Tasty Menu for Outsmarting Diabetes

Ever since having gestational diabetes I have diabetic meal planning in the back of my mind. It really caught me off guard when I got that diagnosis and someday it could happen again and I don't want to go into it with no knowledge of what to eat. I found some fantastic information on prevention.com and it had a fantastic menu. We have tried many of the meals listed and they have been a hit for the whole family! I especially love that the ingredients needed are available at my normal grocery store.

This is one of my favorites from the menu. It really surprised me! I did baby spinach and it has chicken, honey mustard, and sliced grapes.

Chicken Noodle Replacement

My poor kiddo woke up sick this morning. He was so disappointed because it meant missing a play date with friends we haven't spent much time with lately. We have been doing all his favorite things today and skipping school so that he will feel better. With lunch approaching and no chicken noodle soup in sight I had to think of something to feed him.

Chicken noodle soup, out of the can, is one of my least favorite foods. I did want to give him something that would give a similar healing affect and I think I got it spot on. Here is what I used...

Sick Day Soup

2 Bouillon cubes
2 Cups water
1/2 cup corn (or any available veggie)
1 slice of deli ham (or any available bits of meat)
about 10-15 sticks of spaghetti broken into 1/2 to 1 inch bits

I started by bringing the water and bouillon to a boil. Then added the spaghetti. Cook for 7 minutes and toss in the rest about a minute before the timer is going to go off. Eat!

I made sure to try a bit and I must say I am impressed! Yes, with my own work. I have created more than my fair share of recipe flops, but this one is a keeper and I made it with stuff just laying around the house. I will absolutely be making this every time someone in our house is sick.

February Menu

I thought I would share with you all what our meal plan is for the month. Each week is the same and we do all of our shopping once per month. Adam does bring more home over the course of the month, like milk and other items that don't last a whole month. This month our grocery list cost us right around $150. We had a small amount of items left from the last month but we did need to buy most of them. So here is the menu...

Sundays
Lunch: Mac and Cheese (we always add to it or change it in some way)
Supper: Slow Cooker Lasagna (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Mondays
Lunch: Soup (we have 3 soups left over from last month and I will make a new soup from what we have laying around for the last 2 weeks)
Supper: Ramen noodle spaghetti

Tuesdays
Lunch: Tuna and Cheese Quesadillas
Supper: Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Wednesdays
Lunch: Grilled Cheese
Supper: Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Thursdays
Lunch: Mac and Cheese
Supper: Slow Cooker Cheesy ham potatoes (new recipe, but should last at least 2 meals)

Fridays
Lunch: Poor Mans Meal
Supper: Slow cooker Beef and Black eyed pea soup (new recipe again, but should last 3 meals)

Saturdays
PIZZA! This is the day our whole family looks forward to! We make a huge pizza from scratch and eat the whole thing between lunch and supper. Jayne makes his own too, although he has decided that he likes making bread sticks for everyone to share now.

Our menu this month has the most flavor variety of any of our menus. I am really excited to try the many new recipes. I will give you links to some of our recipes we will be using below...

Six Sister's Stuff:
Slow Cooker Lasagna
Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (slow cooker)
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Depression Cooking With Clara
Poor Man's Meal
(Clara has some great frugal recipes and you learn a little about the depression while you watch her cook)

Buffalo Chicken Lasagne

I love the Six Sisters Stuff blog! When I saw the name of the recipe I knew I had to try it. I love buffalo wings and slow cooker meals...perfect combo! We made the lasagne yesterday and it was oh so good. Jayne had some too and he liked it. It is a little spicy, as you would expect. The one thing I didn't care for is the bleu cheese crumble on the top. We talked it over while we ate and determined that next time we would skip the bleu cheese and instead top each plate with a bit of bleu cheese or ranch dressing instead. It was pretty easy to make and it made enough for our little family to eat 3 times. Here is the link to this fantastic recipe...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91670489/2-starter-pads-sets-for-michelle-levi

We also made it without the green peppers because I don't like them.

Hot Dog Mac

 Hot dogs + mac = goodness

Jayne loves mac and cheese! It is one of his favorite foods. There is something about it that kids just love. Plain Jane mac and cheese is a little boring for me and doesn't stretch very far on it's own. We tend to experiment with ours. Most of the time we use part of the pack of cheese mix and some Velveeta. The rest of the cheese pack goes on pop corn for a snack later because your cheese packet is exactly the same as what is in a bottle of mac and cheese pop corn sprinkle. A lot of the time we add in some hot dogs or homemade bacon bits and either corn or green beans, Jayne's pick. But sometimes we change it completely and just use the noodles.

I thought I would share my latest mac and cheese concoction. I was in the mood for hot dog but did not have any buns...So, I made what was basically a hot dog hot dish. I cooked the mac and cheese and drained it like normal. I melted about 2T of butter and tossed the mac back in with it. Then in went the cut up hot dogs, some ketchup and mustard to taste, and about a quarter cup of homemade pickle relish drained. You know what? It tasted just like having a hot dog!

Do you do anything fun and interesting with your mac and cheese? I would love to hear about it!

Tuna, Rice and Peas

I threw together this new recipe last night and it turned out great! So, I thought I would share. It was super easy to put together. Jayne helped and enjoyed making it with me.


Ingredients
3/4 cup long grain white rice (we used jasmine rice)
1 1/2 cup water
1 can tuna, drained
1/4 cup peas
4 oz Velveeta, small cubes
2 chicken bouillon cubes

Mix it all together in a casserole dish. Cover. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Stir. Bake for another 30 minutes. We topped ours with some shredded cheese. It came out at the perfect consistency, no extra water. If you want it to be a little more saucy, try adding a little more water or covering for the second half of the cooking time. It is always fun to experiment in the kitchen, so share what you did to make this recipe your own!

Stretch It: Food

Food was by far the most difficult area for us to cut back. You need the right balance of health vs. frugality. We are still working at it and have shaved down our food budget every month. Here is what we did...

-Eating out. This is the hardest area for us. Eating out is a very expensive way to dine. We have been working hard to just say no, but sometimes it is hard not to. When we do eat out, we try to be smart about it. Many fast food places have coupons as do sit down resteraunts. When we go to a sit down resteraunt we choose a dish to share. Most places give you enough food for 2 or more, so you might as well share. The last time I went to TGI Fridays, I got a 3 course meal for $12.99 and I can teel you that it would have been enough for all 3 of us.

-Plan Ahead. We used to be a

"what should we have for supper tonight, I don't know let's pick something up at the store"

kind of family. That is a good way to watch your food budget skyrocket. We staarted planning our meals for the week and it helped so much. Now we plan our meals for a whole month. We still aren't quite used to picking up food for the month, so we occationally need to pick something up but not as much. We try to change a few meals every month to keep us from getting bored.

-Cooking. This is the most important part of our food budget. Without frugal meal choices, we would not be able to keep our budget down. We have a mix of recipes from http://dollaradaymeals.com/ and some of our own creations. Most of our meals cost $1 or less for the whole meal. It took a lot of time to research low cost meals that were less than $5-10 a meal. Most places have frugal recipes that are aparently on the budget of someone who makes much more than us! Another site I really love is http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking. Clara grew up durring the depression and shows (videos) how to make some really great frugal dishes. They actually sparked the creation of some of our own recipes.

Cutting down your food budget can be hard. With a little research and a willingness to try something new, it can be done. Keep in mind that frugal meals are usually made from scratch. When I started, it took me 1 hour per meal. Now that I have been able to streamline it a little, I tend to do about 1 hour of cooking a day. Check out the recipe below. It is tweaked the way we love it and is a healthy, hearty, frugal meal...

Vegetable Rice

Ingredients
2 large potatoes

1 small onion

3 carrots

3 cups beef stock

1 cup minute rice

pepper

salt

Chop up your vegetables. Put the beef stock in a pan and cook till boiling. Add the vegetables. Cook until the carrots and potatoes are tender. This takes about 10-15 minutes, but cook them to your desired softness. Make sure your stock is still boiling then add the rice and stir it in. Cover and remove it from the heat. Let sit till the rice has absorbed the beef stock, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and your meal is ready to eat.
makes 4 hearty servings

(also great topped with cheese)

So Good Corned Beef Pot Pie!

I wanted to add something to our menu and decided on pot pie. This recipe is made entirely from scratch and it took me a little more than an hour to make. It is a great way to use up any leftover meat you may have. I made mine with cut up corned beef and it was very good! I have written the recipe by step, so you will have to go down the whole thing when you gather your ingredients. 2 Large Carrots 2 medium Potatoes 1 Can Peas 1 Cup Bite Sized Meat, already cooked Cut up the carrots and potatoes into bite sized pieces and boil at medium while working on the sauce. Make white sauce (recipe comes from http://www.eatwheat.com/cookbook1/view_recipe.php?id=49) 3 1/2 T. dry milk powder 3 T. unbleached flour 1/2 tsp. sea salt 1 1/4 c. water Put in glass jar with tight lid, shake until smooth: dry milk powder, flour, salt, water. When smooth, place into a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with wire whip, until sauce starts to thicken a bit. Turn heat to medium, cook/stir for 2 minutes (sauce gets thicker....keep cooking/stirring....the flour must be well-cooked). Drain the carrots and potatoes and put back in pot. Add sauce, peas, and meat stir until everything is coated in sauce. Put mix in a 2 quart casserole dish. You will top with this biscuit mix (from http://dollaradaymeals.com/vegetable_soup) 1 c. unbleached flour 1/2 c. whole wheat flour 3 T. dry milk powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 3 T. cold butter or margarine + 3 T. shortening 1/2 c. water (may need 1 to 2 T. more) 1 tsp. vinegar Preheat oven to 425º. Mix flours, dry milk, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Cut in butter or margarine and shortening. Using a fork: stir in the water and vinegar. Cover the meat and veggie mix with the dough and bake for about 30 minutes. Enjoy! For us this make 6 hearty servings. ~*~NOTE~*~It seems that blogger does not want to have any formatting in my post today. I apologize for the paragraph style of the recipe. I have tried to break it up by highlighting the ingredients.