What have we been eating?

Well let me see, we have had some very warm weather here so we did campfire school (homeschooling around the campfire), I found 2 packages of hotdogs in the freezer and some hard marshmallows in the back of the pantry that someone had failed to close up with a twist tie.
Note to self: marshmallows burn very easily when they are dried out. We did not have any hotdog buns or chocolate to make smores, but that was OK! We had fun anyway and saved some carbs :O)

I almost fired up the grill, but I thought, ya know we are going to be out here doing school for the day, so why not just roast 2 hotdogs at a time until both packages are cooked. So we had grilled hotdogs for a few lunches last week.

We had some extra eggs to use up, it's amazing how the chickens can lay a GAZILLION eggs one week and then almost nothing the next week! Or the week that we really need eggs, the dear child forgets to collect them (I refuse to use eggs that have been sitting in the nesting boxes too long, I know they are suppose to be fine, but I am sort of a freak about these things.) So anyway we had a gazillion eggs this week, so I made up a large batch of french toast and we had that for several breakfasts, and guess what? When you don't have hotdog buns, a hotdog on french toast bread is pretty good (minus the syrup!). Guess you would call it A Pig In A French Toast (or maybe A Pig In A French Afgan? lol) Anyway it was good.

I found some BLSL chicken breast in the freezer and made this yummy recipe (same recipe that I used at Christmas time with a turkey, but made it with chicken this time.)

Heat oven to 350
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c light mayo (not Miracle Whip)
2 tsp (or more) thyme
2 tsp (or more) rosemary
2 tsp (or more) pepper
2 tsp (or more) oregano
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine (I used unsalted)
mix all the ingredients together and spoon over chicken. Cover with foil and bake 45 min or until chicken is done.

I found the recipe for the mayonnaise roasted turkey at the blog SheWearsManyHats.com, click on the link and it will take you to the recipe for the turkey.

I served the chicken with Jasmine rice from the pantry, I used my rice cooker (you use whatever type of rice you have in the pantry & can make this recipe on the stove top too)
While the rice was cooking I added
2 T olive oil
1/2 T chili powder
1/2T curry powder
I would have added some cumin, but I was out and it was too pricey for my pantry challenge ;-) I had some carrots to use up so I tossed those through my Salad Shooter on 'shred' and it added some fiber and color to the dish. You might want to add a dash of salt (remember the doctor put me on a low sodium diet last week, so I am learning to taste my food and not taste salt BAH HUMBUG!!

Dessert Scotcharoos

Had some peanut butter in the pantry so I made peanut butter rice crispy treats.
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter (we like creamy)
1 cup white sugar (wonder what brown sugar would taste like?)
2 tsp vanilla (GF)
5-6 cups rice crisp cereal (GF)
put everything in the saucepan except cereal, melt and stir together. Then add cereal and mix, pour into 9x13 pan and start eating.......lol.
then if you need it even sweeter add the topping (sometimes we just eat it!)
1 cup chocolate chips (GF/CF)
1 cup butterscotch chips (GF/CF)
melt in a pan very carefully so they don't burn or microwave until melted. Stir well and pour over Scotcharoos, let harden and eat. YUMMM!!

We have also been eating cereal from the top of the fridge, lots of partial boxes up there and one morning I made a suprise breakfast of rice crispy treats........LOL. Oh, well they would have put sugar on the rice cereal anyway, so why not serve them up a nice hot breakfast of melted marshmellows in cereal??

The guys found a few Hot Pockets in the bottom of the freezer and I found some Rice Dream Ice Cream, had a slight layer of ice on the top, but still good....lol.

What have you been eating this week?

Enjoy the saving that you are getting out of eating from the pantry.
Moe

Pantry Challenge Day 9 How is it going?

Just checking in to see how it's going. Remember you can still buy groceries, but do your best to eat from what you have in the house, it's like FREE food!! I'm needing some raisins, but I fear stepping into the grocery store and buying more stuff! lol. If you see a great buy on something, feel free to stock up on it, but also use what you already have too.

My doctor put me on a diuretic this week and I was told to really be watching my salt. So that has made things interesting on the pantry challenge to say the least. So I got some low-salt cookbooks from the library (we love that place!), found a recipe for no salt cream soup (not great, but it was OK). I had ground beef in the freezer, rice in the pantry and celery in the fridge, also had all the ingredients for the 'cream of no sodium soup'. I used coconut milk to make that, it was the unsweetened kind, but it still had an odd sweetness to it (oh well, at least I am using it up in the pantry challenge). I made beef & rice casserole for myself (gluten free) and then I made the guys a regular one using up 2 cans of Campbell's cream soups from the pantry. I also had made some wild rice from the pantry and used that in their recipe.

For desert I made a apple buckle (some call it apple betty) using gluten free flours, apple pie filling and Rice Bran flakes to add some fiber without changing the taste or texture.

Apple Buckle with yummy coconut ice cream to go with it.

Have you been having fun with this? Make it fun, have the kids go into the pantry and make some sort of fun meal. Our meals don't have to look like Julia Childs (loved watching her as a child with my mother). Any creative meals come across your table this past week?
Moe

Pantry Challenge day 8

I found some grilled burgers in the freezer from late this summer and we had those for one dinner, then I made Salisbury steaks for the next night. I used up the rest of the hamburgers and 2 cans of beef broth mixed with some cornstarch and dried onions. I put those into a pot with a lid and put them on med/low for about 45 min minutes, I served with green beans (1 can cut & 1 can string) and packaged rice mix (all from the pantry).

Any good recipes coming your way? Share them with us.
Moe

Pantry Challenge Day 4

I used up some zucchinis, mushrooms, carrots, garlic and chicken (from freezer). I put all that in a pan with some olive oil, cooked it up and sprinkled on a tough of seasoning salt. Went over well and I cleaned out some veggies that I had on hand. I think I will make some brown rice that I have (sitting in the pantry in the far back dark corner!) and add that along with a scrambled egg to last nights leftovers to make a fried rice. YUM!

What have you made?
Moe

Pantry Challenge!!!

How about it?? Anyone game for a pantry challenge? It's easy, before you head to the grocery store, shop your freezer, refrigerator and cabinets to see what you can use up. For the first 3 weeks I try to only buy milk, butter and bread, since I usually have an abundance of canned fruits and veggies on hand. If you don't have chickens you may need to buy eggs  :-p    Make a family game out of this, let the kids pick some can goodies from the cabinet, find some meat in the freezer and go from there.

Feel free to post here and let us know how it's going for you, ask for hints and tips on how to go about doing your pantry challenge. I for one sometimes need some help using up those odd cans of black beans, pinto beans and mole sauce that I bought for some odd reason....lol.

This is a great money saver to start the new year out. I think about many of my readers that are saving to adopt and homeschool moms that are eeking out a tight budget. I hope that this post will be a blessing to your household.

What kind of weird things do you have in your cabinet, freezer or refrigerator that need used up? Use things up before they go bad. Get creative and see what interesting things you can make.

Have a wonderful week!
Moe