White bread and books

Today I made a new bread recipe. I think I have to try it again for several reasons:

It was really dry, I had to add a lot of water at the end (I did only 1 of 2 loaves, maybe I divided wrong?)

It was a little dense.

It was so friggin good, I'll probably eat the entire loaf by tomorrow.

Carter even ate it which he wasn't really doing with my 7 grain bread I'd been making.

I also made pie crust to go with the quiches I made last week.  Look online for any recipe that uses 1 egg and vinegar in it and it will work out great.  I had to make about 3 batches for 8 crusts. I rolled them out between 2 pieces of parchment paper to a large circle, then rolled them up in the bottom parchment paper (like the rolled Pilsbury ones in the supermarket) then wrapped in foil and labeled. Voila! A little work, but just as much as driving to the grocery store with 3 children AND I bet they were WAY cheaper.  used about 6 cups flour is about $1.75 and 3 cups of butter/shortening about say $2.50 so for about .50 per crust I saved a lot considering they are about $1.65 per crust at the store.

My other accomplishment was figuring out how to get books from the library on to the Nook Tablet we got.  Here's what you do.

First, get yourself an adobe ID https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/membership/index.cfm?nf=1&nl=1

Download Adobe Digital Editions http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/#fp

Then go to the library website and login

find a book that is available and click Download

Then click "open" NOT "Save" and your Digital Editions program will pop up. Plug in the Nook using the USB cord. Click and drag the book from where you see it on the middle of Digital Editions screen over to the left where you can see what drive your Nook is located at and drop it on the drive location.

Then unplug your Nook and go into "Library" "My Stuff" "digital Editions" then press and hold your finger on the book for a moment and you can move it to your Home page or Shelf!  I have no idea how to check the bugger back in yet, but it will expire in 21 days, so you could always just let it expire, but then no one else can check it out as there are only a certain number of licenses available.

Plan for today

so after last night's (this morning's?) marathon cooking session, it's continuing. We got home from church and I put the beans on to boil for 2 hours. I also need to make pie crust, but that will have to wait. The lawn people are coming this week and I need to mow short and get moss out in preparation for their visit. Of course today is the only day when it won't be actually raining. Valerie's about to go down for a nap-So, I guess I'll mow while the beans are boiling (grass will be wet, so it will be challenging) then I'll take the beans off to cool (Can't put them in the bags hot) then spread the moss killer all over the lawn that we got on the way home from church, then come in, clean up the house a bit, make some pie crust then get out there and start raking. Sigh.

Freezer Meals-Ham

It's nearly 3 in the morning, I'm so exhausted, but I got a TON of cooking done this evening and I'm just reflecting on a job well done. Don't get me wrong, I have a few leftover things to do tomorrow, but with just a few more steps (cooking beans, shredding chicken, making pie crust &  labelling containers, this afternoon/evening I went to a grocery store with all 3 kids and made:
9 pans (1 large for church) pans of ham casserole
8 bags of ham & quiche innards (still need to make the pie crusts to freeze with)
8 bags of country ham & bean soup (beans are soaking overnight, need to cook 2 hours, cool and add to the bags, waiting in the fridge-no idea where they'll go after that, the freezers are FULL)
8 pans (equal to 32 full-size enchiladas) pans of chicken enchiladas in a homemade sauce
3 pans of potato, ham & cheese casserole.

That's 36 meals... over one month of meals almost completely done in one day. 

We went to my parents' house to visit with my brother and his son. My brother kindly got swindled into watching my 3 kids so I could head to the store, mostly for sale items, including stuff for lunches and snacks for my pantry as well as a helluva deal on cheese. I usually consider $4 a pound a fair price for cheese.  Safeway this week has 2 pound blocks OR shredded store brand cheese for $4.99, which is dirt cheap for cheese. We love cheese and the meals this time around were cheese heavy. I saved a ton of time by buying the shredded for the same price as block. Usually the block is so much cheaper, I just run it through my shredder blade on the food processer, but this time I saved time by buying the shredded for the same price as the block.  I also discovered the clearance aisle at the Albertsons by my mom, including wine. I got $14 bottles of wine for less than $3. I figure if they are horrid, I can always use them to cook with!

My goal this time around was to use approx 30 pounds of ham I'd bought for 99cents a pound (with bone and fat attached-3 large shanks), mushrooms & wheat pasta;  some tortillas I'd gotten a deal on, frozen corn that was 99c a pound, black beans and diced tomatoes I got on sale last month.

While Carter went outside after we got home to build and paint a birdhouse, Henri watched Him, Valerie napped, then wandered around outside in back while the boys rode bikes in the front, I got down to work. First up was ham casserole, a family favorite.

The ham casserole has no measurements
I used this soup base I made last night instead of cream of mushroom soup
canned shitake mushrooms that I got on sale last month
frozen peas-on sale this month and last for .99 a pound
shredded cheese
whole wheat pasta I got for either $1.00 or $1.25 a box last month

then we did dinner, bath, pjs and I then took all 3 to the grocery store. We crazily and with a good, fun attitude, grabbed the few things I was missing for my ambitious cooking plan.  One funny thing about going to the store with all 3 on a Saturday night-no one judged my hoodlums, I got stopped by two women asking about the children and really happy about how happy they seemed even though they were hanging 1/2 way out the cart. It was nice and relaxed :)


Next I put on the 2 huge packs of chicken thighs/legs from the grocery store on the stove to boil with their skin mostly pulled off.

Then I moved on to the ham  & cheese quiche. Oddly enough I had 2 dozen eggs on hand, used shredded cheese and this recipe from my friend Jacquie C:

1 c. half & half (purchased 1 quart regular & 1 non-fat and labelled the bags to give participants a choice)
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt & 1/4 tsp pepper (I omitted)
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup ham
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Put in gallon bag together and freeze with a pie crust (I'll make those from scratch tomorrow and roll up in parchment paper). Directions: thaw, mush, pour into pie crust and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, done when center is set, not jiggly.

I pulled the chicken off the stove to cool and also bagged up the chicken stock in 2 cup increments after cooling it (important!)

Then I assembed the Country Bean soup except the beans that need to soak overnight , another recipe I think from Jacquie:

2 cups milk
4 Tbsp butter (melted)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp salt (omitted)
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp pepper (omitted)
2 cans canellini beans (I'm doing them from dried for less than 50% of the cost of canned)
1 1/2 cups ham-diced
1/4 cup onions (had some in my produce drawer and frozen-when I have just a little left of peppers or onions, I dice them, measure them and throw them in the freezer to put in recipies when I don't have fresh).

Mix all and paste to thaw and put in crockpot for 4-6 hours in low or bring to boil and simmer 20-30 minutes.


Then I made a few potato, ham & cheese casseroles I found on pinterest. 

Then the chicken had cooled, so I pulled it off the bone and mushed it with my fingers to separate it.  I then made this enchilada sauce while I mixed up the filling in this recipe for enchiladas.. Assembled and done until tomorrow when I still have to do a ton of dishes waiting in the sink, cook the beans, cool and put in the soup, make the pie crusts to freeze, label everything (everything just has name, not directions on right now).

I'm off to bed!