Baked Beans

Welcome back to New Meal Mondays. Thank you for stopping by.
I think I finally have a baked bean recipe that I like. I have been trying for over a year with no success. It always seemed to bland. I realized I needed to use more flavors. This one worked. We enjoyed it this week with some macaroni salad and corn on the cob. It was really quite simple and the crockpot slow cooked it to combine all the flavors together.

I dumped 1 can of pork & beans and 1 (drained) can of red kidney beans into the crockpot, then started adding what I thought would work. Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, BBQ sauce, molasses, mustard, 1 Knorr chicken stock concentrate and some homemade dry onion soup mix my sister made for me. I then browned some breakfast sausage (what needed used up) and added it to the pot. I didn't measure just went by taste but if I had to guess I used around 1-2 Tbs for the Worcestershire, molasses and soup mix, then around 1/4 cup of mustard, ketchup and BBQ. Once I had everything mixed in, I let it cook about 3-4 hours in low.

Next time I am going to make it with ground beef and some bacon! What do you use in your baked beans? Please share I would love to try it next time.

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Pour on the chocolate, cake

I bought the angel food cake from the Walmart discount bakery shelf for only $1.66. I had the intentions of using up our strawberries on it. When I went to make the strawberry shortcake dessert I discovered that the strawberries started to mold. Bummer! But all is not lost. Pull out the bottle of chocolate someone had given you for free.

Warm the chocolate in the microwave according to the directions on the bottle.

Pour just about the whole bottle on the cake with back and forth motions over the cake....yea, that looks about perfect!

Let is set only as long as you can stand it! Enjoy!

Alternative: use canned frosting that is melted slowly in the microwave. Just do a few seconds at a time (stirring in between) so you won't over melt it.

Made from Scratch Spinach Dip

I enjoy a good spinach dip every now and again. I finally learned how to make it at my sisters house one day. While I was shopping at my favorite discount grocery store, I was in the seasoning section looking for any spinach dip packets that I might be able to get for a great price. They didn't have any however, they did have some dehydrated vegetable flakes and it gave me the idea to try to make the seasoning myself, so I purchased some.

Spinach Dip from scratch:
1/2 bag fresh spinach that has been frozen
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1-2 TBS ranch seasoning mix
1 can water chestnuts drained and chopped
1/2 cup dehydrated veggies
bread or veggies to dip with

I use fresh spinach that I have frozen. *If I remember-as soon as I take it out of the freezer, I crunch it up in the bag. It breaks up nicely, which means I can skip the chopping step later. Once I have crunched up my spinach I place it in a steamer basket and cover it for about 7 minutes.

Once it is finished steaming, I drain, allow to cool, then using a paper towel- squeeze the excess water out of the spinach. Then I mix it in with all of the other ingredients. If I can stand it, I will leave the spinach dip in the fridge for a few hours so the dehydrated veggies can soften.

I had my mom try it, she and I both agreed it tastes pretty close to the prepackaged seasoning mix. Yummo!

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Fruit Delight, A Real Treat

After spending the weekend in the wonderful sunshine with family, friends, egg hunt games and fabulous food, it is hard to get back to the routine of Monday. I pray you all had a wonderful blessed Easter Weekend! Today's recipe I am sharing because it just fits with backyards, pot lucks, sipp'in ice tea, lounging under a shade tree, and simply enjoying a sunny afternoon! It is a family favorite. It comes from my mother-in-law. She gave it to me years ago but since she always makes it, I hardly do. This is one of those family dishes that is always served at holidays, bbq's, picnics, and even camping trips. It is easy to prepare and travels well. I decided to surprise my family with it last week (just because) to enjoy after dinner. It is an old recipe and probably goes by many names but in our house we affectionately call it Fruit Delight. It is a delight for sure! It has crazy ingredients such as vinegar and egg yolks. But when complete it is a cool, sweet, smooth, creamy--delight!
Here is what you need:

Ingredients:
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 can fruit cocktail
1 TBS vinegar
1 TBS water
2 egg yolks beaten
1 tub cool whip
1 package graham crackers

Open can of fruit cocktail and drain syrup into pot on stove (set the fruit aside to use later).

 Add the bag of marshmallows and melt down in the syrup on low heat, stirring often. Crush graham crackers in ziplock bag. I used a wooden pestle.

 Then sprinkle some into a 9x13 pan (save half for topping). I happen to be at my friend Heather's on this day so I divided this up for 2 smaller dishes.  So they can have some delight after dinner as well!

Once I had the dishes ready I then beat 2 egg yolks and set aside. As soon as the marshmallows were melted down I took off the heat and added the vinegar and water, mixing well. Then I slowly added the beaten egg yolks.

After eggs were blended in I set this aside to cool for at least 30 minutes. Once cooled I then added the fruit and entire cool whip container mixing well.

Then pour over the graham cracker lined pan. Top with remaining graham crackers and refrigerate until firm.

Enjoy! If you have a family favorite please share below!

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Thrifting Thursday: Saving at a discount grocery store

Welcome to the 3rd installment of Thrifting Thursday. Today I want to share with you one way I save money on groceries. It is at our local discount grocery store here. Not everything in the store is the best deal such as toys or milk. But what I find there is always worth the extra few minutes it takes in driving time.

First off, if you are thirsty and want a soda they have some on sale 3/.99 cents. Now this is soda that will expire soon so you need to be aware of that. But to have a cold drink on the way home once in a while- it is a great price. Candy is comparable to Walmart's price and even cheaper depending on what you want.

Their fridge section is usually great priced. Meats can have a store coupon on them to sell quickly. Such as the Jennie O link sausage. This store's regular price is $3.49. It had a $2 off store coupon on it, I purchased it for only $1.49! I will always buy what we need and freeze them. Even lunch meat can be frozen. The lunch meat (Oscar Meyer turkey) was $1.99, the big summer sausage was $3.99 (needed this for co-op Open House). The havarti cheese was only $1.79. Butter and yogurt are usually a great deal too. Creamer (Coffee Mate) brand is a great price there. You are just limited to what flavors they have. If they have a flavor I enjoy or one I am willing to try I will grab several of them. The small 16 oz are usually 99 cents and the big ones are 1.99 or less!

If I have a snack I have signed up for and know I will not have time to make one I will see what I can grab at this store. The 2 packages of donuts were $1.69, each and in some bananas and I have got the whole 2nd floor of co-op homeschool group covered!

Some of the bread is a great deal, such as the Sara Lee- it is always 99 cents at this store. I will also check out the health and beauty isle. I usually can find my allergy medication there. They have a store brand comparable to Zertec. A 30 day supply is only $2.99. I have used it for over 2 years and it works just fine for me.

Produce is another area where I can save money. Since I am already at this store I will check out what they have. I can usually find great deals on a lot of the fruit and veggies that we eat. And depending on what we are needing I may find some canned and frozen food deals as well.

My total for this trip was $58.12. The receipt says that I saved $49.76 but if I compare to Walmart I believe I am closer to saving around $30- which is still a hugs savings. 

Do you shop at a discount grocery store? Would you be willing to try one? You might be surprised!

Banana bread, you smell good!

Few things in this world smell better to me than these: the scent of lavendar lotion on my newborn baby,
Dear Hubby in his Old Spice, the sweet smell in the air just after a rain on a warm day and bread baking in the oven. This banana bread in particular does not disappoint in smell yumminess! It also happens to be tasty and easy to make.

 The first thing I always do is pull out bananas from the freezer. I will always use frozen bananas because once they have thawed a little, they are so easy to incorporate into the mix. I have tried over ripe non frozen before and it just seemed like more work to mash them down.  

Freezing bananas are easy, just toss over ripe ones in the freezer as is. No need to package them. The will stay for at least a month in the freezer just as they are. When you want to make some bread just grab 3 from your stash. A tip though: defrost on a plate not the counter. As they thaw out the peels turn black and I have actually stained my counter top. Whoopsie! Once the bananas have thawed, I break off the bottom end and squeeze the banana out into a bowl.

The original recipe I used came from here . I have made this so many times now that I have adapted it to our tastes. One of the things I added was cinnamon. In my opinion most any bread other than bread for lunch/dinner should have some cinnamon in it. I also use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour. I also have included some oatmeal once, but Dear Hubby didn't care for it that way.

Ingredients:
3 frozen bananas thawed 
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
healthy dash of cinnamon
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut oil (or lard) into the baking pans set aside. Empty bananas into bowl and mix with the melted butter. Batter will be lumpy. Add in sugar, egg, and vanilla and mix some more. Sprinkle in the baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix in to the batter. Add the flour last and mix just until evenly blended. Pour mixture into two 8.5x4.5 inch loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. 

Enjoy!

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How to save money on chicken

With the crazy prices of food how is one able to stock up the freezer and still have money for other needed things...like gas for the car? Well one way that I have found is to buy my chicken in bulk. A couple of our local grocery stores will sell a bulk box of chicken breasts several times a year. 

This is it:

A 40 lbs box of chicken breasts. I usually will get it unfrozen and I am able to get it ready for the freezer right away. This time I got it frozen so I am having to let it thaw a bit before I can process it. For the entire box it is $59.60 (before tax) which makes it $1.49 a pound. It is a great deal. 

And as you can see, they are big portion sizes. For our family of 3 two breasts this size will more than feed us at any one meal. The first thing I do is get my supplies ready. I pre-cut a stack of freezer paper and grab the masking tape and permanent marker. I then cut the meat in half and trim off extra pieces of fat. For our family I wrap 2 chicken breasts in each freezer paper package. When I am all done I feel like I have been in a butcher shop. So I then disinfect everything really good. When the mess is cleaned up I happily take multiple trips to the freezer in the basement to fill it up! 

This is my third time getting a box of chicken like this. The meat is good and I have never had it go bad before I can use it all up. If you are local the stores I have gotten these from are here and here if you are not local I would call around to your local stores...it wouldn't hurt to ask.
What are some ways you save on meat?

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