ll need:
Doritos, broken up in pieces
Chopped Lettuce
Chopped Tomatoes (Cut grape tomatoes work great!)
Sliced Olives
Ranch Salad Dressing

Now this recipe really doesn’t have “set amounts.” You just basically add equal parts of everything. For the Ranch Salad Dressing, gradually add it little by little until everything is nicely covered. It’s mostly a personal preference recipe. You can always add hamburger or onions or whatever you like to it.

I prefer this dish after it’s set/chilled just for a little bit, so everything is blended and settled. I whipped up a batch this weekend, as I had just a little bit of all the ingredients left. It was a perfect combo to our pasta! It’s a great dish to make if you’ve had Tacos and have just a little bit of everything left. Also, I used Bacon Ranch Dressing and it tasted just as good!

Enjoy!