Eat, drink, find enjoyment!

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment and see good in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Ecclesiastes 5:18

Although I struggle with enjoying food in excess when I take my eyes off Christ, I am thankful that God gave us food to enjoy! Though I'm not sure how something can be both joy and pain, planning a menu for my family is both. Joy when I'm full of great ideas and creative things to try. Joy when their eyes light up at the phrase, "Mac and Cheese Casserole" but pain when I have no creativity, no plan and hear, "Mom, can you not make this again. It's not my favorite." However, it is part of my job as a worker at home. (Which, overall, I do love.)
Over the years I'm learned and tried different methods of approach to menu planning: Monthly menu plans, weekly planning and a 3-week rotation. If you are new to menu planning and the kitchen seems daunting, the 3-week rotation is perhaps the best place to begin.
On average, we eat the same foods about every three weeks. So with the 3-week plan, you gather your typical recipes plot them out in a 3-week rotation. Along with this, it is handy to have a corresponding grocery list for these recipes.
For years, with young toddlers, I liked doing monthly menu planning. Set aside at least 1-hour to make a list of  15-20 meals to be served in the calendar month. I found this allowed for consuming all the leftovers, eating out and of course, ordering in pizza. (In our home, I typically only make the evening dinner meal--with enough leftovers to pack for a lunch the next day--so if you make lunches or full breakfasts, you'd have to add the total menu ideas.) Make a corresponding grocery list and stock the pantry. Then as you go through the month, every day you can decide what's for dinner that night. I even kept my monthly list from year to year because what we eat typically corresponds to what foods are in season and on sale during various times of the year. This made the task less daunting after the first year because I could use most of the same menu ideas the next year. 
Currently, I create a weekly menu plan based on sale items and favorite recipes that appear on my favorite food blog, www.budgetbytes.blogspot.com. I have "Menu" on my iCal as reoccurring event at 6pm. When I plan my menus, I simply type in the menu item on each event and then add necessary grocery items to my shopping list. (More on shopping lists next week.)
Everyone is different, but for me, I am paralyzed without a plan. If I have a plan, I can easily get in motion, i.e. thaw & marinate meat, prep the veggies, load up the crockpot in the morning when we have a busy day, etc.
What tips can you share in regards to menu planning? Do you have a favorite app to share? Decide today to start menu planning and save yourself mucho bucks (and calories) by not eating out as much and save yourself the stress of 5:30pm and frozen chicken!

Yogurt...a bonus!

When we moved and were somewhat settled, I had a couple Suzy Homemaker goals for myself:

1. Start making our own bread again
2. Make our own yogurt

Making yogurt was a brand new adventure for me but totally intrigued a kitchen nerd like me. (Who am I kidding, the kitchen is my favorite place to be!) I feel like I've streamlined the process now, six months later and thought I'd put my process to paper...or keyboard. This is what I've found works for my crockpot:

Late afternoon, I begin the process (3 or 4 pm). I put 1 gallon of milk in the crockpot on high. It will take 2-3 hours for my pot to heat the milk to 170-180 degrees. At that point, I cool the milk on ice water to 120 degrees. Then whisk in a heaping tablespoon of old yogurt. (So always save a little bit left from your last batch.) Reassemble the crockpot, and wrap it up in a beach towel or blanket and shove it to the back of the counter. I put my thermometer in the middle of the milk with the digital reader out of the towel wrap so I can easily check on the temperature for the next 8-12ish hours. The aim is to keep the temperature between 110-120 degrees. I've read that if it's below 110, the cultures don't reproduce, if it's above 120, the cultures are being killed. If I'm at the 120 degree range (usually after dinner time) I just leave it wrapped up in the blanket (crockpot NOT on). Then before bed, I plug in the crockpot for 10 minutes while I get ready for bed and then unplug before signing off for the night. In the morning, you have yogurt. It will be runny though. When I wake, I line my strainer with a clean old t-shirt, set it on top of my biggest bowl and pour the yogurt into the strainer. It strains quickly when it's warm, so if you leave it for 15-30 minutes, it might just right. If you leave it for 1 hour, you'll have greek yogurt I guess. (If you don't want that, just stir in more of the whey.)

What's in the tshirt is your yogurt ready to go. What's in the bowl beneath your strainer is whey. I've been tossing that, but just recently thought, there has got to be a use for this. I LOVE google! Mostly, I've been soaking my whole wheat flour in the whey, it makes for awesome wheat bread. Here's the other uses I've googled (I've adapted this list from Salad in a Jar):

1. Substitute for other liquids when baking— gives breads and pancakes a nice sourdough-ish taste.
2. Use for soaking whole wheat flours. (This is my number one use of the whey.)
3. Use whey for boiling noodles or cooking rice. (Haven't tried this yet.)
4. Feed it to outdoor plants, tomatoes particularly need and benefit from the extra calcium.
5. Mix it half and half with iced tea — sort of an “Arnold Palmer without the lemon-aid.”
6. Use it to thin out a batch of homemade hummus or pesto.
7. Use it to cook quinoa.
8. Boil your oatmeal in whey. Top with dried Montmorency cherries reconstituted in (you guessed it!) whey.
9. You can use it as the liquid in pizza dough, and it adds a wonderful flavor to the crust. (Great!!)
10. Use whey as clear buttermilk. (I made biscuits.)

So, I guess the sky is the limit, but I won't be throwing the whey out anymore! Your yogurt will need to be sweetened with sugar, honey or artificial sweetener. My favorite is 1/2 a mashed banana, 1/2 a packet of equal and blueberries! I've also just stirred in a spoonful of jam when in a hurry.

Tastes like summer

Monday, July 16, 2012
Summer is here. Awake your taste buds! Try this out when peaches are on sale in your neck of the woods: Peach Salsa.

Peach Salsa
1 c. diced peaches
2 T. diced onion
2 T. diced green pepper
1/2 t. salt
1 t. vinegar
1/4 t. garlic powder
Mix and let marinade at least 1 hour.

So easy and fresh. I enjoyed it on a chicken wrap, on my salad (as my dressing) and I think it would be tasty with tortilla chips...ate it all before trying it though.