Corn Chowder

I adapted this from a recipe I found at www.allrecipes.com. This fed my family (my children are mostly smaller) with about a quart leftover for lunches.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups water
4 cups diced peeled potatoes
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 C. frozen corn kernels
1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

DIRECTIONS
In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, combine the first five ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add corn, soup, milk, salt and pepper; heat through, stirring occasionally. Stir in bacon just before serving.

Really good! We had it with Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits, Coleslaw & Baked Apples.

Raspberry Jam Bars

1 yellow cake mix
2-1/2 Cups quick oats
3/4 Cup melted butter
1 Cup Raspberry Jam
1 T. water

Mix cake mix and oats together, add melted butter until all is combined. Press half of mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Mix jam and water together and spread over cake mix/oat mixture. Sprinkle remaining cake/oat mixture over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Easy and delicious!

I found this recipe at www.allrecipes.com

Garlic Roasted Chicken

Are you drooling yet? If not, let me tell you how I make my Garlic Roasted Chicken.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a roasting or casserole pan, place quartered potatoes (scrubbed, with skins on=vitamins!), onions, carrots (also scrubbed and unpeeled -it's called rustic) and celery.
Side Note: Every time I work with celery, I think of my Grandma Helen. She always insisted that we peel celery before serving it.

Back to the recipe. Trim up Mr. Chicken (That's what we call a whole chicken at our house before he's cooked. After he's cooked, we call him GOOD!) and remove neck bone and gizzards. Put all this stuff into your larger sized saucepan along with a quarter of an onion, some celery and definitely some carrots (that's what makes your stock have the beautiful color) and water and simmer covered on the stove until the neck meat comes off. You may add herbs to this, if desired, but I would use fresh for this. This can take several hours. When it is done and has a pretty golden color, strain into a canning jar or two leaving about 1 inch headspace and freeze for later use.

Meanwhile, place Mr. Chicken on top of the vegetables breast side up. Add 6-8 oz. chicken broth, white wine or water to the bottom where the vegetables are to keep them from getting dried out. Drizzle olive oil on chicken and brush to coat with a silicone pastry brush (don't use your natural fiber pastry brush for meat if you can help it). Then, take a whole HEAD of garlic, not a clove, a HEAD of garlic, and separate the cloves, rubbing them in your fingers to get most of the skin off. Don't peel or anything. You want these cloves intact.

Place all but one clove into the pan on top of the vegies and peel the remaining clove and rub all over Mr. Chicken and place it under the skin of the breast.

Roast for 1.5 hours at 375 degrees, until juices run clear. When done, remove from oven, carve up and serve the roasted garlic with baguette slices. The garlic should squeeze out of their jackets onto the bread slices, where you can spread it like butter and eat it. It is SOOOO good.

Now, I realize not everyone is a garlic eater like me. I chalk that up to my Italian heritage. Honestly, I can't eat it like I used to after this many babies. But this is something worth trying. And you don't really have to use the garlic in this recipe. But it is very healthy, especially this time of year, so think about it. WARNING: Your body might emit a garlic odor for a few days after consuming this dish.

And, nope, I do not peel my celery. I am too lazy for that.

The Many Hats of Motherhood

The job of wife and mother has many responsibilities. I like to call them hats. One of the many hats of Motherhood is that of Nutritionist. It's our job to make sure those tummies are full of good, wholesome food.

How do I do that?

1. Constant Education
I am always educating myself on food, cooking and nutrition, use the library to check out cookbooks and magazines before I buy them, take cooking classes which are offered free in my community and do a lot of online research.

2. Talk to People
I find out what my family likes, taking note of what is and isn't a hit.

I ask other moms of larger families how they feed their families.

I ask my friends for the recipes of dishes I've enjoyed in their homes.

3. Plan Ahead
I plan ahead for my week by cooking and baking on the weekend. I make cookies, treats, etc., with whole grains so I'm not tempted to eat/serve something I shouldn't. I make healthy salads ahead for the first part of the week. I freezer cook in a simple way so it doesn't overburden. Instead of making one dish a night, I will make three of the same and freeze two. I don't do this all the time, but a few times a month can build up quite a stock in the freezer.

I'm not perfect. We have days when we don't eat as healthy as we should and I have weeks when I lack the energy to do what I know I should. But I'm working on it and I enjoy helping others work toward feeding their families well, too.

Here's a list of helpful resources to check out:

For Inspiration
www.allrecipes.com (Advanced Ingredient Search for those days when you haven’t planned ahead. Oops!)
www.epicurious.com
www.recipezaar.com

Freezer/Bulk Cooking
Dinner’s in the Freezer, Jill Bond
Mega Cooking, Jill Bond
The 30-Day Gourmet
The Make a Mix Cookbook, Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, & Madeline Westover

http://www.30daygourmet.com/ Nanci Slagle

http://bulkcooking.com/

Crock Pot Cooking
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
Stephanie O’Dea committed to a full year of using her crock pot every day, with some very interesting results. She keeps the recipes online for all to benefit from.

There are a lot of websites with slow cooker recipes and many books on the subject, also. Search the web for “slow cooker” or “crock pot” recipes.

Cooking with Whole Foods
All Sue Gregg Resources http://www.suegregg.com/
Sue’s work is impressive. She has online sample recipes she WANTS you to try before buying her cookbooks. She also has FREE cooking lessons at her web site. Highly recommended by many.
Crystal Miller at www.thefamilyhomestead.com This mother of eight children is an experienced cook of whole foods and beans. She has great information on her website and her blogs.
All La Leche League Cookbooks http://www.llli.org/
Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon

Enjoy!
Kris

Mega Meatballs

Today I processed my ground beef into meatballs. I have a really great recipe that makes 120 meatballs from five pounds of ground beef. They bake in the oven, I cool them and tray freeze them and package 25 to a bag.

Any night I'm stuck for a meal because my leftovers weren't "leftover," or I didn't get my meal prep done or whatever, I pull out a bag. I simmer the frozen meatballs in sauce until heated through and ready to serve. I use them for Spaghetti and Meatballs, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, and less often for Swedish Meatballs.

Having those meatballs in the freezer ready to go really works for me.

And the kids love them, too......