Lemon Pepper Tilapia and Potato Wedges ~ Eating well on a BUDGET

I love fish, I love fish so much that I once ordered cod from IHop.... no it wasn't a good idea. Naturally I think that tilapia is yummy, I like how quick and easy it is to pan fry and its not too incredibly expensive, I think I paid $11 or $12 for a 2 lb. bag of individually wrapped fish.

We have a pretty strict food budget and I'm trying to stay within my budget but still eat good food. In the previous post you can see what my meal plan was for the next two weeks. It completely covers dinners for the two weeks and most of the lunches and breakfasts although I do plan on spending about $25 or so to stock up on milk, bread and cereal because we go through these quickly. I'm hoping to make this a series of the yummy meals I prepare on a daily basis. I hope to just give you an idea of what can be made with a well stocked pantry.

Lemon Pepper Tilapia and Rosemary Sea Salt Potato Wedges

Ingredient's
Frozen Tilapia Fillets
Lemon
1 tsp. coconut oil
lemon pepper

2 large Russet Potatoes
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp dried rosemary

I started with the Potatoes because they take 40-45 minutes to bake in a 400 degree oven
Rosemary Sea Salt Potato Wedges:
Rinse any dirt off of your potatoes, cut into wedges about a 1/2 inch thick, pour olive oil into a large bowl add salt and rosemary, drop cut wedges into bowl, toss/stir to season. Bake in a single layer on a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper. I did sprinkle some fine salt over the tops of all of them before baking in a preheated oven (400 degrees) for 40-45 minutes. Turn the wedges over at about half way (20 minutes) to cook evenly. Serve warm with favorite sauce.

Pan Seared Lemon Pepper Tilapia
Run unopened tilapia package under some cold water for 30 seconds or so, it helps get it out of the package easier. Heat a nonstick pan on the cooktop, add coconut oil. Place tilapia on the frying pan, cut lemon in half and drizzle half of the juice on the fish. Sprinkle lemon pepper on top of fish. After about 3-4 minutes get a spatula and flip the tilapia over and cook other side for the same amount of time. I like to season both sides with lemon pepper but its just a personal preference. A cooked fish will no longer have a pink line (it will be brown) in the middle and it is flaky, if you need to cook it longer then do so. Enjoy!

Menu Planning Binder : Getting Organized

 Two nights ago I finally got around to budgeting the next several months out. It took me at least an hour and a half to get to the month of March, but it is such a relief to know where all of the money needs to go each paycheck.

 Last night I figured out my dinner menu for the next two weeks and created a grocery list based on sales between our two local stores to get everything I need. Today I went and bought everything and did a pretty good job in that I had $75 budgeted for groceries and I only went over by $2. At least several of the things I bought will last for more than just the two weeks and will add to the next several weeks dinners.

When I'm really organized I make freezer meals, and they make the world such a better place :). Smiths and Kent's had fresh chicken for 1.79 lb, so I picked up $8.31 of chicken breasts and made 5 freezer meals and saved a breast to split in half for Sundays parmesan chicken. Only one of the freezer meals is on this weeks rotation so the others will be there for the next couple weeks when I choose to make them. (2 Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken, 1 Honey Garlic Chicken, 1 Café Rio chicken, 1 Chicken Gyro meat)

My husband has just about a lifetime supply of binders filled with old school stuff, I think this one had a criminal justice class from 2006 when we were first married. I threw it all away... why we even moved with it is beyond me. Now it is my "Menu Planning Binder" complete with calendar pages until June. I found this super cute printable calendar here Miss Tina Digital Art and it works perfect for my monthly dinner menu.

If your curious as to what I have planned for the next two weeks or so here is a list of what we will be eating, starting tonight.

 

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Sloppy Joes

Crockpot Parmesan Chicken

Hawaiian Chicken

Taco Soup

Tilapia with rice

Crockpot Vegetable Lasagna

Navajo Tacos

Hamburger Helper

Teriyaki pork

Fettuccini Alfredo

Cheesy Potato Soup

Burritos

Pizza

Spaghetti

 

 

If you hate meal planning here is a link Free Time Frolics  to a great page that helped me create my menu and give me a list to pick from for the next couple weeks.

 

 





Chickens like walnuts

 These crazy little scavengers have taught me several things about what a chicken likes to eat. Aside from the obvious bugs they have really enjoyed all of the walnuts my neighbors trees have dropped into our yard. When I let them out to roam I sometimes walk over to where there are unopened nuts and step on them to crack them open for my birds.

 Other random things I have taken out to them are dry baby food cereal that I've mixed with some water, spinach that has wilted in my fridge, the left over carcass of our Christmas turkey, dry oats that I found weevils in, and almost any of our left over food as long as it didn't contain chicken.

 Its nice to know that the walnuts are being put to some good use. I personally don't care for them even though they are really good for you. My son is allergic to walnuts so I can't even sneak them into food like pie crusts if I really wanted to.

What random things have you discovered that your chickens like to eat?

My Chicken Coop this Winter

This is my chickens coop this winter, it isn't the prettiest thing but it is super functional. The coldest that I've noticed it has been is around -8 degrees here in Brigham City this winter, but I haven't had a problem with frost bite yet.


 I have a whole bale of straw in their covered run area to keep the ground comfortable for the girls.

 On days they have to stay in there coop all day I throw a handful of oats into their run and they enjoy hunting in the straw for the oats.

 I have a total of 6 hens, they share an actual coop that we bought that was meant for only 4 hens, but that is why we added the additional covered run area so they wouldn't be so crowded.

 If we had left it as it was they would have been at each other all day because there really isn't that much space for them to all be out of the coop at once in the original coop and run. I attached a hook to the underneath of the coop to hold their hanging feeder. It gives them space to eat around it and keeps it off of the ground.

 We don't have electricity in the coop, so at least three of the girls have molted this winter and only two of the girls have layed all winter long. My two best layers are they white leghorn and my golden sex link, both are pictured (slightly) above. All of my chickens except two lay different colored eggs, I have only two of the same breed, buff orphingtons, and they have not laid all winter along with my easter egger and my black hen.

 I've put random pieces of old stumps and branches in the pen for them to perch on and also a ladder-ish piece that I screwed together with old pieces of fencing we had lying around.

 they have all been really healthy and I haven't noticed an extreme pecking order problem, they know their ranks but nobody is loosing feathers over it.

Warm chickens, super fertilizer

Its getting really cold here in Brigham City and naturally I have been concerned about how warm or cold my hens are during the day and night. I have read several helpful articles about what temperatures these birds can take and what to look out for. Above is a picture of part of their coop, because we bought six birds and miraculously none of them have died (not many predators in Brigham I guess) we added a larger additional covered run for them to spread their wings in. So the box with the window is where they sleep and nest, other than that they prefer to be out in the run or in the yard. I haven't been covering the opening to the coop strictly for ventilation, if it gets moist in the coop there is a higher chance of frostbite in their combs and wattles. This coop was meant for 4 hens but the six of them fit in really well and there is actually room for others if we needed/ wanted. I read that a 5 lb hen puts off about the equivalent of 10 watts of heat so with 6 hens were getting 60 watts of heat going on in the small space and if they were really cold I know that they would be huddled very close together to maintain more warmth.
 Today I picked up a bale of straw for the coop, it was $3 at our local country store so really not too bad. I spread most of the bale in the big open area that you don't see in the picture, and then added some to the nesting boxes. I think hay is awesome at keeping animals warm and comfortable in the winter and it is so much cheaper than getting wood shavings. What's also nice about hay is that it will keep the hens busy looking for all of the seeds that are in the bale. I initially used fallen leaves in the run and nesting boxes and they have all been torn up into nothing so they lasted maybe two months or so before needing replacement. The straw should last longer, definitely through the whole winter I imagine and then in the spring I will have amazing organic fertilizer I can till into my garden. For $3 I get a warm bedding/ chicken run material, something to keep the birds busy when snowed in, and an all natural garden fertilizer. If it isn't completely broken down in the spring I will just add it to the compost bin and let it continue to break down till it is a usable material. Its a screaming deal and its so simple!

A boring post about the fruit plants in my yard

Our four fruit trees that we planted this past fall have all survived the winter! wahoo! My princess peach tree should be blooming any day now, although it is fricken freezing in Utah again. The other three trees are either starting to get there leaves or have visible buds growing on them.

 I am waiting to see any life in the grape plants that I planted last fall, so far they all look like dead sticks in the ground. My neighbors huge grape vine looks dead still too so I'm crossing my fingers that they will all spring to life again once the weather decides to be decent for more than two days. If that is the case I will have soooo much grape juice to make in 3 years :) (seriously I planted like 40 grape starts). If they don't come back I will pick up a new vine from the local nursery next year and try again.

 My other neighbors let me dig up some of their extra raspberry canes and they are really doing well for the shoddy job I did digging them up. The canes are a thornless overbearing variety, and I am so excited about them.

My son picked out a blueberry bush the other day when we were at walmart, I've always wanted to grow one, but Utah really isn't the place to do that. So we picked up two bushes... but I've planted them both in bright yellow containers with the acidic soil that they need. I mixed half peat moss with an organic potting soil to plant them in. If I can keep them alive and happy I'll have to let you know. Since they are picky little buggers I have been collecting rainwater to water them with in the future. Lately we've had more than enough rain to keep them well fed. I also mulched them heavily with pine needles so in the summer months that will help keep the water from evaporating so fast.

My bare root strawberry plants that I picked up from walmart still look dead but I think they could be waiting for warmer weather too. So basically you can see that I am anxious for warmer weather and the possibility of my budding "Garden of Eden" I've got going on.

Lentil Flour Brownies

I had heard once that you could make brownies with lentils; if you look it up you find lots of brownie recipes made from lentils, but they want you to cook the lentils first and I just wanted to grind mine in the mill and use lentils in place of flour. In case you are wondering I just have a stock pile of lentils and I wanted to use them :). So there wasn't any recipes for milled lentil flour brownies and I tweaked a couple recipes and put one together, and they actually taste great. I was worried because the batter definitely tasted beany but the brownies taste good and normal!! I'm no expert but this I believe is completely gluten free.

 I milled the plain lentils in the kitchen mill, it made very fine dusty powder

 this is how they looked before I put them in the oven (I had just put them in the oven and hurried and took them out for a picture so they are a bit shiner than when they went in)

 they puffed up nicely in the oven

 Milled Lentil Brownies

Recipe

• 1/2 cup mostly melted butter (too lazy to melt the whole thing)
• 3 tbs Agave
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 4 tbs cocoa powder
• 1 cup Lentil flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• handful of semi sweet chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350 degrees, mix butter, agave and sugar, add eggs and vanilla hand blend again, add cocoa powder, lentil flour, baking soda and salt blend until smooth. pour in desired pan, I used a silicon baking pan (I'm out of cooking spray) its smaller than a 13x9 so an 8x8 pan/ pyrex would work best or they will be paper thin. Cook in oven for 25 min, cut, cool, enjoy!

There you have it, not the most unhealthy but also not the most healthy... baby steps. I adapted part of the recipe from here http://grainfreefoodie.blogspot.com/2012/01/almond-flour-brownies.html she used almond flour and a couple different ingredients and volumes than I did.






 why not put some ice cream and chocolate syrup on top?

 Kid tested and approved - although Makayla didn't like the addition of chocolate chips on top.. ok.

Closet Door turned Table

 Our downstairs basement has been through quite a lot since we moved in, it still has a long way to go, but its getting there. I needed a craft table for my craft space downstairs and luckily for me there were two closet doors hanging out in our basement when we moved in. I bought some large, white heavy duty L brackets from walmart to attach the closet door to the wall. I measured and cut the door to be the size I needed for the table. Then I just flipped it on its side and put the cut side against the wall and secured it to the two L brackets underneath.

I have since painted it a clean white color and it now holds my sewing machine and cricut machine full time!

Homesteading

Have you ever just wanted to leave the modern day world behind and just say to heck with you I can make it on my own! I've always had the romantic idea of living off of the land, working hard and reaping in the harvest. My attempts have not been that great, my gardening skills are seriously lacking. I can grow spinach and peas very well, but all other things need much more practice. From the post below you would know that we certainly aren't in the position to buy a prime piece of land and grow all manner of fruits, vegetables, and stock on it. We currently reside on a "large" quarter acre plot in the heart of Brigham City. Lucky for me this plot has things going for it, when we first moved in I called it my little dessert, you see we get plenty of sun in the backyard and nobody had watered the dead weeds in quite sometime. We do have 5 pine trees in our backyard (I think they are all different species to boot) that dot the perimeter, they don't offer much shade but that's okay. We left a home with 3 mature wonderful pear trees and you would think with the "fruit highway"so close by we would of found a home offering a fruit tree in Brigham, but ours was probably the only yard without a fruit tree in the whole of the city. Fruit trees to me means easy reliable food for the most part, so I planted 4 beautiful fruit trees when the weather stopped being so hot. I've got a Cameo apple, Breaburn apple, White Princess peach, and a Montmorency cherry tree. So you can see I'm well on my way to being self reliant right? I have some pretty big plans and dreams for my yard and I love seeing information on what someone would have to do to grow all of the produce necessary to feed a small family.
 This spring I'll be getting some chickens for free from my moms neighbor, he doesn't have the time or interest in them anymore, and I wont have the accommodations for them until spring. My husband who has been absolutely against the idea of chickens our whole married life has finally agreed that we could get some and so I am quiet pleased that it is all working out so smoothly.
My aunt received some grape cuttings that she propagated and gave me about 40 (I'm serious, 40) and I planted lots of them this fall. From what I read grapes usually don't start providing fruit until their 3rd year or so, and that is if they end up being strong enough to stand a Utah winter. It will be a couple years I think until I see much of any fruit come from this property but you gotta start somewhere.
We have water shares here that water our backyard two times a week. I'd like to put a garden in next to the corner of our yard where a pipe brings in a fair amount of water that doesn't make too much of a current. The neighbors said that at one point in time someone who lived here had an awesome garden in that very spot, he was Hispanic and really knew how to garden. I'm hoping I can figure it out too. I just seems smart to provide what you can for yourself and your family, then share with extended family and neighbors when you get the hang of it.
This next month I'll be starting some seeds indoors, especially since I have a kitchen with a big window that faces south and will provide the much needed light for seed starting. Tomatoes are definitely on my list for indoor starting and I may try a couple of seeds that I have left from past years indoors if they transfer well. What have you successfully started indoors? Could you make it on your own with your backyard?

Basic Pantry Food Staples

My husband was told recently that his job working at Convergys for Microsoft will be once again shipped to a new location, which may be India, Canada, or the Philippines. He right now helps people with limitations such as being blind, deaf or things of that nature program or fix computer issues they are having. This is the second time in this past year he has been told his job from Microsoft will be no longer. Because of the nature of the layoff, he could take part in the government fair trade act, that would pay for him to finish his school so he would be able to get another job. This would be fantastic but he really cannot work while doing the fair trade act, unless he is making less than he would be bringing in on unemployment (which figures to about $5.00 an hr). Since our little family cannot afford to live on $5.00 an hour, he will be transferring to a new job position within Convergys making 6 dollars less an hour than before. We've been though this type of thing almost countless times in the past 4 years, so my reaction to the news isn't the typical crying and despair it used to be. I know that there are many avenues we could go down to "make things work", but right now were going to try to keep it simple, and let Jared take the work in the different department and continue to have me home with the kids while he pursues work and school.

I don't know if any of you reading this have also been through this sort of thing in the past couple years or are experiencing it now, If you are you have my condolences its never an easy thing to figure out. Since we will be experiencing a giant pay cut, the cash that we normally use to purchase food will be slim to none, gas for his commute and our bills will more than likely suck up the whole paycheck. Because we are not extreme "fasters" and need sustenance I have yet again applied for WIC (we way more than qualify) to help bring in some basic food stuffs.

From past experiences I found that I could make a whole lot of stuff with just very basic food supplies, things to have on hand that certainly make living more comfortable include a good stock of these pantry items:

• Pasta noodles
• canned tomato sauce
• cream of chicken soup
• rice
• flour
• sugar (white and brown)
• salt
• oil
• canned chili
• oats
• spices- cinnamon, Italian seasoning, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper etc.
• chicken and beef bouillon (great for gravy, soups, to make chicken or beef stock cheap)
• Potatoes and Potato pearls
• shortening
• honey
• vinegar
• chocolate chips
• vanilla
• bread crumbs
• baking powder, baking soda
• peanut butter (my son is allergic, so right now we don't have it)
• beans
• syrup
• dried or fresh onions
• garlic

The items I like to have stocked in my fridge or freezer include

• butter
• eggs
• milk
• yeast
• soy sauce
• cheese (mozzarella and sharp is the way we go)
• bread/ tortillas (but you can make these with the items above)
• jam
• carrots
• frozen peas, corn, broccoli, spinach - other vegetables you like or your kids will eat
• fruit
• ground turkey
• frozen or fresh chicken breasts
• Parmesan cheese
• cream cheese
• sauces- BBQ, ketchup, mustard, ranch, mayo or miracle whip

Those are the items that really can make the world go round if you have a decent supply of them before you get a huge dock in pay. Of course your list may be different from mine but if your new to having to make everything you eat with little money this list really can create many meals.
If your still unsure, here is a list of what I can think of off the top of my head, that can be made :)

• waffles
• pancakes
• BBQ chicken pizza
• spaghetti
• cinnamon rolls
• Navajo tacos
• Hawaiian haystacks (you may want more toppings but you'll at least have the gravy and cheese)
• baked potatoes
• mashed potatoes
• from scratch hamburger helper type meals
• chicken and broccoli casserole
• burritos
• grilled cheese sandwiches
• quesadillas
• chicken stir fry's
• cheese pizza
• fettichini Alfredo
• biscuits and gravy
• hamburger on sliced bread (you can also make your own buns)
• meatless burger (made with beans)
• chicken and dumplings
• chicken noodle soup
• chocolate chip cookies
• sugar cookies
• oatmeal cookies
• cake
• sweet and sour chicken
• Parmesan chicken
• french toast

you kinda get the idea. Luckily there are many ways to get recipes and how to's in this day and age but I do have a favorite cookbook that I turn to when I want to do my basic recipes and that is the book below. I use its biscuits, pancakes, waffles, pie crust, cake and cookie recipes all of the time. This edition is a couple years old but there newer (and older) additions would probably still have those basic made from scratch recipes, or you can always try google or pinterest.

Fabric Barn

What do you get when you combine a thin red Delta blanket with a diaper box? A barn of course... right? Here is how its done....

 get a diaper box, or any thick cardboard box for that matter, this one had some pretty convenient creases so I chose it, the two white flaps for the side were flaps on a diaper box.

 I wanted a barn type of top so I took the corners off the tops of my flaps/sides.

 measuring where it should be

 The roof of the barn is made up of two pieces, one larger piece with a crease that I had to make, the other a flap cut to the right size.

 where the delta blanket comes into play

 I didn't feel like making this harder than it needed to be so I just cut around the whole thing leaving enough space for hot gluing the blanket to the box.

 I cut into where the corners could be so it would be a tighter fit.

 this is how it looked when it was put into the box shape- it had been hot glued except for the tops of all four sides.

 for the green grass area I used another blanket that had already been cut up for some other project, to make it softer I used a square of leftover white felt batting I had left over from making insulating curtains 2 yrs ago.

 I did end up sewing the green grass to the red top of the side but not down the sides I glued them. I used a piece of jean for the pond, I hot glued it on there then sewed around it by hand because my kid likes to pick things off.

 This pic has the barns roof that I sewed a dark gray fabric cover for, but since I didn't have very much dark gray I used jean material for the underside. I stitched a pocket for the smaller piece to go into so they didn't fall into each other all of the time. on the raw edge I machine sewed it together as close as possible to the edge, it isn't beautiful but it also isn't that noticeable.

 I hand stitched the roof onto the backside of the barn first, then after I hand stiched the two sides to the back I stitched the rest of the roof.

 I wanted him to have a handle so I machine sewed a white ribbon to the tops of the sides then folded and glued the rest of the fabric down on the inside.

 I cut more pieces of red for the inside of the barn and hot glued them in.

 with everything together I hand stitched the sides to each other and to the roof.

 bad picture I know, but the two white squares are Velcro for the front panel, the top roof flap is flipped up, I didn't want to sew or Velcro it because it would make it difficult to shut the front panel, and its fun to have a flap.

Finally I used the white ribbon to put a window on the side of the barn and a door on the front of the barn, all with the glue gun.

how to get kids to kinda drink powdered milk

 We've been here before, my husband is outta work till the 26th of this month and were never financially well equipped to handle it but our food storage has gained some ground since the last time we wiped it out. Milk is getting pretty limited, were down to a real gallon and several gallons of my sons lacto-free whole milk that nobody likes but my son. Last time I figured out that my daughter despises dry milk, so I thought to buy a big thing of strawberry milk powder (the nestle kind) to help it go down better. I made up some yummy granola pear muffins(we have a ridiculous abundance of pears) and also mixed up some strawberry milk for the kids and I to drink and it didn't go too bad, I think straws help with children too. I guess if your really thirsty you'll drink anything right?

Apron

I've always wanted to make myself a cute apron, I have one from walmart that is pretty heavy duty but not cute. So today I made a cute apron only its not for myself, I'm going to a cousins shower and I spaced getting a gift before now so I thought I'd make her a cute apron instead of break the Sabbath and buy her a gift today here's how it turned out...