What's for Dinner?

Today will be southern all the way.  We will be having cube steak with gravy, rice and green beans. Please share your meal ideas if you like.

For valentines day, I got a great new kitchen appliance.  It is a slow cooker. . .oh but wait this one is different.  The insert is stovetop safe.  That means that I can sear meat before slow cooking it in the same pot.  I can also thicken sauces or gravies when I am finished slow cooking.  It is a great new kitchen gadget that is getting lots of use in my home.  Hamilton Beach Stovetop Slow Cooker

 

Low on left-overs. . .

As I have said before, we typically have left-overs for lunch.  It is easy and yummy.  Today I was really low on left-overs.  Eating out for Valentines plus some of the recipes yields just didn't leave lots.  By Fridays, we are sometimes low. So I brought out a recipe that I don't typically make for lunch. Nonetheless, it is easy.

Crunchy Baked Chimichangas

1.5 cups chopped cooked chicken (I cook chicken in the slow cooker and have it stocked in the freezer for such occasions)

1/2 salsa or picante sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

6 flour tortillas

2 tbsp melted butter

Toppings - Salsa, Sour Cream, lettuce, tomato, cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine first 10 ingredients. Divide mixture among tortillas evenly.  Fold sides over filling and place folded sides down on a baking sheet.  Brush with melted butter.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy this delight with whichever toppings you like. These are very flexible. I change up the filling often.  Try beef  or beans. Add some corn. Hope you love them!

For tonight's menu, it will be grilled hamburgers, sweet potato fries and sauteed zucchini.  Followed by some nice family time with cards or a game.  We have really been enjoying some triominoes lately.  Hope to make some good memories.

Valentines and the day after. . .

Yesterday was Valentines Day. I really had not considered going out. You know crowds, sticking to the plan etc. Well, hubby called and asked about going out to eat so we did. It was such a sweet gesture and it was nice to have a day off.  Still yet, I guess I have become a home body since starting this menu planning.  I really like to eat at home. I think it truly shows that it is simply whatever we are accustomed to.

So tonight we are having the meal planned for yesterday.  It will be tacos (recipe below), corn with some onion and red peppers, and refried beans.  We will also be having a cake as a special surprise to my husband (hope he doesn't read this).  It is a really simple meal but a family favorite.  Love when it is that way.

 

Taco Meat Recipe

1.5 lbs ground beef or turkey
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 small onion, minced
3/4 cup water
4 oz tomato sauce (sometimes I use crushed tomatoes)

This seasoning works well anytime you might use Taco Meat.  I use it for Taco Salads, soft shells, hard shells or lettuce shells (my favorite).

Making the plans. . .

Currently, I make meal plans for two weeks at a time.  I keep thinking about switching to monthly plans but,honestly, I like the two week plan.  I usually have a pretty good idea of plans over the next two week period. Plus my refrigerator is stuffed at times even with a two week plan.

Are you wondering how to get started? Let me help.  I use forms from Money Saving Mom.  I like the vertical two week plan and the grocery shopping list.  First off, I add to my shopping list staples like cereal, milk, butter, eggs, etc.  Then I begin by filling in dinners that I know we will want onto the two week list.  If I need more ideas, I have a couple of "go to" cookbooks and a notebook filled with recipes that I have printed from online.  Usually a quick look through one of these will help me complete the dinners.  I only plan for breakfast or lunch if there is something special going on.  For breakfast, I just make sure I have an assortment on hand including oatmeal, cereal, frozen biscuits (Wal-mart brand is the best), bagels, eggs, and low fat sausage.  Lunches are almost always leftovers. This works well for us since we homeschool.

Now I will say that many advocate plans that are much more specific for the overall. However, I have found that once I started planning dinners and being determined to stick to the plan everything else fell into place. My attitude changed. I honestly do not like eating out any more.  Furthermore, at the end of the two weeks I feel like I have won a marathon by carrying out the plan.

I think with today's busy schedules it is so easy to think it is easier and perhaps quicker to grab something out. At this point, I would challenge that notion.  Our family has so much more quality time since I started being diligent about our meal plans. There are no words to describe how much it has changed our family. I hope yours will enjoy the same changes as well.

By the way, tonight's dinner is Chicken Marsala, mashed potatoes, and green peas! Hum!

Rice Cookers & Dinner

Back in November, my husband bought a rice cooker.  I wasn't sure it was going to be worth the space that it would occupy. Boy was I wrong. First off, it makes the best rice. It has come out perfectly every time no matter which kind of rice I used but that is only the beginning. I use it about 3-4 times per week. It works beautifully for soups, stews, meats, oatmeal and the list goes on.  I simply use the white rice setting for most things. It cooks quickly with the sealed lid and makes little mess.  I am even thinking I might take it for the next vacation. 

So tonight we will be having red beans and rice for dinner.  The hardest thing was knowing I couldn't use the Rice Cooker for the beans since I need it for the rice. LOL! I look forward to finding more great things to make in my Rice Cooker. 

Making the Plans

It seems like I have known most of my married life that I should be planning out meals. However, for the most part I have not. Like so many, I would go to the grocery store and just fill the buggy with what I thought we would need or like. As a result, I would often find myself in the kitchen scrambling to decide what I could fix for dinner and then possibly making a quick run to the store. Assuming I did a good job of cooking most of the meals through a week, it would not be uncommon to make three or four trips to the store. Unfortunately, often it would end with "let's just get something out." I knew this was blowing our budget and our waistlines but felt powerless to change anything (admission: just didn't want to). Isn't that the case with most things we don't think we have time to do?

Now let me start by saying, I never on my own became motivated to change. I simply didn't want to. But one day when we were at Lifeway Christian Store there was a book on sale that caught our attention. It was this book: Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half. As I read the book, it inspired me. I already had Family Feasts for $75 a Week which is a wonderful book with lots of good cheap recipes.

So I set out on a mission and started planning our meals two weeks at a time (I would like to do four weeks but not there yet). I have to say it is amazing. The rewards have far outweighed anything I could imagine. Here are some benefits we have discovered:

1) We almost never eat out and don't even miss it. Thus helping our budget tremendously.
2) Our grocery bill has been slashed. I buy what is on my list and items that are on a huge sale that I am positive we will use. I spend less in a grocery trip than I did without planning the meals and have everything I need to actually make the meals.
3) We have exponentially more time together as a family.
4) We tend to stay home more in general since this is where our food will be and there is less reason to "go out anyway."
5) I am sooo much less stressed. Dinner no longer hangs over my head. It is so much more a treat to cook when there is a plan.

While all of these are amazing, number three is the greatest. I had no idea how much time we were wasting or what it would do to our family to get that time back. Last week we sat down as a family to play a game  4 or 5 times. I couldn't believe as much as we had going on that we found time to do that.

So I am thinking there is definitely a family lesson in this but what about a Bible lesson. Yep, there is. Hebrews 12:11 says, "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." So you know where this is going. . .apply that same lesson to quiet time!!! I already know that self-discipline brings peaceful fruit. God showed me a real life example but what about the fruit of righteousness? Now I can just be stubborn which obviously I am good at. How about you? Are you good at stubborn? If you are like me then let's choose to be stubbornly self disciplined. I think if we step in the right direction then God will show us the rewards.  As I think about the meal planning example, I really think we will want more and more time with Him once we see the rewards.

"The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied" Proverbs 13:4

The supplies of my pantry will not even compare to what the Lord Jesus Christ has for me.  What joy even this brings!

What's for Dinner tonight?

It is Chicken Tortilla Soup. Already in the crock pot. I will add a picture later.  Please comment and share what is for dinner for your family.Click Here!

Why this blog?

This blog topic is dear to my heart for two reasons.  First, studies have shown that sharing meals together as a family is one of the most important things you can do for each other (especially the children). I am not going to add all the statistics here but they are staggering.  Go ahead and do a quick search on the topic. It will quickly help you to "sell" yourself on the importance.

The second reason, is selfish.  For years, I tried to raise a family without planning meals. We got by and I doubt the kids thought they were missing anything. But we were. A relaxed home. Once I started meal planning it changed everything. I couldn't believe how much less stress I felt. Plus we spend so much more time together as a family rather than scurrying about for the next meal.  So I encourage you, please implement this advice if you are not already.  Make your meals plans for at least two weeks at a time. You will enjoy the prep so much more and enjoy your family time so much more.

So with that, my hope to post some meal ideas here and there to help keep you going.

What's for Dinner

Breakfast for dinner! Love these nights. Breakfast casserole, grits, and Monkey Bread.

This is such a simple meal and the family loves it.  Breakfast casserole comes together very easy and is forgiving if you need to change the meat or leave out the green pepper.  I make grits in my rice cooker.  The rice cooker is my most used small appliance as you will discover as this blog progresses.  The Monkey Bread takes a little more thought to let the dough rise but can also be used with frozen or canned biscuits if you are in a hurry.
Hope this is a dinner idea you can use!