Cheater's Salisbury Steak

I like Salisbury Steak, but I don't always feel like making the patties so I just cook up the meat like regular ground beef and add the flavors to that. It's easy and fast. My little one likes it too. You can either use egg noodles or mashed potatoes. I usually use egg noodles. Here's what you need:

1 lb of ground beef
1 can of french onion soup
1/4 C ketchup
1/4 C water
1 tsp mustard
1 Tbsp flour
1Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 shredded carrot
1/4 C oats
Handful of frozen spinach
8 oz sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 onion chopped
Cooked egg noodles

Cook up the meat and drain some of the fat, but leave a little so the oats can have something to absorb (I always season my meat with salt, pepper, and garlic powder). Add the oats, carrots, spinach, mushrooms, and onion. Add flour and french onion soup. Add ketchup, water, mustard, and worchestershire sauce. Mix well. Bring down the heat and let simmer until noodles are done. Add to noodles and your done! This is a tasty meal that my whole family enjoys.

Apple

Deals of the Week

I needed to get some new bedding so I headed to the mall. Before I went, I looked at JC Penney's website because I had a coupon that they mailed me for $15 off of any purchase of $15 or more. So I looked at their ad and they had bedding and clothes on sale for prices that are cheaper than their usual sales. But what made it even better was the $10 off coupon of any purchase $25 or more. I printed one out and when I walked into the store I picked up a few more. Here's what I got:

Key:
(Full Price, Sale Price, Price after Coupon)

2 Twin 300 thread count sheet sets ($80, $36, $26)
1 Twin quilt with pillow sham ($100, $40, $30)
1 Twin bedskirt ($40, $25, $15)
1 Twin mattress cover ($40, $20, $5)
2 pairs of men's pants ($120, $60, $40)

Full price of all of these items was $380 without tax.

Sale price was $180.95

Price after coupons was $115.95 that's $65 in coupons.

Total Savings 70% if I did my math right.

I was pretty impressed with myself for this shopping trip.

Here's a picture. Sorry for the glare.

Apple

Drop Biscuits

Since posting my pancake recipe the other day I started thinking about all of the things I have made with White Lily flour and how I needed to alter the liquid content. I was talking to my mom about it and when I mentioned biscuits, my little one said "Mama, Biscuits!" So when a toddler asks for food, mama makes it (I'm sure parents of toddlers can relate to this). Anyway, I made biscuits last night after my spaghetti dinner was all put away, but my little one ate 2 so I was happy!

These are super fast and easy to make. They're usually done in about 15-20 minutes from beginning to end.

Here's the recipe:

2 C Self-rising flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 C shortening (I use butter)
1 C milk (if using buttermilk, you'll need a little more)

Mix dry ingredients together. Add in shortening and mix with pastry blender. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add milk about a 1/2 cup at a time. The secret to fluffy, flaky biscuits is to not work it too much. Mix until just blended. Scoop onto baking sheet and put a little flour in your hands and gently roll dough into smooth ball. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

I like to grate my butter into my flour. It blends easier that way.



Apple

Happy Easter!

Sorry I didn't post anything last week, I was feeling a little under the weather. My allergies have been really bad this year. I've been sneezing like crazy. Anyway, I'll try to do better this week :)

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. We went to church and then had dinner with friends. It was nice and relaxing. Also, today between my hubby and my little one, they found my Ipod! Finally! It's been about 2 weeks now. My hubby said that if we didn't find it soon that he would buy me a new one for Mother's Day. Now he's off the hook. He teased me today and said that that was the only gift he could think of so now I'm not getting anything ;) But he's got it pretty easy because I'm not really big on gifts. I just love spending time with my family. But if you're wondering how an Ipod could be misplaced for so long it's because it was stuck in the deepest darkest crevice of our recliner. My hubby had to flip it upside down and shake it a little to find it. He said he had the recliner upside down and my little one came up to him and said "Daddy, whatcha doing?" He said "I'm looking for mommy's Ipod." Then all of a sudden my little one said "There it is!" I was upstairs and I heard my hubby say "You're awesome!" Then he called for me and told me they found it. I was very happy. It even had battery life left.

Anyway, yesterday we were out all day looking at model homes. It was a gloomy rainy day, so it was fun looking at the different homes. My plan for yesterday was to color eggs and do an egg hunt. Well, we didn't get home until about 6 pm so I figured we'd do it on Sunday. But as soon as we pulled into the garage my little one said "Mama, paint eggs!" It's funny how little one's remember stuff like that. So I had to hurry and put everything together. It was fun though. This was the first time I used vinegar in the dye, and it really makes a difference. The eggs turned out really pretty.



 I put everything in the basket a few minutes before I hid it. Tinkerbell is a big hit in our household. Can you tell?

Apple



Wow...

Have you ever had a major "Duh" moment? I had one earlier today. It's actually kind of funny, but it just goes to show how a tired brain works. My Ipod has been missing for about a week now. Today I was looking for it (again) and decided to look in my little one's stuffed animal "bed". I took everything out and didn't put them back (what's they point, they'll be scattered around again later anyway). Then I was sitting here just staring out my window and I saw a new toy that I didn't recognize out of the corner of my eye. Then I realized it was my cat just taking a snooze. How sad is that? I'm sure I'm not alone in doing this right? Didn't Elliot's mom do it in ET?

Anyone could mistake a cat for a toy, right?



Apple

Ruebens

I love Ruebens! We had that for dinner last night. Ruebens are super easy to make (my little one doesn't like them, but it's just as easy to add a grilled cheese to the menu). I don't have any pictures, but it's so easy that pictures aren't really necessary anyway. Here's what you need:

Swiss cheese slices
Sauerkraut
Thousand Island dressing
Corned Beef
Rye Bread

Butter the outside of the bread. Inside add one slice of swiss cheese, corned beef, sauerkraut, another slice of swiss cheese, and bread. Place on griddle and brown on both sides (the browning time should be enough time to get the cheese melted, if not just place a lid over it for a minute to melt the cheese). After browning you could remove one slice of bread and add the dressing, I just put mine on the side and dip my sandwich in it. For a side, I went to my local pizza place and ordered potato wedges because they have the best and dinner was done.

Apple

Pancakes Anyone?

Do you ever feel like having breakfast for dinner? A couple of nights ago my little one kept asking for pancakes, so I decided it would be nice to have them for dinner. I used to buy the mix from the store, but really wanted to find an easy, good homemade version. I finally fiddled around with enough recipes and found the perfect pancake every time. Depending on what kind of flour you use will make a difference with how much milk you use. I use Gold Medal, but I have used White Lily and it is made from a soft winter wheat which makes it finer (in my opinion) and I've had to majorly reduce the amount of milk I use when making anything with White Lily flour.

I always do half a batch of plain pancakes and another half of blueberry. I'm not a big fan of blueberries, but these pancakes taste kind of like my blueberry muffins, so they're good. I use frozen wild blueberries, but I've used fresh too. Anyway, here's what you need:

2 Cups Self-Rising flour
2 eggs, beaten
6 Tbsp oil
6 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 Cups milk
splash of vanilla
blueberries (opitional)
cinnamon (optional)
nutmeg (optional)
brown sugar (optional)

Mix everything together and pour onto buttered griddle. I always butter my griddle and it adds an extra yummyness (is that a word? :D) to it. I do not add butter afterwards. Cook until bubble start to appear. Don't let the pancake get covered with bubbles because by then it's cooked too much and you'll have tougher pancakes. When bubble start to appear, look underneath and if it looks like it's good to flip, do so. Just be sure to flip AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE! Trust me on this one, it really makes a difference. Just for a test, go ahead and allow one to get bubbles all over, and notice the difference in the texture. I learned this little trick from Queen Martha :) She was right!

If you click on this image you can kind of see the consistency that you should have.

Plain Pancakes 

Blueberry pancakes. After I put the first batch of plain pancakes on the griddle, I add blueberries, nutmeg, and cinnamon to the batter. Put them on the griddle (after buttering) and add brown sugar. When you flip them over and cook the brown sugar side it gets delicious. Just beware not to touch the sugar side with your fingers. It's HOT!

Yummy Yummy! 



Apple

Turkey Meatloaf and Hashbrown Casserole

When I was growing up, we didn't eat a lot of beef. Usually if we had meat, it was turkey. One of my favorites was turkey meatloaf, which I'll post the recipe for in a little bit. When I was thinking about what to make I decided that a hashbrown casserole would go good with it. I'm sure a lot of people already have some sort of version of this casserole, but I'll tell you mine. I don't put any butter in mine because the cheese is generally going to have enough oil that you won't need the butter. This meal really isn't anything fancy, but it's filling and yummy. My pictures aren't the greatest for this meal because my meatloaf fell apart as I was plating it and my batteries in my camera were about to die, so I just took them as fast as I could :) Sorry!

Meatloaf:

About 1lb of ground turkey (my pack had a little bit more, so that's fine)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1/4 of a bell pepper, chopped (I only like a hint of it, if you love it, add more)
About 1/4 C of oats
Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder to taste
6 oz of Italian seasoned tomato paste (if you only have 1lb of meat, use about 1/2 of the paste)

Glaze:

Yellow Mustard
Ketchup
Sugar

Again this is not something I measure. I put the sugar in a bowl first (maybe a couple Tbsps) then I add the ketchup and mustard. You won't need as much mustard as ketchup. Just make sure you have enough to cover the whole meatloaf.

Mix everything together thoroughly, form, cover and put in oven at 375 for 1 hour. Uncover, add "glaze" and bake another 15 minutes until browned.

Hashbrown Casserole:

30 oz pkg of frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed

2 Cups of cheddar cheese, divided

1 can of cream of chicken soup

8 oz of sour cream

1/2 onion, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Just mix everything toghether minus 1/2 cup of cheese. Put into a casserole dish and bake at 375 for approximately 40 minutes (covered), then uncover add 1/2 cup of cheese and bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden.

I tried to cut out as much fat as possible without sacrificing taste. I used Healthy Request cream soup, reduced fat sour cream and cheese. I also did NOT butter my casserole dish. It just wasn't necessary.

Here's the finished meal. Like I said, it's isn't pretty, but it sure is yummy!

I'm actually a little embarrased to post that picture, but there it is! Enjoy!

Apple

Spring Things

Today I was driving around my neighborhood and as I was driving I saw that quite a few people have dandelions already growing in their grass. Fortunately, I don't have any...yet. But each year my dandelion garden is getting smaller and smaller (YEAH!!!). A couple years ago my hubby and I went to an organic gardening class and the man teaching the class said that corn gluten is a natural way to get rid of dandelions. He also said to allow your grass to grow a little longer because it forces the leaves of the weed up and they need to be opened up to get the sunshine they need to thrive. Also allowing your grass to be a little taller gives you a beautiful lush green lawn even when we aren't getting a lot of rain. I never water my lawn, yet our grass is almost always greener than the people who do. Our neighbor gets his lawn treated and our grass looks better than his.  I always cringe when I drive pass a house and they've given a buzz cut to their grass and by the end of summer they have a brown yard. Isn't it funny how when you get older the things that you brag about? I would have never guessed I'd be proud of my green grass :). I also have noticed that my hubby and I have gotten into some strange conversations too...for example, we were saying wouldn't it be cool if you could somehow go back in time and make everyone believe that dandelions are the prettiest "flower" to have? Then when we come back to our time, we would have the best yard ever. LOL! Weird, I know. But seriously, have you ever seen a field of dandelions? I think it's beautiful, I really do. There is a field not far from us and every year it's full of dandelions and it's so pretty. It's picture perfect in a way...a sea of yellow and green with a big blue sky and white fluffly clouds for it's backdrop. But it doesn't look that way in my yard. In my yard it looks like weird spaghetti with yellow puffs on the end. Wow, I kind of went of topic there, anyway, back to corn gluten, somehow it stops the dandelions from reseeding. So if you put it down you can't put down grass seed for a while because it will kill it. Well finally after putting down corn gluten for about 4 years in a row, we have almost no dandelions.

I'm probably slightly neurotic with not using chemicals in my lawn, but I can't help it. My little one plays in the grass, as well as my dog (who also tends to eat it from time to time) and it makes me nervous to put stuff down that could cause harm. My neighbors were laughing at me one day because we had some serious ant issues in the front yard. Again the organic man gave us some tips for that too. He said that ants don't like cinnamon, so just sprinkle some cinnamon on their home and after a while they'll leave. So I went to Sam's Club and bought giant industrial sized cinnamon, came home and started sprinkling it all over my front yard. When my neighbors smelled the delicious smell of cinnamon, they came over. I told them my plan and they all just laughed at me. But you know what? The ants left! It took a little while, but they did leave. Unfortunately, they moved to my backyard. Sigh. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting rid of them. I have a green area behind my house and I'm trying to move them back there and then I'll just have to put cinnamon around my perimeter. I only have about 8 feet to go until they're out of my yard, so in a few weeks if you see a lady with a cart full of cinnamon at Sam's, it's probably me, or maybe someone else who has heard if this crazy idea, it could happen right?  :)

Ha! This is a funny post. I do sound a little crazy with the cinnamon :)

Apple



Meatball Subs

The other day I was watching a show called "Too fat for 15" and the students were allowed to go off campus to spend some time with their families. One of the students went to Subway and ordered the healthiest option that was on program for him and his brother ordered a meatball sub. Of course what did I get a taste for? That's right...meatball subs. So that's what's for dinner tonight. Meatball subs are really easy to make. I don't really have a recipe for them. I'll just tell you what I do and you can make any alterations you want.
This recipe is VERY kid friendly!

About 1lb of ground beef (of course you could use turkey for a healthier alternative)
Spinach
Oats
Carrots, shredded
Onions, chopped
Salt, Pepper, and Garlic to taste
1 jar of spaghetti sauce

Mix all of the ingredients together, except for the sauce, and form into meatballs. I always use my little scoop from Pampered Chef. Bake at 350 until done. I know that's not very helpful, but just check to make sure it's all good. I always cook mine in sauce too, so even if they're slightly under cooked, they'll finish cooking in the sauce.

Put the meatballs in spaghetti sauce and continue cooking for about 30 minutes. After cooking add meatballs to buns, add mozzerella cheese and put under broiler for a couple minutes. Be sure to watch carefully so you don't burn it.

Add some french fries or tater tots and enjoy!

Apple

Spaghetti Pie

Do you ever have spaghetti leftovers and not really want to eat the same exact thing again?  This is a great recipe to make when you have leftovers.  I like to call this my everything but the kitchen sink meal.  Of course you don't have to have leftovers to make this meal :-)

What you need:

Cooked pasta (about 1 lb.) Any type of pasta will do--my fave is Linguini.
Spaghetti Sauce (about 1 lb. or 1 jar)
Cooked Seasoned Meat (1 lb.)
Sauteed Veggies
Mozzarella Cheese (2 Cups)
1 Egg
1/2 C--3/4 C Parmesan Cheese

Okay, this is why I say everything but the kitchen sink.  If I have leftover noodles I use those but typically that is the one thing I don't have left over.  I make lots of stuff with red sauce (spaghetti sauce) over the course of a few weeks so I will have several 1/2 used or less jars of sauce in my frig.  This is when I make this meal.  I mix all of the sauces together and they taste great!  I will also save extra meat from tacos (without the seasoning) or extra hamburgers that we didn't eat.  I throw those in a container in the freezer and save them just for this meal.  I have also used sausage and turkey for the meat as well.  I will also look for veggies in the frig that I can throw into this (as long as my husband is not eating with us). 

When I made this meal this last time I used spicy sausage for the meat (50% at my local grocery store and also my husband's favorite!)  I also wasn't able to add in any veggies since my husband was going to be eating this:-(

Step 1:

In a bowl add cooked noodles, 1 egg (raw), and Parmesan cheese.  Mix together.  This will be the bottom of your pie.  Place noodles in a glass pie dish (sprayed with non stick) and press noodles to form the bottom of your pie.

Step 2:

Add in cooked meat (If adding veggies, I like to brown my meat and veggies together and add both of them in this step).

Step 3:

Add sauce (the sauce can be cold--it does not have to be heated). 

Step 4:

Top with Cheese (use your own judgement on how much you would like).

Step 5:

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  Broil for the last 2-3 minutes until golden.

Step 6:

Cut in 1/8ths just like a pie.

Step 7:

Enjoy :-)

I hope this helps turn leftover spaghetti into a whole new meal!

Leaf

Spring Decorations

Spring is in the air even though the weather is ridiculously cold. My neighbors have a huge Weeping Willow tree in their backyard and it is always the first thing to start showing any green. I always get excited when I look out my window and see that little hint of Spring. Well since it's putting on its greenery I've decided to put some Spring decorations out. I like to see other peoples decorations so I assume you'd like to see mine! Enjoy!

Apple

Deals of the Week

I am so excited to post my deals that I got today. I saw in my local ad that they have the following sale...
"Buy any Dove, Suave, Axe, or Vaseline Intensive Care totaling $15 or more and save $5 instantly". So I'm looking through my coupons and I see in last weeks newspaper they have coupons for a lot of this stuff. My hubby and I probably won't be needing anymore bodywash, lotion, or deoderants for a while! On my last shopping trip I got 2 bottles of Oil of Olay bodywashes for free, I also have 2 bottles of Oil of Olay lotions (free) and either 3 or 6 bottles of Vaseline Intensive Care lotion from a shopping trip I posted on a couple of weeks ago. I had to ring this up in 3 seperate orders which worked out to my advantage because after the first purchase I got a $3 off coupon which I used on the next order and after that order I got another $3 off your next purchase which I used on my third order. I figured that I have saved 62%!!!  That's crazy! Anyway here are today's deals:

For Me:
2 Dove deoderants ($4.59 minus $1 coupon), Dove shampoo and conditioner ($6 minus $1 coupon), Dove body wash ($5.29 minus $1 coupon), Dove 6 pack bar soap (was $7.29 on sale for $5.29 minus $1 coupon).

For Hubby:
2 Suave shampoo and conditioner in one ($5.60 minus $1 coupon), 3 Dove for Men deoderants ($10.50 minus $1 coupon), 3 Suave Men's bodywashes ($5.79 on sale plus buy two get one free coupon so the computer took off $2), 2 Dove for Men bodywashes ($6.60 minus $1 coupon).

OK. So then this is when the magic happened. $5 was automatically taken off of each order totaling $15 off the bat, plus 2 $3 off your next purchase coupons is another $6 saved, plus all of my coupons totaling $9 is a savings of $30 and finally add in sale prices (which I didn't include the regular prices above except for the bar soaps) and that's another $6! AWESOME!!!

So here's the rundown:

5 Men's bodywashes
1 Women's bodywash
6 bars of soap
2 Women's deoderant
3 Men's deoderant
2 shampoo's and conditioner's in one
1 shampoo for me
1 conditioner for me

Total cost: $22. Would have paid $58 full price. And remember this is name brand stuff,  not store brand. I think that's pretty impressive! That's like $1.38 per item!

Here are all of my goods:

Even my cat could sniff out this great deal :)

If you smell anything clean around here it's just me and my hubby! LOL!!! :)

Apple

Chicken Broccoli Braid

Here is one of my favorite recipes to make.  I love that it is so full of color!  It is also easy for little kids to eat so that makes my life easy too.  All of the food is chopped so no need to cut it up for little ones and my kids prefer to pick it up and eat it like a sandwich! 

I make mine slightly different than the original recipe.  I will post the original recipe and you can alter it to your tastes.  I prefer to add additional broccoli and I use a whole red pepper (about 1 cup)  vs. 1/2 cup.  I also use 1/4  light mayonnaise instead of 1/2 cup of regular mayonnaise to cut some calories.  In addition I use reduced fat crescent rolls and cheese.  This makes it slightly healthier and doesn't sacrifice any of the taste.   

It takes about 20-25 minutes to prep and 25 minutes to bake at 375 degrees. 

What you need:
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons dill
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 packages crescent rolls
1 egg white

Directions:

Chop cooked chicken, red bell pepper, and broccoli.

Add chopped chicken, red pepper, and broccoli in mixing bowl along with cheese, garlic, mayonnaise dill, and salt.

Stir together.

Unroll crescent roll dough and arrange flat on a baking sheet or stoneware. Pinch together perforations to form a single sheet of dough.

Spread chicken mixture evenly over the middle of dough, making it about 6 inches wide and leaving about 1 inch on both ends.  Use a knife to cut 1 inch strips about 3 inches deep along the length (the longest side of dough).  Repeat on the other side. 

Braid strips by lifting dough from one end going across the mixture to meet in the center and twist over to the opposite end.  I find it easier to not actually "twist" the dough but cross it--it cooks better this way.  Tuck ends up to seal the end of the braid.

 

This step is optional:  Brush dough with egg white.  I have done it both ways and do not notice a difference so I typically skip this step.

Bake at 375 for 25-28 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut and Serve

Happy Eating!
Leaf

Yields:  10
This recipe is from Pampered Chef