Ricotta Bake

Please kindly note,  that I have a huge houseful of kiddos who break things constantly, so I own no cute bakeware and they got into it and started eating before I got a picture,  so no pretty picture to share,  but I snapped one anyway so you could see it. It was a little liquidy at the bottom of the pan because I used cottage cheese too to up the protein count.  Didn't taste watery though. I did half of the pan with my cheese and half with mozzarella for the kiddos.  (And then made another pan for them. They really liked it.)

Recipe:
1/2 cup powdered parmesan
1 egg
1-2 tsps assorted Italian herbs
1/2 of a 15 oz container of ricotta
Salt to taste
1/2 of a no sugar added pasta sauce jar (I used an organic one from Aldi. It didn't say no sugar added, I just read the ingredient list.)
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
5 laughing cow garlic and herb cheese wedges (cut in half to make them half as thin)

I mixed the first five ingredients together,  in the pan. Spread it all out evenly. Then added a quarter of a container of pasta sauce. Then added a cup of cottage cheese, then another quarter of a jar of pasta sauce. (Spreading it out smooth after each addition.) Then I cut the laughing cow cheeses in half and arranged them around. Then sprinkled a little more Italian herbs and salt on top.
Bake at 450 for 25 mins. Makes 10 servings.

Menu Planning from the Pantry

Today as I sat down to make a list from the grocery ads I received yesterday, I realized that I probably didn't need to be buying groceries this week due to having enough in our larder and the sales not being that good this week. (Except for a pumpkin since they are $2.68 this week and I promised my kiddos I would buy one and probably some milk and eggs.)

So I thought I would blog about it, just in case some of you were lacking inspiration from your current pantry/freezer this week or were maybe just dreading the grocery store!

I have accumulated three frozen, whole raw chickens in the freezer. Also, I precooked 5 lbs of venison last week and only needed one (freezing the rest), so I will use that burger in this week's bbq burger pockets and chili. Also potatoes were on sale the week before last, enticing me to buy 15 lbs, which I will use for diced rosemary potatoes and loaded baked potatoes. Therefore, I decided to do a meal plan where our dinners center on those this week. (And yes, I realize that today is Wednesday and we are technically halfway through the week, but I like to have our week run Thursday to Wednesday for menus since Wednesday is when the new sales start in my town.) The rest of the produce was either on sale the week before last as well, or I had it in the freezer. (I chose not to shop last week as well due to the vast amount of produce deals I found 2 weeks ago.)

So here is what our dinners will look like this week:

Today:         (Last things left from our menu from last week)
                    BBQ Burger Pockets, Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Day 1:         Baked Chicken, Diced Rosemary Potatoes, Dessert
Days 2/3/4: Chicken Tacos w/ Homemade Refried Beans
                    Chicken and Stuffing Casserole, Green Beans
                    BBQ Chicken Pizza, Corn
Day 5:         Chicken Soup and Homemade Crusty Bread
Day 6:         Chili, Crackers, Carrots
Day 7:         Loaded Baked Potatoes topped with Chili, Baked Brussels Sprouts

Now, normally we have a less regimented week. I like to be able to pick and choose what to eat either the night before or the morning of. But, for the sake of budgeting, I am working with meals this week that build on our leftovers to make new things and keep everyone interested. For days 2/3/4, we will have whatever sounds best, but for the rest of the week, we will have to stay pretty on schedule. Also, this week I will let the kids each choose a meal to be responsible for instead of letting them plan a meal themselves. Usually it's the other way around, but I wanted to "shop" entirely from our reserves instead of the store. Additionally, while I like to let my kiddos eat until they are full, you will notice I planned dessert for the night that chicken is the main course. That is because I have noticed that they eat less chicken if they are "saving room" for dessert. They will still eat plenty dinner, but they won't gorge on it, just because it tastes good that way and I will have more chicken left for dinners the rest of the week.

For breakfasts/snacks I will have these options available for the kids to grab and go:

Oatmeal
Yogurt
Fresh Fruit (I keep this pre-portioned in sandwich bags in the fridge)
Homemade Granola (For topping yogurt or eating as cereal)
Cranberry Bran Muffins (Baked tonight and portioned 2 per sandwich bag)
Dried Fruit
Peeled Carrots cut into sticks
Bell Pepper Slices
Hardboiled Eggs
Frozen grapes and berries

You may have noticed that I didn't mark a day for eating leftovers. Lately I have been trying to have us eat dinner leftovers at lunch, rather than having a night where we eat leftovers for dinner.

Pie Crust

4 cups flour of your choice (I use whole wheat)

1 cup butter or coconut oil

4 TBS milk of your choice

1 TBS coconut sugar (or sugar of your choice) or 1/2 tsp salt, optional (sugar for a sweet pie, salt for savory)

Mix together well until it holds together and doesn't crumble. If it crumbles, you will need to add a little more milk. If you are making a spiced pie (like apple or pumpkin) feel free to add in a bit of cinnamon as well. 

Separate into 2 balls. Spread into a pie pan, or roll out/shape into a circle (on top of a piece of waxed paper). Then gently pick up the waxed paper on one side and carefully roll towards the other side until your pie crust resembles a tube. You can then wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use. When you are ready to bake your pie, simply remove the plastic wrap and gently roll back out until it is in a circle shape again. You should easily be able to pop it into a pie pan or top a pie with it at this point. 

Apple Pie

1 quart Crockpot Spiced Apples

2 pie crusts (premade or homemade)

1 or 2 TBS sweetener of choice ( I used honey)

1 tsp of sweetener of choice ( I used date sugar)

A sprinkle of cinnamon

To turn your already yummy crock pot spiced apples into a pie, simply start with an unbaked pie crust. Dump in your quart of precooked Crock pot Spiced Apples. Smooth out to fill the crust. Then since pies are supposed to be a little sweet, I generally drizzle/sprinkle a little (maybe 1 or 2 TBS) of honey, coconut sugar, or date sugar over the top of my apples. Then I topped the apples with the second crust. You could at this point make your crust as fancy or as, let's call it rustic, as you choose. I am impatient and a little lazy so my pie crust was super "rustic". Then I sprinkled on another tsp of sweetener and a bit of cinnamon on top of the crust. Alternatively, you could have mixed these into your crust. Cut slits (or a design if you're fancy) into the top of your crust to allow the heat to vent. 

Now bake in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for approx 50 mins or until the crust is nicely browned and the apples are bubbling a bit out of the slits in the top pie crust. I probably tend to over bake mine just a bit, but that's personal preference, so feel free to decrease cooking time by a few minutes if you wish. 

Click Here for Printable Recipe

Crockpot Spiced Apples

5 lbs apple of your choice
1/4-1/2 cup to taste of sweetener of your choice (I use honey or coconut sugar usually)
1 TBS Cinnamon
2 tsp Allspice (Can Sub 1 tsp Nutmeg, 1/2 tsp Ginger, and 1/2 tsp Cloves)

Wash apples well. Cut apples with apple cutter and throw in an empty crockpot. I leave the peels on for added nutrition, but you are welcome to peel them. Then I add in the sweetener and spices. Cook on High for 2-4 hours or low for 4-6 hours depending on how tender you like your apples. I like mine completely mushy and falling apart. That's it! Easy Peasy.

Pizza Crust using Pancake Mix!

I made this gem today!

I omitted the parm since we didn't have it and used my own toppings for a more basic version of BBQ Chicken pizza since we have some picky eaters at our house today.  It was delicious and super easy!

You simply mix well:
2 cups of pancake mix
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1 tsp of oregano (I used a combo of Italian herbs)

Then I skipped the extra steps of kneading letting it stand because to be completely honest, I'm lazy and everyone was hungry.

I just spread it in a big skillet (that we took the handle off of years ago so we could bake in it) and baked it for about 10 mins at 425. The crust was golden brown and smelled amazing at this point.

Then I topped it with some bbq sauce, chopped up cooked chicken from my freezer, cheese, a sprinkle of salt, and some more Italian herbs (though I probably could have skipped them since it was pretty herby already). Then I baked it maybe 6 or 7 mins more until my cheese was completely melted and bubbly.

The crust tasted kind of flaky and crumbly. It was kind of like a mix between pie crust and thin pizza crust, but it was really good! Definitely a hit!

Cranberry Bran Muffins

2 cups bran flakes cereal
1 1/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1 1/4 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
1/2 cup sugar (I used coconut sugar)
1/2 cup cranberry sauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBS baking powder
Pinch of salt

I mixed the milk and cereal and let them sit until mushy, stirring occasionally.  This took probably 20 minutes or so. Then I mixed in everything else. I filled muffin pans 2/3 full with batter and baked for approx 20-25 mins at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This recipe made 12 muffins.

I plan to try this again subbing in pumpkin or banana for the cranberry.  So yummy!

Please note: This recipe was created using the original all bran muffins recipe as a base line and then modified to work for my family.