Freezer Cooking- Homemade Gravy

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I love gravy. When given the chance I slather everything on my plate in it, which is why I would say Thanksgiving is one of my favorite food eating holidays.

Now here is the thing, I absolutely refuse to buy the canned/bottled gravy from the grocery store. It tastes okay I guess but I don't like the ingredients and really try to stay away from processed food. This doesn't mean that I slave away over the stove every time I want to have gravy with a meal, it just means that I do a little freezer cooking so I always have some on hand!

This recipe for Make Ahead Gravy is my absolute favorite. It tastes really good and as the name implies  it can be made ahead of time and can even be frozen. Not only is it a good (and easy to make) recipe- it is also pretty frugal too!

When I made it yesterday I used some chicken legs that had been in my freezer for a long time (you can use the meat after making the gravy), homemade chicken stock (made from chicken carcasses and odds and ends veggies) and I didn't have any fresh carrots so I used frozen ones. Everything else is just stuff that you would normally have on hand in your pantry. The recipe makes about eight cups of deliciousness, so you do the math on how much cheaper it is to make your own gravy instead of buying the stuff from the store. Here is a hint: you come out way ahead making your own!

Any recipe that saves me money and is healthy/wholesome is a keeper in my book!

Freezer Cooking- Bean and Rice Burritos

The chili I made a couple of weeks ago is gone so I needed to make something else for my lunches.

To keep up the spicy theme, I decided to make bean and rice burritos. They are really good and freeze well- and gosh darn it, I suppose they could even be considered healthy!

First, I made a batch of homemade refried beans. Let me tell you something- refried beans from a can are total crap and have the taste to match. If you want some real refried beans that are utterly delicious then you need to make your own. I used dry beans for mine because they are cheaper and way more healthy that canned beans.

Once the beans were done cooking and mashed up into perfection, I popped them onto some whole wheat tortillas along with some brown rice I seasoned with chili powder, cumin and paprika and rolled those babies up.

I only yielded six burritos from my cooking session as I ran out of tortillas (my 3 year old has been snacking on them) but if I had more I could have made at least four more burritos. These will make a great quick lunch for me and are a great small portions size.

Tomorrow I hope to make a huge batch of waffles for the freezer- I will just have to keep the kids away because they literally try to scarf them down as fast as I can make them!

Kitchen Stuff...

Yesterday my daughter and I made a batch of waffles while my son was at school and the baby was sleeping. I only made one batch as this was a new recipe and there is nothing more annoying than making a triple batch of something only to find out that it tastes terrible. Well, the waffles were a huge hit and the one batch we made was gone by this morning.

Now, the recipe is not what I would necessarily call healthy but I am not one to tinker with a recipe until I know the original works. Now that I know my kids love the waffles, I am going to experiment with adding whole wheat flour and somehow cutting back on the butter. Maybe this will be a project for next week... I do have tons of flour in the pantry just waiting to be mixed up into deliciousness!

I also made meatloaf yesterday. I prepared the loaf earlier in the day when it was less hectic and then just popped it into the oven for an hour. Let me tell you- yum, yum, yum! This was a new recipe and it was perfect! The next time I make it I will definitely make a couple more for the freezer- the only thing that I would change about the recipe is to saute the onions to soften them before adding them to the mix.

I am really digging this whole menu planning and freezer cooking thing- I feel like I am getting back to the mom I used to be. Yes, it takes more time but it is so worth it! Plus, it is a great way to spend time with Alli (who is 3.5 years old) because she loves to put on her apron and help out. When I get my freezer full I know that I will start seeing the time savings and cost savings, but more importantly I know that my family will be eating wholesome food.

On Sunday I am planning on making burritos that can be frozen for me to eat for lunch. I did not have any canned refried beans so I decided to make my own- I only got as far as soaking and cooking the beans today but on Sunday I'll be able to follow this recipe. Then I'll add some brown rice, lots of spicy seasonings and whole wheat tortillas and have myself some yummy lunches!

So Far No Good- Homemade Sandwich Bread

I used this recipe for whole wheat bread to hopefully make sandwich bread that my kids would love. I have so far made two attempts and while the second was better than the first, they are still nowhere near what I am looking for.

For attempt number one I used all whole wheat white flour (I did not use the called for coconut oil in either recipe, I just substituted all olive oil). It was not what I would call sandwich bread.

The second attempt was better; I used one cup of bread flour and two cups of white whole wheat flour. And while it was better, it was also not what I would call sandwich bread. 

I am thinking maybe I will ditch this recipe and find another one to try. Stay tuned next week for more posts about my housewife self baking loaves of bread!

Yummy Pancakes...

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I just made these pancakes for the kids and they loved them! To make them a smidge healthier I did half unbleached all purposed flour and half whole wheat flour.

I really wished that I made a double or triple batch because there are non leftover to freeze- It figures though. Whenever I made a huge batch of something the kids hate it and whenever I make a small batch they love it.

Dairy Free Waffles

I have been on a search for a dairy free waffle recipe that tastes good and I finally found one!

I made this recipe this morning but substituted soy milk for the milk and non-dairy spread (I use Earth Balance which I buy at Whole Foods) for the butter. I only made a half batch because I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out.

They came out delicious and you can't even taste the soy milk which is great because I hate soy milk. Why do I use it you may ask? Well, it just seems to have a closer consistency to real milk so it works well in recipes- much better than the rice milk I was using before (rice milk is very watery). My kids even liked them. You have no idea what a big deal this is because this is the first time the Alli, who is two, has ever eaten a non-round waffle (I usually buy the Nutri-Grain Eggo's).

If you want to make them healthier I'm sure you could substitute some of the flour for whole wheat flour but I'm not going to mess with a good thing, especially with picky kids in the house (though maybe white whole wheat flour would go undetected by them). Next time I'm going to make a big batch and freeze some for quick breakfasts (just pop the frozen waffles into the toaster to heat up).

I am so excited that I can eat waffles now and can't wait to try this recipe without substitutions once I wean Jilly Billy from breastfeeding (six and half months to go).

Homemade Chicken Stock "Recipe"

Here is my recipe for homemade chicken stock, though I wouldn't actually consider it a recipe because I basically just throw some stuff in a pot with no regards to such things as measurements.

First, throw all of your chicken carcasses and leftover veggies (carrots, onions, celery) into a large pot. If you don't have all of the veggies I listed, don't worry. Just use whatever of the three you may have or none at all, what really matters is the chicken. I also throw in a couple of bay leaves because they seem to make it taste a notch better. Fill the pot with enough water to over everything and bring to a simmer. The question of how long to simmer everything is really up to you- do it until the stock smells and tastes good. You can make it as potent as you want. The picture above was taken awhile ago- yesterday  when I made my stock I used two chicken carcasses so my pot was much fuller.

If you are going to be gone all day and still want homemade stock you can just throw everything into a slow cooker on the low setting. It still comes out great and if need be if the stock is not potent enough you can always reduce it in a pot after the straining process.

Once your stock has the desired flavor it's time to strain in. This is my straining contraption- I place a colander in a pot. Pretty high tech, huh? To make sure you strain all of the small bits out you can you cheesecloth (the best way to do it) or be ghetto like me and use paper towels (just make sure to change them often). Have a plastic bag handy for all of the scraps. Once the stock has been strained let it cool on the counter a bit and then place in the refrigerator to completely cool.

If for some reason you decide you want your stock to be more potent you can just simmer it on the stove until it has your desired taste. That is what is great about making it yourself- if you simmer down the store bought stuff it becomes way too salty because of all the salt they add to it.

Once cooled the stock will be jelly like; this is normal, though it looks kind of weird. When you heat it up it will turn back into a liquid which is good because I doubt my family would be into chicken jello. Skim any fat off of the top and your stock is ready to rumble!

When I make homemade chicken stock I portion it out into plastic containers and pop them into the freezer so that I have stock ready to use in recipes (I sometimes take the frozen stock portions and put them all into a large freezer bag). Today I ended up with eight cups of stock (a 3 cup portion, a two cup portion and three 1 cup portions) which was yielded from two chicken carcasses and a bevy of carrots, celery and onions (all leftovers from various food preps). You may end up with more or less depending on how many carcasses you have and how long you simmer your stock for.

I'm not sure how much eight cups of stock would cost in the store but this is some high quality stuff with no added weird ingredients- just water, chicken, carrots, celery, onions, and bay leaves (I don't add any salt to it until it get used in a recipe). Plus it was basically free because I used items to make it that would have normally been thrown out.

It is frugal and gourmet all rolled into one!

Homemade Bean and Rice Burritos

I have been obsessed with burritos lately. First I was buying the cheap fifty cent ones at Stop and Shop but then realized there must be a reason why they only cost fifty cents so I started buying $1.79 ones at Whole Foods. They are delicious but a little expensive so I decided to make my own.

I made my burritos with brown rice, homemade refried beans, flour tortillas and lots of chili powder, onions and cumin. I based my recipe very loosely on this one, as in I completely abandoned the recipe and just started pouring spices into the pan (I love spicy food- love, love, love).

How did they turn out? I think they are very good. I overcooked the refried beans a bit so next time I will make sure they aren't as dry. On the opposite end of the spectrum I undercooked the brown rice so it was a tad crunchy so next time I will not be oblivious to the fact that I need to taste it to make sure it's cooked right before using it in a recipe. I think I may buy whole wheat tortillas next time to pump up the health factor and maybe I'll get crazy and add some corn.

I made six decent sized burritos which if bought from Whole Foods would have cost $10.74. From my estimations (don't hold me to this because I am not one for figuring out food costs) I spent about $4 on ingredients for a monetary saving of almost $7. The time it took to make this was not bad at all and I know next time it will take even less time as I sort of know what I'm doing now. It's also nice knowing exactly what is in the food I'm eating so that counts for something in the algorithm of making versus buying.

Brains, Anyone?

I got my brain shaped Jell-O mold in the mail the other day and decided to put it to use since my son was begging me for brain Jell-O.

I didn't actually use real Jell-O to make this- I used this recipe for healthy Jell-O. I made mine out of 100% apple juice and the kids had no idea that they were eating a healthy brain treat.

I love when my kids think I'm a cool mom and at the same time I am giving them something healthy to eat.

Homemade Chicken Soup- A Really Frugal Meal!

We had roasted chicken for dinner the other night which came out awesome. I decided, since I am somewhat getting back into my cooking groove, to use the leftovers to make homemade chicken soup.

Yesterday morning, after breakfast, I took as much meat as possible off of the chicken carcass to use in the soup and put it into a bowl in the fridge. Then I proceeded to take all of the skin off of the carcass- why you may ask? Because I decided to go all out and make my own chicken stock.

I threw the chicken carcass into a large stock pot along with a quartered onion, a couple of bay leaves, carrots and celery ends and then filled the pot up with enough water to almost cover the chicken. I simmered the chicken for I don't even know how long- I suppose you just kind of know when it is done. The smell that emitted from that pot made my house smell wonderful!

I set up my straining contraption which consisted of a small pot and a colander with a paper towel in it (you can also use cheesecloth which is probably way better but I didn't have any on hand- just make sure you change the paper towels out frequently). I scooped out the large chunks of chicken and vegetables with a large slotted spoon (hence the Target bag- I have so many Target bags in my house that I am starting to this I have a problem) and then slowly poured the rest of the chicken stock into the colander to strain the smaller pieces of food out.

Here is what my chicken stock looked like after straining. I let it cool on the kitchen counter for awhile and strained off as much fat as possible. Then I put the covered pot into the fridge until I was ready to cook.

Cooking time! I put the pot on the stove on medium-low and added the chicken meat that was in the fridge, chopped celery, chopped carrots and salt and pepper. I let the soup simmer for awhile until the carrots and celery were tender (there was that wonderful smell again). I added cooked egg noodles and let it all simmer for a bit longer while my rolls cooked in the oven.

Here is the final product- it was simply delicious and we only had a little leftover which I had for lunch today. Both of my kids liked it and my husband loved it so I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Now that it is getting colder out I will be making a lot more soup- maybe next time I will make a double batch and freeze some.

I don't really know what the actual cost of this meal was but the chicken we used was about five or six dollars (on sale for .79/lb) of which we were able to use use for two meals including the soup, the carrots and celery were from a meal last week and were about to go bad, the onions were something I had on hand, the bay leaves were already in my pantry and the egg noodles were free from a sale awhile ago. So in other words it was really cheap. A great tip I have for anyone who want to start making their own stock is to save chicken carcasses, carrot ends, celery ends, onions, etc. in a big freezer bag in your freezer, this way you will always have the ingredients you need on hand and won't be throwing anything away.  

Quick, Easy, Healthy and Cheap Recipe

Last night my husband had to work very late which threw off my plan for dinner. 

I was going to make a new recipe from Rachel Ray Magazine but I wanted my husband to try it too so I scratched that one. I could have just made the kids something quick but I was hungry and wanted a real meal.

That is when I decided to go to my old standby recipe- Parmesan Tomato Spaghetti. It is the easiest recipe (if you even want to call it a recipe) and is healthy and cheap too. Plus, my kids love it which is amazing because they can be pretty picky.

The ingredients I use are whole wheat spaghetti, a can of diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper. The pasta was free and the tomatoes were most likely less than .50 a can.

Pour the tomatoes into a pan and season with salt and pepper. You could also add whatever else you have on hand such as onion, peppers, spices, etc. Simmer tomatoes to cook down. As my tomatoes simmer I like to chop them up a bit because my family doesn't like big chunks. While simmering the tomatoes, cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.

Here is what my tomatoes looked like after simmering- yum!

Drain cooked pasta and dump into a bowl. Add olive oil and mix together. Then add your tomato mixture and mix it all up so that the tomatoes are evenly distributed. Add as much or as little parmesan cheese as you want and mix. That's it- your yummy spaghetti is done!

Here is what my dinner looked like- I love parmesan cheese so much that I added a lot more to my pasta.   I also had some string beans and a piece of whole wheat bread with butter.

In case you're wondering what I feed my kids, here is one of their plates. My kids are not big on the veggies so I just put one string bean on each plate and make them at least try a tiny bite. I gave each of them half a pear to make up for their lack of vegetables. To round it out they each also got a piece of whole wheat bread with butter and a Simply GoGurt. I am not big into making separate meals so my kids pretty much eat what my husband and I eat.

So that was it- a quick, easy, healthy and cheap recipe that everyone enjoyed.