Confessions and Reaffirmation:::Monique

This week was our 15th wedding anniversary.  We ended up going to Casper that day and since our huge tax return was on its way in just a couple of days we splurged.  Actually, I was too lazy to pack a lunch getting ready for my meeting but, hey, it was a good excuse!  So, there is the confession. Now, for the reaffirmation.  Nobody enjoyed our lunch out except for me!  We spent almost a week's worth of groceries for nothing.  DH was not happy with his and the kids barely picked at their meals.  Shaylan did eat her seafood chimichanga but it was an expensive little booger.  So, we have resolved ourselves to taking our lunches with us to Casper.  We also had money left over before DH got paid this week which is a miracle itself.  I think it is because we haven't eaten out at all this year until Wednesday.  We went about 42 days without going  out to eat!  Woo Hoo!  I bet we can refrain from eating out again until we go on vacation next month.  So how is everyone else doing?  

Confessions:::Gina

Well, I have had a super busy week, and have some confessions.  I ate out twice in two weeks for work-related things. I forget that a local breastfeeding coalition meets at restaurants, and my "boss" wanted to go out to talk over work things. So, basically, I'm updating my caveats to include things that are tax-deductible. I'm sorry, but it just has to be this way. At least the whole family isn't included in these outings, and I'm trying to be both frugal and healthy in my choices. Sorry.

Week One is Done:::Tammy

Well we survived our first week. Remember? The only way I could get hubby on board was to go at it a week at a time? Well HE did just great. I on the other hand could be found at Studio 127 begging my in-laws for gift cards to McDonald's...lol. My birthday is coming, we shall see how it goes. :D My teenager also did not do well. She was being technical and pleading for a Late Night run on New Year's Eve. In fact, just today she had hoped we could "call the whole thing off."LOL

First of all...I need to say that we eat meat when we can, but most meals are meatless. We also enjoy white flour for it's frugalness and don't have any food restrictions except one peanut butter/milk allergy. We DO have picky eaters but they just. need. to. get. over. it.

Next, I wouldn't call these confessions...just sanctioned eating out.

We went to DQ on Saturday night for ice cream and used the gift card. So it doesn't count.
We went to the movies and had popcorn and soda. But the entire movie-going experience was a gift from a friend at church. So it doesn't count.

I add a caveat to my exceptions...I forgot I was married and would be having an anniversary coming in November.

Our meals have been pretty okay. We did a pantry challenge the week before Christmas so our meals have been a mishmash of various items from our stash of food.

A pantry challenge consists of making an inventory of everything in the pantry, fridge, freezer,  etc. and making a menu out of it. We have used this particular inventory for four weeks and have had to buy very little. I guess it helps that we bought half a pig and are able to purchase from Care and Share.

The most interesting meal by far was the:

Leftover Thanksgiving Carcass Turkey with Elbow Macaroni and Broccoli Scampi 

When made with "normal" ingredients, this dish is a staple to our menu. Dad cooks up some chicken with garlic and olive oil. ( I mean...I guess...I don't cook it). He boils up some penne or bow tie pasta. Mix it together, add the chicken and steamed broccoli, a bit of butter, and, I think, some parmasean cheese. Viola...a one pot meal (the easiest to clean up).

I made the concoction listed above. We had frozen our turkey carcasses from Thanksgiving for later use. I boiled the whole shebang in my canning pot (*gasp* on the new flattop...I know...scary) with some herbs and veggies. When it had cooked down pretty good I drained all the liquid to put into tupperware for freezing. We will make turkeyless turkey and dumplings sometime with it. Or turkeyless turkey and noodles. With the warmed carcass, I deboned it all and stored it in the fridge until use. I got two good bowls full of meat....SWEET! So I attempted the above scampi recipe and the kids liked it. Leftovers went to work with my hubby. He makes much better scampi than I do. 

The best meal this past week has been:

Spicy Meat and Cous Cous

This is an old recipe we have had since the early days of our marriage, though I cannot remember where we got it. Originally it was Spicy Lamb and Cous Cous, but I'm not a shepherd (in the literal sense, though I DO have a herd ;)) and lamb is expensive. So we call it Spicy Meat and put in whatever meat is on hand.

First, make a marinade of honey, soy sauce, garlic or garlic powder, and cinnamon (which is why I LOVE this recipe). Cut up the meat and let it sit as long as you want. :) Warm up some olive oil and cook it. Originally it called for broiling, BUT we tend to burn when we broil and it's not always convenient for our monthly fire drill, so electric skillet it is. Cook up some cous cous and add the meat to it. It's YUMMY. We had it with salad that was days away from being chicken feed and some of the FREE salad dressing I got by couponing. :D

I don't have pictures because, you know, that would require PLANNING.

Tomorrow night we are having biscuits and gravy with some more PIG in it! B&G as we call it at our house...especially the meatless kind...is the most frugal meal we can make next to spaghetti. The most expensive ingredient is the baking soda of the biscuits. This meal is dinner AND dessert. The kids like to put honey and jelly on leftover biscuits.

As an end note: Our savings so far would amount to $60. I know...it's bad. But I figure my hubby was home for four nights this past first week and we would have eaten out two of them. It costs $25 to $30 for the three of us to eat Late Night. I can buy a LOT of groceries for $60...or a real cute chicken purse for my birthday...hint hint hint.

Oh and btw...I have lost three pounds this week. If that ain't a sign I don't know what is!

Buffalo and Barley:::Monique

Today, I made one of my family's favorite meals.  It's easy, cheap, and often what we eat on Tuesdays since I'm not home that night to cook for my family.  I lead Weight Watcher meetings every Tuesday night, so if it isn't cooked before 4:30 when I leave, the solution used to be going out to eat.  My DH would usually call for take-out pizza.  When the pizzas started costing $40 we decided we really needed to do something different, especially since it was once a week.  We decided that Tuesdays would be crock pot night.  So for probably a year now, I've been putting something in the crock pot or planned something that DH can cook. I've been in a dilemma, though, since around Thanksgiving because I found out that my made-in-China crock pot may be leaching lead into our food.  The big crock pot was thrown away (it was broken anyway) and I've just been cooking things on low in the oven or on the stove.  For Christmas, my DH bought me the cooking item I've been drooling over since Thanksgiving. It's made in the USA so I'm very proud of it!  

Are you ready for the recipe now?  It's simple and I usually don't measure anything.  Choose some vegetables.  I use celery, carrots, and onions.  Instead of using beef stew meat, I use buffalo.  Tonight I cut up a 5 or 6 carrots and one whole stalk of celery.  Then I tossed in a cup or two of barley.

I usually just add all the raw ingredients and some beef broth or bouillon in the crock pot but since I was using my new "baby," I put some canola oil in the dutch oven and then browned the meat, added the vegetables and then added around 8-10 cups of water, the barley and then my bouillon and spices.  This is what it looked like at that point.

Here are the spices and bouillon I used.  You could use whatever appeals to your family.  Yes, I did use the fresh rosemary tonight.  I haven't used it since we planted it earlier last spring.

Then, because my family really likes their carbs, I made a loaf of bread that my family hasn't had in a long time but really likes.
And finally, the finished product!  Everyone ate and the four year old even thanked me several times for making a delicious meal.
One final note, my DH and I had a lunch date today that included going out to eat.  However, it was just us and the baby and we used Christmas money from my mom.  Does that count?  

My Own Confession:::Gina

Okay, I can't let Lisa be the only one to confess today. So, I'd arranged last month for a friend and fellow childbirth educator to observe one of my December classes, but wouldn't you know we'd had a horrible snowstorm that day and she wasn't able to make it. I'd promised a Starbucks treat if she'd bring herself into town to do this for me, and so when we rescheduled for today, I couldn't very well withhold her treat, now, could I?

So, I took my friend to Starbucks. I'd pretty much decided plain coffee would be an allowable thing for me to get since I am often up late and long, and sometimes the families whose births we attend are :::gasp::: non-coffee drinkers! But, I kind of HAD to get a baked good today so that my friend wouldn't be self-conscious ordering. So, there ya go. I got plain coffee and a piece of gingerbread.

Mea culpa.

Gluten Free Tortillas:::Lisa

First I have a confession...we went out to eat yesterday. Now, wait don't whip me with a wet noodle just yet. My excuse is a good one; I promise. Yesterday was a Holy Day of obligation for us. I woke up late and didn't have time to whip up a fast breakfast. We literally got out of bed, dressed, got the kids dressed, made sure the diaper bag was ready to go, and off we went. So, by the time Mass was over I was shaking, sweating, and feeling like I was going to pass out. Brandon, being the wonderful husband that he is, decided that I needed some nourishment. Perhaps I looked scary and he thought that he should just feed the sweaty woman that just so happens to be breastfeeding his newest little girl. Perhaps he was worried that I was going to go breastfeeding crazy mama on him...who knows what his real reason was, but bless him for breaking my newly established rule that we wouldn't be eating out. You will be happy to know that I did survive the drive from church to the "CB" also known as The Country Buffet. I didn't pass out, yell, or try to eat anyone on the way. I am also happy to report that from now on I will have a bag of goodies in the van with us in case anything like this should ever happen again.
Now, on to the rest of the story. Our youngest son, Wesley Thomas, has had eczema since he was about 5 months old. Long story short we are pretty sure that he is celiac, and 100 percent positive that he has gluten intolerance. Our oldest son, Taylor, has food allergies, is gluten intolerant, and has 2 genes that put him into the higher risk of developing celiac disease. Now you know why we went from a wheat-eating family to a non-gluten eating family. Let me tell you that it was intimidating at first. I had no clue on what we could eat and what we couldn't eat. Some food products can be contaminated with gluten even though it is not made with anything containing gluten. An example is Pace Picante Sauce. They can no longer say that they are gluten free anymore. I don't know the ins and outs but they could be changing up their recipe, or perhaps they will be making something that contains gluten and can not guarantee that the gluten from that product will not find its way into the Pace Picante Sauce. So, now we can not buy that particular brand of picante sauce even though it is not made from anything that contains gluten. Talk about a pain. So, there we were staring into the ugly face of becoming a non-gluten house. What was safe to eat? Could we use the same shampoos, toothpaste, face cleaning products, and the list just went on and on. I felt like I had to learn how to cook all over again. I panicked...I started to buy the expensive gluten free products. I didn't know what to make for dinner and it wasn't because I was being lazy. I just didn't know what to do! How in the world was I going to cook for my family? Just so you know, it really isn't that bad. We just had to adjust, and I had to decide that I was going to experiment. That was the hard part for me. So hard in fact that I didn't do it until a couple of days ago. We made gluten free tortillas, and they were so delicious, and what I did was so easy that now I feel that I can take on the gluten free world! It was a baby step, but look out here I come!
I used the sorghum flour recipe from the book written by Carol Genster, Ph.D called Gluten-Free 101.

Carol's Sorghum Flour Mixture

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups potato starch or cornstarch(we use the potato starch)
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup corn flour, or almond flour, or bean flour or chestnut flour(we use the garfava flour from Bob's Red Mill)

this mixture makes 4.5 cups of flour

Now here is what I did to make the tortillas.

Gluten Free Tortillas(makes about 10-15 small tortillas)

3 cups of sorghum flour mixture
3 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. guar gum
1/4 to 1 tsp. sea salt(it is really up to your taste buds)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of shortening or oil(we used 1/4 cup olive oil)
1 cup of warm milk or water(we used water)

Mix all of the dry ingredients well then add the liquid. I made my dough using my new Kitchen Aid! Now, keep in mind that the gluten free dough will not be anything like regular dough. It is sort of like playdoh. It lacks the elasticity that regular dough has. You can add more water or flour if needed. I then sprinkled some of the flour mixture onto the counter top and made a ball. I then proceeded to roll it out. I have to say that it was easy to roll out because it was lacking gluten. So, it didn't take too long to roll it out. The first one I did I am sad to say that I mutilated it because I rolled it like I would a regular flour tortilla. I had to roll out gently. Then I threw it onto the cast iron skillet and waited for the little air bubbles to emerge, then I flipped it over. I guess it is a few minutes on each side. All of the kids were anxiously awaiting and talking about how it was years and years since they had a homemade flour tortilla. They smelled delicious, but we made Brandon try the first one! I am not the only gluten free chicken in this house. Brandon said that they were good and that we needed to eat. Oh, it was like eating a piece of chocolate, or cheesecake...it was almost heaven.  

So, tonight we had homemade gluten free tortillas to make our bean burritos spanish rice. It was a huge hit. I am sorry to report that it was gone before I could take a picture. I will try to get one the next time I make up a batch.

Spanish Rice

2 cups of rice
1 8oz. can of tomato sauce
onion powder(to taste)
garlic powder(to taste)
1 chicken bullion cube or chicken broth for part of the water for the rice
salt(to taste may not have to use if you use a bullion cube)
cumin(to taste)
pepper(to taste)
a few slices of green bell pepper
olive oil
water use the amount for the type of rice that you are using.

I like to also add some minced onion and garlic.

Put enough oil to cover the bottom of a pan. If you are going to use fresh garlic and onion go ahead an add it now as well as the bell pepper slices. Add in the rice and stir it around with the oil, garlic, onion, and bell pepper for about a minute or two. Add in your spices and stir for another minute. Next add in your water/broth and tomato sauce. Taste to see if you need to add more spices and then cook as you normally would cook your rice. I am sorry that I can not give you exact amounts of the spices...I don't remember what they originally were. This was the recipe that my mom gave me when Brandon and I got married almost 17 years ago. If you want you can use a can of the Mexican Rotel instead of tomato sauce and the other spices. My mom has been doing that for several years now and it is really delicious. It is a bit spicy, but it is yummy. If I remember correctly she doesn't add the bell pepper, and she does not drain out the liquid. She adds in the whole can.  

Gluten free can be good!