Fettucini alfredo with ham, mushrooms and snow peas

Eat your heart out Pioneer Woman. This is what I do when I have lots of interesting (wierd) ingredients that I need to use up in the fridge.

 Saute.

 This is a beautiful shot of frozen snow peas out of order :)

 Add ham (according to my internet research ham is the common ingredients in South African dishes).

Add milk.

 Oops, forgot to add the garlic earlier and here is my fat thumb.

Bring everything to a boil, I prefer crunchy veggies so I waited to add my snow peas.

Add the cheap parmesan cheese :).

 Dump all the sauce and ingredients over the pasta and cheese.

 Stir gently.

Serve

to chapped cheek chilluns.

Hasn't the weather been gorgeous. Our skin is still adjusting:)

Ingredients:

1 box fettuccine (any pasta will work)

6 T butter
2 cups sliced cooked ham
1/2 pound sliced portabellini mushrooms

1-2 cups snow peas (mine were frozen)
1 cup cream (I used 2% milk :))

1 T. minced garlic
1 cup finely grated parmesan

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

fresh parsley for garnishing


Directions:

1.Cook the fettuccine in a pot of rapidly boiling salted water until the pasta is al dente (not soft and mushy).
2.While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Fry the mushrooms and the garlic then add the cream, ham, and snow peas and bring to the boil.
3.Cook until sauce has reduced, or for about five minutes, stirring gently.

4.Remove from the heat.

5.Place pasta in a serving dish, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese then pour the sauce over the pasta to melt the cheese.
6.Gently mix the pasta and sauce together.

7.Season with salt and pepper.
8.Garnish with parsley and a little parmesan. Serve to chilluns:)

Frugal is as frugal does

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Nora rides the elliptical I recently found on craigslist!

Have you ever read The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn?

I bought a copy of the book after a dear friend recommended it years ago. It is pretty radical stuff about saving money and raising a family. But, I liked it.

Anyway...in the book she talks about her neighbor or someone throwing away a half eaten apple AND that her attempts to dig it out of the trash to make a single serving of apple crisp horrified the onlookers. Or maybe she didn't do that but she just thought about it, I can't really remember.

For a couple of days now the girls have been begging for apples and eating one or two slices and not touching the rest. So, I being my insane frugal self, have been Ziploc bagging them with a squirt of lemon juice in the hopes of "re"using them. I do the same with the half eaten bananas, only those go right into the freezer for bread. Yep, I am frugal all right; cheap, white-trash, call it what you will...

Today, I noticed a plethora of apple slices in the fridge so I googled a recipe.

YUMMY! You have got to try this one. Easy and healthy. The brown sugar caramelizes a bit in the high temperature and what you end up with is a carmel topped, soft as silk, wheat apple muffin.....mmmmm heaven. She has lots of pretty pictures over on her site. I just have one :)

Smitten Kitchen posted the recipe and I made a few changes for myself...


Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

from Smitten...
These dark, crazy moist muffins will keep well for several days, and the brown sugar on top, should you not skimp on it like I did, adds a crunchy touch, perfect for those of you who know that the lid is the best part.

Yield: she said 18, I got 24
1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I gave up trying to keep unsalted butter around and just used the regular ol' salted kind)

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp of flax seed (ground)

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk or yogurt (I used 6 oz of vanilla flavored Yoplait and a bit of water to make up for the lack of liquid)

2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped (my pieces were quite large)
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease and flour 24 muffin cups and set aside.

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4cup brown sugar on top. (YUMMY CARAMEL TOPPING) Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

something good

Shh...Don't tell my mom I slipped the brace off for a minute to post. I am going through major blog withdrawal. The pain is worth it. I have an ice pack here to rest on inbetween paragraphs.

I want to get this MSG version of the Holy Bible. I am going to start looking for it. When I read one of the verses in my daily Scripture devotions I always love the way it speaks so lay person like.

This is the recent verse that I just loved;

God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves...and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26-28

I have had a blessed couple of weeks. So many I can hardly count them. I wish I would have plunked them out for the last two Monday multitude posts. Ridiculouly blessed I am again and forever.

I am baking cookies right now with one of my blessings, a new in the box kitchen aid mixer for lots less than the retail price. I have used it every day since Ryan has brought it home, which may account for the right hand swelling. It's perfect timing since October is the month of brithdays in our family.

In the oven today...a brand new original recipe from Coconut and Lime, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pumpkin cookies. She just posted it today. I did make a tiny bit of alterations adding my fall colored m&m's with chocolate chips and substituting flax seed for eggs when I tripled the recipe. YUMMY! And they have no oil or butter, so it's a DIET COOKIE!!!!! Think cakey, moist chocolaty sconeish type cookies...perfect for fall, ya'll!

It is gorgeous today! Go for a walk! Then reward yourself with two of these cookies:)

Mexican pizza

did I already post this recipe? we have had it several times but I finally got the chance to snap a photo before it was gone...so yummy!
I love the sparkpeople.com recipes, they are free and the nutrition information is really helpful.

The other pizza is just a regular homeade cheese pizza, actually one third sausage and onion, one third pepperoni and one third cheese :) It's pizza your way here at our house!

Stepf's Cornmeal Crust for Mexican Pizza

Ingredients
1 1/2 T dry active yeast
2 c whole wheat flour
1 T sugar
1/4 c cornmeal
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 1/2 t salt
1 c warm water (not hot!)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix yeast, sugar, cornmeal, 1 c flour and 1/2 c warm water. Mix and let sit for 5 minutes or so. Add oil, salt and about 2/3 of the remaining flour. Knead well for about 3-5 minutes, adding flour and water one tablespoon at a time as needed. (Add water if the dough is dry; add flour if the dough is wet.) Dough will not be sticky. Place in warm space covered with a damp towel and allow to rise for 15 minutes. The dough will not rise much, and it will seem slightly tough. That's OK.

Divide into two, then use a rolling pin to roll into two rounds to fit your pans. Use a fork to pierce the dough on both sides, and place on either pizza pan or in a cast-iron skillet (for crispier crust).
Top as desired (extra calories) and then bake for 10 minutes or until crispy.

Slice each "pizza" into six slices.

Stepf's Mexican Pizza

Ingredients
1 c salsa
1 14.5 ounce can fat-free refried beans
2 T ground cumin
1 small onion, sliced
1 bell pepper (any color), sliced
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, diced
3/4 c lowfat sour cream
2 c lowfat cheddar cheese
1 recipe Stepf's Cornmeal Crust for Mexican Pizza ( Find it here!)
NOTE: You can use a regular premade pizza crust to save time! Just adjust the nutrition info!

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake crusts for about 7 minutes. Remove from oven and spread 1/2 can of beans on each crust, following with half the salsa, cheese, onions, and peppers. Sprinkle on cumin, then place in oven and bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted, about 8 minutes.

Slice each pizza into six pieces, then top with cilantro, some avocado and 1 T lowfat sour cream. Drizzle on hot sauce (optional)!

Dill Pickle Relish

Searched high and low for an 'easy' relish recipe. My oldest loves relish. Most recipes call for sweet red pepper and I had none. This one is about as simple as I could find, has no red pepper and it still took me all morning. AND I had to borrow some tumeric from my lovely neighbor! It made 4 pints for me:) Then again, I am not the best at accurate measurements. It tastes good, though.


Dill Pickle Relish

4 lb cucumbers (I cut up about 6 large cucumbers I removed the seedy part if they were large)
1/4 cup pickling salt (you must use non-iodized salt or it will turn a nasty color)
1/2 tsp turmeric (I used ground from my lovely neighbor and 4th grade teacher, Doris)
2 cups white vinegar (5%)
1/3 cup sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used the jarred stuff)
1 Tbsp dill seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds (again I used ground)
1 1/2 cups onions (one very large onion)

Scrub cucumbers and trim off ends and cut into chunks. In batches in a food processor, pulse cucumbers and onions 8 to 10 times to cut into 1/8 to 1/4" pieces.

In a large bowl, sprinkle cucumbers with salt and turmeric. Stir in 1 cup cold water and let stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Drain in large sieve. Rinse under cold water and drain again, pressing out moisture.
On a large saucepan bring vinegar, sugar, garlic, dill seeds and mustard seeds to a boil. Add cucumber mixture, return to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes.
Ladle into half pint jars leaving a 1/2" headspace. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Makes About: 3 pints (mine made 4)


Recipe credit where credit is due...thanks Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker!

zucchini pizza bites

What kid doesn't like pizza? I may have posted these before.

This time I sliced the zuc length wise and made longer pizzas.

I also roasted mine with a bit of olive oil and seasoning salt (for flavor) before I put the sauce and toppings on them. Then I broiled at 500 for 5 minutes. MMMMMMMM

The kids gobbled them up. I was glad they got their veggies:)

Twice baked potatoes, healthy style

I made these last night and they were absolutely DELISH. Be sure to click on the link and read the comments at the sparkpeople.com site because everyone made them differently and there are some awesome substitutions like salsa and many spices. I love the way that the cottage cheese melted and you couldn't tell it was ever cottage. A great way to use a less fatty cheese as a substitute for sour cream.

Try these, you will not be disappointed. My kids loved them and ate every last crunchy bite of the shell. I am so sad I didn't take a photo. In all honestly I didn't think they would taste this good. We served them with pork chops and sweet corn and homemade sweet potato crescent rolls.

Wonderful Stuffed Potatoes

Nutritional Info
Fat: 2.0g
Carbohydrates: 15.4g
Calories: 109.7
Protein: 9.3g
Ingredients

4 medium baking potatoes

3/4 cup low-fat (1%) cottage cheese

1/4 cup 1% milk

2 tablespoons soft margarine

1 teaspoon dill weed

3/4 teaspoon herb seasoning

4-6 drops hot pepper sauce

2 teaspoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Prick potatoes with fork. Bake at 425º F for 60 minutes or until fork is easily inserted.

2. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out potato leaving about 1/2 inch of pulp inside shell. Mash pulp in large bowl.

3. Mix in by hand remaining ingredients except Parmesan cheese. Spoon mixture into potato shells.

4. Sprinkle each top with 1/4 teaspoon Parmesan cheese.

5. Place on baking sheet and return to oven. Bake 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Yield: 8 servings--Serving Size: 1/2 potato each

Best Banana Bread Plus

I do not really consider myself a baker. I don't think people would say, "oh, I love her baked goods" Yet,I like to cook and I love to experience with recipes mostly because I never really have all the ingredients listed. I have tried a ton of banana bread recipes. I enjoy reading cookbooks and I usually just keep trying new recipes until I fall in love with one and then I put a little star with the date next to the recipe and write any substitions that I make so I can make it again. I am sure you are all enlightened now with that necessary information. "Get on with the recipe" I am sure you are thinking in your heads...

So, without further ado.

Best Banana Bread (Plus)

Gotta give credit to the lovely Mrs. Cleveland for the start of this recipe. Whenever she baked at church I always made sure to get one of her bars, cookies or goodies on my plate. I think her strong recipe foundation was a major reason why my fiddling with this recipe actually worked. So credit where credit is due....thank you Linda!

For real this time.

Best Banana Bread (Plus)

4 eggs (I doubled this recipe and instead of the doubled eggs I used flax seed.
1 egg = 1T flax and 3T water)
4 ripe bananas
1 cup oil (again I used flax for the doubled part(1T butter/marg/oil = 3T flax)
1/2 cup buttermilk (I never keep this on hand. I added 1T vinegar to 1 cup milk and waited a few minutes for it to curdle.)
2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour (when I doubled I added 2 cups wheat and 1 1/2 cups white)
3 cups sugar (I am watching calories, so I used mostly splenda for cooking and I used one cup brown sugar when I doubled only because I am out of white sugar)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts or chocolate chips, optional (which do you think I used?)

Mix the wet ingredients, eggs, bananas, oil (yep, go ahead and put that flax seed in), milk and vanilla - if you want to add some brown sugar for flavor and color like I did put it in with the wet ingredients - it doesn't mix well with the dry:)

Stir or sift together the flour, sugar, soda and salt. HERE IS THE PART THAT MAKES IT LIGHT AND FLUFFY! Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until the dry disappears. Pour into loaf pans, I use a measuring cup and pour a little batter then I sprinkle the nuts or the chocolate chips then a little more batter. You can add the extras (chips, nuts) to the whole mixture if you like, just don't over stir it. I make some plain bread and some with chocolate chips so I do it when I am panning.

Bake at 325 for about an hour. My mini loaf pans were done at 30 minutes and my large loaves took longer than an hour. Just have a toothpick or butter knife handy and poke the loaves when they are starting to look done. If the pick/knife comes out clean, they are done!

This recipe makes about 12 mini loaves or 3 large loaves. Or a mixture of both:)

I doubled it and made 8 mini loaves, 2 medium sized loaves and 1 large loaf.

It's sweet and light and airy, not too dense. I like it this way:) This recipe has a star and some notes in my cookbook.

Snow, skating, and soup... I'll call it alliteration Wednesday.

It's snowing. We are supposed to get another 5 inches or so. It's falling straight down right now, it looks pretty cool, but the weather man is predicting icky stuff. Most of the schools to the West of us are closed today. The kids were disappointed...but we still have a chance of something happening tomorrow so they are holding on to the hope that there is a late start or a snow day and they get a few extra minutes of Webkinz in.

Last night we had fun skating...indoors. Here is a fun activity if you are home from school today with a house full of energy and no caffeine for yourself. Sorry about the low light photos...my sports setting has no flash. Gotta give credit for this fun idea to Frugal Family Fun Blog.

Get out your wax paper, I only had the press and seal, and wrap the kids feet. Use a rubber band to keep the regular version on their feet. Then, slide... The kids went through about three wraps worth. It was fun and it got them moving. Let's just say they slept well last night.

I had a honey baked ham bone in the freezer and decided to use it up today. Soaked the beans last night and put it together in the crock this am. I wanted a recipe with veggies and this particular one adds carrots and spinach at the end. If it's worth anything I will let you know. I almost did this yesterday but I forgot to soak the beans. It never fails that I am so in tune with food that I serve the exact meal that the kids eat at school, yesterday was ham patties...

Happy alliteration Wednesday all...

Ta Ta Turkey...

I make it no secret that I am cheap, er um, frugal. If you don't know that about me already then you don't know me much at all.

Leftovers are a staple here, so when I made a 16 pound turkey after Thanksgiving I knew we would be eating the bird for quite some time. We had turkey casserole three different ways, turkey breast hot sandwiches, turkey salad, and today we finished the last two cups of white and dark meat in turkey tortilla soup.

It felt great to use up corn and tomatoes from the pantry. It was a pretty cheap soup and the flavor hit the spot after all this traditional food, too. I fry up some homemade flour tortillas and cut them into chips for the top of the soup with a bit of cheese and it's delightful.

Turkey or Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes ( I used my own canned maters.)
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth ( I used water with bouillion)
1 1/4 cups water
2 cup whole corn kernels, cooked (more garden goodies from the freezer)
1 (4 sounce) can chopped green chile peppers
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups cooked turkey or chicken whatever you have leftover...

tortilla chips
shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions
1.In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
2.Stir in corn, chiles, beans, and turkey/chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3.Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with crushed tortilla chips and cheese.

MMM MMM, well you know the rest...

'sun' dried tomatoes...

I really need to make this sun dried tomato Alfredo recipe. But I am too cheap to buy the sauce or the maters so I have to make them myself. I will be using the dehydrator today...the oven is too hot (it's humid out there). I wonder if I can just freeze them or do I have to cough up the cash to buy some olive oil to store the 'maters in?

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
2. Wash and halve tomatoes. Gently squeeze out the seeds. Place the tomatoes on a non-stick cookie sheet, and sprinkle with salt to taste.
3. Bake until tomatoes take on a leathery texture. This could literally take all day; smaller pieces will require less oven time.

It's on the menu for Saturday. Tomorrow we have the Irish Bowl and will be eating out!

***if you have time go to http://www.keloland.com/sports/ and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Vote to see the Montrose/ Viborg game highlighted on SportsZone this Friday night! Go IRISH!