Waste Not, Want Not--> Using Leftovers

Cooking for my family is something I enjoy. . . mostly.  I'm not an adventurous cook.  I tend to make the same trusted meals using the same favorite recipes, many of which have been passed down from my own mom.   My dilemma comes with the leftovers.  Though my husband is a hard-worker and good provider, we are still on a pretty tight budget and I don't feel we have the kind of money that allows us to just throw away leftover food (not that I never throw anything away, I just try to not to do it too much).   I am happy to have leftovers for dinner the next evening, however my husband is not.  My challenge is to find ways to use the leftover food that makes it seem like it is a fresh meal.

In our 7.5 years of marriage I have found quite a few recipes that work great for this.    With chicken I make several different chicken casseroles, chicken enchiladas, chicken and dumplings or chicken soup.  With Ham I make Ham cheddar & broccoli sandwich ring, cheesy ham and potato casserole, ham and cheese omelets, ham and potato soup, or pinto beans (which I don't make often since my husband doesn't care for those).  With beef or venison I make beef stew or soup and depending on how much is leftover I might make pulled bbq.  Hamburgers or meatloaf work great to grind up and use in pasta dishes or Stromboli.

I do like to make one dish dinners.  However when I make them I try to make just enough for our family without leaving much leftover.  Since my husband doesn't like the leftovers I know he won't help in eating them and I do not enjoy eating the same leftover meal for lunch every day for an entire week.  I have done that on occassion to avoid throwing something out, but I really don't prefer it.

Tonight for dinner we are having a delicious leftover meal. . . I attempted to make my own lemon-pepper chicken marinade yesterday.  And while the chicken tasted fine, it was rather blah probably due to the two ingredients that I had to leave out since I didn't have them on hand.  There were two pieces of chicken that did not get eaten so this morning I threw it in the crockpot with some veggies and spices and by tonight we shall have a nice yummy chicken vegetable soup ready to eat!



P.S. I'd love to hear how you use up your leftovers. Feel free to leave a comment with a recipe or a link.

Friday Showcase: Homemade Pies and Birthday Cake

I know I've mentioned before that I really enjoy baking. Well, this week I've had lots of bonding time with my oven! On Wednesday I made 4 pies. Two pumpkin, one shoefly, and one crunchy caramel apple pie. I was able to bake them and then give them away which is even better so I'm not tempted to eat them all myself. I have a sweet tooth that I have trouble ignoring when delicious confections are sitting around my house.

Here is the recipe for the Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie.  It is quite literally the BEST apple pie ever!

I used Libby's Classic Pumpkin Pie recipe here. Which is very easy, and my personal favorite as far as pumpkin pie recipes go.

And this is the recipe that I used for the Shoefly.  It's a recipe that my mom has made since I was just a little girl.  I think it is absolutely wonderful, but I do believe shoefly is one of those pies that you either like or you don't.  If you like molasses desserts you'll probably like this pie.

Shoefly Pie
Crumb mixture
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar

Liquid mixture
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup molasses
pinch of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

In unbaked piecrust layer liquid and crumb alternately starting with liquid layer and ending with crumb layer.  Bake for 15 minutes at 450 and 20 minutes at 350.  Makes one 9" pie.

Tomorrow we are have a little party with Tom's family, so today I baked and decorated Kyle's birthday cake.    I just used a boxed cake mix and icing.  I always like to decorate a special cake for my kids birthdays.  I'm not the greatest decorater.  They definitely don't look professional, but I really enjoy planning what I'm going to do and then trying to do it.  Kyle requested the monster truck birthday cake decal thing that he had seen in a birthday party catalog a while back, so I ordered it and just added some fun blue icing to make it a little more festive.  I think it turned out cute.  Kyle LOVES it, and Megan keeps saying "That's so cool!" So I think it was a success. :)

To participate in this meme or view other Friday Showcases visit mamabzz.com

Busy Morning in the Kitchen

Today Kyle had the day off from preschool since it was parent-teacher conferences for the special-ed kids. Last night we rented "Monsters vs. Aliens" and invited his neighbor-friend, David to come over this morning to watch the movie, have lunch with us, and some playtime with Kyle. I promised Kyle that I would make them some homemade caramel popcorn to have while they watched their movie. Well, that fell through since I didn't have the ingredients, but my mom made a run to the grocery store and we were still able to make the popcorn, just not in time to have it while watching the movie.

Homemade Caramel popcorn is such an easy thing to make. It is a big hit at parties and a great gift to give to a neighbor or friend at Christmas or just because. I actually made 2 batches today. I made enough for our family enjoy, plus some to send to my brother in a college-care-package, and plenty to share with my neighbor.


Caramel Corn
6 Quarts Popcorn
1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1. Pop popcorn and set aside.
2. Over medium heat, bring last 4 ingredients to a boil and boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly.
3. Pour over popcorn and mix well.
4. Spread onto baking sheet and bake in the oven at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

While I was in the kitchen, I also took the time to do a little meal preparation for our dinner. Our menu for tonight is Venison roast, boiled potatoes, green beans, and homemade applesauce. I may make some biscuits as well, but that will depend on how much time I have. Wednesday's are Awana nights which means I have to have dinner on the table earlier than normal. I prepared the roast and have that ready to pop in the oven, and I also cooked the homemade applesauce.

Homemade applesauce is another one of those things that is just so easy to make and tastes 100 times better than anything you'll buy in a grocery store. I usually like to make several batches of applesauce at once and freeze some of it, however I haven't been to the orchard to pick apples yet so I only had enough apples on hand to make one batch. Just enough to have with our dinner tonight. I know there won't be any leftovers because we all love homemade applesauce!


Applesauce
2 lbs apples
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup sugar

1. Peel, slice, and core apples and place in saucepan.
2. Add cinnamon and cloves. Bring to boil and then allow to simmer for 10-20 minutes. Simmer until apples are soft and easily mashed with a masher. The time varies depending on the variety of apples used.
3. Add sugar and cook for another minute.
4. Serve warm, refrigerate for later, or put it in freezer containers and freeze for future use.

If you've got a favorite recipe please post it in a comment, or post a link to it in a comment. I love to try new recipes, especially when I know they are tried and true.

Comforting Autumn Recipe

In my effort to save every little penny anywhere possible, we have yet to turn our heat on. The kids and I are bundling up, and yesterday I decided to do a little baking in order to have our oven on to warm up our house a bit. I found this delicious peanut butter muffin recipe and gave it a try. They turned out very good! Definitely a recipe I'll make again.

Topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons butter (melted)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream the Following

• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup milk

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Mix Together Topping Ingredients.
2. Cream together shortening, peanut butter, and brown sugar.
3. Mix the dry ingredients, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
4. Add alternately to creamed mixture 1 cup of milk and the mixed dry ingredients.
5. Fill baking cups about 1/2 to 3/4's full.
6. Sprinkle topping on each cupcake.
7. Bake at 375 for 18 - 20 minutes.

My Favorite From-Scratch Brownie Recipe

This is my most favorite brownie recipe ever! Very chocolaty but not too sweet. I don't care for my brownies to be too sweet. I also prefer dark chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate so I guess it makes sense. Anyway, these brownies are very chocolaty but not too sweet like so many homemade brownies are. I have also recently found that they taste even better when using the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, as opposed to using the Nestle's Cocoa which I have always used in the past. If you prefer a sweeter brownie you can add a cup or 2 of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter and the brownies will come out a little more fudge-like and sweeter.

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease an 8 inch square pan or line with foil.
3. In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved.
4. Add sugar and mix well.
5. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined.
6. Stir in vanilla, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour.
7. Spread in pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes. Do not overbake or they become rather dry.
   

Thanksgiving Contributions

I have never hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, and I don't believe I will as long as we live in this tiny house. The house is too small, and the family is too big. However I always do my part and contribute to the Thanksgiving dinner, wherever it may be. This year it is at Uncle Marshall and Aunt Sheila's house. I have elected to bring 3 yummy dishes.

Baked Corn

3 well beaten eggs
1-1 1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2-3 cups corn (fresh or frozen)
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients.
Pour into a buttered baking dish.
Bake at 350 for about 45-55 minutes.

Harvest Pumpkin Apple Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 can (15 oz.) Pumpkin
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple juice or water 1 large baking apple, peeled, cored and diced

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.COMBINE flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and apple juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.BAKE for 65 to 70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Orange Dream Jello Salad

1 large box of Orange Jello mix

1/2 cup water

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/4 lb Marshmallows

1 can evaporated milk

2 large cans Mandarin oranges

1 large tub of Cool Whip

Over medium heat stirring constantly, cook water, jello, cream cheese, and marshmallows until smooth. Remove from heat. Add evaporated milk. Drain mandarin oranges. Blend in blender for few seconds. Add to jello mixture. Stir in tub of cool whip. Let set in refrigerator for several hours. Garnish top with oranges.

Busy Day, No IOW

On a normal Tuesday I would participate in the Christian Women Online's Tuesday In Other Words, but today isn't a normal Tuesday. It's my husband's birthday! And well, to be frank, the quote just didn't inspire me this week. I feel like we've been writing along the same subjects for a few weeks now and it's just getting dull. Hopefully next week the quote will be a little more inspiring.

Anyway, back to the fact that it's my husband's birthday. . . I baked his cake last night. I had to do it early because without thinking I rescheduled my cookie decorating party with my neighbor and her kids for today. Now if I had thought ahead I would not have done that. It's just going to make today extra busy. And as usual on Tuesday mornings, I am watching her 2 toddlers while she home school's her two oldest for a couple hours.

Tonight, as per my husband's wishes, we are going to Applebees to celebrate with his family, and then everyone will come back here to give him their cards/gifts and enjoy some cake and ice cream. I have yet to get him a card or a gift, which I feel really bad about. I think I'm probably going to make a card this afternoon and just put some cash in it for him to do with as he wants. I hate giving cash because it seems so thoughtless, but I'm sure he'll have no quarrels about it.

So my schedule today is as follows:
6 a.m. Take Hemi out, work on laundry, shower and dress
7:15 Eat breakfast, feed kids
7:40 Dress kids
8:20 take Megan to school
8:40 pick up a little bit and put away laundry
9:00 get the neighbor children and watch them for a couple hours and fit in blogging.
11:00 return neighbor kids, and pick up house
11:20 pick up Megan
11: 40 fix lunch
12:00 clean up lunch, pick up house and vacuum quickly
12:30 Decorate cookies with neighbor and kids
2:30 Megan and Kyle nap, work on laundry, clean bathroom, and make birthday card
4:30 Megan and Kyle wake up, get snack, and hang out until dinner
6:00 go to Applebees
7:30 come back home for presents and dessert
8:30 clean up and go to bed

Here is the very yummy Pampered Chef recipe I used for the birthday cake. If you like peanut buttery desserts you will like this! It's one of our favorites.

Choco-Peanut Butter Swirl Cake

Cake
1 package (18.25 ounces) yellow cake mix
1 cup water
3 eggs
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 squares (1 ounce each) semi-sweet chocolate for baking

Glaze
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2-3 tablespoons milk
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped peanuts


1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray Stoneware Fluted Pan with vegetable oil. For cake, place cake mix in Classic Batter Bowl. In Small Batter Bowl, whisk water, peanut butter and eggs until well blended. Stir peanut butter mixture into cake mix. Mix 2 minutes or until well blended.
2.Pour half of batter (about 2 cups) into prepared pan. Melt chocolate in Small Micro-Cooker® on HIGH 1 minute, stirring every 15 seconds or until melted and smooth. Stir into remaining batter. Using Small Scoop, drop chocolate batter onto batter in pan; swirl with Skinny Scraper. Bake 50-55 minutes or until Cake Tester inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in pan. Carefully invert pan onto Stackable Cooling Rack to remove cake. Cool 30 minutes.
3.For glaze, whisk peanut butter and 2 tablespoons milk until smooth. Add powdered sugar; mix until smooth. If necessary, gradually add additional 1 tablespoon milk until glaze is of desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over cake; sprinkle nuts evenly over cake.
Yield: 16 servings Nutrients per serving: Calories 280, Total Fat 12 g, Sodium 280 mg, Fiber 2 g

Call Me Mrs. Butcher

This Saturday was the start of deer season in NY State. So my husband, the hunter, was out doing just that on Saturday and Sunday. The good news is he got one! Yea! It was just just a small button buck, but a buck nonetheless. It's actually the third buck he has gotten in about three weeks, but the first two he hit with his truck so I guess they don't count. Though he did stop and cut the antlers off one of them. Am I married to a redneck or what?! LOL! Despite these crazy things he does, I do love that man!

Anyway, to save a little money he decided to butcher the deer himself. Now it sounds really messy. And actually the first time he decided to do it, I wouldn't let him do it in my kitchen and made him go to his moms house. But after seeing him butcher that first one I realized that it's not all that messy. It's not like he is bringing the whole dead thing into my house, which is what I had pictured. He guts the deer in the woods, then he hangs it in a tree to drain the blood, then he skins it and cuts it into pieces, so he is just bring in one big leg at a time. He uses trays to try to keep some of the leftover blood and stuff off my table which I appreciate. Then he cuts out the muscles one by one. Actually, in some ways it is rather fascinating. Seeing the muscles and tendons and ligaments on the bone. It's a mini lesson in anatomy.

I'd like to say that I help, but really I don't. Letting him use my kitchen is as close as I'll come to actually butchering it myself. It's just kinda slimy and yucky. I do sit with him and keep him company while he does it. It usually takes him 2 to 3 hours. I get him anything he needs, and then I help put the cut up and cleaned meat into freezer bags and cart it down to our freezer. And of course I take care of doing the dishes and clean-up with some good bleach water to make sure no nasty germs are left behind.

For 65.00, which is the cost of the hunting license, we now have about 25 lbs of organic lean red meat. Venison is healthy for you, and it does taste great (when cooked right anyway). The best venison cookbook that I have found is called The Complete Venison Cookbook From Field to Table by Jim & Ann Casada.

Here is my favorite recipe from this cookbook:

Venison Parmesean
4 venison steaks
1 egg
1/2 cup plain, dry bread crumbs
2 cups spaghetti or pasta sauce
4 ounces mozzarella cheese
parmesean cheese

Place each venison steak between two pieces of plastic wrap. Pound gently to flatten each piece to 1/4 inch thickness. Beat egg with one tablespoon water. Place bread crumbs on flat plate. Dip each steak in egg and then in the bread crumbs to coat. Spray a non-stick skillet with vegetable cooking spray and heat to medium-high heat. Cook steaks, turning once, until browned (five to seven minutes). Do not have heat too high because bread crumbs will burn before steaks cook. Spread spaghetti sauce over bottom of baking dish. Place steaks on sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with parmasean cheese. Bake until hot and bubbly and the cheese is melted (about ten to fifteen minutes). Serve with pasta.