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Every Tuesday Tammy hosts Kitchen Tip Tuesday. This week she is talking about her pantry and food storage. Since I don’t have Photoshop re-installed on my computer yet I am going to use photos I’ve already uploaded before. Today Tammy linked to a post she did in the past about using jars for storage, which I also do. We live in a mobile home, so my kitchen is rather small. I wanted to be able to store food, but do so in an attractive way, since it is out in the open. I hope that what I have done, will spark some ideas about how to organize your kitchen. In January I did a post on my small kitchen, if you would like the full tour, feel free to stop by that post.

This is the top of my refrigerator. The beans are actually stored in juice decanters that I found at Wal-Mart. Lindsay and I were looking for unusual jars, and saw these. They are great for the beans and have an airtight seal.

This is the pantry that Gene built me. In the jars on the top shelf I have egg noodles, oatmeal, instant potatoes, brown sugar, & pancake mix all stored in cracker jars. I also have a few items stored behind the jars such as extra boxes of powdered milk. On the lower shelves you will see jars with powdered sugar, & cornmeal.

These jars hold my unbleached flour, prairie gold flour, sugar, and two of them hold cereal. I love these jars because of the wide mouths and the ease of use when baking. I was forever spilling sugar, and flour all over the place when trying to get it out of jars with smaller openings. The small openings also caused me to have to use a very small cup to scoop, which made it take much longer to measure out the big batches I make.

This is a shot of the whole pantry. A lot of people wouldn’t like it because it’s open, but I have found it helps me to keep things more organized. I considered hanging curtains on it, but felt they would be always getting in the way. I don’t mind the kitchen looking like a work center, because that’s what it is. I have come to realize that my kitchen is many things. It is the heart of our home, a place we work together, play together, laugh, joke and sometimes cry. It is a place where memories are made. While I want it to be practical and functional, I also want it to look welcoming and cozy.

Well, I’m off to organize my kitchen cabinets.  I am going to be doing so de-cluttering  and re-organizing of my cabinets this week.

I am getting my menu posted a little late, but hey, I have a good excuse. We had company for dinner tonight and on top of that some of the girls have been sick with a stomach bug and allergies.  That caused my day to be quite busy, with no time for the computer.

I will try to come back during the week and add links to recipes that I have planned for the week.  I can’t wait to see what’s everyone’s planned and if you want to get in on the fun, drop by Laura’s blog.

Monday:
Brisket, Gold mashed potatoes, gravy, corn off the cob, honey glazed carrots & yeast rolls

Tuesday:
Meatloaf, leftover vegetables, macaroni & cheese

Wednesday:
Red beans & rice, cornbread & salad

Thursday:
Cajun injected chicken, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, butter beans

Friday:
Lentil soup with leftovers, & homemade bread

Saturday:
Sausage rice & cheese casserole, salad & homemade bread

Sunday:
Pasta casserole with pepperoni

The other day the girls and I happened to tune into Rachel Ray’s talk show. We were able to see some neat animals, and then the cooking segment. In her cooking segment Rachel cooked Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes. I made a modified version, going from memory. This is the how I made them, which is very close to her version.

You will need:

2 lbs ground meat (I used very lean turkey)

1 onion, chopped

salt

pepper

2 Tbs. Better Than Bullion*

2 cups water*

Steak Sauce

4 Tbsp. butter

4 Tbsp. flour

2 cups milk

8 oz Provolone cheese

hamburger buns

*You may use 2 cups of beef broth for these two ingredients*

Brown ground meat with onions, and drain any fat. Sprinkle ground meat mixture with a little salt and a few grinds of pepper.

Warm the water and with Better Than Bullion and mix well, and add it to the meat mixture.

Pour on steak sauce, adding a little at a time until it smells right. I used maybe 1/4 of a large bottle. Allow the meat mixture to simmer, uncovered, so that the liquid will evaporate.

While the meat is simmering you can make your cheese sauce. Melt your butter over med. heat; once it has melted add your flour. This will make a roux, which you only want to cook for a couple of minutes. Add your milk and mix.

Once you milk begins to bubble add your cheese. I could only find sliced provolone, so I stacked the slices and sliced them into strips, cutting them again to make them smaller and easier to melt.

Continue stirring until you cheese melts.

Put meat mixture on bun and top with cheese sauce… then enjoy! From this recipe you will get at least 12 sandwiches on the smaller buns.

I am finally getting back in the swing of things since the trip and have been cooking some. Tuesday night I got my Mother’s Day present early (we’re not much for waiting for the actual day around here). Here is what they gave me:

Ain’t she a beaut!! I was so excited! I have been wanting some enameled cast iron, but didn’t know they had any this nice. You can read about it at the Lodge site. I couldn’t wait to use it, so last night I roasted a whole chicken in it with vegetables. Tonight I was really glad I had it as well as I needed it because I was cooking so many side dishes. My menu tonight was:

Apricot Glazed Pork Chops

1 large Family Pack of Pork Chops
8 T. apricot preserves
2 T. water
Tony’s , salt & pepper to taste

This was such an easy dish; I seasoned my meat with a little Tony’s on each side (after tasting I think they needed a little more Tony’s and some salt and pepper). I then mixed the preserves and water and spread it on the pork chops. I baked them at 350 until they reached 160 degrees (which took about 30 min).

Steamed Cajun Cabbage

1 large head of Cabbage
1 stick of butter sliced
1 tsp. Tony’s
1 tsp. salt
a few grinds from the pepper mill
about 1 1/2 inches of water in the bottom of the pan

I steam my cabbage on med heat for about 45 min, watching the water level to make sure it doesn’t cook out. If I cook it more slowly the cabbage sort of melts, which is the way I love it.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

5 Sweet Potatoes, peeled & sliced
1 Stick of Butter
1/4 cup of half & half
Cinnamon
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
Dash of Cloves
Dash of Nutmeg
Dash of Allspice

Steam the sliced potatoes in a pot with 1 1/2 inches of water in the bottom. I use a simple metal steamer for this. After the potatoes are finished move them to a bowl and add the other ingredients. Use a hand mixer to cream the potatoes. For the spices I go by smell, so unfortunately I don’t have exact measurements. You can serve these as they are, or you can put them in a 9 x 13 pan with marshmallows on top and brown it in the oven.

Steamed Cauliflower
1 head of Cauliflower, cut into chunks
1/2 tsp Tony’s
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Chop cauliflower and put in a pan with about 1 1/2 inches of water. Sprinkle Tony’s and salt on the cauliflower cover and steam until tender. Take out of pan and put in a serving dish, straining out the water as you do this. Sprinkle in cheese and toss.

Butter Beans
1 bag frozen butter beans
1 smoked turkey neck
1 tsp. Tony’s
1/2 tsp salt
a few grinds of pepper from a mill
water to cover beans

Cook beans over med. heat for about 45 min, or until beans are tender. I buy smoked turkey necks on hand just for beans. I usually buy a pack with 6 or so in it, and then wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then put them all in a ziploc bag. I keep them in the freezer and take one out as I need it.

I have been buying a lot of strawberries lately, going to whichever store that has them for $.99 a pound. We have had strawberry shortcake, strawberries with ice cream and one of our favorites is warm brownies with strawberries, ice cream, cool whip, and chocolate sauce on top. Tonight we didn’t have any of the things we have been eating our berries with, so we decided to try something new. Caroline made Tea Cakes and we had them with strawberries, whipped cream and melted chocolate chips. Talk about good!

Tea Cakes

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 T. milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, milk, vanilla and mix. Then add in dry ingredients. Roll into balls (using flour on hands if needed), and pat down to 1/2 in thickness and lightly sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 325 for about 10 minutes. Yield: about 2 dozen

I hope you have a good week, and hopefully I will be posting more in the near future.

For an update on Gene’s dad check out my post on My Simple life.

Gene’s dad had a small heart attack tonight. When they did a heart cath they found that he has several blocked arteries and will undergo bypass surgery either Tues or Wed. Sorry I don’t have more time to write; we are preparing to leave tomorrow after lunch. Gene has to go into the office for a bit to finish up something before we head out. I will try to update over the next few days from my parents house.

Kroger had some great sales this week, and I was able to do a great deal of stocking up. I have some meat in the freezer that I’m trying to use up which allowed me to save some money in that area. Over the last week I have been building up my supply of coupons, and created a system for organizing them. This system is working well for me; making it so that I can use them more effectively.

Sunday: Lunch for church: Chicken & Sausage Gumbo over rice, salad, French bread, and bread pudding

Monday: Organic Chicken, broccoli & cheese, honey glazed carrots, mashed red potatoes, and biscuits

Tuesday: Shepherd’s Pie

Wednesday: Gumbo over rice, salad & bread

Thursday: Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

Friday: Chicken Quesadillas

Saturday: Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice with cornbread

For more menu ideas drop over to Laura’s to get some great ideas.

1 c. milled flax seed
3 c. whole wheat flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
6 eggs, separated
3 c. milk
1/2 c. butter melted.
Combine the first eight ingredients & set aside. Beat the egg whites making a stiff meringue, and set aside. Beat the last ingredients with the egg yolks and add into the dry ingredients until moist, but do not over mix. Fold the meringue into the batter, making sure you still see specks of it. Cook in your waffle iron until golden brown. Makes 12 7 inch waffles

Rachel Keeth from “The Baking Chocoholic”

O.K., so in reality it’s Tuesday… but I did have my menu made on Monday, I just wasn’t able to get it posted until today. I bought a large pork loin for Resurrection Sunday, but since I was not feeling well, we postponed cooking it until Monday. My family loves pork loin, and we usually eat it Cajun injected for the first meal and then for subsequent meals I make bar-b-que with it for sandwiches. This week the pork will adorn our table in three different meals, but my family doesn’t mind, because it’s a rare treat which they love. The recipe is so simple, but, oh so good.

Cajun Pork Loin

1 pork loin

1 jar Cajun injector

Inject the pork loin with injector if you choose, if you want to do it the easy way, just pour the jar over the pork loin and bake. Bake at 325 until it reaches at least 160 F. I cook mine until it easily pulls off with a fork.

I know that this may look like two pork loins, but it really is only one. I bought it at Sam’s for $2.10 a pound, which was a pretty good deal. The dark liquid you see around it is the Cajun Injector Sauce. Use a little of the sauce from the pan if you make gravy and it will be heavenly!

Menu Plan 3-24-08

Monday– Pork loin, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, cabbage, speckled butter beans

Tuesday– Bar-b-que pork sandwiches, with potatoes

Wednesday–Jambalaya, salad & bread

Thursday–Baked potatoes with bar-b-que pork

Friday– Chicken quesadillas

Saturday– Pirate Stew

Sunday– lunch for church– Mexican Casserole

dinner– pancakes

I hope you have a great week cooking for your families, drop over to Laura’s for other great menu ideas!

Four years ago Gene began working on a novel with the desire to publish. As he was wrapping up editing, he became convicted that it would be wrong to commercialize the gospel, and therefore he would not sell the book. To that end, we have created a website where the book will be offered as a free gift. Our goal is to get this book into as many hands as possible, hoping to reach them with the true gospel. There is no catch, no request for money or support… it is a completely free gift. Our hope is that you will read the book and also share the site with others. If you have any questions, visit our Hell is for Good People site or feel free to e-mail us at: contact@hellisforgoodpeople.com

We have also worked with our great friends at Custom Tract Source to create tracts that go along with the book.

We do not make any money off the sale of these tracts; they are just a means we have created to spread the gospel. Offering a free gift to someone is just another way to open the door to sharing the gospel with them.

Please read the summary of the book below and visit our site.

Dave Babin was your average Joe in most ways: Hard working, with a belief in God and country to go along with a driving pursuit of the American Dream-getting all you can while you can because you’ll only get one shot at it. An abundant life lived to its fullest was the template that most folks patterned their lives around, only to varying degrees and limitations enforced by the almighty dollar. Then the world’s economy was turned on its ear, reducing most of its inhabitants to a level playing field, one where the strong survived and the weak stomped on.

Like a ten dollar ad in the New York Times, many a story melted into the chaotic surroundings brought on by the devastating oil catastrophe, not the least of which coming out of the global madness were reports and rumors of certain individuals up and vanishing—literally. It made no sense to the multitude of “believers” remaining, millions of good people left wondering . . . what happened?

Dave Babin, never one to shy away from offering his expert opinion on any subject, found himself sitting in the same boat of confusion with no answer, though one was definitely on its way, and in a package he could’ve never seen coming.