Tag Archives: shopping on a budget

After school snack: Homemade Granola Bars x2

16 Feb

This was the first time that I thought to use a pizza stone for them, and I wish I'd done it sooner. Made it much easier to cut them.

A few years back I came across a recipe in the newspaper for “Becky’s Homemade Granola Bars.” Through the years I’ve made them a variety of ways. My kids always love them for an after school snack, and the last time I made them Elizabeth came home and saw them and said, “Oh Mommy I was thinking about these ALL day at school, and I didn’t even know you were going to make them today!” Score one for Mom…

This recipe is one you can make a variety of ways, using whatever you have in the house really. I’ve done craisins, raisins, chocolate, and even snuck in carrots once or twice with the raisins. I actually loved those, nice and sweet.

Here's what happens when I don't take the photo quick enough...an empty plate!!

One time when I made them,  I didn’t have half the stuff on the list so I made up my own, using her original as a basis for it. They came out great, best I’d ever made. I don’t always do them the same way, either. I almost always double her original recipe to make lots.

So below are the two recipes, mine first, and then Becky’s below that. Two for the price of one.

Jen’s Chocolate Craisin Granola Bars
INGREDIENTS
2 cups Oatmeal (Quick Oats)
1/3 cup Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 package Craisins
2/3 cup chocolate chip (I use semi sweet)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup honey

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Mix first five ingredients in a large bowl together.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix butter, honey and brown sugar, stir.

Pour hot ingredients from saucepan over the dry ingredients in large bowl. (This will melt the chocolate chips.) Stir until completely mixed.

Pour out onto a cookie sheet and flatten out until even all the way across the pan in both directions. There may not be enough mixture to spread right to the edge of the pan but it’ll get pretty close.

Bake 20-22 minutes, check at 20 minutes. You’ll kind of be able to see the edges crisp up. With them being chocolate colored, it’s hard, but you can still tell. Cool completely in pan and cut or break into bars.

Next….

A nice big bowl is needed to mix all the ingredients together.

Becky’s Granola Bark (my notes in parenthesis.)
INGREDIENTS
1 cup oats
1 cup sliced almonds (I’ve used pureed almonds, 1/3 cup.)
1/2 cup coconut flakes (I never used them I don’t like coconut)
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey

other mix-ins could could include pumpkin puree, carrot puree, raisins. (As I mentioned above, I particularly like the raisin and carrot combo, makes it sweet.)

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl mix together dry ingredients. Set aside.

In small saucepan combine butter, honey and brown sugar.

Pour over oat mixture and stir to combine.

Spread on cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes.

Let cool completely in pan and cut or break into pieces.

Valentine’s Day: Oh the pressure!

15 Feb

Gifts lined up and ready to go for our Valentine's morning

Valentine’s Day can be a lot of pressure, especially for someone who is crafty, loves to cook, bake and eat, and then write about what she crafted, cooked, baked and ate. Like Christmas, people wait (or at least they tell me they’re waiting) to see what I’ve produced for cards, for cookies, for meals. It’s a lot of pressure and I set the bar high for myself.

Valentine’s Day also comes right on the heels of Christmas. It’s not supposed to be a huge gift-giving event, but there’s pressure to make it that way. I do try very hard to make our gifts small token gifts, a treat they want. I try not to do any candy since we get a truckload, or rather, a school busload of it at 3:30 on Valentine’s Day afternoon. Being on a budget, I struggle with what to give, what to buy, what not to buy. What I want to buy is often not what is in the budget. I’d love to say, “Instead of giving gifts this year, we’re going overnight to an indoor water park for the weekend!!” But, giving token gifts is cheaper. The indoor water park is not in the budget. Maybe next year. Since having kids, Don and I haven’t exchanged gifts on holidays. We focus only on the kids, and we figure we’re showing our love for each other in little ways all year long instead. We know our time will come around again when we’ve got an empty nest and we’ll wonder then where this time went.

No matter what, they always love their gifts.

I try to make my budget as equal as I can per child without spending too much more on one than another, but so they each have the same amount of items to open in the morning. And no matter what, they always love their gifts, hopefully because I spent so much time thinking about them and choosing them.

I actually don’t make their Valentine’s Cards anymore. We’re huge Snoopy fans, we had a Snoopy nursery, Snoopy birth announcements and parties when they were babies, so I have tried the past few years to get them each a Snoopy card for Valentine’s Day, to provide balance between giving them handmade items and giving them the “popular” items they also love.

This year we celebrated Valentine’s Day as a family at 7:00 am since Don had a 7:30 am meeting. He also had an after school meeting and a night time meeting, so we thought we wouldn’t be seeing him at all. But, later that day, we were thrilled to find out his after school meeting was rescheduled and it meant he’d get to come home for dinner after all, and then go back for the night time meeting. So we were blessed. His 14 hour day was now only 12 hours and we’d get to spend dinner time together after all.

Each year I try to think of the perfect meals and snacks to make the day special. I love hearts so I have always had tons of heart shaped items from dishes to platters to bakeware.

For breakfast, I toyed with the idea of cinnamon buns with pink icing, pink pancakes or pink waffles. I looked on Pinterest and pinned a ton of things that looked great but just weren’t it. I just wasn’t feeling it, no matter what I saw.

In the end, I chose to get up early and make muffins, something I used to do for them all the time when they were younger and less of them were in school. It’s a nice treat on a school day to have a hot muffin right out of the oven. I even thought of making them last night but I don’t like them when they’re cold. A little pink food coloring in them and we were good to go. I even put pink food coloring in their milk and gave them red apples for their fresh fruit.

By 7:15 am Don was gone, the gifts were opened, and by 7:25 am one kid had already lost her bedtime by getting in trouble. I won’t say who or why, to protect her privacy. But that’s the way things go sometimes, Valentine’s Day or not.

After School Snack: Valentine's Monkey Munch!

By 8:40 am they were on the bus, I’d taken Motrin for my headache and I had the rest of the day to type my stories for this week’s papers, and to plan out my after school Valentine’s Day snack and our Valentine’s Day dinner, both of which are new recipes I’ve been wanting to try out. (Remember my Monkey Munch recipe? The snack was a  Valentine’s version of that!)

Despite all of the pressure, I try to remind myself that it’s the little things that matter and the little things they’ll remember. I remind myself that the more I make the holiday out to be, the more of a precedent I’m setting for myself for the future.

Hopefully when they think back on their Valentine’s Days growing up, they’ll think that they were absolutely perfect.

Pink muffins and pink milk for my little Valentines.

Everyone got a treat they'd really been wanting.

Valentine's earrings on, off to school!

Happy Valentine’s Day! My gift to you: Apricot Chicken two ways

14 Feb

Happy Valentine's Day from me to you!

Today is Valentine’s Day, and to show my love for you, I’m giving you not one, but TWO recipes today!

Both recipes are for the same dish: Apricot Chicken. One is baked in the oven and one is a crock pot recipe sent to me during my crock pot recipe contest last month. It was the first one I tried, sent to me by Joanna Sprik at Jolyn’s Cupcakes and Candies. Stop over at her blog and check it out!

Her recipe was very simple and tasty too! My only problem….I made it on a day I was recovering from being sick, and because I wasn’t 100% yet, I forgot to take a picture of the final product, and it was so good! Next time I make it, I’ll post a photo of it!

JOLYN’S CROCK POT APRICOT CHICKEN

Just two ingredients to go in the crock pot with your chicken!

INGREDIENTS

24 oz apricot preserves (2 12oz jars),

6 seasoned chicken breasts (can use tenders too)

1 envelope onion soup mix

I put it all in my crock pot and cooked it all day long, served it over white rice.

Thanks for sharing Joanna!

**********************************************************************************************************************

It's like dessert for dinner...

BAKED APRICOT CHICKEN

I posted this recipe on Facebook a couple of years ago, it’s one I’ve been making for years. Here it is now, as I posted it then:

Apricot Chicken A Norman LeClair Recipe (The Red Rooster Restaurant, NK RI)

I’m writing the original recipe with my own modifications added in. I’ve made this for so many years that I’ve kind of modified it to my liking. Basically so it’s like dessert instead of dinner. 🙂

2 whole chicken breasts, skinned, boned, halved and flattened
I actually use several (depending on how many people)boneless, skinless tenders or breasts instead of going through all the work of skinning and boning the whole breasts.

1/2 cup bread crumbs
Recipe calls for flavored, I use plain.

4 mushroom caps, stems removed
sometimes I skip these if I don’t have any mushrooms. Not crucial to recipe, in my opinion.

2 teaspoons butter

Glaze:
1/2 cup Apricot Jelly
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp. ginger
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon soy
Recipe also calls for pinch of crushed red pepper, I don’t use it.

In flat dish, press crumbs into chicken on both sides; reserve.

Mix well in bowl: apricot jelly, ginger, garlic, red pepper, vinegar, soy sauce; reserve.

Butter or spray one oven proof casserole dish.

Lay out chicken in dish.

Top with mushroom caps.

Spoon glaze on chicken and mushrooms.

Dot with butter.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Remove to serving plates and spoon remaining glaze on chicken.

I serve on a bed of white rice.

Enjoy!

Baked Apricot Chicken

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

10 Feb
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies

These are my go-to cookie when it's after dinner and I'm craving a quick cookie for dessert.

My friend Marcia and I both found this recipe at the same time a few years back. I called her to tell her about it and vice versa. I’ve been making it ever since. I’m not even sure where I first saw it, I think in my Name Brand Cookie cookbook maybe.

Anyway, as is typical for recipes I like, it’s fast and easy and has few ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

Few ingredients...super easy!

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup chocolate chips (I use semi sweet)

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Put all ingredients into bowl and mix thoroughly.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet, about 2″ apart. Press down lightly with fork and sprinkle a little sugar on top of each one.

Bake 12 minutes until set. *check for done at 10 minutes, 12 may be too long depending on your oven.

Let stand on cookie sheet 2 minutes, remove to wire cooling rack. Cool completely.

Makes 2 dozen

Easy “Chinese” Beef and Broccoli

9 Feb
Easy "Chinese" Beef and Broccoli

You can tell this is my dinner plate. Nothing is touching. Lots of room for possible run-off!

We love Chinese food at our house, and every once in a great while we splurge and get some takeout. In the meantime though, when we can’t do that, I try to find Chinese food-like recipes to make at home. I’m also always looking for new things to do with stew meat, which is one of the staples on our shopping list.

A couple of years ago I found this recipe online, on About.com when I searched for ways to use stew meat.

Normally I serve this over white rice, and I actually do put mine on top of the white rice, believe it or not. But, every so often we try to create our own version of Chinese Fried Rice, and this was one of those times. I used the Instant Brown Rice from Aldis with their frozen peas and I cooked the rice in the microwave first, as I normally would. Then I sauteed it with olive oil and soy sauce and the peas in a large frying pan. It came out so well! I thought we were out of eggs, or I would’ve scrambled some in as well. Turns out, we weren’t, and I could’ve done it after all.

Here’s the recipe as it was on About.com with my modifications in there too.

I mix the gravy mix right in the 2c. measuring cup.

INGREDIENTS

2 to 3 cups leftover steak thinly sliced into 1″ strips (aka stew meat in my house)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups fresh broccoli florets (or 1 16 ounce bag frozen florets)
1 package dry brown gravy mix (I use two)
1 cup water (I use 2 cups because I use two packs of gravy mix)
pepper to taste

I add in a package of fresh sliced mushrooms if I have them.

Cooked white rice or Chinese Noodles (I do rice.)

DIRECTIONS

Another one pan meal!

Heat oil in large frying pan over med. high heat. Add sliced steak strips (stew meat) and saute until hot, about three minutes (longer if frozen as mine always is.) Add broccoli (uncooked) and mushrooms if you choose to use them, and mix.

In a small bowl stir together the gravy mix, water and pepper (I never use pepper.) Add to the broccoli and beef in the pan.

Heat to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer about 10 minutes.

Serve over rice or noodles.
Makes 4-5 servings

Enjoy!

a look at the fried rice

Arizona Chicken Casserole

8 Feb
Arizona Chicken Casserole

This is one of my other favorite chicken dinners!

This recipe is from 2002. I know that because my parents got the recipe while on vacation in Arizona when my daughter Elizabeth was just 12 weeks old. I remember that trip distinctly because Elizabeth ended up being in the hospital for four days while they were on that trip, and every time I make this meal, that’s what I remember! I’m sure having been on the actual trip, my parents probably have better memories than that, whenever they have this meal!

This meal has very easy prep, but a long baking time, so take that into account when you’re planning. You have to start much earlier then you plan to actually eat.

It can be served over rice or as you see it here, egg noodles, or whatever your prefer. My kids all like some part of this meal, whether it’s the chicken, the noodles, the artichoke hearts, the mushrooms or all of the above. That makes it a good one for our family.

The only unique ingredients in the recipe are the sherry and the artichoke hearts. The sherry I almost always have on hand (Holland House Cooking Sherry) and the artichoke hearts I usually don’t, so I have to plan ahead and be sure to pick them up if I know I’m going to be making this.

Nothing in this recipe is expensive so it keeps to our budget-friendly meal planning.

INGREDIENTS

One pan, one dish, I love it!

3 lbs Chicken Breasts (I use boneless, skinless chicken tenders, 3 per person.)
salt, pepper, paprika (we don’t use the paprkia.)
6 T. butter or margarine
1 cup whole mushrooms (we slice them in half)
1 can (15 oz) artichoke hearts
3 T. flour
2 cups chicken boullion
1/3 cup sherry

Sauce for Arizona Chicken casserole

You make the sauce in the same pan you cooked the chicken in. Makes for easy clean up.

DIRECTIONS

Sprinkle chicken with desired amount of salt, pepper and pakrika.

Place 4 tablespoons of butter or margarine in large skillet. Brown chicken.

When all chicken is browned, place in 9×13 baking dish.

Add mushrooms. Drain artichoke heats and add to chicken and mushrooms in casserole.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to skillet and melt over medium heat.
Stir in flour until all flour is absorbed.

Gradually add boullion and continue stirring until thickened. Stir in sherry.

Pour sauce over chkcken, cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.
Remove cover and bake additional 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Finished and ready to serve!

Finished and ready to serve!

New after school snack recipe: Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

7 Feb

I’m a couponer now, I told you last week. In my new life as a couponer, I have discovered something in the coupon fliers: Recipes! Last week I found one that looked like it would be a great after school snack that all my of kids and I would like. It only had two ingredients (even better!) and both were things I almost always have on hand. I decided to try it this past week and my kids inhaled it.

The thing I like about dips with veggies and/or fruit is that I find that my kids will consume much more fruit or veggies with a dip than they would if they came home and I directed them to the fridge for a piece of fruit. So, I like to find new and different dips for them and I love to surprise them with something new when they come home. They show up ravenous, so I like to have their snack on the table when they get in, before anyone has a low-blood sugar meltdown. Sometimes I’ve only just gotten in myself, so my after school snacks need to be quick and easy, just like all my other recipes and meals.

So, here’s our newest addition to the recipe files. I’ve already made it twice in one week, it was so good. Please note that if you have a peanut allergy in your house, this would not be a good one for your family, my apologies.

You only need two ingredients for this recipe! Love it!

PEANUT BUTTER YOGURT DIP

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt

Dipping suggestions: bananas, apples, graham crackers

Mix the yogurt and peanut butter together until completely mixed. Try to refrain from licking the spoon over and over before the kids come home. 🙂

When I first made this I only had single-serve yogurt cups, 4oz each but they worked out great, I just used two. When I made a stop at the store later on in the week I picked up a bigger container and more peanut butter. The second time I made it, it was a weekend, and Alex mixed the whole thing herself, so even kids can make this dip pretty easily.

PB Yogurt Dip

My kids love to come home to a new after school snack.

That’s it! That’s all there is to it. The first batch I made had a little left over, the second time I made it, the entire thing went. Give it a try and see what you think!

Seven Weeks of Meals

6 Feb

A month ago, I mentioned in a post that when we were expecting our third child, my husband was working full time while in school full time and I had a two year old and a five year old. I fondly call this time “The Worst School Year of Our Lives,” but one good thing that came out of it (besides his new degree and new job and our new baby) was our Seven Weeks of Meals list.

When I was prepping for those first few crazy weeks of new babyhood, I sat and listed all of the things our family eats pretty regularly and likes. It got me through seven weeks, not counting eating out or at someone’s house, eating leftovers, or eating breakfast for dinner, anything like that.

I recently saw another blog where she listed her family’s four weeks of meals, so I’ve decided to share my list with you as well, in case it can help anyone out with their own meal planning. It’s not a list we stick to like clockwork anymore, and a lot depends on our schedule each week, but we have it if we need it and it certainly helps me when I’m planning our meals and it gives my brain a jog when I’m trying to think of what to make for dinner. We’re also always adding to our list of foods as we try new things or are introduced to new foods.

Here goes:

Flounder with Lemon and Dill (Tilapia)

We are lucky, all our kids like fish.

WEEK ONE:

Monday: Spaghetti and Tuna Sauce
Tuesday: Pork chops with homemade applesauce and rice pilaf
Wednesday: Meatloaf and mashed potatoes
Thursday: Chicken Marsala with white rice (or pasta)
Friday: Flounder with lemon and dill and baked potatoes or rice

Shepherd's Pie

WEEK TWO:

Monday: Stuffed Shells
Tuesday: BBQ Ribs, cornbread
Wednesday: Shepherd’s Pie
Thursday: Easy Chicken and Wine, baked potatoes
Friday: Baked stuffed fish, white rice

Sweet and Sour Beef and Broccoli Teriyaki

Sweet and Sour Beef Teriyaki

WEEK THREE:

Monday: Lasagna
Tuesday: Hanukkah Beef Brisket
Wednesday: Steak Sandwiches
Thursday: Sweet and Sour Beef over Rice
Friday: Nicoise

Cranberry Chicken is good all year long.

WEEK FOUR:

Monday: American Chopped Suey
Tuesday: Honey Dijon Pork Chops and baked potatoes
Wednesday: Marinated steaks, rice pilaf
Thursday: Cranberry Chicken, white rice
Friday: Crumb topped baked Tilapia, red potatoes

Beef Burgundy, a great one-pan meal

WEEK FIVE:

Monday: Manicotti
Tuesday: BBQ Chicken wings
Wednesday: Beef Burgundy
Thursday: Baked chicken breasts
Friday: Salmon with hollandaise sauce

Homemade "gravy" provides us with enough sauce and meat for eight weeks of meals. We can integrate it into any week's menu as needed.

WEEK SIX:

Monday: Pasta with meatballs and pork
Tuesday: Meatloaf and mashed potatoes
Wednesday: Quesadillas
Thursday: Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Friday: Pan fried flounder

Shrimp Scampi

Great recipe from a friend

WEEK SEVEN:

Monday: Ravioli
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Arizona Chicken Casserole
Thursday: “Chinese” Beef and Broccoli
Friday: Shrimp Scampi

And so there you have it: seven weeks of meal ideas for you! I hope this can help you in planning your weeks’ of meals. As I said, we have updated our list, and continue to update it as we add or subtract things to or from the list. It’s always fun to try new things and it’s always good to give “old” things a rest for a bit if you find yourself in a rut.

What’s for dinner in your house this week?

Overnight French Toast-Holiday Morning version

5 Feb

Holiday Morning French Toast...it must have been a holiday somewhere.

So you all know by now I love french toast. I especially like the convenience (as well as all the brown sugar) of an over night french toast. A while back I posted my cousin Kim’s version, which we’ve made for years, and today I’m posting her mom’s version, my Aunt Fran. I’ve had this recipe so long, it’s dog-eared, and yet I’ve never made it myself. I’ve only ever had it when she’s made it. But, it’s got all my favorites in it: brown sugar, cinnamon, apples and craisins, so I have been wanting to make it myself for quite some time now.

Friday night was that time, but by the time we got home and got everyone to bed and I got started it was late, 10pm. Note to self: Don’t try a new recipe late at night. I made several mistakes in my night time prep, which I’ve noted below. And, we ended up sort of combining the ending steps of Kim’s recipe with Fran’s, which I’ve also noted below.

Either way, Saturday morning it was great to wake up to an already almost finished breakfast. We just had to throw it in the oven and we were good to go.

Everyone gave it a thumbs up, always a good sign.

Here’s the recipe including my mistakes and adjustments at the end.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter melted

3 tsp cinnamon DIVIDED into 2 tsp and 1 tsp. (FYI:  I totally missed that and didn’t divide mine. Still fine, but you’re supposed to use it separately.)

3 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and thin sliced. (Note: Peel them either before you melt your butter or while you’re melting it if you’re a fast peeler. I didn’t do that.  Also, I used Macintosh apples because that’s what I had.)

1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins. I used craisins.

1 loaf Italian or French Bread (I used a loaf of Texas French Toast bread.)

6 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 TBL vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Combine brown sugar, butter and ONE TSP Cinnamon in a 13×9 dish. (This was my first mistake, I didn’t read well and put in all 3 tsp. cinnamon.)

Here is my version of apples and craisins "tossed" in the butter and brown sugar. Slice early for better tossing!

Add apples and craisins. Toss to coat well. (This was my second mistake. My butter and cinnamon had hardened back up again before I got done slicing my apples so it wasn’t really tossing, more like, spreading. Sort of.)

Spread apple mix evenly over bottom of baking dish. Arrange bread on top.

Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and remaining TWO TSP Cinnamon until well blended. (This brings us to mistakes three and four. Did I mention yet how tired I was when I made this??  Mistake three was the cinnamon again, I hadn’t done a little last time, I’d done all, so this step, I opted to omit the cinnamon. Then I misread the vanilla as a teaspoon not a tablespoon. I’m getting new glasses, seriously, next week.)

Pour mixture over bread soaking bread completely. Cover and refrigerate 4-24 hrs.

Bake covered with foil in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake five minutes.

**Here is where we combined the two recipes. We squirted maple syrup over the top of this one, even though it doesn’t call for it, baked it for a few more minutes, and then broiled it for about 5 minutes to crisp it up.

Remove from oven, let stand five minutes.

Serve warm. Whipped cream optional.

Recipe of the day: Brown Sugar Brownies

3 Feb
Brown Sugar Brownies

These brownies melt in your mouth!

I found this recipe on the back of a package of Domino Light Brown Sugar a while back. The title alone made me want to try them. I love brown sugar. You can always tell if a recipe is going to be good by how the batter tastes, and this batter is delicious.

The recipe is quick and easy, and it will make a great dessert for the Superbowl game, or really any time you want a delicious dessert!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (one stick) butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (we don’t like nuts so I never put those in.)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease 8×8 baking dish.

In large bowl beat sugar and butter until fluffy.

Beat in eggs one at a time.

Beat in chocolate, then flour.

Kids can help with this recipe, which technically doesn't even need a stand up mixer.

Stir in nuts if using them.

Pour into pan.

Bake 25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan and cut into bars.

Makes 2 dozen bars.