Dutch Baby- Recipe

Yesterday we tried a new recipe in the house and for the most part it went over well, being my first try it wasn't very pretty but it did taste great. Nolan loved it, Conner liked it , I enjoyed it, Don ate it, and the younger two each tried it ( I think if it had looked better they would have eaten more), and in this house that means you will find this on the menu again.

This picture is not the one I made, mine wasn't picture worthy, as I think I mixed things up to much.

Dutch Baby, German Pancake , or just about anything else you might want to call it.

8eggs
2cups milk
2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 475, melt butter in pan in oven

Beat eggs, add milk, stir in flour and cinnamon pour on top of melted butter. Bake for about 20 min.

I used to glass pans, next time I will try my cast iron, or maybe my cupcake pan.

Menu Plan Monday

This is my first Menu Plan Monday

Dinner Plan

Monday- Dutch Baby w/ applesauce this is the first time I am making this and if it turns out as I hope it does then I will post the recipe on Tuesday.

Tuesday- Three bean Chili w/ rice , cornbread w/ honey butter

Wednesday- Potatoe / Corn Chowder w/ home made bread

Thursday- Chicken and gravy, over bisquits w/ veggie

Friday- Family movie night and dinner out at school. 

Saturday- Chicken Taco's w/ Mexican rice and beans

Sunday- Roast Beef, Applesauce, potatoes, green beans, bread

Breakfast Plan

School Days- cearl, bagels w/ cream cheese

Saturday- Homemade Waffles w/ strawberries

Sunday- Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins


And of course this month I am trying to prepare most of our meals out of the freezer and pantry, to free up space for the big re-stock shop in January / February, and this menu plan does that. Except for the cearl, milk, eggs, all of this is from the freezer or pantry shelves.

The meals highlighted  are freezer meals that are pre- cooked and quick to the table.

This post is linked at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Aidan's Intro

I thought that it would be a good idea to introduce you to our family one by one, starting at the youngest and working our way up.

So Aidan is the youngest in our home, he is full of energy, and loves to explore the world around him. In the last few months he has learned to write his name and likes to refer to himself by his full name, first, middle, and last. He is always ready for a game of hide and go seek, chase, or tag, once in a while he can even be found looking at books or coloring.

He really wants to be one of the big kids and will tell you each day that he is getting taller, just like his brothers. He will help you with any job you ask from sweeping to shoveling.

Next up Kathryn

It's Sunday time to plan

What to blog about on Sunday's, I guess plans for the week sounds good for today.

My upcoming blog entry's will look something like this :

Monday- Menu planning for the week
Tuesday- Recipes
Wednesday- It Works for me
Thursday- It's all about thrifty ideas
Friday- It's all about the freezer
Saturday- It's all about books

And as far as real life we have some doctor appts, baking, caroling, youth game night, a family movie night out, plus the regular cleaning, laundry and after school activies. I am also looking to fit in some gift wrapping, family dinners, Christmas cards , and maybe even a nap.

So what do you have planned for your week ?

Saturdays are for Books

In keeping with the idea of a theme for each day so that I will keep on writing, sort of like the journal prompts that teachers use in school, Saturdays theme is going to be books. What I am currently reading, children's books that we love, and some book reviews.

We have a book that was given to us by a friend at church who saw it and thought about our family when he saw it. It is called The Seven Silly Eaters written by Mary Ann Hoberman and iillustrated by Marla Frazee.
It is a story about seven children added to a family one by one and how each one only likes to eat a certain food, and how over time the mom gets very tired trying to make each child happy. But in the end the children learn to help there mother and the family learns to work together.

I really like the illustrations in this books, they really show life in a larger then normal family the good, the bad, and the fun. The illustrations are very detailed, from the pictures on the fridge, to the kids hanging on the door knob, the pictures alone tell a story.

If you have a chance to buy or check this one out from the library you will surly enjoy it.

Freezer Friday

Usually on Friday this post will be about what I am adding to the freezer or about what I am planning to get into the freezer. But this month I am trying not to add to the freezer but use it up, so here are some of the meals this week we have enjoyed out of the freezer.

Taco Kits - My daughter told me I cheated with dinner on this one as I walked in the house, into the kitchen and 5 minutes later called everyone for dinner. A taco kit has cooked and seasoned ground beef, cheese , and soft taco shells all in there own bags, place all three things in one large zip lock, and freeze. To make place in fridge in morning ( if you remember), at dinner time heat up the meat, chop some lettuce and tomato, pull out the taco sauce and enjoy. Faster and cheaper then fast food.

Honey Chicken - par- grilled chicken breasts , drizzled with honey and brown sugar freeze. To cook add one can of pineapple and heat. Serve with rice.

Chicken Enchiladas   - used the recipe from here with a few changes for the kids taste buds-Grilled Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas , heat in oven and serve.

 Quiche- this I freeze the parts, in a kit goes 2 pie crusts, cheese, taco meat ( this time we used leftover ham and saved the taco meat for another meal). Pull out add eggs and milk and cook.

And tonight we are having quick chicken soup, using grilled cubed chicken, chicken broth, and veggies, all from the freezer.

Here is another site with some other idea's for freezing food for Christmas :Freezer Friday at Thriving Mama

Thrifty Thursday

I found this idea on another blog and thought it a great idea starter for Thursday's blog entries, thrifty ideas that our family uses to make the budget stretch.

Today's thrifty ideas are all about weekday lunches, right now I am making 5 packed lunches and 2 of us eat at home on weekdays. Lunches for the two of us at home Aidan and myself are easy and can be summed up in one word " Leftovers".

The other lunches are packed and require a bit more thought, I used to pack mostly leftovers for my husband for lunches but that wasn't working out well as it never failed the day he had leftovers that needed to be heated he would be on the road. Which meant that instead of his packed lunch he ended up eating out, so now I might send leftovers but mostly he gets the same packed lunch as the kids.

Packing lunches does require some up-front costs, but they are mostly one time purchases that can be done with in budget limits. We also live in a area were allot of kids pack lunches, so it is not un-cool for a middle school or high school child to pack a lunch.

1- Lunches boxes, bags - Every time I go to the thrift store I check out the area were they have the lunch boxes looking for ones in good shape, size that I need, and colors that will work ( the boys really don't like pink lunch boxes). Over time we have enough lunch boxes for everyone and a couple extra for those times lunch boxes get left in school or at work. We used to use brown paper bags but have found that paper bags are best left in the craft closet for puppet making.

2- Food containers-  I bought the sandwich sized containers during back to school sales for 50 cents each, two per lunch that is usually packed. I also have a supply of the small round 1/2 cup size containers, and some larger square containers. I also want to get some hot food containers so I just keep on looking at the thrift store and clearance racks to see if there are any there.

3- Drinks- I used to do the whole juice box thing and if I bought the cheap ones they were mostly sugar, and the all juice ones were costly, so this year I bought them all small metal water bottles. They can choose what to put in them usually water and sometimes juice.

4- Utensils- I buy plastic forks and spoons and the kids know to put them back into the their lunch bags and we wash them and re-use. But if for some reason they get tossed or broken not a big deal.

Next week on Thrifty Thursday what to pack in those lunch boxes.