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4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}
Vegetarian?!  First, let me clarify a few things.

We think bacon is proof that God loves us.  I have made and enjoyed chocolate covered bacon, and I would totally try bacon ice cream.

We think that PETA should stand for People Eating Tasty Animals.

I think this is funny:

bacon seed 4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}

And this is hilarious:periodic table of meat 4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}

 

I make bacon roses for my husband, and we both think this site is awesome.

bacon roses 300x300 4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}

We like meat.

But we don’t always eat meat.  That is largely because it tends to be expensive, especially when you are feeding a lot of hearty eaters.  We have found that there are many healthy, hearty meals that don’t break the bank and don’t require meat.  Sometimes you can just skip the meat in a regular recipe if there are enough other ingredients to distract from its absence.  We are not vegetarians, but some of our meals are.

Before we start, let me issue a warning: don’t try to force a meat-loving husband to eat meatless meals.  He must be on board, or you are doomed to failure.  If your husband wants you to cut the food bill, this is a good way to do it.  If he looks at your like you’re crazy when you suggest eating some meatless meals, don’t even try it.  If you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Here is a sampling of our favorites:

Bean & cheese burritos – Add-ons like tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, etc. really make the meal.  To add texture and appeal, make your beans from scratch instead of using refried beans from a can, leaving some whole beans when you season & smush them.  Or add lentils cooked with Homemade Taco Seasoning as a sort of meat substitute.  It’s not meat and probably won’t fool anyone, but it’s another way to add more texture and appeal.

Lasagna and spaghetti are very good without meat.  Just don’t skimp on the sauce and seasonings, and use plenty of cheese in your lasagna.

Taco salad is another meal that works well without meat: just use ranch beans or season your own pinto/black beans with Homemade Taco Seasoning.  Top with Homemade Catalina salad dressing.

homemade enchilada sauce 150x100 4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}Bean & cheese enchiladas or “wet burritos” are another cheap meatless meal that everyone loves.  I use lots of my Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce under, over and inside each enchilada to make them moist and flavorful.  If you use flour tortillas, there’s no need to soften in oil or sauce.  Just put a few tablespoons of seasoned beans, cheese and sauce in the middle, and roll up.  Crowd in a single layer on a pan lined with sauce (use a pan with sides at least 1″ high).  Top with more sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.  Bake about 25-30 minutes at 350, until heated through and lightly browned on top.

We also love quiche, and the egg/cheese combination is a less expensive source of protein than most meats.  Bacon, ham or sausage is nice but not necessary.  Garlic, carmelized onions and other veggies add lots of flavor, and this dinner goes well with a green salad. Just mix up 6 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 2 cups grated cheese (any kind you have on hand), and as many add-ins as you want.  Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake until the center is set.  Of course we double or triple this.  :)

Moving away from meat is a fun excuse to experiment with new recipes.  We recently discovered and enjoyed Greek Fakes soup, and my husband wants me to make Indian Dahl lentils again.  We tried Black Bean Burgers and decided that the recipe was promising but needed a lot of tweaking.

What meatless recipes have you tried and enjoyed?

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4 Moms: Valentine’s Day recipes and a story {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms: Valentines Day recipes and a story {linky}

When I mentioned that today’s topic was recipes for Valentine’s Day, my kids were not impressed.  I think in our house we generally agree that Valentine’s Day is for lovers (i.e. married people), and thus the day holds very little interest for children in our family.

“Who chooses these topics?  Didn’t you tell the other moms we don’t do anything for Valentine’s Day?”

“Valentine’s Day?  Who cooks for Valentine’s Day?  You and Dad usually go out and we eat macaroni and cheese.”

“I’ll give you a Valentine’s Day recipe:

  1. Take chocolate.
  2. Put in mouth.”

I’m still not sure whether I should feel guilty because I don’t do any special cooking, or relieved because my kids don’t expect any.  They like macaroni and cheese.  I’ll let you know when I decide – or maybe I’ll let you decide.  What do you think?  On second thought, I only want to hear what you think if you’re on my side.

That’s not to say that I don’t get special treatment on Valentine’s Day, and any other excuse-of-a-holiday for romance.  Last year my husband hit one out of the park.  No, you can’t have him.

Being a good dad, Perry often brings home a  box of candy hearts or a small box of chocolates for each of the girls, too.  He knows the way to a woman’s heart, and any young man who wants to marry one of our girls had better learn a few tricks from her dad first.  He’ll have a tough act to follow.

So I get special treatment on Valentine’s Day.  If you’re wondering why I don’t do special cooking for Perry on Valentine’s Day, I just might be still punishing him for Valentine’s Day, 1998.   I hesitated to tell this story, but when I mentioned my hesitation to Perry he laughed and dared me.  He dared me, I tell you.  What else could I do?

Valentine’s Day ’98

or, Why I Don’t Cook a Romantic Dinner for Two on Valentine’s Day

It had been a long and difficult winter.  Perry was gone a lot, working full time while he tried to get his own business off the ground.  I had 3 kids 4yo and under, and was 6 months pregnant with our 4th.  My morning sickness had been worse than ever this time and I was down by 12 lbs, but I was finally feeling better.

As Valentine’s Day drew near, I decided to do something special.  Until now, Valentine’s Day had been pretty low key, but I wanted to make it special this year. Money was tight and babysitters were expensive, so we usually stayed in for our dates, but that wasn’t a problem.  I planned a menu of boneless turkey breast with all the traditional trimmings, and a nice bottle of wine on the side.  I made a special dessert.

Perry had the day off his regular job but was training a friend to clean carpets, his side business.  They planned to spend the day going over the maintenance of the machines and cleaning his friend’s carpets.  I didn’t know what time he would be home, but I wanted to be ready.  As evening fell, I fed the kids a cheap fun dinner and put them to bed early.   They were all too young to object, so all was well.

I dressed for dinner and set the table with candles and our prettiest dishes, keeping dinner warm while I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

When Perry finally arrived home very late that night, the turkey was about as hard and dry as my own attitude.  He made a valiant attempt to act hungry and chew the turkey jerky, but it just wasn’t working for either of us.  My attitude only got worse when I heard his side of the story:

After working all afternoon, he and his friend realized it was dinner time and they still had a few hours to go.  They were both hungry so they drove around the corner from Dave’s house to a local diner for a bite to eat.  The special was a 2-for-1 steak dinner – perfect!  Although both were married men, neither had a clue what day it was or why the quiet little diner was completely packed with starry-eyed lovebirds – and why the waitresses were giggling at the two of them.

My husband missed my special Valentine’s dinner because he went out for a romantic couple’s dinner with his buddy.

Of course it was partly my fault for not tipping him off ahead of time, but it’s more fun to blame him.  I’m not bitter, but I still tease him about his hot date with Dave.  I’m pretty sure the waitresses teased Dave about it for years afterward, too.

Because the title of this post promises recipes, I’ll share two.  I actually have made the Red Velvet Cake for Valentine’s Day because it is Perry’s favorite cake.  I made the Bacon Roses for Father’s Day, but they would be perfect for Valentine’s Day as well.

Red Velvet Cake

From the cookbook published by the church where Perry and I met as children.  How romantic is that?  Skip the red food coloring if you must, but don’t change the icing!

  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 oz. red food coloring
  • 3 Tbs. cocoa
  • 1 cup buttermilk (or milk with 1 Tbs vinegar)
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. vinegar
  1. Cream shortening, sugar and eggs.
  2. Make a paste of food coloring and cocoa.  Add to creamed mixture.
  3. Add buttermilk alternately with flour and salt.
  4. Add vanilla.
  5. Add soda to vinegar, then mix thoroughly into batter.
  6. Pour into 2 8″ pans, greased and floured.  Bake 25-30 minutes at 350.
  7. Cool and split to make 4 layers.

Butter Cream Icing for Red Velvet Cake

Rich, buttery and not too sweet.  The easiest and most delicious cooked icing you will ever taste!
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 Tbs. flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  1. Cook milk, flour and salt until thick, stirring constantly.
  2. Let cool thoroughly.  Learn from my mistakes: don’t rush it.  
  3. Cream butter and sugar well.  Add vanilla.
  4. Combine with milk mixture and beat until it looks like whipped cream.
  5. Spread between layers, top and sides of cake.  Learn more from my mistakes: Resist the urge to lick the bowl before you’re done or you won’t have enough for all 4 layers.

Bacon Roses

  • 1 lb. bacon, any type
  • muffin pan (12 cups)
  • 2 bunches of cheap plastic roses (12 total)

The original instructions said to drill a hole in the bottom of each cup in a muffin pan so that the grease could drain.  I bought 2 cheap muffin pans from The Dollar Tree so I could destroy them without guilt, then I decided not to drill the holes anyway.  They worked perfectly because bacon cooks very nicely in its own drippings, so 2 years later I still have the pans.  :)

Roll each slice of bacon into a curl and set into a muffin cup, edges on top and bottom so you see a spiral when you look at it.  Bake about 20-30 minutes at 400, until crisp.  Drain thoroughly.

To prepare rose stems, pull the flower off each one and push the green base down so that at least 1″ of the stem protrudes above.  Slide bacon buds onto protruding stems, place in a vase, and give to the love of your life.  If he insists on sharing, you’ve got a keeper.

I can’t find the photo, but our first try turned out just as pretty as the photos in the tutorial linked above, and so will yours.

What do you do for Valentine’s Day?

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Snapshot: fun with Mod Podge

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edited to add recipes below

wpid IMAG1315 Snapshot: fun with Mod Podge

To streamline cooking, we’re putting our frequently used recipes to the inside of the cabinet doors near the range. No more searching!

As requested, here are closeups so you can see the recipes we included so far.  We’ll probably add more over time, but these are the ones we use the most.

Desserts:

wpid IMAG1321 Snapshot: fun with Mod Podge

Grandma’s Wacky Cake (also called Crazy Cake)

A rich, delicious Depression era recipe that contains no eggs, milk or butter.  I think everyone’s grandma had a recipe like this.

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 6 Tbs. cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 Tbs. vinegar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla

In an ungreased 9×13 pan, combine dry ingredients.  Mix with a fork until thoroughly combined.  Be sure to get the corners!

Add water, vinegar and vanilla all at once.  Mix thoroughly again.

Bake 35 minutes at 350 or just until cake tests done.  Don’t ice it, because the soft moist top is the best part! To make it special, dust with powdered sugar.

Chocolate Oatmeal No-bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
4-5 cups oats

In a 4 quart pot, stir together sugar and cocoa. Add milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil 2 minutes.
Working quickly, remove from heat and stir in butter, peanut butter and vanilla. Confession: I never measure peanut butter. 1-2 big glops from a spoon will do nicely. Stir in the oats and drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Remember, work quickly. If you are too slow your cookies will cool and set in the pan and you’ll be forced to eat the rest straight from the pan with a spoon. Not good for the hips.
Let cool thoroughly and enjoy.

 

Moist Fudgy Brownies from scratch

  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts, opt.

Combine eggs, butter, cocoa, sugar and vanilla.  Stir until combined.  Add flour, salt and walnuts and stir again.

Bake in a buttered 9×13 for 25-30 minutes at 350, just until done in the center.  Serve warm.

 

Breads:

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Breakfasts:

wpid IMAG13192 Snapshot: fun with Mod Podge

Cooking: Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

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I’m turning this morning’s delicious leftover apple oatmeal into improvised muffins for today’s afternoon snack:

wpid IMAG1272 Cooking: Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

Pardon the brevity, but I’m posting from my phone. Want more posts like this? Let me know and I’ll try. icon smile Cooking: Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

Update: The muffins turned out nicely, so here’s how I made them. I just browsed a cookbook for a muffin recipe that called for oats and altered it slightly to allow for the liquid already cooked into the oatmeal.  I even mixed it up right in the pot where we had cooked the oatmeal.

Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

  • 2 cups cooked oatmeal
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar (omit if the oatmeal is sweetened)
  • 1 Tbs. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt (reduce or omit if you salted the water for your oats)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup oil or melted butter

Combine all ingredients and stir just until combined.  Batter will be thick.  Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full and bake about 20 minutes at 375.  Let cool 5-10 minutes before removing from pan.

 

 

4 Moms share Quick and Easy Holiday Recipes {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms share Quick and Easy Holiday Recipes {linky}

Merry Christmas from the 4 Moms!  This week we’re sharing some of our favorite holiday recipes.  With a lot of little ones underfoot, my favorites are quick and easy.  They also happen to taste pretty good.  :)

If you’re a longtime reader, these recipes may look familiar to you.  Just smile and nod and pretend I’m not telling the same stories over and over again.

I plan to make my very-favorite Poor Man’s Toffee for this weekend’s annual tamale party with the extended family.  I’m glad some of my own household will be out of town, because then I won’t have to feel guilty if only half of the pan makes it to the party.

Poor Man’s Toffee

makes 50 pieces – great for gifts

  • 1 1/4 cups butter, divided
  • 35-40 saltine-style crackers
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cups finely chopped walnuts

Pay attention.  This happens quickly:

  1. Melt 1/4 cup butter; pour into foil-lined jelly roll pan.
  2. Arrange crackers over butter, evenly spaced.
  3. Melt remaining butter; add sugar and boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Remove from heat and add condensed milk. Spread over crackers.
  5. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, until bubbly and slightly darkened.
  6. Remove from oven, cool 1 minute, and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes (until chocolate is soft and melty) and spread.
  7. Sprinkle with nuts; press lightly into chocolate.
  8. Cool; refrigerate until chocolate is set.
  9. Remove foil and cut candy.

Yum! Rich, delicious and very impressive, and much faster and easier than it sounds. No one can ever guess the saltine cracker base – it tastes a lot like Almond Roca.

*******************************************************

Another very easy recipe that we make for holiday dinners is cranberry sauce.  After making our own the first time several years ago, we all decided we would never go back to the canned goop.  It’s quick and easy, just like the title of this post promises, and delicious!  The young ones in our family love that they can easily cook something this pretty for a formal meal.

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

  • 12 oz bag of cranberries
  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup sugar (white or brown)
  • 1/2 cup water

Combine and simmer in microwave (covered) or on stovetop til berries burst, about 10 minutes.  Stir and mash a bit as they cook.

Chill thoroughly and serve in a pretty dish.

Really, that’s it.  You thought it would be harder, didn’t you?

cranberry 300x199 4 Moms share Quick and Easy Holiday Recipes {linky}

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Cheater’s Fudge

So easy you’ll never go back.

  • 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • optional additions: walnuts, marshmallows, etc.

Just combine ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until melted and combined.  Pour into buttered or wax-paper lined 8×8 pan, chill, and cut into small squares.

************************************************

Effortless Eggnog

I love eggnog and have no qualms about the raw eggs in traditional recipes, especially since most of our eggs come from our own hens.  However, this recipe is super easy, delicious, and satisfies those who are concerned about raw eggs.

  • 1/2 gallon milk, divided
  • 1 package instant French vanilla pudding mix
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

In a large bowl, whisk 3/4 cup milk and pudding mix until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in remaining milk. Refrigerate until serving.

************************************************

What are some of your favorite quick & easy holiday recipes?  Link up here and your link will show on all of the 4 Moms blogs!

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  2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
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4 Moms give food as gifts {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms give food as gifts {linky}

I’m excited about this topic.  It’s not so much because I have great ideas to share with you, as because I’m excited about food.  Nursing a newborn will do that to you.  :)

In an astounding coincidence, most of the foods on my list below also happen to be our own favorite winter treats.  I’ll tell you about a few food gifts we have done in the past, then I want to sit back and read your great ideas!

Candy: here are two of our favorites, both very fast and easy and entirely too delicious.  Don’t give these to dieters.  That’s just unkind.

Poor Man’s Toffee – Addictive and impressive.  Break or cut into pieces and arrange on a plate or platter.  Add some fudge for variety.

Cheater’s Fudge – My favorite recipe is very easy, but there are endless variations to dress it up.  You have to be a sick person to dislike fudge.

Drinks: put these in pretty jars with pretty lids.  If you’re feeling generous, give a set of all 3 in a pretty basket with some mugs.

Russian Tea mix - I’m not a tea drinker, but this is really delicious on a cold morning.

Chai Tea mix - Even better than the Russian tea.  Be sure to use real cardamom if you can find it.  I get mine in bulk from the local health food store.

Homemade Cocoa mix - Rich, creamy, and not as sweet as the storebought mixes.

IMG 3499 300x200 4 Moms give food as gifts {linky}Baked goods: this list should definitely include your favorite cinnamon roll recipe.  Here are two other favorites.

Braided Challah Bread - We make this for Communion every week, but it’s so delicious that we still never take it for granted and neither will your loved ones.  It’s easy and beautiful, and makes a lovely gift.  Wrap it in clear or tinted plastic wrap so they can see how pretty it is.

roll 150x150 4 Moms give food as gifts {linky}Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Roll – A lot of work, but not so bad if you do a dozen at a time and just mess up the kitchen once.  Wrap in white freezer paper and tie the ends with red ribbon.  Cut in half before wrapping for single people and couples.  A bigger family deserves the whole roll!  Store in the freezer.  These also sell nicely, if you’re up for the job.

Your turn.  What is your favorite food gift?  Even if you haven’t actually given it yet, what recipe do you think would make a fabulous gift?  What have you found lately on Pinterest or elsewhere on the internet that you intend to try soon?

Please remember the linky rules:

  1. Your post must be family friendly.
  2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
  3. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.  
  4. If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow these rules.  We hope you’ll fix the problem and try again!  If you don’t know why your link was deleted, just ask.


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4 Moms on Food Preservation

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4moms35kids 4 Moms on Food Preservation
I’m running ever so late today, and I’m not even going to apologize.  Last night we moved into our new house!  The move was what some might consider a disaster, or would have been if not for our friends who worked tirelessly and never said a word about how woefully unprepared we were.  I knew we were rushing it a bit, but I thought I was in labor, and I thought we were 90% packed and could throw the rest of our belongings in boxes as we went.  As it turned out…well, maybe I’ll just make it part 6 in my househunting series.  That’s not what you came to read this morning anyway, is it?

You came to learn about how we big-family moms preserve food.  By that, we don’t mean distracting the kids with promises of great fun as soon as mealtime is over, just so they’ll hurry up and eat less – although I have noticed that it would work, if we wanted it to.  The downside to that plan is they’re all begging to eat again in 30 minutes.  You saved nothing on your food bill and lost some sanity in the process.

Food preservation is, of course, about saving food for later so we can take advantage of great deals and larger quantities than we would normally use at once.  There are many other reasons, but that is what motivates me.

I have to confess, I haven’t done a whole lot of gardening and canning, though I have dabbled a bit over the years.  On the whole, I have found that it’s not necessarily a big money saver to buy and preserve fresh produce, though you often have a much better product in the end.  It’s also not often a good return on your time, unless you are doing it for fun and quality rather than a dollars/hour return on your time.  Much like knitting and sewing, you can often buy a finished product more cheaply than you can make it – but doing it yourself carries other benefits.

We did, however, buy a pressure canner not too long ago, and used it to can our own beans, meat bought on sale, apple pie filling, pizza sauce, and a few other items bought or prepared in large quantities at deeply discounted prices.  There was a bit of a learning curve and I started out almost afraid of my pressure canner (who hasn’t heard horror stories of explosions in the kitchen?) but it turned out to be very simple – easier than water bath canning, I think.  If you’ve ever done water-bath canning or even thought about it, I highly recommend a pressure canner!

What methods of food preservation have you used in the past?  What have you thought about trying in the future?

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4 Moms’ favorite fruit recipes {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms favorite fruit recipes {linky}

Who doesn’t love fruit?  I’ll be honest: my favorite fruit recipe is one where you pick up a piece of fruit, peel/wash as necessary, and eat.  Can you really improve on God’s design?

But by that line of reasoning, we would never have apple pie, banana bread, or even strawberry shortcake.  We love our fruit in almost any form!

Some of our favorite ways to eat fruit besides au naturel:

Peach cobbler, a family recipe.  Don’t be afraid of the vinegar in this recipe: it blends in very well, just adding a nice tang.

Apple pie.  Don’t be jealous, but my Megan thinks nothing of tossing together an apple pie or two whenever we have enough apples.  We don’t really use a recipe – just peel and slice plenty of apples, then add enough sugar (white or brown), lemon juice and cinnamon to make it taste good.  Stir in about 1/4 cup of flour to thicken the juices, heap it all in the pie pan, and top with another crust, making it as pretty as you can.  We don’t keep shortening on hand, so our pie crust is always made with butter.

Stewed apples. You could call this apple pie filling, but then you’d have to feel guilty about serving it as a side dish at dinner.  Same as above, but never mind about the crust.  You can cover and cook in the microwave, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft.

Banana bread, nearly always topped with peanut butter, butter, and/or cream cheese.  I like mine with walnuts but most of the kids object, so if I’m doing the cooking I chop them very finely and add when they’re not looking.  The walnuts, I mean.  I don’t add finely chopped children to my banana bread.

Peanut butter/banana smoothies, our fallback lunch in hot weather when nothing else sounds good.

  • 3 bananas (I peel ripe ones and pop them in the freezer in a gallon sized bag)
  • 1/3 cup peanut butter (you’re not actually going to measure that, are you?)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • a little honey if you like your smoothies sweeter
  • 1 tray ice cubes
  • milk, yogurt, or kefir to fill blender pitcher

Blend til smooth and holler for the troops.

Fruit Dip is too easy to be so delicious.  You won’t believe it.  Dip apples, or get fancy and use it with a whole assortment of fruit.

  • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
Use a spoon or fork to stir softened cream cheese until smooth.  Stir in sugar and vanilla, and serve.

Fruit pizza!  All pizza is good, and fruit pizza is no exception.  Just make your favorite shortbread or sugar cookie recipe, shaping and baking it in a single huge, pizza-sized cookie on a pizza pan.  Cool and top with fruit dip, above.  Arrange sliced fruit on top in concentric circles, because food tastes better when it’s neat and symmetrical.  If using fruits that are prone to turn brown (apples, bananas, peaches, pears, etc), brush first with diluted lemon juice.

More fruity freshness from the other Moms:

Want to share your favorite fruit recipes?  If you link up here, your link will show on all of the 4 Moms blogs!

Please remember the linky rules:

  1. You must link to a specific relevant post on your blog.
  2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.
  3. The post you link to must be completely family friendly.

If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow one of the rules above. Please feel free to add your link again once you have fixed the problem. If you don’t know why your link was deleted, please ask.

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Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

  • August 30 - What do your first weeks with a new baby look like? Tips?
  • September 6 - Q&A
  • September 13 - Handling different standards between you and your husband (homeschooling, dress, etc.)

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New food trends in our home

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Last weekend I was invited to speak on the Frugality panel in Vision Forum’s recent food conference, Reformation of Food & the Family.  I was also privileged to attend Chef Foucachon’s 6 hour cooking class with 3 of my teen daughters the following Monday.  We loved it!

We may not be ready to take on gourmet French cookery, but we came away inspired to do more with what we have.  While the emphasis was not on frugality, I couldn’t help but think there was a strong connection just waiting to be made.  The French put a heavy emphasis on presentation – on making their food more appealing before it ever reaches the taste buds by making it more beautiful.  I was struck by how much of this was done not with expensive ingredients, but just by applying a little thought and attention to the planning, cooking and arrangement of food on the plate.

561345 433618186689060 1596523870 n New food trends in our home

Another thing that struck me was the idea of serving a meal in more than one course.  We may not have the dishes or the time to prepare and serve dinner in 7 separate courses, but we can do two.  We can serve a cup of soup, an attractive salad or an appealing appetizer, chat a bit, maybe wash up the dishes, and then continue with an artfully arranged main course.

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One of the benefits: those of us who tend to eat too much, too quickly will probably eat less.  After the first part of our meal, our digestive system will have a chance to send the message to our brain that we are not as hungry as we thought, and when the main course comes a smaller serving will satisfy our appetite.  This is a normal physical process, but when we are served our entire meal at once we often eat so quickly that we have to rely on a full stomach to tell us to stop rather than sufficiently elevated blood sugar.  This easily translates to overeating.

Of course others who don’t eat so quickly - little children who dawdle at their food, for example, or naturally slow eaters – will not notice as much difference since we already rely largely on our blood sugar cues to tell us when we’ve had enough.  Some will still have second helpings, but seconds may be easier to resist for those who don’t need them.

Another way this style of eating could be more frugal is that I am encouraged to incorporate foods even when I don’t have 12 full servings.  Two pickles or tomatoes, a mango, or a single orange can become a tasty garnish rather than languishing in the fridge because there’s not enough for everyone.  One cucumber can provide 2 or 3 slices per person to liven up a plate.  The remains of a bunch of fresh cilantro purchased for last week’s taco salad can become pretty garnishes on this week’s meals.

A few days ago Kaitlyn created a spectacular chicken/walnut tart dish that stretched 1 lb of chicken into 12 small but rich servings, a nice change of pace from a meat-stretching casserole.

561261 433921843325361 2048014318 n New food trends in our home

Of course if we hadn’t started with a hearty appetizer, this wouldn’t have been enough.  As it was, I could barely finish mine and even the heartiest eaters were satisfied.

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Part of the reason these changes are so exciting for us is because Perry is totally on board.  Since he was diagnosed with diabetes, he has worked hard to improve his overall diet, eating smaller, more frequent meals with less carbs and more protein and healthy fats.  This style of eating fits perfectly with his goals, and is better for the rest of us too.

We have also talked to each other in the past about how feasting glorifies God, so we love the idea of using our daily to food to glorify Him as well.  Food should do more than just fill our bellies and build our bones and muscles.  When we make our food beautiful and appealing rather than approaching it in a purely utilitarian sense, we are better able to appreciate the wonder of God’s creation and His daily gifts to us.

To celebrate these new changes, I have a potted mint plant.  It seemed like a good place to start, since mint is notoriously difficult to kill.  If it survives until next payday, I plan to reward myself with a potted parsley plant, followed by basil and cilantro if I can find them.  I love fresh cilantro, but it’s last on my list because:

A. It’s cheap and plentiful in South Texas. Any WalMart produce department will provide a big bunch of fresh cilantro for 28 cents, and

B. Most of my family does not appreciate the flavor of fresh cilantro as much as I do.

I’m finding new joy in cooking and serving modest portions of rich foods that seemed too expensive in the larger quantities that I thought our family required.  A little heavy cream goes a long way, and a single portobello cap can be sliced into 10 small portions.  Sauteed in butter or bacon grease with some salt and pepper, a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar, and a splash of heavy cream, it’s pure heaven – and most of the little kids don’t know it, so the wiser among us can eat theirs too.

wpid IMAG0773 New food trends in our home

And French cooking?  We may just give it a shot.  Perry ordered me a copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and I have to admit that I’m more than a little eager for it to arrive!

What is your favorite use for cottage cheese?

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Last week I went to Costco with sour cream and cottage cheese on my list, among other things.  I buy sour cream regularly, but cottage cheese rarely because only a couple of us enjoy it.  Somehow I came home with two 3 lb. tubs of cottage cheese and no sour cream at all!

Now I need your help.  I know cottage cheese can replace the ricotta in lasagna, but that’s definitely not one of our favorite summertime recipes.  What is your favorite way to use cottage cheese?

Oh – and while we’re on the subject of food, I bought the Two Sisters cookbook at the Reformation of Food & the Family conference.  I’m really excited about using it, but I hardly know where to start.  Actually, I know exactly where to start: the recipe they were giving away as samples at their booth: Carob-Cashew Balls.  We’ll make ours with almonds and real chocolate chips.  :)

But after that, what next?  It all looks good!  Do you have the book?  What are some of your favorite recipes?

Homemade Taco Seasoning

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534492 432330656817813 1320271010 n Homemade Taco SeasoningOver the weekend, I spoke on the Frugality panel for Vision Forum’s food conference, The Reformation of Food & the Family.  The complete name of the panel discussion was, “Resolving the tension between feeding your family a healthy, high quality diet and staying within the constraints of a tight budget.”  It was loads of fun, and we could have spent hours on the subject!

One of the things I mentioned was making our own taco seasoning.  This is one easy way to save money and avoid added MSG or other unnecessary chemicals and preservatives.  I have a big Taco Seasoning container we bought at Costco, and when it gets low we usually refill it ourselves instead of buying a new one.

Making your own taco seasoning is surprisingly easy, and the results are as good or better than the purchased mixes.  Doing it yourself lets you control the amount of sugar and salt as well.  We make ours to taste like the mix we buy, but you can easily tweak the ingredients for your family.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

makes about 1 1/2 cups

  • 1/2 cup chili powder
  • 1/2 cup cumin
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 2 Tbs sugar
  • 1 Tbs granulated garlic or garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp. paprika
  • 2 Tbs onion powder or 4 Tbs dried minced onion
  • 2 tsp. oregano

Combine in an airtight container.

4 Moms share favorite freezer meal recipes {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms share favorite freezer meal recipes {linky}Just in case I’ve ever come across as a know-it-all, here’s my chance to come clean.  I know nothing about freezer meals.  The closest I’ve come to freezer cooking is precooking plain meat and freezing in meal-sized portions.  For example, I sometimes buy a 10 pound package of ground beef or chicken legs/thighs or a whole turkey, cook all at once, and package in 4-6 ziplock bags for future meals.  If I’m really, really planning ahead, I might add taco seasoning to the ground beef.  That’s my version of freezer cooking.

I also sometimes freeze leftover beans, rice, quinoa, etc. when we have enough for a meal and it doesn’t look like we’ll be using it soon enough.  My idea of planning ahead is making sure the chickens don’t get the leftovers.

Obviously, I need help.  I could try to convince you that I just don’t have room in my freezer for multiple meals in the portion sizes we would need, and it might even be somewhat true.  Then again it might not, because we have fixin’s in our freezer for multiple meals in the portion sizes we need.  They’re just not necessarily combined, cooked, or planned.

Really, I just need to plan ahead.  And to plan ahead, I need a plan.  Ideally, I think such a plan would include recipes.  Don’t you agree?

So here’s where I need your help. What is your favorite easy freezer-friendly meal?  Leave your recipe in the comments or link up below.  Bonus points if it’s frugal, because if it’s not I may drool over it but I’ll never actually use it.

Please remember the linky rules:

  1. Your post must be family friendly.
  2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
  3. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.  
  4. If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow these rules.  We hope you’ll fix the problem and try again!  If you don’t know why your link was deleted, just ask.

 

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Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

  • July 5 - Courtship or dating and what does it look like in your house?
  • July 12 - Q&A (special nursing edition)
  • July 19 - What did homeschooling look like when your oldest was 5?  How much time?  What subjects?
  • July 26 - What do you do when the children need to learn things you can’t teach (a foreign language, dissecting, trig, etc)?

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Giveaway and Perry Coghlan’s video debut as – a drug dealer?!

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About a month ago, my husband stepped off to talk with a friend and was mysteriously unaccounted for during the a good part of the afternoon.  It seems he’s been up to no good.  I hope you won’t be too scandalized.  He’s a family man with obligations.  Times are hard, and we all do what we have to do.

But maybe you’re not scandalized.  Maybe you see things a little differently, or at least you recognize there may be some validity to an alternative view.  Maybe you’ll also be interested in Vision Forum’s upcoming conference, The Reformation of Food & the Family.

Food Large Giveaway and Perry Coghlans video debut as   a drug dealer?!

You do it three times a day, seven days a week and fifty-two weeks a year. If you live to be 85 years of age, you will experience it more than 90,000 times. It is called food, and it was designed by God as the fuel of life. But to describe food merely as fuel falls short of the depth and breadth of the biblical message. Frankly, there are few subjects which are addressed as often in the Bible as food. Hundreds, if not thousands of Scripture verses, incorporate various types of food, directions about food and spiritual lessons in which food is an element.

The conference will be July 12-14 in San Antonio, TX.  Who wants to go?  Who wants to win a free family pass?!

THE GIVEAWAY

You know the routine.  To enter, do any or all of the below, and leave a separate comment for each entry.  If you really, really want to win, pump up your chance of winning by doing everything!

  1. Leave a comment here telling why you want to go to the conference or what you hope to learn at the conference.
  2. Blog about this giveaway for 3 extra entries!  Remember to leave 3 separate comments if you blog about it.
  3. Share this giveaway on Facebook.
  4. Like The Reformation of Food & the Family Conference on Facebook.

We will choose one random winner to receive a free family pass valued at $399!  See ya there!

This giveaway has ended.  The winner is Hannah, who said: “I would love to win because I am just learning about more healthy food and would love to learn more for free!”

4 Moms: teaching children to cook {linky!}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms: teaching children to cook {linky!}This week we’re talking about teaching children to cook.  I guess that’s not quite the same as the week we talked about cooking with children, because there is no room to interpret it in a cannibalistic way.  Also, this time we have a goal that goes beyond happy memories: we want our children to actually learn a skill they can repeat without us in the kitchen!

Actually, though, the two are difficult to separate.  When the 3yo is stirring, the 5yo is cracking eggs, and the 7yo is learning to cut in butter, they are learning to cook.  They may not be ready to follow a recipe alone yet, but the skills they master one by one are the foundation for flying solo in the kitchen a few years later.

beth4spoons 200x300 4 Moms: teaching children to cook {linky!}

perry1egg 200x300 4 Moms: teaching children to cook {linky!}

rachael1 300x200 4 Moms: teaching children to cook {linky!}

Of course there’s more to learning to cook than a preschooler spending quality time in the kitchen with Mom.  As they get older, the way they help changes, and they become more independent.  They also learn to clean up their messes as they go, because I’m one of those dreaded clean cooks.  If half of the egg you just cracked lands outside the bowl and the floor is slippery with flour, we’re going to take a break and learn to wield a washcloth.

At first, a new cook just helps with various parts of preparation: measuring the ingredients into a bowl, learning to separate eggs, adding flour and evaluating dough consistency as the mixer kneads, braiding bread dough (a favorite job!), shaping or dropping cookies onto a baking sheet, prepping raw veggies.

When they are ready to try some simple cooking on their own, they usually start with a few household favorites:

  • eggs, fried or scrambled
  • cakes – Wacky Cake is easy and forgiving
  • various quick breads: pancakes, cornbread, banana bread, muffins
  • slushies and smoothies
  • spaghetti

We expect a few mistakes and even some outright failures along the way.  Most creations are still edible even if they don’t look perfect.  If not, this is where the chickens come in handy.  They are unfailingly appreciative of a new cook’s culinary efforts.From there, it’s a pretty simple progression.  Kids who can read are free to try new recipes if the ingredients are in our pantry, and I’ll help as needed until they are experienced enough to work without help.  Less experienced cooks are invited and encouraged to help with more advanced recipes so they can continue to learn.

Of course some kids are more interested in cooking than others, and occasionally I have a conversation that sounds something like this: “What? You don’t know how to make  ___?”  Just like any other area of education, you are going to become aware of gaps.  Don’t panic; just fill them in as they arise.  You’re not bound to a scope and sequence, and you won’t lose your funding if your 11yo still doesn’t know that oats or rice take 2 parts water to 1 part grain.

So to sum it up, to learn to cook, we cook.

The other moms are talking about it, too.  Here’s what they say:

Join us by linking up!

Please remember the linky rules:

  1. Your post must be family friendly.
  2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
  3. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.  
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Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

  • May 31 - teaching children to cook
  • June 7 - How did you know you wanted/could handle a large family
  • June 14 - Q&A
  • June 21 - How do you keep up your energy?
  • June 28 - favorite freezer meals

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Giveaway: Grocery Shrink Plus menu planning

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If you need a little help in the organizational field, you already know you want this.  If you’re fairly organized, you might think you don’t.  That’s what I thought when Angela first emailed me.  Some people are probably chuckling under their breath because the organized version of myself died a long, slow painful death many years ago, but flying by the seat of my pants seems to work most of the time, so why would I want help?  After all, my family hardly ever goes hungry just because I fell down on the job.

grocery shrink plus ad 34 400x321 Giveaway: Grocery Shrink Plus menu planning

My sample menus and instructions were fun and easy, and the breakfast braid received rave reviews in our house.  I love that the recipes and shopping list come in a variety of sizes with an option big enough to feed our whole family!  I also love that instructions are complete enough that I could simply hand them over to one of my daughters – this may come in handy when our baby arrives in October.

Because I am so busy being organized (cough, cough) I asked Angela to tell you more about Grocery Shrink.  Here’s what she had to say:


Coffman Family 2 11 Compressed Giveaway: Grocery Shrink Plus menu planningHi, I’m Angela Coffman, a homeschooling mom to 6, aged 12 to 1.  As the owner of The Grocery Shrink, I’ve spent years helping families eat well for less. I love food, and presenting a well prepared meal for my family makes me happy.  But when the babies come close together and projects pile on projects, things don’t always go perfectly. How about you?

Have you ever had a little panic attack when you realized that it was almost time for dinner and you still didn’t know what to fix? Or spent all day working on a huge sewing project and served cold cereal and milk for dinner?  When the family eats all the dinner and there’s no leftovers, are you stuck with boxed macaroni and cheese for lunch the next day? On budget meeting day, are there ever little fights about the amounts from restaurants and grocery stores on the debit or credit card statement?
lemon chicken 014 Giveaway: Grocery Shrink Plus menu planning
You’re not alone. And I’d love to help.  You’re busy, not lazy.  There’s only so much time in the day and mothering, homeschooling, and ministering to the needs around you takes a lot of that time.  Having a menu plan would relieve the stress; you know that already.  But menu planning is time consuming too—and sometimes the meals end up the same, week in and week out.
I’d love to tell you about a new service called Grocery Shrink Plus.  Every week GSP emails out meal plans for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for 7 days.  You get a shopping list and an action plan that you can print out for your fridge.  Once you have a habit of checking your action plan, you’ll never forget to start your slow cooker in the morning or marinade your chicken overnight again!
Blueberry Oat Custard for 2 Giveaway: Grocery Shrink Plus menu planning

GSP uses natural foods such as brown rice; and whole grain flours.  You’ll learn how to make Greek Yogurt at home to save money.  And you’ll learn how to make your own whole grain bread too.  But if you don’t have time for these things, no worries.  The shopping list will tell you what to buy instead.
We know that many of you are suffering with dietary restrictions, so there are money conscious adjustments provided for gluten free and dairy free.  And if you are on a fitness plan, there’s a special section for each meal to help you with that too.
chicken nuggets 013 Giveaway: Grocery Shrink Plus menu planning
Large family?  Small family?  Each recipe comes with a chart with amounts for families of 2, 4, 8 and 12. Several of our mothers are handing an older child the menu plan to cook from as a training for their future family. Other moms are finding that now that they are more relaxed they are more able to let their younger children join in the food prep. And Dads enjoy knowing exactly what to do when Mom is sick.
Spinach salad 029 Giveaway: Grocery Shrink Plus menu planning
On a budget?  Grocery Shrink Plus is an extention of our Grocey Shrink business which focuses on reducing food bills.  Our plans use low cost foods and when you use the pantry system for shopping, you’ll save even more.
You may be shocked to learn that GSP only costs $5 a month!  It’s a huge time saver and stress reliever, but because we have so many subscribers we can keep the price low for you.  GSP isn’t for everyone.  If you have an egg allergy or choose to eat vegan, you’ll find some of the recipes challenging to adjust.
If you’d like to find out more visit www.groceryshrink.com/menus to download a sample recipe and find out what our subscribers think of the program.  We also have a facebook page.  I’d love you to come and join the discussion and see what all the excitement is about!

THE GIVEAWAY:

Angela will be giving one Life in a Shoe reader a full year of free menu planning worth $60.  That’s 52 weeks of fun recipes, helpful tips, shopping lists, and more!

To enter, do any or all of the following.  The more ways you enter, the better your chance of winning!  Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

  1. Leave a comment on this post.  You must do this.
  2. Blog about this giveaway (3 entries for doing this!)
  3. Join the Grocery Shrink email list.  You’ll also receive a free copy of Angela’s ebook, My Debt Free Story: how I paid off $89,000 in 6 months.
  4. Like Grocery Shrink on Facebook.
  5. Join the Grocery Shrink Facebook group.
  6. Pin something from Grocery Shrink (leave a link here with your comment).
  7. Subscribe to the Life in a Shoe newsletter to be automatically entered in all giveaways, including this one!
We’ll take entries for 7 days, then choose a random winner.
This giveaway has ended.  The winner will be announced here when confirmed.


4 Moms: Cooking with leftovers {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms: Cooking with leftovers {linky}
This week, the 4 of us are talking about cooking with leftovers.  Alternatively, some of might be confessing that our cooking with leftovers mostly amounts to cooking with eggs laid by chickens who enjoy our leftovers.  Would that count?  I’m speaking hypothetically, of course, but you might also like to know that feeding forgotten leftovers to the chickens is a great way to soothe the conscience of a frugal housewife who feels like a failure when she fails to use leftovers in time.

But I always use my leftovers.  And I never exaggerate.  And my kids always obey.  Shall I go on?

Using leftovers is a lot like shopping from your pantry.  One of the biggest hurdles to overcome is simply remembering to use what’s there.  Do that by:

  1. Exploring before you shop so you can plan some meals around what you already have in the fridge, not just the pantry.
  2. Exploring before you make lunch, and serve a smorgasbord of leftovers.
  3. Exploring before you proceed with tonight’s dinner plan, and be flexible if you find something you can or should use.

Some leftovers are easier to use than others.  Rice can become a delicious rice pudding for dessert tonight or breakfast tomorrow.  If you are Southern, your leftover breakfast grits can be sliced and fried in butter.  Top with butter, salt and pepper for a savory side dish with supper, or top with butter and syrup for tomorrow’s breakfast.  If you are not Southern, you probably wouldn’t know a grit if it bit you – or else you put sugar in your grits, bless your heart.  That’s ok.  Some of my kids put sugar in their grits, too.  We just call them Yankee grits.

Cooked grains like rice, oatmeal, and grits can be added to breads: muffins, pancakes, banana bread, even yeast breads.  Kitchen Scrap Cookies are fun and versatile.  You can google recipes using cooked grains, or you can experiment on your children.  Either way works.  If you experiment, start with a proven recipe and add just a cup of cooked grains.  If that works well, try adding more next time.  Expect the results to be denser and more moist than usual.

When it comes to non-breakfast foods, casseroles are the standard answer.  That may sound boring, but the possibilities are limitless!  Frugal Hacks had a 5 part series on creating casseroles that appeal to your family and use what you have on hand.  Each includes one or more recipes to get you started:

  1. Framework
  2. Sauce
  3. Meat
  4. Add-Ons
  5. Toppings

Leftover meats can also be chopped and seasoned for use in Mexican or Italian recipes like tacos, chimichangas, lasagne, spaghetti, alfredo, etc.  Cooked veggies are a no-brainer in soups, stews, fried rice, and many other recipes that call for vegetables in any form.

I think a key is to consider the leftover as an ingredient: if you have cooked broccoli, look for recipes that call for broccoli in any form.  There’s a good chance that you can tweak the recipe slightly and use what you have on hand.

Allrecipes is my favorite source for recipes.  One feature that I love and use often is the ingredient search.  Just fill in the ingredients you want to include and hit the search button.  This is a great way to use up several leftovers at once or find new combinations for what you have on hand.

Here’s what the other 3 moms say:

What about you?  How do you use up your leftovers?  Link up with us!

Please remember the linky rules:

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  2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
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  • May 10 - Favorite frugal tips
  • May 17 - Q&A
  • May 24 - Homeschooling when in a rotten temper

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Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce

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I won’t try to convince you that my recipe is super-healthy, but it’s much better for you than what you buy in a can and it’s far cheaper.  We like ours to taste a lot like prepared spaghetti sauce: a little tart and tangy, a tiny bit spicy, but with no veggies other than tomatoes.  If you like yours different, it’s easy to tweak the flavors.

Since I cook for 12, I like to make this in bulk.  I start with a huge can of tomato paste from Costco (less than $4) and scoop it equally into 12 small (pint) ziplock bags.  Then I add the seasonings to each bag, seal and freeze.  No need to mix them up, since that will happen when we use them.  I don’t add water until I’m ready to use the sauce, so it’s very compact in the freezer.  It’s a quick and easy process that the little ones to love to help with – if I’m up for the mess!

Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce

makes about 20 oz, enough for 4-6 large saucy pizzas or more if you’re stingy

  • 6-8 oz. tomato paste
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. basil
  • 1/4 tsp. granulated garlic (better yet, use fresh: as much as you dare!)
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1 Tbs. vinegar

Combine in a small saucepan.  If you’re in a hurry, add 1 1/2 cups of water and heat to a simmer.  Use immediately.

If you have a little extra time to let it simmer, the flavors will blend and mellow and you’ll have a happier pizza. If this is the case, add an extra cup of water.  Let simmer until reduced and thickened to desired consistency.

See?  I told you it was easy.

 

Black bean brownies for morning sickness

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It sounds weird, and it took me a while to get up the courage to try.  But you know what?  They’re really good. No hint of bean flavor with unsalted homecooked beans.  Just a rich chocolatey brownie – and if you’ve had them before, mine are probably more chocolate-y because I tweaked the recipe to my own liking.  Mostly, that means more chocolate-y goodness.

The texture is a little different from normal brownies, probably because there’s no gluten to bind them.  Some of the kids think it’s a good difference, some don’t, most don’t even notice.  A bit on the crumbly side if you overcook or let them dry them out, but there’s an easy solution: eat faster.

For a better texture, add 1/3 cup of flour, 2 more tablespoons of oil/butter and an extra egg. They’re not gluten free if you do this, but the flavor and texture are almost indistinguishable from traditional brownies.  If you’re extremely sensitive to texture and still think you can tell the difference, or if you’re just looking for an excuse to add chocolate chips, do it.  You won’t be sorry.

If you suffer from morning sickness like I do, you might find that eating a few bites of beans every time nausea threatens is a magical cure for morning sickness.  If so, you really should keep some of these brownies on hand, because you’re going to get very tired of burritos 19 times/day.

Come on.  Don’t be a chicken.  Just try them.  You know you want to.

gluten free black bean brow 300x188 Black bean brownies for morning sickness

Pregnancy Brownies (Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies)

makes 8 2×4 brownies, 223 calories, 10 grams fat, 9 grams protein, 5 grams fiber.  Yes, those are really big brownies.  You might feel better about it if you cut them in 2×2 squares and eat 2.

  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 2 tbs butter or oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup black beans (no salt), thoroughly drained and rinsed
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp instant coffee
  • 1/2 cup walnuts

Combine all ingredients except walnuts in blender or food processor until smooth.  Add walnuts and process briefly.  Spread in greased 8×8 pan or similar size (I use a 9″ pie pan or 8″ round cake pan).  Bake 25-30 minutes at 350, just until done.  Cool thoroughly before cutting.

4 Moms serve dinner for 50 cents/person {linky}

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4moms35kids 4 Moms serve dinner for 50 cents/person {linky}You’ve heard of $5 dinners, but they usually feed 4 or maybe 6 people.  Today, the 4 Moms are going to try to do better.  Really?  Is it possible to make dinner for $.50/person?

In an attempt to reduce our grocery expenses without sacrificing healthful eating, our family has learned to eat many meatless dinners.  This doesn’t mean we skimp on protein, though.  We are hearty eaters, and we love our protein!

Beans and homemade bread are one answer that is both obvious and hearty.  Two pounds of dry pinto beans from WalMart cost about $1.30 – call it $2 to allow for generous seasoning.  A pot of beans can be surprisingly varied if you learn to season them differently.  Meat is nice but not always necessary.  $1.50 would be enough to make 2 loaves of sweet rich Challah bread or a big pan of cornbread and a little butter.  That leaves us $2.50 for some fresh veggies – right now, that would buy 2 lbs. of carrots, 1 lb. of roma tomatoes, and 2 cucumbers.

Beans and cornbread together provide a substantial amount of complete protein, but not everyone wants to eat a pot of beans every day and maybe your family doesn’t like beans as much as we do.  Surely we can be a little more creative.

How about pizza? We can’t have all the toppings we want, but let’s see what we can do with our budget.

Let’s make enough dough for 4 large pizzas.  Sometimes I make more because I like to plan for leftovers, but 4 is plenty even when we’re famished and today we’re on a budget.  Salt is cheap, and since I get flour (8 cups) and yeast (2 Tbs) from Costco and I don’t always use oil in my pizza dough, that’s just 60 cents so far.  Let’s allow some oil for the pans, though, to make the crust nice and crisp:  50 cents will provide 2 Tbs. of butter or olive oil for each pan.

Easy Frugal Pizza Crust

makes 4 large pizzas

  • 3 cups warm water
  • 2 Tbs. yeast ($.08)
  • 2 Tbs. salt
  • ~8 cups flour

Combine water, yeast, salt and 2 cups of flour.  Let sit 10 minutes, until bubbly and active.  Stir and knead additional flour to make a firm dough.  Knead by hand or in machine until smooth and only slightly sticky.

Let rest 10 minutes or up to 24 hours.  Divide into 4 parts and pat onto large greased pizza pans or cookie sheets.  Top and bake immediately, or prebake 10 minutes at 300 to finish later.

Add pizza sauce made from a gallon can of tomato paste (we season and freeze 1 cup portions, then add water and simmer until we’re ready to use it) for 50 cents (19 cents is the paste; the rest is the cost of spices).

We’ll divide 6 cups of grated mozzarella ($3.75 from Costco) between 3 of the pizzas, and make the 4th into breadsticks to dip in the extra sauce.  Many people enjoy cheese pizza so let’s leave one plain.  We still have 65 cents for additional toppings – 2/3 lb. of turkey sausage can be divided between 2 pizzas, or we can afford 1/2 diced onion, 1/2 bell pepper and a few sliced mushrooms.

Breakfast for dinner can be fun and frugal.  We occasionally have pancakes and eggs when we find the dinner hour upon us without a plan.

Pancakes to feed a dozen

makes 50-4″ pancakes for $2.35

  • 5 cups flour ($.35)
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 3 tsp. salt
  • 5 cups soured milk – 2 Tbs vinegar plus milk to make 5 cups ($1)
  • 5 eggs ($.50)
  • 1/2 cup oil or melted butter ($.50)

Combine dry ingredients.  Add milk, eggs and butter, then mix just until smooth.  Drop onto hot lightly greased griddle and cook until bubbles appear.  Flip and cook until done.

We like to top our pancakes with butter ($.50) and a little sprinkle of brown sugar rather than syrup that’s full of HFCS.

Add 2 dozen eggs ($2.50), fried or scrambled, and you have a fun & filling dinner with plenty of protein for less than $6.  There are no veggies this time, but maybe you had fruit with breakfast and a big salad for lunch.  :)

More Dinners for less than $.50/serving:

Bean & cheese burritos. Cook your beans from scratch, but buy tortillas if you have an inexpensive source.  We pay $1/20.  Serve with diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, cheese, and salsa.

Spaghetti, salad and fresh bread. Make your own sauce from that gallon can of tomato paste, and skip the meat if you can live without it.  Set out 1/2 lb. of grated mozzarella to sprinkle on top.

Taco salad.  Serve homemade seasoned black beans instead of meat, along with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, crushed tortilla chips, salsa, and a little sour cream if we have it.

The other moms are talking about it today, too.
  • Smockity Frocks
  • Common Room
  • Raising Olives
  • How does your budget compare?  How can you or how would you feed your family dinner for 50 cents/person?

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    Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce

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    We love Tex-mex, and I especially love enchiladas.  They’re a great way to stretch meat and nobody will even think of complaining.  If your family enjoys beans, you can even skip the meat altogether.  Some call those Wet Burritos, but I think Bean & Cheese Enchiladas sounds much more appetizing.

    To make a good enchilada, you need a good sauce and it’s not hard at all to make it from scratch.  You can even make it a day or two ahead of time to make enchiladas a fairly quick & easy dinner.

    The stuff that comes from a can will do the job, but once your family tastes your homemade sauce you’ll never get away with the canned variety again.  Don’t try this recipe unless you’re willing to give up the canned option.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  By the way, does anyone want a dozen cans of store-bought enchilada sauce?

    ingredients 300x241 Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce

    Easy Enchilada Sauce

    • 1/2 cup butter
    • 1/2 cup flour
    • 2 tsp. chili powder
    • 1 tsp. cumin
    • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
    • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
    • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
    • 4 cups broth or bouillon
    • 1 tsp. salt (omit if using bouillon or well-salted broth)
    • 8 oz. tomato sauce

    In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Stir in flour to make a smooth paste.  Add spices and continue to stir until bubbly.

    paste 300x200 Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce

    Whisk in broth and bring to a boil.  Cook and stir 1 minute, until thickened.  Stir in tomato sauce.

    homemade enchilada sauce1 300x200 Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce

    Makes 5-6 cups, enough for (2) 9×13 pans of enchiladas.

    Super-flavor tips:

    For extra flavor, skim and save fat when making chicken broth and use a little [fat] in place of part of the butter.

    Try sauteing 1/2 diced fresh onion and 4 cloves minced garlic in the butter instead of using the onion and garlic powder.


    4 Moms eat too many sweets {dessert linky}

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    4moms35kids 4 Moms eat too many sweets {dessert linky}OK, that’s not exactly the topic we agreed on.  We were going to talk about desserts.  If you must know, I’m projecting.  I eat too many sweets.  I like to skip the bread and rice and potatoes and all those evil empty carbs not so I can have a healthy diet, but so I can eat more dessert.  There.  The truth is out.

    I occasionally serve a healthy dessert, but to be quite honest they just don’t go over well.  I try to serve a healthy and well-rounded diet, but when the healthy invades the desserts, worlds collide and bad things happen.  I don’t want to be responsible for a tear in the time-space continuum.

    When it comes to desserts, we don’t serve them often but we have a few favorites that we always come back to.  I asked the kids if this was because we were boring or because those particular treats were so amazing, and was relieved to hear them answer correctly.  Yes, we love our Chocolate Peanut Butter No-bake cookies, toffee candy, brownies, and wacky cake.  We also love chocolate chip cookie dough, homemade, with or without the chocolate chips.

    Since I have already shared the first 2 recipes, today I’ll share my own personal brownie recipe and my grandma’s Depression era Wacky Cake.

    Moist Fudgy Brownies from scratch

    • 3 eggs
    • 1/2 cup melted butter
    • 1/2 cup cocoa
    • 2 cups sugar
    • 1 tsp. vanilla
    • 1 cup flour
    • 1 tsp. salt
    • 1 cup chopped walnuts, opt.

    Combine eggs, butter, cocoa, sugar and vanilla.  Stir until combined.  Add flour, salt and walnuts and stir again.

    Bake in a buttered 9×13 for 25-30 minutes at 350, just until done in the center.  Serve warm.

     

    Grandma’s Wacky Cake (also called Crazy Cake)

    A rich, delicious Depression era recipe that contains no eggs, milk or butter.  I think everyone’s grandma had a recipe like this.

    • 3 cups flour
    • 2 cups sugar
    • 2 tsp. baking soda
    • 6 Tbs. cocoa
    • 1/2 tsp. salt
    • 3/4 cup oil
    • 2 cups water
    • 2 Tbs. vinegar
    • 2 tsp. vanilla

    In an ungreased 9×13 pan, combine dry ingredients.  Mix with a fork until thoroughly combined.  Be sure to get the corners!

    Add water, vinegar and vanilla all at once.  Mix thoroughly again.

    Bake 35 minutes at 350 or just until cake tests done.  Don’t ice it, because the soft moist top is the best part! To make it special, dust with powdered sugar.

     

    The other moms are offering serving up sweets too:

     

    Got desserts of your own to share?  Share in the comments or link up with us!

    Please remember to follow the linky rules:

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    4 Moms: snacks and appetizers for a crowd {linky}

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    4moms35kids 4 Moms: snacks and appetizers for a crowd {linky}

    Snacks are a Sunday evening tradition for us.  After a big weekly fellowship meal at church, we just aren’t in the mood for a formal dinner.  We would rather share snacks and appetizers, and if we do it right we find that we have a party even when it’s just the 12 of us!

    A big part of what makes it a party rather than an evening snack is variety.  Instead of making enough of one dish to fill up 12 bellies, we like to create a variety of appetizers.  This may be a little more work, but work can be fun and the results are more appealing.  It also makes it easier to feed a crowd when you don’t feel the need to have/find enough ____ to feed everyone.

    Just picture it: one bowl of popcorn and a movie = family night.  Sausage balls, bacon wrapped jalapenos, apples with dip, cheese & cracker platter, veggie tray = Party!

    We love to work together in the kitchen as a family, with knives flashing, food flying, and music playing.  If we make a mess, we have enough hands to clean it up.

    I already shared our recipe for sausage balls.  Here are some of our other favorites:

    Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

    Relax, and don’t let the jalapenos scare you.  With seeds removed, they’re just not that hot.

    • 12 small or medium sized jalapenos
    • 6 slices bacon
    • 6 oz. cream cheese

    Carefully slice jalapenos in half lengthwise.  Cut out center with seeds and webbing.  Wear gloves if you have very sensitive skin.  Use a gentle touch if you don’t like too much heat – it’s on and around the seeds, so the more they touch the walls of the jalapeno the hotter your end product will be.  If you like a little heat, let the 5yo do this job, but warn him not to pick his nose, rub his eyes,  or put his fingers in his mouth afterward.  Do you think it sounds mean to even let a 5yo touch a jalapeno?  Relax.  I’m probably just kidding.

    Now that your jalapenos are prepared, use a teaspoon to load them with cream cheese.

    Here’s the good part.  Wrap each jalapeno with half a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.  Bacon makes everything better, right?  Even chocolate, but especially jalapenos.

    Place on a cookie sheet with sides or a baking pan.  Don’t use a pizza pan or cookie sheet without sides, because the bacon grease will drip, filling your house with smoke and setting off your fire alarm.  Then you’ll have to open the doors and windows even though it smells really good inside and it’s 38 degrees outside, and your smoke alarm will keep going off anyway while your family alternately laughs at you and complains about their burning eyes.

    So…bake on something with sides for 30-40 minute at 400.  When the bacon is done to your liking, they’re ready.  Enjoy, and try to share.

    Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

    Perfect with apples, or eat with a spoon when nobody is looking.  If they catch you, hand them a spoon and swear them to secrecy.

    • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
    • 1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar
    • 1/2 tsp. vanilla

    Stir and enjoy.  You won’t believe 3 simple ingredients can taste this good.

    What is your favorite snack or appetizer recipe?  How do you like to feed a crowd – one mega recipe or several smaller ones?
    Link up with your own post!

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    2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms blogs.
    3. The post you link to must be completely family friendly.

    If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow one of the rules above. Please feel free to add your link again once you have fixed the problem. If you don’t know why your link was deleted, please ask.

     

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    4 Moms’ favorite holiday recipes {linky}

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    4moms35kids 4 Moms favorite holiday recipes {linky}

    For reasons that make perfect sense to me, many holiday traditions center largely around food.  What are your favorite food-related holiday traditions?

    This week we’re sharing some of our favorite holiday recipes.

    One of my favorites is also one of the easiest.  Coincidence?  Your taste testers will never know.

    Poor Man’s Toffee

    makes 50 pieces – great for gifts

    • 1 1/4 cups butter, divided
    • 35-40 saltine-style crackers
    • 1 cup dark brown sugar
    • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
    • 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
    • 3/4 cups finely chopped walnuts

    Pay attention.  This happens quickly:

    1. Melt 1/4 cup butter; pour into foil-lined jelly roll pan.
    2. Arrange crackers over butter, evenly spaced.
    3. Melt remaining butter; add sugar and boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    4. Remove from heat and add condensed milk. Spread over crackers.
    5. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, until bubbly and slightly darkened.
    6. Remove from oven, cool 1 minute, and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes (until chocolate is soft and melty) and spread.
    7. Sprinkle with nuts; press lightly into chocolate.
    8. Cool; refrigerate until chocolate is set.
    9. Remove foil and cut candy.

    Yum! Rich, delicious and very impressive, and much faster and easier than it sounds. No one can ever guess the saltine cracker base – it tastes a lot like Almond Roca.

    ************************************************

    Cheater’s Fudge

    So easy you’ll never go back.

    • 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips
    • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
    • 1 tsp. vanilla
    • optional additions: walnuts, marshmallows, etc.

    Just combine ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until melted and combined.  Pour into buttered or wax-paper lined 8×8 pan, chill, and cut into small squares.

    ************************************************

    Effortless Eggnog

    I love eggnog and have no qualms about the raw eggs in traditional recipes, especially since most of our eggs come from our own hens.  However, this recipe is super easy, delicious, and satisfies those who are concerned about raw eggs.

    • 1/2 gallon milk, divided
    • 1 package instant French vanilla pudding mix
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 2 tsp. vanilla
    • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

    In a large bowl, whisk 3/4 cup milk and pudding mix until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in remaining milk. Refrigerate until serving.

    ************************************************

    Chai Tea Mix

    A nice variation on cocoa for cold winter mornings.

    • 1 cup powdered milk
    • 1 cup dry creamer
    • 1 cup vanilla flavored dry creamer
    • 2 1/2 cups sugar
    • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened tea mix
    • 2 tsp. ginger
    • 2 tsp. cinnamon
    • 1 tsp. cloves
    • 1 tsp. cardamom (or allspice)
    • opt. 1 Tbs. vanilla pudding mix

    Stir to combine all ingredients. Use 3 Tbs. in 8 oz. of boiling water.

    Options:

    • For a prettier mix, you can run it through the blender a cup at a time.
    • Allspice is easier to find and can be substituted for cardamom to make a very nice spiced tea, but it’s *not* the same. Cardamom has a very distinctive taste and aroma, even to our uncultured tongues. We found cardamom in bulk for a great price in the local health food store.
    • The vanilla pudding mix is optional but does help the mix to dissolve better.

    What are your favorite holiday recipes?  Answer in the comments or link up with your own post.

    Please remember the linky rules:

    1. You must link to a specific relevant post on your blog.
    2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.
    3. The post to which you link must be completely family friendly.

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    Holiday snackage

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    A few weeks ago, I decided to make our Sundays more special by adding some flair to our evening snacks.  Maybe I was influenced by the upcoming holidays.  Who doesn’t spend November and December thinking about food?

    When the kids were little, we used to have Sunday sundaes.  Ice cream was our dinner every Sunday night during warm weather.  It was a fun tradition, and I stayed free of ovarian guilt by offering bananas, nuts, and other nutritious toppings.

    Now we’re all a bit older and we recognize that foods don’t have to be sweet to be delicious.  We always have a big fellowship meal at church, so the evening meal doesn’t need to be heavy or formal.  Snacks are what we do.  We love sausage balls and I think we could happily eat them every week, but we want to experiment with new and different foods, and more interesting ways to present the usual snacks.  My goal is to use presentation and novelty to make our snacks more exciting without breaking the budget.  I think a modest splurge here and there with a side of creativity and a willingness to work can make a fancy feast that is still relatively frugal.

    Old fashioned popcorn made on the stove top and drizzled with butter was fun and yummy, but I wanted to step it up a little.

    Three Sundays ago I tried my hand at bruschetta, and it was a big hit.  It’s cheap, easy, and delicious, and it looks very pretty on a big white platter.  I made some of Smockity’s artisan style bread because I already had the dough in my fridge.  I shaped it like baguettes, then topped it with a combination of fresh tomatoes and pesto.  I don’t know just how authentic it is, but we topped some with sliced green olives (ugh!) and various cheeses.  We also tried broiling some after adding the toppings.

    The following week, we tried some baked brie in a homemade sourdough bread bowl with pear filling, but that was not a big hit.  Nearly everyone decided they just didn’t care for the yeasty flavor of the brie.  I bought it at Costco and used it very promptly, but I’m slightly suspicious that our Brie was past its prime.  So many cheeses are stinky to begin with, it’s hard to tell a good stink from a bad stink when you’re not familiar with a particular variety of cheese.  The fact that the remainder of the Brie wheel had pink and purple areas after just 7 days made me even more suspicious.

    Last Sunday our church didn’t have the usual fellowship meal so our snacks at home were heartier than usual.  We all worked together on a huge platter with 3 different types of sausage slices, smoked gouda, swiss (my favorite), pepper jack and sharp cheddar cheese, and 4 types of crackers.  On the side we had baby dills, black olives, and bruschetta.  There was wine and hot spiced apple cider to drink.  It was glorious!

    I think I’d like to try some sort of savory mini tarts – maybe little quiches since the big ones always go over well with the kids.  Homemade, of course.  And maybe we’ll serve up some shrimp cocktail.  A $5 ring of shrimp will feed a big family when you point out to the children just how much shrimp resemble huge bugs.  Just to reinforce the point, try to get into the habit of calling them Sea Cockroaches.

    What fancy snacks have you tried?  What’s on your list to try someday?

    Thanksgiving preparations

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    Tomorrow we join the extended family at my mom’s house – 13 of my 14 siblings will be there with their spouses and 16 children, plus 11 people from our own household (Deanna is in Tennessee with her other grandparents).  Cooking will be simple since there are so many hands and households to share the labor.

    There is so much to be thankful for, but right now my mind is mostly on the food for tomorrow.  Part of me feels a twinge of guilt as though I were falling prey to our culture’s penchant for materialism, but another part of me is eager to disagree.  Food is a wonderful and fitting sign of God’s provision, and it seems right that a day of thanks should have a heavy emphasis on food.  Food is also a big part of how we commune with God during worship every Sunday, so why shouldn’t it be a holy part of this Thursday celebration as well?

    And so we plan the day largely around what we’ll eat, thinking thankful thoughts with each bite and voicing those thoughts between bites.

    Our group has decided to plan for leftovers, so there will be 2 large turkeys and 2 hams.  Our family will be bringing one of the turkeys.  We want to spend most of the day together, so I’ll brown my turkey at home in a very hot oven then transfer to my electric roaster so it can finish cooking in an out-of-the-way corner at Mom’s house while we visit tomorrow.

    We’re also bringing homemade whole-berry cranberry sauce, which we discovered a few years ago.  So easy and yummy, we’ll never go back to the gel-in-a-can.  I love that the youngest cooks in our house can make it by themselves and know that they contributed to Thanksgiving dinner!

    cranberry 300x199 Thanksgiving preparations

    I would love to try The Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes, but my sister beat me to the potatoes this year.  Maybe next year.

    Mom is making plenty of pies, so I’m trying two desserts that are new to us this year: Tres Leches Cake, a traditional Mexican cake which I hear about all the time and finally tasted for the first time last month, and Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle, made with the pumpkin we canned last year.  The photos of the trifle in the linked post are so beautiful I seriously contemplated stealing one (with a link and credit, of course), but my conscience won out.  If mine turns out half as beautiful, I’ll be updating this post with a photo. (Scroll down to see photo added later)

    Both cakes are cooling on my stovetop now, waiting for final assembly.

    2 cakes 300x199 Thanksgiving preparations

    I guess they call it Tres Leches (3 milks) because it has a nicer assonance, but does anyone think quatro leches would be more accurate?

    tres leches 300x199 Thanksgiving preparations

    A little later today, we’ll head out for our church’s Thanksgiving Eve service.  Not sure how we’ll end the evening, but it’s sure to be fun.  Maybe you have a suggestion?

    Do you have any Thanksgiving Eve traditions?

    Update: my pumpkin gingerbread trifle is done.  It was so fun and easy!  My big dish couldn’t hold 3 complete layers so I put the extra in pint jars.  This is perfect because now I can garnish the big one with candied pecans without risking the life of my nut-allergic sister.  We’ll just hand her a jar.

    Call me partial, but there’s something about my trifle that I think is far more beautiful than the photos in the original recipe.  :)

    pumpkin trifle 179x300 Thanksgiving preparations

    4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

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    4moms35kids 4 Moms: Large Family Food StorageHappy Thursday, friends!  This week the 4 Moms are talking about food storage for the large family.  You may think a mom of so many girls wouldn’t know much about food storage, but let me tell you something: my girls eat like Scarlett O’Hara.  Remember when her mammy made her fill up on a huge slab of ham and assorted sides so that the boys at the dance would think she had a dainty, ladylike appetite?  Hah.  My dainty girls leave the mothers of teenaged boys gaping in awe.  We like to eat around here, and we’re not ashamed.

    Not surprisingly, we go through a lot of food.  We laugh at the wee little 5 lb. bags of flour sold at the grocery store.  Really.  There’s a kid reading over my shoulder right now, and she’s giggling.  ”They’re so cute!”  Those are a single use when you’re whipping up 4 or 5 large pizzas, especially if you make breadsticks to stretch the pizza.

    One reason I love to shop at Costco is because the things I buy come in convenient sizes for a big family: 25 lbs. of flour or sugar, industrial sized spice containers, gallon cans of veggies and tomato paste, 10 lbs. of carrots…you get the idea.  A bonus: with bigger packaging, we generate less trash.  Many small families generate more trash than we do because of their propensity for individual servings of prepackaged foods.

    The big question is how to store these truly family-sized packages.  You don’t really want a flour canister that holds 25# sitting on your countertop, do you?

    Here’s how we solve that little issue:

    buckets 199x300 4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

    Since we cook so much from scratch, we don’t store mass quantities of a lot of different foods – we stick mainly to the staples, and fill in the gaps weekly or as needed.  We have buckets for flour, sugar, brown sugar, beans, rice, and wheat.  We used to have one for oats but found that they went bad too quickly.  We had a bucket of coconut oil, but transferred it to quart jars.  We also have one for cat litter, but we don’t cook with that.  Did I have you worried?

    I don’t use a canister at all for flour, since it would be emptied in a single use.  That’s not my idea of convenience.  Instead, I replaced the standard bucket lids with these babies.  This is my idea of convenience!

    gamma seal lids 4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

    They spin on and off with one hand.  I love them!  No fumbling for the bucket opener, or breaking nails trying to open the lid with brute strength.  Everything is color coded, too: Blue for Beans, oRange for Rice, Red for bRown sugar…hey, work with me here.  My bucket system is a work in progress.

    I also try to keep my canned goods sensibly organized.

    labels3 200x300 4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

    Sometimes.  But sometimes a steal of a deal on 24 jars of organic marinara sauce messes up your system.

    sauce 300x199 4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

    Sometimes there’s no good excuse at all.

    pantry 144x300 4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

    I’m hoping to upgrade to this very soon:

    prd 79 m1 4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

    And maybe you can, too.  Watch for a giveaway!

    What’s your food storage problem or solution?  Link up with us! Remember, when you link up on one of our sites, your link will automatically be added to all 4 Moms posts this week!

    Please remember the linky rules:

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    Sausage balls

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    Is it possible that I have never posted this recipe on our blog?  I hang my head in shame.

    This recipe is from an ancient church cookbook which hubby helped illustrate, along with the other children in that church where we met so long ago – only this cookbook was even before my time.  My mother-in-law gave me a copy when we were married.

    cookbookcover Sausage balls

    cookbookcakes Sausage balls

    We love these sausage balls, though I have altered the recipe a little to suit us.  The biggest change is that we make it from scratch instead of using Bisquick.  The other change is that we usually triple it.  We eat these for late-night movie snacks, holiday treats, and the occasional fun breakfast or lazy dinner.  They’re as good as junk food in our house, but carry less guilt.

    If you’re a little short on sausage or cheese, no problem.  I promise they’ll still be delish!

    Sausage Balls

    • 2 cups flour
    • 1 tsp. salt
    • 2 tsp. baking powder
    • 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
    • 1/2 small onion, diced (optional)
    • 1 lb. uncooked breakfast sausage
    • milk to moisten

    Stir together flour, salt, baking powder, cheese and onion. Use hands to work in sausage until evenly distributed – small lumps are fine. Stir in enough milk to moisten flour and make a dough that will hold together.

    Shape into uniformly sized balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake 20-30 minutes at 400, until lightly browned. Break one open to check sausage for doneness.

    4 Moms: Keeping the food budget down as the prices go up {linky}

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    4moms35kids 4 Moms: Keeping the food budget down as the prices go up {linky}
    Today we’re talking about the food budget.  That’s nothing new: I think everyone in the nation is talking about the rising price of food and what to do about it.  Last year I shared 13 tips to manage the food budget.

    There’s a common idea floating around that junk food is cheaper than nutritious food, so our diets must suffer when the budget is pinched.  The writer of this article from the NY Times disagrees, and so do I.

    As the price of food goes up, the way we eat is undeniably affected, but not necessarily for the worse.  Instead, we have chosen to shift away from many of the prepared foods that lingered in our diet:

    • Canned beans are now cooked from dried.
    • Spaghetti sauce is made from tomato paste for a fraction of the cost.
    • Ditto for enchilada sauce and…
    • Pizza sauce.
    • I finally kicked the cream-of-mushroom habit and started making white sauce from scratch consistently.
    • Cold cereal is more rare than ever in our house, a treat reserved for especially rushed Sunday mornings.

    As the budget shrinks, we cook even more from scratch.  If we want convenience foods, we break out the pressure canner.  We do pinto and black beans often, and have also  tried pizza sauce, enchilada sauce, spaghetti sauce, pumpkin, apple pie filling, chili, jalapeno relish, and chicken bought on sale.

    We also keep an eye on the cost of individual meals, shying away from those that cost more than others.

    We eat far more beans, are learning to love lentils, and God has provided inexpensive sources of other healthful foods that weren’t even in our diet before now.  We still eat a lot of produce, always sticking to what’s in season and what’s on sale.  Red meat has become a rarity in our house, but that’s ok.  Chicken goes on sale often, and we don’t need meat every day.  Many meals are just as satisfying without the meat: bean & cheese enchiladas, taco salad with seasoned beans instead of taco meat, potato chowder and other hearty soups, fried rice with lots of eggs and veggies.

    If beans and legumes aren’t enough, we get plenty of protein from homegrown eggs, from Costco cheese, and milk.  We’re even dabbling in quinoa – not cheap, but also not bad as a source of protein, and lots of fun to cook and eat.  Is it just me, or are the tiny spirals adorable?

    The result of rising food prices?  We are eating less prepared foods, less corn syrup, more fiber, and more protein.

    How have rising food prices affected your household budget and diet?  How have you responded?  Answer in the comments or link up with your own post.

    Please remember the linky rules:

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    Menu challenge

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    OK, friends.  I have some stuff in my pantry that just isn’t moving, and I want your help.

    These are some items that I didn’t buy, so they don’t fit my typical meal plans.  What would you do with them?  Extra points for emphasis on low/slow carb meals, meatless/low cost, and for using more than one item below in the same meal.

    • vermicelli (2 small bags)
    • pasta stars (1 small bag)
    • crunchy Chinese noodles – We often do fried rice or stir fry over rice, so we could easily use these under or over.  Would you do something more creative?
    • corn bread stuffing mix (3 largish bags)
    • french fried onions – I’ve only ever used these in Thanksgiving green bean casserole, but surely there are other options.
    • croutons – We’re big on salads, so we could do the obvious.  But again, maybe you have a better idea?
    • oyster crackers – Soup weather is just around the corner, but do you have an idea that is appealing during hot weather?
    • stove-top stuffing (3 bags of the store brand)
    • quinoa (3 cups) – I tried this for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it, but most went bad in the fridge waiting for inspiration on what to actually do with it.
    • taco shells – Tacos, of course.  Maybe lentil or bean?

    4 Moms make lunch for the menfolk {linky}

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    4moms35kids 4 Moms make lunch for the menfolk {linky}I forgot to warn you that this week’s 4 Moms post would be a linky, mainly because I forgot that this week’s 4 Moms post would be a linky.  That means we’re on a level playing field, you and I.  A little last-minute never hurt anyone, right?  So read to the bottom really quick then start pounding out your post and link up.

    But I don’t recommend the last-minute principle for packing hubby’s lunch if there is any way to avoid it.

    MAN LUNCH 101

    Tip #1: Plan and pack ahead of time

    I’m a slow learner, but I have finally realized that morning good-bye kisses go better if hubby is carrying a lunch that was packed with love and care the previous night.  He just doesn’t feel as loved when he is holding a lunch packed with bleary eyes and groggy mind 3 minutes before he walks out the door, and I can hardly blame him.  Of course his lunches are better when I plan and pack ahead, and doesn’t every man measure your love for him in terms of how you feed him?  I jest, but there’s more than a kernel of truth to the old saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

    Tip #2: Pack what he likes, not what you like

    I have also learned that while I might enjoy fruit smoothies and raw almonds, and children might like PB&J, those are not Man Food.  I don’t know how it works in your house, but my man needs meat.  It’s not a meal if it doesn’t have meat.  His definition of meat has recently expanded to include other animal-based proteins like eggs and large quantities of cheese, and he has learned to enjoy beans as a source of satisfying protein, but if I want him to feel loved and happy and satisfied his lunch has to contain meat on a regular basis.

    I’ve resigned myself to the fact that this is how his brain works.  It’s not how mine works, but I didn’t marry myself, and we’re not talking about my lunch.  If we were, you would be hearing about smoothies and raw almonds.

    Tip #3: Listen to him

    I have also learned that just when I get into a lunch groove and I think I know exactly what he likes and how much of it for lunch, something changes.   Lunches have been a struggle for me and it seems so easy once I finally get into a groove, so I sometimes find myself feeling resentful when I get knocked out of it.

    Just when I’ve got the amounts down to a science, he wants less – or more.  Just when I figure out how often to buy fresh produce, he decides he doesn’t want salad every day anymore.  When I finally manage to plan ahead a whole week, he announces that he’s going to eat just fruit and veggies for lunch this week.

    It can feel like a constant challenge, and I’m easily frustrated.  I like things to be easy.  I don’t want to have to think about it, work on it, or plan ahead.  When this happens, I need to remind myself that this is just one way for me to serve my beloved who serves me and the household in so many ways.  Sarah was commended for calling her husband lord (I Peter 3:6); who am I to complain when my lord requests a change?

    Tip #4: Leftovers

    This post has turned into the classic, “Do as I say and not as I do,” but here’s the nitty gritty I was planning to blog about.  In simple terms, Perry generally wants and receives dinner leftovers for lunch.  When I plan dinner, I cook extra and plan for leftovers because I know he’s not taking PB&J for tomorrow’s lunch.  This much I have mastered.  When I’m really thinking ahead, I set aside his portion before dinner is served so that we don’t accidentally eat up all the “good stuff” and leave him with nothing but a side dish of carbs.

    If I do it right, this means I’m not scrambling in the morning, bleary-eyed and groggy-brained, trying to find a good lunch for a good man so we can enjoy a good kiss on his way out the door.

    Tip #5: Relax and communicate.

    My impulse is to fret about the budget and take it personally when he goes out to lunch and leaves the lunch I packed sitting in the breakroom, forlorn and forgotten.  Maybe it means he was dissatisfied with the lunch I packed and I need to try harder, but maybe it means he wanted to eat out with a friend.  Maybe it means crispy hot onion rings and a juicy burger sounded really good that day.  I’m learning – slowly again – not to object when he makes a decision that I wouldn’t have made.  I am his wife and helper, not his mother.

    How do you feed your man?

    Please remember the linky rules:

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    2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.
    3. The post to which you link must be completely family friendly.

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