Having My Cake and Eating It Too

Key Lime Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 12:10:00 +0000

It has been so long since I have last posted and I apologize. Life has been crazy. I have switched departments at work,but now I am working 9 to 5 m-f so I have a better schedule to hopefully be able
to start blogging again.

I think I may have posted this before but it is an oldie but a goodie.

Key Lime Pie

1 Graham Cracker Crust
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of lime juice
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and pour into pie shell. Bake at 325 for 15 mins.. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate and then cut in slices. Serve with whipped cream.

How to save money on groceries by eating leftovers without feeling you are eating leftovers!

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 00:38:00 +0000

My son just turned 19 this week, so for his birthday we had a family dinner and made meatball subs and homemade cookie cake. I love this recipe. Since we were having other family over we decided to triple the recipe. The recipe ended up making more meatballs than we needed so we used some of the left over meatball mixture to make a meatloaf. The kids ate all of the leftover meatballs the next day. The only thing left was the sauteed green peppers and onions. I went ahead since I have been working mid day shifts and cooked up the meatloaf for Saturday night, it was good but still had meatloaf left. Everyone knows that leftovers save you money on your grocery bill, but sometimes you just do not want the same thing over again. This is where you can change things up and create something new from what you had left over. We did this by making a frittata with the leftovers. Tonight we had a Meatloaf Fritatta.

Meatloaf Fritatta
3 slices of meatloaf chopped
6 eggs
3 potato's chopped and fried until tender
1/4 shredded cheese
leftover onions and peppers about 2 cups
1 cup of milk
garlic salt pepper red pepper flakes and smoked paprika
Season potato's however you like. Fry in pan until tender. In a seperate bowl mix eggs,chopped meatloaf, onions,peppers,cheese,and seasonings. Mix together and add to pan with fried potato's. Bake on 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until cooked thoroughly. Honestly there is no real recipe, we just threw this together. It does not have to be meatloaf but can be any meat and veggie leftovers.

My point is we did not eat meatballs for 3 nights straight, it was changed to make 3 completely different meals. Hope this gives you some ideas for your left overs. It does not have to be a fritatta but you can turn it in to something new entirely.

3 ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies.

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:31:00 +0000

3 ingredient peanut butter cookies

1 cup of peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Mix together and drop buy small cookie scoops and press criss cross marks with fork dipped into sugar. Bake on 350 for 12 minutes.

Waffle Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 01:24:00 +0000

If you are looking for a quick and easy dessert, that is is fun for the whole family, I think I have found one for you!

Waffle Cakes

1 boxed cake mix

waffle maker

Mix cake mix according to directions on box. Pour batter in waffle maker (amount depends on size of your waffle maker) and bake until waffle maker says you are done! I topped mine with ice cream, but the possibilities are endless. You could do strawberries and whipped cream or any other topping. You can also use different flavored cake mixes. Mine made about 6 waffles, but I have a Belgium Waffle Maker.

Cooking Challenge 1: Braising

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:43:00 +0000

Yesterday, I announced the start of monthly cooking challenges on the blog!Here is our first cooking challenge!

Braising

Braising is usually the preferred method of cooking a normally otherwise tough piece of meat in a small amount of liquid to make it tender. This is good for those of us on a tight budget than can not always afford the more expensive piece of meat.

If you are interested in participating in the cooking challenge, please sign up for the newsletter below to get all of the rules, and links to recipes and instructions! I hope you are interested in the challenge and want to take part!

Pretzel Crusted Chicken Tenders/ New Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:17:00 +0000

Do you have a picky child, or in my case young adult. Do they say they will not eat chicken? I think I may have the recipe to help change their mind! It did mine anyways.

My son is 16 and will not eat chicken. I made this the other night and he absolutely loved it and I was floored.

Pretzel Crusted Chicken Tenders

This is another recipe that does not have exact ingredients!

Chicken tenders
Dijon Mustard (honestly any type of mustard will do) 2 or 3 Tablespoons
Pretzels about 3 cups
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In bowl of a food processor or plastic bag with rolling pin crush pretzels (you do not want it into total crumbs, just into smaller pieces). Salt and Pepper both sides of your chicken tenders.

In one bowl add Mustard

In another baking dish add pretzels

Using a pastry brush, brush a light coat of mustard on both sides of chicken. Using your tongs, roll each tender into the pretzels and place on either a foil lined baking sheet or a baking sheet with a cooling rack ( this is recommended so that your chicken does not get soggy on one side!) Cook 15-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through!

Monthly Cooking Challenge

I am excited to announce a new feature and hope you guys will join in! I love cooking.I am far from chef but always looking for ways to be a better home cook! That is why, starting tomorrow will have a monthly cooking challenge. I will post the cooking technique that I want to conquer that month. I will give links to tutorials and links to recipes. Sometime during the month I will choose a recipe using the technique and attempt to recreate the recipe . The end of the month, I will right a post about my experience, with the recipe I used. Here is where I would like you to get involved. When I post the new challenge, if you would like to join up, I will send you a link to a newsletter to sign up so I can send you the official rules, links to the tutorials and recipes. At the end of the month, I would like you to right a post about your experience with the technique and your recipe and linking up with my party!

You can pick and choose which challenges you would like to participate in, by subscribing and unsubscribing from the newsletter . I hope that you will join in because the more that join, the better the party and hopefully this will help you also to be a more confident cook!

Pesto Chicken Sandwich/ Pesto Round 2

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:28:00 +0000

I love left overs, but eating the same thing day after day without changing it up a bit can be a little boring! The key to keeping it from being boring is to change your left overs into an entirely different dish! This sandwich is perfect for that leftover chicken ! This is not an exact recipe and you can cater it to your taste, but I had leftover pesto, chicken and spinach and this is what I came up with!

Chicken Pesto Sandwich

leftover grilled chicken breast strips or chunks,

I used Tysons precooked grilled chicken strips!

pesto
1/4 cup shredded cheese
onion sliced.
spinach
Ciabatta Bread

Turn on your broiler. In a bowl mix chicken and pesto (adjust to taste). Fill the bottom of the bread with your pesto chicken mixture! Pile cheese on top of chicken and place on a baking sheet! Place under broiler until cheese melts. Pull out of oven and place spinach and onions on top!

linked up to melt in your mouth monday

Homemade Spinach Pesto

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 20:34:00 +0000

I love pesto! I do not, however, like store bought pesto. I am not sure why, I think it is too strong for me. I wanted to make my own, but the grocery stores around here only sell those small packs of basil and it would cost a fortune to use those so I decided to use spinach! All I have to say is yummy, it is delicious.
Homemade Spinach Pesto

Printable Recipe

1/3 a bag of spinach (just eye ball it)
3 cloves of garlic (if you do not like a real garlic taste, I would go with 2, I love garlic!)
1/2 cup of walnuts toasted
1/3 cup of water
2/3 cup of shredded parmesan (just used the kind in the bag)
1/2 lemon juiced
3 Tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste!
Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree!

This stuff is good on sandwiches, or pasta, or use as part of a crostini! Heck, I was just eating this plain
Speaking of food processors!

I bought a black and decker 7 cup food processor at sears over Christmas and I love it. I knew I would because I had a 10 cup one and used it until it fell apart. This one was on sale for only 25 dollars and I know I will wear it out.
I would love a Kitchen Aid or Cuisinart one but don’t have the big bucks for those. If you are looking for a really nice food processor without spending a ton of money, check out Black and Decker. (my own opinion, not getting paid)I know many people think food processors are just another appliance, but you can do so much with this. You can slice, and shred (now I sound like an knife commercial , use it for pizza dough and pie doughs. I am not one to spend money on something I can’t multipurpose.

Awesome E-book and Valentines Day Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:58:00 +0000

I posted this on Facebook , but I am sure most of you have not seen it because of how quickly things change but if you are looking for a an awesome Free (for right now) e-book recipe book, please check Dinner and Wine for 20.00 or Less. The recipes look delicious and very inexpensive, I have already seen a few I will be trying very soon. For every recipe, they give some inexpensive wine suggestions. With valentines day sneaking up on us very soon, this would be a awesome way to make a very inexpensive valentines dinner. I promise, I am not getting any compensation at all, it is my own opinion!

Speaking of Valentines day, I have set up a valentines day pinterest board, if you are looking for something special to create for your loved one please follow my board here

Here are a couple of things I have pinned, will be adding more!

Source: confessionsofacookbookqueen.com via Beverly on Pinterest

Source: sixsistersstuff.com via Beverly on Pinterest

Muffin Tin Gratin

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:49:00 +0000

I am sorry it has been so long since post. I have been so busy lately. So much has happened in my life. My grandmother ended up in the hospital a few months ago and they found she also had brain tumors on top of the Alzheimer’s so she was sent home with hospice where she lasted about two months and passed away in October. I was very blessed though, she was in no pain and I was able to be with her when she passed.

I have always been ocd all of my life, but have been pretty good at keeping it in control, but the last few weeks it has been really acting up. I believe it has also been mixed with some depression. I ask you all to pray for me.

I saw these on pinterest and decided to make them! Oh they are so easy and delicious and are wonderful for portion control!

Muffin Tin Gratin

· 1 Russet Potato washed and sliced thin

· Heavy cream (1 Tablespoon per muffin tin)

· Salt and Pepper

· Mozzarella Cheese (about 2 or 3 Tablespoons per muffin tin)

· Melted Butter or Spray Oil

Muffin Tin

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In muffin tin spray with non stick spray or brush melted butter. Place two slices of potato, salt and Pepper and 1 Tablespoon of cheese. Continue layers until the tin is full, the top layer place 1 Tablespoon of heavy cream and then top with 1 tablespoon of cheese. Continue on to however many tins you want to make! Bake for 30 minutes or until potato’s are tender and cheese is melted.

Sharp Chedder Baked Mac and Cheese.

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:00:00 +0000

I love a baked Mac and Cheese. I am not one in love with those that are real milky and american cheese type, nor do I like a boxed Mac and Cheese. Give me a baked mac and cheese with real cheese and I am happy. My problem with some of the baked ones I have tried is they are too dry. I have been working on a baked mac and cheese for a while and I really believe I have found the one. This one uses the Cabot's Extra Sharp cheese! If you have never tried it, it is a must. Once you have eaten this brand you will never want Kraft again and it is actually cheaper.

Sharp Cheddar Baked Mac and Cheese!
Sharp Cheddar Baked Mac N Cheese

1 and 1/2 blocks of Cabot Sharp Cheddar cheese shredded
1/2 Parmesan
1 Tablespoon and 1 tsp of grainy mustard
6 cups of milk
6 Tablespoons of Flour
6 Tablespoons of butter
1lb pkg of elbow macaroni
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 pan .

Cook macaroni according to package. While macaroni is cooking, in a saucepan on medium heat,melt butter and whisk flour and butter for a couple of minutes . Next slowly add in milk whisking as you go to make sure that you get all the flour and milk mixed thoroughly. Next add mustard, salt and pepper. Continue stirring and cooking until mixture gets thick. When mixture has thickened add all of your cheese and combine thoroughly, cook on low about 5 more minutes. Add in your macaroni and pour into prepared pan and cover with topping and extra cheese.

Topping
1 cup of Italian Style Bread Crumbs
3 Tablespoons of butter melted
1/2 block of Cabot cheese for topping
Mix bread crumbs and melted butter and spread over top of macaroni and cheese and then top with the extra cheese.

Bake approximately 40 minutes.

Monday: leftovers

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Thigh's Frozen veggies

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Grilled Fish and veggies

Friday: Grilled Pork Chops and Veggies
Saturday: Crockpot Country Style Ribs

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:23:00 +0000

Hi, its me..... hope you haven't forgot about me. I am sorry my posting lately has been so sparring. I have had so much going on in my life. It has been going on for a while, but it is just coming to a head lately. We have had the tropical storm that did not seem to go away because it just sat over us for 3 day s and poured. I have never seen one like that before. Then my air conditioner stopped working. The problem is no real money to fix it. I have been looking for a job for a while but I have been out of the work force for almost 14 years so... you can see how that is going. The wonderful thing about this is we where set up with a christian ac man (God can do miracles) and this man only charged us half of what it would have. With no money, I have had to have a really tight grocery budget, which means no extras to cook things to put on the blog. Then on top of it all my daughter who is 14 and autistic has been totally been whiny and throwing fits. Have I said how much Autism is a bummer a lot of times. It just gets so discouraging, it just feels like one thing after another with us. I know we are truly blessed, we still have a house, and food in our stomachs and health, but sometimes it just gets depressing. So I honestly feel like I just have not had much to post about lately.

On a lighter note, my husband went night fishing the other day. My husband loves to fish. Bless his heart, if we depended on him to provide food by fishing we might be a little hungry :) He normally just does not catch very much. So when he posted a picture of a fish that he caught on facebook, I said it was a nice fish. What I didn't realize is the fish was laying on the flatbed of his truck! The fish he caught was 34 inches long and over 40lbs, my scale pooped out at 41 so I am not sure how much he weighs but here is a picture of him.

Grilled Banana Splits

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:40:00 +0000

For the first time in a while, my daughter stayed the night with my mom so we were able to have a date night! It has been really needed because my daughter has been having some major meltdowns this summer! Sometimes autism really just sucks! We had seen a logan's roadhouse commercial for a 4 course meal for 11.99 but when we got there it is only on Mon-Thursday's which was really a bummer. We went early so it was still happy hour which for us was a wonderful thing because they had wings for 5o cents each and a huge order of nacho's for 5 dollars. All I have to say is those Parmesan-Garlic wings were awesome. Here is a picture of the nacho's

these nacho's could feed 4 people easily!

Then we left there and went to a pastry shop that I have been dying to try for a while and this is what we got!

so yummy and we sat out on the patio and listened to a local band play. It was a well needed night.

The next day we stayed with my grandmother who is now on hospice while my mom took the kids shopping and then after they got back we went home and made dinner and then dessert. I have seen this on other blogs and I was thinking about it and apparently my husband was thinking the same thing (don't you just love it when you are both on the same wave length!

Grilled Banana Splits

banana
chocolate chips
mini marshmallows
foil

Leaving the peel on, take a sharp knife sliding it down the banana almost through but not quite all the way. Pull the banana slit slightly apart and fill with chocolate chips then top with marshmallows (we did it backwards, but I think it would work better this way so the chocolate does not stick to foil) wrap banana tightly and grill on stove top grill for about 5 to 10 minutes flipping over half way.

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:22:00 +0000

I want to apologize for no post recently. Things have been crazy around my house so I am not sure when I will get a chance to post next. My grandmother has been admitted to the hospital and we found out that on top of the alzheimers, she now has brain cancer and that she only has about three months left (only God knows). We are also on the gulf coast awaiting Issac so we might be without power for a couple of days. I promise I will be posting again as soon as possible. Hope everyone is well and for those in the path of this storm, I will be praying for you all.

Coconut French Toast

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Coconut French Toast

6 pieces of bread
2/3 cup of coconut cream coffee creamer
1 Tablespoon of sugar

4 eggs
1 tsp of cinnamon

maple syrup
shredded coconut (coconut, optional)

vegetable spray for pan

In a bowl mix creamer, sugar, eggs and cinnamon sugar set aside. Turn stove on medium heat, dip each piece of bread in mixture and cook until each side is golden brown and mixture is cooked through. Top with syrup and shredded coconut for topping.

Guest Post: The Positive Effects of Nutrition on Patients Suffering with Cancer

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I was contacted by Jillian from the blog http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/jillian/ and asked if she could do a guest post on effects positive effects of nutrition for those patients suffering with cancer and I thought it is definitely benefitial!
Hope you enjoy the article and want to say thank you to Jillian for writing it.
The Positive Effects of Nutrition on Patients Suffering with Cancer
Cancer is a devastating disease whether it is skin cancer, mesothelioma cancer, or any other type of cancer. The treatment for the disease alone can be devastating, never mind the mental and emotional effects of dealing with the disease. In these cases, nutrition is more important than ever. Nutrition is important to everyone's health, but it is especially important to those who are undergoing cancer treatment because of the nature of the chemicals used in the medications. Chemotherapy and radiation are essentially poisons that not only kill cancer cells but healthy cells as well. This leads to the common side effects such as nausea and vomiting, fatigue, dehydration and malnutrition, decreased immune system functioning and hair loss associated with the treatments. Nausea and vomiting can cause severe dehydration and malnutrition in chemotherapy patients. This can exacerbate the symptoms of fatigue and the decreased immune system function by not providing the body with the vitamins and nutrients necessary to strengthen cells and create healthy new cells. The use of nutrition as a supplement to traditional cancer treatments is known as orthomolecular nutrition and can greatly reduce these effects. Orthomolecular nutrition has been studied by Abram Hoffer, Ph.D., M.D. since 1960. He has been a pioneer in this area of study and has had amazing results using only vitamins and nutrition to supplement cancer therapy. He has treated a number of cancer patients successfully as well as people who suffer from other diseases including schizophrenia. Hoffer believed the human body needed higher doses of vitamins (specifically vitamin C, E and niacin) and minerals than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends on a daily basis. Many vitamins such as vitamin C and vitamin E are strong antioxidants that prevent cell damage from free radicals. These free radicals are the end product of a process called oxidation, which is the result of our daily metabolic processes. In chemotherapy and radiation patients, these free radicals are exacerbated because of the nature of the medication and its effects on the body. Higher amounts of vitamins are required to neutralize these effects in order to prevent further damage. Changing the Diet For patients who are suffering with chemotherapy and radiation, it is important to make sure the diet is full of fruits, vegetables and whole grains and limits the amount of processed foods, sugars and animal products consumed. Animal products take more time to break down, which can exacerbate fatigue. Many animal products contain excess hormones such as estrogen and antibiotics that can actually cause cancer. The diet should be rich in dark leafy green vegetables, which are full of antioxidants. Vegetables such as broccoli, kale, spinach and romaine lettuce are excellent sources of vitamins, especially vitamins A, E, and C. Juicing is an excellent choice for patients undergoing cancer treatments. Ninety percent of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables are in the juice, which is easily and quickly absorbed into the blood stream. An added benefit of juicing is the amount of fruits and vegetables consumed, which is much greater compared to simply eating the vegetables. A patient would have to eat ten to twenty fruits or vegetables a day to equal the amount of nutrients received from two or three glasses of freshly made juice. For those who dislike eating vegetables, juicing is an excellent alternative. One of the most important changes in the diet of cancer patients is the avoidance of processed foods and sugars. The chemicals and preservatives in packaged foods have been shown to actually cause cancer. Most manufactured, or processed, foods contain very little (if any) nutritional value. They are essentially empty calories. It is best to avoid these foods completely, or at least limit them drastically. Fast foods should also be avoided due to the high fat content and lack of nutrients. Maintaining this type of diet during and after chemotherapy or radiation treatments can dramatically improve the quality of life for cancer patients. Increasing the body’s nutrient intake can alleviate many of the side effects of the cancer treatments while helping to protect healthy cells, which can help improve fatigue and prevent possible long-term side effects. It can also help detoxify the body after treatment.

Cheaters Apple Pie filled doughnuts

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 12:20:00 +0000

I have had this idea forever and I finally got a chance this morning to actually get it done. I love Krispy Kreme doughnuts and I especially love the apple filled ones so I thought I could make a semi copy cat one at home. No since it uses canned biscuits, it is not exactly the same but it is really, really good! If you are looking for a precise recipe, this is not one of those but it also leaves you with many options because you could use any type of filling you want.

Cheaters Apple Pie Filled Doughnuts
1 pkg of grands biscuits

1 can of apple pie filling (place in blender to make sure that the apples are finely chopped) or use apple sauce or any other filling you would like.
sugar (rolling doughnuts in)
oil (enough to fill large pan no more than half way)
filling tip and pastry bag (not sure the number on the tip but it is the really long skinny one)

In a large heavy pan pre heat oil until 350 degrees. While that is preheating put sugar in one bowl, you can also add a tad of cinnamon to sugar if you would like. Also while oil is pre heating prepare your pastry bag and filling. When oil is up to temperature place 2 doughnuts in oil at a time and fry until golden brown on both sides, making sure that the dough is fully cooked. Drain each one on a paper towel and then roll in sugar and fill.

Elegant Healthy Dinners with Simple Ingredients

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 12:23:00 +0000

I know most of you have heard how groceries will be going up this year because of the drought we are in. That really sucks because I and probably most of you are on a tight budget. Even though we are on a budget, that does not mean we have to sacrifice a good healthy meal for hot dogs and chips,.

it just means we must make hard choices and stop putting the extra junk food in the cart that we do not need and replacing it with more healthy choices. It means we need to stop eating out and eating processed foods and to start cooking from scratch. It also might be cutting meat portion sizes back and filling up on vegetables. For example instead of eating one of those monster size portions of chicken breast they have now, you can cut it in half length wise that way you double the amount of meat you have, and you can have leftovers to make your groceries stretch. Filling your plate with large portions of veggies and not so much meat.

One thing I have learned is make a menu plan and grocery list and stick too it. Do not vary.

I have been looking for recipes that are healthy, delicious but use very simple ingredients. The key is to have a stocked pantry. These are basics that you use all the time for me it is garlic, eggs, butter, flour, canned beans, tomato’s and dried pastas. Yours maybe totally different than mine. Here is a a series on

Building up your pantry on a budget

here are a few simple but healthy recipes that I have come across that you might find useful also.

pan roasted chicken with shallots

pasta with garden veggies

Garlic Basil Halibut

Grilled Fish taco’s

Apple and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

What are some of your tricks to eating delicious, healthy on a budget. What are your Healthy and low cost recipes?

Crazy Cooking Challenge Cheese Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Sorry, there are no words to describe this recipe, I am going to let the pictures do the talking

Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Mini Cheese Cake Cups

www.MomOnTimeOut.com

Makes 12

Crust

3/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp of butter melted
3 Tbsp of sugar

Batter

2 pkgs of cream cheese (I used non fat)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs room temperature

Other ingredients
12 reeses miniature cups
1/2 cup each chocolate and peanutbutter chips

Preheat oven 350 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners (12)

Make grahm cracker crust by combining all ingredients for crust and pressing 1 Tbsp into each of the cups. Place
1 reeses cup in each cup.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add in the sugar, flour and vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time until completely incorporated.

Pour about 1/4 cup of batter over the reeses cup in each cup. The recipe said to bake 20-25 minutes but mine wasn't quite done so start checking at 20 minutes and cook
until center is baked.

Let the cheese cake cook

In 2 bowls melt chocolate chips and peanut butter chips each with one tsp of shortening. Drizzle each of the melted chips over top of the cheesecake.

Saving Money on Groceries by Repurposing Leftovers

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:51:00 +0000

As Americans, we have started living in a throw away society, instant gratification. Fast food, throw away plates etc… this is one of the reason’s we have the high obesity rates we do today. I am not lecturing I promise because I have lost 50 lbs myself. What I am saying that all those conveniences come at a price. The first being our health and the second being a really high grocery bill.

We all know what fast food does to our health and our weight so I am not even going there . With the economy in the state it is in and people losing jobs, all of us probably are in situations in which cutting back on our grocery bill could really help. I know it is really hard with the price of groceries going up to think how can I cut back anymore. You can, you just have to be willing. The first and for most thing you need to do is to cook from scratch if you haven’t. Whether it be boxed food in the grocery store or fast food those things come at steep prices. Do you realize what you can make out of 1 bag of flour (bread, cookies, pancakes etc…. If you can not cook, there are so many tutorials online, all recipes has a ton of cooking videos so does taste of home. All you have to do search. Once you have your pantry basics, you are set to make anything your heart desires. Here is a link to a series on how to build up your panty on a budget.

Once you are cooking and making things from scratch, another way to cut cost is by repurposing your leftovers. Having leftovers does not mean having the same exact meal every night! You take your leftovers and transform them. I like using leftover chicken into chicken quesadillas’, left over ham or pork into fried rice or quiche. All you need is a basic recipe and here is my basic formula’s for a basic quiche and basic fried rice.

Basic Quiche

5 eggs

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup to 1 cup of cheese

salt and pepper to taste

approximately 1 cup of leftover meat and veggies

1 pie crust or make it crust less

Mix eggs, milk cheese and leftovers, salt and pepper. Pour into a pie shell or pie pan. bake on 350 for approximately 1 hour until set in middle. Here is a picture of my

Southwestern Sausage and Green Chili Quiche

Fried Rice

3 cups of leftover rice

2T of soy sauce

1 small onion diced

1 and 1/2 cups of leftover or frozen veggies

3 eggs scrambled

2T oil

optional 1 cup of leftover meat.

In a large pan add oil and saute on medium high until soft. Add rice and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Next add veggies ( if frozen, cook until warmed through) and meat if you are adding. Finally take mixture off of stove and add soy sauce and eggs.

I am planning another post this week on Eating Healthy and Well on a shoestring budget…

Here is my menu plan for this week!

Monday: Leftover fried rice

Tuesday: Roasted Chicken and veggies

Wednesday: Chicken Quesadillas' and homemade salasa

Thursday Grilled Pork Chops and Cinnamon Apples

Friday: Pizza Pasta

Hope you check out my blog tomorrow if you are a cheesecake fan you will love this next recipe!

Homemade Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 09:34:00 +0000

So my birthday was last week and I have been asking for a pasta machine so that is what my parents got me for my birthday. I had to wait until yesterday to get it because they ordered it through amazon. It landed on the front porch yesterday so I knew exactly what I would be making! Alfredo Pasta. Here are some of the pictures of the process!

Making Homemade Pasta

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Here is the final result

I am actually glad I started early because it takes a while to make.

Homemade Pasta Dough

2 1/2 cups of flour

3 eggs

If you have a blender dump it all in and when it starts to look like crumbs, dump it out on a floured container and knead the dough until it is smooth. Then wrap the dough and let rest for about 30 minutes.

when it is ready you pull of a 1/4 inch of dough and flatten it with your fingers. Run it through the widest setting (on mine it was a 7) 3 or 4 times, then fold in thirds and run it through another 3 or four times. Then move your setting down the next widest and do the same thing except folding it (run it through about 4 or 5 times) continue to do that until you get town to the narrowest setting(ravioli, angel hair pasta, tortellini or next to narrowest setting (spaghetti, fettuccini).

I can’t wait to get a ravioli attachment for it. I do have to say though, the pasta is so much better homemade!

This is my go to Alfredo Sauce

Do you make homemade pasta, do you have a really good recipe? Please share it in the comments section because I love to make new things!.

Salami, Ham and Homemade Guacamole Sub!

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 08:11:00 +0000

WOO, I am tired. I spent the day getting the last minute stuff for my kids to start back to stuff and it gets expensive. Started off early with a trip to target to look for a backpack for my son, but did not find one he liked. Next, we went to Kohl's and was able to get my son a T-shirt and my daughter a pair of capris and a top for 30 bucks, not bad since the capris were originally 50 dollars. The last thing we had to do was get the kids shoes. My son officially has ski’s for feet. I took him to the shoe store today and he is now in a men’s size 13 shoe. Thought I was going to get a good deal at the shoe store with a buy one get one 1/2 off deal but ended up spending a ton because I misread the signs and with my daughter on the verge of a meltdown, I was not about to push the envelope. Finally found my son a back pack 34.00 for one that will fit him, that is crazy. Granted it says lifetime warranty but still that is ridiculous. Then a final stop at Chik-Fil-A, it was 10:30 and the line was around the building. All in all a good day but I am glad it is done, because I am officially broke. I can’t imagine having more than 2 in school you would have to sell your possessions to pay for all the stuff they need.

I was in the grocery store last night looking for something good to make for supper because you know you get tired of the same old thing over and over again, and I saw this deli pack of Oscar Meyer Salami and Ham sub kit (not getting paid by Oscar Meyer, this is personal opinion) . I thought it sounded good so I decided to make a sub for dinner, then we get to the produce section and my husband decided he wanted to make some guacamole and we just put the two together and this is what we come up with. This would make an awesome school lunch for an older child, just make the guacamole non spicy!

Salami, Ham and Spicy Guacamole Sub

Sub Rolls
1 pkg of oscar meyer ham and salami (made in layers specifically for subs)
lettuce
tomato

White Cheddar and Jalapeno Cheese Slices
Homemade Guacamole* Recipe Below

Preheat oven to 350 or use broiler(if using broiler watch carefully)
Cut sub in half add one layer of the ham and salami next cheese on top one slice of sub
lay sub open faced in oven until cheese is melted and bread is toasted.
Remove from oven and next add lettuce and tomato. Next slather a layer of guacamole on the other side of the bread!
*

Homemade Spicy Guacamole

2 avocados
5 cloves of garlic
1 pkg of extra spicy guacamole mix
1 lime juiced
2 jalapeno's seeds and all
1 Roma tomato
salt and pepper to taste
Blend until smooth or to the texture you like. If you don't like spicy just by original mix and leave out jalapeno's

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Full Plate Thursday

French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:29:00 +0000

Grilled French Onion Cheese Sandwich
Serves 4
6 cups of onions sliced
1 8 oz pkg of smoked gruyere cheese shredded
1Tbsp of butter plus more for the grilling the sandwich
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil

8 slices of bread

In a heavy Dutch oven on medium heat combine butter and olive oil until butter is melted. Next add onions and cook until onions are soft and brown ( you want to caramelize the onion) approximately 45 minutes. The last 10 minutes are so butter one side of your bread . Divide cheese evenly among 4 pieces of bread and then divide caramelized onions among the bread on top of the cheese. Place 2nd piece of bread on top making sure buttered portion is on top. Grill until the cheese is melted.

Printable Recipe Here

Trip to the zoo and Menu Plan Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:54:00 +0000

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Took our youth group to the zoo and we had such a blast . Saw so many wonderful things, got stuck on the other side of this huge zoo in a thunderstorm, got lost and soaking wet! Needless to say we decided not to go to the Olive Garden. In a way I am glad we did not because we went to the Texas Road House and ended up in a peanut fight! Thank goodness they were good sports and we did not get thrown out. See if we had went to Olive Garden we would not have been able to have a noodle fight. Here are some pictures from this weekend!

I have to laugh at the little bird at the top. They are African Cranes and It and its partner were fascinated with this little boy and they started honking! It sounded like car alarms going off lol. Oh we had so much fun.

Monday: Baked Tilapia

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner

Wednesday: Pork Fried Rice

Thursday: Broccoli Salad

Friday Kielbasa and Tortellini Alfredo I don’t use bottled Alfredo, I use this recipe

Southwestern Sausage and Green Chili Quiche

noreply@blogger.com (Beverly Lee) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 10:36:00 +0000

I don’t know what has gotten into me, but I have been in a quiche mood lately. I have learned I absolutely love them. They are very economical and you can customize them with whatever you have on hand. Basically it is 5 eggs to 1 cup of milk 1 cup of cheese then 1 cup to 2 cups of leftovers (meats, or veggies). They are also very good freezer meals.
Here is my latest

South Western Sausage and Green Chili Quiche

1 lbs. sausage
5 eggs
2 onions sliced
1 cup of pepper jack cheese shredded
1 Tbsp. of butter
2 Tbsp. of olive oil
1 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. of pepper
1/2 tsp. of cumin
1 small can of green chilies
1 store bought or homemade pie crust.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put pie shell into a 9 inch pie plate and set aside.
In a sauté pan fry up sausage until cooked thoroughly. Drain grease and set aside sausage. In same pan using the butter and olive oil, sauté
onions until tender approximately 5 minute and set aside to cool for about 5 minutes. In a bowl mix eggs, salt, pepper, cumin and green chili's then add cooled sausage and onions
Pour into a 9 inch pie pan that has been covered with unbaked pie shell. Bake in oven for approximately 1 hr. or until the center comes out clean when you check it with a knife.

Is there anything that you discovered that you loved recently?

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