What to do....

So I know that we usually do recipes... But what do you guys do to keep the kids busy? My kids are wanting to make stuff, a lot of stuff. I'm looking for crafts and activities to do that involve less clutter or at least be outside. They are getting tired of bubbles and sidewalk chalk and I'm tired of trying to find places for paintings and pictures.

What we do to be frugal

Richard and I are often too spendy. We love different foods and are both prone to be lazy, resulting in eating out a lot. A LOT. On the weeks we are on the ball and prepared, here's what we do....

1. Make a menu. I use 2 different kinds of menus. some times one works, sometimes the other.
menu 1-- list 14 dinners, lunches and breakfasts.
Highlight the ones that need to be eaten sooner, eat the meals you are in the mood for
Menu 2--Schedule day to day B, L & D

2. Use your food storage. I walk in and go "Wow, I have a lot of cream of mushroom. What else do we have to use some of that?" or "That vegetable soup needs to be eaten soon. add some bread and there's a lunch." Then I add that to my menu.

3. Shop with the weekly ads. I got a turkey breast at .99/lb a few weeks ago. Then planned a meal around it. Actually two meals, since we use the meat for sandwiches the next day.

4. Stretch your meat. At least twice a week I make a roast, ham, chicken or turkey and use the leftovers to make something else. Most can be sandwiches, ham can be made into a cheesy potato casserole, Roast into stew... you get the point.

5. Pork chops are cheap! use 'em. Zatorain's is cheap. Spaghetti is cheap. All are hearty and filling.

6. Spaghetti sauce. I spice up the canned cheapies. a few spice, some hamburger and you're set. How may kinds of noodles are there? None are lavishly expensive. my kids don't care that the sauce is the same, change the noodles and its a new meal to them. We have some form of spaghetti at least once a week. (usually for lunch as Richard is not as easily fooled.) add some garlic bread one day, mozzerella the next, some chicken chunks the next. Happy family for a few dollars a day.

7. have a food budget. Make it reasonable. I know I use somewhere between $80, and $120 a shopping trip on food. We budget $120 every two weeks and I keep the leftover money for the days I don't want to cook and for the little extra pocket money I usually end up needing.

8. Mom's and Grandma's. Once or twice a month, isn't it nice to go visit family? That sure helps us on food. LOL

9. Day old Bread Store. Love it, live it, use it. its cheap, tastes the same and my family goes through it before it goes bad anyway. If you have a big freezer--which we don't--even better! freeze the bread, snacks, etc.

10. Eat before you shop. I need to heed to this better. I vear from my shopping list when I'm munchy.

That's off the top of my head, and we still need a lot of work on our food expenses.

Cinnamon/Orange Rolls and Frosting

This is an enormous batch of sweet rolls. It will make about 2 and a half large bar pans (cookie sheets), or a little more then 2 dozen cinnamon rolls. You can half it but I never do. I figure, if I am going to take the time to make these with my kids we may as well make a ton of them. This is a great one to do with the kids because after the dough is made you can split it and let each of the kids make some their very own.

3 1/2 c warm water
3/4 c sugar
1 c oil
2 Tb yeast

Mix and let stand 15 min

Add:
1 TB salt
3 eggs
10 1/2 c flour

Mix well, knead. Roll out immediately to 1/2 inch thick rectangle.

Cinnamon Rolls:
Spread 1/2-3/4 c melted butter, sprinkle brown sugar, Cinnamon and raisin. Roll up starting at the long side, and cut into 2 inch rolls. Put on greased pan. Let raise to double in size and bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned. When slightly cooled (warm not hot), frost.

Variation: Put anything you want inside, we tried it with chocolate chips and marshmallows and my kids loved it. Personally they were way to sweet for me, I like them plain without the raisins.


Orange Rolls:
Spread with mixture of 1/3 c melted butter, 1/2 c white sugar, and grated rind from one orange. Roll, cut, raise, cook and frost like cinnamon rolls.



Frosting: 1/3 c butter softened, 1 pound powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, add milk to a medium thick glaze.

Frugality

OK everyone. I think everyone is trying to save some money, and they say the most flexible part of your budget is your food budget. So what food ideas do you do to save a little money here?

Things we do

Eggs- we go through almost a dozen eggs when we eat them as a family, but that is still never more then a couple dollars.

Pancakes and waffles- we make them homemade, there are some really great pancake and waffle recipes on the Internet and it only costs pennies per meal to home make then. We also make syrup. It's just sugar, vanilla, butter and water and it's so much better fresh.

Beans- just take the extra planning ahead and cook dried beans, they are alot cheaper then canned and you can cook a pound or two at a time in the crock pot then just freeze them in baggies.

Spaghetti- Obvious. We make our sauce. It's just a can of diced tomatoes and some seasonings, then you can add any vegies you have if you want- spinach, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, etc.

Burritos- This is really cheap and they end up looking pretty good. It's just a tortilla shell with re fried beans inside. Then you top it with cheese, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc. Serve it with seasoned or regular rice.

Garden- It is gardening time. I love to garden until it gets hot, but its still worth it even if you let it get overgrown with weeds. I already have peas and lettuce coming up. We do zucchini and other squash, it freezes well sliced or shredded. Scout loves zucchini bread so we shred it and freeze it to use in the winter.

Canning- I can my extra tomatoes, I always get too many. Sometimes I will can them as spaghetti sauce or salsa, but usually just whole because it's fast. I also will can peaches if I get them at a good price. If you see a pressure canner, let me know, I have been wanting one for years, they cut the canning time in half and then you are able to can pretty much anything. I want to be able to make extra of the soups we like and just can the leftovers.


If anyone wants help with a garden or canning let me know, I would love to help! Canning really is funner with more then one person.

Fresh Onions and Mushrooms Don't Freeze Well

I just figured this out, they end up really nasty. If you need to freeze them cook them first, they turn out a lot better that way.

No more mushy celery

So Richard's Grandma has a lot of nifty little secrets, but this one it one of my most useful.
I always buy a ton of celery and by the time I get to use it, its either soft or spoiled.

Here's the tip: When you get home with your celery, cut it into strips and place it in a mason jar with cold water in your fridge. I've had celery last up to a month and a half like that. Still crispy/crunchy and still got the flavor.

Teasdale Menu #2

Monday-
B-Cold Cereal
L-sandwiches or easy-mac
D-Chili, Crackers, and Fresh fruit

Tuesday-
B-breakfast burritos
L- Ravioli (From the can) and salad
D- Brittney brings it. Thanks back at ya

Wednesday-
B- oatmeal
L-Pot pies
D- Black bean soup on rice and Tortillas

Thursday-
B-Scrambled eggs and bacon
L- Left overs
D- Brown sugar-glazed ham, Baked potatoes

Friday-
B-Cold cereal
L-Vegetable soup
D-OUT

Saturday-
B-Pancakes
L- Pigs in a blanket
D- out I guess

Sunday-
B-cinnamon rolls
L-leftovers
D-Corned beef, boiled potatoes and carrots


Snacks for the week: Veggies and dip, Chips and salsa, Fresh fruit and Girls Scout cookies

This Week's Menu

I really post this because I always loose the paper with my schedule and this way I always know where it is.

Monday- Mystery Meat
Tuesday- Beef Stew dinner swap
Wednesday- Dinner Swap Thanks Carrie!
Thursday-Bistro Salmon
Friday- Turkey Picadillo and Cinnamon Rolls (for the scrap booking potluck)
Saturday- I think we are going out to dinner before the Roger Clyne concert, if not everyone coming is welcome to come over here for dinner before we go and I will make Mexican Chicken Skillet
Sunday- Italian Wedding Soup if we don't get invited to someone's house for dinner.

Write it down before it becomes Mystery Meat

I wanted to start a tips section so I figured I would say my few tips again.

- Double your caserole recipes. It's just as easy to make two of them as it is to make one. It's most convient if you keep a few foil pans on hand for this. You can also double your crock pot recipes, just label a gallon freezer bag and dump everything in. You just pull it out of the freezer the night before so it thaws, but if you are like me and don't think about it until that afternoon, it just about doubles the cooking time if it is frozen when you put it in to cook (standard, add about 45 minutes to the cooking time, less if it is only in for like 20 min, more if you cook it for over an hour). Except with the crock pot, it only adds an hour or so.

- Make a freezer meal list. Every time you make a meal for the freezer add it to the list. This way you don't have to go searching through a crowded freezer for something to feed your family.

-Catagorize your freezer. I just started doing this because I was sick of having to pull everything out of my freezer to find a bag of meat. So I still bag my meat in pound packages, but now I use regular sandwich bags instead of the freezer bags. Then I put all of the pound bags inside a labeled gallon freezer bag. I label them by meat- chicken, pork, ground beef/turkey, and beef. Then I plan on keeping all of the meat bags on one shelf so I just have to find the right bag and grab one out.

- Hamburger. Everyone hates dealing with this don't you agree? Almost everything I make requires the hamburger to be cooked, lasagna, chili, sloppy joes, etc. The only things that you don't want it cooked for is hamburgers or meatloaf/meatballs, but I just buy fresh hamburger if I am making these. So when I buy ground beef I just cook it all at once while I am unloading the groceries. I usually buy 5-6 pounds of it at once and dump it all into a big pot as soon as I get home with it. If I have the time I add a couple of chopped onions and some garlic. It takes about an hour to cook it, all you do is stir it up really well every once in a while. Then I drain it and when it has cooled a little I put 1 pound in each sandwich bag and through it in my burger gallon freezer bag to use whenever I want. It thaws faster and alot better then raw hamburger.

Campbell's "soup-erb" Chicken Casserole

Not great, not bad either. This is what I brought over to Brittney. I'd never made it before. Emma hated it, Katie loved it, Richard and I were on the fence. We all agreed though it grows on you.

Either way. Its easy, cheap, and edible.


Ingredients:

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Broccoli Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

2 cups hot cooked elbow pasta

2 cups cubed cooked chicken OR turkey

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen peas and carrots, cooked and drained

1/2 cup Pepperidge Farm® Herb Seasoned Stuffing, crushed

2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp. butter OR margarine, melted

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 400°F.

MIX soup, milk, mozzarella cheese, garlic powder and black pepper in 2-qt. baking dish. Stir in pasta, chicken and peas and carrots.

BAKE 20 min. Stir.

MIX stuffing, Parmesan cheese and butter. Sprinkle on top. Bake 5 min. or until hot.

Serves 8.

TIP: Serve with Caesar salad. For dessert serve your favorite Pepperidge Farm® layer cake.