Wisdom House Homeschool

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

(Matthew 14:19 KJV)



Intro:  Finger Lickin’ Good - You can read about Christ feeding the 5,000 in many places in the Bible (Matthew14:19;15:36; Luke 5:6;9:3-17). I am a fairly new Christian and one of the many things I love about reading the accounts of Jesus’ miracles, is that there was not a big drum roll, fireworks, a thousand dollar suit or an agent building up some big preview of what was about to happen.  Jesus would calmly say things such as “have faith”, “believe”, “have them sit and pass out these loaves of bread”, and then the miracles began. 

Assignment: Although I am not able to produce miracles, it sometimes feels like I need to when it comes to meal time.  There are times when money is tight, groceries are few and I have to feed my family.  During the holiday season, you might have so much going on that you need to make a meal quickly with as few ingredients as possible.  This week post your favorite recipes that require six (6) ingredients or less.  Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

This year has been an extremely tight year for grocery $. We have been buying as little as we can get away with.Feeding a family of six on few groceries can be a challenge for sure. One of our favorite meals is what we call taco casserole. It's quick, cheap ,tastes great and can even be made from leftovers. Usually we do make this from leftovers. I will buy between 3 - 5 lbs of ground beef, one pack of Taco Bell hard shell taco dinner fixins,one pack of Taco Bell soft taco dinner fixins,extra taco seasoning packets, cheese and nacho flavored chips. We just prefer the flavor the Taco Bell seasoning has but you can use whatever brand you prefer. The TB dinner fixins are only $1.88 at WallyWorld and they come with seasoning and salsa packets. We buy extra packets of seasoning because you need one pack for each pound of meat.It costs about $.57. So , with these fixins we actually have two meals. After the leftover taco meat has rested in the fridge for a day or so and soaked up all the seasonings it has an extra layer of flavor and tastes great. Here is how we fix our casserole (but you could add as many items as you want).

Crumble up nacho flavored chips and use them to make a "crust" in the bottom of a baking dish. Pour in the prepared taco meat (just follow the instructions on the seasoning packets) and spread it around on the crust. Add a layer of salsa and then add a layer of shredded mild cheddar cheese. Repeat these layers if you like.

Last year at Christmas we had tacos at my inlaws for dinner. It was a nice break from tons of turkey that we would all be having at other dinners during the Holidays.

Here is the price break down for these two meals: tacos and taco casserole later in the week

Meat (5lbs) $8.97

Taco dinner fixins (hard) $1.88

Taco dinner fixins (soft) $1.88

extra seasoning 3 packets at $.57 - 1.71

block of mild cheddar cheese - $2.00

naco cheese flavored chips $1.97

total = $18.41

I figure thats not bad for two meals for six people.

Here is a cheap and quick fix chicken meal.

Chicken Tacos

This is a super fast and easy recipe . It uses the canned chicken (like tuna) that is precooked or you can use leftover chicken breast from a previous meal , just chop it up in the food processor .

2 - 12oz. Cans of chicken (or the largest size your store carries) or leftover chicken breast that has been roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic - minced

1 green bell pepper (use whatever color you prefer) - sliced

1 small onion - sliced

1 container of sliced mushrooms ( I use the blue container you get in the produce aisle) (or use canned)

1 small jar of sliced green olives - drained

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Package of small flour tortillas

Salt

Pepper

Drain the chicken well . In a large preheated skillet add 2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil . Add chicken , garlic , peppers , onions , mushrooms and olives . Saute until chicken begins to brown and veggies become soft . Salt and pepper to taste . Remove from heat . Place a spoonful in the center of a small flour tortilla and enjoy . (It may not look like a lot but you will be surprised how far it "stretches" . I just takes a little to fill the tortillas .)

OK, that one uses more than six ingredients but it is still cheap to make. Also with this meal you can add or delete ingredients.

Last but not least are the peppermint milkshakes we have fallen in love with. Yummy!

Mayfield Peppermint stick ice cream $ 3.97 (WW)

Milk $3.99 (Weigles)

whipped cream $2 (Food City)

mini candy canes $1 (Dollar Tree)

Take a large cup (oversized movie theater cup is what I use) and add four large scoops of ice cream. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk (depends on how thick you want your shake). Take a hand held mixer with only one blade attached and mix. I think this works better than a blender but you can use whichever you prefer. Pour into a cup, top with whipped cream and add a straw and a mini candy cane. Enjoy! We already have milk on hand , and candy canes during the holidays so the only "extra" things we have to get are the whipped cream and ice cream. So for an added $5.99 we can have great milkshakes. They cost us about $15 if we go to McD's.

Here are some picture of the shakes. They didn't turn out so great (the pics) but the shakes were very yummy!