Sunday, August 31, 2014

I didn't get a whole lot done today.

I did go out to the garden area and picked most of the carrots.  There are still some in the planter box, because they are still little.  I brought the carrots inside and Angela cleaned them for me.  Then, I shredded them up and put them in the dehydrator.  I also got 2 large zucchinis shredded and in the dehydrator.

I still have 3 or 4 really large zucchinis and 4 really large yellow squash to do something with.  Yesterday, I picked 16 zucchini and those 4 large yellow squash.  I gave 8 of the zucchini away, and still have lots to work with.  I haven't decided yet if I am going to shred more and put in the dehydrator or bake some breads.  I don't have any breads in the freezer right now, so I really should do some baking tomorrow.

I did make macaroni salad for tomorrow.  We are going to have bbq pulled pork sandwiches, macaroni salad and watermelon and cantaloupe.  Maybe something else, if I am motivated.

I still need to get started on laundry before I have to go back to work on Tuesday.

Friday, August 29th, 2014

I didn't get much done today at all.  I worked and on my breaks, I was a nervous wreck.  Keith had his surgery and got 4 crowns for a total of 6 now in his mouth.  He did pretty good and obviously was starving when he got home.  He's decided that he likes jello and I knew he liked pudding.  He even ate Costco pizza for dinner!

I did get to Costco tonight and got some needed things.  Costco had a buy one get one free on the Finish dishwasher tabs.  So, I now have 4 boxes of those.

We were going to go up to Lance's family's land and pick grapes tomorrow, but Lance decided that he has too much stuff to do.  He's re-doing some shelves in the garage and he also has to make crates for work (he gets paid to make the crates).

I didn't get out to the garden at all.  So, I need to do that tomorrow.  I also need to go out and buy more canning jars.  I have 6 jars left.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

I haven't blogged in awhile.  Things have changed since my last post.  I now work as a bus aide.  I get 2 breaks between routes with approximately 1 1/2 hours of free time for me to get things done at home.

So, my first break today, I basically ran errands.  I took Jill a bag of goodies to her house to say thank you for all the apples she let me pick from her trees :)  My second break, I went and helped out in Angela's class at school.  The teacher didn't have much for me to do, so I got to come home and check email for awhile before going back to work.

Tonight, I've taken the dehydrated, shredded zucchini out of the dehydrator and put in a jar.  Then, I diced up 3 bell peppers that were from last week's Bountiful Basket.  I have one tray of diced bell peppers flash freezing in the freezer now.  I will get one more tray in there tonight.

Tomorrow, Keith (my youngest) is having dental surgery.  His teeth break easily because he can't have dairy.  So, I need to go out and get some pudding, jello, etc for him to eat.  Lance is taking him for the surgery tomorrow since I have to work and am still on my 90 day probation.

I am also going to get outside to the garden.  I probably have another 10 zucchini that are ready to be picked.  I also want to start pulling the carrots and doing something with them.  I'm not sure what. 

Make Your Own (MYO) green onion dip mix

So, Lance and I love green onion dip!  We eat a lot of it, but I hate paying for those little packages at the store.  And, I like being able to say I made it from scratch.  So, I set out to figure out how to make my own version of it.  I think it is pretty close to the store packages.

Green Onion Dip Mix

1/2 tsp dried green onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chicken bouillon granules

Mix together and store in a baggie or other container.  To use:  Mix the mix with 1 cup of sour cream and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

To Make dried green onion powder:  Clean green onions and cut into 1 inch pieces.  Place in dehydrator or oven at 145° for 6 hours.  Once dry, place in spice/coffee grinder and powder it or place in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to powder it.

This is perfect for using the tops of all the onions growing in your garden.

To make a large batch:

Mix 1/4 cup dried green onion powder with 1/2 cup of chicken bouillon granules and 2 tablespoons of garlic powder.  Store in a half pint or pint jar or any air tight container.

Homemade granola recipe

I finally gave in and tried making homemade granola.  It's good and so easy!  My 8 year old daughter liked it with milk, so that is a great thing.  It didn't clump together, but I read an easy tip to make it clump.  I'll try that next and then post it if it works.

Granola


7 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix quick oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla together.  Pour oil and honey into a 1 cup measuring cup and microwave for 1 minute.  Meanwhile heat up the oven to 400°.  Mix the liquids with the oat mixture and combine really well.  Pour onto 2 parchment covered cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 minutes or until light brown.

Leftovers and potatoes

Tonight's dinner is leftover spaghetti (not much either) with a green salad and homemade bread.  The bread smells so yummy (it just came out of the oven).

My goal this weekend is to cook up a bunch of potatoes.  I bought a big bag of potatoes from Costco, so I want to bake up a bunch and dice / chunk some up for home style potatoes (and freeze them).  I'm thinking that I might do most of them that way, because that would be a big time saver for mashed potatoes, too.  Just pull out a bag of potatoes and  heat, add milk and butter and mash them up.  Others, I will bake and cool in the fridge and then shred for hash browns (and freeze these, too).

I really want to make things easier on myself by having these ready in the freezer and saving us money at the same time (by not going out, not wasting food, etc).

Do you have any time saver things that you do to?  Please share:D

Easy patty-melt type sandwich recipe

2 posts in one week????   Pinch me....  no, you don't really need to pinch me.

I did a twist on a recipe  ( http://blogchef.net/taco-grilled-cheese-recipe/ ) .  I didn't have leftover taco meat, but I did have a pound of ground beef that I needed to use (and the kids were on my last nerve), so instead of making baked ziti casserole like I wanted to make....I made a version of that recipe.

Instead of the taco meat, I seasoned my hamburger with granulated garlic and black pepper (a lot of both because I'm a garlic and pepper freak).  And, of course, crumbled the ground beef up.  4 out of 5 people ate every single bite.  That is saying a lot since our kids are 8, 6 and 3.  It does make a mess while you are assembling it, but oh does it taste good.  I'll be making it again, but I just might cheat and not crumble the meat up as much.  And, maybe I'll add in some onions to mine since I love onions, too.

There was something else that I was going to post about....but, my old age (41) must be kicking in now. 

Make your own convenience foods

I forgot about my blog:(  Life and it's responsibilities had me in its grip. 

But, I'm going to try and be a good blogger and post.

The past 3 weeks, I've been sick with a cold.  Yuck:(  That caused me to be a little lazy and I went to the grocery store and bought cookie mixes instead of making cookies from scratch.  Bad me.  Very bad me.

So, I've started making up mixes of things that I use a lot of.  I used my quart size canning jars to hold the ingredients in and made up 7 batches of pizza dough mix, 6 batches of oatmeal chocolate chip cookie mix and 2 batches of applesauce cookie mix.  It took 15 minutes to do this and has saved me lots of future time and money.

What kinds of things do you make up ahead of time?

Dealing with Bug Bites

Two posts in one day??? Crazy, isn't it?

Here's another tip that I learned about recently. I'm very allergic to spider bites and swell up really bad. So, one day, I had about 8 bites and they were all itching badly. I went to my handy, dandy search engine and started reading away about home remedies.

What works for me is to make a paste of baking soda and water. Spread the paste onto the bites (works for mosquito or spider bites) and let it stay on for at least 15 minutes. I do this at night after the kids are in bed. After the 15 minutes, wipe it off. In the morning, the swelling has gone away and so has the itching.

Mint tea and I'm back:D

So, I've been off the blogging thing for awhile. I now have a 16 month old who keeps me too busy. But, school will be starting soon for my 6 year old and my soon to be 5 year old, so I *should* have a bit more time.:D At least, I hope so. LOL

I have mint growing in my garden and didn't know what to do with it. So, I got on a trusty old search engine and looked up mint tea. I tried a batch or two and came up with my favorite recipe.

Mint Tea

5 sprigs mint (stems and all - cleaned very well)

1 cup water

Boil the above for 5 minutes or until the leaves start turning brown.

Strain into a pitcher and add 3/4 cup sugar (or to your taste). Stir to dissolve and add water to fill the pitcher.

I've noticed that since I've started drinking this, I have much more energy....and, I think I'm losing some weight too.

Anyone have any other uses for mint?

MYO taco seasoning mix

This morning I was wracking (maybe banging - LOL) my head trying to figure out what to feed us for dinner using hamburger meat. Finally, I decided I wanted tacos but I knew I didn't have any taco seasoning mixes. So, I went and found a recipe for taco seasoning mix. I have to say that the recipe is very good. I followed it exactly and then used it on the hamburger tonight. I did have to use more then what the recipe said, but I think that it was a typo. I used 1 tablespoon for 1 pound of hamburger meat and also added about 1/3 cup of water to the meat to help mix the seasonings in.

Taco Seasoning

6 tsps. chili powder
4 1/2 tsps. cumin
5 tsps. paprika
3 tsps. onion powder
2 1/2 tsps. garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all seasonings together and store in an airtight container. I used a clean strawberry jam glass jar that I had saved. The recipe says to use 1 tsp, but I think it needs 1 tbspn.

I served this with my homecanned pinto beans and homemade spanish rice (not canned) and tortillas.

Frugal dinner tonight

Tonight's dinner is another frugal dinner that's in rotation a lot. Its baked beans with hot dogs tonight. Usually I use sausage, but don't have any right now.

2 cans pork and beans (15 oz) or 1 quart homecanned pork and beans
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 tbspn ketchup
4 tbspn mustard
1 tbspn lemon juice
1 onion, diced
6 hot dogs sliced into "coins"

Mix all ingredients together and bake in oven at 375° for 1 hour. I'm going to try it in the crockpot today instead.

Tonight is parent teacher night at Angela's school, so I wanted something easy to clean up.

Does anyone have a favorite frugal meal?

Spaghetti and breadcrumbs

I made this for dinner the other night! Both hubby and I liked it. The kids were both sick and didn't eat anyfood (they had the flu).

Spaghetti and breadcrumbs

1 pound spaghetti (or any pasta shape)
4 tbspns olive oil
3 tsps minced garlic (I used the already minced garlic in the jar and used heaping spoons)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup fresh parsley (I used dry because I didn't have enough fresh about 1 tbsp)
4 tbsn parmesan cheese
5 slices cooked bacon crumbled.
1/2 tsp pepper or to your taste
3 tbsn lemon juice

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until done; drain. In a separate skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and cooked bacon and cook for about 2 minutes; stir constantly. Stir in breadcrumbs and turn off heat. Add parsley, parmesan cheese and black ground pepper; mix together. Mix this mixture with hot pasta and add lemon juice.

I added more lemon juice and crushed red pepper flakes at the table on mine (hubby doesn't like the crushed pepper flakes).

Composting

I started composting this past spring to add to my garden soil. This is what I have been adding to my compost container:

coffee grounds
vegetable peelings
shredded paper
mowed grass
lint
leaves
tea bags
eggshells
crusts from bread (children won't eat them)

What does everyone else add to their compost piles?

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I promised Judy that I would post this chocolate zucchini cake recipe that I've made that is really good. So here it is.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional - I didn't add this and the cake was great!)

Preheat oven to 350° (175°C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil, mix well. Fold in the nuts and zucchini until they are evenly mixed. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely and frost with your favorite frosting.

Substitutions link

I made some Banana cake (aka banana bread) today and had thought I was out of eggs. So, I looked up egg substitutions on the internet and found this great link: http://www.baking911.com/pantry/subs_eggs.htm Anyway, it turned out that I had the required 4 eggs for my recipe when I thought I had only had 2.

Not to worry, I'll post the recipe for this banana bread/cake later.

Garlic Chicken Fried Chicken

Here's another recipe that I got from allrecipes.com. I tried it on Friday and loved it. I actually loved it so much that I'm making it for dinner tonight again. I did cut my chicken into strips and it went over great with the kids and hubby.

Garlic Chicken Fried Chicken

2 tsps garlic powder, or to taste
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded thin
1 cup oil for frying, or as needed.

In a shallow dish, mix together the seasonings, bread crumbs and flour. In a separate dish, whisk together the milk and egg.

Heat the oil to 350°F (175°C). Dip the chicken into the egg and milk mixture, then dredge into the dry ingredients until evenly coated.

Fry chicken in the hot oil for about 5 minutes per side or until the chicken is cooked through.

This is really, really good! If you fry it right, its not greasy at all.

Easy Baked Potatoes

About a year ago, I tried this technique for baking potatoes. I absolutely love it! I'm making baked potatoes this way right now as I type. The potatoes taste just like what you would get at a restaurant. I mainly tried it because at the time I was pregnant and wanted an easy way to do baked potatoes.

"Baked" Potatoes

As many potatoes as you need for your dinner
oil
foil
crockpot

Wash and poke your potatoes. Rub oil all over the potatoes and wrap them in foil. When all of them are wrapped, place in your crockpot. DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID. Put the lid on the crockpot and plug it in. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on Low for about 8 hours.

Homemade butter

I'm trying to make as many things from scratch as possible and also trying to buy things without too many preservatives in it. So, I decided to try my hand at making homemade butter. I looked it up on allrecipes.com (can you tell I like that website?) and found this recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Homemade-Butter-2/Detail.aspx?prop31=3 and tried it. It was super fast to make. I put the ingredients into my kitchenaid type mixer and mixed it on 8 for 15 minutes. Once the butter separated from the buttermilk, I strained the butter through a paper towel (I don't have any cheesecloth to use) and squeezed out all the buttermilk. I rinsed it then to get any buttermilk that was on it off. Per the reviews, they said if any buttermilk was left on it would make it taste bitter. Once that was done, I mixed the salt into the butter by hand. Next time, though, I will just use the mixer again. I then tasted it and it tasted wonderful!! And, it maybe cost $1.00 to make it and made about 2 sticks worth. I didn't shape into sticks, though.

Here are a couple of pictures. The first is the butter and the second is the buttermilk that I just poured into a clean old jar that I had. I can't wait to try a piece of toast in the morning with the butter:D

Zucchini Brownies

The other day I decided I wanted to make zucchini brownies. So, I went looking for a recipe on allrecipes. I found this great one to use up some zucchinis that I had in the fridge. I just knew it was going to be good. Hubby, kids and I loved it!

Zucchini Brownies

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 ccups white sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups shredded zucchini (do not squeeze liquid out)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I didn't use these because we have nut allergies in the house)

Preheat oven to 350° F (175°C). Grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and then stir into the sugar mixture. Batter will be thick and appear dry. Its not, though, so no need to add any other liquid. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when touched.