Thanksgiving on a Budget: My Favorite Dinner Roll Recipe

If you don't normally make homemade rolls for Thanksgiving, you might just want to consider taking a little extra effort to make these rolls this year. They are just that good. In fact, I've tried literally hundreds of roll recipes over the years and this recipe is hands-down the best one I've ever made.

Now before you start thinking about the combination of pumpkin in dinner rolls and wondering how that might taste, let me reassure you that you probably won't even taste the pumpkin in these rolls. It just serves to make a softer dough and the color a bit richer. But other than that, your picky eaters in the family will likely not recognize any pumpkin taste in these!

These rolls are best served within an hour or two of making, so if you're planning to serve them on Thanksgiving, you'll want to make sure and allow extra time to whip up the dough. While it's rising, you can do your last minute Thanksgiving meal preparations and then stick these in the oven to bake an hour or so before you're planning to eat.

Yes, it's a little bit of extra work but I think you and your guests will agree it was worth it!

My Favorite Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

(Recipe modified slightly from the original recipe found at Tammy's Recipes--a cooking blog you ought to be reading, if you're not already!)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 cup warm milk
¼ cup butter, softened or melted
2 cup mashed cooked pumpkin (I usually use one can of pumpkin.)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup wheat germ (can omit and use flour instead)
10-12 cup all-purpose flour (I usually use a mixture of whole-wheat and white flours. I'd recommend going about 1/3 whole-wheat to 2/3 white flour.)
7 teaspoons dry yeast

In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, water, milk, butter, pumpkin, and salt. Mix well. Add wheat germ, 7-8 cups of the flour, and yeast. Mix, and then continue adding flour and kneading until dough is elastic and not sticky.

Place dough in greased bowl; grease top of dough, cover with a towel, and set in a warm place until doubled (about 1 hour). Punch dough down and divide into thirds. Divide each third into 16 pieces and shape into balls.

Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes, until tops are golden. Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. (Note: These rolls usually look somewhat dry when first coming out of the oven. Wait about 15 minutes and they will look and taste beautifully. Don't ask me why, but that's how it always works for me!)

Yield: 4 dozen rolls (If you're not expecting a large crowd for Thanksgiving, I'd recommend halving the recipe. I often do this for smaller groups and it works great!)

For more of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes, click on the following links: Sweet Potato Casserole, Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, and Crumb-Topped Apple Pie.

Do you usually make homemade bread for Thanksgiving? If so, I'd love if it you shared a link to the recipe in the comments section.

Got pumpkins? Need recipes?

Amy has the motherload of pumpkin recipes collected and cooked up for you here. No matter your family's tastes or preferences, there's likely a recipe or two or ten you'd be interested in trying. Go check them out!

photo by AmyMillerPhotos

How to Live on Beans and Rice for a Week

We use a lot of beans around here; they're inexpensive, they're filling, and they're nutritious. Pair them with rice (we prefer brown rice) and you have a complete protein.

When I read Ruth's post here on how to live on beans and rice for a week, I thought it'd be fun to try and come up with my own version. While we've never tried to just have beans and rice all week long, Ruth inspired me to come up with an almost-week-long beans and rice menu plan, too, using some of our favorite legume recipes. Maybe we'll have to do this sometime!

photo by noonch

Day One: Cook up a big ole' pot of beans (I do mine like this. You can add in seasonings, onions, etc. if you prefer). I'd recommend cooking black beans, pinto beans, and chili beans. Mix equal parts of the beans and make chili (we like to add onions, diced tomatoes, tomato juice, spices, hot sauce, pickle juice, and anything else that strikes my fancy that evening! You can add some browned ground beef if you like.). Serve over brown rice with cheese and hot sauce.

Day Two: Take the leftover chili and make "haystacks"--set out bowls of chopped lettuce, tomatoes, corn chips, rice, cheese, sour cream, olives, and hot sauce. Let everyone pile things on and make up their own "haystack".

Day Three: Mash up some of the black beans and pinto beans (you can make them refried like this, if you like) and mix with a little salsa and chopped chicken. Roll up in tortillas, sprinkle with cheese and heat through.

Day Four: Make pizza crust and top with mashed/refried beans, salsa or diced tomatoes, onions (if you like) and cheese. Bake. If you have leftover lettuce and tomatoes from Day Two, you could sprinkle them on top of the baked pizza. If you have any leftover chili, you could also make "Chili Pizza" using chili and tomatoes and cheese as the pizza topping.

Day Five: Use any leftover chili, beans, or mashed beans you have left to make Mexican Lasagna (like this or this or this--only substitute most of the meat for beans.)

Those are a few of our family favorites. I could probably come up with more, but five days of beans is likely about all we could take around here!

What about you? What are your favorite ways to cook beans and rice? If you were to try and subsist mostly on beans and rice for a week, what would you serve?

Whole-Wheat Blueberry Banana Bran Muffins

I promised in my menu post for this week that I'd post the recipe for the Blueberry Bran Muffins I was planning to make this week. Kaitlynn and I made them on Tuesday during our morning one-on-one time together.

I used blueberries I'd frozen from when they were on sale for $0.99 per pint and the bran and whole-wheat flour were from my recent bulk purchases. So I didn't have to buy anything extra to make these--which is often how I cook/bake. I'm always on the lookout for recipes which utilize ingredients I already have on hand.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cups wheat bran or oat bran
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed (I happened to have this on hand, but if you don't, you could probably just substitute it with more bran.)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup honey
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional--I rarely ever use vanilla in recipes. It's just a small way that we save money. And we never notice any difference. I'm sure that this breaks culinary rules, but we're just weird like that!)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the bran, flour, flaxseed, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In another medium bowl, combine the milk, honey, banana, egg, olive oil, and vanilla until smooth.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups and bake for 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 15 muffins.

Considering how healthful these are, I thought they tasted quite good. My husband wasn't too excited about them, but I've been enjoying them for breakfast warmed with butter.

If you have another healthful blueberry or bran muffin recipe, do send it my way. I've got lots of both of those items in the freezer and I'd love to try out some more new and healthful recipes!

Psst... did you see?

Tammy's Recipes--my all-time favorite recipe website--just got a makeover. Not is there a new look, there are new features and Tammy is back to blogging regularly again. Definitely head over there and check it out if you enjoy home-cooked meals which are delicious and inexpensive.

Homemade Smoothies: A frugal and delicious Summer treat (plus, a little giveaway!)

At our house, we love to have homemade smoothies in the Summertime. Not only are they yummy and refreshing--especially on a hot Summer day!--but they can also be quite frugal. Yes, really, smoothies can be frugal!

Almost any kind of fruit can be used in a smoothie, but berries are especially good. During the Summer months when berries are in season and plentiful, the sales on them are usually abundant. Buy a little extra each week and wash, chop, and freeze them to have for later and you'll save a bundle and stock your freezer with a nice variety of berries to use in smoothies for a few months to come.

I like to spread the berries on baking sheets after I've washed and chopped them and then stick them in the freezer until they are frozen. Once frozen, I transfer them from the baking sheets to freezer bags. This method prevents all of your berries forming into one big clump in the freezer bag and makes it much easier for you to get out a cup or two at a time to add to your blender for a smoothie.

Another fruit which is a must-have in smoothies is bananas. Our stores sell bananas which are past their prime for a very reduced price. I buy these up and we eat what we can the first day and then chop and freeze the rest to use in smoothies and banana bread. This is a much more cost-effective way to add bananas to your smoothies and you can't tell that a banana was a bit overripe if it is in a smoothie!

Since I love experimenting in the kitchen, I find smoothies to be a great way to use up some of those odds and ends of produce from the refrigerator and freezer. From that little bit of leftover juice or yogurt which wasn't used for breakfast the day before to the spinach from the garden which you have in abundance, almost anything can go into a smoothie so long as you put enough other things in it to "hide" it!

The other day, I used the items pictured above to whip up some strawberry smoothies: some of the YoBaby yogurt, frozen strawberries, milk, and some Santa Cruiz juice.

I always begin by adding in the frozen fruit and any fresh fruit, then yogurt or milk, and then liquids (either milk or juice). I add more liquid if needed and sweeten it with honey or sugar if it needs it (most of the time, we don't add sweetener as the fruit is plenty enough!).

 

And the girls just gobble it up!

We love strawberry smoothies, but another family favorite is our Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie recipe which is posted here. I made it up on a whim one day and we all decided it was a keeper! If you're a little more adventuresome, you might also try Green Smoothies. We've made these before and no one seemed to even notice the spinach in them!

Would you like to try your hand at making smoothies? Just for fun, I'm giving away a Smoothie Kit on my blog today complete with yummy smoothie recipes, a small Hamilton-Beach blender (shown above), and Bone Health t-shirts.

May was National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month and the Milk Bone Health Program was going to give away this kit then, but since I had a baby in May, I'm a little behind here. But I thought it'd be fun to still give away this kit--especially since it's a wonderful time of year to be making smoothies.

To enter to win this Smoothie Kit, just leave a comment on this post in the next 24 hours. I'll randomly choose a winner once this giveaway is closed.

The girls, enjoying their smoothies and sporting their "I {love} strong bones" t-shirts. 

Baking Day Round-Up

Done... finally! I'm so glad I started the Baking Day list yesterday afternoon because I only ended up having two hours this afternoon to finish up and those were with a fussy baby in the front carrier.

I'm definitely still figuring out how to do this caring for three little ones and trying to get anything else done thing. There are days when those two things seem mutually exclusive, but I'm slowly learning how to be more creative, more flexible, and to sometimes just chuck the whole to-do list and sit on the floor and play with my babies. :) After all, they won't be little for long!

At any rate, today was a bit exhausting and I'm quite confident I managed to bite off a bit more than I could really chew in attempting a longer list of baking projects at this season of my life, but we survived and we actually enjoyed it. And believe it or not, the house is almost all cleaned (thanks to my husband's help tonight) and I'm heading to bed early!

But not before posting the final fruits of the Baking Day labors!

Here's what we ended up making:

2 dozen Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 loaf Banana Bread
1 1/2 dozen Blueberry Streusel Muffins
1 loaf Homemade Bread
A double batch of Waffles
A double batch of Homemade Pita Pockets

By the way, the Blueberry Streusel Muffins are incredibly yummy, which is to be expected seeing as they came from Tammy's Recipes. 

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Did you have a chance to do any baking this week? If so, post about it on your blog and leave your link below to your direct blog post. I'd love it especially if you could share pictures and recipes so I can get more ideas for my next Baking Day projects! And I'm guessing many others would be inspired as well.

Baking Day: Waffles and Banana Bread

After getting back from the errand and getting everyone situated for our afternoon Quiet Time, I mixed up the banana bread batter and stuck it in the oven. I've made a lot of various banana bread recipes over the years, but this recipe is hands-down the best one ever.

Like the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe, I wouldn't say it is the most healthful banana bread recipe ever invented, but it sure is delicious! Plus, it freezes exceptionally well and makes for a quick and easy snack or breakfast.

I usually let the bread cool, then slice it, and stick it in a freezer bag in the freezer. We just pull out slices as needed. I often will pack a few slices for a snack if we are heading out for a few hours so we're not tempted to run through a fast-food drive-thru lane for a quick snack.

Our Favorite Banana Bread--Makes 1 loaf

2 cups flour (all-purpose, whole-wheat, or a mixture of both)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3-4 bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons milk

Stir together dry ingredients. Beat together remaining ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and blend until just combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

After the banana bread was mixed together and in the oven, I made up the waffle batter and started baking waffles while I mixed up the Blueberry Streusel Muffins and cleaned up the kitchen.

Next up: Pictures of the Blueberry Streusel Muffins, the final results of my Baking Day efforts, and a Mr. Linky for you to share links to any baking you did

Baking Day: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Next up on my Baking Day list was Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. This recipe is a stand-by at our house and was one we made very often growing up as well. It's definitely a winner recipe in my book!

I'm not sure that it's necessarily the most frugal recipe ever and I certainly know it's not the healthiest recipe ever, but it is sure delicious. And if you can get the pumpkin for $0.25/can and the other staple ingredients on sale or at Aldi, it can be rather economical.

These muffins freeze really well and can pretty much be eaten straight out of the freezer. We love to use them for quick snacks or for a special breakfast treat, and they are one of my husband's favorite things for me to pack in his lunch.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 (16 oz.) can pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cups oil
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 package chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil until smooth. Add in dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 16-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 24-30 muffins.

Next up: Waffles and our favorite Banana Bread recipe

Baking Day: Homemade Bread and Homemade Pita Pockets

I began my Baking Day yesterday afternoon since I had a bit of time and wanted to get an early start while I had the chance. I first threw the ingredients for a loaf of Homemade Bread into the bread machine and while that was mixing up, I made up the dough for the Homemade Pita Pockets.

I doubled the recipe for the Homemade Pita Pockets and, in the process, discovered that it seemed to be a recipe not entirely suitable for doubling. The dough was a little difficult to work with. But that wasn't all--since you are only supposed to cook two pita rounds at a time, by the time the last half of the rolled out pita dough rounds were ready to be baked, they had risen too much and then fallen, making them not bake as well.

However, despite all of this, they turned out yummy--just not as beautifully-looking as they usually do!

It was also when I was baking the Pita Pockets that I realized this whole Baking Day thing was probably not the greatest idea ever seeing as it 100 degrees in the afternoons here this week. So heating up my whole kitchen was not the brightest thing to do. Oh well!

Next up: our favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Baking Day: Introduction

After taking a hiatus from my usual Baking Days, I'm back into the swing of things again around here with another fun and busy Baking Day planned for today.

Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Banana Bread
Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Homemade Bread or Rolls
Waffles
Homemade Pita Pockets

For those of you who are new here and wondering what a "Baking Day" is, basically it is a day that I set aside every few weeks to bake up a bunch off stuff for the freezer. I usually make up muffins, waffles or pancakes, bread, and I sometimes cooked up chicken, rice, or ground beef as well.

I've found that spending a few hours of dedicated time one morning once or twice a month preparing food for the freezer saves me a lot of time in food preparation over the next few weeks. Plus, it saves us quite a bit of money since it allows us to have breakfast at the ready for a busy morning, snack foods available to grab on the way out the door, and makes dinner prep a snap on those days when I don't have time to spend in the kitchen.

If you've never baked up things for your freezer, I'd highly recommend it. You might find it becomes a time-saver and life-saver in your home as it has ours! You can scroll through some of my previous Baking Days here for more ideas and recipes. And stay tuned today as I'll be posting updates on my progress complete with recipes and pictures.

Guest Post: Make Your Own Freezer Jam

Guest Post by Hannah and Abby from Safely Gathered In

Every considered making your own freezer jam? It can be inexpensive, fast, and easy to do! Best of all, it's delicious!

The most economical way to make this jam is usually by buying strawberries when they are in season at Farmer's Markets or U-Pick Farms. However, you can also make it with frozen berries.



The ingredients you'll need:
Strawberries (you can also use other berries, if you prefer)
Sugar
Pectin

You'll need enough strawberries to have four cups of crushed strawberries. We picked a gallon bucket, and then ate strawberries out of it all weekend, and then I made jam from the rest.


You can pick up pectin in your local grocery store in the canning section. It's usually by the ketchup and salad dressing. The directions for making jam are on the back of the pectin, so it's really simple. (There are also similar recipes here and here.)


First, mix the pectin and the sugar together in a bowl until combined.


Then, get to work on the strawberries. I let my faucet trickle so I can rinse the strawberries one at a time and remove the tops. If they are large strawberries I slice them, if they are wee ones then I just toss them into the blender. After all, they are just going to be pureed.


Once your strawberries are washed and hulled, put them into a blender and puree them. If you like chunky jam, don't blend it quite as much. Make sure you have the right amount of crushed fruit it calls for. If, after I blend my berries, the mixture is under the four-cup line, I just add more strawberries and blend again.


Add the strawberries to pectin/sugar mixture and stir. My directions say to stir for three minutes. So set the timer and go.


An important component of jam making is the containers! The beauty of freezer jam is that since it's going in your freezer, you can put it in anything and it doesn't need to have a seal on it. I use yogurt, sour cream containers, old jars, and baby food jars for the jam I'm going to gift away.


Ladle the jam into your containers, label the contents and date, and set on your counter top for 30 minutes to set, or until the time indicated in your directions. The freezer jam will last for up to 3 weeks in your refrigerator and up to a year in your freezer.

Hannah and Abby share recipe ideas, food preservation tutorials, and more information regarding food storage at SafelyGatheredIn.blogspot.com.

Guest Post: Italian Roast Wraps

Guest Post by Laura from HeavenlyHomemakers.com

I've learned four simple things about healthful eating:

1. It is not as difficult as you might think.
2. It is not as expensive as you might think. 
3. It is not as time-consuming as you might think.
4. It is more delicious than you might think.

Really. I have a husband and four kids--four boys to be exact. We are a single income family and we eat a very healthful diet on a very tight budget. So I know from first-hand experience that it can be done and it can taste really yummy, too!

Recently on my blog I've been writing a series called High Five Recipes, featuring high quality recipes all using five ingredients or less. You would be amazed at the great dishes you can make using only five ingredients or even three ingredients. Of the recipes I've come up with to share so far not only are they healthy and simple, but many of them only take five minutes to prepare.

Here's one of our favorite High Five Recipes: Italian Roast Wraps. These are so flavorful and juicy. However, if you were looking forward to seeing a five-ingredient recipe which only takes five minutes to prepare you may be disappointed with this one. You see, this one only takes two minutes to prepare. Sorry about that.  :)

Italian Roast Wraps

2 to 3 pounds of frozen roast (beef, deer, or lamb)
1/2 pouch Italian dressing mix (I use the Simply Organic brand.)
Whole wheat tortillas
Sour cream
Chopped fresh tomatoes

Place frozen roast in a crock pot. Sprinkle 1/2 pouch Italian dressing mix onto roast. Cook on low for 5 hours. 

 

Shred meat or slice thinly. Spoon meat onto a warm tortilla and top with tomatoes and sour cream.  Wrap and eat! Served with a fresh fruit salad these Italian Roast Wraps are a great lunch or dinner.

Want to see more High Five Recipes? I have a whole category on my blog featuring these five-ingredient or less recipes including main dishes, side dishes, snacks, and desserts all using healthful ingredients here. Stop by and learn how simple healthful eating can be!

Laura blogs at Heavenly Homemakers, a site dedicated to encouraging women as they make their homes heavenly and strive toward their Heavenly Home. She shares about how she and her husband work to live simply, eat healthfully, spend wisely, and raise four boys (ages 4, 7, 9 and 11). The raising four boys part of her life is usually loud, busy, and full of lots of soccer balls and light sabers.

Guest Post: Homemade Pesto

Guest Post by Hannah and Abby from Safely Gathered In

Basil is one of those plants that grows really well in all types of situations. You can even grow it indoors in a small pot.

Once your basil leaves have sprouted, pick off all the leaves that look decent. (This is a job your little ones can help with. Especially if it's the end of the season and the plant is just going to die anyway!)

And then it's time to make some Homemade Pesto!

Homemade Pesto
from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

1/4 cup olive oil or cooking oil
1/2 cup walnuts and/or pine nuts
2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper

Rinse your basil and pat dry gently. Don't wash the leaves until you're ready to make pesto. They mold easily if you don't get all the water off.

Peel a couple of cloves of garlic. You don't need to chop them since it's all going in the food processor.

Stuff your tiny food processor full of basil.

Add the garlic and Parmesan.

Now add the nuts. I've used pine nuts, walnuts, and almonds--toasted and untoasted. You can pretty much use whatever you have available.

Add the oil.
Puree until smooth. Serve with crackers or pasta or just eat with a spoon.

Pick a container to store your pesto in. Any tupperware or jar will do. To help the top from going brown, layer a little olive oil over the top of the pesto before putting the lid on.

If you aren't going to eat the Pesto right away, it will refrigerate for a few weeks or freeze for at least eight months. I've had some in the freezer for much longer and it tasted just fine. As with all food, the farther back in the freezer, the longer the food will last. If you'd like, you can freeze the pesto in ice cube trays and then, once frozen, remove these cubes to a freezer bag. Pop one of these pesto cubes into your hot cooked past for an easy, quick dinner!

Hannah and Abby share recipe ideas, food preservation tutorials, and more information regarding food storage at SafelyGatheredIn.blogspot.com.

Anyone have an incredible homemade macaroni and cheese recipe?

I was making my menu for this next week and was suddenly hit with the urge to make homemade macaroni and cheese this coming week. Not only is cheese is so inexpensive right now, but I'm pretty sure homemade macaroni and cheese constitutes a "quick, easy, and frugal meal".

There's only one problem: I have yet to come across a winner recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese. I've tried a number of them and they either turned out soggy or dry or not cheesy enough or something or other.

But I'm not convinced its impossible to make yummy homemade macaroni and cheese. In fact, a few times in my life I've tasted some that was exceptional but I was never able to get a hold of those recipes.

So help me out here with my pregnant cravings, will you? Do you have a blue-ribbon homemade macaroni and cheese recipe? I'd love to get my hands on it and try it out. Post the link to the recipe in the comments section or email it to me. I'd be immensely grateful! And I promise that when I find a really good recipe, I'll be sure to share it here.

Baking Day - Part 3

The Whole Wheat French Bread Rolls just came out of the oven and can I say "yum"? I love their crispier crust and yet they are still light and fluffy inside. This recipe is definitely a winner. It would be especially delicious served with butter and honey. And best of all, these were quite easy to make.

While they were baking, I was inspired by FishMama to whip up some Calzone dough to stick in the freezer for after the baby is born. I'm not sure whether I'll do calzones or pizza with them but I know that already having the dough made up will be a huge time-saver!

Putting everything in the bread machine and running it made this dough incredibly simple to do. I didn't feel like it turned out quite as nicely as my usual Homemade Pizza Dough recipe, but it still seemed like it will be pretty good. I'll be anxious to use it and see how it ends up working out.

We also made the Pumpkin Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. These are definitely a somewhat-healthier alternative to the usual Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins we make and they are quite scrumptious. Plus, it's another great way to use up going-bad bananas--something we often seem to have around here!

I'm taking another break to drink some water and put my feet up and then we'll tackle the Banana Bread, cooking up some chicken, and cleaning up the kitchen. We're having leftovers for dinner tonight, along with the French Bread Rolls, so I'm hopeful the kitchen can be all back in order by dinner time.

Baking Day - Part 2

We started off the morning with making juice for breakfast. Sadly, I can't drink fresh juice right now due to my heartburn/reflux, but the rest of the family thoroughly enjoyed it. And then I cleaned up the kitchen and started the dishwasher so we could begin our baking with an orderly work space.

After that, I mixed up the dough for the Whole-Wheat French Bread Rolls. While the yeast, sugar, and water were sitting for ten minutes, I whipped up the Super Power Muffins and got those into the oven.

Then it was back to finish up the roll dough and get that rising.

The muffins came out looking pretty scrumptious and the family taste-testing of them went over fairly well. So I'm guessing these will be something I'll definitely be making again. They were a little more dessert-like than muffin-like, but considering they have peanut butter, bananas, and whole-wheat flour, there's quite a bit of nutrition in them as well.

I added in an extra mashed banana instead of the applesauce or carrot puree and also added in a little more than the called for amount of chocolate chips. Next time, I'd like to try adding in carrot puree and see how that goes over.

I'm drinking some water and putting my feet up for a little while and then it's back to the kitchen to finish the rolls and make more muffins.

If you're baking today, I'd love to hear how it's coming along.

Guest Post: Easy, Frugal Breakfasts

Guest Post by Lynn from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures

Breakfast foods can be a major part of a grocery budget. It is just so easy to grab boxes of cereal, packages of instant oatmeal, or boxes of frozen waffles.

Yes, you can use coupons and sales to get these items for a good price, but even sale prices can add up when you have several children. Three hungry kids can devour a box of cereal quickly. At least I know mine can.

The main reason that people buy these items is usually convenience. My mornings, and I assume yours, are busy. We are all trying to start our day, get off to work or school, deal with crying sick kids, or
just deal with everyday home life. Whatever the reasons, I think we all struggle with preparing healthy frugal breakfasts for our families.

I have found that I do much better fixing a home cooked breakfast when I can prepare things ahead of time. It is much easier for me to make things the night before so that it only takes a few minutes during the morning rush. 

Two of my favorite things to make ahead are pancake and waffle batters. While you can make ahead and freeze pancakes and waffles, my family prefers fresh, hot cooked ones.

So, today I am going to share my family's favorite make-ahead waffle and pancake recipes. These recipes are were specifically created to be made ahead and sit overnight; they do best when the batter has sat for at least 8-12 hours. These are quick to put together the night before, then all you have to do is stir the batter and cook in the morning.

Whole Wheat Overnight Waffles

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup warm milk (110 degrees)
8 tablespoons butter ( 1 stick)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt together. Gradually add remaining ingredients until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight for 12-24 hours. (You want to have plenty of room in this bowl because the batter will rise some. If your bowl is not big enough it may go all over your refrigerator!)

In the morning, cook on heated waffle iron for about 3 1/2 minutes each or until done. This may vary with each waffle iron so follow the directions for your specific waffle maker. Serve with butter and syrup and enjoy!

Overnight Pancakes

1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or use all all-purpose flour)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water; let stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Then beat in eggs, buttermilk, yeast mixture and oil. Cover and refrigerate for 8
hours or overnight.

To make pancakes, pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until second side is golden brown.

Lynn loves to cook and try new recipes. Lynn blogs at LynnsKitchenAdventures.com if you would like to read more about her adventures in the kitchen.

Note from Money Saving Mom: What are some easy and frugal breakfasts you like to serve at your home? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Baking Day: Pumpkin Waffles and Cranberry Orange Muffins

Utilizing more of the bargain cranberries and pumpkin I snagged recently, we next made a double batch of Pumpkin Waffles and Cranberry Orange Muffins.

Pumpkin Waffles (recipe from blog reader Helen)

2 cups flour (I used all whole wheat flour.)
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Pumpkin pie spice, to taste (I added in about 2 teaspoons.)

Mix together milk, pumpkin, egg, and oil in one bowl. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice in another bowl. Stir dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture and cook on waffle iron according to waffle iron directions.

These waffles were okay. Definitely not as good as our favorite Whole-Wheat Waffles and they didn't seem to come out of the waffle maker really easily. I'm wondering, though, if it was because I doubled the recipe and maybe this recipe is better if you don't double it? Or maybe it was because I used all whole wheat flour? I'm still debating what it might be.

The Cranberry Orange Muffin recipe is here. These were fairly yummy, though again, not a winner recipe in my book. The batter is thick and I think that makes them more on the dry side, almost the consistency of a scone rather than a muffin.

I was thinking that these would be spruced up and more delicious if they had a powdered sugar/milk glaze on them. But alas, I don't have any powdered sugar in the house right now!

Baking Day: Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

In between doing some laundry and running the dishwasher, giving baths, helping Kathrynne do some arts and crafts, making sure Kaitlynn doesn't hurt herself (she's at the "I have no fear of anything and want to try to do everything" stage!), and taking some breaks to rest (!), I made up a double batch of Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins.

I had gotten six bags of Ocean Spray cranberries for $0.50/bag post-Christmas and stuck them in the freezer. Then, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine found Libby's pumpkin marked down to $0.25/can at Wal-Mart so she picked up 24 cans for me.

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it out. It's originally from a cookbook of recipes from the tea room I worked at for six years back before I got married.

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins (makes about 20 muffins)

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

Combine dry ingredients. Combine liquid ingredients and stir into dry ingredients, mixing just until moist. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I used my Vita-Mix to combine all the wet ingredients chopping up the cranberries first and then adding everything else in.

 
The muffins weren't very sweet so I decided they needed some sort of sweet topping. For half of the batch, I dipped the tops in melted in butter and brown sugar. The other half of the batch, I topped with this crumb topping before baking.

We're already all tried some of these and decided they were fairly good. Not the best muffins we've ever tasted, but definitely plenty edible.

TCBY: Half-priced Smoothie Hour

Much like Sonic's afternoon Happy Hour, TCBY is now offering half-priced smoothies every day from 5-6 p.m. You might call your store to make sure they are participating before stopping by, though.

Homemade Pizza in Less Than 30 Minutes

We love homemade pizza at our house. It's filling, inexpensive, and easy-to-make! Best of all, though, in our opinion, it's so much better than carryout or frozen pizzas!

I've tried many different pizza crust recipes and this one is not only our favorite, it's also one of the quickest to make. The pizza, from start to finish, can be ready to pop in the oven in less than 30 minutes.

Pizza Crust:
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix.

Dump onto a floured surface .

Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so).

Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan.

Add toppings. (Have fun and be creative with this! Our favorite variety is salsa or barbecue sauce, diced cooked chicken, and cheese.)

Bake at 450 degrees F. for around 12-15 minutes until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

By the way, you can make up a double or triple batch of the pizza crust dough and freeze the extras if you don't need it. This speeds up the preparation even more as all you have to do is pull out a bag of dough and a bag of chopped cooked chicken in the morning and then put the pizza together right before you're ready to eat. You can also freeze the pizzas already cooked but I doubt it would ever stay uneaten long enough to make it to the freezer around here!

Speaking of freezing pizza, many of you asked what things I'm planning to make ahead and freeze for after the baby is born. I posted my current list-in-the-making here.

Do you make homemade pizza at your home? If so, what are some of your favorite toppings?

Guest Post: Homemade Breakfast Hot Pockets

Guest Post by the Meal Planning Mommies

These Homemade Breakfast Hot Pockets are a great "Baking Day" project. Take the time to make these on an afternoon or morning while you will be home. These take a couple of hours from start to finish to make, but they can be frozen and will provide a hearty breakfast for your family for a while.

If you do not have time to make your own dough you can use refrigerated bread dough, but your hot pockets will not be quite as large. Or, you could also substitute crescent rolls and make them in to "breakfast in a blanket".

Dough Ingredients:
9 cups flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp. yeast
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks melted butter

Put 9 cups flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl beat 4 eggs, than add 1/2 cup sugar and 4 1/2 tsp. yeast.

In another bowl, scald 1 1/2 cups milk in microwave for 3 minutes. Then add 1 1/2 cups water. Add this mixture to the egg mixture. Stir in 1 tsp. salt. Mix all ingredients well.

Pour this mixture into the well of flour in the large bowl. Do not stir. Put lid on and let sit for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, add 2 sticks of melted butter and mix well.

Cover and let sit for 1 hour. Now that your dough is made you are ready to make hot pockets.

Egg Mixture:
12 eggs
2 Tbs. butter
1 roll of breakfast sausage
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 half onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped

While you are waiting on the dough you can be making the breakfast mixture. Using butter or margarine, scramble 12 eggs over a skillet. In another skillet, cook and crumble 1 roll of breakfast sausage.

In another bowl combine scrambled eggs, sausage, onion, bell pepper, and cheddar cheese.

To Make the Hot Pockets:

Pull off a round of dough about the size of a baseball and flatten on counter. Place about 1/2 cup of mixture in the middle of the hot pocket (or about 1/4 cup if you are using crescent rolls). Bring opposite sides together and pinch together. Then do the same with the other two sides.

Place onto a greased cookie sheet, or baking stone. Let rise for 30-40 minutes and then bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes.

Now, all your prep work and cooking are done! Once these are baked and cooled, you can freeze your hot pockets. When you are ready to eat them, just pop them in the microwave until warm.

This recipe yields 30-36 hot pockets, depending upon how large you make them.

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We've found that, in most cases, making something at home is more cost-effective and healthier for us. It provides the opportunity for learning, teaching, connection with your children, and the re-use of supplies.

We've started asking myself, "What can we make at home instead of buying prepackaged?" Unless we have a coupon making a processed or packaged food almost free, we do not even go down those aisles in the grocery store. Instead, we are using the grocery store to purchase staples that we use to make our meals and snacks at home.

By making things from scratch, our families are learning about healthier alternatives, gaining a greater appreciation for the foods we eat, and saving money at the same time!

Meal Planning Mommies is a blog dedicated to providing weekly meal plans, recipes (complete with pictures!) and 3 mommies' thoughts about cooking in the kitchen.

Guest Post: Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken

Guest Post by Erin from $5 Dinners

Creativity is a key part of making my $5 dinners every night. It would be much easier to make spaghetti or chicken and rice every night. But there's no fun in that! A little imagination with some basic ingredients can really add some spark to your meals.

Here's a delicious dinner I made recently for, yes, $5:

Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Chicken--serves 4

What you'll need:

3-4 chicken breasts ($2.29)
1/2 cup BBQ sauce ($0.20)
1-2 apples, peeled and grated ($0.50)
1 lemon, juiced ($0.30)
6 slices bacon ($0.50)

2-3 sweet potatoes ($0.99)
1 cup chopped frozen broccoli ($0.25)

Directions:

1. In small bowl, combine BBQ sauce with grated apple and lemon juice.

2. Place chicken breasts in base of crock pot, pour BBQ/apple mixture over the chicken. Wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each chicken breast. Set to low and cook for 8 hours.

3. Slit sweet potatoes with knife or vent with fork. Bake sweet potatoes at 350 degrees for 1 hour in baking dish with 1/4 inch water. Cover with foil. Remove and let cool about 10 minutes. Peel skins off of the potato and mash. Serve with cinnamon and butter if you like.

4. Cook frozen broccoli as directed on package.

5. Serve yummy chicken breast with side of broccoli and sweet potatoes.

Total cost for this dinner for four (two adults and two children): $5.03

If you'd like a $5 Dinner meal, just like this one, delivered to your inbox every night, come on over to 5DollarDinners.com and subscribe to our email updates!

Baking Day - Part 5

As promised, here's the final installment of this week's Baking Day posts. Only, unlike yesterday when I was baking up a storm, I didn't bake or cook anything today.

Instead, my sister came over to help me today and she made all of this for me--plus, she took the pictures! Yes, I'm very spoiled to live close to family again.

Here's what she stocked our freezer with:

Whole-Wheat Banana Crumb Muffins--These are delicious! The recipe is here and was passed onto me by Donielle. She used some applesauce in place of the butter/oil and I don't think you can tell at all.

Spinach, Brown Rice, and Cheese Casserole--I love this stuff! I'd recommend putting in a little less spinach (unless you really like the taste of cooked spinach, more cheese, and maybe some extra seasonings in place of the Worchestershire sauce). It makes such a nutritious and delicious lunch; I always crave it when I'm pregnant, too!

Cranberry Orange Bread--Another great recipe! My friend found cranberries marked down to $0.50/bag at our nearby Dillons store and she tipped me off to the deal. Plus, she gave me this great recipe!

Cranberry Orange Bread
2 cups flour
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar                           
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder               
1/2 teaspoon baking soda                               
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 cup orange juice
1 egg                             
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Cut in shortening (like for a pie crust). Beat the egg. Stir in orange peel and orange juice. Add these to the dry ingredients and mix. Then fold in cranberries and nuts. Bake in a greased large loaf pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

And, not only did she make all of that, but my sister also made a double batch of pancakes, too. Whew! See why I'm so blessed to have family nearby?