Snowed in...

Well, we were snowed in for the past couple of days. Today it's pretty much all gone though.

Friday it was 70*, we were out in the garden, tilling & planting. Went for a walk with my friend's kids, it was a great day!

Saturday morning we woke up to 38* temps, and a forcast of snow. Within a few hours the snow was falling. By that night it was below freezing, and there was 6 1/2 inches of snow on the ground.

Sunday there was no church, there was another 2-3 inches on the ground, and when we woke up there was sleet coming down. By afternoon it was all over, but we had lots of snow...

Today it is 53* and most of the snow is gone. Tomorrow is to be in the 70s again...

I broke...LOL

So, yesterday we went to Price Cutter... (I know... I know... I'm in the middle of a pantry challenge!!! What was I thinking, going to a grocery store!!!) We only spent $7.79 though. Here's what I got.

(2) $1.00 Hodgen's Mill Macaroni & Cheese (Whole Grain)

$1.25 Hodgen's Mill Whole Grain Mini Shell Pasta

$3.29 Pimento Cheese Spread (So that when hubby isn't home I have something quick & easy for a meal)

$.89 Cream Cheese

Last night we had yummy grilled hamburgers with mozzerella cheese & french fried onions on them... OOOOO they were sooooooo good!!!

Tonight we are having hamburger gravy & cornbread :)

Rachel Ray's Oven Fries

This is the recipe that I use for my oven fries. I don't remember which of her cookbooks it came from, but it is one of Rachel Ray's recipes. I didn't write down how long to cook them for on the recipe card when I copied it down, so we just watch them to see when they're done. Probably about 15 minutes in our oven.

Oven Fries with Herbs

3 All-Purpose potatoes, scrubbed & dried

About 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon herb mixture:

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 500*. Cut the potatoes into wedges and place on a cookie sheet. Pour the olive oil over the potatoes, and evenly rub them all with it. Rub the herbs onto the potatoes as well. Bake.

We've been continuing on with our pantry challenge. We made chili the other night, with 4 different kinds of beans, just to use up what we have. We used great northerns, pintos, kidneys & lentils. It's not too bad...

Let's Hear it for My Followers!!!

Wow, Guys! I had all of 4-5 followers as of about a month ago! Now I have 8!!!! I know that doesn't seem like much, but those 4-5 people were all people that I personally know here around town! I would truly love to hear from my followers, what they've gotten out of my blog, or what they would like to hear from me... I am planning on posting more recipes...

I forgot to post yesterday on how the challenge was going, but the baking the fish worked well, I would say that most of the grease dripped off in the baking! Last night we then had macaroni & cheese and hot dog sandwiches. I cut the hot dogs longways and put them on bread with ketchup. (We didn't have any buns, so it makes it to where you don't have to have buns...)

Today for lunch we had the last of the leftover fried rice and mac & cheese. Not sure what's going to be for supper tonight yet.

Leftovers!!!

We've been eating on leftovers for the past 2 days... Leftover fried rice and leftover fish & oven fries. The fried rice is almost gone now, and we finished the fish & fries today at lunch. We'd been having problems with the grease from the fish being fried, so today I thought I'd try something a little different. I took one of my cooling racks, and put it down in a "walled" baking sheet, and put the fish on top. This allowed the fish to warm up evenly all around, without having to be turned, and also for the grease to drain off. It worked like a charm! I'm thinking that from now on, we are going to make the things homemade (chicken nuggets/popcorn chicken, fish, french fries, etc) in the fry daddy, but not cook it completely, and then allow it to finish cooking in the oven. I'm going to try doing this idea and freezing the pre-battered items as well... :) I can't wait, I'll let you know the outcome!

Pantry Challenge Improvising...

Well, sometimes, when you go to cook something, you find you have run out of an ingredient... This happened to me tonight. When I went to make the fish batter for the fish, I discovered that I was plumb out of cornstarch! (That is a fairly big part of the batter.) I was elbow deep in dishes and cooking and such, so I had hubby go and see if he could borrow some from a neighbor. He very quickly came back and said that she didn't have any, but said that she had read a newspaper article that said that you could substitute flour 2:1 for cornstarch. So... here's the recipe that we used... I love the regular way, but it wasn't bad without the cornstarch... We did 1 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of cornmeal (to add in the corn flavor) instead of 3/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup of cornstarch. Oh, and we didn't have any garlic powder this time either, so we just left that out (again, better with it...)

Fish Batter

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoning Salt

Add 1 beaten egg after mixing the other ingredients. Flour fish then put in the batter. Fry in grease at Low Temperature 375*.

~*~We have found that we also like this batter for pork chops & chicken~*~
~*~I think it tastes somewhat like Long John's batter~*~

Blessings!

Tonight we were blessed with food from a freecycler here in town. She had posted that they had some unopened food that they weren't going to need because of a change in diet. So I hurried and posted that it would help us out alot. She came by this evening to bring it to us. There was 6 shopping bags of food! Sugar, flour, bread crumbs, french fried onions, powdered sugar, tea, coffee, all kinds of staples!!! Praise God for providing for our needs in times that we cannot!!!

Tonight we are having fish (from the freezer) and hush puppies (from a mix in the blessing box), and I might make some french fries (homemade from potatoes) to go with it. :) Yummy!

Day 5

Well, here we are Day 5 and we are still in full swing. I took a break from house work today to read some of the Coupon Mom's book. I have read through the first 3 chapters, and already I would recommend it very highly! Tonight supper will be Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup (from the pantry!!!). I've been doing the Flylady system of cleaning/organizing my home as well for the past week, and tonight on the chat we are doing a "slumber/pamper party". ALL FROM MY PANTRY!!! I will try to post some pamper recipes afterwards :).

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry I haven't posted... I've been busy working on the house... I am starting the challenge over again, with March. I'm going to try my best to post every day. :) Ok... we haven't done any grocery shopping so far, and it's looking like there won't be able to grocery shop for the rest of the month (if we do, it won't be much...) So, it's a complete pantry challenge! I'm excited cause we have alot of food to go through :). I've started inventorying my pantry & freezer, haven't got it done yet, but I have alot of food!!! :) 5 gallons of milk in the freezer, 5 chickens, 2 turkeys, just for starters!!! Here's what we've eaten so far:

Sunday: Smoked Chicken
Monday: Meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes, homemade carrot cake :)
Tuesday: Chunky Soup
Wednesday: Fried Rice
Thursday: Leftovers

Lunches are usually soup or leftovers.

All out of the pantry/freezer :) Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think! I love hearing from my readers!!!