Thrifty Thursday: Snow Days!!

I don't know about you but when it starts to snow, I start to want to hibernate.  For me that starts with cooking and baking everything.  We had school cancelled on Thursday, Friday and everything else was closed by the weekend with the snow storm coming and promising up to 2 feet of snow.  I am originally from New York and the amount of snow that we get in Virginia is so much less but the nice thing is when it comes, it is a like a vacation from everything.  You don't have to leave the house at all- no work, no school and no stores.  The place shuts down but I go into winter prep mode!!

First step of winter prep mode was to clear out one side of the garage to fit the new car.  Super excited that we got it done before the big snow storm hit!!  We still have a lot to go through in those piles on the side but hopefully we will do the metal recycling and sell some stuff and make a little more room but I was excited.  We filled up the trash can twice and the recycling bin twice...plus we might have filled the back of my husband's truck with more recycling.

I started by making a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.  I used the chocolate chips and M&Ms that were leftover from my son's birthday party so that I didn't have to waste them.  I was going to make some earlier but I was out of eggs from making all my son's birthday cupcakes.

I decided on leftovers because I hate when the power goes out and you have to throw things away.  I We ate leftovers for lunch and dinner on Thursday.  Luckily, we had leftover lasagna so I was super happy to eat leftovers.  YUM!!

I made a huge batch of chicken broth with the bones, pan drippings and leftover veggies from the freezer which took awhile on the stove to come together and the house smelled yummy after it was all done.

I made a batch of Greek Yogurt Scones with the last yogurt that I had left which was cinnamon pear.  I used the caramel bits that my mom bought me and eggs that my sister in law brought over because I was silly and didn't get any when I was at Aldi's so she kindly brought some when she was coming for dinner.  They weren't as good as the pumpkin yogurt ones but we enjoyed them.

My husband said that he wanted to take care of some of the broth for me so he would totally take some turkey and rice soup.  I made up a fresh pot of saffron rice and when it was coming to the end, I added chopped up carrots (leftover from the $0.49 bag I got at Aldi), chopped up celery (recent Aldi purchase), and frozen turkey from the carcass that my sister in law gave me from Christmas.  I picked all the turkey off before making the broth from that too.  I added the chicken broth to the soup and my husband had a yummy, homemade lunch very quickly.  There wasn't enough time to take a picture but this was the leftovers without broth.  I try to make it so that he can add more broth with the leftovers or he dislikes the soft carrots and celery.

I made red chili sauce and enchilada sauce to compare the two different sauces.  I found the red chili sauce on the internet here but mine was a little more brown then red because of the chili powder (my post coming soon).  I made a batch of my enchilada sauce except I only had crushed tomatoes and not tomato paste so I made it with 1 cup of chicken broth instead of the water the recipe called for.  The recipe is found here.

I also made monkey bread for breakfast which used the free rolls that I got at Harris Teeter.  My son really liked it before so I thought it would be a nice treat after they were done in the snow but my son decided that he didn't want any so my husband and I split the whole pan.  It was super yummy.

I took some frozen taco meat and made some enchiladas with my two sauces and I added some cheese that I shredded and a pot of spicy saffron rice that I made fresh.  I always like to make the enchiladas a little thicker with some rice.  I usually use leftovers but we haven't had any in awhile so I figured that I would make it fresh and we would have a yummy dinner that wasn't on the menu but after smelling all the sauces all day, my husband declared would be really good.  If we like one of the sauces, I may make a ton and freeze it so that we have some for next time.

I had a little bit of milk that was past the date which creeps my husband out but it wasn't turned.  I used to make mac and cheese and there was still a lot left so I decided that I should make another batch of rolls.  Since I bought so many hot dogs, I was set to try to make these rolls hot dog shaped but I am not usually super successful because they start off hot dog size and raise to a sub roll size.  I told my husband that he could just put two in the same bun to save on bread but he doesn't buy that.  I will continue to try!!

I used the extra bread that I had to make croutons.  I made some earlier in the break and took no pictures but I got lots of pictures this time and recipe is coming soon.

I also made lots of popcorn for my son because he loves popcorn!!

I have had a ton of other things that I have wanted to make but we have tried to get a few school things done like our reading and math so there have been a few interruptions in me baking until I drop.  I have a cooking and baking problem when I get stuck in the house.  I think that we would be huge if we got too many snow storms!!!  We are ready for hibernating with four days off of school and the weekend in the middle!!