I am so sorry I have been negligent in updating this blog.  For nearly a year I have been consistent, never missing a day.  That is until we decided to move AND adopt a baby at the same time.

Hopefully the move will come first so we are in the painful process of packing and to be honest my mind has been focused on boxes, checklists, paint swatches and maintaining some shred of sanity.  I have, however, been cooking.  My step daughter arrived a little over two weeks ago and amongst the chaos I have managed to place a home cooked meal on the table nearly every night.  To my surprise she has loved every one of them…she is 9 months pregnant so I am not sure if that is a true indication of how tasty they really were.  When I was pregnant anything that stopped breathing for any length of time was fair game to snack on.

I did overhear her telling her mom “I can’t believe that Niki cooks everything from scratch and it’s actually good” guess the whole scratch thing is a little foreign to her because her in depth explanation covered the most basic scratch cooking tip of making homemade pizza crust.  She went on to tell her how I make my own bread, spaghetti sauce and all baked goods.  I guess filling her in on the likes of sourdough bread and homemade yogurt may set her off the edge.

On to this weeks menu:

Monday – baked spaghetti from the freezer

Tuesday – crock pot Cornish hens

Wednesday – taco soup

Thursday – potato soup topped with sour cream and crushed taco chips

Friday – take out pizza, the whole crew is coming over to strip WALLPAPER allowing my painter to start slapping on some coats of paint.  I am aiming for the upstairs to be completed before Monday allowing plenty of time to air the place out before the rest of the family sleeps there.

Saturday – baked oatmeal

Sunday – shepards pie with skillet corn…that is if I can locate my cast iron pan, at this point it’s not looking good.

For more menu ideas visit I’m an Organizing Junkie

What a difference a week can make.  This time last week I was feeling very overwhelmed, frustrated and desperately needed a break in the meal preparation department.  Since I felt somewhat obligated to actually feed my family despite wanting to go on strike and do nothing but toss frozen spuds on a plate smothered in ketchup…wait….. that was actually last night’s dinner.

Anyhoo, I have my mojo back and I plan to get back to my regularly scheduled program of cooking and maybe even cleaning…maybe.

Instead of scheduling specific meals on specific days I am going to list off what I am hoping to whip up for the family.  For some reason if I don’t feel like eating chicken, I can easily switch it up to pancakes and beans, no pressure.  On to the grub:

• Spaghetti and cheese bread.  I bought one of those large bags of multi grain rolls from Costco and stuck them in the freezer. Cut in two and smothered in garlic butter and cheese they are a quick and frugal alternative to homemade buns and purchased garlic bread
• BBQ meatballs, baked potatoes with sour cream and frozen skillet corn
• Potato soup and easy breadsticks
• homemade pizza and garlic fingers with donair sauce using the not so fattening version
• baked oatmeal and turkey bacon
• crock pot roast, mashed potatoes with green and yellow waxed beans.  I know there is a frozen apple crisp stashed somewhere in the depths of my freezer, hopefully I can unearth it for a quick and delicious dessert
• pancakes

I am planning to take it easy this month, preparing easy, quick and frugal meals that can be whipped up on a dime.  I am going to make it a point to use my often neglected crock pot.  If anyone has some favourite crock pot meals, I would love to hear about them.   I have a select few that I love and need to expand on this form of cooking.

For more meal ideas visit I’m and Organizing Junkie

Normally I take Sunday afternoon to post my meal plan for the upcoming week.  Not so this week.

You see, this weekend was a write off, from start to finish.  Some days, it seems, I am failing miserably at motherhood.  Some days far worst than others.  Sunday evenings are usually reserved for a nice sit down dinner (as nice as a dinner with two rambunctious toddlers can be) but this Sunday was cancelled due to mommy having a mini breakdown.  I did manage to literally throw in a frozen lasagna made several weeks back, thank goodness for that or it would have been bowls of Rice Krispies all around.

I am not immune to the pressures of trying to be a supermom, it seems I can never do enough, cook enough, clean enough, enjoy my children enough or be the perfect wife enough.  With the upcoming move and pending adoption I am tired…really tired and meal planning and scratch cooking has been taking a backseat.

Since I won’t be giving you any ideas for meals based on my families suppers, I thought I would show you what our kitchen looked like over a year ago.  I often go back to some old posts of mine to give myself new inspiration or ideas.  Over time my meals have evolved and in some ways have become for complicated.  Why can’t I just use a bottle of Kraft *gasp* BBQ sauce for my meatballs instead of succumbing to the pressures of making my own sauce?

I need to stop.  I may even resort to take out pizza or better yet a bucket of fried chicken.  I can see my husband jumping for joy now.

Since you were probably looking for some meal ideas and not the ramblings of an overworked stressed out mom.  Here are some ideas you can hopefully work with.

Post originally written in January 2008

Well here we are again…Monday ughhhh. The good news is the sales are out and I have a few ideas for recipes that will keep some of your hard earned dollars in your pocket.

The one item that I took note of was the extra lean ground beef on for $2lb at Sobeys. (believe it or not that is a good price here in Canada if you are reading from the US). I just got back from buying 10 lbs for several recipes I have lined up.

The first thing I do is make up a large batch of meatballs. They are easy to whip out of the freezer for a quick meal and can be used in many ways. To make up the basic meatballs I add the following

4lbs of beef

4 env. of onion soup mix

4 eggs

bread crumbs to desired consistency

salt and pepper

I mix this all together and roll into balls and bake in an oven at 350 for 30 min. From there I can assemble the following recipes

The first one I rely on is meatball subs. In a ziplock container I add enough of the meatballs I feel will feed my family, add a jar of spaghetti sauce (Healthy choice is on sale at co-op bogo) and they are ready for the freezer. To prepare I simply thaw in the microwave and pile on top of toasted buns with cheese grilled in the oven until hot and bubbly. It takes all of 5 minutes to whip up this yummy hot meal. If you need a change from subs you could simply add this to pasta or spaghetti for a simple traditional meal.

I then take another portion of plain meatballs and simply add the following:

1 can mushrooms

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 tablespoons of Worcester sauce

salt and pepper

Freeze in tinfoil container

To prepare simply cook from frozen in 350 oven until hot and bubbly. This meal would be perfect with any side and a veggie.

And if you STILL have meatballs left (I normally do) place them in a dish, add a jar of sweet and sour sauce, can of pineapple chunks and a sliced green pepper. From frozen they can be prepared the same way as the above recipe.

As you can see for $20 in beef I have created quite a few meals.

Warning ahead: Rolling these meatballs are a little time consuming and a touch annoying but stay the course and I guarantee you will be rewarded with a hot, quick and you bet frugal meal.

Now get rolling…..

For more ideas and menu planning visit I’m an Organizing Junkie

I posted about my deceptive little trick for hiding veggies in sloppy joes nearly a year ago and after a long hiatus, I decided to place them on the menu this week.

Who doesn’t love sloppy joe’s (actually I don’t) but most people do.  Here is a little trick to sneak in a little more nutritional value into this beef filled mixture.  Sloppy joes are perfect for those busy nights when all you can muster up the energy for is pressing the buttons on the microwave. This meal is frugal, simple and most of all quick to prepare and when placed on top of a whole grain bun can even be somewhat healthy.  Previously prepared and frozen family sized meat mixture can be thawed and fried in no time making this dish even more appealing.  Into this, I typically add a small bag of ground cabbage that I normally pick up for 1/2 price on the reduced cart as well as with the pre-mixed salad bags of coleslaw mix.  This addition not only adds a little crunch and tang to the meat mixture but more importantly adds a veggie that you would otherwise not be eating.  The best part is the coleslaw has the same shape and colour as ground beef once it has been fried in the sauce and makes it near impossible for your certain picky child (or certain picky father) from detecting and ultimately complaining. I normally place a little olive oil in the pan and add the fresh cabbage with the partly thawed meat and by the time the hamburger is heated through the cabbage is ready.

I have even gone as far as adding this in some of my meat loaves and other ground beef hashes without too many complaints.  Just make sure you destroy the evidence (bag) before they see it.

For more kitchen tips visit Tammy’s recipes

With the big move nearly 4 weeks away, I have been desperately trying to clean out the freezer so I can thaw it out for easy transportation.

My big freezer cooking marathon happened nearly 6 weeks ago yet I am still able to open up the freezer and have a fully cooked meal on the table in no time.  Once a month shopping and cooking is definitely the system I am sticking with.  I recently did a guest post over at Virtually organized explaining my menu planning system and how this works for my family at this stage of our lives.

This is what I am feeding the family this week.

Monday – leftovers.  Since I have the day off from supper duty I decided to spend the day making several batches of sweets for the kids.  When I return from the gym I am going to immediately start baking and have high hopes of completing a batch of oatmeal and banana chocolate chip cookies as well banana bread.  I picked up three bags of darkened bananas on clearance that are ready for mashing

Tuesday – stir fry using the many frozen bags of veggies I found in the bottom of the freezer with small amounts remaining.

Wednesday - chicken casserole from the freezer with risotto

Thursday – freezer lasagna

Friday – hamburgers and onion roasted potatoes.  instead of unhealthy fries I simply chop up some large baking potatoes and coat with some olive oil and homemade onion soup mix.  I have even sprinkled some chili pepper on them for a little kick.

Saturday – sourdough pancakes

Sunday – cabbage sloppy joes.  I pick up shredded coleslaw packets when 50% off and simply fry them up with beef for a sweet and tangy sloppy joe dish.  This is also a great way to sneak in veggies to unsuspecting kids, grandfathers and hubbies that should know better.

That wraps up my week.  Normally Laura hosts this carnival but she is out of town this week and lucky for us Erin from $5 dinners is taking over.

I spent a relaxing Thursday evening reviewing my recipe binder, favourites saved online and my collection of to try recipes from magazine clippings to come up with our menu for the month of March.

Thanks to my efforts in February, a great portion of our meals are freezer dishes I prepared in duplicate last month.  Although it was a great deal of work at the time I am going to reap those rewards this month.  I came up with a list of approximately 26 meals, leaving room for leftovers and other unexpected events for the remaining days.  This list is posted on my fridge in plain sight and meals are crossed off as each one is consumed.  The upside to this system: plenty of variety at the first of the month.  Downside? By month end it’s slim pickings in the Steven’s household but so far it’s working wonders for me at this stage of my life.

In addition to our meals I plan a half a dozen sweets and desserts to make over the course of the month.  Here is my lineup for March.

• banana chocolate chip cookies
• applesauce bread
• granola bars
• oatmeal cookies
• coffee cake

For more meal ideas visit Laura over at I’m an Organizing Junkie