Thursday, September 18, 2014

Sept harvest time

I hear popping in the kitchen as I write this. It has got to be one of my favorite sounds. I made my 4th batch of salsa this morning and the hot cans are doing their job. We put a new garden in this spring behind the garage. I planted pumpkins and cucumbers out there with tomatoes and green peppers. The pumpkins took over everything but I did get a few extra tomatoes and one huge cucumber. Our garden in the back plus our side tomato garden has produced a lot of tomatoes this year. I tried a new speghetti sauce recipe to freeze. Here it is: 14 blanched, peeled and crushed by hand in the crock pot. 1 large onion, 1 large pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, pureed in food processor. 1 bay leaf whole, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper, pinch of crushed chili's. 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of oregano, fresh basil chopped, plus one can of tomato paste. - Cook in crockpot on low for 10 hours (over night works good) Freeze in containers.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Crock pot Mac and cheese

Today I made Mac and cheese in the crock pot for lunch. Try this : 2 cups of milk, 4 cups of mostly cooked macaroni noodles, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 tsp of mustard, 1/2 cup of sour cream and pepper. Cook on low for 3 hours. Stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese when it is time to eat. This is enough for 4 people. Great to pack in a lunch the next day.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Meal planning

Meals for this week are: Yesterday I put a round steak in the crock pot. I mostly followed this recipe from Crock-pot Ladies. It turned out really good. This morning I cooked one pound of ground beef up and mixed it with the leftover juice from the meat, also a 1/4 cup of Ragu. I layered that in the bottom of a 9x9 casserole dish. I made shepherds pie with corn on top of the meat. I made mashed potatoes and put it on top to finish the sheppards pie. Tonight when I bake the casserole I will whip up cupcakes with a box cake mix. Easy peasy. Tomorrow I will bake chicken legs with the Parmesan baked potatoes and a bag salad. The next night is spaghetti with another pound of ground beef and use the leftover can of ragu. With the leftover spaghetti sauce I will make a chili for the weekend. -- If you buy bacon and romaine lettuce you could make a Cesar salad and bacon and eggs for another meal. 2lbs ground beef, 1 - large round steak, 10 lb bag of potatoes, 1 3lb bag of carrots, 1 3lb bag of onions, onion soup mix, 2 jars of ragu, 1 can of kidney beans, 1 box of cake mix, eggs, veg oil, chili powder, salsa, Frozen corn, Chicken legs, Parmesan cheese, Bag salad, http://crockpotladies.com/crockpot-steak-potatoes/

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

List of meals to make ahead and freeze

5 soups minestrone soup, curry butternut squash soup, vegetable chicken rice soup, chili soup, vegetarian chili, taco soup, pumpkin soup, lentil stew, beef stew, potato corn chowder' cream of potato soup, 5 casseroles" meatballs, vegetarian lasagna, shepherds pie' shipwreck casserole' butter chicken' beef stroganoff' Taco meat, Pulled Pork,

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Chicken Parmesan Bake

I made chicken parmesan for supper tonight. I only thought of supper at 3pm. So I got out 4 chicken breasts out of the freezer. I spread them on a lasagna pan. At 4:30 I put a dollop of butter on each chicken breast. I mixed 1 tbsp of Italian seasoning with 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. I spread the bread crumbs over the chicken breast. I broiled this for 5 mins then I baked it for 20 mins at 450 until the bread crumbs were browning and the chicken was bubbling. Then I removed the lasagna pan and I spread Ragu chunky spaghetti sauce over each chicken breast. I topped each one with grated mozzarella cheese. The lasagna pan went back in the oven for 15 mins. I used the 'chicken nugget' button on my stove so the cheese would brown. After the 15 mins were up I left it in the oven but shut it off for another 15 mins. We ate rice and salad with it and the kids really liked it.

Pork in the crock pot

No frills has pork loin on sale for 1$ a lb. I bought 4 and I cut them into 3 meals each. I cut 4 pork chops in to ziplock bags with BBQ sauce and got 6 meals for that. Then I cut 4 big chunks into ziplock bags for roasts. The remaining pieces or any wierd size meat pieces I cut into 2 inch chuncks for kabobs. I put honey and soya sauce on those packages before freezing. I had bought a big bag of balsami rice for about $10. Also for $1 at No frills they had bags of frozen corn and carrots and peas. I think it is exciting to buy $40 worth of groceries and get 12 meals for a family of 4. I might go get some more pork loin this week. Last night I put one pork roast in the crock pot for supper. It was a fatty piece that I didn't think looked that great. I tried this recipe and boy it it ever turn out good. The fat just fell off and the meat was tasty with rice. Original recipe makes 6 servings Change Servings: 6 boneless pork chops, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 cloves garlic, crushed, salt and pepper to taste, Crock pot on low for 6 hours.