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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Creative in the Kitchen

What do you do when you've been home for the past week without going ANYWHERE?  

Lots of things---We've been easing back into school. 

I've been reading out loud every day!  I'm so glad we've gotten back into our read-alouds.  

Michael has been building things, Tera has been quilling, and Daniel has been drawing with charcoal.

I've been cleaning out my kitchen drawers, cleaned out the fridge and other areas of clutter-like tops of cabinets and the top of the dryer.  

I've been reading, doing my devotions, staying up too late, getting up late, complaining about the cold and starting to exercise again.

I've also been cooking and baking!!!  

Sometimes I feel like a food hoarder...not really, but I have a lot of food that just sits in the cupboard or freezer because I don't want to be creative and use it!  This week I decided to not go to the store and use what we had to make meals.  JP did pick up eggs, milk and bananas last night for me.  We are kinda getting low in the fresh fruits and vegetables, but that makes me dig back in the freezer to use the things we do have. 

We eaten lentils twice this past week, both times in stews.  

Lentil Veggie Stew (pictured below)  I changed this recipe so much, I'll post the recipe later this week.  It was yummy!!!


Today, for lunch I made a baked ziti with alfredo sauce, veggies and sausage that I had.  I just made up the recipe and everyone enjoyed it!  

I've had fresh cranberries frozen for a while now, but the kids think they are too sour to just eat. This recipe was a great way to use this nutritious berry!  The glaze recipe let me use up some whipping cream and the last of the pumpkin in the can. 

Vanilla Milk  I had a whole gallon of milk that is due to expire soon, so I made vanilla milk to go with our scones.  My kids thought dinner looked a bit like dessert tonight!  

I've got beans in the crockpot for tomorrow.  I'm thinking I might just go back to shopping only once every 2 weeks.  We are out so much that it's so easy to just pop in the store for a couple of things.  Only the couple of things turns into a mini-shopping trip.  I've saved quite a bit from just using up what we have on hand this week.  I've been more creative, too.  I think that's a good habit for this new year. 

What things are going on in your kitchen/house this week?