Mama Says

Continuing my real food reading list, I recently finished

Fresh on the heels of my meatless meals carnival (have a great vegetarian dish on your blog? Link it up here!), I thought I’d pass on another trick for converting other dishes. These work especially well for casserole or one-pot type meals.
Substitute legumes and beans for meat.
Lentils and rice make a great substitute [...]

Just in time for Lent!
I thought I’d post my recipe for Charro Beans.  These are so good, and versatile.  If you are not making them vegetarian, add some bacon, sausage, ham, or pork with the onions as a base flavor.  It’s a great way to use up the odds and ends of ham or even [...]

Lent begins this week, and I’ve been thinking of Lenten resolutions.  I’m going to try to be a little more traditional in our meal planning.  Sunday is a feast day, and during Lent there is no fasting on Sundays.  I’m going to go vintage and start making traditional Sunday dinners.  My plan is also to [...]

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I need your help.  Last year I got a paragraph one of my mommy friends makes her children write when they are naughty.  It was kind of long, an essay on “I will respect my parents” “I will love others as Jesus loves them”, that sort of thing.  But I lost the link and I [...]

We are moving to a more natural, real food diet.  We are also on WIC and food stamps (in Texas, if you qualify for SNAP aka food stamps, you are automatically qualified for WIC if you are pregnant or have children under the age of 5).  I’ll be blogging how we make the change on [...]

I spent $179.93 on food this week (a little over my allotment of $165.50 per week.)
I got… raw cheddar! I am so excited to try this.  I didn’t even know the regular groceries were aloud to sell it, but there this little brick was, tucked underneath the hanging bags of Kraft at H.E.B.
This whole buying [...]

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I’ve been reading a lot of foodie books (Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver) and they both emphasize eating locally and eating in season.  I’ve virtuosly passed up on cherries from Chile and thought twice about buying corn on the cob in January (really, what’s the point of that?)  But I really experienced what they are talking [...]

Eat your greens!  This recipe is so easy and cooks right up on the stovetop.  Just give it a stir now and again while you’re doing other work in the kitchen.  I love a dish that doesn’t need babysitting.

It’s great for greens with tough stems, like chard, kale, or bok choy.

1.  Wash your greens. [...]

Well, I finally cleared out enough room in my freezer so I stocked up on some meat.  If I keep the stock rotating, I should only have to hit the stores once per week.
Next week I’m starting a new Food Stamp Challenge.  This time, it will be how my family is moving to whole, real [...]