Texas Sheet Cake

This is my favorite cake at the moment. I keep making it over and over so now I must share it with you.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup warm water
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons buttermilk
2-1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease a 9X13-inch baking pan; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup butter, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, and 1 cup water. Bring mixture just to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate mixture to dry mixture and beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until thoroughly combined. Add eggs, 1/2 cup buttermilk, and 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat for 1 minute (batter will be thin). Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire rack.

3. Meanwhile, for frosting in a medium saucepan bring the 1/4 cup butter, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, and 3 tablespoons buttermilk to boiling. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. **At this point I add 3/4 cup chopped pecans. Pour warm frosting over warm cake, spreading evenly.

Oatmeal Cookies

I don't have a photo of these cookies because after I made them I sat down and ate every single one of them. Really I have just become terrible at taking the pictures of food. Okay so this is Nikki's recipe. It is more like a chocolate chip cookie consistency but with oats instead of chips if that makes sense. This was the best oatmeal cookie I have ever eaten. I asked Jamon if he loved them as much as I did and he said "they were a little too sweet for me." I just stared at him for about five minutes while all the mean cruel things that came into my mind about this comment passed. Then I simply said, "in all my thirty years I have never ever tasted anything I thought was too sweet and I can't wait until I do so that I can eat so much of it that I want to puke and then I will fill the tub up with it and bathe in it". And that's what I have to say about that. Here is the recipe. I do hope you will try it.

OATMEAL COOKIES

1 c shortening
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 overflowing tsp salt
3 c oatmeal (i use quick oats)
1 tsp vanilla

cream shortening & sugars. mix in eggs & vanilla. sift flour, soda and salt together. fold flour mix into wet ingredients. stir in oats. bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes.

Mac and Cheese

I fix mac and cheese a lot. I love it!!! I have a bunch of different recipes I use. I am posting this one because Jamon commented that this was the best one I had ever made. It came from the Pioneer Woman of course. It did have a really great flavor. If you like mac and cheese you should try this one. CLICK HERE to go to the recipe.

Breakfast Cookies

I know it has been a long time since I have posted. So sorry about that. I have been cooking a little more lately now that I have this whole pregnancy thing under control. I came across this recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. These were good but more like a straight up cookie rather than a "breakfast" cookie. But don't think we didn't eat them for breakfast. I mean they are called a breakfast cookie right?

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1-1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup golden raisins and/or milk chocolate pieces (of course I used the chocolate)
3 cups round toasted oat cereal (such as Cherrios)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In large mixing bowl beat butter and peanut butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl. Beat in water, egg, and vanilla until combined. Beat in flour until combined. Beat in as much of the rolled oats as you can with mixer. Stir in any remaining rolled oats. Stir in raisins and oat cereal.

2. Drop dough by scant 1/4 cupfuls about 3 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Store cookies in tightly covered container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Makes 24 (2-cookie) servings.

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

Banana Nut Cake

I started to not post this recipe. The first day I ate it I found it to be dry and not really very tasty. Then the second day it was better. Today it was wonderful. So I am posting with the suggestion that you make this a few days in advance. As with any dessert with fruit it becomes more moist the more days it sits. So leave it alone and let it sit. Try not to be a hog about it and eat a whole dry cake on the first day.
1 1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. soda (baking soda that is)
3 mashed bananas
4 Tbsp. buttermilk ( at the bottom of the post I will tell you how to sub with sour milk as I do not keep buttermilk lying around really)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla

Cream shortening and sugar. Add well beaten eggs. Stir in mashed bananas. Sift flour and soda. Add alternating with the buttermilk. Add nuts and vanilla. Bake at 350 in a greased 9X13 until done. I suggest you start with 30 minutes.

Icing
1 8 ounce cream cheese
1 stick butter softened
1 pound powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecan

Mix cream cheese and butter. Add sugar. Stir in vanilla and pecans.

SOUR MILK
Measure 1 cup milk.

Add 1 tsp. plain vinegar or lemon juice. Stir ingredients.
Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Milk should began to curdle slightly. You now have sour milk for your baking needs.

Chicken Salad

I tried to think of a clever name but it is what it is. Now when you look at the recipe it will seem shameful that you would make a chicken salad in such a way. But it is so good so just try and let the guilt go as you sink your teeth into this baby.

4 to 5 chicken breast cut into bite-size pieces. (Ya'll know I just use the whole bird for this part)
1 stick of butter melted
2 cups mayo (thats mayo not miracle whip!)
1/2 tsp. curry powder (DO NOT LEAVE THIS OUT)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 cups red seedless grapes cut in half
1/2 toasted sliced almonds.
I use pecans instead of almonds. It's an Oklahoma thing.....

Cook the chicken (duh). Melt the butter in the microwave and let it cool on the counter. Chop cooked chicken into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Toast almonds (aka pecans). In a bowl, combine butter and mayo with a wisk until creamy. Add curry and garlic; stir until well blended. Stir in chicken, grapes and toasted almonds. Refriderate until well chilled. The end.

Menu Plan Monday

I am just going to tell you my dinner plan. I have no idea what we are having for breakfast. I didn't follow my plan totally last week. One night I ended up making pancakes instead of dinner. Hopefully this week I will have more new things to show you.

Spinach Lasagna
Mama's Spaghetti
Orange Chicken
Chicken Pot Pie
Hot Dogs

Nothing fancy this week. I have a lot of chicken in the freezer if you can't tell. I made some Chicken Salad over the weekend. We had company all the way from Yukon, Oklahoma! I will share that recipe. The Lasagna and the Pot Pie. There, maybe if I tell you I am going to I will really make the time to post these! Kim

Granola Bars

Let me start by saying I had no idea how to take a photo of these so that's the best I could do. These are so good! But I don't know that I would call it a granola bar. More like a cookie to me. Whatever, they are so yummy and easy. CLICK HERE for the recipe. I have been making a lot these recipes lately and have enjoyed cooking Tammy's food very much. I did cut the recipe in half and also I used a 9X13 pan instead of a jelly roll pan. Also I used marshmallows not marshmallow cream. She says you can use either. My only reasoning was that the marshmallows were cheaper at the store. I hope you will try this. We loved these.

Nikki's World Famous Tuna Casserole

Okay. Maybe it's not "world famous" but I really like it. This is super cheap to make and super good to eat. Now, you will notice in Nikki's recipe she says that we should crunch some chips up for the topping. I don't usually have chips in my house so I used bread crumbs which turned out nice. What's that? You want to know why I don't have chips? Is is because she is so healthy you ask yourself? No, it's because I am a hog and if there are chips in my house they last about ten minutes before me and Mini Me (aka Meredith) get our hands on them and eat them up. So anyhow if find yourself without chips try some bread crumbs or just leave off the topping. It's good like that too. But the chips version is the best in my humble opinion.

Cook 4-5 oz. wide egg noodles
Combine 1/2 cup mayo with 1/2 cup milk
Stir in one can of condensed cream of celery soup (you can also use cream of mushroom)
Add one cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1/2 tsp garlic salt
Stir in cooked pasta and one can of tuna
Pour into a casserole dish
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
Remove lid, add crunched potato chips as a topping and bake 5 more minutes uncovered.
Enjoy!

Solpapilla Cheesecake (The best recipe)

Alright. Let's just get straight down to business. You may or may not have had this dessert. I have seen several versions of it in my day. THIS IS THE BEST RECIPE. I got this from a gal named Karen. I have cherished it ever since. You will always get compliments on this baby. Here's how you should make it. This photo is a half recipe. I only had two cans of crescents in my fridge so I thought I would do a half so I could do a half batch of the Salmon Turnovers later this week. Besides I won't kid myself that I won't eat this whole pan because I will.

2 cans crescent rolls
2 cups sugar
3 (8 ounce) cream cheese softened(yes that is what I said)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted

Preheat your oven to 350. In a large bowl cream 1 1/2 cup of sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. In a 9X13 pan, sprayed with non-stick spray, place one of the crescent rolls. Pinch the seams closed and flatten to edges. Spread cream cheese mixture over top. Cove with second crescent roll (pinch seems closed). Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over the top of crescent roll and then top with sugar mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Note: I took this photo before I put it in the fridge.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's whats on the menu at the Reid house this week. Nothing super fancy but a few new recipes for you. Maybe I will do some new desserts and sides this week also. I believe in the menu plan! It helps me to stay organized. I know what I will be making so there are no last minute trips to the store and no temptation to eat out or drive thru. This works great for us. I will post new recipes after I fix them.

Breakfast
Blueberry Waffles (I use waffle mix and dump in blueberries, make a double batch because waffles freeze well. Then you can just take out and reheat)
Muffins
Granola Bars
Egg in a Hole (This is heaven in bread)
Oatmeal

Dinner
Tuna Casserole (I'll post the recipe after I make it and take a pic. Super good)
Fried Chicken
Crab Alfredo
Salmon Turnovers
Sloppy Joe

Subscribe

I finally put up a thing so you can subscribe to this blog. Just put in your email address and every time I post a new recipe it will come straight to your inbox. Now won't that be wonderful.

Pico (Joe Reid Style)

Jamons Grandpa Joe makes this dip in the summer when all the veggies are in season and I love it! I tried it myself. I didn't think mine turned out at good as his but Jamon thought it was lovely so I decided to go ahead and post. You will need.
jalapenos (just to taste)
3 tomatoes
1 large onion
2 bell peppers.

I won't lie. I kinda made that up. Just use as many as you like of each. Roughly chop the jalapenos (I took the seeds out) and soak them in vinegar (I love vinegar it is the most amazing thing!) while you chop the onions, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Then drain the jalapenos and add all the veggies together. Serve with tortilla chips. This dip is good!

Mexican Chicken Casserole

This is one of many Mexican Chicken dishes that I make. My current favorite. It came from Carol Adams originally but has been modified by my Mother and aunt and then me. But we give credit where it is due, don't we girls? I use the leftover chicken after I cook a whole bird for this recipe. For more frugal cooking ideas check out The Grocery Cart Challenge.
2 cups cooked chicken (give or take)
2 cups cooked white rice
2 cans green chile's (I use one for the sake of the mini me's)
2 cans cream of chicken (or mushroom or celery) This is my addition. My Mom uses only one can but what does she know?
8 ounces grated Velveeta (yes you can grate it just try it and see)
8 ounces grated colby/jack (I use cheddar sometimes, Mommie Dearest uses the jack blend)
Mix it all up and bake at 350 for 30 minutes uncovered. Now how easy is that? And you know it's good.

Tuna Patty

Oh yes. The tuna patty. Who cares right? Well I haven't been posting much and I happened to remember to snap a photo of these so I thought I might as well post it. This is Paula Dean's recipe that I have been using forever. The first time JR asked me to make a tuna patty I had no idea how to do it. My Mom didn't make these because Mickey Bailey (that's my Father) hates tuna more than anything on the planet Earth. I on the other hand make the patty often. JR loves them and so do the kids. They are cheap, quick and easy. How could you go wrong? Sometimes I serve these on a bun (Paula calls it the Tuna Burger) but normally I serve them like this. Plain Jane style.

Ingredients

2 (6-ounce) cans solid white tuna, drained
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 tablespoon chopped pimento, optional
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared horseradish (you must add this for the great taste that leaves you wondering what that is, even if you hate horseradish like I do!)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine the tuna, bread crumbs, and egg, and stir lightly. Add the onion, celery, pimento (if using), lemon juice, horseradish, garlic, and pepper, and mix again. Form the mixture into 4 patties. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook the patties, covered, until golden brown. Carefully flip the patties and cook the other side for 5 minutes. Finish baking in the oven until golden brown.

Fried Okra

Summer is here. Which means lots of veggies and fruit from the garden around the Reid house. Everyone in our family grows a garden so we get creative using the produce. You will see some of that later in the summer when I get sick of fixing the same old things. Everyone in my family cooks okra different. If you have fresh okra just rinse it off. Then cut it into small slices. Leave out the ends. Then I put mine in a bowl and add about a half cup of flour and cornmeal to cover. Then add salt and pepper. If I have fish fry mix I use that because it's already seasoned. If not I add some season salt to give extra taste. The pour enough oil in a large skillet to cover the bottom. I cook it on medium high and turn occasionally. Since I do most of my cooking during the kids afternoon nap I cook this until almost done. Then I put it in a pan and stick it in the oven with whatever else I am cooking. If I am not cooking anything else then I cook on about 250 until I am ready to serve.

Buffy's Punch

Here is a punch recipe that everyone always goes crazy for. Should you be having a shower soon (the baby or wedding kind, I do not suggest bathing in this punch) you should try this. It is good. I wouldn't post it if it weren't, right?
ps. I never ever post a recipe that I don't think is super good. Sometimes I make food, take the photo and then decide it is not worthy of a post. I don't want to steer ya'll in the wrong direction! Oh, and here is Buffy's recipe.

1 can frozen orange juice
1 can frozen lemonade
1 lg can pineapple juice (not the frozen)
1 lg can of Apricot nectar- hard to find but I have found it at the Homeland (side note: I heart Homeland!) on Danforth in the juice aisle
2 tea bags steeped in 2 cups of hot water for 20 min
2 cups sugar
6 cans of water

Mix all ingredients and freeze in an ice cream tub or in freezer bags 1/2 full. It is really tasty if you freeze in an ice cream tub and scrape it out and mix with 7-up/diet 7-up. It is harder to break up in the freezer bags but that is what I do most of the time because my freezer isn't big enough to hold an ice cream tub.

Chicken Lasagna

I tried out this recipe I saw at Tammy's Recipes. You know when I make a recipe I like to show you a picture of what mine looks like. That way we can see how it really turns out when a regular gal such as myself makes it. I thought this was a tasty treat. I could tell JR didn't really LOVE IT! But he ate it just the same. His Momma didn't raise no fool after all! My kids ate a large helping which they never do so that was a treat. I also ate a large helping but nothing out of the ordinary there. HERE IS THE RECIPE. I hope you will try this. The Alfredo sauce was divine.

Pita Bread

JR wanted to take a sandwich for lunch today. Too bad, so sad. No bread in the pantry. Whoops. Then I had to cancel my lunch plans to go out for a pita sandwich with my girlfriends because I had to work. Too bad, so sad. Then I put the sweetest baby on the planet down for his nap and looked at my little bloggers that I check and low and behold the Lord giveth me a pita bread recipe that I had everything to make. He’s cool like that. So I whipped up these sandwiches for lunch and have plenty of bread leftover for breakfast pitas in the A.M. and also the hubby can happily pack up his lunch tomorrow. These were super good. CLICK HERE for the recipe. Now for my comments. I don’t have one of those fancy pants cooling rack things to cook these on so I hunted for something to use. I ended up cooking them on my crumb rack from the bottom of my oven. Yes, I washed it off first! The nerve of you people! Then toward the end it started getting too hot so I just flipped those babies right onto the oven rack which worked out fine and dandy. That’s what you should do if you don't have the pan she speaks of (side note for the retarded friends.) For you workin gals you could make a batch of these on the weekend and have some yummy pitas for lunch all week long. Go ahead and do it. You will be the envy of the office.

Meatballs (Yup, nothing fancy Meatballs)

So I can’t believe I haven’t posted a Pioneer Woman recipe yet. I know you can’t either right? It just occurred to me that I have a few newer cooks/bloggers following and you may not know the Pioneer Woman? Say it isn’t so? Surely you know about this lovely lady who resides right here in Oklahoma. Anyway I love her and have made several of her dishes and they are ALL amazing!! CLICK HERE for this meatball recipe. It was oh so good. I have several recipes for meatballs/meatloaf that I use to change it up. But JR (shall we call him that from now on? Let’s.) commented that these were really good. It made a big pan so tomorrow we will have leftover meatballs on an open-faced sub that I will cook in the oven with cheese on top. I know I’m a genius. What can I say…?

Cream Cheese Carrot Muffins

Okay. I had to try these muffins I saw on Full Bellies Happy Kids. And since our dear Kelly whom I refer to as my sweet baby kitten already gave me credit for this recipe I must post it. Now I am adding my own photo to keep it real. My muffins didn’t turn out as cute as the ones shown on her blog. Mainly because you were only suppose to add one Tbs. of the filling. As you know I cannot waste perfectly good cream cheese so I went ahead and just loaded it on there. Then since Meredith had eaten about half the batter and she was “helping” I didn’t have enough left to cover the tops. They were still a super tasty treat. JR (I heard him refer to himself as JR the other day. Hilarious! I guess so he didn’t have to go thru the ordeal of explaining how to pronounce Jamon and all that) Anyway JR and I like these much more than the kids. I assume because it isn’t a super sweet muffin. More like a muffin than a dessert but I served it as dessert. Would also be lovely for a brunch or breakfast I think. Click Here for the recipe.

Hash Brown Casserole

If you live in Oklahoma you have probably had a hash brown casserole at some point in your life. We serve this for breakfast, brunch, or as a side. My Mom used to serve it with BBQ. Here is the recipe I use. Don’t mind the funky picture. I took a bath in idiot juice on the day I took it.

1 (32 ounce) package of frozen hash browns
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream
3/4 stick butter melted
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup finely chopped onion or 1 tsp onion powder

Topping:
2 cups crushed corn flakes
2 Tbs melted butter

Break apart hash browns and put them in a big bowl. In another bowl combine soup, sour cream and melted butter and mix it all up until it’s creamy. Stir in salt, pepper and onion. Pour mix over hash browns and add the cheese and stir it up. Spray a 9 X 13 pan and dump it in there and spread around. Mix the cornflakes with the melted butter and spread over the top. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes and there you have it.

French Toast Casserole

I made this for Heathers shower. This is really good and can be made ahead of time. The bottom has a layer of sticky syrup/candy stuff. Try this for a brunch or if you are having quests over. Click here for the recipe.

Chicken and Cornbread Casserole

This isn't a great photo. My friend Julie was at my house and I split this in half to share with her. Next time I would just double the recipe instead of splitting this one. It is a small casserole anyway and wasn't as thick as it should have been once I split it. Anyway it was still tasty. I got this out of Southern Living a couple of years ago and have been making it since.

Ingredients

2 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups packed crumbled cornbread
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
3 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 1/4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon dry crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions
1Sauté celery and onion in hot oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender; set aside.

2Combine cornbread and poultry seasoning in a large bowl.

3Layer half of cornbread mixture on bottom of a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.

4Combine onion mixture, chicken, and next 6 ingredients in a bowl. Spoon mixture evenly over top of cornbread mixture in dish.

5Top evenly with remaining half of cornbread mixture, and drizzle with butter.

6Bake, covered, at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

7Remove from oven, and top with cheese.

8Bake, uncovered, 10 more minutes or until cheese is golden.

Black Bean Nachos

Here’s an easy weeknight meal or perhaps a party appetizer. I got this from an old Pampered Chef cookbook.

6 (7 inch) flour tortillas
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
4 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
3 Tbs salsa
2 cups shredded Mexican-style cheese
½ tomato chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Slice the tortillas into wedges using a pizza cutter. Spread out on a baking stone. I think if you don’t have one of these just put them on a pan with a little cooking spray on it. Bake for (recipe says 10 minutes) it took mine about 20 to turn into chips. While that’s cooking mix your beans, onions and salsa in a bowl. I also had a few chopped onions and red peppers left from last night so I threw those in. I really think you can add whatever toppings you like. Even some meat if you want. Take your chips out of the oven, top with 1 cup of cheese, then your bean mixture, then the other cup of cheese. Bake for another 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Take out and top with tomato. Serve with sour cream and guacamole. Just sour cream at the Reid house as I had no avocados. Enjoy! Kim

Pizza Casserole

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Hopefully things are settled down and I will start posting more. I have decided to stop posting about my groceries and focus more on recipes since that seems to be more interesting to you all. And also put up my menu plan each week so that if you want to copy cat some of it you can. Would you find that helpful? Otherwise I must not waste my time. Or would you rather see all my groceries. I don’t buy as much in the summer as we eat a lot out of the garden. What are you thoughts?
Last night I made this pizza casserole. That is what we will call it since I put it in a casserole pan. I finally found a crust recipe that I really like. The reason I put this in a casserole dish is sometimes when I make a pizza I put too much junk on it and then the crust doesn’t rise good and I make a mess. This turned out great and we enjoyed it. Go ahead and try making your own crust. It is easy and delicious and doesn’t take long at all. Ps. I found this crust recipe via Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures.

Crust:

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Stir in sugar, salt, oil and flour. Beat vigorously 20 strokes. Cover and let rest about 15 minutes. With buttered fingers, pat crust into a greased 9 x 13-in. baking pan. Push the crust up around the sides a little so you will have an outside pizza like crust. Note: This make a super “pan” pizza with a really thick crust.

Spread with pizza sauce (as much as you like) and add toppings and cheese. On this pizza I have Italian sausage, mushrooms, red bell pepper and onions. The cheese is a mix of mozzarella, parmesan, and a little Colby jack mix (only because I didn’t think I had enough cheese). I try to mix the cheese and the toppings all together with just a little extra cheese on top. Otherwise the pizza is like crust, toppings layer and then cheese layer and it doesn’t turn out like a pizza more like a casserole dish. No good. So mix it up a little.

Orange Chicken

I saw this and thought I would give it a try since I love the Chinese food and it is something I like to eat out. Yes, it does require some frying. I know, shameful. Just the other day I was telling Buffy how I wanted to start eating more healthy foods and start being more aware of what I put in my body. She goes, yeah right you fat pig. Get in the kitchen and fix us something to eat! Can you believe she said that to me? The nerve! Not really but I did just tell her I was going to get healthy and then look what I go and do. Here is the recipe. It was a hit at the Reid house and I will be serving it again. Now let me give you some tips should you decide to try your hand at this. It took a little more time that I usually spend preparing the evening meal. If you were having guests this would be a tasty treat.

1. 3 pounds of chicken is a lot. You will have leftovers by the truckload unless you are serving a bigger crowd than just your family. I realized this about halfway through trying to fry up 3 pounds of chicken. Benjamon woke up from his nap (not good) so as I was trying to finish he sat at my feet crying out Momma, Momma. Then he proceeded to pull my shorts down to my ankle as he attempted to pull up on my leg (again not good) but what could I do? I must get this chicken cooked I thought to myself as I stood there with my pants around my ankles. Granny panties fully exposed as I stood there and fried chicken. No shame in my game, right?

2. Slow down sister! I know you’re going to try and dump all this chicken in one pan. You must fry a little at a time leaving room around the sides. If you put it all in it will stick together and make a scene from a Freddie Kruger movie. For real ya’ll!

3. You need a big ole pan to bake it in! I started off with a 9 X 13 and couldn’t fit it all so I moved up a size. A big fine woman such as myself has larger pans than 9 X 13 in her house. If you don’t then you might want to cut this in half or use two pans.

I served this with my fried rice recipe minus the chicken as a side dish. I hope that you will try this. It is oh so good and well worth the effort. Benjamon enjoyed it too by the way.

Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

I am always looking for new recipes to try. Especially for breakfast because I end up feeding the children the same ole stuff. I have been trying some of the recipes posted on Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures lately. I have made several of her dishes all of which were very tasty. This baked oatmeal was a great variation of plain oatmeal. Since it was served in a pan I tried to tell Meredith (my two year old) that it was cake. She took one bite and informed me that it was in fact oatmeal, not cake! Anyway, you can find the recipe here along with a bunch of other great ones that I can’t wait to try.

Chicken Spaghetti

This is an easy and inexpensive recipe that we enjoy at the Reid house. It does freeze well. The recipe is to make two casseroles. If you just want one cut it in half (duh, right?)

6 Chicken Breasts
½ cup picante sauce
1 small can green chilies (I sometimes leave these out as my son is sensitive to spicy food)
2 cans cream of chicken (cream of mushroom or sour cream) *This time I used cream cheese since I had so many
1 small can black olives (optional)
½ medium onion sautéed (optional)
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp ground pepper (or to taste)
2 cups grated cheese
16 oz spaghetti

Stew chicken (*I either cook the chicken in the Crockpot, or use any leftover chicken that I have. It doesn’t have to be breast). Boil spaghetti in broth (I don’t do this. I boil the spaghetti in water with a few chicken bouillon cubes added but plain water is fine). Mix all other ingredients including chicken. Drain spaghetti saving 1 cup of broth. Add spaghetti and mix well. Use the extra broth if needed to make a creamy consistency. (Should not be too soupy). This recipe will make two large casseroles; divide mixture into two greased 9 X 13 pans. I add a little more cheese on top just because I like cheese. The recipe does not call for it. You can make this ahead of time. Again it freezes really well so go ahead and make two so you will have one for later. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

NOTE: To cook chicken in the Crockpot just put the chicken in the pot frozen or not it doesn’t matter. Add water to fill and add a few chicken bouillon cubes for flavor. If you have any onion or celery throw that in also for the flavor. Cook on low all day or overnight.

Freezer Spaghetti

Since I have already spent my grocery budget for the month let’s talk about some other stuff shall we? When you make a casserole do you end up throwing out the leftovers after a few days? I hate to waste food and I hate to eat leftovers. Here’s how I solve it. Instead of making things in a 9X13 I use two smaller pans. We eat one and I freeze the other to eat later. This dish is really just spaghetti that I put in a casserole. My hubs doesn’t really like spaghetti much so I have to trick him by changing it up. I use whatever I have on hand. Here is my example:
Boil your noodles (whatever you have) & drain
Brown meat-this dish has ½ pound of sausage, ½ pound of hamburger
Then I add any veggies I have. Mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes. Just whatever you like and have at home.
Mix your noodles and meat. Add spaghetti sauce. Put in the two dishes. Then I put pepperoni on top because I had some that needed to be used.
I add cheese to the one I will bake and leave the other. I prefer mozzarella but anything will work. I don’t add the cheese until I thaw and cook.
Bake at 350 until heated and cheese melts. About 15-20 minutes.
Let the freezer meal cool and then top with foil. I write the date, what it is, and cooking directions on the foil. This comes in handy if you need one of the men folk to put it in the oven. Then top with a lid if you have one. If not the foil alone will be fine. The night before I will cook this I put it in the fridge so it has all night and the next day to thaw. Then I take it out, top with cheese, bake and have a super easy meal.

Coupons 101

Girls you must stop the insanity! If you are paying full price for anything you buy you are paying too much. We use a coupon for everything. Groceries, diaper, health and beauty, lawn care (Hubs may not purchase fertilizer, seeds, ect without a coupon) restaurants! In this day there is a coupon for everything. Hubs called me a “money pirate” the other day as I was hovering over him while he was planning a trip to Home Depot. Our monthly budget is $200.00. We buy everything with that $200 bucks. If we go out to eat it comes out of that money, if Hubs needs something for the yard that money, groceries, diapers (the trade comes in handy here). We make it on this budget most months. Occasionally if there are some special occasions in a given month we will fall short a little. We also “occasionally” like to partake in an alcoholic beverage. That is not included in this budget. We do have a separate budget for that. Hehe.

Where do I get coupons?

1. Subscribe to the newspaper.
2. Ask your family and friends for their coupons. I assure you there are tons of people that you are close to that get the paper and don’t use coupons. (In my case every week for sure I get my paper, my friend Jamie gets two papers and my parents get two papers so I will always have 5 sets of newspaper coupons)
3. Use the internet. Coupons.com and smartsource.com.
4. Read blogs! A lot of the bloggers will post a coupon that I might want. I only print it if it is something I would use. And remember it might be free so you have to ask yourself would I want this if it were free?
5. Subscribe to All You Magazine.

How do I organize my coupons?

I used moneysavingmom method. I clip my coupons and have then organized alphabetically. You can use the coupon princess Homeland deals very well using this method. This works best for me. When I first started I kept them as they came in the paper and just wrote the date on them. You can do Christi’s Homeland deals very well using this method.

Is it time consuming?

You can spend as much or as little time as you like working on coupons. I got insane about it for a while. Now I have slowed down and I normally only work CVS and Homeland. They are both right beside my house (using less gas) and next month we will become a one car family. I will blog all about that later. I find that the cashiers at both of these stores are very friendly and don’t mind to do several transactions for your coupons. Target has great deals but I would rather have a colonoscopy than use my coupons at Target. The cashiers are ALWAYS rude and they act like the money you save comes out of their paycheck. I do like to do Wal-Mart but normally I have both children with me and only when I want to punish myself do I drag them to Wal-Mart.

Just start simple and try it. Once you see how much money you will save I promise you will be hooked!

Money Saving Tips

I have been watching some of these money saving tips on TV and I think DUH…..But I haven’t always been doing all this stuff to save money. In my former life (when I had a job and didn’t have two mini humans that totally depended on me) saving money wasn’t such a big deal. We have always been frugal but not out of necessity like we are these days. I thought I would share some things that we do to cut back. You can use the ones you find helpful. Or if you like to sit around and talk about how I have completely lost my mind then perhaps these will give you a little ammo……

Household

We use vinegar to clean. You can get two huge containers of vinegar at Sams for around $3.00. It last forever and cleans everything just as well as any other household cleaner. I clean the kitchen, bathrooms; mop the floors, Windex all with vinegar. Not to mention I have a two year old who loves to taste everything. If she takes a squirt of vinegar who cares it’s just vinegar. I also use it in the laundry for fabric softener. No, you can’t smell it on your clothes. It works try it. For more vinegar uses you can go here.

Of course we use energy efficient light bulbs. We also take out some. Like if you have a ceiling fan with 4 bulbs. Do you really need 4 bulbs on? Really it is much more pleasant lighting to just have one or two. Just try it and see.

I make my own laundry soap which saves tons of money.

You don’t need as much dish soap or laundry soap as you think. Only use half of the recommended amount and see if your clothes and dishes aren’t just as clean. Most of that stuff just goes down the drain. Try it and see!

We trade stuff. WHAT? Yes. You know I work CVS and get tons of beauty products for almost nothing. So when I go to visit my mom I usually try to work out a deal with her. I will bring her a bunch of things like shampoo, soap, razors, deodorant, and whatever else I got at the grocery store (like all that BBQ sauce). In return she will buy some diapers and give me her coupons from the week before. Obviously I am getting the better end of the deal but hey she’s the Mimi and she likes to do stuff for the kids anyway that just gives a little perk.

We don’t have cable. Now, this is a new thing. We have been going about a month without it. It is actually refreshing. GASP! Oh no she didn’t…….Really; I got to where I felt almost tied down to the TV. With TiVo or DVR you can record everything under the sun. All of a sudden you are addicted to three shows a day that all come on at the same time. Now I just pick one and watch it. Sure we miss the wonder pets but it is also nice to know there is only OETA or the Jesus cartoons. No commercials in between for your two year old to learn about Hannah Montana or how Obama is the coolest guy on the planet. Not to mention the issue of the two year old being addicted to the TV…. That’s a whole different post.

Cooking
I like cooking. We have a freezer and we use it. If I make a casserole (like lasagna) I use two 8 X 8 pans instead of one 9 X 13. I cook half and freeze half. That saves a ton of money and when I don’t feel like cooking I always have food on hand. It also ensures that leftovers don’t get thrown in the trash. I use coupons and cook around what I have. I don’t go out to the store and decide. I make my menu for next week based on the food I already have this week. If I find something on sale then great. I can use it in next week’s menu. Sometimes I have to get creative but normally we have things to make great meals on hand.

If you have any great money saving tips please share. I love to hear new ideas.

Mama's Spaghetti

Okay. I told you I would show you something I do with leftover chicken. This is a recipe from Hubs Mama. It is super easy and cheap and wonderful. Here’s the deal.

Boil spaghetti. However much you want.

In a separate pad sauté some onion and bell pepper in oil. In this case you can see I only had red but this dish is lovely with green or really just whatever ya got on the veggies.

Add the noodles to the veggies.

Then you add some smoked sausage (which you see I always get with the coupons) and the leftover chicken.

Add olive oil until you have all noodles covered.

Then sprinkle with spaghetti seasoning. We use the kind in the big container from Sam’s but any will do. And we add a lot to give the dish plenty of flavor.

Try this it’s good.

The Whole Bird

I told you I would show you how to cook a whole chicken. Well here he is in all his beauty. We can get two or possibly three meals out of this guy. The first night I serve just as chicken like you see him. Then I will pick the rest off the bones (don’t care much for this part) and put it in a casserole or other dish. I will show you a recipe I will use this chicken for later this week. You can also just freeze the picked chicken for later. Now you can purchase the fancy chicken dish I use here or you can use your Bundt pan. Just put a piece of foil over the hole so your juice doesn’t run out into the oven (added that for my semi-retarded friends).
Take your chicken and wash it off. If all the “junk” is in the middle clean it out. Then dry the chicken with a paper towel. Rub it down with olive oil or butter. Just whatever you have. Then season it. I just use whatever I have. Shown is a Cajun seasoning and some season salt. Then I stick him on the roaster and sprinkle some seasoning down in the hole. If you had some lemons you can do a lemon pepper seasoning and cut up a whole lemon and stick that in the hole. That makes a lovely chicken!

Preheat oven to 450. Put the chicken in for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 and rotate the chicken every 15 minutes. Cook the chicken for an hour like this. But if it’s a larger chicken I will do the 450 for 20 minutes and then rotate every 20 minutes so I know it’s done.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Hubs saw a can of black beans in the pantry and asked me to cook something with them. Hmmm. I only have really used them in a black bean salsa recipe (I will post later) so I was searching the net for something and came up with this that I had everything to make. They were super good. Go over to http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/chicken-and-black-bean-enchiladas-with-gooey-jack-cheese-recipe/index.html to see the photo and get more details. Sorry I don't know how to make it say go "here" instead of the whole link. If you know how to do that let me know and I will stop giving you these long links. There were really good and really easy and budget friendly.

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces *see cook's note
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
1/3 cup prepared salsa, mild, medium or hot
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
1 1/3 cups shredded Monterey jack and or Cheddar
*Cook's note: this is enough chicken to make this meal and another meal. If you are only making this meal, use 1 pound chicken.
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 2 minutes. Add chicken and saute 5 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove half of the chicken and reserve for another use.
Stir in black beans, green chiles, and salsa and simmer 5 minutes, until sauce thickens and reduces. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.
Arrange 4 tortillas on a flat surface. Top each tortilla with an equal amount of chicken mixture. Roll up tortillas and place side by side in a shallow baking dish. Top tortillas with shredded cheese (1/3 cup per tortilla).
Bake enchiladas 15 minutes, until cheese is golden and gooey!

Chicken Fried Rice

This was an excellent and cheap dish. I cooked that chicken that I bought last week for $2.38. We had the chicken one night and I used the leftovers to put in this rice. So we got two dishes out of it. I forgot to take a picture of my chicken. Next time I cook one I will post how to cook a whole chicken that is super good and easy! Whole chicken is the cheapest way to buy it but I know it can be weird if you aren’t used to handling a whole bird! Back to the rice. I used this recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I hope you will try this. I doubled the recipe below so that we would have leftovers for lunch. Also the picture was taken after we had eaten because my battery was dead. So this is a photo of the leftovers.

Ingredients
· 2 eggs, beaten
· 1 teaspoon soy sauce
· 1 teaspoon sesame oil or vegetable oil (I used olive oil because that is what I had)
· 1 clove garlic, minced
· 1 tablespoon cooking oil
· 1 stalks celery, thinly bias-sliced (1/2 cup)
· 3/4 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced (left this out because I didn’t have any)
· 1 8.8-ounce pouch cooked white rice
· 1 medium carrot, shredded
· 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
· 2 tablespoons soy sauce
· 2 green onions, sliced (about 1/4 cup)
Directions
1. In a small bowl combine eggs and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Set aside.
2. Pour 1 teaspoon sesame oil into a wok or large skillet. Preheat over medium heat. Add garlic and egg mixture and stir gently to scramble. When set, remove egg mixture from the wok. Cut up any large pieces of egg mixture. Remove wok from heat.
3. Pour 1 tablespoon cooking oil into the wok or skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Return to medium-high heat. Stir-fry celery in hot oil for 1 minute. Add mushrooms, stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes more or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
4. Add cooked rice, carrot, and peas & chicken. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Cook and stir for 4 to 6 minutes or until heated through. Add cooked egg mixture and green onions; cook and stir about 1 minute more or until heated through.
5. Makes 6 side dish servings

Banana Pudding

I have never been what you would call a fan of the banana pudding. It has always just been okay to me. That is until Janet Beaver brought this to my house after I had Benjamon. Now I am pretty sure she got this recipe from Jesus because it is just Heavenly. In the photo it looks like a plain banana pudding but it is so good and easy. Here goes:
1 (14 ounce) sweetend condensed milk
1 ½ cups of cold water
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
2 cups cool whip (I just use the whole tub) You’re not surprised right?
Vanilla wafers
3 medium bananas (I never use this many because I cut them thin, I’m really just in it for the pudding and cookies)
In large mixing bowl, combine milk and water. Add pudding mix; beat until well blended. Chill 5 minutes (or until you get your babies down for a nap and have time to get back to the pudding) Fold in whipped cream. Layer pudding, cookies and bananas. You can eat this now but I prefer to stick in the fridge for a while so the cookies get mushy. Whatever floats your boat……….

Salmon Turnovers

I was just telling Julie the other day how I had some canned salmon that needed to be used. I’m not that big on salmon patties. Why do I keep buying canned salmon? I don’t know….to punish myself I guess. Anyway I found this lovely gem over at thehappyhousewife.com. Along with some others I will be sampling. I thought these were delightful and super easy to make. I also think you could cut your crescents even smaller and serve as an appetizer at a party. That would go over well. Don’t you just love that crescent roll? So many things you can do with that thing. Try this out (especially if you do like salmon).

Salmon Turnovers- (makes 8 turnovers)
Ingredients:
· 2 (6 oz)cans boneless salmon
· 6 oz cream cheese
· 1 bunch green onion chopped
· 1 celery stalk chopped
· 2 tubes crescent rolls

Leave out cream cheese to soften
Cook onions and celery in about a tablespoon of butter on the stove top for 3 to 5 minutes.
Drain the salmon and put in a mixing bowl.
Mix together cooked onions, celery, cream cheese and salmon (drained)
Take the crescent rolls and put two together to make a square
Put a scoop (about 1/3 cup) of the mixture in the center of the square, then fold up the corners towards the center.
Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
Ps. I felt like I could have cooked these a little longer…..

Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

I don’t have a photo of these but a friend asked for a snack recipe. Here’s one that’s quick and easy. I normally have most of this on hand. Now the first time I ever had one of these was over at Brenda Payers house aka Buffys Momma. What a crafty gal to be able to whip up a cookie out of a cornflake. Makes me want to go kiss her right on the mouth it does! Okay so how this goes down is….
you will need:
1 C White Sugar
1 C Corn Syrup
¼ C Butter
1 C Peanut Butter
6 C Cornflakes
Bring sugar & syrup to a boil. Remove from heat & add butter and peanut butter. Melt, pour over cornflakes. Mix together good. Spoon onto wax paper. Now go make these cookies and kiss your Momma.

Mexican Biscuits

Here’s a recipe that came from my friend Aimee’s Granny. I would give her credit by her name but she has only ever been known to me as Granny. We have this at our house as a side dish or an appetizer. If you have been to a party at my house you have been served these tasty treats.
Helpful Hint: Double the recipe. As given, the recipe makes plenty for two. If you are having them for a larger event, definitely double. (This is Granny’s tip. The recipe as is makes plenty as I normally serve this with tacos and rice. But if it’s party time definitely double!
Ingredients:
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 small onion chopped fine
3 tbsp of picante sauce
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup sausage
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ cup Bisquick
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Mix everything but the Bisquick. The mix will be sticky. Go ahead and stick your hands in it and mix it good! Add Bisquick. Mix well- Will be tacky but not as sticky. Scoop balls of mix onto cookie sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes. Really do 17 minutes so the tops will be good and brown. Cool on wax paper or cooling rack.

For more grealt recipe ideas check out The Grocery Cart Challenge