Basic Large Family Meat Sauce

Basic Large Family Meat Sauce

1lb ground beef or turkey

1lb sausage (Italian or breakfast style)

1/2 C onion diced

2 minced cloves of garlic

1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes

2 small cans of tomato paste

1 15oz can of tomato sauce

1/2 cup water 

2 T sugar

2 tsp Italian seasoning 

1/2 tsp fennel

Sprinkling of parsley

Easy Scratch Made Biscuits

This Saturday was a lazy family day... finally! Being very pregnant with baby number 5 and having just bought a house that has needed a lot of work in April, a lazy Saturday was welcome. For breakfast we decided to do some delicious biscuits and gravy. It's definitely a favorite around here but not something we make very often because let's face it, it's not the healthiest of choices. Thankfully after years, yes, I said years, I mastered biscuits. 

Baking comes much easier to me now but it hasn't always and biscuits are something you have to really get right for them to be warm, fluffy, and delicious southern style. The way I make them is super simple. I get asked often how, so here is my easy to follow recipe. 

Easy Scratch Made Biscuits

2 cups of self-rising flour (I am a flour snob, I use King Arthur Flour)

1/4 tsp of baking soda

1/2 cup of chilled butter cut into tiny cubes

1 cup of milk (you may use buttermilk)

I use my KitchenAid stand mixer for the whole process. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease 2 round cake pans (or whatever you choose) with butter. Mix the flour and baking soda on the lowest speed until combined. Next, add the tiny cubes of butter and mix until combined and you have a coarse texture. Last add 1 cup of milk and mix until your dough pulls away from the sides and is incorporated into a sticky ball. If it's too sticky add a little more flour, if it's like normal bread dough and no stickiness add just a splash more of milk. Once the right texture is achieved, press the dough to about 1/2 to 1/3 inch thickness onto a lightly floured surface then cut out biscuits and put them barely touching in the cake pans. Bake for 10mins or until done (watch them, your oven may be done quicker). Let them cool for about 5mins in the pans then enjoy! 

We made these a few months ago, if you've never had a fried egg on a sausage biscuit, do it! YUM! 

Meal Plan for January 29-February 4

Do you get excited about trying new recipes? This week we are trying a new recipe for baked chicken chimichangas and I'm super excited! I also used my new Pullman Bread pan for the first time and I'm in love! A Pullman pan is a special bread pan with a lid that is designed to bake bread to look and have the texture of store bought bread without the weird mystery ingredients and preservatives. We made our first batch of bread yesterday and we absolutely LOVED it! No more bread from the store for us! I will be sure and do a post specifically about it soon! Here is our meal plan for the week.  I spent a total of $89.71 this week. Have a wonderful week! 

Breakfast: (in no particular order)

Granola bar (Sunday morning quick grab)

Vanilla yogurt with fresh fruit (repeat)

Cinnamon toast with eggs (repeat)

Breakfast "hash"

Old Fashion Oats with pure maple syrup as sweetener

Lunches: (in no particular order)

Toasted Turkey with Cheese, banana (Sunday lunch)

PB&J's, fresh veggies and fruit (repeat)

Boiled egg, cheese, fresh veggies, and seed crackers

Tortilla pizza and fruit

Salads with "fixings" 

Snacks:

Granola bars

Popcorn

Nuts with raisins

Apples and peanut butter

Dinners:

Sunday:

Baked Chicken Chimichangas, cilantro lime rice, and fresh guacamole with Beanitos 

Monday:

Potato Soup (we're omitting the heavy cream) and salad

Tuesday:

Quick Baked Chicken with Veggies and Wild Rice

Wednesday:

Chili served with fresh veggies and homemade ranch dip

Thursday:

Baked Potatoes with toppings including leftover chili served with a side steamed broccoli

Friday:

Spicy Chicken stir-fry with rice

Saturday: 

Leftovers night

20 Minute Roasted Chicken and Veggies and Dec. 30-Jan. 6 meal plan

Who doesn't love a delicious, healthy dinner that only takes 20 minutes to make!? All plates were empty in this house after this meal that will remain in our meal rotation from now on. It was so simple and so flavorful! Before we get to the meal, I will give a run-down of our meal plan for the next week and our grocery trip today.

Our family is a family of 6; the hubby, me, three constantly hungry boys, and our little princess. When I sat down to plan our menu, I planned all meals and snacks for the next week, along with 3 freezer meals.

Breakfasts (in no particular order)
Sausage Balls (making a double batch to freeze for another morning's breakfast later this month)
Eggs, yogurt, and fruit (Repeat meal) (Will need to buy all ingredients)
Pancakes and fruit (I already have our favorite Birch Benders pancake mix on hand)
Homemade Blueberry Muffins (I already have all baking needs on hand, I only need the blueberries)
Breakfast "hash" (Will use leftover hash to make breakfast burritos to freeze for another breakfast)
Homemade Brown Sugar Oatmeal with fruit (Already have the oats on hand)

Lunches
Sandwiches most days but rotating turkey and ham with pb&j along with raw carrots and broccoli and some fruit (will need to purchase all ingredients but PB and J)
Leftovers some days

Dinners
Roasted Chicken and Veggies (Will need to buy meat and all veggies, I have rice on hand)
Tacos (Will need to buy meat, tortillas, and all 'fixings')
Taco Salads (Will use leftover taco meat, will need to purchase salad ingredients)
Chicken Fried Rice (Will need to purchase eggs, frozen peas and carrots, and onions, everything else on hand)
Chili Petros (Will need to purchase meat, bell peppers, onions, and corn chips, everything else on hand)
Homemade Lasagna (Make in two pans, freeze one for a meal later in the month) (need to purchase all ingredients)(Serve with salad)
Leftover night

Snacks (all are options and they can choose what they would like)
Apples with Peanut Butter (need to purchase apples)
Granola Bars (purchase this time)
Organic Fruit snacks (need to purchase)
Almonds (already have)

*Also need to purchase milk, oregano, ended up purchasing a bag of organic cheetos and daddy's favorite cereal as treats

I was really shocked at the outcome of our shopping trip, especially since we were buying multiple rolls of natural sausage, 3 lbs of beef, 3 lbs of chicken breast, and sweet Italian Sausage... I thought for sure we would be at $200 or so... I was wrong and pleasantly surprised when my total was only $131.80! That's with mostly organic products with fresh fruits, veggies, and other items to make "whole food" meals. And don't forget the freezer meals!


So now for delicious meal from tonight! This meal came up on my Pinterest feed from GimmeDelicious but I added garlic which I think enhanced the flavor even more and next time we will omit the cherry tomatoes and add a little more broccoli.

20 Minute Roasted Chicken and Veggies

2 Chicken Breasts
1 cup chopped Bell Pepper (I used green)
1/2 of a chopped onion
1 zucchini chopped
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes ( I will omit this next time, we're not a fan of the texture)
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
1 tsp Italian Seasoning 
Paprika sprinkled lightly on top

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Chop all veggies into chunks and put in a glass pyrex dish. Next, cube the chicken and combine raw chicken with raw veggies by stirring into the pyrex dish.

2. Stir in olive oil making sure it gets to all ingredients in the dish. In a separate small bowl, mix together all spices then sprinkle over the chicken and veggie mixture, stirring to combine. Sprinkle lightly with paprika.

3. Roast in a 500 degree oven for 15 mins. ENJOY!!!

We served ours with a side of wild rice and it was a hit!