Quick Meal Stretch: Taco Meat for a Crowd

By on

Our hamburger comes in 2 lb frozen logs.  It barely feeds my family of 7 for a meal of tacos.  Once a week we add 4 extra mouths to our table and I knew it wouldn’t stretch.  I added 2 cups of cooked brown rice to our meat once it was browned and then added my taco spices to flavor it all together.  I loved the flavors and the children ate it well.  We had enough for lunch the next day.

3 Ingredient Taco Seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic salt

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1-2 Tablespoons chili powder

Mix spices and sprinkle on 2 lb cooked meat with 1/4 cup water.  Cook and and stir until most of the water has evaporated.

Freezer Lunch Idea–Mini Pizzas

By on

Like convenience foods?  I do!  But I like them best when I make them from scratch.  For these little pizzas, I put my favorite pizza dough ingredients in the bread machine and let it do the work for me. 

Then we rolled out the dough and cut it into circles using a jar lid from gallon sized penny candy jars.

A quick topping with jarred spaghetti sauce, turkey Italian Sausage (recipe to follow), and mozarella cheese.  I put veggies on some of them, because I like it that way.  Then bake at 400 for 15 minutes.  Cool and Slide meal portions into gallon size freezer bags and freeze.  To reheat, put frozen pizzas on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  They are great with veggie sticks or a tossed salad.

Pizza Dough

1 2/3 cups warm water

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon sea salt

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon yeast

Put all ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed and start a dough cycle.  This makes 2 extra large pizzas or 18-20 mini pizzas. 

Turkey Italian Sausage

1 lb ground lean turkey

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon whole or cracked fennel seed

1/4-1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon crushed basil

Spread turkey in a skillet, sprinkle with spices, cook and press the spices into the meat as you chop it into fine pieces with your spatula.  Easy and Yummy.  It is less expensive and less calories than buying traditional Italian sausage.

Freezing Lamb’s Quarter for Winter Use

By on

Lamb’s Quarter is not only free and tasty, but it is one of the most nutritious vegetables you can eat.  Here’s a breakdown of the nutrition from http://www.herbalremediesinfo.com/lambsquarter.html

One cup of raw lamb’s quarter leaves contains:

~ 80 mg of Vitamin C

~ 11,600 IU of Vitamin A

~ 72 mg of Phosphorus

~ 309 mg of Calcium

as well as good amounts of

~ Thiamin

~ Riboflavin

~ Niacin and

~ Iron

In the following video learn how easy and fast it is to prepare lamb’s quarter for freezing to add nutrition to your winter diet.  It’s best preprared early in the season when the stems and leaves are tender.