Miscellaneous Monday: Children's Cookbooks

I have found that when my kids help make the food we are going to eat, they are more excited to eat it. One way to get them excited to help in food prep is to use cookbooks made for children.  The 3 listed below are the ones that I & my family have liked the most for the layouts, and of course the great recipes that are easy to make.

Betty Crocker's Kids Cook!:  This cookbook has some fun layouts and easy recipes.  Puts the finished product into a fun layout.
Mom and Me Cookbook:  Shows some pictures of ingredients and the process as well as the end product--a great help for visual learners or those not reading yet.
The Disney Magic Kitchen Cookbook:  Uses Disney characters in the layouts of the finished product, as well some fun names for the food like "Body Shop Black Bean Salad."  Also has great information about creating healthy menus, activity ideas for being physically active.

Each of these cookbooks have main dishes, sides and salads, snacks and treats and more.  Have fun preparing food for the family with the family!  There are other great recipe books out there, these are simply the ones I recommend based on actual use.

Wednesday Why: Shelf-Stable Meals/Menu

What are some shelf stable meals?  And what is an example of a 1 month shelf stable meal menu?  When I say shelf stable I mean food items that can remain on a pantry/cupboard shelf until opened.  Also if using dehydrated foods, will need to store more water to rehydrate these items compared to their canned counterparts.

Some great meals that can be made using shelf stable food items are:  Soups, chilis, noodle dishes, rice dishes, baking mix foods, cereals/grains; all with canned/dehydrated fruits and veggies as sides.

Specifically:
Soups/Chilis:  canned soups/chilis or homemade using: broths, canned/dehydrated veggies & meats, canned/dry beans, pasta sauces, salsas, tomato sauces, jarred sauces and rice or noodles.
Noodle dishes:  Make casseroles, soups or pasta/sauce dishes.  Simply add canned/dehydrated meats, veggies, condensed soups, jarred sauces/salsas and seasonings to taste.  Like spaghetti or other noodles with pasta sauce, canned noodle dishes (like ravioli, Spaghetti O's, etc.), boxed or homemade Mac & cheese (using jarred cheese sauce or velveeta since these don't have to be refrigerated until opened), ramen noodles.
Rice dishes:  casseroles or soups using rice.  Simply add canned/dehydrated meats, veggies, condensed soups, jarred sauces/salsas and seasonings to taste, just like with noodles.
Potato dishes (using potato flakes):  Make up flakes to mashed potatoes, add canned/dehyrdrated meats/veggies/condensed soups and seasonings to make casseroles--using mashed potatoes as a crust of sorts
Potato dishes (using dehydrated potato dices, slices, shreds, etc):  make casseroles by adding condensed soups, canned/dehydrated meats or veggies and seasonings.
Baking Mix dishes/foods:  pancakes, biscuits, waffles, pot pie/pie/cobbler crusts/topping, cornbread, breads, some cakes and cookies
Cereals/Grains:  using dry milk for drinking milk and thereby the milk in cereals, oatmeals, grits, cracked wheat cereal.  Make wheat cereal with wheat berries or cracked wheat and sweetener/jam.  Crackers are a great 72 hour kit item, but also great for meals at home--use with tuna/canned chicken, PB&J or cheese.

Sample 1 month menu using shelf stable meals:

You may have other favorites that already use or could use shelf stable items in place of fresh.  When you find a meal that your family likes that uses only shelf stable items, then write it down and add it to your rotation.

When making your own menu, you can choose any number of breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I chose 7 different meals to rotate through, you can do more or less.  Then simply stock up on the items needed to make those meals--even though these items are shelf stable, you will want to use and rotate through them before the expiration date.

Hope this helps in giving ideas on meals that can be made when the fridge/freezer isn't working.  All of these meals can be made using an alternative cooking method if the electricity is out.  I originally put this menu together a few years back in preparation for hurricane season, knowing that if one hit, the electric could be out for anywhere between a day to a couple of weeks days.

Miscellaneous Monday: Lunch!

Miscellaneous Monday:  Lunches

Always relying on the same things for lunches-day in and day out?  Need ideas for making your mouth water at lunch time?

A little while ago, I highlighted menu themes, these can be used for either lunch or dinner or both (and breakfast too for that matter).  This is a great way to get started on what to have for lunch.

Some great lunches are those that can be made ahead:  frozen leftovers, homemade pizza pockets (or other interior yummy gooiness), sandwiches, salads, etc. 

Need other ideas?  Below are some websites that have ideas for little kids as well as adults.

Websites to munch on:

for the kids:  meals based out of muffin tins:  http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/search/label/Muffin%20Tin%20Monday

anyone needing a portable lunch:  brown bag lunch ideas:  http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/15-fresh-brown-bag-lunch-ideas

lots of ideas for home or on the go (and recipes for some of these):  http://recipes.kaboose.com/lunch-recipes.html, 

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/lunch.htm

Remember:  when you plan your grocery list--don’t forget lunch!  Have the ingredients for 5-7 meals (lunches, dinners, breakfasts) on hand so that at any given time you can make a family favorite.

Lunch Break!  Fast Food done right--at home, for on the go: 

BLATs--bacon, lettuce, avocado & tomato as a sandwich or rolled in a tortilla served with salad dressing for dipping  (I got this idea from a friend-mmm!)

Quesadillas--cheese, cooked meats & veggies grilled between two torillas  

Grilled sandwiches--cheese, cooked/deli meats & veggies grilled to delicious toastiness

Burritos--heat some refried beans with salsa, browned ground meet (optional), taco seasoning.  Spoon into a tortilla and fold up.  Eat now or fry:  Fold it and if need us a toothpick to hold it together and fry in a little oil.

Sandwiches--PB&J with or without added fruit slices, Deli or cooked meat with veggies

Leftovers--heat up and eat up leftovers!

Miscellaneous Monday: Menu Madness

Miscellaneous Monday:  Menu Madness

As you can see I really like alliterations.  A few years ago I decided to plan my menu using alliterations for themes.  Today I am sharing these with you.  I think planning menus can be fun, especially when trying to plan according to themes.  Here they are:

Make It Again Monday:  on this day I planned for leftovers.  If I didn’t have any in the fridge or freezer then my backup was spaghetti or pancakes (or something else really easy)

Taste Test Tuesday:  I planned to try at least one new recipe on this day, it could be a main dish, side, dessert, bread, or all of them.  It is always fun to try something new.  You’ve already gotten a taste of this one as I chose to use this for a blog title to highlight food storage recipes.

World Flavors Wednesday:  on this day was planned to eat foods from around the world:  Chinese, Mexican, Italian, American, etc.  What fun!  If you really want to go all out: find the country’s flag, some songs or dances and have a country night-learn about the country, its culture, its history, etc.  Great family cultural night.

Thrifty Thursday:  I am using this title now in the blog for the financial, frugal part of provident living, but I originally used it in my menu planning--my meals (the whole meal) had to feed the whole family for under $5 (I tried for even lower most of the time).

Food Storage Friendly Friday:  you guessed it, the meals had to use something from food storage--not necessarily the whole meal, but something.  I could replace ingredients with those I had in food storage or try completely new recipes using only food storage items.  This gave my family a chance to learn the preparation methods and tastes of food storage items.

Savor It Again Saturday:  leftovers again!  I decided for my family, we better include at least 2 dinners a week of leftovers (not to mention some lunches are leftovers too), that way I’m not being overwhelmed with the “what’s for dinner” and having to whip up something new everyday problem.

Souper/Slowcooker Sunday:  Sundays have 2 themes:  soups or slowcooker meals.  Sunday is super, so coming up with a theme was easy: Souper Sunday..  But also using the slowcooker on Sunday is so nice--throw in the food before church, come home to a meal already to eat--mmmm!

Well there you have it, my menu madness.  My alliterate themed days.  Feel free to change up your menu planning, theme it or wing it, but either way---Enjoy it!

More ideas on Menu Planning:

How to plan meals (and thereby grocery shopping):  

First:  perishables--what already have that needs to be used right away.  Think of recipes and meals that use those ingredients.  Example:  got sour cream to use up:  tacos, beef stroganof, chip dip, sour cream muffins, funeral potatoes, etc.

Then:  sales-what is on sale?  Now think of recipes using the sale items.  

And of course:  food storage-what can I swap or make with what I have on hand?  Integrate food storage items into the menu.

And lastly:  special occasions-are there any special occasions to plan for--birthdays, holidays, picnics, etc.?  Plan the menu or items needed for such.

Of course, as shelf-stable and freeze-able items are on sale, it is a good idea to stock up so you don’t have to pay full price when you do need it.

Other theme ideas:  have each person in the family be in charge of what’s for dinner one night of the week, pasta days, sandwich nights, rice dishes, under 30 minutes to prepare, breakfast for supper, pizza, appetizer (who says you need a main dish every night?), finger foods, go green (use green colored foods or color everything green or prepare using “green” methods and foods), brown bag, American, Italian, Chinese, (think of restaurants that you enjoy and theme your nights according to them--making the food at home of course)

Have fun!