gf, df, sf pizza

Her first gf, df, sf pizza and she's sooo happy!! Thanks for the use of your oven, Katie Katie Woolsey!! You're a wonderful neighbor!

In place of cheese, she used Go Veggie - it's a brand of fake mozzarella (vegetable based) - not yummy, but the right cheese texture when melted.

Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza Crust mix, Go Veggie mozzarella & homemade pizza sauce from this recipe http://livesimply.me/.../perfect-homemade-pizza-and-sauce/ with additions of basil & lemon juice boiled until thick.

SF is sugar free.

Menu Plan Mondays

I like the title -- I know, I know, it's Thursday...WhatEVER!

M - Mac & Cheese w/broccoli (lunch)
Salad w/ fixins & cold left-over salmon & Soup & Homemade Buscuits (dinner)

T - Chips, Salsa, refried beans, cheese & apples
Meatball Hoagies & Corn on the cob & mango slices

W - Ham & swiss sandwiches, pretzels & fruit
Ministrone soup (substituting beef broth for the chicken & adding a little thyme) w/ left-over steak chunks & Salad & Homemade rolls

Th - SOS (Creamed Dried Beef on Toast) & fruit
Chicken Gyros

F - Egg Salad Sandwiches & fruit
Cod

S - Hotdogs w/ chili sauce
Stir Fry w/left-over chicken & fried rice

S - Salad w/ left-over ham slices & chkn & rice soup (w/ left-over fried rice)
Chicken Ka-bobs

meal planning

Now that the science fair is over *THANK YOU, GOD!* (my apologies to all those who like science) I needed to get my house, life and school back on track. I spent several evenings planning and today was the culmination of all those plans.

These are my meal planning steps :

• choose 7 breakfasts
• choose 7 lunches
• and 10 dinners

I make my list from inexpensive meals. For our family of 6 (plus a baby) I have a list of
25 breakfasts (variations on a theme) with an average cost of $1.76
45 lunches with an average cost of $3.76
35 dinners with an average cost of $5.33

Those average costs are for the entire family. It doesn't include beverages per meal (which average $.95) or side dishes (which I usually have at least one veggie and averages about $1.25)

So, I plug and chug and made a menu plan for breakfast, lunch & dinner for a month (this time it was 6 weeks hoping to get me to Easter.) My goal is $400 for a month. This month I bought 3 fish meals and those were pretty expensive $8-10/meal just for the fish. I tweaked a few meals to lower my overall cost, so I could do it.

Yesterday I shopped for 4 hours (that was longer than it needed to take, but I ran into some glitches) and I came home and cooked 15lbs of hamburger, 6lbs of chicken (which left the remaining 9 to be cooked the next day), and 2 lbs of sausage. The girls and I (and a very pregnant friend came for a few hours -- she wanted to come help!) spent all day cooking. The boys helped some and were on baby duty alot. We put up 13 side dishes (mashed potatoes, garlic & cheese buscuits, cornbread and rice pilaf) and 17 meals (3 lasagna, 3 shepherd's pie, 3 sausage & rice bake, 3 sloppy joe, 5 omelet mixes). I also put up all the meat for the rest of the meals.

I ran out of time (and steam) and still need to make 10 meals worth (40 Cups) of Alfredo sauce, but then I'll be done. I'm so pleased that I don't have to mess with cooking for quite some time! One more item off my plate and we can focus on school! YEAH!!

Meal Planning

After talking with Heather today at gym classs and checking out Amy's blog about menu planning, I thought I'd share what I've been up to in this area.

I made a menu plan for a month including breakfast, lunch and snacks. I'm having a contest with myself to see how low I can get our grocery bill without sacrificing nutrition and still making meals my family will eat (they're not big on soup or beans).
It has general categories that has flexibility. I don't have to go by which day, but I try and spread these categories out over a week so we don't eat up all our favorites first.

M - mexican (I bought mexican ingredients, but depending on what we have left on-hand and what we feel like it could be Tacos, Burritos, Nachos, Taco Salad, Chicken soft tacos, etc.)
T - SOS (i.e. creamed dried beef on toast or variations on that theme)
W - hamburger casserole (shepherd's pie, home-made hamburger helper...)
R - chicken dish (chicken & noodles crock pot, chicken & rice)
F - tuna meal (tuna & noodles, tuna & broccoli mac & cheese, tuna sandwiches)
S - meatball meal (meatloaf & mashed potatoes, meatball sandwiches...)
S - snacky dinner (baked potatoes w/ all the toppings, left-overs, lunch food, etc.)

THEN, and this is the exciting part, I took my receipt from Aldi's and averaged how much it was going to cost me to make each meal. I didn't get weird about it (figuring in 1/4 tsp salt), but eyeballed it. My average cost for dinners was $3.85 for 6 people. This doesn't include side dishes (they averaged .95 per meal) or beverages (they averaged .65 per meal) This is how it looked :

Baked Pot. $2.25
6 potatoes .20
Broccoli $1.00
Cheese .30
Sour Cream .50
Butter .25

Chkn Casserole $4.80
1# Chkn $2
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup .80
Pasta $1.00 OR Rice .45
Frozen Vegetables $1.00

Shep. Pie $4.30
1# Hamburger $2
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup .80
6 potatoes .20
2 cans Vegetables $1.00
Cheese .30

SOS $3.45
12 eggs 1.30
1/2 loaf of bread .25
2 ½ C Milk .85
5 pc sliced Ham .80
Butter .28

Meatloaf $5.30
2# Ham $4
2 eggs .30
1 Tom. Paste .40
Bread .10
Onion .25
Seasoning .25

Tuna & Noodles $2.95
2 cans Tuna @ .57ea
Pasta $1
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup .80

Here are some pretty templates for your meal planning session.

Recipes - SOS

I double this recipe for my family of 6 -

S.O.S. (Cream Dried Beef on Toast) 15 minutes
5 T Butter
5 T Flour
2 C Milk

5 or more Hard Boiled Eggs

1 pkg Dried Beef (or ham slices or cooked ground sausage or...)
6-8 pieces of bread (or torn up bagels or biscuits or...)
Salt & Pepper

Melt butter, add flour to saucepan. Cook on low heat 30-60 seconds. Add 1 1/2 - 2 cups of milk a little at a time whisking so there's no lumps (once they're in, they're pretty hard to get out). NO LUMPS. Stir constantly cooling on medium high until thick (anywhere between 7 and 15 minutes), you don't want it gloppety thick.. Cut up dried beef and eggs & mix in. Salt & Pepper to taste. Serve on toast. ~~ Use more butter & flour to make it rich.

Recipes

Shepherd’s Pie 45 minutes @ 350


1 lb. Hamburger, cooked
1-2 can Green Beans
1-2 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
6 C Mashed Potatoes
2 C Shredded Cheddar, or Mozzarella Cheese


Layer, in order, in a casserole dish. Bake 30 minutes at 350 until bubbly. Sprinkle cheese to cover. Bake additional 15 minutes until cheese is melted.
This is one of my all-time favorite dishes.