Food

This is the fruit (okay meat) of my labors. Will add more to post soon. Just looked at the clock and noticed the time. Church starts in about 3 minutes and I am not sure anyone is even wearing shoes yet. I am dressed but my hair and teeth are currently unbrushed. Yikes!

Update 6/1/11:

We were a little late to church, but our church is not terribly uptight about that, thankfully, so all was fine.

Okay, so recipes. I really like allrecipes.com. They have user ratings and reviews so it makes it easier to find the best recipes. And you can also save the recipes you like, which is going to make it easier for me to find and post them here. Yay!

Schnitzel: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Wiener-Schnitzel/Detail.aspx I substitute pork for veal, boneless loin or chops -- whatever's on sale. Around here, you can usually find something for $3 or $4/lb.

Chicken strips: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Breaded-Chicken-Fingers/Detail.aspx My family pretty much goes crazy for these things.

Chicken and dumplings: http://www.food.com/recipe/cracker-barrel-chicken-dumplings-83701

I don't really use a specific recipe for meatloaf and shepherd's pie anymore, but I'll describe the basics:

For meatloaf, my standard thing is to use one cup of ketchup, one cup of oatmeal, and one egg for each pound and a half of ground beef. I almost always add chopped onion and sometimes I substitute other stuff for the ketchup, like spaghetti sauce or salsa, especially when I don't have enough ketchup. I also sometimes add a little brown sugar and/or mustard. 

For shepherd's pie, I saute onions and/or green peppers in a couple of table spoons of butter, then make a white sauce with chicken broth. I mix this sauce with cooked chicken and a package of frozen vegetables (we like peas and carrots) in a casserole dish. Then I spread mashed potatoes on top of the chicken mixture and bake for around thirty minutes. This last time, I used some chicken and broth from the chicken and broth for the dumplings. Considering it's usually not too hard to get a whole chicken for around $1/lb, it's two pretty cheap dishes.

I didn't end up making the peanut butter oatmeal bars until last night, but did finally get them done. I wanted to make a couple of batches, but didn't have enough eggs, so maybe next time. This recipe does have a lot of sugar, but it also has stuff that is pretty healthy, like whole wheat flour, oatmeal, eggs, and peanut butter. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peanut-Butter-Oatmeal-Cookies/Detail.aspx I press all the dough into a large cookie sheet, then once it has baked and cooled, cut it into bars with my plastic-bladed pizza cutter. We have them for breakfasts and snacks, etc.