Category: Meal Planning

Save the Dishes Oven Placard

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

I don’t know about your house but here we often have different people doing different things in the kitchen. One rule is that they need to check the oven before turning it on because sometimes people tend to ‘hide’ things in there and forget about them.

I’ve had many things that have been ruined because one person put a dish in there and the next person didn’t check it… most recently it was a plastic cover for one of my casserole dishes and the whole dish of peach cobbler that had been made for dinner… sigh.

This dish alone will cost me almost $40.00 ** to replace as I haven’t been able to find the lid sold separately… luckily the carrier is still alive!

More often than not it was my bread dough that was hanging out in there… minding its own business when someone would forget to check, even with the oven light on they forget, and then the temperature would go up and ruin the dough… (crying face).

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Did you know you can cook FROZEN ground beef in the Instant Pot?

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

Ground beef has gotten a bit more expensive here lately but it can still be stretched to make many different filling meals on a budget. I like to throw some in a pot in the morning so that it can be cooked before dinner and quickly made into a yummy dish. I like to add some finely chopped mushrooms to ours while cooking to add a little extra nutrition… the kids never notice!

Frozen ground beef in the Instant Pot

Did you know you can cook FROZEN ground beef in the Instant Pot? Here’s how → sl290.isrefer.com/go/ipbeef/happy2bmyownboss/

Here are a few of our favorite ways to use precooked hamburger meat:

Mrs. B’s Good Easy Pizza (this is a great way to use meat and vegetable leftovers)

45-minute spaghetti sauce (a family favorite)

Crockpot Taco Soup

Daddy Can’t-Wait Casserole

Easy Burrito Casserole

Goulash

Shepherd’s Pie in a Skillet

Mama’s Secret Spaghetti Sauce

Sloppy Joes

Taco Ring

Tater Tot Casserole

Tortilla Bowl Taco Salad

 

What are your favorite ways to use hamburger?

Homemade Sourdough English Muffins

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog4 Comments

We’ve been experimenting with sourdough recipes for a while now and this one has been a favorite of ours. It’s super easy to make but does have a bit of time required for rising so we usually start these the evening before we need them.

You can mix them by hand, use a stand mixer with a dough hook, or even mix them up in your breadmaker… we’ve tried them each way and they all turn out great. I like to put the dough in the oven for its long rise… be sure to leave the light on for it to keep it comfy!

These work great for breakfast sandwiches, mini pizzas, or with a bit of butter and jelly… yum!

This recipe may look a little tricky but once you made it a time a two you could probably do it in your sleep! If you don’t have a sourdough starter you can find tons of easy recipes online to start your own or you can buy some starter like we did HERE.** (Yes, that’s an affiliate link but it won’t cost you a penny more to use it.)

Homemade Sourdough English Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 c. active sourdough starter
  • 1 T. sugar or honey (we prefer to use local honey but that’s not really necessary)
  • 1 c. milk (I haven’t tried using milk kefir but it would probably work as well)
  • 1 t. salt
  • 3 c. all-purpose flour (may need a little more or less depending on the climate)
  • a bit of cornmeal of flour for dusting

Directions:

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Broccoli Slaw

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog7 Comments

We love this recipe with many meals all year round… it is so good. Feel free to add your own favorite fruits/veggies or omit some if you don’t like them.

Broccoli Slaw

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 – 2 pounds of Broccoli, broken into small pieces without the large stems (or about 3 cups)
  • 2-3 carrots, thinly sliced or grated (we usually leave this out as we have some carrot haters here)
  • 1/3 c. Onion, red/green/white, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 c. Raisins/cranberries
  • 1/4 c. Almonds/nuts/sunflower kernels
  • 1/2 pound Bacon, cooked and crumbled

Dressing:

  • 2 T. vinegar (we use ACV or Red Wine Vinegar)
  • 1/2 c. Mayo
  • 2-3 T Sugar, Monkfruit, or Maple Syrup
  • 1/2 t. celery seed, optional
  • salt, and pepper to taste

Directions:

The broccoli needs to be washed and dried and then cut or sliced into small bitesize pieces.

Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Add in the remaining ingredients and toss well.

Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours to let the flavors meld together… the longer it sits, the better it tastes but we have eaten it right away and it still tastes pretty good.

broccoli-slawDownload

Getting in the right mindset to simplify… simplify your spaces

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

It seems like our lives can get so hectic so quickly without us realizing it is even happening. I know that I seem to get one thing running smoothly but then ten other things seem to just fall off the track and then everything turns to CHAOS. We need our homes to be comfortable and not a place we dread being.

For me, the very first thing I need to do before starting this process is to find a little time for me & God… I often find that life feels overwhelming when I haven’t been able to have any quiet time for myself. I have tried getting up earlier but that just isn’t working out right now, I often would take a few minutes after lunch when the baby was down for a nap but our school routines have been out of whack since adding a new kiddo, when the time bedtime rolls around I am worn out. I do find little bits of time here and there to have little chats with God but I just haven’t been able to have my devotional time and I think that may be part of the reason that I am feeling so overwhelmed.

When something is frustrating me I often go to Him in prayer and ask Him to help me and show me ways that I can change or that we can change as a family. I ask Him to give me wisdom and guidance about the changes and things we need to work on so that they will benefit everyone.

Where do we start when it seems like everything is the problem?

We use this process in our home for a lot of different problems, part of it we even use for teaching the kids to make good choices. I’ll give a couple of examples of how we have used this system in the past.

1. STOP and identify the problem.

This might be the most difficult part of the whole process because sometimes it can be difficult to actually narrow down what or where the problem actually is when you are feeling overwhelmed. Many times there are multiple problems and sometimes the problems are not actually what we think they are. If you do find yourself with a multitude of problems then just try to focus on the biggest one first and work on ONE AT A TIME or you may find yourself even more overwhelmed and frustrated.

Maybe your home just feels way too small and unorganized. What’s the biggest problem area? Well, the one that bothered me the most was the kitchen because that was where I spend the majority of my time.

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