Cheap Treats

Anyone who knows me well, knows I LOVE popcorn. But did you also know one of the main reasons I love it so much is because it's SO CHEAP? We're talking air popper style here of course, not microwave.


Anyways, I wanted to share my collection of popcorn recipes. They make GREAT treats for parties, dates, etc... and barely cost anything!


Mock Caramel Corn

1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. honey
Dash of maple flavoring
4 quarts popped popcorn (or more), cooled


1. Melt margarine & honey. Bring to boil & cook for about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in maple flavoring.
2. Pour over popcorn and stir. Let cool
-Can add molasses for more flavor.
-Sugar can be substituted for honey.


Cocoa Popcorn (unknown source)

Add 2 tbs. of instant hot-cocoa mix plus 1 cup of peanut chips.


Pumpkin Pie Popcorn (unknown source)

Add 2 tbs. sugar and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (premixed) plus 1 cup of toasted pumpkin seeds.


Cinnamon Harvest Popcorn (unknown source)

Add 2 tbss. of cinnamon and sugar plus 1 cup of Craisins.


An Old Favorite Popcorn

Add chocolate chips while popcorn is still hot & mix well as chocolate melts, then add desired amount of peanuts.

Cajun Popcorn (Family Fun)

Combine 1 teaspoon each of paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder; 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/4 teaspoon chili powder, and salt to taste.

Cinnamon and Sugar (Family Fun)

Mix 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Italian (Family Fun)

Combine 1 teaspoon dried parsley and 2/3 cup grated Parmesan with 1/2 teaspoon each of dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme, and dried rosemary. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Finally Something to Write!

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog besides recipes. Mostly this is because I haven't really had anything to write, but times are starting to change! Our family is officially self sufficient again. Words can not express how exciting and liberating this feels. At the same time it means MORE attention paid to budgeting and managing our money well. But, at least I can really find out how much I'm spending without any assistance. So far things are looking good. This week I spent a total of approximately $70 on groceries for our family of four. This included buying all of the allergy friendly essentials for the boys.

On Saturday Jason and I took the boys to a Lowe's "Build & Grow" workshop along with their safety clinic that was also being held on the same day. Lowe's holds FREE workshops for kids twice a month, where they build little projects. Home Depot holds FREE workshops for kids once a month. What a fun FREE way to bond with your kids. I highly recommend it.This is Owen's completed project!

Now that we have learned about these events, we will definitely be attending more often!

Baked Penne with Corn, Zucchini and Basil

I tried this recipe for the first time for dinner tonight and can I just say it is absolutely delicious! It may not look budget friendly, BUT if you have your own garden or access to a Farmer's Market it's really quite cheap. The recipe does call for white wine, but know that the alcohol cooks completely out of it. If you're still not comfortable with using white wine, apple juice is a GREAT replacement! Beware this recipes makes A LOT! It's perfect for when company comes over! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Kosher salt, to taste
1/2 lb. penne
6 Tbs. olive oil, plus more as needed
Kernels cut from 2 ears of corn
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 zucchini, about 2 lb. total, cut into half-moons
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4 tomatoes, cored, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 Tbs. sliced garlic
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbs. tomato paste
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
2 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 400ºF. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Generously salt the water, add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold running water. Set aside. In a 12-inch nonstick fry pan over medium-high heat, warm 3 Tbs. of the olive oil. Add the corn, season with salt and black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the corn is lightly golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Set aside. Return the pan to medium-high heat and warm the remaining 3 Tbs. olive oil. Working in batches, add the zucchini, season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is tender and golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add to the bowl with the corn. Repeat with the remaining zucchini, adding more oil to the pan as needed. Set the pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, 1 tsp. salt and black pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes soften and begin to form a sauce, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until the wine has reduced and the sauce is fairly thick, about 3 minutes more. Add the pasta, tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella and half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano to the bowl with the vegetables and stir to combine. Transfer to the fry pan and sprinkle the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano on top. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until golden brown on top, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm. Serves 8.

This recipe and photograph were taken from Williams Sonoma website.

Favorite Summer Salads

The temperature here in central New York has been about 90 degrees for the past 4 days which is completely abnormal. It is hot and humid! Temperatures are supposed to remain high at least for the first part of this next week, so as I make my meal plan this week salads are sounding mighty nice! These are some of my favorites!

Kiddie Cobb

Ingredients
2 cups chopped red-leaf lettuce
1 cup diced roast turkey, about 1/3 pound (use one thick slice from the deli)
1 ripe avocado, cut into chunks
1/2 cup halved red grapes
1/3 cup chickpeas
2 cheddar cheese sticks, cubed
Honey-mustard salad dressing

Directions
1. Place lettuce on a serving platter. Line each of the remaining ingredients diagonally on top of lettuce starting with turkey in the center. Serve with the dressing on the side.

Picture and recipe from Parents Magazine.

Thai Chicken, Mango & Pineapple Salad

Ingredients
1 (14-ounce) can regular or light coconut milk
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste, or more to taste
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch chunks
4 cups salad greens

Directions

1. In a bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, red curry paste, orange zest, and orange juice and reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture in a separate container. In a Ziploc bag, toss together the chicken breast chunks and half of the marinade from the bowl. Toss the fruit and the remaining marinade in another Ziploc bag. Let the food marinate at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes. 2. Prepare a charcoal fire or heat a gas grill to medium-high, and oil the grates. Thread the chicken and fruit pieces onto separate skewers. 3. Grill the skewered chicken for 3 to 4 minutes per side, turning once, or until the chicken is cooked through. Grill the fruit skewers for 2 minutes per side, turning once, or until you have visible grill marks. Remove the meat and fruit from the skewers and serve them over salad greens drizzled with the reserved marinade. Serves 4.

Picture and recipe from Family Fun Magazine.

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients

2-4 cups broccoli floweretts

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2-1 cup raisins

6-8 bacon strips drained and chopped

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp. cider vinegar

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Combine mayonnaise, sugar, and cider vinegar in small bowl & chill.

1 hour before serving combine liquid with fresh ingredients. (It will get soggy if you mix too far in advance. Serve cold.

Recipe given to me by Lori Streetman

Chicken Salad

Mix & refrigerate for several hours:

2-3 cups diced cooked chicken

1 tbsp. minced onion

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup diced celery

Before serving add:

1 cup white grapes, halved

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup severed almonds

1-11 oz. can mandarin oranges

I serve this chicken salad in whole wheat pitas. It's delicious.

Recipe given to me by Susan Schern.

Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked macaroni
6 eggs

celery

carrots

onion

radishes

1 small can tuna

mayonnaise

pepper & salt to taste

Directions

Cook macaroni and boil eggs. Let cool. Dice eggs, celery, carrots, onion, and radishes. Add to macaroni. Drain and add tuna. Stir in desired amount of mayonnaise. Add pepper and salt if needed.

Recipe is from my mother.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients

1 box colored pasta, cooked

pepperoni, diced

cheddar cheese, cubed

cucumbers, chopped

green peppers, chopped

black olives, sliced

cherry tomatoes, if desired

Italian Dressing

Directions

Mix pasta, pepperoni, cheese, and vegetables with desired amount of Italian dressing. Refrigerate. When ready to serve stir and add more Italian dressing if needed.

Recipe given to me by Luanne Hirsh.

Spinach & Strawberry Salad

Ingredients

1 lb. Fresh Spinach

Strawberries

Almonds

Grilled Chicken, diced (optional)

Brianna's Home Style Blush Wine Vinaigrette (does not have actual wine in it)

Directions

Toss first four ingredients, drizzle with dressing and serve immediately.

Recipe evolved from a luncheon at Jason's work.

Hope you enjoy!

Recipe: Mexican Chocolate Cake

When I think of the best ever chocolate cake, I think of this cake! (Do not confuse with the Mormon friendly term Best Ever Chocolate Cake to describe Better Than Sex Chocolate Cake. It's a totally different recipe that I will share another time!) Mexican Chocolate Cake is absolutely delicious, especially when I make a double layer cake! I have been thinking about this cake for a couple of weeks now. Needless to say when this heat wave has passed I'm going to make it. Actually, Adam is going to try wheat this week for the first time. If he doesn't react, this cake, minus the strawberries, will be the recipe I use for his birthday cake: no eggs, soy, dairy, nuts... yet it's oh SO DELICIOUS and cheap to make! let me just mention too, the glaze by itself is SO YUMMY alone to dip strawberries in!
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ground Mexican chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Chocolate glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
6 tablespoons water
10 small fresh strawberries
Directions

1Heat oven to 350° F. Lightly coat an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable cooking spray.

2Combine all the cake ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth. Pour into the pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

3Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

4When the cake has cooled, whisk together the first three glaze ingredients. Dip each strawberry into the glaze and set aside. Pour the remaining glaze over the cake and arrange the strawberries on top. Set aside to dry, about 30 minutes.

Recipe and picture taken from Real Simple magazine. By the way, I do have recipes from other sources, but I LOVE Real Simple magazine recipes. That's why you see so many of them!

What to do?

Last month Jason and I delayed paying a couple of bills and then accidentally spent the money on other necessary things. What a disaster! There are very few things that cause me to become discouraged, but messing up finances is one of them. The guilt... the consequences... then more guilt... then more unexpected consequences. How many times must we pay for one mistake? It's so frustrating.

In the midst of my realization of more unexpected consequences... well actually not in the midst, about 2 hours later, after becoming angry and then sulking for the remaining 119 minutes, I decided to be proactive. One of the most difficult consequences to really messing up our finances has been staying at home so as to not spend ANY unnecessary money, including gas for the car. Of course we've played outside and gone for a few walks, but nothing more. I've been going crazy. The boys are going crazy. It's just NOT fair. But of course it is, this is what we get right?

I decided to make a list of as many free activities as possible, that I could do with the boys during the day, inside the house and outside of the house. My goal was to come up with enough activities to keep us busy for a month, whether it be summer or those long dreaded winter days. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE winter. I LOVE cold. But this year I'm dreading it all because of having two kids under the age of three. What can you do for about 4 long months when the average temperature of winter here is 0 degrees F? The wind is usually blowing too. It's too cold to take the boys outside.

Besides dreading winter, my reasoning for making this list is to try to be as frugal as possible. I want to start saving every penny I can, to allow us to have just a meager Christmas. The clock is ticking and I'm already starting to dread thinking about the holiday season with no money AGAIN. I just can't go through that another time. It's so stressful!

So here is my list. If anyone has any other ideas PLEASE let me know. I'm not sure if I'm going to use a rotation schedule, or just draw an activity out of a jar, but I'll definitely be using this list A LOT in the next few months! Now remember my boys are 2 1/2 and almost 1 year, so my options are limited.

In House
1. Finger Painting
2. Painting with a brush
3. Play-do
4. Water color Painting
5. Coloring with Crayons
6. Baking
7. Gluing Shapes
8. Watch Movie
9. Coloring with Markers
10. Read books
11. Puzzles
12. Bath time
13. Pouring with Water
14. Dancing to music
15. Craft time
16. Sticker Art
17. Computer Time
18. Music Time
19. Make Birthday Cards
20. Build a Fort
21. Bubbles
22. Play a game
23. Learning Time

The activities listed above are things we can do besides playing with the regular toys etc... They are activities that Mommy will fully participate in WITH the boys!

Out of house activities were a little harder to come up with and of course depend on weather, but I feel pretty good about my list. Again, if anyone else has any other ideas PLEASE let me know!

Out of House
1. Sidewalk Chalk
2. Backyard Kiddy Pool
3. Walk
4. Playground-I've learned that Auburn has 14 playgrounds. That should take a while!
5. Montezuma Wild Life Refuge Nature Walk
6. Play in the Dirt
7. Auburn Mall to see animals and fish at Bass Pro Shop
8. Pet Store
9. Library
10. Family Video Rental Store-Kids movies are free!
11. Have Lunch in Park with Daddy
12. Bubbles
13. Home Depot to ride the race car shopping carts (Remember my boys are little and easily entertained!)
14. Free Movie at Carousel Mall (Requires gas money.). I just learned that the mall plays free kids movies each week in the theatre.
15. Walk Outlet Mall and ride the rides without putting in the quarters (My boys don't know they move yet!).(Requires gas money.)
16. Palmyra to visit temple, sacred grove, etc...(Requires gas money.)
17. Onondaga Lake Park with Wegman's Playground (Requires gas money.)
18. Sledding
19. Build a Snowman
20. Have a picnic
21. Car Dealership to look at AND touch all of the different types of cars.
22. Fire Station

Now let me also explain that all of the activities above, are activities that the boys and I can do on our own without having to rely on others. No one can cancel but me! It seems whenever we get other little kids involved something happens, plans fall through and then the boys and I are stuck at home disappointed and bored. But, that won't stop us from inviting friends to come along with us! We love the company!

Hopefully these lists will really help in the day to day grind of things, especially when it comes to saving money and/or being bored, not knowing what to do. I really hope they work! Wish me luck!

Honey Chicken Skewers

(Picture from Real Simple website.)

It's been a while since I posted a new recipe. We've been trying so many new recipes. I hadn't found one I liked enough to recommend to EVERYONE I know until now. These chicken skewers were DELICIOUS. Our company thought so too. They even called them a "delicacy."

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Kosher salt and pepper

Canola oil, for the grill

Place twenty 8-inch wooden skewers in water to soak. Heat grill to medium-high. In a medium bowl, combine the ketchup, honey, and Worcestershire sauce; set aside.

Slice the chicken lengthwise into twenty 1/2-inch-thick strips. Thread each strip onto a wooden skewer. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Lightly oil the grill. Cook chicken, turning occasionally, until cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes, basting with the ketchup mixture during the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Serves 4.

(Recipe from Real Simple Magazine.)

We served corn on the cob and pasta salad as sides. Both were delicious and great compliments.

*These Chicken Skewers are dairy free, egg free, and nut free, but do contain wheat and soy.