February Pantry Challenge... - Page 9

[Amys1st]

Tonight its Chicken Ceasar pizza.
Use a homemade pizza dough
a breast of chicken grilled
zella cheese
ceasar dressing

Make the dough, bake a few minutes put ceasar dressing on top, add the chicken and zella bake until ready. Serve w romaine lettuce on the side.

[Jennisee]

Tonight is chili from the freezer. Not sure about the rest of the week. I'm in the process of inventorying all the "old-and-needs-used-up" stuff in the pantry and freezer, and I hope to come up w/ some meal plans after that.

Amy, that pizza sounds yummy! I have some powdered Ranch dressing mix that needs used up. I wonder if I added that to some sour cream, if i could use that instead of the Caesar dressing... I also have some frozen BBQ chicken that needs used up. I'll bet that would be good, too. I only have one pizza crust in the freezer, though. Did someone post a recipe for homemade crust a while back?

[BinahYeteirah]

Originally Posted by KoalaMama

To the person that posted about the grated sweet potatoes in sesame oil... thanks! Had that for dinner tonight - yum!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think I could eat two big sweet potatoes at one sitting when they are prepared like this.

[BinahYeteirah]

bs"d

I have a question. My dd is always eating half an apple or pear, so I was inspired to make applesauce out of her leftovers by a thread here at MDC. I have been putting her half-eaten fruit in the freezer to make into applesauce once I get a large amount gathered. I have just been putting them in a bag in the freezer as they are. Should I instead cut them up first? Should I core or peel them before I put the fruit in the bag? I haven't frozen fruit like this, so I am just wondering if this will be easier to deal with before or after the freezing.

TIA!

[KoalaMama]

Thanks isosmom... The problem for me is I've never ever had squash, so I wouldn't know even if it was bad. Now, any ideas what to do with winter squash?

Tonight I'm making ground beef/ground turkey meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy, canned corn and baby carrots. I used some almost stale crutons for bread crumbs in the meat mixture, and split it to make a batch of meatballs while I was at it. So this should give us at least three dinners and two lunches.

[KoalaMama]

Originally Posted by BinahYeteirah

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think I could eat two big sweet potatoes at one sitting when they are prepared like this.

Um, yeah... that's exactly what I did. :LOL:

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by BinahYeteirah

I have a question. My dd is always eating half an apple or pear, so I was inspired to make applesauce out of her leftovers by a thread here at MDC. I have been putting her half-eaten fruit in the freezer to make into applesauce once I get a large amount gathered. I have just been putting them in a bag in the freezer as they are. Should I instead cut them up first? Should I core or peel them before I put the fruit in the bag? I haven't frozen fruit like this, so I am just wondering if this will be easier to deal with before or after the freezing.

TIA!

What a great idea! My little ones are always doing the same thing- I can't wait to see if you get a response!
Annette

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by Jennisee

Tonight is chili from the freezer. Not sure about the rest of the week. I'm in the process of inventorying all the "old-and-needs-used-up" stuff in the pantry and freezer, and I hope to come up w/ some meal plans after that.

Amy, that pizza sounds yummy! I have some powdered Ranch dressing mix that needs used up. I wonder if I added that to some sour cream, if i could use that instead of the Caesar dressing... I also have some frozen BBQ chicken that needs used up. I'll bet that would be good, too. I only have one pizza crust in the freezer, though. Did someone post a recipe for homemade crust a while back?

That should work- also bbq chicken pizza is good with some red onions and pineapple on top- also some cheddar added to the zella.

I posted the pizza dough before:

Great Pizza Dough
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 and ¼ cup water
In a mixing bowl put the yeast and 1/4 cup warmer water. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes. Add less than a cup of the flour and some of the water. Start mixing. Keep adding both parts and kneed. Keep going. If too sticky add flour, if too dry add water. You'll get the idea after doing it a few times.
Let it rise a few hours.

[janerose]

Originally Posted by BinahYeteirah

I have a question. My dd is always eating half an apple or pear, so I was inspired to make applesauce out of her leftovers by a thread here at MDC. I have been putting her half-eaten fruit in the freezer to make into applesauce once I get a large amount gathered. I have just been putting them in a bag in the freezer as they are. Should I instead cut them up first? Should I core or peel them before I put the fruit in the bag? I haven't frozen fruit like this, so I am just wondering if this will be easier to deal with before or after the freezing.

TIA!

First, Hi to everyone! Sorry I've been MIA the past week. We're struggling with some very bad fussiness & sleep issues right now. :yawning: Think dd is starting to teeth, but that's another post all together...

About the apples...what a great idea! I would peel, core & cut them first. If you wait for them to defrost they'll probably be smushy and difficult to work with. If you're not able to peel/core the ones you already have you can make it with them the way they are & use a sieve to strain out the chunky stuff.

Last night was roast, potatoes & gravy, cauliflower w/cheese, and salads. Lunch today with be hot roast beef sandwiches w/ gravy, plus carrot & celery sticks. I have a big bowl of maraconi left over from the goulash I made a few days ago. Maybe I'll try tossing together a macaroni beef soup to use that up for dinner. Oh, and salad. My new goal is to serve salad w/ dinner each evening to help DH fill up without needing to eat the *whole* roast. :LOL

Great ideas everyone...keep 'em coming!.

[leomom]

Well, this is week 3 for me and I've been doing pretty well...except i'm really having trouble with lunch for myself...i have run out of lunch meat and bread and soup....I only have about 10 minutes to prepare and eat lunch b/c I have 2 infants during the day...and ideas?

Also, anyone have an idea for what I can do with half a bag of stale cheetoes? I hate to throw them out, but they aren't edible as is...no more junk food buying for me, but I'd like to find a creative use for what's left...

[Jennisee]

Thanks, Amy! I couldn't remember if that recipe was in this thread or last month's, but I figured you'd know.

Leomom, maybe you could crush the Cheetos, mix them w/ some flour and cornmeal, and use that as a breading for some chicken breasts. Or mix it ("it" being crushed Cheetos) into some stuffing, press it into a pie plate, top w/ some cooked meat, veggies, gravy, and cheese, and bake until bubbly. Or mix it into mashed potatoes for a cheesey flavor. Or use it to thicken a cheesey soup, like potato soup, taco soup, etc.

[leomom]

Oh, wow Jennisee ! All those ideas sound good...now I just have to figure out which one to try first. Thanks!

[Rainbowbird]

Originally Posted by leomom

Well, this is week 3 for me and I've been doing pretty well...except i'm really having trouble with lunch for myself...i have run out of lunch meat and bread and soup....I only have about 10 minutes to prepare and eat lunch b/c I have 2 infants during the day...and ideas?

Also, anyone have an idea for what I can do with half a bag of stale cheetoes? I hate to throw them out, but they aren't edible as is...no more junk food buying for me, but I'd like to find a creative use for what's left...

You could also try putting the Cheetohs in the oven at 300 or so to dry them out again and restore crispness. I think I did that with cereal once and it worked.

As for lunch...I know, I rely on lunch meat, too. DS and DH both love turkey sandwiches with all the fixins. I ran out yesterday so today DS and I had leftover pasta, applesauce, and string cheese. Yesterday we had grilled cheese with spinach, apple slices, and yogurt.

Other choices for when we run out of the lunch meat are:

sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches
yogurt with stir-ins like Cheerios and fresh fruit
macaroni and cheese (you can make ahead and reheat)
assorted finger foods (cheese, wheat bread with butter, fresh fruit cubes or slices, avocado etc.)

DS also loves avocado and cheese sandwiches--and so do I!

HTH!

[Rainbowbird]

Originally Posted by Amys1st

I posted the pizza dough before:

Thank you so much for posting it again! I made pizza with a storebought crust last week which was good, but I'm sure homemade is better!

Tonight we're having country ribs in the crockpot, rice, and steamed broccoli. I had to make a huge pot of rice for our dog, who is sick, so I figured we might as well have it, too.

[annettemarie]

One more lunch idea- we do the leftover cafe- the only time I take orders :LOL

I put on an apron and make up a little menu and let them "place an order" for lunch

[Amys1st]

OK, was able to get a treat for lunch today from all my grocery savings. DD went to brother SIL's to play with my niece so I brought them happy meals (those darn ponies) and I bought us chopped salads. I love these and I have been craving one.

But, I am now keeping track of how much we have spent on groceries and writing it on my bill paying calendar the total mtd on that day. As of yesterday its $202. I have a huge list but I can manage to wait a day if needed.

[Melis]

Lunch Slump

Hello
Great ideas on the lunches I've got a tough situation going on here. I'm trying to eat mostly organic AND become more frugal! What a joke...so anyway...I'm trying NOT to buy lunch meat, which is really what I've relied on for all of our lunches forever. It's so expensive at $7.99/lb for the healthiest choices of lunchmeat around here. Fortunately, the kids don't really like meat at all, so they aren't fussing too much. If you let my son (3.5) decide what he's going to eat everyday for lunch, he will say, "Bread and cheese and mayonnaise." I know it's not THAT BAD, but it's hard to feel good about it everyday, you know? My boys can't stand vegetables either. Just grains, dairy and fruit...so "North Beach", you know? LOL

Speaking of apples...I found a really yummy (but a bit sugary, unfortunately) recipe for apple crumb muffins on "Allrecipes". It took care of most of my leftover apples and I still had quite a few leftover. I peeled, cored and sliced them and threw them in the freezer. I think I'll keep them in there for "smoothies". I hadn't thought about the "mush factor" so I think the smoothies will be the best bet! This is getting really fun!

I'm trying to make my own bread instead of buying. It's going okay, but my last one sort of collapsed It was so delicious! I got the recipe from the manual that came with my Sunbeam bread machine. I was able to cut it all up, but it's a bit hard to toast. I think I'm going to make bread crumbs with it if we don't use it all up. The other idea I had was "croutons", maybe?

Krusteaz makes a great breadmix in the box for cheap. It was under $2. I picked one up because I had made the cinnamon raisin one and my husband was all over it. I'm going to make that one up and instead of hurrying to eat it up (and gaining 10,000 lbs.) I'm going to make french toast with whatever is left over

Tonight is baked chicken and I'm going to use the leftover chicken to make chicken soup with some of those veggies I threw in the freezer

Melissa

[Amys1st]

tonight is chicken and dumplings- all the ingredients here!

[leomom]

Thanks for the lunch ideas!

Tonight is crockpot bbq chicken from the post your fave. crokpot recipes thread..had all the ingedients! Smells yummy!

[isosmom]

Last night I made wild rice and bulgur with braised veggies. I used up the last of the bulgur I had and now only have a quarter cup or so left of wild rice. I also used up the veggies in my fridge that were thinking about going off. Tonight I think I'm going to mix the leftovers with some black beans and roll them in tortillas with some guacamole
Also made the blueberry banana muffins that were posted on last month's thread. They were really good, I subbed brown sugar for the white because it's all I had and they turned out well.