Back to Weekend Cooking

I get paid every-other week, therefore I shop every-other week now, instead of weekly.  It is sort of nice to shop and cook one weekend, then use the next weekend for other activities.  Sometimes, I break up the cooking by cooking some items one weekend and a few other items the next.

Here's my weekend cooking.  I made old standbys and a couple of newer dishes:

Meatloaf Muffins

These are great for lunch paired with fruit or a salad.

I freeze them in 1-portion snack baggies.

Back To Cooking Leftovers On Purpose!

After adventure and life changes, I'm ready to get back to blogging.

In late 2011 I stopped blogging when I made a life change and closed our home child care after 13 years.  It was bittersweet as I miss the families I served, but 13 years of changing diapers is enough for anyone!

Cooking Today . . .

I have been putting off bulk cooking for some time. I took advantage of this long weekend to get caught up and fill my freezer. Here's what I made:

Brown Bag Burritos

Honey Cinnamon Wheat Bread

(recipe coming later this week)

Homemade Dog Food

Orange Maple Chicken with

Sweet Potatoes & Acorn Squash

(recipe coming later this week)

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Spaghetti Squash

It has been a productive day. I'm so glad I have tomorrow off to rest and enjoy my full freezer.

Happy Memorial Day!

Thanks to Army Boy and everyone who serves our country.

Play Dough!

I've tried different recipes for play dough and even bought commercial play dough, but nothing beats this recipe:

1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 c. water
2 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. food coloring

Combine 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt and 2 teaspoons cream of tartar in a large saucepan. Gradually stir in 1 cup water mixed with 2 tablespoons oil and 1 teaspoon food coloring. Cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly until a ball forms.

Remove from heat, cool and knead until smooth on wax paper. Store in an airtight container.

I made a double batch.

This recipe keeps very well in an air-tight bag or plastic container and survives many play sessions.

Homemade Play Dough

My Quick List

With my new set-up (child care downstairs and my kitchen upstairs) freezer cooking is a necessity if I want to continue serving meals made from scratch to the toddlers and myself. It's no longer a fun hobby and luxury to make meals ahead, but survival.

Before, if I didn't have a freezer-full of meals, I knew I could put something together last minute if I had to, or I could make a big batch of the "meal of the day", serve it, and freeze the leftovers.

So now, I must stay on top of my freezer cooking. That means planning BEFORE I go shopping. We usually grocery shop Friday evening right after child care is over, which means I must have my grocery list ready by Friday afternoon. (I don't know about you, but I'm a "List Person"). Although I keep a running list all week, I usually finalize my list at nap-time on Friday after consulting the weekly store ad online. Most of my grocery list is based on what is on sale.

Until this week, I also consulted my recipe box as a part of making my list. With my list of favorite recipes growing quickly, it's quite a chore going through my recipe box trying to find the ingredients I need to buy to make the meals out of what's on sale each week.

It finally dawned on me to make a quick reference list. There are certain things I keep on-hand all the time: garlic powder, minced onions, most spices, baking supplies and condiments, etc. But, there are some things I don't keep on-hand and know I have to add to my list if I want to make certain recipes: cranberry sauce, orange soda, tropical fruit, cheese, pasta, rice, etc.

So, I got to thinking that if I made a list of the recipes I love to keep in my freezer, with a list of items that are not staples in my pantry, I could have a quick reference for making my grocery list.

Here's my Freezer Cooking List. It may not make any sense to anyone else, but it has made my grocery list planning go much quicker.

Food Revolution!

Have you been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? I am more amazed at each episode. You can watch full episodes online through the link above.

Jamie is a TV chef that is starting a movement to get Americans to eat healthy. He's chose Huntington, W. Va., America's most Obese City to start the Food Revolution.

It seems Americans have lost their way with food. With inexpensive fast food, cheap convenience foods, and busy schedules the art of cooking from scratch and eating around the table is all but lost.

Leftovers On Purpose (this blog) was born out of my becoming aware that I needed to not buy prepackaged foods anymore and to cook "real food" not only for my health, but to get the toddlers started eating right. I am as busy as anyone else and I know if I can prepare food ahead of time and have it ready to heat (making my own prepackaged food of sorts), I will avoid going back to convenience and fast foods. I love burgers and fries and chicken nuggets as much as the next person. Now, it's a rare treat to have fast food--just like when we were growing up.

What I like about Jamie's show is that it's not a weight loss show or a diet show. It's a "back to basics" show. He's encouraging people to buy food and cook it at home. And you know what? It's not as hard as you might think. With a little planning, effort and determination, it can be done. Now that I've been doing it for a year, it's second nature and not hard at all.

Yes, cooking from scratch seems more expensive at first glance (who doesn't love a Value Menu?), but if you compare nutrients, you get far more nutrients if you cook food yourself. Where you might eat two fast food cheeseburgers to feel full, if you make a cheeseburger at home and put it on a whole wheat bun with lettuce and tomato and just a tad of ketchup or light mayo, you would only need to eat one to be full and you would get a lot more vitamins out of it. You can easily keep the cost down by watching for sales and buying and preparing the food in bulk, it doesn't have to be expensive.

When I started eating better last May, there was a two-week adjustment period where I really missed my junk food. I just wanted to eat and eat. But after that was over, I started to enjoy the healthy food and learned to know when I was full, not just want to eat just to be eating. I lost some weight and I felt better all around. I no longer needed antacid tablets nightly and I actually had more energy--still do!

Start your own Food Revolution!

Wonder What I've Been Up To?

Sorry for being MIA for over a week. We've moved! At the last minute, the house became available to us a week early, so we moved a week earlier than we had intended. That threw my whole blog schedule off.

We are so happy in our new house, but still busy trying to organize everything. I hope to be back to blogging recipes soon.

Here's a photo of our new house . . .

The upstairs is a 3 bedroom house and the downstairs is our home child care (with a bathroom and laundry room). It's perfect for our home business.

Reminder . . .

A double batch of Potato Biscuits does NOT fit in my Kitchen Aid.

I didn't have enough all-purpose flour, so I used half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.

They turned out just as yummy as the regular all-purpose flour and just as soft, and maybe a bit more healthy :)

My freezer is now full of biscuits.

I got what I wanted for Christmas!

After a year of serving in Iraq, our son is home safe!

Our son, Caleb, joined the Army when he was just 17 years old. He was the youngest to graduate in his Basic Training Unit at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. From there he trained for Cannon Crew Member at Ft. Sill, OK and is stationed at Ft. Hood, TX.

Shortly after his AIT training, he learned he would be going to Iraq. Last Christmas he was not able to be with us as he was preparing for his journey. I did get to travel to Ft. Hood to visit him.

He was in Iraq from January 2009 through December 2009 with a short leave in August.

While in Iraq Caleb earned a Action Combat Badge.

Combat Action Badge is awarded to soldiers who is personally present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy, and performing satisfactorily.

It's so good to to hear his music and just know he's around. Even seeing the toilet seat up is kinda fun (for now).

Also, visits with our daughter is nice. We see her now and then and it's always fun. It's nice to have both the kids home :).

Caleb has leave for a couple of weeks, then will return to Ft. Hood.

I'm taking the rest of this week off my blog (gonna spend more time with my kids) .....see you in 2010.

Santa Came Early.....

This is the photo of the crock pot cereal mix I took last week with our Samsung Digimax S600. I tried a few times to get a better shot, but that was the best photo, and the one that got published.

This is the photo I took today of the same tub with the same cereal mix with the present Santa brought last night: Canon Power Shot SX120. With just one try, I could tell a huge difference! So clear and easy to photograph.

I didn't know how hard upgrading a camera could be. There are so many options and so many things to consider: brand, mega pixels, optical zoom, what type of battery power it uses, time between photos, portability, screen size, price, and so much more!

Since I mostly take photos of toddlers, the delay from when you push the button and the photo actually takes was one of the important features I looked for. Although this camera is not rated as really speedy, it's a lot faster than the old Samsung.

We spent quite a long time looking at cameras online and reading reviews and comparing features and prices. Finally, we took a trip out to our Super Wal*Mart. (I say it like that because they moved ours eight-miles out of town!) It really helped to hold the actual cameras in our hands and look at the physical cameras. They even had them where you could take photos and get an idea of how long the "camera-lag" actually is. Also helpful was holding each model in your hand. Some of the really small ones (about the size of a fat credit card) seem like they could be dropped easily.

So, after looking them all over, the Canon Power Shot SX120 was the winner because it was more than a point-n-shoot camera, but is very easy to use, a good name brand, and seemed like the right fit. (Oh, and it was on roll-back, too).

Since I don't have toddlers until Monday, I've been taking photos of our pets. (I think they're getting tired of the "flashy thing" going off, lol).

I'm impressed with the details of the photos, even very close or with pets who won't sit still. I've never been able to get a decent shot of our fish, Flipper, before this camera. Our Chihuahua-mix, Carlos is often hard to get a good close-up of, but not any more, likewise, our cat doesn't like to pose. The last photo is my new favorite shot of our Beagle, Tillie, who gladly poses for lots of photos.

Now you can look forward to much better photos of the food I make here on LOP. Thanks, Santa!

This post is linked to:

• Simple Saturday at tHe KrAzy kItChEn
• Simply Made Sunday at Raising Itty-Bitty Bookworms