Another Kitchen Creation....

I've been trying to be frugal about groceries lately and came up with another really yummy meal out of things I had on hand the other day.

I always cook my rice in the microwave. I haven't used any other method in at least a couple of years. I use one part rice to two parts water (for my family that's 2 cups rice and 4 cups water). I put it in a covered casserole dish, microwave on high for 5 minutes, then microwave on medium for 15 minutes and let stand covered for 5 more minutes.

For this recipe I put the rice on first and then begin with the rest of the ingredients. In a pot on the stove combine 2 cans blackeyed peas, 1 can rotel (can use mild or tex mex tomatoes), bell peppers and onions (I used minced dried) and smoked or polish sausage (sliced). I actually used little smokies that we had on hand. Bring to a boil, then simmer until rice is ready. Serve this over the rice and add salt and pepper to taste.

This was a hit with the whole family.

Chocolate Gravy

I hear that Chocolate Gravy is a Southern thing and to be honest you either love it or hate it. We mostly reserve it for special occasions at my house, like Christmas morning, birthday breakfasts etc., but sometimes we have it just because. It was something that our Mom made special for us and her Mom for her, so it's a tradition for us. Everyone here, except my hubby, loves it. It may sound kind of weird, but think chocolate covered pretzels. It's kind of got that sweet and salty thing going. When my girls were little a neighbor and I would stay up late for girls nights and would sometimes have this (or cinnamon toast) as a midnight snack. I think you should try it....

Chocolate Gravy
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa (can use more or less if desired)
2 tbsp. flour
2 c. milk (or water)

Place sugar, flour and cocoa together in pot. Stir with a fork until it's thoroughly sifted; add milk or water. On medium heat stir constantly until gravy thickens to desired consistency (It will get slightly thicker as it cools). Remove from heat and serve over a warm biscuit with a pat of butter.

Quick Buttermilk Biscuits

This recipe is from The Southern Living Cookbook. My grandmother gave it to me when I got married and it is my go to favorite. On top of recipes, there are lots of educational sections. I want to find something similar for my girls hope chest.

Quick Buttermilk Biscuits
1/2 c. cold butter or margarine (I use light butter)
2 c. self-rising flour (you can use 2 c. all-purpose; 3 tsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. salt)
3/4 c. buttermilk

Cut butter into flour w/ a pastry blender until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add buttermilk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 3 or 4 times (I tend to skip the kneading). Roll dough to 3/4" thickness; cut with 2-inch biscuit cutter. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 425* for 13-15 minutes. Yield: 1 dozen (3 WW pts. each)

Candied Grapes

Want an idea for a super healthy snack that tastes downright indulgent and is ridiculously easy to make? The only problem with these bad boys is making yourself stop eating them.

All you need is 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of grapes and the corresponding flavor of fat-free, sugar-free jello. (i.e. red grapes, use regular grape flavor; white grapes, use white grape flavor).

Take your grapes off of the stem, rinse them, place them in a freezer size bag and pour the dry mix of jello in the bag. Close the bag and shake them up. Then you can just eat them or put them in the freezer for a hot day! YUMMO!!!!!

"Faux" Strawberry Milkshake

Here's a very healthy (and cheap) alternative to a strawberry milkshake.

8 oz. skim milk
6 oz. Strawberry lowfat yogurt
2 scoops Kal Stevia (you could use two packets of Truvia or whatever sweetener you prefer)
8 oz. ice

Put all of this in a blender and blend until smooth. It's very YUMMY and is 5 WW pts. It makes a lot, more than one glass for sure. You could freeze the leftovers to make popsicles or just drink it in a bigger cup. I didn't have light yogurt, but it would only be 4 pts. with light yogurt. The peach is really yummy, too!

Sometimes I just mix the yogurt, milk and one scoop of stevia (equal to about 1 tsp. or 1 packet of other sweeteners). It's good that way as well.

Easter Story Cookies

Easter Story Cookies by Rachel Keller

A couple years ago, I discovered a recipe for Easter Story Cookies. I was intrigued with the idea and decided to try them out. What a wonderful opportunity this presented to further teach the truth of Easter.
Begin this recipe on Saturday, the day before Easter.

1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon or a wooden meat hammer
duct tape or packing tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300*F.
Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon or hammer to break them into small pieces.
Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.
Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 teaspoon of vinegar into the mixing bowl.
Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.
Add egg whites to the vinegar. Eggs represent life.
Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.
Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste. Then put your pinch of salt in the bowl.
Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus's followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27
So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing! Add 1 cup sugar to the bowl.
Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us. He wants us to know and belong to him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.
Beat with a mixer on high speed for 10 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks form.
Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.
Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheets.
Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus's body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.
Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape to seal the oven door.
Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66.
Leave the kitchen. If you've been making these cookies just before bedtime, GO TO BED!
Acknowledge that the kids are probably sad that they've worked hard to make these cookies, and now have to leave them in the oven overnight. Explain that Jesus' followers were in sad when Jesus died and the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.
On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Ask the kids to notice the cracked surface. Have them bite into the cookies. The cookies are hollow!
Explain that on the first Easter morning, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9.

HE HAS RISEN!

Kitchen Gadgets I Love #5

I got one of these measuring cups for Christmas a couple of years ago. The 4 cup one cost about $10. Which I would have never paid for a measuring cup, so I put it on my wishlist and got it. :) I LOVE it. I would now like to have the 2 cup one as well. The way that these are made allows you to look down into them as you pour to see your measurements. No more leaning down to see things sitting on the cabinet or trying to hod them up level. I also love that the 4 cup one goes all the way down to 1/4 cup measurement, so I can use it for almost anything. You should definitely have one!

P.S. I have recently seen that Wilton and Pampered Chef have something very similar.

WW Key Lime Pie (or whatever fruity flavor you prefer)

1 box sugar free lime jello
1/4 C. boiling water
2 - 8 oz. containers light lime yogurt
8 oz. fat free cool whip
1 - 9" low fat graham cracker crust

Dissolve jello in boiling water. Cool slightly

Stir in yogurt.

Fold in cool whip.

Pour into crust and chill.

Cut into 8 slices. 3 points per slice.

Pretty stinkin' easy. You can also make many other flavors, just match your jello to your yogurt. Lots of possibilities there (peach, lemon, strawberry, strawberry-banana, raspberry, etc.)

Strawberry Concoction (Faux Cheesecake)

This has no crust, but the flavor really reminds me of cheesecake. It is SO yummy!

2c. strawberries sliced
2c. vanilla fat free yogurt (can use plain)
1 box fat free sugar free instant pudding mix (small box) [I prefer using white chocolate flavored, but you can use vanilla or strawberry]
2 c. fat free cool whip

Place strawberries in the bottom of an 8x8 casserole dish. Stir pudding mix into yogurt and spread mixture over strawberries, then spread cool whip over the top.

Serves 8 (1 WW point per serving)

Buffalo Chicken Dip (I Winged It)

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

2 [10 ounce] cans chunk chicken, drained

2 [8 ounce]packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup Ranch dressing

3/4 cup hot wing sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Spread cream cheese on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Combine chicken, dressing and wing sauce and spread over cream cheese. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top and bake at 350* until cheese is melting (the chicken mixture will probably be bubbling around the edges).

I have made this twice and we LOVE it! The other night I was "winging it" and just using what we had. I had one block of cream cheese, 4 small cans of chicken and very little hot wing sauce. So, I used a smaller dish and just had a thicker layer of chicken. I also added vinegar, hot sauce and salt to make up for my lack of enough wing sauce. It was FABULOUS! I do think you could probably leave out the two cheeses for a lighter version and it would still be really good. We ate it with tortilla chips, but you could use crackers, etc.

Accidental Minestrone

Last night I was completely unsure what to make for supper. We had been gone for a couple of days and had just gotten home and I was just struggling to think of something. I've been keeping pre-browned ground beef in the freezer, canned tomatoes in the cabinet and plenty of frozen veggies, so I just thought maybe vegetable soup would work. When I got the tomotoes out I noticed some kidney beans and decided to use those too, then I looked in the fridge to see if we had any leftover veggies in there. We had leftover garlic and rosemary potatoes and green peas. We also had carrots, celery and onions cut up for salads, and I keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge, so I added all of that. Then I looked up the ingredients online to see if there was a similar soup recipe that would give me an idea of some other herbs to add, but instead found that I had basically just made minestrone. I did add more rosemary and salt and pepper and we sprinkled a bit of parmesan cheese on in our bowls. It was SUPER yummy and healthy, too.

When I have time I'll try to find the recipe that was similar to what I did.

Y-u-m-m-y Supper

On the green plates for this evening:

Venison cube steak cooked on the George Foreman grill with homemade (sort of) steak sauce
Garlic rosemary dice potatoes
Steamed Broccoli with cheddar cheese
and last but certainly not least,
Applesauce Cake

Your mouth is watering, isn't it???

Homemeade Dishwasher Detergent

Today we ran out of store bought dishwasher detergent and I am determined to use things that we have on hand as much as possible. A friend had told me about making this homemade a while ago and we talked about it again recently. You mix 1 part borax to 1 part baking soda. I used a quart sized jar to hold it in so I used 1 1/3 cups of each. I also added 2-3 Tbsp. of salt to help keep the dishes from becoming cloudy. I have recently begun learning about and using essential oils, so I wanted to add a scent. By far my favorite is Lemongrass oil. It smells a lot like lemon drop candy. After I added all of my ingredients I put it in my blender to grind it into a fine powder so it would dissolve very easily. We tried 1 Tbsp. in the wash today. If that doesn't seem to get them clean enough we will go up to 2 Tbsp. It made my house smell so good! I also added vinegar to the rinse reservoir. I'm really enjoying trying new things and saving money in the process.

Kitchen Gadgets I Love #4

This is a Paula Deen loaf pan that I got for Christmas. It's glazed stoneware, so it holds heat well and heats evenly. I love the width of it. It makes a perfect sized family loaf and my bread just seems to turn out better and it's pretty! You can go to THIS POST to see bread that I actually made using these pans (I have two). You can purchase them HERE.

If money were no object I would have the Pampered Chef version and honestly that will probably be one of my freebie or discounted items when I host another party. I especially want their mini-loaf pan.

Kitchen Gadgets I Love #3

I need to preface this by saying that is not the exact one that I own. The one I have is a K-tec Kitchen Champ that I bought used from ebay and I got an AMAZING deal. I stalked ebay like a mad woman for a LONG time before I found such a good deal. I think I have about $75 in mine and it's a $400 machine. I LOVE IT! The blender is amazing (this company actually makes the blenders that places like Starbucks use) and the mixer works great for making anything whole wheat. However, if money were no object I would own this.

It's a Bosch and will also hold a blender. I think the motors hold up longer on the Bosch and the bowls are a bit larger, so I could make more loaves at once.

Kitchen Gadgets I Love #2

This is a collapsible colander that I got for Christmas. It folds flat so it doesn't take up near as much room in my cabinet. It has arms that pull out so it will rest over your sink and it's quite a bit larger, so it will hold a lot more. It holds all 5 lbs. of hamburger when I pre-brown it and still has room for more. Again, I'm a cheap-o, so I never would have just bought it for myself, but I did ask for it for Christmas and I'm so glad I did.

You can find it here: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Progressive-Collapsible-Over-the-Sink-Colander/9606033

Kitchen Gadgets I Love #1

When I first saw this one I thought it was a little expensive for what it was. However, I had a Pampered Chef party with a friend and ended up chosing it as one of my freebies. It's great! It has made pre-cooking 5lbs. of hamburger meat at a time much easier. I also use it to chop whole canned tomatoes (it's cheaper at the local grocery store to buy the large can of whole tomatoes) and we use it to mash our baked potatoes before we put all of our toppings on. It gets used around here alot and even the kids have found it very helpful.

You can find more info here: https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=15658&words=mix

Quick Supper

Wednesday's are so busy for us. On a typical Wednesday we are schooling, getting ready for co-op and dance the next day, I'm finishing up the lesson for Wed. night Little Praisers, working, cooking supper, attending a meeting and going to church. I have to be ready to walk out my door with most of that complete no later than 4pm. It is not easy! I also have to make sure that whatever we are having for supper is portable and can be eaten fairly quickly. Patrick and I usually only have about 15 minutes between the meeting and church to try to scarf something down.

As I said before we are eating out of the freezer and pantry. So, today I decided chilli would be the easiest thing to take with us. I don't have bell pepper or onion, so I had to be a little more creative. I ended up using 1 lg. can of tomatos, one can of rotel, three cans of dark red kidney beans, 1 can of green chillis, 2 packets of chilli seasoning and some minced dried onions. I also had ground beef already browned in the freezer. So it literally took me 5 minutes or less to combine all of the ingredients in the crockpot and turn it on. In my book, you can't beat that!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

.....better known as how our lack of discipline and planning caused us to have to be total tightwads for a while.

We've had a lot of expenses lately, most of which I should have planned for, I just did not think about them. Since the first of the year we've had to buy dance recital dresses, pay for Mason to play baseball, I totally messed up the house payment (I was way too tired for multi-tasking and trying to understand a new banking system and GOOFED), the girls birthday and weekend getaway and a bunch of other junk. So, it seems that we are finding ourself in a position that requires being REALLY careful with our money, or more like we aren't spending any. Thanks to Mr. Dave Ramsey we have some savings, but we are trying not to touch it. We're not broke or poor (compared to most of the rest of the world we are truly wealthy), but we just need to be careful. And guess what.......I'm so THANKFUL that we are in this position. We've been living like a bunch of spoiled brats, not thinking about where our money is going or being careful enough with it so we could be generous in areas and this has brought me back to a place of frugality. I used to be so frugal and I loved it. It was so fun to save money. It sort of felt like beating the system and it impresses my hubby and I LOVE that! So this week I've found myself being self-controlled (go figure, guess I needed some work on those fruits) and creative and it's FUN! So what have I been doing.

~Yesterday I went to 2 stores and bought NOTHING! I didn't need anything anyway, so why do I feel compelled to buy something just because it's a good deal????

~We went to my Mom's for lunch (we actually do that most Sunday's so it wasn't very creative, but it did save me money) and we ended up staying for supper too. It was such a relaxing day and I didn't have to feed my family once. Mom had a TON of leftovers from my brother's birthday dinner, so we all ate those and we just had corn dogs for supper (None of us were very hungry after lunch anyway).

~Today I finally made homemade laundry detergent. I've had the ingredients for ages, but didn't have a 5 gallon bucket to make it in. I finally found a 2 gallon recipe. I didn't have a 2-gallon bucket either, but I did have a few old laundry jugs that we'd been saving (okay, okay they were just here because we'd all been to lazy to get them in the garbage). I made the detergent in a lg. pot on the stove and then poured it into the bottles. It will have to set up overnight before we can use it, but we still have a little store bought left. HERE'S where I found the recipe. I think I'll be getting more ideas from her site as well. I have read that this is fine for HE washers.

~I also found 2 bottles of half used fabric softener, so I diluted those with water. When I was a teen and lived with my uncle he did that all the time and it still worked great. I've read about another way that the Duggars do it (which you can find HERE), but I think my kids might make too big a mess with it their way so we'll stick to this for now.

We'll be eating out of the freezer and cabinets for a while, but honestly we should have been doing that anyway. To be truthful we will financially be back to normal in a few days, but I'm praying I'll get back into my old frugal habits and stay there. I have lots of ideas on how to put some extra money to good use, so we are gonna be busy working to make those ideas become reality. This is gonna be fun!

Simplifying Our Food

So, I'm working on simplifying life in general around here, but I have to start with baby steps I suppose. One thing in particular that I have been working on is food. I have grand plans on where to go with that.

~Shop sales and begin couponing
~Make out two weeks worth of menus and grocery list based off of what is available from sales and couponing
~Pre-cooking as much as possible
~Making healthy, easy to prepare choices

So far I'm shopping sales, doing a tiny bit of pre-cooking and attempting to make healthier easy to prepare choices. The only pre-cooking I've done so fare is ground beef. When I buy it I'm going ahead and cooking all of it, seperating it into ziploc bags and placing it in the freezer. I plan to cook up some chicken, shred it and freeze it as well. Those or some of the simple pre-cooking plans, but the girls and I have bigger plans along those lines as well. So thankful they are interested in helping in the kitchen. It takes a lot of the load off of me and helps them learn to do these things for their own families.

I got some fabulous deals this weekend at the grocery stores in a nearby town. I spent about $100 and bought a BUNCH of breakfast foods, meats and veggies. Speaking of veggies.....One of the stores that I went to had Birds Eye Steamfresh veggies for less than 90 cents. I am in love. They are so YUMMY and EASY! I'm definitely sold and will be buying lots of these everytime I see them on sale.

On the simple healthy meal front I have realized that for me it's easier to provide a meat and veggies. Last night I cooked pork chops (I got lean sirloin pork chops for 99 cents per lb.), broccoli w/cheese (This was the Birds Eye, it took 5 min. in the microwave then I sprinkled just a bit of cheddar over it and stuck it in the oven for a min. or two to melt the cheese) and mashed potatoes (I found country crock potatoes on clearance at the local store for 99 cents). Supper was finished in less than 20 minutes and I only spent about $4 on the entire meal. Tonight we had sirloin beef roast (got it on sale for $1.99 per lb.) potatoes ($1.88 for 8 lbs.) and green beans (These were the Birds Eye as well, they took 6 min. in the microwave). I cooked the roast and potatoes in the crock pot all day. The skin of the potatoes is said to house many of the nutrients an no one here minds eating it, so I just laid the potatoes on the cutting board and quickly quartered, then diced them. I probably had 10 minutes of prep in this entire meal. It was very yummy and super cheap. I think I spent about $7, but we have enough leftovers for a full meal. So that makes that meal come to about $3.50 per night.

I'm sure I'm not gonna find those veggies on sale like that all the time, so I think I'm gonna invest in Pampered Chefs micro-steamer, it's actually pretty inexpensive and I could just put frozen veggies in there and have the same result.

One other goal is to eat more green veggies. Honestly this is hardest for me, but I'm getting much better. So far we are all eating salad, broccoli, green beans, brussel sprouts, turnip greens (I tolerate those), everyone but me will eat green peas and I hope to try to feed them all asparagus really soon.

What do all of you do that makes meal time easy?