Playing Catch Up with MPP!

I'm playing catch-up with MPP. I've been busy with a few projects. One is a new fence for the fur babies. A nice chain link fence should go up this week. I'm waiting to hear from the installer.

$1 off any four Hunt's® Diced, Stewed, or Whole Tomatoes
$1 off any two Healthy Choice® Fresh Mixers™
$1 off any two Healthy Choice Café Steamers™
$1.50 off any two Orville Redenbacher's Natural Gourmet Popping Corn

More coupons HERE!

The Target coupon match-ups for this week are done if you haven't seen those already. This week I matched some freebies, samples and sign-ups with them while I was putting it together.

Safelink Wireless Service - you or someone you know may qualify for free cellular telephone service. Check it out for all the details.

I have one other project to share with you. I have a new blog. I called it Channeling June Cleaver! I've listed 9 Free Recipe Books for you. I've also added the FDA Salmonella widget for the peanut butter recalls in the side bar. You can keep up with any changes. I've also added a widget for Sweepstakes Advantage. If you aren't a member, you can join and quickly keep up with the sweeps that are being added.

That about does it for me. I'm off to find more info to share.

Ginger --- reporting in for Rita :)

Guest Post: Entertaining on a Budget

In case you don't know, my parents and grandma have been visiting us for the past week. My grandma lives in another country, so we rarely get to see her - this was the first time that she met my husband and our daughter. This evening, my uncle and his family will be driving in from New York, and they will stay the weekend. Although they're not expecting to be entertained, they are still company and guests in my home, and to a certain degree I feel a moral undeniable obligation to play hostess, no matter how much they protest. And playing hostess is taxing - not only on your mind but also on your wallet!

When Beeb, the Super Coupon Girl, offered to scribe a guest post on how to entertain on a budget, it was just too good to be true. So, without further ado, here is the awesome budget-saving post. Take it away, Beeb!

Entertaining On a Budget

With the holidays quickly approaching, many of us are starting to plan parties and family get-togethers. If you're playing host this year, you may be concerned about the impact this will have on your budget. Perhaps you're making the family dinner on Christmas Eve, or maybe you've been nominated to cook for the annual holiday party at work. Whatever the event, if you're cooking for a crowd, it can get expensive. Sure, you're utilizing your coupon skills and shopping the sales, but it might not be enough. Here's some tips to help you stretch your dollar to the max.

Meal Plan Around Your Stockpile
Open your cupboards, and take a good look at what you've got. If you can plan some of your menu around what you already have, you'll save big. When I hosted my annual Halloween party this year, one of the things I served was “Jack 'O Lantern Toast”. I have several loaves of Sara Lee bread in my freezer that I got over the summer, thanks to a free coupon that came out in the newspaper. I defrosted one of those, and topped them with Kraft Cheese slices that had little “faces” cut into them. The cheese was also free, from yet another great coupon that appeared in the newspaper. I made a big batch, and grilled them in the oven. Not only was it a free way to make a bunch of appetizers, it was a hit with the guests!

Stuck for ideas as to what you can make with your stockpile? Check out Recipe Matcher. You can type in a list of what ingredients you have on hand, and it will show you recipes that can be made using them!

Use Inexpensive Ingredients
If you haven't built up much of a stockpile yet – or if it mostly consists of Windex – then you'll still need to purchase quite a bit of food. Think of what items you can buy in large quantities for fairly little. For example, a bag of potatoes doesn't cost much, but it can feed a lot of people. Mashed potatoes are a traditional favorite for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and baked potatoes make a great side dish for almost any meal.

Making your own soup is another great way to make a large amount of food in a cost effective way. I made a simple, delicious soup using pumpkin and potatoes for my Halloween party – have I mentioned yet how much I love potatoes?

Pasta has always been a favorite of mine to serve guests, even before I used coupons. It's easy to make in large quantities, delicious – and cost effective! This year, I got a bunch of pasta and pasta sauce for free using coupons. But even if there's no fantastic sales in your area, it's still a low cost staple that goes a long way.

Make It From Scratch
Baking your own desserts, breakfasts, or breads is another fantastic way to save. If you bought a pie at the grocery store, it would probably cost about four or five dollars. For that amount, you could buy some flour and sugar and make several pies of your own. To save even further, substitute more expensive ingredients with lower priced alternatives. Got applesauce in your stockpile? Use that in place of oil in cakes and brownies. Out of butter or shortening? Opt for margarine. Check out this great list of other ingredient substitutions.

I make a lot of pies during the holiday season, and I often get feedback on how light and fluffy my crusts are. When I tell people that I make my crust out of oil, not butter, they're always shocked. Not only is an oil crust inexpensive, it's also easier to make than a butter crust. Interested in giving it a try? Here's the recipe:

Oil Pastry
Recipe from Betty Crocker's Cook Book - makes an 8 or 9 inch one-crust pie

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (I always omit this)
1/3 cup salad oil
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Measure flour and salt into bowl. Add oil; mix until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until flour is moistened and dough almost cleans side of bowl. (If dough seems dry, 1 to 2 tablespoons oil can be added. Do not add water.) Gather dough together; press firmly into ball. Shape dough into flattened round and roll out.

Budget The Bird
The turkey is probably your biggest expense. Watch your store's sales fliers and see what kind of deals they're running. Some grocers offer special promotions where you can get your turkey for free with a certain purchase amount. Obviously, it makes no sense to spend $100 just to get a free turkey, but if you have to buy those items anyway, or if they allow coupons to sweeten the deal, it may be worthwhile for you.

Hold A Potluck
Finally, you may want to consider making your event a potluck. This could be especially helpful for family gatherings – instead of burdening one person with the planning and expense, everyone can pitch in a small amount and bring one dish.

This is also a big time saver, so it can help reduce the workload for everybody, and leave more time for what's really important during the holidays: spending time with each other.

Guest MENU PLAN: Freezer meals!

On account of utter mommy exhaustion, there will be no menu plan this week. I've been banned from even looking at the menu for Thanksgiving, and after my parents and grandma fly in on Thursday night, they're probably going to want to cook themselves or we'll all go to eat out. Either way, it's seemingly pointless to menu plan this week, not that I have the energy to anyway.

But fear not! I have a GUEST Menu Plan in store for you. Today's awesome guest post on freezer meals comes courtesy of Amber from Random Thoughts and Musings! Thank you Amber!

We have a very chaotic life and do our best to be as frugal as possible. I have three children, one on the way, and a husband who is gone for work quite a bit. I am a full time college student and work at home mom, so time is precious. Several months ago I realized that we were doing an excellent job of staying within our grocery budget, but were eating out way too much. It was totally destroying our budget, and had to be fixed quick! I did some research and decided to try freezer cooking. The way it works is you cook meals that can be quickly heated or cooked directly from the freezer. It saves all the meals out when you are in a hurry, don't feel good, forget an appointment, or have unexpected company. Not only is the meal ready to go when I need it, but I have fewer dishes to contend with on a stressful day. I have found that is also an excellent time to involve the little ones and have quality time with them.

Note on the kid's participation: my little ones are all toddlers, so you will need to adapt for older children. And as always, keep in mind that there are hot and sharp items in the kitchen!

This week we are cooking a few things for the holidays, several meals, and snacks for traveling. Here is what is on the agenda:

• Brown ground beef with vegetables
• Banana nut muffins
• Breakfast burritos
• Meat for gumbo
• Chicken green bean casserole
• King Ranch Chicken

Ground Beef with Veggies
We keep cooked ground beef in our freezer for soups, tacos, burritos, spaghetti, and any other meal that calls for it. I buy in bulk (8-10lb packages) to get a cheaper price. I run a small onion, two carrots, and four celery stalks through the food processor before I start. This is mixed in with the meat before I start browning it. We cannot tell the difference in taste, and it is a great way to sneak in extra vitamins and make the meat stretch a little further. I brown the meat/veggie mixture two to three pounds at a time, then drain in a colander for at least fifteen minutes. Once it cools, I freeze it in freezer bags in approximately one pound batches. When it comes time to cook, all you have to do is throw a little water in the pan, add the block of meat, and heat on medium until thawed. Then you continue the recipe like you normally would.

Kid's Corner: They love to help “squish” the veggies into the meat. They also like putting it in the bags. I always let them color on the bags once I am done with a washable marker. It doesn't hurt, and they feel like they are really big!


Banana nut muffins
I use the recipe from Simply Recipes. They freeze wonderfully once cooled and thaw out in just a few seconds in the microwave.

You will need (for 12 muffins):

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)
• No need for a mixer with this recipe!
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.
3. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
4. Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
5. Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Kid's Corner: I let the little ones mix the batter and help dip them into the muffin tins.


Breakfast burritos
These are quick and are great for a breakfast or snack on the run. You can add or subtract just about any ingredient without a problem.

• 1 dozen eggs
• 1 pound sausage
• ¼ pound cheese, shredded
• 14-18 flour tortillas

Scramble the eggs and brown the sausage. Split evenly between tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese. Wrap up, wrap with saran wrap and freeze. These can be put straight into the microwave, plastic wrap included, for about 30 seconds and they are ready to eat.

Kid's Corner: They love to stuff the burritos, but expect a mess! :)


Meat for gumbo
Gumbo is a staple in our house. We use the Louisiana Gumbo Mix (usually around $1.50) for when we are in a hurry.

• 2 chicken breasts (bone in) boiled
• ½ lb sausage, steamed

Chop up chicken and sausage in bite size pieces. Cool and freeze all together in one bag. Save chicken bones for stock! When it comes time to cook, just add about 15-20 minutes to total cook time to allow meat to thaw. Super easy! This also works great to add to Jambalaya or Cajun Red Beans and rice. (Think Kroger's/Dillon's sales)


Chicken green bean casserole
This is super easy, tastes great, and freezes well.

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can cut green beans
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• pepper to taste

Mix canned ingredients together, put chicken on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350degrees for about 25 minutes. Allow to cool, cover, and freeze. When ready to serve, bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until hot.


King Ranch Chicken
This is a delicious, quick meal.

• One whole chicken, boiled and chopped into bite size pieces
• One can cream mushroom soup
• One can cream chicken soup
• One can enchilada sauce
• One small onion, chopped
• ½ bag Nacho Cheese Doritos, crunched and crumbed
• ½ pound shredded cheese

Mix all ingredients together in large pan. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and it is hot.. Chill, cover, and freeze. Re-heat directly from freezer at 350 for about 30-45 minutes until hot. Serve over Doritos. We sometimes serve refried beans on the side. Don't forget to save your bones for chicken stock!



I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it really pays off in the end. You have lots of meals to choose from and can fix them with very little work. It saves us a lot of money because we do not eat out as much and I can plan our meals around what is on sale and we have been able to stock up on. Don't just let your freezer hold ice and Popsicles... let it be your frugal friend!

Make sure you check out Amber's site Random Thoughts and Musings for more awesome recipes and tips!

Menu Plan for 11-16 to 11-22

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S MENU
complete with recipes & my shopping list

Total cost of food (my menu items list): $41.48
Click to see the details of my commissary shopping trip

No, I'm not cooking some big huge gourmet meal.  We ran out of rice and ended up getting a 20lb bag of rice.  We're also having a lot of meaty meals this week (meat totals $18.24), and I'm planning for huge meals since hubby is working 4 days next week and we need tons of leftovers.  I honestly don't think we're going to stick to the menu plan much this week since it's such a crazy week full of random appointments and continuing schedule changes at hubby's work, but it's better to have one than to try and wing it.  When we try to wing it, we end up going to get fast food way too much.  

Menu Plan for 11-9 to 11-15

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S MENU
complete with recipes & my shopping list

Total cost of food (my menu items list): $15.54
Click to see the details of my commissary shopping trip

I skipped menu planning last week since we were messing around with a new schedule, and a week later, we still have no idea what's going on.  However, I pulled up a menu plan regardless.  We have to eat - that's a non-negotiable.  But, when I make "dinner" and when we eat is negotiable.  It's better to have a plan in place and deviate from it if necessary, then to have nothing at all. 

This week's menu planning took probably 20 minutes, and that's with a new sale period at the commissary, so I guess I must be doing something right with this menu planning system.  Most of my meals are easy under 30 minutes type of stuff.  This week is absolutely crazy since we've got something going on pretty much every day, and that's on top of still trying to figure out hubby's crazy schedule.  And we might end up going to the baby's specialist, which is pretty much a whole-day thing. 

Now that I think about it...maybe I shouldn't have made a menu plan for this week at all, considering it looks like we might even have time to eat...

Menu Plan for 10/26 - 11/01

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S MENU

complete with recipes & my shopping list

Sorry, but I don't have a "total cost of food" count this week, since I haven't been shopping yet.  This weekend was supposed to be a leftover weekend, but instead we had McDonald's all three days (yes, I know...not exactly healthy and a COMPLETE budget buster).  The commissary is closed on Monday, so we will go shopping at first opportunity on Tuesday.  I have some spare chicken breasts, so I'll probably just make that tomorrow and save Monday's meal for another day.  It's starting to get REALLY cold here, and I think I need to start taking the weather into account when I do my menu plans.

It is currently 10pm, and it's only 38º out.  There's a rumor going around that there will be snow on the ground tomorrow morning.  For a California girl, this is completely absurd.  My Californian mother-in-law was just telling me how it's 100º out on Wednesday, and this morning my best friend told me it was 80º at 7am.  I am not used to having to take a jacket out of the house with me in October, much less be prepared for SNOW.  This entire week I have been wanting to do nothing but crawl under the blankets and hibernate.  I tore a ligament doing sports back in high school, and recently my knee has really been acting up from the cold weather.  Combine all of this with the commissary's crazy hours, and it makes life interesting.

I am starting to consider menu-planning two weeks in a roll to minimize our commissary trips.  It's not like the commissary is all that far away, but it's hard to get to the store during their hours.  Now that the baby's older, she's also harder to keep entertained while shopping.  Ideally, I would love my husband to go with me so I can focus on saving our pennies, but with his schedule the only possibility is on the weekends.  And on the weekends it's just suicide.  For a couple of weeks there we tried going on the weekends, but even though there was two of us to entertain baby and shop, baby was hysterical.  Mainly because it was so crowded and everytime she was content or about to fall asleep, someone would bump into the cart and set her off again.

Before I go the bi-weekly menu-plan route, we're going to try a couple of things.  First, we're going to try having hubby stay at home with the baby while I go to the store myself on the weekends.  It's crazy, but I can deal with crazy if I'm just by myself.  Hubby might also get a schedule switch at work, and if it goes through we should have a chunk of time in the morning.  If the switch happens, it would be the ideal time to go commissary shopping.

We're going to be here for at least half of the winter, so eventually I think I will have to switch to the bi-weekly menu-plan just to minimize trips out of the house, what with the snow and all.  This shouldn't be too big of a problem though, considering I don't really use much "fresh" ingredients in my meals.  As long as it'll freeze, I should be good.  This is completely new territory for us since this is our first winter EVER in snow-country, so please bear with my menu-planning craziness until we figure something out.  And if there are any snow-country veterans out there, I would appreciate any words of advice!

Menu Plan for 10/19 - 10/25

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S MENU

complete with recipes & my shopping list

Total cost of food (my menu items list): $17.51
Click to see the details of my commissary shopping trip

Next week is our monthly "hell week" - the week where my husband won't be home for dinner for a good 4 days of the week.  That means a LOT of leftovers need to be prepared, or I'll find myself cooking dinner and then driving it out to him, which is something I'm not a fan of, especially since the weather is starting to turn for the worse a lot more these days.

I menu plan Sunday through Saturday, so technically it's 3 days of the week (Monday, Friday, and Saturday) with another day next week (Sunday), but for all intents and purposes we consider him being gone for dinner for half the week.

This week's menu plan took a fraction of the time, especially since I could just transfer my commissary sale listing from last week's menu plan.  The fact that I didn't have as many recipes to enter due to the smaller menu this week probably helped too.  Either way, from start to finish it probably took me a total of 15 minutes - not too bad considering I have to type in all the recipes. 

I'm interested in hearing back from my readers on whether or not you like this new Menu Plan format.  Would you rather I list my menu plan by just meal title?  Or do you like this new PDF format complete with the recipes?  Or would you prefer that I do both? 

Menu Plan Monday: 10/12 - 10/18

UPDATE: Thanks to Jenny and PrimoPDF, I have been able to upload a version of my menu plan, complete with fonts & stylings!  YAY!

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S MENU
complete with recipes & shopping list!

Total cost of food (by menu items list): $15.71
This is how much it cost me to buy my missing ingredients. I only had 7 missing ingredients, so your cost may be higher depending on what you have on hand. Check out my commissary shopping trip breakdown for complete details.

This is the second week of menu-planning with this new template. Last week was my first week, and since I designed the template in the same setting I wasn't sure how long the whole process took. Well, this week it took me about 30 - 45 minutes to finish the entire process. This still seems like a long time to me and I hope to shorten it a bit, which will inevitably happen with time as our favorite recipes get entered into the computer and it's a simple matter of copy and paste. This week the entire menu is made up of "paper" recipes which I had to type in, so I'm sure the time would have been shorter if I just looked up recipes online.

I'm willing to sacrifice the time though because last week was so much easier! I was able to just grab my printout and go! And my husband liked it too, because if he wanted to help out and cook dinner he'd be able to do so. In the past, he would just know the title of the dish, but have absolutely no idea where to find the actual recipe.

It's also a new sale period at the commissary, so I'm expecting to save some time next week when I just transfer my sale items list over. I'm also a lot more confident that we have everything that we need - the ingredient checklist is a lifesaver. For example, I thought we didn't have beef broth, but when I took the list into the kitchen and did my 2 minute scavenger hunt, I found some in the fridge. After my scavenger hunt, I am 120% confident that I have everything that I need for next week's menu.

When I was menu-planning by the old system, we would always be missing an ingredient or two. It wouldn't be something major (like forgetting the chicken for Teriyaki Chicken), but it would still be essential to the recipe (like tomato paste for Sloppy Joes, or eggs for fried rice). We ended up substituting things in, but obviously the meal ended up tasting rather weird. It was mainly due to the fact that I didn't have a master list of ingredients for the week and tried to go through my kitchen by memory.

Mmm Wednesday...with a twist

Since I'm doing Menu Plan Monday in a new format, and it comes complete with all of the recipes of the week, it seems kind of pointless to repeat myself on Wednesday.  And I don't want to be pulling out random recipes that have been untested for you either.  So what I'm going to do instead is name my favorite recipe of the the week and then point you to my menu plan for it, instead of repeating myself and just typing it up again. 

I know it's only Wednesday and we haven't been through the entire week's of menus, but our favorite so far this week is the Hamburger Potato casserole that we had on Monday.  Except that we actually had it on Tuesday because my husband used up the potatoes for our anniversary dinner and forgot to tell me.  You can check out the recipe in its original form at The Grocery Weekly, or you can see it in my menu plan - just scroll to "Monday"!

Feel free to let me know how you like my new Mmm Wednesday - I would rather not repeat myself endlessly when the recipe is already up, but if it makes life easier for you, I could be persuaded to do it!

Menu Plan Monday: 10/05 - 10/11

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S MENU
complete with recipes & shopping list!

I'm so excited to reveal this week's menu plan, because I went about it in a completely different way.  Before this week, I did our menu plan by hand on paper - I would find recipes online or in my recipe books and then either print them out or use a sticky to mark the page.  I then compiled our grocery list by hand based on what ingredients we needed.  To finish it off, I would look through the commissary website and scribble down the sale items that I wanted to take advantage of, as well as any coupon match-ups that I had.

There was nothing really wrong with this method, except that I felt it took way too long.  I was also running out of room in the kitchen for all of my recipes, not to mention that sometimes the sticky flags got un-sticky and I would end up flipping through my entire binder looking for the recipe again.  I wanted something simpler, faster, and neater.

To solve all of my problems, I created a document in Microsoft Word that has room for all of the week's recipes and my shopping list.  I always made my menu plan by the computer anyway, so it only made sense to stop messing around with loose scraps of paper and computerize the whole process.  An added benefit is that I will be able to share it all - the recipes, my ingredient shopping list, and my coupon match-up list for the commissary.  To see this week's menu, click here. 

The way that I menu plan has not changed, just the method that I use.  I still plan our dinners around what we have going on that week, and in the upper left hand corner of each day I note down any special things happening that day that might affect our dinner schedule (i.e. Chloe's training, family swim night...etc.).  The recipe is right there on my menu plan, as well as my ingredients, so there's no such thing as having to go searching for the recipe. 

I also made a separate section for all of the ingredients that I need that week.  This is not necessarily my shopping list, because a lot of things I already have stockpiled.  After I'm done compiling the recipes, I print out the first 4 pages and go scavenger hunting in my kitchen to check off the things that I already have.  This is very important to me, because I just can't remember everything that's in my kitchen and I do not want to over (or under) buy.  Afterwards, it's back to the computer to finish up my grocery list. 

This week, I had 26 total ingredients, but after I checked my kitchen I found that I only had to go shopping for 9 things.  These go under my "Menu Items".  If I'm getting anything with WIC checks that week, I note them under the "WIC Items".  I then pull up the commissary website and go through the entire list looking for coupon match-ups or good deals.  All these go under my "Sale Items" list.  Commissary deals run for 2 weeks, but I found myself going down the list every week because my hand-made grocery list would be crumpled and ruined by the time we finished shopping.  Also, because I only had one list, I couldn't necessarily re-use it since my menu items change week-to-week.  But now that my commissary sale list is on the computer, I can simply print up a new copy for next week and I won't have to go down the list again.

I'm pretty sure that this method saves a lot time, but this week is really not a good judge of that considering I had to design the whole template.  It took me about 2 hours from start to finish, but again, this was including the design and set-up time.  I'm so excited to plan next week's meal using my new template and time myself...I'm sure that I can get it done in less than 15 minutes!

Mmm Monday: Pasta Bolognese

Mmm Monday has actually been moved to Wednesday, but old habits die hard and I just can't help but do a Mmm Monday post.  So I guess I'll just have to the laughing stock of the town and suffer with being 2 days ahead of schedule.  I think I can deal with it.

Anyway, this week I'm going to share the recipe for pasta bolognese.  This was originally printed in the March 2008 issue of Parenting.  I am a terrible cook, so there won't be any original My Precious Pennies creations anytime soon.  I have enough trouble following detailed directions...I'm pretty sure if I were to get "creative" the night would end with the fire department visiting.  So I stick with recipes, and the simpler the better...!

Ingredients
1 tbs olive oil
2 carrots, peeled & chopped (I use baby carrots and just eyeball it)
1lb lean ground turkey OR beef
28oz crushed tomatoes
12oz bag of pasta (the recipe calls for wide noodles, but just about any kind of pasta works)

1. Heat oil over medium heat.  Add carrots (or any other veggies you want) and cook for 5 minutes until softened.  Add ground meat to skillet.  DO NOT DRAIN.
2. Cook until meat is brown and cooked through.  Stir in tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.
3. While the sauce simmers, prepare the pasta as directed on the package.  Dump your sauce over your finished pasta, and serve!
   

We've made this for dinner twice so far...the first time I made it, and last week my husband took over since I was battling the plague from hell.  Well, he made the mistake of draining the meat, and the result was that it was EXTREMELY dry and we had no pasta sauce to speak of, so it's of utmost importance that you do not drain the meat. 

If you haven't noticed by now, all of my favorite recipes are flexible in that you can add whatever your favorite veggies are, or just whatever you have on hand.  My husband and I are polar opposites in the vegetable department - I need to have some sort of veggie with every meal, and he would just be fine without any vegetables whatsoever all week.  The compromise that I we have decided on is that veggies are fine as long as they are not the main focus of the meal (read: as long as they are hidden).  Pasta bolognese is great for that because I can grind whatever veggies I want into little pieces and they're very well hidden by the meat.  It's a great recipe for kids (probably why it was in Parenting magazine), or for picky husbands. 

Mmm Monday: Reader request Sweet Pea Fried Rice

This week's Mmm Monday is a reader request from Stephanie for the Sweet Pea Fried Rice that was in last week's menu plan. If any of our dinners strike your fancy, please email me or leave a comment requesting the recipe and I will be sure to share it for the following week's Mmm Monday!

I love any fried rice recipes, because they're my user-upers, meaning that I can put just about anything that I have left over in my fridge into the recipe. It's a great way to hide veggies for the kids (or husband) who are anti-green. This recipe is from All You, but I'm not completely sure which issue. I believe it was the August one, but don't quote me on that.

Ingredients
8 oz. turkey bacon
8 scallions, white & light green parts, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
6 cups cooked rice
¼ cup soy sauce
1 10-oz. package frozen green peas, thawed
4 large eggs, beaten
Salt & Pepper

1. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and chop.
2. Add scallions and garlic. Reduce heat to medium and cook until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Rub rice between hands to break up and loosen grain. Add to skillet and stir to blend in scallions & garlic. Cook for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in soy sauce and peas. Push mixture to one side and pour in eggs. Cook eggs until slightly set on bottom, about 2 minutes.
5. Mix rice into eggs and stir until thoroughly blended, breaking up any clumps of cooked egg.
6. Stir in bacon. Season with salt & pepper and remove from heat. Serve!

Like I mentioned, you can add just about anything to a fried rice recipe and it's cheap. I like to throw in carrots and other random meat-type things that I have on hand. Just for the record, the recipe is published as 3 steps in the magazine, but I broke up the last step because the paragraph was huge and I like my steps to be very straight-forward.

Bon appétit!

Mmm Monday: Italian Pasta Stir-Fry

This recipe comes from the Pampered Chef's recipe collection.  It's a Season's Best from Fall/Winter 1996.  If you haven't noticed by now, I should take a second to mention that none of my recipes are "originals".  I am a terrible cook and would be completely lost without recipes.  And even with a recipe it's not a guarantee that what I whip up will be edible.  So if you're looking for original recipes or pretty pictures, I'm afraid I can't help you...but I can provide a nice little collection of recipes!

Ingredients
8 oz linguine, uncooked
1 medium zucchini, sliced
 medium onion, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, seeded & chopped (I just used canned diced tomatoes)
¼ cup fresh parsley, snipped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon each dried basil & oregano leaves (I bought dice tomatoes that already had these seasonings in them, so I just skipped this step)
1/8 teaspoon each salt & ground black pepper
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (we didn't remember this until we were finished with dinner, so it's not essential if you don't have it on hand)

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; keep warm.
2. Heat oil in a stir-fry skillet.  Add garlic and stir-fry 15 seconds.
3. Add zucchini and onion; stir-fry 2-3 minutes or until crisp-tender.
4. Add tomatoes, parsley, and seasonings.  Heat 1-2 minutes, stirring gently until heated through.
5. Remove from heat.  Stir in warm pasta.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese.

Just for the record, I loved this recipe, but my husband hated it.  He's not a fan of vegetarian meals, so that might be it.  Next time I'll throw in some tuna/chicken/bacon, and I'm sure he'll change his tune.  I love recipes like these, because I can just toss in whatever I have left in the fridge.  We had half a cucumber and some carrots that I had to use up, so I threw those in and it was just delish.  I call recipes like these my user-upers. 

Mmm Monday: Pork Chops with Apricot Sauce

I got this recipe from the August issue of All You. It was their "Easy Recipe of the Month" and is featured on their pull-out calendar. It was an utterly delish meal, but I have to admit that I loved the Apricot Sauce a lot more than I liked the Pork Chops. But then again, I'm just not a Pork Chops kind of gal. I get so excited whenever I find a new sauce though, because I can use that sauce again and again for a number of different meals.

Ingredients
4 10-oz bone-in pork chops
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ cup chicken broth
½ cup strained apricot jam (how do you strain jam anyway? I just used it straight out of the jar)
2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mist a baking dish with cooking spray (or use the wrapper from sticks of butter). Season chops with salt & pepper. Warm oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chops; cook for 3 minutes per side. Transfer to baking dish; roast for 10 minutes.
   
2. Pour off fat from skillet; add broth. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring. Boil until liquid is reduced by half, 5 minutes. Add jam; bring back to a boil. Cook, stirring, until thick and syrupy, 2 minutes. Stir in mustard.
3. Lower heat to medium and return chops to skillet; turn over. Spoon remaining sauce over chops.

Like I mentioned, I'm not a big fan of pork chops, so the next time that I use this recipe it will probably be morphed into something like Chicken with Apricot Sauce.

Mmm Monday: Crispy Orecchiette w/ Broccoli, Pine Nuts, & Garlic

This week's Mmm Monday is a reader request from Spice - sorry about the long wait, but I couldn't find out how to get a hold of you to tell you that the recipe was coming up!

I clipped this recipe from the July issue of Good Housekeeping, and it was part of their celebrity dish feature. Apparently it's Nicole Kidman's favorite.

Ingredients
1lb orecchiette pasta (I used rotelle pasta because I couldn't find orecchiette at the commissary)
7 tbsp vegetable oil
5 cups or 12 oz small broccoli florets (I used frozen broccoli)
¼ cup dry white wine
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Salt & Pepper
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp butter, cut into chunks
½ cup pine nuts, toasted (I had some cashews on hand and used those instead)
2 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta as directed. Drain & rinse under cold running water. Drain well again.
2. In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil on medium-high until hot; add half the cooked pasta. Spread in an even layer, and cook until medium-brown on the underside (about 3 minutes). Stir pasta, then cook until browned on the other side. With slotted spoon, return pasta to saucepot.
3. Repeat step 2 with remaining cooked pasta and 3 more tablespoons oil. Cover saucepot to keep warm.
4. In same skillet, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil on medium. Add broccoli and garlic, and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add wine, lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and cook until broccoli is tender-crisp, about 3 minutes longer, stirring frequently.
5. Add broccoli mixture, vinegar, butter, and pine nuts to pasta in saucepot, and toss on medium until butter melts. Add half the Parmesan and toss to combine.
6. Spoon into 4 warm bowls. Serve with additional pepper and remaining Parmesan. Serves 4.
   

My advice is to look for that orecchiette instead of substituting another pasta, because the rotelle didn't get crispy at all. I'm assuming the orecchiette would. Also, I would increase the garlic to at least 4 cloves, and make it a whole cup of nuts. These are just my suggestions - try out the recipe the way it is and then make your own modifications!

Mmm Monday: Cheesy Tuna & Noodles

This week, I'm going to share my Cheesy Tuna & Noodles. It wasn't from dinner last week, but the week before. I skipped Mmm Monday last week though due to our crazy weekend, so I decided to make up and share it this week.

It was utterly delish, and it was cheap too! I spent under $4 for everything! The whole meal took me less than 15 minutes to make from beginning to end. We even had enough for left-overs too! I also love the fact that I can disguise an unlimited amount of veggies in it. It's a great meal to get rid of veggies about to go bad, or just to lighten your freezer load. This has become one of my favorite recipes since it's so variable and so quick and easy to make.

Ingredients
3 pkg (3 oz each) chicken flavor ramen noodle soup


1 can (10¾ oz) cream of mushroom soup
¾ cup of milk
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
Frozen mixed veggies of your choice
1½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can (6 oz) tuna, drained

1. Cook ramen according to package directions. Drain liquid.
2. Mix mushroom soup, milk, garlic, pepper, and veggies in a skillet.
3. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.
4. Add cheese and heat until melted.
5. Add tuna and noodles.

You simply just cannot get easier or cheaper than that. The next time I make it, I'm going to experiment with throwing in some vienna sausages, and probably try different types of noodles. I'm pretty sure pasta would work instead of ramen. When I make my ramen, I don't use the seasoning packets so I have a ton left over. I'll be sure to share how my experiment goes!

Mmm Monday: Chicken with Lemon & Capers

This was last Tuesday's dinner, and I loved it so much that I cannot resist sharing. I got this from the August 1st issue of All You, and it is just utterly delish!

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt & Pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup white wine
¼ cup capers, rinsed

1. Preheat oven to 200ºF. Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper and dredge in flour. Warm 2 tbsp butter & 3 tbsp oil in skillet over medium-high heat until butter foams. Cook chicken until firm and browned. Transfer to a platter and cover loosely with foil. Place in oven.
   
2. Add lemon juice and wine to skillet, bringing to a boil. Cook until thickened.
3. Remove from heat, stir in capers and remaining 1 tbsp butter. Cook until butter melts.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken.
   
5. ENJOY!

This was the most delish dish of the week. I was absolutely in love with the sauce...so much so that I'll probably use the same sauce if I cook salmon or something else. The chicken was good, but nothing special.

I've decided for Mmm Monday every week, I will share my favorite recipe from the week before. I have a feeling that this week it will be the S'mores Ice Cream Sandwiches...

Mmm Monday - MONKEY MUNCH!!!

Okay, this recipe isn't really an original. I learned about it from the TLC show Jon & Kate plus 8. I'm not positive if this is the same recipe that they use because I never had a pen/paper ready when that re-run comes on, but it's close enough IMHO.

Ingredients
9 cups chex cereal (or any other type that your heart desires - experiment!)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup butter/margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups powdered sugar
A ziplock bag (optional, see below)
1 microwaveable container (optional, see below)
1 airtight container

1. Place chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter into microwavable bowl.
2. Stir together. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Continue to stir/microwave in 30 second increments until smooth.
3. Stir in vanilla.
4. Pour over cereal while stirring.
5. Add powdered sugar and give it a GOOD shake.
6. Spread monkey munch on wax paper to cool/dry.

Now, the recipe recommends using a ziplock bag for the shaking but ultimately storing in an airtight container. The first time we made this, my dear husband skipped a couple of steps and did everything in an airtight microwavable container. Surprisingly, this skipping of steps actually worked, and saved us a lot of mess and unnecessary cleaning. What you really need is just 1 airtight microwavable container. Instead of pouring your mix over the cereal, pour the cereal into the mix. Then just slap on the lid and give it a good shake.

I'm not convinced that the drying on wax paper is necessary. We experimented once without the drying, and the next time we followed the directions and dried the munch. As far as we can tell, no difference - you'll still end up with clumps of chocolate on some of them.

I love this recipe because it is a VERY yummy snack that takes me all of 5 minutes to make and lasts around a couple of days, depending on our munchiness. Probably not all that nutritious, but it gets rid of our cereal fast, which is always a problem in this house. It's also great to experiment with - next time we're going to use rice crispes, and instead of adding so much peanut butter and chocolate chips, we're going to use nutella instead. You just can't go wrong messing with this recipe!

Mmm Monday: Lettuce Wrap

Since it's Mmm Monday over at Mommies with Cents, I thought I'd share one of my favorite foods in the whole world - the lettuce wrap!

Ingredients
1.5lbs chicken (or beef, or shrimp, or a mixture)
8 dried shiitake mushrooms ]
8 oz. can bamboo shoots, minced ] Group #1
8 oz. can water chestnuts, minced ]
1 tsp ginger, minced ]
2 cloves garlic, minced ] Group #2
2 green onions, minced ]

Marinade sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp dry sherry (you can use cream sherry if you can't find dry sherry)
2 tsp water
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
Salt & Pepper

Cooking Sauce
1 tsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dry sherry
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp water
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch


1. Cover the mushrooms with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes and drain. Mince.
2. Let chicken/beef/shrimp marinate for at least 15 minutes.
3. Prepare cooking sauce. Mince ingredients and combine in their groups.
4. On medium high heat, add 3 tbsp oil. Add chicken/beef/shrimp and stir fry. Set aside.
5. Add 2 tsp oil, add group 1 (ginger, garlic, green onion). Stir fry.
6. Add group 2 (mushroom, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts). Stir fry.
7. Return chicken/beef/shrimp to pan.
8. Add cooking sauce to pan. Stir fry until sauce is thick.
9. Spoon into lettuce leaf, add cellophane noodles if desired, wrap, and enjoy!

I love this lettuce wrap - it's a very frugal but delicious recipe, and it's good for lunch or dinner. Normally I make it for myself for dinner, and have enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Ingredients all cost less than $5. It's also a pretty healthy dish, and I can eat lettuce without feeling like a grazing cow. But my favorite thing about the lettuce wrap is the fact that I can prepare it in stages. As a new mom with no help, I can mince or make the sauces whenever I have a spare moment, and I can stop at anytime without worrying about anything. I only have to stay the stove for 10 minutes maximum...!