Kitchen Tip Tuesday - Think ahead Meal Prep

Recently I have been posting about menu planning and how I've not been too successful with it. I am working in that area and am happy to say I'm doing pretty good so far. I am still on track for not grocery shopping for two weeks. My next regular grocery shopping date will be 5-23/24-08. At least that's my plan. I realized this morning that there will be no more meals that contain cheese after today, as I am about to use the last of it!

But, My Kitchen Tip for this week is to do as much of your meal preparation as you can ahead of time when you are not rushed.

I am not a big fan of freezer cooking because, Number 1: It doesn't taste good to me; and Number 2: I tend to never get around to using the frozen foods. I think part of the problem is that I haven't found the recipes that we like frozen.

So I am trying to compromise with partial ahead of time meal preparation.

These are some examples of this:

1. On tonight's menu is Mexican Rice Bake, so this morning before work I am cooking the rice. I'll put it in the fridge and when I get home I'll be way ahead of the game in getting this meal on the table. I also placed the frozen package of hamburger in the refrigerator last night so when I get home this afternoon it'll be completely thawed and ready to brown.

2. As soon as I get home from the grocery store, I could brown onions and ground beef and either freeze it or place it in the refrigerator for use in recipes that call for that, such as spaghetti, taco meat, chili, etc.

3. Last night I made honey glazed chicken legs. Next time I make this, I could freeze the chicken legs in the sauce and then just thaw it and place in the baking dish on a busy work night.

4. I could mix up the dry ingredients for certain recipes and place meal size portions in zip lock bags or plastic bowls. Examples could be Chicken flavored rice, taco seasoning, and chicken pot pie crust ingredients.

5. I am already looking ahead to the chicken pot pie recipe that's on the menu later this week. The biggest thing about this recipe is having the chicken boiled ahead of time. I plan to do that tonight, then I can put part of the recipe together the morning we are going to eat it and put the final recipe together right before cooking it.

6. Even better, I could have boiled this chicken over the weekend and placed the meat in a freezer bag specifically for recipes like chicken pot pie.

UPDATE!!!

7. I had to include Little PenPen's idea she left in the comments. Cook your chicken in the crockpot on Saturday to be used in recipes that week! I AM DEFINITELY GOING TO DO THIS ONE!!! Thanks Penny!

How do you plan ahead for your meals? Menu planning, freezer cooking, partial freezer cooking, or all of these?

For more Kitchen Tips go to Tammy's Recipes!!!

A Monday Minute

Good Morning! I thought Monday was just here. AARRGGHH!!!

We had a very nice Mother's Day weekend. I was able to spend time with my Mama. We went to church, even got lost on the way home. Never follow an 83 year's directions through the country when she hasn't been through that area in a few years... even though you both should know those back roads like the back of your hand! LOL I was trying to avoid a certain road that's hazardous to drive when its raining. I ended up back on it anyway.

Our church service was very nice. A little flower bouquet was given to the oldest mother and my Mama was too young to even come close. There were two 89 year olds there! The service ended with a male choir member sing a solo with piano music of "Ave Maria". It was so moving.

I also was able to spend time with my children and grandson. They are wonderful!

Saturday I made three clothespin/storage bags and greatly enjoyed making a little different design on the opening. One thing I like about sewing is being able to make something different every time. Just use another combination of fabrics and you've got a new end product! One of my most enjoyable experiences in quilt making was making the two sampler quilts I made when I was first learning to quilt. Every block was a different design. I got excited over every one!

I have been working on my menu for the week in an effort to stay on my "Not going to the grocery store for two weeks" plan. I'll start my week on Saturday, even though Saturday and Sunday are over.

Saturday: Lunch - Leftover homemade pizza; Supper - Homemade chicken salad, Egg Noodles cooked in the broth. My plan was to cook garden peas also, but no one wanted them. My hubby only wanted a chicken salad sandwich. My son and I need our carbs, so we ate the noodles, too. There was enough chicken salad for my son to have sandwiches in his lunch for two days and for Hubby to have one on Sunday night.

I'd give you my recipe for my chicken salad, but you can't make it. You don't have my Mama's homemade pickles, so it just wouldn't be the same. ...

Sunday: Mother's Day. We were invited over to one of my brother's house where we had a great family meal. (Pepsi Cola Ham, Pepper Steak, Rice, Corn, String beans, Collards, Deviled Eggs, Rolls, and chocolate layered desert)

Monday: Honey Glazed Chicken Legs, Broccoli and Cheese, leftover egg noodles.

Tuesday: Mexican Hamburger Rice Bake, Green bean side dish.

Wednesday: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Hamburger Steak, rice and gravy, (I'm sure there'll be left over veggies from earlier in the week)

I plan to go through my pantry, cabinets and freezer to scope out any meals to fill in to stretch our food as much as possible. My Mama always brags that she can always come up with a meal from her cabinets. Lets see if I can do that!

Hope you have a great Monday!

Frugal Friday - No Shopping for Two Weeks

I have made the decision that I am not going back to the grocery store for two weeks! No matter what we run out of, we're going to make do. I'm going to allow us one trip, maybe for milk and bread. (or Doritos?!!) LOL

In a couple of posts this week I posted about menu planning and have decided to make a list of meals, enough to last two weeks and a grocery list of the foods I need for two weeks, after taking into account what I already have in my pantry and freezer. I've already spotted some good deals at Food Lion this week, which will be great for stretching our meals!

I've seen other bloggers who had Pantry Challenges, to see how long they could eat from their pantry and freezer before going to the grocery store. My own daughter does this from time to time. My challenge is make do for two weeks.

Who says there is a rule that you have to go to the grocery store every week, even when there is perfectly good food available already?

Ok, think of it this way: If there was a gas shortage so severe that only emergency driving were allowed, what would you buy at the grocery store?

I don't have a grocery store located near my home that I can run into often.... However, its not only the money saved in gas, it the time thing. I do want to feed my family well, but does this mean I have to go the grocery store every week or as in our case some times several times a week? This takes away valuable time from being at home taking care of my family in other ways.

My hope is that after becoming successful at only grocery shopping every two weeks, I can stretch this to a month, or more. Next week I will post my menu for the week and keep you posted on how we do "not going grocery shopping for two weeks". This will be a good discipline for me in self-control!

For more Frugal ideas, visit Biblical Womanhood.

Sew Crafty Friday

This week I celebrated Homemaking Dreams' one year anniversary and 30,000th visitor and on Monday posted about a give away of a clothespin bag.

THE WINNER IS: TERRI OF TERRI & CREW, Hearts in Service Blog! Congratulations Terri!

These are two I made from the watermelon and strawberry fabric I posted pictures of last Friday:





Close up of Strawberry bag:



I also made this pocketbook with an "airplane" theme. It seems the teller at the bank my husband uses is part owner of the local small town airport and made a special request for an airplane pocketbook. I finished it this morning so he can take it to her when he makes a deposit today.

Front:



Back:



For more Sew Crafty Friday posts, please to go: Waiting For Him Blog

Menu Planning Progress

Wow, I had such good comments on yesterday's post about Menu Planning. I am really inspired to try the suggestions I received! Thank you Ms. Ruth, Sharon, Denise, Terri, Mom2fur, Linds, Melinda, Billie Jean and Fit Brits, so much! I can see that menu planning should work for me if I do some initial work and then it will save me time each day. I like all of the suggestions I received in the comments and will be going back to read them for more help as I go along.

If I have our menus planned for two weeks (or longer!) and the groceries bought for two weeks, the menus will be doing a lot of the work I normally do every day, for me. I think the key for this to work for me is to be flexible. For instance if I have a lot of leftovers from one of the planned meals, I can substitute that for a meal later in the week. Or, if an opportunity to go out to eat or something comes up to prevent my cooking the planned meal, it's ok.

On election day, sweetie and I went to vote after we got home from work, about 6:00 P.M. We stopped at the small town grill where we vote and grabbed a little supper. So, the supper I was going to cook that night got moved over to the next night.

This week I have been cooking some new recipes and some old favorites. I have planned the meals for a few days ahead, and writing down what we have each day on the May Menu Planning Calendar sheet I printed out. If I keep doing this and keep this sheet, I can just repeat the meals next month.

This is the menu I have had this week:

Monday: Hamburger Steak, Rice and homemade gravy, green beans
Tuesday: Ate out on Election day.
Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore over pasta, Salad
Thursday: Italian beans, salad and homemade honey wheat bread
Friday: Homemade wheat crust pizza, salad
Saturday: Leftovers, sandwiches, etc. (undecided)
Sunday: Mother's Day: undecided

I'll write the undecided meals on my calendar sheet when they are a "done deal" so that I'll have plenty of meals to choose from on my next sheet.

The Chicken Cacciatore we had last night was wonderful!!! This is the recipe for the Chicken Cacciatore. The only change I made was to use boneless chicken breasts and to add green peppers, since I purchased a huge one to use in tonight's itialian beans recipe. When making this recipe I will use what ever chicken I have on hand. Recently,we purchased individually frozen chicken breasts on sale and I only used 6 of them. They are not very big and I was feeding four hungry appetites. I cut them into bite size pieces which made them go further. My family and I loved this recipe and it was very easy to make after work.

This is the homemade honey wheat bread I made last night to serve with the Italian Beans tonight:



This is the recipe:

Honey Wheat Bread (for bread machine)

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups water
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup regular flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon dry milk powder
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Whole Wheat setting, Light Crust, and press Start.

Last night I also cooked the pinto beans that will go in the recipe tonight. Yesterday morning I put them in a pot to soak and when I got home I put them on to cook, placing them in the fridge before going to bed. When I get home the beans will be ready to go in the recipe and the bread will be ready!

Works for Me Wednesday - Menu Planning

This week's edition of "WORKS FOR ME WEDNESDAY" has the theme, "What DOESN'T work for me"

For me this is menu planning! I have tried many times to plan my meals for the week ahead and I feel like its a failure because we have so many leftovers, or something comes up to keep me from cooking the meal that's planned for that day, etc. I've found that I do better just planning day by day.

BUT, I'm still interested in making menu planning work for me!

WHY? Because its bound to mean less work and I'm all for less work! LOL.

So, I'm trying again. I have printed out a menu planning sheet for May found at the Family Homestead website. There is also a great article on buying groceries for two weeks at the time on the same website. My hubby has been doing the grocery shopping for a while now. I feel that this is an extra hardship for him right now due to work responsibilities. So I want to make this job more efficient for both of us.

I would like to do the grocery shopping and buy two weeks worth of food based on two weeks worth of menus. We usually base our grocery list on the Food Lion sales paper each week, but it would be easy to run into the store just to pick up any unbeatable deal that shows up on the off week. Most of the time the same sales at Food Lion just run over and over in a certain sequence anyway! If something's not on sale this week, just wait a week or two and it'll be on sale again.

In addition to buying groceries for two weeks at a time and planning a menu for two weeks at a time, I also want to focus more on "real" foods and cooking from scratch more. There has to be a compromise somewhere for the "working outside the home Mom", with time and money constraints, to be able to cook healthy meals!

I intend to make Italian Beans this week, as a first step toward healthier eating. You can find this recipe at the Family Homestead website as well.

So, wish me luck for turning something that hasn't worked for me in the past into a future "IT DOES WORK FOR ME POST!"

For more Works For Me/Doesn't Work for me Posts, go to Rocks in my Dryer!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday - The Five Minute Rule

I recently read about the five minute rule in the newspaper. Its kind of like that rule I follow at work, "Only handle that piece of paper once".

This is how it works:

If it can be done in five minutes or less, take care of it now, rather than doing it later. By getting rid of little things immediately, you can focus on the bigger projects.

These are some things this rule could be applied to in the kitchen area:

1. Make a gallon of tea
2. Declutter the "junk" drawer
3. Unload the dishwasher
4. Plan a meal
5. File a recipe clipped from a magazine
6. Wipe off the counters
7. Clean out the coffee pot
8. Clean the kitchen sink
9. Straighten the silverware drawer and de-crumb. LOL
10. Organize the spices
11. Take out the trash
12. Wash out the pet's dish
13. Set the table for the next meal
14. Take out items for the nightly meal from the freezer
15. Fill Water pitcher for fridge
16. Straighten up cookbooks or recipe box
17. Shake the dirt out of a rug and sweep around it
18. Go ahead and freeze that meat so it won't get old! (can you tell I have failed to do this before?)LOL
19. Prep the veggies for this week's salads.
20. Start a grocery list

Some of these things can be done while waiting for someone to get dressed, or while you are chatting with your Mom on the phone. If you've got a minute (or 5) before you have to leave the house or start some other project, you can get a small job done.

You could even make a list of five minute jobs to have available for when that five minute slot of time becomes available.

We drink a gallon of tea everyday at my house and I like to get this made in the mornings before I go to work so it'll be ready and cold when I get home. This morning I brewed the tea and usually wait until the last minute as I'm walking out the door to finish it up. But this morning I applied the "five minute rule". It only took 2 or 3 minutes and it was much less stressful than waiting til the last minute.

Another 5 minute or less job I tackled this morning: I planned supper! I already have in mind what I'll make. I was passing through the kitchen and thought, it'll only take a minute to get this out of the way.

Doing these small jobs when you think of them, if they take 5 minutes or less, will help to make your life much less stressful!Take it from someone who tends to procrastinate!

For more kitchen tips, check out "Tammy's Recipes".

One Year Anniversary!

I've been posting on this blog for a year and have had almost 30,000 visitors! I know that's not as many as some blogs, but I am so pleased! When I first started blogging, I had no idea what I was doing. It has definitely been a learning process, but slowly but surely I have figured most of it out! I even received my first blog award. See my previous post!

With that being said, I love blogging!

So in celebration of my one year anniversary and my 30,000th visitor, I am giving away a clothespin/storage bag. I made this Watermelon fabric bag yesterday and will be giving it away in a drawing. However, the winner can substitute other fabric if they so choose. This is the watermelon bag:




The winner can choose from watermelons, strawberries, sheep/hearts, chickens, farm scene, blue bandannas, laundry theme, sunflowers, spring, candy stripe, poodles, cats, or special order!

Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner on Friday!

Thank you to everybody who visits this blog!

Excellent Blog Award

I received my first blog award! Toni at Amazing Grace gave me an Excellent Blog Award. Thanks Toni!

As part of accepting the award I am supposed to award it to ten more bloggers. There are so many excellent blogs out there, but here are ten I enjoy:

1. Elizabeth's Simple Journey
2. Super Mommie's Unite
3. Sort of Frugal
4. Little Pen Pen
5. The Nest Egg
6. A Home With a Smile
7. Happy Hearts at Home
8. The Happy Housewife
9. Hearts in Service
10. Wife Happens

Please pass it on!

Sew Crafty Friday

Happy Friday to each of you!!!

We have an exciting Saturday coming up with a special family celebration going on in Raleigh. To make it even more fun, my daughter lives on the way and we'll be stopping in to see her, her hubby and my grandbaby.

This is what I've been doing this week in the sewing area:

My daughter has a new couch so she was on the lookout for new curtains and pillows to match. She found some fabric shower curtains EXACTLY like the color and design she wanted. Did she let the fact that they were shower curtains stop her?!!! NO. She purchased the curtains, cut them in half and asked me to hem the cut edges. The fabric was a little stiff, so it was extremely easy to sew. I just turned the edge over twice, pressed it, and sewed. The edge I sewed looked better than the other seam that came from the factory!!! LOL.

She bought an extra curtain to make pillows from. She brought the extra curtain and one of the pillows from her old couch to me and I whipped up an envelope back pillow for it in no time.

This type of cover is wonderful because all you do is slip your pillow into it. You can take it out easily to wash the cover or change it to another cover any time you want. I do this at Christmas. I have several Christmas pillow covers and I just put them over the throw pillows I already have out. After Christmas I just take them off. They fold up flat and store easily.

All you do is cut the front square (or other shape) the size you need. On the back you will cut two pieces the same width on one side of the pillows. On the other side you will cut wide enough that they will overlap about 3 or 4 inches. Just hem the edges of the overlapping part. Then put right sides together and sew all the away around. Turn and put your pillow in there and admire your handiwork!

My daughter loved the one I did so much she wants me to cover the remaining ones. She also intends to buy a small amount of fabric in another coordinating solid color for more pillows.

I'm so mad at myself for not taking pictures, but it was last Sunday afternoon and it didn't occur to me!!!

Nonetheless, here are some pictures of other projects for the week:

A set of cloth "Sheep and Hearts" napkins for my Etsy Shop:




As you know we live in a rural farming community and my hubby's job puts him in contact with lots of farmers. He has had requests this week for clothespins bags and tote/grocery bags made from strawberries and watermelons fabric. I found this fabric yesterday and purchased 2 yards of each. I already had some fabric that I think will match for the lining and some ribbon for the trim on the clothespin bag openings. Hubby says they are a little loud, but I think the bags will turn out cute and fit the requests.



I sold 2 clothespin bags and 1 set of shopping bags in the Etsy Shop this week and I had a request for another bag like one that sold. So I'll be busy replenishing the shop tonight and this weekend. I also bought some fabric to make myself (and maybe my daughter) a small handbag. The new spring bag I made myself is great, but its really big. I need a smaller one too.

For more Sew Crafty Friday ideas please go to the "The Waiting For Him Blog".

Thrifty Thursday

THRIFT STORE EXCITEMENT!

My favorite thrift store has a 39 cent sale 4 times a year and this weekend is the sale. This store is only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week. The 39 cent sale does not include large appliances, furniture, large baby items, etc., but does include every thing else in the store. Many of the items I have purchased in the past were only 25 cents to start with, but there are some things I've been waiting for the sale to purchase.

For instance, they have a huge rack of dresses, many of which have lots of buttons on them. The dresses are usually $2.50. For 39 cents I can buy a dress that has 12 buttons on it to use for sewing projects.

There's also the possibility of dresses that have good fabric to use for projects. One example would be a denim jumper I recently bought from this rack at the same thrift store. It has what seems like yards of fabric in it, with a Noah's Ark scene appliqued on the front and the back. The dress is new, without tags. I don't know anyone who wants it. I tried to sell it on EBay, but no takers! I hate to cut it up, but I think the denim fabric would make great tote bags. The sections with the Noah's Ark scenes would make a cute baby quilt or other creative ideas that I can come up with. Here is a picture of the jumper.


FRONT


BACK



AND you never know what treasure you might run across! The store closes at 5:00 each day, so maybe on Friday since I get off work at 4:00, I can get off one hour early at 3:00. It takes me thirty minutes to get to the store from where I work, so I'd have 1 and 1/2 hours to browse.

Today is Thrifty Thursday over at Comical Coupon Cents. You can read about more thriftiness at her blog!

I hope you have a great Thursday!