Pantry Items of the Day (according to Martha): Today’s pantry item is vegetables. Store only hardy vegetables such as potatoes, onions, garlic, and dried wild mushrooms in your pantry. Potatoes should not be refrigerated; keep up to two weeks’ worth in baskets or bins in a cool dry, dark, well-ventilated spot. Do not store them in plastic, which can encourage mold, Keep onions, shallots, and garlic in the pantry (do not refrigerate) up to one month, and dried mushrooms for several months. Store each vegetable in a separate basket or bin. It is especially important to keep potatoes and onions apart since they can cause each other to spoil.
Is it just me or is this Iron Chef Moms Challenge going by so quick? I have been having a blast planning these meals and Meredith has so many great dishes cooking in her kitchen. My guess is that she is going to beat me with her shopping. There is just no denying Meredith’s shopping skills…as if I could anyway?
One of the ways we save money on our grocery budget is by doing breakfast once a week. My kids will eat anything with syrup on it and I have never had anyone once say, “Delicious pancakes AGAIN?” Breakfast foods are so inexpensive to make and it is a breeze for me to clean up and to prepare.
In my opinion, a griddle is a must in our house because I can prepare dinner in about ten minutes flat. Throw six pieces of French toast on at the same time and we have three people served and happy. You just can’t beat it!
On my
Aldi blog I am incorporating a “Fast Food” night. This night isn’t a rush out to Wendy’s night, but maybe just a quick and simple dish that you can get on the table when there are no dinner plans or you have had a rough day with the kids.
I was having one of those kinds of days yesterday, so I prepared my French toast. I do love to make this in mass quantities, for breakfasts for the kids or for my hubby to take for lunch the next day. The funny thing is that he took this one week to work and got tons of comments on how good his lunch looked. If only they knew how little it cost to throw a meal like that together!
If you have a large family, preheat your oven to 200 degrees and put a cookie sheet inside of it. As you do batches of the French toast, transfer them to the cookie sheet to keep warm. Our family is small, but sometimes I do this and cook up the whole loaf. This is also one of the best ways to keep all the food warm when you serve dinner to guests. We did this as a birthday brunch for my mother-in-law and it was a hit. I just served coffee, orange juice, and a roll of cinnamon rolls. It was easy and inexpensive, but a great way to celebrate her day!
Here is my recipe for French toast- I hope that you thoroughly enjoy it!
Amy’s French Toast
Scaled to serve four
½ loaf of white bread (can substitute with whole wheat)
3 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cup milk (just a splash to thin out the egg coating)
Beat together the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, sugar, & cinnamon. Turn your griddle to 350 degrees or put your skillet on medium-low heat. Dip bread in the egg mixture (on both sides) and drop the bread into the skillet or onto the griddle. Cook until golden brown on each side.
I served this with turkey bacon. I use the Joy of Cooking cookbook’s recommendation and actually put all the bacon on a cookie sheet. Turn your broiler on high and cook for ten to fifteen minutes. The bacon took about twelve minutes and it was crispy. Make a little extra for a BLT for your lunch!
Cost Breakdown:
White bread- $.45 a loaf, used half for $0.23
3 eggs- $.89 a dozen, used three for $.21
Syrup- $.89, used a third of the bottle for $.30
Turkey Bacon- $1.69, used half for $.85
Total Cost To Feed Four- $1.59
Cost Per Person- $.40
Note: This recipe will be added to “the Aldi Queen” and all ingredients listed will be added to my weekly menu planner. My planners are posted every Friday so you can get a week’s worth of ideas and a grocery list in one stop!