I was thinking the other night of the people I typically follow in vlogs and whose recipes I attempt most often and then return to make again and again. Mandy in the Making is one of those. Mandy researches a lot of websites and chooses recipes from them. If she says it's good and offers her opinion of a variation she's used, I listen up. I won't say that her meals are expensive nor are they low end budget meals, but they are consistently family friendly and delicious.
Jennifer at It's a Country Life is another whose recipes I have consistent success making. A lot of hers are old tried and true recipes from community cookbooks. Often budget and pantry friendly, as well as family favorites. She does a lot of baking and I confess I've only tried her main dishes, never any of her sweet things.
And finally, I have tried several of Julia Pacheco's recipes. I think she has developed most of her recipes herself, but they too are consistently good. Sometimes budget friendly, a lot of low time consumers, always good.
Our weekend meals were as follows:
Hot Dogs, Chips, Pink Lemonade and Cupcakes
Gramma's Fried Chicken, Mac n Cheese, Beans and Potatoes
We come to this week again without leftovers to mention. I'm pretty much planning from scratch. In a way I am glad. It takes a lot of creative thought to come up with leftover makeovers ideas that are fresh to the family.
Gathered Fragments: 4 pcs. fried chicken, 1 cup of mac n cheese, 1.5 cups green beans and potatoes
Weekday Meals:
For as long as I can cook breakfast normally, I'm going to do so but I do know that I'll need to alter things a bit in the weeks ahead. Right now, I'm a little reluctant to make things too far ahead of time because I don't necessarily like some things once they are frozen or they lose some flavor and texture. Other things hold up well enough and I'll concentrate on those. I'm making plans to do a big cook up in about three or four weeks and will freeze things then.
However, I do want to try to use my slow cooker, pressure cooker (MUST find the manual), toaster oven and bread machine to make breads. Supposedly I can make quick breads in the bread machine as well as yeast breads. I'd like to experiment with that feature and see what I can come up with that we like. Just for fun, you know.
I know I keep saying I'm going to do certain things, like learning to use the pressure cooker/canner, or the grill. And I do mean to do those things but often my only time to study those things is at the end of the day when I am already tired and weary and tend to doze off watching vlogs. But I know that at some point I just have to make the time and learn these skills. Sometimes, I wish I could just have one day a week that was all mine to do nothing but study up on these things, but I don't and so I must make time somewhere. I'm going to try to do what I usually do. Small bites of big things, right?
This week I am pulling out some OLD recipes, ones I used to make all the time and just haven't made in ages. I'm curious to see if we still like them as much as we did once upon a time.
Rachel Rays Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs, Pasta Alfredo, Asparagus
Pour Pizza Casserole, Salad. I found this recipe in a Family Fun magazine years and years ago and really like it. The crust uses a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix. The sauce, meat and cheese are poured over the top of the crust after it's partially baked. It makes a 9x13 sized pan of pizza. I might try to divide this between 2 9-inch square pans, one for now and one for later
Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole, Green Beans, Sliced Tomatoes. It's been a good little while since I made it last. Most recipes include the green beans (French Sliced) in the casserole. I'm undecided if I'll include them in my casserole or not. I've always served them on the side and like it quite well that way.
Southwestern Style Chicken Salad, Mexican Cornbread. I'll use the leftover fried chicken in this dish, just remove it from the bone and dice it. For dressing, I'll make Ranch. I also have some avocado in the freezer that I can pull out to add to Caleb, Katie and my salad. John will pass on that...
Sloppy Joes, Corn on the Cob, Coleslaw
Meals planned, I think this week I need to make bagels. I'd like to make a Blueberry Cobbler. I have promised myself I'd bake a loaf of Raisin Bread.
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4 comments:
Terri,
I had my instapot for a year before I braved it. My DIL has 2 going all the time and made it look so easy. One of the best things to try is brown rice. Equal parts water and rice, 18 minutes, release pressure and then put a terry dish towel under cover to absorb steam. Perfect rice! It’s amazing. After that success, you get fearless. Hope it helps, Dale
Dale, that is good to know. I love brown rice but I hate hate hate that it takes 45 minutes or so to cook it on the stove top and in the microwave. I'll have to try to see if I can do brown rice for sure.
I love all three of the vloggers you mentioned! They are among my favorites. And yes, their recipes are always winners at my house.
For the manual on your pressure cooker/canner - you can find most owners manuals online. Maybe you could search your make and model? Might be easier to keep it in a computer file.
Your menu sounds delicious. My "problem" with pulling out some of the old recipes I used to make all the time is that we are now just 2 of us and I have very little to no freezer space at all to save things, even using my Souper Cubes. I'll have to think more about it.
Karla, same here on the recipes. It's fine right now feeding four to make a 9X13 of something and freeze half for later, but when Katie finally moves out...I'll have to learn to cook all over again, lol.
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