Game time appies for pennies!!

Last night we headed off to the resident Michigan State fans' home to root for their team in the big game.. (sorry guys, but believe me, us Buckeye fans have SO been there)
The Hostess with the Mostest, Kristen made this amazing pulled pork in mole that we ate in tacos with all the fixings (MUST get that recipe -the pork had fantastic flavor) - so I wanted to contribute something that complimented that menu for an appetizer.
Enter my old friend the refrigerator biscuit "empanada"!! (also here with an Italian twist)
I never thought of it before, but my quick trick of folding whatever matches the menu into a biscuit and serving as an appie is shockingly inexpensive..

The store brand of these biscuits is $0.40 for a tube of 10 at my grocery store.. that is 80 cents for 20 little empandadas!! I filled them last night with a mix of spicy refried beans - all 20 took less than half a can of beans, and I sprinkled in a bit of shredded cheese and a dot of Tabasco sauce...
I flatten each biscuit, place a bit of filling, wet my fingers and pinch the edges together.. for extra shine I used an egg wash (egg beaten with a touch of water in this case, tho I use milk when baking sweet things) on them before I baked according to the biscuit package directions.

Seriously, I made 20 of those things for less than 3 bucks!! They were good on their own, but I did whip up some of my super-klassy yogurt sauce for dipping, since I had the stuff to do it.

People loved them.. YAY for refrigerator biscuits!!

Oooo, I bet they would be great with fruit filling, or jam, and a little sugar sprinked on top before baking...

I love the lists..

So this is the side of my fridge... I have a little journal I carry in my purse at all times and lists for shopping, menus, reminders, and anything else I need to remember go in that book.. I HAVE TO make lists.
And each Sunday a new menu list gets posted on the side of the fridge on my super-klassy note pad. If I run out of something, if I notice something is getting really low (staples) then I write it on the bottom of the pad so I can add it to my shopping lists (separated by store) in my little notebook before I go shopping.
Some people think the menu list is a bit much - however until recently I used to plan 2 weeks to 1 month of meals at a time - of late I find I need more flexibility than that offers.
I can just come home from work, take a glance of the list and know exactly what I am making - no heming and hawing needed - and I can see what I need to take out of the freezer to thaw for the next night as well.
This also lets The Hub see what is coming up for dinner this week, so he doesn't eat something really similar for lunch and get stuck having essentially the same thing for Lunch and Dinner - also, I can look back and see what I have made recently so I don't get too repetitive.

It works for me.

Can we talk about Walgreens for a second..

The Internet is full of genius moms who get tons of stuff at Walgreens and pay next-to-nothing thanks to coupon stacking and their rebate programs (which are actually going to be changing, evidently)..
I have had some moderate success getting good deals at Walgreens, but yesterday I hit the motherlode..

I had a 3dollar off coupon (Cantilina) from a previous trip, and I knew they were having a sale on eggs - I decided we would dye eggs as our activity on Saturday night, and then I would have lunch protein for the week..
So I grabbed two dozen eggs from the freezer, marked at 2 for 3 dollars, and looked around for something to bump the bill up just enough to use the coupon (needed to total 3.01 or greater)..
They were closing out some tostinos-knockoff pizzas, which The Hub loves for lunch - normally $1.00, on sale for $0.50 each).

I grabbed the last 3 pepperoni that they had and headed to check out.. First dozen eggs rung up at $1.25... interesting... then the second rung up for $0.75! WOO HOO!!

Grand total out of my pocket for 2 dozen eggs and 3 lunches for The Hub? $0.50!!!

Even the Walgreens guy looked up from the register and said "Looks like you did pretty well..."

Sweet... so, so sweet...

Lighter Side - Fish craving!!

I love Salmon... I don't make it for myself nearly enough, especially not in the winter - but I really enjoy fish, and Salmon is a particular fave.. So I put a portion in the fridge to thaw (yes, it was frozen.. I live in Colorado, maybe I just don't know any better - but I think it tastes exactly the same as fresh, at least from our stores) a few days ago, and last night i had it with a little white pepper and salt, and some lemon.. (I just baked it in a dish until it flaked apart but was still moist - you have to watch fish, it can't really be timed)

The Hub does NOT like fish... (Unless it is battered a la fish and chips, or course).. So last night I made him an Italian breaded pork cutlet (breaded with preseasoned crumbs using the same technique I do for my oven crispy chicken again and again) and we both had Alexia Rosemary and Olive Oil Oven Fries...
He really liked the Pork cutlet, which was basically like cubesteak, but pork not beef... I sprinkled a little motzerella cheese on it for him - he devoured the whole meal!

Stolen Moments - Soup is good food!

Look at Megan's latest creation... Snow is coming again this weekend for all us Denver folks... this might be Saturday night dinner!!

One way I will NOT be stretching my grocery dollars!!

Just saw this "tip" and I think I might barf:
"Make large pots of different varieties of homemade soup at a time. Freeze individual servings for lunches, if a microwave is available. Serve "Free Soup" as well. Keep a container in your freezer for any leftovers, such as cooked meat, broth, gravy, sauces, beans, rice, pasta and vegetables. When it's full, heat it up, add anything else you want, and serve your free flavorful soup!"


Um, no... while I agree that using leftovers in soup is a great idea... and that soup is a fabulous way to take lots of little frozen leftovers and make a meal - I am not about to toss EVERYTHING INTO ONE container in the freezer every night until it is full and then cook it on the stove and call it soup..

"Oh hi Honey! Here's my "BBQ Beef, Curried Chicken, Spaghetti with Vodka Sauce, Country Gravy, Brussle Sprout, jalepeno, and sausage soup!!" (Some of the stuff I currently have frozen)

Yuck!

Tacos with DIY taco seasoning

Last night was "ground beef smiley" night at our place (and if you get that refrence, you probably watch too many Friends reruns, much like we do) and The Hub really likes his ground beef (or ground anything, really) to be all gooey and saucey and seasoned - a la the way it is when you use the taco seasoning packets from the store...
So I found this recipe at Cooks.com and decided to give it a try..
It was only ok... I will use the IDEA behind it to season taco meat again, but will omit the sugar entirely, and probably use a small amount of corn starch seperately instead of adding it to the mix, to thicken the sauce a bit right at the end of cooking... I ate mine on top of a bed of romane lettuce dressed with lime juice and salt, along side 1/2 avacado pureed and mixed with a bit of onion... everything else was so good, I didn't really notice the ground beef (actually, I used a mix of ground beef and extra lean ground pork, since that is what I had in the freezer) when it was in my salad... But when I sampled it after finishing the seasoning and sauce as directed, the consistancy and the flavor (sweet? yuck!) just weren't where I wanted them to be.. I get the IDEA behind it, it just didn't come together right...