Flirty Apron Giveaway from Suburban Jungle

Head over to Suburban Jungle to enter her Flirty Apron giveaway. I don't usually wear an apron when cooking, but I might have to get one of these. They are really cute and inexpensive too. The giveaway ends Feb. 6 2010.

Left over chicken makes great fajitas

Do you have left over chicken? Tired of the same chicken salad, chicken soup? Try this yummy recipe.

We had left over chicken from dinner the other night so I wanted to create something different. I looked through the cabinets to find some spices and this is what I came up with.

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon minced onion
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons bbq sauce

2 cups of chicken

Pour all ingredients into skillet except chicken. Cook for approx. 3-5 mins over medium heat. Stir in chicken and continue cooking until heated through. Approx. 7-9 mins.

Take fajita shell and add chicken. Layer other ingredients to your liking.

Black beans, rice, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, corn. ~Enjoy~

Meatless Monday

On Monday's in our house we eat no meat. My daughter is not as strict on this as I am. Sometimes I slip up and just forget about it and eat meat. I am trying to slow down the consumption of meat from my diet. I believe the more fruits and vegetables you eat the better. I really love pork tenderloin, but I would like to eliminate pork from my diet. My grand mother gave me a recipe for cauliflower casserole. If only I could get my teenager to try it. It is delicious!
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower seperated
1 cup sour cream
4 tablespoons mayo.
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
1/4 cup parmeson cheese

Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook cauliflower until tender. Drain well. Mix all ingredients together except parmeson cheese. Pour into a 9x13" baking dish. Sprinkle parmeson cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 mins. Enjoy!

Free Combo Box from Raising Cane's

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Get a free box combo from Raising Cane's when you sign up for their club. I just signed up and it took about 30 seconds. I have never tried Raising Cane's but have wanted to every since them came to my town a few years ago.

$118.50 worth of groceries for $37.70

This week, 1/6 - 1/12, at Harris Teeter there is Super Double Coupons. Which means they will double up to $1.98 in face value. You are only allowed 20 coupons per day. If you are not sure of the coupon policy check it out here. If you haven't signed up for e-vic savings you can here. Harris Teeter will send you their ad every Wednesday, via email, and e-vic customers get extra deals.

I went today and bought $118.50 worth of groceries and my out of pocket was $37.70. There are a lot of free items if you have the correct match up coupons. Mrs. Moneysaver has some great coupon match ups.

4 boxes of Special K and made a $1.01 profit

Kellogg's Special K cereals are on sale 2/$5

Kellogg's Special K cereal bars on sale $1.99

Kellogg's Special K crackers on sale $2.79

Kellogg's Special K protein snack bars on sale $3.99

Buy any 4 Kellogg's Special K items and get $5 off instantly from your grocery bill at checkout. 1/8-1/12 for e-vic customers you can get 1 box of Special K cereal bars for .99 cents.

I bought two boxes of cereal and two boxes of cereal bars totaling $8.98, I used two $1.00 off coupons, doubled, paying $4.98, got $5.00 off my bill. In turn I got paid $1.01 for the four boxes.

I am still trying to stay on the Eat From The Pantry Challenge. I spent a total of $77 this month and I'm done with grocery shopping. If I buy anything else it will have to be more cabinets to put all this food in. I am donating some of this to the food bank and gave some to my mom.

Baked Ziti

I love trying new recipes and I found this one a few years ago. I'm not sure where I got it from but it's a good one. Makes 8 servings. But, I feed 7 people with it last night and there is still enough for two more meals for my daughter and I. Not sure how they come up with the serving sizes but we had our plates full.

Ingredients:
1lb. dry ziti pasta
1 onion chopped
1lb. ground beef
2 (26oz.) jars of spaghetti sauce
6 oz. provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

1) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta and cook until done. About 8 mins.
2)In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 mins.
3)Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9 x 13" baking dish. Layer as follows:
half of ziti noodles, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated parmesan cheese.
4)Bake for 30 mins.

I had a 32oz. jar of spaghetti sauce so I pureed a can of kidney beans and added that to the hamburger as well. I used whole wheat ziti noodles also. The kids never knew the difference. They loved it.

Hidden Valley Oyster Crackers

These Hidden Valley Oyster Crackers are a big hit in my family. I use them on salads and my daughter likes to eat them as a snack. They are pretty simple to make and you can use different dressings to suet your taste buds.

You will need:

12-16 oz. plain small

1 pkg. hidden valley ranch (dry package)

1/4 tsp. lemon pepper

1 tsp. dill weed

1/3 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients into a bowl and add oyster crackers. Pour into a plastic Ziploc bag and shake until mixed well. Warm oven to 250 degrees. Pour crackers on a cookie sheet and spread evenly. Bake 15-20 mins. Enjoy!

Meatless Mondays

One of my new year's goals is to slow down on the consumption of meat. I am not a very big meat eater anyway but would like to cut back some more. On the other hand my daughter loves meat, so there will be some differences in meal time. Mondays is going to be our meatless day, Meatless Mondays.

For breakfast we will have banana nut bread muffins and a cup of yogurt.
For lunch we will have a salad and bread sticks.
For dinner we will have grilled cheese sandwiches, corn and a salad. We are big salad eaters at our home. I go through 2 bottles of salad dressing every two weeks, note, it is just my daughter and I. You can get really creative with salads. Add dried fruit, nuts, flax seed, chicken or turkey, boiled eggs, anything you like. My grandmother make these seasoned oyster crackers that are really good on a salad. (I will post recipe soon)

I am trying to come up with more meatless Monday recipes to keep my daughter entertained and not realize she isn't eating meat. Maybe a veggie pizza!! We'll see how that goes.

The past four days of eating from the pantry challenge has been pretty easy. I haven't been tempted to go to the grocery store. But I did go buy the Earth Best diapers that were on sale this weekend at Toys-R-Us. I will shop HarrisTeeter if they have triple coupons during January. I can't pass up free or nearly free items.

If I find any really good deals I am going to donate them to my local food bank. They are always in need of food. Click here to find a food bank in your local area. You don't have to spend alot to help donate. Check out MoneyWiseMoms $10 food bank challenge.

Banana Nut Bread Muffins

Ever have those brown bananas that no one will eat? Use them in banana nut bread muffins. This is a very simple and delicious recipe. You can add chocolate chips to them also.
Ingredients:
3 bananas
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mash the bananas, add sugar and egg. Add the butter, then the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour. Mix well and add vanilla and walnuts. Pour into muffin tins and bake for 20 - 25 mins. or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
These muffins freeze really well. I usually individually wrap them in saran wrap then place them in a freezer bag. This recipe comes from the "The Loveless Cafe" cookbook.

Day One of the Eat From The Pantry Challenge

This is day one of the eat from the pantry challenge. I am very excited to try to do this whole month long challenge of staying out of the grocery store and saving money.

Breakfast: smoothies (frozen mango, banana, vanilla yogurt, cranberry juice and fresh pineapple) blend it all up and enjoy!

Lunch: Sausage and potato soup (recipe from AThriftyMom) This is a great recipe. It taste like the soup from Olive Garden.

Dinner: Left over taco's from last night.

Snacks will be the 5lb box of clementines I bought two weeks ago that need to be eat up.

Tomorrow is a trip to my Grandmother's house, so I'm sure she'll have some great food for us. We are making a trip up there to take down her Christmas decorations. We went up there before Christmas and put them up so she could enjoy them. My grandmother is an active 82 year old but would not have decorated. I thought this would be a good Christmas gift to her. She only lives about 1 hour away. She has enjoyed the lights.

New Year New Coupons

Coupons.com has restocked some new coupons. Check them out on the right side bar of this page.

Get your $5.00 off coupon from Healthy Choice. Thanks, Mrs. Moneysaver