Making Do Without Missing A Thing---6 weeks of meal plans in 6 posts!!--week five

   

 I am troubled.

   I am watching the price of gas going up and it makes my mind travel back to a couple years ago when gas spiked before--leaving many families making some really tough choices between hitting the grocery store or filling up the gas tank to get to work. I wish I could communicate to you the urgency that is behind this series that I am posting online. While in another six months you may not be able to feed a family of five for under $200 a month, you will be well on the way there if you start NOW. :)


   I am thinking about doing a couple more posts when this series is done about how to take some basic meals and ingredients and make them stretch for your family. I will also be blogging on how to save money on homemade cleaners, gardening, and as always, interspersing all of those with my heart to heart chats I have with you of what is weighing on my mind at the time.

   If you have any space: a balcony, a window seat, as well as the standard yard, I would encourage you to step out and start gardening this year. If you have lawn and the ability to plant some veggies or even a fruit tree or two, I would encourage you to do it. If you have a relative or good friend nearby that owns their home who would be open to sharing some of their space outside with you, I want to encourage you to take the step now and call them. I really think we are heading into some hard-er times than we have seen in a while. My husband and I have discussed many different ways we can make ourselves as "self-sustainable" as possible while living in a small rural town. Each demographic has its own challenges, and frankly, you will never be entirely self-sufficient if you live where there is electricity, and city water and sewer, trash pickup, etc.

But you can do the best you can with what you have been given.

   We have transferred our majority of our heat to wood-burning. We have purchased in bulk, and learned all sorts of ways to put food aside as we grow it or see it on sale. We will soon be investing in rabbits again and starting to raise them for meat like we have in the past. We are purchasing smaller fruit trees to add some fresh fruit into our yard as well as the black walnut trees that grow here already. Dont get me wrong, we are not hoarders, or anything else that the media right now would like to portray us. Just simple folks who have had to learn the hard way that sometimes making sure your family is fed, safe, and warm can take a lot of creativity if you want to do it without a lot of help.

   I don't know where you are tonight. If you are just here looking for some great recipes, then wonderful and welcome to the Welcoming House! I have plenty to share! If you are here looking for some encouragement to find a way to save and keep your grocery bill down, then you are at the right place. Welcome! And finally, if you are here because you are down on your luck and looking for a way to make all the crazy pieces work, welcome. I have walked in those shoes a time or two, and always ended up the better for it, albeit with a few more grey hairs. :)
   In light of what we have been talking about, this meal plan will be the most simple, and the cheapest for ingredients I have posted so far. We are talking minimal meat, doing things from scratch, and using what you can to feed your family. I hope you find this week entertaining, delicious, and relaxing when you realize how inexpensive it is.

   

Monday

   Breakfast: breakfast burritos using refried beans, scrambled eggs, canned potatoes, and dried peppers

   Lunch: mini-cheese pizzas

   Snack: apples and smoothies

   Dinner :Best Turkey Soup, bread, and peach cobbler

Tuesday

   Breakfast: Brown Sugar Pancakes with peach syrup

   Lunch: Cheesy Taco Shell Bake

   Snack: oranges and dough faces

   Dinner: pita pockets with creamy bean filling, salad, and cookies

Wednesday

   Breakfast Chocolate Cream of wheat, and cocoa
   Lunch: Broiled Tuna Melts

   Snack: celery and carrots with Ranch, cookies

   Dinner: Homemade Pasta with pumpkin Bisque, 

Thursday

   Breakfast: Hard Boiled Deviled Eggs with Toast and cocoa

   Lunch: Grilled Turkey, Tomato and Cheese Sandwiches with fruit

   Snack apples with peanut butter, cheese quesadilla rollups

   Dinner: Spinach Sausage Quiche with Jam Bars

Friday

   Breakfast: waffles, strawberry jam, and Warm Vanilla Soothers

   Lunch: individual bean burritos with Sweet and Spicy Salsa

   Snack: mandarin oranges, and jam bars

   Dinner: Porcupine Meatballs with orange rice, fruit salad

Saturday

   Breakfast: cold cereal, bananas, and milk

   Lunch: Beef and Barley Stew with fresh bread

   Snack: pretzels and mini hand pies

   Dinner: Veggie Delight Pizza

Sunday

   Breakfast: Apricot Almond Breakfast Bars, cocoa or coffee

   Lunch: 15 bean and ham soup, farmer's rolls, and custard pie

   Snack: canned pears and pie

   Dinner: leftovers

Bless you, dear reader. 

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

Monday:  

use homemade corn tortillas for wrapping the mix in. I scramble eggs, a pint of home-canned potatoes, and a can of refried beans all together, as well as a handful of dried sweet peppers that I have started to rehydrate in hot water while making the tortillas. Did you know you can make your own refried beans for a fraction of what a can costs you? All they are is cooked pinto beans that have been pureed and then heated with seasonings and lard. Seriously. But This recipe shows you how to do it all in one step and make fat free nummy refried beans in a crockpot. Beans freeze well, so if you make up a batch, put the extra in the freezer for the next meal. Anyhow...fry everything up and serve your family with warm tortillas and hearty filling to give them a good start on the day. Our smoothies use milk (either fresh or powdered that we mix up), any fruit we have available, and Kale if we have it around. Throw in a banana or two and you are ready to go for a smoothie that is filling and satisfying. Turkey, hands down, is one of the cheapest meats you can purchase on sale that will give you a spectacular yield for one purchase. Last year around Thanksgiving when turkey went on sale for .40 a pound we picked up a few. One provided us with almost 10 meals, and finished off with over 14 quarts of turkey stock for canning (not to mention when we used before that). Best Turkey Soup uses some of that meat. Take two quarts of turkey stock/ one pint of cubed canned or 2 cups frozen turkey/, 1/2 cup red lentils/ one onion, diced or 1/2 cup dried/ one clove of garlic, minced/ 1/2 cup brown rice/ 3 carrots cubed (or 1/2 cup dried)/ tarragon, basil and oregano, plus one bay leaf. Put all into a large stock pot and add 2 cups water, and 1 tsp onion or garlic salt. Cover and let simmer for an hour or so, then serve. Peach Cobbler is also easy to throw together. Take one large can of sliced peaches (or one quart home canned), drained/ Pour into greased 8X8 pan. Take your Master Cookie Mix, and use one cup added to one cup oatmeal, plus 4 Tbs of butter or margarine, as well as 2 Tbs of Brown sugar. Put this topping over the peaches, drizzle a couple Tbs of the peach juice from the can over the pan, and bake at 350* for about 30 minutes until browned on the top. Reserve the juice for peach syrup tomorrow.

Tuesday: 

 Brown Sugar Pancakes are just plain pancakes made with dark brown sugar to give them a darker color. Taking the juice from the peach can, heat it on the stove, add a Tbs of Cornstarch, and serve with your pancakes. If you need to thin it out to make more (from my home canned peaches I get about 1 1/2 cups) add up to 1/3 cup water and 1 Tbs sugar to it. Cheesy Taco Shell Bake is the same as my mac and cheese but you do a couple things a touch differently. First, use shells instead of macaroni. Second, add taco seasoning (or make your own) to the sauce while you are making it, and serve it with a touch of paprika on the top for prettiness. Remember, Tuesday is my bread baking day, so for dough faces I have the kids each take their own pat of dough and roll it out (help is obviously required for my twins so none gets beaned with the rolling pin). Bake as you would a roll or pizza dough. When still warm, cover with peanut butter or cream cheese and give the kids an assortment of items to put on such as raisins, carrots, olives, etc. They have so much fun that they never know what they are eating is good for them! Pita bread is stuffed with a combination that is to die for in my next recipe. Take a couple cans of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drain and rinse, then put in bowl. Take a potato masher and smash some of them, but leave some whole. To this add the following: 2 Tbs olive oil/ 1 tsp salt/one cup plain yogurt/ soy sauce/ one can (or pint) diced tomatoes, drained/ one red onion, diced really small/ and one can of sliced olives/ to this add a tsp of cumin powder and cilantro if you have it. Serve in the pita breads alongside sliced cucumbers and spinach, or even bean sprouts (SO easy to grow at home in a Quart jar with a little water and a coffee filter) to add to the pitas. Sugar cookies make a nice finish to the meal, and are a simple, inexpensive dessert everyone loves. Make sure to have enough for the next couple snacks (if you can keep everyone out of them!)

Wednesday: 

Homemade Pasta recipe can be found by clicking here and scrolling down to the recipes at the bottom. For the topping, I heat pumpkin (2 cups worth), crumbled spinach, diced onion, and tarragon in a pan, adding about one cup of cream sauce to it that gets whisked in. Salt and pepper. I make my cream sauce with chicken bullion or stock so it gives the pumpkin an even warmer flavor. Be sure to season it right before serving with cinnamon. Even guests ask for the recipe because it is so unusual and flavorful. With a lb of sausage, it makes a killer filling for ravioli. :) Especially with a creamy sage sauce.

Thursday:

You have a lot of turkey left over right? So today you take some of that shredded turkey, a handful of re-hydrated dried cherry tomatoes, and a slice of cheese and you grill a sandwich for each person in your family. Cheese Quesadilla roll-ups are tortillas spread with cream cheese and sprinkled with cheese shreds, then rolled up and cut in half for each person. Spinach Sausage Quiche is a simple and satisfying meal. I often make up this filling in larger batches and freeze it so all I have to do is pull out a bag and thaw. Same with my pie crust--I always have two or three double pie crust doughs frozen in large "pucks" so it is easy prep and that less demand on my time. After all, what is to making a triple size batch of pie dough vs a single? Takes the same amount of time but yield more meals, that's what. :) You need a single pie dough for this recipe. Then in a frying pan, combine the following: 1/2 lb sausage/ 1/2 onion/ one can or 1/4 cup dried spinach with 2 Tbs water/ salt and pepper to taste. When this is all browned and cooked, place in the bottom of the pie shell. Whip 6 eggs with one cup milk, add a touch of mustard, and garlic salt, pour over the filling, and bake for one hour at 350* or until lightly brown and no longer jiggly in the center.  

Jam Bars:  1 ½ cups flour/ 1 teaspoon baking powder/ ¼ teaspoon salt/1 ½ cups quick oats/1 cup sugar/ ¾ cup margarine/ 1 1/2 cups jam (depends on how much you like) (we love love love this with blueberry or strawberry jam around the Welcoming House)

• reserve 2/3 of the mix when you combine everything but the jam. Press the other 2/3 into the bottom of a 9X13 pan, cover with jam, sprinkle the rest on top, and bake for 30-45 minutes at 350*. let cool and then serve slightly warm.

Friday:

Porcupine Meatballs are the same recipe as my other meatballs, but when you make them, you take 1/4 of the mixture and add 3/4 cup of long grain rice, that is uncooked. Freeze as they are without cooking them, or make meatballs today for the freezer! Place in a greased 9X9 dish, cover with one large can tomato sauce mixed with one cup of water and cook for 45 minutes covered with foil. Take off foil and cook another 15 minutes. Orange rice is brown rice with the following ingredients: 2 Tbs Orange Juice concentrate, 1 tsp orange zest, one Tbs dried minced onion that all cooks together while you are waiting for the meatballs. Fruit salad is either two bananas, two apples, and two oranges (or a can of fruit cocktail) cut up into pieces and stirred with a couple Tbs of orange juice concentrate, and shredded coconut. If I have them, I will throw in a handful of mini-marshmallows.

Saturday: 

In the crockpot (since you will be baking today--bread, pretzels and mini-hand pies) combine the following for Beef Barley Stew: 3/4 lb ground beef or venison stew meat/ 3/4 cup barley/ 1 onion diced (or 1/2 cup dried)/ 2 potatoes diced (or one pint canned potatoes/ 2 carrots diced (1/3 cup dried--all of these can be from your dried stores, folks)/ two Tbs Worchestershire sauce/ two quarts of beef stock or the equivalent of 7 cups worth in beef stock/ one bay leaf/ 1 tsp thyme/ one tsp sage/ 1 tsp garlic salt. Let cook on low for about 4-6 hours, then thicken with a slurry of flour and stock from the soup. Pretzels: this is the recipe we use to make these, and I like that they are baked, not boiled in hot water. We dip ours in cinnamon sugar or brown sugar and browned sesame seeds. It is so easy to do! Mini hand pies are pie dough rolled out into a rectangle, split into strips lengthwise, and then the filling put on one side of the dough. Make sure you leave enough around the edges to fold the dough over and pinch with a fork to seal. Be sure to cut slits in the top so your pies don't explode. We bake ours on cookie sheets, often with parchment paper, for 15-20 minutes at 350*. When you take them out, rub a stick of butter quickly over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or just plain sugar. Veggie Delight Pizza uses any leftover veggies from the week, based on a cheesy cream sauce that has pureed carrots in it, giving it a orange/ reddish color. I also routinely re-hydrate various dried veggies from my cupboard, such as corn, carrots, yellow squash and red peppers. Top with mozzarella and sliced olives in a smiley face and your kids will eat it. :) Great way to use up leftover veggies, but so is my post on using your freezer to make stone soup.

Sunday:

Apricot Almond breakfast bars use a simple shortbread as the crust, canned ginger apricot puree as the filling,with a heavy streusel over the top. If your kids object the first time to the strongness of the apricot, puree up one steamed carrot into it which sweetens and mutes the apricot taste. Shortbread recipe is easy: 3/4 cup flour/ 1/4 tsp almond flavoring/ 1/4 cup sugar/ 1/2 tsp of salt/1/2 cup room temperature butter. oven to 350* Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Work in the butter with a fork or pastry cutter until the dough has the consistency of short crust. (reserve  about 1/8 cup for the topping) Turn out onto the floured counter and knead until smooth, press into the bottom of  9X13 pan and prick with a fork. Pour one pint of canned apricot ginger puree over the top (or make your own from one large can of apricots, drained and pureed with 1 tsp of ginger and 1/2 cup brown sugar.) Combine the reserved crust with sliced almonds, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup cookie mix with a pinch of salt. Sprinkle over top of bars and bake at 350* for 30 minutes until topping is lightly browned. These need to sit about 10 minutes to firm up when bake before eating. !5 bean and Ham Soup is the bagged meal you buy in the store. We soak overnight, then drain, put in the crockpot with either ham stock we have canned, or a ham bone we have saved from a previous meal, and cook on low for about 6 hours. We also put in celery, carrots and onions the last hour or so. Banana Custard Pie is found right here on one of my favorite sites. I make my pudding from home using my Magic Mix flavored with vanilla extract and cinnamon and nutmeg. Graham Cracker crust is easy using store bought graham crackers and a little butter, pressed into a pie dish and refrigerated for an hour or so.

   Remember, making things from home is inexpensive and  saves you money in the end. Save your time by making things ahead of time, by thinking ahead, and by planning your meals. When you grocery shop, decide which meals you are going to buy double of to build your pantry up. And make up those master Mixes so it doesn't take any more time to make up a batch of cream sauce, muffins, cookies, cornbread, or anything else. Only two more meal plans and then our final week together on this series! :)