March 13, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

How many times do your kids run into the kitchen and pull their stool up to the stove to take a peek at what you’re heating up for lunch, only to hear, “Awwww!  Again?  We ate that last night!”  Fried rice is a good way to reinvent leftovers from the night before.  I serve this by having rice one night and then doing a roast, pork or chicken and veggies the second night.  The third day for lunch I combine the rice and leftover meat and veggies to make fried rice.

Fried Rice Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in leftovers, Nut-free, Lunch, lazy cooking, Menu Mailer, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, recipe, Gluten-Free | Print | 2 Comments »

March 9, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

This recipe has been one of the most requested and most loved dessert recipes I have used in the menu mailer.  I have modified it here to be more budget-friendly and usable for breakfast.

Clafouti (from the Menu Mailer)

Total meal cost $1.80, 60 cents a serving Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Menu Mailer, Nut-free, Soy-Free, breakfast, recipe, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, frugality, Gluten-Free | Print | No Comments »

March 7, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

I normally try to have enough leftovers from dinner to have lunch the next day, but sometimes that doesn’t work out.  So on those days where I have to cook lunch, I normally turn to vegetarian meals with plenty of veggies.  I like this one because it’s very quick to throw together.  Since we normally eat meat at every dinner and we use a lot of stock, I don’t worry about an occasionally meatless lunch.

Lentil Dahl-  from the Menu Mailer Volume 2 Week 7

Total cost for the meal $2.49, 63 cents per serving, not including the rice or $2.90 for the meal, 73 cents per serving including the rice. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Nut-free, Soy-Free, Lunch, Egg-Free, Menu Mailer, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, recipe, Gluten-Free | Print | No Comments »

March 5, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

It seems so many are struggling with their finances right now.  My husband has been unemployed since May, so we know the struggle well.  I’d like to share some of the recipes we use to help keep the food costs down.  These prices are assuming that you are not buying in bulk and are shopping at a health food store.  I will be posting a series of recipes over the next few weeks.

Latkas (from the Menu Mailer, Volume 3 Week 20)

Total meal cost $1.25, 31 cents a serving without applesauce or sour cream and not reclaiming the oil Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Menu Mailer, Nut-free, Soy-Free, breakfast, recipe, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, frugality, Gluten-Free | Print | No Comments »

February 24, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

We have a new sample Menu Mailer posted over on the forum.  Come join us and take a look.

We’ve recently changed the Mailer format and it has received overwhelmingly positive feedback by our subscribers.  As usual, we have maintained our goal to keep all meals under 30 minutes of hands-on time and have one meal a week that is meatless or meat-optional yet filling.  Now we have added three new features to the weekly mailer.  A Soup of the Week through the Fall and Winter, to help get extra veggies and bone broth into your family.  I suggest you serve a small cup each night to your family as an appetizer, fifteen minutes before you put the main meal on the table.  This allows you to use meatless soups and use up leftover veggies as a form of added nutrition, when your family normally would not accept a meatless soup as a full meal.  This also gives you an option for a quick lunch on a busy day.

We have started prepping all of the onion, celery and carrots into one batch using the food processor, to cut down on your hands-on time in the kitchen each evening.  Cooking them all at once then putting some in the freezer allows you to get meals on the table even faster on busy weeknights.  Other veggies that can be prepared ahead are also listed. We have also listed all of the grain soaking and cooking and all of the bean sprouting/soaking and cooking ahead, so you don’t have to worry about doing it during the week.  However, we continue to put that information on the weekly prep list in case you don’t have time to accomplish it before the week starts, in order to make sure you are covered either way!

Finally, we have started doing at least one batch-cooking meal a week to help you stock your freezer and give you an extra option for lunch.  Depending on the week, we might do a completed main dish or a piece, such as BBQ sauce or a plain roasted chicken, that can be used in many different recipes going forward.  Sometimes we also do both, as was recently seen in our week with BBQ chicken where you could put the BBQ chicken as a coplete meal, then the extra BBQ sauce and plain chicken into the freezer for other dishes, according to what would best meet your family’s needs.

We hope you like these new changes to the mailer!

Posted in lazy cooking, Menu Mailer, Organization- inside, Cheap Eats | Print | No Comments »

February 12, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

I confess.  I hate making pancakes.  The first round sticks to the pan, you stand there for an hour flip flip flipping, just to get enough to feed your brood for breakfast with no leftovers.  Every one that hits the plate gets claimed and gobbled up before the next batch comes off the skillet.  I wind up eating my breakfast, consisting of the gnarled up pancakes the kids wouldn’t touch, standing up while continuing to flip.  Nope, not for me.  Too busy, especially knowing I will spend at least 30 minutes hands-on time in the kitchen for both lunch and dinner plus any time needed for the ferments, kefirs and what-nots.  THEN there’s the clean-up.

I’ve started doing oven pancakes instead.  In fact, I’m lazy.  I do oven pancakes AND cook my bacon in the oven.  No huge, greasy spatters to clean up afterward and a cast iron skillet to wash by hand.  Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in lazy cooking, Nut-free, Soy-Free, Menu Mailer, true confessions, Cheap Eats, recipe, breakfast, Casein-Free | Print | 6 Comments »