Food, Family, & Traditions

For the past couple of weeks, I have been baking and canning jellies and jams to take to our local farmer's market. Believe it or not, it has been a dream of mine to be able to bake and make items to sell. While I would really love to own a little restaurant, similar to what my dad owned, at this time the farmer's market is about all we can handle.

Baked goods for the farmer's market

As I stood last night at my kitchen sink, looking out the window and stemming strawberries to make strawberry jalapeno preserves, I got a strong sense of déjà vu. I realized that the food itself was bringing back memories. Memories of my childhood, of when my mom and dad would can jams and jellies. When we would get together with my grandparents and make pies to go into the freezer for winter. The food connected me to my childhood. In fact if I stood there long enough I could imagine standing at my parents' kitchen sink, looking out their window, helping to get whatever produce was ready to either can or go into the freezer.

Strawberry Jalapeno Preserves and Pepper Jelly

Tradition in our family and in many families can be found in the food that we eat and make. There are certain things that we always make on holidays. For Easter it is ham, deviled eggs, and my grandmother would always make angel food cake with strawberries. For the Fourth of July, growing up we always had watermelon and homemade ice cream. Thanksgiving of course means turkey, our family's special dressing (stuffing), and pumpkin pie. And of course on Christmas we would have homemade candies that was only made during that season.

Homemade deviled eggs, a tradition at many of our family gatherings.

I try to carry on some of these traditions for my children, but I also try to start new traditions for them. They will grow up eating strawberries and pie crust for Easter, and for the Fourth of July, since my daughter is allergic to dairy, there is no homemade ice cream. Instead we stick to fruit kabobs and of course grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.  Thanksgiving we still have our traditional family meal, and for Christmas, I make several of the candies that I grew up with.

Homemade buns using my dad's recipe that he used when he owned the Pastry Shop

One of the best gifts I have received was from my cousin Jim. To most people it would have no value, in fact it really has little monetary value, but to me it is worth everything. It is our grandmother's rolling pin. It still has the dough on it from the last time that she used it. She passed away in February of 1988, I was only 14 years old. When I look at that rolling pin, I think about her and her raisin pie and her stacked applesauce cake. I also think about how much she loved all of her grandchildren and how kind she was to us. I know that when Jim looked at the rolling pin, he had different memories of her, but still loving memories. He is older than me and while we didn't grow up together, we share what matters most, a grandmother, a rolling pin, and sweet memories.

My grandmother's rolling pin.

So as I make the jams and jellies, as I bake my dad's famous hamburger buns that he served at his restaurant, I am making new memories and traditions, while still carrying forward the old. These memories are ones that my children can look back on and remember, fondly I hope. Memories that I hope they will carry on as they raise their children. Memories that are all founded in food.

What food traditions does your family have? Let me know in the comments below.

Leave a Comment baking, bread, canning, cooking, family, farmer's market, food, growing up, Jelly, traditions

7 Reasons to Go to Your Local Farmer's Market

I know that on Thursday I usually post a recipe. Well this week, I didn't have the time to get a recipe ready to share with you all. That doesn't mean that I wasn't cooking or baking, in fact I have done quite a bit this week. All my cooking and baking have been in preparation for our local farmer's market.

Our local farmer's market.

I have been an avid fan/shopper of our local farmer's market for over five years. In that time you get to know the vendors, you know the quality of their food and produce. I absolutely love when the farmer's market opens and I try to go every week. At the very least I try to get there every other week.

Well this year, I have decided to take a leap and become a vendor myself. I am excited and scared all at the same time. This has been a dream of mine for a long time. I have wanted to make things and sell them, but I have always thought up excuses as to why I couldn't.

Jams and Jellies I will be selling at my local farmer's market.

I was talking to a friend of mine who is great at motivating me and giving me pep talks. She talked about how to first have faith. No matter what God will take care of us if only we will believe. She also told me that if I never try, I will never know if I can succeed. She is absolutely right!

I thought I would share with you the reasons why you should go to your local farmer's market. Some of you probably have, but maybe there are a few who never have.

Eggs are a popular item at the farmer's market.

So here are my 7 reasons why you should go to your local farmer's market.

1.  Great Food!

The food that you buy at the farmer's market is fresh!  It hasn't been picked before it's ripe, to sit on a truck as it travels across country, only to sit (again!) on the shelf for who knows how long!  If it is baked goods, you know it has been baked within the last 24 hours.  You also get to try new things that you might not even see at a regular grocery store.  In fact I can't wait to get some more of the apple wood smoked salt one of the vendors sell. It is amazing!

2.  Great Price!

When I first started going to the market, I noticed that a lot of times the cost of food was higher than at the grocery store.  Not by much, just a few cents. At first my budget-trained mind kicked in and thought, I'm not going to pay that! But then I realized, I'm getting locally raised, organic, top quality food.  That few extra cents?  Worth it! And it is much cheaper than buying organic in a grocery store.  Plus you cut out the middleman. There is nothing better than buying straight from the grower, because...

3.  You Know Where Your Food Comes From

I love knowing where my food comes from. I love knowing that my food comes from a farm that is only a few miles down the road. I love knowing that the produce was picked less than 24 hours from the time that I purchase it. What to know where the food comes from? Ask questions, ask about the farm and their farming practices. They love to share that information with you, and then you will see the value in the items you buy.

4.  Reduces Carbon Foot Print

I touched on this in reason number one. My veggies and baked goods are not coming from across the country, or even from another country. They did not have to travel thousands of miles in a pollution emitting vehicle. There is also less packaging and less waste. This is a great and easy way to start your trek on becoming environmentally friendly! :-)

5.  Vendors Are Very Knowledgeable

Vendors are very knowledgeable about their product, they have to be. I got in on a conversation one year about pest control. One shopper was asking the grower what kind of insecticide he used. The answer? He doesn't! At least not a chemically based insecticide. That was music to my ears. But then he went on to give the buyer some options of how to take care of pests naturally. So have if you have a question, ask it! They are more than happy to answer.

6.  Your Money Goes Back Into Your Local Economy

This is so important! I am supporting local farmers. This money is going straight into my local economy, right back into my home town. I want my town to flurish and I want those small (read non-corporate) farms to prosper.

7.  You Get to Meet Some Great People

The vendors at the farmer's market are some of the most wonderful people that I have met! I love talking to them and getting to know them. The best part, is that they all seem like a big happy family. I have not heard one vendor say anything negative about another vendor. I love that! If someone runs out of an item, then they know where to send you so you can get it from someone else. Unlike the corporate world, they are not out to compete with each other, but to help each other.

I hope that I have convinced you to go to your local farmer's market. In fact I hope that you come and visit me and the other vendors at the first farmer's market of our season.

Do you already frequent your farmer's market?  Tell me in the comments below your favorite item to buy

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2 comments farm, farmer's market, farmers, farming, food, health, locally grown, organic

One-Pan Sausage and Pasta: A Review

Our journey to healthier eating is continuing. This week has been hard but only because I don't have a written meal plan. Seriously, the meal plan helped a ton last week, more than I really thought it would. The funny thing is that we didn't follow it to a tee, but just having meals written down, gave me a guide to follow.

This week, I didn't take the time to make a nightly meal plan and I am scrambling to figure out what to fix. The only thing that has saved us is that we still have plenty of healthy organic foods to choose from, so meals are pretty easy to whip together, even if I do have to stand in front of an open fridge door for five minutes!  :-)

I was trying to decide what to make for supper last night when I saw a Tasty video. Have you seen these videos? They always seen to show up right when you are realizing how hungry you are. Then they take a recipe that you might not otherwise try, and show you how to make it in a couple of minutes long video.  They make these recipes look so good and so easy! Thanks to these videos, anyone can be a chef!

One-Pan Sausage and Pasta

The recipe video that caught my eye yesterday afternoon was for One-Pan Sausage and Pasta. I knew I had all the ingredients and thought it would be a perfect recipe to try. Plus it only takes 30 minutes from start to finish.  

Ingredients:

Here are the ingredients for the dish:

The players for this meal, and that's white pepper in the container.

Notice, that all my ingredients are organic. Yes we are still doing organic. There are two ingredients that are missing from the picture above. One is water and the other is garlic. The recipe called for 4 cloves of garlic and I forgot that I used all my garlic for my bone broth. I decided to just used garlic powder instead.  Next time, real garlic cloves would be better.

The sausage the recipe called for was smoked andouille sausage, but I used sausage I purchased at Aldi. It is Kirkwood's Never Any! chicken sausage with tomatoes and basil. This sausage was perfect with this dish since it called for grape tomatoes and fresh basil. The sausage is fully cooked so I didn't have to worry about whether or not it was done, I just had to make sure and warm it through.  Side note: I love the Never Any! line from Aldi.  Their ham lunch meat is amazing and I can't wait to try the whole chicken that they now have available.

Making the Recipe:

To make the recipe, I sautéed the onions in olive oil first and sprinkled some garlic powder over them. Then I added in salt, then laid the spaghetti (a 1 pound box) in next, then continued with tomatoes, basil, and sausage. Once everything was in the pan, I added in 4 1/2 cups of water.

I let this come to a boil, turned down the heat to low, put a cover on the pan, and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Beautiful tomatoes, basil, and sausage.

At this time, the recipe says that the water should be absorbed by the cooking spaghetti and the spaghetti should be at the al dente stage.  Mine was not.  I did need to cook it a little longer, but only a couple of minutes longer.

Then I added a little pepper (I used white pepper) and some Parmesan cheese and voilà! 

The first thing I noticed was how much spaghetti was in the pan.  That one pound box made a ton! Thankfully my parents came to supper last night, or we would be eating on this for days! Also it was a little void of flavor. I'm wondering if that was because of the switch in sausages.  

Ready to cook.

What I Loved About This Recipe:

I loved the ease of this recipe. I loved that I could cook everything in one pot. And I loved that it didn't take very long for me to cook! In fact during 12 minutes that I had to let it simmer, I was able to make a nice side salad to go with our meal. 

What I Would Do Different:

I didn't care for all the pasta, so if I make this again, I would only use half of the one pound box.  And then of course, I would need to decrease my water as well.  I would try about 3 cups and see how that does.  I would also add in more veggies.  Some nice mushrooms and some colorful peppers would be amazing in this dish.  I would also add in some Italian herbs to kick things up a notch.

Overall Rating:

I would rate this recipe a B+ with the way that I made it last night.  Who knows it might have been better with the real garlic cloves and smoked andouille sausage.  But I think the real problem for me was the excess pasta and lack of veggies.  But of course that is my personal preference.  Do I recommend it?  Yes, it is a great recipe for the weeknight when you don't have a lot of time to cook and you want something good and this can rival take-out any day!

Funny, but I can't find the video from Tasty that I saw yesterday.  However, I do know that they based their recipe from another site.  So if you would like to get the recipe, I'm going to direct you there. Click here for the recipe.

Have you made any of these one pot pasta dishes?  Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Leave a Comment dinner, food, one-pot, organic, recipes

Our Journey Towards Healthier Eating

My darling hubby, Steve was diagnosed with diabetes 6 years ago.  It's hard to believe it has been 6 years! It was a shock to us, but when we really started thinking about our diet, it was easy to see why.  Steve had this habit of eating one meal a day, and that meal would be huge to make up for not eating the rest of the day.  This reeked havoc on his blood sugar without him ever knowing.

Once the diagnosis was made, and we attended nutrition classes, we really got on the ball and stuck to a diet that not only helped him lose weight, but also lower his blood sugar.  It took a couple of years for this to happen, but it did happen.

The beginning of a beautiful bone broth.  Nature's elixir of youth.

I was bound and determined to be as supportive as I could so I decided to follow his diet as well, only tailor it to female proportions.  In doing so, I lost 45 pounds over a year's time.  I was able to keep the weight off, until the past year and a half.

Beautiful purple potatoes, high in antioxidants, they can help lower blood pressure and strengthen the immune system.

It is so easy to ease back into bad habits.  Life can get pretty hectic, and during the winter, when we don't have the fresh veggies coming out of our garden to eat, we end up taking advantage of fast foods and convenience foods.  But once we start eating those, the pounds pack back on.  And Steve's blood sugar starts creeping up (he had lowered it with diet and exercise), and his cholesterol started to rise.

Here's the kicker.  It isn't just our health that is of concern, but it is our children as well.  We can tell our kids all we want not to drink soda or eat junk food, but if they see mom and dad throwing back a can of soda and a bag of chips, then what does that tell them?

I love this quote.  It says so much about our society.

So in order to get us back on track and teach our kids good nutrition, we have started eating healthier. I won't say we are on a diet. In fact I absolutely hate that word and how people have used it in a negative way. Really there is nothing wrong with the word. The actual definition from Merriam Webster is "food and drink regularly provided and consumed" and the next one is "habitual nourishment." I kind of like that last one. It is not until the fourth definition provided that it talks about diet being a way to lose weight.

I have already shared a couple of recipes with you that would fall into the almost healthy range.  I say almost healthy because they could do with a little tweaking to make them even better. One of them is Lentil Sloppy Joes. We made these again last night, but I used red split lentils instead of the green lentils.

Isn't the color gorgeous! They are a great source of fiber and protein and are also packed with B vitamins and iron.

I also cut way down on the amount of sugar. Instead of the 1/2 of cup that the recipe calls for, I used 1/4 of a cup.  The rest of the recipe stays the same, but this time, I added some fresh mushrooms and diced tomatoes to the sauce.  It was yummy!  In fact Carly loved it so much that she took the leftovers to school with her for her lunch.  Now I call that a win!

We are trying to eat foods with an abundance of color (like the purple potatoes pictured above).  We also have cut down on our snacks, unless they are healthy (like yellow, orange, white, and purple carrots!) and we have cut down on our portions.

One of my favorite breakfasts, plain organic yogurt with frozen fruit and pumpkin flax granola.

The other thing that we are changing is purchasing organic. Not only is it healthier for you, but the food really does taste better. Think you can't afford organic? Then you need to revisit the stores. The organic versions are only a few dimes higher than the non-organic. Some of them are even the same or less if they are on sale!  Another way to get inexpensive organic veggies is to grow them yourself. You don't need a big plot of land, you can plant seeds in flower pots. Don't want to grow them yourself? Another great place to get organic produce is at your local farmer's market.

My organic and non-GMO groceries from Aldi!

So from here on, you will be seeing healthier recipes from me.  And with the garden season starting, it will (hopefully) be with veggies that we grow ourselves.  I hope that you will stick with me through this and that you will make baby steps as we are in striving to eat healthy!

Leave a Comment food, health, lifestyle, meals, organic

Lentil Sloppy Joes

I love sloppy joes!  I haven't always.  Growing up, my mom used to make sloppy joes from scratch and I really didn't care for them.  I think she used a mixture of ketchup and mustard and probably added in some of the homemade tomato juice that they always canned every summer.  It was on the runny side and it just didn't have that sweet and tangy taste that I have now grown to love.  I disliked her sloppy joes so much that she had to make me a plain hamburger patty every time she made them.

The first time I tried the canned version of the sauce, I was in heaven!  I thought that was the best stuff that I had ever eaten.  From then on I loved sloppy joes!  But that was back in the 90's.  A time when we were young and carefree and the price of beef was where a poor 20-something could actually afford it.  In fact, hamburger used to be considered a budget meal! Now, not only is beef NOT a budget item but it is not all that healthy, unless you are lucky enough to raise it yourself or buy from a farmer that you know is raising their cattle grass fed.

I have my sister Lori to thank for turning me onto lentils.  Last year, we were looking for substitutes for meat during a time when we really needed to watch our money.  Before I go any further, I have to add that my husband is all about eating meat.  He would eat meat and potatoes for every meal if I let him, so the idea of substituting a couple of meals a week with vegetarian meals did not exactly thrill him.  But my sister assured me that lentils were very tasty, were inexpensive, and could be substituted as a meat in just about any dish that calls for hamburger.

I first looked up the benefits of lentils which include: good source of iron, great source of protein, low in calories, and the list goes on and on.  Next I looked up recipes and found a ton of recipes with lentils.  Things like chili, salads, lentil loaf (instead of meatloaf), taco lentils, and of course sloppy joes.

The first time we made the sloppy joes, I followed a recipe I found.  It was okay, but not great.  The lentils were under cooked and the sauce didn't have any wow factor.  But, it was good enough that I knew, if I started tweaking the recipe, it could be great!  So that is what I have for you today, my tweaked version of lentil sloppy joes that my family (kids included!) love!

Green Lentils

You can get green, red, or black lentils.  We usually gravitate towards the green because they are easier to find in regular grocery stores.  We like to cook our lentils till they are soft, but just before the mushy stage.  Like I said the first time I cooked them, they were under cooked.  I believe the recipe said to cook them for 15 minutes.  That was not long enough for us!  We really wanted it more of the consistency of the hamburger meat that we were replacing.  Also, I need to mention that before you cook your lentils, you need to go through them and wash them just as you would dry beans.

The sauce for this recipe is a cross between my grandmother's swedish meatball sauce and what I use for baked beans.  I decided to stick with a sauce I was familiar with and play with the amounts and add and tweak as needed.  So here is our version of lentil sloppy joes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 4 1/2 cups water

Sauce:

• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients...just missing the Worcestershire and tomato sauce.

Bring 4 1/2 cups of water to a boil.  Add in 1 cup of dry lentils.  Reduce heat and let simmer 25-30 minutes.  This is double the amount of time that the original recipe we tried said.  For us it was trial and error and this is the consistency we liked.  I would suggest cooking them for 20 minutes, tasting one to see the texture and then if too hard, continue cooking.

While the lentils are cooking, you can prepare your sauce.  Add the tomato sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, minced onions, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce to a sauce pan and cook over low heat.  You want the sugar to dissolve and the flavors to meld.  Let it simmer until the lentils are done.

Once the lentils are cooked to your desired consistency, drain off the water.

Cooked lentils

Add your cooked lentils to your sauce.  At this time, you can keep them warm on the stove, which is what I had to do, just be careful not to overcook the lentils or they will turn into mush.

Cooked lentils in sloppy joe sauce.

You can see from the picture that it is pretty saucy!  We like sloppy, sloppy joes.  1 cup of lentils more than fed our family of 4.  In fact we have quite a few left-overs.  

Yummy!

If only I would have had time to make my own buns, that would have made the meal.  However I was able to pick these lovely buns up for 1/2 price because of the use by date.  I didn't mind that they were expiring that day since I was going to be using them the same day.  The whole sandwich was delicious!

I really hope you give this recipe a try.  Want a printable version of the recipe?  Then click HERE.

And please let me know in the comments below what you think about using lentils or if you have even tried them before.

4 comments budget, food, health, recipes, sandwiches, vegetables, vegetarian

A Month of No Groceries: My November Food Challenge Week 3

Well, week 3 didn't go as planned.  I'll tell you more about that later.  The good news is that the meals we had were much better than week 2.  I was actually able to plan ahead and cook more!  Here is what we had.

Monday: Leftovers from take out we got on Sunday
Tuesday: Taco Soup (Recipe to come later)
Wednesday: Loaded Baked Potatoes
Thursday: Beans & Ham and Mac & Cheese
Friday: Beef and Bean Enchiladas
Saturday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Peas, and Homemade Bread
Sunday: Clean out the Fridge Night!

I'm happy to report that the beef and bean enchiladas used the most leftovers of any of the meals.  I had leftover tortilla shells, leftover homemade enchilada sauce in the freezer, and leftover beans from the night before.

Beef and Bean Enchiladas. Yummy goodness inside!

And then you can see our Sunday evening meal was a clean out the fridge night.  I wanted to make sure that all the leftovers from the meals we had this week were eaten and not taking up valuable space in the fridge since in just a couple of days it will be Thanksgiving!  Already the turkey (that my mom so graciously gave me) is in the fridge thawing and getting ready to be roasted on Thursday morning.

Our Wednesday night meal

Now for the bad news.  I did buy groceries this week.  I broke down and got some things that we really needed for meals and for Thanksgiving.  Here is a run down of what I ended up buying:

• milk - $2.87
• celery - $0.49
• 2 lbs. carrots - $0.99
• 10 lbs. potatoes - $1.49
• corn - $2.00 (4 cans)
• sharp cheddar cheese - $1.79 (block)
• sliced ham - $3.29 (all natural)
• cream cheese - $0.89
• coffee creamer - $1.69
• Cranberries - $0.99
• mandarin oranges (I gave in to the cryings of my children, they love these!) - $3.56 (4 cans)
• 3 lbs. sweet potatoes - $0.99
• pumpkin - $1.78 (2 cans)

So for under $25.00 I was able to get a few groceries that helped supplement our meals, and will help make the recipes that I plan to serve for Thanksgiving.  While I was really hoping that I could get by without buying any groceries at all this month, I think this is pretty good.  Remember I did spend some the first week, and while I didn't give you a total on what I had spent that week, I will tell you now.  It was $18.00 for 4 items.  Those 4 items were purchased at Wal-Mart.  The items above I purchased at Aldi.  It makes a big difference.  So while I'm not happy that I bought groceries, at least I did save money on them.

Tuesday's meal, taco soup, yummy!

This week is going to be tricky with making meals.  I don't want to make big meals that we will have lots of leftovers due to Thanksgiving coming up.  I don't want to take up space in my fridge now that it is cleaned out, but I do want to continue to cook our meals.  I guess you will have to wait and see how we do this week, and see what kinds of meals I can come up with for my family, and hopefully resist the urge to buy any more!

So tell me, how did you guys do this week?

2 comments budget, cooking, food, groceries, no spend, sustainable living, tips

Throw Back Thursday: Goulash

I love today's post, because I get to share with you one of my family's favorite meals.  In fact, I believe this is probably the most requested meal that I get from my family.  It is also a dish that I grew up with, and one that is easy to make, and budget friendly!

My mom always called this goulash.  I know that there are other variations of goulash and I have tried a couple of those recipes, but I always come back to the variation that I grew up with. Well, kind of.  My mom made her goulash with hamburger meat, diced onions, elbow macaroni, and home canned tomato juice.  For us, I use my home canned pasta sauce so that there is a thicker sauce that already has spices added.

Goulash ingredients, yep that's all there is!

You can see from the picture above that there really isn't much to it.  The ingredients I use are:

• 1 pound hamburger meat (this would be good with ground deer meat for you hunters out there)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups dry pasta, we prefer elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions
• 1 jar pasta sauce of your choice

For this recipe, we like to use elbow macaroni, but when I made it this time, I didn't have enough. You can see in my picture of the finished recipe that there is also penne pasta thrown in as well.  Remember this is my no grocery month, so I had to use what I had on hand.  The bowl in the picture has my homemade pasta sauce in it.  I opened a jar to use some for pizza, and needed to use the leftover sauce for something else.  This was the perfect dish to do that!

To make the goulash:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions 
2. While the pasta is boiling, brown 1 lb. of hamburger meat.
3. After the hamburger meat is cooked through and chunked - my husband loves bigger chunks - add any spices you like.  I add a little minced onion (remember I'm using already seasoned sauce).
4. Pour the pasta sauce in with the hamburger meat and let it simmer on low heat.
5. When the pasta is done (I cook it to al dente), drain the pasta and add it to the sauce.

 And that's it!

There almost wasn't any left to get a picture of it!

Once I finished cooking this batch, I set the pan on the table and went to get my camera to take a picture.  When I came back, there was hardly any left!  I had to scrap together a small pile just to get a picture. That is how much my family loves this dish!

I like to serve this with a salad and homemade french bread.  Of course some nights, we don't even bother with a veggie or bread, we just grab a big bowl of this pasta dish and enjoy.  This is comfort food at its finest!

Let me know in the comments below what you think of this recipe, and let me know if you have made this recipe before!

Leave a Comment budget, cooking, food, hamburger, homemade, meals, recipes, tbt

A Month of No Groceries: My November Food Challenge Week 2

We have just finished week 2 of no groceries and I can tell you that it is getting harder.  I can also tell you that life is getting busier as you can probably tell since this post is late.

The good news is we did NOT buy any groceries this week. The bad news is that we did eat out a couple of times. The reason we got take-out  is because this weekend we were working hard on putting siding on our house. Since it was just Steve and I putting on the siding, I wasn't able to take the time off to make meals. Plus by the time we called it a day from putting up siding, we were both exhausted!

This picture was too cute not to share, plus you can see the mess behind them from the siding project

What bothers me about the meals we bought, was the money we spent.  We could have used the money spent to purchase enough groceries for at least 1 week probably longer. :-/  What I should have done was plan ahead and had something in the crock pot, or fixed a meal ahead that would have been easy to reheat.  However the way last week went, that just didn't happen.

My lack of planning was the real issue this weekend.  I now realize that I need to plan ahead.  I have always been horrible at meal planning.  Even if I do plan ahead, I don't stick with it.  

As for meals this week, it has been interesting to say the least.  This week was probably one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a long time.  Not due to the no groceries, but to other things that were going on.

Monday: Kids ate at my sister's house; Steve and I ate pbj

Tuesday: I honestly don't even remember

Wednesday: Crock pot chicken (big fail) turned chicken tacos

Thursday: Goulash (family recipe coming soon)

Friday: scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, gravy, & biscuits (honestly the best meal this week)

As you can see we had some issues this week with the meals.  On Monday, the kids ate at my sister's house. Actually I had a couple of bites (alright more than a couple!) of her chicken and dumplings.  They were delish!  I definitely need to get her recipe.

Tuesday I honestly cannot remember what we had.  Wednesday I took one of my freezer chicken meals and put it in the crock pot.  It did not turn out well.  This is the second time I have fixed it and the second time that it was horrible.  I will not be making brown sugar chicken again!  I ended up shredding the chicken and used some tortilla shells we had to make chicken tacos.

Goulash - our family's recipe

 
Thursday I made my family's recipe for goulash.  The kids had been asking for this one.  They love it!  I will be sharing that recipe with you very soon.  And Friday it was breakfast for supper.  Really it was my favorite meal.  I love breakfast!

Our yummy breakfast for supper!

My goals for this week are meal planning and making some meals ahead so that they will be easy to heat up. Even though we do not have activities this week we do have siding to finish installing so long as the weather cooperates.  Hopefully this week will be a little easier and I can do more cooking!

So for those of you doing this challenge, how did you do?  Let me know in the comments below.

4 comments budget, food, groceries, no spend, sustainable living

A Month of No Groceries: My November Food Challenge Week 1

Well, the first week of buying no groceries has passed.  If you haven't read my post about my November food challenge, the you can read it here, but basically the challenge is to go through a whole month without buying groceries.

Actually this week was not as bad as I had thought it would be.  The excitement of the challenge was there to keep me going.  Normally, I live for Wednesdays where I can read the grocery store ads and see what is on sale that week.  And now that the holidays are nearing, there is usually some pretty cool baking supplies that are available that aren't available at other times of the year.  Or at least they are harder to find.  But I was good, and didn't look at the ads until Friday, when my curiosity got the better of me.  Old habits die hard I guess.  Still there was nothing in those ads that tempted me. 

Another thing that helped a lot this week was the fact that we were able to stay home every night!  That hasn't happened in a couple of months.  But football and cheerleading are over for the time being.  Nothing starts again until the middle of January.  We do have church on Sundays and cub scouts on Mondays, but the rest of our days are our own.

Being able to stay home during the evenings this week, allowed me to fix supper every night.  It wasn't always a grand meal, but we were able to use up some food from our freezer and pantry.

Here is the real kicker.  Even though we didn't buy any food (see below for a few exceptions), we did receive some food.  A friend whose son has started taking piano lessons from me brought us some deer meat, and some bierocks that she makes which are awesome!  I put those in the freezer and I can take one of those to lunch when I don't have anything else!  We also received some fresh veggies from my mother-in-law.  She had bought some for a party she was having and she didn't want the left-overs so we ended up with them as well.  We also received a gift of a very nice beef roast from some friends of ours. 

What amazes me is how blessed we are that even though we aren't buying food, we still receive it.  This same thing happened to us last year, during a no-spend month.  God does provide!

I want to share with you our meals that we had this week.  For a couple of meals, I was able to use left-overs and turn them into something else for another meal.  I love it when it works out like that!  Also, please don't judge on some of these meals.  I am going to be better about adding in veggies or fruit.  There are a couple that after I looked at them, are not the healthiest, but hey, we ate!  Here they are:

Monday: Porcini Mushroom Tortellini, roasted green beans, peaches
Tuesday: Pork chops, stuffing, and beets
Wednesday: Hamburgers, fried eggs, and tator tots
Thursday: Pork roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, crescent rolls
Friday: Hamburger pizza (from leftover hamburger) and BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza (from left-over pork roast)
Saturday: SOS (slop on a shingle) This was made from leftover gravy from breakfast and leftover hamburger and roasted turnips
Sunday: Beans and Ham with cornbread and slaw.

BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza - made from leftover pork roast.

It wasn't until Friday that I started making things from scratch, and making due with what I had.  I really wanted to make a BBQ pork pizza, but we didn't have pizza crust and we didn't have shredded cheese.  So I found a somewhat quick pizza crust recipe on Pinterest. The one I usually use takes 1 1/2 hours rising time.  I did not have that much time.  While we didn't have shredded cheese or sprinkle cheese as we call it in our house, we did have sliced cheese that I cut up into little squares and used.  The crust turned out great, and no one was the wiser when it came to the cheese!

The kids devoured the hamburger pizza before I could take a picture.

As for Saturday's meal, that morning I had made biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  I usually don't cook breakfast except for on weekends.  We ended up with left-over gravy and I still had a hamburger patty left-over which gave me the idea for SOS, or as my husband says slop on a shingle.  Actually that first "s" stands for something else, but I will leave that up to your imagination.

SOS or Slop on a Shingle as we call it.

I also made two loaves of white bread to put the hamburger gravy on.  I really was afraid that this meal was going to be a flop.  Growing up we would have it every once in a while.  In my early twenties, I used to fix it quite a bit because it was inexpensive and easy.  I didn't know how Steve and the kids would react to it.  To my surprise, they loved it!

Homemade white bread...my favorite!

So the big question is, did we buy any groceries?  Well...kinda.  When I made the pizza crust on Friday, I realized that I didn't have that much yeast.  And then I used almost all of what I had left on Saturday for the bread.  So Sunday we went to Wal-Mart and we bought yeast, as well as coffee creamer, Pepsi (my husband's addiction), and potato chips (also my husband's addiction).  If it was up to me alone, I would have bought the yeast and that would have been all.  But I'll admit since my husband wanted the coffee creamer, I will enjoy that as well.  As for the Pepsi and the chips, well they are all his.

I'm hoping that the second week goes a little better and that I will be able to tell you that we bought no groceries!  On a positive note, my mom has a turkey for Thanksgiving, so we won't have to buy one!  I'll be getting a turkey from her to cook for our festivities.

So did you decide to do this challenge?  If so, comment below and let me know how your week went.

6 comments budget, food, groceries, sustainable living

My November Food Challenge: A Month of No Groceries

I can hardly believe that it is already November! October is always one of those months that is filled with football games, birthday parties, and Halloween festivities.  With all those activities, the month tends to fly by.  This year was no exception. 

With all of the events and activities there was very little time for me to cook for my family. We have gotten into the rut of either grabbing fast food on the way to or from an activity, or we just plain and simple eat junk! The couple of meals I did make tasted so good. It made me realize how much I have missed eating real home cooked meals. Our fall garden did very well so those home cooked meals included such things as spinach and green beans and will soon include turnips and peas as well. There is nothing as good as fresh veggies from the garden! 

Our very messy pantry!

As I was trying to figure out some ideas for meals for this week I was looking through the pantry and freezer and the amount of food we have is astonishing. My first thought was that I really needed to organize my pantry. Then I realized I don't need to organize it, I need to use it! The same goes for our fridge/freezer and our deep freeze.

Our deep freeze...this is only the surface.

That's when I had a great idea! Why not go a whole month without buying groceries? I was so excited about the prospect of not going grocery shopping. I looked and we have plenty of staples...flour, sugar, eggs (thanks to our ducks), potatoes, onions, etc. We have meat in the freezer from the cow we butchered, and even some pork leftover. We could actually do this!

I went to go tell Steve my great idea and then it hit me...Thanksgiving! I completely forgot about Thanksgiving. And we are hosting this year. I don't have a turkey in the freezer. But I do have pumpkin for pie, and I have cranberries for sauce, and I can make bread for stuffing.  I started thinking, maybe I can make this work. 

Our fridge freezer, it is pretty packed!

After telling Steve my plan he agreed that we could do this and that we needed to. The savings from not buying food could go towards purchasing siding for our house which we desperately need. It would also allow us to use the food we already have, and not let it go to waste where we would eventually throw it away.  I hate to waste food!

In my thoughts about how this would take place, I started thinking about how we might need to make some exceptions, or what I needed to get, just in case.  Those kinds of thoughts are what have gotten us in this food hoard mess in the first place!  I am not going grocery shopping.  If I run out of bread, I'll bake more.  If I run out of milk, I have powdered.  We have lots of grains, we have veggies from the garden, and we have meat and eggs.  WE CAN DO THIS! 

So this month, I will be keeping you posted on how this challenge is going every Monday.  In fact this post was supposed to be published yesterday, but life happens!  I will even let you know some of the meals that we have made, and I will start with what we ate last night.  We had Porchini mushroom tortelloni in my homemade canned marinara sauce, roasted green beans from our garden, and canned peaches for dessert.  It was Meatless Monday for us.  The family loved it and there were just enough leftovers for lunch the next day!

Our "blue plate" special meal.

I want to stress that this is NOT a no spend month, this is simply a no grocery month.  Do you hoard food?  Would you like to try this challenge yourself?  If so, let me know in the comments below!

Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 1
Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 2
Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 3
Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 4

Leave a Comment budget, food, freezer, groceries, pantry, sustainable living