Tag Archives: tips

Food

Meal Planning: Getting Started

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So I do weekly meal plans here at the NerdFamily house and recently I was in a conversation at MOPS about how to get started. I recommend that you sit down with a pad and ask everyone in your family what dinners they like. I recommend doing this when you are all sitting down to dinner. Then I take that list and compare it to the weekly supermarket ads. Then just pick 5 meals. I leave 1 night for takeout and 1 night for leftovers. Then make a grocery list based off of that menu. Now many times I will rearrange my meals part way through the week but that isn’t a big deal.

I also post my meal plans as part of Meal Plan Monday. This has worked out for me in a couple of ways. Not only do I not need to figure out every afternoon what we are having, NerdDad will often help get things out to thaw the night before or the morning of. I would remind you to remind everyone else in your family of an addage we use here in the NerdFamily House, “This is the plan but plans change”. Otherwise you can sometimes get dissapointment when husbands don’t get the meal they were looking forward to;).

So what are you waiting for? Go make a Meal Plan!

(Originally published 10/8/2008)

Food

Peppermint Bits

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Ok, I love that this is the season of peppermint! I love peppermint in my cocoa, chocolate chip cookies and in my biscotti! And of course I have a great way to get peppermint bits super cheap!

The first thing to remember is that candy canes keep for a very long time;). So I buy the mini candy canes on the 75% off sales after Christmas. And yes always the mini candy canes because they are so easy to crush then!

So open them all up and put them into a gallon size ziplock bag. Make sure you put the bag in an easy to clean place. As you crush the candy canes they will make small punctures in the bag and leave a little sugar dust where ever it was sitting. Then hand a child a rolling pin and let them whack away!

Then you have a bowl of peppermint bits! You can add them to all kinds of delicious things. But keep them in an airtight bowl or bag because otherwise they will clump!

Food

Custom Cake with Non-Custom Ingredients

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The Nerdster wanted a Batman cake for his 5th birthday this last week. And as you see, he got one;). But it was a bit of a process to get there. Now, as usually, I started with a box cake mix. But, I had planned on using homemade butter cream. Genius me forgot to get powdered sugar (which I thought I had) but I had 2 tubs of chocolate icing with chocolate chips and 1 tub of white cream cheese frosting.

So I started by frosting in between the layers and the edges of the cake with the chocolate chip frosting. Then I took a bat image that NerdDad found online. I cut it out.

Then I buttered the edges lightly with chocolate frosting so it would stick to my cake top. Then I mixed yellow gel food coloring into my white cream cheese. I frosted the top of the cake with yellow frosting but was careful to stay off the Batman image.

Then I used 2 strips of duct tape to remove the Bat symbol. Then I filled in the image with more of the chocolate frosting!

So there you have how I made fully custom cake using totally non-custom ingredients! Just a box mix, canned frosting and picture of a bat!

Food

Peach, Peach, Peach

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I love peach season but once you bring them home they just don’t seem to last all that long. I got some from my friend Bethany’s tree on Monday and decided to make some peach puree to freeze. Why? Well, you can use it to flavor oatmeals, make smoothies and so much more! So how?

First, put a pot of water on to boil. Then, cut an X into the bottom of each peach. Once your water is boiling, drop your peaches in for 1 minute.

Then pull your peaches out and plunge them into an ice bath. An ice bath is literally a bowl of water and ice. You put the fruit into it in order to stop the cooking. This is a technique called “Shocking”. The peaches only need to be in there a little bit until they are cool to the touch. Then so to your slit in the bottom and use a knife to peel them! Chunk them up and put them in a bowl. I added a little honey because these are just a touch tart and the kids would prefer it sweeter in oatmeal.

Then take a stick blender to it and blend away! I took the puree and put it into an ice cube tray. Then I popped it into the freezer. Tomorrow I will put them into a zipper bag and take them out as needed.

This is super easy and a great way to extend the season! You can use this technique for just about any fruit!

So what all would you use fruit purees in?

Uncategorized

Stop Bow Loss!

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I love how cute all the little girls’ bows and flowers are but (there is always a but;) they get lost. These are fairly pricey little gems and then you let your little girl out of the house with them and they just don’t always make it home with it. But I saw this great solution posted over at Babes in Hairland. Go and wear hair bobs in good health!

Food

How I Made 5 Trays of Enchiladas in 2 Hours

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I do bulk cooking but not in the once of month method. I don’t make 30 days worth of food in 2 days. Instead I take an ingredient and then make a lot with it. This time it was chicken breasts. I assembled 5 trays in less than 2 hours.

Now to be honest I didn’t cook the meat in that time. I had dump a bunch of boneless skinless chicken breasts into the crockpot and turned it on low to cook over night. Then (while I was at a baby shower) my husband gave my 6 year old a big bowl, the meat and 2 forks. She went to town and shredded it all. Then he put it into gallon bags for me.
So today I assembled all my ingredients. Enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, corn, spinach, shredded cheese, and tortillas. I thawed the spinach under hot water and squeezed all the water out. In the big metal bowl I mixed up the spinach, corn, meat, cheese, some tomato sauce and enchilada sauce. The tomato sauce keeps it from being to spicy for the kids. Then I rolled! You know the process… put sauce in the bottom of your baking pan, then dip the tortillas in sauce, then put some filling in and roll! The key is to have everything lined up and ready to go. I use up the enchilada sauce then I just grab the next can sitting on the counter.
So for those of you who think they don’t have time for bulk cooking just remember that in about 2 hours I fully assembled these, made my kids pb & j sandwiches, tended to them during lunch, washed up and changed the baby, and did all my clean up! If I can do it so can you!

(I included this post in Cooking for a Crowd at Raising Olives)

Food

Holiday Discovery!

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Don’t these chocolate hamantaschen look great? Chocolate dough with peanut butter chips as the filling. They were a big hit! I found the recipe over at Aish.com. It served as a great lesson. Sometimes you can find great holiday recipes somewhere other than recipe sites. Look around on religious websites. Sometimes they have great twists on the classic dishes!

Food

Potato Mashers and Kids

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Potato mashers and kids may seem like an odd combination but they are a match made in heaven.

I have been wanting to get my kids into the kitchen with me more. And I don’t mean in the teaching way but a way that might actually help. Well, it appears all I needed was to be making recipes that need a potato masher!
Monday I got my 6 year old in the kitchen and she had a ball! First, we made guacamole. I cut them open, took out the pits and showed her how to scoop out the meat with a big spoon. Then she mashed! And mashed! Then I took the masher from her, sprinkled in the mix and handed her a spoon (yes, I said mix;). Then we made banana bread. I had 2 hands of bananas that were perfectly dark brown! So I dumped them into 2 big bowls and she mashed them all up for me while I did dishes!
This was a great success! If you are looking for a way to get your kid into the kitchen try a recipe that needs something mashed!

Food

WFMW: Backwards Day

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As the new year is about to start I , like everyone else, am looking at changes I want to make. Believe it or not it isn’t to eat healthy. My change I want to make is to do more “once a month”, freezer style cooking. So that leads me to my question for this backwards Works for Me Wednesday.
Do you have any recipes that are good in the freezer or any once a month cooking tips?

Food

A Home Made Double Boiler

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You don’t need to buy a fancy double boiler for recipes like the Chocolate Pecan Pie. I find that they are never big enough, they are pricey and then you have another piece to store.

All you need to do is bring a pot of water to simmer. Place inside a glass or metal bowl that doesn’t touch the water. Then put your mixture in the bowl and melt or cook, what ever is needed!