My friend, Heather, asked me how to make stroganoff from scratch. Before I do that, let me explain a bit about our family and how we approach food.

We do our best to eat food as close to the way God made it. In today’s society, I guess you’d call that organic. We have not always eaten this way, but about a year ago, we began the process of ridding ourselves of processed foods, dairy with hormones and produce with pesticides. It’s a long story how we arrived in that place, but it was something that was a long time coming for our family. I knew it was what was right for our family, but I felt overwhelmed at the task because of the size of our family. Knowing that organic foods are more expensive, I didn’t know how to do it on our budget. So for a long time I didn’t do anything about it because I didn’t know where to start. Ever felt like that?

Let me just say this, changing our eating habits has been a process and I had to stop using our family size as an excuse and to instead see it as a challenge to be conquered. I have had to figure out where to cut back in some areas in order to compensate for the slight increase in food costs. For example, in order to afford raw milk we’ve had to decrease the amount we consume. We’ve learned how to eat less meals with meat in order compensate for the higher priced meat when we do have it. We buy very few pre-packaged snacks, which tend to be higher priced for convenience, instead I make things for my kids to eat for snacks or they grab a piece of fruit or vegetable.

We’ve had to change some of our habits to include making a run to the Farmer’s Market every Saturday. I personally have had to create more time in my schedule to make things for my family to eat–either to be there when they want it for breakfast/snacks or the increase in time it takes to prepare a meal.

None of this has been without its challenges and we still have not completely arrived. As you can see from our menu that a quick Top Ramen soup has not quite left us yet. Nor have hot dogs. I haven’t taken the time to find a replacement for Top Ramen, but in time it will disappear. The hot dogs have just been replaced with a better option, but I still desire for it to eventually disappear also. Other things were easier to replace as they needed to be replenished, like bleached white flour has now been replaced with whole wheat flour. Some things have been replaced as I have learned new things. Instead of oil, I use applesauce or plain yogurt in my baking or instead of sugar I use honey in my baking. Simple little things, but over time it has brought the changes we desire.

As I stated above, this has been a year long process so think about the ages of my children when this began…9,8,7, 6 and 4. Some people like my friend, Dorina, have had the blessing of being able to feed their children this way since the beginning and their children know no different (although Dorina herself was not raised this way so she’s had to take this journey too). Take a look at my children’s ages again…yep, they know the difference and it hasn’t been easy. They know what McD*nald’s tastes like. They know what Cheet*s taste like. They know what Kr*ft Mac-a-Roni and Cheese tastes like! The one who knows what he’s missing the most is The Driver. He’s got over 30 years of tastes to change. HE has definately been my biggest challenge, but he has also come a long way. He still misses his midnight snack of Hot P*ckets and Cool Ranch D*oritos and can’t help but dip into those every once in awhile, but he is now my biggest supporter.

Let me encourage you with this, according to the USDA, (Thanks, Kendra!)our family should be spending $934.50 per month on groceries, and that’s on the thrifty (lowest possible bracket) plan. What I actually spend on eating organically for our family is about $540 per month. Even if I’m generous in what I buy and come out to $600–I’m still well under what the USDA says the average family our size should be spending. I’m not saying all of this to do anything other than to encourage you that it IS possible to eat organically with a large family if you’re willing to put in a little work.

So what the heck does all that have to do with a simple Stroganoff recipe?! It was to give you a little background on why I make as much of our food from scratch that I can. Yes, it’s much easier to dump a can in and call it good, but doing it from scratch is healthier and it saves us money when I make it myself. As you can see from a snippet into our schedule, to eat healthy you don’t have to be elaborate. I’ve had to learn how to convert our “old standards” over to a healthier version. Grilled Cheese sandwhiches are still on the menu, alongside burritos, tacos and Chili Boats, but now it’s just with homemade chili or homemade refried beans. It’s all possible, it just takes time and a choice. So on to Stroganoff!

This is no special recipe, just what I’ve come up with for our family to replace the canned version. It started with a basic white sauce. I’ve never written it out before so we’ll see how I do.

Stroganoff

1 lb organic hamburger

1/2-1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 small onion, diced
butter for sautéing

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup raw milk

Sauté mushrooms and onion until transparent. Set aside in a bowl for later use. Brown hamburger in a skillet and set aside for later use, but keep it in the skillet.

Make a basic white sauce by melting 2 TBsp of butter in small saucepan. Stir in flour. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat till thickened and bubbly. Once sauce is thickened, add mushrooms & onions. Also add in salt & pepper. Stir until combined over low heat. Pour this sauce over the cooked hamburger that is in skillet. Warm on medium-low heat. While it is warming up, add sour cream to mixture. Heat until warmed through. Serve over rice, pasta or mashed potatoes.

In case you can relate...

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