Making Supper

The family has been fighting a bit of a cold - the first of the season for us.

Wouldn't it be very nice if it were also the last cold of the season?  

So, for dinner I wanted to make something warm and healthy. Restorative Roasted Garlic Soup is exactly what we needed. I used this recipe, given to me by a dear friend and wonderful cook. She made a few changes to the recipe, and I only changed the broth base from vegetable broth to chicken because that's what was in my freezer. So the modified recipe is:

3 heads of roasted garlic ( i used 2 large heads)
8 cups of broth (I used chicken, but vegetable is very good)

1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice from 1 or 2 limes added at the end
and then served up with slices of avocado and toasted corn tortilla strips - because that's what I had

But just soup didn't look quite substantial enough for tonight. So I added some meatballs (I love this recipe!) that I had in the freezer to enjoy along with some Butternut Squash Fries.  My house smells very fall-ish.

And, I even had a chance to sort through the little girls' clothes and switch out warm weather wear for cool weather wear this afternoon. I'm feeling quite smug with my accomplishments for the day.

Saving Money: Ground Beef

We go through quite a bit of ground beef here at our cottage so it's something I buy on a regular basis when it's on sale, but I recently needed some and we were all out. Ideally, I'd love to buy grass fed beef on a regular basis, but I can buy it cheaper if we get a quarter or half from a local farm and I just haven't done it for a while. It's on my list of things to do before the baby's born. (Yes, it's a very long list.)

So, here I am, needing ground beef, and not having any in the freezer which means I was at the mercy of whatever price the grocery store was charging. (Yes, I could have changed my menu, but that would ruin the story.)  The ground beef was $3.49 a pound for 85% ground beef. OUCH! I needed 10 pounds. I certainly didn't want to spend $35 just for the meat! But wait! There is a better way. Walk over to the beef section of the store and price the boneless chuck roasts. The day I was at the store, they were $2.99 a pound. So we took 10 pounds of chuck roasts over to the butcher's counter and asked him to grind it for us. We saved $5.00. Not bad. But we could do better. Boneless chuck roasts go on sale pretty frequently (about once a month or so) and the sale price is about $1.99 a pound. So if we plan our purchases around the sales, we can save a whole lot more.  I'm pretty sure all stores will offer this service, as long as they have an in store butcher, so it's worth it to ask. And the best part is that it's free. And we get to see what's REALLY going into our ground beef.

Recipe: Homemade Corn Chowder

I made corn chowder for dinner. Everyone loved it. I mean they LOVED it. I didn't really follow a recipe, just looked at a few different ones, combined what sounded good, and started with a lot of butter. Everything is better when you start with butter, right?

So, here's the 'recipe' so I'll be able to make it again someday. Because if I don't post it, I'll never remember what I put in it. Oh, and you can try it, too.

• Start with a lot of butter in a dutch oven. No, really, put in more. Okay, now a bit more. There, that looks good. Actually I used about a cup of butter. 
• Then add some onions. Not a lot, because Zach doesn't like them. Just a little for flavor. Or more if you're not feeding Zach. (Really, this is how I cook.)  Cook the onion in the butter until it's transparent. Or until Zach comes in and looks in the pot and wrinkles his nose when he sees the onions.
• Now look in the fridge for some ham. Yep, found some. Deli sliced ham. Slice it into little squares. Add it to the onions and butter. I think I used about 10 slices. Bacon (already cooked) would work well instead.
• Now add about a cup or so of chicken stock. Homemade is best. Store bought works just as well.
• Add 3 cans of creamed corn. Yes, 3 cans. I know you don't like creamed corn, but it will taste fine. Trust me. 
• Peel and dice some potatoes. I dice them small, like a half-inch square. They cook faster that way and they're cute little bite size pieces. It looks pretty. I used maybe 7 small potatoes. Maybe more. Maybe less. It's whatever I had left in the bag.
• Cook all this together stirring pretty frequently because everything really wants to stick to the bottom of the pan. It will if you answer the phone or wash the dishes. So don't be tempted. Pay attention. Cook until the potatoes are soft. Taste one to see.
• Then add about 1 1/2 (yes, one AND one-half) cups of half and half. Whole milk won't cut it. Just do it. You'll thank me. Simmer gently until it's all heated through. Don't boil.
• Make some quick homemade baking powder biscuits to go with it. You could do this while the potatoes are cooking. Just don't forget to stir the chowder. Enjoy.

Recipe: Spicy (or not) Potato Soup

Our supper last night was a family favorite. A dear friend made the soup for our family when Emma was born, and we loved it so much we asked for the recipe. And can I say, on a side note, that bringing a meal to a family is one of the biggest ways to bless them. It really is. So here's our quick, easy, budget friendly, and yummy recipe with my notes and changes. I posted this recipe on Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet. It isn't a very gourmet recipe, but it sure is pennywise!

Spicy Potato Soup

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion, diced

4 large diced, peeled potatoes    (I usually add more potatoes)

3 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce     (I use 2 15 oz. cans because that's what I keep on hand)

4 cups water      (I add 5 because I add extra tomato sauce)

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. pepper      (I reduce it to only 1/2 tsp. if I'm making it for people who don't like spicy food)

1 (4 oz.) can green chiles      (I leave these out most of the time because I rarely have them on hand. You could add 1-2 tsp. Tabasco sauce, or Frank's Hot Sauce, or leave this out entirely and add your hot sauce of choice to individual bowls when serving)

Directions: In a large dutch oven, brown the ground beef. Drain off fat if needed. Return beef to pot and add onion, cooking until onion is soft and translucent. Add diced potatoes and tomato sauce. Stir in water, salt, pepper, and green chiles (if using). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour or until the potatoes are tender and the soup has thickened. 

Optional:  Serve with grated Cheddar cheese and sour cream. Garnish with cilantro.

Servings:  I don't know. There are 7 of us with pretty healthy appetites, and we have enough for lunch the next day.

Kitchen Tip: Cleaning up Dough

We're all still feeling a bit under the weather. Some are getting better, others are not. Last night I was pinned between two littles who weren't feeling very well, so Josh and Maddie made supper for us with a little assistance from Zach. Maddie was in charge of the soup (Spicy Potato Soup), Josh was in charge of the biscuits. It all turned out very well. (Sorry, no pictures.) I hadn't realized how little recipe cooking Josh had done. Oops! I have a lot to teach him before he leaves this fall!

I do have one tip to share that I thought was common kitchen knowledge, but apparently isn't. When you're cleaning up after you make any kind of dough - bread, biscuit, pizza, etc. - clean your bowl and utensils with cold water first. Hot water makes the dough sticky and glue-y. Cold water makes it easier to scrape off without having glued on dough stick to everything. After you scrape off as much as you can under cold water, then wash as normal in hot water. Easy cleanup!

New Year Birthday Supper

Our New Year's Day started out a little slow. We didn't stay up till midnight, but because the littles were up way past their bedtime, it made for a very wake-filled night. And one of the middles slept over Grammy's house for the first time. All by herself. Without her closest brother with whom she does everything. And she didn't sleep well. So Grammy didn't sleep well. When Grammy brought her home early (because she missed her Mama and Papa so much, poor thing), we were all pretty much in the same place - wishing for a few more hours of sleep. So we partook. All of us. And then we felt better.

And since New Year's Day also happens to be my mom's birthday, I made dinner and dessert. Simple but yummy!

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pesto
• Roasted Red Pepper and Olive Oil Rice
• Ginormous Green Salad

And a very good and simple Madeira cake for dessert. I added a cup of wild blueberries to the batter. Because I had them and it sounded good.

Mid-Afternoon Chocolate Fix

There are days that call for a little chocolate. Rainy days that start way too early for example. I don't really have the motivation to bake anything big because I have too many other things I should be attending to. So I'll call out the reserves.  Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake.

I like mine with a spoonful of peanut butter placed on top while it's still hot.

There. That's better.

Cooking Bacon

Not too long ago, I discovered a wonderful way to cook bacon. Set the oven to 400℉. Place your bacon in a single layer on a cookie sheet (or two - just make sure they fit in the oven). Then put it in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes depending on how crispy you want it. Be careful taking it out of the oven so you don't spill any of the grease.  Tada! Your bacon is cooked to the perfect crispness and your stovetop doesn't look like it's just been through a splatter war.

And just in case you don't know what to do with the bacon, you can crumble it up onto a bowlful of baby spinach, top with a couple of hard boiled eggs, add some balsamic vinaigrette dressing and mix gently. A super easy and really tasty salad.

Menu Planning Cheats

I have a new best friend. It saves me time, it saves me money, it saves me frustration. What is it? Menu planning.

We all know that planning your meals ahead of time is better for your budget. It makes it easier when you're shopping and helps eliminate those last minute runs to the store for items you don't have and it gets rid of those last minute (very expensive) phone calls for delivery because you just don't know what to cook and everyone's hungry. (Of course, living 30 minutes away from the nearest delivery restaurant has solved that problem for us.)  But menu planning takes time, and there are days when I just don't have any to spare. That's where my new best friend comes in. E-Mealz. I subscribed to it just to see if it would work for us, and so far, so good. It's only $15 for 3 months of weekly dinner menus. That works out to only $1.25 a week. You probably spend more on coffee. They have lots of menu options: Family menus, menus for 2, low-fat menus, low-carb menus, point system menus, even some store specific menus that help you save based on where you shop. It's almost a no-brainer. They even give you the shopping list!! Can it get any easier? (Well, maybe if they came and cooked for me.)

So give it a shot. There are samples on the website that you can try to see if you like it. My only complaint is that the sample menus don't give directions for all the meals on the menu, but they have the ingredients on the shopping list, so you can either shop for everything and figure out how to make the meal based on the ingredients, or just shop for the meals you have directions for.  Oh, and if you sign up by clicking on the link here on my blog on the right hand side (you see it, it's right over there. No. Over there.), I get credit for referring you. So that would be really nice. =) 

Let me know what you think.

Peek a boo

One of the reasons why I'm canning so much is so my family can eat healthier. I've been finding all sorts of problems in the foods I buy at the store. Even when I try to stay away from "processed" foods and cook only with "whole" foods, there is a problem. For example, we eat a lot of tomato products. We use them in sauces, dressings, as an added vegetable in soups and stews, etc. I looked at my can of plain old ordinary store bought Hunt's 100% Natural Tomato Sauce and guess what I found in the ingredient list - "natural flavoring". 

Sounds harmless enough. But what IS natural flavoring? According to the Code of Federal Regulations, it is:

"the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional."

Natural flavor is made by scientists in conditions that are far from natural. They start with one thing, process it, break it down into smaller pieces, combine those pieces in another way, and call it "natural flavorings".

Further research shows that "natural flavoring" often means MSG, or monosodium glutamate.  According to the FDA's definitions, the food ingredient "monosodium glutamate" is "natural", although manufacturers are required to list MSG on the label if they add it to a product.


According to the USDA:

The chemical breakdown of proteins may result in the formation of free glutamate that joins with free sodium to form MSG. In this case, the presence of MSG does not need to be disclosed on labeling. Labeling is required when MSG is added as a direct ingredient.

 Did you see that? "Labeling is required when MSG is added as a direct ingredient."  So if it is "created" through the chemical breakdown of proteins, it is still MSG, but doesn't need to be labeled MSG.

So my search for the true meaning behind "natural flavoring" reveals that it is far from natural, and is often an indicator of MSG. Peek a boo. I see you. And I don't want to play anymore.

Busy, busy, busy

I've been a little busy lately. Between schooling, homekeeping, soccer games, little ones, and canning, I don't seem to have two minutes to put together. I'd like to say that life should be back to normal soon, but this IS my normal. Wakeup, consume coffee, feed children, feed animals, shower, school, first nap, feed children, second nap, make dinner, more school, wash dishes, do laundry, start to can something, eat, run to soccer game, feed animals, finish canning, bed.  Phew! We're stretched to our limits, but I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. It's exhausting maybe, but I'd much rather be busy than to be sitting on the sofa for hours every night watching something useless on TV.  Here's where we are:

•  So far, both teams my children play on are undefeated.  (Woohoo!!!)
• We're pretty much on target with school work, although I don't love some of the curriculum we're using. 
• The animals are doing well, but our chickens are lazy. We have 13 hens and all we're getting is 3-5 eggs a day. Slackers. 
• I've canned 6 quarts of tomato sauce, 7 pints of ketchup, 2 quarts and 1 pint of dilly beans, barbecue sauce is cooked and ready to be canned, several bags of green beans are in the freezer, the last of my zucchini is shredded and frozen just waiting to become bread. I still have more to do, but seeing those frozen bags, and the beautiful jars filled with nourishment that we grew, harvested and preserved makes me inexplicably happy. 

That's all I have time for right now. I have recipes I want to share, posts I've started (some of them just in my head), projects to work on and share, but that will all have to happen another time. Maybe when I'm not so busy. (Yeah, right.)

What was I thinking?

I have reason to question my sanity. This has been a week. I mean a WEEK. I don't even remember part of it, that's how crazy it's been. Let me try to recap the main events.

• Monday - Labor Day. Made Overnight French Toast (that was easy-ish). I honestly don't remember what we did for most of the day, but Monday night we had friends over to celebrate Joshua's 18th birthday with pie and ice cream.
• Tuesday - Joshua's 18th birthday! Good thing we celebrated on Monday, because the little ones were CRANKY. Schoolwork, then took Maddie to the doctor for her foot (she didn't know what she did, but it hurt pretty bad and icing, heating, wrapping and soaking wasn't helping). Turns out she has plantar fasciitis. Nice. Josh went to a friend's field hockey game then out to dinner. I took Zach and Maddie to soccer practice (Maddie took it "easy" and only walked the laps instead of running - did I mention how tough that girl is?), then home, showers, grade school work, bed.
• Wednesday - Thought I had the day planned out, but a last minute cancellation changed things. It made it easier, but still changed things. School in the morning, then drive to town to drop Josh off at hubby's work to take hubby's car to soccer practice, then haircut appointment for me, drive to another town to get some school books for Josh, then back to town for an oil change, then off to buy soccer items for Zach and Maddie, then to pick hubby up from work since Josh had his car, then home, dinner, review school work, bed.
• Thursday - Everyone up early. Josh drives to school for chapel, yearbook and a soccer game. The rest of us drive hubby to work then come home for schoolwork, laundry, bake bread, make dinner, soccer practice, clean up dinner, feed goats, do dishes, showers, review school work, wait for hubby to come home, wait for Josh to come home (celebrate his team's win), watch Vikings lose to New Orleans (Grrrr!), bed.
• Friday - Katie's 22nd birthday!! (Am I really that old?) school work, drive to town to pick hubby up to take him to dentist appointment because Josh needs to drive to soccer practice at the same time then go to youth group, arrive late to appointment because of construction on the way, after appointment go to grocery store, then home, dinner, crash.

Don't forget that there were still diapers to change, a baby to nurse, chickens to feed, eggs to gather, goats to bottle feed twice a day, laundry to do, dishes to wash....

Oh, you were still wondering why I am questioning my sanity? Because in the middle of all this, I decided to use some of our surplus garden tomatoes to make homemade ketchup. From scratch. Yes, I can buy it by the gallon for less than $5, but my hubby likes homemade. So it took me 3 days because I didn't have enough time to make it all at once, and in the end I ended up with not quite 2 pints of ketchup. It's almost half gone already. Why do I do these things??

Favorite Blueberry Muffin Recipe

I made these this morning, and they are a family favorite, so I thought I'd share the recipe.  The recipe comes from my Betty Crocker Cookbook.


Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Streusel Topping:

2 Tbsp firm stick butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Cut the butter into flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl using a pastry blender or 2 knives until crumbly, set aside.

Muffins:

1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of muffin cups.

Beat milk, oil, vanilla and egg in a large bowl. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in blueberries. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle each with about 2 teaspoons of streusel topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12. Eat quickly. =)

Eating Better for Less

I'm a numbers kind of person. I love them. When I'm doing something that keeps my body busy, but not my mind, I often run numbers through my head. I figure out how much it costs in gas to go to the grocery store, how many gallons of oil give as much heat as a cord of wood (still working on that one), I do my budget in my head, then figure out how much I spend annually on certain things (a fantastic eye-opening exercise by the way). 

A huge amount of my figurin' time is spent on budget related items. I'm always trying to figure out how much I'm spending and how to spend less and the largest flexible area of our budget is for food.  So when I came across this post, I was definitely interested. The thought that I could spend less money for nourishing food is huge. The thought of spending less money for nourishing food that I could spend less time cooking? Oh, I can't even put it into words! Ok, so maybe my family won't go for eating kale, oats and milk every day, but it is definitely food for thought. (Sorry, had to do it.)

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

My Aunt sent me this recipe at just the time I was craving something sweet and chocolate. What great timing. I made it for us to enjoy while we watched a movie. Now, when you're making a 5 minute single serving cake recipe for 6 people to enjoy, it takes a little more than 5 minutes, but it was worth it. I will make it again, but we will DEFINITELY share - one mug per person was way too much!

Make sure you use a large size coffee mug, not a little cup.

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract 1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT !


EDIT: I haven't tried it, but I've read that adding 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of baking powder with the flour gives you a lighter cake, BUT it might spill over, so put the mug on a plate. ALSO, you might be able to cook it for less time, maybe 1 1/2 minutes on medium heat, the check it for consistency and cook in 30 second increments.  I like to put a spoon of peanut butter on top when it comes out of the microwave but is still hot to melt the peanut butter. But that's just me.

It started with an Onion

I'm almost at the Mother Hubbard state. You know,

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard,
To give the poor dog a bone:
When she came there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

Yep. My cupboards are getting pretty bare. I have food in the freezer for dinners, but breakfast and lunch fixin's are a little sparse. I did find a can of Campbell's Chicken and Rice soup. So I thought I'd make it for lunch. When I opened the can, Zach thought he saw an onion, so we had to look at the ingredient list to see if onions are in the soup. (They are by the way, and Zach is the biggest onion hater I've ever seen.) While reading the ingredients, we came across one item that will keep me from ever buying canned soup again. I mean it. No, it wasn't MSG, although that's in there. It was mechanically separated chicken. Do you know what mechanically separated chicken is? Just look it up. Personally, I prefer to know that the meat I'm eating and serving is really only meat. No spinal cords for my family thank you!

So, thank you to Zach and his war on onions. Now that I know what's in the purchased soup, I'll be cooking and freezing a bunch of homemade. In my spare time.

An Unscientific Comparison of Meats

The Builder (my hubby), and I went to the local Farmer's Market and purchased a couple of pounds of ground beef from a local farm that raises grass-fed beef. I've wanted to switch from the gross factory farmed grocery store meats for a while, but I could never justify the extra cost. Food is expensive, and we need to stick to a budget. Well, we brought home the beef, cooked it, and were quite surprised. There was absolutely no fat to drain! So I figure, except for a bit of moisture loss, the pound of meat I cooked gave me - get this - a pound of meat! I should have weighed it, but I didn't think about it until after we ate. This pound of meat cost me $5.50. Yes, it was a little hard to explain to the Builder why we were spending that much when I could buy it so much cheaper at the store, but he loves me, and he's a good sport.

Just to compare, a few nights later I cooked some ground beef I had in the freezer. I forgot to weigh it (to calibrate my scale) before I cooked it, but it was 3.5 pounds of ground beef I bought for $3.19 a pound. After I finished cooking it and (attempting) to drain off all the fat, I weighed it. It weighed 2.25 pounds. So I paid for 1 1/4 pounds of fat! BLECH! My grocery store beef ended up costing me almost $5 a pound, and I never could get rid of all the fat. So for just a little bit more, I could buy much healthier, grass fed, local beef. Plus (and this could easily be a biased opinion), the grass feed tasted better.

Totally unscientific experiment completed.

Freezer Meals

In anticipation of the birth of our sixth (!) child in about 6 1/2 (!) weeks, give or take 2 weeks, I am desperately trying to get some meals prepared and in the freezer so that the first couple of weeks will be a little easier. I'm going through my recipes to find appropriate additions to the list, and I have a few favorite websites for recipes as well. My general requirements for a freezer recipe:

• It has to be relatively inexpensive.
• It has to be liked by the majority of our family members.
• It has to be easy to store and prepare from the frozen state.
• It has to be borderline healthy, although I'll let this one slide for some really good freezer snacks.

Some of my favorite recipe sites are 30 Day Gourmet, Heavenly Homemakers, and this list of great recipes. I also like to use recipes I find in other blogs. I haven't really gone wrong with those yet. My current favorite blog for recipes, especially baking is Pleasant View Schoolhouse. She makes wonderful things. Someday I'd like to meet her.

I really need to stop finding new recipes and just start compiling a good list of what I want to cook so I can get those ingredients and start cooking!