Thrifty Thursday: Snow Day Baking

In the morning, my son and I did some shape and trace coloring. My husband had printed them out at work while our printer was out of commission waiting for parts to come in.  Luckily, he fixed it just the other night but we had these great printables to enjoy this morning.  I did the squares and the triangles while my son did the circles and rectangles.  It was a lot of fun!!  I made one all bright colors and so did he and then on the second one we came up with colors that went together.  I did greens and yellows while he did blue, pink and purple.  Click on the link above and download these great pictures for kids and adults alike!!

I decided to take this snow day opportunity to get some things cleaned out of the fridge and bake a few things.  I wanted to make rolls because I know that we used up the last of the rolls last night.  I realized that I was out of canola and vegetable oil so I decided to use some melted coconut oil that I had in the cupboard.  I also used shelf stable coconut milk that I got for free instead of the milk that my son drinks.  I used up the last of the vital wheat gluten so I am sad that we won't have any more rolls if I don't find some more.  I got my last bag in Amish country when we took my son to see Thomas the Train but the last time I looked in the store it was a fortune!

I went through the spice cupboard to fill any spice containers and see what I was running low on.  I hope that I have a chance to go up to Amish country on our trip up to New York to fill up on some spices.  If not, I am going to have to find out if the Amish market in Annapolis, MD has good prices on their spices and vital wheat gluten.  I can't believe that I am running low on cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and garlic powder.  On the other hand, I have at least three or four different containers of garlic salt and popcorn salt so we are all set there!!

I cut up some apples that were getting a little mushy and no one was eating with the little ends of a pear to blend and make Applesauce bread.  It is so much better with fresh apples so I was excited and I got to use what we had in the house to make a yummy breakfast for the rest of the week since we ran out of the banana bread already!

After making the kitchen a huge mess, I decided that it would be really good to use up the end of the honey so I decided to make some Honey Beer Bread with what I was thinking would be the end of the container.  I have to microwave the rest of the honey because it is sort of crystallizing so I store it upside down so I figured that this would be way easier because I already have another container of honey to use which I won't start until I finish this container completely.

After making Beer Bread, there is still a little left in the bottom but I got to cook it in the oven with the applesauce bread at the same time so that I saved the energy of heating up the oven- added bonus!  The bread is great right out of the oven or I love it toasted with raspberry jelly for a nice breakfast or snack.  YUM!!

 I wanted to make some more things but the kitchen was a disaster.  I emptied the dishwasher and filled it back up with everything that I had rinsed and used while cooking.  I rinsed all the dishes that I needed to clean and then realized that I was out of energy to make more food but I started thinking about lunch since I had fed my son some leftover white rice two hours before.
 

I bribed... I fed my son a snack of Pumpkin Spice Mallows to thank him for cleaning up his toys, clothes and other messes that had started to accumulate in the family room.  They were the last ones in the bag so I got to throw out the bag and clear the space in the cupboard.

Then, I decided to make some Simple Fried Rice with the huge amount of chicken broth that I had in the freezer.  I defrosted the chicken broth in the microwave while browning the rice on low heat which gave me a chance to wash and dry all the rest of the dishes in the sink.  WHAT!?!  The was some amazing multitasking and nothing got burned.  I added a few packets of soy sauce that we had leftover from Chinese food for a little more flavor after it was cooked.

While it was cooking, I went outside to shovel off the driveway and a path in the driveway so that my husband would be able to get back inside.  I smashed my finger on the mailbox and cut the knuckle :(  I hope that it helps even though I didn't actually get the driveway cleaned out. Snow is still falling like crazy.  I wanted to make some biscuits and chocolate chip cookies but I didn't get a chance to do it today.  I guess I will put them on the list for tomorrow!  I have a feeling that I am going to having another snow day stuck in the house to get a lot more thrifty things done.