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My baby boy is eight years old today! It’s amazing to think how much he has grown this last year. He’s such a mature little boy, yet full of a beautiful sense of wonder and amazement. He’s truly a treasure, and I’m so incredibly blessed to get to be his mom and hang out with him every single day.
This year I took a very simple route for his cake, but boy, are the results spectacular!
For the cake itself, I used the Classic Yellow Cake recipe from King Arthur Flour and added a few tablespoons of sprinkles for a confetti cake. I’ll share that recipe later on, it’s such a good one! I frosted the cake with a basic chocolate buttercream, and while the frosting was fresh and wet, planted Kit-Kat bars around the perimeter of the cake. A 9-inch cake took 5 king size Kit-Kats (or 40 individual bars) for anyone wondering. Then I filled the top in with several pounds of peanut butter M&M’s, as those are Zander’s favorite variety of M&M. A ribbon was the finishing touch, and all told, it took about 5 minutes to decorate this cake. And it’s stunning to look at!
Zander’s absolutely thrilled with his cake, though I think he’s slightly disappointed that it’s not a massive configuration of Lego something-or-other. We can’t wait to dig in and serve it up with a scoop of Cookies-N-Cream ice cream. Happy Birthday Zander!
It’s a birthday week here at the Tummy Treasure household! My little man is turning eight and we’re all excited about that. He chose the birthday dinner on Friday, and I also wanted to allocate as much of the grocery budget as possible to Friday- to allow for cake, ice cream, a few sodas and a couple of other treats. How I’m managing that this week is by utilizing some freezer meals that I have hiding away. The sloppy joes on Tuesday are already prepared- I just need to pick up the buns. Saturday’s lasagna is already in the freezer too, and all we’ll need to add to that is the leftover salad from Friday, and it will be a great meal.
I’m posting the menu plan this week before the shopping trip, because I honestly don’t know exactly when I’ll be doing the grocery shopping, and I’ll be doing it in two parts. Since Zander has requested a salad bar for Friday, I want to get the salad fixings on either Thursday or Friday morning so they are as fresh as possible for our birthday party. Everything else I can pick up earlier in the week, but I haven’t exactly identified when that will be. The weather outside right now is terrible, and I really don’t want to drive in it. But, I do need to go pick up a few things if I want to make supper for today, so I think this week’s grocery shop will actually be in three parts. Sigh.
Here’s the menu:
Sunday: Leftover Day
Monday: Calzones and Clementines
Tuesday: Sloppy Joes, Chips and Salsa, Carrots and Dip
Wednesday: French Toast with Fruit, Bacon
Thursday: Chicken Noodle Soup, Homemade Bread
Friday: Homemade Macaroni and Cheese with Ham, Salad Bar, Cake and Ice Cream
Saturday: Lasagna, Leftover Salad
Lunches this week are probably sandwiches with yogurts and fresh fruit.
Breakfasts this week are cold cereal, toaster waffles with peanut butter, and oatmeal
Sunday’s leftover day actually turned out pretty fun, and everyone ate well. We’ve had quite a few meals in the last few days that generated leftovers, and then there were little bits of things that didn’t really make a meal left too. So I warmed it all up, and we essentially had a buffet. I added some fresh apple slices and carrots with dip, and everyone got to eat exactly what made them happy. We’ll be doing this again, as the kids both ate really well, and also enjoyed having a buffet style meal at home.
Oh, this was good! This one was really good- way better than I expected, that’s for sure. This week for a stir-fry I decided to pull out my Big Book of Wok and find a new recipe to try. Pork called my name, so I turned to the meat chapter and paged through until I found one that didn’t call for chili peppers- because those recipes are best suited for when the garden is growing. I also wanted to avoid heat, because I wanted kid-friendly. Generally, the last few times I’ve made a stir-fry, it’s been about the same, veggie-wise. I’ll use broccoli, carrots, celery, and then add one or two other veggies as I desire- green beans have made quite a few appearances as of late. It was time to change it up, and this recipe fit the bill perfectly.
Of course, I changed it a bit, and one of those changes, I don’t really recommend. The biggest change I made was that I took the tablespoon or so of extra marinade and blended it with cornstarch and chicken broth to make a sauce for the stir-fry. I shouldn’t have. Oh, it still tasted great, but the pork had this beautiful deep mahogany color to it, and was a touch in the sticky category. Read= Perfect Chinese Take-out Experience. But adding the sauce components kind of washed the pork clean, and it lost all that beautiful color- and the sticky glaze-like texture to the outside. The next time I make this (and there will definitely be a next time!) I will remember not to make this one saucy. It should have the luscious pork and veggies, but it doesn’t need the sauce at all.
The recipe calls for snow peas and scallions for the veggies, and I (of course) amped this up a bit by adding baby corn, bell pepper, and broccoli, all compliments of a grocery store salad bar. The snow peas at the store looked terrible, so I also swapped those out for snap peas instead. Worked beautifully! Oh, and I also sliced up a handful of mushrooms as well, since they were at the point of needing to be used soon. I know, I know, so I deviated from the recipe a lot, but since it was simply adding vegetables, I was totally okay with it. For my pork for this recipe I used a small package of boneless pork ribs- you know, the ones that they trim up to look like ribs, but they don’t really? Those worked perfectly, and when cut thinly made an extremely tender pork stir fry.
This was such a winner! There is treasure in this here cookbook, and I need to spend more time digging through it to find more recipes my family will love.
I used the marinade exactly as it is written- I think as long as you stick with that, you can add any veggies you’d like and you’d still have a winner dish. We ate it over rice since I made it saucy, but next time I plan to serve it with a side of lo mein.
Golden Honey Pork
1 1/4 pound boneless pork loin, thinly sliced against the grain
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 handfuls snow peas, trimmed
4 scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced diagonally
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Marinade:
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Mix together the ingredients for the marinade in a shallow dish.. Add the pork and turn to coat, then let marinate for 1 hour. Drain, reserving marinade (though there won’t be much left).
Heat a wok until hot. Add the oil, then half the pork and stir fry it until browned, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the wok using a slotted spoon and set on one side. Repeat with the remaining pork.
Put the snow peas and the white part of the scallion into the wok and stir-fry for 1 minute. Return the pork to the wok along with the marinade and stir fry until the pork is golden and glossy, 2-3 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve, sprinkled with the green part of the scallions.
Enchiladas are wonderful things to make for dinner. You can make them as simple or as complicated as you want. Basically, you need a shell of some kind, and then you take a filling and roll it up in that shell, pour sauce over the whole thing, and then pop it in the oven. Enchiladas are really wonderful things!
For the shells, I go back and forth on my preference. Sometimes I use corn tortillas, but I have such troubles getting those to stay together, that I often reach for flour tortillas instead. Flour tortillas are good, and what I used the other night, but then I miss that corn flavor in the enchiladas. When I’m filling inspired I’ll make up a batch of Corn Crepes, which gives me the flexibility of a flour tortilla mixed with the flavor of a corn tortilla- it’s really the best of both worlds.
And the filling, well, let your imagination run wild! This time around, I used some leftover Pork Carnitas, which I mixed with a can of black beans and a pile of cheddar cheese. If I’d had some on hand, or thought to pick some up, a can of mild green chilies would have been wonderful as well. The meat and veggie possibilities really are endless for a good pan of enchiladas.
But what about the sauce? That’s one area I’ve not been consistent in. Honestly, I usually just blend up some tomatoes, salsa and other stuff, and call it a sauce, but more often than not, those sauces end up a little bland when baked up. I’ve definitely bought enchilada sauce before, but I really wanted something in which I could control the spice level. Spicey enchiladas would not be eaten by my kids, but a little spice was do-able. So I went searching for a good red enchilada sauce, made a few tweaks, and found something really delicious.
It really is as easy as the recipe sounds. The sauce came together very quickly, and even better, made enough for two large 9×13 pans of enchiladas. This means I have an extra jar of sauce in the freezer for the next time the enchilada bug strikes.
You can find Mexican oregano at Penzey’s Spices or other spice suppliers. It really imparts a much different flavor than regular oregano. If you can’t find the Mexican variety, you can substitute half a tablespoon of regular oregano, or just leave it out entirely.
Red Enchilada Sauce
1 (14.5 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup mild chili powder
1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
Directions:
In a medium saucepan combine tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, chili powder, Mexican oregano, paprika, cumin, pepper, salt and garlic. Cover and cook over medium heat.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until it begins to caramelize and turn a lovely golden brown; stir into sauce. Add the chopped bell pepper to the saute pan and saute it for about 2 minutes, or until the pepper loses it’s bright green color and begins to soften. Add the peppers to the sauce. Cook sauce for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
One of the tools that I use to try and keep my grocery costs down is simply having a decently stocked pantry. Now, when I say that, I don’t mean that I have a bottomless pantry. Experts advise having a stockpile of at least 3 months of food on hand in case of disaster or job loss. Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Three months!!? While I would love to have that kind of pantry, it just doesn’t happen here. And it never fails that when I do manage to seem to get close to a very nicely stocked pantry that a local food pantry announces a shortage, and then I do a purging and I’m back to where I started.
But having a simply stocked pantry is a huge money saver, and here’s why. I very seldom stock my pantry with items that I’ve paid full price for. I’m far from a bargain shopper, and while I try to use coupons, the coupon magic doesn’t seem to work for me often. But there are times where I am in need of something, let’s say dried chickpeas, and I’ll go to pick up a package and discover that a particular brand of dried beans is on sale. Instead of $1.29 per pound, they’re on sale for 99¢. So instead of buying just one package of the chickpeas that I needed, I might get two packages of chickpeas, a package of kidney beans and a package of brown lentils. I just stocked my pantry a little bit.
Another thing I’ll do is buy a larger size. Plain white rice is an excellent example of that. A 2 pound bag of store brand plain white rice at my store is $1.09. The five pound bag is $2.99. For just an extra few dollars, I can pick up the five pound bag and have a rather large stockpile of plain white rice on hand. My family likes rice- and there are dozens of ways that you can change it up so you’re not just having rice again.
In store sale prices and coupons can factor in as well. The store I shop at hardly ever advertises sales, so you don’t know what’s going to be offered at a discount until you’re actually there shopping. I shop at Woodman’s Markets for most of my grocery needs. If you have one near you, it’s well worth the time to explore. The benefit of the store not advertising is that it keeps the prices lower. The drawback is that I can’t plan this week’s shopping trip based on their advertised sales. But when I am shopping and I find a really good unadvertised priced, I’ll add an extra one or two of something to my cart. Not a whole case at a time- just one or two.
That’s really how I build my pantry. One or two extra items at a time. In this picture above you’ll see a monster package of canned tuna. That was something I scored at a different grocery store when they had an exceptional sale. A large package of eight cans of tuna was less than six dollars, so I picked one up. A few days later I was thinking about it and ran back and picked up a second one. Abigail and Andy are big fans of tuna sandwiches for lunches, so having that much on hand at once kind of supplied lunches for who knows how long. We haven’t touched the second pack yet, and there’s still one can left from the first pack. That I bought back in August!
Every once in a while I’ll also find a good coupon deal to use too. I’ll find a coupon in the paper for pasta sauce where you buy 3 and get a dollar off. I’ll tuck that into my purse, and when I find that pasta sauce on sale, normally $1.99, but on sale for $1.49, I’ll pick three up, get my dollar off, and it’s like buying two and getting a third free. Red Gold tomato products frequently have coupons floating around where you buy 3 and get a discount. When you buy the smaller sizes of their products, you end up getting one free with the coupon. But I don’t really use coupons that much. Maybe one or two per shopping trip- there’s just too many coupons out there for products we don’t use.
As far as storing these pantry goods, you can see a lot of them stay in their packages and go on a shelf. But I also have invested over the years in some wonderful Tupperware products.
When I first ordered a set, I think it was called The Tower of Power. These wonderful containers stack, are opaque so you can see through, and keep my ingredients fresh. I store dried beans, grains, and different flours in these containers. I’ve also taken the extra step and labeled each one with my label maker. I love these containers, and have added to them over the years. When I have a few extra dollars in my grocery budget, I’ll take a peek at my cabinets here and see if any containers are running low and need to be replenished. Abigail really enjoys helping me with this process- and she also really likes coming home from the grocery store and filling them up.
You know, every year when Andy is laid off, I dream of him going back to work, and then being able to take a rather large chunk of money and doing a really awesome pantry re-stock. Every year I plan to do just that. I plan to take a set amount of money and just go buy pantry staples, but then the moment comes, and I just find it difficult to go to the grocery store and spend a large chunk of money at one time on food that’s just going to sit on the shelf for a time. So I pretty much stick with doing it a little at a time. It seems to be working for us. Armed with this nicely stocked pantry, and a cupboard bursting at the seams with spices and seasonings, we could go for weeks if we really needed to. But I also use this pantry too. These things don’t just sit here in case of emergency, they get utilized and then replenished so that they don’t go bad just sitting on the shelf. I’ll frequently tour the pantry before making a weekly meal plan to see if I need to use something that’s been around for a while.
Anyway, I thought I’d share just a few basic tips for stocking the pantry without going to any kind of extremes. And by all means, make sure when you’re picking up that extra item or two, that they are extra items that you will actually use. Don’t buy a few cans of canned peas because they’re on sale for a really good deal. No one should eat those!
This past Saturday we had a delightfully empty day. We actually had no plans to go anywhere, and other than my excruciating grocery shopping trip, we simply stayed home and relaxed. It was wonderful! As I sat that morning at the computer, I found myself wishing I’d pulled a quick bread out of the freezer for breakfast. Silly me, it’s called quick bread for a reason, so I decided I’d treat the family to some really simple Cinnamon Muffins.
It’s a pretty basic muffin batter, but one thing I decided to do was grate up a small apple and fold that in with the wet ingredients. That worked great! There was a slight hint of apple pie flavor to these muffins, but there weren’t huge chunks of apple anywhere to be found. The one thing I debated was the topping. I thought about doing a streusel topping, as that is my favorite, but I decided I wanted to try something different. After the muffins came out of the oven, I let them sit and cool just until I could handle them. Then I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in a small dish. I took each muffin and dipped it’s top in the melted butter, and then plunked them into a little bowl of cinnamon sugar.
Holy cow, did that take these muffins over the edge! When Zander smelled muffins baking, he got all excited until he learned that they were not blueberry muffins, his favorite. We wasn’t even going to try these ones, but I talked him into it. Let’s just say one batch makes 12 muffins… next time I need to double the batch, because we devoured each and every one.
Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 small apple, peeled and grated on a box grater
Topping:
1/8 cup cinnamon sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400ºF and spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combined the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg, milk, and vegetable oil. Mix well to combine, and then add the grated apple.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Take the muffins out of the pan to cool on a metal rack. Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, dip each muffin top in melted butter, and then in the cinnamon sugar. Allow to cool completely before serving.
Makes 12 muffins.
I was thinking yesterday about why I haven’t been able to really stick to my $82 a week budget- and I am starting to think that when all is said and done, and I reconcile the totals at the end of the month, it will all work out beautifully. The thing is, this weekend when I went shopping, I had a few changes I’d made. One, was that last week’s Pork Carnitas made so much that we had enough leftover pork for a batch of enchiladas. So we had delicious enchiladas for dinner Saturday, but included in Saturday’s shopping was a package of tortillas and the canned tomatoes for making the sauce. So technically, I added things to the shopping list that were not specifically for that week. But then, we ate Friday’s curry again on Sunday and then we’ll be having Clam Chowder again on Tuesday, so I really think that in the end, everything will balance out. I hope, anyway.
There isn’t much of a real rhyme or reason to this week’s menu plan. The key day this week actually is today, as it’s going to be a crazy day meal-wise. One of Zander’s dance classes tonight was extended by a full hour- completely eliminating the time he normally eats his dinner. So I needed to make a dinner that he would willingly eat around 3:30 in the afternoon, and then possibly eat again when we get back home tonight after 8:00. Crazy, yes, but we all agreed that homemade pizza was the way to go. We’re having an early lunch today, and then we’ll have a tea-time dinner of pizza, and if anyone is hungry when we get back home, the pizza will take just a few minutes to heat back up.
Also this week is a roasted chicken, which will serve for at least two, if not three meals. It’s been a while since we had a nice roasted chicken, so we’ll do that on Friday, and then the leftover chicken will become a Pot Pie, and then the bones and a few more bits of meat will become Chicken Noodle Soup.
Sunday: Leftover Curry, Naan
Monday: Homemade Pizza
Tuesday: Clam Chowder, freshly made bread, oyster crackers
Wednesday: Golden Honey Pork Stir-Fry, Rice
Thursday: Cabbage Patch Stew, leftover rice
Friday: Roast Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Applesauce, veg of some kind
Saturday: Chicken Pot Pie
Lunches this week: Egg Salad Sandwiches, Corn Dogs, PB&J, Cheese Quesadillas, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Breakfasts: Cold Cereal, Toaster Waffles with peanut butter, Muffins, Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal
I was SO close this week! Menu planning was much easier because I did it while Andy was around… it was very helpful to have someone else shoot out ideas, and then I could decide yes or no. The menu plan came together easily enough, and the shopping trip was decided to be done. With no plans for a Saturday afternoon, it seemed like a good idea at the time, even though I know Saturday’s are quite busy… what I forgot to account for this week was this little thing called Football Playoffs, of which the Packers are participating in, and everybody and their brother is planning a party. Sheesh, it took me twice as long just from waiting to check out.
But, it was nice to know that the weekly shopping is done, and I don’t have to rush out and do it on Monday.
My total at the checkout this week came to $85.31, just $3.31 over my limit of $82, and I can tell you exactly what put it over-the extra gallon of milk I grabbed, which was $3.85. I’ll be paying attention to when we crack open that second gallon of milk, and may penalize myself next week by subtracting the $3.85 from my $82 budget.
However, I already am anticipating a small penalty this week anyway. I am planning a new-to-us pork stir-fry for Wednesday, and I didn’t want to pick up snow peas and scallions today, as I want them to be as fresh as possible. So I will pick them up on Wednesday- I don’t anticipate spending any more than $3, but that still will make a difference in the weekly shopping budget.
I only added one item to my cart that was not on my list (aside from the extra gallon of milk) and that was another bag of Cuties. I am of the mind that we need to enjoy those while we can. It’s the perfect snack that everyone enjoys, and for three pounds I pay $4.39, which is one of the better prices I’ve seen for them. I also made an error in my menu planning today- I asked the kids what they would like on pizza this week, instead of just deciding for myself. Lesson learned, because my little girl loves a meat-loving pizza, and those extra little bits of pizza toppings add up.
My flours increased in price too. I hope that’s temporary. My normal price is $3.99 for 10 pounds of either bread or all-purpose flour. The current price is $4.79, so when I need both, that’s nearly $10 of the week’s grocery dollar, as was the case this week. Had I remembered the jump in price, I maybe would have held off on the all-purpose flour.
Here is this week’s photo:
And here is this week’s list.
- 10 pounds all-purpose flour
- 10 pounds bread flour
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 1 jar tropical fruit (coupon)
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
- 1 package oyster crackers
- 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple tidbits
- 2 jars mild chili powder
- 1 package Vigo brand yellow rice
- 1 pound dried red kidney beans
- 2 pounds long-grain white rice
- 1 package 10-count flour tortillas
- 1 pound smoked beef sausage
- 1 package pepperoni
- 12 ounces mild Ialian sausage
- 1 package cooked bacon pieces
- 1 (7 ounce) ham steak (much cheaper than Canadian bacon for pizza)
- 3 largish sweet potatoes
- 1 whole green cabbage
- 2 pounds Pink Lady apples
- 2 lemons
- 3 pounds clementines
- 1 piece ginger root
- 4 pounds D’Anjou pears
- 2 gallons whole milk
- 1 package Yo-Crunch M$M yogurt
- 2 packages Danimals Crush Cups
- 32 ounces plain yogurt
- 24 ounce package cottage cheese (coupon)
- 2 pounds shredded mozzarella (on sale this week, cheaper than bulk)
- 2 blocks medium cheddar cheese
- 1 package Eggo homestyle waffles
- 4 small bottles of juice for the kids
Really, that wasn’t bad this week at all, considering. And again, I could have skipped the Eggos and maybe one of the packages of sweetened yogurt for the kids. The thing is though, when we’re pinching pennies, we don’t really have snacks around, so I like to make sure that what I serve at meal time is something that they will really enjoy and eat. Zander had wished this week that we’d had toaster waffles that he could smear some peanut butter on. That’s a fabulous breakfast, in my opinion, so I thought I’d pick some up for him. They get yogurt almost everyday with lunch, and quite honestly, if I skip that, there are, uh, digestive ramifications for my son. So we’ll stick with the yogurt.
Stroganoff has always been one of my favorite meals. Mom made a mean one, and I clearly recall asking for it for my birthday dinner more than once. It was the mushrooms, really. I love mushrooms in any way, shape or form, and that was one dish where I was guaranteed to get a good sized helping of mushrooms. The ultimate in irony now is that I don’t make this dish very often because my own children hate mushrooms. And I mean hate! I didn’t realize how deeply down this hatred for mushrooms went until this week when I tried to bribe them to at least try them. To my memory, neither of them have ever actually eaten a mushroom, so we set $1.50 in front of each of them and told them if they took just one bit of mushroom, the money was theirs.
They just couldn’t do it. I don’t know… a deep fried blooming onion got them into the camp of tolerating onions, so maybe we need to go somewhere that makes deep fried mushrooms…
Anyway, back to the stroganoff. There’s many a recipe out there for this delicious dinner that involves a can or two of cream of mushroom soup. Hey, if you want to use it, knock yourself out, but it turns out, there’s really no need for that can of preservative-laden stuff. A scratch version of Beef Stroganoff is really simple to do, and amazingly delicious.
The one thing I will suggest is that your simmering time will depend on your beef. If it’s a tougher cut of meat, you’ll need to give it a longer simmer time to tenderize the beef. If you’re using beef that is already tender, your simmer time will be less. Just taste a piece of beef a few times along the way, and when it’s to your degree of tenderness, proceed with adding the sour cream. I used sirloin tip steaks, and they were on the tough side. Unfortunately, I needed an extra 15 minutes that I didn’t have, so the beef was just this side of tough. Fifteen more minutes and it would have been perfect.
Beef Stroganoff
1 1/2 pounds beef, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic pepper
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 medium onion
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Hot, cooked egg noodles for serving
Directions:
In a dutch oven or stew pot, heat two tablespoons of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Combine the beef cubes, seasoning salt and garlic pepper in a bowl and toss to evenly coat. Pour half of the beef into the hot oil. Cook for about 7 minutes, tossing to brown all sides of the beef evenly. Pour the beef and any drippings into a bowl and set aside.
Repeat, heating the oil, and adding the remaining half of the beef cubes. Brown on all sides. This time though, remove the beef from the pot with a slotted spoon, leaving behind any beef drippings. If you have no beef drippings, you will need to add an extra tablespoon or two of oil to the pot once the beef has been removed.
Add the onions to the pot, cook for two minutes, stirring once or twice. Add the mushrooms to the pot. Cook for eight minutes or so. While you’re cooking the mushrooms, it will suddenly look like you need to add more oil to the pot. Don’t do this- be patient, and the mushrooms will eventually start weeping their own juices and moisten the pan more than enough. Once the mushrooms start to share their juices, add the dried thyme to the pot, along with a small pinch of salt and pepper.
Add your beef broth to the pot. Cover, and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to simmer. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, and up to a full hour, depending on how tender your beef is.
In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, flour and dijon mustard.
Remove the cover from the stroganoff, and turn the heat back up to medium. Add the sour cream mixture to the pot, and stir well to fully combine. Cook and stir until the mixture just starts to boil. Remove from the heat and serve immediately over hot noodles.
There are quite a bit of thoughts that go through my head when it comes to meal planning every week. The very first thing I need to do is look at the calendar for the week and see what activities we have. The dance schedule really never changes, but other things come and go, and I need to plan my meals accordingly. For the most part, my most intensive meals come on Wednesdays and Fridays, because that’s when I have the time to really cook. After that I always have a starter meal that comes to mind, and I choose which night to place that. In this week’s case, my starter meal was Clam Chowder, and I decided to place that on Thursday night because I can cook it earlier in the day, and then hold it in the crockpot while we are gone to dance.
Next, I look at either side of that planned meal. I don’t like to have similar flavors or similar meats two nights in a row. It does happen, but I try to keep it from doing so too often. In this week’s case, there was no danger of accidentally having seafood/fish two nights in a row. Those are rare in occurrence in the first place, but I did look at the fact that I was making a soup, so I wanted the surrounding meals to be a little more solid in nature. Friday night I invited a friend to join me for dinner, as Andy will not be home, so curry went on the menu. What curry, I’m not sure, but I have everything on hand for a good curry anyway, so we’ll see what comes of it. Wednesday night I thought I should make something with beef in it, and when I saw a recipe online for Beef Stroganoff, I was reminded that it’s been a very long time since I’ve made that, so on the menu it went.
For Monday night I finally got to the Linguini Alfredo with Broccoli and Bacon that had been planned for Saturday. It was a great choice, because the kids take dinner with them, and it reheated very nicely. Adding the illicit chicken sausages was absolutely fabulous- I’m going to be watching those sausages for when they go on sale and stock up. I really enjoyed them. That brought me to Tuesday this week. Tuesday is my tricky night. We leave early afternoon for an hour of dance, and then Zander and I come home while Abigail dances on. Zander has two hours to eat and relax before he and Andy go to our studio’s other location for a hip-hop class, and I go back to spend the last hour at Abigail’s workout. So dinner has to be something that I can make components of before we go for the first hour, and then I can re-heat or finish something quickly upon our arrival back home. I immediately thought of tacos this week, but we had a basic taco meal last week, and I thought I wasn’t in the mood for the same two weeks in a row. But were I to make some Pork Carnitas from some inexpensive country style ribs, that would make a completely different and delicious taco experience.
Saturday and Sunday I’m still thinking on. I expect we’ll have quite a bit of chowder left over, so I’m currently planning on serving that up for a second meal on Sunday with some freshly baked biscuits. Saturday I think I’ll just go with baking up a lasagna in the freezer and making some homemade focaccia to go with, since I didn’t make that to go with the alfredo after all. I think that’s a good plan, that will keep me out of the grocery store a second time this week, and then I can focus on making next week’s meal plan before I need it.
Monday: Linguini Alfredo with Broccoli, Bacon and Chicken Sausage, Garlic Bread
Tuesday: Pork Carnitas Tacos, home canned peaches
Wednesday: Beef Stroganoff, Egg Noodles, Peas & Carrots
Thursday: Simple Clam Chowder, Bread Bowls
Friday: Curry, Naan, Jasmine Rice, Raita
Saturday: Lasagna from freezer, Focaccia, frozen veg on side
Sunday: Leftover chowder, biscuits
Breakfasts this week: Mostly cereal this week. Maybe eggs and toast.
Lunches: Corn dogs, Salami & Cheese sandwiches, Egg salad sandwiches, with yogurts, carrots and dip, and fresh fruit
I’m surprised to discover that I don’t have a recipe for plain old Beef Stroganoff in my Recipe Trove! I’ll have to remedy that this week when I make it for dinner. So easy and delicious. Well, unless you ask my kids who think they really don’t like to eat mushrooms. Maybe some day we’ll get them cured of that.
Blech. I didn’t do quite so well this week with my grocery shopping trip. I have excuses, of course. I really had a hard time coming up with a menu plan this week. I had ended up shifting this past weekend’s menu around, and here I was, already at a new week, and I didn’t want to think about it. But thought had to be done, as there were just dregs in the bottom of both the gallon of milk and the pitcher of juice. So I started my menu plan, but didn’t quite finish it. I didn’t fill in Saturday or Sunday at all, and thought that maybe I’d be inspired at the store. We all know that is never a good way to shop! Stupidly though, that was my plan. Partway through my trek through the store it became clearly obvious that I was going to go over my $82 budget for the week, and that didn’t include anything for Saturday or Sunday.
So I really fail, because I will probably have to hit the grocery store twice this week. Sigh.
I was also short on time today, so I didn’t have the time to assemble the big buy on the table and take a picture, so I’m afraid this is as good as it’s going to get.
All told, I didn’t do super awful- my grand total was $90.53, $8.53 over my self-imposed budget. Part of that extra expense came from the $4 package of delicious Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Sausages I decided I wanted to buy and add to tonight’s Linguini Alfredo. I think it was worth the overage, because the sausages were delicious. I also took a gamble in the produce department and picked up six kiwis at the price of 3/$1.00. The kids have been asking for them, and they’re a little on the hard side, but I’m hopeful they’ll soften up beautifully and the kids will be happy. Those were the “not on the list” impulse buys this week. What really drove up my bill this week though were these guys:
A week ago I determined that I wanted to make some delicious Clam Chowder for a soup this week, and then make some homemade bread bowls to eat it in. I knew that was going to affect the budget a bit, but put it on the menu anyway. When I saw the price of the cans of clams, I only paused for a second before putting them in my cart. At $1.39 per 6 ounces of chopped clams, that’s not bad, but when you need 36 ounces of clams… it added up. I spent more on the clams and clam juice than I did on two steaks for making Beef Stroganoff- and I’ll only use one of the steaks and freeze the other for another time!
So here’s my shopping list:
- 3 pound bag Clementines
- 3 pounds of Pink Lady apples
- 3 pounds yellow onions
- celery
- mushrooms
- 6 kiwi fruit (added at store)
- loaf of French bread
- 1 loaf white whole wheat sliced bread
- 1 package 10-inch flour tortillas
- 12 ounces egg noodles
- 6 bottles juice for kids
- 32 ounces clam juice
- 36 ounces chopped clams
- 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
- Cooking Spray
- Dried thyme
- 16 frozen corn dogs for lunches
- sirloin tip steaks
- country style pork ribs
- hard salami
- Al Fresco chicken sausage (added at store)
- 2 boxes cereal
- 2 gallons milk
- quart half and half
- 2 4-packs Yogurt
- sour cream
- 1 block medium cheddar cheese
- 18 count large eggs (Hey, these came down in price this week by almost a whole dollar!)
- 4 frozen fruit juice concentrates
Just typing this list in, I see where I could have done better this week. I didn’t really need the sour cream ($1.99) as I already have an almost full tub in the fridge. But I’m planning a pork carnitas taco tomorrow night, plus a stroganoff the following night, and I wasn’t sure if I would have quite enough. In retrospect, I should have left it at the store, and then run out and picked up one if I ended up needing it for Wednesday’s dinner. I also didn’t really need the cooking spray yet, ($2.29) but my can is running dangerously low, and nothing works like cooking spray for baking. The corn dogs ($3.99) obviously weren’t necessary, but the kids will be really thrilled to find them on a few lunch plates in the week ahead. I guess if it really came down to it, I really didn’t need to buy the loaf of bread either, and I could have just purposed to get up early tomorrow and bake some bread, that would have saved an additional $2.09.
I don’t know. I’m really not digging the Monday grocery shopping trip, to be honest. Monday’s are pretty busy, and it’s enough work to get school rolling for the week, coming up with a menu so I can go shopping is kicking my butt! But, I don’t want to wait until Wednesday to shop, so I guess I’ll just have to keep rolling with the Monday shopping trip. What I need to do is start thinking about next week’s menu earlier, so that Monday all I have to do is make my grocery list and check for coupons. I think next week to make up for the extra I spent this week, we’ll be eating one or two of the meals I have tucked away in the freezer. We’ll see.
Tomorrow, the menu plan, and a little more on my menu planning thought processes. When I have them.
This was one of those recipes that I’ve looked at over and over and wondered if it was any good. One of the crockpot cookbooks I have on my shelf is the Pillsbury Doughboy Slow Cooker Recipes, and I’ve made quite a few recipes out of it over the years. While I don’t recall having found any duds, I do recall that many of the recipes have only produced so-so results. Yet, I keep trying them, because I have found a few good ones. This recipe goes into the area of maybe worth repeating, which is about the highest marks I give for a crockpot recipe these days.
Anyway, the recipe came together easy enough. I started with four of my chicken leg quarters, which I separated and then skinned, so I had a total of eight pieces of chicken- plenty for my family for a meal. To the chicken I added one can of drained corn, 1 cup of homemade salsa, 1 small can of chopped green chilis, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and then 1 3/4 cups of chicken broth. I also needed to add pinto beans to the pot. I forgot that the recipe called for dried beans that had been soaked overnight. Instead, I took my one cup of dried pinto beans and simmered them on the stove for about an hour. They were still a little al dented when I dropped them in the crockpot, but I figured they’d cook up just fine throughout the day.
One red flag with this recipe was that it actually called for the stew to cook for 10 to 12 hours on low. I don’t think I’ve ever cooked anything that long in a slow cooker! In fact, more often than not, when I follow the cooking directions for length of time, my meats end up overcooked. So what I did was assemble the crockpot just before noon, intending for it to be our dinner just before eight in the evening- so an eight hour cook time on low.
The cook time was perfect, but upon first taste, I was a little disappointed. First of all, my stew seemed a little more like soup, and when I tasted the broth, it seemed a little bland. I served it up anyway, though I added a few condiments to the bowl. I added a healthy scattering of fresh cilantro, a dollop of sour cream, and to entice the kids I added some lime wedges. Once I added all those things to the bowl, I had magic. I found the stew quite delicious, andcouldn’t help but think that a little diced avocado would have taken it completely over the top.
The caveat to this being a delicious recommendation would be that my family didn’t like it. Zander kind of stirred it around a bit, slurping up just a bit of the broth and a small bit of chicken. Abigail ate it, but wasted no time in telling me that it was not her favorite way to eat chicken. Andy ate it, but he didn’t eat much, and he certainly didn’t go back for more. I would make this again, but I do think I would change it up a bit. Maybe increase the cumin by an extra half teaspoon, and I also think that adding a half-teaspoon or so of either smoked paprika or chipotle chili powder would really be wonderful. I think what my family disliked the most though was the chicken itself- the large parts in the stew were a little awkward to eat. Next time I think I would take the time to pull all the cooked chicken out of the pot, pull it off the bones, chop it up, and then slide it back in. I wouldn’t cook it without the bones though, because that adds a nice layer of flavor.
The garnishes are not optional though, they really make the stew wonderful. With a simple side of cornbread, this really is a one-pot meal.
Southwestern Chicken and Bean Stew
1 cup dried pinto beans, sorted and rinsed
2 pounds cut up frying chicken, skin removed
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 cup chunky style salsa
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 (4.5 ounce) can chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon cumin
fresh cilantro, sour cream and lime wedges for serving
Directions:
Soak beans in enough water to cover for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Drain beans, discarding water. In 3 1/2 to 4-quart slow cooker, combine beans and all remaining ingredients except garnishes; mix well.
Cover; cook on low setting for 10 to 12 hours. (WARNING: This is really long! Use your best judgement- I found 8 hours perfect.)
Remove chicken from slow cooker, remove from bones and cut chicken into pieces. Return chicken to the stew, and serve with garnishes.
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