Menu Plan Monday

I am definitely off budget now to the point of not even wanting to talk about it.  Signing up for the school craft fair, Thanksgiving and a family birthday party caused me to lose my mind, so I am pleading temporary insanity. At least I hope it is temporary, but the holidays are here now and I am pretty sure my rehabilitation is going to require more than a stern talk with myself. A written plan is my only hope of getting back on track. Starting with a menu plan seems like a good first step anyway.


The grocery stores are off limits for this week except for bread and milk. I'll have Mr. Rainbow Creek pick those up because he can always be counted on not to deviate from the list. That's just one of those things that men are good at, and somebody has to be! We have plenty of food anyways, so I might even be able to stretch for 10 days without shopping.


Breakfast:
Belgian waffles
Cereal
Yogurt
Toaster Strudel


Dinner:
Monday: Steak and black bean chili, corn muffins
Tuesday: Pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn
Wednesday: Chicken and cheese enchiladas, black beans
Thursday: Pot roast, potatoes and carrots
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Leftover pot roast or enchiladas
Sunday: Grilled chicken, oven fries, mixed vegetables

Nesting Time

Well the good news is I didn't miss out on the Concord Grape harvest at Marly's while I was gone to visit my parents. I seriously considered telling my sis that I couldn't go because I was worried they would ripen while we were gone. We got priorities here, and grape jam is right up there at the top when you have as many PB&J eaters in the house as we do.


When I got home I went out to the store and decided to stop by Marly's to check on the grapes, only to find that the gate was locked because she had furbaby visitors last week. I drove to the back and it was locked too. I noticed that the fence was only as high as my hip so figured I could jump over and take a peek. Yeah, well I couldn't jump a fence 25 years ago when I was young, so what the heck was I thinking. Plan B: I pulled a trash can over and gingerly stepped on it. But then,  as I was hoisting myself over, the lid went crashing in, my leg plunged into the can and I landed hard,  astraddling that chain link fence. oooouuchh! As I "sat" on the fence for a few moments contemplating whether this might be a permanent injury I decided there was nothing to do but get over it and carry on with my mission.

And I guess my timing couldn't have been more perfect! Eat our heart out Welch's, those Concord Grapes shall be mine!


Marly had a good laugh when I told her about my fence "hopping" adventure, and she left the gate open for me to come back with a couple helpers to harvest the fragrant little jewels.

Miss Morgy May took the job very seriously as she has a great interest in being sure that Grandpa has an adequate supply of jam to keep the two of them well fed on PB&J for the year. Both of my helpers helped themselves to many samples just to be sure these grapes were at their peak.

Little C-man discovered a cement mixing truck and determined that it was the perfect vehicle for delivering grapes into the collection bin.

Cooperation! They got the job done and were very proud of their work.

I think it was about 30+ lbs of grapes. Morgy was a big help with picking all of the grapes off the stems. What a trooper, she stuck it out for the whole tedious chore. I am sure that jam will taste extra special to her since she had such a big part in the making. I have them all cooked down and strained, about 3 gallons of juicy pulp in the refrig. I really prefer to can when there aren't children running about. Big pots of boiling water and sugar can be dangerous so I'd rather not take any chances. So I will be jammin' all day while the kids are in school. Can't wait to try it!

Menu Plan Monday

It's Jelly Time! Aren't they purty? I just love seeing my jelly's lined up like beautiful jewels. I have 3 batches of strawberry and 2 batches of cherry so far. We picked up some Red Globe Peaches fresh from the orchard yesterday so I  am going to be working on those tomorrow. Mr. Rainbow Creek's favorite is Cherry-Peach and he always get mad when I give it away as gifts and then run out. Guess I will try to make an extra batch or so this year. 


Back to school came way too soon, and now Destructo Boy has football practice 4 nights/week too, so I am going to try to buckle down to some real menu planning. I have come to the conclusion that it is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but maybe I am just making it too hard. We have a ton of food to get used and I would love to make it to after Labor Day with no extra shopping trips except for milk and produce. I always say that, but never seem to make it. derrr!


We are loving the Belgian Waffle Maker still! I found a great simple recipe (below) and make a batch of 12 waffles at a time to put in the freezer in a zip lock bag, all ready to heat up in the toaster in the morning! I also have been pre-cooking a pound of bacon on the broiler pan in the oven, wrap it up in some paper towels and put in a zip lock to zap a couple strips in the microwave for 15 secs. in the morning for the kids. And I pre-cook sausage patties or links too. I love homemade convenience foods. And saving money too!

 While I was doing the jellies I figured why not make a little blueberry syrup for the waffles? I got 2 pints and it is yummmy. Might have to put a little squirt of whipped cream on there next time I have me some waffles.


Breakfast: Waffles, cereal or PB&J


Monday:  Grilled cheese sandwich, chips and pickles


Tuesday: Grilled tuna steaks, red cabbage slaw, noodles or rice


Wednesday: Roasted Red Pepper and Asparagus Frittata, salad 


Thursday: Spicy Italian Roast Beef sandwiches on homemade rolls, oven roasted fries, salad 


Friday: Grilled pizza


Saturday: Grilled chicken, green beans and boiled baby red potatoes


Sunday: Family BBQ at the lake, BIRTHDAY CAKE for Mr. Rainbow Creek! shhhhh, it's a surprise = 0)


Whole Wheat Belgian Waffles


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar or honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl, set aside.
Beat eggs in medium bowl until well blended, whisk in milk, oil and vanilla.
Pour the egg mixture over the dry ingredients and beat until well mixed.
Ladle into waffle maker, cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes.


If you are going to freeze them lay on cookie sheet and allow to cool completely, place cookie sheet in freezer to individually freeze waffles before bagging them in zip lock bag. Heat in toaster or toaster oven until hot and crisp. 


I am linking up with Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday. Go check it out!

Frugal Finds For the Week

I finally got a chance to get out and do my first payday of the month shopping trip on Friday. My plan was to go to Sam's and then maybe King Soopers to use a few coupons I had that were expiring that day. I skipped getting on I-470 for some reason and decided to take County Line which happens to go past a Goodwill Store and Dollar Tree next door to it. Yay! 

My real purpose at Goodwill was to check and see if they had any decent jeans for the girls since school is starting so soon. We haven't figured out what those kids do on the playground to destroy their clothes so fast. But it seems that it doesn't matter if you pay $19.99 or 1.99 for jeans, the knees will be ripped out in less than a month. So that is a no-brainer isn't it?

I passed on the jeans that were on the rack, nothing too great, and I wandered to the back to look at the furniture and what-nots. Behind the furniture is the wall of small appliances and I noticed that they had a bread making machine sitting there. That is something that has been on my want list for quite a while. I just picture myself in the cold winter days baking up a fresh loaf to fill the house with that smell of fresh baked bread while my stew or pot roast is slowly simmering in my red enamel cast iron dutch oven. When everybody comes home from work and school after braving the bitter cold I will be a hero, filling them with warmth and comfort! Such is my fantasy life. But it could happen!

I noticed that there were actually several bread makers on the shelf and I pulled them all down and lined them up on a coffee table in the furniture department so I could investigate their various features. This Breadman Plus seemed to have the most potential because it makes two small loaves at a time and even has a setting for making a small batch of homemade jam. How cool is that? 

If you have ever shopped at Goodwill you know that the shelves are not meticulously organized and you have to do some digging sometimes to get to what you want. While I was trying to get one of the bread machines out I came upon this little Belgian waffle maker. 

Whenever I travel with the kids we stay at hotels with free breakfast and one of Destructo Boy's favorite things in the world is making his own Belgian waffles at the hotel breakfast. And recently Big K told me that he has been telling people that his grandma was going to buy him a waffle maker so he could make them at home. Now I honestly can't recall this conversation, but here was an opportunity to make good on my promise for a mere $4. How could I go wrong with that?


Now here is the best part. I got my first "senior discount" ever in my life when I went to check out. The cashier was an older woman and she looked at me kind of funny and said, "I hate to ask this, but you don't qualify for a senior discount do you?" I asked her what the age was for seniors and she said 55. So I have been missing out on that for a whole year?? She told me I really should come back on Mondays because the discount is 25% instead of the usual 15% and I promised her I would do that!


My total was $20 for the waffle maker, the bread machine, a stack of paperback chapter books for the kids and a wood jewelry cabinet that is going to get a makeover for a gift.

 On to the Dollar Tree, I picked up a pancake mix with a waffle recipe on the side of the box.

 Lemon juice: Miss Banana loves to make lemonade on a hot day to serve to her grandpa and friends. It is the easiest recipe ever: 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of lemon juice, stir together in a 2 quart pitcher, fill the rest of the way with water and ice. 

I picked up some baking mixes and spaghetti sauce and pickles too. Total $20 at the dollar store 

When I woke up this morning Destructo Boy and Miss Banana had discovered the waffle maker and all on their own they mixed up some batter and were busy making waffles for themselves and Big K. I had to have one too. They got carried away and made a few too many but we are thinking maybe we can make them ahead and bag them up in the frig or freezer to cook in the toaster oven on school days. Goodbye expensive Eggo's!


Sadly, I found out today that the bread machine is missing one of the kneading paddles so I spent the day finding and printing an instruction manual and looking to see if I can order another paddle. I decided to try it out and if it works OK I would order the paddle for $5.95+shipping. 

There is my instruction manual. It was 80 pages but I decided to just print the first 20 pages and then I can print out the recipes that I want to try later. I found a recipe on the King Arthur Flour website for a basic white sandwich bread and decided to try it first. 

And here it is! Cheap, easy, delicious and kid approved. I didn't have any whole wheat flour on hand that I trusted, but I am going to get some fresh and try to make it a little healthier next time. Once I get the other kneading paddle I might just cut out store bought bread altogether. Wouldn't that be nice?


So my frugal Friday was pretty successful and turned into a lot of fun. Next week I think I might try making my own laundry soap. I read about it here at The Family Homestead, and it sounds pretty easy. Mr. Rainbow Creek might think I am going off the deep end when he hears about this, but why not give it a try? It does look kind of gooey and messy scooping this gel concoction out of a bucket, will have to let you know how that goes.

Frugal Friday- Iced Coffee

Heading into our 2nd month of serious buckling down on the budget and I have to admit that I have fallen back on the debit card a few times for some off budget items. Oh well, at least I am paying attention and making those decisions, and mostly they were things we need. Like when you happen to find Levi's in the right size at Sam's Club for $22 and you know hubby is down to raggedy work pants then that's a good choice to buy them. Bath and Bodyworks and Victoria's Secret, not so much. But I had coupons!

 Love this stuff!

It doesn't look like that on me! Go figure...

Now back to the frugal Friday tip. I saw this post about a recipe for cold-brewed coffee  from the New York Times and I really love a good iced coffee. 


When I was on the east coast Dunkin' Donuts knew how to do them right, but here in Colorado I have found it is really hit and miss. McD's has great coffee, and their iced coffee would be good if they didn't always screw up the sugar somehow. Starbucks has been less than stellar, not sure why, but iced coffee doesn't seem to be their forte. So I got all excited when I saw this cold-brewed coffee idea and decided to give it a try. Only problem was that I wasn't too excited about the messy process of straining the grinds out of the water after it brewed for 12 hours. The first time I tried it I discovered that I had a few filter bags of coffee like the ones they put in the hotels for the in-room coffee service. Picked those up at the cabin we rented a couple months ago, what can I say ;) So I put them in a mason jar with 1 1/2 cups of water/bag and let them stand overnight and voila! No muss, no fuss and it was really good. 


Now I don't have a regular supply of those bags, but I figured I could make them myself with some coffee filters and string. I actually used button thread because that is what I had on hand, kitchen twine would work too if you have some and can find it, but I couldn't find mine of course.

 Since Big K commutes every day I have been making a pitcher full and keeping it in the frig. I make 1 coffee bag for every 1 1/2 cups of water. 

 Put 1/3 cup of coffee in the filter, then cut a piece of thread or twine long enough to tie around the top a couple of times.

 Carefully gather the top of the filter, tie it into a neat little bundle like this.

 Measure 1 1/2 cups of water for each bag and put the bags in the pitcher. Let it stand for at least 12 hours. Remove bags and refrigerate. 


WARNING! DO NOT attempt to squeeze the liquid out of the bags when removing them. They will burst open and you will have a huge mess of grinds in your coffee concentrate. Yuck! You don't want that. Then you will have to strain it, which is what you were trying to avoid by making these nice little filter bundles.

 Now if you are commuting you can get yourself a nice reusable cup like this at WalMart and fill it with ice, fill about 2/3 full with coffee, fill the rest with milk and add sugar or Splenda to taste. Now get yourself a "tip jar" and deposit $2 that you saved by doing it yourself! Hey, that is $10/week that you didn't even plan to save!

.And since she discovered the coffee Big K got the idea to buy this little pitcher and make her own iced tea to take to the office instead of going to 7-11 or Subway and paying $2/day for it. She fills it with water every night, drops in 2 tea bags and sets it in the 'frig. In the morning she fills it the rest of the way with ice. That's another $2/day in the "tip jar."  I always see these articles about how to save money, and beverages like coffee, tea and bottled water seem to top the list of money wasters. But you don't have to give them up, just DIY and save yourself a lot of money too!

The Kitchen is Open

The Rainbow Creek Kitchen is re-opening. I was initially planning to integrate all my posts on food and budgeting over at Up the Rainbow Creek. But then I thought it might be nice to have a place to chronicle my journey separately from my crafty space. And here I am again.


One of the reasons I quit this blog is that I was facing too many challenges in trying to accomplish what I wanted here. The first one being my horrific kitchen is just not conducive to food blogging. Another issue was our blended family and the fact that we have food issues here. But I am working through those issues and more and more I find myself wanting to share these experiences and blogging in my head about the little tidbits that I think others might find useful or interesting.


So I made some decisions today and I am going to move ahead and face my challenges and do what I can.


If you want to take a chance on following along or stopping by for an occasional visit at The Rainbow Creek Kitchen here is what you can expect to find:

1. Some good recipes that I know you will love to try. But I don't guarantee that I will have perfect measurements. You have to be willing to "wing it" a bit to follow my recipes. That is because I am a little loosey oosey when it comes to cooking. I tend to throw things together and if they turn out good I try to remember how I did it so I can share it or do it again. But I am always around and willing to answer questions if you want to ask, or just call me up while you are cooking dinner and I will talk you through it. Really. I am used to that because that is how my daughter's all learned to cook.
2. A look at how we are learning to budget and live more frugally. This is the end of Month 1 of my plan to live a simpler more stress free life. And even though we are still light years away from our goal I can tell you that I am already feeling calmer and more focused.
3. A focus on living and eating healthy and fresh foods that are affordable and kid friendly.
4. An occasional rant.
5. Horrible pictures from the ugliest kitchen on the planet, which will most likely be the subject of the occasional rant.

See, that is actually a delicious Warm Steak and Spinach Salad w/balsamic vinagrette and Gogonzola, on a turquoise Fiestaware plate on a white cutting board. But something went horribly wrong and I am pretty sure that I would never convince anyone to want to eat this if they saw this picture. 


Then I dropped my camera in my drink at the beach a few days ago. I guess my camera is a lightweight and can't handle her vodka tonics because she has been in an unresponsive state ever since. So that's actually the good news. I am definitely going to be investing in a new camera :)

Fall Flavors: Home Made Chunky Applesauce

Maybe you have never thought of applesauce as a "side dish" for a savory meal. But to me apples are one of those fall flavors that just pairs beautifully with heartier cool weather dinners, like pork chops or chicken and stuffing. I am not talking about the pureed kind you get in a jar, but a sweet spicy chunky homemade applesauce that you can eat with a fork.


Happening to have a neighbor who gifted me with a big bag full of sweet golden apples inspired me to cook some up last week.

It was a big hit with our rather ordinary baked chicken breast with stuffing and green beans. It is super simple to make if you want to give it a try!

Homemade Spiced Applesauce


3 lbs (about 6 medium) apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

1/2 cup water

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons sugar

Put into heavy pot and bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer stirring occasionally until apples are tender. Lightly mash with potato masher. Taste for sweetness, add a little more white sugar if needed. Add a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon to taste before serving. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Frugal Fun Mini Muffin Treats

I love to have some Jiffy Mix in my pantry. I like to pick up a variety of those super cheap muffin mixes to have on hand when I want to bake a little quick bread or snack on short notice.

So it was short notice when Marcy and me decided on Tuesday night that we might lose our minds if we had to spend the rest of "Fall Break" drinking wine and listening to 5 kids whine about wanting to go to Skate Park hauling the kids to the skate park. That is when we hit on the idea of scrounging up the funds to head up to the mountains to Indian Hot Springs Lodge and getting a couple of cabins for a night. We did some creative math and figured we could swing it if we could cover all the food from our pantry supplies.

We came up with a menu of:
Lunch - tuna or egg salad sandwiches, carrot and celery sticks and dip
Dinner- spaghetti and meatballs, Caesar salad, garlic bread, choice of Cabernet or Root Beer
Breakfast- pancakes, bacon, eggs, English muffins, choice of Bloody Mary or MILK

We had all that covered and I pre-cooked the spaghetti and meatballs the night before so we only had to heat them up and toast the garlic bread, which worked out great. Then I thought since this was a special occasion of sorts we should have a treat for the kids. Jiffy Mix Chocolate Muffin Mix to the rescue!

I decided to make mini muffins because kids love mini things. And I used two boxes of mix and ended up with 42 muffins so there were plenty to go around for 5 kids. (Approx. cost less than $1.50!)
I always spray my paper muffin liners with a little non-stick spray so they will peel off clean without ripping half of the muffin off. I just hate that! Then I dropped a little dollop of peanut butter into the center of each chocolate muffin.
The peanut butter melted as the muffins baked and made these nice little streaks of peanut buttery goodness.
I mixed up a half batch of Hershey's cocoa buttercream frosting and happened to have a container of orange sprinkles with little bats so that added a little to the "Fall Break" festivities. These were definitely a hit and the kids didn't even lick the frosting off and throw the muffins away, they ate them all.
After relaxing in the pool all afternoon the kids were ready to head back to the cabin for a good spaghetti and meatball feast.
It was a Thursday night and when we trekked back to the pool for the evening we found that we had the whole place all to ourselves! That's when we decided maybe "Fall Break" isn't such a bad idea after all.


I am linking up to these Frugal Friday Parties. Go check them out!

Too Many Cooks or Too Few?

We are going to try this again.

Menu planning that is. It has been suggested that each mom here should be responsible for planning, shopping and preparing 2 meals each week, leaving one night open for leftover buffet, going out or what have you. I am not sure that we are all "bought in" on this plan but it is a plan. Big K took the initiative to do some menu planning for this week based on what we have in the various storage facilities around the house. Next week we will try to be a little more organized.

The kids are out of school for "Fall Break" whatever that is. We haven't quite figured that out. What do you do on "Fall Break?" You can't go to the lake too cold, you can't go skiing too warm, and who has the money for a trip to Disneyland when the holidays are fast approaching? So this week will also include some day trips to find some cheap entertainment and there goes the plan, out the window again. Sigh.

Sunday - Italian Beef sandwiches with pepperoncini, Olive and Goat Cheese Pasta Salad (Recipes below)


Monday - Roasted pork tenderloin, asparagus, rice pilaf

Tuesday - Spaghetti and meatballs, bread, salad

Wednesday - Homestyle pot roast with potatoes and carrots

Thursday - Leftover Buffet

Friday - Margarita chicken, black beans, rice

Saturday - Pizza

Recipes:

Olive and Goat Cheese Pasta Salad

1 lb package curly pasta cooked
1/2 can black olives sliced
1/2 small bottle of sliced green olives with pimento
1/2 cup celery cleaned and chopped
1/4 cup thin sliced red onion
1 small package crumbled goat cheese
2-3 tablespoons cider vinegar
drizzle of olive oil
2-3 teaspoons Salad Supreme Seasoning
1/4 cup Light Caesar Salad dressing

Toss all ingredients together while pasta is still slightly warm. Cool to room temp or chill before serving.

Italian Beef Sandwiches (Spicy!)

1 Round roast or sirloin tip roast
1 jar whole pepperoncini
1 box beef broth
1 tsp Italian seasoning
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1/2 onion sliced
Salt and pepper
olive oil

Rub the roast with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven and brown roast on all sides on medium heat. Add all the remaining ingredients. Cover tightly and roast in oven at 350 for 2 1/2 hours. Remove meat from pan, slice thinly and return to pan, continue cooking in oven for another hour. Serve on toasted hard rolls, spoon a little of the broth and the peppers on top of meat. This is spicy! You can cut back on the pepperoncinis if you want it less spicy, or don't put all the juice from the peppers in.

Menu Plan Monday

We are going to make do with what we have on hand this week. We had a shopping fiasco last week. Big K and little K went shopping at WalMart at the same time Mr. Rainbow Creek and I went to Sams. We failed to coordinate and ended up buying duplicates of tons of stuff, but of course we forgot some things too and had to go back for laundry soap and juice packs and a few other necessary items. Well, we plan on not repeating that!

It is peach and crab apple time and I have to get started jellying too so the kitchen might be running non stop this week. I hope so anyway!

Here is our menu, subject to change if I am busy with jelly and jams:

Monday: leftover buffet

Tuesday: Pork chops, green beans and boiled potatoes, salad

Wednesday: smothered chicken, smashed potatoes

Thursday: tostadas, salad

Friday: grilled chicken, summer squash, rice pilaf

Saturday: Uncle Herb's 80th birthday dinner at the VFW

Sunday: grilled pizza

Menu Plan Monday - Back to School Time

Sadly, school started last week and our leisurely tuna and egg salad picnic at the beach days have come to an end. Mama K started a new job too (YAAAAAY!!!) so it is time to get our act together and get back to menu planning and a little more structure.

I don't know if I have mentioned this, but since I started this blog our household has grown from 2 adults to a total of 5 adults and 3 kids. We are actually 3 families living under one roof now and although we have found it challenging at times I don't know of any nefarious plots being hatched, BUT Little K has some strange dreams about the kids setting rattlesnakes loose in the house and some of us packing up and leaving. HA! It was actually yours truly who stormed out of her dream and left her here to fend off the snake!

Last week we did a pretty decent job of getting meals planned and on the table about the time that Big K got home from work and I know she really appreciated that. This week I want to try to use up what we have on hand and keep shopping to a minimum until payday.

Monday - Baked Steak with gravy, baked potatoes, corn (recipe below)
Tuesday - Pinto beans, green chile, tortillas
Wednesday - Spaghetti with meatballs
Thurday - Smothered bean and cheese burritos
Friday - Hamburgers, oven fries
Saturday - Pizza and salad
Sunday - Chicken fajitas with pico de gallo, refried beans, corn on the cob

Fresh Pico de gallo: diced onion, finely diced jalapeno pepper, diced tomato and chopped cilantro, a pinch of salt. Let stand for about 30 minutes before serving.

Here is how to make good restaurant style fajitas. DO NOT slice the meat and cook in a skillet with the vegetables. I have seen so many recipes that say to do this and the result is that the meat braises in the juice and ends up overcooked and really just plain awful.

Slice the peppers and onions and cook in a hot skillet until slightly tender, turn up the heat to carmelize them. Chicken or steak should be seasoned with garlic salt and pepper and grilled on high heat, then slice and place on platter over vegetables. Chicken takes about 10 minutes if using boneless skinless breasts, steak should be cooked to med/rare about 6-8 minutes depending on thickness. Squeeze a little fresh lime juice over before serving. Serve with cheese, lettuce, avocado, sour cream and fresh pico de gallo. Perfection!

Sorry, I didn't get pictures of this but here is my dad's baked steak recipe, a family favorite for 3 generations and it can actually be prepared 2 ways, both are super delicious and kid friendly with mashed potatoes or wide egg noodles!

I use thin cut sirloin steak for this, but you can also use a good quality top round.

Trim fat and cut 1 1/2 lbs of steak into serving size pieces. Pound with a meat hammer to tenderize a bit. Season generously with your favorite grill seasoning or garlic salt and pepper. Dredge meat in a little flour and kind of pound the flour in with your fingers. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in skillet on med/high heat, add meat and brown on both sides. Transfer to 13"X9" baking dish when browned.

Add a tablespoon of flour to skillet and a little more oil if needed to blend in all the flour. Cook for a minute or so and then slowly add 1 can of beef stock, bring up to a simmer blending in the flour mixture.

Version # 1 - Sprinkle one package onion soup mix over meat then pour the gravy mixture from the skillet over the top. Cover with foil and bake in 350 oven about one hour.

Version #2 Swiss steak - Pour one can of stewed tomatoes over the meat, add a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce, then pour the gravy mixture from the skillet over the top and bake in 350 oven about one hour until meat is tender and sauce is thickened.

Enjoy!

I am linking up with Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday. Go check it out!

Frugal Friday - $21 Dinner Party!

So, frugal is the new black, they say. And now that I am into being frugal my challenge is not only to eat for less but to eat pretty well.

I whipped up this Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Cream sauce last week just for a weeknight dinner because I found this huge can of roasted red peppers for a great price at the SmartCo store grand opening. It wasn't actually on sale or anything, just a good everyday price. But, I was thinking that you could actually pass this off as a nice dinner for entertaining friends. All you would need to add is a salad, a loaf of crusty bread and a decent bottle of white wine and you could do dinner for 6 at an amazingly frugal cost of just $21!

This is definitely not a low cal type meal, but I don't think it is too terribly bad. Just if you are planning on serving dessert you might want to keep it on the lighter side, like a thin slice of pound cake with fresh berries and a dollop of light cool whip.

Cost:
Chicken- $4
Red Peppers- $3
onion- $0.50
cream-$1.25
chicken broth-$0.75
cheese-$1
pasta-$1.25
seasonings-from pantry, use what you have on hand!
salad-$1.50 (I actually got local grown leaf and romaine for .50/head and store brand Ceasar dressing)
bread-$1 (nightly store special french loaf)
Wine-$7 (Barefoot Chardonnay)

Total: $21

This was so quick and easy, here is the recipe if you want to give it a try:


Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced into 1/2" strips
1 onion thin sliced
1 bottle roasted red peppers, sliced into strips
2 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream or half and half
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
garlic pepper seasoning
6 pepper blend seasoning OR crushed red pepper flake, garlic salt and paprika to taste

1 pkg Fettucini noodles, cooked


Season chicken with grill seasoning to taste. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, add the chicken and cook until it starts to turn white on outside. Add the onions and cook a few more minutes. Reduce heat, stir in the flour and cook one or two minutes making sure it is all absorbed in the oil. Add the red peppers and slowly add chicken broth, bring heat up to med high again and bring to a simmer. Add cream and red pepper flakes, simmer for a minute then reduce heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese until it is melted. Serve over pasta with a little extra grated cheese to top it.

Now I must apologize for my sorry lack of photos. I just forget sometimes that I am supposed to be taking pics when I get busy cooking. Anyways, I need to do something about my horrible pictures because my kitchen is a dark brown gawd awful ugly place and no matter how nice the food might look in person it just won't look good when I take its picture. K suggested a white tablecloth and some white dishes to use for the background, so I will have to scrounge around and see what I can find to help the situation. I am sure there is a frugal solution to the problem, although a $50K kitchen remodel would be my preference and a lot more fun.

ENJOY!

Funday Food and Perfect Sugar Cookies

I remember one time when I was grilling some chicken and I yelled at the guys that I needed a pot holder, and Mr. Rainbow Creek and Fatty both ran out of the garage and each handed me a welding glove.

What immediately came to my mind was Jeff Foxworthy's "you might be a redneck" jokes.

Now I see all these shows on Food Network and sure enough those BBQ champions are all wearing those redneck potholders. And they probably are teaching their one year old's to play with fire, but in a good foodie kind of way, don't ya think?

Destructo Boy with a look that says "I got this s'mores thing down, man!" It's all in the gloves of course.

Sometimes we do a little indoor food fun too.

Didn't they used to tell kids "don't play with your food!" Well what fun was that!!??

We found a good way to use up leftover frosting from cake decorating class, turn the kids loose with a batch of sugar cookies.

I went on a sugar cookie binge last year in search of the best sugar cookie recipe ever. This blue ribbon winning sugar cookie recipe is my all time favorite so far.

My secrets to a perfect sugar cookie:

They have to be frosted with a good buttercream frosting that sets up just a little hard on top.
I love frosted sugar cookies so much. And the milk in the frosting is the secret to keeping these soft and just a little moist.

I also make sure to get them out of the oven when they are just set and don't let them start to brown. Let them set up on the pan for a few minutes before removing to the cooling rack.

If they are browning too quickly turn your oven down to 325 degrees.

Nature Girl gives them her seal of approval too.

Enjoy!

Frugal Friday - getting serious about saving now

Wow there is so much to be learned from blog hopping! I love some of the ideas I have been finding and I am starting a list of things I am planning to try.

The way I see it, this need to cut back and manage our money better is an opportunity to be more creative and use our talents. I love that we are working together to come up with creative ideas for having fun and living well even on a limited budget. And it has pushed me to become more proactive on my personal desire to simplify my life and become more self sufficient.

Here is a list of things I plan to try this week:
Grow celery from celery stalk bottoms: Premeditated Leftovers: Something From Nothing
Grow green onions from roots: Penniless Parenting
Make a sourdough starter: Frugal Creativity
Bake a batch of soft pretzels with the kids: hmm, can't find that link right now but it sounded wonderful and Destructo Boy loves soft pretzels and baking so that will be our Sunday Funday treat.

Oh, she found me, thanks Haleyleanne! Here is the link to the soft pretzels recipe.

One of our biggest challenges is finding fun and affordable things to do with the kids.

Here is what we will be doing tomorrow:

We have tuna salad, bread, chips, grapes and cherries and kool-aid so we should be all set for a day in the sun. When we get home we are going to make a batch of homemade plain vanilla ice cream. Yummm...
There is a Dragon Boat Race and Festival at Sloan's Lake this weekend so we are planning to take the kids. They have been really good about doing chores this week so we will give them each part of their allowance to spend. We have found that it helps a lot when we go places if they have a little money of their own to decide what to spend it on. It does seem to keep them from asking us to buy them trinkets and garbage.

Sis, who was the most brilliant single mom I have ever known used to go through the coupons with BB when he was young and let him pick which cereal and snacks he was going to "spend" his coupons on. She knew she was going to have to buy those things anyway, but it gave him a little buying power and he didn't wheedle and whine for things she couldn't afford. She is a genius, don't you think?

This week's challenge is to menu plan for 2 weeks using only what we have on hand. That shouldn't really be too hard because I went shopping and stocked up on neccessities today. I will probably try to push it into an extra week of using everything we can before shopping again, that will be more fun.

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday dinner

My favorite, Pico de Gallo! Fresh tomato from my tiny garden, green onion, jalapeno and cilantro.

Grilled zucchini, yellow squash and jerk seasoned chicken breasts.

Serve with black beans and yellow rice.

We made homemade chocolate ice cream for dessert. Tried a Martha Stewart Wedding recipe and no one liked it. The flavor was too chocolatey and overpowered the creamieness. This really bummed me out because I looked at about a million chocolate ice cream recipes and chose this one. If anyone has a good tried and true recipe that is more kid friendly I would love to try it. We are thinking about making a batch of vanilla tomorrow and swirling the chocolate in.

The heat wave continues and our menu this week will be pretty simple and involve a lot of grillin' and chillin'.

Breakfast: cereal, bagels and cream cheese or waffles

Lunch: PB&J sandwiches, ham or turkey sandwich's, chili dogs and chips

Monday: burgers and brats, pasta salad, baked beans
Tuesday:Leftover chicken, black bean and squash tortilla wraps with cheese, lettuce and salsa
Wednesday: Grilled chicken, penne pasta alfredo, steamed broccoli
Thursday: Easy no bake enchiladas (recipe below), refried beans, lettuce
Friday: Ciabatta Cheese Steaks with the works, oven roasted potatoes (Rachael Ray's recipe. I am dying to try this, if you ever saw this episode of 30 minute meals you will be drooling. I am using sirloin steak since that is what I have in the freezer)
Saturday: leftover pulled pork from freezer, chips, baked beans
Sunday: Steak or chicken fajita's, rice, beans

Easy Enchiladas

In large bowl, combine cooked diced chicken or steak or taco meat, diced onion, and shredded cheese. (you can use leftover grilled squash or corn and black beans in the mix too if you prefer a veggie version)

Pour 1 large can or 2 small cans enchilada sauce into a wide shallow bowl.

Heat a TINY amount of oil in large skillet over medium/high heat. Lightly fry corn tortillas a few at a time to soften them. Remove from skillet, dip into the sauce and place the tortilla on a plate then fill with a couple spoonfuls of the filling and roll. Spoon a little more sauce over the top, microwave until cheese is melted, garnish with a little green onion. Serve with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes on the side.

Enjoy!

Linked to: Organizing Junkie's menu plan Monday. Go check it out!
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