A few recipes to share

Cooking

Okay while I don't think much of my own cooking apparently I'm not completely horrible... at least no one has died yet that I know of. I've posted my pumpkin seed recipes and just recently my peach yo-pop recipe but I figured some of the basic stuff might be good to add too. 

99% of my recipes come from various sources either they are prepared as is or I've done tweaks to them over the years  for any number of reasons. 

Taco Seasoning

1 Tb All-Purpose Flour
1 Tb Cornstarch
1 Tb Dried Onion Flakes
1 Beef Bouillon Cube ground up
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/4 tsp Granulated Sugar

Mix all ingredients thoroughly add to 1 lb of ground beef (or turkey or I've even done it with chicken though is a little odd but not bad) and 3/4-1 cup of water. Mix and let simmer about 15 min or so basically until the meat has had time too soak and most of the liquid is gone should look about the consistency of when you use normal packaged seasoning on your taco meat.

Zucchini Bread

I've had a lot of people say "I just can't make this right" though I've never personally had that problem probably because this is the only zucchini bread recipe I have ever used. Now if you've never made zucchini bread or had it before oh the things you are missing! But the big thing to remember is that this is a very MOIST bread which means when wrapped up it may get 'sticky' on the outside but it is still good but also that it doesn't last as long as commercial white breads aka I wouldn't make this 2 weeks in advance. I'm unsure of how well it really freezes because it never lasts around my house.

3 Eggs
1 Tb Vanilla

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

1 Cup Vegetable Oil 

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp salt 

1 Tb Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

2 Medium, grated, unpeeled zucchini (Just take your best guess on what 'medium is' this recipe is pretty forgiving but don't grab the biggest zucchini you can find otherwise you'll have extremely wet loaves.)
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts optional (Sometimes I put them in sometimes I don't depends on what I have around the house and trust me it is good either way.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl, beat eggs till frothy. Beat in sugar, oil and vanilla until thick and lemon colored. Sift in flour (or if you are like me just tap it in slowly the big thing here is you don't want to just drop a big clump in at once), cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt (I usually mix dry ingredients in a bowl by themselves so I can have them all measured out and mix it together so I get an even consistency between the powdered items and then tap it in.). Fold in zucchini and walnuts (if you don't know what I mean by fold I mean remove the mixing bowl from the mixer and add your zucchini and walnuts then using a wooden spoon or spatchula -- you've probably or at least should have used one by now to scrape the sides of the bowl while mixing -- mix in evenly the walnuts and zucchini by hand. Zucchini being soft as it is easily comes apart and our object is not to make zucchini soup.).
Pour mixture in 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Fun Treats with Kids

Kids like to get in on cooking too so here are two of my favorite recipes that are extremely easy.

Pizza Snacks

1 Roll of Ritz Cracker's

1 Jar of Pizza Sauce

1 package of Pepperoni's

1 package of Shredded Cheese

Spread 1 Ritz cracker with pizza sauce add 1 pepperoni and then sprinkle with cheese and bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees on ungreased cookie sheet until cheese is melted. 

Magic Peanut Butter Cookies

These are probably the softest and easiest peanut butter cookies ever!

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg, Beaten

In a bowl cream together all ingredients. Roll into small balls and place on a sprayed baking sheet. With a fork, crisscross and flatten balls slightly. Sprinkle with more sugar (optional). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min. 

Leave on baking sheet for 5 min; then remove and cool on wire rack. 

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Well I hope that gets everyone started on cooking up some great food and I'll add more recipes later but for now I better go do the mom thing and get back to work around the house. 

Summer Is Here

Summer is Here

This year's summer started off in March! All my facebook friends have probably gotten sick hearing me complain about my garden and the heat but truth be told it has thrown my whole year off so far. It was horrifically hot on our annual camping trip to Mammoth Caves but we made it through!
This past weekend I had a water day and invited everyone to come out and enjoy cooling off. We had a huge water balloon fight with over 300! balloons and the kids challenged the adults to a war! There were water guns and even the adults got in our little pool. I think by the end of it most of the kids were pretty tuckered out. 

The Friday before Water day we had some of my girls little friends over and we played with sparklers and pop-its. It was a busy weekend! 

 Summer Treats!

What I did today!

So the big thing around the Sims household right now is frozen yogurt pops! I've been wanting a healthy alternative to desserts that wasn't just frozen kool-aid and I think I found it (though not always the healthiest. So I've made banana pops and pineapple pops but this time it was peach!
I had 4 peaches that were starting to go real soft so I got them peeled (above) and then blended them smooth. I then added 2 cups of vanilla yogurt and blended it then tasted. I added 1/4 cup sugar to this mix but you can experiment and find your perfect amount because sometimes kids like to complain about that slight tartness peaches naturally have and the sugar helps tone that down but it is yummy in my opinion even without the sugar. Pour, freeze, serve! Pretty easy!

I assure you there is even plenty left over for you to have a guilty treat yourself! Go ahead you earned it!

Busy Bee and Hard Mistakes

I've been pretty busy these days with work and with home life. The school year is quickly coming to an end and I've been rushing around making sure that childcare was in order and trying to get the household switched over to the Summer. Though truthfully I still have a lot of coats to wash and get put up for the next few months. It seems I'm getting to all the odd tasks I've put on my 'To Do List' and haven't been taking care of the basics. My sewing pile is over flowing and there are so many clothes to go through for the girls to filter out the items that need to be tossed or given away. I will eventually get to it but I'm also having a hard time just keeping up with the garden since I've been sleeping poorly for awhile and I've even stopped my diet and couponing! Eep! Trying to get back into the swing of my diet and coupons but once you stop it seems so hard to start again.

Recently I made a big mistake and really what it boiled down to is I don't know how to tell people 'no' and I want to make people happy and like me. This because extremely bad when a high pressure sales person shows up to your home and gets all chummy. This past Monday I ended up with a security system of all things! Seriously I don't need one! Thankfully I came to my senses fast enough for us to cancel the service but not fast enough to avoid all the holes now in my walls! So now I'm taking things one room at a time. A couple weeks ago I patched the holes in the Girls' bathroom and this week I painted it (it's REALLY pink! All I could see when I left the room was a green tint on everything it had messed up my eyes it was so pink!) and next I'll move onto the hallway since I just need to sand down the area I've patched before I can paint it. By that time I'm hoping that they have uninstalled the security system and I'll have to go room by room to patch and paint which makes me really upset since they installed a huge panel in the kitchen where I did not want it anyways and now I'll have to figure out a new color for my kitchen, dinning room and utility area since they are all connected! I really liked my kitchen the way it was so I'm really sad that I got so stupid.

I ended up putting up a sign that reads "Solicitation Will Be Met With Deadly Force" and when asked about it I always say I'll shank the next person that tries to sell me something (well other than kids selling candy bars and cookies... must have my sweets!).

I have lots events coming up for the kids this next week since it is the last full week. It also means I have just this weekend and next weekend to get all the camping supplies out and I have some items that I need to sew, others I need to seal up and still others I need to pray I find all the pieces for. This is the most disorganized I've been before our annual trip so I hope I get my rear in high gear here soon.

I'll try to post more often again... but then again I've said that many times before but I'll still try :) Well that's the end of that break at work :)

Learning to Cut Back

I've been pretty busy these past weeks and every time I think about writing a new blog I just try to hide. It's not that I don't like writing them but it's just one more item demanding time I can't seem to put aside that still has my brain functioning well enough to type. :)

 

My grocery shopping has been a little out of hand though I have several meals worth of food stored back my small storage area is getting much too filled and while I may be staying within budget it's just barely so my goal is to try and cut back and use what I have and not to stock up on items I don't use very often (liked diced canned tomatoes which I now have a ton of).

We have also decided to cut down to 1 lb of meat meals (though I'm bad about that with chicken) and subsituting with more vegetables.

I have started trying to work on a 2 week menu instead of my 1 week menu, at least until I've used up some of my back stock of food.

Menu:

1. Chicken Fajitas
2. Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
3. Pork Loin Roast, Mash Potatoes & Green Beans
4. Hamburger Helper
5. Banquet Country Chicken, Mash Potatoes & Biscuit Bake
6. Pizza
7. Sliced Turkey & Gravy, Mash Potatoes, Bread & Corn
8. Breakfast for Dinner
9. Cheesy Chicken
10. Spagetti & Meatballs
11. Breaded Pork Chops, Mash Potatoes & Gravy, & Peas
12. Pizza
13. & 14. Unknown yet.

The sad thing is that other than for the last two meals I am not going to need to buy anything which gives a clue on how back stocked I am.

I'm also working on a diet where I'm trying to cut back on my portion size which is the main culprit of my weight problem.

 

I have also started back into watching Hoarders for the motivation I needed to start going through my junk boxes where I kind of scooped things up and put them in a box just to get them out of the way. I've gone through 2 large boxes of stuff but still have several more and I want to start packing away some of the kids toys into storage (yes I'm hoarding those for the time being - it's bad but maybe after I take it out of mine and the girls life for a few months I can come to terms that we really don't need it any more).

 

My goal this year is to lose 20 lbs, have the laundry room organized including with new shelves for items we don't use as much like the large crockpot & party supplies, to let go of items I don't use or really need to help take some of the clutter out of my life. The weight goal will be my hardest so if I can accomplish the other two I will still be extremely happy but at least putting forth the effort is better than doing nothing at all even if I faulter a few times starting again is better than all together stopping the effort.

 

Time to get into the kitchen to start that roast so I can get to work :)

 

 

The girls and I painted bird houses this weekend. I'm getting all ready for spring and got my seeds in and as soon as it warms up just a bit more we will be out weeding the garden boxes and decorating the yard so it will be beautiful after all the winter brown.

Survived the Holidays

So you probably thought I disappeared and I kind of did in the black hole that is called 'the kitchen'. The holidays were rough. I did not have a holiday luncheon this year for the ladies as there wasn't enough interest in it so I spent from Yule to Christmas (I know a strange span) getting ready for Christmas dinner in which we had a friend over because no one should be alone then and we were able to see other dear friends that stopped by including one that just came back to the states from serving over seas. The last few weeks have been a blurr trying to get the house back to order and then trying to get back into the swing of school for the kids and work for me.

I will try to have at least one product opinion from me in every post at the bottom but I've done a lot less deals and freebies the last few weeks so I'm going to have to get back into the swing of it.

So let's zoom through my holiday baking frenzy shall we?

Well first like I said in my last post I was going to make shortbread and berlinerkraser cookies. Both of these have become a tradition for our family as the girls really enjoy cooking with me and being able to help cut out or decorate each cookie.

Now the thing about shortbread cookies is it uses a LOT of egg yolks which leaves you with all the whites and I just could not justify throwing those out nor did I feel like making scrambled egg whites to eat so what uses egg whites? Why Angel food cake of course! Now I have to admit the reason I never made this cake from scratch before is because of the huge amount of whites needed and because of this need I ended up doing 2 batches of shortbread cookies (which is a LOT of cookies) and I didn't have cake flour so I had to take out 2 tbsp from 1 cup of flour and replace it with 2 tbsp of cornstarch and it worked out great. In fact the cake was the first thing ate. Now if you are wondering why it looks so dark its because I made it a Spiced Angel food cake which went over really well.

So during break we all went down to the Hospital Day at Winter Wonderland for the hospital employees. We ended up not staying very long because it was crowded and due to the down town construction they did not have the normal activities but they did have the crafts section still so each of the girls got a big bag of crafts that we did over winter break. Everyone thinks I'm so crafty but here's my little secret I don't put these crafts together myself... shhh don't tell anyone.

We had our Christmas dinner this year with a honey orange glazed ham and potato soup with bread bowls I made from scratch. I took my normal savory pizza bread recipe and just made the bread since I knew it was a recipe I could trust. I had to make it twice since I didn't feel comfortable just doubling the recipe.

 

So there you have it a Sims Holiday. We also made a plaster volcano during the break for Katherine to use though sadly didn't get much of a reaction out of the chemicals provided so I grabbed a big box of Baking Soda and a giant bottle of vinegar and we made that volcano go! but first we painted the newspaper green and we took some extra plaster and crumbled it up too look like the rocks at the bottom of a mount and use Monopoly houses/hotels to give us a nice little town at the base. The girls had great fun with it!

Alright then! Let's move on to a quick product review for this week...

Dr. Pepper 10 : If you like it great! Personally since I'm in love with Dr. Pepper I found it to be blasphemy they claim it tastes the same but it's very light on flavor in my opinion and has an after taste like Splenda. It's drinkable but it's not even remotely close to the original.

Well until next time folks! Peace!

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Again with the Busy!

Oh my word! It's been run run run! I've been so busy I haven't been able to fill out for many samples or coupons at all! Between holiday shopping, school performances for the kids, my husband's work keeping him over and working him weekends and my work just being stressful I can't hardly keep up let alone get enough thoughts together to blog. Not that I was any sort of master blogger in the first place.

I have been trying to keep the kids busy though during the little bit of time we do get together between all our hectic schedules. Mommy went a little crazy this past weekend when Daddy was at work and found some old window snow and I decided I'd like the some light from the outside world. Our livingroom window has the most horrible view so this was a simple solution for things I had laying around the house and the kids enjoyed me teaching them how to make snowflakes again. It also helps because my husband has been whinning due to the lack of snow and how green everything is this winter.

Winter is my time for baking and to make sure this spare tire around me doesn't go flat hahahaha! If you have a JoAnn's in the area and you're not signed up on their website then what are you waiting for! This is the first year we've had JoAnn Fabric and Craft in the area and I'm loving it. We had them when I lived in Oregon but I guess they are just now getting to this region. I got my 20% off coupon which is 20% off my total order and have been spending way too much down there. My latest investment was a cookie press to make up decorative spritz cookies. Next I'll be making up some Berlinerkraser and Shortbread cookies with the kids. I also plan to try my hand at making bread bowls for my potato soup this year. Sadly everyone is so busy we will not be having our lady luncheon so I'm saving the ham and soup til Christmas. No real Yule celebration here our goal is normally just to enjoy each others company and stay warm... so I guess that's pretty traditional depending what part of the world you are from ha!

Okay one other thing before I get back to life... Coca-Cola, you've seen the points on the caps and on the boxes and probably like me you think to yourself, "I'm sure that it takes so many it's just not worth my time"  and normally you would be right but Coke runs these deals if you search and pay attention. I got a coupon for a free 12-pack for 120 pts. (each bottle is about 3 pts if I remember correctly) and because I was trying to imput everything to get a Kroger $25 gift card but didn't have enough pts so I got 2 coupons. Now they are mailed in and the 12-packs was the deal at that time but keep your eye out I also got free ritz crackers coupon one time.

Have a Happy Holiday Season!!

The promised posting...

I've been a bad girl lately and haven't been forcing myself to take the time to write here. Basically it boils down to dealing with the school because of Brielle's disorganization which is causing her to lose assignments and also contributing to her showing up to classes late. I've also been very tired lately averaging 5 hrs of sleep per night so I haven't had much motivation for anything and then we also had Halloween. It's been a busy few weeks and other than taking pictures for A Budget You Can Live With of my shopping trips I've just not bothered spending the time I normally do. Let's see if I can catch up on a few things.

Product Review
Garnier Fructis Anti-Dandruff Shampoo - Clean & Fresh
Over all the smell of this shampoo is pretty good not too much perfume and I've had an over all positive experience with this product though it is pretty thin and I prefer a thicker shampoo personally. I don't really have heavy dandruff so I cannot speak to how well this product works on that. Would I buy it? It depends on how cheep I can get it but I would not be opposed to it if I found it on sale.

Kitchen
So this past Monday was Halloween which means we carved pumpkins this last weekend I found a farmer's market trying to clearance out their pumpkins and got each pumpkin for $1 so I bought 5 of them. What does all this mean? It means this past weekend I was baking a lot of pumpkin seeds, 5 1/2 cups to be exact!

My Pumpkin Seed Recipe
Separate pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin, rinse and try and get what little bits you can off and any seed shells that didn't develop seeds separated out. Boil seeds in salt water for 20 min. this helps get the salty taste in the seeds and also makes cleaning them much easier. Arrange tray's with cloth or paper towels, lay the seeds out in a single layer (this will probably take a couple trays), cover with a cloth and let the seeds dry over night (if you start this in the evening or approx. 8 hrs). The seeds do not need to be perfectly dry so don't try for that, you can also speed it up by patting out the moisture if you are in a bit of a hurry.
Now my recipe:
3 tbsp Butter
1 tsp Salt
4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp Garlic Salt
2 cups Pumpkin Seeds

Melt Butter then add salt, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and blend together. Add seeds and stir until all seeds are completely coated and then put on trays in a single layer. Bake @ 300 degrees for 40 min. (I prefer my seeds a little more crisp since I eat the shell and all so you may need to adjust the baking time). Remove the seeds, lightly sprinkle with sugar and then allow them to cool before storing them in an air tight container.

Alt. Recipe
3 tbsp Butter
1 Tsp  Steak Seasoning (You can definitely add more for a more pronounced taste I sprinkled extra on before baking)
1 1/2-2 cups Pumpkin seeds

Shopping & Planning
So I'm not going to go over my whole shopping trip if you want to see pics of this last week then please join my Facebook page linked above. What I will say is that I've already started buying for Thanksgiving. I'm trying to work out my complete list of what will be needed as we are going to have guests for Thanksgiving and if I leave it all to the last minute then I know I'll be doing some midnight shopping trips. As we get closer to time I will start working out my cooking schedule and will try and remember to post it up. I encourage people to go to my Facebook page linked above and look at the older document I wrote up about keeping your sanity during the busy cooking holiday season.

Well I've used up all my time and it's time to get ready for work but I will try not to take such long vacations from here in the future.