BBQ Chicken Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust

Monday nights are hectic because the kids have activities as church. Wenesday nights they have youth so that is another hectic night. Try to allow for those types of things by making as much ahead of time as possible. Learn to use your kids as prep coooks. Cooking is a great way to build relationship and I have heard more “secrets and confessions” from my prep cook of the day than you can imagine. Have a child that has trouble releasing emotion? Give them some onions to chop so they have an excuse to have a good cry.

The more you make yourself, the less you depend on prepared items, the more you will save on your bill AND reap the reward of better, healthier eating. I try to stay away from corn syrup as an ingredient, unless it is in a recipe I am making myself and I use non-GMO. If you have big appetites in your family like I do then do what our grandmothers did. Create healthy meals and depend on whole grain breads for filler. I really want to encourage you to pick up Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I love this book and there is just not an excuse to not have fresh, homemade bread.

So, here is the menu for this week. I will be back later with the budget damage. I have these marked one through seven because I am still not sure of the days I am serving the different things.

One

• Grilled Steak (I picked these up yesterday, marked down from 28.00 to 7.99)
• Wheat Berry Salad
• Banana Caramel Tart

Two

• Lasagne
• Tossed salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• Garlic bread
• Stacked Blondies- blondie, cheesecake, mango cream? puree? gel? still working on this (it will be pineapple on top..mangoes were $$$ and pineapples were ripe and on sale!)

Three- (adapting from Mesa Grill)

• Turkey with Chipotle Maple Glaze  (got turkey medallions on clearance yesterday for 2.25!0
• Sweet potato- pecan gratin
• Brussels sprouts with orange chipotle butter
• Pumpkin- pecan ice cream

Four

• Pizza! Not sure what I am using for toppings yet. I did BBQ Chicken Pizza last week and it was awesome.

Five

• Whole wheat fettucine w/ black beans, corn, zuccini, chilis, cilantro and Jack cheese
• Sliced tomatoes
• Corn bread..(switching to some other bread, not sure yet..maybe rosemary..I forgot cornmeal and I am out of dry corn to grind.)
• Lime Vanilla Creme Brulee (working out of Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook)

Six (this is probably today since it will be easy and I have errands)

• Taco Salad
• Homemade tortilla chips
• Rice Krispie-Ganache bars (working on this recipe) (While I was getting the Rice Krispies I happened to see the Golden Grahams and had an inspired moment..)

Seven

• Cooks choice

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O.k…I am back from the store. My grocery bill came to $174.03 and according to my reciept I saved 55.00 with instore savings.  Whatever. This amount includes chicken breast  (2 big packs) that I picked up on sale for 1.99 a lb and strawberries that I wasn’t planning on that were on sale. I also got enough ground beef to use in more than one meal, even though it is only on the menu one night. I made some substitutions as noted above.  Keep in mind that I cook for 8 people. This amount includes 3 meals a day for 7 days, with some things to carry over. I figure I wont know exactly what I am spending until a month has gone by and I can average it. There will be no “running to the store to pick up xyz” unless I have to do it for a specific post, like Daring Bakers.   Wow…what an adventure here, right?

image:MaryeAudet

Post from: Baking Delights

Marc has had a horrid cold, which he passed to Matthew (17) and Nick was sniffling and sounding stuffed up. I was not going to argue with him. I don’t like taking the kids out when they are sick, even a little. It exposes other people to what they have and, with their immune systems all ready compromised it adds to the likelihood that they will pick up something else.

My kids are a pretty healthy bunch, we get maybe a cold or stomach bug once or twice a year. I usually treat it with herbs and natural items, plenty of rest, and isolation from the germy public. Since I work at home, and we homeschool we don’t HAVE to be out and about the way others do..Just one more way that I am blessed.

Nick and Bella

Anyway, so Kyrie (5) decided since I was staying home she was going to stay home to “amuse Nicky because he is sick”. Matt had overslept and was still dealing with the residue of his cold..so he opted to just relax today, too.

I kissed Marc bye and headed into the sunroom to watch Maisie with the Bug (kyrie) and Matt. We heard the clamor of everyone leaving, Shiloh (who looks like a teen model, by the way) couldn’t find her BLACK flipflop to go with her pink gypsy skirt and black tank top..and was forced to wear blue flip flops. Ethan was trying to get her to go see UP with him today and was plying her with promises of cokes, popcorn, and even paying for her…It was the usual chaos getting out the door.

Then the house was totally quiet and Matt, Kyrie, and I were just kicked back, chatting and watching t.v. I was checking email and twitter and Facebook…you know, leisure time.

All of a sudden I said, “Hey, where’s Nick?”

We looked everywhere in the house for him, out in the barns, in his fort…No Nick.

You guessed it. HE decided at the last minute to go to church with the family.

So, having a few hours that are not accounted for I decided to work on a menu that I had been thinking about for awhile. It seems to me to be perfect for Father’s Day or 4th of July. I will be posting the recipes this week IF they work but here is what we are having for dinner today

• Spicy Apricot Glazed  Grilled Chicken
• Grilled corn on the cob with cumin butter
• Sliced locally grown tomatoes with a splash of balsamic
• Whole grain rolls with pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• Red Velvet and Cheesecake Cupcakes (am thinking about a nuance of citrus in these..not sure)

I briefly considered an apricot and white tea flavored muffin but since I am thinking of this for Father’s Day I want it to have a masculine feel. I plan on serving sweet tea, made from our custom blend (blackberry, rose, and lemon) and coffee with the dessert. I have some flavored Bourbon Pecan from my local roaster that I am eager to open up.

So, the other plan I have for today is to finally get back to writing menus rather than the Oh-My-Gosh-It’s-5:30-What’ll-I-Make? method. With food prices skyrocketing, and money tight it is important to keep a tight rein on the food budget. More so when you feed 8 people. And, when you are a food writer  you have an image to uphold, right? I mean, I can’t exactly blog hot dogs and boxed mac and cheese, can I? I might get into a legal battle with a certain Food Network star. (in case you didn’t recognize that as being snarky.. let me make that clear with a !Snark Alert!)

I am going to post my menu for the week tomorrow and I will post links to the online recipes I am using, as well as post the recipes that I use. We can be cooking buddies!

I don’t use coupons because most of what I buy does not come with coupons. Let’s face it, I don’t buy a lot of prepared and convenience foods. It try to pick up meat on clearance when I can, and I have had to scale back on organic meats because they are significantly more expensive. I do try to go with all- natural. I hate that I am, to a certain extent, supporting factory farming with my food dollars but in the area where I live, and with prices, locally raised, grass fed beef is out of my range. I am still looking though.

I will also update the menu post with the cost of my groceries. I am not going to list them individually because that would be long! Also, you have to figure that I use milk from our goats and eggs from our chickens so that is a savings. I think that I may have my writing account start buying the eggs from my farm account, but if I do that is it illegal to sell myself raw goat’s milk?  I buy organic white flour in 50 lb bags, and I buy wheat berries to grind, also in 50 lb bags.

I think that’s all. I will post my menu later today or tomorrow. Until then, have an awesome weekend!

Oh…Erin took that picture of Nick and her daughter Bella. Nick loves babies, and he is enraptured with Bells. In fact, when Erin walks in with the baby there is a melee surrounding her until one triumphant person walks away with Bella….usually Shiloh but not always.

Yes, he does need a hair cut. But he likes his hair long and I see no reason to force that issue when there are so many others that I could be focusing on. Matt also has long hair…obviously they get their hippy tendencies from their bohemian mother.

Erin is very talented photographer you can see more of her work at Mamas Castle. She also has work for sale at this online gallery Erin’s Images.

Images:Erin Audet Myers

Post from: Baking Delights