Calzones are my favorite to make, because you can tuck almost any combo of leftovers in them and have a portable meal to go. We especially like ham and cheddar; turkey, broccoli and swiss; pizza combos; and bbq. They are great for grabbing to eat at the soccer fields or for a picnic meal. My kids even like to pack leftover calzones for cold lunches. The whole thing can be done from the homemade dough, to the meal in hand in around 45 minutes, and most of that is wait time. Read more
Coffman Cookies Recipe
I’m hiding in my room with 85% dark chocolate. All of my kids had the day off school and most requested a friend over or 2…or 3. That made 14 children at the house today and only 1 casualty, so far. Read more
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
One of the lowest cost food categories is soup. Soup is mostly water but still filling and comforting. I love that soup is a meal in one, saving prep time and money on side dishes. I usually add a hearty bread for the men, but skip it myself to stay on track with my fitness plan.
Recently the weather has turned super cold and white, so we’ve been enjoying night after night of various soups. Is there a limit on how many days in a row one can serve soup? I don’t think so–that would be like saying there was a limit on the number of days in a row you could eat pizza. Crazy.
I posted this photo on instagram and got a couple of requests for the recipe. My husband’s sisters made this soup for the family when they were growing up and the first time I tasted it, I begged the recipe from them. It’s the perfect thing for a crowd or when someone isn’t feeling well. Full of rich bone broth, it’s soothing and healing. When someone is suffering and I feel powerless to help, I make soup!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
1 whole roasting chicken (4-5 lbs)
12 cups water
5 tsp mineral sea salt (you can use less, but we go for 1 tsp per quart of food/liquid)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp fresh black pepper
6 carrots, peeled and sliced
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion chopped (I had red on hand, but any kind will work)
Combine everything in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for about an hour or until the chicken is falling apart. If your chicken was frozen, allow 2.5-3 hours to cook.
Remove chicken and bones to a bowl to cool enough to touch. Skim any foam off the top of the broth and discard.
Use a slotted spoon or spider to remove vegetables to a second bowl.
Remove meat from bones and chop. Store meat with the vegetables in the bowl.
Keep a bowl of water close for re-wetting your hands as you work with the noodle dough. This will keep it from sticking.
For noodles combine:
2 cups of unbleached flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil
2 eggs
4 Tbs water
Knead everything with damp hands then roll out 1/4 inch thick. Dough should be dry and barely hold together. Cut with a pizza cutter into strips about 3/8 inch wide and 2-3 inches long. Bring the chicken broth to a full rolling boil and drop the noodles in. Separate with a spoon when they first go in. Boil for 15 minutes then turn off the heat. Return vegetables and chicken back to the soup and sprinkle the top with dried parsley. Don’t skimp on the parsley–it makes it so pretty and appetizing.
Roasted Autumn Vegetables
Yesterday I made the most delicious shredded beef in the slow cooker. I worked all day knowing I had that meal ready to go. When it was almost time for dinner, I slid our homemade buns into the oven and realized I didn’t have a side dish. Not one. I poked around in the freezer and the fridge and saw we had frozen brussels sprouts, half a butternut squash, a bag of radishes, and a bag of baby carrots.
I threw them all together in a pan–the colors were glorious! Then drizzled and tossed with oil. Sprinkled and tossed with a tsp of sea salt, and cooked for an hour at 400 degrees.
Gorgeous right? The only problem was last minute and bake for an hour don’t go together well. I let the family eat the roast beef sandwiches and some canned apple slices and by the time the veggies were ready, they weren’t hungry enough to be adventurous.
Stage 3 of my plan to make my family Butternut Squash lovers backfired, but it was really delicious. I’m super pumped to have leftovers.
The recipe is simple, trim and cut veggies into bite sized pieces, toss with a little oil, sprinkle with salt and roast at 400 (up to 450 if not in glass) for an hour or until fork tender and golden. For best results stir after 30 minutes. Serve while your family is still famished–unless they already know that gorgeous food can be delicious too.
Butternut Squash Fritters
Remember yesterday when I told you I have a secret plan to make my kids like squash? This is level 2.
We enjoyed these fritters (inspiration here) during last Sunday’s lunch with our oven baked chicken, but we kicked it up a notch in the evening by warming them back up in a skillet and melting cheese on the top. We tried Monterey Jack which was good but sharp cheddar would have been even better. Next time I plan to stir cheddar right into the batter. It might get crisp in the areas where the cheddar hits the griddle—there’s nothing wrong with that.
There’s quite a bit of shredding involved in these. I decided that it was worth the hassle to get out the kitchen aid shredder attachment to do these. I was so right. It shredded up my giant butternut squash in less than 5 minutes. If you try this by hand it will count as aerobic exercise.
If you don’t have an electric shredder (or food processor) then grab the kid who most recently used the word, “bored.” Or the one who was asked to sweep the floor and then walked off with the chairs still pushed against the wall and the broom lying on the floor. He will love to shred the squash for you. So will the one who made a sandwich and left the mayo on the counter with the knife still in it.
I didn’t have any trouble peeling my squash. The hardest part was cutting it open. I grabbed the longest, widest knife I had and that helped. My regular vegetable peeler took the skin right off. I’ve heard if your peeler is on the dull side, it could be more challenging. Some have success stabbing the squash with a fork a few times, then microwaving it whole for 3 minutes. That softens the skin without cooking the meat.
Butternut Squash Fritters
5 cups shredded butternut squash (deseeded and peeled but still raw)
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup flour (or 1/2 cup THM baking mix)
coconut oil for frying
Place your squash in a mixing bowl and sprinkle all over with salt. Beat in eggs, then stir in flour. Warm a griddle or frying pan and melt a little bit of coconut oil in the pan. Use a level ice cream scoop to drop batter onto the hot pan and flatten with the back of your flipper. Cook like pancakes letting the fritter cook halfway through and get toasty brown before flipping. Then flip and cook the other side.
You know what else (besides cheese) would make these yummy? Bacon. I’ve tried to think of things that bacon wouldn’t make better….like apple pie, pancakes, or ice cream. Then I had to take it back, bacon would make those things better….
Mini Chicken Pot Impossible Pies
Food cooked in a muffin tin is adorable (and cooks more quickly than big pans of things.) If you are packing food for lunches, muffin tin sized food fits in thermoses (like this one) for a hot lunch on the go. Just pack the food while it’s super hot into preheated containers and it will keep hot for around 3 hours.
I love this recipe, because you can use up little bits of leftovers if you have them. Less than a serving of peas? No problem. A few cooked carrots? Toss them in. You can use beef instead, or whatever you have on hand. Here’s the recipe; tweak at will.
1 lb of chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 cup of shredded cheese, Swiss or Cheddar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup baking mix or self-rising flour
2 cups vegetables (chopped broccoli, peas, carrots, corn–whatever you like in fine bits)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spritz muffin cups with non-stick spray. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Use a level ice cream scoop to fill muffin tins. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Do you ever bake non-muffin things in muffin tins? What are your favorites?
5 Favorite Chicken Marinades
We eat a lot of chicken because it’s so affordable. Bone in is nice for all the health benefits of bone especially if you are boiling it for broth or soup. I like a boneless breast for fast cooking convenience. It’s hard to admit this but I don’t like bones very much….it’s much harder for me to eat bone in chicken emotionally…..it’s weird. Just being real.
Recently I’ve been struggling with weight gain. Our busy schedule tempts me to grab something that’s unsupportive to my goals and it shows in my waistline.
Last week, I decided to spend 15 minutes and prep ahead marinated chicken for the freezer. It’s easy to thaw in the microwave then throw on the table top grill. The breasts cook in just 7 minutes that way! (Since it cooks from both sides at the same time.) It takes less time to cook these than to go get take out.
Not all chicken breasts are created equal. My favorite for marinating and grilling are from Costco. They are the least expensive brand there, but are nice and thin for uniform cooking
Costco isn’t as close to our house as Aldi, so I ran in and grabbed a bag of frozen chicken for a slow cooker meal. Aldi’s chicken is a few cents more expensive per pound and it’s wonky. This type of chicken is okay to dice for casseroles, or to cook and shred into soup, but not so good for marinating and grilling.
Marinating for the freezer is the easiest prep ahead meal type. I start by placing 8 breasts (about 2 lbs) of chicken in each freezer bag.
Then mix up the marinades and pour them in. If you want to grill chicken in the next 3 days you can seal the bags and stick them in the fridge. If it’s for later than that, throw them in the freezer. They will still marinate frozen.
Here are 5 of my favorite marinades. Do you have a favorite? Leave it in the comments. I’d love to try something new.
Honey Lemon Chicken Marinade
1 cup lemon juice (I used from concentrate from Aldi)
1/2 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon dried Rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon lemon extract or zest
(I used homemade lemon extract–video at the end.)
Combine all and warm slightly to mix the honey in well. Pour over chicken and refrigerate overnight. We grilled ours, but I think slow cooking the chicken in the marinade would be yummy too.
Thyme Chicken Marinade
This one is our favorite! It’s really good with A1 steak sauce for dipping, but you really don’t need anything to help the flavor.
3/4 cup water or oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vinegar (red wine or rice vinegars are nice)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Fresh Black Pepper
Favorite Fajita Marinade
2 Tablespoons oil
2 Tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Teriyaki Chicken Marinade
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
Instead of buying pineapple juice, I drain it off a can of fruit, then serve the fruit :).
BBQ Chicken Marinade
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
2 Tbs Brown Sugar or Truvia with a splash of molasses
1 Tbs yellow mustard
1 tsp salt
Crushed Red Pepper
If you are curious about making your own extracts, here’s how I do it:
Broccoli Cauliflower Salad
This is my favorite salad. It’s the fancy enough for potlucks or having company over, but it’s easy enough for weeknight dinners. It keeps for several days and the leftovers pack nicely for lunch. Add a grilled chicken breast or salmon filet on the side for a complete meal.
Ingredients
- 2 broccoli crowns, chopped into bite sized florets
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
- 6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (or 6 Tbs real bacon crumbles)
- 6 green onions, sliced (Or 1 cup diced red onion)
- 1/2 cup raisins (soaked in warm water to plump and then drained)
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds or sunflower seeds
- 1 cup Olive Oil Mayo (or part plain Greek Yogurt)
- 2 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar
- 4 packets truvia (or 1/4 cup sugar or honey)
- Pink Himalayan Salt and Fresh black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine broccoli, cauliflower, bacon crumbles, raisins, onion, and almonds or sunflower seeds.
- Beat together mayo, vinegar, sweetener and salt and pepper. Stir into salad. Serve right away or chill until serving.
I did something crazy yesterday. I called our drywall guy and hired him for Monday, November 16th to do a job I haven’t prepped yet. That’s enough to light a fire under me! I’m hoping to earn enough at this garage sale to pay him. And to carve out 12 hours to prep the job for him.
If you saw it on Facebook over the summer, I’ve been making plans to redo our shared boy’s room. The ceiling has water damage and popcorn texture. I plan to scrape off the popcorn and have it professionally skim coated. Then paint, hang curtains and fluff. This is what I’m hoping it will look like. The opposite side of the room will be an art/lego station with toy storage and display areas. It feels like an overwhelming project, but the boys are anxious for me to get it done. With holiday season coming, I’m not going to stress about doing it in a week or anything crazy like that. We’ll just take it one step at a time.
So that’s a quick update on us. What are you up to?
Slow Cooked Beef Topped Bean Enchiladas
We had an unexpected death in the family last week. Darren’s Grandma was 92, but still living alone in her own home with her mind, sight and hearing sharp as a tack. He lived with her during the summers after his family moved to Texas and again when he graduated from High School so he could farm. They were very close. I lived with her part of the time when I was student teaching and she taught me a lot of things about frugality, being a homemaker, wild edibles and frying mountain oysters.
Lest you think she was all sugar and spice, she was a person who told things as she saw them. Every time she saw me she complained about my long hair, big earrings and tall heels. When I got pregnant with our 4th baby, she offered to teach me about birth control. I learned to smile and roll with it. If she didn’t care about me, she wouldn’t say a word. It was her way of saying, “I love you.”
She had a deep faith and prayed poetically. When Darren and I had been married 2 years, her son died in a tragic car accent. It was a serious time of grief for all of us. She told me death was beautiful and not to be sad. She had already buried her husband and oldest son. She KNEW they were in the arms of Jesus. During her service I kept hearing her voice say those words, “Death is beautiful.” But I still miss her.
My oldest son was acting up in the car during the funeral procession to the gravesite, poking his siblings and making them scream. I told him, “Your grandmother is in a hearse 10 cars ahead of us. Remember what we are doing here and what your frame of mind should be.”
My oldest, Heidi, chimed in, “Yeah if grandma were here right now, she’d whack you with her cane.”
He said, “If she were here right now, I wouldn’t dare.”
After the funeral Saturday we went to her house with all her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren (28!) and a few extended family. The church brought over the funeral meal leftovers and we ate and visited just like we would have on Christmas day. The only thing missing was her and we all felt it. It was a lovely day until it was time to leave and I realized it was probably the last gathering like that in her home. The last time there would be fig Newtons in the jar put there by her own hands. The memories flooded in as tears running down my face. My first date with Darren was there, a whole day of learning to farm. Not long after she decided Darren was taking too long and offered me her wedding ring set so we could just go get married. She didn’t see any point of big weddings or long engagements. If you love each other, go make a life together. What’s so hard about that?
I had plans to finish Kids and Money month strong with some posts about Kids and Christmas spending, but it was just more important to be with family. I’ll come back and visit the topic again in a few weeks, but first I want to get some recipes out there. Too many times I’ve searched my own site for a favorite recipe to refresh my memory on some of the details and find it wasn’t there.
This recipe is my go to when life gets really busy. It throws together in 15 minutes and then just has to heat through in the oven. Every ingredient is available at Aldi making a very frugal main dish. Add a tossed salad for a complete meal or make it bigger with sides of Spanish rice, corn, and fruit. If you are gluten free, grab some gluten free tortillas. Low carb tortillas work great here too, for a THM S Meal (You can have up to 3 Tbs of refried beans in an S setting.) You can also assemble the whole thing in a slow cooker and cook on low for 3-4 hours.
Ingredients
- 1 jar, 24 oz salsa
- 1 lb ground beef or turkey
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 10-8" flour tortillas
- 1 can, 15 oz refried beans
- 1 can, 15 oz black olives, drained
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar, Colby, or Monterey Jack
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown ground beef with onion and garlic, drain.
- Stir salsa into ground beef mixture. (If you have picky kids, puree the salsa in a blender first, and use onion powder instead of chopped onion.)
- Chop the olives and reserve 1/3 for topping.
- Divide refried beans, olives and 1/2 of the cheese cheese among tortillas and roll up. Place seam side down in a 9x13 casserole dish.
- Top with beef mixture and spread to cover the edges.
- Top with remaining olives and cheese.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through.
Affording School Lunches
When I was a kid, my mom gave me enough cash at the beginning of the week to buy my lunch every day. Then if I chose to make my lunch instead, I could keep the money. It was a bonus to our allowance and taught us to be thrifty. It worked out well since there were only 2 kids in the family.
With 6 kids in our family, it would cost us $300 a month to let the kids buy lunch every day. Our schools average $2.50 for lunch (older kids are slightly more, younger ones slightly less.) We can pack a lunch for around $.75 with a basic sandwich, some veggie sticks, and a self-packaged snack like cheese crackers. Sometimes the kids pack ramen noodles in a thermos (cringe–I know.) Heidi, the Sophomore, will often grill a chicken breast on the single serving grill and slice it over a chef’s salad.
Packing 6 lunches every morning (before I leave for work at 6:45 am) would push me over the edge of sanity. I delegated that to the kids and they’ve done well. I try to keep their snack baskets filled with healthy-ish things, so they can make a sandwich and grab a few items to go with it.
We buy family size items from Aldi and sometimes Costco (when they have a coupon that makes it a good enough deal.) Then we repackage them with a measuring cup into snack size baggies. Sometimes the kids help with that part and it saves me a lot of time. It costs less per serving to take a few minutes to repackage than to buy single serving packs.
The kids only drink water*, both at home and at school. That might be the single most budget saving thing we do around here! *Occasionally with snacks they get milk or homemade kombucha or Melaleuca’s Sustain Sport–like Gatorade but healthier and less expensive–but we don’t pack those for school.
How do you make lunches fit into your budget?
This is Day 19 of our series 31 Days of Kids and Money