Welcome

I am a 31 year old working mom. I have two children ages 6 & 8. I am newly remarried (two years and counting) and enjoy spending time with the hubs! Even though life is busy I try to take a little time to show what is going on in my world. This blog is mainly for daily happenings, finances and such. I have created a whole new blog at Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker to chronicle my creative sides. You will find recipes, cooking adventures, crafts and a whole lot of digital scrapbook layouts.

ENJOY!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Menu Update

Well we haven't done so great on following our menus for the past couple of week. I have been making up the menu, purchasing the groceries and then we end up either going out or making something else. The menu I did from two weeks ago, we made 3 out of 5 items. We made the pizza calzones, beef stroganoff and the fried fish. This is my review of each of the items.

Pizza Calzones - they were a little frustrating to make to me only because I was making the crust from scratch and I was having a hard time making the dough after a long day at work. I finally found a recipe that said I could stick it into the fridge over night. The crust was pretty good. Not spectacular, but good. When rolling it out it did not seem like a lot of dough so I went a little skimpy on the fillings....well they puffed and baked up pretty well. So, next time I will double the batch, if not triple and then roll it out super flat and fill it to the gills.

Beef Stroganoff - It was an okay recipe, we used beef stew chunks and I don't think I would do that again or I would put in into the crock pot to sit overnight to get tender. The sauce was very different from the usual flavor and I personally did not care for it. It did not make alot of sauce either. I would not make this recipe again.

Fried Fish - This was an intimidating dish to make, not because of complexity but because I am definately not a seafood person. I could probably count on one hand they kinds and ways I eat seafood. (Hmm -- fried catfish, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, two other kinds of fried white fish, whiting and brim I think they are called....can't think of anything else) It has only been since I have moved to the south that I am even this open. Before, my seafood was square on a bun from McDonalds - sad, but true. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I have to say that this will become a regular in my house. It was super easy to make and it was not greasy like the kind from the restaurants. My camera wasn't working, but I promise to make it again and take pics to show everyone. (I also loved the hush puppy mix that I made to go with it, YUM!)

On Sunday afternoon when I was trying to find all the ingredients to do the fish I got so frustrated because I couldn't find in in our pantry. So I cleared it out and organized it. We had four boxes of spaghetti, yikes! We also had countless packets of taco seasoning. We are going to try to shop in our pantry first and use up what we have. Our over the fridge freezer and our chest frezzer are slam packed....Guess we better use what we got. We are also trying to organize our laundry/pantry room. Will talk pics to show. Wish us luck.

3 comments:

Lauren in GA said...

Thanks for the update! :)

Suzanne said...

I think it's awesome that you are trying out new stuff. I guess you have to be in the south longer than I was to appreciate seafood. I'm still not open to it at all. I used to like tuna, but even the smell has started to make me sick over the past few years.

Cool to go shopping in your pantry and freezer! That should save some $.

Amy said...

Just a note on pizza crust--you can refrigerate just about any yeast recipe overnight. Just knead it according to the recipe and let it rise in the fridge overnight (and all day if you need to), then punch it down and let it rest and warm up for about 15 minutes before you spread it out.