Go Fishing! Good and Easy After School or Any Time Snack

Here is a snack for the kids that is healthy and fun. It is also easy on mom.

What you will need is cream cheese, celery, and fish crackers.

Smear some cream cheese on the middle of a plate. Then place the fish crackers around the cream cheese. The celery is the fishing pole.

The snacker uses the celery to dip in the cream cheese and then catches some tasty fish!

Yummy, healthy and fun!

Thanks to Family Fun

Frugal Recipie- Pork Shoulder Tacos and Taco Soup

These are favorite recipes for my family. They are my favorite because my husband does all the cooking in one day and the rest of the week I only need to heat it up, plus they are delicious!

Eating leftovers is a key way to save money on your groceries and if a recipe tastes great there should be no problem eating it again the next day. You can always spice up leftovers with added ingredients and different side dishes.

I have a family of seven and the Pork shoulder Tacos and Soup could last us all week if we wanted or needed it to.

Pork Shoulder Tacos

One Pork Shoulder (I buy one for about $12, this size gives a huge amount of meat)

Two sliced onions

Two diced jalapenos

Three garlic cloves

Half a pack of bacon

Two Limes

Spice Mixture (We don't measure the spices, we put how much we like, but we come out with a full cup of the spice mixture)

Garlic powder
Onion powder
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Black pepper
Paprika
Chili powder
Little cinnamon


Cut the shoulder into three equal pieces.

Put the pieces of the pork shoulder in a large pot and cover it with water.

Add half of spice mix

Boil it for two and a half hours

Once the meat easily breaks apart, pull it out of the water
remove the fatty parts and shred the rest with two forks.

(Keep the liquid in the pot you boiled the shoulder in, this will be for the soup)

In another pot, cook the half pack of bacon.

When the bacon is done, remove it and add two sliced onions, two diced jalapenos and three garlic cloves to the bacon grease and cook until the onions are soft.

Add the shredded meat to the pot with the onions. Add the remaining spice mixture and the crumbled cooked bacon. Mix it up and cook it for about 5 minutes

Squeeze Lime Juice on the taco meat before serving.

Put The pork shoulder Taco meant on your tortillas and add any fixings you would like.

(You will need to save some of the shredded Taco meat for the soup, but trust me you will have plenty.)

Pork Shoulder Taco Soup

One large can of Chicken broth

Six Roma tomatoes

Two onions

Four garlic cloves

Salt and pepper to taste


Add Chicken broth to the water you boiled the pork shoulder in. We use equal amounts water to broth, which makes a full stock pot, (about one large can of chicken broth.)

In a blender blend...
Six roma tomatoes
Two onions
Four garlic cloves

Take the blended ingredients and add to the broth.

Add the shredded pork (As much or as little as you want)

Heat for about 10 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

The soup is delicious on it's own but you can add tortilla chips, cheese, noodles or whatever you would like.


Enjoy!

Frugal Friday: Corn, Bacon,and Potato Chowder

1/2 pound of bacon
1 small onion, diced
3 Tbs flour
1 quart milk
1/2 pound frozen corn
4 or 5 potatoes (about a pound), peeled, cubed, and simmered until tender
salt and pepper to taste
a few sprigs of parsley
paprika for garnish if you like

Cook the bacon in a large pot. If you cook a few slices of bacon just for this, drain all but 3 Tbs of the grease from the pan. Set the bacon aside and chop it.

Cook the onion in the bacon grease 5 minutes or so, until softened. Sprinkle the flour in and stir. Cook over medium-low heat 2-3 minutes, stirring almost constantly. Stir in the milk slowly. Turn the heat up to medium and bring to a boil, stirring almost constantly. Turn the heat down but make sure it's still simmering and cook a minute to thicken the base of your soup.

Add the corn, potatoes, bacon, salt and pepper. Heat through. Ladle into bowls and garnish with parsley.

Enjoy!

Frugal Friday: Clam Spaghetti

Clam Spaghetti

This Recipe serves 8

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package uncooked spaghetti 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 (6.5 ounce) cans chopped clams with juice

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions: 1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain. 2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the garlic 1 minute, until tender. Mix in the clams and juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 1/2 cup. 3. In a large bowl, toss the spaghetti with the sauteed clams, chopped parsley, and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley sprigs to serve. ENJOY!

Frugal Friday:Mom's Rice and Bean Vegetarian Enchiladas (Lent Friendly)

My family loves these enchiladas. It is my own recipe so there is no measuring. You can add as much or as little ingredients that will fit your family size.

The recipe below gives me two 9x13 dishes of enchiladas. I freeze the second batch for a quick dinner.

Ingredients:

Large flour tortillas

One large can or two small cans of red enchilada sauce

One box of Spanish rice

One large can or two small cans of re fried beans (If I am making this for lent I use the vegetarian re fried beans)

One can of whole kernel corn

Shredded cheddar cheese (I like sharp cheddar) Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Cook Spanish rice according to package directions. When the rice is done add the can of corn, some cheese and some of the enchilada sauce to moisten.

Spread out the tortillas. Spread the re fried beans on the tortilla then spread the rice mixture on top of the re fried beans. Fold each end of the tortilla inwards and roll into an enchilada.

Pour some of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. Place your rolled enchiladas into the baking dish, pour the rest of the sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top.

Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy

Frugal Friday: Mom’s Homemade Chicken Soup

Mom’s Homemade Chicken Soup

Last Friday I posted a roasted chicken recipe. If you are being frugal I would hope you saved the chicken carcass to make soup. If not that’s ok you can make this soup without it.

This is my own recipe so there is no measuring, here we go, Mom’s Homemade Chicken Soup.

Ingredients:

One Chicken Carcass (left over from dinner) if you don’t have this or you would like more chicken in your soup then I use a four-piece package of chicken thighs-Bone in.

Carrots

Onion

Celery

Potatoes (optional)

Chicken Bullion (optional) I have learned that if you make the soup with chicken on the bone and you use enough salt you really don’t need bullion.

Salt

Pepper

Egg noodles (or any type of soup noodle you may like)

Directions:

Cut up all vegetables and put them in a large pot. How many vegetables is up to you. Put in the Chicken carcass, chicken thighs or both. Fill the pot almost to the top with water and set it on the stove to boil.

If I am not using bullion I like to boil the soup until it reduces a bit that way it becomes more concentrated with chicken goodness. Use salt and pepper to your taste.

Take out carcass and pick all the meat off of it that you missed at your last dinner and throw it back into the pot.

If you are using Chicken thighs take them out and do the same as I stated above.

Cook soup until vegetables are tender. I boil my noodles in a separate pot and dish out the noodles and the soup separate, that way if I have soup left over I can freeze it without having mushy noodles in it.

Enjoy

Frugal Friday Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chicken Recipe

Most of us are looking for ways to save money. A good way to save money and keep within a budget is to cut back on the grocery bill.

I am going to post a frugal meal recipe every Friday. These recipes are some that I cook often, have tried, or will be trying in the future.

Enjoy

Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chicken

From Good Housekeeping

INGREDIENTS
1 whole 31/2 lb Chicken
1tablespoon olive oil or butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
¼ teaspoon of pepper
¾ teaspoon of salt
½ cup water
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove bag with giblets and neck from chicken cavity; discard or reserve for another use.
2. In cup, mix olive oil, lemon peel, and pepper. With fingertips, gently separate skin from meat on chicken breast. Rub lemon-pepper mixture on meat under skin. Tie legs together with string. Rub chicken all over with salt.
3. Place chicken, breast side up, on rack in small roasting pan (13" by 9"). Pour 1/4 cup water into roasting pan. Roast chicken 1 hour or until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced with tip of knife and temperature on meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reaches 175 degrees F.
4. When chicken is done, lift from roasting pan and tilt slightly to allow juices inside cavity to run into pan. Place chicken on platter. Let chicken stand 10 minutes to allow juices to set for easier carving.
5. Remove rack from roasting pan. Skim and discard fat from pan juices. Add remaining 1/4 cup water to pan juices; cook 1 minute on medium, stirring constantly. Serve chicken with pan juices.

When Life Gives You Mushy Bananas make Banana Bread

I love banana bread. It is so easy to make and so good to eat. Here is a simple recipe that tastes scrumptious. You can add spices and nuts to your taste.

Banana bread

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
2. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Get a helper to mix the dry ingredients.


Then mix the wet ingredients.


Don't forget to mash up the bananas.


An audience is always good.


Pour the batter into a bread pan and put it in the oven.


There you have it, yummy banana bread!