Buy Nothing Meal Plan - Week 1

Sunday
Breakfast - scones, milk
Lunch - fried zuchinni
Dinner - Japanese curry rice (curry sauce from a mix)
Dessert - zuchinni bread

Monday
Breakfast - cream of wheat, milk
Lunch - fruit & crackers, cheese stick & nuts
Snack - nachos
Dinner - Spaghetti Carbonara & salad
Dessert - Cinnamon Struessel muffins (from a mix)

Tuesday
Breakfast - english muffins, hot chocolate
Lunch - fruit & crackers, muffins
Snack - pumpkin pancakes
Dinner - Chicken and Dumplings
Dessert - fend-for-yourself treats

Wednesday
Breakfast - bagels and berry jam, hot chocolate
Lunch - fruit & crackers, cheese stick & nuts
Snack - quesadillas
Dinner - hot wings and salad
Dessert - fruit smoothie

Thursday
Breakfast - eggs, fruit, milk
Lunch - veggies & crackers
Snack - nachos
Dinner - whole wheat waffles & fruit
Dessert - sugar cookies

Friday
Breakfast - cream of wheat, milk
Lunch - fruit & crackers, cheese stick & nuts
Snack - homemade fries
Dinner - Fend-for-yourself leftovers
Dessert -

Saturday
Breakfast - cold cereal & milk
Lunch - fruit & cheese
Snack - nachos
Dinner - home made french bread & salad (recipe to follow)
Dessert - ginger cookies

Hannah's Whole Wheat Waffles

Hannah got her wish to have breakfast for dinner Thursday night. She didn't make the batter, but the waffles were delicious. Brennan whipped up the batter, and Hannah and I cooked them up in our many-years-old, $10 waffle iron.

Speaking of many-years-old, the hand mixer Brennan used to beat the batter is from our wedding. That makes it over 17 years old. It was given to us by our best man, and has served us well all these years. A few years ago I got a hand-me-down Kitchen-aid for myself as a Christmas present. I love that machine. But, I didn't get rid of my old hand mixer and it still serves us well for smaller jobs like a batch of whole wheat waffles.

Here's the recipe. We pulled it out of Betty Crocker's classic red and white cookbook, one of my favorites.

Whole Wheat Waffles

2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup veggie oil (Bren used canola)
1 3/4 cup milk (we used 2 T dry milk pdr. and 1 3/4 c. water)
1 Tbsp. sugar (we used 2 Tbsp.)
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat eggs and add other ingredients beat just until smooth. Pour by cup-full into center of iron, cook until waffle stops steaming.

So, what is your oldest kitchen appliance and how often do you use it?

Wings and Things

Brennan's meal this week was hot wings. He is a bit of a wings connoisseur and is picky about the spice and tang applied to his favorite pieces of poultry. KC and Hannah don't prefer the spice, but love a little teriyaki on their wings, so we made two batches along with a bunch of corn on the cob, free from a friend's garden.

Sorry I don't have any photos, the battery on the camera is dead and the battery pack is in an undisclosed location (in the car, in the shop, getting some warranty issues resolved - the car, not the camera). But here's what we did:

Bren's Barbecue Wings

Spicy Wings start with a dry rub - Here he used a Cajun seasoning mix along with paprika, cayenne, chili powder, garlic and salt. He dumped this generously over the wings and coated them all with the seasonings. Then he let them sit for about two hours.

Asian Wings Marinate -1/4 c. Soy sauce, 1/4 c. rice vinegar, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. ginger powder. Pour over chicken, mix and marinate for two hours.

After the wings have sat in their seasoning for a couple of hours, throw them in a 500 degree oven for about 20 minutes. If you really need the crisp and crunch of fabulously fried wings, get your pan and oil heating and cook them up that way, but similar results can be had by another method. I coat the wings with a bit of olive oil (on top of their rub or marinate) and then dredge with flour (that means I coat them with flour on all sides). I still bake them, but the little bit og oil and flour creates a nice crust you don't get otherwise.

Bren likes to baste the spicy ones with a bottled wing sauce he's doctored to make even zestier and spicier. We serve them with veggies and dip. The cool of the dip is a nice contrast to the hot of the wings.

Soup Kitchen

Today, kids came home to pumpkin pancakes, a favorite fall-time after school snack. I mixed 'em up and Don cooked Here's how you do it:

Pumpkin Pancakes
Make your favorite pancake recipe and add 1/2 cup pumpkin for ever 2 cups flour. Mix and make like you would normal pancakes. Serve with syrup.

Later, Caleb (8) made Chicken and Dumplings for dinner. He cut potatoes and carrots, opened cans of chicken and chicken broth. He also measured ingredients for dumplings and added dollops of dough to the boiling broth when it was time. All-in-all, I'd say he and I spent a total of 30 quality minutes preparing dinner together. Here's the recipe:

Easy Chicken Soup

1 12 oz. can chicken breast
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 cups cubed carrots
1 can chicken broth
8 cups water
4 tsp. chicken bullion
2 tsp. garlic powder
Seasoning salt to taste

Put all ingredients into a medium stock pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Cheater Dumplings

2 1/4 cup baking mix
1 Tbsp. dry milk powder
2/3 cup water

Stir with a fork until all dry ingredients are moistened.

When soup begins a rolling boil, drop dumpling dough about the size of an extra large egg (don't you love the precision of my measurements) into the boiling soup. When all dumplings (you should have gotten about 8 of them) are in the pot, turn temp. down to medium-low and start a timer for 10 minutes. Leave to slow boil, uncovered for 10 minutes. Then, cover the pot, start the timer for 10 more minutes and continue to boil. After 10 minutes remove from heat and serve.

Pasta From The Pantry

Sunday we sat down and from our master menu made a "buy nothing meal plan" for the week. Everything from here on out comes from the freezer or the pantry. Each kid chose the meal they wanted to make this week. Monday I did breakfast, kids made their own lunches and snack, dinner was made by KC (11) and dessert was courtesy of Caleb (8), both needed some small supervision from me. Here's Monday's plan:

Monday
Breakfast - cream of wheat, milk
Lunch - fruit & crackers, cheese stick & nuts
Snack - nachos
Dinner - Spaghetti Carbonara & salad (recipe to follow)
Dessert - Cinnamon Struessel muffins (from a mix)

Spaghetti Carbonara is one of our favorite pastas. It's quick and easy. It calls for cream and bacon. What more do I need to say. The eggs in the sauce itself is heated and cooked on the piping hot pasta. The heat from the cooked noodles is enough to sightly cook the eggs and thicken the sauce, but you have to work fast as everything comes together the minute you drain the spaghetti. KC made it mostly herself with a little help from me in crushing the garlic and her dad drained the pasta. So, here goes:

Spaghetti Carbonarra

1 lb. spaghetti
1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesean
1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups precooked bacon crumbs

2 cloves garlic, crushed

drained canned mushrooms and a cup of frozen spinach are optional

Start water boiling, add pasta when you have a rolling boil. Cook according to package directions. DO NOT overcook. While pasta is boiling prepare the cream portion of the sauce. In a medium bowl mix cream, milk, eggs, cheese and salt. Set aside and wait for pasta to finish cooking. Once the pasta has less than 4 minutes left to cook, add bacon crumbs and crushed garlic to a small, hot saute pan. Saute over medium heat (add optional ingredients once the garlic has a nice golden tan). Drain pasta and immediately pour cream sauce over it. Stir quickly and follow with sizzling hot bacon crumbs, etc. Stir until mixed well. Serve steamy and enjoy.

Peaches and Potatoes

Yesterday I bought a huge supply of potatoes to add to our cold storage. I got them from a fabulous local source, alpinefoodstorage.com. The proprietors drove to Idaho the day before to pick them up as they are being harvested. The potatoes come in 50# bags with the dirt still on them. That little bit of scrubbing time is worth it because the extra dirt helps the spuds stay fresh all through the winter.


Naturally, we had to eat potatoes for dinner, so along with some other exciting items we picked up at Alpine Food Storage (AFS), this is the recipe we made. Bren (13) did the slicing, boiling stirring and sauteing and I just watched to offer encouragement and advice. Here's the recipe:

Au Gratin Potato Casserole

6 russet potatoes, sliced (about 1/8 in. thick coins)
6 slices of bacon, bite size pieces (also shelf stable from AFS)
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups heavy cream (shelf stable from AFS)
1 can cream chicken soup
1 cup milk
2 cups cheddar cheese
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
Parmesan and cheddar cheese for the top (optional)

WARNING: This is not the healthiest recipe, but it is the height of fall comfort food.

Here's how you throw it together -

1. Slice and boil potatoes over med. heat. Cook until all crispness is gone, but potatoes are still firm. You should be able to stab them easily with a fork, but they shouldn't fall apart. Remove from heat and drain.
2. In a small saute pan, saute bite sized pieces of bacon along with minced garlic. Drain and set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl stir together remaining ingredients.
4. Butter a 9x13 baking pan and add potatoes. Pour cream mixture over potatoes and stir just enough to coat all the potatoes with sauce. Top with a little more cheese if desired.
5. Bake at 350F until golden brown and bubbly, about 30 min.

Honestly, Bren did this almost entirely on his own and it turned out deliciously.

For dessert we love a simple peaches and cream. We got these from the growers on the fruit belt in Northern Utah. Purchase, preserve and eat fruit in season and buy local whenever you can. These are my big sharing items right now because they are not expensive and they are prolifically available.

One final word that will bring you countless blessings of abundance when you make a practice of always buying a little more than what you need. Share. You'll be amazed at the things that come back to you when you need them.

Staying out of the store....again

If you haven't been to my new blog, Home of Peace and Plenty, you should check it out. It's a little more philosophical than this blog, but my thoughts are still forming and there's really not an original thought there. However, the experiment proves to be interesting.

As for this blog, here's the latest in the grocery shopping realm. We decided in our family meeting last night to return to no more grocery shopping for the last quarter of the year. So, from the beginning of October until January we will not be going to the grocery store with the following exceptions (note there are fewer exceptions this go around than last time):

1. We can still visit any local producers; i.e. orchards, the dairy, the egg lady, and the farmers market (for produce only).


2. Turkeys, birthday meals, and school needs ("Mom, I'm supposed to bring 2 dozen pre-wrapped rice crispy treats to class tomorrow") are exempt.


3. If Don's out of town, we can go out to eat.

We're not stocking up a whole lot for this since we spent the last year preparing. There are some things I want to get but they are non-food items like duct tape (you can't imagine all the things you can do with that stuff from taping kids' mouths shut ; ) to making wallets and shoes, there are hours of fun and entertainment in each roll). I should also go over my list of stuff I ran out of last time to be sure.

These are the things I ran out of during my month of No More Grocery Shopping

1. Paper plates
2. Paper cups
3. Paper muffin cups
4. Paper lunch bags
5. Sesame oil (I already stocked up)
6. Lettuce (Hmm, Sunflower Farmers' Market for all produce)
7. Cilantro
8. Salad greens
9. Other fresh veggies
10. Milk (Local Dairy)
11. Cream (Ditto)
12. Hot chocolate mix - (Taken care of)

So, what would you stock up on if you weren't going to the store for three months?