Going green in the kitchen

It has been a while since I've posted. As the end of the school year wraps up, things get busy! Today I spent a very small amount of time in the kitchen but got much accomplished. I have been saving old whipped topping, butter, and ice cream containers. I finally found a great use for them. First, I browned 2 pounds of ground beef. I separated them into four containers and stuck them in the freezer. I plan to use them for beef nachos, spaghetti sauce, hamburger helper, and tacos. I also baked a couple of chicken breasts and diced them. I will use those for chicken enchiladas. Last, I made a batch of cookie dough. I baked a couple dozen and froze the rest in an ice cream container. So, in less than an hour, I have meat ready four five meals and cookie dough too!! Plus, I reused some items instead of throwing them in the trash.

Do you have a great time saving tip or another way to reuse food containers?

More April Meals...The Cheaper, The Better

Last week, I told you we were saving for a summer vacation. I felt that a good way to help with that was to cut down on our grocery budget. Here are five more meals that are good, but cheap. The total was under $35! 
Pork chops, baked potato, frozen dinner rolls, and baked beans. $7.75
Grilled chicken breasts, homemade muffins, tossed salad, banana/strawberry mix. $9
Frozen meal (a meal I premade a few weeks ago). Free
Hamburger helper, green beans, and tossed salad. $7.75
Tacos, carrots and dips $8

Hamburger helper is on the menu again. I found them on sale for $1 a box, plus had a 75 cent off coupon for three. So I got them for 75 cents each! 

April Meals - The cheaper, the better

For the month of April, I am going to see how many good, cheap meals I can come up with instead of doing weekly menus this month. Time to start saving for a summer vacation.

My first five meals are the following:
***Breakfast: Pancakes, sausage, eggs, strawberries  Estimated total for this meal is: $8
***Hamburger helper (4.75 with ground beef and HH), steamed veggies (1.50), frozen bread dough loaf ($1). Estimated total: $7.25
***One of my frozen meals, I prepared a few weeks ago (Free!!)
***Pot pie chicken bake, garden salad, dessert Estimated total $11
***Mini pizzas, garden salad, carrots $8

Total for first five meals : $34.25 
Hopefully have some of these meals for leftovers!

Recipes

Pot pie chicken bake
Mix can of chicken gravy, frozen mixed vegies, two cups of diced chicken breast, and one cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Warm together in sauce pan.
Spread mixture into baking pan.
Cover with unrolled crescent rolls. 
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Mini Pizzas
Place biscuits (however many you need) in a greased baking dish. Flatted with spoon. Spread pizza sauce on top of each biscuit. Top with your choice of toppings. Cover with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.   

Organizing Kids Clothing

I have been storing my kiddo's clothing in totes since day one. I felt they were organized, and they were good enough. Today, I got a real organizing "bug" and went a step further. First of all, I struggle with keeping the clothing the have outgrown it at all. We want more kids, but who knows if it's going to happen? Some of my daughter's clothing is getting outdated....she is six and I bought a lot of her clothing at garage sales, so some of it could be up to ten years old already. I went through it all today! If I felt it was a bit outdated, or something not practical, I got rid of it. I ended up eliminating three totes worth of clothing and in the process sold it on my local Facebook buy sell trade right away.  I printed off some cute labels I found on Pinterest and stored it away, where it will stay until I hopefully need it again. Tomorrow it is my son's turn, which will be easier since he only has three years worth! :) I love organizing...it brings me sanity.

 

Weekly Menu: March 26- April 1

Hi! I am back after a week off being with my family. I hope you tried my two freezer meals from two weeks ago. It is a good feeling to have a few meals to pull out of the freezer when you don't feel like cooking. I have one more to add this week, which is the chicken enchiladas. You could even freeze some hamburger patties for future use. 
Monday: Cheeseburger rollups, baked beans, strawberry-banana mix
Tuesday: Chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, carrots and dip
Wednesday: Grilled hamburgers, baked french fries, leftover baked beans, pasta salad
Thursday: Grilled chicken breasts, leftover pasta salad, baked potatoes, rolls
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: Lunch- Pizza       Supper-Out
Sunday: Palm Sunday Dinner- Ham, cheesy potatoes, corn casserole, rolls
              Supper- ham sandwiches, salad, carrots and dip

Recipes:
Cheeseburger rollups
Brown 1 lb. of ground beef. Drain grease.
Add one can of cheddar soup.
Lay out two cans of crescent rolls.
Place spoonful of beef mixture into crescent roll and roll up.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or golden brown.

Chicken Enchiladas
Combine 2 cups of cooked, diced chicken breasts
Heat chicken with can of cream of chicken or jar of salsa
Roll up mixture in tortilla and place seam down in baking dish
Top with a second can of cream of chicken and shredded cheddar cheese
Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbling

 

Off week

Due to my grandfather's passing, I will not be posting a menu for the coming week. I've been with family all week and have not had time to work on things. See you next week.

Weekly Menu March 12-18

This week I will be preparing some frozen meals, along with preparing our daily meals. I purchased a couple of foil pans and am ready to go!
Monday: Beef enchiladas, Mexican rice, strawberry/banana mix
Tuesday: Chicken mac and cheese, Olive Garden bread sticks, garden salad
Wednesday: French dips in crock pot, pasta salad, strawberry/banana mix
Thursday: Honey lime chicken, Leftover pasta salad, leftover bread sticks, carrots and dip
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: Lunch- pizza  Supper-Out
Sunday: Lunch- baked ham, baked potatoes, corn casserole
              Supper- Sloppy joes, baked beans, vegetables with ranch dip
The meals I will be freezing are enchiladas and chicken mac and cheese. I will make half of the recipe in a baking dish and the other half in the foil pan. Cover the foil pans with tin foil and write what the item is, how long to bake and oven temp. You will then have two meals to pull out of the freezer on a night you don't feel like it!

Chicken-Macaroni Casserole via food.com

• ½ cup chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons margarine , melted
• 2 (10 ¾ ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese , divided
• 1 cup milk
• 3 ½ cups chopped cooked chicken
• 2 ½ cups cooked macaroni
• salt
• pepper
• ¼ cup Ritz cracker crumbs

Directions:

1. 1
   In a large skillet over med-high heat, saute onions in butter until onions are tender.
2. 2
   Add in soup and 1 ½ cups cheese; gradually stir in milk.
3. 3
   Cook over medium heat until cheese melts; stir in chicken and macaroni; taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
4. 4
   Transfer mixture to a greased 2 ½ quart casserole; sprinkle with cracker crumbs.
5. 5
   Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 30 minutes or until heated through.
6. 6
   Top with remaining ½ cup cheese and bake 5 minutes.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-macaroni-casserole-351655#ixzz1oeiohpNJ

Copy Cat Olive Garden Breadsticks via sixsistersstuff.com

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups of water
1 1/2 Tbsp butter, softened
4 cups of flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast (one packet)
2 Tbsp butter, melted
Non-stick cooking spray (preferably butter flavored)
Garlic salt for topping

 

Procedure:

1. In the mixing bowl of dough mixer, mix together 1 1/2 Tbsp softened butter, flour, sugar, salt, yeast and water and make smooth soft dough. (If you don't have a dough mixer, simply mix ingredients together in a bowl using a large spoon. When dough becomes too hard to mix using that, pull out of pull and knead on a floured surface until dough is smooth. I kneaded mine for about 5 minutes and it turned out fine)

2. When dough is ready make elongated shape of bread sticks having 1 1/2” thickness and 5-6" long.

3. Place these sticks on a greased baking sheet by keeping 2-4 cm distance in between sticks cover the pan and let them rise to double in size for 60-80 min (keep in a warm place for faster rising).

4. Meanwhile preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

5. Brush breaksticks with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake for 18-20 min until they are barely lightly golden on top (don't over-do it!). Serve warm breadsticks with marinara sauce for dipping.

*Final result: These are delicious breadsticks and are pretty close to Olive Garden, but I still love Olive Garden's more. :) I cooked mine for about 3 minutes too long, so they were a little overdone for my taste. Next time I am going to pull them out a little earlier and see if that makes a difference. I am usually scared when it comes to making bread, but these were pretty quick to rise and made just the right amount that I felt comfortable making them . . . and if I can do it, anyone can!! They make a great side dish and I will for sure make them again.

Recipe adapted from Recipe Dose

 Easy Corn Casserole

1 - 16 oz can corn, drained

1 - 16 oz can cream-style corn

1 c. macaroni, uncooked

1 stick butter, cubed

1 c. cubed Velvetta cheese

Mix all ingredients and place in greased 8x8x2 baking dish. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

 

French dip sandwich (Crock Pot)

1 lean beef roast

1 can beef broth

1 can water

1 package French au jus sauce mix

1 package Italian dressing mix

Hoagie or sourdough buns

In slow cooker, place roast, broth, water , sauce mix and dressing mix. Cooke on low for 8-10 hours. Meat will come apart easily when done. Remove meat and pour juice in individual serving bowls. Serve on buns; dip in juice. Add cheese if desired.

Honey-Lime Chicken via plainchicken.com

4 chicken breasts

1/2 c lime juice

1/3 c. oil

1 tsp dried thyme

garlic powder

1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine ingredients in bag. Pour over chicken in bag. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Grill.

Pasta Salad

Boil bag of garden (tri-color) pasta.  Drain. Pour 1/2 bottle of Italian dressing over.  Add an vegetables you desire. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Beef enchiladas

Brown one pound of ground beef. Drain. Add can of tomato soup, can of enchilada sauce, and cream of mushroom soup. Heat through. 

Heat 8-10 flour tortillas. Fill each with about 1/4 c - 1/2 c of beef mixture. Fold up enchiladas with folds down into greased baking dish.

Cover with Mexican blend shredded cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.