Top 10 Go To Recipes....

So I noticed a fellow blogger commenting about having no clue what to fix for dinner and asking for suggestions. It got me thinking what my "go to" recipes were. You know the ones....where you don't have to pull the recipe out....where you can make it without much thought and even less time....

YEAH!
Those dinners!

You know we all have them. 

The moments you go Awe Crap!

 Is it time to fix dinner already?!?

....Unless your clan is like mine and never stop eating. My kitchen seems to be an endless cycle of snack and meals. Kinda expected with 4 boys. Add in the friends (boys) that are always hanging around (and welcomed) and yeah, the kitchen never seems to close....

Anyway, here is my go to list. I hope it helps get you outa that awe crap rut....

In no particular order:

1. Spaghetti- the boys all love it and score, it's cheap too. Easy to fix from the pantry.
2. Fruity chicken salad- salad, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, grapes, Parmesan cheese tossed together, topped with poppy seed dressing and you are ready to go. Yep, even the boys enjoy it.
3. Hamburger Casserole- browned hamburger, shell pasta, green beans, corn, carrots, olives, cream of mushroom soup. Mixed together and enjoy. Great cooking from the pantry.
4. Pinwheels- browned hamburger rolled up and baked in biscuit dough like cinnamon rolls, topped with tomatoe soup or gravy. One of my favorite meals.
5. BBQ- anything thrown on the grill= easy, yummy summer meals
6. Taco Salad
7. Chicken Salad wraps
8. Roast- or anything tossed in the crockpot
9. Steak or chicken Fajitas- A1, Worcestershire sauce, onion, peppers, cheese, tomatoes, shells= YUMMY
10. Breakfast for dinner- my boys LOVE pancakes. It's a pantry staple and quick to fix. Add eggs or bacon and my troop is happy.

We buy beef and pork from a rancher friend (the only way to buy you meat!) and keep it in a big chest freezer. Just add vegis and we are good to go. 

So there you are. I have a few others but these will cycle round the month to fill the last minute holes or maybe just fill the hole until I go shopping again. I love to keep recipes on hand that come straight from the pantry. Helps my preparedness skills too.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Cooking from my Pantry

My mom always made this yummy comfort food when we were not feeling well. It is simple to make and lets face it, you just can't beat homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 whole chicken

diced carrots

diced celery

chopped onion

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil chicken with vegi's in pot covered with water until meat pulls off bones easily. While chicken is cooking make your noodles. Remove chicken and de-bone. Add noodles and cook until soft.

Noodles

2 eggs beaten

2 Tbs water

scant tsp salt

flour

Mix together and add flour until a stiff dough forms. Cut into noodles and let dry. I was pressed for time so I put them on a cookies sheet in the oven on 200 deg until the chicken was ready. It worked great to speed the drying time.

Add some homemade bread and you've got a meal little boys (and a big boy) devoured!

Pumpkin Bars

I found this recipe in a Kraft magazine several years ago. We love pumpkin pie and this is right up there with it. Yummy and Easy! Just the way I like it. So for a great desert for Thanksgiving day give it a try. You could easily make it ahead of time and stick it in the freezer or fridge...

Pumpkin Pie Bars

1 1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar (divided)

3/4 cup cold butter or margarine

1 cup quick oats

1/2 cup nuts

1 pkg cream cheese

3 eggs

15 oz pumpkin

1 Tb pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350

Mix flour, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup sugar in bowl. Cut in butter and mix until crumbles. Stir in oats and nuts. Reserve 1 cup of mixture. Press remaining mixture into 9x13 pan. Bake 15 minutes.

Beat cream cheese, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, pumpkin and spice. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 25 minutes.

I used pecans. My dad is severely allergic to walnuts so I always cook with pecans. I don't remember what the original recipe called for but really- does it make a big difference? Not for us! ;-)

I always make notes in my cookbooks or with my favorite recipes. I'm glad I did with this one because for some reason written down it looks more detailed than it is. I'm always amazed at how quick and easy this comes together.

Plus, another cooking straight from my pantry recipe!

Cafe RIo: cooking from my pantry

I made Cafe Rio pork this week from Real Mom's Kitchen. When I made it before the boys complained of it being too hot with the Jalepeno's it is so this time I only added about 1/3 of the can. I had to have a touch of spice to it. I used the Romaine lettuce left over from Bountiful Baskets as well as the tomatoes which needed to be used up. I didn't have any spanish rice but white rice was a nice balance to the pork. I probably dished things up backwards with the pork on top instead of just after the lettuce but hey the little boys were "STARVIN' MOM!". Either way it was a hit. A couple of the boys even had seconds. I planned to have leftovers over the weekend but there won't be any....gonna have to work out something else. It's all good!

So over the weekend we had this...

Spaghetti

Stroganoff with fresh steamed green beans and banana squash

Spaghetti is a staple at our house. Dear husband is a pasta fan and could eat it any day of the week without complaint. The boys tend to follow dad's lead in this as well. When in doubt we have sketti. Plus it is quick and easy.

My favorite meal is hamburger pinwheels. It is basically browned hamburger rolled in biscuit dough like a cinnamon roll then toped with gravy or our favorite- tomatoe soup. However, this is not dear husbands meal choice. So we went with stroganoff. Now I have crockpot stroganoff planned for Monday nights meal but they are different enough and dear family said they wouldn't mind- it is a pasta dish after all....

Quick Stroganoff:

Brown hamburger

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup sour cream

Brown your hamburger then mix in the soups and sour cream. I also added some milk this time because it seemed too thick. Serve over rice or noodles.

Once again, very few leftovers here. My 2 year old has been eating like a bird lately- crazy for a boy I know- but he had 2 servings of this. 

He even said "more, please"! This is a big feat as our little man doesn't talk and has been in speech therapy for 10 months now. It was great to hear this come out without prompting! Food is a great incentive in our house of boys!

For Sunday dinner we had:

Crock pot BBQ Spare Ribs

Mashed potatoes

Vegi of choice

fruit salad

The fruit salad was an idea I read on PYP forums about Thanksgiving dinner menu ideas. 

Pomegranits

apples 

pineapple

cool whip

mix together and enjoy

My 5 yr old loved it. We will see how everyone else enjoys it.....

 

Cooking from my pantry tally....

We made it through our first week without much ado.

I had to remind dear hubby not to just order out through the weekend while mom was working which he promptly stepped up and followed through with our challenge.

I hit the big Smith's sale and spent $50 while saving $82!

I already had all the items I bought in my pantry but now is the time I stock up on canned soups and staples so I couldn't miss this sale. 

I used several of the vegis and fruits left in the fridge from Bountiful Baskets and will be able to clean out the fridge before we get our next basket this week.

I had to make a few adjustments in recipes but they were only minor and it has been nice to see all that I have already on hand.

The biggest benenfit of this challenge has been a refreshing break for me to not have to go to the store. I usually try to cook from our pantry and thus cycle things out but there always seems to be some reason we need to go to the store. This week I tried everything I could to get OUT of going to the store. I still had to shop for a few non-food items but oh, it was nice to not worry about the groceries. I think we somehow stretched what we had as well. For example, it seems we didn't go through as much milk because I wasn't going to "just pick up more while at the store".

I am looking forward to another weeks break from shopping! Now I can focus on finishing my Christmas shopping.....

Thanks for the challenge.

Homemade bread and soup

We were nearing the end of our bread so this time I made whole wheat bread.

If I may say so, it turned out AMAZING! Perhaps the best wheat loaf I've made yet. During the cooler months I seldom buy bread. I make about 80-90% of our bread.
Here is the recipe:

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 packages yeast
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
6 cups flour divided
(if making 100% whole wheat you need to add a dough enhancer like gluten. I usually add 6 tbsp or so...)

Heat your oven to 200 deg. with a bowl of water in it. When it gets to 200 shut it off. Dissolve your yeast in the warm water. Mix in butter, salt, sugar and 3 cups flour. Mix for about 2 minutes until well blended. You may have to scrap the sided a couple of times. Then add the remaining 3 cups flour. Your dough will be sticky, more like muffing mix texture. Place in the warmed oven to rise. I like to rise my dough in the oven so my house doesn't have to be as warm and the cool breezes won't mess up the rising dough. Let it rise for about 30 minutes until double. Stir down, about 25 strokes. I just put my mixing bowl in the oven then turn the mixer back on for a minute. Pour dough into 2 loaf pans. It will still be sticky. Smooth evenly in pan. Place back in oven to rise a second time for 30-40 minutes until double. Then turn oven on to 350 deg and cook for 30-40 minutes. Remove bread from oven and cool on wire rack. YUMMY!

With sandwiches and toast for breakfast we go through a fair amount of bread. I don't have a Bosch bread mixer yet. It is still on my wish list but I figured it out one time and figure it would pay for itself in 1 year of use. I don't like the cheap breads and I only buy whole wheat varieties....With all this in mind I am so thankful for a friend sharing her recipe for no knead bread that doesn't work my Kitchen Aid mixer too much. With only 6 ingredients this recipe is a cinch to make!

Added it to our Chicken and wild rice soup for some yummy homemade goodness....

Just cooking from my pantry......

Cooking from my pantry.....

When I opened the butter for my toast this morning I knew I was going to be stretched on this challege more than I thought.....

 this much butter was not going to last us 2 weeks. I have cubes of butter and margarine in my freezer but it doesn't spread well for toast. Then I remembered this post from my dear sis-in-law.....

 I could make my own spreadable butter. So out came 4 cubes of butter and 1 can of evaporated milk. Whipped them together and....

Voila, a tub plus some of spreadable butter. No need to buy more this week.

Cooking from your pantry challenge....

After seeing my shopping list for this month I realized I can do this challenge put forth by Around My Family Table: cooking from your pantry. So I will be posting our dinner pictures and recipes.

I posted my menu plans for the month but here is the breakdown for this week:

Roast and mashed potatoes

Cafe Rio Pork and rice

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

French Dip with green salad

Italian Crockpot Chicken

Leftovers

As long as I have the main dish planned then I can just throw in whatever vegi goes well. I have lots of beets, beans, carrots, and corn bottled in the pantry not to mention the stock of fresh fruit and vegi's from Bountiful Baskets. I love to go through my cookbooks and realize what all I can make without shopping much. The great part about fall cooking is the oven is put to great use! 

So what are you cooking from your pantry? Link up and share with us!