recipes

by

French Toast

This recipe comes from Frugal Families and is a family favorite in our home.  I’ve been known to add a little nutmeg or chocolate chips from time to time.  But, the best part about this recipe is that it can easily be halved, if needed, or doubled & frozen to provide many quick breakfasts for the future.   I really love using thick cut homemade bread for this, but have used store bought in a pinch.

 

French Toast

French toast is great for freezing ahead of time, and reheating for quick and easy breakfasts. This recipe calls for homemade bread but store bought is fine. I always make French toast when I have some stale bread because it’s dried out a bit and absorbs the flavored egg/milk mixture beautifully.

2 loaves homemade Bread
2 dozen eggs
2 Cups Milk
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 tablespoon Cinnamon

Slice bread and allow to sit for an hour or two, combine all ingredients except bread, and mix till frothy. Heat up a skillet on medium and spray lightly with cooking spray. Dip bread into mixture, letting it soak up some of the egg mixture, turn over & repeat.  Cook on both sides till golden brown. Place on a paper towel to cool, the paper towel will absorb the the extra moisture. Place single layer on cookie sheet and place in freezer till frozen. Transfer to an airtight container, or Ziploc baggy. To reheat, either place in microwave for approximately 1 minute or in a toaster or toaster oven. Serve with butter and syrup, or Jam.

by

Make Your Own: Instant Oatmeal Packets

 

IMG_0016

 

These are so simple & quick to make & they can save you quite a bit of money, depending on what all you add to them.  If you’re like my family, we like all kinds of varieties.  These can be customized to your family’s tastes and preferences, AND you won’t have all of the additives and preservatives in yours that you find in the ones that you would buy prepackaged in the stores. 

My 8-year-old (very soon to be 9) son loves oatmeal but has trouble remembering what all the measurements are, so these are easy for him to grab and fix himself with a little supervision with the hot liquid (usually milk).

The ones that I mixed up today are just brown sugar and cinnamon because that I what I have on hand right now.  But you could add chopped dried fruit, or even fresh fruit after it’s been mixed up, plus any other spices or flavors that you love. 

I got the original recipe from Frugal Families, but I almost always customize it to our tastes & what I have on hand at the time.

Instant Oatmeal Packets

IMG_0012

  • 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
  • 2 Tbs ground oatmeal
  • pinch of salt

For the ground oatmeal, I place 2 heaping tablespoons of oats in my mini food chopper and process:

IMG_0013

Mix all ingredients together and store in an air tight container, label, & store until ready to use.

IMG_0018

A few variations:

Dried fruit & cream:  1 Tbs. dry milk or nondairy creamer & 2 Tbs. chopped fruit of choice.

Raisins/Craisins & Brown Sugar:  1tsp. packed brown sugar & 1 Tbs. raisins/craisins. 

Spiced Oatmeal:  1 Tbs. Sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and scant 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Brown Sugar & Cinnamon:  1 Tbs. packed brown sugar and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Possible Additional Toppings: Fresh fruits, peanut butter, maple syrup, butter, jam/jelly, apple butter, etc.   The possibilities are endless! 

The cost?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  For me, the cost is  about $0.09/packet vs. $0.18-$0.20/store bought packets.   Again, with dried fruits and other toppings, the price could increase to about $0.12/packet, but it’s still cheaper than buying store bought & adding additional toppings to that, which we usually ended up doing.   This time, I mixed up 26 packets (ran out of baggies) in about 10 minutes time.  It really takes very little time to do this. 

I hope this inspires you to MYO oatmeal packets.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you do. 

 

This post is linked to:

temptmytummy-large-button4

by

Recipe: Grilled Pizza

 

 IMG_0003

If you’re looking for something new or just a new way to have an old favorite, try grilling your homemade pizza.  All you need is your favorite pizza crust, sauce, and toppings. 

Spray a piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray and lay pizza crust on top.  Place on grill and grill until very lightly brown (medium to medium-low heat) on bottom.  Pull off grill and top with your favorite toppings.

IMG_0004

IMG_0006

Return to grill and remove once cheese is melted. We ended up finishing ours off in the oven on broil due to severe weather. 

 IMG_0011

Cut into desired amount of slices and enjoy!

IMG_0009

(My son – making one of his many silly faces.)

Blog Sig

 

 

 

 

 

This Post is linked to:

Blessed with Grace