Family Foodies

Sweet Fritter Fries

Cheryl — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:49:29 +0000

If you’re looking for a healthy snack for the kids, rejoice! Not only is it a sneaky way to get vegetables into the children, but this dish is high in Vitamin A and C as well as taste. This recipe serves six with only 148 calories per serving. (By the way, this is one of the recipes that my girls learned at cooking class.)

Ingredients

1 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Pinch salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 medium butternut squash, about 2 lbs., ends removed
1/2 cup pancake syrup

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degreees. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.
Place cereal, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Grint to a breadcrumb consistency and then transfer to a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk together egg and vanilla.
Cut squash in half widthwise. Peel squash halves using vegetable peeler. Cut each half in half again, lengthwise. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Cut squash into French fry shapes.
Toss squash pieces in egg mixture until evenly covered. Remove one by one, shaking to remove excess egg. Dip and coat in breadcrumb mixture and lay them flat on baking sheet.
Bake for about 20 minutes, carefully turning them over after 10 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on how thick you cut the fries. Serve with pancake syrup for dipping. Makes 6 servings.

My husband, the Head Picky Eater, really enjoyed these and confessed that perhaps his hatred of squash stemmed from not knowing how to prepare it … one small step towards a varied menu within my home. Yes!

Cooking School for Children

Cheryl — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:46:46 +0000

I started my children cooking with me in the kitchen from a very young age. Even my three year old son can scramble eggs in a pinch. But being a self-taught cook, I’m not very confident in my culinary skills, so this year I decided to send my two girls (10 & 7) to cooking school. It seemed like a good idea considering that I live with some of the pickiest eaters on the planet — this way they’ll be able to cook what they like to eat and give me a break.

So armed with this epiphany I went to Google to find a school. I thought that is should be a simple 1-2-3 search. Boy was I wrong. After spending about 30 minutes trying to 1) find a school that teaches cooking for children and 2) find one that doesn’t require a two hour drive (the down side of living in a village!) I located Young Chef’s Academy down in Easton, PA.

The school is really great. The girl’s are enjoying their classes and I’m learning a lot as well. The first day we attended the girls learned to make a variety of pasta from scratch (that looked like a lot of fun!) and are now making couscous, mozzarella sticks, and a variety of squash dishes. While they girls are learning the basics in cooking and presentation, they are also given subtle lessons on math, geography, history and art.

I think the best part of it all is that we’re all learning how to make foods from scratch (always the healthiest way to eat). To date, they still don’t like everything that they’ve cooked, but I have high hopes that their palettes are being stimulated so that may be I can be more adventurous in my own culinary pursuits.

Here’s one of the recipes that they’ve done so far:

photo credit: WellspringCS

March is National Nutrition Month

Cheryl — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:54:31 +0000

Just in case you missed it, March has been declared “National Nutrition Month.” The hope is that people will start to focus on how what they eat and drink affects their health. This is especially true if you’re a mom with kids. The habits that we start our young children out with will be hard to overcome as an adult, so I’m trying to learn as fast as I can so that I can teach them healthy eating habits.

One thing that I’ve become aware of over the past year is the importance of changing over my family’s diet to one that follows as low in sugar as possible. This type of diet is called low-glycemic and isn’t just for people who have diabetes. Keeping your blood sugar level turns a fat storing body into a fat burning body.

Since I’ve had my son it’s been quite a challenge to lose the additional weight that seems so attached to me. Following a program called Fat-to-Lean was very effective in helping me lose inches and begin my journey to a healthier weight. Success with this way of eating hinges on your ability to remember to eat every 2-3 hours as well as confining your diet to foods that have little impact on your body’s blood sugar.

One of the things that sabotage my attempts at weight loss is my need to remember to snack. Having small snacks between meals can be a real boost to our metabolism. Unfortunately for me, by the time I get finished homeschooling, working from home, chasing children (furry and human) and all the other things that have to be taken care of in life I find that hours have gone by without me eating anything.

So, I had to learn what to snack on and how to make it virtually impossible for me NOT to eat something within reasonable i ntervals. The fastest (and easiest) snacks to prepare in advance are almonds, raw mixed nuts, freshly popped popcorn, carrots and celery sticks to name a few. My personal favorite is raw mixed nuts with a small amount of dried fruit. It’s very filling and satisfies my sweet tooth quite well.

I’ll be on the lookout for more helpful nutritional tidbits to share with you.

Healthy Eating One Dessert at a Time: Apple Crisp Recipe

Cheryl — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:18:03 +0000

When it comes to cooking healthy meals for our families, there is always some degree of dissension among the ranks. The good news is that there are recipes that are very healthy but the healthy nature of these recipes is somewhat disguised. Living in a houseful of picky people I am forever grateful for all of the resources available than ever before in order to assist you in those endeavors.

You can seek the services of a professional nutritionist, your doctor can offer advice, you can find all kinds of books on healthy eating, cooking, and living at your local library, and the Internet is an outstanding source of all kinds of information when it comes to leading a healthier lifestyle all around. Speaking of recipes, here’s a recipe that I discovered that is low in sugar and big in taste. Plus what better way to convince the family that healthy eating doesn’t have to be boring than by a great dessert like this one:

From the Healing Gourmet Guilt Free Desserts Cookbook:

Ingredients:

4 apples, cored and cut into thin slices or bite-size pieces
1/2 cup raisins
3 Tbsp. cloudy apple juice
1/4 cup whole wheat or brown rice flour
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup organic erythritol (zero glycemic index sweetner)
1/3-1/2 tsp. SweetLeaf® Stevia Powder Extract (to taste)
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 Tbsp. organic cold butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° F. Coat 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.Combine apples, raisins and apple juice in bowl, toss well and set aside. In another bowl, combine flour, rolled oats, erythritol, stevia, cinnamon and nutmeg. With pastry blender or knife and fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer apple mixture to baking dish. Sprinkle flour mixture evenly over surface. Lightly coat top with cooking spray. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 20 minutes more or until apples are tender. Remove from oven and let stand on wire rack at least 20 minutes.Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.
Servings: 12

It’s small steps like this that will help you move towards your goal of cooking healthy foods for your family that will matter far more than any giant leap. Before you know it you will find that you all have more energy and a better sense of overall health than you would have imagined before changing your cooking habits. If that isn’t enough to encourage you however, you can always check out the excuse to go shopping for new clothes after you drop a size or two.

photo credit: stu_spivack

A New Blog for Healthy Eating Tips

Kelly — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:34:46 +0000

Our good friend Nell has just launched a new blog where she’ll be sharing all of the healthy eating strategies that she’s learned over the past few years. She knows what she’s talking about and we know you’ll love following the new blog!

The Best Buttery Corn Bread

Stacie Lewin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:44:31 +0000

I am very picky when it comes to corn bread. I can never seem to come across a recipe that I really like. This recipe I am about to share isn’t bad at all.

I would prefer a sweeter version of Corn Bread. I just haven’t came across it yet. I won’t give up trying to find that one sweet tasting corn bread.

The Best Buttery Corn Bread

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups milk
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine the eggs and milk. Combine flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with egg mixture.
Pour into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan. Bake at 400 for 22 – 27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares; serve warm.

Gluten Free Listfull Tuesday

Brenda Wilkey — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:06:33 +0000

Here is the other half of the soup list. There are more soups out there but these are the ones I have either seen in a local store or have actually tried myself. I personally love the Imagine soups but currently I am still working on the list of their GF soups. If you are lucky enough to find Amy’s Organic soups at a local store then make sure you give them a try. Her vegetable lentil soup is amazing.

Pacific Soups

Broths

Organic Chicken Broth

Organic Chicken Broth Low Sodium

Free Range Chicken Broth

Organic Vegetable Broth

Organic Vegetable Broth Low Sodium

Organic Beef Broth

Beef Broth

Organic Mushroom Broth

Creamy Soups

Organic Creamy Tomato

Organic Creamy Tomato Low Sodium

Organic Creamy Butternut Squash

Organic Creamy Butternut Squash Low Sodium

Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato

Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Low Sodium

Organic French Onion

Creamy Roasted Carrot

Cashew Carrot Ginger

Buttery Sweet Corn

Curried Red Lentil

Spicy Black Bean Soup

Tuscan White Bean

Hearty Artisan Soups

Organic Spicy Chicken Fajita

Organic Spicy Black Bean with Chicken Sausage

Organic Savory White Bean with Smoked Bacon

Organic Split Pea with Ham & Swiss Cheese

Organic Savory Chicken & Wild Rice

Amy’s

Amy’s Fire Roasted Southwestern Vegetable Soup

Amy’s Light In Sodium Lentil Soup

Amy’s Organic Cream of Tomato Soup

Amy’s Black Bean Vegetable

Amy’s Black Vegetable Lentil Soup

Amy’s Organic Tuscan Bean and Rice Soup

Amy’s Organic Chili with Vegetables

Amy’s Chunky Tomato Bisque Soup

photo credit: Noema

Menu Plan Monday

Stacie Lewin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:27:10 +0000

I am really bad at sitting down planning a menu and I am really trying to get back into the habit again of menu planning. It would be less costly at the grocery store then just trying to plan as I shop.

I really love this meme. It puts weekly meals into perspective in my house! If you would like to join in click the picture on the right. What you do is create you menu and go back to the Menu Plan Meme Host and link up!

Monday – Sliced Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, and Green Beans

Tuesday – Ham and Cheese Casserole

Wednesday – Crock Pot Pizza

Thursday – Dinner Out – Grocery Shopping Day

Friday – Slow Cooked Potato Soup

Saturday – Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans

Sunday – Tater Tot Casserole

I will the other recipes as I try them as they are new to me yet and I would love to share my imput when I send them out. Have a great Monday.

Gluten Free Creamy Potato Soup

Brenda Wilkey — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:46:16 +0000

I was cleaning out my chest freezer when I realized I had saved two ham bones. They were all wrapped up just waiting to be used. I usually cook a ham and then save the bone for another meal. Well, it just happened to be really chilly outside so I decided I was going to make myself some creamy potato soup. Now this was a first for me but I make pea soup all of the time so I figured it couldn’t be that hard. It turned out perfect. Chunks of ham and potato, who could ask for more. I called this soup creamy potato but there isn’t any dairy in my recipe. The potatoes boiled down and made this wonderfully thick soup.

Potato Soup

2 ham bones
6 cups GF chicken stock
4 potatoes peeled and diced
1 large onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 tsp salt
6 twists on the pepper grind

Start by cooking your ham bone in the broth for at least 30 minutes.
Remove the bone from pan and cut up the left over meat into bite size pieces. Add ham pieces back into soup.
Add the rest of your ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.
If soup seems too thin add 2 tbl of tapioca starch to thicken. Serve with a fresh piece of hot bread.

Handy Gourmet Chopper Review

Stacie Lewin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:28:50 +0000

My dad bought me the Handy Gourmet Chopper. I was really excited to try it as I used it to chop onions. I found out that you have to cut really thin slices for it to work properly. If you cut to thin you could easily break it or you had to press really hard with all your strength and literally press with your whole body to chop it.

The Pros:

cuts perfect square shapes
has a measuring cup on the container
the pieces fall right into the storage container

The Cons:

I don’t like how you have to cut really thing pieces
I don’t like just the square shapes

I am not sure that I would recommend this product. I like it somewhat for cutting onions and that is it. I know there are other choppers out there that I have my eye on.

Disclosure: I was not paid for this review. This was a gift from my father. I am in no way affiliated with this company. This is just my honest opinion of this product.

Fantastically Delicious Food Link Love

Stacie Lewin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:59:12 +0000

I can’t believe it’s Saturday already! This week really has flown by. I also can’t believe it’s already Halloween. Where did this year go?

Enough about how fast time is flying. Go grab your cup of coffee and come sit back down and enjoy the fantastically delicious foodie link love your about to read.

$5 Dollar Dinners talks about #bakingday in her post Baking Day Part 1. I am really excited about this as it takes place Tuesday and Wednesday I believe. You have a list of what your going to do and you blog and post on twitter. I am looking so foward to this. It will be my first time.
Ask Ms Recipe has a recipe for Parmesan Tuna Stuffed Shells Casserole which sounds fantastic. I am allergic to tuna so I will give this a try with chicken.
I am always looking for something new to try with chicken. Cook with Nikki has a Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast that I am just dying to try.
From Our Table To Yours has Kids in the Kitchen Friday and this week she has No Bake Peanut Butter Balls. I can honestly say I have never made a no bake cookie before. Now I am curious to try it.
SimplyRecipes has me drooling over Marc’s Cashew Chicken. I have always wanted to try Cashew Chicken but just never found a recipe before today. I will be trying this very soon.
I have been baking a lot of muffins this week. I came across a Donut Muffin recipe on Sugar Pies. This is another recipe I am going to add to my list for baking day.

Easy Gluten Free Peanut Butter Layer Bars

Brenda Wilkey — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:05:59 +0000

These bars are so simple. They take about 10 minutes to whip up. They taste like a homemade Reeses!

Peanut Butter Layer Bars

Peanut Butter Layer:

2 cups cookies crumbs finely ground (I use GF gingersnaps)
2 sticks of butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter (or any nut butter)

Chocolate layer:

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 tbl peanut butter

Mix together butter, crumbs, sugar, and peanut butter until blended. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 pan.
Pour chips into microwave safe bowl and add the peanut butter. Microwave for 1 minute and stir. Spread over 1st layer and chill for at least 1 hour.

Warning: You will be lucky if these bars last more than a few days. They are very addictive!

Follow Friday – Tweeters That Care

Stacie Lewin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:58:44 +0000

Last week Friday my Dad had went into the hospital and it was pretty late when he did. A few tweeters made my night by responding and asking about my Dad! Twitter moves so fast sometimes that it’s so hard to keep track of who is sayinig what! I just want to say a special Thank You to these Tweeters! It meant the world to me!

In case your wondering my Dad is doing great he back home now and in a little pain. My Dad went in and they said he had pancreotitis. They ended up removing his gall bladder and cleaning out the bile duct.

Again Thank You!

Aloha Friday

Stacie Lewin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:22:58 +0000

This is one of my favorite memes. I love seeing everybody’s questions and answers! This meme is really easy to start click the button to the right and answer the question there. Go back to your blog and make up a question and go back and link up your blog. It’s really that easy and it’s a lot of fun.

My Question for you is: What are your favorite Christmas Cookies?

I have a few favorites. The Ultimate Cashew Cookie is a new favorite in this house. I also like pecan fingers, chocolate chip, and peanut butter kiss cookies.

Here is my recipe for the Ultimate Cashew Cookie. I apologize for no pictures for this one.

Ultimate Cashew Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 stick Crisco Butter Shortening Sticks
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup cashew halves

Directions

Heat oven to 375. Beat shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed, until well blended. Beat in egg. Add flour, salt and baking soda, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips and cashews.
Drop by rounded tablespoon 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Place a cashew half on top of each cookie.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to cooling rack.

Foodie Buzz: Annie’s Eat’s

Stacie Lewin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:27:31 +0000

I wanted to share with you another Foodie blog this week. This one is called Annie’s Eat’s. I absolutely love this blog. She is really creative when it comes down to cookies.

Let me tell you a little bit about Annie. She is a resident physician who doesn’t have a whole lot of free time. Annie says when she has free time she loves to be in the kitchen baking up treats for friends and family. Annie started blogging in 2007. If you would like to know more about Annie visit her About Me page.

Here are a couple of her blog posts that are just in time for Halloween.

A Very Moist Cherry Pie Filling Bread

Stacie Lewin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:48:23 +0000

Today I have spent the day baking again. I love it when I get a chance to bake. I like to freeze a lot of what I bake and give some away. The kids will be set when it comes to muffins before the weekend is over.

Tomorrow is going to be another rainy and cold day so I will be in a baking frenzy again. Today I made a very moist Cherry Pie Filling Bread. I added some chocolate chips too it. I tell you it’s the most perfect treat!

Cherry Pie Filling Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 (20 oz) can cherry pie filling
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:

Beat together eggs oil and vanilla.
Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture.
Stir in cherry pie filling and nuts by hand.
Pour into 2 greasesd loaf pans.
Bake at 350 for 50 – 60 minutes.

Holiday Cooking Made Easier With Freezer Meals

SusanneMeyers — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:08:47 +0000

By Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife

Earlier this week we talked about planning ahead for holiday meals and one of the things I mentioned in that past was to make and freeze some dishes ahead of time.

I’ve been freezer cooking for years, but it took me a while to realize that I can apply the same principles to holiday cooking. Now I have a whole repertoire of dishes that I can make and freeze in the weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here are a few of my favorites.

We love cookies and pies, especially around the holidays. Thankfully I can make almost any pie and most cookies head of time and freeze. Give it a try with these sugar cookies that are always a big hit with the kids.

Freezer Sugar Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons margarine (1 stick), at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Cream the margarine and sugar in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy. I use my hand mixer. A kitchen-aid type mixer will work as well. If you are making this by hand, use a whisk and really work the sugar and margarine until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the milk and vanilla and continue stirring until it is incorporated into the mixture. Add the egg and mix again.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and slowly work it into the margarine and egg mixture. Continue mixing at low just until all the flour is mixed in. Don’t overmix it or your cookies will be tough.

Shape the dough into a log that’s about one and a half inches thick, wrap it in plastic wrap and either refrigerate overnight or freeze.

When you’re ready to bake your cookies preheat your oven to 350F. Slice your cookies 1/4 inch thick, place them on a cookies sheet and bake them for about 12 minutes on the middle rack until they are golden brown.

Another favorite of mine are freezer casseroles. I don’t know about you, but it seems like I’m constantly asked to bring some sort of side dish for various parties, dinners and functions.

Mixed Vegetable and Walnut Bake

Ingredients:

2 lbs. total of fresh broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and zucchini
1 1/2 C prepared ranch dressing
1 t flour
1/3 C butter style bread crumbs
1/3 C walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Set the oven temperature to 400 degrees and allow it to heat while steaming the vegetables.
Fill a large pot 2/3 full of water.
Bring the water to a full boil over high heat.
Add the vegetables carefully to the boiling water.
Allow the vegetables to steam 12 minutes or until crisp tender.
Drain the vegetables well.
Layer the vegetables into the bottom of a large baking pan.
Pour the salad dressing into a small mixing bowl.
Whisk in the flour until smooth.
Pour the mixture over the top of the vegetables.
Place the bread crumbs in a bowl.
Add the walnuts and toss until combined.
Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the vegetables.
Bake 15 minutes or until heated through.

Makes 4 servings

To reheat place in a 400 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes or until completely heated through.

Ranch Style Oven Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 (1 oz.) pkg. ranch style dressing mix
1/2 C Parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 C butter, melted
4 white potatoes, sliced

Directions:

Allow the oven temperature to heat to 400 degrees.
Brush 2 cookie sheets with most of the melted butter.
Layer the potatoes in a single layer on the sheets.
Brush the top of the potatoes slices with the remaining butter.
Place the dressing mix into a small mixing bowl.
Add the Parmesan cheese and toss to combine.
Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the prepared potatoes.
Bake 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Makes 6 servings

To reheat do not thaw. Place in a preheated 400 degree oven for approximately 25 minutes or until heated through.

Cheese Topped Butternut Squash Casserole

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash, peel, remove seeds and cube
1/2 C real mayonnaise
1/2 C onion, chopped very fine
1 egg, beaten
1 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 C saltines, crushed
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tbsp butter, melted

Directions:

Place the squash in a saucepan and just cover it with water.
Place the saucepan over high heat and bring the water to a brisk boil.
Once boiling reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook 20 minutes or until the squash is very tender.
Drain the squash well and place it in a large mixing bowl.
Use a potato masher to mash the squash well.
In a separate bowl combine the mayonnaise and onion.
Add the egg and stir well to incorporate.
Sprinkle in the sugar, salt and pepper and blend them in to the mixture well.
Add the mashed squash and mix until well combined.
Set the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
Spray a 1 qt. casserole dish with a non stick cooking spray.
Spread the squash mixture into the prepared casserole.
Place the crushed crackers into a mixing bowl.
Sprinkle the cheese over the crackers.
Pour the melted butter over the crackers and toss to coat well.
Spread the cracker mixture over the top of the casserole.
Bake 45 minutes or until the top is a nice golden brown.

Makes 6 servings

To reheat place the frozen casserole in a 350 degree oven for approximately 25 minutes or until completely heated through.

Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife

Visit me at at HillbillyHousewife.com and take a moment to sign up for my free newsletter.

I also have a growing collection of ebooks on frugal homemaking and cooking topics. You can find the Hillbilly Housewife Ebooks here and please remember that 20% of my profits on these ebooks during the month of October will be donated to the Susan G. Komen foundation to further breast cancer research.

How To Organize A Pantry For The Holidays

SusanneMeyers — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:20:26 +0000

By Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife

Let me start off by saying that while I wish my pantry looked this way, it sure doesn’t, but I loved the image…

All this week we are talking about food, cooking and the upcoming holidays. Yesterday I shared some simple holiday crockpot recipes with you. Today we’re going to talk about how to organize your pantry for the holiday.

Start by going through your entire pantry and pulling everything out. I usually set everything on my kitchen table and the counters. As you pull things out of the pantry, keep a large trash bag close by and toss things that are either expired or you know you’re not going to eat or use.

If it is canned items or closed dry goods that you know you won’t eat (like that can of beets you bought a few months ago), set them aside in a different bag and donate them later.

Get out a rag and give your pantry a good cleaning while it’s empty. Last year when we did that, my husband ended up painting the walls of the pantry. It made a huge difference in the way it looks.

Once that’s done, it’s time to restock your pantry. Group things into like items. All baking mixes go in one section, all spices in another etc. This type of organization makes it easy to see at a glance if you have a particular item.

As you are going through your pantry items, keep a piece of paper and a pen close by and make a note of everything that you need to replace or stock up on. Many things will be obvious right away.

There are also certain ingredients that we only use around the holidays. There are certain spices, mixes and canned goods we don’t often buy. Now is a great time to see what you have on hand and replenish anything you know you will need in a few weeks.

A few years ago I didn’t do this. One of my holiday spices is sage. We use quite a bit of it in the cornbread dressing our family makes both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I didn’t realize that I was about out until the day before Thanksgiving. I ended up heading to three different stores before finding any dry sage, and then I ended up having to buy the most expensive brand. A little planning ahead can save you a lot of hassle and some money.

Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife

Visit me at at HillbillyHousewife.com and take a moment to sign up for my free newsletter.

I also have a growing collection of ebooks on frugal homemaking and cooking topics. You can find the Hillbilly Housewife Ebooks here and please remember that 20% of my profists on these ebooks during the month of October will be donated to the Susan G. Komen foundation to further breastcancer research.

Gluten Free Drunken Noodles

Brenda Wilkey — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:00:38 +0000

I love Thai and Chinese food but I will only order steamed chicken and vegetables when I eat at our local restaurants. I did have one restaurant prepare an order of Drunken Noodles and I fell in love with the flavor. Unfortunately, that restaurant is two hours away from where I live and I don’t get a chance to go there that often. I developed this recipe that is very close. My daughters actually request this. They love the spice!

Drunken Noodles

1/2- 16 oz box of Notta Pasta Wide Rice Noodles
1 lb of either venison, beef, buffalo, chicken or pork
1/8 cup Garlic Chili Pepper Sauce
1/3 cup GF soy sauce or Tamari
4 tbl minced garlic
1 large onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes with chilies
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups frozen green beans, thawed
2 tbl lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar

Marinate meat in garlic pepper sauce and soy sauce for at least 2 hours.
Saute meat with the marinate. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until slightly brown. Add garlic, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes on medium high heat.
Add drained noodles, beans and brown sugar. Cook until noodles are tender. Do not over cook. Serve immediately.
If noodles don’t have enough spice feel free to add more garlic chili pepper sauce. Just be careful because a little goes a long way.

Cook’s note: Noodles are great reheated the next day if you have any left.

photo credit: love?janine

Simple Holiday Crock Pot Recipes

SusanneMeyers — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:47:50 +0000

Since we’re talking about holiday cooking this week, I thought I’d share another secret weapon of mine – the crockpot or slowcooker. It’s the perfect appliance this time of the year. I don’t know about you, but when I’m cooking a big Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, I end up running out of oven and stove time – in other words I have more dishes I’m trying to finish that I have time to cook on the stove top or in the oven. My crockpot comes to the rescue.

I also use it quite a bit when we’re invited to a holiday party at a friend’s house and I’m asked to bring a side dish. I just carry the entire crockpot over there, plug it in and everything will be piping hot and delicious when we’re ready to eat.

By the way, using the crockpot goes hand in hand with the planning ahead for big holiday meals that we talked about yesterday. Be sure to include your favorite slow cooker in those meals.

Here’s how I use my crockpots around the holidays:

Snacks and Appetizers

Dig through your stack of potluck recipes for the crockpot and I’m sure you’ll come up with some yummy snack and appetizer ideas. I like to serve warm / hot dips in a small crockpot. The “keep warm setting” keeps it at the perfect temperature.

Here’s a tasty Sausage Hamburger Cheese Dip for the crockpot. You can also add some meatballs or small sausages to your slow cooker and cover them with barbecue sauce.

Main Dishes

Believe it or not you can cook a turkey breast in the crockpot. Crumble up some aluminum foil and put it in the bottom of your slow cooker. Season the turkey breast and set it on top of the foil balls. Cook on low for about 10 to 12 hours depending on size.

If you prefer ham, here’s a great crockpot honey glazed ham recipe for you.

Side Dishes

You can simmer all sorts of yummy bean and vegetable side dishes in a crockpot. Last year I brought some corn on the cob to a holiday party. I boiled the corn on the stove most of the way, then buttered it and transferred it to the crockpot. Once we got to our friend’s house, I set the crockpot on keep warm and we had hot corn with dinner.

There are also plenty of macaroni and cheese or various casseroles that are always a big hit around the holidays and are simple to make in a crockpot. A family favorite of ours is crock pot scalloped potatoes.

Dessert

There are recipes for anything from apple crisp to sweet potato casserole (with marshmallows of course) that make perfect holiday desserts that can be cooked in the crockpot. Here’s another recipe for you.

Pumpkin Custard For The Crockpot

1 can pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick baking mix
2 eggs beaten
2 Tbsp butter or margarine melted
2-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla

Spray your crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Mix all ingredients and pour them into your slowcooker. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife

Visit me at at HillbillyHousewife.com for plenty of crockpot recipes.

P.S. If you’re interested in crock pot cooking, grab a copy of my Crockpot Cooking Made Simple Ebook.

P.P.S What are your favorite ways to use the crockpot around the holidays?

5 Favorite Gifts For A Foodie Lover

Stacie Lewin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:31:10 +0000

Some of your are probably wondering what a Foodie is. A foodie is a person who loves food. I myself am a big Foodie. I love to bake, cook, eat, try new restaurants, grow my own garden, and I even watch the Food Network. I am not addicted am I? Here a few ideas for gifts for that favorite Foodie lover in your life.

Gift Certificates – This could be a gift certificate for an online store or Cooking store. What about a new restaurant in the area? I know I love Gift Certificates. My favorite product is Cooks Cookwares. I can find these products at J C Penny’s
Gift Basket – You could make up your own by filling the basket with different utensils or baking ware. You could also add some snacks or fruit to it. Tea is another thing one could add. Actually many of the stores have prepackaged gift baskets. For example one year I saw Swiss Miss had a cup set with hot chocolate. There is a cheese, cracker, and sausage gift basket too.
Gadgets: Find out what gadget your Foodie lover is missing or wanting. For example I know that I am wanting a Kitchen Aid. There are many different gadgets out there. You can find them both online and offline. Some more examples of gadgets could be a pizza stone, electric can opener, kitchen shears, and a pepper mill.
Baking – Now this would be a really neat type of basket to make. You can find silicone bakeware, along with utensils, a rolling pin, cookie cutters. and a large mixing bowl. This is perfect for a Foodie that loves to bake.
Favorite Foods - This is another one that is easy to put together. You can create a basket of their favorite foods. For example I like chocolate. You could put Cocoa, Chocolate Bars, Chocolate Chips, and Hot Chocolate. I think you get the picture. You could even bake them up a basket of something you know they would like.

Gluten Free Listfull Tuesday

Brenda Wilkey — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:00:19 +0000

In the Fall the weather starts to cool and I start craving a big bowl of hot soup. While majority of my soups are homemade, sometimes it is nice to just open a can and grill up some sandwiches. If you check out my Menu Plan Monday you will see I plan that at least once a month. Sometimes I am just feeling tired of cooking and this is a fast fix.

Campbell Soup Company

Swanson Broth & Stock (Aseptic)

Natural Goodness Chicken Broth

Chicken Stock

Chicken Broth

Beef Stock

Swanson Broth Canned

Natural Goodness Chicken Broth

Chicken Broth

Vegetable Broth

Chicken Broth with Garlic

Manischewitz

Daily Only (Not Kosher for Passover)

Ready To Serve Reduced-Sodium Chicken Broth

Ready To Serve Chicken Broth

Ready To Serve Beef Broth

Hearty Bean Cello Soup Mix

Split Pea Soup Mix With Seasoning Cello Soup Mix

Kosher For Passover and All Year Round

Condensed Clear Chicken Consomme

Condensed Clear Chicken Broth

This list if very thorough . Please make sure you double check with the manufacturer. Companies are now required to list the top allergens but gluten is not on that list, just wheat for our requirements. I plan on continually giving you small sections at a time so feel free to visit back on Gluten Free Listfull Tuesdays.
photo credit: VirtualErn

Planning Ahead For The Big Holiday Meals

SusanneMeyers — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:18:33 +0000

I’m Susanne Myers – better known as the Hillbilly Housewife. Kelly and the girls here at FamilyFoodies.com have invited me to share some thoughts on holiday cooking with you this week.

I’m excited that gladly became a part of my October Blog Tour – The Hillbilly Housewife On The Road. Each October I try to do a little something special to benefit Breast Cancer Research (my grandmother is breast cancer survivor). This year I decided to blog on some wonderful blogs of my friends as well as donate 20% of all profits I make from Hillbilly Housewife Ebooks and the Hillbilly Housewife Club to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

How let’s talk about planning ahead for the big holiday meals. It seems hard to believe but we only have a few weeks until Thanksgiving (in the US) and from there it’s just a few more short weeks until Christmas with plenty of holiday entertaining in between.

I used to not do much planning ahead with holiday meals. We have some pretty standard traditional menus and I’d just buy what I needed a few days head of time and would then proceed to run around like a chicken with its head cut off the day before and the day off the holiday (or holiday party), stessing out and trying to do way to much in too little time. By the time guests arrived, I was exhausted and would preferred a nap over entertaining.

I was already pretty good at meal planning at this point for our regular dinners, but for some reason didn’t do much planning for holiday meals. The past few years I have and boy has it made a difference. Here’s a quick overview of what I do to plan ahead.

2 Weeks Before

Start by deciding what you will serve. If you are going to have friends or family members contribute, contact them and figure out what everyone will bring. This will give them plenty of time to plan their dishes.

Check and see if there’s anything else you will need as far as dishes, containers, serving plates or even chairs and table cloths go.

Make a list of everything you will need and then divide it into 3 different lists:

Non Perishables – this includes any non-food item as well as things that will not go bad in 2 weeks, like spices, or potatoes and dry rice for example.

In Between – this is stuff that will go bad eventually, but usually lasts for a few days. Most fruits and vegetables will fall into this category.

Very Perishables – This is stuff that you want to pick up the day before like ground beef for example.

Go ahead and start shopping for everything on your non-perishable list and don’t forget to look for sales on typical holiday fare. Certain spices and canned goods should go on sale around this time and this is the perfect time to buy them.

1 Week Before

Get the rest of your food done and start some prep work. Many dishes can be made ahead and frozen. We’ll talk about this in more detail later this week. Make and freeze as many dishes as possible. You’ll appreciate the extra free time on the holiday to enjoy your family and guests.

This is also a good time to get your home in order. Divide up the various cleaning chores between all family members.

2 Days Before

Get serious about prep work and preparing anything that will still taste good (or better 2 days later). If you are going to use homemade cornbread for example in your dressing you can bake it that night and store it in an air tight container until you’re ready to make your stuffing or dressing.

The Day Before

Get all your chopping and dicing done today and prepare any dish that will make it in the fridge overnight. Most casseroles can be put together the day before. Cakes and desserts can also usually be made a day ahead. Don’t forget about things like potato and pasta salad as well. It usually tastes better the next day anyway.

Now is also a great time to go ahead and rearrange furniture as needed and set the table. This is particularly true if your guest are arriving for an early lunch.

At the end of the day, make yourself a checklist with everything you need to do the next day and in what order. I usually also come up with a time-line of what needs to be cooked when and for how long.

The Big Day

On the day of the celebration, just work through your list and don’t forget to plan for some time to freshen up and get dressed. After that sit back, relax and enjoy your holiday party and more importantly your loved ones.

Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife

Visit me at at HillbillyHousewife.com for plenty of frugal recipes and frugal tips.

P.S. If you’re interested in meal planning and would like to learn more, get a copy of Meal Planning Made Easy.

GF Menu Plan Monday

Brenda Wilkey — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:00:55 +0000

Monday: Crockpot Chicken with veggies

Tuesday: Tuna casserole

Wednesday: Nachos (kids cooking day)

Thursday: Chicken Fajitas

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Chicken Nachos

Sunday: Leftovers

Cherries The New Super Food

Stacie Lewin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:14:08 +0000

I am a huge fan of cherries. In July it’s cherry picking around here. You can find Bing Cherries, Tart Cherries, and Yellow Cherries. I absolutely love them all. Well today I was curious as to what the health benefits of cherries were. I found a video that explains the health benefits of cherries. Watch for yourself and find out.

Family Foodies

Sweet Fritter Fries

Cooking School for Children

March is National Nutrition Month

Healthy Eating One Dessert at a Time: Apple Crisp Recipe

A New Blog for Healthy Eating Tips

The Best Buttery Corn Bread

Gluten Free Listfull Tuesday

Pacific Soups

Amy’s

photo credit: *Noema*

Menu Plan Monday

Gluten Free Creamy Potato Soup

Potato Soup

Handy Gourmet Chopper Review

Fantastically Delicious Food Link Love

Easy Gluten Free Peanut Butter Layer Bars

Peanut Butter Layer Bars

Follow Friday – Tweeters That Care

Aloha Friday

Foodie Buzz: Annie’s Eat’s

A Very Moist Cherry Pie Filling Bread

Holiday Cooking Made Easier With Freezer Meals

How To Organize A Pantry For The Holidays

Gluten Free Drunken Noodles

Simple Holiday Crock Pot Recipes

5 Favorite Gifts For A Foodie Lover

Gluten Free Listfull Tuesday

Campbell Soup Company

Manischewitz

Planning Ahead For The Big Holiday Meals

GF Menu Plan Monday

Cherries The New Super Food

photo credit: Noema