A Week Away

Wow, when you spend a week away from home it sure is hard getting back into the swing of things! I have multiple requests for recipes and plans for Freezer-Kit Cooking. I am working on these currently and will try to have them complete this week. (And hey, thanks for the encouragement!) Below are pics of a Cinnamon/Spice Cream cheese iced roll, (AKA: Cinna-shawns) As you can see for this freezer kit you could roll out the dough, slice and pan and then make the icing and bag it up and freeze it with the pan of rolls for a quick bake, or you could keep all of the ingredients separate; dough balls, bagged spices and icing and defrost and then roll out the day of baking. That is why I LOVE Freezer-Kit Cooking...it is so flexible!

Our family spent a week in Fort Wayne, Indiana...as my husband attended a Symposia at Concordia Theological Seminary. We spent time with friends and our children (who all homeschool) were happy to have a week of socialization and communications (the play time with others), physical fitness (swimming for hours in the hotel pool), critical thinking (via games), vocabulary (through Apples to Apples), writing projects with computer skills (helping friends set up blogs), geography (map skills), consumer math and economics (bargain shopping in the city, as well as watching and discussions on gasoline prices) and just hanging out for a while! See, homeschooling Rocks!

Another wonderful "Field Trip" we were able to make on the way home was an excursion to Amish country via Shipshewanna, Indiana...really a stop off to E & S Sales for bulk food shopping...how I miss this store! It is a wonderful shopping experience for both the "plain" and "fancy" and I loaded up on Semolina, Durum, Oats, Spices, Seeds and so much more! I love the diverse parking lot...with horses and moder "carriages" as well! If you EVER have the opportunity to stop here, DO NOT pass it up!

Freezer-Kit Cooking and Travel

So, we are going to be on the road and all we have to do is pack our cooler with these great meals! I am taking Citrus Maple Ham, Smashed Red Potatoes and look, wonderful homemade chocolate syrup! I will pack a crock pot and the hotel room has a microwave (even if it didn't the lobby usually does). Our family will also enjoy pulled pork with a pomegranate glaze, cheddar and honey ham bread, Pizza pockets and the most wonderful Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Freezer-Kit Cooking is such a wonderful way to save while traveling, our family would spend about $45 to eat out with this kind of meal. We will try to limit dining out to once or twice.














A lot of people are asking for recipes, I just want to let everyone know that I am working on the recipes, freezer cards, and will post a receipt as soon as I can to show how we manage to feed our family SPLENDIDLY within our budget. Blessings, Shawn <><

(PICS: Plated Citrus Maple Ham with Smashed Potatoes, frozen bagged ham, potatoes and bottled home-made chocolate syrup, with ice cream.)

Money, Menu and Time Stewardship...

This is a program that I have been working on for a long time. I have tried Once a Month Cookint (OAMC), 30 Day Meal Plan (Homemade Gourmet), Cook Once Serve Twice (COST), and Freezer Feeding, and now even the stores that offer the work for you; Super Suppers, Dish and Dine, Dinner Thyme (average $200 for 12 meals)...all great ideas and plans... and now I am setting up a program that halps me tremendously in menu planning, good meals, family dinner routine and money managment. I want to share, YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Introducing:

Freezer-Kit Cooking

The idea is to prepare "kits" to store in your freezer for ease and menu planning. By purchasing in bulk the costs are minimal. I feed a family of five monthly for around $200 for dinner, add another $50 to include lunches and breakfasts. I will post a full menu plan soon...with a receipt from the grocery and begin some recipe logs. I am trained in the culinary field, but it really isn't necessary. I want to share this kitchen technique...

Tile Baked Sourdough Pizza

Start with the best ingredients you can afford, and remember, there are many out there from groceries, like Aldi, that won't hurt your budget! Yumm-O!!!

I like to "blend" my own sauce, using canned tomatoes, roasted red peppers (1/4 the cost of fresh, and the roasting is done for you!)herbs and cheeses. Notice as well that I have gone to the hardware store and purchased inexpensive on glazed tiles to line my oven rack with. This trick will give you that rustic, old world Italian Pizzaria Crust.

The tiles were very cheap and they cut them for free...I leave them in the oven at all times and bake right on top of them with parchement for rustic breads and cookies.

After the cheeses, cooked meats, sauce and bread is divided up and measured I put them in quart size freezer bags, the place everything in a gallon size bag...the KIT is now assembles and frozen. I am in the process of making up laminated instruction cards to place in the KITS that may be used over and over again, so the family can prepare dinner.

Well, this is about all I can get done for today, it is the Pastor's day off and we must take a breather and relax...so more this week....God's richest Blessings! Shawn <><

Fried Coca-Cola...you heard right!

The children have been waiting for me to make this DE-lish treat since they heard about it last summer at the Fair. So today we spent time mixing and funneling into a pot of HOT oil. So, what do you think, sound the best, huh? Okay, before anyone says how awful it is for my health, this is only a-once-a-year event!

So, I trimmed a coffee filter to insert into the coca-cola cups (4 for $1 at the Dollar Tree) to absorb any excess oils, fried the batter funnel-cake style and topped with powdered sugar.


Can't you see how much Christopher loved them?! White tipped nose!

Aldi Grocery Store

So today we are off on our 1 1/2 hour road trip to do our grocery shopping! This is sort of a fun day for our family. We go to Aldi's Grocery Store every-other-week and shop for our family of 5. We usually spend $170 for two weeks worth of goods, and that isn't to bad, since I am a food-y and sort of picky about the choices. I will post our rotating menu and shopping lists once I get them typed out in a Word Doc and show how awesome Aldi Grocery is for a bargain seeker! Another thing I like to do is Once A Month Cooking, and Cook Once Serve Twice principles. That is a whole other post though! So off to plan and pack, btw, the kids love to eat lunch out on our shopping days too!

The snow is glittery, the sun is shining brightly on our new year! Hmmmm, still not resolutions, although Pastor is running on the tread mill right now!