SINGING THE PRAISES OF CRESCENT ROLLS

When I was growing up crescent rolls meant it was either a holiday or company was coming.  This was in the days before the familiar long tubes of crescent roll dough were in every Mom and Pop grocery.  Homemade crescent rolls were a way for a homemaker to prove she truly was Donna Reed. 

Now crescent rolls come in cans from the refrigerator section and can be purchased either already perforated for making a quick easy eight triangles to roll up into the infamous crescent shape or to be unrolled into a long flat sheet to use as the basis to make everything free sweet rolls to taco cups and Jalapeno bread sticks.

Whether you make the homemade version or get the dough from the dairy case at your local grocery they are a valuable asset to have on hand for quick and delicious meals. 

I have to admit until I started getting daily emails from http://www.pillsbury.com/  I had never considered all the possibilities for crescent rolls.  Oh I had made WienerWraps for years, but now we are having crescents as part of at least one meal a week because they are quick and easy to use. 

I either purchase the crescent rolls on sale with a coupon and stock up when I can or I make up a batch of the homemade version using the Hot Roll Master Mix and just pull the amount of dough I need for that day’s creations from the freezer.  It couldn’t be simpler.

I also make many of the Pillsbury recipes, as I have wrote previously, my own by tweaking  them to be new family favorites.

A great example would be their Sticky Chewy ChocolatePecan Rolls .

Right off the bat I did not have milk chocolate chips on hand, but I did have semi sweet.  Oh those were some RICH Pecan Rolls, definitely needed a glass of milk with them.  They were also delicious!

A week or so later I was looking at all the different baking chips the stores now have out for holiday baking.  On a wild urge (I should never get near the baking aisle when I’m craving sweets) I purchased numerous bags of various flavors, including the Kraft Caramel bits—I bet you can see where this is going.

So this morning I decided we needed sweet rolls for breakfast.  Because of good prices and coupons I was able to grab a couple of convenient tubes from the fridge and make breakfast quickly.

One 8 count can got made with the brown sugar pecan topping of the original recipe, but then I simply buttered the dough and sprinkled it with a good dose of cinnamon sugar.  At this point I considered adding either raisins or other dried fruit and/or chopped nuts.  But since I knew the others would be so rich I went with just the cinnamon sugar.

The second can was made per the original recipe right up until the chocolate chips.  That can I dotted the dough with the Kraft Caramel bits instead of chocolate chips.  While both sweet roll creations were wonderful the Caramel Rolls won hands down in the favorites department! 

In the not to distant future I will try the recipe with butterscotch chips, pie fillings,  Nutella or peanut butter.  The possibilities are endless, jelly rolls anyone?

A FOOD STORAGE NOTE here.  Right now most grocery stores are running baking supplies on sale.  It is a wonderful opportunity to stock up for many months to come.  Four, baking powders, baking chips and much more can be vacuum sealed and properly stored to last until this time next year.

Right after the holidays, or even just before the stores will start marking the baking chips down to the lowest prices of the year.  If these are kept in a a cool dark place in an air tight (or vacuum sealed) container they will keep an extremely long time.  Also look for the candies to go on sale after the holidays.  Many of those can be crushed and used for baking later on in the year as well.

Now back to the crescent rolls. Another breakfast treat would to make homemade toaster pastries by using the dough in rectangles that you filled with jellies, jams, marmalades, curds, Nutella, pudding, pie fillings, or any number of fillings.  You would simply need to put the filling on one half the rectangle, fold the other half over and use a fork to seal the edges then bake.  These could even be made ahead of time and nuked to re-heat. 

Wiener Wraps easily get an update by using all types of sausages instead of just wieners.  Don’t forget to add cheeses or maybe other goodies, such as a small bit of well drained kraut as you wrap.

The dinner options are tremendous too.  In my Muffin Tins, Not Just for Muffins Any More post I mentioned using muffin tins for all sorts of meals.  Crescent rolls are great as holders for all sorts of foods like taco filler, quiche, pizza toppings, mini “pot pies” and just about anything you can think of.

Simply spray the muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and use one crescent roll per cup.  I notice the Wal-Mart brand crescent roll even comes in a jumbo size that would be ideal for doing this in larger muffin tins.  Instead of rolling the roll up you use it flat to line the muffin tin cup.  Then fill the cup with your food of choice.  Bake at the designated crescent roll temperature until golden brown.

Speaking of Pot Pies, how about using the crescent rolls for the crust on your regular sized pot pies?

I just read a recipe on the Pillsbury website that suggests using two cans of crescent rolls.  You roll the first one out flat, seal the perforations and then butter lightly.  On top of this you add shredded pepper jack cheese.  The second can you roll out flat, seal the perforations and then lay it on top of the cheese.  You then cut through all the layers in narrow strips and twist up for bread sticks and bake at the time and temperature on the can.  They suggest serving them as a dipper for salsa.  Me I’m thinking they’d be good with any number of meals as the bread for the dinner.

Why stop with just pepper jack?  How about Italian cheese blend or plain mozzarella to serve with spaghetti—maybe use garlic butter instead of just plain butter.  Or smoked gouda and serve with a salad for lunch.  The possibilities go on and on.  Make the recipe your own.

Now that I’ve started your mind working what wonderful uses can you come up for crescent roll dough?

Be prepared, I just “liked” Pepperidge Farm’s puff pastry group on facebook and have already seen so many possibilities I’m looking for a good recipe for homemade puff pastry—in the meantime I’ll be watching for coupons too.

Jan who is quickly becoming a fan of this old time favorite for more than just bread with dinner in OK

MAKING A RECIPE YOUR OWN

I know, I am very behind on posting menus, but I have a good excuse—life, it’s been very busy.  I have plans to catch up, that is for certain.  But in the meantime here is a Patterson Pantry food related post for you.

It is amazing what will trigger your taste buds.  You can be having a casual conversation with someone and they will mention a food and suddenly you have to have it.  A commercial on tv can trigger a similar reaction.  Even games like Farmtown where you “Make” various foods can have you suddenly craving that food.

That’s what happened to me yesterday and it triggered not only a web search, but a re-creation of a recipe to suit my family’s needs and tastes.

Then of course it triggered this post.

 All too often many of us will decide we want a recipe and search the web for the “perfect” recipe for the desired food.  But the question is what is the “perfect” recipe?

We all have a “selective eater” in our family, which will rule out a recipe that was otherwise very close to what we want.  Or we will be short an ingredient.  So we tend to move on to the next recipe and end up frustrated.

Instead of doing this make that recipe your own.  Find one that sounds good and adapt it. 

Yesterday I was reading a post on a yahoogroups list and someone mentioned hush puppies.  That night’s menu called for fish sticks, tater tots and spinach with corn muffins.  Suddenly I wanted hush puppies instead of corn muffins.  Being too lazy to go to the kitchen and pull a cookbook I hit the web.

The first Hush Puppy recipe that popped up was for Jalapeno Hush Puppies.  OOOOOH!  Now that sounded great! So I clicked the link to Tastykitchen.com and read the recipe.  You got it! It was basically good, but I knew the sheer amount the recipe made was waaaay too much for the three of us for dinner.  No problem, not only am I quick with numbers I have a program (Master Cook Deluxe) that will shrink the recipe for me with the click of a button. 

Then I read the ingredients.  WOW!  That is a lot of onion powder—more than my family would want, so I cut that down to a little under one half of what it called for.  Since that was for flavoring and would not affect the rising of the dough it was an easy fix.

Next my eyes fell on the huge amount of diced jalapeno.  No wonder the recipe called them a spicy appetizer!  Burn!  Too much for my frail tummy.  So that got cut way down as well. 

So the Jalapeno Hush Puppy Original Recipe was tweaked to Jan’s Jalapeno Hush Puppies with Variations Recipe.

When I went to make the recipe I discovered I was temporarily out of Cajun Seasoning. It took me less than five minutes to whip that up at a far cheaper price than a bottle of the spice would have cost me at the grocery.  Again this was a recipe I found on the web, well actually several recipes and I sort of adapted several of them to meet my family’s taste.  Cutting down the salt, adding garlic etc.

The result was a delicious, almost spicy sopapilla tasting hush puppy to go with dinner.  I also had over half of the batter leftover. 

This prompted a discussion during dinner about what to do with the batter.  Anyone who knows me, knows I hate waste, especially food waste.  So I needed a use for all that batter that was leftover. We decided I would refrigerate it and the next night use it as batter for the scheduled homemade Chicken Nuggets.  It the batter was too thin I would just add a small amount of flour and or cornmeal to adapt it to stick to the chicken while frying.   

This of course lead to more discussion about using it on things like hot dogs for a “corn dog” , on cheese sticks, as a batter for all sorts of veggies and the list went on and on.

Then there was the fact the batter was slightly sweet.  Almost sopapilla tasting.  Ahhh, leave the Cajun Seasoning and jalapenos out and serve with honey or powdered sugar.  It would be perfect and quick.

Then my son mentioned how much the dough was like the “donuts” he and his father like so much at our favorite Chinese food restaurant.  This prompted an experiment to leave out the spicy stuff, fry and roll in either plain or cinnamon sugar.  Perfect!

All this because someone mentioned hush puppies in passing. 

My family now has another Master Mix because of all the uses we came up with for it. I will now make up a large batch of the dry ingredients both with and without the Cajun Seasoning.  To have on hand to make small batches for batter frying any number of things.  That is a true adaptation of a basic recipe.  So what recipe could you adapt for your family?

Jan who is always tweaking recipes in OK

WEEK 2 CHICKEN LEG QUARTERS

As the heat of the summer rolls in my thoughts automatically turn to my desire for a Summer Kitchen or a Canning Kitchen as some folks call them. 

In the summertime humans by nature are more active and therefore need more substantial meals to have the energy to do all we want to. 

It is also a time when more foods are preserved in one way or another in millions of homes.  All of this cooking requires heat and heat is the enemy in the summer.

Today, June 25, 2012, the high is suppose to be 106 degrees.  In June!  What are August and September going to be like?  Record air conditioning bills are expected.  Cooking adds heat to the inside of the house and cranks the air conditioner even more.

So as the summer rolls on here in hot and humid Oklahoma expect to see more and more cold foods and outdoor cooking on this blog.  However, don’t think by outdoor cooking I mean simply charcoaling.  No I use a modern version of the old time summer kitchens by moving my electric cooking appliances, and the heat they put out, outside! 

I am hoping to have a homemade solar oven soon, so be prepared for that adventure.  You will see the beginning of the Summer Kitchen cooking with this post.

The main protein item for this week is chicken leg quarters.  Alas the ones I purchased were not on sale, but at $.78 a pound they are still a decent buy.  I purchase them in a 10# bag, then once we have them home we either cook them all up right then if all the meals are using cooked chicken, or we package them up in two leg quarter packages.  This week it was package and freeze.

We find that for most meals two leg quarters will feed the three adults in our family nicely with proper side dishes. These are labeled and frozen until needed.

So here is our menu for the week:

BREAKFAST OPPORTUNITIES

Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Raisin Bran

Grapenuts

Oatmeal

Farina

Multigrain cereal

Strawberry Breeze juice

Peaches

Dried fruit

LUNCH OPPORTUNITIES

Bologna sandwiches

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Jarred Salad

Leftovers

Walking Salad

DINNERS WEEK 2—CHICKEN LEG QUARTERS

Day 1

Baked chicken leg quarters

Grandma Zell’s Dressing

Cranberry Sauce

Baked Potatoes

Baked Sweet potatoes

Green beans

Wacky cake

COMMENTS:

I can hear some of you screaming now, baked chicken, baked stuffing, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes and a baked cake?  Woman are you NUTS?  It’s 106 degrees outside!  But remember I’m using my Summer Kitchen.  In this case I am using my turkey roaster and placing it securely in the sunroom out of harm’s way. 

And I’m doing it in layers.  I make use of the heating pans I have for my turkey roaster oven by putting the cake in the bottom of the roaster in a 9 x 13 pan.  The potatoes are foil wrapped and on the bottom of the roaster, next to the cake.  Using my heating pans to hold the stuffing with the chicken leg quarters on top of that.

The trick is all cook at near the same temperature.  You preheat the oven and then fill it.  With it being outside there is no cooking heat in the kitchen on this hot summer day.  Plus, you don’t need to stay with it.  Just set a timer in the cool house with you so you will remember to get the cake out of the oven when it’s done as it cooks faster than the other foods.  I start it all at the same time and just remove things as they finish.

If you don't have a turkey roaster, use your toaster oven and microwave to cook this meal outside and cut your cooling bill.

I baked extra potatoes to use in the potato salad the next day.

If you like sun tea you could even make your tea outdoors.  My family does not care for sun tea. But I know many folks that do.

Dinner Day 2

Fish Sticks

Potato Salad

Cole Slaw

CheddarBiscuits

Wacky Cake

Iced tea

COMMENTS:

To beat the heat for this meal I use the toaster oven in the sunroom for baking both the biscuits and the fish sticks. 

DAY 3

Fried Bologna

Kay’sBBQ Sauce

Macaroni ‘n Cheese

Green Beans

Cucumber and Onion Salad

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip cookies

Tea

COMMENTS:

I know it’s a southern thing, but fried bologna is good folks.  When my husband got the slicer going he sliced half of the chub thick and the rest thin.  Then a few of the thick slices were fried and then cut in cubes to serve of up with my friend Kay’s BBQ Sauce.  It took me years to get the recipe from her, and I am so glad I did.  Kay has gone on to her reward, but I have fond memories of her every time I make this sauce.

Warning the recipe makes a huge amount, around 5 quarts worth.  Generally I’ll put a jar in the fridge, and the rest I’ll either can or freeze for future use.  When I can it I use the pressure canner due to the butter in it.  Some have told me it could probably be water bath canned safely, because of the ketchup acidity, but I prefer I not take the chance. 

Once you open a jar be sure and refrigerate any leftovers.

My beat the heat strategy for this meal was to cook the BBQ sauce in my large crockpot, and to fry the bologna quickly in the house.  I could have used the electric skillet in the sunroom.  But that would have required me being out in the heat to do it.  I figure the short time it takes to fry bologna wouldn’t be worth me suffering in the heat.  I also cheated and did the bringing of the water to boil for the blue box Mac ‘n Cheese in the house, but because I have an electric stove I was able to turn the burner off as soon as the macaroni was added to the boiling water and the residual heat cooked the pasta perfectly.

The cookies were cooked in the toaster oven in the sunroom.

DAY 4

Chicken Noodle Soup

Jarred salad

Wacky Cake or cookies

Tea

COMMENTS:

Cook the chicken leg quarters in the crockpot in your summer kitchen and you have a filling meal without ever heating up the kitchen.   This recipe combines two Master Mixes to make an entirely separate meal.

DAY 5

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Jarred salad

Garlic toast

Tea

Peach cobbler

COMMENTS:

If you own an electric skillet hit the summer kitchen and use it to make this dish.  Use your rice cooker or a small crockpot to cook your spaghetti noodles.  OR use the same method I used for cooking the macaroni the day before.

The peaches for this meal were purchased as “seconds” at our local feed store.  I got a bag full for $2.50 and they’ve been delicious, but it’s time to finish them up.  So into the cobbler they went.  The cobbler crust was simply Stir ‘n Roll biscuit dough with some sugar and cinnamon added in to a thin version of the biscuit dough that was dropped on the hot syrup from my prepping the peaches and then baked until golden brown in the toaster oven.

DAY 6

FishTacos

Refried beans

Jarred Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing

Cinnamon Sugar Flour Tortilla Chips

Tea

COMMENTS:

The first time I ever heard of fish tacos I was a young sahm watching soap operas and one man on the soap was complaining his wife had served him tuna tacos for dinner the night before.  At the time I gagged at the thought of any fish in a taco.

Fast forward through the years and I heard more and more about fish tacos of all sorts.  Then one weekend, back when we were still eating out, we were at Long John Silver’s and they were giving away free fish tacos.  I thought “why not?”  I was hooked! 

Not long after that Taco Bueno started carrying them too.  While one makes them with shredded cabbage on them the other uses shredded lettuce. One uses corn tortillas, the other uses flour tortillas.   Either way they are truly good.  They are something I’ve come to miss since we’ve stopped eating out.  So why not make them at home?  I developed the recipe and was VERY pleased with the outcome.  I hope you will like them too.

DAY 7

Pancakes

Fruit Syrups

Milk

COMMENTS:

We love going to that very famous pancake house for pancakes and waffles, just like everyone else.  One of our favorite parts of the meal is the large variety of flavored pancake syrups.  But why spend the money for so much money for a meal you can make for pennies on the dollar at home in just a few minutes?

As you can see you can easily do Summer Kitchen cooking and help keep your home cooler with just a little pre-planning.

Jan who REALLY  wants a solar cooker and dehydrator in OK

Week #1 GROUND BEEF

WEEK #1—GROUND BEEF

So now that we’ve covered the basic how-to’s let’s do some actual menu planning.  As I said I planned for ground beef for the first week.  We live on a varying schedule here on the Rock ‘n Tree Ranch and therefore most meals are “whenever” only dinner has a set time for those who are home, 5:30 pm whenever possible.  Therefore I merely list what is available for the week for breakfasts and lunches and everyone picks and chooses on those as their taste buds are tempted.  I try to stick with the dinner menu pretty closely, however, because we need the leftovers for lunches and meals later in the week.

I plan on using the following format for each menu post as I go:

I.                   Breakfast opportunities

II.                 Lunch Opportunities

III.              Dinner Menus

IV.              Snack Opportunities

Each one will be expounded on as needed below the listing.

In each one where I have included a recipe on the blog there will be a hyperlink to that recipe.  Each recipe will be categorized with the same terms so you could do a search using the search feature at the left for recipes not only by name, but by what category they fall in.  IE: Master Mix Meatballs would pop up when you searched for ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, meatballs.  You could also search for the recipe that used the Master Mix Meatballs by name ex: Sweet ‘n Sour Meatballs. 

When a Master Mix is used in a recipe it will also hyperlink back to the Master Mix recipe if you need it.

As I mentioned before the first few weeks will be familiar to some because they were listed on my original blog, which is now dedicated to my stories, travel info and mystery shopping It can be viewed at: Mystery Shopping

Hopefully this new format will be easier to view the menus and recipes with. So let’s get started:

BREAKFAST OPPORTUNITIES

FrenchToast

Hot Cereals available:

Oatmeal

Farina

Multi-grain

Cold Cereals available:

         Raisin Bran

         Grape-nuts

Fruit available:

         Dried cherries

         Grapefruit

         Strawberries, frozen ones after the strawberry dessert is          served

         Mulberries

Beverages available:
         Hot Tea
         Water
         Milk
         Orange juice

COMMENTS

            I had leftover French bread from the week before so I sliced it all up to make the French toast in one big batch.  What was not eaten the day I cooked it was either refrigerated or frozen to be heated quickly in the microwave, or toaster oven for a grab and go breakfast as needed.

All produce is purchased fresh on the grocery shopping day and I try very hard to only get the amount I am certain will be eaten before it becomes too ripe.  Buying in bulk is not good if the food goes to waste.  If I get a very good deal on the produce I will, however, purchase more than we need and then either can, dry or freeze the rest before it becomes too ripe for our food storage.

The mulberries were from our trees, and therefore a free fruit for the week.

Cereals, both hot and cold are either store brand, purchased in bulk or purchased on sale with a coupon to help keep the costs of them down.  I also am experimenting, with some good success on making my own “instant” versions of the hot cereals and pre-packaging them for fast getaways in the mornings.

LUNCH OPPORTUNITIES:

Sandwich Ingredients:

            Peanut butter

            Jelly

            Honey

            American Cheese, either on a sandwich with cold or grilled

            ToastedCheddar

            Bologna

Sandwich Toppings

            Mayonnaise

            Miracle Whip

            A variety of mustards

            Italian Dressing

            Lettuce

            Cheeses

            Pickles, both sweet and dill

            Sliced peppers

            Salt and pepper

Salad Ingredients:

            Jarred Greens

            Sprouts
Soups:

            Tomato

            Home canned beef

Leftovers

COMMENTS

            When serving sandwiches change up the breads on a regular basis to keep things from becoming boring.  An American Cheese grilled sandwich on white bread every time is quite frankly boring.  But when you serve it on rye or pumpernickel it suddenly becomes a sandwich shop sandwich and a special treat.  Also change up the cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches.  I particularly like cream cheese on raisin bread for a special treat.

Don’t forget to vary the butter or oil you use to grill the sandwich as well.  We like using garlic butter for a change, but other favorites include adding different herbs or oils to the toasting process.

The Cheddar Toasted sandwiches are a different sandwich all together, see the recipe to see how they are different.

On the subject of bologna sandwiches remember this comes in all different types and each one has its own unique taste.  I like garlic bologna, but the men in the house do not, so I only get it on rare occasions.  There are also beef bologna, classic bologna, and varieties that contain pickles, olives, and cheese.  Vary your bologna and spice up this plain Jane sandwich.

What you top a sandwich with can make all the difference in the world too.  I often use the salad making from jarred greens (simply greens that have been vacuumed sealed in a jar to prolong their freshness) in place of lettuce on a sandwich, after all many of those greens are lettuce and they add a variety of tastes to the sandwich, as will the sprouts.

Tomato soup too can be jazzed up with a variety of herbs or by dropping in croutons, crackers, leftover cooked vegetables or chunks of cheese for a different taste.

JP NOTES: When packing hot sandwiches for lunches place a paper towel in the container for them with the sandwich.  This will absorb the moisture from the heat of cooking and help to keep your sandwich from becoming soggy.

To save money on packed lunches invest in reusable containers such as the Ziploc brand instead of plastic sandwich bags.  A small square Ziploc bowl (2 cup capacity) will hold a sandwich nicely, two if they are thin.

If no microwave or refrigerator is available at work invest in a variety of sizes of thermos containers (often found at garage sales and thrift shops) as well as thermo lunch bags and ice chests for hot foods.  Rinse these containers with hot water prior to filling and they will keep hot foods hot.  Doing the same with a quick fill of ice water prior to filling cold food containers, or storing the containers in your refrigerator will help keep cold foods cold.

To cut expense and mess in a small ice chest for cold foods visit  your local dollar store and pick up blue ice blocks.  Get enough that there will always be one in the freezer while the other is in use.

Now for the biggie:

DINNER WEEK 1 DAY 1

MasterMix Meatballs

Mashed Potatoes

Black-eyed Peas

Carrot Cake

DinnerRolls

Iced Tea

COMMENTS

The recipe for the Master Mix Meatballs uses four pounds of ground beef.  This will allow you plenty for this meal, the Sweet ‘n Sour Meatballs later in the week and to preserve the remaining for future weeks either by freezing or by canning.  I can mine because I do not have a free standing freezer.  I can them both plain and in beef broth for future use.  Please handle all food safely and preserve properly.

A triple batch of mashed potatoes is made to be used in the making of the potato salad later in the week, as well as having mashed potatoes again with the meal on day 3. 

The black-eyed peas were home canned from dried peas when I needed to finish filling my canner on a previous day.

This particular carrot cake was made from a grocery store mix that I got for just a few cents by combining a coupon with a good sale on the cake mix and frosting mix to go with it.  At other times I will make a scratch cake if there isn’t such a deal going on.

I made a large batch of the dinner roll mixture, but froze part of the dough in balls to use later in the week to have fresh dinner rolls again.

DINNER WEEK 1 DAY 2

Pinto beans and ham

JalapenoCornbread

Carrot Cake

Milk or iced tea

COMMENTS:

The pinto beans were cooked as per package directions and I seasoned them with a ham bone that I had froze for future use from the Christmas ham.

I cooked an extra large batch of beans to use in future meals and to home can for quick grab and run meals.

DINNER WEEK 1 DAY 3

HamburgerSteak

BrownGravy

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans

Baked Apples

DinnerRolls

Iced Tea

COMMENTS

The brown gravy is made from one of the Master Mix recipes.  The mashed potatoes and dinner rolls are leftovers from the mega batch earlier in the week.

DINNER WEEK 1 DAY 4

Smoked roast

Corn on the cob

French Fries

Black eyed peas

Garlic bread

Carrot Cake

Tea

COMMENTS:

One of the problems one can run into in the beginning is that on the first week you might not have the leftovers I had to incorporate into the meal plan.  In this cake I had smoked roast and French bread both leftover that needed to be used before they ruined.  If you do not have these cruise your fridge, freezer and pantry.  What leftovers could you turn into a good meal on this day?

DINNER WEEK 1 DAY 5

Sweetand Sour meatballs

Egg rolls

Ham Fried Rice

Steamed rice, make a big batch for use in future meals

Tea

Almondshortbread cookies with strawberries

COMMENTS:

The Sweet ‘n Sour Meatballs are made with the Meatball Master Mix from day 1 of this week.  I used frozen cooked rice and home canned ham leftover from the Christmas ham, along with eggs from our chickens to to make the Ham fried rice.  The strawberries are the frozen ones mentioned in the breakfast menus.  This was purchased on sale and kept frozen until I thawed them the day of the meal.  You could also freeze your own strawberries if you have a good source for them.

DINNER WEEK 1 DAY 6

BBQ smoked sausage

Cole slaw, make double batch for later in the week

Macaroni and cheese, purchased on sale

Iced tea
Lemon Bars

COMMENTS:

Again we run into first week troubles.  I purchased the smoke sausage in bulk from Sam’s Club and frozen it in meal size portions a couple of weeks prior to setting up this menu.

The bar-b-q sauce was some I made and canned last summer.  

As noted in the menu above make a double batch of the cole slaw because it always improves with age and it will appear again the first of next week.

I confess we LIKE the blue box Mac ‘n Cheese and it will appear a lot over the next year.  I purchase it either in bulk at Sam’s Club or on sale with a coupon whenever possible.

DINNER WEEK 1 DAY 7

Bean burritos

Mexican Rice
Guacamole
Sopapillas

Tea

COMMENTS:

The burritos are made by making refried beans out of leftover pinto beans from earlier in the week.

I basically stir fried some of the leftover rice from earlier in the week with chili seasoning and cumin to taste to make the rice.

SNACK OPPORTUNITIES WEEK #1:

   Carrot Cake

            Almond Shortbread cookies

            Lemon Bars

            Grapefruit

            Fruit Cups

            Strawberries

            Mulberries

            Carrots

COMMENTS:

            If someone snacks hard on some of the sweets then you may need to adjust your scheduled desserts for later in the week.

I hope this helps you in your first week of the year, no matter what month you start in.

Jan who is hoping to stick with this plan for a full year in OK