We keep our food storage in the basement on shelves. I try to keep track of how much we have of each item. When we use about half of our stock, I start looking to replenish.

Here are the food staples we keep  in our house.

Cooking Staples:

• Pasta (all shapes and kinds)
• Pasta Sauce – With Pasta and sauce, you always have a quick dinner
• Beans – Because I have a picky husband, we pretty much only buy black beans, but buy whatever your family will eat.
• Canned tomatoes – These are great for pasta, soups, or even over chicken
• Frozen or canned corn – Again, great for soups or a quick side-dish
• Onions and garlic – A match made in heaven! This can make a quick dish taste even better
• Tomato sauce
• Chicken and beef broth
• Brown rice
• Ground meat – We get turkey, but beef, chicken or pork can be used basically the same way. I buy this in bulk and separate it into 1/2 lb portions to freeze.
• Chicken – I only buy this when it goes on sale and I freeze it (boneless, skinless breasts) in individual servings.
• Frozen Fish
• Carrots
• Cheddar Cheese – Cheddar lasts a long time.
• Olive Oil
• Balsamic Vinegar – I add this to soup, pasta, sloppy jos, meatloaf, chili, etc.

Baking Staples:

• All-purpose flour
• Granulated Sugar – I buy my flour and sugar in 25-50 lb bags. Then I store them in large buckets.  If you don’t have buckets, call your local bakery and ask if they have spare frosting buckets they want to get rid of.
• Brown sugar
• Powdered sugar
• Butter
• Eggs
• Cinnamon
• Chocolate chips
• Pure vanilla extract
• Buttermilk – This lasts so long and makes cakes and breads so much better!!
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Oats – We also have these on hand for oatmeal
• Raisins/Craisins
• Pure Almond extract
• Pecans – Store these in the freezer so they last longer. This is true for other nuts as well.
• Cornmeal
• Cake Mixes – For quick cookies. Because we’ve all had moments where we need an immediate treat.
• Vegetable or Canola oil

Kid Staples: We always try to have healthy snacks we can take on the go.

• Natural peanut-butter – This is of course good for sandwiches, but my son also uses this as a dip for pita chips, or in a banana smoothie.
• Apple Sauce – In the jar, in pouches or in individual cups
• Canned mandarin oranges – Make sure to buy canned fruit stored in fruit juice and not syrup whenever possible.
• Granola bars – This is another thing I only buy on sale and stock up.
• Popcorn – Buy the small microwave bags. One small bag (an individual serving) feeds both my kids.
• Whole-wheat crackers or pita chips – These also often go on sale and are a great alternative to potato chips.
• Dried-fruit chips – My kids prefer apple and sweet potato chips. We buy these in the bulk food section when they go on sale.
• Whole-wheat bread – My favorite brand is pretty expensive, but goes on sale often. When it does, I buy four loaves and freeze three.
• Cereal – Another “only buy on sale” item. I’ve been able to switch my children almost completely to organic, all-natural cereal without breaking the budget. Store cereals in order according to expiration dates.
• Bottled Water – This is good for both kids and adults. We generally just use our reusable water bottles, but it’s good to have pre-bottled water around for emergencies… or if I forget to wash the kids’ water bottles.
• Fruit (duh) – I stock up on whatever is on sale and keep it in bowls on the counter. That way, when they want food, they see the fruit first. I’m like an evil genius! Maybe genius is going a bit too far.

What are your favorite must-have items in your pantry?

I was a bit terrified, not being an expert canner, but I felt a huge amount of pride when I tested my seals and discovered all my jars had sealed. In the words of my mom, “If you do it right,the physics of it works.” I guess she’s right.

Before I started, I assembled all my canning supplies. If you don’t have some of these tools, you can get by with tongs and a butter knife. My canning set(click the link to see my set) was a gift from my mom and I’m very grateful for it. I highly recommend a large pot with a canning rack to keep your jars from tipping while they process.

The first step is to sterilize your jars. My mom taught me to do this by putting my jars and rings into an empty dishwasher (I also added all my canning tools, except my magnet tool), and running them through a wash cycle (with soap). Doing this while your prepare everything else ensures the jars are warm when you add the jam. It’s really important for your jars to be warm, so the warm jam doesn’t crack the jar.

While your jars are sterilizing, put your lids into a small saucepan with a little water and bring to a simmer.

Before you mash your berries, wash and hull the strawberries. Then cut them into chunks and either mash them with a potato masher, or blend them with an immersion blender.

The amount of strawberries you’ll need depends on how much you mash your berries. In the end, you’ll need 5 cups of crushed berries. I blended mine with an immersion blender (leaving a few chunks because I love the large pieces of strawberry in the jam), so I needed more berries. I used about 3 1/4 lbs of strawberries. If you choose to mash your berries with a potato masher and leave them chunkier, you’ll probably need 2-3 pounds.

Add your 5 cups of mashed strawberries to a large pot, and measure 7 cups of granulated sugar into a large bowl. Set this aside for later.

This is a good time to fill your massive canning pot with water and start heating it up on the stove.

To the berries, add one package of canning fruit pectin. You can find this in the baking isle of your grocery store. Put the pot of berries on the stove on high heat and stir constantly to bring to a full rolling boil.

Once the mixture starts to boil, keep stirring and add the sugar all at once. Bring back to a hard boil and boil for another 1 minute and 20 seconds. I know it’s a random time. I don’t know why it works, but it does.

Now remove the pot from the heat and skim the foam off the top. Most people throw this away, but I LOVE the foam. I put it in a plastic container in my fridge and eat it like jam.

Now it’s time to fill the jars! Put the sterilized jars on a kitchen towel (because if you’re like me, you will slop) and fill the jars using a canning funnel and a ladle. If you don’t have a funnel, you can just ladle the jam in. Since I have a talent for spilling, I personally would not do well without the funnel. I fill it to the bottom of the funnel, or about 1 inch from the top of the jar.

Using your stick tool (or a butter knife), get rid of any air bubbles by running the tool around the inside of the jar.

Using a damp cloth, wipe the rims of the jars clean and set the lid on top, either with tongs or a canning magnet tool. Now lightly screw the rings on the jars, being very careful not to move the cans too much.

Gently place the jars on the canning rack and lower them into the water. Put the lid on the pan and as soon as the water starts to boil hard, set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn the heat off and let the cans sit for another five minutes.

Now set the jars back on the kitchen towel and walk away for 24 hours. That is the hardest part for me. I really want to test the seal right then, but that would be counter-productive.

After 24 hours, gently remove the ring and check the seal. If the lid doesn’t move at all, you’ve successfully canned jam!! If it does, put it in your fridge and use it.

Be sure to label your cans with what they are and when they were made. They’ll stay good in a cool, dark place for up to a year.

Good luck!!

In a medium bowl, whisk together:

• 2 3/4 C flour
• 1t baking soda
• 3/4 t salt
• 3/4 C cocoa powder

In a large bowl, cream together:

• 1 C butter
• 3/4 C granulated sugar
• 1 C brown sugar

Beat this together for about 4 minutes and then add:

• 3 eggs
• 1T vanilla

Now add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined.

Here is the awesome part!!!

In a plastic bag, crush 1C chopped pretzels. Use any kind of pretzel you have. We used pretzel goldfish and it was delicious.

Into the dough, add:

• The crushed pretzels
• 1/2 C chocolate chips
• 1 C caramel bits (these are high on the list of great inventions)

Once everything is mixed together, scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Cool the cookies on a cooling rack set over a sheet of wax paper (or foil, or plastic wrap or really anything you can throw away). Once the cookies are cool, drizzle them with caramel syrup.

WAHOO! We were pretty happy with these in our house. After we ate ourselves sick, we sent the rest to work with my husband, who said they got great reviews.

We started with blank terracotta pots. This size runs about $2 per pot. Be sure to wash your pots and let them dry completely before you begin. I just wiped them down with a wet washcloth.

Then I armed the kids with several colors of acrylic craft paint, different sized-brushes and plastic beads. Remember to lay out a ton of newspaper under your project. It took about 30 seconds to clean up what looked like a huge mess.

After the kids finished their masterpieces, they directed me as to where the beads should go, and I glued them on using hot glue. Then we added the “to/from” with black permanent marker.

Next, we hit up the gardening section at Target to get these adorable little garden tools and two packs of seeds. I just taped the seeds inside the pots using scotch tape.

That’s it. Think about it. Masterpieces like this would cost thousands in a gallery, but each can be yours for about $3. What a steal!! Happy Mother’s Day!!

I did some research and discovered how to make my bananas over-ripe. I was skeptical at first, but now I’m another witness that this works! I’m not mentioning a specific site, because I found these instructions on many websites (with varying times and temperatures), most of which were “question-and-answer” websites, like Yahoo Answers. Here is what worked best for me.

I preheated my oven to 300 degrees and lined my bananas up on a cookie sheet.

Once the oven hit 300 degrees, I put my bananas in and watched the magic happen. I was prepared for exploding bananas or an over fire, but neither happened. My bananas seeped out a little, but not enough to affect anything.

I pulled the bananas out after 45 minutes, at which point they looked like this.

After they cooled for about 30 minutes, I pulled back the peel and found perfectly ripe bananas!

As I mashed my bananas, I noticed the consistency was a little stringier than normal, but this didn’t change my cupcakes at all. In the future, I’ll try to be more prepared to save myself having to wash one more pan, but it’s nice to know the world can still go on, even if I have no over-ripe bananas.

Start with a big batch of cookie dough. Make one from scratch or use a store-bought dough. If you use the store-bought rolls, use two.

Spread the dough onto a half sheet pan (I did it this way because it’s easier to cut small pieces for kids, but feel free to use a round pizza stone if you like).

Bake the crust at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes and set it aside to cool. You really want the crust to be cooked all the way through because the toppings will soften it.

Now start with the sauce. This is pretty much awesome. Beat together:

• 8 oz softened cream cheese
• 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 1t vanilla

Fold in:

• 1 8 oz tub whipped topping (I don’t recommend using fresh whipped cream as you need something that will hold up longer).

Spread this delicious combination over your completely cooled cookie dough.

Now get your toppings ready:

Candy bar pizza:

Chop up 3 candy bars. We used Twix bars, but use whatever you like.

Spread the candy over the pizza.

Top with chocolate and caramel syrup.

I used purchased caramel sauce, but made my chocolate sauce by combining:

• 1/3 C half and half (simmer to warm)
• 1/3 C chocolate chips (melt in half and half)
• 1t vanilla

Let the sauce cool before adding it to the pizza.

Fruit Pizza:

In a medium bowl, combine:

• 1/4 C blackberries
• 1/4 C blueberries
• 1/4 C chopped strawberries (about 4-5 strawberries)
• 2 kiwis (chopped)

Top with

• 2 t agave nectar
• 1 t lemon juice

Let this sit for about five minutes and then add the fruit to the pizza using a slotted spoon. The reason for the slotted spoon is, if you get too much juice on the pizza, it will turn a bit soggy.

Now you can decide which you prefer.  After tasting both, I still like the traditional fruit pizza, though the candy bar pizza was delicious as well.

Based on reports,  it appears that a large number of our blog subscribers currently subscribe via Google Reader. Here are some ways to continue subscribing to our blog.

Other Ways to Follow Our Blog Other Than RSS:

Subscribe to receive each blog post via email. This ensures you won’t miss a thing, makes it easier for you to find what you are looking for and easier to share with your friends and family.

Subscribe to the Blog Via Your Amazon Kindle. Our blog publishes with Amazon Kindle. There is a very small fee associated with this subscription but if you love your Kindle this might be the best solution.

If You Really Like RSS And Need A New Reader:

Personally I’ve moved on to Feedly. Feedly seems to be a strong RSS feeder that offers a no cost solution. So far so good. I’ve also heard good things about TheOldReader.com, NetVibes, and Pulse.

Thanks for reading!!

In a small bowl, combine 1/3 C oats with 2T milk. Mix and let this sit while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

Now brown half a chopped onion in 2t olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Set that aside.

In another small bowl, combine:

• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 2T Worcestershire sauce
• 2T molasses
• 1 t honey mustard
• 1t cumin

Now it’s time to bring it all together!!

In a large bowl:

• Beat one egg and add:
• the oat mixture
• 1/4 C of the tomato sauce mixture
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/2 t salt
• The cooked onions

Combine this together before adding:

• 1 lb ground turkey

You can use ground beef, pork, or chicken if you like. We use ground turkey for everything in our house. I think the best way to mix this altogether is with your hands. Plus my kids like when I mix with my hands and then shout, “I have monster hands!” while holding up my food-covered fingers. Oh the joys of motherhood.

Now line a 1/4 sheet pan with foil (to make your life easier at cleanup) and top with a cooling rack.It’s best to use a rack with metal running in both parallel and perpendicular for more stability. Spray the cooling rack with nonstick spray.

Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape and gently place it on the cooling rack. Cooking it this way pulls the fat out of the meatloaf, so you aren’t left with a loaf of meat swimming in fat. Ew.

Top with half the sauce and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Top with the additional sauce and bake for another 15 minutes.

Start by combining:

• 1/2 C peanut butter 
• 2T softened butter
• 1/2 C powdered sugar
• pinch salt

I had a lot of help with this.

Once this is combined, melt 3C chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring after every 30 seconds.

Line a mini-muffin pan with liners and fill them about 1/3 way full with the melted chocolate.

Now scoop 3/4-1t of the peanut butter mixture into the chocolate.

Top the cups with the remaining chocolate.

Let these sit in the fridge for about an hour.

That’s all it takes to have homemade peanut butter cups!

First, melt 2 bags (12 ounces each) of baking chips (like chocolate chips). I used one bag chocolate and one bag butterscotch because that is my favorite combination, but use whatever you like or have. It would work with just chocolate, chocolate with peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch alone, etc. The possibilities are endless!!!!

Now stir in 10 ounces Chinese noodles.

As far as the cookie part goes, that’s it for ingredients!

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop some of the cookie concoction onto waxed paper and form it into a bird’s nest shape using your hands. Yes, my hands were very chocolatey, but I didn’t complain too much.

Now while the cookies are still gooey, add the eggs. For white eggs, I used yogurt-covered raisins because that’s what I had. For the colorful eggs, I used a bag of dark-chocolate Cadbury mini eggs.

Sadly, I was disappointed in the dark chocolate. Mini Cadbury eggs are a big part of my life during the Easter season. I buy them the day they come out and spend a week in mourning after they’re sold out for the season. Since I’m also a fan of big chocolate, I thought this would be a match made in Heaven. Sadly… it wasn’t. I think next year, I’ll go back to my classic mini Cadbury eggs.

Anyway… just place the eggs however you like in the nest. Feel free to use whatever egg-shaped candy you have.

Let these sit for about an hour until they’re set.

I love how crunchy and sweet these cookies are. Like I said… beware of contracting a Chinese noodle cookie addiction.