Budget Ideas

Did you know that you can save money regularly on items that you frequently cook with?

Since I started this whole "coupon/bargain shopping phase", I've found that with some time and research is easy to actually save money on some of the things I buy regularly like soy milk, butter, cereal and baking staples.

Most companies today have a website where you can register and receive their promotions, coupons and updates. If you don't mind a little spam and have some spare time, try googling the things that you most often use to cook with. You'll find yourself cooking on a budget in no time.

Ranger Cookies

Here's a recipe out of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook. If you like oatmeal and coconut, this recipe is a nice change from chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup oats
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins

Preparations:

Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and egg until thoroughly blended. Separately, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Combine flour mixture with butter mixture. Add oats, coconut and raisins.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Beef Enchilada Casserole

Sorry I don't have a picture of this dish. It went from being baked to being eaten without time for me to snap a picture. This is super easy recipe for feeding a bunch of people. My Sunday School class full of teenagers gave it rave reviews.

Ingredients:

2lbs. ground beef
1 can of enchilada sauce
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can can cream of chicken soup
1 lb of Velveeta cheese
1/2 bag of Tortilla chips

Preparations:

Brown the beef and onions until cooked. Stir in both cans of soup and the enchilada sauce. Layer the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with Tortilla chips. Add Velveeta to beef mixture and let simmer for 5 minutes. Pour meat/cheese mixture over chips and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Servings: 8

A site worth checking out

I don't think I've mention delish.com before and on this happy Friday, I thought I would.

This site http://www.delish.com/ has loads of great recipes, health cooking tips and ways to make affordable meals.

So if you haven't seen it before, check it out today.

Beef Stew

Sundays are the best days to make a crock pot dish and this Sunday I decided to put some pot roast to good use and make my first beef stew. My husband's always skeptical when I cook something for the first time but he gave this dish rave reviews.

Ingredients:

1/2 chopped onion

3 celery stalks (chopped)

3 carrots (chopped)

3 potatoes (peeled and cubed)

1lb of pot roast (cubed)

1 package of McCormack's stew mix

2 cups water

Preparations:

Add 1 1/3 cups of hot water to stew mix. Whisk until blended. Place vegetables and meat in crockpot and cover with stew mix and 2/3 cup of water. Mix, cover and let simmer on low for 8 hours or on high for four hours.

Servings: 6

Blueberry Tortoni

This is a great dessert to make in a hurry. It's quick, easy and healthy.

Ingredients:

2 (3.5 ounce) fat-free vanilla pudding packages
1 cup frozen reduced calorie whipped topping, thawed
1/2 cup blueberries

Preparations:

Use a muffin tin and line with 8 cupcake holders. Combine pudding, whipped topping and berries in a bowl. Mix well. Pour mixture equally into cupcake holders and freeze for 2 hours.

Make ahead Meals

Here's a novel idea - Make food ahead of time and freeze it!

Check out Recipezaar and their tips for doing just that.

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/oamc-freezer-make-ahead

Keeping it Healthy

Happy Saturday! No work! Who hooo!!!

While I'm all for eating yummy, that doesn't mean you can't be healthy too. I recently stumbled across a very cool blog by a really cool chick. Sadly, she retired her "back in skinny jeans" blog but she still has her healthy eating blog.

Check out Steph at http://www.noshtopia.com/

Spicy Chicken Skillet

This recipe looked way too good to not post! (Betty Crocker)

Ingredients:

1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 can (15 oz) Progresso® black beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (11 oz) Green Giant® Mexicorn® whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, undrained
1/3 cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
2 cups hot cooked rice

Preparations:

1. In small bowl, mix chili powder, salt and pepper; sprinkle evenly over both sides of chicken breasts. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add chicken; cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170°F). Stir in beans, corn and salsa. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat.
3. Cover and simmer 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are hot. Serve with rice.

Trying new things

Growing up in a Scandinavian household, we pretty much ate the same things over and over again - fish, pork, and beef. Every week like clockwork, we ate the same old boring dishes. (I currently hate pork chops as a result.)

I thought that I was breaking the mold a bit with my family by branching out but after watching the show "Man vs Food", I realize there is literally a whole world out of there full of recipes yet to be explored.

(BTW, if you haven't checked out that show on the Travel Channel, you should. Adam Richmond is hilarious!)

So in the vein of trying something new, I did some research on cooking veal and came across this website - http://www.vealrecipes.com/ . They have lots easy recipes on a wide variety of different types of meats.

Tonight I hope to try the Veal Marsala (minus the tomato sauce). I'll let you guys know how that turns out.

Albertsons

Albertsons is running some great specials right now. If you're an Oreo junkie like me, make sure you pick up a couple of bags for $3. If you've got kids who love to take Capri-Suns in their lunches, they are also on sale 2 for $3.

With the holidays only a few months away, it can't hurt to save every penny you can!

Happy Labor Day!

Steak and Mushrooms

There's been a lot of beef being cooked around here seeing as how Ken is on the "Blood Type Diet". This diet restricts him to eating beef, lamb, and fish. Since he can't eat chicken you won't be seeing too many recipes for it anytime soon.

In order to keep things interesting (cause cooking beef every night can be pretty darn boring) I thought I'd make steak and mushrooms. When I informed Ken that's what I'd be cooking he asked - "Did you get a recipe?" To which I replied sweetly, "Nope but it's going to be good!"

I'm happy to report he was pleasantly surprised. As you know mushrooms basically take on the flavor of whatever they are cooked with. I marinated my steak (which was actually a 2lb pot roast sliced in half horizontally) and threw in a bunch of sliced mushrooms. I fried all of it for about 25 minutes in my Cast Iron skillet.

And the results were a restaurant quality meal for a cost of about $4.00.

Saving money on Feeding Your Family

I'm one of those people who doesn't always plan meals out ahead of time. In fact, I'm frequently guilty of going to the grocery store totally unprepared and hungry. (Both are guarantees that I will overspend and buy chocolate.)

But after seeing a news story about a woman who saves her family $50,000 a year on groceries, toiletries and clothing - I've decided to become a changed woman.

If you're like me and you want to save some money for college funds and not have to work until you're 70, here's one important for spending less on groceries -

TAKE COUPONS!

It's amazing how many good websites are out there with ways to save money on your grocery bill. Check out this one for example -

http://www.krazycouponlady.blogspot.com/

http://www.utahdealdiva.com/

http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/

By spending an hour or so a week checking the newspapers and hitting some online sites, you'll find over time that those coupons can add up to quite a substantial savings. Now I know I'm a long ways away from the gal who saves $50k a year but I'd be happy to save a $100 a month.

Keep checking back for more useful tips on how to feed your family and stay sane.

Steak on a budget

Sorry for the lack of pictures lately. With 8 computers at my disposal you'd think they'd all have the necessary software to upload pictures but alas they don't and my memory card is nearly full.

Is there a meat lover in your family? Well, I've got two in mine (including a 7 yr old who will go to great lengths to steal bacon when I'm not looking :). Flank steak can be very expensive especially when you're feeding a family of five. If you have meat lovers in your family who love a good steak, here's how you can feed them on a budget.

Take a 3lb pot roast and slice it horizontally. Marinate it for an hour before hand and fry in the marinade until it's cooked to your satisfaction. It's like eating a steak but considerably cheaper. Another helpful hint - cooking in a cast iron skillet can also enhance the flavor and aid in the cooking time.