My goal this week is to make a list.
Sad, right?
Not a real lofty goal, but a necessary one. I want to do a marathon of freezer cooking this weekend. To do a good job, and be the most effective, I need to plan and make a list.
Thankfully there are a lot of resources out there to help. I already downloaded a couple of forms from Money Saving Mom to help me make my lists. She also has some recipes that do great in the freezer.
My biggest issue right now...fear. I am a planner and kind of a control freak. I worry about not having every single aspect planned out ahead of time before going to the store or starting to cook. Since this will be my first real freezer cooking marathon attempt, I've been stressing about it for a good two weeks already!
But my goal is to have at least seven meals prepared this weekend to put in our freezer to have throughout the month. I'll do my best to take photos as I'm preparing...if I haven't lost my mind yet!
Showing posts with label In the Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In the Kitchen. Show all posts
Monday, October 1, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Making Blackberry Jelly
We went down to my grandfather's house over the weekend and hubby happened to notice some blackberries growing up really high on top of a huge Holly bush. Seriously huge. It required a very large orchard ladder to even reach the blackberries and we still couldn't reach them all. But we managed to get a nice size bowl full to take home.
I decided that it was time to make jelly. I've never made any sort of jam or jelly before but my mom has so she came over to help.
In the meantime, I figured we might need more so I took Marshal out the next morning to find a blackberry patch. Thank goodness for Facebook...I posted for help finding a good spot and hit the mother load. Tons of blackberries, easily accessible for Marshal and I to pick.
Together with what we picked the day before, I thought we'd have enough to make jelly. I'm glad we picked more. We wouldn't have had enough from the batch picked at grandpa's. But with our extra we got some juice to freeze for next time and enough leftover berries to send home with Aunt Jennifer.
Now the big question will be...how does it taste. :)
I decided that it was time to make jelly. I've never made any sort of jam or jelly before but my mom has so she came over to help.
In the meantime, I figured we might need more so I took Marshal out the next morning to find a blackberry patch. Thank goodness for Facebook...I posted for help finding a good spot and hit the mother load. Tons of blackberries, easily accessible for Marshal and I to pick.
Together with what we picked the day before, I thought we'd have enough to make jelly. I'm glad we picked more. We wouldn't have had enough from the batch picked at grandpa's. But with our extra we got some juice to freeze for next time and enough leftover berries to send home with Aunt Jennifer.
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| Crushing Berries for their Juice |
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| Straining the juice through cheese cloth. |
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| Juice ready to boil. |
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| Extra juice to freeze for next batch. |
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| Final product. 4 mostly full pints of Blackberry Jelly. |
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Cleaning Fruit
Grabbed this great tip from my friend Aimee, Pampered Chef Coordinator Extraordinaire, on Facebook.
- Fill sink with water.
- Add 1 Cup Vinegar and mix.
- Add all fruit and soak for 10 minutes.
- Water will be dirty an d fruit will sparkle with no wax or dirty film.
- Great for berries too - Keeps them from molding. Do this with strawberries and they last for weeks!
I haven't tried this yet but I plan to soon! Thanks for posting, Aimee!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Store Bought or Home Made
Last Saturday I made homemade pizza. It occurred to me as I pulled together the ingredients that it may not always be cheaper to make things from scratch.
At WinCo the pizza dough is $1.48. I made my own dough using the bread machine and this recipe. I have NO idea how to calculate the cost of this but if I had to estimate I'd say it was less than $1.48.
A pack of shredded cheese costs on average $2 depending on where you buy it. Obviously if we shredded our own it may cost a little less, but honestly I hate shredding cheese. My arm always gets tired.
I bought a pack of Canadian bacon for $1.98. We already had pepperoni in the fridge. If I'd needed to buy that it would be around $4.
I'll say $0.75 for the sauce - normally I use spaghetti sauce (yes, I know...totally lame) which is about $2 a jar but this time I used canned tomato sauce and added spices.
Add it up and you've got a gorgeous, yummy, delicious pizza for about $8 (give or take). WinCo had a pizza ready to throw in the oven for $6.99. It didn't look as appetizing and had things on it that we'd pick off. It took longer to make our own pizza but the taste and knowledge of exactly what is in and on it is worth it to me.
At WinCo the pizza dough is $1.48. I made my own dough using the bread machine and this recipe. I have NO idea how to calculate the cost of this but if I had to estimate I'd say it was less than $1.48.
A pack of shredded cheese costs on average $2 depending on where you buy it. Obviously if we shredded our own it may cost a little less, but honestly I hate shredding cheese. My arm always gets tired.
I bought a pack of Canadian bacon for $1.98. We already had pepperoni in the fridge. If I'd needed to buy that it would be around $4.
I'll say $0.75 for the sauce - normally I use spaghetti sauce (yes, I know...totally lame) which is about $2 a jar but this time I used canned tomato sauce and added spices.
Add it up and you've got a gorgeous, yummy, delicious pizza for about $8 (give or take). WinCo had a pizza ready to throw in the oven for $6.99. It didn't look as appetizing and had things on it that we'd pick off. It took longer to make our own pizza but the taste and knowledge of exactly what is in and on it is worth it to me.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Looking for Healthy, Easy Recipes
One of the biggest challenges I'm finding in living within our means...inexpensive meals that are also healthy. I could cook pasta every night and nothing else but that's not very healthy. Meat is expensive, more and more so lately it seems.
And while I could eat the same thing every night for weeks and not get bored, hubby is less easy going...apparently he prefers variety.
Oh and of course there's the little guy. Out of all the recipes I've tried lately he has maybe liked two of them...maybe.
So how do you keep a three year old happy, making something that is healthy, and inexpensive??? So far I'm at a loss.
I'm going to make pizza tonight, which isn't super healthy, but it is inexpensive with home made dough and left over pork. At least I know that Marshal will eat it and hubby will like it too. I'll need to do some extra exercising.
Any ideas for easy to make recipes for a picky family?
And while I could eat the same thing every night for weeks and not get bored, hubby is less easy going...apparently he prefers variety.
Oh and of course there's the little guy. Out of all the recipes I've tried lately he has maybe liked two of them...maybe.
So how do you keep a three year old happy, making something that is healthy, and inexpensive??? So far I'm at a loss.
I'm going to make pizza tonight, which isn't super healthy, but it is inexpensive with home made dough and left over pork. At least I know that Marshal will eat it and hubby will like it too. I'll need to do some extra exercising.
Any ideas for easy to make recipes for a picky family?
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Learning to Cook - Slowly
Slowly but surely I am teaching myself to try new things, including learning to cook. We canned peaches last Sunday and while down at Grandpa's house I discovered grandma's recipe box. She was an AMAZING baker and I'm excited to start going through her box.
My goal is to type out every recipe and create a special little book for me and some of the other grand children. Odds of me finishing by Christmas?
Slim. But I will make an attempt.
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| Grandma's Treasures |
Slim. But I will make an attempt.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Adventures in Canning - Peachy
It shouldn't be legal to get out of bed before 6 a.m. on a weekend. But I did it and even woke Marshal up early so that I could drop him off on a Sunday with his nanny. My mom and I headed down to Onalaska (no, it's not in Alaska) to grandpa's house to can peaches.
He had 7 boxes...one whole box of which was mine. They are $25 a box but are supposed to be the best peaches for canning (according to the experts...aka my mom and grandpa). I had to buy two boxes of large mouth jars which came to around $20. I only used 14 of them and grandpa bought the rest. So my out of pocket expense came to around $35.
My mom provided the sugar and the sure fresh (the stuff that keeps the peaches from browning) as well as the big pots for boiling the jars.
Today I learned how to blanch peaches - putting them in boiling water (in a sort of colander like thing) for a few minutes and then dumping them in cold water.
Boiling them makes the skin come off easily and I got into a good rhythm - even taking entire skins off without ripping them into pieces. It became my goal.
It's amazing how HOT the peach pits get after being boiled. Just trust me. And did you know that inside the pit is a seed that looks like an almond. Apparently it's poisonous.
When peaches are ripe they will break right in half after having their skin removed. I used a knife most of the time but towards the end I just split them right in half with my fingers.
Mom made the syrup, which requires a lot more sugar than I ever imagined...even the light syrup. We had every burner on high. The lids had to be boiled too.
Before you put the lids on you have to wipe the mouth of each jar to make sure there's absolutely nothing to prevent them from sealing correctly.
It takes 30 minutes of BOILING...but you can't put the jars into the boiling water. So you put the jars in warm water and have them heat up to boiling and then start the timer.
Did I mention it was over 90 degrees today and grandpa's air conditioning wasn't working?
We canned 77 QUARTS!!!
That's a lot of peaches. We canned from 9 a.m. to almost 5 p.m. My fingers hurt and are dry from being in water all day long.
Is it worth it to can your own peaches? Absolutely! Although you can probably buy them cheaper at the store they do not taste nearly as good. In fact, Marshal won't eat the store bought ones.
I figure, cost wise, it costs about $2.62 a quarter...not including the cost of sugar or sure fresh. Considering the jars at the store are shrinking (when was the last time they sold a full quart?) it's really not too bad. It's just amazingly time consuming. And exhausting.
And ultimately totally worth it.
He had 7 boxes...one whole box of which was mine. They are $25 a box but are supposed to be the best peaches for canning (according to the experts...aka my mom and grandpa). I had to buy two boxes of large mouth jars which came to around $20. I only used 14 of them and grandpa bought the rest. So my out of pocket expense came to around $35.
My mom provided the sugar and the sure fresh (the stuff that keeps the peaches from browning) as well as the big pots for boiling the jars.
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| Peaches waiting to be boiled. These are almost not ready but we went ahead and canned them anyway. |
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| Right after boiling...dumped in cold water. |
Boiling them makes the skin come off easily and I got into a good rhythm - even taking entire skins off without ripping them into pieces. It became my goal.
 |
| Skinned Peaches...ready to halve and put in the jars. |
It's amazing how HOT the peach pits get after being boiled. Just trust me. And did you know that inside the pit is a seed that looks like an almond. Apparently it's poisonous.
When peaches are ripe they will break right in half after having their skin removed. I used a knife most of the time but towards the end I just split them right in half with my fingers.
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| Aren't they pretty. |
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| Waiting for the Hot Bath. |
Before you put the lids on you have to wipe the mouth of each jar to make sure there's absolutely nothing to prevent them from sealing correctly.
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| Into the Hot Bath they go. |
It takes 30 minutes of BOILING...but you can't put the jars into the boiling water. So you put the jars in warm water and have them heat up to boiling and then start the timer.
Did I mention it was over 90 degrees today and grandpa's air conditioning wasn't working?
We canned 77 QUARTS!!!
That's a lot of peaches. We canned from 9 a.m. to almost 5 p.m. My fingers hurt and are dry from being in water all day long.
Is it worth it to can your own peaches? Absolutely! Although you can probably buy them cheaper at the store they do not taste nearly as good. In fact, Marshal won't eat the store bought ones.
I figure, cost wise, it costs about $2.62 a quarter...not including the cost of sugar or sure fresh. Considering the jars at the store are shrinking (when was the last time they sold a full quart?) it's really not too bad. It's just amazingly time consuming. And exhausting.
And ultimately totally worth it.
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