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Food Waste Friday - I Just Don't Like Egg Noodles

I have been following http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/ for quite some time now. One thing that has particularly inspired me are her "Food Waste Friday". Not only have I reduced the waste my family has been producing, but I am saving money (and time) by using up supper leftovers for lunches and snacks. Today is my first "Food Waste Friday" and I am hoping to keep up with it regularly.


We have Beef Stroganoff this week and I made some egg noodles to go with it. These were left over and I didn't get to use them. The truth is, I don't really like egg noodles. I would have served the beef with rice if my husband would not have considered it a crime (punishable by much subtle complaining).

sad, lonely egg noodles

Meal Plan - You Need It!

You can have a freezer full of awesome meals but if you don't make a meal plan you will probably end up ordering pizza anyway.

This is mine from last week. It isn't fancy (I got this pad from Michael's for $1.50) but it works. I tried all sorts of fancy forms but simple really is best.

Sometimes, despite having a meal plan, the day doesn't work out as it should and you end up feeding your toddler this for supper...

...and you end up eating this

At least I didn't have to resort to...

About Me

I have left the about me section of my blog blank for a long time. It's not that I don't think it is important, it is just that I have really struggled with what to write. I looked on a lot of other blogs I read for inspiration and realized that I am really "wishy-washsy". I think many of my friends realized this about me long before I did.

You see, I am a usually cloth diapering, often babywearing; sometimes organic food eating; occasionally co-sleeping; exclusively breastfeeding (because the boy refuses any supplementary formula) momma of 2 great kids.

When I came to my "wishy-washy" realization, I started to feel a little bad about myself. At this point I gave up on trying to write "About Me".

I am happy to report that I have finally completed this section. After much procrastinating and lots of thought I realized that I just do what works for me and my family and there is nothing wrong with that.

Wordless Wednesday - What Happens When Mommy Gets To Sleep In

I Love Chili!

Here is another installment in my "freezer cooking" series. This is my favorite chili recipe:

(I am currently searching for the website where I got this - I will post once I find it)

- 2 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
- 4 (19 oz) cans of beans (I usually use red kidney beans but you can use what you like)
- 4 (19 oz) cans of tomatoes ( I used crushed because I don't like chunks of tomatoes)
- 2 green peppers, chopped
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 3 Tbsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. salt

Instructions:

Dump all ingredients into a big bowl and mix.


Separate mixture into 3 large freezer zipper bags. I like to put my bag into some kind of tall container for this part (see pic) because it is easier and less messy.

Flatten bags and stack on a cookie sheet to freeze.

Once they are frozen you can stack them flat or file them like books in your freezer.

To Serve: Thaw in fridge overnight. In the morning dump it into your crock pot and turn on low for the day. If you forget to thaw overnight it's okay, you can crack the frozen chili on the corner of your counter into four pieces and fit it into the crock pot.

This is great in a bowl with some bread. I have also used it to make a salad, over iceberg lettuce with some cheddar cheese and crushed tortilla chips on top. We also used leftovers to make chili cheese nachos...yum!!

Technology.

This was the scene as I was making supper a few nights ago. Hubs got a new Blackberry and Miss K is playing games on the ipod touch (which she can now navigate better than I can).

Some of my faves...

There are lots of great websites for freezer cooking (or "once a month cooking") but I find lots of great recipes on regular cooking websites too.

From Kraft Canada:

http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/cheese-lovers-pasta-roll-ups-114790.aspx

http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/our-perfect-zesty-chicken-89537.aspx

I get two meals out of the above two recipes. I prepare them in the square glass baking dishes that you can get at dollarama. I used to use the foil dishes but started to feel bad about all the waste (especially with all the little baggies I use). These are inexpensive, work great, and clean easily. Once the food is prepared and cooled, I cover this dish in foil and put the whole thing into a freezer bag (which I am able to reuse as well).

Because I am cutting down on the size of the serving of the main meal I serve these two with a big salad. Every grocery day I buy one of the big containers of mixed greens. We eat some almost every dinner.

From Todays Parent:

http://recipes.todaysparent.com/tprecipe/tp/article.jsp?recipeId=6230

These are the most amazing veggie burgers ever!! I love them because they are delicious, healthy, inexpensive and really filling. The recipe says it makes 6 burgers but I make 8. I form the patties and stack them with wax paper in between. I freeze 4 burgers in a zipper sandwich bag.

Veggie Burgers in the making...

Putting It All Together

One of the biggest reasons why I like freezer meals is because I really dislike prep work. Making freezer meals allows me to do it all at one time. When I was working full time I would often make my husband take the kids away on a Sunday afternoon, I would rent a movie and prep away.

I really like putting together "meal kits". Each kit consists of 1 large freezer bag with all ingredients stored in smaller sandwich size bags. I like making meal kits for a few reasons:

- I am notorious for forgetting one key ingredient - with a "meal kit" I have all the basics.

- It allows me to take advantage of really great sales on things like cheese, chicken tortillas, etc.

- If I am not going to be able to be home for supper it is a super easy thing for someone else to put together.

Here are the two I do most often.

Fajitas

- 6 flour tortillas

- 3 chicken breasts, thinly sliced and marinating in fajita seasoning

- sliced green pepper (1) and sliced onion (1/2 med)

- 1 cup cheddar cheese

- 1 cup salsa

Pizza

- 1 ball pizza dough (see the recipe I use below)

- 20 slices of small pepperoni

- 1/2 green pepper

- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

- 1 cup pasta sauce

Garlic Pizza Crust (can't remember where I got this recipe)

This recipe makes enough dough for 2 cookie sheet size pizzas.

2 Tbsp. yeast

2 cups tepid water (90*)

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp. salt

6 cups flour

3 tsp. minced garlic

Dissolve yeast in water and add sugar. Wait a few minutes the add oil, salt and garlic. Mix in 3 cups of flour and mix about 10 minutes until it leaves the sides of the bowl. Add remaining flour with dough hook or by hand. Knead until smooth. Divide in half and put in freezer bags.

The day you will make pizza, take the kit out of the freezer in the morning. Remove dough from bag and place in an oiled bowl and cover with cloth. Allow the dough to thaw and rise (ideally max 6 hours but I have let it go longer and it was fine). Punch down. Oil baking sheet and use hands to press to edges. Top it and bake at 425* for 20 minutes.

Lately, we have been using this dough to make grilled pizza and it is awesome!! To do this we turn the BBQ up on high and put the stretched dough on the grill (we have recently bought the PC grill pizza pan but have also used foil). Then we close the grill and leave it for 2 minutes, in this time the dough will cook and puff up. We remove the crust from the grill, turn the heat down to low, add toppings and return it to the grill. We check it every minute or so (if the crust gets too dark - move it to the top rack), once the cheese is bubbly, it is done!!! Delish!

Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day!

An awesome Mom I know is heading back to school. Recently she posted on the "Mommy Group" message board looking for suggestions/advice on making meals for the freezer. Although I don't consider myself an expert, I have done lots of research and have lots of experience preparing freezer meals. I was going to put together an e-mail but I thought it would be more fun to do a post a day on the topic (especially since I need some motivation to keep up with my blogging).


So - I thought I would start at the start. Breakfast. This is something I actually came up with myself. I love smoothies but hate the preparation, so I put all the ingredients for my favorite smoothie in zipper bags. I use yogurt in my smoothies so I freeze it in ice cube trays in advance.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup berries

- 2 tablespoons OJ concentrate

- 4 "cubes" of vanilla yogurt

- 1/2 banana

The above list is for one smoothie, obviously I make these in big batches so, I usually have to eyeball what is 1/2 a bananna when I am adding the frozen chunks to the bag. The beauty of smoothies is that it doesn't have to be exact!


Directions:

- dice up bananas and berries and freeze on a wax paper lined cookie sheet

- add all ingredients to a sandwich size zipper bag & store in freezer


To Prepare:

- remove bag from freezer and place in fridge overnight (this is not absolutely necessary but I have found it to be easier on my blender)

- pour 1 cup of cold water into your blender and dump contents of bag on top

- I sometimes throw in some protein powder or groud flax

- blend and enjoy

A few notes:

I keep a larger zipper bag in my freezer. We buy alot of berries for the Miss K and sometimes some get "less than appetizing" before she gets a chance to eat them. When this happens I cut them up (and cut off any "yucky" parts), put them on a plate and lay them in the freezer for an hour or two. Once they are frozen I dump them in the bag. It is important to freeze them on a flat surface first or they end up being one big berry blob that you can't separate. I would imagine you could use alot of different types of fruit this way as well, I have just never tried it.

I buy several tubs of yogurt when it is on sale really cheap ($1/tub), freeze it into cubes and store it in large zipper bags in the freezer for this recipe.

Slowing Down

I have just recently started to slow down a little. Everyday I spend some serious time just cuddling with my little guy. It is the best part of my day.

Snow!

Yesterday we had snow! The day before I wore sandals and capris. Isn't Canada wonderful??
Hubs put together my veggie beds on the weekend. Luckily, I hadn't yet got around to putting anything in there. Finally my procrastination served me well. He also put in my clothes dryer. Would you believe that the day before this picture was taken it was full of clothes drying in the sun?

Veggies

A few weeks ago Miss K and I started some seeds for our vegetable garden. It was alot of fun and she enjoys looking in on the pots everyday to see if there are any new sprouts.

We are growing some of our own veggies this year. We are going to use Mel Bartholomew`s Square Foot method. I will keep things updated to show our progress.

The beginning...

I have decdided to keep a blog because lately I have been truly inspired by blogs written by other moms. My hope is that one day, others can be inspired by my blog. Also, I think it will be fun to document this exciting time in my life.

I am a happily married woman (it is still weird calling myself a "woman") with two children. I am currently on my one year maternity leave.

I have a few goals that I am going to pursue over the next little while:
1) Live a healthier, "greener" life.
2) Pay off debt and reduce spending.
3) Find direction for my future (career, education, who knows?)

I have many other goals (weight loss for one) but I think that by striving for the above 3, everything else will follow along. I am planning for this to be a gradual pocess. One thing I have learned about myself is that I will crash and burn if I try to make changes too quickly.

I hope you enjoy reading about my adventure!!