Spices Over Yanda Blog (Previously Allyson's Attempt at Domestication)

I just picked up my www.bountifulbaskets.org basket and it was full of a lot of yummy goodies!  Some I know EXACTLY what I'm doing with and some I don't.  Here is what I got... Pomengrants, asian pears, red pears, oranges, tangerines, green beans, avacados, lettuce, cranberries, grape tomatoes, radishes, parsnips, rainbow carrots, turnips, eggplant, onions, large russet potatoes, yellow squash, bell pepper and red potatoes!!! Wowzer! (and all for $30, I got the standard basket and the hostess pack) Christmas morning menu includes overnight cinnamon rolls , bacon, eggs, toast and orange juice.  For lunch we mostly just snack but I like to have stuff we don't normally have.  The menu plan includes cheese varieties, crackers, summer sausage, fancy deli meat.  When we got the avacados this morning we knew we wanted to make guacamole and 7 layer dip.  Here are the recipes we plan to use: 7 layer dip Classic Guacamole Christmas dinner menu plan includes ham, mashed pot

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS SITE!! It is www.everydayfoodstorage.net and Crystal is quite literally my HERO!! Everytime I go to her site I learn more.  I have NEVER had a recipe not turn out that came from her site.  She has taught me how to use my food storage in so many ways that AMAZE me.  She saves me time, money and inspires me to continue cooking for my family!  Have I convinced you with how much I LOVE her and her site?!?!?! So here are some items she posted way back in September.  I remember seeing them but I just wasn't at a place where I felt I could try them out.  But, I'm ready now so here are the items I want to try, yay!! Oatmeal on the go bars (or muffins) Best ever pancake mix - When we went camping last month I wanted to take an easy pancake mix with me, but I really HATE using pre-packaged food.  I prefer to use my food storage and make my own.  I knew I could count on Crystal.  I mixed a batch of this up and it was soo easy Thanksgiving morning while

I need to take a Christmas cookie for our church function this Friday, I think these may very well do the trick, yay!!  Everyone LOVES anything smores related! Smores no-bake cookies My other good stand-by is snickerdooles, but I need to find the recipe, will come back and edit with that later.... Found it! It was actually here on my blog from 2009 just I didn't have it tagged... I love having my recipes on a blog, it's sooo helpful! Snickerdoodle cookies

I got some fun ingredients with my bountiful basket this week and I got A LOT of stuff.  I want to make sure I use it all, so I looked up some good recipes to try that use the produce I received.  Here are some things I want to try in the next week or so. All-Star Muffin Mix with cranberries and pecans (I only have almonds, wonder if it will work) Sweet Potato Fritters Not sure about the pinto beans, but think the fritters might go over pretty well with the family. Oven-Fried Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes - I like that this is a combo of both (which I did get both in my basket of produce) - I see maybe some hamburgers and fries in our near future, might need to tweak the menu a bit Sweet Potato, Corn and Black Bean hash - only because my husband would LOVE this. Baked Acorn Squash - yummmm I've also been looking up dutch oven recipes to possibly try while on our Thanksgiving camping trip.  :)  We'll see.... Fun cooking, yay! -Allison

My October menu plan worked so well I'm excited to do it again this coming month.  Here is my November menu items... :) Beef roast Baked chicken thighs Grilled chicken Grilled steak Chicken pot pie Sausage Calzones Sloppy Joes Baked Chicken Parmesana Vegetable soup Heavenly Chicken Burritos and Quesadillas Spaghetti Chicken and noodles Fajitas Roasted Rosemary Chicken Sausage Alfredo Ham and Potatoes Baked Parmesan Chicken Sausage and Ziti BBQ meatloaf As a side note: Some might be wondering why there are no traditional Thanksgiving meals, but we are going camping over Thanksgiving and so will be doing camping food instead.  The ham and potatoes is for the weekend after that we get back. :) Have a great month of cooking! Allison

The monthly menu has gone very well.  It's been a good learning experience and I do believe I will continue with this idea next month.  I found it smart to do my monthly menu in pencil as I have had to go through and tweak it here and there.  If I knew the schedule was changing I would go and switch things around to better fit the schedule.  It's still a great thing though because I know what I have ingredients for and so I just switch things around.  I do think I've spent more than I planned on already.  I think the reason why is when I go to grab milk I think of other things i need and grab them rather than just going without.  Also, I've been in the mood to cook and bake.  With the pressure off of having to figure out what to make every day, cooking has become more fun again. :)  Overall it's a great step in the right direction. Sunday I found out that my oldest daughter needed to take a dessert Wednesday (today) night to church.  Of course I wouldn't have

A couple weeks ago I found myself BORED with my menu.  Whenever I get bored with my menu, we end up eating out too much.  I vowed to find some new recipes.  I tried three new recipes in the past week and two of them were awesome! The third one we won't talk about other than....YUCK! ;) The new recipes did the trick and I'm back to cooking.  Now if I could just find a way to get un-BORED of cleaning my kitchen after above mentioned cooking... blah! Tuesday and Thursday I am out of the house at swim practice until 7 pm.  Dinner is hard.  Walking in the door with two kids that just had an hour long work-out and are literally STARVING, a 12 year old that is just finishing her homework and a husband who has worked all day...we need to eat ASAP...no time for cooking, it has to be ready.  These are the days where I love my crockpot.  I will either have something in there that is ready to eat or I will have done up a casserole like the sausage and ziti and have my daughter put it i

I know..haven't posted in forever...blah, blah, blah....oh well, I'm here now! :) I've been trying some new things in the kitchen lately and I wanted to share a recipe I made up last night that turned out sooo good. Basically I was wanting to bake chicken in the oven. I like to do this every now and then with boneless breasts of chicken and I've used several items as breading, things like chips and crackers etc. Last night I didn't have any of my "normal" ingredients I would usually use, so I improvised, which for me is kinda new, LOL! Here is what I did... I used a large handful of almonds, 2 handfuls of wheat thins, a large dash of parmesean grated cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, kosher salt and white pepper. I threw it all in my mini food processor and gave a big whirl. Yum! I then just dunk my chicken in a egg, then the breading and baked at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. I also roasted some potatoes and veggies to go with. I used my de