If you prefer videos, you can scroll to the bottom of this post for my YouTube video.

What is meal planning?

So incase you are new to the game, meal planning is simply planning out in advanced what you are going to eat for dinner. You can plan a few days at time, a week, or even months at a time. Personally I like to plan two weeks at a time as I have been trying to do most of my grocery shopping every two weeks.

Why should I meal plan?

So there are lots of reasons to meal plan, but these are mine:

1. So I know what to buy at the grocery store. By planning my meals, I can write down the ingredients I need and then know what I need to shop for. This saves me money since I am buying things I know I will need, then skipping those items that may just end up rotting in my fridge.
2. The dreaded question: When my kids ask “what’s for dinner” I can look at my plan and let them know.
3. Plan around classes and sports: I can look at my schedule and make sure to plan something simple on nights that we have lots of stuff going on.
4. It saves me a headache of having to figure out what to eat every night. With my plan written down I know when I need to take something out of the freezer, or what meals may be more involved.

What do I need for meal planning?

Now I know that some people buy planners or other journals to plan, but you don’t need anything fancy.

1. Really all you need is someplace to write down what meals you are going to eat. I simply go to printabulls and print up a blank calendar. My August meal plan is below. You can also see how I include appointments, playdates, or other things to better help me know what I can cook for that day.
2. A place to write down your grocery list. You can search for templates that have ingredients broken down by type, but that isn’t what I do. I simply use a scrap of paper to write down my grocery list. What I think is helpful is writing your list in the order that you shop the store. For example when I go to Aldi I start at the fruit, so that’s the first thing on my list. The last stop is frozen so those items go on the bottom of my list.

Other helpful items

The next few items are not things I have always used. In the last few years I have added them and they have made life so. much. easier in terms of meal planning.

A list of what is in your freezer.

For those of you who follow me regularly you may know that Matt and I buy 1/2 a cow each year. When Matt brings it home we vacuum seal the meat and put it our freezers. I write everything down so I know what cuts of meat we have (we also have a ton of ground beef from the cow, but I don’t write that down, I just know we have a ton of it). Once I use an item I cross it off.

If I am shopping and see that chicken is on sale I will buy a few packs, freeze it, then write it on my list.

I think another important part of meal planning is not letting leftovers go to waste. When we end up with a lot of leftovers (like when we smoke a meal, or make a big batch of soup) we will freeze some. I always like to record what we have frozen so on those days that are super busy I can just pull out a meal. You can get your own blank What’s in the Freezer PDF here.

A list of your favorite meals

This is a new addition to my meal planning and I wish I did it earlier. I asked Matt and my daughters what meals they love, and created a master list of our family favorites. I then took it a step further and typed them up based on what type of meals they are (i.e. baked, crockpot, grilled). If you are anything like my family then in the summer you may grill a lot, but winter = all the soup. I also broke them down even more based on the type of meat, since I am trying to get a larger variety in our rotation.

Now when I meal plan 70%-80% of what we eat comes from this list. Then for the other meals I will try a new recipe I found on Pinterest, or in a cookbook. I do love trying new recipes, so some days we may try a few new meals. If we like them, they get added onto the list. You can get our Family Favorites List here, if you are looking for ideas for your own family. If you want your own blank copy, find it here.

PS: If you have any favorite crock pot or instant pot meals please leave them in the comments! As you can see I am lacking.

A place to keep it all

If you look at my calendar earlier in the post you will see it is on a clipboard. I keep my calendar, list of what’s in the freezer, family favorites, and our grocery list all on that clipboard. I then keep the clipboard on our kitchen desk, since it is easily accessible.

If you prefer videos, you can check out my YouTube video where I talk about meal planning and kind of walk you through what a meal planning session looks like.

The post Meal Planning 101: Tips and Tricks appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

As with my other cookie recipes (this one with sourdough discard, and this one without discard), these double chocolate chunk cookies with sourdough discard are made use fresh milled flour. Specifically I use a soft white wheat which I have sifted out some of the bran. If you don’t have fresh milled flour all purpose will work just fine. You may need to add a little more flour if you do use all purpose.

Ingredients in Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Sourdough Discard:

Flour: I use soft white wheat that I mill at home and that has been bolted, meaning I sift some of the bran out

Butter: softened, unsalted butter

Cornstarch: I’ve been adding cornstarch to my cookies for a while now, I feel it helps soften them up

Sourdough discard: this can be fresh discard, or some that has been in the fridge. I find the cookies turn out better if you let the discard come to room temperature if it has been in the fridge.

Sugars: Both brown and white sugar

Baking soda: to help the cookies rise

Cocoa powder: I am not picky with my cocoa power. Whatever you have on hand will work

Egg and egg yolk: both are used to give a little richness to the cookie

Chocolate chunks: I have been loving chunks lately, but chocolate chips work too

Directions:

Step one: Cream together butter, discard and both sugars. After they are mixed add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

Step two: In a separate bowl combine flour, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa powder.

I have to say, as with most cookies, these taste best fresh from the oven. They are so ooey-gooey and chocolately. I store these on my counter in an air tight container. As with my other cookie recipe, these are great cookies for freezing the dough. If you don’t want to bake all the cookies right away, simply put the unbaked dough balls into a ziplock bag after they have been in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then just throw them in the freezer. When you are ready to bake with them put the frozen dough on a sheet and bake it for 12-15 minutes at 375 degrees.

The post Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Sourdough Discard appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

Matt has made a batch of these cookies to bring to work, I’ve brought them into the teacher lounge at the girls’ school, and I recently baked some of these chocolate chip cookies with sourdough discard for a girls trip I took (post to come soon hopefully). Everyone agrees, they are are tasty. I love that they are no more difficult than a normal chocolate chip cookie.

Before jumping into the recipe I should note that this recipe does use fresh milled flour. For those new to the blog I have been milling my own flour at home now for a few years. I really do think fresh milled flour adds an extra something to baked goods. For this recipe I use soft white wheat that I have extracted some of the bran with a larger mesh sieve. I do have a super quick YouTube video about home milled flour if you are at all curious. I do hope to post more videos about milling my own flour in the future.

At any rate, onto the cookie recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sourdough Discard ingredients

These cookies have your basic cast of characters you would find in most cookies (with the addition of sourdough discard)

• butter
• brown sugar
• sourdough discard (can be older discard that was in the fridge, just make sure to let it come to room temperature).
• egg and egg yolk
• soft white wheat flour (or all purpose if you don’t mill your own flour)
• cornstarch
• baking soda
• salt
• chocolate chips

Directions

Start by creaming the butter, sourdough discard, and sugar together. Then add the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, corn starch and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.

Add the chocolate chips and mix.

Portion dough into balls (each about 3T) and put in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

While the are in the fridge, preheat the oven. Then bake cookies for 14-16 minutes. After baking allow to sit on the cookie sheet for ten minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Obviously these cookies taste best right after the ten minute rest time, but they are still delicious the next day (or the day after if they last that long.

This is also a great recipe for freezing. After you have let the cookies chill in the fridge for 30 minutes simple place them in a ziplock bag or a container and throw in the freezer. When you are ready for fresh baked cookies simple take them out, put them on a cookie sheet and bake for 16 minutes. Then allow to sit for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

If you don’t have any sourdough discard on hand, then try out these chocolate chip cookies.

Looking to use up more discard… then these banana muffins are calling your name.

Print

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sourdough Discard

Course Dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 315 grams brown sugar
• 100 grams sourdough discard
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 10 grams vanilla extract
• 390 grams bolted soft white wheat all purpose flour will work too
• 20 grams corn starch
• 7 grams baking soda
• 3 grams salt
• 350 grams chocolate chunks or chips

Instructions

• Start by creaming the butter. Then add the sourdough discard and mix.
• Add the brown sugar to the butter mixture and cream until fluffy.
• Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
• In a seperate bowl combine the flour, corn starch, salt, and baking soda.
• Add the flour mixture to the the butter. Mix until flour is just incorperated.
• Add the chocolate chunks and mix.
• Scoop cookies using about 3T per cookie onto a parchment line cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• While cookies are in the fridge preheat oven to 375℉.
• Once at least 30 minutes have passed remove some cookies to a separate parchment (or slipmat lined) cookie sheet. Bake 14-16 minutes until edges just start to brown.
• Remove from oven and allow to sit on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling wrack.

The post Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sourdough Discard appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

Is it easy to make overnight cinnamon rolls with fresh milled flour?

Yes! I would say the hardest part of making these cinnamon rolls is sifting the flour after you’ve milled it. Since I wanted these to be a pretty fluffy dessert I used a fine mesh sieve to sift out some of the bran. In many of the other recipes I make I either leave all the bran in, or just remove some of it.

After you have sifted out the bran (also known as bolting or extraction) it is simply mixing the ingredients together, letting the dough rise, then assemble, bake, and frost.

Ingredients needed for the dough:

• Flour: like I said earlier I used fresh milled flour. For these rolls I use a combination of hard red and hard white wheat. I mill the berries pretty fine (once again to help with fluffiness of the rolls)
  
• Milk: I used 2% since that’s what we drink. But I think 1% would be fine too
  
• Yeast: active dry yeast is my usually go to. If you only have instant yeast at home that will work to. You don’t need to let the and yeast rest if you go the instant route
  
• Sugar: I use both white and brown sugar. They help with the rise, and I think the combination gives the dough a sweeter flavor
  
• Butter: there is a lot of butter in these overnight cinnamon rolls. There is some in the dough, then some spread on top of the dough before you put the filling on, then some in the frosting
  
• Eggs and egg yolk: I use both eggs and egg yolks in this recipe to really bump up the richness factor. I was aiming for more of a brioche-type dough.
  
• Salt: helps with the flavor

Directions for making the dough:

Start by warming the milk. You want it around 100 degrees. Add the one tablespoon of sugar and yeast and allow to rest for about 5 minutes. I apparently didn’t take a picture of this step, so I am sorry. But after 5 minute the yeast should be foamy. After it has gotten foamy add the eggs, egg yolk and softened butter.

Add the rest of the of the sugar and the flour. Stir to mix and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

After it has rested knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth.

Allow to rise until doubled.

Ingredients for the Filling:

• brown sugar: sweetness and flavor
  
• Cinnamon: taste and flavor

• Nutmeg: more taste
  
• Allspice: a little bit of spiceyness
  
• Softened butter: to spread on the dough and get the filling to stick

Directions for filling:

While the dough is rising I make the filling. Simply mix together the brown sugar and spices. Then after the dough has risen it’s time to roll it out into a rectangle. Spread the softened butter on then sprinkle with the filling ingredients.

Roll the dough up from the long end and pinch the edge closed.

Cut roll about an inch thick. You should get 12 rolls. Place into a pan that has been sprayed with cooking oil.

Cover and place into the fridge overnight.

The next morning take the rolls out and preheat the oven. Bake for 22-28 minutes.

Take out of oven and allow to cool slightly while you make the frosting.

Ingredients for frosting:

• butter: use a softened butter to help for even distribution on the cinnamon rolls
• cream cheese: adds some yummy flavor
• vanilla extract: flavor
• maple extract: flavor
• powder sugar: sweetness

Final Directions for Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Fresh Milled Flour:

Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the powder sugar and extracts and mix until combined. Spread over slightly cooled (but still warm) cinnamon rolls, and enjoy!

Are you looking for more fresh milled flour recipes? Check out these delicious chocolate chip cookies, or super yummy banana chocolate chip muffins! If you are someone who is into sourdough, then you may be interested in these muffins, which are made with sourdough discard. I really hope to get lots more recipes using fresh milled flour and sourdough on the blog soon. I do have a YouTube where I talk a little bit about fresh milled flour if that is something you are interested in.

The post Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Fresh Milled Flour appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

Autumn’s First Holy Communion

Autumn had her First Communion in May. We are so proud of all she learned this year to prepare.

Annabelle’s artwork recognized

One of Annabelle’s artworks was included in the end of year art exhibit for our school district. I was so proud of her! Annabelle loves drawing, crafting, and anything to do with art, so this really made her day.

The Northern Lights

It’s not everyday you can see the Northern Lights in Michigan. Due to the geomagnetic storm in May we were able to see them! I totally let the girls stay up late so they could experience it (the colors showed up more on my phone than what we could see with the naked eye).

The only other time I have seen them is back when I was at MSU, when we randomly saw them one night. Once again, it isn’t a common occurrence in the lower peninsula of Michigan.

End of year shenanigans

The elementary school our kids go to has a color run every year. They kids raise money, then run the track and get hit by color. It’s crazy to think that this was Annabelle’s last color run. But everyone had a blast! And, because we reached our goal, our principal agreed to be slimed!

She is seriously the best principal. She agreed to be slime by each grade!

She took a new job in the district so will not be the principal next year. I am pretty sad about it, as she became principal when Annabelle started kindergarten. We will all miss her very much!

This was Annabelle’s last year in elementary school. It was for sure bitter sweet on her last day of school, and some tears may have been shed. The parents threw a fifth grade celebration for the kids, and I think they all had a blast. I am so proud of all she has done, and can’t wait to see her spread her wings in middle school.

Pool time fun

We opened the pool in May, and have been enjoying spending time in it. Particularly this past week when temperatures were in the upper 90s.

What I’ve been baking

I have been baking a bit, and trying to get better about using my sourdough discard. I really to hope to get lots more recipes on the blog with home milled flour and sourdough discard.

So from upper left I made English muffins, sourdough discard banana muffins, multigrain bread (still trying to perfect this recipe), sourdough biscotti, and sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies… which I hope to get up on the blog soon. They are a little different than my normal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

“Curly Girl Method” Hair

So… I’ve always known I have kinda wavy hair. If I let me hair air dry it doesn’t dry completely straight but with some bend to it. I always just blow dry my hair, which makes it straight, but then it would always be poofy. I’m not sure how, but I randomly watched a YouTube video by Swavy Curly Courtney and realized that I could be styling my hair way different. So I have started my “curly girl” journey. I have already been washing my hair with sulfate free shampoo for over a year so I was excited to take the next step. And let me tell you, I have been surprised and just how much wave and curl my hair is holding.

The first picture is from the day after I washed and styled it… the day after! Normally when I tried to curl my hair with a curling iron it would fall flat after about an hour. But now, if I do a good job on day one, I still have pretty wavy hair the second day. I know my “curls” aren’t the best, but I am hoping that they will start to look better soon.

Grilled breakfast

The other day Matt texted me saying he wanted to have a “staycation” day. He would get up and grill some breakfast, then we’d just spend the day by the pool with a break for hot dogs for lunch.

Let me tell you, this breakfast was awesome. Eggs, bacon, sausage, English muffins, sourdough pancakes, fruit. I for sure want to do this again.

Newest YouTube Video

And, incase you missed it… I finally got another YouTube video up! It took me way longer than expected since I got busy, then I ran into problems editing. But I finally got it done!

Phew! That was a long post! But now I feel that I have caught everyone up! I hope you all have a fabulous week!

The post Life Update June 2024 appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

So, I figured this would be a great time to share some pictures from life lately.

Easter

I realized I never shared a picture from Easter, so here it is. I can’t get over how grown up Annabelle is looking.

The squirrel

So, we have this little red squirrel that has been feasting on pinecones on our deck. He sits at pretty much the place all the time just chowing down. The amount of “pinecone crumbs” he has left on our deck is astounding.

Baking

As always I am trying to come up with new recipes. After much trial and error I think I finally developed a sourdough discard bagel recipe I am happy with. My family has all said that this is their favorite one I’ve done. I hope to have it on the blog soon. I also hope to use this recipe to create a sourdough bagel recipe, but that is always tricky to time.

I also have been working on creating a multigrain bread recipe. I’ve tweaked it a few times, and while it makes an alright bread, I know I can do better. So I will keep working on it.

The Eclipse

Here in Metro Detroit we got a pretty nice show with the eclipse. While we didn’t see totality, we did have about 99% coverage. I was subbing that day and the school district provided all students and staff with glasses so we could watch! It was so cool to see.

Field Trips

Both Autumn and Aubrie had field trips that I got to attend. For Autumn we went to the Detroit Science Museum. We walked around with her best friend (and her best friends dad). We had a blast. I always feel so lucky that I am able to attend things like this.

For Aubrie we went to a Farm Center at a local metro park. We got to see and pet baby goats and lambs. They also let the goats out of their pen to “play”. It was so cute to watch the goats jump around with each other.

Some fun in spring

Here in Michigan April can be crazy in terms of weather. Some days it is 70 and sunny. Other days it is 30 and snowing. After a long winter when those warm days hit everyone is outside soaking up the rays. Our front tree was blooming, and covered in butterflies and bees. One day Aubrie decided we needed to have a picnic outside, and I wasn’t going to say no (she is pretending to be a cat).

Horseback riding

For girl scouts Annabelle got to work on her horseback riding badge. This was her first time on a horse, and I think she did great! This upcoming weekend I’ll be going to a place with Autumn to work on her making games badge.

Two wheeler ridding Aubrie

Near the end of fall last year Aubrie had just started trying to ride a two wheeler. She didn’t really have lots of time to practice, then we had to put the bikes away. Well, when the weather warmed up, we got the bikes down. In about two weeks she was riding by herself. That look on her face… she is so proud of herself!

Must read book for parents of tweens and teens

So another mom I know posted about this book, American Girls, Social Media and the Secret Life of Teenagers, and I knew I had to get it. While I don’t talk about it often on the blog (as it can be a hot topic), I try to limit screen time. None of our girls have a phone or a tablet. While we do have a Switch (which they play) it is not connected to the internet, so they can only play with each other (and video games are mostly only played on weekends).

The no phone thing has started to become a bigger issue for Annabelle (who is in fifth grade), as so many of her friends have phones. Some have phones that are only able to text, while other have full blown smart phones. There are kids in her class are up texting well past midnight, while others are watching Tiktok videos, and inappropriate things on YouTube. Some of the issues with phone use at home has even spilled over into school.

Now, I know this is super controversial, but Matt and I are in agreement that we don’t think most 5th graders need phones. I really do hope to “wait till 8th” to get Annabelle even a simple non smart phone.

Matt and I have discussed getting a “house” cell phone. One that will stay in the house (on the counter in the kitchen), but Annabelle can give the number out to approved friends. It would work pretty similar to a land line. I remember calling friends in middle school (from a land line), and want to make sure that Annabelle can still be social. But, I would also read every single text, and have no qualms calling a parent if something inappropriate was said.

While I have only just started reading this book, it is helping me stand firm in not giving Annabelle a phone, and more importantly keeping her off of social media. The affects of social media on teens and tweens (and in particular girls) just makes my heart sad.

I also know that it will be hard, as there are so many middle schoolers on social media. I don’t want my girls to be social outcasts, but also feel it is so detrimental to let them on social media. It is a bridge I know I will have to cross, so I am trying to arm myself with everything thing I can.

If anyone knows of any good books to help kids understand that dark side of social media, let me know.

The post Hello Monday! appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

Why use sourdough discard?

So why did I make this crusty sourdough discard bread? In an effort to use left over sourdough discard. For those of you unfamiliar with sourdough started you need to constantly feed it a ratio of water and flour. The amount depends on how much starter you have. In my case I usually use 50 grams of starter and then feed it with 100 grams of fresh milled flour and 100 grams of water, which gives me 250 grams of starter. A great amount for when I need to make sourdough recipes, as I will use most for the recipe then feed the left over to maintain my stater.

But what about when I’m not cooking sourdough, and I am simply feeding it to maintain it? Well then I have to discard all but 50 grams of starter. I hated throwing away all of that unfed started so I figured I would use it to make recipes, which is why this recipe came to be.

Ingredients in crusty sourdough discard bread

The ingredients couldn’t be simpler:

• Flour: I use bolted hard white wheat. If you don’t mill your own flour at home you can use whole grain flour. All purpose would work to, but you would probably need to increase your flour amount or decrease the water.
• Water
• Unfed sourdough discard
• Yeast: instant or active. If using active yeast you need to proof it before using. Instant you can just mix right into the dough.
• Sugar
• Salt

Step by Step instructions for Crusty Sourdough Discard Bread

Step one:

Mix the water, flour, sourdough discard, sugar and yeast together. Remember if you are using active yeast you need to proof it before adding it to the dough.

Step two:

Cover with a wet towel and allow this to autolyze for 15-30 minutes. After this add the salt and perform a series of stretch and folds. The dough is not going to to super stretchy, and will still tear easily. Just do your best to give it some folds. Once again cover with a wet towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Step three:

After 15 minutes perform another set of stretch and folds.

Step four:

And one more sets of stretch and folds. By now it should be much stretchier than when you first started. It won’t get quite as stretchy as a normal sourdough.

Step five:

Allow dough to rest for about 30 minutes. It should almost double in size. While dough is resting put your dutch oven into the oven and preheat everything to 500 degrees.

Step six:

Transfer to a banneton, put in a plastic bag and put in fridge for about an hour. I like to pinch the top of the bread a little to give it some tension.

Step seven:

After an hour take dough out of fridge. Transfer to a piece of parchment paper, then score.

Step eight:

Take preheated dutch oven out of the oven, put dough into the dutch oven and put the lid on. Put back into the oven and lower temperature to 425 degrees. Bake for 22 minutes with lid on, and 12 minutes with lid off.

Step nine:

Allow to cool for at least one hour before cutting.

And that’s it! I really do love how easy it is for this to come together. No trying to figure out when you need to feed your started in order for it to be ready to bake with. Just mix everything together and bake it the same day.

You obviously aren’t getting the same benefits from letting the grains ferment longer like you do with a normal sourdough loaf. This loaf also won’t taste as sour as a traditional loaf of sourdough bread, but it sill make a great bread to eat with soup or make sandwiches out of.

If you are looking for other discard recipes check out these muffins. I hope to play around and create more discard recipes, so be on the look out!

Print

Crusty Sourdough Discard Bread with Fresh Milled Flour

Use sourdough discard to create a tasty bread that is ready same day.

Course Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack

Keyword bread, sourdough, sourdoughdiscard

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 400 grams bolted hard white wheat flour Don't have fresh milled flour? You can use whole wheat flour. You could also use all purpose flour, but would need 10-20 grams more.
• 280 grams water
• 140 grams sourdough discard
• 6 grams yeast instant or active dry will work
• 8 grams sugar
• 8 grams salt

Instructions

• Proof your yeast (if using active dry) by mixing it with a little water, and the sugar.
• Mix the flour, water, proofed yeast, and discard together and allow to autolyze for 15-30 minutes.

  **Note: if use instant yeast you can add it right to the dough without proofing it.
• Add the salt perform a series of stretch and folds. Cover with a wet towel and let rest for 15 mintues.
• Perform two more sets of stretch and folds 15 minutes apart. After the last stretch and fold you are going to let the dough rest until doubled. About 30 minutes.
• While the dough is resting put your dutch oven in a cold oven and preheat to 500℉.
• After 30 minutes transfer the dough to a banneton. I like to pinch the top of the dough to give it some tension. Place inside a grocery bag and rest in fridge for 1 hour.
• After the hour take the dough out, transfer to a piece of parchment paper and score the top.
• Take the dutch oven out of the oven place the dough into the dutch oven, then put the lid on and put it back into the oven.
• Lower the oven temperature to 425℉. Bake it for 22 minutes with the lid on, then 12 minutes with the lid off.
• Allow to cool for at least one hour before cutting.

The post Crusty Sourdough Discard Bread with Fresh Milled Flour appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

So, I know that it is technically Spring. But here in Michigan, as I write this post, it is currently snowing. And we aren’t just talking a small flurry. Measurable snow. I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life, so I’m used to it. I still liked those nice warm days we had at the beginning of March though. I also made this soup at the end of February. March was a bit rough (we passed around a stomach bug for about three weeks), so I wasn’t able to get it on the blog until now.

Ingredients for Simple Beef and Bean Soup

Every year we buy half a cow, and we usually end up with quite a bit of ground beef. We also had a lot of dried beans sitting in our downstairs pantry. I was looking of ways to use some of the ground beef (besides burgers, which we don’t do in the winter, and spaghetti), so this simple beef and bean soup was born. It kind of reminds me of a beefy minestrone soup. What I love is how easy it is, and that there are no strange ingredients. Here’s what you need:

• One bag 15 Bean Soup (you don’t use the flavor packet)
• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• 2 large carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 10-12 cups chicken broth (or vegetable or beef)
• fresh spinach
• ditalini pasta
• dried spices: salt, pepper, oregano, parsley and basil

You do have to soak the beans the night before, or follow the directions on the bag for the quick soak. I usually do the overnight soak, but forgot so did the quick soak, and it worked great.

Cooking this simple beef and bean soup is quick and easy.

• Cook the ground beef, then remove it from the pan, leaving the fat
• Dice the veggies and saute in the fat until slightly softened
• Add the spices, beans, and broth and cook for about an hour
• Add the spinach and pasta and cook for 10 more minutes, then serve

What to serve with simple beef and bean soup

To help make this soup more of a filling meal for dinner you can serve it with

• Salad
• sourdough bread
• garlic bread
• Biscuits
• Sandwiches
• Apple slices

Really anything you’d normal serve with soup, would taste good with this soup too. I also tend to lean towards something carb-y like bread, particularly since we have a lot of sourdough hanging around.

I hope that you like this soup as much as my family did!

Print

Simple Beef and Bean Soup

In an effort to use the ground beef we have I created this simple beef and bean soup.

Course Main Course, Side Dish, Soup

Keyword soup

Servings 10

Ingredients

• 1 bag 15 bean soup
• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• 2 large carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 10-12 cups broth (chicken, beef, or vegetable)
• 2 14 oz cans undrained diced tomatoes (28 oz total)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp basil
• 16 oz fresh spinach
• 2 cups ditalini pasta (or other small pasta)

Instructions

• Either soak your beans the night before, or follow the direction for the quick soak.
• Brown your beef in a large stock pot, then set aside, leaving any fat in the pan.
• Dice up your vegetable and cook them in stock pot until slightly softened.
• Add your beef back to the pan, then add the cans of diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and spices. Allow to simmer for about 60 minutes.
• After 60 minutes add the pasta and spinach and cook for another 10 minutes.

The post Simple Beef and Bean Soup appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

On Friday it snowed. Not enough to get a snow day, but enough were the girls were able to play outside when they got home from school. And you better bet I sent them out to play. A neighborhood friend came over to see if they wanted to play, so they stayed out even longer. By Sunday most of the snow had melted so I’m glad that got a chance to get outside as it hasn’t been a particularly snowy winter.

I thought it was pretty funny seeing my snow boots along with my Easter door mat. Only in the midwest….

The thing that kept me the most busy this weekend? Starting construction on our home theater room! When we moved into our house the pervious owners had a home theater. They ended up leaving the screen, projector and seats. The only problem was the room it was in is what Matt wanted to use as his workshop, so we figured we’d move. Five years later we are finally getting started on it.

As you can see below, the room had become a dumping ground for lots of random stuff. So the first step was clearing it all out.

And this what it looked like after we cleared everything out and removed the carpet. It was a big job, but we got it done!

The next day we worked on getting down the track from the drop ceiling, which was quite the task. But man does the room feel bigger now! It is still the same yellow, but since we had to cut the power to remove the lights we are using a battery operated light source.

The next task will be drywalling the ceiling, which also involves building a frame for a soffit, which is a task we will begin this weekend.

Surprisingly enough I didn’t do any baking this weekend. The home theater room took up a great deal of our time, so I wasn’t able to do anything else. This week is Spring Break and I am hoping to get some more baking in (and maybe even a YouTube video… but I feel like I have been saying that for a while and I still have to get on that).

I hope that everyone has a fantastic week! Be sure to check back here on Wednesday, as I am sharing a super simple beef and bean soup (it’s already scheduled so it will for sure be there ).

The post Weekend Recap {3.25.24} appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.

One: Hearing Aids

I got my new hearing aids! I was so excited to finally get my new hearing aids. This was the first weekend with them, so I’m still getting used to them. I have to remind myself not ask “what?” after everything people say since I can actually hear them now.

Two: Recipe Development

I really have been working on creating some new recipes. My ultimate goal is to get more on my YouTube channel, which is proving a little more challenging than I thought. I am still trying to find a good (not super expensive) camera to use for taking videos, along with a video editing program. If you know of any let me know in the comments. But, in terms of recipe development I made a few new ones.

French Toast Bagels

They didn’t turn out exactly as planned, but were still pretty tasty.

Kielbasa and peppers

This is such a simple recipe. You can basically use whatever sausage or kielbasa you want. I’ve made it with smoked sausage, Italian sausage, and a variety of kielbasa. This particular time I used holiday kielbasa from a local meat shop.

Three: Sickness

Two weekends ago Aubrie got sick and threw up. Unfortunately it was in my car, so I got to learn how to wash the car seat cover. She didn’t feel good all weekend, so also missed school on Monday, but was good after that. I waited anxiously to see if anyone else would get it. I thought we were in the clear until Autumn came into our room at 4am to let use know she threw up. She felt a little better Saturday, then threw up on Sunday again. Fingers crossed no one else gets this. Matt is now down for the count.

Four: Detroit Lions Assembly

The girls had an assembly at school and got to meet some of the trainers with the Detroit Lions! They also got to meet Rory (the Lions mascot). It was a Lions spirit day, but my girls don’t really have any Lions apparel of their own, so I lent them mine. I didn’t have a chance to get a picture of Annabelle (who was wearing my sweatshirt), but dig how Autumn’s outfit turned out.

Four: Sourdough

So I have been working hard at developing my own high hydration sourdough recipe, and I think that I finally have a product I am happy with. It still amazes me how simply flour, water, and a little bit of salt can come together to create something so tasty. Be on the look out as I hope to get the recipe on the blog soon.

Five: Rock Climbing

The girls got to go rock climbing with their scout troop. Annabelle isn’t a huge fan of heights and was a little nervous. The first time she tried she didn’t get super far. But then she tried again and made it all the way to the top!

Autumn was apparently on a harder side, so didn’t make it quite as far, but still did awesome!

Six: Cookies

I also baked some of my sourdough discard cookies again, just to make sure that they tasted alright (and to take some pictures). I ended up bringing them into school for the teachers, and they were gone by the end of the day. I’m glad that everyone liked them! I also shared a little bit about my blog with them which was kind of a big deal since I don’t share much about it with others.

Seven: Cookie booth

Since Autumn was sick, Annabelle and I did a solo cookie booth this weekend. Of course it was on a day that was cold and super windy with a feel like temperature of 20ish. Nothing like last weekend when it was in the upper 60s/ 70s.

The post Life Lately {3.11.24} appeared first on A Sprinkle of Joy.