Cooking at Home: Day 3

Using Leftovers: Tip #1

One problem with cooking at home is that sometimes food gets wasted.  I have been trying to come up with ways to reduce that waste and I'm going to share them with you over the next month.  Here is tip #1: using leftover milk.

There are some weeks that my husband and I can go through two gallons of milk.  Then there are some weeks that we barely use half a gallon.  I always keep a package or two of instant pudding on hand to help use up that extra milk.  Not only does it give us dessert for a night or two, but it uses up a large portion of milk that would have otherwise expired.

What do you do to use up milk that's about to expire?

Cooking at Home: Day 2

It's hard to get back into cooking at home when you don't have a plan.  So, my biggest piece of advice to stop eating out and starting cooking for yourself is to have a plan.  Plan a weekly menu.  It doesn't have to be elaborate, you don't have to cook Lobster Thermidor or Boeuf Bourguignon.  You just need to cook what you like, but plan it ahead of time.  Planning it out helps save you time and money because you don't have to fly by the seat of your pants.  You know what is coming, but you can also change it up if you want to.

Here are 3 easy steps to implementing an easy menu.

1.  Cook what you like.  Write down the recipes that you and your family like and then pick from that list.  Using tried and true recipes helps make menu planning and grocery shopping easy.  If you want to be adventurous and try out a new recipe then write those down on a separate list.  I would pick one new recipe to try out a week.  You will easily become discouraged if that recipe doesn't turn out well and you still have more new recipes to try out for the week.  Sticking to just one new recipe makes it easier on you and the family.

2.  Write it down.  I made a big chalkboard that I write our menu down on, and it hangs in the kitchen where my husband and I can see it every day.  Writing it down somewhere that is in your face helps to keep you on track.  You can know what to expect every day and you don't have to wonder what is for dinner.  This also helps my husband know what is expected of him.  I try to pick recipes on days that he is off that he can help cook.  I know that he can't make homemade macaroni and cheese, but he can make bacon cheeseburgers.  Getting your family involved will make dinner easier on you and help you stick with it.

3.  Go grocery shopping once.  After you plan your menu, make a list of what you need to complete the menu.  Doing this helps keep you from making daily trips to the grocery store and keeps your cost down.  This won't guarantee that you won't end up making an emergency grocery store run, but it will keep you from going four or five times a week, which is just exhausting.

Following those simple steps will help keep the pressure off of you in the kitchen and make it more likely that you will stick with it.  Going into a week with a meal plan is one less thing that you have to worry about during the week.  No one will have to ask what's for dinner again.

Here are some fun links to help you plan your menu:
I Heart Organizing
Organized Home 
Food on the Table

31 Days of Cooking at Home: Day 1

This month I'm linking up with The Nester and accepting her 31 Days challenge.  For the 31 days in October I will be writing posts (both big and small) about a particular subject.  This year's topic will be Cooking at Home.  I feel that food is a great way to bring people together, to enjoy time with friends and family.

This time is often pushed aside because preparing your own food takes time and money.  Something we all claim not to have.  But if you have time to sit in the drive-thru lane for 10 minutes or spend an hour and half in a restaurant, then you have time to make a home-cooked meal.  And if you have the money to spend on fast food, you have money to make your own food.

I'm not trying to criticize, I just want to help everyone get back in the kitchen.  I love nothing more than talking to my son his bouncy chair as I chop vegetables or stir my sauce.  And I love sitting down with my husband (albeit in the living room because heaven forbid he should eat at the table...I'm working on it) and discussing our day over Taco Lasagna or Chocolate Chip Cookie pie. 

So I'm here to help you get back in the kitchen.  I'll post recipes, tools to have, and tricks to help you get back to cooking at home.

Baby Food Problems

Well, we have officially started Jude on baby food.  He went for his 4 month check-up last week and now weighs 10 lbs. 10 oz and is 24.25 inches long.  The doctor said he is a bit on the small side but he is growing and is healthy so he wasn't worried.  He still recommended I start Jude on some cereal and pureed vegetables and fruits to help him put on some weight.

Now I'm excited.  I have been planning to make my own baby food (at least the majority of it) since he was still in the womb and now I get to actually do it.  I got a few books from my store about how to go about making it, what food do what for growth and bowel regularity and I could go on for a while.  I'm a little nuts about it.  I just want what is best for my baby bear and I think by controlling what he eats, what goes into it, etc. I can keep a better eye on him and keep him healthy. 


Plus it's cheaper.  Really.  Have you seen the price of a jar of baby food?  Ri-dic-u-lous.

Anyway, I want to share with you my first feeding adventure.  We started Jude on just some rice cereal mixed with a little breast milk for a couple of days.  Fun.  He put up quite the fight the first feeding, but now he seems to enjoy it immensely.  He laughs and talks and spends more time eating his fist than eating his food, but it's fun to watch.  And he does eventually get the food down.

Then I decided to be adventurous and give him bananas.  Well, I made the husband do it because I was at work.  Babies like bananas, right?

Well, friends, Jude is allergic to bananas.  Yikes!

He broke out into hives on legs and arms.  Scared the crap out of my husband and later myself when I got home after work to find this out.  He never seized up, or had trouble breathing, or anything more serious than some welts and redness that went away after an hour after feeding him so we didn't feel it was ER worthy.  (Please trust that had they stayed we would have been there in a heartbeat.) 

We figured no more bananas, that should fix it, right?

Wrong.  He continued to break out for the next two days.  Redness and welts that would come after feeding him but go away not long after.  I was worried that perhaps it was my milk or the little bit of formula we were giving him, or perhaps we were bringing in something from the outside that he was reacting to, or just something other than the bananas was making him break out.  Nope. 

Thank you baby clinic that is open on the weekends for being my saving grace this past weekend.  What they don't tell you about allergic reactions, and what I would like to share with the world, is that while the banana was gone from his system, what had triggered the response can stay for about 72 hours.  Which means that he can continue to break out into hives for a few days afterward.  But as long as his breathing was fine and his face didn't swell, there was no need to panic or take him to the ER according to the clinic doctor.  Whew.

Thankfully, that was the worst of it, so no trips to the ER.  He has stopped breaking out and we are only giving him cereal while his body recovers and gets rid of the nasty allergy stuff.  I'll admit that I'm worried about giving him food now, but I'm going to remain positive and feed him some sweet potatoes next week.

Cross your finger that all goes well.