All Things Peach!

I was looking through my backlog of pics and recipes that I haven't shared yet, and noticed a surplus of peach recipes.  Since peach season is coming up soon, it seemed like a good time to share all of these!

First things first:  I was craving bruschetta, but didn't want JUST tomato bruschetta.  So I bought some goat cheese, added some sliced peaches to one, sliced strawberries to another, and sliced mint to both.  UH-MAZE-BALLS.

Next up, I made a peach and proscuitto pizza.  I used a pre-made crust, brushed the crust with garlic & olive oil, then laid down the proscuitto & peaches, and topped with fresh-sliced mozzarella.  After it came out of the oven I added shredded basil and drizzled it with a balsamic glaze.

Next up:  I had some over-fresh peaches that my Aunt sent down from her garden that needed to be used up STAT.  We were out of sugar, so I decided to make a sugar free version freezer jam, using some Splenda for Baking blend.  

Ingredients: (per pint jar)
2 peaches
1/4 cup Splenda for baking
1 Tbsp instant pectin
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions: combine in a blender, food processor, or simply using a hand masher.  Then jar and place in the freezer (or fridge if you're ready to eat right away.

Note: this came out a bit runny, but still delicious. I think my pectin is past its expiration date, which may reduce its thickening powers.  So if you're in the same boat, maybe double the amount of pectin.

Here are some other peach recipes from past entries!

Peach Bread Pudding

Peach Muscadine Sangria

Peach Brandy Fizz

Meal Planning - A Busy Mom's BFF

I debated over making a post about this, because the Interwebs are already littered with meal planning articles.  But this is more of a "praise in favor of", rather than a "how-to" type post.  Because we all have different lives, and what works for me might not work for you.  But y'all--meal planning has been a lifesaver for us, so I just wanted to sing its praises, and then give a few tips for how to make it work for you.

Why I Like It:

- Less Waste:  By preparing a meal plan around what needs to be used up in our fridge/freezer, we sacrifice less food to the trash can in the name of Moldy Mush and Freezer Burn.  And it can feel a little bit like Chopped: "What can I make that uses cauliflower, cilantro, red onion, mushrooms, and avocado? (Answer: this guy.)

- Less stress:  Y'all, I am BUSY.  I work 8a-5p, with a break 3 days a week to go to class, have to coordinate with the Hubs about pick up/drop off of Lil' Man, and in theory, get my lazy butt to the gym.  The less I have to think about what I'm putting together for dinner, the better. Also, by cooking big batches of stuff as part of my meal plan, we have tons of leftovers, which takes care of lunches all week and in-between dinners, so I don't even have to cook every night.  With already having a tight schedule during the work-week, I generally can't afford to leave the office for lunch anyway, so having leftovers I can eat at my desk also helps me be more efficient with my work time.

- Lower Cost:  By planning around what I already have (rather than living off whims), we make fewer trips to the store, and can stock up on foods when they're on sale, and have them in the freezer for when a whim strikes. For example: It's winter right now, and I noticed that one of the stores has potato salad on sale for 99 cents. Well, I don't know about you, but when I see potato salad, all I want is gumbo.  Thankfully, I already have andouille, okra, chicken and shrimp in the freezer (bought while on sale), so I can go buy my cheap potato salad and then make whatever type of gumbo sounds tasty.

Tips For Success: 

Have a Frame:  This could be a chalkboard in your kitchen, an Excel spreadsheet, whatever works for you. I use Pepperplate.com, because it's simple, and I can access it from work, my phone, or home on my laptop.  Pepperplate is designed for 1 week at a time, but you can plan out further than that.  Once I have a week planned, I print out the page and hang it on the fridge for reference.

Have a Method:  For me, I have a mission of ACTUALLY cooking all the things I pin on Pinterest, because I love to try new recipes.  That means I have to be realistic and go through my Pinterest a few times a year and have a heart-to-heart with my mind and stomach: "OK guys, I know that picture of the rosette apple pie looks REALLY pretty, but are we ACTUALLY ever going to bake it?  No."

Seriously...it is GORGEOUS though.

I saw a recommendation on another blog for folks who don't like to experiment--make a list of the meals you and your family really love (and that you like/don't mind cooking).  Ideally it's about 20-30 dishes.  Then, you just divvy those dishes up across a 1-month calendar, and then you plan your shopping each week around those dishes.

Have some Forgiveness:  Things are going to happen that will screw up your plan.  Maybe family make a surprise visit and you go out to eat with them, rather than making the dish that was going to be your leftovers for lunch the next day.  Or maybe everyone gets sick.  Or maybe you just have a crap day and don't feel like cooking.  It's OK.  Our meal plan almost always ends up covered in little cross-offs or arrows where we moved something to a later day.  

Have a Backup:  We almost always have at least one frozen pizza in the freezer, for emergency situations where no one feels like cooking.  I also buy pot pies and microwave meals when we can get them cheap and keep 4-5 in the freezer. So if we do run into a situation where there's no leftovers to take for lunch, I still have something I can grab and take with me to the office in the morning.  

We are not normally this fancy with our microwave meals, but between a sale at Target and an Ibotta deal, got these for $1.50 each.

Take an Inventory:  Like I mentioned, we like to stock up on things while they're on sale, so we have a lot of food in our freezer.  But if we don't actively try to use things up, we end up with random 2 year old freezer-burnt pork chops.  This is particularly important if you have a chest freezer rather than an upright, where it's easier for things to get buried and forgotten about.  I like to do this 1-2 times a year, and then search through my Pinterest recipes to see how we can use up some of the older items.

Yes, that says "9 Bacons".

Take the Shortcuts:  I could spend my weekend meal prepping for the next week...or I could play with my kid.  I could make meatballs from scratch and have dinner on the table at 7pm...or I could buy the frozen meatballs (on sale, of course) and have dinner done in 30 minutes.  Using shortcuts doesn't make you a bad person.  One of my current favorite shortcuts?  Bagged salad kits.  I decided last year I want to eat more delicious salads--you know the ones, with all the different stuff in them?  But I am WAYYYYYYY too lazy to prep a fancy salad at home myself. So, I can either go to the deli or a restaurant and spend $7-8 (or more) on a salad, OR, I can spend $3 on a salad kit that has enough for 2 big salads (so two days' worth of lunches for a buck-fiddy each), and just add grilled chicken breast (prepped the night before or over the weekend) or a tuna pouch from home.  

...and last but not least:

SHARE THE DUTIES:  Y'all, I would be lost without my husband.  He is an amazing life partner, and any time I have to juggle everything myself, it's a mess.  I do really enjoy cooking, but sometimes I just don't have the energy, or I'm running behind.  It's really helpful if I call him on my way home from work and say, "hey, I can get the kiddo if you can start the prep work for dinner, I'll text you the recipe".  And then when I get home, all the chopping and measuring stuff is done, so I can jump right in and start cooking. Or he may just hop in and cook it all himself.  By having a meal plan on the fridge, there's no mystery about what we're having--all he needs is to know where the recipe is.

If you have a great meal planning tip, please share it in the comments!  

Blackberry Chipotle Freezer Jam

My cousin sometimes lets us come raid the blackberry bush at their farm when they've got a surplus.  I was itching to make some freezer jam, but didn't want to make plain ol' regular boring blackberry jam.  No...I wanted to do something INTERESTING.

...in retrospect, I really should have split the batch, and been boring with half and then played with the other half, because now I have 6 pints of INTERESTING jam when I would occasionally really like some regular ol' blackberry freezer jam.  But not to worry. I'll share the recipe for both, so you can learn from my mistakes.

INGREDIENTS (makes 4 jars):
4 cups crushed blackberries (you can use a potato masher or pastry cutter, but I'd shy away from a food processor, otherwise you'll end up with puree. A few pulses with a stick blender might work well.)
4 Tbsp Instant (no cook) pectin (or one 1.35 oz packet)
1.5 cups  Sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice

DIRECTIONS: 

Combine the pectin and the sugar and mix well, then add the lemon juice and the blackberries, and stir well until fully incorporated.  At this point, if you're making straight up regular blackberry jam, you can go ahead and divvy these into half-pint jars.  Let sit at room temp for 30 minutes, at which point it should be soft-set. Then you can put one in the fridge and the rest in the freezer for later.

However, if you want to ramp things up a bit, then add the following to the mix:

1/4 tsp Chipotle powder (per jar)
1/4 tsp Cumin (per jar)
1/4 tsp Cinnamon (per jar)
1/4 tsp Tabasco Chipotle Sauce
a pinch of smoked salt (per jar)

I'm providing these as "per jar" ratios so that if you want, you can make a full batch of the base, and then make the Chipotle version in one or two of the jars.  Just make sure you label them appropriately! 

The Chipotle version is pretty versatile. It makes a great grilled cheese (like this one), or you can put it in a Crockpot with a pork tenderloin for a delicious dinner. And of course it goes great on a biscuit.

24 Weeks & Counting: Nesting & Baby Prep (Recipe: Freezer Egg FeauxMuffins

So we're in Month 5 at the FeauxHousehold.  I've been blessed with a pretty easy pregnancy so far, but I also know I'm only going to get bigger, more tired, and as the summer creeps closer, less wanton to do absolutely anything.  So I've been trying to kick the whole "nesting" thing into overdrive while the weather is still reasonable and I don't have a B.O.B. (big ol' belly) in the way.

Last weekend, we rearranged rooms in our house--previously, we had an office, and a guest room, in addition to our master bedroom.  Now, the office & guest room are combined into the larger of the two rooms and the baby stuff has been somewhat unceremoniously tossed into the now-nursery.

Guest room before, with too big king size bed, and guest room/office after, with air mattress to be blown up for guests as needed--we also have a queen airbed for multiple guests/grandparents.

Former Office before, and Now-Nursery catchall, to be organized soon (hopefully).

More on the nursery later, as it starts to come together.

I also was feeling a little crafty, so I busted out the sewing machine and made these little cuties from some patterns I found on Pinterest (links below):

Seahorse Pattern

Starfish Pattern

Dino Pattern

There's also a whale coming soon, as soon as I can figure out how to piece him together.

And then, to round things out, I spent some time putting together some more freezer meals to fill our chest freezer.  This time, I made a shepherd's pie casserole, a Crockpot "throw & go" beef stroganoff (FYI, the recipe seemed like it might be a little bland, so I added about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and a couple cloves of garlic)...and some homemade Egg "FeauxMuffins" (lest I get sued by McD's).

INGREDIENTS: (makes 6)

6 (1 package) whole wheat English muffins (purchased at our local Sara Lee Discount Outlet store for $1)

6 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

3 pieces bacon, cooked & chopped

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 Tbsp dried or fresh chives

6 thick slices of lean ham (or 1 large ham steak)

6 slices 2% American cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Have your husband start toasting the English muffins & cook the bacon slices (if he feels so inclined).

Spray a 7"x11" baking dish with olive oil, and then crack 6 eggs into the dish.  Add the milk, seasoning, chives, and chopped bacon, and then whisk with a fork until well combined.  Place the baking dish in the oven and let cook until eggs are firm (it was about 15 minutes for us).

While that's baking, finish toasting your muffins and start cutting out your ham.  We had round ham slices, but they were a bit too big for the muffin, so I found a cup that was about the size of the muffin & used that to trim the ham down.  (Save extra ham bits for a nice egg scramble later in the week.)  When your eggs are fully cooked, remove, let cool, and then cut into 6 relatively equal pieces.

To assemble, place ham down first, then egg, then cheese, then top with the other half of the muffin.  Wrap each individually with plastic wrap, and then re-use the bag the muffins came in for storage.

When it's time to eat, zap in the microwave (or toaster oven if you prefer) until warmed through.  I find doing about 1 minute to help thaw, and then going in 30 second intervals until fully done seems to work well.

Cost per breakfast sandwich: About 85 cents

Nutritionally, this sandwich has about 25 more calories than the *cough* other ham & egg breakfast sandwich, but it also has 7 grams more protein, slightly fewer carbs and less cholesterol, and a LOT more flavor.

NUTRIFACTS:

Calories		326.0
Total Fat		13.0 g
	Saturated Fat	5.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.5 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	3.0 g
Cholesterol		217.9 mg
Sodium		1,342.2 mg
Potassium		348.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate		28.7 g
	Dietary Fiber	4.4 g
	Sugars	6.3 g
Protein		24.1 g

Freezer Meals & Nesting (18.5 weeks & counting)

As noted in previous posts, The Hubs & I are expecting our first little one (well, if you don’t count the dog) later this year.  I’m solidly into my 2nd trimester, and have much more energy than the first 14 weeks or so.  Energy which should probably be used cleaning house and productive things of that nature, but with as pretty as it’s been, most of that energy is getting channeled into weekend canoe trips and hikes at the Nature Center.

Earlier this week we found out gender:

 

Funny how this is the only situation when this sort of photo isn’t considered pornography…

We’ve picked up & been gifted a few items for Baby Boy, but haven’t been going too crazy.  A lot of time has been put toward the effort of “where to put the nursery” and “what to do with the giant king size bed that’s in our guest room”.  We’ve got a 3 bedroom house which is plenty of space for a small family, but since my husband works from home, that means we have a) a master, b) a guest room, and c) an office occupying those rooms.  So, now begins the effort of trying to figure out how to combine the office & guest rooms so they can both function appropriately…which is not a possibility with the giant king bed that we have in the spare room.  I suggested just not getting a crib and just laying the baby in the middle of the king bed (I mean really…it’s huge, he’ll be tiny—where can he go?), but apparently that’s frowned upon.  :)  We also don’t want to co-sleep or have a basinet in our room for very long because it just makes sleep training them later on that much harder.  Then of course there’s the option of moving…but buying a new house just so you don’t have to sell your guest bed seems a little silly, no matter how comfy it is (NOTE: It is VERY comfy…but too soft for The Hubs’ back.)

I found a pretty cool site online called HomeStyler that allows you to drag & drop room plans with tons of options on furniture, so that we could match up sizes appropriately.  It’s been a lot of fun to play with and I think we’re getting close to having some good options:

A pullout loveseat is also an option, if we can find one that’s relatively comfortable.

With grandparents who’ll want to visit the baby (and hopefully stay a while to help out), NOT having some sort of guest bed isn’t an option.

I’ve also decided to get a jump start on prepping freezer meals. I figure it makes sense to start working on it now, a little at a time, while I have energy, and it’s not the crazy hot outside, and I don’t have a B.O.B. (big ol’ belly) in the way.  Thankfully we bought a small chest freezer last year, so it’s a perfect place to stow away meal prep!

This is the stockpile I’ve accumulated over the last few weekends of work, just prepping 3-4 meals at a time.  Most are Pinterest finds, though some are recommendations for friends. I’ve got a good stockpile of recipes ready to make, but have been prepping up whatever’s on sale that week to save some $$$.  Only a couple of these are ready-made, pop in the oven to heat up—the rest are Crock Pot meals, with all the ingredients in a bag to be thrown into the pot overnight or at the start of the day.

Recipes Made So Far:

Crockpot Beef Fajitas

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki (I added some sriracha & green onions as well)

Crockpot Chicken Chili (chicken was on sale, if you haven’t guessed) :)

Crockpot Honey Dijon Pork & Green Beans (I used Creole Mustard in place of Dijon)

Crockpot Hot Pepper Pork & Butternut Squash (with Tabasco Red Pepper Jelly, of course!)

Ginger Peach Chicken (with added sriracha) [Note: this is a great link—there’s several others I’ll be making later on.]

Sausage Mac & Cheese (no actual recipe for this one—we made cheese fondue the night before and had a ton left over, so I boiled some rotini, tossed it in with the cheese sauce, & added about 1/2 lb of smoked sausage) 

…and my tater tot casserole.  I think tater tot casserole is one of those things everyone has a slightly different recipe for, but here’s mine.

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb lean ground beef

1 onion, diced

1 tsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 tbsp Tony Chacheres Instant Roux Powder

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

(1) 15 oz can corn, drained (or frozen)

(1) 15 oz can peas, drained (or frozen)

(1) 8 oz can mushroom pieces, drained (or you can chop up some fresh ones & cook in with your meat—just whatever’s more convenient for you

1 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder

6 slices 2% American cheese (or 1 cup shredded cheddar if you prefer—I use whatever I have on hand at the time)

most of 1 bag of tater tots

 

DIRECTIONS:

In a large skillet or pot, saute the onions in the olive oil with a dash of salt, until they start to get tender.  Then add the ground beef, cook until browned.

Add the roux powder (this helps turn any fat into a nice sauce & binder) & Worcestershire sauce, stir well, and then add salt & pepper to taste.  If it’s a little salty, don’t worry, since you’ll be adding veggies as well.

Mix in the veggies and cornstarch and toss until well combined.

Transfer into a 9x13 pan (aluminum if you’re going to be freezing for a while, so you’re not tying up one of your pans for a few months), spread evenly, and then top with the cheese.

Then, add the tater tots.  (NOTE: You do not have to be as OCD as me about arranging your tots---I just do it because it makes it easier to portion, and because I have the time.  If you don’t, don’t worry about it.  Haphazard tots still taste awesome.)

When it’s time, cook for 30-40 minutes at 400F.  If you’re going to be freezing for a while, I recommend topping with aluminum foil first, and then wrapping in a couple layers of plastic wrap as insurance against freezer burn.

If you’re interested in some additional freezer meal recipes, here’s another post I made last year when we were prepping for the opening of our seasonal business.

If you’ve got a freezer meal you love, please share a recipe link with me in the comments section!

Freezer Meals: aka, staying sane thru life with two jobs.

You may be asking, “BK, how in the world do you find time to have a 45-hour a week job, own The Scoop, manage a household, (periodically) update this blog, and still find time to cook?”
The answer?  I don’t.  I’m human…as human as anyone, and I CANNOT do it all.  Thankfully, the Hubs manages most of our household finances and the more “businessy” side of The Scoop so I can focus on marketing & creating specials, and oh, yeah, also periodically feeding our own faces.  It also helps that his “office” is in our home, so if he’s slow at work, he can do laundry, load the dishwasher, etc.  But, during Scoop-season, our schedules stay pretty packed, with very little down time for blogging and getting creative with our own meal options.  I typically use the weekends to make a big batch of something in the Crockpot & then we eat leftovers most of the week.  Not exactly glamorous, but it’s nourishment and it keeps us from having to eat at The Scoop as often, since sadly, Nathan Dogs, while famous, are not all that good for you.
And I also have my friend Meghan to thank for convincing me to start using my weekends to make freezer meals. 
For my first round, I decided to go with three “casserole” type dishes and some breakfast burritos, since I am notorious for not eating breakfast in the mornings if I’m in a rush & then stopping to get fast food.  At least if I make the breakfast burrito myself, I can control what’s in it.
Rather than recreating all these recipes here, I’ll just give you the links to the helpful blogs I used:

Breakfast Burritos:

We filled ours with scrambled eggs, cheddar, crumbled sausage, hash browns, bacon, and jalapenos (well, some with jalapeno—some mornings I’m too wimpy for that).  The tip the blogger posts about nuking it for 1 minute, letting it rest, then 1 more minute?  Perfect. Makes these soooo easy to re-heat.  Sans aluminum foil, of course.

Ravioli “Lasagna”:

A girl from work brought in a birthday cake in an aluminum pan, so when it had all disappeared I pilfered the pan, washed & reused it for this dish. (Yay, recycling!)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole:

I made two of these, since one of our church friends just had a baby, so that we could take one over to them. (Even though I know they were REALLY hoping I’d send over a pot of jambalaya.)

Cheesy Ham Casserole:

(Apparently I forgot to take a photo while prepping this one.)  We decided to make include this one because we had a HUGE ham steak in the freezer—so part of it went into the chicken cordon bleu casserole, part into this, and the rest into sandwiches.

So that’s our lil’ stockpile.  Most of those are gone now (the burritos disappeared fast), but it’s really helped during this season of The Scoop when we just get a little too busy but don’t want to have to eat take out.