Salad, beautiful salad...

Garden: lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, pea pods, radishes
Mexican: lettuce, tortillia strips (or chips), taco meat, beans, cheese, tomato
Asian: lettuce, chinese crunchy noodles, mandarin oranges, cabbage, shredded carrot
Dinner or meal:
-Pineapple salad- lettuce, red onion, grilled chicken, grilled pineapple
-Fried- breaded chicken strips & any toppings
-Cob- lettuce, diced ham, chopped boiled egg, & any other toppings
Those are just a few. Get creative & enjoy those salads!

Cooking Day Today

I had a cooking day today.
I made:
Granola cereal
Chewy granola bars - heavenly homemakers recipe
Mexican chocolate dipped pecans
Breakfast burritos (freezer)

Tomorrow I plan on making:
applesauce muffins (freezer) - heavenly homemakers recipe
pancakes (freezer and for our breakfast)

I also cleaned out 2 of the pantries and the small freezer. I spent most of the day indoors other than to hang clothes on the line. It's been around 106-110 the last few days so the dryer will not be on any time soon! The only plus is the clothes sure don't take long to dry.

Healthier Chicken Nuggets or Strips

Most of us enjoy chicken nuggets until we started hearing here & there about what "bad" things are in them. Then we watched a show called "Kill it, Cook it, Eat it." Well after seeing all the "junk" we have all given those babies up!
Of course, there is a healthier way to make something similar and much tastier too!

Homemade chicken nuggets/strips

Take some boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Cut them into nuggets or strips.

In a bowl mash up cornflakes OR rice krispies OR use bread crumbs.
Add a little onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, & basil.
OR (another OR) just use shake & bake like my mama does. They're good.

Roll the chicken around until covered.

Put on a sprayed cookie sheet. Then spray the top of the chicken with the spray. (Get one of those misters you can put coconut or olive oil in)

Put in oven on 350 for about 30 minutes or until done.

YUMMY!

*In case you're wondering why I have so very many "or's," it's because I use what I have on hand for many recipes & it almost always turns out fine. No need to run to the store for bread crumbs when you have crackers, etc.

Easy Southern Supper

Purple Hull Peas with Ham

3 cups fresh or frozen purple hull peas
1/2 lb ham chopped in little chunks
1/2 small onion (chopped in little chunks)
1 tsp. cajun seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 cups water

Put all in crockpot. Set to low and let cook for about 6-7 hours. Serve over rice & with a big hunk of cornbread on the side!

Homemade Ketchup

It is a tad spicey for my daughter's taste so later in the week I made a batch omitting the cayenne pepper...and it was DELISH!

The rest of the family LOVED the spicey flavor. My son said it was the best ketchup he's ever had!


It was a bit time consuming but, as with all other homemade goods, I know exactly what's in mine. to make 5 pints there was 1 cup of sugar, tomatoes, 1 onion, vinegar, & seasonings. 1 cup of sugar is not too bad when you figure that's divided among 5 pints. -Most ketchups contain lots more sugar and/or corn syrup along with loads of other un-pronouncables.

So homemade ketchup gets a big thumbs up. I now have 9 jars preserved and 1 in the fridge!

Ketchup

Going to attempt to make ketchup for the first time today!

A little of what I've been up to...

I made 17 jars of tomato juice today & 17 jars of tomato sauce. In the picture are some jars of pasta/spaghetti sauce I made a couple of days ago.

Tomorrow I've got a bushel of tomatoes & peppers waiting to be made into chunky salsa. Whew...

Meatball subs

Oven Meatball subs:

1lb ground beef or pork
1/2 cup oats
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder

Also need 1 jar spaghetti sauce, hotdog buns, & motzarella cheese.

Mix all in bowl. Place meatballs in a 9x13 casserole dish. Put in oven at 350* for about 30-40 minutes or until done.
Then pour on a jar of red pasta/spaghetti sauce.
Put back in oven for about 10 minutes or until bubbly.
Slice meatballs in half (or if you make smaller ones leave them whole). Lay on a hotdog bun & sprinkle with motzarella cheese.
Delish!
**As with almost all my recipes feel free to replace some ingredients with what you have. Use fresh garlic, spices, or onions. Use breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs in place of oats. Use cheddar cheese, or no cheese, whatever! lol This is just what we had tonight.

Tomato sauce

Making tomato sauce again today. Using my most favorite & easy recipe from heavenly homemaker.

Wash & core tomatoes. Put in blender & blend up. Put in pot and cook down to desired consistancy. Then waterbath for 25 minutes.

Perfect, yummy, fresh sauce everytime!

...today will make 10 pints jarred up!

Roast Beef Sandwiches

We've all got good recipes for roast beef but here's another one. I made this tonight for supper. We shredded it up and served it on toasted hogie rolls with a bit of au jou (or broth) for dipping. YUMMO!

Roast Beef for Sandwiches
1 beef roast
1 bunch green onions
2 cups beef stock
1 cup water
1 tsp. browning sauce
1 tsp. onion powder

Saute onions in skillet for just a couple of minutes. Place in crockpot. Then brown roast on all sides in the same skillet. Put this in crockpot. Pour on the water, broth, browning sauce, & onion powder. Put on the lid & cook for about 6 hours on high.
When done, shred a bit with a fork. Put on toasted hogie rolls with a dab of mayo & horseradish (ohh I love horseradish) Serve a little bit of sauce in a dish for dipping.

Homemade Granola Cereal

6 c. quick oats
1/2 c. whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
1 c. shredded coconut
1/2 c. powdered milk
2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. kosher salt

Mix all of this well in a big bowl.

Then in a small pot put:

1/2 c. canola oil
1/3 c. honey
1/3 c. molasses
1 T. vanilla

Do not boil. Just heat until it will pour easily.

Pour this over your oat mixture. Mix well with a big spoon until it's all covered & turned light brown.

Then put on 2 sprayed cookie sheets. Place in oven at 300* for about 30 minutes. Stir after about every 10 minutes. Watch it because it will burn if you're not careful.

Allow to cool completely. Then you can add dried fruit like cranberries, raisins, or blueberries. Also some sliced almonds are good to mix in too.

I store it in a tupperware type container or a big bowl with a tight-fitting lid.

Enjoy just as you would other cold cereals in a bowl with some milk!

Friday around the homestead...

It's another cold one today. I plan on baking some bread & some hot pocket type pies. I saw the recipe in a magazine and don't rember it all, but basically it's a flaky pie type dough with a filling of meat & sweet potatoes. I'm just going to season it up where it tastes good & then bake the little pies. I figure they will be good for lunches.

I also plan on figuring out my co-op orders for the future. I think if I plan more carefully I can get stocked up & save some money.

Take care all & hope you have a great day!

Crockpot soup (Semi-homemade)

Potato ham chowder

1 box scallop potatoes
1 can ham
4 cups chicken broth
3 green onions
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups milk
1/3 cup flour

Place potatoes, sauce packet, ham, broth, onions, & pepper in crockpot. Turn on high. Allow to cook for about 3 hours. Then place the milk & flour into a jar. Shake well to get out all lumps. When potatoes are tender pour this in and stir. Allow to cook for about another 20-30 minutes. Serve.

This was really good! I'm adding it to my recipe binder as an easy meal to have on hand.

Deals this week...CARROTS

It's not advertised, but Super 1 has 5lb bags of whole carrots for $2.50 so that's .50 lb. Anyhow, here's what I did...
1. Bought some carrots.
2. Peel, wash, & slice them into rounds.
3. Blanch in salted water for 3-5 minutes.
4. Allow to dry a little on a clean towel.
5. Place into freezer bags & freeze.
Use just as you would any other frozen carrots but feel happy that you spent way less!
Don't foget that carrots are good for your eyes...Did you ever see a rabbit wearing glasses???

Plain old pintos

Here is a favorite dish around here that's cheap & easy. You can cook these on the stovetop, crockpot, or pressure cooker. The ingredients are the same the time only changes by the desired way of cooking.

1/2 cup of pintos per person
3x the amount of water
(so for our family I put 2 cups beans, 6 cups water)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder or a couple fresh cloves
1 tsp basil

Put all in pot and allow to cook until tender. For pressure cooker this will take about 35 minutes at 15lbs pressure.

I usually double or triple this recipe when I make it. Freeze left overs for refried beans, bean soup, or anything you would use pintos in.

For our meal last night we had a bowl of beans with a few jalapeno slices mixed in and a tad of the pepper juice. Along side we had warm corn tortillias with butter. A big slice of cornbread & rice is good with this too!

Canned fruit dessert

Ok so I've been using up some of the things in my pantry & I've vowed not to shop this next week. Tonight we are having hamburgers on homemade buns, sweet potato fries & pineapple peach dessert.

Canned or frozen fruit dessert

I made this one up and used a cobbler type top.

Today I used abou 2 cups frozen peach slices & 1 can crushed pineapple.

Take 2 cans of fruit or about 4 cups frozen. Put them in a pan with a little cinnamon & 1/2 cup sugar. (if your fruit has syrup then only put 1/4 cup sugar or none at all depending how sweet you like things. So put this in a pan and bring to a boil.
While waiting on this to boil, mix up 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, & 2 tsp baking powder. Mix together and then pour in 3/4 cup milk. Mix until smooth.
Now, grease a 9x13 pan with some butter. Pour in the fruit. Then pour the batter over the top. Bake for about 40 minutes. Then sprinkle with some cinnamon & sugar. Put back in the oven for a few minutes until set & golden.

Monday night dinner...

Tonight pork roast in the crockpot, pinto beans, corn, & zucchini.
Trying to make room in the freezer for our years supply of meat that we will be picking up on Saturday!

Freezer Meals

I enjoy cooking most of the time, but we all have days where we're gone or just really don't want to go to the trouble of making, mixing, & cleaning up lots of things. So that's why I LOVE to have a freezer meal or two on hand for a night like tonight!


So, tonight we're having a really delicious meal with very little effort from me. We're having:


Beef enchilada casserole and a hearty green salad.


Casserole was in the freezer, now in the oven. Salad is some left-over lettuce and sliced cucumbers from yesterday and to that I'm sprinkling on a little bit of left-over chopped chicken breast and a boiled egg. (All already cooked & in the fridge)


The enchilada casserole is the same recipe as my rolled beef enchiladas that I already posted but I just layered the ingredients.

Pancakes

Yesterday for breakfast I made up a batch of banana pancakes...yumm-O!

See the little green molds? My mom sent these. Aren't they cute?

Banana Pancakes

2 cups flour (wheat or white)

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups milk

1/4 cup oil or melted butter

2 eggs

Combine all in a blender or wisk in a big bowl. Fry on hot griddle or skillet.

Green Hot Pepper Sauce

6 or so tomatillos, papers removed & washed

3 jalapeno peppers (depends on heat you like), cut off stems & wash

1 big white or yellow onion

Juice of 1 lime

salt

In a cast iron skillet put just a dab of oil. Get skillet hot & then add the peppers, tomatillos, & onion. Allow to char a little. -Where it will turn brown but not burned. This will take no more than 3-5 minutes.

Then blend all together with the lime juice & about 1/2 tsp salt. Taste & you may need to add a tad more salt or lime.

Serve with chips, on tacos, or whatever needs a little heat!