I purchased the salmon last month on sale in the frozen section and marinated it for 24 hours in my fridge. The potatoes were roasted in the morning (before the heat of the day), put in a casserole dish in the refrigerator, and then reheated in the microwave just before serving. I washed the greens and tossed them while the potatoes were reheating and Daniel was grilling.

Honey Ginger Grilled Salmon

1tsp ground ginger
1tsp minced garlic
1/3c soy sauce
1/3c orange juice
1/4c honey
1-1/2lbs salmon

1. In a large self-closing plastic bag, combine first 5 ingredients; mix well. Place salmon in bag and seal tightly. Turn bag gently to distribute marinade.

2. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (more ideally 8-24 hours, turning bag every few hours to distribute marinade).

3. Preheat grill to medium heat. Remove salmon from marinade. Grill 12-15 minutes per inch of thickness or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Brush with leftover marinade up until the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Serves 4.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

1/8c olive oil
1T minced garlic
1/2tsp dried dill weed
1/2tsp dried parsley
1/2tsp crushed red pepper flakes*
1/2tsp salt
4 large potatoes, cubed**

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine oil, garlic, dill weed, parsley, red pepper flakes, and salt. Stir in potatoes until evenly coated. Place potatoes in a single layer on a roasting pan or baking sheet.

3. Roast for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven, turning occasionally to brown on all sides. Serves 4.

*These potatoes have a bit of a zing to them, almost reminiscent of curly fries. If you don’t like anything spicy, omit the crushed red pepper flakes.

**I also chopped a large green bell pepper that was about to go bad and threw it in with the potatoes. It was a great addition.

I don’t know about you, but there are few things I dislike more than having my oven and gas burners on in the summer between the hours of 3-7pm, the hottest time of the day. Even when I force myself to the task, I must admit that it’s rather disheartening to toil over a hot stove, sweat beading on my forehead, only to have the family push the food around their plates with their forks because they’re just too hot to eat.

So when this question came in last week, I could definitely relate!

I was wondering if you all could give some suggestions for… summer menus. This is my first summer back in the North and [with] no air conditioning in the house which makes for a, not very hungry for hot food, family. I would love any help I could get!

One thing that’s great to do in the summer when cooking in a hot kitchen is unpleasant is to take advantage of the all the fresh produce that abounds this time of year. When else can you gorge yourself on freshly picked strawberries because they only cost $1.20/quart? And when else is it affordable to hand your kids a bunch of organically grown carrots that you bought at a local farmer’s market to snack on? The great thing about fresh produce is that even when it feels to warm to eat a full meal, fruit and veggies are still appealing.

Of course BBQ’ing is fun and most everyone likes food cooked on the grill, but if your family is like ours and you don’t usually eat meat every night of the week, hamburgers or chicken on the grill only works every so often. One great solution is to grill marinated veggies that can be eaten plain, as sandwich filling, or over pasta and rice instead.

A standby meal around our house this time of year (it’s quick and easy on hot, busy summer days) is saute’ed garlic and veggies (whatever’s cheap that week: bell peppers, eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, etc.) in oil. Top pasta or rice with the veggies and then generously sprinkle parmesan cheese over it all. So, so good.

I also love to make salad the main dish in the summertime. Lots of greens, cheese (any kind on hand will do!), nuts, and some tuna or chicken topped with a good salad dressing needs nothing more than a loaf of tasty bread to satisfy. A bowl of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers marinated in oil and vinegar is absolutely delicious. And, of course, fruit salads are loved by everyone.

Find recipes that require less cooking time so that you don’t heat up your kitchen (and house) too much. I whip up this simple egg casserole and serve it for dinner frequently in the summer because it only takes 25 minutes to bake in the oven. Homemade pizza is another good idea, especially when I remember to get the dough started before it gets really hot or– even simpler– when I use english muffins instead of standard pizza crust. Tacos (beef, chicken, or bean) are also a great option.

What are some of your favorite summer menu items? Please share!

Today I want to talk a bit about how menu planning helps me stick to my budget:

1. First of all– and this has nothing to do with menu planning, but I thought it worthy of mentioning– it really helps to decide ahead of time what the grocery budget will be. Whether it’s a weekly, bi-monthly or monthly figure is up to each shopper, but the simple truth of the matter is that there is no money-saving replacement for having a predetermined amount to spend. You may have to track your normal grocery expenses for a bit in order to come up with a workable budget amount, but it’s worth it!

For me, I prefer a monthly budget. This way, if I have a week or two in the month when there is family visiting from out of town or special holidays/events, I can spend extra there and then plan very inexpensive meals the other days/weeks to make up the difference. My goal is not to spend exactly $x.xx per person every single day, but rather to stick to $xxxx.xx/year in groceries.

2. “Mix ‘n Match” meals. In other words, when I plan a meal like salmon, I will almost always insert it between two less expensive meals (i.e. lentil & rice tacos, potato soup, vegetarian chili, egg & spinach casserole, etc.). This way, at the end of 3 days, our average dinner meal expense is fairly low. Once again, an inexpensive meal in my home might be expensive in yours; but I think you get the gist.

3. Keep breakfast and lunch meals nutritious yet simple. I really get away with this right now because my children are young and like repetition. They actually get disappointed when I don’t serve them PB&J for lunch and their absolute favorite breakfast meal is oatmeal (baked or regular)! You may like a bit more variation in your home, of course, but you don’t have to be fancy to make sure you’re eating whole grains (cereal, oatmeal, whole wheat bread), fruit (bananas, pineapple, apples), veggies (baby carrots, celery sticks), protein (peanut butter, tuna, eggs), and dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt) throughout your day.

4. Have a Master Menu List. This is a compilation of all the foods I like to make/my family likes to eat/I want to try, which allows me to salvage some creativity in my weekly planning (personally, I don’t think I could handle a rotating menu due to boredom issues) while still, well, planning! When I sit down on Monday afternoons or evenings to plan my menu, I pull out my calendar and my Master Menu List, which has all my favorite foods broken down by category– beef, chicken, fish, beans, cheese & eggs, sides– and plot through the week, marking down items I need to buy as I go. The money-saving aspect of this is that I can utilize what’s on sale at the grocery stores better than if I had a predetermined menu from weeks and weeks ago.

Regardless of what we eat and how much it costs, I think we all can agree on how great it is to save money, especially at the grocery store. I hope these tips help/encourage you in your efforts to be a wise steward of what God has given you!

1/3c butter
2-1/4c all-purpose flour
4oz (1c) cheddar cheese, shredded
1T baking powder
1T sugar
1tsp dried basil leaves
1/2tsp salt
1c milk

1. Heat oven to 400*. Melt butter in 8″ square baking pan in oven (3-5 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, combine all remaining ingredients except milk in medium bowl. Stir in milk just until moistened.

3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth (1 minute). Pat or roll dough into 12″x6″ rectangle. Cut into 12 (1″ each) strips.

4. Dip each strip into melted butter in pan; fold each strip in half. Place folded strips in 2 rows in same pan.

(As you can see, I made mine a bit shorter, so I didn’t arrange them in 2 perfect rows.)

Bake for 23-28 minutes

5. Enjoy!

But we do all love homemade bread. Who doesn’t? It’s relaxing to make — one of those therapeutic type of household chores — and it smells amazing when you pull it from the oven. Best of all, it elevates peanut butter and jelly to something almost worthy of dinner. Maybe. :)

This recipe is taken from one of my favorite cookbooks, Baking Illustrated. It started out as half white, half whole wheat. I slowly bumped up the whole wheat factor until it was 100% — at which point, Ryan ceased to enjoy it. Huh. I figured, a little white flour won’t kill us, especially if it means we’re eating more whole wheat in the end!

So here’s my variation.

Whole Wheat Bread
Makes two loaves.

1 1/2 T. yeast
2 1/3 c. warm water (110 degrees)
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. honey
2 1/2 t. salt

*stir a bit*

1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. white all-purpose flour

*mix on low (just till flours are incorporated, but still very lumpy)*

2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. white flour

Knead on low, with dough hook, for 8 minutes. (or knead by hand)
Add flour, if necessary — just enough so that dough pulls almost completely away from sides of bowl as it kneads.
Turn out onto floured surface and knead by hand for 30 seconds, or until smooth and elastic. Put in lightly oiled large bowl, cover, and let rise for 90 minutes in a warm place.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Divide dough into two equal portions, place into greased loaf pans, cover, and let rise for 45 more minutes. (I set mine on the oven, and the let the preheating warmth do the work for me.)
Bake 34 minutes.
Cool on wire racks.

I certainly don’t get to this every week, but my week goes so much better when I do. Here are some of my reasons for planning my meals ahead of time:

1. Fewer trips to the grocery store on an already-busy afternoon.
2. Fewer outings to restaurants due to an obviously half-hearted reply to “What’s for dinner?”
3. Actually making dinner: knowing what’s supposed to be served in the evening means that when life is peachy for an hour in the morning, I can work on getting dinner started. And then grab 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there… rather than requiring an entire 2 hours of prep right before the dinner hour (which, of course, would be impossible.)
4. Avoiding that terrible experience of just not knowing what on earth to make on any given day.
5. Saving money and time by planning to re-use leftovers, and basing our weekly menu on sale items.

One of the things I use to help with my menu planning is a file I keep with recipes I’ve tried — and recipes I’d like to try. This way, when I’m a bit stumped, or am in a recipe rut, I can jump-start my imagination!

Most of these dishes are simple and inexpensive, and call for ingredients I generally have on hand: rice, potatoes, pasta; chicken, eggs, cheese, beans; onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, spinach; etc. Some of these dishes also morph into something else, so leftovers are a bit more than just leftovers (i.e. chicken rice casserole can become a stew the next night.)

I often read cookbooks and such for fresh inspiration. I’m also trying to be more and more inspired by the seasonal availability of fresh produce grown locally. This, I think, ends up saving money, because I’m buying less out-of-season produce in the middle of winter. Probably (at least, in my simple logic) if canned and frozen veggies are the only things “naturally” available for several months a year, then those will deliver enough nutrients to our bodies to tide us over till spring comes again. But that’s a bit of a random thought, thrown in here for free. :)

To sum up, I guess, meal planning can be a real time and money saver (and aren’t we always looking for those?), and also can aid in being good stewards of our family’s health, as it allows you to think carefully about what will be eaten each evening — with less chance of a frozen pizza being whipped out. But, incidentally, if you should find yourself eating frozen pizza, I recommend California Kitchen. They’re the yummiest.

Potato Soup (the way I make it!)
serves 6-8

1. Saute small onion and 3 cloves of garlic in butter.

2. Add 6-7 peeled and cubed white potatoes (or the equivalent of any other kind.)

3. Cover with water and 4 cubes of (no MSG!) chicken boullion. (Or use stock.)

4. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

5. Boil; cover and simmer for 20+ minutes or till potatoes are very soft.

6. Mash potatoes well. Add 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, and heat through until cheese is melted.

Cinnamon-Topped Oatmeal Muffins.

This recipe is one we often had for dinner growing up. It’s from More With Less, a cookbook I highly recommend. It’s full of basic recipes and nutritional information, as well as a beginner’s guide to whole grains and proteins.

Makes 12

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Sift together into mixing bowl: 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 3 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. salt
3. Stir in: 1 cup oats, 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
4. Add: 3 T oil, 1 beaten egg, 1 cup milk. Stir only until dry ingredients are moistened.
5. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.
6. Sprinkle with cinnamon topping: 2 T sugar, 2 t flour, 1 t cinnamon, 1 T melted butter

7. Bake 15 minutes.

These are the best cookies.

No really, they are.

As soon as you’re done reading this, you’ll want to go make some. Trust me. There is nothing hard about them except coming by the self-control to not eat them all yourself. (You may think I’m joking, but I seriously only make these when there are people coming over because I know I would otherwise be in trouble!) There is also nothing good for you about them except the exclamations of delight that will immediately spring from the lips of the people you serve them to.

I grew up eating these with a combination of semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and Skor bits in place of the peanut butter chips the recipe calls for. Oh.my.word. That said, peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite guy’s favorite food combination, so I make them the way it’s written. Also amazingly delicious. You can try both and decide for yourself which you like best. :)

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

1-1/4c butter, softened
2c sugar
2 eggs
2tsp vanilla extract
2c all-purpose flour
3/4c cocoa
1tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
1 10oz package peanut butter chips

In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar. Add eggs & vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt in a medium bowl; gradually blend into creamed mixture. stir in peanut butter chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350* for 8-9 minutes. Do not overbake. (Cookies will be soft; they will puff during baking and flatten upon cooling.)

Cool until set, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet; cool completely on wire rack.

Makes about 4.5 dozen.

And so I set about to make my own shepherd’s pie. The great thing about this sort of food is that it’s super easy to make extras, so I made two casseroles and sent one home with the friend who was painting my bedroom. (You’ve now been fairly warned that the amounts I list make a lot of shepherd’s pie!)

First, I quartered about 4lbs of potatoes, skins on (much healthier and just as tasty– trust me), put them in a pot, covered them with 1″ of water, brought it all to a boil, and simmered for 15 minutes until they were nice and tender. Then I put the pot aside for a bit.

Next I sauteed (for about 5-7min) 1 large diced onion, several (like 6 or 7) minced cloves of garlic, 3 sliced carrots, and 1 large chopped green bell pepper in olive oil. I used my favorite gigantic saute pan; a large saucepan would also work.

Then I added a little more than 1lb of ground beef and cooked until browned. I always drain off the fat, but do whatever you like. After draining, I added about 2c each of corn and green beans. I used frozen corn and canned green beans because that was what was in my kitchen. (For the record, I later wished I’d added more vegetables to make it a bit heartier. So go ahead and add more!)

(picture doesn’t include green beans)

I seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried thyme and then poured in about 2c of beef broth (made from bouillon), a couple tablespoons of flour, and about 1c of diced tomatoes. I stirred and cooked until it came to a bit of a boil and thickened. Then I poured it into 2 greased 9″x13″ pans.

In the now-empty saute pan, I brought 1c of water to a boil and wilted almost 1 whole bag of baby spinach by cooking for about 2 minutes, turning all the while. After draining and squeezing the spinach, I arranged it over top of the meat and veggie mixture. (Frozen spinach would work, too.)

All that was left to do was mash the potatoes (do it however you like best; I added about 2c of milk, a little butter, about 6oz shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, salt and pepper) and then spread them over top of the meat and veggies.

Bake at 400* for about 20 minutes, add a few homemade biscuits, and you’ve got a great family meal. Maybe I don’t dislike shepherd’s pie after all! ;)

The point is: switch any of the vegetables up, season it the way you like it, layer it the way you want it, etc. My new realization is that shepherd’s pie is a really great Clean-Out-The-Refrigerator meal that can taste great!

Another egg casserole dish! This one is my go-to strata recipe. We love it with asparagus and goat cheese, but really, you can throw in anything you’d like. The key is chewy bread (day old is best!) cut into nice big chunks. And, of course, a nice golden parmesan top!

(And while this is usually a brunch dish, we eat it for dinner!)

Ingredients:

6 (or so) thick slices French bread, cut into 1-inch
cubes
8 eggs
3 cups milk
1/2 bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed, spears cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Butter a casserole dish.

2. Place the bread cubes in a large bowl.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour the egg mixture over the bread mixture. Add the asparagus, salt, pepper, and goat cheese and stir until well blended. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

4. Preheat an oven to 350°F.

5. Sprinkle the top of the strata with the parmesan cheese. Bake until the strata is golden brown and cooked through, about 1 hour. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.