Tag Archives: shopping on a budget

Whole Wheat Snickerdoodles

11 Jan
I love making and eating Snickerdoodles and I was glad we didn't need to give them up this Christmas!

I love making and eating Snickerdoodles and I was glad we didn’t need to give them up this Christmas!

You all I know how much I love a good cookie.

A few years back I discovered a recipe for Snickerdoodles and ever since, I have used them on my trays for Christmas.

This year, before Christmas even came, way back in October, I found a recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Budget Gourmet Mom, for Whole Wheat Snickerdoodles.

I knew even back then, that I’d be trying out this recipe for my cookie trays this year.

Little did I know then, that I’d be overhauling our entire cookie tray plan as well. Thankfully, these cookies were easy to adapt to the lowfat diet we needed to incorporate.

Here is the recipe from the Budget Gourmet Blog, along with any notes or changes I might’ve made along the way to fit our needs. Snickerdoodles are great any time of year, and they’re a great recipe for involving your kids in the kitchen, so give this new recipe a try!

At Christmas time I need as much help as I can get so it's all hands on deck for cookie baking!

At Christmas time I need as much help as I can get so it’s all hands on deck for cookie baking!

BUDGET GOURMET MOM
WHOLE WHEAT SNICKERDOODLES
INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened (I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter sticks for my baking this year.)
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a medium bowl cream the butter and brown sugar.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tarter and salt.

Add to the creamed mixture and stir until it forms a dough. It helps to work it with a rubber spatula until it comes together.

In a small bowl mix the additional sugar and cinnamon.

Form tablespoon sized balls, roll in the cinnamon and sugar,  and place on a baking sheet 2″ apart.

Press slightly with the bottom of a cup (we used our fingers) and bake 8-10 minutes.

Rolled cookies are particularly great for kids who want to help out.

Rolled cookies are particularly great for kids who want to help out.

Not just rolling, but tasting is another favorite job for my little helpers.

After rolling and placing on the trays, pat them down slightly.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Oven Fried Chicken

9 Jan
This new chicken recipe got five thumbs up!

This new chicken recipe got five thumbs up!

As we’ve gone along in our search for delicious low-fat meals, we have been pretty happy with many of the ones we’ve found. Today’s is again from the South Beach Diet Cookbook, a cookbook that I’ve tabbed over and over again, since checking it out of the library last month.

This is listed as a Phase II meal, but we’re just eating from all over the book. We also tried a Phase I side dish, mashed cauliflower. I liked it, but it did not get the overwhelming thumbs ups that the chicken got. I liked the cauliflower so much that I made it again this week but I did not get any additional thumbs this time. I might be making it just for me.

Even Alex, who has chicken on her Do Not Like list, loved this chicken and asked when I would make it again. Most likely that’s because I let her have her favorite dipping sauces to go with it: ketchup and honey. It’s her own version of bbq sauce. Either way I was thrilled that she liked it, and even had two pieces.

Here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

OVEN FRIED CHICKEN WITH ALMONDS
INGREDIENTS

1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

1/4 cup (one ounce) grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped almonds (You could probably leave this out if you don’t have them but I liked it in. I used a Pampered Chef food chopper to chop my slivered almonds from Aldis.)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Pinch of ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2″ (I used chicken tenderloins.)

Sprig Italian parsley, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In medium bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, almonds, parsley, garlic, salt, thyme, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Place the oil in a shallow dish. Dip the chicken first in the oil then dredge in the crumb mixture.

Place the chicken in a shallow baking pan.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the center of a piece registers 170 degrees F and the juices run clear.  (Do not turn the chicken during cooking.) Garnish with parsley.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A new dessert recipe for you, and it’s healthy, to boot!

4 Jan
These yummy mini cheesecakes used fat free fillo dough, fat free, sugar free pudding and fat free whipped cream on top!

These yummy mini cheesecakes used fat free fillo dough, fat free, sugar free pudding and fat free whipped cream on top!

Oftentimes when you have an allergy or a dietary issue, eating out or eating some place that is not the comfort of your own home is tough. We’ve always had those issues, but never knew exactly what was causing them.

Now that our family knows that staying away from fats is the key to avoiding a severe stomachache for one of our family members, we worked very hard during the holidays to provide options for eating as close to fat free whenever we could, including when we went to someone else’s house. We also worked hard not to have completely separate choices for our family, but rather to make things everyone could enjoy.

This New Year’s Eve in preparing to go to our friends’ house for the festivities, Caroline and I came up with a great dessert recipe that was extremely healthy, meeting our fat free requirements, and delicious. It was an instant hit that night and I’d definitely make these again.

I had seen the little fillo dough tart shells on different websites, always filled with something cute, and one day they were on sale, 3 boxes for $5 at the store, so I grabbed them and put them in my freezer, knowing I could somehow make use of them.

Earlier this fall, on one of my favorite blogs, Budget  Gourmet Mom, I’d seen a recipe for a low fat pumpkin cheesecake parfait that I’d never gotten the chance to make, but the recipe had alerted me to the fact that Jello makes a fat free, sugar free cheesecake pudding mix. At the time I didn’t need to know that, but now, that information has come in pretty handy.

I picked up a few of these for my pantry, and they've come in handy this past month!

I picked up a few of these for my pantry, and they’ve come in handy this past month!

On one of my trips to the store, I was intent on finding various fat free dessert and snack options and I saw the pudding there, so I grabbed a few boxes to have on hand.

The side of the box has traditional pudding directions and then directions for making a cheesecake with the pudding, using a graham cracker crust.

So here is what I decided to do to create my delicious New Years Eve desserts:

I made one box of the Jello Cheesecake pudding mix using 1 3/4 cups of 1% milk. That is the amount of milk needed for a cheesecake, NOT for the regular pudding. I let that set a few minutes (it sets fast, in less then ten minutes) and then I used my Pampered Chef small scoop to scoop a little bit into the little fillo shells. One box of pudding filled 15 fillo tarts. I did not want to bring more than that so I used the leftover pudding, putting it into cups for future snacks in the days that followed. I was able to get two small cups of extra pudding in addition to the shells.

I left those in the fridge until we were ready to leave that night.

Getting the hang of shaving the chocolate and having it land on top was tricky but eventually we got it!

Getting the hang of shaving the chocolate and having it land on top was tricky but eventually we got it!

I took with me an Extra Dark Chocolate bar by Lindt that had very conveniently showed up in my stocking for Christmas, a grater like I’d use for cheese, and a can of Reddi Whip fat free whipped cream. We were also bringing a fruit tray (with a great dip which I’ll share the recipe for on another day) that had strawberries on the tray.

When it was time for dessert, people had the option to add whatever they wanted to their little tarts of cheesecake. Some added the berry and cream with the chocolate shavings (I was one of those people) and some did not.

Shaving the chocolate over the individual shells was tricky, as you had to figure out where the shavings were going to land. Initially they were landing everywhere til I got the hang of it. Had I shaved it all over the entire set of shells first, making them all exactly the same, that would have worked out perfectly, but I wanted to give everyone their options so I did them individually.

The great things about this recipe were:

It was inexpensive, fast and easy.

It was delicious.

It was versatile so people could take or leave whatever part of it they wanted to or leave it in tact.

It was healthy.

Even without the shells, you could do something similar with it in the future; a parfait or just a bowl of pudding with berries, with or without cream and chocolate.

And, it looked festive for the holidays.

This recipe gets huge thumbs up and I’d definitely make it again! I am especially proud because in general I am not an experimenter. I am a recipe follower to the T. So the fact that I sort of created a dessert is thrilling to me. The fact that everyone liked it…even more thrilling.

Give it a try for your next gathering and see what you think!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

End of Year Couponing Update for 2012

3 Jan
Hot off the press!

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...

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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!

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

31 Dec
Happy New Year!

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.

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.

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.

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What now?

15 Dec
The angels are crying right along with us today.

The angels are crying right along with us today.

Yesterday was another one of those days that will be burned into our memories as a horrible, horrible day.

I’m pretty sure I am not the only one who woke up this morning and opened my eyes trying to think for a moment of what that awful thing was that I was trying to remember. What had happened yesterday? Oh yes, then I remembered.

A massacre happened.

Again.

I wondered exactly how to go about my day. On the one hand, you want to stay hunkered down in the safety of your own home with your own babies and never let them go, not even to school on Monday.

But then you think of all the other parents and families  out there who are in the midst of the worst nightmare of their lives who would give anything to take their kids to the most mundane of tasks this weekend.

And you wonder, do you keep going about your normal events of your days, of Christmas for them? For those who cannot ever again?

My friend Paula has a new soup blog, all soup recipes, and her new post for today is perfect. It’s a perfect answer for what we do today.

I hope you’ll read it and I hope you too, will put on a pot of Sandy Hook Soup in honor of all those who are living this nightmare.

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Chicken & Asparagus Penne

5 Dec
The finished product!

Nice and easy for the pre-holiday season!

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

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

  1. Add all ingredients into a 9 x13 pan and stir to combine.
  2. 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: , , , , , , ,

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!

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!

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!

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.

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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: , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →