Healthy(er) muffins (or bread)

*Edited to add two missing ingredients. I can't believe I forgot to type the baking soda and baking powder! My apologies to anyone who tried to make these without the 2 missing ingredients! I made them this morning using the recipe as I typed it here and let's just say, they tasted good but were rather flat, lol.

So far, so good on eating better. We've been walking too! I wanted to share a recipe that I made this morning. I adapted it from a pumpkin bread recipe...soooo good.

Pumpkin Date Muffins
1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C Altell (store brand Splenda)
1 C canola oil
4 beaten eggs
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
2/3 C water
2 C pumpkin solid pack (1 Aldi sized can, or your own pureed pumpkin)
1 C sifted white flour
2 1/3 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C Bob's Red Mill 5 grain hot cereal
1/3 C raw wheat germ
1 T flax seed
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 package dried dates (or raisins, dried cranberries, etc)

Mix the first 10 ingredients in order given. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and blend them into the mixture. Add your dried fruit last. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (for bread) or 15-20 minutes (muffins).

If you make this into bread, it will make 2 large loaves and 1 small loaf. For muffins, it will make 2 dozen regular sized muffins and 4 dozen mini-muffins.

Delicious! These freeze well. Just place them onto a cookie sheet and put them into the freezer. After a couple of hours, transfer them into a ziploc freezer bag. Great for an instant breakfast (or dessert!).

Spring is teasing me ;o)

It is 78 degrees here today and we are sooo loving it! I was going to make potato soup for dinner tonight but I just can't when then weather is this warm. We decided to have a salad-y dinner instead. Fruit salad, cucumber salad (if anyone has a good recipe for this, I would MUCH appreciate it. My great-grandmother used to make it with sliced cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, vinegar, and a pinch of sugar. With all the pinches of this and that, I am not really sure how to do it...I know it will never taste like hers! My kids said maybe she used a secret ingredient that she didn't tell anyone about, lol. I think I just might give her a call this evening and ask her ;o). Oh yes, we are having baked potatoes too.

The potato soup can wait for another day this week, the weather is turning cooler again. This is typical weather around here. It's nothing for it to be 20 one day and 70 the next during this time of year. I do know for sure that spring is on the way to stay though....my allergies are starting already :o(.

Have a wonderful day on those warm days, get outside and get some fresh air. Take a walk and enjoy the day that the Lord hath made!

My husband's favorite coffee :o)

Peppermint Coffee! All I do is break up a candy cane into his cup and pour the hot coffee in over top and it will melt the candy, add French vanilla creamer and you have a yummy, minty cup-o-joe!

Homeschool Fun, A Japanese Meal

Japan

My 10 year old daughter is studying Japan in history. We thought it would be fun to have a Japanese meal to enhance what we have been reading. Last night we made a Japanese meal! Now, I am sure it is not totally authentic, but it got the point across :o).

Here is what we had: Teriyaki chicken & steak, rice, Toffee Sweet Potatoes (yum!), Japanese Onion Soup, sauteed sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli & mushrooms, and green tea to drink. I bought some chop sticks too to add to the fun. It was really good! We had visited a Japanese Steakhouse about a year ago and got some ideas from that. We served the soup first and then we served the rest on regular plates (I don't have all the little cups and plates as you would see on a Japanese table). We had a lot of fun!

This is one way to really enhance your homeschool! This year, we are sticking pretty much to a textbook curriculum (Rod & Staff for most and some Abeka for my high schooler) but I add DVD's, and extra stuff to bring it all together. For our Japan study, I got some Schlessinger Media DVD's on Asia and Japan and some books from the library. We used a recipe for the toffee sweet potatoes from one of the books. I also plan on learning a little of the writing, maybe for art class?

Good, wholesome fun :o).

Apple Cobbler

Here is the first of my apple recipes. This recipe is sooo easy and is delicious! In most of my apple recipes, I use a variety of apples...I think it gives it more flavor. In the apple cobber, I used Golden Delicious, Ida Red, and Gala.



Apple Cobbler



10-12 Large apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)
2 cups of flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 eggs
1 stick of butter



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9 x 13 baking dish.


2. Layer apples in dish. (I added some raisins to mine)



3. In medium sized bowl, mix flour, sugars, baking powder, and cinnamon. Beat eggs lightly into the sugar mixture. Spoon on top of the apples.



4. Cut butter into pats and line them up on the sugar/flour mixture.



5. Bake for 45 minutes.



6. This is delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream!

This recipe is doubled due to my family size. You can easily make a smaller version of this dessert by cutting recipe in half and using an 8 x 8 baking dish. I am thinking that you could also cut the sugar in half and it would still be good!

Menu Plan Monday Oct 20, 2008

I haven't participated in this in quite a while it seems. Here goes the new meal plan for this week!

Monday -chicken, tomato, corn, rice soup (sooo easy! I just literally threw in 4 pieces of cooked, boneless, skinless chicken, 1 bag of frozen corn, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 2 celery stalks and 1 box of Swansons chicken broth. We served it over rice)

Tuesday-the Duggar famous Tater Tot Casserole

Wednesday-bean soup

Thursday-Chicken Pot Pie (having company)

Friday-meatloaf

Saturday-leftovers

Sunday-church dinner (we are taking salad and dessert)

More for ideas on Menu Plan Monday, visit Laura at Orgjunkie!

Soup's On

There is just something about the crisp air and the changing of the leaves. Our Lord is just so creative!

To celebrate October and the harvest season, I made a pot of vegetable beef soup & a few loaves of pumpkin bread. Doesn't it look delicious?

Usually when I make soup for dinner, I make some type of bread to go with it. Soup in itself is pretty hearty, but it doesn't seem like it holds my family over unless I add bread, like pumpkin, cornbread, or zucchini. Since I made pumpkin bread here, I will post that recipe below.

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

4 beaten eggs

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

1 t. nutmeg

2/3 cup water

2 cups (or 1 15 oz. can) of solid pack pumpkin

3 1/3 cups flour

2 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

Mix all ingredients in the order given, mixing thoroughly between each ingredient. Pour into greased loaf pans (It makes 2 larger loaves) filling about halfway through. Bake 45 minutes in preheated oven at 350 degrees or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

This bread is so yummy! My husband likes to spread a little cream cheese on a slice, but I like mine plain.

Squash Chips

Now that that harvest is coming in, what do you do with all that extra summer squash? I always heard that you can't freeze or can squash. So, I always shredded it and froze it in 2 cup portions to use for zucchini bread. A friend recently shared with me that you can freeze it in slices or chunks. Yippee! Squash (or squish as my 4 year old calls it) will taste extra good in my vegetable soup this fall and winter. You can get the directions for freezing squash here.

For those of you who grow squash, you know how abundantly it comes on. I still had some squash after freezing a lot of it. Well, I decided to use the dehydrator I got for my birthday and made some squash chips :o) They are great for dipping and have the texture of a chip, a nice healthy snack. Dehydrating food is the oldest form of preserving food.


Squash Chips

• wash summer squash (or zucchini) and leave the skin on


• slice about 1/4 inch slices


• place on dehydrator screen


• I sprinkled some garlic salt on ours, try some different spices!


• dry for 8 hours at 135 degrees

Before

I got mixed reviews from the family. If you don't normally like squash, these chips may not be your favorite until you acquire a taste for them. Keep trying with different flavors and maybe some dip? (we didn't have any dip to try them with)

After

Happy snacking!

Menu Plan Monday

I floundered around for 2 weeks with no meal plan, again. I made my plan on Friday this time and it seems to work better for me. Here it goes:

Sunday-Hot Beef Sandwiches (recipe below, with pics!) Monday-Brats on the grill, pasta salad
Tuesday-Chicken Enchiladas Wednesday-Breakfast dinner Thursday-Steaks (for mom & dad) and hamburgers (kids) and baked potatoes
Friday-leftover buffet Saturday-Grilled ham sandwiches

Hot Beef Sandwiches (crockpot)

3 lb Roast; 1 large onion, chopped; 3 stalks celery, chopped; 1/4 C vinegar; 1 clove garlic, minced; salt & pepper

Spray your crockpot bowl with cooking spray. Put roast in and put chopped onion and celery on top. Mix vinegar with garlic and salt & pepper and pour on top. Cook on low for 8 hours. After it is tender, shred with 2 forks. We put the meat on Onion buns that I get from the Wonder Bread store. YUM! Jasons favorite!

Check out Orgjunkie.com for more ideas on menu planning!

Blessings,

It's Coming...

The harvest is coming! The harvest is coming!

This photo was taken a few days ago, so my squash did grow a little more. I cut it last night! I sliced it and sauteed it with a red, yellow, and orange pepper with a little butter and onion. YUM-O! I can't wait! They are getting ready to all come on at once. No more paying sky-high prices at the store (for a little while anyway!) for fresh produce.

It can't get any better than that!

Mulberry Jam :o)

The other day, my father-in-law calls up and says that they have a Mulberry tree that is loaded down with berries, would we like some? Ummm...sure! We don't turn down fresh produce of any kind. So I did a quick search for any type of mulberry recipes from my favorite food preservation site and decided to try some jam.

I did find when doing my search, that you have to be careful in the type of mulberries that you get, apparently some are poisonous. We determined that his were okay so we layed out a tarp and started shaking! The tree was loaded but not many fell :o( So we tried to pick some but most of the branches were too high. Needless to say, we didn't get many.

We came home and washed them and cooked them. I added a pound of strawberries to be able to make some jam. After washing and cooking them, I ran them through my foley food mill to get out the bigger seeds and stems (the stems on the mulberries are a pain to try to remove by hand!). I would up with 3 cups of cooked berries, so I added 3 1/2 cups of sugar (!) and 3/4 of a pack of pectin and cooked until it gelled. I put them in a water bath for about 10 minutes. I only got 3 of those little jars and then a little extra (for us to have a taste!) It turned out delicious! I think I overcooked it a little though because it didn't seem like it was getting to the gelling point and I kept it on but then it got harder to spread. Oh well. We can always make syrup with it. You just put it on the stove with a little butter and heat on low. Much cheaper than the fruit syrups at the store!

We'll go back next week to see if we can get more berries.

Week of Strawberries Part 4, Strawberry Shortcake!

Ahhh...so refreshing. Strawberry Shortcake. You just can't get any better than this!

Here is my recipe for homemade shortcake. SOOO much better than those store bought shells!

Shortcake

2 1/3 C Bisquick
3 T sugar
1/2 C milk
3 T melted butter

Mix vigorously for 20 strokes (or in your mixer!). Spread into greased 8 or 9 inch pan (I use my round cake pan). It will be a little hard to spread, but don't worry, it doesn't have to look pretty...you are putting strawberries and whipped cream on top! Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm with crushed berries (I add a little sugar to ours to take away the tartness) and whipped cream. YUM!

NOTE: This post has been sitting in my dashboard thing since June 10th. I kept waiting to post it so I could get a picture. I have made this at least twice (maybe 3 times?) and these people that live with me keep eating it too fast. :sigh:

Week of Strawberries

Sweet and Juicy Strawberries

We went strawberry picking today! I love this time of year when we can go to farm markets to buy fresh produce. It just seems so wholesome. The kids and I had a great time picking 26 pounds of berries! Yes, you read that right! 26 POUNDS! Yum :o)

Strawberries are so good for you too. They are full of Vitamin C and Flavonoids. They are good plain, in desserts, smoothies, salads, etc... I am going to be posting strawberry recipes all this week, including how we process them here at home.

Happy eating!

Menu Plan Monday June 2-8, 2008

I sure hate those weeks that I don't plan! Last week was not fun, not knowing what was for dinner until time to throw something together. This week will be better!

Monday-Swiss Steak (in the crockpot)

Tuesday-Chicken/spinach salad (yummy in the warmer weather!)

Wednesday-Hot Beef Sandwiches (another crockpot) with Onion buns, spinach salad

Thursday-Lentil tacos

Friday-Spaghetti with whole wheat pasta

Saturday-welcome to the leftover buffet!

Last week, I did try some new recipes. I made yogurt!! It was super easy and the kiddos loved it! You can also use this same basic recipe to make cream cheese. You can find out how to make it on Keeping The Home. Emily tried the Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from here. They were really good! Definitely a keeper.

Check out lots more menus for other great ideas on menus and organizing in general from Laura at www.orgjunkie.com !

Menu Plan Monday 5-19-08

We got a new (to us) grill last week and I have used it 3 times already! YUM! Here is the plan for the week!

Monday- grilled marinated chicken (from the new Kraft Food & Family)

Tuesday- Chicken Enchiladas (also from Kraft Food and Family)

Wednesday-Crockpot roast, potatoes, and carrots

Thursday-Turkey sandwiches

Friday-White Pizza (recipe below)

Saturday-Church picnic (I am taking pasta salad and a birthday cake-it is also my son's birthday!)

Recipe for White Pizza:

Your choice & quantity of pizza crust

Ranch Dressing

mozzarella & provolone cheese

bacon (cooked and chopped or crumbled)

chicken (cooked in some olive oil and garlic powder)

Spread the ranch dressing on the crust (instead of pizza sauce), add cheeses and meats and cook at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes. YUM!!!

Menu Plan Monday March 10-15, 2008

Getting back into the swing of things this week! I am going to start some bean sprouts today to have with some meals later this week. I have not done this before but found out how easy it can be from Frugal Abundance. On to my plan...

Monday-Fajitas, I'll have my 13 year old make these as my 11 year old is having toe surgery today and we will be getting close to dinner time. Probably should have done a crock pot meal today.

Tuesday-Chicken pot pie

Wednesday-Roast, carrots, potatoes, maybe some brown rice

Thursday-leftover day--use the roast and leftover fajita stuff and make fried rice (yum!), I am going to try to use my bean sprouts with this meal, spinach salad.

Friday-Homemade pizza night! Trying a new whole wheat pizza crust this time!

Saturday-Beans & Rice, trying this with brown rice this time.

We are still on our quest of eating healthier. I still have a lot of learning to do! About a year ago, we stopped eating refined sugar and sugary products. We did this for several months and I did see some changes in attitudes and behavior. Something we definitely need to get back too! I think one birthday party killed it and we never got back on track. We have added more fruits and veggies and whole grains. I have noticed a definite difference in my blood sugar too! Okay, enough rambling...

Here is the recipe for the whole wheat crust that I am going to try:

1 pkg yeast

1 cup warm water (115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups white flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, and 1 cup white flour. Knead in remaining white flour by hand; about 5 minutes (the dough will be smooth and elastic).

Spray a medium sized bowl with no-stick cooking spray (or coat in oil). Place pizza dough in bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 15 minutes. Spray 14 inch pizza pan (or 2 10 inch ones) with cooking spray. Stretch crust to fit pan, top as desired. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake until cheese is melted and crust is browned. (I got this recipe from the back of the Hodgson Mill wheat flour bag.)

My homemade pizza sauce:

1 small can of tomato paste

1 tomato paste can of water OR substitute both of these with tomato sauce

1/2 tsp of each of the following:

garlic powder

black pepper

oregano

salt

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients together and spoon over crust. This makes enough for 2 pizzas.

Birthday cake!

Have you ever priced birthday cakes?! If not, let me tell you, they are a bit pricey.

Having 6 children, with only one income, it could break the bank! Well, not really, but I would much rather spend that money on a gift or something else.

I have been making birthday cakes for all of our children since our first was born. I have done all kinds and they are quite fun!

For this particular birthday, however, we had severe time constraints with out of town friends coming for a visit, getting ready to host a singing family for Sunday Evening service, etc... SO here is what I came up with, a simple, easy, yummy, frugal birthday cake!

Basic yellow cake mix: $.75 at Aldi, homemade butter cream chocolate frosting (recipe below): $.20-I got to use one of my 20 cent bags of powdered sugar!, a bit of caramel ice cream topping, and a favorite (extra clean, sanitized) toy to sit on top.

Butter Cream Chocolate Frosting*

6 tbsp. softened butter, 1/2 Cup baking cocoa, 2 2/3 Cup powdered sugar, 1/3 Cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

In small mixing bowl, cream butter. Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk. Beat to spreading consistancy (additional milk may be needed). Blend in vanilla.

*Recipe from the back of Aldi brand of baking cocoa.

2 meals, one prep time

How much is your time worth? Sometimes, our time can truly be more valuable than money! I know with my family, a lot of my time is spent in planning, shopping for, and making meals. A great way to save some of this time is to make several meals at once.

There are MANY, MANY ways of "bulk cooking"! I will post much more about bulk cooking in future posts. For tonight, I am going to focus on doubling up on a meal, or making 2-3 meals at one time.

Normally, I do all of my grocery shopping on Mondays. I was not able to today so I had to use up what I had (which we should do anyways!).

This is what I did to make my 2 meals, one for tonight and one for tomorrow night. I had some frozen boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins (purchased at Meijer's on their frequent buy one get one free deals, makes it $1.40 per pound!). I like cooking with this type of chicken because it doesn't get as dryed out as regular boneless, skinless chicken breast.

I took about 10 pieced of chicken tenderloins (for 8 of us) and placed them in a pot with enough water to cover it (Appx 2 cups). While our brown rice was cooking, I boiled the chicken until it was no longer pink inside. While waiting, I sorted out and rinsed 1 lbs of beans (for bean soup tomorrow). I was able to get this ready to soak overnight. I will throw it into the crockpot in the morning with some onions and celery.

When the chicken was done boiling, I took out each piece to cut up into bite size pieces. I sauteed the pieces of chicken with diced onion, celery, and garlic. I poured my leftover "chicken water" into a glass container to put in tomorrows bean soup. This gives it a little flavor. I always save the water, sometimes I freeze it for future soups and/or flavoring. Much cheaper than canned chicken broth.

When the chicken was done, I mixed it up with the brown rice. Some green beans from last years' garden on side and a spinich salad (lovingly made by my daughter, Melissa). Daughter Emily made the cornbread. Dinner is served!

Leftovers Friday

Every week, I try to use up any leftovers from the weeks' dinners. Usually it is a soup, stew, or casserole. Sometimes we have family buffet night depending on exactly what is leftover. It is really a frugal way to stretch your grocery budget without the "we're having that again?!" This is what I came up with this week: Wednesday's leftover potato soup & last nights' roast chicken.

I took the 2 1/2 chicken leg quarters and took all the meat off the bone. I chopped it up and put it directly into the potato soup. I added a can of chicken broth (or you can use your own broth). I then added one bag of frozen vegetables and simmered for about a half hour. It turned out delicious! My daughter completed the meal with two pans of cornbread. Our whole dinner tonight cost appx $1.39 and it fed all eight of us. Makes me smile!

A Taste of Summer

Last summer, my zucchini plants were overloaded with more zucchini than I knew what to do with. That, along with the bags of zucchini from friendly neighbors & fellow church members (I never turn down garden produce!!) I had a problem. A good problem!

Preserving zucchini is easy! Although in the summertime, I enjoy zucchini and squash sliced and sauteed with a little butter, diced onion, and garlic, I had a hard time finding how to can or freeze sliced zucchini. Instead, I shredded it.

I used my shredder attachment to my kitchen aid mixer (thanks to my dear MIL). After shredding, I placed 2 cup portions into sandwich bags (make sure to squeeze out all the air). I was able to fit 4 of these bags into a gallon size freezer bag. Label and freeze! It will be ready when you need it!

Now for tonights' treat, Zucchini Bread.

3 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini

• if using your preserved, frozen zucchini, use 2 bags, which should be 2 cups each. Make sure you squeeze the excess water from your thawed zucchini.

1 8oz can pineapple (drained)

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup raisins

Begin by mixing together eggs, oil, and sugar. Add and mix in vanilla, zucchini, and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients, then add to your mixture.

Lastly, add your nuts and raisins. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. I bake mine in my roaster due to my old over. I burn everything in my oven as it is 40+ years old. It turns out perfect in my roaster.

I'd love to hear new suggestions on food preservation!