Eat What You've Got

Money Saving Mom's Book Is Coming Soon

2011-11-16T06:03:00.000-06:00

You can pre-order Money Saving Mom's Budget Book now on Amazon. I am very excited and can't wait to read this book. If you haven't checked out Crystal's site, please do so now. She has some wonderful recipes, freezer cooking tips, and so much more!

What's For Dinner (And In The Freezer)? Meatloaf

2011-11-09T05:56:00.001-06:00

When I went back to work a couple of weeks ago, I knew my time to prepare dinner each night would be limited, so I went in search of recipes that were easily doubled so that I could put one in the freezer. I decided to start with a meatloaf. This is a very simple recipe, but it turned out to be delicious.

Meatloaf
2 pounds ground beef (I used venison)
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs (made from dried bread slices)
3/4 cup salsa (I used home-canned),
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Tony Chachere's seasoning

Mix all items together until well combined. Divide into two servings and freeze. When ready to cook, thaw meatloaf in the refrigerator and cook at 400 degrees for approx. 45 minutes. If you don't have time to thaw, add approx 15 to 20 minutes to the cooking time. I added about 1 cup shredded cheese over the top of the meatloaf and put it back in the oven until melted and bubbly. It was delicious!

I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of this, but will try to get one when I cook the one out of the freezer and add it at that time.

Surprise Halloween Guests

2011-11-09T05:56:00.000-06:00

Since moving to the farm, we have said that we wouldn't have any trick or treaters unless the cows came by. We didn't know how true this would turn out to be. Last Monday when we got home from work, we found that the cows had pushed over a section of the fence and had helped themselves to all of the "treats" - hay, feed, collards, turnips, etc. Needless to say, they left some "tricks" as well.

We are now hoping that our garden can recover and that we will still be able to harvest some greens from it. Fortunately, the raised bed gardens were covered and did not get eaten. It is amazing how well they are growing. We are hopeful that we will be able to build a larger greenhouse for next fall/winter.

Missing In Action

2011-11-08T21:10:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry that I have been missing in action this past week. My new job has me on the computer training all day every day so I haven't really wanted to log on when I get home at night. I have been doing some freezer cooking and have some very good recipes to share.

Putting Food By

2011-10-29T07:00:00.003-05:00

We have been very blessed over the past week to be able to "put by" some food for later use. We have put more venison, rabbit, and pecans in the freezer, and I was able to can 10 quarts of pear sauce thanks to a friend that allowed us to pick the pears from his trees. I used my Vitamix to help process the pears into sauce and it was very quick and easy. I will share my step-by-step instruction in a few days.

Being able to take advantage of food items such as these and store them for later times can help ease your food budget. When I lost my job in July, one thing we knew was that we would not go hungry because of our stored food items. I encourage you to look into options for storing food.

Here is a picture of the pear sauce after coming out of the canner.

Why I Love Canning

2011-10-28T07:00:00.002-05:00

My mother canned when I was growing up, but I unfortunately never paid enough attention to learn how to can from her. After I became a mother, though, I had a desire to learn how to can and to see jars of freshly canned items line my pantry shelves. So, when I asked my husband for canners for Mother's Day, I am sure he thought I had lost my mind, but he got them for me anyway. I decided to spend a Saturday familiarizing myself with the pressure canner and spent the entire day canning apples. (I now know that they didn't need to be pressure canned.) I was so very excited when I completed the project without blowing up the house.

The thing I love most about canning, though, is the convenience that it offers down the road. For example, since I am now back to work, I have to come up with a quick meal to get on the table when we get home every night. I am usually putting something together while my husband and son feed the cows and dogs. This past Tuesday, I had put a roast in the crock pot before leaving for work and when I got home, opened a quart of home-canned red potatoes and a pint of home-canned peas. I made some quick 3-2-1 biscuits and it made for a quick, but delicious meal. It is much easier to pass up the fast food restaurant on the way home when you know you have something that can be put together in under 30 minutes.

Here is a picture of the potatoes that I cooked. I opened the jar and drained the liquid. Poured the potatoes into a Pam-sprayed glass pie plate, sprinkled on my seasonings of choice (I used onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Tony Chachere's), sprayed them with Pam again so the skins would get crisp, and stuck them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Poppyseed Chicken and Rice Casserole

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

Since I started back to work on Monday, I have been looking for made-ahead recipes that I can pop in the oven for dinner when I get home. Sunday evening, I cooked some rice and put together the remainder of the casserole on Monday morning before leaving for work.

Poppy Seed Chicken and Rice Casserole

1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 quart home-canned chicken tenders (approx. 12 tenders, but you could use less)
8 oz. sour cream (I used half sour cream and half yogurt because I didn't have enough sour cream)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used the cream of whatever soup mix that I had made earlier)
1 sleeve crackers, crushed

Cook rice until done. Mix in remaining ingredients except crackers. Spread crushed crackers along the top of the casserole and bake at 350 degrees until warmed throughout and crackers are golden brown. Just before serving, I sprinkled some grated cheddar cheese on top and melted it. It turned out very good!

3-2-1 Biscuits

2011-10-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

We lived in Louisiana several years ago and some friends we had made the best biscuits. They used a rough 3-2-1 recipe.

Homemade Biscuits

3 parts self-rising flour (can be made from all purpose flour if needed)
2 parts milk (I used milk made from reconstituted dry powdered milk)

1 part oil (you can use melted butter or oil)

Mix all three ingredients together. Add additional flour if needed to get to the right consistency.

This is a very quick and easy way to throw together some delicious biscuits!

Tomato Gravy

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

On Saturday morning, my husband took our son squirrel hunting for the first time. While they were gone, I decided to fix them a good breakfast. My husband has always loved tomato gravy (which is odd since he doesn't like tomatoes), so I decided to make some for him. I had never made it, but started with a basic gravy and went from there. Here is the recipe I used:

Tomato Gravy

1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 1/3 cup milk (make from reconstituted dry milk powder)
1 quart home-canned tomatoes, drained
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil in skillet and add the flour a little bit at a time, stirring while adding. Once flour and oil mixture is browned, add milk, stirring constantly. Finally, add tomatoes and cook until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

It was delicious! I will share the biscuit recipe I used tomorrow.

Home Canned Pasta Sauce Secret

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I mentioned earlier that I used my home canned spaghetti sauce for the marinara dipping sauce for the pizza and bread sticks. To do this, I just added some sugar to the sauce. I added about 1 tablespoon to a cup of sauce, but you can adjust to your liking. The current batches of spaghetti sauce that I am using were made with Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce mix and number 10 cans of crushed tomatoes from Costco. I have made my own sauce before, but I found these Pasta Sauce mixes on sale last year and stocked up. If you were to pay full price for the mix (approx. $2.5 per package) and number 10 can (approx. $3 each), you could can you own sauce for approx. $1.70 per quart. I haven't purchased spaghetti sauce in the store lately, but based on what I have seen, that does still compare favorably to the cost of those cans or jars of sauce. This is a very versatile sauce. I use it for pasta sauce, pizza sauce (with 1 small can of tomato paste added per quart), and marinara sauce.

Pictures from Around The Farm

2011-10-23T06:56:00.002-05:00

It is beginning to feel like fall here, so I wanted to share some of the pictures I have taken around the farm this week. The beauty of God's creation is all around us. We just have to take the time to stop and see them.

This post is being shared at Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday and Homestead Revival's Barn Hop #33.

Acorns To Oaks

2011-10-22T06:00:00.005-05:00

Last fall, our church did a program titled, "Acorns to Oaks". It was a great little play and made me think about how God grows each of us into exactly what He needs us to be. Wednesday night at church, the book that my son selected was Max Lucado's The Oak Inside the Acorn (Novel) . It is a wonderful book that my son has wanted me to read over and over. The moral of the story is that none of us knows what is in store for our future, but we just have to be "the person God made us to be" and stop trying to be what those around us are. I highly recommend this book if you have a child or grandchild. It does open up some great lines of communication about growing up and following God.

Note: The links in this post are my referral links.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

2011-10-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

Last year, I got some sweet potatoes at a good price and canned some. They have made it very easy to make a quick candied sweet potatoe side dish on a week night. The recipe that I use comes from the Calling All Cooks Three cookbook that I have mentioned before (Blueberry Pound Cake). It is a very good cookbook and I highly recommend it. The recipe that I use is as follows:

Candied Sweet Potaotes (modified from Calling All Cooks Three cookbook):

1 quart jar home-canned sweet potatoes
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup

These are delicious! I am just about out of canned sweet potatoes. I need to get some more and have a canning session!

What's for Dinner? Venison Stew

2011-10-20T21:27:00.001-05:00

The weather turned cooler here today, so I decided to make a venison stew. (And I am hopeful that my husband will re-fill our freezer with fresh venison, so I wanted to use up what I had.) Here is the recipe I used:

Venison Stew

2 lbs venison backstrap, cut into 1 inch pieces
5 cups water
4 beef bouillon cubes
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
onion powder, to taste
Tony Chachere's, to taste
celery powder, to taste
diced potatoes, approx 2 cups
dehydrated English peas and carrots, approx. 1 cup
2 Tbsp brown gravy mix
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch

Brown venison pieces in a small amount of oil. Once browned, drain excess oil and add water to pot. Add beef bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, onion powder, and other seasonings. Cook until meat is tender (about 2 hours). Once beef is tender, add brown gravy mix and mix well. Add vegetables and cook until they are done. Just before serving, add flour and cornstarch to thicken. Allow stew to sit for approx. 10 minutes until thickened to your likeness.

This was a "thrown together" venison stew instead of a "by recipe" meal, but it was delicious and went over very well. The stew was served with cheese toast on the side. That is one of the key factors in eating what you've got. Sometimes you have to make it up as you go and "taste test" until it reaches your desired taste. Just remember to jot down the recipe if you like it so that you can make it again.

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Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-10-20T06:00:00.002-05:00

How Sweet Eats had a post last week about Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies and got me to thinking about pumpkin and chocolate chips and cookies, so I had to do something about it. I decided to make my own cookies and add in some pecans since I have pecans running through my dreams these days.

Here is the recipe I used:

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from How Sweet Eats):

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined. Drop by teaspoons onto waxed paper and bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Note that these are a moister, cakier cookie than those of How Sweet Eats because I used a whole can of pumpkin puree, but I knew if I only used part of the can, it would end up at the back of my refrigerator and I would wonder what it is months from now.

What's for Dinner? Chicken Nuggets

2011-10-19T06:39:00.001-05:00

My 5-year old loves chicken nuggets. Pennies on a Platter posted a recipe for chicken nuggets a few days ago that contained powdered sugar. I had to try it. Here is the recipe:

Chicken Nuggets (from Pennies on a Platter)

1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces (I used approx 16 chicken tenders and cut them into thirds)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp salt
3 tsp black pepper

Combined milk and eggs in a large bowl and place chicken in mixture to coat. (The original recipe called for allowing this to marinate for 2 to 4 hours, but I didn't leave it in there that long.) Mix remaining ingredients in a gallon sized Ziploc bag and toss chicken to coat it. Zip bag and toss until chicken is well coated. Fry in oil until done. Once they were done, I placed them on a paper towel to remove the oil and then put them into a 150 degree oven to keep them warm until time to serve. The remainder can be frozen and then warmed in an oven.

Line Drying Clothes (and Quiet Time)

2011-10-19T06:21:00.001-05:00

I mentioned in this article last week that I love to line dry my clothes. I have to admit, though, that this is the view that I get to look at as I am hanging clothes on the line.

I am grateful that I have this view, that we have clean clothes to wear, that I get to listen to the birds chirp and cows moo and I hang out clothes, and that I have the quiet time to pray for my husband and son with each piece of their clothing that I hang out.

This post is being shared at:

and

Applesauce Bundt Cake

2011-10-18T06:00:00.003-05:00

I found a very simple Applesauce Bundt Cake recipe from cooks.com. I make it using either home-canned or store-bought applesauce and it is a delicious and moist cake.

Here is the recipe:

1 yellow box cake mix (or use a homemade mix - recipe can be found at Chickens in the Road)
2 cups applesauce
3 eggs (I used powdered eggs from my long-term food storage)
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Mix cake mix with applesauce and eggs until well combined. Spray bundt pan with non-stick spray and then sprinkle with a portion of the sugar and cinnamon mixture until coated. Spoon half of the cake mix into the bundt pan and then top with remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture. Spoon remaining batter into bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for approx. 45 minutes.

What's for Dinner? Confetti Bean Soup with Beef

2011-10-17T18:11:00.002-05:00

Each year for Christmas, I try to make baskets of homemade goodies to give to each family. One of the items I included last year was a Confetti Bean Soup jar mix that I found the recipe for at Organized Christmas. I had a few jars left over, so I decided to spice it up a bit and add some meat.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 jar Confetti Bean Soup
1 bay leaf (in jar)
1 cube beef bouillon (in jar)
1 quart jar home-canned tomatoes
1 lb ground venison
6 cups water
onion powder, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
Cajun seasoning, to taste
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

I quick soaked the beans per the mix directions. After allowing them to soak for 1 hour, I added the seasonings and tomatoes. At the same time, I browned the venison and added it to the mix. I cooked the mix over a low heat until the beans were tender.

I served this over brown rice with fresh collard greens, cornbread, and candied sweet potatoes (recipe to come later). YUM!!

This post is linked to:

What's for Dinner? Beef and Broccoli with Brown Rice

2011-10-17T12:11:00.001-05:00

Last night, I made another dish with something that I had previously dehydrated. I had purchased several bags of broccoli on sale and dehydrated them last year. Yesterday, I had half of a London Broil in the refrigerator left over from Saturday night's dinner. So, I made a Beef with Broccoli dinner and served it over brown rice. Here is the recipe I used for the sauce:

4 Tbs cornstarch
8 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder

I sliced the remaining London Broil into small pieces, rehydrated about 2 cups of broccoli in 2 cups of boiling water, and sliced up 3 baby carrots using a peeler. I put about 2 Tbsp oil in the bottom of my skillet and got it hot and put the London Broil pieces in there for just a few minutes to crisp up. I drained the excess oil and then drained the broccoli and added it and the carrots to the skillet. I poured the sauce over everything in the skillet and then added about 2 cups of water and cooked it over medium heat until the sauce thickened slightly.

It turned out very good and was an excellent way to use up left-overs. One of the best ways to reduce your food budget is to reduce the waste in your food budget. If you buy something, use it all. Many times we make something, eat only half and then the remainder gets thrown away after sitting in the refrigerator for a few days.

Raised Bed Garden (and other goings on)

2011-10-17T06:31:00.001-05:00

I mentioned that we planted our raised bed garden last weekend. Here is a picture of it:

These beds are 4 foot by 8 foot divided into 4x4 sections. The back section of the bed on the left is lettuce. The front section of that one is spinach and Brussels spouts. The back section of the bed on the right is broccoli and cauliflower and the front section is cabbage collards. This is the first time that I have done these beds like this for a fall garden, so I am excited to see how they turn out.

We bought the clear plastic this weekend so that we can make some covers to put over them when the temperatures start dipping below freezing. I also put some lettuce in pots than can be brought in and put on the screened in back porch.

We spent part of the weekend putting up lights inside the barn. My husband was able to get up one side, but the bulbs we bought were the wrong kind, so I will be making a trip to Lowe's today.

On the cow front, we are having to start supplementing our cows with some protein tubs. I found an interesting article on "cow-pie-ology" at the Feeds and Feeding website that shows excellent pictures of what you should be watching for to determine whether or not your cattle are getting enough protein. You may not want to go look at the pictures before breakfast, but if you have cows, it is a very informative site.

I have also been busy with pecans. I have picked up quite a bit of pecans and am interested by the different types of pecans that I have found. I am going to do a little research on those and will put what I find into a later post.

This post is being linked to:

Using Home Dehydrated Foods

2011-10-15T18:45:00.001-05:00

I have said before that I love my Excalibur dehydrator. I have, over the years, dehydrated so many things using it. I have used two of those items in meals today. This morning, I used dehydrated shredded potatoes to make hash browns for breakfast.

Tonight, I am using some dehydrated collards to go with our dinner meal. The collards were purchased frozen on sale. I dehydrated them and sealed them in jars to keep from using precious freezer space.
I will go into more detail on dehydrating specific items in later posts, but wanted to give you a snippet of information on using dehydrated items. If you are interested in specific items, how to dehydrate them, and how to use them once dehydrated, please let me know and I will incorporate them into future posts.

Buying items on sale and dehydrating them is a great money-saver. Not only does it help you lock in your food costs at a low purchase price, it doesn't take up precious freezer space and there is no risk of losing everything in case of a power outage. As I have said before, you don't have to start out with a top of the line dehydrator. Be on the look out for one at a thrift store or garage sale. I have often seen them for $5 or less. If you don't find one, remember that Christmas is coming and it is OK to ask for "out of the normal" gifts!

Come see us for more helpful homemaking tips at She Makes Mondays!!

What's for Dinner? Pizza with Breadsticks

2011-10-15T18:40:00.000-05:00

By now, you know that we have pizza night each Friday. This week, I modified my original dough recipe that I shared here by substituting 1 cup of whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour. I am trying to increase our whole wheat usage (because it is better for us and I have alot available). Also, I made cheese breadsticks with marinara dipping sauce. To make the cheese breadsticks, I used the pizza dough recipe and put it into a rectangle pan and cut it into sticks (similar to those you get at Pizza Hut). After that, I brushed some oil on the breadsticks, sprinkled them with garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasonings, and mozzerella cheese and baked them with the pizzas. They were a hit! I really needed to use a smaller pan so that the sticks would have been thicker, but my 5-year old liked them just fine the way they were. To make the marinara sauce, I poured some of the pizza sauce (canned spaghetti sauce with a can of tomato paste added) into a small boiler. Added 1 Tbs. sugar and cooked over low to warm.

What's for Dinner? (Thursday) Grilled Chicken with Linguine and Cream Sauce

2011-10-14T13:43:00.000-05:00

While at the local dollar store today, I spotted a box of Mediterranean Chicken and Angel Hair pasta mix where you added the chicken. It really looked delicious and I picked it up to buy, but then I got to thinking, why spend $1 when I have everything I need at home to make a similar meal. So, I put the box back on the shelf and came home. I got some frozen chicken tenders out of the freezer to thaw and went to raid the pantry. I decided to use some whole wheat linguine pasta (because I didn't have any angel hair pasta) and to use my Cream of Whatever mix as the base for my sauce. (I used 2/3 cup mix to 2 2/3 cups water and added about 2 Tbs Parmesean cheese.) I must say, it really did turn out great (and I still have that $1 in my pocket.)

Now, $1 probably wasn't a bad price for that box mix, but the point is that we need to start thinking about what we have on hand to make the meals we want instead of just going out and buying something new.

The Versatile Blogger Award

2011-10-13T14:05:00.000-05:00

I am so happy that Carrie from In The Sweet Sunshine has awarded me with The Versatile Blogger award!!! Thank you so much for that honor, Carrie!

Here are the official rules:
1. Thank the person for the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Tell your readers 7 things about yourself.
3. Give this award to 15 recently discovered bloggers.
4. Contact those bloggers and let them know the exciting news.

Here are my seven things:
1. I have canned cabbage. (Don't ask me why. I was just in one of those stages where I wanted to can everything that I could get my hands on. It didn't turn out very well and I will stick to dehydrating cabbage from now on.)

2. I love cookbooks! I have a rather large collection of cookbooks that I have collected and like to just sit and thumb through them.

3. I want to learn to milk a cow. OK, so this started because my 5-year old wants to learn to milk a cow too, but I got to thinking, why not???

4. I like hanging clothes on the line to dry. I enjoy the smell of line dried clothes, but I really enjoy the experience of hanging them out, too.

5. I hope to one day have some chickens. We go though quite a few eggs at our house. I have been able to get some free range eggs from a friend, but would like to have some of our own.

6. I don't wear sandals.  I never have been able to walk very well in them - I always end up twisting my ankle.

7. I love to read. I think I got this from my maternal grandmother because I always seem to remember her having something to read by her rocker. My husband bought me a Kindle for Mother's Day and I am enjoying all of the reading options. (I no longer have to carry a bag of books everywhere I go.)

And here are the 15 blogs to which I am awarding The Versatile Blogger award. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

1.  Nap-Time Creations - "My dabbles into just about everything creative"
2. Lynn's Kitchen Adventures - "Wholesome and delicious meals from my table to yours"
3. The Farm Girl Recipes - "Where home cooked is simple and yummy"
4. A Nest In The Rocks - "Striving to create a home strong in the foundations of love, respect, and God's truths . . . "
5.  Sweet Pea's Kitchen - "My daily adventures in the kitchen"
6.  Life's Simple Measures
7. My Favorite Finds
8. The Dollar Hollering Homemaker (I love that name!!)
9. A Provincial Life - "Back to basics"
10. Homestead Revival - "Simply Home. Family. Faith"
11. Cherish Home
12. Keeper of the Home - "Naturally inspired living for the Christian homemaker"
13. Passionate Homemaking - "Loving simple, natural, intentional living"
14. Thy Hand Hath Provided - "Living simply in order to give"
15. Deep Roots at Home