What I've Learned So Far

I have always been in love with cooking so that means I have always cooked for my family. There are times when our lives get busy and cooking becomes more of a chore than a love.  But I always come back to cooking and that love resurfaces. I love the versalitlity that cooking brings and I love experimenting with all the various ingredients. But there are things I am learning as I go along.

1. Cuting out cereal for breakfast means more work, the minute my feet hit the floor in the morning. I am smart, I knew this but I didn't really. So I have learned that I don't have to have some amazing breakfast planned, it just needs to be easy and satisfying. So far my track record on fancy breakfasts' is not good. The kids don't like it and really neither did I, which shocked me.


This was Make Ahead Muffins from PW 2nd cookbook. Basically it was egg salad with cheese and bacon, smeared on top of an english muffin that is then broiled. Next time, I will just make scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon.


These are always a hit and have now become the "cereal" of our house this week.  They are easy to assemble and I always have it all on hand.

2.  Cooking and baking everything means a TON of planning. I thought I had this down but this week showed me that I had the planning part down but the work that goes into that planning is a lot. Worth it but alot :).

3. The dishes are crazy! I am so incrediably thankful that I have a husband that does the dishes but when I feel bad for the amount of dishes he has to do, it is too much! Learning how to make more dishes and dinners without so many pots/pans is my goal for next week.

4. No knead bread is the easiest and most awesome side to go with anything!! Including salad night!

Here is my bread getting all bubbly and airy and beautiful! Here are the directions : Simply So Good.

Even if it is more work cooking this week has been great. The kids are snacking much less and have the energy they should. I feel the same way.

Yummy pizza

Last night we had pizza for dinner and it was delicious!! I used Pioneer Woman's cookbook for the pizza dough recipe and for the actual type of pizza, steakhouse. This was a fantastic mixture of steak, marinara sauce, mozzerella cheese, red onions, and steak sauce. All the kiddos loved it and so did the husband!! Win win!
I decided to try it on the grill since I know you can do that, but I never have. It was a fairly simple task and I learned that a thicker crust is much easier to make on the grill. Here is how I did it:
Roll out the pizza crust fairly thick, I just thought about the flatbread pizzas I have gotten in the past at some restaurants. Make sure to roll it uniformingly.


 Before I got started with any baking, I got all of my pizza toppings together on a tray and took it outside.


On a side note, red onions that have been wilted down to nothing using balsamic vinegar taste like candy. They were fantastic and so flavorful. It was hard to not eat the whole bowl full.


I coated each side with olive oil to make it easier to flip onto the grill. My grill (gas) was on high. I wanted to be able to flip my crusts onto the grill and have them cook fairly quickly. And I was right. Once I flipped them onto the grill it took about 3 minutes for them to be ready to pizza-ize.  I slid the crusts, grill marked side up, onto my baking stone that was covered with cornmeal. I quickly assembled my pizzas and got them ready to put back on the grill.

When I was ready to put them back on the grill you should just be able to slide them off of your baking stone or baking sheet. This was easy with the thicker crust and difficult with the thinner crusted pizza I also made. You learn something new every day :).


Here is the margarita pizza. Simple ingredients with a wonderful flavor!


And here is the steakhouse pizza. There are only a few pieces left so that meant it was a hit at our house. I will be making it again but if it is going to be a thinner crust, I will bake it in the oven.

Tomorrow I am going to talk about what I have learned so far from our little transition because so far I have learned alot. Things that I thought I really already knew but I still have not mastered.

One of those days

Do you ever have a morning that starts out so bad that you truely want to lay back down and start all over? We all had one of those this morning. Ok so maybe the kids didn't think it was so bad but man, I did. I will spare the lost bike, upset tummy because I'm so hungry, and the temper tantrum stories to say that it has gotten better. I am learning that when we have times like these, I need to pull the girls (and Chase this afternoon) in tighter and do something fun. I decided to have the girls help make some cookies. We have a few playdates this week and need some yummies to have on hand.


As always, the girls had a blast and love eating what they cook.


And as I was looking through my camera I see this smile

and I remember that sometimes being a mom is hard, no wait super hard, like I want to run away sometimes hard, BUT in the end they will always have my heart. I can't be me without them. Life isn't always roses but there are good things all around for us to see, if we just stop and look.

We also did a little school today via the computer. I finally went to ABCmouse.com. This is a great site for Kyndall and Ella to use alone or together. Ella helped Kyndall today with no fighting which is a miracle. Ella has her own lessons that she works through and earns tickets/prizes. She loves it and it gives me a little time to make pizza dough for tonights yummy pizzas!


Does anyone else have a cookbook shelf like this?

I am beginning to think I have a problem. I use almost all of them for inspiration in our weekly menu or for those special occasions. I went to throw some away and I couldn't!! Hi, my name is Camie and I am a cookbook hoarder!!

I'm off to do a little dancing! Why hello there Zumba, how are you today? This might hurt a little but it will feel so good when I'm done!


Until tomorrow! Pizza post is up next!!

Saturday Night Dinner

Saturday nights are usually our "date" nights, I have blogged about them a couple times. We have kind of gotten away from the waiting until the kids are in bed because some of the time we weren't finishing dinner until 11pm. This is a bit too late for us. We still keep Saturday nights dinner fun and usually experimental. Last night was definitely that, experimental.

I decided to make spring rolls with some rice. Rice was no big deal and actually just used a box of rice a roni I have had in my pantry for a while that needed to be eaten (getting rid of pantry :) ). The spring rolls took a little prep but were pretty easy to throw together.

This is Daikon. It is in the radish family, therefore it tastes like a radish only a little milder. It is crunchy and very delish. I used my mandolin a lot last night prepping the veggies. Slice and then cut into thin strips.


Here are the veggies I used for our rolls. I made two different rolls. The first one was strictly veggie and the second round I added in some grilled porkchops.


These are the spring roll wrappers.

Ok so here was my assembly line setup for the rolls.

Ok so maybe the veggies need to be on the other side of your serving platter...ugh.

Here is how they turned out.




I served them with 3 different dipping sauces. Almost all of the kids liked the rolls. Our youngest one didn't really like the texture of the wrap. I thought they were so good. They were crunchy and fresh. I can't wait to make these this summer when we have fresh yummies out of our garden.

The blueberry cream pie turned out pretty good. I found it on pinterest as well. My girls (who are my go to pie tasters) were raving about it. Good job mom!!


This morning we made our breakfast burritos for the week and had some left over sausage/egg mixture. Why not fill crescent rolls with it for a yummy and heart breakfast for the kids.

Chase even got in on the cooking action.

Note to self: buy a few potatoes to add to the sausage/egg mixture to make it go a little farther.

We had a full day ahead of us. Lots of gardening, weeding, mowing, baseball, and breadmaking. I got a little coffee break with my favorite (ok so favorite at that time) little girl.


The onions, carrots, and spinach are finally in the garden. Everything is fertilized and turned over for a much richer soil. Fresh bread is rising next to the crockpot full of yogurt....life is so good!!

Grocery List

This is a long post...sorry.

Ok so you saw the menu yesterday for our family for the next week. Here is my grocery list and where I bought the items along with the totals from the store.

HyVee - this is my go to grocery store


Mozzerella Cheese $7.98  (I hope this can be used for 2 meals)
Hoison sauce $3.59 (this should last for several meals)
Chipotle peppers $2.19 (I told you, it is crack, I just can't get enough!!)
Corn tortillas $2.09 (2 meals)
Cilantro $.89
Bananas $1.89
Jalapeno $1.88
Carrots $1.69
Daikon $3.60 ( never bought this before and had to buy two HUGE daikon....wasn't happy about this but think it will be a delicious and crunchy afternoon snack)
Shallot $.66
Tomatillos $1.87
Pork Chops $4.69
Rice Paper $4.98 (I am hoping these can last for two meals, these were more pricy than I thought)
Hard white spring wheat $2.41 (this is so awesome and ground right in front of me, which makes it much healthier)

Total $40.41

Whole Foods - I buy most or all of my meat items here. I LOVE their environment ratings to show that I am buying a chicken that was not lying around in its own feces as well as fed antibiotics/hormones. I really love their whole roaster chickens that are from a farm locally. But I also know that whole foods has cornered the market on organic foods, so expensive. 

Black beans $1.47
Chicken breasts $6.44
Almond butter $3.17 (this is a first time to try almond butter and it is ground right in front of  my eyes)
Coffee $13.99 (this was a special buy from my hubby)

Total $25.07

So before I headed to Aldi's my bill was sitting at $65.48. I am really trying to stay at $100 and no more than $120. I was really hoping and thinking that I could get the rest of my produce and dairy under $50.

Aldi's - this is my first stop, usually, when shopping. It has great prices on produce and milk.
Spinach $1.69
Salad Greens $1.69
Eng Muffin $.99
Peppers $2.49
Apples $2.99
Blueberries $2.49
Baby Carrots $.99
Red Grapes $1.78
Bananas $1.49
Sour Cream $.99
Sugar $2.18
Eggs $1.19 x 2
Milk $1.99 x 2
Tortillas $.99
Lime $.33
Lemon $.33
Cucumber $.59

Total $28.37

After this trip I still had some things to buy because my Aldi's apparently had been cleaned out of most of their produce. This was the first time this had ever happened. I was a little frustrated having to pay full price for produce. So back to Hyvee I go:

Hyvee

Strawberries 2lb $3.49 (at aldi's I would pay $.99 for one pack....I could have bought 3 1/2 packs for this price....ugh)
Avocados 2 $3.00 (these are $.49 a piece at Aldi's.....ugh!!)
Basil $3.99 (I could have bought a bunch or buy one that was still living, since I was going to plant / buy a basil plant soon so I opted for this one and planted it in a pot. So this is never ending supply of basil all summer long.)
Orange $.56
Red Onions $.88

Total $11.91

So my total was $105.76. Not too bad.

So in regards to me and food. I obviously am in need of exercise and weight loss but I really wanted to stop this vicious cycle of losing and gaining. I did some research and soul searching, realizing that food (for almost all of us women and probably men) is hooked to all sorts of emotions. After a few months of journaling of what I ate and my feelings throughout the days/weeks, I realized that I was no different. When I am unhappy and scared, I eat like crazy, whatever I can get my hands on. But at the same time, when I felt good, I was eating like crazy as well. Ugh I just can't win. That is when I saw that quote that I posted yesterday. I don't know why it was something so simple that hit me so hard, but it was. I realized that I am getting older, I know, shocking right!? After I read that quote on pinterest, I went to get another cup of coffee and saw my lovely neighbor in her back yard. She is in her late 60's and can hardly walk. She has had several surgeries and tries to come out once a day to feel the fresh air. At first I was saying a few prayers for her because none of us want to be like that and I know she wishes was feeling better. Then the tears and the fear of what I was seeing welled up. I was seeing myself. I was seeing me in 30 years. I already have arthritis in my left knee and no excuse in the world can explain why. Pure and simply, I am causing my knees so much stress that my knee cap is moving in a way that is NOT normal. I have not been the same since that morning. I am in the process of retraining my body to look at food differently. This is not easy and journaling has been the best way for me. I see where my bad days come from and where most of my bad eating habits are. So I took my journal and found what worked for me to help me stay on track and to fulfill me. Here is what I do.

Breakfast - I love smoothies and breakfast is the best time for this. I read that you really need to eat within at least an hour to help keep you ready for the day. Smoothies are easy for me. Throw it in a blender, turn it on, and breakfast is served. Plus, I can be experimental with stuff to create some very yummy things! My favorite looks like this : 1 banana, 4 or 5 strawberries (frozen), two handfuls of spinach, a tablespoon of some sort of whole grain, about 1/4 cup of yogurt (homemade), and some water. It is delish.

Lunch - Most days for lunch I have some sort of veggie and some sort of protein. This is not a big meal, it is more like a snack. Enough to get me through a workout ( I tend to workout during naptime) but not too much. Last week I was having 2 roma tomatoes cut up, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and 1/2 slice of bread (homemade from whole grain).

Snack - I usually have another smoothie but this one I try to get a few more veggies in. I may throw in a cucumber and some carrots with some strawberries. I try not to have another banana so that the sugar intake isn't as much. If I don't want to make a smoothie than I just have some fruit or veggie, with nothing else. No dips. I get in trouble with dips....remember chipotle mayo....ugh!!

I will try to keep everyone up to date with what I am having as well. I will say that the smoothie in the morning and afternoon has really helped keep me feeling full and kept my snacking hands free. I feel so good about that since that has been the #1 thing I want to stop. Not buying the snack has been the other helper and I have restricted myself to two desserts a week. One week I made one every night.....not cool.

Ok so I think that is a good post for today. I will leave you with some of my satisfied customers from last nights desert, PW Apple Dumplings. These were so good and so increadiably easy.






I tried to get a picture of Chase eating one but he had eaten both of them before I could turn the camera on. Then later in the night I hear him say, mom I am dreaming of those dumplings!! I am super happy that I only made 8 of them. They were delish fresh out of the oven. If I had made more, we all would have eaten them.

Happy Saturday!!

Start of something new

I have recently blogged about my desire to feed my family good wholesome food. Deep down this change is more than just good food. I saw this on Pinterest:

"The food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine 
or
the slowest form of poison."

Ann Wigmore


After watching a few food related documentaries and doing lots of research to see if what they talked about was true, I am on a mission to change the way my family views the food in front of us. Being the mom, I am totally responsible for this. I create the climate for how my kids (and my husband) view food. BUT with this change I just kept seeing dollar signs. Because we all know that healthier means pricer. In an effort to help me keep track of our transformation and to hopefully give other families the tools/ideas to make this same change, I am going to try to blog daily about what we eat. I will also be giving menu's for what we have planned because menu planning is essential when you are trying to saving money. A little disclaimer: I am in no way a registered dietician or a professor of food production. I have done my own research and will from time to time I might throw it in. This is our route to making our bodies healthier and to change our kids' view of what food is.

One of the biggest things I see in our pantry that I know I can get rid of (which ultimately means that is money that I can spend on produce) is processed foods. This includes things such as macncheese, ricearoni, hamburger helpers, bisquick, soups, spaghetti sauce, cereal, and the list could go on. I want to get rid of these things. Not only are they just as easy to make from scratch, if you want to, they are just as economical (sometimes more so) than their box friends. But also as you see from that list, it is all carbs. This is not what I want for my family. We love veggies so why not run with that, it is better for us anyway!!

Ok enough of that....let's take a look at what I am doing. Here is my menu for this upcoming weekend and week:
Saturday:
           Lunch - leftovers
           Dinner - Vietnamese rolls and spring rolls with a blueberry cream pie *all found on pinterest*
Sunday:
           Brunch/Lunch- calzones
           Dinner - Steakhouse pizza with a salad *Pioneer Woman FFMF cookbook*
Monday:
           Basil balsamic pasta with portobello steaks *meatless Monday's website*
Tuesday:
           Eat around the house (leftovers or any other "things" around the house that need to be eaten)
Wednesday:
           Parmesean Chicken with quinoa salad *www.greencattlebeef.com*
Thursday:
           Spicy Cesar salad with grilled shrimp and no knead crusty bread (which is so heavenly!!)
           *Pioneer Woman FFMF cookbook*
Friday:
           Carnitas taco's with black beans
           *Pioneer Woman FFMF cookbook*


Breakfast side note: My kids love cereal and for a long time that is ALL we ever had for breakfast. A couple weeks ago I had a total DUH moment. My girls (and I am sure my 11 yr old) were hungry at 9:30am. Literally 1 hour after we had breakfast, they were in tears and begging for a snack because their tummies were "rowling". As I was talking to myself one day during my "you can't possibly be hungry" discussions, it hit me. DUH. They are hungry because the cereal isn't wholesome and it isn't made from products that are meant to fill us up. So cereal is no more, maybe now and then, but it is not coming in  our house for a while. Here is my plan. I am going to make breakfast burritos, pancakes, and some make ahead muffins **Pioneer Woman FFMF cookbook* this weekend and freeze them. Then I will make toast with eggs and oatmeal for two other days this week. This should fill those little "rowling" tummies for a while!


So as you can tell from my menu, my newest addition to my kitchen is being tested this week.

Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, has a new cookbook out. It does not disappoint.

I saw this recipe and immediately thought of the sirloin tip steak I have sitting in the deep freeze:


Her recipes are so easy to follow (and she has TONS of pictures for those visual learners out there) and I love her humor that she has all through her cookbook. Here is what our salads looked like:



I'm sorry but that is just heaven on a plate. The salad dressing for this salad is simply mayo with a few tablespoons of chipotle pepper liquid from canned chipotle peppers. She added the whole peppers but I don't have a food processor, I know the tears have already fallen in our house when it broke. Anyway, the dressing is a distant cousin to crack....it is addicting. I even thought about drinking it with a straw this morning. No really I did. But that would mean I don't have any to dip my lunch veggies in so I decided against it. It is really that good.

I also made some no knead bread that turned out so fantastic that I completely forgot to take a picture.  This website ,  Simply So Good, has the recipe for the bread.

Ok so I think that is a good start for us :). A good menu with lots of yumminess. Tomorrow I will post my shopping list for the week along with some store totals.  I will also talk about my food plan because it does look different.

Happy Friday
Cameo

Yes, please

I think Laura Ingels Wilder is being channeled through my body right now. My desire to create delicious food for my family using good wholesome ingredients is ever growing! This weekend Ryan and I took a cheese making class. It was a great way to see how cheeses, such as mozzarella and queso fresco, are made, it also allowed us to obtain some delicious cows and goats milk to try at home. And needless to say I have been busy ever since creating all sorts of yummy things!

Butter

Butter is my all time favorite thing to eat. And for those that know me well, know that when I was younger I used to eat it straight out of the fridge with some sugar on top. I know it is gross to some but to me, butter is about as good as it gets when it comes to food. So with this beautiful cows milk we brought home came some lovely cream that rose to the top. What better to make than some homemade butter. Simply put it in my mixer with the whisk attachment and turned it on med-high speed. In no time at all, butter appeared. I kept the buttermilk that came off of the butter and then rinsed the butter until the water ran clear. It was heavenly on homemade bread that night for dinner, everyone agreed!

Homemade bread

At our cheese making class we also were shown how to make gorgeous delicious sliceable wheat bread. This bread is perfect for sandwiches! And with a little digging we found where to buy just the right flour. I will say that she used a special Bosch bread mixer and warned us that our KitchenAids might not be able to handle this recipe. I went ahead and used my KA, it did fine but you can tell it makes the machine work in ways it doesn't really like to. This recipe makes 3 loaves so next time I make it I will see if I can cut the recipe into thirds. You can also knead by hand for 10 minutes which is very therapeutic! The trick she said was the wheat so if you can find the wheat in the recipe you are set! 

Honey Wheat Bread

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup oil

1 T dough enhancer

2T millet

3 1/4 cups warm water

1/2 cup ground multigrains (can be up to a cup)

6-7 cups of ground hard white spring wheat

1 1/2 T instant yeast

1 egg

1 T sea salt

Spray 3 pans with cooking spray.

Heat water. Mix oil, honey, dough enhancer, millett, and warm water. Stir in mutli grain flour and just enough wheat flour to make a moderate dough.....it should look like a loose cookie dough. Add yeast to top (sprinkle) and allow to "sponge" for 10 minutes. Add in your egg and salt, then with your dough hook on, add enough flour until the dough pulls away from the bottom. At this point you can take it out and knead it for 10 minutes - NO CHEATING, 10 whole minutes. OR you can knead it in your mixer for 3 minutes. Take it out and cut into 3 similar pieces. Form into loaves and allow to rise in pans until doubled. Preheat oven (really don't cheat here either, make sure it is preheated) to 350 degrees and bake for 29 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. 

Goats milk

So with the goats milk I was super excited to make Chevrie. Chev is a smooth and creamy cheese that we love around this house! It is best served on crackers or toasted baguette pieces with a tomato slice or some fig preserves. It is delish. There are lots of recipes and kits you can buy to Chev but I tried this one: Chevrie Recipe. I am thinking about ordering a starter packet tonight just to see if it turns out differently. But I do love how it turned out and the girls are already begging for it for snack time. 

Heat goats milk to 180degrees. Take off of the heat and add in 1/4 cup of lemon juice-fresh. Let it sit to form curds. If needed, add more lemon juice to curd more. Strain in a colander lined with cheesecloth. 

Pull up the corners and tie to a wooden spoon. Strain off liquid for about an hour. 

Straining 

Mix in some yummy herbs and salt. Delish!!

Gardening

So spring has taken off and we are not looking back! The gardens are in and the seeds are ready to be planted. I transplanted the strawberries yesterday and I am glad I did. Today the monsoons have arrived. 

Why hello baby sweet peas!

I can not tell you how exciting it is for me to try all of these new (but really old) ways to live our life. The raw cows milk has to be the best change. I can't wait to see how well the garden does this summer!!