Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

Garlic knots, from what I gather, are a pizzeria specialty, but I’ve actually never had them in a pizzeria. I heard about them from a co-worker of my husband’s who wanted to know if I’d ever made them. Always up for a baking challenge, I did a google search and came up with a recipe from Epicurious.

Because I’ve never had the real thing, I haven’t the faintest idea about how authentic-tasting these are, but I can tell you that if you like garlic, you’ll probably like these!

The recipe calls for 2 pounds of pizza dough, so you can use the pre-made refrigerated sort or you can make your own. As you may have guessed, I make my own.    Any basic pizza dough, like this one, will work fine.

2 pounds of pizza dough makes a lot of garlic knots, so if your family isn’t enormous, you may want to halve the recipe.

Before you start shaping the knots, turn your oven on to 400° F so that it will be nice and hot when your knots are ready.

There are two different ways to shape the knots, but for either method, you’ll need to divide the pizza dough in half.

For the first method, roll half of the dough out to a 10×10 inch square.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough in half down the middle and then cut each half into strips.

Tie each strip into a knot and place into a greased baking sheet.  When I use this method, I find that I have to dust each strip with a fair amount of flour just to make it manageable, so I’m not really a big fan.

I prefer to cut the chunk of dough into 20 or so pieces and roll each piece into a snake-like shape before tying it into a knot.  It’s less frustrating and less sticky for me!

Bake the knots in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, or until they’re lightly browned.  While the knots are baking, mince some fresh garlic and mash it together with salt to make a paste.  Stir in olive oil (or butter or another fat that you like).

When the knots have finished baking, toss them with the garlic mixture in a large bowl.  A lidded bowl works great for this because you can just shake the bowl until the knots are all coated.

If you’ve got fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese around, sprinkle both on top of the knots and toss the knots again to coat  them.

I happened to be completely out of Parmesan cheese this go-round and I only had dried parsley.  Hopefully you’ll be better prepared than I was! 

Fortunately, these are still really yummy even without the Parmesan cheese. 

Garlic Knots
printable version from Epicurious

2 tablespoons olive oil plus additional for greasing pan
2  lb frozen pizza dough, thawed
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated (1/2 cup)

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly oil 2 large (17- by 13-inch) baking sheets.

Divide dough in half. Keep half of dough covered with a clean kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Gently roll out other half into a 10-inch square on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. (Use your hands to pull corners. If dough is very elastic, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest about 3 minutes.)

Cut square in half with a pizza wheel or a sharp heavy knife, then cut each half crosswise into 15 strips (about 2/3 inch wide). Cover strips with a clean kitchen towel.

Keeping remaining strips covered, gently tie each strip into a knot, pulling ends slightly to secure (if dough is sticky, dust lightly with flour) and arranging knots 1 inch apart in staggered rows on 1 baking sheet. Keep knots covered with clean kitchen towels.

Roll out and cut remaining dough, then form into knots, arranging 1 inch apart in staggered rows on second baking sheet.

(or cut dough into 40 pieces, roll each into a pencil-like shape and tie each into a knot)

Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 15-18 minutes total.

While knots bake, mince garlic and mash to a paste with salt, then stir together with oil in a very large bowl. Immediately after baking, toss knots in garlic oil, then sprinkle with parsley and cheese and toss to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Today’s 365 post: I guess I haven’t swept for a while.

Current giveaway post: Want to know how I did? (multitudinous photos included!)

What’s that title all about? Go and read the new post that’s up on my review page to find out!

This year Joshua requested a gecko cake for his birthday (actually, first he wanted an axolotl cake and then he decided on a gecko).  He’s really into animals and really into reptiles, so I wasn’t at all surprised.

I used a single homemade round chocolate cake layer to make this gecko. I was surprised at how well it worked out…I had just a few scraps left and those were happily consumed by the kids.   I loosely followed the pattern from the axolotl cake diagram for my initial cuts and then just used some of the scraps for the legs.

The axolotl cake recipe suggested freezing the cake before frosting it, so I gave that a try and I am a believer now!  If you’ve ever hacked up a cake and then tried to frost it, you know that the cut sides are a bear to deal with.  Freezing the cake before frosting it makes the job so much easier.

I let Joshua and his friend do the frosting.

I think this was nearly as much fun for them as eating the cake.

Joshua came up with the idea to use chick sprinkles (from a clearance pack of sprinkles that I bought after Easter) for the gecko’s claws.  We also sprinkled the top of the gecko with green sugar from the same pack because it made him look a bit more reptilian. 

And we used some sour cherry balls for the eyes.

You know what’s nice about giving the frosting job to the kids?  It relieves you of any responsibility for making the cake perfect (not that any of mine ever look perfect!).

Joshua was over the moon about his gecko cake, just like Lisey was about her imperfect Peep bunny cake (and like Zoe was about her imperfect Mola-Mola cake).  And Sonia was very pleased with her CandyLand Cake, even though it didn’t look nearly as nice as the one in the magazine.

I love that my children are so excited about the not-magazine-worthy cakes that I turn out…Martha Stewart Living will never call and ask me to share my decorating tips on their TV show, but my cakes make my kids happy and that’s what matters. 

Today’s 365 post: More slightly ugly bread from me

Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!

So most weeks, I see in your grocery pics some furry friends. This week I think I saw a stuffed turtle? Are those part of your grocery purchases or are they your children’s friends that get to be in the picture? Just curious…. Also I was curious whether or not you included personal/paper goods (Toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.) in your grocery budget. thanks for your blog! I love it!

-Jessica

One of these days, I WILL get that FAQ page up, and these two questions will be on it. But I’ve slacked mightily on that, so I’ll answer these questions here. I apologize to those of you who already know the answers!

The stuffed animals all belong to my children and are not new purchases. Heaven only knows we don’t need any more stuffed animals in our house (though my kids would bring home new ones from Goodwill each week if I let them!). The stuffed animal in the groceries tradition started when Joshua snuck a little stuffed spider into a grocery picture, and it’s sort of taken off from there.

And yep, my grocery budget includes cleaning supplies, personal products, and paper goods, though I try to use a minimal amount of those.

I was reading about home schooling on your web site. I have a few questions:

Do home school students take the same test that public school students take? Do you give your children a report card?

How do you balance mom/ teaching?

How do parents decide what text books or curriculum they are going to teach? Where do they get the resources?

When a home schooled student is applying to college, what do they have to show? Is the college process different for them?

-DJ

I’m just going to answer these one by one so that my replies aren’t too difficult to follow.

Do home school students take the same tests that public school students take? Do you give your children a report card?

Requirements for homeschooling vary state by state. In my state, the law simply requires that we provide regular instruction in the subjects that public schoolers would be studying, and the county requires that we either present a portfolio directly to them or to a certified umbrella group (I go the umbrella group route).  So nope, we don’t take the same tests public schoolers do.

I don’t give my kids report cards because I don’t find it to be necessary. In public schools, report cards are partly for the purpose of reporting to the parents how well (or not well) the child is doing, and since I’m here all the time, I know how my kids are doing!   And since I have plenty of one-on-one time with my kids, they’re also pretty up-to-date on how they’re doing.

How do you balance mom/ teaching?

Well, I think they’re one and the same, actually. When I teach, I am Mom and when I am Mom, I am teaching. It’s one of the things I like about homeschooling…that I can train my children as I teach them.

Homeschooling is generally less formal than people imagine. When we homeschool, I’m just me and I relate to my kids  like I do when we’re not doing school.

How do parents decide what text books or curriculum they are going to teach? Where do they get the resources?

That varies parent to parent. Some homeschoolers do a program thru the public schools and in that case, they get their materials from the school.

I make my curriculum choices based on my own experience as a homeschooled student and on recommendations from other homeschoolers. I buy most of my schoolbooks on half.com, Ebay, or Amazon which saves me piles of money!

When a home schooled student is applying to college, what do they have to show? Is the college process different for them?

Most homeschoolers rely on their SAT scores when applying to colleges, though some have diplomas from their umbrella/oversight groups. Also, in my area many homeschoolers start attending our community college during their high school years which means that they can graduate with a two-year degree shortly after high school. I don’t have any personal experience with that, but I imagine a 2-year degree with a good GPA would make it easier to get into a 4-year school.

I know scads of homeschool graduates that have attended a variety of different colleges without a problem. 30 years ago it might have been difficult to get into a college with a homeschool education but that is happily not the case now.

Regarding your last question, I think that homeschooling generally does a good job of preparing students for college. Most homeschoolers are already used to studying on their own, and just generally managing their educations fairly independently, and that makes college much easier.

I am not much of a bread baker, but I do own a bread machine. I was wondering if you knew how your recipes might work in a bread machine. If you haven’t used one, do you know if any of your other readers have used your recipes in a bread machine?

-Nancy

This is one of those times when I’m really glad that I have a bunch of helpful readers.  I’m just about completely clueless about bread machines because I’ve never used one!

For the record, though,I am not against bread machines.  I’ve seen how they can be useful tools for some families and I think that’s great.  Not everyone has to make bread by hand (or by Kitchen-Aid!).

(see also: You don’t have to make yogurt.)

So, my answer is that I don’t have an answer!  I haven’t the faintest idea how to convert a recipe for a bread machine, but I am positive that one or many of my readers will have some helpful conversion advice for you.

Readers, have at it!  Share your bread machine smarts.  And of course any of you that want to chime in on the homeschooling questions can feel free to do so.

I’m obviously doing a grocery spending/menu plan post for today, but I think for the rest of the month I’m going to take a little break from these posts.  I’m not going to give up on them permanently, but I think I need a little break from piling up my groceries for photos, and from typing out and hyperlinking my menus.

I should be back at it right away in October.  And worry not…I won’t go hog wild at the grocery store or start buying things like individually packaged peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

Here are my Weis/Aldi groceries.

I got another 1/2 bushel of peaches from a local farm, plus corn and some new potatoes.

I also picked some tomatoes…

and peppers from my parents’ garden.

I spent $49.09 at Aldi, $37.25 at Weis, and $25 at the farm.  So my total for the week is $111.34. I don’t at all mind being $11 over budget because my huge peach purchase is going to save me money in the future (I doubt I will have to buy jam all winter long, actually).

Weis shoppers, you should pick up a copy of the Healthy Bites magazine at the customer service desk.  It has, among other things, a coupon for $1 off of produce (with a $10 grocery purchase).  I LOVE that kind of coupon!

Oh, and I have a food waste update.  When I was cleaning out my fridge yesterday, I found a handful of slimy green beans at the bottom of the drawer.  So yesterday wasn’t a no-waste week after all.  Boo.  On the upside, slimy green beans are very compostable.

Here’s what we’re eating for the next week.

Saturday-Joshua has his best friend over this weekend for a birthday celebration, so this meal is his choice.

• Seafood Subs
• Doritos
• Peaches
• Lime-Pear Jello
• a cake in the shape of a gecko (wish me luck with that!)
• ice cream

Sunday

• Buttermilk waffles topped with whipped cream and fresh peaches (breakfast for dinner is taken to a whole new level with the addition of whipped cream, in my opinion!)

Monday

• Swiss Mushroom Chicken
• Garlic Knots
• green beans

Tuesday

• Asian Glazed Tilapia
• Breadsticks
• green salad

Wednesday

• Asian Pasta Salad (I don’t follow the linked recipe exactly)
• whatever produce needs to be used by then

Thursday

• Stromboli
• green beans

Friday

• I think we’ll need to have a clean-out-the-fridge meal.

Now, for my question!  I’ve not really bought new potatoes before, so I’m a little unsure of what to do with them. They’re the Superior variety, if that helps. Should I saute them?  Grill them?  Scallop them?  Something-Else them?  Advise me!

Today’s 365 post: Clouds at Dusk (I know, it’s a super boring title.  But the picture is really pretty, I promise!)

Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. Why do I do this? Because in March of 2008, I finally got fed up with the amount of food I was wasting, and I thought that showing my waste to other people would motivate me to use up my food instead of wasting it. Because this often embarrassing practice was so helpful for me, I invited other bloggers to join me in posting their food waste photos, and Food Waste Friday was born. If you’re not a blogger but still want some food waste accountability, feel free to participate by leaving a comment.

I’m pleased to report that I wasted nothing this week. Sweet!

I did forget to report half a pizza bagel last week, though, so you can mentally add that to my two avocados.

Since I’m so boring (in a happy way) today, I’ll share a few food waste related links.

A reader (and then another!) sent me a link to an article related to food waste, focusing on expiration dates. I’ve written about this topic before, and the article is a good refresher!

Also, a reader sent me a link to a Smithsonian slideshow of anti-food waste photos from World Wars I and II. I love these, especially the first one!

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How did you do this week? If you blogged about your food waste, link us up by entering your info into the widget below. You’ll save money, reduce your trash output, and get a little publicity for your blog! And if you don’t blog, you can still share about your food waste by leaving a comment.

I am really not a big fan of fish.  I know I should be, I know that fish is nutritious, but I just do not generally love it.

However, I do like fish when it’s prepared this way, and my kids really, really love it.  They rarely ask for second helpings of a main dish but when this is on the menu, they almost always want more!

The recipe comes from the Betty Crocker Chinese cookbook I bought when I was a teenager, and despite the fact that Betty Crocker is probably not the most authentic source for Chinese food, a lot of the recipes in the book are really tasty.

You don’t have to use tilapia in this recipe, of course…the original recipe called for walleye or sea bass, and I imagine many other fish fillets would work just as well.

First, pat the fish dry with paper towels and sprinkle with a mixture of cornstarch, salt, and pepper.

Refrigerate the fish for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix white wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil together to make the glaze.

And while you’ve got the time, mince the garlic and the gingerroot so it’s ready to use later.

Heat a large skillet until it’s very hot and add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, tilting to coat the surface of the pan. Add the fish and fry several minutes on each side until the fish is browned (the time this takes will vary depending on the thickness of your fish.)

I usually end up needing to add more oil to my pan during the cooking process, and even then, I still manage to mangle my fish pieces some. Fortunately my family doesn’t care too much!

Remove the fish from the pan and add garlic and gingerroot. Cook for 30 seconds, and stir in the sauce ingredients.

Add the fish back to the pan and spoon the sauce over the fish.

I apologize for the kind of boring end product picture…I must have not been feeling too inspired when I took these photos.

So, you’ll just have to take my word for it. This recipe is yummy and even if you don’t like fish, you might like it this way!

Asian Glazed Tilapia
Printable Asian-Glazed Tilapia Recipe

1 pound tilapia or other mild fish fillets
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I use cooking wine because I am just that sophisticated)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons roasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped gingerroot

Pat fish dry with paper towels. Mix cornstarch, salt, and pepper; sprinkle evenly over both sides of fish. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Mix wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil together in a small bowl.

Heat a large skillet until it’s very hot, then add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add fish and cook on both sides until fish is browned and flakes easily with a fork. Remove fish from pan.

Add garlic and gingerroot to pan and cook 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture.

Return fish to pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, spoon glaze over top of the fish.

It’s been a crazy last couple of days…Friday I spent the day at the park with my sister and her kids, Saturday I had a very busy day in the kitchen doing prep work for the next few days, Sunday we went to church and then directly after church we headed down to my in-laws for a multi-birthday celebration. Then on Monday our friends from church came to stay with our kids so that Mr. FG and I could go away overnight. We got back yesterday and I spent my evening unpacking.

And now it’s today, and I have absolutely, positively no baking stuff to share with you because I have had no time to bake!

Instead, I offer up a few pictures of our afternoon on Sunday.

We were celebrating Joshua’s birthday and his great grandma’s birthday. This great-grandma loves crabs, so we had a big platter as part of our meal.

Lisey needed some help from her grandma.

I was helping Sonia, but she decided she really preferred just to pick the claws of the crabs, which was fine with me!

After our meal, the sun was still shining brightly, so we got out the slip and slide.

My kids like to get a really, really good running start.

Joshua flew over the end of the slip and slide a few times.

But Zoe didn’t get even close.    She goes way back, runs full speed, and then comes to an almost complete stop before hopping onto the slip and slide.

After we were done with the slip and slide, we had a cheesecake for dessert (Joshua requested the cherry cheesecake recipe that I’ve shared with you before).

I hadn’t seen my mother-in-law for a while, so I had to show her my new camera body and also my Lightscoop.
This is my husband’s grandma with bare flash.

And with the LightScoop.

I love this little tool for situations where the ambient light is not sufficient for a picture.  (You can see more before and after pictures on my post about the Lightscoop).

Just so you know, no one paid me to talk about the Lightscoop…I’m showing you these pictures because I think it’s a really great affordable camera tool and because I love to see comparison shots with and without the Lightscoop. 

I took my camera with me on our overnight trip, but amazingly enough, I took exactly 0 pictures. I’m not sure what came over me!

The next few days look to be almost as busy as the last few have been, but hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in some blogging time. And hopefully next Wednesday’s post will actually be about baking!

(p.s. If you hop on over to my review blog and share your quick breakfast tips, you can be entered to win a $50 Visa gift card.)

Today’s 365 post: Zoe in the kitchen.

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When I’ve posted about my Goodwill finds, a lot of you have commented on how fabulous my Goodwill must be. And while it is true that my Goodwill is pretty nice as Goodwills go (it’s pretty new, and fairly organized…as organized as a store that stocks completely random stuff can be, at least!), it still takes some patience and effort to find the good stuff.

So, I thought I might share some of the not-so-great merchandise at our Goodwill.  Because if you thought my Goodwill stocked nothing but fabulous stuff, you might be uber-discouraged at the thought of shopping at your Goodwill!)

Hidden amongst the paisley tops…

the double-breasted little boy’s jacket from the 90s….

a candleholder with a pillar sprouting out of a cherub’s head…

a faux fur coat (this was more hideous in person, trust me)

old vacuums (how much do you want to bet that this one doesn’t suck very well?)…

the sweater dresses from the 70s…

the brass frames…

the craft projects gone horribly, horribly wrong…

really, REALLY old candlesticks…

plenty of country/90s wall art…

and just a lot of STUFF,

there are good things to be had.

And sometimes soon, I’ll put together a post of some good things we’ve found lately.  For the moment though, feel free to browse through the Goodwill archives to see a few needles from our Goodwill haystack. 

Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!

First, a reader recently asked how I choose the winners for the giveaways that I do over on my review page (and I’m sorry, but I can’t remember who asked!). I always choose winners using random.org so that the choosing is completely impartial. You’ve got as good a chance of winning if you’re the first commenter as you do if you’re the last or anywhere in between.

Speaking of which, today is the last day to enter in the current $50 Visa gift card giveaway from Kellogg’s. My last few winners have all been in the last 50-100 comments, so do go enter. You might be $50 richer for it!

I’ve had a look at some KA mixers, but there seems to be many different models. Which one would you recommend?

Is it at all possible to get a machine that does the work of a stand mixer as well as a food processor?

-Franci

I own the Kitchen-Aid Artisan mixer (I have the black one) but I originally had the KitchenAid Classic (I burned up the motor in that one by leaving it unattended. The screw-on piece that covers the front (where you attach attachments!) fell off and got stuck while I wasn’t paying attention.).

The Artisan mixer has a slightly bigger bowl than the basic Kitchen-Aid does, and I’m glad that I chose the upgrade.

There is a larger Kitchen-Aid mixer available, but I find the large size to be frustrating when I want to do a small task (the bowl is so big that beating a single egg white is impossible). So, the Artisan is a good middle option for me.

The Kitchen-Aid does have some attachments for meat grinding, grating and such, but I’ve always felt that the food processor is really simpler to use for that kind of task. The attachments are kind of expensive too, so unless your main consideration is space, I’d recommend purchasing a food processor separately.

How do you work leftovers into your menu plan? I struggle to know how much of something will be left and some weeks we have too many leftovers and end up with waste…and other times I plan on leftovers and then we have none and end up scrambling for a meal. I guess I have a hard time planning portion sizes in general. It’s just me, my husband, two preschool girls and a baby. And appetites tend to fluctuate so much…I never know if we’ll have too much or not enough. Do you have any tips for me?

-Gina

We rarely eat leftovers for dinner but we do deal with them in several other ways.

My husband eats them for lunch. Unless we eat everything I made for dinner, my husband eats leftovers every day in his lunch.  This is hugely helpful to me!

I eat leftovers for lunch when necessary. My husband prefers leftovers over a sandwich, but I’m not like that.  However, when we have more leftovers than I can send with my husband, I eat them at lunchtime.  If the leftovers are something my kids really like, they help me eat them at lunch as well.

I use the leftovers to make something else. This only works when the meal is a fairly simple one (you can’t exactly remake a casserole!).  If I’ve got leftover grilled chicken, some leftover pasta, and some random veggies, I sometimes combine them and make a salad (same goes for leftover taco or fajita fixings).  Leftover grilled sausage makes a nice addition to scrambled eggs, and sometimes leftovers can make a pretty good soup.

I freeze leftovers. If I’ve got enough leftovers to make an entire meal, I sometimes freeze them to use later.

Predicting the amount of food you’ll need at a meal is a fine art, and I don’t know that anyone has it down pat.  Since my family generally prefers leftover side dishes (salads, breads) to leftover main dishes, I usually plan on a fairly minimal number of main dish servings and figure that people who are still hungry can always eat more side dishes.

For example, if I’m making panini sandwiches, I make one for each of us (small ones for Sonia and Zoe) and make plenty of corn and fruit salad.  I can repurpose corn and fruit salad much more easily than I can paninis, I’d rather make more of those and fewer paninis.

I know that won’t work for every family, though, so hopefully my readers will have some good ideas to add to mine.

I was wondering what kind of wheat you use when you grind your own? Soft white, hard white, hard red, etc.?

I just purchased my first bag of bulk wheat, and it is an organic hard white wheat…just wondering if this should be treated as wheat for wheat breads only or if it can be used as regular unbleached flour?

-Jill

I usually buy a bag of hard red wheat and a bag of hard white wheat. The white wheat is still whole wheat…it’s just a lighter variety. The flour made from white wheat will not behave quite like unbleached flour (that’s had the brand and germ removed).  However, it does generally produce a lighter product than hard red wheat flour, which means that it’s a less noticeable substitute for white flour.

I wouldn’t use it to bake a cake, but you can definitely try it in muffins, quick breads, and yeast breads.  If you’re adding it to a recipe that normally calls for white refined flour, I’d use a 50/50 combo of white refined flour and white wheat flour and then go from there based on the results.

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Readers, I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on mixers, leftovers, and white wheat.  Comment away!

Today’s 365 post: “Can I have da state puzzle down, please?”

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