Tortillas!

Yum! We had tortilla wraps for dinner tonight, and I thought I would post the recipe for all of you to use :) I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. I really ought to make them more often, I make a double batch and they are usually gone in a day or two! Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups of Flour (I use a combination of white and whole wheat) 1 tsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp Salt 2 tbsp Lard 1 cup Hot Water Put the first three ingredients into a bowl. "Cut" the lard in using either a pastry cutter or a fork until the flour looks like little misshapen pebbles - when it all looks evenly incorporated. Then add the hot water and mix until it becomes dough. I start mixing with a spatula and finish with my hands. Make sure you knead the finished dough about 10-15 times, meaning once it's all incorporated, keep kneading for about half a minute. Then separate the dough into 6 sections and form balls with them. Let them sit for about 15 minutes. When you come back, you are going to want to pre-heat a skillet to medium or medium high heat. Then, flour a work surface. There are two ways to do this. The first is with a rolling pin. I find this exhaustive, and I can never get them even or even round, however they come out nice and thin. The other way is to take a pie plate or heavy bottomed skillet (but not the one you are pre-heating). Flour your surface and the bottom of your plate. Put your dough ball in the middle, and flatten it with the plate or skillet, pushing not only in the center, but rocking around in a circular motion. This gives you nice, even, round tortillas, however not as thin as rolling produces. Put each one in the dry skillet one at a time for approximately 10-15 seconds per side. The first side will bubble, and then you turn it over and let it sit 10 seconds. Then you take it off and put the next one on. Let them cool slightly. Next, fill em up and eat! We use these for quesadillas, soft tacos, burritos, etc. Tonight we had some leftover pork which I put in the skillet with some teryaki sauce, and some red pepper and broccoli. Soft pork tacos, and I sprinkled cheese on the top. For quesadillas, I butter one side of 2 tortillas. Put one in the skillet butter side down. Add cheese and chicken if you like. Put the other tortilla on butter side up. Wait till it melts slightly and flip. On the second side, you only have to wait 30 seconds or so. Done! Another thing you can do with these is make tortilla chips. Once you have them cooked, cut them into 6ths with a pizza cutter. Put them on a baking sheet, and lightly brush them with olive oil. Put them in at 350 and bake until crisp. Lightly salt and enjoy! I hope you are having fun with the recipes I have been posting! Please comment if you try one, or if there's something you'd like to learn how to cook! God bless, Shellie

Breadcrumbs

OK, so now a recipe for breadcrumbs :) I had been talking about them in my previous post, and hadn't yet posted them! I start with bread. The reason I make my own breadcrumbs is because I just don't like the ingredients they use to make commercial products. So making breadcrumbs out of bread from the store is counterproductive to me. If I could afford a wheat grinder, I would grind my own wheat to make the flour to make the bread to make the breadcrumbs :) But that isn't in our horizons, so for now, I buy flour :) FYI - Sometimes I make white and sometimes wheat, but I haven't perfected the wheat recipe yet which is why I have yet to post it. Anyway, here's my recipe for breadcrumbs. Bread - I do a half loaf at a time, we use breadcrumbs a lot. So if I know I am going to be making breadcrumbs, I make sure to bake two loaves of bread. Garlic Powder Onion Powder Salt Pepper Oregano Parsley Basil I find that this combination of ingredients closely mimics the taste of the store-bought breadcrumbs, but it's still so much better! :) Over the summer I grow my own herbs, and use that in the mix - OH SO GOOD! Preheat the oven to 375. So, I take the bread and cube it up and put it in the food processor. If you don't have a food processor, don't worry. Take the half hunk of bread as it is and use a box grater on the second smallest side to grate the bread up. If using a food processor, I also add all the seasonings before I grind it up. To tell you the truth, I have never measured the seasonings. I shake it in till it "looks right!" A lot of good I am, right? Anyway, I would start with 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon for the salt, pepper (less is better, in my opinion), onion powder, garlic powder and a teaspoon for the oregano, parsley and basil. These are my tastes - yours may be different. Now turn on the food processor and let it go for 30 seconds or so - until fine crumbs form. If you were using a box grater, do it over a bowl, and then after it's all grated up, put in your seasonings and mix. Now spread it in an even layer on a baking sheet with sides. I wouldn't do this in a glass or pyrex dish, though. Put it in the preheated oven for 5-7 minutes. Your house will smell heavenly. When they are done, take them out and store in an airtight container. They don't last long, so if you aren't using them immediately, I suggest storing them in the fridge. Use them exactly as you would store bought crumbs. Truthfully, if I am making something like meatballs, I don't even toast them, I just put them in as fresh. But for something like pork chops or chicken, I need them to be toasted. We are on our way to being more health conscious! Paying attention to what goes in our food is so important. I know I say this often lately, but look at the ingredient lists on your food packages and decide - make an informed decision - whether or not you want that in your body. God bless! Shellie

What's For Dinner

I promised recipes, and I have been severely lacking in that. Sorry! A lot of the things that I make are standard fare, but I have to remember a time when the only things I knew how to make had directions on the back of the box! So I will start posting my recipes with cooking times, techniques, etc to hopefully help you get the most money out of your grocery dollar. :) Please note that I will be writing these to the person who has little cooking experience, so forgive me if this stuff is old-had to you. If you are already a whiz in the kitchen, these recipe segments are probably not for you. This recipe is for oven pork chops with rice. Simple. :) Add a salad or a vegetable and it's an easy meal that you can feel good about serving. (A note at the bottom of this post about that.) Ingredients: Breadcrumbs (I will post a recipe soon) One egg with a splash of milk Butter for greasing the baking sheet Pork Chops - enough for your family :) Long Grain White Rice (again, enough for your family) I start by preheating the oven to 425. Then, I butter the baking sheet - basically I rub the end of the butter on the sheet :) The pork chops I use are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch and boneless. I beat the egg with the milk in a bowl, and put some breadcrumbs in a dish. First, put the pork chop in the egg to coat, turning it once, then put it in the breadcrumbs to coat both sides. Then I put it on the baking sheet. Do this with each pork chop. Then I put those in the oven for about 20 minutes. Now I get out the pot for the rice. For my family, we use 1 cup of rice, and I add 1 1/2 cups of liquid. Sometimes just water, sometimes a mix of water and broth, sometimes just broth - depends on my mood. Put all into a pot, and turn to high. When it boils, turn it down to low and put the lid on the pot. Set the timer for 18 minutes. They should both be done at the same time. A note about this recipe. I start by baking bread, then turning the bread into breadcrumbs. I already have a bread recipe up, but not the breadcrumb recipe as of yet. I will put that one up as well, so you have the benefit of this being the most wholesome meal you could feed your family. Please start thinking about the foods you are eating - look at the container of breadcrumbs to see what is in there. Do you see some ingredients that you don't recognize? Look them up on google or another search engine - what are they? What do they do? Most breadcrumbs have 1) too much sodium, 2) some form of MSG (not listed as msg, but it's in there), and 3) quite a few unrecognizable "ingredients". Starting to eat healthy is easier than you might think, and has benefits that far outweigh the time it takes to do what is required. God Bless! Shellie

This Week's Deals

OK - I know I have been lax. I am sorry! LOL I never intended for this to be a full time ministry, just more of a "I am doing it so why not share" type thing. I realize the conundrum this makes, as not many people visit regularly because you don't know when I have made a new post or anything. Here's a simple solution. Over to the right there is a "subscribe by email" button. If you do, you will be emailed when I do make a new post, and you can check it out either by email or by clicking over to the blog. The nice thing about it is twofold... 1) I never see your email address, so you don't have to worry about personal identity issues or whatnot and 2) if you ever get tired of me and my emails, you can unsubscribe - and I will never be the wiser! :) So this week's deals... There wasn't much anywhere but Shoprite this week as far as I could see - so I may be going to multiple stores this week. You may see a change in the types of things that I post, and that reflects the fact that there are certain things we can't eat anymore on this new "diet". If you want to know if something is a good deal, and I haven't posted it, please feel free to comment with the question - it may be a good deal and I just didn't put it in because I didn't notice it! So our first store is WEIS. There are only 3 things there I am interested in, but I have to pass by it to get to any other stores, so I may as well stop in, right? Strawberries are BOGO - but they don't list the price of one, so I am not sure yet if I will get those. BirdsEye Vegetables 10-16 oz are $1. This is an excellent price if you choose the 16oz. Also, there was a coupon for $1/3 in last week's paper, so if you add that in, they are 66c ea! Sweet Potatoes are 99c / lb. We go through a lot of sweet potatoes around here, and although that isn't the best price I have ever seen, we are out and it's good enough! ;) That's it for Weis, but I may browse around, sometimes there are some good things there that were unadvertised. Next up is Rite Aid. I haven't been in a Rite Aid in quite a while now! It seems they have much better sales in the warmer months than in the colder ones. But this week they have 3 things I am looking at. Johnson & Johnson Baby Wash is $2.99, and you get $1 up+. There is a coupon here for $1 off, so you pay $1.99 and get $1 up+ back. 99c for baby wash! :) Stayfree Pads are $2.49 ea with a buy 2 get $1.49 up. Here's how that would work: Buy 2 @ $4.98 Use 2 $1/1 coupons from this week's paper Pay $2.98 + tax Get $1.49 up+ It's like paying 75c ea! Carefree Liners are 2 for $5 with a $2 up+ on 2. So... Buy 2 @ $5 Use 2 50c off coupons Pay $4 get $2 up+ It's like getting them for $1 ea. Next up is CVS. I know, I am really stretching it here with a few items at each place. However, I am at the point where there are no REALLY good sales at any one store, So we are forced to take our business everywhere :) The good thing is there is more than just three things at CVS :) Kraft BBQ Sauce is $1 - if you were lucky enough to grab up a few of the 55c off tearpad q's a while back, that's only 45c for bbq sauce. Still not a bad price on it's own, though. Olay Daily Facials are $3.99 for a 30ct. Ok, Ok. I know, not the best purchase. But I like them. And I am out. And they hardly ever go on sale. Kleenex are 97c ea. There were 50c/3 coupons a while back, so if you have one of those, you will pay $2.41+tax for 3, so 80c each. Not bad. Halls cough drops are $1.87 with a $1 ECB. There was a 75c coupon this week, so: Buy 1 @ $1.87 Use 75c off 1 Pay $1.12 et back $1 ecb It's like paying 12c! Tums are $3.79. There is a $1 coupon here. You do have to register to get it, though. But still, tums for $2.79 isn't bad, and we do use them here. And the CVS Diapers are BOGO 1/2 off. I don't know what the start price is, though, so I don't know if it's a deal till I go there. Finally, Shoprite. Not a bad week there. If you get the paper - check your flier. They put some super coupons in there, and one is for Chuck Roast at less than $2 a pound - good deal!!! Farm Flavor Apple Juice is still price locked at $1.49 for half gallon. Shop Rite Lemon Juice is $1.49 Tuttorosso Tomatoes are 3 for $2 for the 32 oz size Eggland's Best Large eggs are $1.77!!! Use your 50c qoupons to get these for 77c each! :) Great Lakes Chunk cheese is 99c ea. I believe this is the 8oz size Shoprite Mozzerella is $1.99!!! for the 1lb size!!! Get as many as they will let you. If you won't use it, bring it here and I will give you the money :) Shoprite Ricotta is $3.99. Not the best price, but what's mozzerella with out ricotta? Shoprite Steam In Bag Vegetables are $1 ea - this is a good price IF they are about a pound. Any less than that and I would hold off. Shop Rite Pure Olive Oil is $9.99 for the 101 oz. We are seeing more and more olive oils go on sale. I am going to pick this up in fear that the price will go up sometime soon. Boneless Chicken Breast is $1.99/lb. Again, not the best price - but good. It has been lower, but not recently. I will get some. Center Cut Pork Chops are $1.99/lb. Same as the olive oil - because we have seen good sales on this the past few weeks, I am stocking up because before long, it will be at $2.50 or $3. Plumrose Premium Bacon is $2.99/lb. It's sad that I even post this, because this time last year was when we were getting the 50c oscar meyer bacon :( Whole Fresh Picnic Pork is $1.29/lb No Yolks Egg Noodles are $1.49 - if you haven't used it yet, there was a 50c/1 coupon quite a while ago that hasn't expired yet, making these 50c. Otherwise, it's not worth the price. Bartlett Pears are 99c/lb Empire Apples are $3.99 for 5lbs Bananas are 49c/lb Kiwi fruit are 6 for $1.99 Grapes are 99c/lb! Watermelon is 89c/lb Mangoes are 3 for $1.99 Did you notice no coupon match-ups for ShopRite. I have been noticing that for the last few weeks. The sales haven't been matching the coupons. Is it me? Because we are eating differently? Or are they doing this on purpose? Anyway, so that's the deal - I hope it saves you some dough :) God Bless, Shellie

First look - Shoprite week of 3/13

For the longest time (read: almost the entire winter!) Shoprite's sales have not been exciting me. However last week, and possibly this look pretty good. Good enough that I spent half the month's grocery money in one week last week! (Oops! Good thing I stockpile :) ) So this week, here's what I am looking at: (note, this isn't what I am buying - these are the good prices I see. I will make up my list later :)

Boneless Chicken Breast - $1.69/lb
Red Delicious Apples - 79c/lb - WOW
Corned Beef Brisket - $1.88/lb
Cabbage - 17c/lb - you won't see cabbage this low again for a while, if past sales cycles are indicitive. If you have a dehydrator, now is the time to buy! It reconstitutes well in soup.
Tuttorosso Canned Tomatoes 28-29 oz - 3 for $2, which equals out to 67c ea
Swiss Miss Pudding 4 pack - 99c
Land O Lakes American Cheese - $4.99/lb. I remember the days where cheese could readily be found for $2.99/lb, but no more. This is a good price, I am sad to say.
Bryers Ice Cream 48oz - $2.50
Purex Laundry Detergent - $1.99 - even better if there is a coupon - oh, look if you buy 2, you get $2 off your next order! So it's like getting it for 99c a bottle.
Suave Shampoo - 66c.
Green Seedless Grapes - $1.29/lb
Eastern White Potatoes 5lb bag - $1.49 - these dehydrate into excellent hash browns, cubed potato for stew, you can blanch and freeze them as french fries (comment me if you want me to describe how) - these can be preserved in so many ways!
Center Cut Pork Chops - $1.99/lb (Hey Mary, how much were those whole big ones we bought last week? - I don't want to feel dumb for buying one! :) )
Chock Full Of Nuts 10.3 oz coffee - $2.99 - with the price of coffee lately, this is a good buy. If you get there before tuesday, you can use the $1 coupon from the paper a few weeks ago!
Salada tea Bags - $1.99
Jif Peanut Butter 18oz - $1.99
Thomas' 6 Pack English Muffins - $1.59 If you don't know how to make your own (or don't have time), this is a good price. Comment me if you want me to put up a recipe!
Boticelli Pasta 1lb - 59c - a good price if you are out of that 40c pasta from the Can Can sale
If you are looking for Olive Oil, last week, there were two brands on sale for $9.99 for a 101oz bottle. I know, that doesn't help this week. However, one of the tags said "save $1" which means it's regularly only $10.99 - an excellent price, much better than the sales in the flier.
ShopRite Risotto 35oz - $2.99 not excellent, but good enough if you need some
If you don't make your own bread crumbs, you should! It's easy and fast, and better for you than: Colonna Bread Crumbs - 99c
Wish Bone Dressing 8oz - 88c
Shoprite 20lb bag of Long Grain White Rice - $9.99 - I have not seen rice on sale in a while - and hardly a coupon to be found. This is a good price.
Shoprite Solid White Tuna- 78c (I don't eat tuna, you will never see a tuna recipe on my blog, unless you guest post one - c'mon, what are you waiting for?)
French's Mustard - 99c- It hasn't been on sale since last summer, so you may need this
ShopRite Macaroni & Cheese - 4 for $2 Sadly for my son, we don't eat this anymore, we make our own, however this is a good price, unless you will be at Aldi's, who's price is better! :)
Rold Gold Pretzels 16oz - $1.99
Farm Flavor Apple Juice 64oz - $1.49 - obviously this stores well, so if you have a juice drinker in your house, pick some up :)
I kinda skim over the snacks stuff - we can't have much of it anymore, and I don't like to tempt myself!
Kleenex tissues - 3 for $4 - there was a cat printing out with almost every order 2 weeks ago for kleenex, so you may have one for this.
Ziplock Sandwich Bags 50ct - $1.59
Pork Rib End 3lb or more - $1.99/lb
White Mushrooms 10oz - $1.99
Mangoes - 99c ea
Cucumbers - 3 for $1.99, or 66c ea

There's "Super Coupons" in the flyer - 2 looked good to me:
Fresh Pork Spareribs $1.99/lb
Golden Pineapples whole or cored, $1.99 ea

That's all, folks! :) Quite a list to look at. I will post any coupon matchups later :) Remember, this is just my looking at the ad - I don't look at many snacks, or prepared or frozen foods. I also don't know prices on pet foods, or most baby items anymore. Oh, and I don't buy much paper goods. These are just the best prices I see this week either on things I buy or things I know the prices of. Thanks for watching :)
God Bless,
Shellie
PS - I am not sure how this would work... however - ground beef is $2.50/lb - however other cuts of beef are $1.99/lb. I have a meat grinder. Should I buy another cut of beef and try to make my own?

Recipes - follow along

I am going to start posting what I am buying each week. Then, you can follow along as to what I am making with the foods I am buying :) I am not positive it will work, however for one simple reason. I stockpile. I have beat in my freezer from the last meat sale, produce dehydrated from last week's loss leaders, and a pantry with dried goods on it. However, I promise never to post a recipe that has a "special" ingredient, anything out of the ordinary - and usually I will post no expensive ingredients.

Also to keep in mind that we have a few food allergies. One of which is no small matter - vegetable oils and soy ingredients. That eliminates A LOT of food. It also is healthier not to cook with those items anyway, so the one "specialized" ingredient that I do use is Coconut Oil. You can get it in the oil aisle at Walmart, it has no scent and no flavor. If you are opposed to coconut oil, when you see it in my recipes, use cooking oil if you so choose. Also, we (my husband and I) cannot have onions, thus there are no onions in my recipes. Please feel free to start with a base of onion in any of my recipes. Also, if you have a recipe you want me to post, let me know :)

So tonight we had Corned Beef Brisket, which is EXTREMELY simple :) It was on sale last week, and again this week at Shoprite. We got a 3 lb one, and it fed my family of 3 adults and 3 kids, with some left over. Basically, you put the brisket in a stockpot or pasta pot (with the drain insert removed, of course!) Fill the pot with water, put the lid on and turn it up high. When it comes to a boil, lower the heat to low, and skim off the top. Then put the lid back on and leave it for as many hours as you have pounds. We let ours cook for 3 hours. Then you take it out, let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. Cut across the grain, and serve :) We had it with baked potatoes and corn. (Get it, corned beef brisket?) LOL @ myself.

Anyway, that was tonight's dinner. I have also started shopping at Aldi's as well. I am finding that their prices sometimes beat Shoprite's even after coupon. Aldi's doesn't take coupons - and the only forms of payment are Cash, Debit Card, or EBT (food stamps). But their value is bar-none. They mostly sell their own brand items, and the ONLY thing I have tried from there that I didn't care for were the canned veggies - they are full of salt and don't offer a salt-free option. However, their frozen bagged veggies are great. I get pasta (when it's not free at Shoprite), tomato paste, produce (all their produce is excellent at hard-to-beat prices), cheese, vanilla, etc. Many items.

Anyway, please comment and let me know if you want to see more recipes, and what types!
God Bless,
Shellie

Frugal Recipes - Bread

Yup :) I started making all our bread. I have 2 recipes I really like, however this one is easier to start with, especially if you are new to making bread. This one is a white-flour recipe, and thus not as healthy as the other recipe, but if you are new to making bread, this is the one to start with. So, here it is!

1 Tbsp Yeast
2 Tbsp Sugar, Brown Sugar, Honey, Succanat, etc. (choose one :) ) No artificial sweeteners, your bread won't rise.
2 Cups Hot Water (a little hotter than body temp - should feel warm to the touch. approx 110 degrees)

Mix the above in a bowl and wait 5 minutes. It will get foamy :)
Then add 2 cups of Flour, and a Tablespoon of Salt. Mix with a wooden spoon, or silicone spatula. When it's all mixed in, add another cup of flour. Mix that in. Now it should be getting hard to mix with the spatula. Add in more flour, (I usually add it in 1 cup at a time at first, then 1/2 a cup at a time, so I don't add too much). It will take between 5 and 6 cups of flour.

When it is too stiff to use the spoon, start kneading by hand. Stick the heel of your hand (the back of your palm near your wrist) into the middle of the dough, and press outward. Then use your fingers to pull it up and into the middle. Now turn the bowl a quarter of a turn and do it again. And again. And again :) In total, between adding the flour and kneading it all in, you should be doing this for a total of 8 minutes. c'mon, it's an arm workout :) When you are done, the dough should be just past sticky. So if it's dry, you added too much flour. Easy fix... add a tablespoon of water and knead :)

Now you let it sit. Put a tea towel or dishrag (clean, of course) over top and walk away. Set your timer for half an hour. Go do something fun with your kiddo's :)

Oh, you're back! Ok, now, take the towel off and look at your dough. It should have risen slightly (it doesn't rise a whole lot). Take out a cookie sheet. Now take the dough out of the bowl and split it in half. Roll each half into a ball. It will let some air out of it. That's good. Put both balls on the cookie sheet and cut an "X" into each loaf with a sharp knife. Don't go down too far, just score the dough.

Put the cookie sheet in the cold oven on the middle rack. On the bottom rack, put a baking dish with some water in it. Maybe 2 cups of water. Set the oven to 400 degrees, and set the timer for 40 minutes.

When the 40 minutes is up, take out the bread. It's done :) Wait for it to cool slightly, then slice and indulge :) I wrap mine in foil, and leave it out on the counter. It lasts for about a week.

Let me know how it turns out!