Menu board

Well here is my menu board i use every month. I first decide what i will be making for the whole month. Then just fill in everyday for the month. I also have a book i use to write down by the week what i am making. In that i have for what ingredients i need for that meal. That is my grocery list i take to the store with me. I have that also for the whole month. Because i only go to the store once a month.

Halloween Fun

Well I am late with posting this, but this is a picture is of my son,  going trick or treating. Although he is 3 now, this is his first time going, and he had alot of fun.

Pain De Mie (Pullman Bread)

Pain De Mie aka. Pullman Bread

I printed the recipe off of King Arthur Flour, then decided to change it up some. Here is the recipe

2/3 cup milk

1 cup water

6 tablespoons butter

2 1/4 teaspoons salt

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk ( I just use dry milk powder)

3 Tablespoons potato flour ( I use instant dry butter flavored mashed potato's)

4 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour ( I mix whole wheat flour and all purpose flour together, and use it for everything, so that is what I used for this recipe)

2 teaspoons instant yeast

In a large bowl, combine the milk, water, salt, and sugar. Add the dried milk, flours and yeast, stirring till dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands and kneadit for 5 to 8 minutes, or until it's smooth and supple. Because of the relatively high fat content of this dough, it's a real pleasure to work with. Transfer the doughto a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Lightly grease a 13x4 inch pain de mie pan. Tranfer the risen dough to a lightly greased work surface, shape it into a 13 inch long log, and fit it into the pan. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise until it's just below the lip of the pan, 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Remove the plastic and carefully place the cover on the pan, let it rest an additional 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350F. Bake the bread for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from theoven, carefully remove the lid, and return the bread to the oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until it tests done, an instant read thermometer inserted into the center will register 100F. Remove the bread from the oven to cool for a few minutes, remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.



Soft Pretzel Bites

Soft Pretzel Bites

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees)
5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup baking soda
4 cups hot water
1/4 cup Kosher salt (for topping or cinnamon/sugar)

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 brown sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center. add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough.. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in  the bowl and turn to coat with oil Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl dissolve baking soda in hot water. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces Roll each piece into a rope can either make into a pretzel shape or cut rope into little pieces. Once all of the dough is all shaped or cut into little bite size pieces, dip each into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. sprinkle with Kosher salt or another topping of your choice. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving From At Home With Mary. I hope everyone has a very good and safe day.

I am Back

Well sorry I haven't posted anything in a few weeks, we lost our internet and phone, but thanks to Verison, we now have a new internet hot spot box, and tomorrow (Wednesday) They say we will have phone service back. So that is a good thing. So wanted to let everyone know that I am back, so I will be back to posting here back on my blog, I have a lot to post.. So stay turned.

Instant Refried Bean Mix

Instant Refried Bean Mix

Well I was on Pinterest again. That website will keep you on it for hours if you aren't careful. Well I found something that seemed interesting. It was for Instant Refried Bean Mix. and Since we go threw alot of Refried beans here, I decided to check it out, after all if it would save me time from making them the regular way with soaking the beans over night then boiling them and then frying them and smashing them. ( to get the refried part) why not. Well I went to the website it is http://www.budget101.com well that is another one of my favorite websites, you need to check it out it has everything on it. but the recipe they gave was.
 3 cups dried navy or pinto beans
3 tsp dried cumin
3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp. salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
In a coffee grinder, food mill, or blender. grind beans until a flour consistency. Combine all ingredients and store in jar or ziploc bag.
To use;
3/4 cup mix
2 1/2 cups boiling water
Mix with a wire whisk until combined. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 4-5 minutes or until thickened.Mixture will thicken more as it cools.Refried beans will remain thickened even when reheating. You can add salsa or chopped chili peppers for added zip.

Well I found the best way to grind up the beans is to use a coffee grinder, I could not get the beans to flour consistency with a food processor or a food mill. The only thing that work was a coffee grinder. and instead of adding all the other ingredients, I added Taco Seasoning pack. I also Used 1 bag of Pinto beans and 1 bag of Black beans. and 2 packs of Taco Seasoning Mix.

Meal Planning

Meal Planning

Well this is what my meal planner and grocery shopping notebook looks like.

I started with this presentation book it has sheet proctectors in it.
I include in the notebook, a master shopping list, I use a dry white board marker it write on the page proctectors and then could just wipe off.
I use a two month meal plan and just reuse them.I write down down all our family favorite recipes, and then make up two months worth of meals.I will go over this more at a later time.
In this book, I keep the calendars with the meals on,
I also keep Inventory Sheets for the pantry, Freezers
I look at these before I go grocery shopping, I get the pantry and the freezers to see what I have and what I need for the meals I have planned for the month. I then mark off what I have on the master grocery list.

Family Management Binder

Well I been seeing all over Pinterest about Family Management Binders, So I thought I should make one, I thought that it would help me with keeping everything that is important in one place.

The supplies I put together a 3 ring binder, page protectors and dividers

 Then I had to decide what to include in my binder that my family would need or use.
Some of the tabs to us

Weekly or Monthly Calender
Daily Schedule
Cleaning Routines
Home Maintenance Checklists and Forms
Address Book
Emergency Numbers
Babysitter Info
Bill Organizer
Menu Plan
Recipes
Grocery List
Pantry List
Freezer List
Vehicle Information
Vehicle Repair/Tune up Log
Monthly Budgets
Important Monthly dates (Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc.)
Home Schooling
Home Inventory
Personal Medical Information
Emergency Plan
Furture- School Information (classes,teachers,activities, schudule)
Daily Meal Plan (For keeping track of you calorie intake)
Child Chore Chart
Weekly Blog Worksheet

There are a few links above that I had made, if you can use them, you are welcome to them.
I didn't use the one for meal planning,recipes, Grocery list, Pantry List, Freezer List. Because it is easier to make a different, (smaller book that you can take with you to the Grocery store(S). And that is what I do, I will show you that book then. This book I keep in my kitchen, then we know where it is at and easy for everyone to get to.

alot of the forms that I used, I had found for free online. just do a search for home management binder.