Since the dishwasher's death two weeks ago, I find myself having second thoughts when it comes to cooking and baking, because I know that I will be handwashing everything that gets used in the process (I know, I should get my kids to do dishes, but when the three older ones are in school, it's not like I am going to wait around for them to come home before the dishes get done.) To keep the kitchen in tip-top shape, I've been washing three times a day. Having all the dinner prep dishes washed before dinner comes in really handy after dinner, when the get-ready-for-bed rush hits. I'm often drop-dead-exhausted and want to ignore the dishes, but waiting till the next morning is not such a great idea. Having fewer dishes to wash makes the evening clean-up manageable. read more »
Frugalboy pointed out to me as we ate, that if the chicken had been one of the ones we had raised ourselves, and we'd grown the potatoes, that our meal would have been entirely homegrown. What a cool thing!
We had Garlic Lime Chicken, (I am not a Flybaby but this Flylady recipe is fantastic!) potatoes and homegrown peas in the cheese sauce leftover from the macaroni and cheese, and a medley of sauteed veggies straight from the garden--the first of the zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and onions.
I am stuffed from the veggies--they are my favorite!
In an attempt to keep my kitchen cooler (today's high is supposed to be 105) I put the crock pot in the garage with a pork roast, potatoes, and onions. That will go nicely with some steamed broccoli.
This homemade version of Mac and Cheese doesn't go over as well with my kids as the blue-box version, but the grown-ups love it and I'm sure it is healthier.
I cook some pasta, usually about 8 oz in a fun shape. While it is cooking, I made a cheese sauce. There are a lot of ways to make a white sauce, but my favorite proportions for a cheese sauce came from a book called First Meals (I don't have the new version in the link but the old one still has a lot of great recipes in it. Time intensive, but delicious). read more »
I found this recipe through the eggs article on Frugal Upstate last week and made it this morning. It was a hit with everyone, and a good way to use up a lot of eggs. I have about 6 dozen eggs right now, and I have for several weeks. Those chickens are laying faster than we can eat and we are getting a little tired of eggs. We ate this with strawberry jam and powdered sugar. I'll have to make something else to go with it next time, as we ate it all and I'm sure some people wished they would have had more.
Tonight I made meatballs that all the kids loved. My meat was partially frozen still so I made them in the food processor, which made the texture of the meatballs much like sausage or chicken nugget and not at all like hamburgers. For 2 pounds of 15% ground beef, I put 1/4 cup of chopped onion (because it was leftover in the fridge) and 2 eggs in the food processor bowl. I pulsed it a few times, added about 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats, pulsed a few more times, then added most of the meat, pulsed it, then added the rest of the meat, pulsing until it was blended. read more »
I saw a commercial last night for Pizza Hut's new pastas so tonight is baked ziti. It is cooked pasta layered with cheese, sour cream, and meat sauce. I'll saute some cabbage too because that sounds good to me.
This casserole recipe came from my mother-in-law and has sausage, rice, onion, celery, bell pepper, and a package of Lipton noodle soup. Pretty tasty.
Tonight is the first night I have cooked since I broke my ankle. We had about a week's worth of meals brought in from church, and did frozen foods/fast food the other nights. While I finally have enough energy to cook, doing the dishes is another store.
A couple weeks ago my friend Amy came over to sew. She brought some leftover chicken curry for her lunch. Instead of eating it over rice, her husband had cooked lentils and rice together. I thought that sounded really good. Then I saw that Meredith at Like Merchant Ships had found a blog called Lentils and Rice and the lady who write that blog makes a big pot of lentils and rice every week.
I took this as a sign that it was time to try making lentils and rice together. I put a pound of lentils and a pound of brown rice in a pot with some salt, covered with water (maybe an inch or two over the level of the lentils and rice), brought it to a boil, then simmered it until it was done.
We ate it under my standard chicken curry sauce. It was so much more filling than regular rice and I thought it was really delicious. Only the youngest kid would eat it, so I let the others eat bread.
It made a lot extra, too, so I will have to figure out a way to eat the ~8 cups of leftover lentils and rice.
