Menu Week of May 14 to May 20

--marinated shrimp, seasoned black beans, fruit
--cheddar sausages, potato spinach casserole, fruit
--chicken and stuffing, corn, fruit
--sloppy joes, broccoli w/ cheese, fruit
--tuna, calico beans, fruit
--spaghetti, green beans, fruit

Seasoned Black Beans

I planned to make seasoned black beans to go with tacos last night and decided to try my first experience with dry beans. I saw a vlog over on Lynn's Kitchen Adventures on cooking them in a crockpot so I decided that was probably the easiest way to do it.

First you pick them clean. Check for any rocks or odd looking beans. My son really enjoyed this part!








Then you place them in your slow cooker, or a bowl, and cover them with water. Let soak 7 to 9 hours or overnight.

Drain and rinse.

Place in crockpot (or on stove). Wait until the end to season them.

Fill with water at least 2 inches above the beans. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours. I think mine were a little over cooked so watch them towards the end or they might be a little mushy.



Strain off the liquid and let cool. I then put about 2 1/2 cups in the freezer and used another 1 1/2 to 2 cups for dinner that night. I froze mine without any seasoning so I could use them in other things.




For dinner last night I made Seasoned Black Beans, also from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures. I'm on a diet and couldn't eat them but I did sneak a couple bites, to at least check the flavor. I also did a couple things differently, because of what I had on hand and my family's tastes. But they turned out pretty good and I will be making them again.

Seasoned Black Beans

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained (or use cooked dried beans)
1 clove garlic minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

In a pan cook and onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add oregano and cumin and cook over low heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add black beans and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, to allow flavors to blend. Add chopped cilantro and lime juice, stir and serve.












My cilantro ended up being bad so I didn't get to use that and I think that would have made a big difference. Instead I added a little shredded cheddar for a little more taste and I think that made it really good. This was also my first time using cumin and I love it! Great flavor.

Black Bean

May 8 Garden Update

It's still plugging along. We have something, birds I think, eating our strawberries so I'm not sure we'll get many of those this year. We had lots on there but as soon as they start turning red they get eaten. Any ideas on how to prevent this? Luckily there are lots of U-pick farms around so we can go pick some anyway, just not in our backyard.

Squash

Lima Beans

Carrots

Peppers

Strawberries. You can see the eaten one on the left. These are actually all gone now.

Watermelon. We have two plants but this is the best one.

Onion

Corn finally got a little taller.

Raspberries. These are doing well. We're waiting for more to turn red since we've been picking and eating them all.

French Toast

I'm trying to do more homemade, as you've read, so instead of buying the box of French Toast Sticks from Aldi, I decided to make my own and see what the kids thought. My son loves it! My daughter not so much. I think she would eat it but she's teething and crabby lately and honestly isn't eating much of anything so she's not a good judge right now. I'm not a big fan of cooking breakfast but this doesn't really take too long to make.

You can see my son's empty plate. He rarely cleans his plate so he must like this.

I don't have an exact recipe. I just kind of throw it together so I'm just estimating the amounts I use.

French Toast

2 eggs

1 to 2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 c milk

a dash of sugar

6 slices bread

Melt a little butter in a skillet. Dip bread into egg mixture and place in skillet. Cook each side about 2 minutes at medium heat. I froze the extra today so I don't have to actually make it all the time and it tastes just as good I think.

Menu for May 7 to May 13

Friday - pizza
Saturday - bbq hamburgers, baked beans, corn, starberries, brownies
Sunday - pineapple glazed ham, green beans, blueberry muffins
Monday - grilled white fish, broccoli with cheese, dinner rolls
Tuesday - chicken pot pie, fruit
Wednesday - tacos, seasoned black beans (trying my first time at using dry beans)
Thursday - Leftovers/Eat Out

Homemade Pasta Dough and Homemade Ravioli

My son asked for ravioli yesterday but I didn't have any made. That last batch I did ended up being so chewy because of how much wrapper was left on the edges and the kids had trouble chewing it, even though they liked it. So this time I opted not to use wonton or eggroll wrappers and tried out a homemade pasta dough recipe.

The filling I used was 1 lb. ground beef that I cooked and drained, then made finer in the food processor and mixed with some spaghetti sauce and shredded Italian cheese. This tasted really good.

The dough also turned out pretty good. It was soft and stretchy and seemed to work perfectly. I haven't cooked them yet, they're in the freezer right now. But tomorrow for lunch we'll see how they turn out!

Here's the recipe:

Filling:
1 lb. ground beef
not quite half a jar of spaghetti sauce, probably about 1 to 1 1/2 cups
1 1/2 cups (or however much you like) of shredded Italian cheese (you could use mozzarella or anything really, or none at all)

Dough:
4 cups regular flour
5 eggs
1/2 oz. olive oil (I looked up and read this was 2 Tb so that's what I used.)

Cook beef; drain. Let cool.

While it's cooling, make dough. Measure flour into large bowl. Make a small hole in the center and add eggs and oil; mix well with large spoon then by hand. Dough will be very firm. Knead dough on an unfloured smooth surface. If dough is too stiff, small amounts of water may be kneaded in. (I think it's important to follow these directions exactly. I did end up kneading in a couple tablespoons of water because my dough was really crumbly.)

Cover dough in bowl with damp cloth and work with small amounts at a time. (I don't have a ravioli machine or mold so I rolled the dough out using a rolling pin and a small cup to cut out circles with. You could also use a knife and cut out squares. Another note, I sprinkled a dash of flour, and I mean only a dash, hardly any really, just enough to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and counter. You don't really want any extra flour in your dough or it will start cracking and won't stick together.)

If rolling with a pin, roll a small amount to about one sixteenth of an inch. Or as thin as you can and then I just stretched them out a little more once I had them cut, before I put the filling in. Cut into square or circles, fill center with small amount of meat mixture. Add another piece of cut dough and seal sides with your fingers. I also crimped the edges with a fork to ensure they were sealed good.

Place ravioli on a floured cloth sprinkled with farina, semolina, or corn meal and let dry overnight. Or for long term storage, freeze them on cookie sheets for one hour, then slide into ziploc bags when frozen.

To cook, simply cook in slowly boiling chicken broth or salted water until one (they will float to the surface when done). Be sure not to overcook.

I was wondering about using wheat flour, or a mixture of all purpose and wheat but figured I'd just do regular flour for now and see how they turn out. If they're good, I may try that next time.

This ended up making 32 ravioli for me that I'm freezing so I can pull them out and cook them for my kids for lunches. I think I'm going to sprinkle them with bread crumbs and maybe parmesan cheese when they come out of the cooking water to make them more like breaded ravioli, since that's what my kids like.

Easy Enchiladas

When I had my second child my friend brought me this for dinner one night. We fell in love with it! If I would have found this recipe on my own I might not have tried it because the sauce ingredients seem like an odd combination to me, but it's very yummy, I promise. And I know, the picture doesn't make it look too appetizing but trust me, it is! I've done a few things differently so I'll mark those in a different color so you can see both the original and my variation.

EASY ENCHILADAS

1 lb groud beef or turkey (I use shredded chicken)
1/2 diced onion (I omit this, at least in the hubby's and kids')
2-3 cups shredded cheese (I use mexican blend) (Cheddar works fine too but mexican is best)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato soup
1 can enchilada sauce (I usually use a larger can of this)
corn tortillas (or flour since the hubby doesn't like corn ones)

I sometimes double the sauce depending on how much chicken I make.

Brown beef & onion. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Drain. Stir in 2 cups cheese.

Mix soups & enchilada sauce in a large bowl. Soften tortillas by heating for 10-15 seconds per side on hot skillet. (You probably should do this for corn tortillas but I don't for flour tortillas.) (I do this one at a time while filling them). Spread 1 cup of soup mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Fill tortillas with one heaping tablespoon of meat mixture and roll up. Place in pan seam side down. Roll as many tortillas as needed to fill pan and use up meat mixture.

Cover with remaining sauce and cheese. Bake covered at 350 for 30-40 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

This freezes beautifully too, with or without the sauce on it already. I made one dish last night and had enough extra to put another dish in the freezer.

May 1st Garden Update

Look at all that red!

They are the best tasting raspberries I've ever had.

Squash

Lima beans that are getting a little beat up in the windy/rainy weather we've had.

Carrots

Peppers

More red!

More carrot.

Watermelon

Onion

Corn

Menu Week of 4/30 to 5/6

Friday - pizza
Saturday - Mr. Goodcents
Sunday - Enchiladas, rice, corn
Monday - Ham and Cheese puff pastry, noodles, broccoli w/ cheese
Tuesday - Hamburgers, homemade fries, corn on the cob
Wednesday - Spaghetti, garlic biscuits, green beans
Thursday - Breakfast Night

Raspberries!

My daugther and I shared our first raspberry from the garden last night! I was so excited that it tasted as yummy as it looked. Too bad I didn't get any pictures. There are a few more that are red but not quite soft enough. Maybe today.