Hopeful Housewife

YUM!!!!

The menu plan last night was homemade chicken nuggets. I decided roughly an hour before dinner that I wasn’t going to make those.

Instead, I made chicken filet sandwiches on homemade hamburger buns. They were awesome.

Hubs said they tasted like chik-fil-a , only better.

I took 3 large chicken breasts (boneless skinless) and butterflied them, so that I had six thinner filets. I soaked them in about 2 or 3 cups of milk, a dollup of dijon mustard, salt, pepper, garlic, and pappy’s seasoning for about an hour.

I mixed 1 cup each of panko, italian breadcrumbs and flour in a seperate bowl.

I prepared the fryer, set at 350* and began dredging the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture. I then fried them for roughly 5 minutes or so (until golden brown and inside is done). I served them on homemade buns with homemade potato chips that I fried up after the chicken was all cooked. The oil gave the potatoes good flavor. I fried up some zuchini too, but frankly, those were gross, LOL!

I ate mine plain (kids did too) but the hubs put mayo and mustard on his. It made six sandwiches, enough for everyone to have one, and for the hubs to have one for lunch today.

Total price: About  $6.50

What a blessing! The hubs’ best friend’s dad (did you catch that?) offered to let us pick as many tomatoes as we wanted from his acres of gorgeous tomatoes! I picked a bag, and he said it wasn’t enough and told me to pick more. I ended up coming home with 40 pounds of tomatoes and FOUR HUGE watermelons.

I ended up making ten jars of spaghetti sauce, one bit tub of sauce for the freezer, and ten freezer sacks of spiiicccyy salsa…and I still have about 10 pounds of tomatoes left!

I got the sauce recipe here…the only difference was I added two spicy peppers and a bell pepper to the recipe! Turned out reallly good. Made happy to use my brothers wine in it too.

Made the YUMMIEST DINNER tonight!!

Bacon wrapped chicken drumsticks, mashed cheesy bacon potatoes and orange slices.

Here’s the breakdown:

six pieces of chicken from my value pack of drumsticks.

six legs: about $1.80

I seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some adobo seasoning. I suppose thats about .25 cents in seasoning, but I doubt it was that much. OH! I sprinkled some dry basil on it too. Then, I wrapped each piece in a strip of bacon. 

seven strips of bacon (one cooked and crumbled for the taters) from a pack of 12 slices:  $1.05

I baked the chicken at 350 degrees, uncovered, for about 1.5 hours.

About 30 min before the chicken was done, I cubed up the peeled potatoes, and cooked until fork tender. I put the cooked and crumbled bacon, slices of cheese, and butter in the bottom of my mixing bowl, and poured the potatoes on top, (so it would all melt together.) I beat them into submission w/my kitchen aid, adding buttermilk until I reached the desired consistency. Lets be honest, I added some of the bacon fat too.

six russet potatoes:  $.66

Half stick of butter: $.25

4 thin slices of colby jack: estimating about $.25, if that.

1/2 c of buttermilk: $.11

I salted to taste, and we were ready to pull out the chicken. 

I sliced up some oranges, and dinner was served.

Oranges: Free from family’s trees

The hubs and I loved it…but my kids who dont eat ANYTHING werent nearly as impressed. I anticipated that they wouldnt be too pleased, which is why I only made six of the drumsticks. I am working with my kids on the whole “you eat what I cook or dont eat” thing, with the agreement that if they at least taste what I cooked they can have something simple along with dinner that requires no extra cooking for me. If I can at least get them to try new foods, I’ll consider it successful.

Total for meal: $4.37!!  It will go up when my kids decide to eat something decent, lol, but even if I doubled the chicken, its only an extra three bucks or so. Give it a try, ladies, its so, so yummy!! This, coming from someone who doesn’t even like dark meat. Delicious, affordable, and completely fool proof!

So, in an effort to compare selection, quality, and price, I shopped at a different store this week. Much to my surprise, there is a HUGE bulk section, with lots of the same organic selections I find at whole foods, for much cheaper. Here’s this week’s grocery purchases, amount spent, and menu for the week:

1.80 lbs spelt flour 2.39

1.20 lbs powdered sugar .58

bananas 1.03

organic raw sugar 1.94

Pinto beans .85

bulk choc chips 2.78

baking soda (bulk) .15

cat food (bulk) .67

pancake mix (bulk) 2.41

nonfat dry milk (just enough for my spelt bread recipe) .19

Yeast (almost a pound) 1.99

apples 2.16

turkey pepperoni 1.88

cheddar cheese 1.47

Gamesa cookies .30

2 cans ravioli’s (a splurge due to weird craving) 1.96

wesson oil 2.48

strawberries 2.98

butter 1.88

cat litter 3.86

milk 2.25

and two things that I cant identify. whatever that was cost 2.18. I’m sure it will come to me, but I cant tell what the abbreviation on the receipt means, LOL!!

Total: 38.79

Menu, starting tomorrow as my mom is cooking us dinner tonight, and the kids were not here today:

Monday:

Breakfast: cinnamon rolls (made them today, they will be frozen, and thawed/baked as needed through the week) ovalitine, apple slices

Lunch: Grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwiches (depending on the kid and their preference) banana slices

Dinner: Pinto beans, warm tortillas, roasted cubed potatoes, sopa de fideo, salsa

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Cinnamon pancakes, ovaltine

Lunch: Peanut butter w/apple slices, grilled cheese/peanut butter sandwiches

Dinner: Chicken breasts (I have a few packs in the freezer) couscous, corn

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Cinnamon rolls, banana slices, ovaltine

Lunch: Soup, sandwiches, vanilla kefir

Dinner: Homemade pepperoni pizza for the kids, homemade buffalo chicken pizza for Art and I

Thursday:

Breakfast: Baked oatmeal, apples w/cinnamon sugar, vanilla kefir

Lunch: Garlic cheese toast, soup

Dinner: Pasta w/spaghetti sauce, homemade bread (from the freezer that I am baking right now!)

Friday:

Breakfast: Pancakes, vanilla kefir

Lunch: gamesa cookies w/peanut butter, pasta w/butter and herbs, ovaltine

Dinner: Game hens, stuffing, mashed potaotes, veggies. (And bread I’m sure!)

I’m excited about this week, and looking forward to cleaning out my meat in the freezer.

Had a  yummy breakfast this morning and had to share. All my kids at least *tried* something on the plate, so I consider that a victory.

Bought some apples as I mentioned yesterday, and they were the sweetest apples I have ever eaten. No exaggeration…they were amazing.  I sliced a few of them up, put some peach kefir in little dipping bowls for the kids, and made a recipe I have called “Magic Muffins.” I told the kids they were called that because they tasted so wonderful, lol.

Here’s the recipe, along with my changes.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (I used spelt)

3/4 c malt-o-meal cereal, dry

1/2 c sugar

3/4 c milk

1/4 c vegetable oil

1 egg

1 TBSP baking powder (yes you’re reading that right. 1 tablespoon)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

I added a TBSP of cinnamon, which is not in the recipe, but having made these before, I felt they needed it.

Mix all ingredients, fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full, and bake in preheated 400* oven. I made a little streusel topping from grated cold butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and organic rolled oats, and topped before baking.

Bake 18 minutes, roughly.

I served these with a bit of butter and maple syrup, and they were so tasty. Even Gavin ate it, which shocked me more than you’ll ever know.

Piper inhaled three of them, drank half of her kefir, and ate five or six apple slices. A successful breakfast in our house.

I have to laugh as I type that, because that is exactly how it is said in our home. Like this beverage is some sort of superhero or something..dun dundun….KOMBUCHA!

My kombucha journey has been an interesting one. I drove 200 miles away for a bottle of it the first time I grew a scoby, only to discover that it was actually bottled in the city I’m from. Nice. In my defense, I was in said 200 mile away town anyway, but the kombucha was a necessary stop on our trip.

I managed to not only grow a great scoby, and feed it til’ it was nice and fat, but I also ended up with about six of them. Sadly, when we made our move a couple of weeks ago, I left my kombucha brew in our “brewing cabinet” and my big beautiful scoby was invaded by ants. I was just sick.

Sooo…I had to start over, and thought I’d revisit the land of KOMBUCHA! with you all as I go through the process again.

Feel free to google the reasons to drink Kombucha. I’m not going to list them all. I’m not a doctor, and I cant prove it works, but I like the way it makes me feel, so there.

Ok, first things first. You need to grow a scoby (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). Is that how you spell symbiotic? Scimbiotic? simbiotic? whatever. you get the point. This is where the magic lives. You’re going to basically take some sweet tea, add this living rubbery creature to it, and end up with a fizzy sweet and tart beverage that can change your life. Ok, I’m exaggerating…at least the change your life part. Sounds appetizing, no?

Ok. Go to Whole Foods or another health food store in your area. Pick up a bottle of raw plain, unflavored kombucha. Its about 2.50 at Whole Foods here. Take your lovely tonic home, add it to a large pickle jar (or other large glass container…no plastic or metal folks!!!!!!)  Pour the kombucha into the jar, cover with a tea towel, secure with a rubber band, and LEAVE IT ALONE for 2 weeks. Leave it in the pantry or on the counter. Do not attempt to grow a scoby baby in the fridge.

Once the two weeks is up, take another large glass container, dump a cup of good ol’ white sugar into the bottom of it. I know, I know. White sugar is bad. Work with me here. The scoby needs it to grow. Sorry folks, its just the way it is.  Next, brew some tea. Use 12 cups of water and four BLACK tea bags. Once the water is boiling, add it to the jar w/the sugar, give it a stir, and add the tea bags.  Let is steep basically all day, until it is room temperature again. Once the tea is room temperature, add 1/2 cup of your kombucha liquid from your scoby “garden”, and give another stir with a wooden spoon. (remember, no metal!) Float your scoby on top, cover with a tea towel, secure with a rubber band, and put it back on the counter or in the pantry. In 7-14 days, it will be fizzy and fabulous. I like to strain it before drinking it as the yeast “floaties” (as we refer to them) gross me out. Also, drink it really, really cold.

As an added bonus, your scoby will have birthed a new scoby baby. Make sure that the scoby’s are kept in kombucha liquid at all times. Once you get your kombucha “routine” going, you should have some in the fridge keeping cool, some brewin’ away, and a jar of any scobys you dont care to float on your current brew.

Some tips: If it ever molds, you may have forgotten to add kombucha liquid to your brew. This is a necessary step. If you want to brew your kombucha with all of the scoby’s you have, you can. If you dont like the taste, try juicing some ginger, blueberries, or whatever you like really, and adding it to the kombucha when you serve it.

It’s a bird…Its a plane, No…It’s KOMBUCHA!

It’s pushing 10pm and I’m up making bagels. Its too hot during the day, and the bananas were approaching the point of no return, so the sacrifice had to be made.

They turned out simply beautiful, by the way. I’ll charge the camera and get a pic or vid tomorrow.

Recipe is as follows:

1 egg, room temperature, plus enough water to equal 1 cup. (Water about 80*)

2 TBL oil. I use coconut oil.

1 TBL honey (the honey will slide right out of the measuring spoon after the oil has been in there!)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c mashed banana (about one large-ish banana)

2.5 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup bread flour

2 1/4 tsp yeast

Add ingredients in order into bread machine and run on dough cycle.

Once completed, dump dough onto lightly flour surface and seperate into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, and poke a hole in the center of each with your thumb. Carefully stretch each hole evenly, making the hole about 1 inch wide. Place on greased cookie sheet, cover, and let rise for about 30 min or until doubled in size.  Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with whatever desired (I used poppy seeds) and bake for 20 minutes.

I am using them for breakfast tomorrow, toasted, topped with peanut butter. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches…sorta.

Am I the only one that had to find a hiding spot for my sourdough starter? It STINKS!!! I’m on day 4 now, and its STARTING to get a little better, but holy COW its awful. I have a very sensitive sense of smell though, so I suppose it could be that…

I have it behind closed doors, in a cabinet, on the other end of the house. I cant wait for it to smell sour, and not like vomit.

My first attempt at preparing a sourdough starter ended in catastrophe when my wonderful, loving husband accidentally spilled about 2 quarts of water into my starter bowl. I am pretty sure he was more upset about it than I was, although I am not certain if its because he wasnt going to have homemade sourdough or if he knew I had tended to it carefully.

At any rate, I’m trying a new way today. Candi’s blog has these great instructions. 

Come on…I need brewing buddies. Who’s up for it?

I made this vid a couple of nights ago and just haven’t had the time to upload it, so once again, this isnt really *today*, but for the sake of continuity w/the title of the video series, I’ll leave the blog title as is.

I looked just as tired as I felt, but I’m glad I made a batch of Jamaica for Art to have when he got home. He was happily surprised. I made some again yesterday to go w/dinner at my MIL’s house, and it was so refreshing. She said the exact thing I say in the video. “It’s so pretty!”

Sidenote: if you dont have dried jamaica leaves near you, drop me a line or leave a comment and I’d be happy to take an order from ya and ship some out. It’s about 5.49 a pound, and it takes  ALOT to make a pound. Shipping wouldnt be more than 2.00 I’m sure. If you want some though, let me know soon as I’m going to a particular outdoor market/swap meet that has really good lookin’ flowers. If I know before Saturday, I’ll be able to get your very own bag of dried jamaica! I have other sources, but really, theirs is the best.

 Ok, so really, here’s the video: LET’S MAKE JAMAICA TEA!

Recipe:

 Four cups boiling water

1/2 cup dried jamaica (hibiscus) flowers

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups cold water

slices of lime

ice

boil water, once boiling, pull OFF the heat, add sugar and jamaica flowers, give it a stir. Put the lid on, and steep for 10 minutes, stiring halfway through steeping process.

Strain into pitcher, add 3 cups cold water, and serve over ice w/ a slice of lime.

 ** I usually double this recipe for more than 2 people!