Christmas Presents

I started making some of my Christmas presents this week.  I decided to focus on preparedness items instead of just "stuff".  I'm making these really cute decorated fabric bags that will be filled with all the items needed for a full meal.  The meals will of course be three month supply meals since all items will need to sit on a pantry shelf.  I'm making a set of three bags, the recipe cards will be included.  The idea is that it's a quick and easy meal in a bag that you can grab and make without any preparation instead of stopping in the drive-thru on the way home because dinner wasn't planned before hand.  It can also be used as a quick and easy meal that your husband or older children can make without supervision or a lot of explanation.  Ideally I'd like to have 5 or 6 bags on my pantry shelf that are always ready to go.  Once you make one of the meals you just replace the food items so that they are always ready for the next time.

Food Storage

I've been working a little each day on getting my food storage into a system that works for me.  Today I went through Costco and updated my pricing on all the items that I purchase there.  One day next week I'll do the same thing at Wal-mart so that my quick glance pricing on all the items I purchase will be updated.  I'm hoping to update it periodically as I purchase things so that the upkeep of the list doesn't take so long as it takes to go through each and every item at one time.

Grilled Pizza and more

I made some delicious pizzas on the grill tonight for dinner.  I made a white pizza with Alfredo sauce, chicken, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, mozzarella & seasonings.  I made a pepperoni & olive pizza.  I made a Hawaiian with Canadian bacon and pineapple.  For dessert I made a smore pizza with chocolate chips, marshmallows and crushed graham crackers.

Other good meals I've made this week...
Mini meatball subs made out of costco meatballs & rolls.  Just cook the meatballs in a can of spaghetti sauce then top with mozzarella cheese.  Put one meatball and sauce on each dinner roll.
Hamburgers w/grilled onions & mushrooms, I made the hamburger patties with Worcestershire sauce and Montreal seasoning mixed in.  Then topped it off with lettuce & tomato and a mayo and balsamic vinegar sauce.  It was so yummy!

Birthday Girl

Today is Kailey's 8th Birthday.  She has been SO excited and looking forward to this birthday for so long now.  Every time the conversation gets brought up she beams from ear to ear.  She has been looking forward to getting baptized with so much excitement!!!  She also can't wait to start going to activity days, so many fun new changes for her.  Her baptism will be on Sat. Oct. 23rd.
Kailey did the FHE lesson tonight on the Holy Ghost, she did the whole thing herself and did such a great job!  At the end she did a game that the kids had lots of fun with where one person's eyes were covered, then one person pretended to be the Holy Ghost and another person pretended to be Satan.  They had to try to listen to the right voice to reach their destination.  It was a very effective game that got the point across.
For Kailey's birthday dinner tonight, I made her favorite - crepes with strawberries & whip cream.  I made two batches, the kids will eat these non-stop until I quit making them!
Before the girls went to bed Kenny took Kailey & Ashlynn out for ice cream.

Crepes
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Blend everything in a blender until smooth and cook on griddle at 300.  Cook on both sides like a pancake then put sugared strawberries and whip cream up the middle, roll and eat.  YUMMY!  We eat it for dinner, but it's probably considered more of a dessert...

Goulash

I made this for dinner last night (I made several changes from the original recipe), definitely a keeper, the kids and hubbie loved it and it's a perfect addition to the 3 month food supply - BONUS  

Goulash (recipe from preparednotscared.blogspot.com)

1 pint canned beef

4 cups dry pasta (any kind you prefer)

1/2 cup dehydrated onions, added to pasta to rehydrate)

3 cloves garlic – finely chopped

1 tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste

14 oz can green beans – drained

11 oz can corn – drained

1 can diced tomatoes (do not drain)

1 to 2 TBS Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions:

Cook & drain pasta (don't forget to add onions or rehydrate in water and add later)

Add everything else and stir well.

Serve!

Cookie Dough

Thanks to Carol Scott's post on FB, I'm now making enough cookie dough to eat some now for a "snack" and have some later so we can have pizzookies for dessert tonight.  YUMMY!!!  Hmmm I think the family will be singing praises tonight...  LOL

Pizzookie
Make your favorite cookie dough
Cook in jumbo sized muffin tins until they're almost done (you want the center to be a little gooey)
Straight from the oven put a large scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and you have perfection!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract (a note on almond extract - I get this from smart & final, it's real extract.  I also add this to pancakes & waffles with a bit of cinnamon a small change with a big taste improvement)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup nuts
12 oz chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375.  Mix sugars, butter, egg and almond extract.  Mix in baking soda and salt.  Then flour (dough will be stiff).  Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 min. or until light brown. (center will be soft).  Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. 

Dinner

Can be such a simple thing, yet have such a huge impact on the flow of the evening! I go on kicks when I make dinner every night, I'm on track with my meal planning and grocery shopping every week. Then a bump in the road comes along and sends me into a tailspin. I find all the sudden we are picking up something for dinner every night or having cereal night or mac-n-cheese. Then I've had enough and I'm back on track again. I actually enjoy cooking and really love to make dinner for my family. I like to feed them food that they like and that I know is good for them. I also know how much they appreciate and love it when I cook, because they tell me constantly (that's about the time I realize I'm off track LOL). The evening also goes so much smoother when I already know what's for dinner or better yet have it in the crock pot ready to eat. In all actuality dinner doesn't take long at all to prepare, it's just thinking about it earlier in the day so I know what I plan to make, that's half the battle. It seems backwards, but so many times picking up dinner really doesn't help you out as much as you think it's going to. Don't get me wrong it's nice every now and then, but the trade off to me really isn't worth it.
Now date night dinners, that's a whole different story ;) Most definitely I want to enjoy eating in a restaurant environment where someone else is cooking and serving me delicious food, but that's a whole other topic...

Lunch with Mom

I was able to have lunch with Mom today, it was so nice. We ate at Jason's Deli and had a chance to just chat. I LOVE my Mom!

Pizza Buffet

This was a great idea! I'm trying to take more pictures since I hardly take pics anymore, but I forgot my camera :( I NEED to do better with that!

Yesterday dinner at my parents house was a pizza buffet, everyone was asked to bring two homemade pizzas. It was so yummy!!!
It ended up with most people hovering around the kitchen island to make sure they got a piece of the next pizza out of the oven. Served with a crunchy salad and pumpkin pie for dessert. Definitely a HIT!

Ice Cream & Cookies

My two most favorite desserts - most any flavor will do.
The ultimate ice cream dessert is "Cool Carmel", thanks to my Aunt Deanna for sharing that recipe with me!
The only cake that can pass the test is Costco's Lemon Cooler Cake.

Cool Carmel
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Oatmeal
2 Cups Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 Cup Chopped Nuts
2 cubes melted butter
Vanilla Ice Cream (in square paper carton is easiest)
1 jar Carmel sauce

Mix everything except ice cream and Carmel sauce on a cookie sheet and bake about 10 minutes at 400 degrees. While hot, separate with fork until pan of crumbs. Let cool. Sprinkle 1/2 crumbs on bottom of 9x13 pan. Drizzle 1/2 jar caramel over crumbs. Slice rectangular box of vanilla ice cream and place on top of crumbs. Sprinkle remaining crumbs on top and drizzle remaining caramel. Freeze.
ENJOY