More Recipes from Six Sisters' Stuff

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. In order to beat the heat and not turn on the oven but still celebrate the holiday, I tried another new recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff.

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Lasagna

I had ground turkey available so I used that instead of beef (and cottage cheese instead of ricotta). It turned out well and tasted good.  

Another day as a last minute dinner because I didn't have anything on the menu plan, I pulled out Instant Cooking by Six Sisters' Stuff and threw Bacon-Ranch Potatoes in the Instant Pot. It was a hit with most of us and I needed to use up potatoes anyway. I need to remember the next time I make it to double it. We could have happily eaten more or enjoyed leftovers later.

 

Six Sisters' Stuff have been great lately for making meals without having to use the oven.  

Eat What You Want Day

Once Screen Free Week was over, we spent too much time on screens. Sigh.

May 11 was Eat What You Want Day so dinner was FFY (Fend For Yourself) but I just so happened to make a new recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff if anyone wanted any.

Instant Pot Hawaiian Meatballs

Craveworthy for me, that's for sure. 

Shelftember

I participated in Shelftember again. 

When I did go to the store (which wasn't very often), I stuck to my shopping list. Because I spent less money on bulk snacks at Winco, I was able to spend more on chicken and ground turkey (not super expensive but not the best deals, either).

I took some of that new chicken and my friend, Stephanie, and I got together to make Instant Pot meals again. Honey Garlic Chicken- it's a favorite.

 

Jeremy came back from his Twin Falls fair with ripe bananas so of course I made chocolate chip banana muffins. Then I pulled corn tortillas, rotisserie chicken, cheese, and spices out and made taquitos. Shelftember! 

 

I baked a lot of bread during the month, including sourdough. I think I'm making progress on figuring out how to do it successfully.

 

I did have to send Jeremy to grab some bread at the store one night because I didn't have any bread to make sandwiches for a trip we were taking. It was better for me to sleep that night than to try to bake bread and let it cool and cut it. I had to get up really early the next morning in order to drive down to Southern Utah (more on that adventure later). Safety is most important. I was too tired to drive home so Jeremy did have to stop at a gas station to get a caffeinated drink and something to eat. But again, we had saved money on other groceries during the month so in order for him to be safe while driving, while I kept dozing off in the passenger seat, it was worth the money.

 

As I mentioned before, I got sick the end of September so we ended up spending more money on groceries than I would have liked the end of the month because Jeremy had to get pizza a couple of times for me as I was getting my appetite back and didn't have energy to make meals. Before I got sick, I was also getting what sounded good for Jr. because he was sick before me.

Oh well. It started out as a good Shelftember. 

Friends Helping Friends

September 19 was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Often we'll do pirate themed food but we didn't this year. Instead my friend, Stephanie, and I got together to make a meal. I supplied ingredients for making an Instant Pot dish, my go to honey garlic chicken from sixsistersstuff.com because she wasn't as familiar with using the Instant Pot as I am so I wanted to teach her. She supplied ingredients for making cauliflower rice. 

So we each learned a new recipe, had great bonding time together, and each went away with a meal for our families.

 

I did celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day by putting on some Monkey Island music.

 

September 19 was also Slimey the Worm's Birthday. This is how Jr. celebrated when I reminded him who Slimey the Worm was. 

Jr.: Oh, I love trash. I love you, Mom.

Then he realized what he said and corrected himself.

Jr.: AND I love you, Mom. AND I love you.

 

September 20 was Pepperoni Pizza Day, String Cheese Day, and Fried Rice Day. We didn't have string cheese but had shredded mozzarella cheese (string cheese is usually made of mozzarella cheese) which we put in the pizza crust. For the fried rice, I threw together whatever stuff in it. We had lots of frozen corn that needed to be used, etc. #shelftember

Do you remember... the 21st night of September? I went around singing that song that day.

National Cream Cheese Brownie Day 2022

It was certainly an afternoon. I wanted to celebrate National Cream Cheese Brownie Day on February 10 and I kept going back and forth between two different recipes that I could make. I finally decided on one and had to let cream cheese soften and had to get some butter out of the freezer. I was going to make it after picking Nichole up. Unfortunately, I completely forgot Nichole had an orchestra rehearsal after school and couldn't figure out why she didn't come out to the van after school. Eventually I had to leave to pick up Jr. and then we drove back toward the high school and caught Nichole as she was walking home. She reminded me about the rehearsal. Oh yeah.

When we finally got home, I worked on the brownies. I used Mel's Kitchen Cafe recipe, Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies. By the time I was done, I didn't have time to make what was on the menu for tonight. So I turned to Six Sisters' Stuff and my instant pot book. Honey-garlic chicken. Yumm. It took me long enough, Nichole barely had time to eat some before she had to go to a performance in the evening. She had more when she got home.

We all had some of the brownies before bed. They were pretty.

 

Indian Food

January 12 was National Curried Chicken Day. I had good intentions to make Indian food that day. It didn't work out. Instead I tried out a freezer meal. Instant Pot Cream Cheese Chicken and Pasta from Six Sisters' Stuff. That took a lot shorter time than Indian food.

The next day, January 13, was Korean American Day. Instead of Korean Beef and Rice like I made last year, I made that Indian Food.

For Christmas Jeremy got me an Instant Pot Indian food cookbook. I used it to make Punjabi Chicken Curry. Along with it I made Alloo Gobi, Basmati Rice, Raita, and I tried out a recipe for Naan from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

It took a long time but it was nice to have a whole meal of Indian food again instead of just one dish to go along with something else we're eating.

National Brownie Day 2021

Jr. asked what to have for after school snack. I told him to make brownies. December 8 was National Brownie Day. A little while later he came to me and said, "I think I may have put too much flour in the brownies. What do I do?" I told him I'd come look. By the time I got out there, he said he'd added a little more milk and that helped. I mentioned that besides being National Brownie Day, it was also Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day. Jr. said, "I wish I could travel back in time to fix the brownies." 

The brownies turned out fine and Jr. Jr. and Lucky took some to an activity they had that evening. 

And brought back even more treats.

Light the World, "Full Attention," that day encouraged us to really listen and give attention to those talking to us. After a rough start in the morning, and some apologizing and forgiving, we had some pretty good talks later. I really put effort into that for my kids that day. Lucky came up to me at one point while I was trying to get something out of the freezer and said, "Mom, talk to me. I need to look in your eyes while you're talking." It was hard to get what I was looking for in the freezer when Lucky wanted to look in my eyes and I didn't have something I needed to say right then. It was funny but hey, he was trying. He's so cute.

Recipes That Work

We tried a new recipe. From Six Sisters' Stuff, we had honey garlic chicken. We had it with rice and some steamed broccoli.

Even the pickiest eaters asked for multiple helpings. 

Everyone agreed that it should be made again (so I already added it to the menu plan for later in the month).

We're trying something new.