Our Magnum Opus

Let's Get Cookin' #11

 

Baking Week

Super easy minty brownies

Peanut butter Fudge

Snickerdoodles  rolled in Christmas sprinkles of course

m-n-m cookies because they look pretty on the plate

Giant ginger cookies

Let's Get Cookin' #3

 

More Cookin'

 

Cooking With Regina and Friends

 

Fall Menu Update

I made yogurt and sourdough bread from  my Fall Menu plan,  both were good.  I think I will only make sourdough once a week with soup since it does have a strong flavor.  I don't think the kids will like it so well with sandwiches.  So I will bake a weekly batch of my regular bread one of those bread days.

The yogurt was yummy and was devoured quickly.  A whole gallon of yogurt gone in a few days. Imagine that.  Note to self: lightly sweeten yogurt ahead of time to avoid future small child sugar disasters.

Fall Menu 2013

This menu is designed to stretch meat so I can buy 3 pounds of grass fed ground beef, 2 whole pastured chickens and an occasional beef roast with bones or a nice ham.  It is very basic and mostly homemade.  I did not link to many recipes but these are basic and super easy to find.  I keep a small collection of muffin and coffee cake recipes for a little variety.  I have not actually tried making sourdough bread or yogurt yet.  It is my goal for the next few weeks before we start school to learn these techniques well and figure out how to fit each step into the school day.  Help yourself to anything useful here and let me know if you have any tips!

Sunday

Breakfast:

English Muffins/Coffee Cake

Yogurt with fruit/HB eggs

 

Supper:

Roast chicken/ham/beef with potatoes, carrots or other roasted vegetables

salad

Ice cream

 

Tasks:

slice meat and package and label for SA lunches

pack Dad’s lunch

set up AM coffee and oatmeal

begin stock with bones

 

Monday

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with dried fruit

 

Tasks:

Start soup with stock and leftover meat, shredded cabbage, other veg.

Bake bread and muffins

HB eggs

 

Supper:

Soup and bread

Cooked squash or sweet potatoes

 

Tasks:

Pack Dad’s lunch

Set up AM coffee

 

Tuesday

Breakfast:

HB eggs and muffins

 

Tasks:

Make yogurt

Prepare mixes (pancake mix, pudding mix, granola minus nuts)

 

Supper:

Tacos, enchiladas or burritos (meat filling made with 2 lbs. ground beef and 1 cup of rice)

Raw vegetables

Cooked corn

 

Tasks:

Pack Dad’s lunch

Set up AM coffee

Organize lunch fixings in tub in fridge for SA lunch prep

 

Wednesday

 

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs in tortillas

 

SA packed lunch:

Bagel meat sandwich, muffins, fruit, cheese stick

 

Supper: (meatless)

Aztec Quiche or spinach lasagna

Roasted broccoli

 

Tasks:

Pack Dad’s lunch for Thurs. and Fri.

Set up AM coffee and oatmeal

 

Thursday

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with dried fruit

 

Tasks:

Bake bread, muffins, coffee cake for Sun, oatmeal cookies

 

Supper:

Stir fry (use up leftover meat, vegetables, shredded cabbage) over rice

Cooked squash or sweet potatoes

 

Tasks:

Set up AM coffee

Organize lunch fixings in tub in fridge for SA lunch prep

Mix pizza dough and refrigerate

 

Friday

 

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs in tortillas

 

SA Lunch Packed Lunch:

Bagels with cheese, oatmeal cookies or muffins, fruit

 

Tasks:

Grocery shop

Cut up raw vegetables

 

Supper: (meatless)

Homemade cheese pizza/homemade mac & cheese

cut vegetables

 

Tasks:

Set up AM coffee

Set up pancake supplies

 

Movie Night:

Popcorn on the stove

White grape Juice

 

Saturday

 

Breakfast:

Pancakes

Breakfast meat

 

Supper: (prep early)

Chili served with tortilla chips or nachos

Salad

Chocolate pudding

 

Tasks:

Set up AM coffee

Pull coffee cake or English muffins out of freezer

 

• Notes:
• Breakfasts include coffee, milk and OJ with CLO
• Lunch at home is leftovers or sandwiches filled with tuna salad, egg salad, salmon melts, or PB&J
• AM snack: fruit
• PM snack: raw veg. tray/pb or cheese on saltines/HB eggs/homebaked items
• For emergency keep in the pantry: spaghetti noodles and jarred sauce, canned soup, canned fruit
• For a crowd or potluck: make sloppy joes/ham and cheese sandwich casserole/meatball subs and chocolate chip cookies
• Bake sourdough bread 2 x week
• Make homemade yogurt 1 x week
• Homemade salad dressings mix
• Granola for non-oatmeal kid
• Pudding mix for homemade pudding

My First Canning

A dear friend invited us to pick sour cherries from her tree.  I sent a crew and they did a great job.  I have not really canned before but I tried sour cherry preserves.  Easy. I love the gleaming rows of canned fruit.  It turned out pretty well.  We actually ate two already!

Found in the fridge...

 

I guess they know me pretty well !

-Kevin Sr.

Yummy, Yummy Granola

We made this on our kitchen day this week.  It is delicious!  The Montmorency dried cherries were a bit of a splurge but well worth it.  Granola is filling, nutritious and takes the place of cold cereal for an easy breakfast.

I tripled this recipe and roasted it for longer than the directions indicate to make sure the oats were cooked.  (At 325)  The key is to stir often so the edges don't brown.

From Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup thawed unsweetened apple juice concentrate
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 teaspoons almond extract
• 6 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1-1/2 cups dried cherries or cranberries (I used Montmorency Cherries... Yum!)
• 1 cup slivered almonds  (I added whole almonds as well, since my family likes them and it's a good protein.)

Directions

• In a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk powder, honey, apple juice concentrate and oil. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved; stir in extract. In a large bowl, combine the oats, cherries and almonds. Drizzle with sugar mixture and mix well.
• Spread in a thin layer in two 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool completely. Serve with yogurt if desired. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3 quarts.