Ongoing Projects #1 Eat At Home Week 1

Ongoing Projects #1 Eat At Home

The first ongoing project I want to start is eating at home. I want to save money and home cooked food just tastes better.

Today I'm making no soak pinto beans in the crockpot to be served over cornbread for dinner. The leftovers will be used to make bean and cheese burritos for lunch tomorrow. I am also going to freeze some of the leftovers in 2 cup servings to use in recipes later on.

Tomorrow night I think I'm going to try making homemade pizza. I have a lot of mozzarella cheese leftover from last nights dinner that I can use.

I'm not used to making a weekly meal plan and I'm certainly not used to sticking to it. I'm going to do my best. I inserted the recipes into the meal plan. I just think that might be easier for me right now. Please don't take the recipes to heart. There might be mistakes or I might change something. They may be terrible, until I cook them I won't know. I'll post the recipes as I cook them on the blog.

Menu Week 1 

Make Sunday

Strawberry Jam in the Bread Machine

• 3 cups of diced strawberries (or fruit of choice)
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice.
• 2 Tbsp pectin (optional)

1. Cut strawberries in half and gently mash with a potato masher or fork.
2. Add strawberries to the bread maker with sugar, lemon juice and pectin (if using).
3. Hit jam setting.
4. Once the cycle has ended, use baking mitts to pour contents into a bowl and pulse once or twice with a immersion blender.
5. Pour into jars and let cool before putting on lids and transferring to the fridge.
6. Usually the jam will thicken in the fridge, but if you prefer a thicker consistency, use the pectin.

Crockpot Applesauce

• 12 apples ( Fuji or Gala)
• Water or apple juice
• ⅛ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp cinnamon

1. Wash and peel apples. Leave a little bit of skin on, if desired. Just make sure you don't leave big pieces!
2. Slice apples into quarters and cut out the cores.
3. Place apples into a crockpot and add a couple tablespoons of water.
4. Sprinkle with spices, if desired, and stir. Add as much or as little as you want - it's up to you! If you use apples that aren't very sweet, you can always add in some sugar.
5. Cook on low for 4 hours.
6. For chunkier applesauce, mash the cooked apples to desired consistency. For smooth applesauce, blend with an immersion blender, or carefully puree in a blender (you may need to do this in batches).
7. Store in refrigerator.

Monday:

• Breakfast: Biscuits, (buttered with homemade Jam), homemade applesauce
• Lunch: Salad with sliced hardboiled eggs, shredded cheddar cheese
• Dinner: Slow cooker Enchiladas, applesauce

SLOW COOKER ENCHILADAS

1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 can (16 ounces) pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (10 ounces) diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained
1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded monterey jack cheese
6 corn tortillas (6 or 7 inches)

In a skillet, cook beef, onion and green pepper until beef is browned and vegetables are tender; drain.

Add the next eight ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Combine cheeses. In a 5-qt. slow cooker, layer about 3/4 cup beef mixture, one tortilla and about 1/3 cup cheese. Repeat layers.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours or until heated through.

Tuesday

• Breakfast: French Toast, maple syurp
• Lunch: leftover crockpot enchiladas  
• Dinner: Chinese Pork Chop Suey, Jasmine Rice

Chinese Pork Chop Suey

• 1 large onion, peeled, sliced, separated
• 2-3 stalks of celery, washed, sliced thin
• 1 lb pork or chicken, sliced thin across the grain
• 2-3 T. Olive Oil
• 2-3 T. Soy Sauce
• 1-2 tsp Corn Starch
• 1 Lg can Bean Sprouts, drained and rinse
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice Seasoning
• 1 c. cold chicken or pork stock
  
  

Heat oil in large skillet or wok until hot, add sliced vegetables.

Saute Vegetables for 5 minutes, uncovered. Make a well in the center, add raw pork or chicken, stirring occasionally until browned and cooked through.  
Add Soy Sauce, bean sprouts, stock and 1 tsp of Chinese 5 spice powder (optional). Reduce heat, simmer 5-7 minutes until flavors have mingled. If you'd prefer a thicker sauce, dissolve 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in 1 Tablespoon of COLD soy sauce, pour into mix, simmer. 

Serve over a bed of steamed rice, if desired.

Wednesday

• Breakfast: cold cereal or oatmeal
• Lunch: Salad or PB & J
• Dinner: Smokey BBQ Ribs, Coleslaw, Broccoli

Smoky-Flavored Barbecued Ribs

3 1/2 pounds pork loin back ribs
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons liquid smoke
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup cola
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce

Spray inside of 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Remove inner skin from ribs. Mix brown sugar, pepper, liquid smoke, garlic and salt; rub mixture into ribs. Cut ribs into about 4-inch pieces. Layer ribs and onion in slow cooker. Pour cola over ribs.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 9 hours or until ribs are tender. Remove ribs from cooker. Drain liquid from cooker and discard.

Pour barbecue sauce into shallow bowl. Dip ribs into sauce. Place ribs in cooker. Pour any remaining sauce over ribs. Cover and cook on low heat setting 1 hour.

Coleslaw

 1 bag prepared coleslaw mix

 1/2 C mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
Celery seeds to taste if desired

Combine all ingredients except coleslaw mix and refrigerate covered until ready to use. Mix with shredded slaw just before serving.

Thursday

• Breakfast: poached eggs on toast
• Lunch: Leftovers or Grilled cheese
• Dinner: Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

STUFFED PEPPERS

1 lb. estra lean ground beef
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
1 can (15oz) Spanish Rice
1 lg onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 lg bell peppers, tops removed, cleaned of seeds and cored, but not halved

Combine all ingredients, except half can of tomato sauce and bell peppers.

Stuff bell peppers full of mixture.

Place peppers in slow cooker. Pour remaining tomato sauce over peppers.

Cover. Cook on high 4 hours.

Friday

• Breakfast: Bagels & Cream Cheese
  
  Bagels
  4 C. Bread Flour
  1 T. Sugar
  1 1/2 tsp Salt
  1 T. Vegetable Oil
  2 tsp. Instant Yeast
  1 1/2 c. Water 120-130F
  
  
  Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, yeast in your Mixer.

Add oil to the water and pour into the mixing bowl, mixing until smooth and creamy looking.
Add remaining flour and continue to knead with the dough hook for several minutes until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut dough into 8 equal size balls & let set for 15-20 min.
Dough will puff up like this!

Preheat oven to 425F

Roll each of the dough balls into a long "snake" until it will wrap around your hand, forming a circle. Fuse well, then roll with the palm of your hand. Do not make your circles small, or when the bagels rise
Let them rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil, grease a large sheet pan.

Boil the bagels on each side for 1 minute, let them dry for a moment then place on oiled sheet pan.
Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, flip bagels, bake for additional 10 minutes.

• Lunch: leftover stuffed peppers
• Dinner: Crockpot Stuffed Chicken Rolls, Mashed Potatoes, Frozen Vegetable

Crockpot Stuffed Chicken Rolls

6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
6 slices cooked ham
6 slices swiss cheese
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 (10 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chicken broth

Flatten chicken.
2. Put ham and cheese on each slice.
3. Roll up and secure with toothpick.
4. Combine,flour,parm cheese, sage, paprika,salt and pepper.
5. Coat chicken, chill for 1 hour.
6. Heat oil and brown chicken rolls.
7. Put in crockpot.
8. Mix soup and broth, pour over chicken.
9. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

 

Saturday

• Breakfast: Omelets & Toast
• Lunch: leftovers
• Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie & Cranberry Sauce

Chicken Pot Pie

1/3 C. Chopped Onion

• 1/3 C. Flour
• 1/3 C. Margarine
• 1 bag peas/carrots blend, frozen (but rinsed to get rid of ice chunks)
• 1¾ C. Chix Broth
• 2/3 C. Milk
• 1 c. cut up cooked chix (or any leftover meat)
• Pie crust

In a medium saucepan Melt butter, add onions- sauté for a minute (here we added 1 T. fresh chopped parsley)
Add flour, mix till pasty, add broth and milk.(This is actually called a Roux). Stir constantly until creamy and thick ( cooking over medium heat), Add veggies & chicken. If you use a whisk, the sauce will be smooth and creamy and will NOT be lumpy.
Dump into a pie crust.
Freeze now for later or Bake 40-50 minutes at 350º

Sunday

• Breakfast: Just Middles (Cinnamon Rolls the easy way)

Just Middles

• 2 1/4 c. bisquick
• 1 c. milk
• 1/2 - 2/3 c. Cinnamon Sugar
• 3/4 stick melted butter

Combine the bisquick and milk until it forms a soft dough. Spread 1/2 of the dough into a buttered 9x9 pan.
Pour the melted butter over the dough, use the back of a spoon to spread it evenly all over.
Sprinkle the dough liberally with cinnamon sugar.
Add remaining dough to the top in several dollups, spread evenly to cover the cinnamon sugar layer. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon & sugar.
Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes

Lunch: leftover chicken pot pie

• Dinner: Grilled Sausage, Macaroni and Cheese, Frozen Vegetable

Various Snacks:

• Microwave Popcorn
• granola bars
• Apples (Sliced w/ peanut butter or Apple Dip)
• Rice Krispie Treats
• Hard boiled eggs

Drinks included:

• White Grape Juice
• Apple Juice
• Iced Tea or herbal teas
• Coffee