Tasty um...Wednesday?: Crescent Roll Casserole

OK, so I totally missed posting this yesterday...so I guess today will have to do. I'm always hesitant to try new recipes, but I tried this one last night and it was a winner! Quick, easy, warm, filling...perfect. My husband raved and Kaytie ate all of hers then waited for Kai to go to the bathroom and slipped into his chair and ate all of his too! Haha!

It's very simple. Brown about 1lb. of ground beef (actually I used venison because it was what we had--thanks, Daddy!) and a little bit of finely chopped onion. Once it's browned, add 15 oz. of spaghetti sauce to the meat. Let it simmer a few minutes. Take one tube of crescent rolls and flatten the dough into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Top the dough with the sauce mixture. Then top that with mozzarella cheese slices. Finish it off by putting the dough from another can of crescent rolls over the top. Bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. It was soooo good!

A little bit pizza, a little bit lasagna, a whole lotta delicious!

Tasty Tuesday: Fruit Salad

If you're someone who's always looking for something quick and easy to take for parties or potlucks, it doesn't get much better than this. I've made this several times and always get lots of compliments on it. I usually layer it in my clear glass trifle bowl- just because it looks pretty. :) I don't have a picture, but I think my mom has one of the one I made this weekend, so I'll try to steal it from her and post it so you can see what it looks like.

You can use pretty much any fruit you like and as much as you like of each kind. I just slice up bananas, kiwi and strawberries. I also add seedless grapes (I usually use red, but you can use whatever you like) and blueberries. You can halve the grapes or leave them whole if you're short on time. Then comes the secret ingredient. A can of peach pie filling. Don't ask why that makes it taste so amazing. It just does.

Like I said, just layer it all in a trifle dish or bowl and serve with a smile. :)

Tasty Tuesday: French Dip Sandwiches

This is what we're having tonight and it smells soooo good! Hooray for the Crock Pot! This is a super easy meal to warm your insides on a chilly day.

Start by putting one packet of onion soup mix in the Crock Pot. Add 1 3/4 cups of beef broth. Then plop in a chuck roast. (Mine is not quite two pounds, but get what's best for your family.) Cook it on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours.

Make or buy a loaf of French bread. Cut it in half horizontally. Shred the meat. (remove it from the juices first.) Load up the bread loaf, top with Swiss cheese if you like, slice the sandwich into serving sized portions and serve with au jus.

Mmmmmmm.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tasty Tuesday: Blueberry Muffins

For those who don't know, when I was in college I started an organization known as "Snuggies for the Soul" (No, it is not a blanket with arms and the blanket with arms wasn't even around then) We make blankets for cancer patients. We have given out thousands of blankets since then. From time to time we have done fundraisers in order to purchase more materials to make the blankets which are given out at no charge to the patients. For one of these fundraisers we put together a cookbook to sell. I, of course, purchased one myself.
When I found myself with a bunch of blueberries and a blueberry muffin craving, I grabbed the cookbook in hopes of finding a great recipe. What I found was THE BEST blueberry muffin recipe known to man. No lie. A huge thanks to Kim for this awesome recipe.

Preheat oven to 400. Grease muffin cups or line with papers. Combine 1 1/2 cups of flour, 3/4 cups of sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 2 tsp. baking powder. Place 1/3 cup of oil in a 1 cup measuring cup. Add one egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with the flour mixture. Fold in 1 cup of fresh blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To make the crumb topping mixture mix together 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of butter (cubed) and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Mix with a  fork and sprinkle over muffins before baking. Bake 20-25 minutes.

(tip: try using an ice cream scoop to fill the cups)
(the batter will not be runny, but more like a cookie dough)

I may have a few cookbooks left that I can scrounge up if someone would like to purchase one. Let me know. In the meantime...enjoy some awesome blueberry muffins!

Easy menu planning

So for the past couple of weeks we've been using e-mealz. I am honestly soooo skeptical about things like this because my family is insanely picky. I always liked the idea of having a ready made "menu plan" but it just didn't seem realistic. However, this one is different and here's why.

When you sign up, you receive several options of menu plans. You can choose ones for families or couples. You also can choose certain kinds of menus such as Weight Watchers compatible and menus for those who can't have certain kinds of foods. You can also choose your meal plan based on which store you typically shop at.

They then make a menu for you based on what deals are going on at your store that week. You get a dinner menu for each night of the week with a list of ingredients and recipes for each item you'll make. Then you also get a grocery list, with items grouped by category for easy shopping and the approximate prices so you can see how it will work for your budget. For my family (four eating table food) the approximate cost according to them is $75/ week for your groceries.

Now, let me tell you why this one works for my family. I am a couponer. I do most of my shopping with coupons and stock up when things are on sale. So to be completely honest, I don't need to spend the $75 that they plan for because I already have many of the items needed which I purchased at a discounted price. Also, they only include dinner which gives me so much flexability because we can have leftovers for lunch or sandwiches and we usually have simple breakfasts. So I don't have to follow a rigorous schedule to stay in my budget.

Now, about the pickiness. No, we do not eat every meal that they recommend. BUT, this is another area that e-mealz is amazing in! On your grocery list, they list which meal each item belongs to. So if you aren't going to use a certain meal, you don't have to go through and try to figure out which things you don't need. You just scratch off anything that has the number of the meal you aren't using. So easy!

And I've found that although my family wouldn't eat a dish exactly as they would have me prepare it, I can tweak the recipe a tiny bit and make it something my family would love. Best of all, I didn't have to worry with the menu for the week, or the grocery list. I know I have something planned for each night. I know I have all that I need to make each meal. AND I have freed up my time used for grocery planning to get better deals with my coupons. ;-)

Best of all, it's only a $1.25 per week. SOOOO worth it when you figure that not only are you not having to really think about what to buy, but you know you're only buying what you're going to use and your food isn't going to waste because something looked good, but you never got around to cooking it. Frugal indeed.

If you're interested in seeing what e-mealz is all about click on the button below. (yes, I get moolah if you do- full disclosure here.) But honestly, I'd recommend it even if I didn't. One less thing for the mommy brain to worry about. Because quite frankly, you've got better things to do and let's face it, mac n cheese is only good so many nights in a row. :)

Yummalicious!

We used to be a typical family getting our bread for the week at the grocery store...until I came across this recipe and we fell in love! I now bake our bread every week and it's worth every bit of extra work. (which isn't much) It's made using only whole wheat flour, but it's very soft and sweet. It makes amazing sandwiches, but honestly we most often put some butter on it and eat it plain. Sooo good! I dare you to try it and see if you don't love it.

Gather up your ingredients- whole wheat flour, salt, oil, honey and yeast. In a large bowl mix together 2 cups of the flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of honey. (tip: add the oil just before the honey, it will make the honey come out of the measuring cup much more easily) Add 2 1/2 cups of warm water (not hot water...we're talking baby bath temp (or slightly warmer) here) This should make a very wet mixture. Add 1 tablespoon of yeast.

Now grab your bag of flour and begin putting the flour into the mixture about a 1/2 cup at a time. There's no exact science here. You'll probably end up with about 4-5 cups but just keep adding flour until you have a nice soft dough that isn't sticky anymore. (try not to over-do it, though, you want it to be soft, not stiff)

Turn out your dough on a floured surface and knead it a few minutes, then put it back in the bowl, cover it with a towel and let it rise in a warm spot for 30 to 40 minutes. After that time, punch it down (for those of you who have not baked bread that means exactly what it sounds like- punch it down into the bowl) Then form it into two loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Use a fork to poke several holes into the dough. (You may want to press down around the edges just to make it look pretty.)

Cover it back up, let it rise again for about an hour. Then bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown. (tip: I usually turn on the oven to "warm" while I'm mixing the dough, then shut it off and put the bowl into the oven to rise the first time. I put it back in the warm oven the second time and simply turn on the oven to 350 when it's finished rising and remove the towel.)

Let it cool a bit then enjoy! Added bonus- your house will smell AMAZING! :) I already have bread made right now, but the next time I make it, I'll add some pictures. Enjoy!