So here we are launching into another week! I am still doing the pantry and freezer challenge! The funny (actual sad thing) is that I am finding some things that just need to be trashed. Such as beef I bought March of 2008!
I have only bought a few things such as $4 as the farmer’s market, some breads, eggs, milk and poptarts;)!
Monday: Chicken, Cauliflower and Gnocchi in Butter Garlic sauce Tuesday: Ham, Cauliflower, and Pasta Bake Wednesday: Cheeseburger Pie, Broccoli Thursday: Throw together for the kids! Friday: Tilapia, Jasmine Rice, Broccoli
I was assigned to bring a dessert to the family Christmas celebration. I knew that brownies, fudge and chocolate chip cookies so I decided to aim at a non-chocolate dessert (gasp! They do exist). This recipe was pretty tasty!
Ingredients: 1/4 cup shortening 1/4 cup butter (can use margarine) 1/2 cup white sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/8 teaspoon baking soda 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup shredded coconut 1 cup chopped pecans
Process: Cream butter and shortening together. Then add the sugars and baking soda. Blend until combined. (Scrap the sides of the bowl as needed) Then beat in the egg and vanilla. Then blend in the flour in stages until it is all mixed. Then mix in coconut and pecans by hand. Then place dough on cookies sheets by the teaspoon full about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Let the cookies stay on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes and then move them to cooling racks. Let them cool completely. I put them in an airtight container and they held up great!
As the new year is about to start I , like everyone else, am looking at changes I want to make. Believe it or not it isn’t to eat healthy. My change I want to make is to do more “once a month”, freezer style cooking. So that leads me to my question for this backwards Works for Me Wednesday. Do you have any recipes that are good in the freezer or any once a month cooking tips?
So I started cooking from my pantry last week and I am aiming at doing it through the month. FishMama asked us how were doing and what our concerns or issues were. Well I have a couple. My big one is knowing where the line is. Do we eat past 4 days a week until it is gone or should I buy potatoes? How much augmenting should I do? I am not sure. The other concern is that my family will become bored. I am cooking a ham out of the freezer but I really only know a couple of things to do with the leftovers (and there will be leftovers). Normally I would freeze what was left in 1 of the 2 dishes I know but that kind of defeats the purpose doesn’t it?
Another issue…Is it ok to skip or toss the stuff we don’t want? You know you do it to..the can of something you should have on hand but don’t care for all that much. We have a few. My husband would like to not be home the nights I use those;). I have learned to not replace them.
Now on the bright side. We are doing pretty good. My goal is to not buy any more meat until my freezer is defrosted and so far so good. We have already thawed some beef to find out that it wasn’t so good. I am taking that as a hint that I need to better manage my freezer inventory after this little experiment so at least I have learned a lesson;).
How about you? Are you doing the pantry challenge? What issues are you having?
Happy New Year!!! Are you all ready for 2010? This month I am trying to cook out of my pantry along with Money Saving Mom and Life as Mom! I can’t completely cook from my pantry but I can do most of it! The big thing I am aiming at is having an empty outside freezer so I can thaw it. Then I want to stock it up with freezer meals. So that brings me to this week’s meal plan!
Monday: Double Batch Beef, Spinach and Pasta in a Red Sauce (for leftovers too)
Tuesday: Tuna Helper for the kids (Mom and Dad out)
This Christmas had been a mess of chaos, joy and lessons (go check them out here). In the chaos I didn’t have the time or stamina to make the gingerbread house. So NerdDad had the awesome idea to just hand out the pieces to the kids to decorate. So we just used canned cake icing to base coat the panels. Then I gave them each a bowl of different types of candy (1 bowl per person so they could keep the germs from sticking their fingers in the mouths;) to decorate. I picked up chocolate covered seeds, M&M’s and mint meltaways from Winco to add to the candy that came with the kit. We didn’t want to give them any of the hard candy because they would have a hard time eating it. These are just the oldest and the youngest’s creations. Then those were their panels to eat.
I have to say, I thought the kids would be very disappointed if I didn’t do a gingerbread house. I do it every year and then they spend a week eating it. They had a ball doing this! They seemed to enjoy the fact they did it more than any gingerbread house I made. Apparently I am once again putting my own pressure on me in other people’s names;). This was such a big hit even if I do a gingerbread house next year I think we will also be doing this!
So there hasn’t been a lot of good food tv on during Christmas. So I am really looking forward to the 1/3 premiere of the Iron Chef with the White House chef (not as excited about Michelle Obama) and the new season of Chopped on 1/5.
Christmas may officially be over but I still have 2 more Christmas celebrations this week. So while a little of the crazy has calmed down, not all of it has. So I am going to try to keep it simple this week. I also am trying to eat out of the pantry and freezer except essentials!
Monday: Beans with Beef, Brown Rice (in my new Rice Cooker), and Broccoli Tuesday: Pasta Bake with Ham and Spinach Wednesday: Tilapia, Jasmine Rice with Spinach Thursday: Pasta Carbonara Florentine Friday: Pizza!!!
Studies are showing that omega-3 essential fatty acids (such as those found in salmon) help mice not react to loud noises. In all seriousness they hope it will help people who have information-processing problems such as schizophrenia; bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders; Huntington’s disease; and other afflictions of the nervous system. I found it interesting that the related compounds found in flax seed oil and vegan sources didn’t seem to have the same effect. But DHA and EPA seemed to do the trick.
I know that I can get overwhelmed by a lot of loud chaos myself so I am going to have try to eat more salmon for my own peace of mind!
