Meal Planning Just Got Easier…

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I am big into meal planning! My husband bought me my first cooking software for Christmas 2005, so I have been at this for nine years.  It has been life changing for me, and has been a life saver.  I am not a great cook, and resorted to box meals many times.  I never could think of anything to cook, so we ate the same junk all the time.  When I got my software and could store my recipes on my computer, actually put them in menus, and make a grocery list, life changed drastically for this girl.  I started to love cooking and tried new recipes.

Sadly, over the years my software has run into some problems.  If you want to update you have to pay for it, and many promised features are either not working, or have never been implemented.  I won’t tell you the name of the software in this post, because I’m not interested in causing them any trouble.  But the glitches have been frustrating, and I’ve been looking for an alternative for quite some time.

My friend posted a link on Facebook the other day to an online site she uses for meal planning.  It’s called Plan To Eat.  I watched the video tutorials and I was immediately sold.  You can capture recipes from the internet on this program SO easily.  You can input your own personal recipes from your files.  You can plan menus for the whole month, but just shop for one week if you want.  The program creates a grocery list with ingredients listed the way you typed them in. No more weird brands like my old software had.  You can also create a staples list of things like toilet paper, shampoo, milk, eggs, butter, etc. You can check that each time you make a grocery list, and just check the items you need for that shop.  You can friend people on the site so that you can share recipes and menu plans.  It is so much easier to share recipes here than on my old software.  You can go to the site on your phone, and save it to your home screen so that it acts as an app.  I can take my phone with me to the stores and do my shopping right from that if I want.  There is no need to print out a grocery/staple list anymore unless I want to.  You can divide your grocery list by stores you shop at, AND all of your items are divided into different areas of each store like: produce, dairy, dry goods, frozen, meat.  It is SO cool. 

I’ve spent the last couple days capturing recipes, and typing in recipes from my own files.  I have planned my first menu for just one week, and I’ll be able to shop with it for the first time this weekend.  I’m so excited. 

When I updated to a new version of my old software, it would cost me nearly $100 each time.  That was frustrating when things didn’t work or features that were promised were not there.  At Plan to Eat, I signed up for a 30 day trial period.  After that I can either subscribe by month or by year.  It is only $39 for a year, so I think I’m going to go with that. If you do it monthly, it’s just $4.95.  It is $40/$5 you will never regret spending.  Menu planning has changed my life.  I never have to worry about what’s for dinner anymore.  With the whole month planned I can print a copy, post it on my fridge, and just check every evening to make sure I have any meat out that needs to be thawed, or do any prep that needs to be done ahead of time.  It’s such a good feeling.

Go here to check out Plan to Eat, and start your free trial today.  If I know you and you decide to do this, let me know so we can share recipes and meal plans! It will also be easier for me to post recipes here, so I’ll be sure to do that!

My Favorite Soup….

I LOVE Clam Chowder! I like the New England version and the Manhattan version.  We have a restaurant that makes the best Manhattan Clam Chowder I have ever had, and I go there on every birthday…just for the soup! The New England Clam Chowder that I like around here comes from Red Robin and a little Greek restaurant.  They are not seafood restaurants. Isn’t that funny?

I have always wanted to try to make my own chowder, but my boys have an aversion to all things shell fish, so I have never bothered.  As I was perusing recipes on Pinterest, I found a really easy recipe for both versions of the chowder.  I decided I’d make it for lunch someday and my girl and I would get to enjoy it all ourselves! Today was that day.  I found a great easy recipe at Food.com, and tweaked it a bit to fit my tastes.  It called for dill weed, and this girl DOES NOT LIKE dill weed. Blech…

There was a little prep time involved in this soup, but nothing I couldn’t handle.  It all came together in less than an hour.  Though I don’t have a picture of the step by step process (I really need to start doing that), I have a picture of the finished soup, and it was DELICIOUS!

I did tweak my soup a bit from the original recipe.  I didn’t use the dill that the recipe called for, as I said before.  I used turkey bacon instead of regular bacon.  It didn’t crisp up like normal bacon, but it was SO good in this soup.  Morgan, our bacon lover, said it was great.  I will probably stick with turkey bacon from now on!

Here is the recipe…my version.  If you want the real thing visit Food.com and search for…

Thick and Creamy New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

6-7 pieces turkey bacon cut into small pieces
1 medium onion chopped
2 (10-ounce) cans baby clams with juice reserved
6-7 potatoes cubed
2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of celery soup
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter

Method: Add bacon to sauce pan and cook on medium low heat until crispy (turkey bacon does not really get crisp…just cook until it looks done).  Add onion and cook until translucent.  Add clam juice from both cans. Add potatoes.  Cook and cover until potatoes are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally so potatoes won't stick (you might need to add a little liquid to keep the sticking from happening). Add clams, soup, cream, and milk. Stir together. Add butter and let melt into the chowder. Cook for about 30-45 minutes or until thickened.  Stir occasionally.

Note: The original recipe called for 2 – 5 ounce cans of clam with their juices.  I doubled it.  I hate when I have clam chowder in a restaurant and there is hardly any clam in it.  So I took care of that and doubled the clams.  It did not overpower at all, and was DELICIOUS! I actually forgot the 1 tbsp of butter in my soup, but will do that next time.  I guess it will add a tiny bit of richness to the soup. I am not a fan of condensed soups per se, but I do love cream of celery, so I was thrilled to see it is in this recipe.  I diced my potatoes quite small, so they cooked faster.  Once all of the ingredients were in the pot, I did not cook the soup for the 30-45 minutes the recipe suggested.  I just waited until it was heated through and the clams were cooked.  We grabbed the deepest bowls we could find and filled them up with this yummy goodness.  It is a VERY filling soup, so one bowl was plenty.  Since my girl and I are the only ones eating it, we have leftovers for the weekend!

I was so happy with the results of my first try making this chowder.  It was seriously one of the best I’ve tasted, and I will be making it often! Yum!

 

 

Let’s Lighten Up…

Things got a little deep and a bit sad around here for a couple posts, so let’s lighten up a bit, shall we? I got through one of the toughest weeks of my year once again by the grace of God…so that called for a yummy dessert.

Oh yes it did!

A few months ago I came across a recipe called Lemon Delight.  It called for a lemon crème pie filling made by Comstock (really yummy pie fillings).  When I put the dessert on my menu plan and went to shop for the ingredients, do you think I could find lemon crème pie filling? No I could not! So I substituted regular lemon pie filling, and the recipe turned out great, and was DELICIOUS!

SUPER DELICIOUS!

The dessert was so good that I thought I’d make it again, this time with the correct pie filling.  Again, I couldn’t find it.  But…I saw key lime crème pie filling.  We LURVE key lime pie at our house, so I was thinking that might taste pretty good.  I bought the pie filling, and the other day my sweet girl and I made that dessert together.  It was INCREDIBLE.  I’m not kidding when I say that.  It was sincerely VERY good, and I don’t think I’ll bother to look for the lemon crème again.  I like the key lime crème much better!

The crust of this dessert is one of the best parts of it.  You mix butter, flour, and crushed pecans together, and press it into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  You bake it until golden brown, and when it has cooled you add the layers of filling.  We finish ours off with a dollop of whipped cream, and we are in heaven!

Here is a picture of our finished dessert! Isn’t it pretty and refreshing looking?

Want the recipe? Ask and you shall receive…you’re welcome!

Ingredients:

Crust:
3/4 cup butter softened 1 stick + 4 tbsp
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped pecan

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping (I used Cool Whip – GASP!)
1 (21-ounce) can Comstock Key Lime Crème pie filling
1 can whipped cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare shortbread crust by adding the butter and flour to a bowl and blend using a large fork or pasty blender. Add chopped pecans and mix. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until light golden brown. When done remove from oven and let cool. While the crust is cooling prepare the filling. Mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together using an electric mixer. Fold in the whipped topping (cool whip) into the cream cheese mixture. When the crust is completely cooled add the cream cheese filling on top of the crust and spread evenly. Top with lemon creme and refrigerate for at least 4 - 6 hours (I could not wait this long…2 hours tops). Garnish with Reddi-Whip before serving.

If you try it, come back and tell me! We loved this dessert so much!

Nothing says summer to me like freezer jam!

I have always loved freezer jam.  My grandma used to make it, my mom made it, and my sisters make it.  My favorite is strawberry.  There is nothing like a piece of toast with REAL strawberry jam on it, and a hot cup of tea.  I’m a big fan.  I made jam with my sister a couple summers ago, but I have never made it on my own.  Today I did!

I wanted to process a whole flat of strawberries into jam.  The only problem is that I’m not able to pick them.  If I did that I would not be able to walk the next day.  Thankfully, a dear friend offered to pick them for me, and I took her up on the offer! This afternoon she delivered a flat of strawberries, and I got to work.

Here was my list of ingredients minus the berries…

YES, that is 10 pounds of sugar! I actually had another bag of sugar off to the side, so I used nearly 2o pounds altogether.  Isn’t that insane?  I would not change the recipe one bit though.  It tastes SO GOOD! I don’t eat this stuff every day, so it will last us a long time. 

So a flat of strawberries, 20 pounds of sugar, lemon juice, and 9 packets of liquid pectin.  I also bought 16 plastic containers.  I really like the look of the glass mason jars, but I just can’t open them anymore.  I wanted something that is easy to get into.

The process…

I think I used every big bowl I own.  I bought them after my sister and I made jam once, because I knew I was going to try it myself at some point.  I love these bowls, and they came in very handy today.  I poured that whole bag of sugar into a bowl, because it was so much easier to divide it up that way.  That big blue bowl is holding all of the mashed strawberries. 

It’s a very simple recipe.  You just mash all of your berries, and then each batch takes 2 cups of berries, 4 cups of sugar (yikes!), 2 Tbsp of lemon juice, and one packet of the pectin.  You mix the berries and sugar and let it stand for 10 minutes.  Then you mix the lemon juice and pectin and stir it for 3 minutes.  Mix both mixtures together and pour them into containers leaving a 1/2 inch space at top of container.  Voila! You have freezer jam.  After two batches, I doubled my batches so it went faster.

The result…

I made 5 batches of jam, and ended up with 18 containers full.  I had to grab a couple extra containers out of my cupboard, because I ran out.  I had a bunch of sugar left over, and only one packet of the pectin left over as well.

The fun part was finding room in my fridge for all of these containers! It will be even more fun when I have to find room in the freezer tomorrow for them! These babies have to set for 24 hours before they are ready to eat or freeze.  I’m planning to keep one in my fridge at all times, and freeze the rest.  I’m going to share with some friends as well.

I LOVE freezer jam, and I’m so excited that I got to finally do this myself.

Raspberries will be ready soon, and I’ll be making a bit of that as well.  I’ll let you know how it all turns out!

Recipe Freak…

I’ll admit, I have turned into a recipe freak.  I LOVE to scan cookbooks, cooking sites, and cooking blogs for new recipes.  I LOVE Pinterest for finding new recipes, and my new favorite is Punchfork.com.  You can type in ingredients you have on hand in the search bar, and tons of recipe suggestions will pop up in just a second.  I love the blogs and sites that let you pin their recipe pictures, because I can come back later and jot down the recipe.  Those are the only recipes I copy now, because I don’t always have the time to jot it down right when I see it.  There are many sites/blogs that do allow pinning, so I’m all set!

I usually use Punchfork for meal suggestions.  I’m not ever in a pinch wondering what to make for dinner, because I plan my meals two weeks at a time, and my menus are on my cooking software (which I have raved about on my blog several times).  I have found some great new recipes all over the internet, and cooking is so much fun now!  I really enjoy it…

This is what I am making tonight….only I’m tweaking the recipe a bit.

I never liked cabbage rolls as a kid.  I think I had them once, and thought “this is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth”, second only to a dish my mom served once called “Slum Gully”.  Don’t ask…

As I’ve gotten older, my taste buds have changed, and I like things I didn’t like as a child.  My husband brought home a big cabbage on Saturday, so I decided to give cabbage rolls a shot.

I like the cooking sites that have reviews on their recipes.  That is a great help to me, and I usually read them all.  I get ideas for tweaking the recipe, and can see things that didn’t work out with the original recipe.  This recipe was no exception.  There were hundreds of reviews on this recipe, so I didn’t read them all.  But the ones I read were a great help, and I think dinner will be good tonight!

This was supposed to be a crock pot, cook all day recipe, but many found that their cabbage rolls turned out dry, or dry in spots.  Many just baked theirs in a 9x13 at 350 for 90 minutes.  That’s what I’m doing.  Many doubled the sauce, added different spices, excluded some things that didn’t taste right, etc.  One person said that the rolls were too much prep, so she made hers into a casserole.  I agree.  I had to boil the cabbage to loosen the leaves, make the rice, make the filling, pull the leaves off the cabbage, and then I would have had to stuff the leaves and roll them.  I opted for the casserole version tonight as well.  It looked fanstastic going into the oven, and I can’t wait to try it. 

If you’re interested, I’ll post the recipe I used, and my tweaks!  I don’t have time right now, but I’ll be back….and I’ll let you know how dinner turned out!

Weekly Menus…

I have talked about my cooking software on this blog before.  For Christmas this year, my husband bought me the latest update. It has made my meal/menu planning that much easier, and I absolutely love the software.  It is so easy to make up menus, generate grocery lists, and print up menus/recipes so they are on hand and ready to go each week.  I thought I would start sharing my menus on my blog again.  You’ll see that my meals are very easy, and don’t involve a lot of preparation.  I’m not a great cook, so “easy” is my theme song. :) I’ll post my menus each week, and if you see a recipe you think you’d be interested in, let me know and I’ll post that too.  I get many of my recipes from other blogs and websites, so I’ll give credit to those sites, and you can visit them…especially if I have to “tweak” the recipe at all for our tastes. 

So…here is our dinner menu for this coming week.  The picture is of our dish for Thursday night ~ Three Cheese Pasta Bake.

Sunday ~ Cheese Dreams

Monday ~ Amy’s Chicken  Casserole
               Green Beans

Tuesday ~ BLTs

Wednesday ~ Creamy Velvet Chicken Soup

Thursday ~ Three Cheese Pasta Bake
                 Green Beans

Friday ~ Tacos
              Refried Beans

Saturday ~ Pizza

Sunday evenings we get home late, so we need something quick and easy.  Cheese dreams are very easy to make, and we will either have those on Sunday evenings, or Sloppy Joes, or hot dogs.  Something quick and easy.  Saturday evenings will be pizza night at our house.  We start with simple frozen pizzas, and buy the toppings to doctor them up.  I tried making a whole pizza from scratch once, and it didn’t go well.  It’s easier to just buy a frozen cheese pizza, and add what we like.

I am also planning our breakfast/lunch menus, but those items are the same every week.  There is enough variety that we won’t get bored, and again, I needed things on the list that are easy and quick to prepare.  We home school here, so I don’t have a lot of time to prepare extravagant breakfasts and lunches.  I want something good, healthy, and filling, and I think I have come up with those things in my menus.  All that to say, since they’re the same every week, I’ll just share our dinner menus with you.

Don’t forget to comment if you would like the recipe for one of our meals!