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End of Year Couponing Update for 2012

Hot off the press!

As many of you remember, I accepted a challenge from my college roommate, Karen, last January and tried my hand at couponing. I began at the end of January, right around the 28th of the month, or thereabouts.

My first couponing trip was to CVS and with that one trip, I was hooked on saving money!

This week marks the start of the new year, a whole new year of saving money. To celebrate, I am sharing with you some photos of a local magazine article in which I was one of the couponers featured. This magazine, Prime Time, is the January issue and it’s put out by the same company that puts out the two newspapers I work for, Beacon Communications. I was so excited when they asked if they could feature me for the story. Also featured is my friend Pam, who has been so helpful in teaching me her couponing strategies along the way.

Clip, clip, clip…

I thought that with the feature story coming out today, it’d be a great day to share with you some of my couponing savings totals for the 2012 year.

Remember, all of the items I purchased were from places I already shopped, for things I already buy. I did not add any other stops to my already busy schedule and I did not start purchasing things I don’t need, like baby wipes for example, when I don’t have a baby, just to use the coupons.

Ready?

CVS: I saved $1604.36 at CVS this year. At CVS I utilized their own store coupons, stacked with manufacturer’s coupons, along with sales and their Extra Bucks Rewards to make the very most of every penny I spent there. I also made sure to enroll in their Beauty Club and just yesterday, their brand new prescription program, both of which earn you additional Extra Bucks for purchasing things you already were buying.

TARGET: I saved about $90 this year just by using my Target Red Card, which is not a credit card since we do not use credit cards, but rather a debit card. This does not count all of my savings from manufacturer’s coupons or Target store coupons, which I stack in order to make the most of my savings. With the Target Red Card you save an additional 5% off your total purchase after coupons. Caroline recently used our Red Card herself when purchasing an item that was over $200. She had saved up for months and used her Christmas money and a Target gift card for the rest, and saved herself quite a bit of money out of pocket by using the Red Card.

STOP AND SHOP: I only recently started popping into Stop and Shop due to our new dietary needs, for things that my other grocery stores don’t have. Therefore, I only have one month’s worth of savings on my last receipt there, but I have saved $62 in that one month alone, according my last 2012 receipt.

I have also saved with coupons at Walmart, Staples, AC Moore and Michael’s. I’ve saved online using Groupon, Living Social and other group buying deals, throughout the year. I accumulated over $200 in rebate money through the year, which I used to start off my Christmas shopping early this summer.

My kids and my husband have also picked up some great couponing skills. They all scan the CVS card when we enter the store, as many times as it will let us, and they can spot a good coupon right away. We recently went to CVS to get some Zyrtec. I had a $4 manufacturer’s coupon and when we walked in, a $5 store coupon off that very product came out of the machine. Elizabeth came running down the allergy aisle holding it up. She knew we would now save $9 off a product we used to pay full price for.

Of course, being my competitive self, my goal for the new couponing year is to beat the 2012 totals for the next year in order to save my family even more money!

Time to get clipping!

Tags: AC Moore, budgets, Christmas, couponing, cvs, eating on a budget, extreme couponing, Groupon, Jennifer L. Cowart, kids, Living Social, Michaels, motherhood, saving money, shopping on a budget, Staples, Target, Target Red Card, Walmart

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Categories Christmas, Couponing, Eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Kids, Motherhood, Shopping on a budget

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Chicken and Veggie Chowder

2 Jan

This soup was hearty and delicious and everyone in our family gave it a thumbs up!

Happy New Year!

If you read my New Year’s Eve post on Monday, then you’ll remember that I mentioned that some of my posts will be showing the new recipes we’ve been trying at our house during the month of December.

These recipes are helping us in our goal of eliminating as much of the “bad fats” from our diet and we’ve been using a variety of websites, blogs and cookbooks to guide us in finding some fun new meal options.

One thing our family loves is homemade soup. During the fall and winter months we have homemade soup all the time.

When I was looking through The South Beach Diet Cookbook last month, I saw this recipe for Chicken and Veggie Chowder and it seemed like we would all love it. We had everything for it at home already, so we gave it a go. If you were following the South Beach Diet itself, this recipe is recommended for Phase II. Since we are not, we could eat it any time we wanted to.

It was a cold day when we had it, and it was definitely a warm-your-belly kind of soup. Everyone loved it, which is one reason we love making soups. Very rarely does someone not like soup at our house. This recipe was definitely a keeper, and of course, it was good for you.

CHICKEN AND VEGGIE CHOWDER (from the South Beach Diet Cookbook)
INGREDIENTS

3 cups chicken broth

2 carrots, chopped

2 ribs of celery, chopped

2 ounces mushrooms

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4″ strips

2 tablespoons trans-free margarine or butter (We’ve been trying out the Smart Balance Omega 3 sticks and the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter sticks)

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 cup 1% milk

3 spears asparagus cut up into 1″ pieces or 1 cup broccoli florets (we like both but we went with the broccoli.)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot, combine the broth, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic, thyme, and salt.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Using a slotted spoon, remove half of the vegetable mixture to a food processor and process until pureed. Return to the saucepan.

Stir in the chicken, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.

Melt the margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour until smooth and cook for one minute.

Gradually add the milk and cook, stirring constantly for three minutes, or until thickened.

Stir into the chicken mixture. Add the asparagus or broccoli, parsley, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes, or until heated through.

Tags: Aldi's, Chicken and Veggie Chowder, dinner, Eating healthy, eating on a budget, good fats, healthy carbs, Jennifer L. Cowart, kids, Low fat diet, picky eaters, recipes, shopping on a budget, South Beach Diet

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Categories Dinner, Eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Kids, lunch, Recipes, Shopping on a budget, Side Dishes, South Beach Diet

A new year, a new direction for The Whole Bag of Chips

31 Dec

Happy New Year!

It’s New Year’s Eve!

It is the very last day of 2012!

You know what that means? It means that it’s New Year’s Resolution time for many. I know that last year I talked a little bit about the fact that because our entire family runs on a school year schedule, I’m kind of programmed to set my own personal goals and resolutions for the “year” in September, rather than January.

And that’s still true, but this new year is going to be a bit different, and you’ll be seeing it with some changes to The Whole Bag of Chips as well.

This blog is designed so that it often follows the twists and turns of our family’s life. As with any family, there are always lots of twists! We like to keep things exciting at our house.

Some of you may know that for years we have had a variety of stomach issues here. I know I’ve mentioned it in some of my posts. It’s one reason we don’t eat out often (besides the financial reason), it’s the reason I do my “sweets” after school rather than at night before bedtime, and it’s the reason why we work so hard to make our meals from scratch, and try to eat as healthy as we can.

That said, we still love our homemade desserts.

A lot.

However, in an interesting twist, it was recently suggested to us that eating a strict low fat/healthy fat/healthy carb diet might be beneficial in helping us to fight the chronic belly aches here at our house. It was suggested that one of us may have something similar to an allergy to fats.

The first reaction I had was similar to the day I was told that one of my kids was allergic to dust.

She’s doomed.

But, in keeping with my overachiever, Type A personality, my next reaction was to take a deep breath and find out all that I could about cooking a low fat/healthy fat/healthy carb menu for my family.

Immediately.

We needed to see if this suggestion held any water.

And it did.

It was recommended that if we wanted to truly try this out and we were looking for recipes, that The South Beach Diet might be a good one to try for guidelines and new menu ideas. I checked one cookbook out of the library the very next day and read the entire thing cover to cover in about two days’ time, the first weekend of December.

December.

Christmas month.

Cookies, desserts, parties.

Not the easiest time to make such a switch, but I was going to give it 100%.

And so, here it is, December 31, almost a full month into our experiment, and although the chronic stomach pain has not completely disappeared, we have seen an improvement, enough that we want to keep up with this new way of eating. Our family is not on the diet, per se, not following the strict Phase I, II and III plan, but rather using the facts in the beginning of the book about fats and carbs and sugars, along with the recipes throughout the book, to overhaul our menu.

Therefore, in keeping with many people’s top New Year’s Resolutions: losing weight, and staying fit and healthy, The Whole Bag of Chips recipes will be featuring the recipes that we have been using in our meals as of late. We have switched our entire family over to this “diet” so that we are all eating the same thing and all eating as healthy as possible, together.

I tried to keep my healthy versions as close to my regular versions as possible.

When it came time for Christmas Cookie baking, I made two sets: a regular set of our favorites for our trays and a healthy set of our same favorites, using modified ingredients, for our family. We did not want to give up the things we loved but yet we needed to try to keep to as low fat a diet as possible, even at Christmas.

So today, in preparation for your New Year’s Day breakfast, I will post for you a breakfast recipe that you can use tomorrow morning if you would like to start your 2013 eating healthier too. The recipe is a modified version of our homemade pancake recipe along with a delicious hot peach compote recipe to go on top. Neither is far off from what we normally would make (in fact this pancake recipe hardly differs from our own), but they both are in keeping with the low fat/healthy fat/healthy carb guidelines. One is a South Beach cookbook recipe and one is from the Farm Girl Gourmet blog that I found online.

Happy 2013 and enjoy!

PANCAKES (from the South Beach Diet Cookbook)

My entire family loved this compote and it was so easy! I’d double the recipe next time.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups whole wheat or whole grain pastry flour (We have always had whole wheat flour at our house all the time and will often do half wheat, half white flour in our recipes.)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 egg white (we just did two eggs instead of one egg and one egg white)

2 cups buttermilk (to make buttermilk use 1 T. white vinegar to 1 cup milk, so two and two here)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons canola oil (I used plain nonfat yogurt instead of oil, which is a tip we learned a few months back. We love how fluffy it makes our pancakes and waffles.)

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg and egg white until very foamy. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and oil.

Stir into the flour mixture just until the batter is combined and pourable.

Heat a large, nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat.

Pour 1/3 cup batter into the skillet to form a 4″ pancake. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the bottom is browned.

Turn and cook for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown.

I had everything I needed for this recipe at home already.

FRESH PEACH COMPOTE (from the Farm Girl Gourmet blog)

INGREDIENTS

1 pound fresh peaches, skinned, pitted and sliced (or frozen) *I used a bag of Aldi’s frozen peaches.
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan, add the peaches, brown sugar, water and cinnamon, bring to a boil.

Turn heat down to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until mixture is thick and liquid is syrupy.

Tags: Aldi's, baking, Christmas, Christmas cookie tray recipes, Christmas cookies, Christmas Recipes, cooking with kids, eating on a budget, Farm Girl Gourmet, homemade lowfat pancakes, homemade peach compote, Jennifer L. Cowart, kids, low carbs, low fat, low sugar, recipes, shopping on a budget, South Beach Diet

Comments 3 Comments
Categories Breakfast recipes, Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Cooking with Kids, dessert, Eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Kids, peaches, Recipes, Shopping on a budget, South Beach Diet, Your Tray or Mine?

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Honey Dijon Pork Chops

12 Dec

I have a love/hate relationship with pork chops.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you may remember my love/hate relationship with pork chops. I love them, but my family usually hates them.

In fact, if you search the words “pork chops” in my blog’s search bar, you’ll see all of the various recipes I’ve tried, hoping to find one they like.

Meanwhile, I’ve never stopped liking them.

Recently, I picked up a package of boneless pork chops, going with the Try, Try Again method of meal planning. As I was thinking of how to try them this time, I remembered that we used to do a Honey Dijon pork chop way back when. I knew I liked it, of course, but I had no idea which other family members had or had not. I decided to search for one and try again.
I went to my favorite go-to when I do a recipe search: Allrecipes.com and found a recipe that looked like the one we used to make, except that we used to dip ours in bread crumbs after we dipped them in the sauce first.

This Pampered Chef product is perfect for recipes that require lots of dipping and breading!

I even remembered that I have a cool Pampered Chef product that I use for this type of recipe too, so I pulled that out as well.

The Coating Trays and Tool kit is great for recipes that require you to dip your meat into something or into several somethings. For this particular recipe I ended up using only two of the trays, one for the honey mustard sauce and one for the bread crumbs.

I hope you enjoy today’s recipe. My family liked it well enough.

Kind of.

HONEY DIJON PORK CHOPS

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground black pepper ( I left this out.)

1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 boneless pork loin chops
I added in bread crumbs for coating after the dipping step.
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking dish.
2. Mix Dijon mustard, honey, black pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl. Arrange pork chops in prepared baking dish and pour mustard mixture over pork.
3. Bake in preheated oven until pork is slightly pink in the center, about 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).
  We served our recipe with couscous and green beans almondine.

Tags: Aldi's, allrecipes.com, dinner, eating on a budget, green beans almondine, honey dijon pork, Jennifer L. Cowart, kids, Pampered Chef, Pampered Chef Coating Trays, picky eaters, pork chops, recipes

Comments 1 Comment
Categories Dinner, Eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Kids, Recipes, Shopping on a budget

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Chicken & Asparagus Penne

5 Dec

Nice and easy for the pre-holiday season!

Simple, affordable, healthy ingredients make this recipe a keeper!

During the holiday time, it’s easy to over do it when it comes time to eating. There’s lots of special food, lots of rich holiday food. It’s also a busy, busy time; lots to do leading up to the holidays.

That’s why, when I first saw this recipe on Pinterest for Chicken & Asparagus Penne, I was drawn to it because of both the simplicity and the affordability of it. It would be a good, easy dinner that we could use over and over again and all of the ingredients were on my shopping list at Aldis on a regular basis. There’s not much to it as far as prep and ingredients, and that’s exactly what I need this time of year. I can’t need to exert much more energy than I already am.

This recipe was linked over from Pinterest to GoodnessGracious.com but even she got it from somewhere else! I love how everyone shares, especially during the holidays! Thanks Goodness Gracious, for sharing!

CHICKEN & ASPARAGUS PENNE

Ingredients

1 lb Asparagus- Steamed
12 oz Smart Taste Penne- Cooked
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 lb Chicken Breast- Cubed and Cooked
1/2 Cup Shredded Parmesan

Instructions

Add all ingredients into a 9 x13 pan and stir to combine.
Top with Cheese and Broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is golden.

Notes

Calories 383 Total Fat 14.5g Sat. Fat 3.2g Cholest. 50mg Sodium 273mg Carb. 45.9g Fiber 8.2g Sugars 3g Protein 25.4g

Tags: Aldi's, chicken and asparagus penne, dinner, eating on a budget, Goodness Gracious blog, Jennifer L. Cowart, recipes, shopping on a budget

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Categories Dinner, Eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Recipes, Shopping on a budget

The Reverse Dinner Party

3 Dec

Just two years ago, we were in the midst of all this, but a great new tradition did come out of it!

Some of you know that two years ago my husband had surgery on his leg. He had ruptured his achilles tendon and he had a cast on his leg for several months, and was on crutches with a boot for several more. It was a long year for him and for us, and a very humbling experience, but believe it or not, some good did come out of it.

The Reverse Dinner Party is one of those good things.
During the initial few weeks after the surgery we had lots of help from family and friends. We had people raking leaves and bringing meals and staying over, all to help us out. It was an incredible outpouring of generosity.

When things died down a little, we had some friends of ours, the Garabedian family, ask us if they could bring us dinner and hang out for the evening. We welcomed the fun and the food, and we said we’d make dessert. So they cooked at their house, we cleaned up at ours, and made dessert, and they arrived on our doorstep that evening with their two girls and our dinner.

It was their turn to cook dinner this time, and we were treated to turkey and all the fixins!

With that one gesture, a new tradition was created: The Reverse Dinner Party. Our friends had brought dinner to us at our house but the next month when Don was more mobile, they asked us to come for dinner at their house. It seemed unfair to have them make dinner for us again, so we decided to treat them and we brought dinner to them at their house and this time they provided dessert.

It became a fun treat and a little bit of a break, too. If you had to clean your house for company, at least you “only” had to make dessert along with the cleaning. If you had to cook the main dish, at least you didn’t have to worry about making your house presentable for guests at the same time.

Monkey bread and pumpkin pie for dessert!

There was also an element of surprise with some of our Reverse Dinner Parties. We would try not to tell the others ahead of time, what we were going to make. We’ve had all kinds of things and so far there has never been a time where we haven’t liked what the others have made. It’s also been a fun time to try out something new.

This month, we did know that the Garabedians were bringing a turkey diner, so I planned a pumpkin pie for dessert, to go along with it. I also made a new dessert that I had on hand in my pantry: a banana chocolate chip monkey bread. Both desserts and all of the dinner courses got all thumbs up from all nine of us.

This year we agreed to do a Yankee Swap in between dinner and dessert.

We’ve had our dinners in all seasons, indoors and out. We’ve had drinks and desserts over a fire, sometimes we play games, and this time around we incorporated a Yankee Swap, just in time for the holidays. The kids and the adults all had a blast, so I’m sure we’ll do it again next year.

In the end, it’s a night together with friends and it’s the sharing of a meal that really matters. It amazes me to think that we began this tradition two years ago, and I am grateful to our friends who asked simply if they could bring us dinner.

Tags: baking, Banana Chocolate Chip Monkey Bread, chocolate chips, Christmas, dessert, dinner, eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, pumpkin pie, shopping on a budget, thankful, Thanksgiving, The Reverse Dinner Party, Yankee Swap

Comments 3 Comments
Categories Christmas, dessert, Dinner, Eating on a budget, fall desserts, Jennifer L. Cowart, The Reverse Dinner Party

Five Thumbs Up: Apple Butter Bars

30 Nov

Caroline loves using the pastry cutter to cut the butter into recipes. This one provided a perfect opportunity to use it!

I’ve got a great new recipe for you, and it got all thumbs up from everyone in my house this week! That almost never happens!

I originally found this recipe for Apple Butter Bars on Pinterest, but it’s from the site Three Many Cooks. I pinned it because my kids love apple butter. Overall the recipe seemed somewhat healthy: no eggs, no white sugar. Apple butter is healthy in itself, so other than the stick of butter that helps to form the crust and topping, it’s not so bad for you, I don’t think.

Caroline made these herself and it was a very easy recipe to follow. If I could change any one thing about it, I’d double it! It makes an 8×8 dish, but with five of us, it didn’t leave many leftovers to last into the next day(s).

Here is the recipe from Three Many Cooks. Enjoy!

Apple Butter-Cinnamon Bars with Oatmeal Crumble

Makes 16 bars

Relatively healthy ingredients makes for a keeper on my list!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
1 cup apple butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Spread the apple butter between the layers.

DIRECTIONS

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8- by 8-inch baking pan with vegetable cooking spray, then line pan bottom and up and over 2 sides with heavy-duty foil to facilitate removal of bars from pan. Coat foil with vegetable cooking spray.

Mix flour, oatmeal, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in butter with a fork until well mixed and clumps form. Spread half the oatmeal mixture over pan bottom and up the sides about 1/4 inch, pressing to form a thin crust. Mix apple butter and cinnamon in a small bowl; spread mixture over crust and then sprinkle remaining oatmeal mixture over apple mixture.

Bake until crisp and golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Set on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Use foil “handles” to remove bars from pan. (Can be double wrapped and frozen for several months.). Cut into squares and serve.

Tags: after school snack, Apple Butter Bars, apples, baking, cooking with kids, dessert, eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, kids, recipes, shopping on a budget, Three Many Cooks

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Categories After School Snacks, Dinner, Eating on a budget, fall desserts, Jennifer L. Cowart, Kids, Recipes, Shopping on a budget

Happy Veteran’s Day

12 Nov

Patriotic waffles as we remember our soldiers today!

As I type this, it is Sunday, Veteran’s Day 2012.

It’s a day to remember our veterans, those who have served so that we can be free.

I attended a wonderful Veteran’s Day ceremony on Friday at one of the schools I visited and I literally had goosebumps as the whole room pledged allegiance to the flag.

We often take our freedoms for granted, and I am grateful today for the opportunity to remember why we are free.

Thank you to all who serve and all who have served!

Since I’m posting a picture of our patriotic waffles, I will re-post a recipe for waffles that I posted a while back, too.

Enjoy them as you remember why we have the day off today!

All-American Waffles

serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS

1 egg, separated (put yolk in two quart bowl and white in small bowl.)

1 cup plus 2 TBL milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 TBL canola or vegetable oil ** I recently earned that you can substitute the same amount of nonfat plain yogurt for the oil!

1 cup plus 2 TBL flour

4 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

Separate the egg, putting egg white aside in small bowl.

In larger bowl, combine the egg yolk, milk, vanilla and oil. Blend together, by hand, with wire whisk.

Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to the liquid ingredients and blend with wire whisk. (There will probably be some lumps.)

Beat the egg white with electric mixer until stiff. Fold into the batter with wire whisk until just blended.

(Do not beat egg whites into batter, just fold in.)

When waffle iron is ready, drop batter into the four squares and use according to directions.

Tags: All American Waffles, eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Patriotic Waffles, recipes, shopping on a budget, Veteran's Day

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Categories blueberries, Breakfast recipes, Eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Recipes, Shopping on a budget, Veteran's Day

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Chicken and Dumplings

7 Nov

Don made Chicken and Dumplings for us, for the first time ever.

Recently I wrote a post showing our dinner in the Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker, and I mentioned that I’d show you what we did with our leftovers, one day soon.

Well, today’s that day.

Don had been dying to try making Chicken and Dumplings when we had some leftover roasted chicken, and this last time we made it, that’s exactly what he did.

As an aside, we try to plan a roasted chicken or turkey at least once a month during the fall/winter months because that equals two meals for us and even sometimes chicken salad for lunch. When you’re on a tight budget, you try to stretch your meals as much as you can.

Since Don had never made dumplings before, he looked up a recipe and found this one on Food.com that looked appealing to him.

Caroline did the dumplings all on her own.

He put Caroline in charge of making the dumpling batter while he put together the rest of it.

Here’s the recipe. Keep in mind that we used our leftover roasted chicken, but I’ve left the entire recipe here as is, in case you don’t have leftover chicken but still want to try this out.

Let me know how you like it! It’s a great alternative for leftover roasted chicken!

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
INGREDIENTS

1 large broiler-fryer chicken, cut up
2 celery ribs, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2-1 teaspoon pepper
water

DUMPLING INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons oil

Dumplings right into the sauce to cook.

DIRECTIONS

Combine chicken, celery, carrots, onion, chicken broth, parsley, chicken bouillon granules, salt and pepper in a large pan or dutch oven; add enough water to cover chicken.Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until chicken is done.Remove chicken and let stand until cool enough to handle.Remove skin from chicken and tear meat away from bones.Return meat to soup; discard skin and bones.Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired. (Don made a roux to thicken his soup, using equal parts flour and melted butter.)Return soup to a simmer.In a mixing bowl, combine dumpling ingredients and mix well to form a stiff dough.Drop by tablespoonfuls into simmering soup.

Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Tags: chicken and dumplings, cooking with kids, dinner, eating on a budget, food.com, Jennifer L. Cowart, kids, recipes, shopping on a budget, using leftover chicken

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Categories Cooking with Kids, Dinner, Eating on a budget, Jennifer L. Cowart, Recipes, Shopping on a budget

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Sam’s Sizzling Tofu with Green Onions and Sugar Snap Peas

31 Oct

I’d never had tofu before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I loved Sam’s recipe!

One of the cool things about our DC trip for the Kids’ State Dinner in August, was being exposed to things we hadn’t had before. Some things were regional, some things were just new and different for us, but so far there hasn’t been one thing I haven’t liked that I tried from that trip.

Sam’s Sizzling Tofu is my latest winning recipe to try.

I’ve slowly been going through the cookbook making a new recipe every now and then, and Sam’s Sizzling Tofu recipe was next up on my list, simply for the fact that I’d never had tofu before and this sounded good to me.
Sam is ten and he’s from Maryland. His mom, Paula, makes him this recipe for lunch often because he doesn’t like sandwiches. Paula is also the person who made the Pumpkin Soup that I posted a couple of weeks back.

Sam and I have something in common, if you remember my post last spring, because I don’t like sandwiches either, which makes lunchtime a tough time for me each day. I do however, like brown rice, scallions and sugar snap peas, so if I liked tofu, then I’d like this too.

We tried Sam’s recipe on a Sunday afternoon and I loved it, I even had the leftovers for lunch during the week following.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…..

I wish I could have photographed the way Sam’s Sizzling Tofu really did sizzle. It was so cool!

Here is what Sam had to say in the cookbook about his recipe:

“Well, I don’t really eat sandwiches very well, so my mom has to find other things for me to eat for lunch,” says Samuel.

“One day I tried tofu and I liked it, so my mom got it. Then my mom was asking me what I wanted for lunch, and I asked her for the tofu. She made it and put it in a thermos. My friends wondered what it was, and a couple of them tried it and really liked it too!”

I’d definitely make Sam’s Sizzling Tou with Green Onions and Sugar Snap Peas again, and if you’ve never had tofu, I encourage you to try it too! If you are already a fan, then this recipe is for you as well. Give it a try, it’s a great side dish for your dinner and a great lunchtime recipe!

SAM’S SIZZLING TOFU WITH GREEN ONIONS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS

Tofu…got it!

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ pound firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1 garlic clove, minced
2 scallions, white and light green parts
only, chopped
1 cup sugar snap peas, cut into thirds
½ cup cooked brown rice
DIRECTIONS

1. In a large sauté pan over moderate heat, warm the oil.
Add the tofu and cook, stirring often, until golden brown,
about 15 minutes. Add the garlic, scallions, and sugar
snap peas, and cook 5 more minutes.