A Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...I had a late night last night, so I haven't even made it out of bed yet. Well...except to stumble to the coffee pot. We went to my sister's house to pick up a signed copy of her new cookbook. Jessica is giving it to her in-laws to be as an intro to our family. The book has family recipes as well as family history interwoven throughout.


I am thinking...about my plans for Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We'll be opening gifts with Jess and Joey before heading to Church. After Church we'll enjoy our traditional Gumbo Supper with Potato Salad, Green Salad, rolls and Pannetone Bread Pudding with Buttermilk Sauce.

I am thankful for...Neil's new job. Even though it causes our family to be separated, I realize how God's hand is in this job. In a bad economy, we were very blessed that he was only out of work one month.

From the learning rooms...(if this applies)I'm no longer homeschooling as all of my children are now in college, but learning is still occurring. I'm working on an Intro to Computers book. It's time I moved beyond e-mail and word processing.

From the kitchen...I'll soon be up to grind wheat for bread and begin preps for tomorrows dinner. Today will be a simple food day.

I am wearing...I'm still in my jammies. Quite decadent for me.

I am creating...Christmas stockings. It's not going to be ready for this year, but hopefully it will be ready for our first Christmas in Kansas.

I am going...to run to the stores to purchase the cake pans for Jessica's wedding. Rachel wants to make the topsy turvy cake for her so I want to get them while I have a 50% off coupon.

I am reading...Wedding Planning for Dummies. http://www.amazon.com/Wedding-Planning-Dummies-Second-Marcy/dp/0764556851/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292998090&sr=1-1
Even though this is my second daughter to marry, I am finding this book helpful. We are not wealthy by any means. This is a budget wedding. This wedding will not cost anywhere near the median wedding cost in the US, but we want it to be a special day for our daughter.

I am hoping...For a peaceful, prayerful Christmas season. We have much to give thanks for. I am very blessed to have a wonderful family that continues to grow. We have many hopes for the near and distant future and are currently laying them at the feet of God for His divine guidance.


I am hearing...quiet. Neil and the kids have run out to get replacement phones for Jess and Logan.

Around the house...a little packing, a little purging, is happening as we slowly prepare for our big move back to Kansas.

One of my favorite things...is to enjoy quiet time with my family. This time is precious because my children will not be coming to Kansas with us in the near future. Their lives are here, for now.

A few plans for the rest of the week: It's Christmas week, so it's all about time together as a family. This year and next will be very eventful. We want to enjoy time with our entire family, both immediate and extended.

To visit other daybooks or to add your own, be sure to visit http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Cornbread

I don't like to cook using packaged items. I prefer scratch cooking where possible. I have fond memories of Jiffy cornbread and milk when I grew up. It was a favorite Sunday night meal. I've tried many cornbread recipes looking for a good substitute. This recipe is not at all like Jiffy, but I just love it. I'm told you can grind popping corn to make cornmeal using my wheat grinder, but I haven't tried that yet. I do like to keep a couple of bags of cornmeal in my food storage pantry. One day I will try grinding the popping corn.

Corn Bread

1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. oil
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (I generally use homemade)
2-3 Tbsp. honey (you can sub sugar, but I like honey best)

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Combine butter and oil in 9 inch baking pan and place in oven to melt the butter while oven is heating up.
3. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour into the hot baking dish. Return to the oven for 25 minutes

By the way, now is a good time to pick up extra baking supplies. The sales are best now and around Easter. You should purchase roughly 25 lbs/flour per person for your year's supply. Flour is on sale at Super Fresh for 1.38/5 lb. bag. I generally purchase my honey from Sam's. You should stock around 3 lbs/person in your family. You should stock around 1 lb/person of Baking Soda and Baking powder. You should purchase around 5-8 lbs of salt per person. I keep containers of Sea Salt in my pantry as well as a large sack of Mortons purchased from Sam's.

I hope this helps in your Food Storage preparations.

Chocolate in a Cup

Jessica and I started weight watchers a few weeks ago. It's been going really well. The weight is not falling off easily, but it is coming off. We hope to get to goal weight in the summer. That gives us ample time to take the weight off. It takes discipline, though. I tend to avoid dessert, but sometimes a girl just has to have chocolate. This fits the plan. For the black beans, just take a can and whir in the blender. Freeze the extras in 1 Tbsp. amounts in the freezer. If you aren't counting points, you can substitute 1 Tbsp. oil.

Into the mug you put

1 Tbsp. egg whites powder
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. mashed black beans
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
dash vanilla
1 tsp. instant coffee
3 Tbsp. cocoa

Mix together in mug and put mug in microwave. Cover and microwave 1 1/2 minutes. Take out and sprinkle with a sprinkle of chocolate chips or ff caramel sauce, or ff chocolate sauce. 4 points.

Pancakes

This recipe is a wonderful staple to have in your recipe book. It's whole grain, but you can substitute white flour if you must. I don't like whole wheat flour from the store. The oils in whole wheat begins to go rancid very quickly. Instead, I buy whole wheat kernals (wheat berries) from the cannery and grind up what I need for the week. What I don't use that day is put in the freezer to preserve the vitamins. Whole foods also sells wheat berries in the bulk food section. To grind my wheat berries, I use is WonderMill http://www.amazon.com/Wondermill-WonderMill-Grain-Mill-110V/dp/B000CPJKWC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1289746153&sr=8-4 . Fresh ground flour is amazing. I highly encourage you to invest in the grinder. We use both white wheat berries and red wheat berries. If you're new to whole wheat, I would purchase the white wheat. Your family will not be able to tell the difference with white flour.

I buy egg powder for my food storage at http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/powderedwholeeggscan.aspx . You can also find it at Emergency Essentials and Blue Chip Group. For my family of four it is recommended that you have 4 # 10 cans in your food storage.

Pancakes

Nonstick Spray
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1 egg or 1 Tbsp. egg powder and 2 Tbsp. water
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cooking oil
pinch of salt

Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Use a pan with a nonstick surface or apply a little nonstick spray.
In a blender or with a mixer, combine all of the remaining ingredients until smooth.
Pour the batter by spoonfuls into the hot pan, forming 5-inch circles.

When the edges appear to harden, flip the pancakes. They should be light brown. Cook on the other side for same amount of time, until light brown.
Makes 8 to 10 pancakes.

Buttermilk Dressing

I was really thrilled when Jessica announced that she is getting married on December 30, 2011. Then I remembered the pictures from Rachel's wedding. I hated the way I looked in those pictures. Trying to find something beautiful to wear is very hard when you're fat. Since Jessica also wanted to lose weight, we decided to go to Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers is a heathful way to lose.

I must admit that I really like food. My Mama and sisters are all excellent cooks. I am an excellent eater. Food has to be flavorful if I will eat it a second time. I've failed at dieting before, because I couldn't find lower calorie foods that I loved. If you eat higher fat foods, of course, you must eat less. As well as needing very flavorful foods, I need to not be hungry. I will fail if I'm hungry all the time.

I know to succeed at this diet, I need to eat a lot of salad, but I hate fat free salad dressing. I experimented and found a homemade salad dressing that I can eat and best of all is low fat.

Buttermilk Dressing

1 cup buttermilk (I used my fat free homemade buttermilk)
2/3 cup plain yogurt (I used my fat free homemade yogurt)
2/3 cup low fat mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. mustard powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 tsp. dry dill
1 tsp. dried chives
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar

Toss everything in the blender. Blend until smooth. Chill.

This dressing is 1 point per tablespoon. Best of all, it's really yummy.

Menu Plan Monday

In an effort to better utilize my food storage, I've decided to return to menu planning. Organization is not really my forte, but I want to get a better handle on my grocery budget, and I know menu planning works. With Neil only working a couple of weeks a month, I am very grateful for a deep pantry and full freezer. Of course I am also grateful that I can continue to shop sales to maintain my food storage. I'm only including dinners because we really don't eat breakfast during the week. In general, on Saturdays we have an egg breakfast and Sundays we have a sweet breakfast. Lunches are usually leftovers, sandwiches and soup, or fish sticks, chicken tenders, etc.

Sunday:
BBQ Chicken, Baked Beans, Salad
Monday:
Pinto Beans, Rice, Cornbread, Salad
Tuesday:
Sloppy Joes, Baked Fries, Salad
Wednesday:
Jambalaya Pasta, Salad, Dinner Rolls
Thursday:
Baked Pork Chops, Creamed Corn, Mashed Potatoes
Friday:
Pizza, Salad
Saturday:
Potato Corn Chowder, Salad, Rolls

For More Great Menu Ideas, go to www.orgjunkie.com/menuplanmonday

Potato Soup

I have been waiting for Fall to arrive. I think Fall has always been my absolute favorite season. To me it means beginnings. I know, I know, Spring means rebirth, but I live in South Louisiana, and Spring is a wet month or so before the scorching summer begins.
Now Fall....Fall is crisp air, less rain, and lower humidity. Fall is when we begin to get back into our yards. Fall is when you can finally draw a deep breath outside because the air is not so heavy. Fall is the beginning of school when so much is still possible. Fall is football. The smells of Fall abound with the sweet spiciness of cinnamon, apples and pumpkin. I love Fall colors, Fall clothing, and Fall foods.
As soon as the temperatures dip into the low 70s, the Gumbo pot comes out. Fall is a time for soups and stews. Although I love Gumbo, I'll post that recipe nearer to Christmas, as that is our traditional meal for Christmas Eve.
Today, I want to post a recipe for my next favorite soup. This is not a soup I grew up on. Moma never made potato soup. It's made with milk and Daddy thought if the gravy wasn't brown, it was disgusting. I learned to love milk based gravies in college at Louisiana Tech. I'm sorry Daddy never gave it a try, because this is inexpensive, and yummy. We like to eat this soup with a bagette and salad. Heaven!

Potato Soup

2 slices bacon
4 large potatoes, peeled and rough cut into chunks
1 1/2 Tbsp. dehydrated onion (or 1/2 onion)
1 carrot, sliced
1 stalk of celery sliced thinly

4 cups of water
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
1/4 tsp. garlic granules, or 1 clove garlic, chopped

1 1/3 cup powdered milk dissolved in 1 cup water (use 2/3 cup powdered milk if using cannery milk) (You can also use 1 can evaporated milk instead.)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Cajun Seasoning to taste ( We like Tony's)
Cheddar Cheese to top

Fry up the bacon in the soup pot. Remove from pot and rough cut and set aside. Inthe bacon grease add the potatoes, black pepper, carrots, onions and celery . Cook until potatoes begin to get a little color on them. Add the water,garlic, and bouillon cubes. Simmer until potatoes are tender. Turn down the heat. Mix the milk and water together before adding to the soup. Simmer gently. If the heat is too high, the milk will curdle. Add the bacon back before serving.

Because the bacon is so salty, we don't add more to the soup. There is also salt in the Cajun seasonings.

Notes: if you don't have celery, you could use 1/2 tsp. celery salt, or just leave it out. I also like sweet peas in this soup, but have to put it in seperately as my son does not like peas. You can stick blend the soup for a creamier version, but I never do. I like vegetable bouillon because it adds a richness of flavor. If you prefer it, chicken broth is more traditional.