Sale at Values Driven Family

Value's Driven Family is having a great Ebook Extravaganza right now that you may want to check out! Click here to find out more.

Potato Curry

We found some gorgeous red potatoes on sale at Country View Bulk Foods, and so we bought a 10 lb bag. One thing that these potatoes are good for is stews, soups, and chutneys (russets can't really be used as they fall apart when cooked...though that makes them good for baked potatoes and mashed potatoes). On today's menu: a potato curry.

I began by slicing up 2 vidalia onions, and 2 lbs of stewing beef, both of which I browned in a heavy, high-sided skillet.



I then sliced up about 3-4 pounds of those red potatoes, skins on, and added them to the mix.



Next I added my spices: Curry powder, Garam marsala (a spice blend), ginger, salt, pepper, and red pepper. I also stirred in a jar of diced tomatoes, and I let it simmer until the potatoes and meat were cooked through.



As an accompaniment, instead of rice, I used couscous, which I find to be lighter, and a good side dish with a curry.


I garnished it with fresh herbs from my little herb box on my window sill.

Joyful Momma is at TEACH Magazine Today

Well, ladies, it's Monday and that means I'm bloggin' over at Lorrie's Publisher's blog at TEACH Magazine. Today I talk a bit about my methods for planning for the coming school year, and what works for our family. You can read more here, at TEACH.

Breakfast Casserole

Tabitha wrote,

I'm going to need to get the recipe for that breakfast casserole thing, I have the basic idea, but that's a scary way to make something new

Here's the recipe, Tabitha (and everyone!):

The NIGHT BEFORE:

Mix together 1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup and 10-12 eggs. Season to taste (Ruth added Rosemary, parsley, oregano, marjoram, salt and pepper to the one she brought you).
Butter a 9 x 15 baking dish
Pour half a bag of cubed stuffing or a box of croutons...you are basically looking to cover the bottom of the baking dish.

Cook up some meat: sausage, bacon, etc. (your choice) We used turkey sausage (Italian flavored).

Put the crumbled meat or bacon over the croutons, and then pour on the egg/soup mixture. Add the chopped veggies of your choice (Ruth used onions, bell peppers, and green onions). Top with cheese.

Cover and put in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, preheat the oven to 350F and pop your casserole in there for about 45 minutes, or until the eggs are well set.

Using the Leftover Whole Grain Pilaf

Remember that whole grain pilaf I made with the grilled chicken the other night? Well, we had more than half of it leftover, and I wasn't sure what to do with it, since we ate all the chicken. I finally decided on repurposing the rice pilaf into something else entirely.

First, I had thawed some ground beef for spaghetti only to realize at the last minute that I had no spaghetti noodles to speak of, so I heated up my wok, browned (and drained) the ground beef, and seasoned it with a variety of oriental style seasonings, such as chinese five spices, sesame oil, a splash of rice vinegar, some lemon grass, and ginger.


I had a touch of that peanut sauce left over, and so I poured out the rest of the bottle in there, and added some teriyaki too.



Next, I mixed in the rice pilaf, and stirred it well, allowing it to gently simmer with the lid on, until it was fresh and new again. Garnish with sliced up green onions.

Grilled Chicken and Whole Grain Pilaf

Dinners for summer time seem to work best when we have simple things going on. Sometimes I can just be satisfied with nothing but corn on the cob, and why not? It's amazing!

We don't really grill too much, mostly because meat is expensive, and it doesn't seem to stretch as far as other things can and do. Still, I like to grill food...but today when I grilled this Thai peanut chicken, it decided to start raining so we actually cooked on the cast iron griddle--stove top style.

We just got some meat from our friends' amazing Amish meat market, "Heflings Amish Farm Market", where you will find great high quality meats as good prices (please pay them a visit, if you live in Greater Detroit Area). I ran out of freezer baggies like a total dunce, and so the leftover chicken breast that I couldn't bag up as individual breasts, I decided to cut, marinate and grill.


I started by cutting the double breasts in half, and then slicing into them somewhere in the middle on the side, to cut them in half thickness. Hefling's always has HUGE chicken breasts, and no one person could eat all that try as they might..ok, well maybe my teenage son could. Growing boy and all...

I mixed up a marinade using the leftovers of a bottle of Peanut Sauce...I poured in water to fill the bottle, gave it a good shake, and poured it over the chicken along with some oriental five spices (a spice blend), lemon grass, onion powder, garlic powder, and some teriyaki. I let that marinade while I prepped the rice pilaf.

The rice pilaf was started by melting 2T of butter in a large shallow pot, and saulting some minced onions, garlic and carrots in it, until lightly browned. I also added some fresh ginger. I then added 1 c. of brown rice, 1/2c. of wild rice, and another 1/2c. of wheat berries. I saulted these for about 2 minutes, and then poured on 4.25 cups of water with some chicken stock mix (also available from Heflings, by the way).



I brought it to a boil, then turned it down to a simmer, and covered it tightly, allowing it to simmer until all the water was gone and the grains were nice and soft but not mush. :-)

I preheated the griddle (since it was raining on my barbeque), and began to grill up the chicken on the griddle. Having that chicken cut in half also helped them to cook more evenly on the griddle. Raw in the middle steak = good, raw in the middle chicken = bad.

Oriental Salad

We had a get-together thingy at church recently, and I always struggle with knowing what to make. Maybe because I have weird food tastes? Hm, not sure. I don't do "potato salad" in the American style (with mayo)...and I don't like traditional pasta salad either...but no one seems to touch my potato salad when I make it nor my rotini pesto salad (maybe because it's green? hmmm)

This year, I decided to make Oriental Salad. It's pretty easy, and probably pretty healthy too.

Start by shredding a head of cabbage (any kind), and crunching up a bag of raman noodles (oriental flavor). Toss the two together.

Add in 1 sliced onion, 1 sliced red onion, a bag of slivered almonds, some sesame seeds, and shredded carrots.

For the sauce, I mixed in a wide mouth jar:

2T of sesame oil
the flavor packet from the Raman Noodle Soup
1/4c. of rice vinegar (it can be seasoned or unseasoned)
1/2 c. of oil of any sort.
2t of ginger
2t. of garlic
1/4c. of sugar

About an hour before dinner, I shook the dressing well, and poured it over the top of the salad, and tossed it well. With sitting the noodles (uncooked) soften a bit.


Yum!

Baking Cookies with Ruth

My daughter, Ruth, is an AWESOME baker...when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, she's the best...which is why this photo recipe tutorial thingy features her and not me...and of course, her recipe. She was making these cookies for a special get together with the youth group at church. I keep trying to get my daughter here to blog once a week on my blog, but this is as close as it gets so far...;)

Of course the second we started to bake cookies, we realized we were out of brown sugar...but no worries. If you have white sugar and molasses, you can make some brown sugar. Mix 2T. of molasses for every 1 c. of white sugar.


First we creamed together:

1 c. butter
1c. brown sugar
1c. white sugar

Next, we added 2 eggs and a splash of vanilla, and beat it well.

In a separate bowl, we mixed 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 2t. of baking soda, and a pinch of salt, then added it to the mixer, along with a bag of chocolate chips and of course some walnuts.

Using a mini ice-cream scooper, create cookies 1 inch apart on a baking stone or pan (stones seem to keep things from burning badly!) Bake for 25 minutes at 325 F for chewy cookies :-). Shorten the bake times for metal pans.




And, of course, share the beaters with your little sister.

Defeating Depression

One of the things that took me most by surprise when I had children was depression. I knew that the primary source of the problem had to be physical since it seemed to arrive like clockwork as soon as I conceived, as one of the first symptoms of pregnancy, and left as soon as I weaned my last child almost 10 years ago. As I struggled with my feelings in this regard, I also struggled to find a solution to the situation. On the one extreme were those who believed that "real Christians don't get depressed" (and a few even caused me to doubt my salvation), and on the other hand, were those who saw it as solely a medical issue needing little more than the right pill. While medicine does help some, I was not willing to risk my unborn and nursling's life by taking medications that couldn't be guaranteed to help me without negative side effects, after reading up on it more (I suggest, as does the writer of the book I mention below, that you don't discount medications if you need them, but that you do some research into the pros and cons). Instead, during this time, I began my love affair with the Psalms and Proverbs, my two favorite books of the Bible, and I did a lot of crying out to God.

During that dark period in my life, as I struggled with wanting a large family, but not wanting the emotional rollercoaster I seemed to be on with each pregnancy, God showed me so many good things in His word, and helped to sustain me. I can't say that I read the Bible enough and it all went away, nor can I say I always handled it well (understatement of the century), but I can say that I serve a faithful God, and a good God who does all things well. When I came out on the other side of that season, I saw how much God had done in my life to prune me for His glory.

Because of this issue in my own life, and running a website with resources for moms, I have kept my eyes peeled for a great book, audio, or program that would be a blessing to Christian women who value children, value family, and love the Lord who still struggle in this area. As I looked around, I found things that seem to fall on the one side or the other, but never in good balance until now.

Cynthia Carrier, of Values Driven Family, created a program that I feel does strike that Godly balance I've been looking for. Her package, "Defeating Depression: Cooperating with God to Experience Victory over Negative Emotions", is a biblically based examination of depression and other negative emotions, with practical helps and encouragement. Mrs. Carrier's Audio Seminar Package is packed with good things to bless and encourage you: a 45 minute MP3 audio, an ebook, a workbook/journal, 20 designed Scripture memory cards, Cindy Rushton's "Mommy Care Package" Audios, and some uplifting audios from OneVoice.

After reading Cindy's Ebook and listening to her audios, I was encouraged that finally someone got it right, and had created such a helpful resource, but I also wished I had this available to me when I first began struggling in this area myself as a first time mom. Though the ebook is small (just 15 pages of text), it is absolutely packed with meaty encouragement and uplifting, practical advice. Everything she says, I felt, was spot on for any momma struggling in this area.

Finnochio Del La Pomodoro

The title sounds fancy, but what it means is "Fennel with Tomato soup" ...one of our favorites.

What is fennel? It's a veggie that looks like this and is sometimes called "Anise" or "bulb Fennel" or even "Finocchio".


Start by soaking and cooking some chick peas (or thawing some chicken). Next, cut the tops off of the fennel, setting aside the feathery leaves for a later purpose.



Cut each bulb in half again, right through the root, and then carefully cut away the root end.


Slice two fennel bulbs, and slice 2 onions as well.


Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat, and add olive oil and orange zest (dried or fresh...also called orange peel). Add your fennel and onions, and brown them until lightly browned.

Stir in finely sliced chicken breast if you are using chicken, and let it brown.

Add 1 can of diced tomatoes, 3 quarts of chicken or veggie stock, and about 2 cups of cooked chick peas.

Simmer until chicken is cooked through if using chicken. Garnish with the fennel leaves.

Ode to my WhirlyPop

On a recent trip to Frankenmuth for the day, we walked though the Riverplace shopping center, and stopped in at the Popcorn Wagon, where something I had been looking for caught my eye: a shiny new Whirly Pop.

I like popcorn.

I like popcorn ALOT.

I do NOT like Microwave popcorn (ew). The only think it has going for it is the smell. Smells good but tastes, to me, like butter flavored cardboard.

A few years ago, I got a whirly pop for Christmas...and I use it every day, sometimes a few times a day, until It looked like this:


A quick cell phone call to my husband gave me permission to go in and buy it :-) woo hoo.

We made some kettle corn today in it...preheat the pot, and add 1/4 c. of oil, 1/4c. of sugar, and the popcorn (I used more like a half cup of popcorn...:-)), and a touch of salt. Amazing. As I type this I'm eating some...and making my keyboard all greasy! LOL.

Pesto, Pesto!

I always say this...I almost feel like I posted this before (maybe I have) but one of the benefits of growing herbs in you garden is to be able to eat things like Pesto salad in the summertime. Fresh Basil is one of the most amazing flavors in the world.

I start off by going out to the garden with scissors and a colandar...and I cut off several handfuls of basil, wash it well, pull off as many stems as I can, and process the leaves in a blender.

Added to that, I mix in some parmesan or romano cheese, some walnuts (traditionally, pine nuts are used but walnuts work just fine), a splash of lemon juice, and some olive oil. Salt to taste.

Cook up some pasta....rotini noodles work great, and gnocci works well too. Toss the cooked pasta with some pesto, diluted with olive oil if needed. You may want to chill it before serving.

Pesto also tastes good as a sauce on pizza in lieu of the traditional tomato sauce.

Yes, it's green. But it's good for you and tastes great too. :-)

Joyful Momma Blogs at TEACH Today!

Blogging again at TEACH Magazine today....this time on the topic of internet filters. Do ya got one? We do! Read more here.

Joyful Momma is blogging at TEACH Magazine today

It's Monday, and that means that I am blogging over at Lorrie's Publisher's blog at TEACH Magazine.com.

This week's topic is my totally terrific Tiramisu...with a photo tutorial on how to make it yourself.

Check it out:
http://www.teachmagazine.net/index.php?mact=Blog,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=103&cntnt01returnid=56

Even Bigger Sale

Now the sale is even bigger...because I need to call a plumber/septic repair person soon, and so I am having a bit of a fundraiser sale with which to do it! (very unglamorous).

Now EVERYTHING in the store is 20% off until next week Friday, in addition to the sale on Quiet Times in Loud Households previously announced.

Furthermore, I am discontinuing selling the Insight Tech Ed Books, so while supplies last, they are 40% off...so get your art books now for the coming school year...just $6 plus shipping and handling.

http://www.joyfulmomma.org/bookstore2/zc

God's Not Fair! and a SALE

Did that catch your attention? Have you ever said that?

"God's Not Fair!"

No, He's not.

THANK GOD HE's NOT FAIR

Huh? What?

Well, if He were fair, I'd not have the opportunity to be saved from my sin. If He were fair, I'd not be on my way to heaven.

That's what was on my mind recently as I pondered the fact that I've been saved now 18 years today. August 3rd is a special day to me because that's the day the Savior reached down and justified me, and washed me white as snow.

To celebrate this, we have a special in my bookstore just for you. If you go to my bookstore, you'll see that my book, Quiet Times in Loud Households is on sale for 40% off for this week. This includes both the print book and the ebook version of Quiet Times in Loud Households. Furthermore, I have a special audio I've been working on which is free with your order. I will also throw in a copy of Dr. Gene Gurganus' book "Path to Truth and Freedom" for the first 50 people that order the print book. This is a great book covering the basics of our faith, including some apologetics.

Quiet Times in Loud Households was written over the course of my first 10 years as a mother...it took me that long just to get it down on paper. The origin of that book all started when I tried to find a balance as a new mom, and maintaining my relationship with the Lord. You'll be blessed and encouraged!

Bolognese Sauce with Penne Regatta

The title sounds fancy doesn't it?

What it actually translates to is spaghetti sauce with a different kind of noodle. In this case, being out of spaghetti noodles, I used some penne regatta instead (sort of like muscacholi noodles, only smaller. They were on sale at Kroger recently, so I bought several boxes.

I started by thawing some ground beef, and then lightly browning 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic in a large sauce pot. I then added one optional teaspoon of fennel seed. I like the flavor it gives.

Here's a tip for you...when you add seeds and spices, add them at the start of the cooking process (especially whole seeds). When you're adding herbs, you add them towards the end.

Add the ground beef, and brown that. If there is excess grease when you're done, pour it off before proceeding.

Stir in 2T of MSG-Free Onion Soup Mix or Worchestershire sauce. I suppose these are optional, but they really bring out the flavor. I buy the onion soup mix in bulk. It's also available from www.urbanhomemaker.com

Pour in some crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce (I average 3 small cans or two larger cans or jars of home canned sauce). Crushed tomatoes make it thicker and chunkier, so I use those more often.

season with: fresh basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and Marjoram.

I also added a spoonful of finely minced pickled capers. Capers are the flower bud from an herb that grows in the Mediterranean, pickled and put in jars. You can buy it in many stores. I pull out a small spoonful, and I finely mince them with my chef's knife.




I let my sauce simmer with a bay leaf in it for about 30 minutes.

In the meanwhile, i allow my water to come to a boil for the pasta, and I prepared it according to package directions.

I also made a luscious country loaf of herbed bread to go with our meal, and served the Penne Regatta Bolognese garnished with fresh basil, fresh Parmesan cheese, and herbed bread.

Parmesan Cheese: Discovering the Wonder of the Fresh Stuff

On the left is what I've always bought for Parm. On the right is something new I've been trying...a brick of fresh Parmesan Cheese!


Why use fresh Parmesan Cheese? My own reasons are:

• Taste! Oh, it tastes SO GOOD!
• Cost. On the outset it may seem like you're paying more because a brick of fresh Parmesan costs more, but it also lasts 10 times longer (or more). The fresh is also used more sparingly as the flavor is stronger, and you can get more by grating the brick yourself as needed
• It's an attractive garnish on your plate

So how do you use it? There's a few different ways:

• Use a grater
• Use a vegetable peeler for thicker slivers of cheese (this is what I do--see the photo below!)
• Use a julienne peeler (or as my daughter calls it, "The finger-slicer") for thinner strips.
• Grate/peel it fresh at the table over your plate for super fresh cheese!

Using Fresh Herbs

How do I get started using fresh herbs when I am cooking?

Great Question!

I think that most fresh herbs have a stronger flavor than the dried herbs you get at the store. There are some where there is simply no comparison (Fresh Basil, Cilantro, and Basil for example) in flavor. I mostly use those herbs that taste better fresh. These are also usually not only growing in large amounts in my garden, but also in smaller quantities in a planter box in my kitchen.



For Basil, I could give you recipe after recipe. Pesto is a recipe with fresh basil is amazing (just puree fresh basil with a dash of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, parmeasan cheese, and walnuts and use it as a sauce or thin it for use on noodles). We love pesto in the summertime! Sometimes I take fresh basil leaves, and I add them to regular salad for a little extra flavor. I just toss it in with the lettuce. Actually, I do this with all sorts of herbs and fresh, edible flowers (that's another post...edible flowers in salad).

I also use Basil fresh in most Italian dishes.

I start by picking some leaves, washing them, and taking the stems out. Then I stack the leaves up together, and thinly slice them in strips. At this point I either use it as a tasty garnish like this, or I finely mince them to add to a sauce.




When you are adding fresh herbs, you should add them near the end, by the way.

In the off season, I usually have plenty of basil finely minced in a food processor (diluted with a little bit of water) and frozen in ice cube trays. I then store the basil in my freezer in freezer bags for quick use. One cube is about enough for a pot of spaghetti sauce.

I use fresh Cilantro in a similar fashion. Cilantro is good in all things Mexican. It smells obnoxious, to be sure, but thankfully tastes delicious. It is a key ingredient in salsa and in guacamole. I usually mince/chop it up on a board with a chef's knife, after removing the stems as much as possible.

As with the Basil, I have cilantro ice cubes in storage in my freezer too. Martin usually craves guacamole even in December, after all!

Parsley is used just like Cilantro, only it can go in pretty much any kind of dish. The thing I use it most often for is in Tabouleh salad, which is one of my favorite things.

Chives I usually snip over baked potatoes or onto my salad with a small pair of kitchen shears.

I love fresh thyme on a grill with chicken laying on top of it, with just a touch of lemon juice. Fresh thyme is also good when you are making salad dressings (a Greek Vinaigrette). I pull off a branch, and just run my forefinger and thumb along the branch "zipping" off all of the leaves.


Fresh Rosemary I usually use in Italian, Greek, or Provencal-style cooking. I like it especially in a hearty loaf of county bread. This loaf here has fresh chopped rosemary, a pinch of fresh thyme, a whole head of roasted garlic (YUM), and some chives in it. Let's just say we didn't have leftovers. :-)



Now...about Parmesan cheese....

Lebanese Fair: Cooking up some Falafel with Hummus and Tabouleh

When we lived in the city, we often ate at Anita's Kitchen, on Maple west of Livernois, in Troy. They have the BEST Lebanese cuisine I have ever tasted. I've worked hard to perfect the art of falefel making, measuring it against the high standard of their super-falefel sandwiches.

I love having a Falefel sandwich with Hummus and Tabouleh, on either pita bread or a flour tortilla, on a hot summer's day. It's just light enough to not make you feel like you over did it, and just filling enough to satisfy. And, if you have a garden, and if you stock up on staple ingredients when they are on sale, it is a dirt cheap dinner.

First, the Falafel:

Start by soaking about 2 cups of garbonzos overnight (also known as chick peas or chi chi beans as my aunt calls them). Cover them by about 2 inches. If you are also making hummus from dried chick peas, soak extra for the hummus but it is easier to keep them separate.

By about 4pm the next day, you should be good to start work in the kitchen (I also make large batches and freeze the individual falfels on freezer paper, before storing in zipper bags for ease of use).

Start by putting your chick peas into your food processor, and grind them until they are coarse like bulgar or cracked wheat. Add to them a chopped up onion, a handful each of parsley and cilantro (fresh from the garden), a pinch of salt, a generous teaspoon of cumin and coriander each, and a half teaspoon of baking powder. Blend well in the food processor. You should have a thick dough.

Let your dough sit in the fridge while you heat oil to 350-375 (if it's too cool, it will taste greasy). You can also try baking them but sometimes it is too dry that way, so brush them with oil.



Using a spoon or a mini ice cream scooper (works better), make some small balls of falafel dough, and drop them carefully into the hot oil about 4-6 at a time.



When they turn nicely brown on the outside, remove them to a paper towel lined plate.



The Tabouleh
While you are making your falafel dough, start your tabouleh by soaking 2 cups of bulgar in 3 cups of boiling water. If you are using any other grain or pasta (couscous, cracked wheat, rice, orzo, whatever) follow the package directions to prepare it at this time.



Go to the garden once more, and fetch a large bowl full of parsley, and several generous handfuls of mint (don't use the chocolate mint for this.:P)

Finely chop the herbs, and chop up 1-2 onions (a vidalia or a red onion tastes best, I think), as well as a tomato and/or a red bell pepper. Toss this with the finished bulgar, along with 1/4 cup each of olive oil and lemon juice. Salt to taste.



The Hummus

I usually either keep frozen, fully cooked chick peas on hand (I cook large batches of them at a time, and freeze them in baggies for later use to save time and money), or I stock up on canned chick peas when they're on sale. Recently, they were on sale at Kroger for 50 cents each. One can of chick peas makes a good-sized bowl of hummus.

Throw your chick peas into the food processor, with 1 onion, some garlic, coriander, cumin, chili powder (or red pepper), salt, a good dash of olive oil and lemon juice, as well as a splash of sesame oil (a T or so). You can also add Tahini. I like Tahini, but it is both expensive and not readily available in our area. :( Sesame oil, found in the Asian/Oriental section of the grocery store, works just as good (my husband would say better. Blend it until smooth and creamy.

To make a Super Falafel Sandwich, spread hummus on a pita bread or tortilla (or other flat bread, spoon on the tabouleh, and add several falafel to it. Roll and enjoy.



AHHHH The perfect summer meal!
You may also garnish it with other fresh veggies...lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, etc.