Desperation Dinners Save the Day!

The scenario... You look at the clock and it is 5:15 already and you haven't even thought about what to make for dinner. You could order pizza or Chinese take-out, but you don't have to do that, because, *insert trumpet fanfare* - You've got Church Mouse's Desperation Dinner Plan!

What? You thought Church Mouse was too organized and on top of things to do such a thing? HA! Preacher Man is laughing very hard right now. Church Mouse is jabbing him with her elbow. ;)

Disclaimer: These are not the most spartan of my frugal recipes. They do, in fact, use convenience ingredients, and that is ok. These are the meals I keep in my back pocket for moments of true desperation - where I need a meal, and I need it quick, and I need to be able to make it with whatever we've got. They save us from spending unnecessary money on take-out, so the convenience is worth it!

Egg Drop or Chicken Soup - I got this idea from a friend of mine. She would reconstitute chicken bouillon in a pot - about 2 qts. (I recommend Better Than Bouillon, as it has ingredients I can pronounce.) She would grate a carrot into the pot and onion if she had time. (Grated vegetables will cook much faster.) If you have any random veggies in the fridge, dump them in. Once boiling, she would either add some pasta and boil until the pasta was cooked or drop in an egg or two. If you kept a can or two of chicken around, you could add it, particularly if your family needs the protein.

Keep on hand: Bouillon, pasta, eggs, canned chicken (opt.)

Tostadas - Our family's favorite! Wal-mart sells their Great Value canned refried beans for cheap. Look for the low-fat variety, as it has ingredients I can pronounce, and none of the bad hydrogenated oils. I dump a can or two of these in a microwave safe bowl, mix in a few Tbs. water and heat them up. Meanwhile, I brush corn tortillas on each side with olive oil, lay them on a cookie sheet, and pop them in a 450* oven for 10-12 minutes. We like ours nice and crispy. Spread each tortilla with refried beans, sprinkle with cheese, add hot sauce if you like it and enjoy!

Keep on hand: canned refried beans, corn tortillas, cheese

Grilled Cheese/Tomato Soup - I actually use Campbell's Tomato Soup. I love it. I know it has unpronounceable ingredients and corn syrup, but I still love it.

Keep on hand: canned tomato soup, bread, cheese (we are partial to cheddar and Monterey Jack)

Pancakes/Bacon/Applesauce - You could use some kind of pancake mix, but honestly, it is so fast to mix up a double batch from scratch. While I'm mixing up the pancakes, I have the bacon thawing in the sink in some warm water. I dump the entire pound of bacon into an iron skillet and cook it all at once in a big scramble. It works and is much less tedious than my old method of not overlapping any pieces. Just make sure you stir it frequently. Cooking pancakes on the griddle is FUN! Admittedly, this is the longest option I'm listing, but it is still relatively fast and easy, and who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?

Keep on hand: Bacon in the freezer, basic baking supplies, applesauce

Stir Fry/Rice - I like to buy the steam in the bag vegetables when they go on sale for around $1 per pound and save them for desperation dinners. There are some nice stir fry mixes, some even have sauce in them! You can make some white rice in about 20 minutes, or even microwave some frozen brown rice - they sell it right by the frozen vegetables now. We also like to sprinkle in some peanuts or cashews.

Keep on hand: Steam in the bag stir fry vegetables, rice

Huevos Rancheros

Keep on hand: canned black beans, eggs, cheese

And in the end... some days just require pizza or Chinese take-out. I DO understand! I just try to make those days once in a blue moon rather than a habit.

A Well-Stocked Pantry

It seems like most of the nation is in a deep freeze right now. As I type this I am sitting wrapped in a king size quilt with a homemade rice pack helping to keep my neck warm. Unexpected snow storms are known to dash my plans to go grocery shopping, because it is rarely worth it to me to trudge through an unploughed parking lot pushing a cart loaded with groceries and two littles. I'd rather stay home and sip my cup of tea thank you very much! A well-stocked pantry is essential though. I keep a list on the fridge of basic grocery items to keep on hand. Before I go to the store, I run through the list to make sure I am not running low on something without realizing it.

Most people keep basic things on hand:

• Flour, sugar, rice, beans, cooking oil, corn meal, pasta, canned tomatoes, peanut butter, and oats in the pantry
• Meats and frozen vegetables in the freezer.
• Cheese and butter keep for months in the fridge. (I have been known to buy 16 pounds of cheese at once when it is at its rock bottom price!)
• Produce like apples, onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, oranges, lemons, and sweet potatoes keep for several weeks. (TIP - Store onions and potatoes separately and they will keep longer!)

You can make quite a few meals with these things on hand!

It seems like the items needed weekly, or at least bi-weekly are milk and fresh produce. To expand my repertoire of pantry meals, I've started keeping a few extras on hand. Maybe some of these ideas will be useful for you:

• Powdered milk in the freezer. (We don't drink milk, but if I ever need it for cooking, powdered milk is quick to mix up in the quantity I need.)
• I also like to keep powdered buttermilk or goat milk on hand. They keep quite a while in the fridge and are good for baking.
  
• Frozen and dehydrated diced green pepper (Several recipes I make require all pantry ingredients except for this one item, and I really do like the pepper! Bell peppers are also quite expensive out of season, so these options have been helpful when the peppers are not on sale.)
• Dehydrated onions and garlic. I begin nearly every meal sauteing onions and garlic. This way, if I run out, I have a backup! We are not big mushroom eaters, but I have heard dried mushrooms are nice also.
  
• I already wrote about my mung beans for sprouting. They are nice when fresh greens are hard to come by.
• Canned tropical fruit is quite good and refreshing. Read the label and make sure it does not include bananas. Canned bananas are nasty, trust me on that one! But the tropical fruit mix is really very nice and usually has pineapple, mango, and papaya. I often mix in mandarin oranges and extra pineapple. I always look for the kinds packed in fruit juice instead of syrup. If you have unexpected company, this makes a good quick dessert.
  

I still haven't found a great solution for eggs. We go through eggs at a shocking rate. Thankfully, if I run out, we have a convenience store only a few blocks away and we have utilized it in moments of desperation. I've tried egg substitutes in baking, but was disappointed in the results. Any recommendations for eggs?

I'm planning to do an upcoming post on "Desperation Dinners"... You know, when you look at the clock and it is 5:15 already and you haven't even thought about what to make for dinner. You could order pizza or Chinese take-out, but you don't have to do that, because, *insert trumpet fanfare* - You've got Church Mouse's Desperation Dinner Plan!

:) Enjoy your weekend and try to stay warm!

Large Family Logistics

Motherhood is a life of sacrifice; it is a life poured out for our children. So what are we to do to get some space from it all? When we are honest with ourselves, we know that it is not “Me Time” we need or a “Girls’ Night Out”. Children are not a burden to escape or endure; they are a blessing that drives us to Christ because we are incapable of parenting well without Him. God is who we need. While there are helpful strategies we can employ in order to have a more peaceful day with our children, the number one thing we must do is to deny Self and cling to the cross.

~Kim Brenneman, Large Family Logistics

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!!

Mrs. Brenneman, mother of nine, is one wise lady. She put into words what I have struggled to come to terms with in my own life and have been unable to express myself. I have not yet read this book, but I sure want to! I've had it on my Paperback Swap wish list for a while now. I'm number 4, but the book is so new, it might still take a while for my turn, so that is why I'm blogging about this book... I can get three entries in the giveaway Raising Olives is offering here! :)

I wouldn't consider us a large family yet, but with God's blessings, I hope one day we will be. Even still, we can all learn a lot from a large family about frugality, efficiency, and how to draw closer to one another while we draw closer to Christ.

You can find the book on Amazon here. If you enter and win, or decide to buy it, let me know what you think!

Wednesdays with the Word: God's Side

Romans 8:28 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

"O Lord, thank You that Your side of the embroidery of our life is always perfect. That is such a comfort when our side is sometimes so mixed up."
- Corrie ten Boom

I got a new old book from Paperback Swap, it's called Each New Day, short devotions for every day of the year by Corrie ten Boom. Each entry is just a paragraph or so, but not more than a page. The thoughts are lovely and I'm really enjoying it so far. Nice little snippets for meditation that I can take in here and there as I have a moment.



Better?

Life is messy. God is good.

Stuck on Stickies

It is January, and everyone seems to be focusing more on getting organized and increasing productivity. The new year and a fresh start seems to give everyone renewed energy to take control of our lives. I posted a link on Facebook to this article, but if you didn't see it, Lindsay, at Passionate Homemaking has an excellent article about Guarding Against Technology Time-Wasters.

One of the ways that I am both increasing my productivity and organization, AND helping to guard against wasting time online is through the use of "Stickies", which are just like post-it notes in their appearance and function. If you have a Mac, you probably already have it in your applications and there are instructions for how to use it here. I also have the program on my dashboard, and it is incredibly easy to both use it and hide it by hitting the F12 key. If you have a PC, you can download a similar program for free here. (DISCLAIMER - I have not personally tried the PC version of the stickies program, so I cannot share my personal experience. It might be worth checking out if you like the idea though.)

I like "Stickies" because I can keep my to-do lists on my computer. I keep a grey sticky with coding I never seem to remember that I can just copy/paste. I keep a purple sticky with my long term t0-do list and an orange one for the day's to-do list. I have a green one with my ideas for this blog. You could make a sticky with a Bible verse you are memorizing, your menu for the week, or recipes you want to try. There are many, many possibilities, and the stickies are very easy to customize.

So it's pretty obvious how they help me get organized, but how do "Stickies" keep me from wasting time on my computer? Personally, I am working on minimizing the "quick checks" I do online - e-mail, blog, facebook, etc... Those "quick checks" are meant to only take a few seconds, but in reality, they steal more time than I intend. I have been leaving my stickies up on my "dashboard" (desktop if you have a PC) all of the time, so if I think about doing "just a quick check", my to-do list is right in front of me. This reminds me that I have more important things to accomplish, and keeps me from wasting my time online. It works for me anyway.

How do you keep from wasting time online or letting those quick checks eat out too much time in your day? I'd love your ideas!

Never getting around to it? (Part 2)

I'm finally getting around to finishing what I started!



(My thanks to Laura Staley for the use of this image.)

Earlier this week, I suggested these six ways to stop spinning your wheels and get things DONE!

• Make more than one list/Prioritize
  
• Understand the task
  
• Gather the materials
• Set aside a block of time
• Get past fears - JUST DO IT!
• Finish the task!

I covered the first three here: Never Getting Around To It (Part 1). Now for the rest...

Set aside a block of time:
I find that if I do not carve out a time for some things, they just never happen. It's too easy to procrastinate when I imagine I'll do something at some vague time in the future, especially when I think that the perfect time to accomplish that task will just miraculously present itself. That does happen... but rarely! Put it on the calendar, schedule it like you would an appointment, don't let other less important tasks or distractions crowd in on that time. One of the best tips I ever received was to chose your most dreaded task for the day and do it FIRST! This helps me a lot, because even if the task is unpleasant, once it is done, I feel a tremendous burden lifted and can just enjoy the rest of my day.

Get past fears - JUST DO IT!
Some tasks are very intimidating. Some fears are well founded and others are not. I'm very bad about getting excited about an idea, but once I do the research and gather my materials, I start to fear that I am getting in over my head. Have confidence in yourself! JUST DO IT! You'll be happy that you did!

Finish the task!
Mary Poppins said, "Well begun is half done." The other half is FINISHING the job! How many half finished jobs do you have at your house? I admit... we have a few. They are just going to keep nagging at you until you get it done, so just make yourself finish the job. If you are like me, you will be grumpy about it until you do. Take pride in your work, and tie up those loose ends. You might need to go back to step 4 and set aside a block of time to finish the job. Do.

I hope this has been helpful! I know it has been rather motivating for me... especially the nagging job of getting the trim painted in our bathroom. When I get a round tuit, right?

Sausage Chowder

This is one of our favorite soups. It is very, very simple and quick to make, tastes absolutely delicious, and we keep the ingredients on hand. (Keeping sausage in the freezer.) It's a great go-to meal and will really warm you up in the winter! I estimate that this will serve 4-6 people.

Sausage Chowder

• 1 lb. cooked smoked sausage (I have used the links, Kielbasa, Italian sausage, and crumbled sausage in the tube... it all works - just use what you have/like/is on sale!)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 c. diced potatoes (if you are in a hurry, cube shaped hash browns work very well!)
  
• 3 c. chicken broth
• 2 Tbs. fresh parsley (or 2 tsp. dried)
  
• 1 Tbs. fresh basil (or 1 tsp. dried)
• 1 tsp. salt
• fresh cracked pepper to taste

Brown the sausage and onion in a little oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic when the onion is nice and soft and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are soft.

Tastes wonderful with these Easy Drop Biscuits... especially if you put cheese in them and brush herb butter on top (see the variations at the end).

Looking for more soup recipes:

• This post is a part of the Four Moms Open House linkup.
• Three of my favorite soups for freezing
• All homemade - my recipes for chicken stock, cream of _____, chicken soup