Grandma's Pull Aparts

When I was a young girl, we would go and spend the night at my Great Grandma's house. Everyone loved going to her house. She had a large tub that we always took bubble baths in and for breakfast we always made Sticky Buns! They are super easy and super delicious!

 

Pull-A-Parts Recipe 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I use sliced almonds)

1 square margarine

1/2 tsp cinnamon (I don't use)

1/2 cup brown sugar

small package Butterscotch Pudding (not instant)

12 to18 Rhodes Texas frozen rolls

Directions:

1. Grease bundt pan (can also use a large loaf pan)

2. Sprinkle nuts on bottom of pan. Place part of frozen rolls on top of nuts

3. Sprinkle half of pudding mix on top of rolls.

4. Add other part of frozen rolls and the rest of pudding.

5. Melt margarine and sugar together and pour evenly over rolls.

6. Let rise all day or at night (8 hours)

7. Wake up and bake 350 degrees for 30 Min or until brown.

8. Remove from pan upside down on plate.

 

 This is me with my Great Grandmother, enjoying Pull-A-Parts after my bubble bath! I am so grateful that I was able to have such a wonderful grandmother. We learned so much from her!

Hawaiian Meatballs

This is one of our favorite meals! Not only is it delicious, but it looks beautiful! I love colorful meals.

Hawaiian Meatballs

Make this yummy ground beef recipe for dinner

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 C dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 C milk
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 C)

Serves 6

Preparation time: 10min

Total time: 10min

Meatball Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients and form into round meatballs. Should make about 20 1 1/2 in meatballs.
2. Bake uncovered at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Sauce Ingredients:
1 20 oz can pineapple tidbits
Water
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 C. vinegar
1 C. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbps. lemon juice
1/2 C. chopped green bell peppers
2 Tbsp. pimentos
*when I'm on a tight budget or I'm lazy, I omit the green bell peppers on pimentos and it still tastes great!

Sauce Directions:
1. Combine pineapple juice with water to make 2 cups. Blend with cornstarch and cook until thickened.
2. Add remaining ingredients and heat through.
3. Add meatballs and serve over rice!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Devin and I made peanut butter cookies to take to a neighbor and realized we didn't have any paper plates to deliver them on! Once the cookies cooled down, we stacked them in the center of saran wrap, brought the corners up to the top and tied a ribbon around. I think it turned out cute!

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C peanut butter
1/4 C shortening
1/4 C margarine or butter, softened
1 egg
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt


Directions:
1. Mix sugars, peanut butter, shortening, margarine, and egg until well blended.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients
Optional: Cover and refrigerate 1-3 hours (my Mom prefers to make her's this way)
3. Shape dough into balls and flatten in a crisscross patter with fork dipped in flour
4. Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes.

Preparation time: 10min
Total time: 70min
Serves 6

Lasagna

This yummy, cheesy lasagna is sure to please a crowd

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 12 oz tomato paste
• 1 oz. spaghetti sauce mix
• 24 oz. cottage cheese
• 1 tbs. dried parsley
• 1 lb. grated cheese
• 1 box lasagna noodles

Directions
1. Brown hamburger, drain any excessive oil.
2. Stir in tomato paste, water, and sauce mix. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally. NOTE: when I first started making this meal, I thought this step was unnecessary and I skipped it. I was wrong. I ended up with soupy lasagna.
3. Mix the parsely into the cottage cheese
4. Lightly grease a large baking dish, 9x13. Spoon enough meat sauce on bottom of pan to cover
5. Top with strips of lasagna (do not cook lasagna noodles)
6. Spread half of cottage cheese and then cheese on top.
7. Repeat layers. END WITH MEAT SAUCE. Sprinkle with parmesan cheses
8. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cover with tinfoil!

Just out of the oven.

 

Serve with garlic or french bread and a salad or green beans.

Cashew Chicken

I got this recipe from a friend of mine when I got married. She gave me a starter kit of ingredients and recipes. Since I didn't buy most of the sauce ingredients, there aren't any prices this time. It's delicious though!

Cashew Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Oil
2-4 Garlic cloves
1 lb boneless chicken breast thinly sliced
½ c cashews
1 red pepper , sliced in stir-fry chunks or strips
1 scallion, thinly sliced for garnishing (optional)

Sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1tsp cornstarch in water
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/8 tsp white pepper (can substitute regular pepper)


Directions:
1. Mix fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and white pepper; set aside.
2. Heat skillet; add oil, garlic (cook garlic in oil for about 30 seconds) then add chicken and the sauce. Stir as chicken cooks.
3. Turn heat to high and reduce the sauce until glaze forms.
4. Stir in red bell pepper (let cook for about 2 minute). If the sauce is not reduced and is thin, add enough corn starch to thicken..
5. Mix in roasted cashews and then put on a serving dish. Garnish with scallion and red bell pepper.
6. Serve best with jasmine rice; delicious with pasta as well.

Omelets

I love breakfast on the weekends. Mmm... When I was growing up, my Dad would frequently make breakfast on the weekends. His specialty: Omelets. I'm pretty sure he's the best Omelet maker ever. I would be laying in bed and hear the fork beating the eggs inside a cup and I knew: Dad's was making omelets! One of us kids would sit at the bar and beat the eggs while he put them together.

Still, when I hear an egg being beaten in a plastic container I think: Dad's making omelets!

Since moving out, I've tried to make omelets like my Dad. However, every time I tried, mine ended up being scrambled eggs. I was determined to get them right, so I practice a lot. Earlier this week, I made 2 perfect omelets. No scrambled eggs. Patience is the key.

Omelets

Ingredients
2 Eggs $0.24
Grated Cheese $0.25
Other: Whatever your heart desires! Here is what was in these particular omelets:
Ground Pork
Red Pepers
Onion
Servings 1 = $0.49-$1.00 (depending on what you put in them.


Directions
1. Crack and beat you eggs
2. Pour a little vegetable oil into a small frying pan and heat to medium low. I've found that the 3-4 works best. Pour egg in. Salt and pepper if desired.
3. Gently use a fork to scrape around the sides as the bottom side cooks.
4. Once the omelet is well cooked on the bottom flip it over using a spatula (this is where it could turn into scrambled eggs)
5. Add cheese and other ingredients.
6. Once cooked, fold together!

Good luck! What is your favorite breakfast food?

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Chicken Broccoli Casserole Recipe Ingredients 2lbs chicken, cooked and cubed 2lbs frozen broccoli, partially cooked 2 c rice 1 c grated cheese Sauce: 1 lg can cream of chicken (or 2 small) ½ c sour cream ½ c milk 1 TBSP lemon juice Servings = 6-8 Directions -Cook rice -Mix and heat up all ingredients for the sauce. Heat until smooth and creamy. -Put chicken and rice on the bottom of a 9x13 pan -Put broccoli on top of chicken -Pour sauce over top. Slightly cut into the casserole to spread sauce -Top with 1 c grated cheese and some paprika -Cook at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until heated through.

Wontons

Wonton Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 lb ground pork $2.32
2 tsp green onions, chopped $0.16
1 Tbsp soy sauce $0.10
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp curry powder $0.50
1/2 tsp sugar
1 egg $0.10
1 pkg. wonton skins $2.99
Oil
Servings: 40-44 wontons = $6.16 (not including rice and dipping sauce)

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together and put 1 tablespoon into each won ton skin.
2. Wet edges with water or egg whites, fold over and seal to make a triangle.
3. Overlap edges, seal with water or egg whites.

4. In a deep fryer, or a large pot, heat oil (enough to cover wonton) to medium-low heat (if you have it too hot, the outsides will burn and the insides won't cook, I have a picture of that in a while. You'll have to make adjustments for your burner or fryer, but I boiled mine for 6-7minutes

Dipping Sauce:
Ingredients
1 c. water
1 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon
1/2 c. vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp ketchup
Cornstarch
Directions
Bring ingredients to a boil and thicken with cornstarch (I find it easiest to mix the cornstarch with the water using a whisk before heating) Serve with rice.

Download the printable version here: Wonton Recipe

Raspberry Filled Cupcakes!

Raspberry Filled Cupcakes

What you need:
Cake box of your choice
Frosting
Jam
Cake decorating tips
Bag

Directions:
-Prepare boxed cake mix as directed. I made mine into mini cupcakes.
-Let cake cool
-Cut tip off bag and insert cake decorating tip.
-Fill the bag with jam
-Insert tip into the cupcake and squeeze
-Frosting
-Enjoy

Potato Salad $4.57

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like summer! The weather outside is not agreeing, but this salad will make it feel a little more like summer. Bring on the picnics!

Potato Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

6-8 potatoes, boiled $1.00
6 green onions $0.99
6 hard boiled eggs $0.62
4 dill pickles $0.96
Dressing: $1.00 - totally guessing here, I don't feel like doing the math to figure out the dressing.
1 c miracle whip get your $1.00 off coupon here
1/2 c mayonnaise
2 tsp mustard
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp milk
Total=$4.57
Servings: 6-8 =  $0.76-$0.57 per person!
*note: if you're like me and you don't have any mayonnaise on hand, use 1 1/2 c of miracle whip and don't put in the 2 tsp of sugar. 

Directions:
1. Boil potatoes, set aside to cool while you:
2. Mix the dressing together
3. add onions and pickles
4. Chop the potatoes into bite size and add them into the salad
5. Slice eggs and fold into the salad. Save 2 to put on top all fancy like.
6. Sprinkle paprika on top for that extra zing.

Manicotti - One of our favorite meals!

Before we go any further, I have to tell you: I kind of made this recipe up. I know, scary, right? When Devin and I were first married, he mentioned that his Mom's manicotti was one of his favorite dinners. I'd never had, or even heard of manicotti. So, on our first Valentine's Day as a married couple I called his Mom up and asked for the recipe. She responded by saying she didn't really have one, she just kinda threw it together.

AGH! As a new bride, not using a recipe was unheard of! (frankly, it still terrifies me). She gave me what directions she could, but I didn't think it would work out. Still wanting to impress my husband for with a scrumptious Valentine's dinner I went to google and looked up the recipe. There are a TON of different ways to put manicotti together. Based on tips from my mother-in-law, ideas from online recipes, and my knowledge of lasagna, I came up with this recipe. *note, it took a few times to get this right. The first time I made it, we had WAY to much filling for manicotti noodles. Not wanting to be wasteful, I tried putting it on a sandwhich the next day. NOT a good idea. Leave it for inside the noodles. 

 Okay, on to the recipe:

Manicotti:
1/2 lb ground beef $1.75
1/2 container of cottage cheese $0.79
1 pkg. Itallian mix cheese $1.25
1 c. cheddar cheese $.20
1 box manicotti noodles $2.29
1 jar Ragu Garden Combination Sauce $1.89 (I have tried multiple brands and flavors, this one is by FAR the best for this meal) 
Total: $8.17
4 Servings = $2.04 per person. Pretty good for a fancy meal!


Directions:
1. Brown the hamburger. Season with salt and pepper as desired. 
2. Mix all the ingredients (except the sauce an noodles, of course) together in a bowel. Save a little bit of the Italian cheese mixture for the end. Like a handful or two.

3. Get out a cake pan and pour a small amount of the sauce on the bottom of the pan, just enough to  cover it.

4. Stuff the mixture into the uncooked manicotti. (when I first started making this, I tried using a utensil to stuff the manicotti and  it took way to long. Now I use my hands. Warning: it gets kinda messy. oh, and don't pay attention to the dirty dishes in the background). Place in pan.

5. After all of the manicotti are in the pan, pour the remaining sauce on top.

 
6. Cover the pan with tinfoil and put in the oven at 350 degrees, bake for 50 minutes. *note, it is essential to top the pan with tinfoil in order for the noodles to cook! Don't forget this step. (my pan also has tinfoil on the bottom, because they're having a rusting problem) 

7. I always top the manicotti with some Italian cheese mixture and a little parsley, because I like how it makes it look fancy.

8. Eat and enjoy! I usually serve with green beans.

 

Don't feel like cooking

Have you ever had nights where you just didn't feel like cooking? I had one of those this week. So we had sloppy joes, tater-round, and fry sauce.

Devin and I love the tater-rounds more than tater-tots because they are crunchier.

Ground Beef $2.50
Manwhich sloopy joe sauce $1.49
Buns $0.99 I bought the cheap Western Family kind
Taters $.75 (assuming you ate half the bag) 
Total $5.73
4-5 Serving =$1.43- $1.14 per/person

Now, I'm sure that many of you non Idaho and Utah readers are wondering: WHAT IS FRY SAUCE? Well, I'm going to share a simple recipe with you that will change the way you eat fries. Fry Sauce.

Pull out the ketchup and the miracle whip. Put it inside a bowel. Stir it around. The end. I usually just do the proportions half and half. Play with it and find out how you like it. Give it a try and let me know! Oh! And, don't forget to go to Miracle Whip's facebook for a $1.00 off coupon!

Have a great weekend!

An all GREEN dinner! Just in time for St. Patrick's Day

Need an idea for something scrumptious to make for St. Patrick's day? Try GREEN Chicken Bow-Tie Pasta

GREEN DINNER
1 lb Chicken $2.00 cooked and cubed. a good, quick, alternative is canned chicken. I saw the large size on sale at Walmart the other day.
1 jar Classico Alfredo Pasta $1.00 after coupon and sale at Broliums
Bow tie pasta $1.09
Green Peas $1.00
Green Kool-Aid $0.20 currently on sale at Broliums 5/$1.00
Total: $5.29
4-6 Servings = $1.32-$0.88 per person!

Directions: Cook pasta and chicken. Put 2 drops of green dye in the sauce and ta-da! I mixed the sauce, chicken, and noodles together to make the whole thing green. But, you could just make the sauce green and pour it on top of the noodles.

I made that place-mat all by myself! It was my very first sewing project, so don't look too closely.

Green pasta, green peas, green kool-aide, green place-mat, green centerpiece. 

I saved this green bottle from some Welch's Sparkling Cider and I picked up these 2 green roses. Yes, roses do come in Green! To learn more about green flowers click here.

Stroganoff Boats

Warning: for a lot of this meal, I've had the stuff in my cupboard/freezer for a long time. So I'm not sure about pricing. Just kinda guessing here. Plus, I haven't figured out how to price things like 1tbsp of Worcestershire sauce yet.

Stroganoff Boats
1 lb hamburger $2.50
1 c. sour cream $0.79 yep. we're using the other half from our Darigold coupon found on: coupons.com
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce $0.10
3 green onions $0.30
1 green pepper $1.99 I know, YIKES!!
1 tomato (optional)
1 c.grated cheese $0.87
1 loaf french bread $1.49

Total: $8.04  (remember, this price might be off, I need to go shopping to find out some prices)
4 Servings = $2.01/per person


Directions:
Brown hamburger, then add Worcestershire sauce,sour cream, and chopped green onions. Slice bread lengthwise and place on a pan (the cheese can get a little messy... you'll see in a picture below) so you might want to put tinfoil on the pan. Spread the hamburger mixture over both halves of the bread. Top with sliced pepper, tomatoes (Devin and I aren't the biggest fans of tomatoes, so we don't usually put them on ours, but you can!), and top with grated cheese. Place under broiler for 8-10 minutes. Don't let it burn!

*note: since Devin and I are only a family of 2. I halved this recipe. I will be using the rest of my french bread later! 

There's something I need to tell you about myself. I'm not the great of a cook. Just an average one. And, I make mistakes all the time and MESSES. Just ask Devin, I'm a messy cook. Remember how I told you to put down foil? This is why:

Not only did I have to scrub the pan, but it dripped off the pan and now I have to clean the bottom of the oven.

Enjoy dinner though! It's a tasty meal and one of our favorites!

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole $6.54

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole
recipe from Chris Teichert

1 box cooked Rice-a-Roni $1.00
10 oz can cream of chicken $0.99
2-3 Chicken breast (about 1.5lbs) $3.39
1 c. sour cream (half of 10oz container) $0.79 save .40 cents on Darigold sour cream with this coupon
1 column Ritz crackers, crushed  $0.72
1 tbsp. poppy seeds I bought this awhile ago, and don't remember how much it cost
3/4 c. melted butter $0.70 (price include butter used in Rice-a-Roni
Servings: 6

Total Cost $6.54
That is $1.09 per person!

Directions: In a 9x13 inch pan, spread prepared Rice-a-Roni in bottom of pan. Stir cream of chicken, sour cream, and chicken and then spread on top of the Rice-a-Roni. Mix Rita crackers, poppy seeds, and melted butter together and then sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 45-50minutes

The Ingredients

This was the first time I made this meal, and I loved it! So delicious and creamy. Serve with green beans and/or your favorite bread to make a complete meal.