Free Printable of the Day

Martha Stewart has a free printable lunch planner. Print them off and attach them to magnets so kids can plan their lunches in advance.  My kids love this!!!  They can pick and choose their menu for the summer!!!!  Check it out here!!!

Meal Planning: 40 Recipes for Ground Beef

If you’ve been following my meal planning, then you know I have a different once a month cooking style than most. Rather than making the entire meal ahead and freezing it, I often just do the prep work. So if I want to have stir fry this month, I’ll cut the meat up, combine it with the marinade and freeze. When dinnertime arrives, much of the messy and time consuming part of the meal is done, but I have the advantage of a fresh tasting meal! Another advantage is that I can alter the recipe. With traditional once-a-month cooking, you often triple or quadruple a recipe and cook it completely. That means less work at mealtime, but you have to suffer meal-rerun-itis.

So today, I have compiled a list of delicious and mom-tested recipes that call for ground beef. During my once a month cooking sessions, I’ll be cooking loads of ground beef and freezing it in mealsize portions. Then each week I’ll take a look at this list to see what sounds appealing and/or calls for ingredients that are on sale! Imagine how smoothly dinnertime will go when the ground beef is cooked ahead for these recipes!

Here goes:

1. Crock Pot Chili
2. Taco Bagel Bites
3. Crock Pot Cheeseburgers
4. Microwave Mexican Manicotti
5. Burrito Pie
6. Szechuan Noodles With Spicy Beef Sauce
7. Beefy Jalapeno Corn Bake
8. Cheesy Burger Mac
9. Easy DIY Sloppy Joe Sauce
10. Pizza Bagels
11. Taco Loaf
12. Burritos
13. Beef Casserole
14. Beef Enchiladas
15. Siesta Fiesta Pie
16. 30 Minute Spaghetti Sauce
17. Deep Dish Pizza Casserole
18. Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup in a Crock Pot (Copycat)
19. Make Ahead Southwest Cattle Rancher’s Pie
20. Crock Pot Taco Soup
21. Pizza Snack Cups
22. Awesome Hot Dog Chili Sauce
23. Easy Taco Casserole
24. Pizza Roll-Ups
25. Tijuana Train Wreck
26. Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole
27. Taco Casserole
28. Mexican Stuffed Shells
29. Hamburger with Mushroom Cream Sauce
30. Crock Pot Stacked Enchiladas
31. Taco Salad
32. Cheeseburger Wraps
33. Cheesy Mostaccioli
34. Taco Spaghetti
35. Mini Tacos
36. Taco Junk
37. Southwestern Baked Spaghetti
38. Beef, Macaroni and Tomato Casserole
39. Pizza Burgers
40. Easy Pizza Pasta Casserole

Meal Planning: 40 Recipes For Shredded Chicken

Another way to make mealtime easier is to have a supply of cooked, shredded chicken frozen in meal size portions. HERE is the recipe I use (or if I’m planning on making chicken stock I use THIS one). Once you have your chicken ready to go, you can use this list of my 40 favorite recipes to make dinner a snap.
Here goes:

1. Broccoli & Chicken Casserole
2. Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole
3. Country Farm Chicken Casserole
4. Chicken Macaroni Casserole
5. Chicken Tamale Casserole
6. Chicken King Ranch Casserole
7. Chicken Broccoli Cheesy Casserole
8. Candaces Chicken Casserole
9. Chicken Casserole
10. Leftover Chicken Sandwiches
11. Easy Chicken Pot Pie
12. The Best Chicken Salad Club Sandwich
13. A Famous Chicken Salad Sandwich
14. Stuffed Chicken Sandwich
15. Marshall Field’s Chicken Salad Sandwich
16. Chicken Philly Sandwiches
17. Thai Chicken Pizzas
18. Chicken Wild Rice Soup
19. Chicken Noodle Soup
20. Salsa Chicken Soup
21. Shredded Chicken Tacos
22. Asian Shredded Chicken Coleslaw
23. Shredded Chicken Sandwiches
24. Chicken Enchiladas
25. Shredded BBQ Chicken
26. Cold Sesame Noodles with Shredded Chicken
27. Shredded Chicken Enchiladas, Tostadas & Tacos
28. BBQ Chicken and Chips
29. Shredded Chicken Fajitas
30. Stove Top Smoker Shredded Chicken With Peanut Sauce
31. Mushroom & Shredded Chicken Salad
32. Chicken Manicotti
33. Chicken Potato Casserole
34. Cheddar Chicken Spirals
35. Chicken Broccoli Shells
36. Baked Chicken Quesadillas
37. Buffalo Chicken Pizza
38. Chicken Salad Panini
39. Chicken and Rice Casserole
40. Favorite Chicken Casserole

Using Hard Butter (Buttermilk Biscuits)

Today is Tuesday which means Kitchen Tip Tuesday at Tammy's Recipes. Having small kids in my home in the South, means we are always cooking filling foods. My kids favorite filling food is biscuits. When they do want them they want the quick and I need it to be easy. The girls can make them on their own.

My Tip: I use the hand cheese grater on the butter get it all in uniform shapes. This mixed great in the flour to make awesome buttermilk biscuits.

Easy and Quick Buttermilk Biscuits

1 c Self Rising Flour

1 stick salted butter (grated with cheese grater)

1/2 c Buttermilk

Mix grated butter in Flour. Add buttermilk and stir till it makes a ball. Turn on a flour surface. Kneed some and pat down till even. Cut with a floured cookie cutter/biscuits cutter/glass (whatever you have) Bake at 350 for 10 mins on a greased pan.

They love these for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack with jelly, plain or if you are DS8 with cheese grits on top of it.

Visit Tammy for more Tips.

Facing Fears: Water

Fear has been the biggest obstacle getting in my way for my life. My fear has stopped me from doing so many things. I will be 34 on my birthday (July 24), and have been swimming many times. But in all the times of swimming I have never Dunked my head in the water. (Sound crazy...i know). I was always too scared to do it.

Well I faced my fears the weekend (5/15/2010) while with my kids and their aunt. We went to Pine Island and "I did it"....I dunked my whole head under the water. It was not as bad as I thought. My 6 yo and 8 yo were with me and if they could do it...I could do it too.

After facing this fear, I have decided to be baptized again. God has come into my life like a strong storm and is showing me a different way to live. I have always walked with him....Now I want to talk to him get to know him and be his VERY BEST FRIEND!!

Fran

I'm Back!!!!!

I have been gone for soooooo long. We have been so busy, but I have never left the blog world. I am always reading something. The kids are getting so big. Big Boy is now 8, Miss Priss is 6, Lil' Miss Priss is 3 and Lil'Man is 18 months.

I am now not working and made a very big decision to give my life to Christ. I have always been a "church goer", but now I am a "follower and studying". I have had a very long year, by God have a plan for me and a purpose for my life and I want to live this way.

I plan to blog about my 30 minute tasks, weight watchers and home life. But I will start to talk about God and My new Support group (Celebrate Recovery).

Fran

Dinner from the depression..

This 91 yo lady name Clara is on youtube with several recipes from the depression. I plamn to make a Poorman's meal from the depression. I also plan to make these Cheese rolls.