Blueberry French Toast

Occasionally I serve breakfast for dinner. It is a cheap alternative to your regular dinner and it's fun to change it up. So I usually try to come up with one special treat to go along with it. I found this recipe in an old Taste of Home magazine. I did cut the recipe in half because it would have been way too much for us to eat. The syrup/ sauce is amazing. It would be a great substitute anytime you needed a can of blueberries in syrup. This was yummy, yummy.

Ingredients:
12 slices day-old white bread, crusts removed
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup maple syrup or honey

SAUCE:
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon butter
Directions:

Cut bread into 1-in. cubes; place half in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Cut cream cheese into 1-in. cubes; place over bread. Top with blueberries and remaining bread cubes.
In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add milk and syrup; mix well. Pour over bread mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 25-30 minutes longer or until golden brown and center is set.
In a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and water until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 3 minutes. Stir in blueberries; reduce heat. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until berries have burst. Stir in butter until melted. Serve with French toast.

Texas Delight

1st Layer:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. chopped pecan
Mix all ingredients and press into a 9 X 13 dish. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

2nd Layer:
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 10 ounce size Cool Whip
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
Mix together and spread over cooled crust.

3rd Layer
2 (3 1/2 oz.) pkg. instant chocolate pudding
2 1/2 c. milk
Mix pudding with milk until thick. Spread on top of cream cheese layer. Spread on remaining whipped topping and garnish with chopped pecans. Chill several hours. Cut into squares.

Mix first 3 ingredients together and put in 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Fold in 1/2 of Cool Whip and spread batter over crust. Mix puddings and milk at low speed for 3 minutes. Spread over cream cheese layer. Spread the rest of Cool Whip on top of pudding layer. Grate Hershey bar over top and refrigerate.

Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini

Wow. It has been over a week since I have put up any recipes. So sorry about that. This baby in my belly makes me tired so when I get a few minutes to myself I usually want to rest. Not that sitting at the computer is such hard work but you know what I mean. This dish was good. I found a recipe but didn't have everything it called for so I started making stuff up. Here is what I came up with

3 boneless skinless chicken breast cooked
1 (7 ounce) package spaghetti (just how ever much you want really)
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
1 medium onion chopped
2 1/2 TBS flour
1 cup milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup chicken broth (I just use what I have cooked the chicken in, close enough)
1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms drained
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
8 slices of American cheese
1 cup cheddar
Cook spaghetti. In a saucepan saute onion in butter until tender. add flour and stir well. Reduce heat and stir in next ingredients thru the American cheese. Cook slowly until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to sauce and stir. Remove from heat. Drain spaghetti and combine with sauce mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well. Spray a 9 X 13 dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in casserole. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes.

Grocery Store Tips

Today's post isn't a recipe but I think you will find it interesting. I was talking with my friend Sara yesterday about saving money, coupons, grocery store trips with small kids, blah, blah. You know all the stuff us baby Mommas talk about. She is super frugal and there is always much to learn from the woman. She has three small boys so going to the grocery store is no small task for her. Here is what she does. She has a spreadsheet. On the top of each column is the isle number and under that are the items found on each isle. When she makes her grocery list she puts the items she needs on each isle under that column and puts an asterisk next to each item that she has a coupon for. Then she can easily compare if her coupon is good enough for her to purchase that or if she would save more money by purchasing the store brand. Brilliant! So if you really want to save money on your grocery bill you can do what I do and plan your weekly menu ahead of time by using the items you already have on hand and using Sara's spreadsheet to purchase only the items you need for that menu you will not be sidetracked into spending $200.00 at the grocery store and still have nothing to eat. Now my pantry is stocked full of items I have bought with coupons for next to nothing. I would incorporate bargain items. How do I know the bargains you ask? You can check out Simple Saving Savvy. She will give you the rundown on almost all metro stores. She does Homeland, Wal Mart, Buy for Less, Crest, Aldi, Walgreens and CVS.
ps. Sara shops at Wal Mart. If you too shop at Wal Mart and would like a copy of this spreadsheet emailed to you please feel free to contact me kimreid@cox.net.

Natalies Mexican Chicken Dish

My sister-in-law Natalie gave me this delightful little gem of a recipe. My brother said that he enjoyed this dish so I thought I must try it. The boy knows a thing or two about good food. The photo is of the leftovers the next day. My darling two year old had hidden my CIF card to the camera so I couldn't snap a photo of the original dish.

4 cups of cubed cooked chicken (she said she didn't use this much. I used three cooked breast)
1 can cream of chicken
1 can green chilis
1 16 ounce sour cream
pepper jack cheese shredded. ( I didn't have shredded but I did have some sliced which was fabulous!)
corn tortillas (I used flour)
paprika (1 tsp)
garlic salt (2 tsp)
chili powder

In a sauce pan mix cooked chicken, soup, green chilis, spices, and 8 ounces of sour cream. Mix well and heat until warm. Place torn up tortillas in a pan sprayed with cooking spay. I used a 8 1/2 X 11 pan. cover with chicken mix, then cheese, repeat layers. Top with sour cream and sprinkle with chili powder. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.
This dish was wonderful. A little on the spicy side but not too much for my kids. It was a great variation of mexican chicken casserole. I love pepperjack cheese. Try this one. It's good.
Note: You can make this a quick dinner but cooking your chicken ahead of time. Just put your frozen chicken in the crock pot. Cover with water and cook on low all day. Your chicken will be ready to put in the mix and you have a quick and easy dinner.

Janice's (aka My Momma) Tortilla Soup

I was at my Mom's house and I saw some avacado's stashed away. I pulled them out and said what are these for? Thinking I might see some mexican food in my near future my mouth began to water. Those are for my Tortilla Soup she says. Gag, hiss, boo I say to myself as I roll my eyes. She is like it's good! I said well make it for lunch then and I will see for myself. As I stood watching, judging over her shoulder and she mixed her "soup" I must admit I did not think it would be good. Then she started adding all of these tasty little bits of goodness to the bowl. So in August in the 100 degree weather I sat and sweat as I ate three giant bowls of this amazing soup. Here is her version of the recipe below. I did not modify her comments in any way. Don't you love her?

2 cans chicken broth
1 diced cooked chicken breast (if you have)
1 can rotel (mild if you don't like it spicy)
place in saucepan and bring to simmer-cover

cut 6 - 8 flour tortillas into strips, coat with oil and brown slightly in oven on cookie sheet you have to watch them so they don''t burn

place soup in individual serving bowls
top with diced avacado
tortilla strips
grated cheese
diced green onion (if you have it)

If you use bullion cubes instead of canned broth it will be very salty and not quite as tasty- but last time I used 7 cups of water and 6 bullion cubes (no cans of broth)

Easy Biscuits

Alright folks. Here is a super easy biscuit recipe. This is not my deal. My mother made these last time I was home. They are so yummy. We served them with dinner but I think they would be especially good for breakfast with gravy.
2 C. flour
1/4 C sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 T. oil
1 pkg dry yeast
3/4 C lukewarm water

mix flour, sugar,salt and oil
disolve yeast in warm water and add to flour mixture -mix
knead slightly on floured surface
roll out and cut into biscuits
place in greased pan
cover and let stand 30 min
bake at 400 degrees until browned about 12 -15 min

this will make about 6 big biscuits -easliy doubled for a dozen

Jamie's Zucchini Bread

My friend Jamie gave me this recipe when she saw I had one million zucchini sitting on my kitchen counter. She comes on Monday and brings me the coupons she has saved me from her newspaper and I give her some garden veggies in return. So that is a great trade for me. I made this yesterday and it was super easy and good. I did one loaf of bread and one pan of muffins (6). I took the muffins out after 30 minutes. The bread needed 55 minutes. I think my loaf pan was bigger.

3 Eggs
1 Cup Oil
2 Cups Sugar
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Soda
2 Cups Peeled, Grated Squash or Zucchini
2 Tsp Cinnamon
3 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Nuts

Beat eggs til foamy with mixer. Add oil, sugar, squash. Mix well-don't use mixer. Add dry ingredients that have been sifted together. Makes two small loaves. Bake 325 degrees for 45 minutes.

(Only fill loaf pan 1/2 full as it will rise)

Fake BBQ

Okay. Here is the deal. Our grandparents gave us a bunch of pork. We ate all of it even though I don't love pork it was free. Then they weren't eating their part so that gave us MORE pork. This is super easy and taste really good. Pork Roast are on sale often and not expensive. Jamon makes sandwiches out of the leftovers for lunch for the entire week. Gross, I know. Who eats the same thing for lunch everyday for a week but it saves us money and he doesn't seem to mind it.
Take your pork roast, stick it in your crock pot, pour enough BBQ sauce over the top to cover, cook on low all day. Take out and shred with two forks and add a little more sauce to make it BBQ-ish. Then end. How easy and it is so good. I serve it plain or on a bun. I got this idea for Lynn at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures.

Apple Cake

This is Jamons favorite cake on the planet. I found this recipe right after we got married and have been making it since. Jamon brought home a big bag of apples from his grandma's farm last week so I was happy to get to make this cake. I just really hate peeling and coring apples. Check out more recipes like this at The Grocery Cart Challenge
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups of flour
4 cups peeled, chopped, raw apples
1 cup chopped nuts

Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased 9 X 13 pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. This batter will be really thick so you will have to spread it around in the pan.

Icing
Mix until smooth
1/2 stick butter
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 oz. cream cheese

Eggplant Parmesan

Sorry I haven't posted anything for so long. I don't know why I haven't. Seems like I haven't been making any new recipes or maybe I just think you don't care to know about some things. Anyway last night I made this dish and I thought it was great. I served it over noodles like you would eat it at a restaurant. My kids both loved this which was weird. It is pretty sweet though. My Mother-in-law gave me some eggplant from her garden. I am trying to make more "meatless" dinners so this was a good one for us. Super cheap and super easy.

Ingredients

1 large eggplant, sliced about 1/3 inch thick
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup dry breadcrumbs or crushed saltine
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
1/2 cup sugar
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste (I used a jar of sauce instead)
3 cups hot water (leave this out if you use a jar sauce)
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese or monterey jack cheese, shredded

Directions

1 Dip eggplant into beaten egg, then into a mixture of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.
2 Brown in oil on both sides and transfer onto plate with paper towels to absorb excess oil.
3 In remaining oil, brown onion, then add tomato paste, hot water, and seasonings.
4 Cook for 5 minutes.
5 Pour a third of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
6 Put a layer of eggplant over the sauce, and put on 1/3 the cheese, more parmesan if wanted, 1/3 more sauce, and then repeat, making sure you end with sauce.
7 Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 and a half hours.

Pizza Meatballs

Okay so this isn't the best photo I have ever taken. Sorry. Sometimes I forget to take pictures of my dinner. I serve these meatballs with spaghetti. Since my hubby doesn't really like spaghetti much I have to jazz it up so he won't complain. The kids and I like to eat spaghetti and obiously it is a frugal meal. I cut this recipe in half and it makes plenty for our dinner and then enough for Jamon to have meatball sandwhiches for lunch. See, everyone is happy now. I got this from an old Taste of Home magazine. I love cheese so the cheese in the middle makes these meatballs extra yummy. Here you go.

Ingredients:
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup dried minced onion
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds ground beef
1 block (8 ounces) mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup canola oil
2 jars (28 ounces each) pizza sauce (Just use regular size jars of sauce. This is a lot of sauce if you do 28 ounces)

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 48 meatballs. Cut mozzarella into 48 cubes, 1/2 in. each; push a cube into the center of meatball, covering the cheese completely with meat. Roll lightly in flour.
In a large skillet, brown meatballs in oil; drain. Add pizza sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink. Serve over pasta or rice, in buns or as an appetizer. Yield: 4 dozen.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I thought these were tasty. I think you need to take them out of the pan after 5 minutes as the recipe says to do. I didn't. I just let them cool in the pan and mine were a little dry. Live and learn. Next time I will follow the rules.

12 -18 muffins



Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup light-brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (11 1/2 ounce) package milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 400°F.
2 Grease twelve muffin cups.
3 In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt.
4 In another bowl, stir together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla until blended.
5 Make a well in center of dry ingredients.
6 Add milk mixture and stir just to combine.
7 Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
8 Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
9 Now bake for 15-20 minutes
10 Remove muffin tin to wire rack.
11 Cool for 5 minutes.
12 Remove from tins to finish cooling.
13 Serve warm or completely cool.
14 These muffins freeze well.

I got this from RecipeZarr.com