Tag Archives: shopping on a budget

My Last Post Before The Trip: Blueberry Crumble

17 Aug

Caroline makes a killer Crumble!

On Sunday Caroline and are are getting up in the very wee hours of the morning and boarding a plane for our whirlwind trip to Washington DC.

This will be my last post until after we return from that trip.

Given the upcoming trip, I thought I’d feature Caroline in the kitchen for today’s post. When she was being interviewed earlier this week, the reporter asked her what else she likes to make in the kitchen. She talked about making scrambled eggs for her sisters, and then she said, “I make Crumble.”

I started a list in the inside of this book called “So Far So Good” since the cookbook has so many recipes and I wanted to keep track of the ones I’ve tried out that were “keepers.”

And she does. She makes a really good Crumble topping which we’ve used to make both Blueberry Crumble and Peach Crumble this summer. The Crumble topping requires patience and attention to detail and I work too quickly to make mine come out as well as hers does.

The recipe for Blueberry Crumble came out of The Maine Wild Blueberry Cookbook, and so far in that cookbook everything I have tried has been delicious, but we’ve found the recipe for Blueberry Crumble to be fast, easy, delicious and adaptable to more than just blueberries.

Here’s the recipe for you. Enjoy it, and be thinking of us this weekend as we take our trip of a lifetime!

BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE

Anything with this crumble topping is so delicious!

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup sugar

some extra sugar for sprinkling

5 Tablespoons Butter

Juice of one lemon (I sprinkled lemon juice from a bottle)

2/3 cup of flour

2 pints of blueberries

DIRECTIONS

Put washed berries in small shallow baking dish.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar

In a separate bowl blend in butter, flour and 1/3 cup sugar

Sprinkle topping over berries.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream or both!

Hot out of the oven!

Yum!

An alternative use for the crumble topping: Peach crumble. I had less peaches so I used a smaller dish but the same amount of topping.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Caroline’s Broccoli & Cheese Egg White Omelet

15 Aug

Tonight Caroline and I were both interviewed for our local news, then she cooked and ate her winning recipe for the camera.

Well today has been quite the whirlwind day and as I finally sat down tonight to figure out what recipe to post for my What’s for Dinner Wednesday post, I could only think of one: Caroline’s winning recipe for her Egg White Omelet.

The reason I could only think of this one recipe is because our whirlwind day has consisted of press releases, phone calls from Senators and news stations, emails from food columnists and radio hosts.

It’s really been quite the day.

And you should have seen how fast we cleaned our house when we learned that TV cameras were coming in three hours or less.

Jennifer Mobilia of Channel 12 and Channel 11 News was in our house this evening!

Yup, tonight one of our local news stations stopped by our house to interview Caroline and I for the 10 pm and 11 pm news broadcasts. It was such a fun experience and we’re sitting now as I type this, waiting for it to air in less than a half an hour.

Another exciting thing happening here this week was the arrival of our official invitation from Michelle Obama, inviting us to the White House for the Kids’ State Dinner this coming Monday. Our hands were shaking as we opened the envelope!

The arrival of the invitation from Mrs. Obama really made everything seem real!

So, with all of that being said, I thought it only appropriate to share with you Caroline’s official recipe for today’s post. Enjoy!

Broccoli & Cheese Egg White Omelet
By Caroline Cowart

We came up with this lunch recipe because Caroline prefers egg whites instead of regular eggs, and she likes broccoli quite a bit. This meal is healthy as well as tasty.

When choosing our ingredients we tried to use healthier alternatives: Mozzarella Cheese has less fat than American Cheese, wheat toast is better for you than white toast, and we added a side of mixed fruits and orange juice in order to tie in all of the food groups.

INGREDIENTS

3 large egg whites, separated (You can save your yolks for use in a future recipe but you will not need them for this one.)

1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese

3/4 cup broccoli, cooked and chopped (You may use either fresh steamed or frozen broccoli florets.)

A healthy recipe for any meal of the day and good enough for the First Lady to eat!

DIRECTIONS

1) Separate eggs, place your whites into a small bowl.

2) Preheat non-stick frying pan, lightly coated with cooking spray, over medium heat.

3) Pour egg whites into frying pan.

4) When whites are semi-solid, place cooked, chopped broccoli onto one half of the pan of whites, leaving the other side of the omelet empty.

5) Sprinkle shredded Mozzarella Cheese over broccoli.

6) Place entire frying pan under the broiler for about five minutes or until cheese is melted and egg whites are solid. Edges of the omelet will be lightly browned.

7) Remove pan from broiler and place the omelet on a serving plate, folding the omelet in half so that the empty side now covers the side with broccoli and cheese.

8) Serve with a side of wheat toast, mixed fruit and orange juice.

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A Chocolate Lover’s Dream Day

13 Aug

We hadn’t even parked the car yet and I was already salivating.

Last week, you may remember that in my post about Boston Cream Pie, I mentioned that Saturday was my birthday. This year for my birthday, I got an extra-special treat: we spent the day before my birthday in Hershey, PA.

That’s right. I was in the Chocolate Capital of the World this past Friday.

I know, I’m a lucky, lucky girl.

I must give all the credit for this amazing treat to my mother-in-law, Marylou, who treated both my family and my sister-in-law’s family to a long weekend vacation in Pennsylvania with all the activities and everything that went with them, this past weekend. It was such a fun weekend and I loved being able to spend my birthday with this side of my family, something I don’t always get to do. We hated to see it end.

All of my favorite things, all in one delicious place!

I had been to Hershey a long time ago, back when we lived in New Jersey, but it was so long ago that I had almost no memory of the trip. It was like being there for the first time, all over again.

The streets smell of chocolate as you drive through the town. It’s heavenly.

The street lamps are shaped like Hershey Kisses.

It was truly a dream-come-true for a chocolate lover.

There are several parts to the Hershey experience, and I can share a little bit with you about the parts that we got to see on Friday. There’s so many family-friendly things to do there, you definitely have to pick and choose what you’d like to do on your visit. We were lucky too, it was a rainy day and at first I thought we would not be able to go. However, there were tons of indoor activities so we were able to keep to our plan for the day.

On our first ride we learned all about how chocolate is made, how all our favorite candies come to be.

We first chose to take a moving ride tour through the chocolate-making experience. It was about 10-15 minutes long and you learn all about how chocolate is made and it was a fun ride while being very informative at the same time. It was during this tour that I realized just how many different kinds of chocolate candies are actually made by Hershey’s.

After that, since it was lunchtime, we ate in the food court, which I thought seemed very affordable. There were ten of us total: five kids and five adults, so eating out is not an easy thing to do, especially when you’re trying to stick to a budget.

Caroline got a great shot of the trolley after we finished our ride.

Following the food court, we took an hour-long trolley ride which led us all through the town of Hershey. Here we not only saw the entire area, but also heard an animated history of the town and of Mr. Hershey himself. There was lots of laughing and singing (yes, we sang) on this ride and it was just as fun to watch our kids reacting to the antics of the tour guides while they were learning about the town and seeing all the local landmarks.

The kids got such a kick out of the antics on the trolley and we got such a kick out of watching the kids.

After the trolley ride ended, we went on to what was the most highly anticipated event of the day: The Gift Shop. The kids had all saved their money for the entire summer to take on this trip and they were anxiously awaiting the first time to spend some of it. I was proud though, both couples are on tight budgets and it’s rubbed off on our kids in what I think is a good way. They all took great care in buying their items and they really seemed to weigh the pros and cons of what to get and why. No one over-spent, as we still had other places with gift shops that we’d be visiting. All of my kids came home with extra money ultimately, and I believe my nieces did as well.

Ready to leave the hotel, wearing our Hershey’s t-shirts, purchased here in RI especially for this trip.

One tip I will pass along: this summer I found brown Hershey’s t-shirts at our local Walmart store. Total cost for three shirts: $22.50. I called my sister-in-law and she went to her store and found two for her daughters. Our five girls wore their matching Hershey’s shirts to Hershey Park on Friday and they looked so awesome. None of them had to spend their money on a $21.50 Hershey shirt from the gift shop. I thought that was a great treat for them and a great lesson as well.

There were some things that we didn’t do at Hershey Park that you might enjoy if you visit as well. They included a 3D show, a tour of the production facilities and an outdoor water park. If we took another trip there, those are things we might consider doing.

Overall, this was a fabulous way to spend the day before my birthday, or any day, and I’m so thankful I got the chance to visit Hershey Park again.  Here are a few last photos from the 200 or so that the girls and I took that day.

Enjoy!

The kids got a kick out of the singing cows.

Lamp posts on the streets of Hershey.

Trolley ride antics

So Much Candy

The biggest and for $29.95 it could be yours.

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What We’re Doing for Fun This Summer: Using our group buying deals

6 Aug

Do you use Groupon? How about Living Social?

There are lots of group buying websites; sites where special deals are offered if enough people purchase them. The two I use most are Groupon and Living Social.

Excited to be at our Mystery Ride destination!

Because our funds are particularly limited in the summer months, I look throughout the year for things that I can use for our summer fun. Earlier this spring I found a Living Social deal for a local historic spot nearby and I purchased it. The deal gave us a one-year membership to Coggeshall Farm in Bristol, RI which is a historic working farm complete with horses, chickens, turkeys, a vegetable garden and much, much more.

We used our Living Social Deal a few weeks ago to take our kids on our latest Mystery Ride. I also knew that there was a letterbox on the Coggeshall Farm property and the kids were excited to find it.

I had never been to Coggeshall Farm but from the description online, I thought it would be right up my kids’ alley, and I was so right. They absolutely loved it and we had a blast.

Finding the eggs which had been laid by the chickens on the farm was a thrill for the kids. They were so proud to bring in the basket with eggs in it.

I must admit, it was very cool to be able to pet a chicken.

From petting a chicken to finding their eggs in the nests, the first time experiences that the kids got at this farm were invaluable. They couldn’t wait to help out with the farm “chores,” which we found completely surprising since they’re not usually so excited to help out with our house chores. After collecting the eggs and bringing in firewood for the kitchen fire, they checked out the farm’s garden and the rest of the farm property.

Learning about life on the farm was fascinating.

After we’d seen everything on the farm and done the chores, , we moved on to the letterbox hunt, which was a success, adding a new stamp to our book. We ended the day with a picnic lunch by the water nearby. It was a perfect day for a picnic, a perfect day for being near the ocean and we took advantage of being outdoors on such a gorgeous summer day.

If you live in the area, I’d recommend a visit to Coggeshall Farm, and if you haven’t tried out the group buying websites, I recommend them as well. They’re great for introducing you to places and ideas that you might not have thought of on your own and the deals are well worth the money, in my experience.

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Grandma Willis’ Peach Cobbler

3 Aug

Peaches are one of our favorite summer fruits.

I love baking in the summertime because there are so many fruits to bake with. One of my favorite summer recipes is from Don’s Grandma Willis and I try to make it every summer at least once.

We visited Don’s grandparents in August of 1994 and had her Peach Cobbler there for the first time. I’ve made it ever since, and every time I do, we think of Grandma Willis.

I serve this with ice cream and/or whipped cream, whatever your preference is.

GRANDMA WILLIS’ PEACH COBBLER
INGREDIENTS

FILLING

6-8 large peaches, peeled and sliced

2 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 to 1 cup sugar

CRUST

1 cup all purpose flour

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup sugar

2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
DIRECTIONS

Combine peaches, cornstarch and sugar.

Pour into a greased 13×9 baking dish.

Combine all ingredients for crust EXCEPT egg whites in mixing bowl.

Gently fold egg whites into batter.

Spread over peaches.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and peaches are bubbly.

Yield: 12 servings

Thanks to Liz in NJ for sharing her photo with us of Grandma Willis’ Peach Cobbler!

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What’s For Dinner Wednesday: Asparagus Polonese

1 Aug

Asparagus: always looking for new ways to prepare it!

Earlier this year I posted about asparagus and the fact that I needed to find some new ways to prepare it since my family liked it so much. I also noted in that post that I’d long forgotten about a recipe my mom used to make when we had asparagus at home growing up. I promised that when I made it, I’d post it.

In keeping with that promise, here is my mom’s recipe for Asparagus Polonese, which got thumbs up from my family when I made it earlier this summer. It’s not something I’d make all the time because of all the butter in it, but it’s a great way to mix things up when you’re looking for some variety in your meals.

ASPARAGUS POLONESE

Simple ingredients are all that’s needed for this recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound asparagus

5 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1 mashed hard cooked egg yolk

1 and 1/2 Tablespoons bread crumbs
DIRECTIONS

Place butter in a small frying pan.

When hot, add mashed yolk and bread crumbs.

Cook two minutes.

Pour over steamed (or sauteed) asparagus, serve immediately.

Make sure you have a hard boiled egg for use with this recipe!

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The Almost Sleepover Birthday Cake

27 Jul

Elizabeth turned 10 earlier this month, which meant she got to host a couple of friends for an “Almost Sleepover” last weekend. The Almost Sleepover is also sometimes known as a Mock Sleepover or a Half Sleepover. It’s when the guests come with pj’s on, sleeping bags and pillows in hand, and do all the typical sleepover type stuff (pizza, cake, movies, games, presents) but then right before bedtime, *poof!!* they go home!! The Almost Sleepover means that everyone gets to actually sleep! It’s one of my favorite birthday parties of all.

When Caroline had her Almost Sleepover two years ago, I coincidentally received an email earlier that month, from Kraft Foods, showing a slumber party cake, which I adapted here at home for her party. Here’s what her cake looked like back in 2010.

Caroline’s Almost Sleepover Cake from 2010. So cute, right?

I decided after making the cake once, that I’d do it slightly differently the next time around, which was now for Elizabeth’s party last weekend. Here’s what I did differently:

I used brownie as the base, rather than cake.

I used one quarter of a graham cracker for their sleeping bag instead of whatever I’d used here. That allowed me to make smaller people and fit more of them on the cake than just six. I like everyone to get a person to eat and there’s already three girls here before any guests or adults arrive.

I couldn’t find the rainbow candy for the hair this time around, I think it was from Halloween that year since Caroline’s birthday was in October. But, Elizabeth found some gummy worm type of candy in the checkout lane at Walmart when we were buying our supplies, so we used those, which worked out fine.

So here is what Elizabeth’s Almost Sleepover Cake looked like:

The Almost Sleepover cakes are so fun to make and the guests always love seeing it, almost more than eating it!

There was plenty of space for candles too:

Make a wish!

And in case you’re wondering what we did for a craft at the party, it was decorate-your-own pillow cases:

Everyone had different colored pillow cases to choose from. Elizabeth had everyone sign hers so she’ll always remember her 10th birthday party.

The party was fun and easy and the cake was delicious! Best of all was seeing Elizabeth enjoying her special day:

Happy Tenth Birthday Elizabeth!

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What’s For Dinner Wednesday: Grilled Chicken Kabobs

25 Jul

Really, is there anything better than grilled veggies in the summertime?

It’s HOT here in the summer. Our goal is to go as long as possible in between having to turn on the oven and if it’s an official “heat wave,” we don’t turn it on at all, no matter what we have to do.

When we went camping last summer we cooked on the campfire pretty much every night. We alternated cooking meals with the other family that we were with, and one night when it was their turn to cook, Grilled Chicken Kabobs were on the menu! They were SO delicious.

So last week during the latest heat wave, we were going over our menu for the week and realized we had everything we needed to make the kabobs. I’d been craving them.

The best thing about kabobs is that you can add whatever you want to them. You can create them based on whatever you have in the house or by what you’re craving, what your family likes, or really however you want to! You can do chicken, seafood, beef…the possibilities are endless.

For last week’s kabobs we kept it simple, marinating the chicken for a few hours in bottled Italian dressing and then loading zucchini, yellow squash, onions and mushrooms onto the skewers along with the chicken.

They were amazing! I can’t wait to do them again. The kids had mixed reviews as to who liked what on the skewers but I threw an extra veggie on the table that everyone liked so it didn’t matter to me who ate what from their skewers as long as they all had vegetables on their plates. It was fun to watch them negotiating with each other if someone really liked or didn’t like something, they’d trade.

Next time you’re looking for something fun for dinner, try throwing some kabobs on the grill!

Broccoli and a side of couscous made for a perfect meal during our most recent heat wave.

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The most exciting news EVER….

24 Jul

What could my exciting news be??

I have THE MOST EXCITING NEWS!!!!

You won’t believe it.

I’ve been keeping this a secret for SO LONG, more than a month, and it was SO HARD!

Okay I told *a few* people.

And of course my immediate family.

But that’s it.

Do you want to know??? I know you do!

Okay here it is.

I would sit down if I were you. It’s big.

Caroline and I are going to Washington DC.

We’re going to meet THE FIRST LADY!!!!

That’s right! Michelle Obama!! We’re meeting Michelle Obama!!!

Yes, seriously!

Okay. Let me regroup. Here’s how it happened….

Back around the end of May, my editor at the Cranston Herald, Meg, received a press release from Senator Jack Reed’s office announcing a recipe contest that Epicurious was putting out in conjunction with the White House. One winner, a parent/child team, would be chosen from every single state. You can read a similar press release here.

Now Meg is a big fan of The Whole Bag of Chips. She emailed me the press release and said, “You should enter this with one of your kids.”

I took a look, and thought, “Hmmm….maybe I should.”

So I broached it to my kids, but there was one problem: you could enter with one child at a time, ages 8-12, but if you entered with more than one child, only one could win and if one was a winner, the whole family doesn’t get to go to Washington, just the one winner and their parent.

Right off the bat, Alex is seven, so I couldn’t enter with her. My first initial thought was to enter with Caroline because she cooks more in the kitchen than Liz and is slightly more independent in the kitchen, and additionally, she’s 12, the top age. She couldn’t enter again if it ran next year.

But, Elizabeth, upon hearing about the contest said, “Well, I’m between 8 and 12 I want to enter too.” So I explained the whole thing about not being able to win with both, even though I could enter with both.

Elizabeth said, “That’s okay, if Caroline won, I’d be happy for her.”

Caroline said, “I don’t know. If you won, I think I’d be too sad. I don’t know if I can do it.”

I was stumped. I didn’t know what we should do. We had some time though, I let them think on it, and I hoped that Caroline would come around and both of them could enter.

One day at the beginning of June, I received an email from Caroline that said, “Okay, I’ll do it.” (I’m pretty sure she wrote that email from in our house, with me right in the house with her, but it didn’t matter to me. She wanted to do it.)

And so, we did it.

Elizabeth and Don with their contest entry, a tuna wrap and all the fixins’!

On June 9, after dinner we got down to business.  Separately we had to come up with our meals, cook up our meals, type up our entries which included the recipe with ingredients and step-by-step instructions and a photo of a complete meal including side dishes and beverages, as well as a short essay.

We have a tiny kitchen. We had to take turns.

Elizabeth had chosen to enter with Don because their healthy lunchtime recipe was one he makes for her lunch a lot: a tuna wrap with lettuce and tomato. On the side she had celery and carrots and a glass of coffee milk (a delicacy here).

Lunch anyone?

Caroline and I came up with an egg white omelette with broccoli and mozzarella cheese because she will only eat egg whites, and she loves broccoli. On the side we had wheat toast and mixed fruit (kiwi and nectarines).

We sent in our entries that night. The deadline was June 17, the night before the last day of school.

That Friday afternoon, following the deadline, I received an email. Caroline and I were finalists for our state. I couldn’t believe it. I asked Don if he’d gotten one, but he had not.

We had to tell them.

I let Caroline see the email first. Then we told Liz. I was worried at how she’d react. Her eyes got bright, but she said, “Caroline, I’m so happy for you. Here, have my lollipop stick,” and she handed her the empty stick. That was the end of it.

I emailed Meg, “We’re finalists! OMG” and began filling out all the paper work needed to complete the next level of the contest. We had five days to get it filled out, notarized and postmarked.

Then, we waited.

We knew from the rules that there could be up to three finalists per state but that’s all we knew; that and the fact that only one of those finalists would win.

And waited.

We wondered. We’re a small state. How many entries could there be?

And waited.

It was agonizing. The original notification date was supposed to be by July 16. I slept about ten seconds the night before.

But we didn’t hear anything.

I checked in. “Just checking to see if all the winners had been notified yet?”

No. Not yet. No one.

We were still in the running. The winners would be notified that week.

So we waited and waited some more. Every day seemed like a week. I checked my email ten million times a day if we were home, to see if we heard anything yet.

By that Thursday I checked in again. A formal email went out. Competition was tough this year. They needed more time. The official notification date would now be Tuesday July 24. We’d hear either way.

And now here it is, Tuesday, July 24.

And guess what???  Well you know already. WE WON!!!!

Caroline and I will be traveling to Washington to represent the state of Rhode Island at the Kids’ State Dinner, which will be held next month!!

I’m so incredibly excited!! But even more so, I’m so incredibly proud of my kids. I’m proud of them for taking the risk to enter, proud of them for being healthy eaters, for being cooks in the kitchen, and for loving each other and us, enough to want to compete against each other and yet be willing to support each other at the same time. To me, and I’m choked up as I write this, that says a lot about the strength of their bond with each other and their bond with us. I love my kids so much, and I’m so, so proud.

I am incredibly proud of my kids!!

I will keep you updated as the trip takes place and you can be sure there will be photos to go along with it. They are creating a free downloadable eBook containing all the recipes from all the winners for each state, so our recipe will be published in that cookbook. I’ll let you know when that becomes available as well.

We won. Can you believe it?

Our healthy lunchtime recipe: Egg white omelette with broccoli and cheese.

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Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies by Karen

20 Jul

There is nothing like a summer’s night on the beach!

Last week we attended the annual summer concert on the beach that I’ve been attending since I was young. I’ve missed one or two, but in the 37 total years it’s been in existence, I have been to almost all of them.

It’s a huge affair and it is one of my all-time favorite summer traditions. I love sharing it with my kids. Everyone goes down to the beach first thing in the evening and sets up their space. We bring blankets, chairs, tables.

And then comes the food and the wine, and the dessert. Oh…the dessert.

This year I was looking for something unique to bring. Something that we hadn’t already done this summer at another night on the beach or parade or cookout. I like to keep things interesting so that no one gets bored. Namely, me.

I looked through a cookbook or two, and then I remembered Karen’s Cookbook, and the fact that last time I’d gone through it I’d seen an old favorite of mine: Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies.

I knew I’d found my dessert.

Melting butter and chocolate chips…what a beautiful sight!

As I was cooking them, melting the chocolate over the stove, I could literally see myself making them all those years ago, my college roommate Karen and I living in our house we rented during our college years. This is what I love about recipes: the traditions and memories that go with them. I always say recipes are the ties that bind people together, and I do truly believe that. I thought of Karen and all the fun we had, as I was cooking.

So today, I share with you Karen’s Peanut Butter Swirl Brownie recipe. I love that it’s a “from scratch” brownie recipe, and I love the step where you turn the batter into one part peanut butter batter and one part chocolate batter and then swirl them together. You’ll see, it’s so cool.

When you make them and eat them, I hope you make some special memories too!

KAREN’S PEANUT BUTTER SWIRL BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS

1 six ounce bag chocolate chips (I used one cup)

3 Tablespoons butter

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 Tablespoon sour cream

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/3 cup peanut butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 9×13 pan.

Melt chocolate chips and butter until fudge-like.

In mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and sour cream.

Add flour and baking powder to the egg mixture.

Pour 3/4 of the batter into the melted chocolate and stir well.

Add peanut butter to remaining batter.

Pour chocolate batter into the pan.

Spoon peanut butter batter over and swirl with a knife until proportionate.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

Ready to eat!

Someone got hold of my camera, apparently.

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