Meal and Grocery Planning

April 17, 2012 By

I like cooking a lot. I even am ok with grocery shopping, because I get to grab myself a snack (heheh) and then calculate out the rest of the week during some quiet time.

What I DON’T like – is planning the meals out in advance. Which is ironic, because normally I’m a total planner, but something about recipes and grocery lists and so forth so on make me want to cry.

However, the other day thanks to Pinterest, I found my salvation.

 

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A spreadsheet – a way to organize my ingredients, my meals, AND my grocery list in one fell swoop. I’ve done this the past couple of week and let me tell y’all….its a miracle for the meal-planner-hater like me! Plus – it takes me maybe 10 minutes. AND I’m saving on average $20-$30 a week.

A WEEK PEOPLE!!

I usually do mine in Google docs because its easier, and I have access to it no matter where I am which is super important to me. However you could do this on graph paper, excel, any ol way you want. Here is a link to my most recent meal planning list that you can use as your own. I’ll get the recipes I reference up later this week.

(The extra blank spots are for the random personal staples every household has. Like Dog and Cat food in my house.)

So far my favorite part is I’m able to pull recipes based on groceries I had in my fridge and pantry, so I’m not wasting money buying things two or three times over. Well…except for spaghetti. I have LOTS of spaghetti.

How do you plan out your meals and grocery lists?

2012 signature 200x200 Meal and Grocery Planning

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Summer Salad Recipe

April 12, 2012 By

So I have to admit there isn’t really anything super exciting going on. At least not that I can blog about. (Don’t you hate that?) So what I thought I’d do instead was share the recipe that went over so well last night that I wasn’t even able to get a photo. Thanks men in my house!

Summer Pasta Salad

print Summer Salad RecipePrint recipe


Serves 3-5
Prep time 45 minutes
Cook time 30 minutes
Total time 1 hours, 15 minutes
Meal type

 Main Dish, Salad
Misc

 Pre-preparable, Serve Cold, Serve Hot
Summer Pasta salad with fresh fruits and veggies perfect for the outdoor barbecue.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 thick slices bacon
  • 1/2 Chicken breast each (cubed)
  • 1 box tri-colored rotini
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 cup Fat Free Zesty Italian dressing
  • 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
  • 1 – 2 medium tomato (diced)
  • 1/2lb fresh strawberries (sliced)
  • 1/2lb fresh pole beans (chopped)
  • 1/2 cup carrots (chopped)
  • 1/2 cup broccoli (chopped)
  • 1 medium apple (finely diced)
  • 1 cup shredded cheese
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Note

Chicken can be 1/2 a chicken breast to 1 chicken breast per person. Just judge the amount based on what you would normally cook as a meal.

Directions

Step 1
Cook pasta, drain, and do NOT rinse. Place pasta back in cooking pot.
Step 2
Cook diced chicken in butter until cook through
Step 3
Add cooked chicken to pasta.
Step 4
Add Italian and Balsamic dressings to pot, stir
Step 5
Add shredded cheese, stir
Step 6
Add fruits and veggie ingredients to mix and stir until all ingredients are evenly coated with dressings
Step 7
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top
Step 8
Cook bacon, drain, and then finely dice
Step 9
Add bacon to pasta and chicken mixture
Step 10
Serve and enjoy!

Powered by GetMeCooking

2012 signature 150x150 Summer Salad Recipe

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Easy As Crepes

March 2, 2012 By
OMA-4653

I love Crepes. No scratch that. I ADORE crepes. I’d like to marry crepes.

(Sorry honey. I love you but the crepes. They’ve stolen my stomach and my heart.)

The problem is, the best crepes are from The Original Pancake House. Which means, um breakfast is slightly expensive if I want some. As in Alex put a kibosh on my daily plans to eat there.  Which meant either I had to find a way to make some or quit eating crepes.

Since quitting crepes was out of the question (duh!) I decided this past Sunday to try them at home. The recipe was SUPER easy and turned out great so I thought I’d share.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.OMA 4653 300x200 Easy As Crepes
  2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.OMA 4654 300x200 Easy As Crepes
  3. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.OMA 4656 300x200 Easy As Crepes

At this point you’ll need to accept that you are in a food coma. Normally you could add powdered sugar, but I’m a syrup only kind of gal so I just COVERED my strawberry filled / covered crepes in syrup and chowed down. Y’all this recipe took me a whopping 5 minutes. SO WORTH IT.

Try it. Then thank me. No really, thank me. I’m a blogger – I seek praise. icon smile Easy As Crepes

Do you have a great recipe? Link it up in the comments.

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Filed Under: Marriage Adventures Tagged With: , , 6 Comments

Baking Cookies!

January 3, 2012 By

As y’all know one of my Christmas gifts was a (well two) KitchenAid mixer. On New Year’s Eve we stayed in and up so to kill time I decided to bake!

Since one of my other great Christmas gifts was a FLIP! video camera, Alex decided me baking would make the perfect video. Personally I’m heartily embarrassed, but since he did get involved in the blog I think  I ought to post this video.

We’ve had some exciting new developments in our house but I cannot share these until later this week. In the meantime please ignore that state of my fridge and pantry. Please.

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Filed Under: Marriage Adventures Tagged With: , , 11 Comments

How to Cook a Bushel of Apples

October 18, 2011 By

A few weeks ago we went to the apple orchard. We came home with a LOT of apples. Which are delicious to eat by themselves, but if you are anything like me eating 25 lbs of apples one apple at a time can get kinda old pretty quick. Plus it’s not like the apples are going to stay good forever so what do you DO?

Well in my case I broke out a few delicious apple recipes I have. Since its Tuesday and I’m still enraptured by Pinterest (You can check out what little I have here) I figured I’d share those recipes. The first up is my apple pie. Now I’m not gonna brag (too much) but everyone my family always requires me to make this every year.  The second is just a fun dinner idea if you have an apple or two leftover and want to spice up your chicken dinner.

Stephanie 1024x819 How to Cook a Bushel of Apples

Apple Pie

Pre-heat oven to 415 degrees F

Ingredients:

8 cups of apples peeled and thinly sliced

¼ cup of sugar

¼ cup of brown sugar firmly packed

2 tbs of all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp grated lemon peel

¼ tsp of salt

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tbs of margarine

Directions:

Toss together all of the ingredients in a large bowl (helps to use your hands) being sure to thoroughly mix the margarine and dry ingredients evenly throughout all of the apple slices. Scoop into a 9 inch unbaked pie crust heaping high in the middle. Now take a knife and dot the pie with margarine in 5 places. Place the top crust on your pie and seal. Slice 3 to 5 steam holes in the top crust. Wrap foil over the crust edge to prevent excessive browning and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 415 degrees for 30 minutes before removing the foil from the crust edge. Bake another 10 – 20 minutes.

Apple Skillet Chicken

This can feed 2 – 4 people based on how many chicken breasts you cook

Ingredients:

2 apples – core and dice

1 tbs of worchestire  sauce

2 tbs of dried onion flakes –OR- ½ onion finely diced

2 tbs butter / margarine

1 tbs cider vinegar

½ tsp of dried thyme

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat your margarine or butter. Cook the apples, diced onion or onion flakes, and thyme for about 4 minutes or until apples are just slightly tender. Scoop out the mixture into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients to the skillet. Cook the chicken for 4 minutes on each side, turning only once. Add back your bowl of apples, onion and thyme to the skillet, cover and let simmer for 6 to 8 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

With a slotted spoon dish up the chicken. You can add a tsp of flour to the mixture in the sauce and stir over high heat for two minutes to allow the juice to thicken before serving over chicken or dish up as is. Either way, enjoy!

This post includes a print link at the bottom for ease in printing the recipes for your own enjoyment. 

signature How to Cook a Bushel of Apples

Filed Under: Fall, Marriage Adventures, Our House Tagged With: , , , , 4 Comments

Football Food

October 11, 2011 By

In case you may have missed it the College Football season is upon us. Which means, if you live anywhere in the Southern regional United States (SEC baby) that you’ve likely had a game day meal.

Saturday night after visiting Leslie in Athens, GA where we talked smack about the colors orange and red and then applied make-up to look glamorous in I headed home where I prepared to make some rib-sticking football grub.

Now, normally I’d make the ever appropriate “Football Stew” as presented by my Great-Grandmother (it’s a grandma, it’s a great-grandma so you KNOW its good) but I ran out of time. So instead I tossed together a quick casserole much to the amusement of my guest who has never seen me cook and my husband who is always baffled at how I quick sans recipe.

Nonetheless I’ve decided to attempt to share both meals for you here just in case you are interested in cooking some rib-sticking deliciousness this fall.

(For your ease of printing, there is a Print Friendly button located at the bottom of this post…enjoy!)

First up – The Casserole otherwise known as

Chicken and Rice Green Bean Casserole

(Serves 4)

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

In a pan toss the following ingredients before stirring all about….

  • 2 cans of French-Cut green beans
  • 2 cans of cream of celery (you can use cream of mushroom but I’m allergic so I don’t. Unless I wanted to visit the ER, then I would)
  • 1 can worth of water
  • 1 packet of 20 minute rice in a bag of your choice

Stir all the ingredients together so that you get a nice blend

  • Lay on top 2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Pop in the oven for 25 minutes before removing and sprinkling on a layer of fried onions. Put the entire dish back in the oven for approximately 25 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Dish up and enjoy!

Football Stew

(Serves 5 to 6)

Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees

In a casserole dish put the following:

  • 1 to 1 and ½ lbs of stew meat cut into 1 inch cubes or smaller
  • A dash of salt
  • A dash of pepper
  • One potato per person cut into cubes
  • One onion diced
  • 1 bag of mini carrots
  • 2 stalks of celery diced

Do NOT stir but simply pour the following over your vegetables

  • ½ cup of tomato juice or water
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of tapioca

Cover the dish with either a baking lid or tin foil and bake for 4 hours. Do Not Peek!! Remove and allow to cool for 5 or so minutes before serving with warm bread.

There you have it, two super yummy and easy meals for the fall season. One thing to note, if you are the fan like me who entertains everyone else because you yell at the players (like they can hear me) AND jumps up when they score its best to ensure your bowl or plate of food remains on a table surface at all times. Otherwise that meal you want IN you will end up ON you. Just sayin’.

Which leaves me with one thing left to say…GOOOOOO DAWGS!

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Filed Under: Fall, Marriage Adventures Tagged With: , , , 7 Comments

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

October 22, 2010 By

Per Hummy this is the recipe she uses and has gotten great results from over the years. It’s also evidently the recipe that is on the Libby’s Pumpkin Pie puree mix.

ALMOND PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 can (15 oz.) 100% Pure Pumpkin
  • 1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk
  • 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
  • 1 cup of Almond chunks
  • Whipped cream (optional)

Directions

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. 

POUR into pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Immediately sprinkle on layer of almonds. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Hope everyone enjoys! There are also great ways to make this from scratch using Sugar Pumpkins (they are smaller and sweeter) and you can find these in any pick your own patch. Since this isn’t something I’ve done I can’t vouch for it, but I’ve heard that making a pie this way tastes 100% fresher and yummier than the from a can version I’ve provided you here. Either way go eat your pie!
Filed Under: Fall, Family Tagged With: , , , , , , , 1 Comment