Cookies for Breakfast? Oh Yeah!!!

Laura @ Heavenly Homemakers has an awesome recipe for breakfast cookies. I just made these and they are delicious.

Any Time Pasta

This pasta is very easy to make and you can add or subtract your favorite ingredients.

1/2 lb. uncooked pasta (I used bow tie pasta)
3/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
3 Tbsp. Veggie mix
1 cup red pepper, diced
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 cup cucumber, diced
1 15oz. can corn
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 cup white beans
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan cook your pasta as directed. In a medium bowl mix together olive oil, rice vinegar and veggie mix. Let this rest while the pasta is cooking. Chop your veggies. Drain corn, reserve 1/4 cup corn juice.

If your using canned beans, great. If your using dried beans, make sure to cook them before starting this recipe, they take a while to cook. I put mine in the crock-pot and let them cook all night on low, then turned them to high the next morning.

When pasta is down pour into large mixing bowl. Add veggies, feta cheese, corn juice and oil mixture. String until pasta is coated. Add salt and pepper to taste. This was a big hit with my family.

The Veggie mix comes from my friend Lisa who owns Howell Mountain Dry Goods. She has a wonderful variety of dry mixes and rubs. The ideas are endless with the wonderful mixes and they are very affordable.

$1.00 off Athenos= FREE at Wal-mart

Another great coupon from coupons.com. $1.00 off Athenos feta, hummus, baked pita chips or greek yogurt. Wal-mart has the greek yogurt priced at $1.00, making it FREE.

Homemade Marshmallows

Calling all marshmallow lovers. Here is a recipe you gotta try.

I never buy marshmallows because I think they are soooo bad for you. These marshmallows have a lot of sugar but no high fructose corn syrup- yeah. I found this recipe from a lady that left a commit on Heavenly Homemakers blog. If you haven't been to Laura's site, go check it out. She is my cooking ideal.

We had a snow day last week and I had 3 of my sister's 4 kids plus my daughter. I had to keep them busy, in the kitchen we stayed. My two little nieces love to cook with me. Krista, the 5 year old, didn't care much for the marshmallows. I'm having a hard time getting this child to eat anything homemade.

Homemade marshmallows

2 Tbsp. gelatin
1/2 cup cool water

2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa

In a small bowl, stir together corn starch and powdered sugar and cocoa. Prepare a pan: spray a large casserole (13 X 9) with oil and sprinkle with powdered sugar to coat. Combine cool water and gelatin in large bowl. In a saucepan combine water, sugar, honey and salt. Bring to a roiling boil until liquid reaches 238-240 degrees. Turn on mixer at low speed and slowly pour in hot syrup in bowl. Beat until fluffy about 12-15 minutes. Add vanilla at the end of mixing. Pour into prepared pan and cool at room temperature for 3-4 hours. Dump marshmallows onto a cutting board. Cut into desired shapes. Toss in cocoa mixture until marshmallow is coated. Enjoy.

I have so many different ideas now to do with these marshmallows. How about brown sugar and cinnamon? Roll them in colored sugar, maybe even use a cookie cutter to make different shapes. Try using a small pan to make GIANT marshmallows for s'mores. The ideas are endless.

Chicken and Broccoli with Rice

Chicken is a staple in our house. We eat more chicken than any other meat. I'll always trying to find different meals to make with chicken. Since my grocery budget of $50 is already used this month, I have to get creative.

To the cabinets I go. What's inside? Garlic, soy sauce, broccoli and rice. I can make my own "Chinese, chicken and broccoli" I say! The wheels are turning in my brain (no sarcastic remarks please.)

The other night I had cooked a whole chicken for dinner. We ate some that night and I'm using the rest for this recipe.
2 cups broccoli
1 1/2 cups chicken
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 spring onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste


Tare the meat off your chicken until you get approx. 1 1/2 cups worth of chicken. Throw the carcase of the bird in a large pot and add some salt and pepper. I added some onion for flavoring also. You can also add carrots, celery. If you get more than 1 1/2 cups great. Save that to make cranberry almond chicken salad. Boil in pot for about 20 mins. While your broth is cooking, cook your broccoli in another pot, just until it's almost tender. You don't want mussy broccoli. Yuck!

Measure 2 cups of broth and add to a large skillet or wok. Add the broccoli, chicken, minced garlic, soy sauce, onion, salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat for 10-12 mins. Serve with rice.

Coupon: Earthbound Farms $1.00 coupon (if you pass the test)

Earthbound Farms has 12 questions for you to answer about organic farming. If you get all 12 right they will send you a coupon for $1.00 off their product. Go here and get the Organic 101 first. Good Luck!!

Coupon: $8.00 worth of Organic Valley coupons

Organic Valley has $8.00 worth of coupons for you to print. You can print up to 2 prints per coupon. Everything from milk, cheese, butter, eggs and more.