31 Days of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Homemade Hamburger Buns Recipe 

I just did my monthly meal plan and a facebook friend asked me to share it.  In an attempt to not have to buy groceries this month I went through and inventoried everything I had in the house.  I did not inventory the flours, baking supplies, spices etc as those are staples and I usually always have those in my pantry.

Canning

Here is the list of what I had on hand and the quantities to work with in random order.  Well actually it is order of small freezer to garage pantry to large freezer but only I would know that.
Pepperoni
Mozarella
Bacon 3- half packages (I cut these in half and we only eat a half at a time)
Pasta Sauce-7 meals worth
Rice- Brown
Beans- Red, Pinto, White, Black
Lentils
Tortillas
Pasta- 6 packages
Tomato soup- 1
Hamburger- 15 (these are small little frozen rounds, 1 is a less meat meal and 2 is a large meat meal)
Cken breasts- 3
Rabbit- 1 whole
Chicken- 6 whole
Salmon- 4 meals worth
Oats
Applesauce and apple butter
Pears and pear butter and pear sauce
Frozen- strawberries, grn beans, corn, chicken broth 1, ham broth 1

My Go To Break Recipe for Loaf, Rolls, or Cinnamon Rolls

Breakfasts 

These will be the same 7 meals on a weekly rotation.  Sides will be whatever fruit, etc happens to be there.  I can all summer long so there is a lot of pear sauce, apple sauce, canned pears, and frozen fruits for smoothies, etc.

Oatmeal and Pears
Scrambled Eggs with toast
Pancakes and applesauce
Smoothies and Toast
Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal
Eggs and biscuits (eggs will be either flat eggs, scrambled, or omelets)
Leftover Pancakes (I make a quadruple batch and freeze the leftovers)

Carmel Pecan Sticky Rolls Recipe

Lunch

These will also be the same 7 meals on a weekly rotation.  Side will be vegis and dip, hummus.  Also I only make these if there are no dinner leftovers!

Sandwiches- PBJ, PBH, egg salad, tuna, whatever we have that week.
Potatoes with ranch, cheese, toppings
Sandwiches
Noodles (with butter and garlic, or with meatless sauce)
Leftover Day- This is all the leftovers in the fridge
Sandwiches
Leftover Soup or Chili- If I make a large pot once a week there will be lunch for all 6 of us as well

Pressure Canned Pinto Beans

Dinner 

I write out my dinners on a blank monthly calendar I printed off in word.  I fill my meals in making sure to note what days we are out late, Joe is not home, or we are out all morning/afternoon so I can use the crock pot.  I also do not pick a specific way to cook some items so that I can choose depening on what we feel like when the day comes.  For example a whole chicken will just say "whole chicken" and day of I may choose to crock pot it, bbq it, or roast it in the oven.  Sides for dinner are decided when that day depending on what I have on hand.  If I plan it right all breads, rolls, buns, etc will be made day before or that morning.  Meatless meals are marked with an *

Week 1
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Soup*
Whole Chicken
Pasta
Taco Pie
Black Bean Chili*
Salmon

Week 2
Bean Burgers*
White Bean Soup (made with Ham stock from the freezer)
Pizza
Chicken Pot Pie (in place of crust I put dumplings on top)
Sloppy Joes
Spicy Rice and Beans*
Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice*

Week 3
Tacos
Chili and Cornbread
Chili on Potatoes
Pasta
Taco Pie
Chili Casserole
Salmon

Week 4
Whole Chicken
Chicken and Rice Soup
Pasta
Chicken Pot Pie
Waffles and Bacon
Black Beans and Rice*
Lentil Sloppy Joes*

Week 5
Lentil Soup with bacon
Breakfast Burritos*
Polenta and Spicy Beans*
Pasta

Want to see another meal planning post?  Check out "A Month of Meals"

Homemade Playdough Recipe

I have been making this recipe for years.  It is by far the best playdough recipe I have found.  It is not grainy, lasts a long time, and the kids love it!

Recipe for Homemade Playdough

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar

1tsp oil 

1cup warm water

food coloring

Mix dry ingredients in a pan.  Add warm water, food coloring, and oil.  Stir together over medium heat until it forms a ball.  Make sure to stir (this will be hard) until all (or most) of the wet looking spots are gone.  Dump out onto a table and knead until smooth.  Be very careful kneading, as it is HOT!  This recipe makes a large ball of dough, almost a pound.  Store in a sealed plastic bag and it should last for months.

You can make any color you want, even use natural dyes if you would like.  I've added essential oils as scents (be careful some are not great on the skin) and even added glitter to make sparkle dough!  Experiment and have fun!  I used to make this recipe and sell it online when I had my shop, Sewing Alley.

Homemade Non-Petroleum Jelly

Found this excellent post about making your own Homemade Non-Petroleum Jelly.  I smeared Michael in Vapor-rub last night and am envisioning a homemade version!  This is more a note to self as I really want to do this!

Potato Leek Soup ~ Recipe

Potato Leek Soup

5 medium Leeks (white and pale-green parts only)
2 TBSP Butter or olive oil
6 Russet Potatoes, peeled and chopped (or don't peel if you'd like)
30 ounces Chicken broth (I have also used vegetable broth)
1/2 to 3/4 cup half and half (I've used whole milk or skipped this as well)
salt and pepper to taste
sometimes I also add garlic powder

1) Halve leeks and slice into 1/4 inch thick half moons.  Rinse and drain well.

2) In a large pot melt butter over medium heat.  Add leeks and cook until tender, be careful not to brown (though I do it all the time and it tastes fine unless they are black, then its well uh gross.  Hey I'm a mom, I get sidetracked. lol)

3) Add prepared potatoes, broth, and 2 cups water.  Bring to a boil: reduce heat to simmer.  Cook until potatoes are tender.  About 15-20 minutes.

4) Puree with an immersion blender (or regular blender) until smooth.  Stir in half and half and season with salt and pepper.  (Or don't blend at all for chunky soup, I tend to blend about half as the kids like the creamy and Husband likes the chunky, so they have to share and get both.  I totally just noticed a similarity here, its to peanut butter.)

Enjoy!  I tend to make this soup from memory so its a bit different each time.  Sometimes more potato, more leeks, etc.  Its pretty forgiving and I've never made a version that kids didn't devour.  I usually serve with fresh bread and butter.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Was reading blogs the other night and came across this post over at Freedom Acres Farm the other night.  I love her blog and am in awe of her pantry.  As soon as I saw the recipe for Hamburger Buns I knew I had to try it.

 These are something I try but are never right.  Too crunchy, not fluffy, shape is off.

These homemade hamburger buns were perfect!  I did use regular whole wheat flour in place of fresh ground soft white flour and noticed no difference.  Though as I don't have a flour grinder I may not know what the awesomeness of fresh ground flour is.  :)

So head on over to her blog for the recipe and I'd love to know how 

they turn out for you!

P.S. The kids liked them, need I say more?

My Go To Bread Recipe

We eat a lot of bread.  I have tried so many recipes and lately this one is the go to recipe for our family.  I have made it half whole wheat and 100% whole wheat (with a bit of added vital wheat gluten) but more often than not I just make it like it is.  Its a bread stick recipe but I use it for almost everything.  I am posting the original and you can alter as your heart desires.

Bread Sticks

2 1/4 tsp yeast (or 1 packet)
4 1/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt (I use kosher)

Topping
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8-1/4 tsp garlic powder (I use granulated garlic)
pinch of oregano

Put 1/4 cup warm water in a bowl and add yeast.  Set aside for 5 minutes.  Add flour, salt, sugar, butter, and 1 1/4 plus 2 Tbsp warm water.  Mix 5 minutes.  Knead 3 minutes.  Roll into 2 ft log and cut into 16 half inch pieces.  Knead each piece and roll into 7 inch long breadstick.  Cover and rise for 45 mins.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brush with half the butter and  some of the salt, in seperate bowl combine remaining spices and salt for topping.  Bake 15 minutes or till golden, while warm brush with remaining butter and sprinkle with spices.
 


I make this into dinner rolls by shaping into a roll.  I have also made loaf bread, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon swirl bread, and pretzels with this dough.  Enjoy!

Homemade Frappuchino

I have an addiction. Starbucks Mocha Frappuchino's, oh the heaven. Sweet goodness mixed with coffee and blended to icy perfection. Yum! I will admit I spend way too much at Starbucks. I don't even want to know how much I spend there. :) In an effort to seriously cut our budget I am once again attempting to make my own at home. Past efforts have failed. I think mostly due to the fact that I cut corners and tried every mix or powder out there that claims to be a frappuchino. I wanted easy, I wanted drive thru easy. Well those just don't cut it. So when a friend of Joe's offered us their old espresso machine Joe jumped at it. I originally said no as it would be one more kitchen appliance to clutter my kitchen. Joe on the other hand with the thought of homemade egg nog lattes called him right back and said yes we want it. lol

So yesterday he picked up this:

Some searching online found a lot of recipes. These two were put into my favorites:

Recipe #1

Recipe #2

Last night before bed I made 4 shots of coffee and put them in the fridge. Then this morning I decided to give it a go. As the kids were watching a movie I couldn't get on the computer to get my recipe so I winged it.

2 shots coffee

1 cup milk

3 TBSP sugar

3 squirts choc syrup

ice

I mixed it all together and blended in enough ice to the desired consistency. Its pretty close to both recipes.

This was the result:

Actually this plus another whole cup full was the result. I put the second cup into the freezer for later. It was delicious. Not exactly the same but similar and better! It also saved me $5.09 which is what a venti mocha frappuchino costs now days. Joe has made himself two egg nog lattes all ready. Just by making these three drinks we have saved enough money to buy a months worth of ingredients to make coffees with. Now to order some re-usable straws so I don't have to keep buying any. I don't know why but I have to have a straw for drinking most things. lol Go make yourself a coffee and enjoy the savings too!

Making Strawberry Cordial

A few weeks back over at Not Dabbling in Normal Kathie posted about making berry cordial. I have never even tasted cordial but it was all so Anne of Green Gables that I had to try it out.

There are directions in the link above. I just started this today so in a week will be ready to strain and mix the berries with sugar.

1 pound of berries into a clean jar.


Now filled with vodka. Add lid and off to a cool, dark place for a week. :)

Poop Cookies

I used to have these cookies as a child and now my kids get to enjoy them. They think it is hilarious that we used to call them poop cookies. I mean isn't Poop cookie just so much more fun compared to say No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal cookie? If its not you need to get in touch with your inner 6 year old boy.

Appetizing they do not look, but they are pretty good. Kind of a sickening sweetness mixed with the chew of oatmeal. Joe says they are too sweet but he prefers the bitter to the sweet. I know, whats wrong with him right?

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

aka Poop Cookies

2 cups sugar (did I say they were healthy?)

1/2 cup butter (again never said they were healthy)

1/2 cup milk (protein!!)

6 TBSP cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

3-4 cups oats

Mix sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and cocoa. Mix well. Add oats. Drop by whatever size of cookie spoon you desire onto wax paper, foil, whatever you choose and let set for about 6 hours.

We start eating when cool but they are really mushy and still warm in the middle. The dough is really hot so the dropping job is not one for a kid (or mom) who can't stop themselves from licking. Burns will happen. I know someone that happened too. She scraped the biggest glob onto the pan and well her finger hurt so she had to lick it really quick cause that's what you do when you are burning right? You lick the burning, hot, melted chocolate off the finger. She's okay now.

My favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe

There are so many wonderful cookies out there. Chocolate chip cookies are a a favorite standby here in our house. I can go from "Mom can we make cookies?" to "YUM!" in less than 20 minutes. This recipe comes together in less than 5 minutes (excluding baking time, add more time if you have helpers) and is incredibly good. I always add extra vanilla to almost any recipe I make. The measurements on this one have been adjusted to make up for what I think I am adding extra. I just pour it in but have guessed at the amount of vanilla. We prefer our cookies chewy and I find that for my oven 10 minutes is the perfect time. Removing them from the cookie sheet when they have just set is also important as they continue to bake on the sheet once out of the oven. Happy Baking!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup Butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 ½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 ¼ cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 to 2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg. Beat well, scraping sides of bowl if needed. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix well. Add desired amount of chocolate chips. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. Place each ball 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated oven for 10-13 minutes. Remove from oven; let sit one minute and remove to cool on cooling rack.

My favorite bread

My favorite no knead bread.

I found the recipe here a few months ago. Since then a friend turned me onto the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes blog. Then Joe bought me the cookbook for my birthday. It has created an obsession. This dough is so versatile. I have made many things with it and keep finding new ways to use this dough.

The Master Recipe: Boule
(Artisan Free-Form Loaf)
Makes 4 1-pound loaves

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)

1 1⁄2 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt

6 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour

Cornmeal for pizza peel

First add water to bowl. I use my kitchenaid mixer. Next add salt and yeast. Next add flour. When mixed, it will be wet and sticky, wet your hands and scoop into large bowl. Cover loosely (its needs to vent) and let sit for about 3 hours or until flattened on top. This step will vary depending on your house temperature. Once dough is risen either refrigerate or use. I prefer to use it for bread right away and freeze or store the loaves. I find that it does not rise as much (though it still rises and is just as yummy) once its been refrigerated. To make a loaf sprinkle flour on top of dough and flour hands. Scoop out desired amount of dough and without kneading make into a ball. There is a trick to this described in the links above. I then set dough on prepared (cornmeal) cookie sheet to rise again for about 30-40 minutes (longer if using cold dough). Then slash top of bread in desired way with sharp, serrated knife. Preheat oven to 450 degrees with a broiler pan in there. When dough is risen put in oven and add cup of water to broiler pan and quickly close door. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Let cool before slicing. I make large loaves and get about 2-3 per batch.

I have made pizza on the grill with this dough as well and it was delicious. The whole wheat recipe is what we use for sandwiches. I have also made Naan, Cinnamon rolls, and sandwich rolls with the master recipe. The book is wonderful and has so many great recipes.

Make sure to read the full directions on the link above. There are tips and tricks to using a wet dough. What I do above works for me and my oven but may not work for yours. I also do not own a baking stone as the recipe calls for and I do not sprinkle the loaf with flour before baking. I find that a sharp enough knife does not stick when slicing it on the top. Happy eating!

Brioche dough from the cookbook.

Carmel Pecan Sticky Rolls using Brioche Dough but can be made with the Master recipe as well. Recipe in the links above.

Recipe for Homemade Laundry Soap

Ingredients needed to make 4 gallons:
4 quarts water
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax (sodium borate)
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda (not baking soda)
1/2 a grated bar of Fels Naptha or 1 bar of Ivory soap

All of these items I purchased at our local grocery store in the laundry aisle.

Supplies needed:
Pot used specifically for making soaps & cleaners
Grater
Something to stir the melting soap with
Bucket larger than 3 gallons (I use my cleaned out diaper pail)
3 old 100 ounce laundry soap containers to store your new soap in
Funnel

Step 1:
Put 4 quarts of water in your pot. Add the grated bar soap, the 1/2 cup Borax, and the 1/2 cup of washing soda. Heat on medium heat stirring occasionally until all the soap has melted.

Step 2:
Pour it into your bucket & leave it for about an hour to cool off.

Step 3:
Once it is cool, add 3 gallons of very hot water to your bucket & stir thoroughly.

Step 4:
Pour laundry soap into your storage containers using funnel. They will gel up as they cool.

Use 1/2 cup per full load of laundry.

This soap will have a gelatinous consistency and won't look like store bought soap. Another thing to remember is you won't see suds. Suds are not what is cleaning our clothing. The ingredients are doing the cleaning. Most store bought products have added ingredients to produce suds. We think suds = clean but that is not the case. For containers I find that this soap does not come out of the push button dispensers very easy. I prefer to pour it out which can be hard in the large saop containers. I use a mix of old milk jugs, vinegar containers, and laundry soap bottles. I throw my cup in the washer with each load and it comes out clean with each load to be put away.

The above is my last batch of soap. This is a double batch and as you can see there was a lot of it. In addition to 4 milk jugs, 2 170 oz laundry containers, 1 vinegar bottle, 1 large dish soap bottle, and an apple juice bottle there are 4 quart size canning jars in a cupboard that I forgot to put in the picture. I did not have enough room in the pan to make a double batch so I only added 1 batch worth of water and double batch worth of other ingredients. When I poured it into the bucket to cool I added 4 more quarts of really hot water and stirred; then I let it cool and coninued with the regular directions.

Bread Recipe

I keep getting comments and emails to share my bread recipe. First I will say it is not my recipe. :) I found it on someone elses blog (drawing a blank on who???) and tried it out. Now I just want to say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe. It is so easy. It requires no kneading and it keeps in the fridge for a few weeks, that is if it lasts that long. We have yet to make it three days with a batch of this bread. I love that I can make so many different things with this one recipe by just adding different ingredients. I have made Naan, dinner rolls, sandwich buns, loaves, cinnamon rolls, and even made it in a loaf pan for white sandwich bread. I also use the whole wheat recipe, which is several pages in to the article. I make at least 2 or 3 batches of ww dough a week and we use it for toast, sandwiches, everything. I do find that I get less loaves per batch but I make them really big. :) So no more from me here is the recipe:

Five Minutes a Day for Fresh Bread

Okay just a little more from me. The article suggests reading the whole article/recipe before you start. Take their advice. lol There are lots of tips in there on how to handle this gooey, sticky mass of runny wet dough. It took me several batches before I understood how to shape the loaf. The ww dough is even wetter! Each recipe has a different technique on how to do it, well the artisan loaf and the ww anyway. I have not made the other recipes just made variations of my own. So go enjoy some fresh bread!

Today's loaves of ww sandwich bread baking in the oven


Tonight's sandwich rolls rising for Salmon sandwiches.