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Monday, February 23, 2009

Menu Plan

Menu Planning is just one way I stay on track budget wise-- so here is the menu for this week for the family. Dinners only. Most nights I will eat something else of my own devising since my diet is awfully restrictive to subject the entire family to it. (chicken, elk, garbanzo and black beans, veggies, fruits, brown rice, buckwheat and some other gluten free flours and grains, olive oil and spices,vinegars, almonds, sunflower and sesame seeds and hopefully eggs after this week, no dairy, wheat or soy)
**My menu plan is much more flexible this week than usual because my daughters will be doing the bulk of the cooking and much of it depends on how much time I have during the day to get things done and how much time they will have since I remain on partial bed rest.

Sunday --
Homemade meatballs (from freezer stash) -made lots cause we had guests
Spaghetti and Marinara Sauce
Green Salad
Garlic Bread
Dessert -- Chocolate Cake (from the bread store)

Monday --
Sloppy Turkey Joes (we''ll be frying up 5 # of meat and packaging the leftover meat in 2 cup baggies for easy meals for later)
Broccoli Coleslaw with homemade dressing - I'll make this during the day if it's any good I'll post the recipe.
Homemade French Fries
Cantaloupe Chunks mixed with whatever grapes are still left in the fridge

Tuesday--
Mimi's Sticky Chicken (or crock pot chicken) -see recipe below
Baked Potatoes or Parslied Potatoes
Vegetable of choice from freezer or pantry
Any leftover fruit or other salads
*** yeah I can eat this dinner and won't have to have soup!

Wednesday --
Meatball Sandwiches (using leftover thawed meatballs from Sun night), hoagie buns from freezer, mozz cheese and sauce)
Roasted potatoes (if we have enough potatoes-- if not we'll have a green salad)
Canned Fruit -- peaches (home canned)

Thursday --
Chicken or turkey pot pie (gluten free biscuits on top for me --regular biscuits for the rest of the crew) -- or -- baked fish
and whatever veggies and fruits need to be used from Loving Hands
If we have fish -- we'll do some sort of rice dish too.
**should be ready to try a new meat so I will either add fish or turkey this week!

Friday --
Homemade Chicken Soup
Apple and Orange salad (cut up oranges and apples-- maybe bananas?)
Rolls or Biscuits
*** Yeah I can eat this again as long as I make some gluten free biscuits for myself!
We have our home visit with our midwife this night so I planned something that is easily expandable depending on who comes early for dinner!

Saturday --
Leftovers
Clean out the fridge night!!
************************************************************************

Mimi's Sticky Chicken Recipe
(my modified version)

Mix all of this together:

2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder (generous-- I make mine heaped)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Rub the mix onto the chicken -- I use a whole chicken that's been cut up with skin removed, and add in some more drumsticks since those are so popular in our house.

If you were to do a whole chicken you could also add a chopped onion to the cavity-- and bake according to regular roasting instructions. I find the cut up chicken cooks more quickly on a foil lined cookie sheet in the oven-- at 400 degrees for about 45-60 min depending on how well thawed it is and how big the pieces are. Then there is very little cleanup! Leftovers of this make great lunches, etc...

**Freezer tip -- this is a terrific one to do in big batches, just triple or double the spices when whole cut up chickens are on sale and rub all the chickens down and package them in freezer bags laid flat -- then you have easy meals to pull out and bake! Breasts can be used too -- just cook for less time if they are boneless-- like 30-45 min.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Liquid Gold

OK -- so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I sure do find it handy to have homemade chicken broth around. As part of my diet for this pregnancy I have to avoid all MSG and anyone that knows anything about MSG knows that the common nuerotoxin is named many things and has many pseudonyms, and is in TONS of things you would never even think of. Chicken broth is one thing that is next to impossible to find without MSG. For more info check out this website -- http://truthinlabeling.com/ Even chicken broths labeled NO MSG have MSG in another form in them. Even some organic chicken broths have MSG in them. So the easier thing to do is to make chicken broth myself -- something I never really did much of before. I always used the bullion cubes that they sell at Sam's in big containers for broth-- but no more. And honestly it's pretty easy to make. So here's how I do it.
You'll need:
-A big pot for the stove-- the bigger the better (remember I feed 7)
-water to fill the pot
-chicken bones, turkey bones, beef bones, or a package of cheaper chicken drumstick or wings, or you can use more pricey cuts -- but the bones add nutrients and flavor so you should have some bones in there somewhere. **Chicken bones or other bones can also be frozen and saved for broth making when you have time for it at a later date-- I use mine straight from the freezer sometimes-- no need to thaw them.
-a bag of vegetable trimmings ( I keep mine in the freezer, asparagus ends, onions ends and skins, little bits of carrot peels, celery leaves and ends, potato peels, green onion tops, whatever.) --or -- an onion (skins on, root end cut off), a stick or two of celery and a couple of carrots-- no need to chop these any more than in half, or fourths. The more veggie pieces you have the better the flavor of the broth-- the onion skins lend some flavor but mostly color to the broth.
-herbs: Bay leaves-- dried (1 or 2), whole peppercorns -- maybe 3-6 (or you can use ground pepper you just won't have "pretty clear" broth), garlic clove or two --depending on how big the pot is, I use fresh parsley, thyme and sage when the garden is going, but in the winter I use dried sage, and some parsley.
-salt -- I add this as I use it, not while cooking. Salt intensifies as the broth cooks and I've found it easier to wait to salt it when I'm making the end product--soup, gravy, whatever.

Put everything into the pot and simmer it on the stove for about an hour or two. If you simmer it all day or very long you'll have cloudy stock and it really doesn't take long to get the flavor out of the bones and veggies. You can do it in a crock pot if that is easier but wouldn't leave it more than about 4-6 hours on low. I don't use mine cause it doesn't make as much that way -- I have big stock pots (22 qt ). Once it's done cooking I let it cool a bit and then pour it through a plain ol' colander into another pot or bowl and put it into whatever storage containers I want to use. Purists might shudder at the fact that I don't roast my bones before I boil them --(adds more flavor) and that I don't strain it through cheesecloth to remove all the little bits of stuff, but I tend to be more lazy than all that -- and find that for my purposes this is all I really need to do. You can freeze it in quart size containers, in ice cube trays -- for little bits of broth to use here and there, or in larger baggies laid flat in the freezer-- sometimes these spring a leak when thawing so that's not my favorite way. You can use it right away for soup. I really prefer to can mine and do it in large large batches so I have it ready to use with no thawing-- but that does require a pressure canner. If your broth gets thick like gelatin -- don't worry about it, just heat it up again and it will liquefy.
** Another tip ** If you refrigerate your broth for a few hours after making it and before freezing it, you can skim off any fat that might settle on the top of it and solidify.

Pickin' Chicken!

I spent the morning pickin' chicken with my best friend!
My friend Laura and her son came for a visit today and while I try not to put my buddies to work when they come for a visit -- hey, who can resist the helping hands --especially on bed rest! By the way -- Thanks Laura! Chickens were on sale for .79 cents a pound the other day and since the only meat I can eat right now is chicken we are going through bunches of it. Much cheaper than breasts-- I sent hubby to the store to get three of them on Friday or Sat of last week, he put them in the crock pots with a chopped up onion, a celery stick, salted and peppered them and put some paprika on them-- then squeezed a fresh lemon over the top and tucked what was left of the lemon into the cavity along with the celery and onion. ( I also do the same thing with them when I roast them -- the lemon and the paprika provide just enough flavor that they aren't bland -- but they also aren't weird tasting later for using in other recipes. ) In the crock pot I don't add any water to the chicken -- just cook them on low until they are fully cooked. I've been eating off of one of the chickens most of the weekend, and into the first part of this week-- it's Wed now, but they needed to be picked and packed up for the freezer -- so Laura and I sat and visited and picked chickens. I got enough meat to make a nice big pot of soup, and then another 2 2 cup bags of chicken and a 4 cup bag of chicken, plus a little bit more for eating in the next couple of days! 2 cups is about right for making chicken salad for the family or lunches, or a casserole or most recipes for our family and equals about a pound. It doesn't sound like a whole lot of chicken but I have been eating it all day every day for 3 days now so -- it made a bunch. And the best part is that since last time I went to the store-- about 4 weeks ago just before I was on bed rest I got a rain check for chickens for .79 a pound so anytime this weekend I can have hubby go get another 3 of them and do it all again. That's one of my money-saving tricks by the way -- some weeks I don't have quite enough in the food budget to stock up on items that are on deep sale so if I happen to have a few things I need to get anyway -- I go ahead and go to the store-- close to the time that the sale expires, and often times I can get a rain check because they almost always are out of whatever item was on sale! Then the next week when there is money or I have more time to deal with the 20 pounds of chicken or whatever, I can stock up! Or really anytime in the next 30-60 days depending on the store. Sometimes it pays to be sneaky and opportunistic! Oh -- and speaking of chickens -- don't think I threw the bones out -- those will either be put into a pot tonight or frozen until I have time to chicken stock out of them.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Yikes! Bed Rest and the family budget

I haven't posted much lately as you may have noticed, I've recently been confined to bed rest because of some complications that developed with my pregnancy, for a while it was complete bed rest and now I can be up about 2 hours a day, which has pretty dramatically cut into what I can get done in a day and how much money I can save us.. so for now we are using primarily from our stock of food that I always keep on hand in the house-- let me tell you - I'm learning how important my well-stocked pantry is!! As hubby is doing most of the shopping now- I'm also learning how to let go a bit and delegate. My older girls are learning how to cook -- since there isn't time in the two hours I'm allowed to have up to care for the toddler all day and cook dinner, do dishes, etc.. I'm planning meals using what we have on hand, being very thankful that I have a large pantry of food to use from, and thankful for all the helpers we have too! My BIL jokingly says he's coming to our house if the end of the world comes because he knows he'll still be able to eat here and I have been called a hoarder. But my back stock of chopped frozen onions, celery, mushrooms, and all the dried items and canned goods I have stored away have absolutely saved my family and myself a bunch of unnecessary work, and allowed us to exist on home cooked meals still for the most part. I'll try and post my menus for next week soon, seeing as I have lots of planning time available.