Meal Planning - September Madness

A friend told me she's just not motivated to do any meal planning right now. Boy, I sure am.
My life is CHAOS right now (and not the happy fun kind). I feel like a chicken with it's head cut-off. I need some help -- and this will help. It may not help me get my head screwed on straight, but it's one less thing I have to think about while I'm headless.

Dinners for the month:

• M - crock pot meal once a week (pork chops, pork roast, pork stew - it was on sale)
• T - casserole once a week - 3 lasagnas (one spinach) (frozen) / 2 shepherd's pie casseroles (frozen)
• W / F - meatless twice a week (2 fish, 2 pizza, tuna & noodles, tomato soup / potato soup & grilled cheese/ tuna or egg salad sandwiches)
• Th - leftovers (or stir fry with left-over meat)
• S - mexican once a week (burriotos, quesadillas, taco & taco salad)
• Sun - once a month of each day (one Sun. = crockpot / one Sun = lasagna, etc.)

Lunches (weekday) for the month:

• M / W - sandwiches (2 hotdogs, 2 bologna, 2 chicken salad, 2 egg salad)
• T / F - Raemen Noodles (it's the kids' request - blech)
• Th - hot meal (2 SOS, 2 nachos)
• S - hearty sandwiches (2 sloppy joes, 1 hamburgers, 1 chicken salad)

Breakfast for the month:

• M - Muffins (frozen)
• T - Cold/hot Cereal
• W - Buscuits w/bkfst meat
• Th - hot meal (2 pancakes, 2 french toast)
• F - cold/hot cereal
• S - egg breakfast
• Sun (we usually end up fasting until after Mass)

Sides, snacks & sweets :

• Sides - (2 per dinner, 1 per lunch, 1 per breakfast - these are listed in MEALS not necessarily packages. After I decide how many of which sides, I convert them to how I buy them. For example a side for a meal may consist of 1/4 jar of applesauce so I buy 1 jar for each 4 meals needed - when I have a 5th side, I buy 2 jars until I'm up to 8 meals needing applesauce) a side may consist of 1 pkg of frozen veggies, 1/2 pkg of potato chips or 1/2 large container of cottage cheese as my family's tastes dictate.

10 fresh fruit (for our family it's 10 meals with fresh fruit as a side and I figure 3 apples cut-up or .75 per meal), 4 applesauce, 2 canned peaches, 4 Salad, 2 cottage cheese, 4 carrots & dip, 2 fried potato, 2 mashed potato, 1 onion rings, 4 buscuits, 4 garlic or butter bread, 20 Frozen veggies, 10 potato chips

• Snacks - I try to buy enough that I think is reasonable for the month. I think 4 evenings a week of snacks is reasonable. Once the "good" snacks are gone, they are gone and there are ALWAYS carrot sticks, peaches & butter bread available.

4 chips & salsa, 1 spinach dip & chips, 1 guacamole dip & chips, 6 nuts, 4 potato chips, a left-over side or a left-over sweet

• Sweets - I shoot for 4 sweets a week. I ...ummm...LOVE sweets!

4 homemade cookies (choc chips, oatmeal, sugar, snickerdoodle), 4 brownies, 4 cup cakes, 4 icecream and ...ok, I'll throw in 2 homemade donuts and 2 sweet rolls...oh and an extra icecream

This month I ended up $447 for the month once I made my list, subtracted what we already had in the pantry or freezer, bought bread at the discount bread store, shopped at Aldi's and ended at Wal-mart. We'll eat up the fresh items first (salad, fresh fruits) and end with canned peaches, applesauce & frozen veggies. At the end of the month I may have to be creative the last week (cinamon/sugar bread or left-over soup) if I didn't figure well, but after having a few "creative weeks" where I have to make due with what we have, I'm confident that I can do it. This doesn't include cleaners, bathroom items or diapers, but does include napkins, paper plates, & paper towels.

The Prudent Homemaker

A friend sent this blog to go along with saving money and inexpensive meals.
In addition to saving money this woman makes beautiful meals!
The Prudent Homemaker
She also has a page of shopping wisely that is great!

Making Ends Meet

This article is an EXCELLENT overview of how a family can cut costs. We've used MANY of these ideas.

My favorite "get my mind thinking" about cutting cost are Hillbilly Housewife's $70/week mealplan or her $90/wk mealplan.

This has great ideas http://www.menus4moms.com/frugal/meals_for_hard_times_1.php

My kids LOVE Clara and BOY does she help you get in the spirit of back to basics. SERIOUSLY educational videos http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking

2009-2010 Meal Planning

Now that the kids are cooking, they all want something different and are willing to make it. My problem is all the left-overs and waste (not to mention trying to plan for all those people's whims). So even though they complain -- we all eat the same thing for lunch & dinner. Sunday nights may be a free-for all and Thursdays are left-overs, so if they want to do something unique with their left-overs I don't really care. I know it cramps their style to have their meals decided for them, but they can do anything they want when they're on their own. I have to do what's best for the whole family including our budget and my time. Barbara has a great food blog.

This school year will be

• Monday - crockpot (because we'll be gone all day on Mondays starting in Sept.) Nancy also sent me this crockpot site - Thanks, Nancy!
• Tuesday - casserole (frozen ahead - shepherd's pie / sausage & rice bake)
• Wednesday - mexican (Burritos, Mexican pizza on tortillas, Nachos, Quesadillas, Taco, or Taco Salad) - the nice thing about these meals is that they all use approximately the same ingredients, so it's not hard to keep stuff on hand and if someone is desperate to have something different they can do it at the table.
• Thursday left-overs (or frozen chinese veggies stir fried w/ whatever meat is left-over)
• Friday - meatless (tuna & noodles/ raemen noodles & fzn. veg / baked potatoes & fixins / cheese pizza / mac & cheese) or fish 2x/month - it's too expensive to have each week
• Saturday - italian (Lasagna / veggie lasag. / lasag. roll-ups/ spahetti/ ziti bake/ chicken alfredo with broccoli / cheese stuffed shells / meatloaf -is meatloaf an Italian meal?)
• Sunday - we only eat 2 meals on Sunday, so a big breakfast at brunch time and a big main meal (turkey & stuffing / a ham / pork roast / roast)

• We also plan our lunches (mostly packed lunches) & breakfasts because we have 2 days we're gone and it can take too long even when we're home if we're not all eating the same thing.
• Breakfast favorites - Frozen saus. buscuits / frzn. muffins We roughly plan out the sides and deserts. 1 side with lunch, 2 sides with dinner and desert every other night for a total of 90 sides and 15 deserts for the month (example: 1 jar of applesause would last us as a side for 4 meals).

Yes, my 13yr old is really in charge of all the meals, planning, cooking and shopping for the year.

Yes, my 13yr old is really in charge of all the meals, planning, cooking and shopping for the year.


Background:

I read Little House On the Prairie to the girls when they were in 2nd grade & Kindergarten. In it, Ma left the girls (I think they were preteens) with the baby and the house for a week! They knew how to do all the work AND did the spring cleaning to surprise Ma.

When I first read that, I thought "HOW could Ma leave them like that? There were soooo many dangers in those days!" Then I started re-rethinking what I thought of childhood. I honestly believe we have an artificial infancy concept of childhood. Rather than considering that childhood as the training ground for adulthood, our society thinks children are to be coddled, entertained and considered unable to be functioning, contributing members of society even while they're children. Hmmm.... So if God made children capable of more responsibility, are we DISabling them to not let them live to that potential? Hmmm....


So I made it a pie-in-the-sky goal that each of my children would know how to do every job in the house that I could teach them by the time they were 13. Then at 13 I would teach them to juggle. I wasn't taught how to multi-task or juggle and it's taken me YEARS of motherhood before I felt like I was doing anything but failing. I would like my girls to be a little better off than that.


Each year, each child switches jobs to become proficient in a job for the year. This is the rough schedule of chores as the children progress in maturity:


Age 4 - Set the table
5 - Sweep the floor
6 - Wash the table / Mop the floor
7 - Take out the trash
8 - Empty the dishwasher (each time, and YES I lost alot of dishes on the ceramic floor this way and we ended up switching to plastic for our main dishes)
9 - Laundry (yes, all the laundry in the house)
10 - Mow the lawn - we end up having a "catch-up" year in here somewhere - a kid will prefer a job and ask for an extra year on it before going to the next harder job -OR- they need more practice on a job and get stuck on it for another year until they've mastered it.
11 - Dishes (keeping the kitchen clean after every meal)
12 - Dinner (I plan and they learn to cook dinner each night. I feel like it's such a challenging task to get all the dishes to come out at the same time and on the table hot (or cold) that it takes a lot of practice)

13 - Since Dd#1 has taken over the cooking / list making / and shopping (although I am the driver and looker-overer) I tried to make it as easy on her as possible.

• I consolidated all my recipes in one book that office depot printed and bound for ~$5
• made a master grocery list
• lists for each kinds of meal (breakfast, weekday lunch, dinner & weekend lunch - we add extra servings & sides when Dave is home)
• I have a system in place for meal planning that I can teach her
• I made an excel spreadsheet of the meals I make, how much they cost and the approximate ingredients. She inputs the number of meals into one column and it calculates how much she'll be spending for the month. This is just automating meal planning for her benefit - I did it for years without a spreadsheet. When I put in the approximate ingredients, I didn't put it in the way you cook (4 Cups of milk) but the way you shop (1/8 gallon of milk)

Here are the steps

1. Make a list of which meals she'd like from each category (breakfast, weekday lunch, dinner & weekend lunch )
2. Plug those meals into an actual calendar to make sure she isn't making 3 chicken meals in a week (Dave's allergic to chicken).
3. Compare that list to the actual recipes to make a list of ingredients you'll need at the store.
4. Make a grocery list. (I have her consolidating step 3 & 4 by using the spreadsheet above.)

Besides the blank stares of disbelief, here are the answers to some questions I've gotten about my 13yr old doing this job --

Q: Isn't that too big of a job for a 13 yr old.

A: I don't throw a 13 yr old into this. They want to help stir cookies when they're 3. They learn to use the microwave under supervision when they're 7. They learn to make eggs & pancakes and breakfast stuff when they're 8. They learn to take things out of the oven when they're 10ish (depends on the kid). Doing the laundry for a family of 7 is no slacker's job and it's a big responsibility at 9 years old. For the kids who don't handle responsibility well, I provide consequences, rewards, reminders, timers, threats, encouragement -- and anything I can think of to help them shoulder the responsibility. Not including swiching laundry loads, it takes about 10 hrs/wk for a kid to fold all the laundry. These gradual responsibilities help train them to carry the next set so they're not overwhelmed when they have to run their own lives.

Q: Don't you feel like it interferes with your own spirituality not to serve your family in love?

A: It's much harder for me to let her do it than to do it myself. Yes, she's burned some meals. Yes, some haven't turned out. Yes, I'm taking a risk with our family's budget to have her do this. These are things that cause me to die to self in love of my children to help them become the people God means them to be. I'd rather her take these risks when she's under my tutelage than when she's broke and out on her own with no one to help her when she makes a mistake.

Q: Does she have any time to do anything but work?

A: It does take her quite a while to make meals (2 1/2 hours for a dinner I could do in 30-45 minutes) but she'll get faster. Meal planning takes about 5 hrs for the month using the tools above. Shopping takes about 4 hours for 1 month's worth. Yes, she gets more free time than I do, but less than the little kids. I'm not worried about overloading her with work. I definitely keep that in mind and check with her to see how she's doing with this much responsibility. With responsibility comes privileges (and she's happy for those).

Sunday Doughnuts

A friend and I were talking after church last weekend, (Hi, Laura!) that it has gotten so expensive to go out for doughnuts after church because our kids eat so much. I suggested we make doughnuts after church. Then I found some doughnut posts. I doubt we can compare to Dunkin' Doughnuts (our personal favorite!), but it could be a fun activity for the kids.

• Plain Doughnuts


• How to Make Delicious Homemade Donuts


• Tips and Tricks

I'll have to let you know how it turns out!

Recipe - My Mom's Lasagna

My Mom's Lasagna - I've tried easier recipes and cheaper recipes and more complicated recipes. This is still the best in my book!


24 oz Ricotta Cheese
32 oz Spaghetti Sauce, 4 C
3 ea Eggs
2 lb Hamburger, cooked
1/3 c Parmesean
6 oz Lasagna noodles, uncooked
6 oz Motzerella Cheese + 6 oz (Reserved for Top)
3/4 c Water
1 Pkg Frozen spinach, thawed & liquid squeezed out

When preparing lasagna for the freezer there's no need to precook the noodles. If you layer the cassserole with dry noodles ensuring your noodles are completely covered with sauce, the noodles will cook during the freezing and baking process absorbing the sauce.
Assembly Directions: In a large bowl mix cheese, eggs, & spinach if desired. In a seperate bowl mix hamburger & spaghetti sauce (sometimes I put cooked hamburger through the food processor for a finer consistency -- but I don't usually go to that work if it's just for us). In a 13 x 9 inch baking dish, spread 3/4 cup meat sauce. Layer 3 noodles across and top with meat sauce. Spread 1/2 of cheese mixture (~2c) and 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce. Layer 3 more noodles on top of meat sauce. Spread remaining cheese mixture(~2c). Top with remaining 3 uncooked noodes and remaining meat sauce, then reserved motz. cheese. Pour water around edges.
Freezing Directions: Wrap pans completely with foil; twice. label and freeze.
Serving Directions: To thaw, take meal from freezer at least 24 hours before serving. Place in refrigerator. Bake tightly covered at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until edges are bubbly and center is hot. Take cover off during final 10 munites of cooking time. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. To bake from frozen stage, add 30 minutes to total baking time.

I usually make 6 of these at a time and freeze in aluminum pans wrapped in foil. I served 30 people at a Christmas Party one year with these -- we had other food, too, but this was the main dish. I made 2 and we only ate 1 and every said how filling it was.

A sobering thought: what if, at this very moment, I am living up to my full potential? - Jane Wagner

Shepherd's Pie

I was thinking about this recipe, because a friend had a baby and this is what she'll get tomorrow night.

Shepherd’s Pie 45 minutes @ 350 Jenn’s Mom

1 lb. Hamburger, cooked
6 C Mashed Potatoes
1-2 can Green Beans
2 C Shredded Cheddar, or Mozzarella Cheese
1-2 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

Layer, in order, in a casserole dish. Bake uncovered 30 minutes at 350 until bubbly. Sprinkle cheese to cover. Bake additional 15 minutes until cheese is melted.

This is my all-time favorite dish. To freeze for cooking later, layer all but cheese in a foil disposable dish, cover with foil. Attach cheese in a ziplock baggie with masking tape. Then thaw it for the day on your counter and cook as described above.

Once we learn to count our blessings they increase. -Stella Terrill Mann

Edited to add : Sorry, Anne, after your comment I reread what I wrote -- you're right, the layering goes :

• hamburger on the bottom (I fry mine with chopped onion to add in more veggies)
• green beans
• spread a thin (and uneven) layer of canned cream of mushroom soup
• then mashed potatoes
• and last cheese (after it's almost done baking, just to melt).

My friend liked it just fine.

Cleaning Day

Usually Saturday is our cleaning day, but we're having our priests and seminarian over for dinner tonight, so we're cleaning today. Everyone has been very helpful and are all earning alot for their allowance today. They're doing jobs like washing the dog, picking up the back yard, vacuuming & doing dishes. We've had to scrape dried cereal off diningroom chairs so grown-ups can sit on them, wash baseboards & walls & windows & doorknobs (always a sticky job).

Some kids are more excited about their individual jobs than others....

C

O

O

K

I

N

G

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Pork Chops were on sale, so that's what we're having. Here's my recipe :
Pork Chops Use the following as a rub on the chops - 1tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp sage 1/2 tsp thyme bay leaf pinch allspice 1 clove garlic, mashed then, for the crockpot add - 1/2 cup water Crockpot for 8 hours on low and enjoy!

Pasta Salad

Do you know I can't make a decent pasta salad to save my life? The ones from the box come out just fine. I can make a homemade one "look" like a pretty pasta salad. It sure doesn't taste like one.

I've tried recipe after recipe -- and I can't come up with one that tastes right. My problem is that no matter how much italian dressing I put in, after a few hours it tastes like...oil...tasteless. Even when I put more italian dressing in a second time ... after a few hours it tastes really oily. I don't know how to get the taste to stay.

How hard can this be??

I need to put this one under "cooking failure" (except that I don't have a category for that and I'm hoping not to have tooooo many cooking failures).


There's a trick I'm not privy to...


Does your pasta salad turn out?

Bunco

I don't like Bunco. So, when it was my turn to host it -- I said we weren't going to play. My favorite part of playing Bunco with my friends is seeing my friends...and eating. So, on my night, I decided we'd just visit and eat. I asked everyone to bring a dish plus the recipe. I'll make copies of the recipes for everyone. And we'd chat. I told them they could bring a craft they were working on, if they wanted. These are the recipes I fixed :

Hot Beef Dip

1 – 8oz pkg Cream cheese, softened
½ Onion, minced
1 C sour cream
½ t Garlic powder
½ Green pepper, minced
1 pkg dried beef, cut in 1” squares

Mix everything together and bake ‘till bubbly, 30 minutes @ 350. Serve with crackers. When I bake this in my stoneware loaf pan, it stays hot on the way to a party covered with foil, even in winter.

Isaac, you do not bear
The wood alone,
For on your father’s heart
It weighs like stone.-Charles L. O’Donnell

Cheese Cake

4 – 8oz pkg Cream Cheese
Grated zest of 1 lemon, 3t dried or 1T fresh
½ C Heavy cream
Grated zest of 1 orange, 3t dried or 1T fresh
1 ½ C Sugar
1 t Vanilla
4 Eggs, lightly beaten

Mix cream cheese, sugar & cream until smooth. Add eggs & beat again. Mix in the zests and vanilla. Pour into a buttered 8x3 inch round pan (I use a springform). Place this pan in a slightly larger pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan to come two thirds up the side of the cake pan (I used tap water). Bake until firm, approximately 2 hours, adding more water when necessary. Turn off the oven, open the door, and let sit until cooled. Invert onto a platter. Garnish with strawberries.
[Her actual recipe calls for ¼ lb finely ground blanched almonds to be placed in the bottom of the cake pan before you pour in the cheese cake so that when you invert it, the almonds are on top. I don’t do this step.]
I bought grated zests in the spice isle just for this recipe – a great investment!

A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on. – Carl Sandburg

Guacamole

Dd#2's Godmother gave her a new recipe to try and she loves it. You start with fresh Avacado, which I'd never been brave enough to buy before.

1-Avacado
1/4 tsp cumin (or more to taste)
1 tsp or so lime juice (substitute lemon juice if you don't have
lime)
pinch of salt (Dd#2 used 1 Tblsp to suit her taste)
1 tsp finely chopped onion (DD#2 used 3 TBLSP to suit her taste -- it did
turn out good!)
tomato, chopped (she used about 1/4 cup)
*Some people add cilantro, but we didn't have any and Dd#2's godmother didn't recommend it. However, Dd#2 LOVES cilantro, so she would have put in lots if we had it.
Serve with a dallop of sour cream on top

Avacado is fresh when the peel is black & a little soft to the touch, but not smooshey. Cut in half width-wise (as opposed to length-wise). Spoon the seeds out & throw away. Spoon out the flesh into a bowl leaving the peel intact. Throw away the peel. Smoosh up the flesh with a fork, but leave it a little chunky. Sprinkle cumin ontop. Sprinkle lime juice. Sprinkle salt, onion & tomato. It wasn't in the directions, but Dd#2 stirred it up. Chill before serving. Dd#2, always desirous of instant gratification, put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. We ate it with lime-flavored tortilla chips. It was VERY good.

Warning:
It turned black in the fridge, but we were told to expect that when not eating it the first day. The Fairy godmother said it was fine to eat unless it seperated and water was on the top. It was not pretty, though, and Dd#2 refused to eat it black.

A Trifle of a problem

I'm helping with a baby shower today. Last night, Dd#2 made a trifle for the party. She was sooo proud of it. We put it in a beautiful glass bowl and in the fridge. She spent the night at homeschool friend's house after the poetry recital last night.

She'll be soooo disappointed when she comes home to find that her Daddy ate half of it in the middle of the night......

Trifle
*Bake a chocolate cake. Don't ice it. Let it cool.
*Cut it up in small squares (1"ish).
*Make up 2 pkgs of pudding (we used chocolate).
*Layer half of the cake squares in the bottom of a glass bowl with half the pudding and 1/2 small tub of whipped cream. Then do another layer of the same using up the whipped cream. *Sprinkle with chopped candy (we used frozen penut butter cup, but the recipe called for Heath. You could also chop up cookie (choc. chip or oreo...).

PUT A SIGN ON IT IN THE FRIDGE SO IT DOESN'T GET EATEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! (Awesome the next day, too!)

30 Day Cooking (and then some)

My goal this weekend was to put enough food in the freezer to last at least a month, and some dinners to pull out still in the second month - to get us through until we're on summer break (April 27th is our end date).

Saturday morning I put a pork roast in the crock pot, cleaned out my fridge & wore gloves to reorganize my freezer. Then I spruced up the kitchen and went shopping. I shopped for about 3 hours to the tune of about $700.

I bought 45 # of hamburger and fried up 25 of it (5# was made into taco meat for nachos, tacos & burritos). I had bought 80% lean, so each 5# only made up 4 meals. I have a 14" skillet that easily handles 7# and can handle 10# of hamburger at a pop, so it doesn't take but a couple to three hours to fry up that much meat. I fried up 5# of sausage. I made 20# into meatloaf and of that made several batches of meatballs. I made 11# of grilled chicken breast on my XL George Foreman grill (I use it ALL the time since Dave doesn't grill). I bought 10 dz eggs & made them into meatloaf, egg casserole, & hard boiled 36 eggs for egg salad & to eat just for a snack leaving 3 dz raw to be used later. I bought a cooked ham and had the meat dept. slice it for sandwiches & bought swiss in bulk to go with it. 2 beef roasts for beef & noodles & shredded beef sandwiches.

• 16 hamburger - casseroles (I have about 4 different ones we eat), chilis & stews, & meat sandwiches (sloppy joe).


• 4 taco/nacho/burrito options


• 2 sausage & rice casseroles


• 3 egg casseroles


• 120 meatballs = 6 meals' worth


• 8 meatloaves (I've got a new recipe to try to make them cupcake size and put ingredients [like a ho-ho] inside the meatloaf and there's about 4 different kinds of meatloves to made & try) *See the boys mixing up the meat mixture? I didn't trust them to not get it all over their clothes. They enjoyed helping!


• 11 chicken meals (5 shredded or diced for chicken salad, chicken & noodles, chicken casserole & 6 whole breasts to be decided later)


• 14 lunches of ham & swiss divided into meal-sized portions - Dd#1 seperates the ham in the picture.

We had pork roast for dinner and I froze the left-overs for a pork & noodle dinner. I already had 8 alfredo sauce packets, 2 spinach lasagna, 3 frozen fish meals & hamburger patties. I bought 10 pkgs of hotdogs, 10-bologna, 10-frzn. french fry pkgs. and lots of misc. pantry items to complete the dinners above.

By Saturday night I was tired -- but thrilled that it's done for a loooong time....!!!!

Alfredo Sauce

When I take this somewhere or have people over, this is a much requested recipe.

I just have a recipe for the alfredo sauce - the rest of the recipe is just tossing in a variety of (some kind of pasta, some kind of meat, some kind of veggie).

The recipe makes 10 meal portion servings (~3 1/2 cups - 4cups) that I freeze in quart-sized. Then I add whatever meat / vegetable / noodle combination that sounds good and I have on hand. Sometimes I'll add potato, cheddar & ham. Or ham, mixed veggies & whatever noodle I have (it's a little salty). I've used it to make in a white chicken/spinach lasagna roll-ups / over chicken-stuffed mannicoti / or over cheese-filled large shells. My family's favorite is frozen broccoli, chicken breasts (grilled on my george forman) & ziti - it's one of our favorite family meals as all the kids will eat broccoli.

Put it in a huge stockpot (it ends up making around 40 cups) and plan to spend a
couple of hours on the sauce (not exclusively, but you need to keep coming back
to it) I actually burnt the stuff I served last time and everyone still
loved it. I could taste it, but I didn't think anyone else would
notice.

White Sauce: used in 9 dishes (fettuccine alfredo, chicken & spinach shells, chicken & broccoli shells, straw & hay, creamy chipped beef, creamy ham scalloped potatoes, scalloped potatoes, creamy beef stroganoff, chicken & spinach lasagna)
Combine:

• 6 cups cream
• 7 cups milk
• 2-3 sticks butter
• (~3 Tblsp of fresh minced) garlic
• 9 cups shredded parmesan cheese
• 7 sticks cream cheese
• 7 cups sour cream

Cook over low/medium heat until melted through. Divide into 9 meals in freezer storage bags. Add 1 lb chosen cooked meat to each dish and freeze.

I don't add my meat when I freeze it. I melt the cream cheese first (I usually have a kid do this part - it's a little boring) then add milk & rest of ingredients one by one that need melted. My first batch didn't have the cream cheese completely melted
and it was good enough to make again, but I didn't like the chunkiness.
When it's cooled a tad, I label the zip-lock bag & put it in a narrow bowl, or coffee can and ladel it into the bag that way. Freeze flat.

Recipe Organization

OH MY Heavens!! I LOVE the idea of...

laminating recipe cards. Right now, I have mine in a binder, but it's so big, that the weight of the pages pull open the metal rings. Also, pulling something out to work with is a pain (and I think it's a 4"!). I already have a printed comb binder cookbook of many of my recipes (I made one to give as inexpensive $4each? Christmas gifts). However, I keep adding to my recipes!! I think alphabetically, not main dish/appetizer ( I just think weird). Also, many of my recipes have variations that may turn it from a side dish into a main dish or from a dessert into a snack. I love the idea of printing & pasting onto index card (or printing onto cardstock & cutting up) and then laminating the tried and true ones (that I've already made my changes to).

I don't know when I'll have the time to do this....but it's a great solution for me!!!

Never quit, never quit, nev....

Yup. I've got it. I'm sick. (Here's me whining like my kids) "I reeeeeealllly wanted to do 30 day shopping and cooking this weekend...." Last night I made a quick trip to the dollar store and was planning on hitting Wal-mart after that. I was too tired and couldn't make it. I guess this will be a sit-on-the-couch-and-watch-This Old House-weekend.

Yesterday, Dd#1 made lunch & the side for dinner. Dd#2 is still grounded from the kitchen for using the microwave without asking. Dd#2 is the first kid in the kitchen. She loves to "cook" creatively. The mess, the wasted ingredients - it all gets to me. However, Dd#2 is fairly good at it, as she is most everything - just overly eager, as she is everything. Dd#2 is a 'follow the recipe exactly' kind of girl. She's like her mama (who doesn't always follow the recipe but is lost without one).

Then, Dd#1, taught the boys to do the dishes. What a wonderful girl for a sick Mama. However...

They broke my baking stone. All the while I'm thinking how much I didn't want to have to buy a new stone. I wanted to buy things that I want, not what I need. But, now I need a new stone. Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm having a PamperedChef party...whatever. Dd#1 cried. "Don't cry, honey. It's just a thing, and you're so much more important than a thing." All this could pass away...her help and effort and self-image are so much more important than anything else.

Homemaking Meme

Before we begin, you should know that I basically suck at this stuff.
Aprons – Y/N?
No, mostly I wear sweats & sweatshirt and walk around dirty just from eating.
Baking – Favorite thing to bake:
Chocolate Chip Cookies!! Honestly, cookies of any kind. Then, there's homemade cheesecake. Martha Stewart has a killer one that's way worth the extra ingredients. I LOVE BAKING!
Clothesline – Y/N?
No, it seems like we have so much laundry, things would NEVER get done if I had to hang it out. Dd#1 has been doing a GREAT job this year with laundry as her weekly job. In the winter, we have at least 15 loads, and I'm able to keep the house cleaner since she's taken over laundry. Also, I like how soft the dryer gets things.
Donuts – Have you ever made them?
Hello! It's BAKING! I don't love them, but they're edible. Duncan Donuts ROCKS, though. Unfortunately, we have to drive almost 30 minutes across town to get to the only one, here.
One homemaking thing you do every day:
Pick up books - It's about the only thing I can't stand to see on the floor. They're BOOKS!
Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
OH, YEAH! This was my Christmas present from Dave a few years ago. I'd been begging for one, but he kept saying it's not like we have a big family, we've just got 4 kids. My s-i-l finally got on his case, THANK YOU, SANDI! I asked for a big red bow on it - that didn't happen. I thought it was a pretty romantic gift anyway - well, not actually romantic, but a WAY good gift.
Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
Yes, but I'm not allowed to put anything down it per the plumber who had to come out 2-3 times a year for the first 2 years we lived here.
Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource?
Jesus. I know, it sounds so cliche. But when I get desperate enough about something, then I finally remember to ask for His help. Then I start asking around to all my friends. Through their help and His ability to bring just the right person to advise me (it's kind of like a superpower He has), it gets figured out. I suppose after that it would have to be 30 Day Gourmet. That has helped my home more than any one thing I can think of by freeing up my time.
Ironing – Love it or hate it?
Dd#1 or Dave does all of it. It's not that I don't notice the wrinkles - I just don't care. I figure that it's clean, what more do you want?
Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
Believe it or not my drawers are pretty well organized. I can't keep any of my surfaces clean (like my desk, the buffet...) but it feels like lying to clean off a surface by shoving stuff in a drawer. So the hidden parts of my life are fairly well organized - it's the parts that everyone sees that are a mess. So...what does that really say about me????
Kitchen: Design & Decorating?
I love copper in a kitchen. I also like slate blue & butter yellow together, but I have yet to accomplish that in kitchen decor. Now if I had DISHES those colors, I'll bet I could get my kitchen those colors (I have a thing for dishes). My other favorite colors are muted sage green & off white. Presently my kitchen is taupe with white edging. I like it. The dark cabinets will have to go...someday. P.S. My husband installed ceramic tile -- I don't like it.
Love: What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Throwing parties. A lot of homemaking goes into getting ready for one -- but I love parties!
Mop - Y/N?
It's a kid job, 1 time per week, unless we're going to have a party.
Nylons - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
I don't own any. (When I did it was washing machine - because if something can't take the washer or dishwasher, it doesn't belong in my house). I bought knee-high black boots at Wal-mart a few years ago and that's what I wear under my skirts to church in winter. In summer, I wear sandles without hose.
Oven - Do you use the window, or open the door to check?
Open the door. The kids love the window, though and stand by the oven for 20 minutes waiting for the cookies to be done.
Pizza - What do you put on yours?
As many veggies as they can pile on. Or taco pizza - with lot's of sour cream.
Quiet - What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
Read
Recipe card box - Y/N?
Yes, 3-ring binder for 30-day, lots of cookbooks, and the web. None of the organization works well for me, though. I think I'll have to print my own cookbook with lots of extra pages for new recipes.
Style of house -
Greek Revival - "Tara, I've come home!" It sure doesn't look like that on the inside, though!
Tablecloths and napkins - Y/N?
Paper napkins & we only use tablecloths for parties - did I mention I love parties?
Under the kitchen sink - Organized or toxic wasteland?
Fairly well organized. It falls under the junk drawer post above.
Vacuum - How many times per week?
Do I have to answer this? Mostly we vacum before we have a party. The floor has to be picked up completely (not just books off the floor) and that doesn't happen every day. I guess that's something I could work on.
Wash - How many loads of laundry do you do a week?
Winter - 15-20 / Summer ~10. Summer clothes are smaller and more fits in the washer. The kids probably change their clothes more in summer, though.
X's - Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?
Yes, but I loose my list all the time.
Yard - Who does what?
Dave does most of the lawn work. I help with the beds and the garden, he does all the big jobs.
Zzz's - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Putting my evening lap project (crochet, books for lesson plans, knitting...) away so the kids to rip it all apart the next morning.

Vacation vs. Home

Vacation was fun. Up to the Potawatomi Inn, again. Craft room, swimming, picnics in the suite room, sledding off Lake James, scrabble, TV, foosball / airhockey / pingpong, walks around the Inn, reading aloud, and chatting with friends filled our days. I'm exhausted and sooo happy to be home. Our dog, Maggie, is happy we're home too. I think we lost a newt and one fish. The state-run inns have the b1g1 free in Dec - Feb, so the kids were sooooo proud of themselves that they paid for vacation!

I'm still doing laundry and have to write lesson plans for Monday. I do them a month at a time, so then I'll be done until March comes around. (not with laundry, though). I also need to start planning a 30-day cooking session. We have NO FOOD in the freezer (except the 1/2 gallon of milk that I froze to use as ice for the cooler until it melted enough that we could drink it -- I forgot it in the freezer when I was packing the cooler for vacation.)

Off to change the laundry -- it's good to be home!

P.S. Dave bought me a digital camera from e-bay on Tuesday!!!! It should come any day!!! THANK YOU, SWEETHEART!

30 Day Cooking

Whoa! Yesterday was shopping and cooking:

• 7 lbs of taco meat
• 8 lbs of sloppy Joe
• 4 lbs of browned hamburger with diced onion
• 16 lbs of shredded beef (for sandwiches)

Today was cooking:

• 16 cupcake sized individual pumpkin pies
• 2 full-sized Paradise Pumpkin pies
• 2 mini (pot pie) sized blackberry pies with lattice
• 1 Blackberry Cobbler
• 1 Batch of fudge

It was really a "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie..." type of cooking.

• I had left-over canned pumpkin in the fridge from this week, so we started the individual pumpkin pies.
• When we'd mixed that up we had more pumpkin left, so we made Paradise Pumpkin pies.
• We'd made my grandmother's pie crust recipe for the individual pies and had left over crust, so I made more crust and let ds6 make his own mini pies and he chose Blackberry from the options I gave him.
• That only used up half the Blackberry filling, so we made a cobbler.
• We were out of evaporated milk, so I substituted 1/2 whole milk and 1/2 condensed milk for the paradise part of the pumpkin pie, so I had 1/2 can of condensed milk left over and had to use it - so I found a fuge recipe...

I really love 30 Day Gourmet and what they do for my freezer. I find myself proselytizing for 30 Day cooking all the time! I'm just so excited at how much it helps:

1. my physical exhaustion at the end of the day
2. my mental exhaustion after teaching all day (I don't have to think about what I've got in the pantry, what that recipe takes...)
3. my emotional exhaustion (I end up screaming at the kids more when I'm cooking dinner than at any other time of the day).

Tips from today - wear hot mitts to sort the freezer. This made a HUGE difference for me! I sorted the freezer - basically, took everything off 1 shelf at a time and sorted it into "breakfast, sweets / side, sauces & condiments / chicken & fish / meat / and a it won't fit anywhere else shelf"

Other Tip from today - As I have just a few spoonfuls leftover from rice, vegetables, the main dish, desert, etc. - I put it in a freezer bag labeled as a "Frozen Meal" and the contents. Then when Dave comes home from working late and asks the inevitable "is there anything to eat in there?" He can pull out a full and varied dinner and nuke it. Otherwise, he might wake up in the middle of the night and find my stash of cookies or raid the penut butter...