New recipe for cornbread

This is my first somewhat original recipe so Black Sarah's making me post it. Love me some chili and cornbread.

1 c stone ground corn meal
1 c flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375. Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl, set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients together. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in wet ingredients and whisk together just until blended. Pour batter into a greased 8 inch square pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until it tests done. This recipe lends itself well to substitutions, I've subbed oil for butter, milk for buttermilk, honey for sugar, etc. I usually add a big handful of frozen corn at the end and sometimes a can of diced green chilies.

Checking in...

What a week! We had a fantastic time at Schlitterbahn, once we finally arrived. It took us almost 4 1/2 hours to get there, thanks to this mess. We were prepared for rain off and on during the day but it never came. The crowds were very small and by 4 pm we were just walking on the rides. As we were leaving the waterpark, Audrey said, "I could live here" in her very matter-of-fact way.

We ended up leaving a lot later than we wanted to so I didn't have time to check into my hotel before the Beth Moore conference. I changed in the car and then Josh suggested I take the contents of my suitcase and dump them in the totebag we had brought to Schlitterbahn so I wouldn't be rolling around the Alamodome like a (very disheveled) flight attendant. So picture me with my wet hair in a ponytail, wet spots on the butt of my cute trouser jeans from sitting on the wet towel, carrying this:

It's ginormous. This gave Candace much pleasure and she commented several times with variations of, "I can't believe you with the Ikea bag," and "You are just cracking me up with the Ikea bag." (It's 4 foot by 2 foot and is very noisy.) But I got her back when at the end of the conference Beth had us join hands with someone and look into their eyes for some good ole Stuart Smalley affirmation. You can know she was just loving that. We might make it a weekly exercise. (I can feel you squirming, Candace.)

The conference was so good--I particularly loved Beth's description of the afterlife and her assertion that we are going to live!--not just exist and be ghosts. It's called eternal life! I'd really like to get it on cd and let Josh listen to it (he has admitted that eternity kind of freaks him out).

We didn't have a ride home but in the hotel lobby ran into Amber and her friends who agreed to let us ride home. We had so much fun and ate about 3 days worth of calories at Pappasitos.

More later (this only covers Friday and Saturday), but wanted to share what we had for dinner last night. The other Cantonese Pork Tenderloin from the freezer, stir-fried in this pork fried rice. I also added corn, carrots, and peas and 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Very good and easy.

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

We tried these muffins last week (another winner from Melissa's notebooks) and they are delicious and a tiny bit healthy! Love them. The only downside is that they don't really dome up to give you a good muffin top. I halved the lemon zest.

Week 6: Monday Menus

I've been slacking on my menu planning and our food bill shows it.

Monday
pizza
We went to Houston for Sunday and Monday and Black Sarah was waiting for us with homemade pizza dough when we got back to Temple!

Tuesday
burgers at the French Quarter

Wednesday
Spaghetti

Thursday
White Chicken Chili

Friday
We're headed to Schlitterbahn with our free tickets from HEB and then I'm staying for the Living Proof Live conference in San Antonio.

Week 5: Monday Menus

better late than never, right?

Last night we had beef soft tacos with queso, salsa, and Spanish rice.

Tuesday:
burgers, oven fries, and Zummo links

Wednesday:
Burritos (stuffed with leftover taco meat and rice) topped with Ranchero Sauce

Thursday:
Chicken and Rice. Can I say I LOVE Uncle Ben's?

Friday:
Orzo Risotto with Buttery Shrimp. Melissa lent me 2 binders full of great recipes she's clipped from magazines and I want to try almost all of them!

Eating on a budget

I know my menus lately haven't been super budget-friendly, but they are improving! Believe it or not last year I was spending about $225 per week at the grocery store and I have that down to about $125 now. My vbf encouraged me to share some of my cheap eats. Last month we paid Audrey's annual preschool tuition bill so we were, how do you say?--tightening our belt. Here's what worked for us...

• Menu planning. This is the number one thing that helped immensely in keeping costs lower. It helped in making sure we use what's already in the freezer and pantry, plus also prevents that 6 pm panic that causes last-minute runs for take-out.
• Strategic use of leftovers. Monday night's roasted chicken turns into Tuesday night's chicken pot pie. Wednesday's taco filling turns into Thursday's taco soup.
• Double up. I pretty much don't make anything that I don't make a double recipe of and immediately stick half in the freezer. It's great for stretching dishes because sauces and pastas can really make things go further.
• Eggs, eggs, eggs. My favorite cheap source of protein. Quiches, fritattas, or good old "breakfast for dinner" is great. Who doesn't love pancakes? Oh, right, me.
• Go meatless. Twice a week try black bean quesadillas or briami.
• No leftovers for lunches. I got this idea from my major-mom-crush Kim R. It's much cheaper to prepare lunches (sandwiches, soups, salads, etc) than it is dinner, so the rule in their house is dinner leftovers are for dinner. So she typically cooks for two or three nights, and then has a fend-for-yourself night where everyone scavenges leftovers.
• Save fresh produce for a special treat. Frozen fruit and vegetables are excellent quality and usually are a better buy.

Any other tips?

Week 4: Monday Menus

Last week we pretty much stuck to the menu...though we did Chick-fil-A instead of red beans and rice. The roast chicken with bread salad I posted was awesome. So so good...try it! The recipe looks a little daunting (four pages long!) but it's very simple, she just explains the procedure very well.

The theme is this week is no oven again. Also a tiny bit healthy. (I have to fit into this dress this weekend!) Black Sarah will be here so grilled cheese and cereal won't do.

Here goes.

Monday

Seared Chicken with White Wine Sauce
This is basically just pan seared chicken with some white wine, butter, and chicken broth used to deglaze the pan drippings.

Tuesday

Steaks with Herbed Butter

Wednesday

Grilled Tilapia

Thursday
Red Beans and Rice

Friday
Sandwiches (chicken salad and roast beef)

Week 3: Monday Menus

Here's what's on for this week--trying not to use the oven much since it's been so SO hot.

Monday

Beef stroganoff

Yep, it's been on schedule for three weeks in a row but never actually happens. We'll try again today!

Tuesday

Roasted Chicken with Bread Salad

Wednesday

Cantonese Pork Tenderloin

Thursday

Paninis with leftover pork and chicken

Friday

Shrimp tacos

I add crumbled bacon to these to make them like the ones at our favorite taqueria.

Train them right...

I left Audrey alone downstairs for a little bit while I changed Clark and put him down for nap yesterday afternoon. I came downstairs and Audrey had dragged the chair over to the Kitchen-Aid mixer and pulled out the chocolate chips, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and vanilla. She has the entire chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized.


Yes, while some of you parents are teaching things like manners, ABCs, and Bible verses, we are mastering the finer art of "licking the paddle attachment." It was so cute. She said, "Mom I have an idea! Let's make chocolate chip cookies all together! I'll get the eggs." She also pulled out the cinnamon and said, "Is this for chocolate chip cookies or for French toast? I can't remember. Sorry, Mom, I forgot."


Here's my little chef stuffing her face with chocolate chips.

Yes, if you are wondering, cookies taste better if you bake them sans clothing. (Maybe this is why Natalie is having trouble replicating my recipe?)

So we made chocolate chip cookie dough for the third time in ten days. This is really not good for my waistline, but I figured it would give me a chance to incorporate some of the suggestions in this NYT article about the endless "perfect chocolate chip cookie" debate.