I Can't Stop Myself

Okay so now that I am feeling better what am I craving? CHOCOLATE!!! And boy do I love my Gramma for aiding my addiction! She just recently sent us a care package and in it was this...



Do you see the one with the red oval around it? That's what I'm chowing down on. Oh.My.Goodness. You have not experienced happiness until you have put one of these yummy yummy gems into your mouth. It's a luscious macadamia nut enrobed in crunchy toffee surrounded by creamy milk chocolate. I'm not usually a fan of milk chocolate but these things, OH! So good! So sinful. So addictive. I need to stop eating them right now. Stop I say.

If you don't have a nice Gramma that lives in Hawaii, then go to www.maunaloa.com and order yourself some. RIGHT NOW! GO! HURRY!

Fabu Chicken and Noodles

Thanks to an apple, a hard boiled egg, two Excedrin and a bowl of Chicken and Noodles, I'm feeling much better. No more nausea and no more dizzy spells. No the Chicken and Noodle recipe is not magic by any means, but it is quick, easy, cheap and delicious. Just the thing I needed after two days of being under the weather.

Kristi's Chicken and Noodles less than $1.25 for lunch for 3 people

1 C small pasta shape (I used macaroni but any small shape would work), about $0.30
1 C frozen mixed veggies, about $0.30
1/2 C diced chicken, about $0.25

Sauce *:

1 C water, negligible
1 pkt or cube no sodium chicken bouillon, $0.16
1/2 tsp onion powder, negligible
1/2 tsp garlic powder, negligible
1/2 tsp thyme, negligible
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning, negligible
3/4 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt **, negligible
2 Tbsp flour, negligible


Cook your pasta according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking whisk the sauce ingredients together until everything is well incorporated and there are no lumps. Set aside.

In the last minute of cooking, add your frozen mixed veggies and bring back to a boil.

Drain the pasta and veggies and add your chicken and sauce. Cook on high heat until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is heated through.

Serve and enjoy!

*If you are not like my family and have no issues with dairy then you can double the recipe and use a can of undiluted cream of something soup instead of making the sauce.

**We don't usually consume a whole lot of salt so if this isn't salty enough for you please feel free to add more.

I'm Back!

It has been one interesting week. A week of conflict for Jeff and I and a week of illness for Jeff and I. Amazing how the children escaped it. Now we are in full blizzard mode.

We started the week in a "great way" with a fight; and we are ending the week in a great way, our stomachs are finally starting to resemble normal.

The children have ruled the roost the past couple of days. They have been pigging out on junk food and canned soup. It's about all I have been able to make for them. Today I am tackling a mountain of dishes and laundry and toys. Things tend to pile up when both parents are sick and the kids run freely through the house. You know you aren't feeling well when you allow the kids to have a fruit roll up, arare and sweet confetti puffed rice (I googled and googled this and could not for the life of me find it online) for lunch.

I'm still not 100% today. I'm feeling a little dizzy and still a little queasy but that is so much better than being bed ridden like I was a couple of days ago. My entire body hurt and I was well...to lack a better way to phrase it, peeing out my butt. I know you just really needed to know that. I know. Hey I'm the queen of TMI, what can I say.

Jeff is just now starting to feel better. He absolutely refused to listen to anything I had to say and thus made himself feel a whole lot worse before he felt any better. Yesterday even though he was still having his "issues" as mentioned above and throwing up, he was eating fruit roll ups, strawberries and drinking orange juice. No wonder he was up all night again last night, while I slept fairly well considering. Now that hes listening to me and eating what he's supposed to and drinking his ginger tea, he's finally starting to feel better.

Score one for the mom! I wish I could say that this would teach him to listen to me because I'm ALWAYS right. But I know it won't. One can only hope. Look for a couple more posts today as I catch up on not posting for over a week.

When Will I Learn?

So all day today I had a raging migraine. From 7am until just about a half an hour ago. There are a couple of reasons why I get migraines:

1. Poor Diet.
Either too much salt or sugar or both too much salt and sugar.
2. Dehydration.
Not drinking enough water.
3. Caffeine withdrawl.
I like my coffee...a little too much sometimes.

So what was the cause of my migraine today? All of the above. Yep, that would be why I titled this post, "When Will I Learn?" 'cause I don't. I don't ever learn. I eat crap, don't drink enough water and get my body used to too much caffeine and the next day I'm layed out all day with a queasy stomach and hot needles burying themselves into my forehead.

So what finally got rid of my headache? 2 cups of coffee, 4 Excedrine tablets, 64oz of water and a plate of migas.

And why am I writing this? Well because I think you care and if you don't, I needed to share. :)

Nummy Nummy Choctat Take

That's all Kaitlynn said as she plowed her way through this oh so good cake! Sorry there is no picture. I could take a picture of the empty bowl...

But this cake is fabulous and a must try!

I decided to try a recipe from "Not Your Mothers Slow Cooker Cookbook". There are some really great recipes in this book but none I have tried is as good as this. Could be that it was chocolate cake? You can't really go wrong with chocolate cake. But this isn't just any chocolate cake. It makes this pudding sauce at the bottom and wow...I have no words! Run out and get yourself a 1.5 qt slow cooker and make this...NOW!

Hot Fudge Spoon Cake

Cake:
3/4C all purpose flour
1/4C baking cocoa powder
2/3C sugar
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2C milk
2 Tbsp butter (melted)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
1/4C baking cocoa powder
1/4C granulated sugar
1/4C firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2C boiling water

1. Grease the slow cooker
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and add the milk, melted butter, canola oil, and vanilla, stir in the liquid ingredients until well blended. Batter will be thick. Spread evenly into slow cooker
3. To make the topping, combine all the ingredients in another bowl (I washed out the original bowl and just used that. I hate having a lot of dishes to wash) and whisk until smooth. Gently pour the batter in the cooker; DO NOT STIR. Cover and cook on high until puffed and the top layer is set about 2hrs to 2 hrs 15 minutes.
4. Turn off the slow cooker and let stand 30 minutes before serving. (I did not do this. I served it as soon as it was done and it was GOOD!).

ENJOY!! I know you will. This is the BEST cake ever! It makes this well...hot fudge sauce at the bottom of the slow cooker. Oh man so good!

As for cost this is a very frugal dessert. I bought several containers of baking cocoa when they were on sale at the commissary for $1.00. Yep and they were the dark chocolate variety too. My favorite. The flour I purchase at King Soopers for $1.99. It's the cheapest in town even compared to Walmart and the Commissary. So pretty much for pennies you can have a great dessert! The original recipe called for 1/4C of melted butter but I substituted half for canola oil because I'm running low on butter. You could use all canola oil and save yourself even more money.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free variation: Replace the flour with GF flour. Replace the butter and canola oil with coconut oil and replace the milk with your choice of milk replacement. We prefer vanilla rice milk.

A Lazy Monday Afternoon Walk

There is a great area near our house. It's a very light walk with lots to see along the way. Kaitlynn walked most of it all by herself. That is except when I had to pick her up because she was very mad that the rocks on the trail would not get out of her way. I don't ask why. Mine is only to make the, "Out My Way! Out My Way Wock!" stop so that we can continue our walk. But it was still a very nice walk and it was a great day for it. It was wonderful family time together without any distractions and the girls enjoyed seeing all of the animals that called the area home. Kaitlynn even tried to convince us that she saw a snake. She was very adamant about it too. At one point she was even calling to "the snake" which was just a fallen branch by the trail. Kylie enjoyed investigating and yelling out whenever she saw a bird or a squirrel. I definitely think that we need to start going on family walks more often. Even sour puss Jeff had a good time.

Here are just a couple of pictures from our walk today.



This was at the very beginning of the trail head. Kaitlynn was just walking along as happy as can be. She was singing to herself, "I walking! I walking!" This while Kylie was trotting up ahead. She kept trying to get to the next sign so we could read and "learn 'bout everything."



Some of the local wildlife. A goose sitting on her nest.



Some kind of bird in the cattails. I'm sure that there was a sign that told me the exact name of this bird but I can't remember.



Some ducks in the marsh.

And finally for your amusement...



Do you see what Jeff's shirt says? Hah! That is his perfect day. I believe that I got him that shirt for his birthday. It's actually his favorite shirt even though he knows I got it to poke fun at him!

The First Haircut

I remember when Kylie got her first haircut. She and Daddy both got their haircut at the same time. We went to the barber shop at the PX. She was 2 and so very excited to get her first haircut. She sat perfectly still and she was done in about 10 minutes. We saved the hair from that haircut but it was lost when we moved to our new house.

Kaitlynn on the other hand...

Kaitlynn just had her first haircut about 3 weeks ago. She did not sit perfectly still. She looked everywhere completely overstimulated by the lights and the toys at Kiddie Kutters.



She kept trying to look in the mirror to see what the stylist was doing. Every time the stylist put her head down she perked it back up to look at what the other kids in the salon were doing. That is until she was given her lollipop.



Then you couldn't get her to look up. It was funny. All she was concerned about after that was getting that darn wrapper off. She was perfectly still after that.

I do have to say that the cutest thing was right after the first picture was taken. Right after that, the stylist cut Kaitlynn's long bangs and she proclaimed to everyone within a 5 mile radius, "I SEE!". It was very cute.

Sorry there is no pose with her new haircut. That's when my camera batteries promptly died!

Got Hope?

It's been a while since I blogged about the Sunday church message. But something Pastor Mike Routt said made me think that I need to do it today. If not for any other reason than to share some of my testimony.

As you can probably guess by the title, today's message was about "hope" and more specifically the hope that we receive through salvation and a personal relationship with our savor Jesus Christ. I have hope. I have more faith in my God than my President. I have more faith in what my God can do for me than what Wall Street can do for my mutual fund. I have so much faith that I wait on my God to help me through the dark times. As the song says, "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord". I have hope because I know who my God is. And that He is greater than my circumstances.

Let's put it this way, this month Jeff and I don't have enough money to pay our mortgage. They approved us for unemployment benefits through the military but not through Jeff's last job. This has caused something to go screwy in their system and our phone doesn't want to stay charged for the two hours it takes to get through to someone (no joke, you call them and they say that the wait time is 2 hours if you can even get through). Refiling unemployment, has gotten us nowhere. Now if I didn't have hope, I would be really freaking out about not being able to pay our mortgage. We even have creditors calling about bills that we just can't pay right now. Pre-Salvation Kristi would be freaking out. Freaking out about my credit score, freaking out about the mortgage payment, etc. But me, right now, in this place, I'm not freaking out. Most normal people would be right? Well I know that my God is bigger than my circumstances. I know that he is bigger than the amount in my bank account. I know that my God will take care of me. He has been so far. Hope breeds faith. If I didn't have hope I couldn't have the faith and the knowledge that I will be delivered from the mess we currently find ourselves in.

Now take Jeff on the other hand. My husband who says he is a non-believer. He doesn't have hope. He has a sour attitude about the whole thing. He's having a hard time finding a job and it's even a bigger blow to his ego to not be able to provide for his family. He stresses and struggles everyday and finds his solace in playing World of Warcraft which doesn't really help but allows him to take his mind off of his situation for a couple of hours. He doesn't have the hope, faith or peace about our situation as I do and believe me it's hard not to let his attitude rub off on me. But I truly have peace about it. I told Pastor Mike Farnham a couple of weeks ago, that it is very liberating to be able to give our problems to God and let Him worry about it for us. It took a long time for me to learn how to do that. And there are some days that are better than others. There are some days where the doubts creep in, I'm human it happens. But those days are fewer and fewer now.

In our situation, hope and faith are extremely important. I pray and I wait on the Lord. I know that He will deliver and take care of me and my family. That knowledge has led me through some very dark times. It has helped me through 2 deployments, dealing with post-partum depression, and unemployment. If I didn't have hope, I don't know where I would be.

Do you have hope?

If you are interested in reading the scripture passage that we talked about in church today, please look to Mark 5: 24-35 the story of the woman who bled for 12 years. It was through her hope and faith that she was healed.

Feeling Rather Unaccomplished

I don't know why I read my class bulletin. Every time I read my alumni magazine it makes me feel unaccomplished and a little annoyed. Part of the alumni magazine is to give updates on what is going on at the school right now. The other part of the magazine is to highlight the alumni and their accomplishments. Of course this being the first bulletin since the inauguration, there was a 6 page spread on our new president Barak Obama. Oh didn't you know? He graduated from my high school. Following the 6 page spread of President Obama, there was an 8 page spread about Punahou grads that are making an impact on the "Big Apple". Amongst them were a Tony award winning producer, the co-founder or NorthStar Capital Investment Group, a Broadway actress and a up and coming designer that incidentally graduated the year after I did. If that doesn't give someone an inferiority complex I don't know what will.

So why do I do this to myself every three months? Well I do like to keep up to date on the goings on at my former high school. I like to read the section about my class and see what they are doing now. But geez when friends of mine from high school go on to be engineers, defense contractors, teachers, doctors and lawyers and I'm here being a "mostly stay at home mom" with an unemployed husband, there is some jealousy there I'm not going to lie. Not that I don't like my life most days. Having my girls is probably the most important thing that I have ever done in my life, but I still wonder... What if I finished college? What if I hadn't gotten married so young? What if I went to Carnegie Mellon? What if I went to DePaul? What would my life be like now? Maybe it this is just my quarter life crisis talking. Maybe this is just the winning drive that Punahou instills in you. I don't know. But sometimes I can't help but think that I could have been more, I could have done more.

Yes, all this from reading the stupid magazine!

Soup! Soup!

Wow! Two posts in one day. Crazy right! LOL!

Well I thought I would let you in on another fabulous recipe that I'm trying today for the first time... Pasta Fagioli Soup. With one kid sick today and another looking like shes about to get sick and a husband who is trying to lose weight, what the heck do you make for dinner? Soup!

Can I just say, I love soup! There is nothing more comforting on a cold day or when your not feeling well than a hearty bowl of soup. I grew up eating mostly Progresso soup out of the can. Now nothing against soup out of a can but it just doesn't stretch that far. To feed a family of four you need a couple of cans of soup at least. When you make your own soup, you can have leftovers for days that just keep tasting better and better everyday. Though I don't think that this soup, like my Chicken Tortilla Soup will last very long. It smells great and I so can't wait to taste it.

You know me, I never make a recipe without making some alterations first. I used what I had on hand. Improvisation can be a fantastic thing!

Here is my version of Pasta Fagioli Soup! (Total Cost: about $3.00)

3/4 C browned ground beef (this is more ground beef from my stash that I mentioned the other day), $0.59
1/4 medium onion chopped, negligible
3 cloves of garlic chopped, negligible
1/2 C carrots chopped, probably about $0.10 (I bought a 2lb bag on sale for $1.00)
1 15oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes (sniff sniff, my last can!), $0.98
1 15oz can white kidney beans or cannelini beans, $0.50 purchased on sale
3 pkts beef bouillon(Sodium Free Herbox variety), $0.48
3 C water, negligible
2 C homemade marinara sauce, FREE!!! (How can this be free? Well I factored the cost into a dinner from another night. And this is what was leftover. Nice huh!)
1/2 T Texas Pete, negligible (I purchased a Costco sized bottle at the commissary for about $1.50)
1/2 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt, negligible
1/4 tsp pepper, negligible
1/4 C dry pasta (I used Barilla Picollini Penne), $0.13 (purchased on sale for $1.00/box. 1/4 C is about 1/8 of a box)

Add your browned ground beef to the crockpot.

Chop up the carrots, onion, and garlic. Add it to the crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans (didn't rinse my beans...bad Kristi!), and add them. Add the whole can of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef bouillon and water. Add the salt, pepper, and Texas Pete. Stir to combine.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.

Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.

Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it.

I'm going to serve this tonight with some homemade yeast rolls. Yum!

Warning: Do not try the yeast roll recipe. You will find yourself addicted to it. It makes a ton of rolls and can be used in many ways. I used it to make pizza dough the other day. Do not make rolls and eat them with strawberry jam and butter. Do not make them into bread sticks and brush with melted butter and garlic powder. Do not use as hamburger buns. I beg you! These are not good with your morning coffee.

ENJOY!

Potty Training...Oy!

So the other day, Kaitlynn decides that she needs to start using the toilet, "like a big girl". This through no prompting from me. But the problem is, she doesn't know how to empty her bladder when shes on the potty so we end up with a 1 hour span of her going tinkle tinkle, getting off the potty, putting her diaper back on and then within 2 minutes saying she has to go again.

I would say about 80% she will actually pee in the potty. The rest of the time its for sitting and playing with things within reach.

I have absolutely no experience in potty training. Strange right? I have a 5 year old. You would think I would know how to potty train. But Kylie being as stubborn as her mama, didn't want to use the toilet. Period. She loved to pee in her pull up. I think it was because she knew that it irritated me. She did however use the toilet for "stinky" because one day she got sick and I, being tired of cleaning up the child and the clothes and the floor and her general area, plopped her on the toilet. From that day on, she did not poop in her pull up. But getting her to pee on the potty with regularity was like pulling teeth. So it was not ultimately me who got her to do it. It was my 13 (at the time) year old babysitter. Kylie really looked up to her and she told Kylie that she smelled bad and that she needed to be a big girl and pee on the potty. And in 5 minutes... Kylie was completely potty trained. See, stubborn! It's not that she couldn't do it, she just didn't want to.

So now I find myself in unfamiliar territory. Potty training. Well at lest I can say one thing, the sooner shes using the potty, the sooner I get to stop washing diapers.

I Love Me Some Tater Tot Casserole

...but I don't like how it tears up my gut or how bad it is for you. So I came up with my own version of classic tater tot casserole that is a little bit better for my digestive system and a little healthier to boot.

Traditional tater tot casserole has condensed cream of mushroom soup and evaporated milk. Now, I love milk based products they just don't love me. I'm lactose intolerant. That on top of Jeff trying to lose weight right now, I decided to give the traditional recipe a spin. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef, made a gravy for the sauce and added some frozen mixed veggies. And guess what...it was SO YUMMY! I have to say I think I may actually like it better than traditional tater tot casserole and its much cheaper too and easier on the salt content. Have you seen what those jars of condensed cream of mushroom soup cost? I usually buy the "Healthy Request" variety. Which is always much more expensive than the regular salt and fat laden version.

So I'll save you the suspense and give you the recipe...

Kristi's Tater Tot Casserole Total Cost: under $4.50 with the cheese, under $4.00 without

1 lb lean ground turkey (I used the 93% lean stuff), $1.98
1/2 a medium onion chopped, nominal (I just bought a 5lb bag of onions for $1.00!!!)
2 cloves garlic chopped, nominal
6 tbsp flour, nominal
2 pkts Sodium Free Chicken Bouillon (I use Herbox), $0.32
1 1/2 C Water, nominal
1 lb potato tots, $1.00 (I bought a 2 lb bag for $2.00 at the commissary)
2 C frozen mixed veggies, $0.50 (this is about half a bag of mixed veggies)
1/2 C shredded 2% cheese (optional), $0.37
Your choice of seasonings, I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Garlic Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Thyme and Parsley Flake. I don't measure so don't ask how much I used., nominal

Preheat your oven to 425F

Add a tbsp of olive oil to a skillet and heat on medium. Add your onions and garlic and cook until translucent. Add your ground turkey breast and seasonings and crumble while you cook it.

Once the turkey is almost done, add your flour and chicken bouillon. Cook for a couple of minutes to cook your flour.

Add your frozen mixed veggies and water. Cook until sauce thickens.

Once the sauce thickens add it to your 9x13 baking dish.

Place your potato tots on top of the turkey mixture. Make sure the potato tots are in a single layer.

Place in the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes take out the casserole, sprinkle with cheese and put it back into the oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Let the casserole cool for about 10 minutes prior to serving.

ENJOY!

Note: If you are gluten free/soy free/dairy free, then this recipe can of course be made with gluten free all purpose flour and chicken stock and would be fabulous over brown rice. After you are done cooking the turkey mixture on the stove top, then just take that "turkey gravy" and serve it over brown rice. YUM!

Faces of War: Understanding My Husband.

Last night Jeff and I were watching Alpha Company: Iraq Diary on the Military Channel. There was a part in the episode that we were watching in which the soldiers stopped to examine the result of a recent IED attack. It was pretty disgusting and the documentary went into graphic detail. They highlighted bits of body parts seared to the pieces of metal. The final shot was that of a foot that had blown off of someones body. It made my stomach turn. But this scene sparked a conversation between Jeff and I. I think it's a story that he needed to tell. The things he saw out there are still fresh in his memory. He went into graphic detail about a young female soldier. She was about 19, he told me. They were flying her to the C.A.S.H (combat support hospital). She was involved in an IED attack. She was in critical condition. She had lost most of her legs. Jeff said that what remained "looked like swiss cheese". He said that at one point during the flight he turned to look at her and her eyes were just glazed over. He said that "you can tell when a person is dead. They get a look in their eyes. Their eyes just kind of glaze over." I think it affected him more so probably because she was female and she was young.

Then he started to tell me more stories. Stories that I didn't want to hear because of how disturbing they were but I knew that it was important for him to tell me, to tell someone. Stories of frustrations they had out there, people that they lost. I'm not the type of person to ask for "war stories" when someone comes home. I just figure if they want to tell me they will. Why make someone relive something that was horrific?

These stories gave me a glimpse into my husband and an understanding of why he behaves the way he does. He doesn't like to socialize, probably because when he is around other people, they always want to hear war stories. And forget about when they hear that he has a purple heart. He says he doesn't mind telling them but as I looked into my husbands eyes last night as he told me these stories, his eyes were glassy. And this is a man that I have only ever seen cry once.

I think it's the purple heart story that gets him the most. His wound will forever remind him of the great man we lost last deployment. Not because his death was directly related to Jeff's mortar attack but because he died in a similar incident. He died in a mortar attack while working on an aircraft. An aircraft that Jeff was supposed to be working on at the time.

War is not pretty. If anyone thinks that they can go into a situation like Iraq and Afghanistan and not come back changed for the rest of their life, they are wrong. It affects the solider and the family members that they leave behind. It is something that forever changes a relationship and that's why marriages in the military today have a high divorce rate and that is why the military is seeing the highest number of suicides that it has seen in years.

Pray for our military, pray for the families. Support and love on soldiers and veterans that you see no matter what your feelings on the war or wars they fought in. Every deployment, soldiers leave apart of themselves on the battle field. They always come back changed. I try my hardest everyday to love on my soldier. It's not easy. It's one of the hardest things that I do on a day to day basis.


DUSTOFF

Yummy Turkey Patty Goodness

Right now, Jeff is trying to lose weight so he can get back into the military. This gives me a huge challenge. How do I prepare dinners that the entire family will eat that are healthy AND will help Jeff with his weight loss goal AND stick to my diminutive budget?

I have been surfing the web in search of recipes that will be healthy and fit into my budget. One of my favorite bloggers, Donna at Mom's Frugal, always incorporates these Turkey Patties into her weekly menu plan. I had some lean turkey in the fridge that I got at Walmart for $1.98/lb and I had all the other ingredients in either my pantry or fridge, so I figured I'd give them a whirl. I have to say, it was really yummy and easy and frugal and healthy. The turkey patties tasted like little meatloaves. The girls ate them up and Jeff did too. I served them with roasted potatoes and green beans. The girls also got some strawberries to go with their dinner. Organic strawberries are on sale this week at King Soopers for $1.97/lb.

Here is my version of her recipe. She just gives a list of ingredients and no real directions so I'm making it a little more user friendly. You're welcome. :)


1 lb lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
3/4 cup of quick oats
1 1/2 t dijon mustard
1 t garlic pepper
1 t seasoned salt
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t thyme
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional, I used 2% milk sharp cheddar cheese about 1 T per patty)

Add the chopped onion, bell pepper and minced garlic to a pan with 1/2 T olive oil and saute until soft and onions are translucent. Set aside and let cool.

To a measuring bowl add the cooled vegetable mixture, ground turkey, egg, oats, mustard, and seasonings and mix until combined.

Heat 1 T olive oil in a pan over medium heat.

Using an ice cream scoop, measure out the turkey mixture, roll into balls and flatten into patties. Add to the preheated pan and cook about 5-7 minutes per side. Remove the cooked patties to a plate, add some shredded cheddar cheese to the top and tent with foil to allow the heat from the patties to melt the cheese.

Makes 8 patties.

I hope that you enjoy these as much as I did!

Sorry for the lack of pictures lately. My camera is out of batteries.

Beef, It's What's for Dinner

I have been busy busy busy the last couple of weeks. My boss was away and I was dealing with a lot at work. But now I'm back and ready to start blogging again. I know, it's been a while.

But I realized something the other day. I was posting recipe after recipe during the holidays but I haven't really posted any budget friendly meals lately. So here is one I pulled off of one of my favorite blogs, A Year of Crockpotting.

I wanted to try her Cowboy Stew recipe. It intrigued me. Jeff and I were just talking about his love of those canned Ranch Beans. Apparently he likes those. He told me that he didn't like beans but he will eat those. And now that he's on a diet, beans are a great thing because they provide a lot of fiber and protein. Things that he needs to help him lose weight.

This stew also has canned potatoes in it. Now canned potatoes scare me. I don't know why. There is just something so wrong about potatoes out of a can. But I bought them. They were weird. They look like tiny pock marked chicken eggs. But the recipe says that if you use regular potatoes, you know the type you actually have to peal, then they will disintegrate into the soup. So I'll try 'um. We'll see how they turn out. I made a few adjustments to the recipe she used so here is my version, you can click the link above to see the actual recipe.

Cowboy Stew

1 cup browned hamburger/$0.79(I bought hamburger on sale a while back, browned it up and put it in storage bags and popped it into the freezer, great for quick dinners)
2 cloves chopped garlic/negligible
1/4 onion diced/negligible (I bought a 3 lb bag of onions for $1.00 I think there were 8 onions in there, so the calculation would hurt my head. :) )
1 15 oz can tomato sauce/ $0.50
1 can corn, drained/ $0.33 (purchased on sale during the holidays. I loaded up on corn then and this was my last can)
2 cans whole baby potatoes, drained/ $0.64 a piece
1 can tomatoes with green chilies/ $0.78
1 can Ranch Style beans/ $0.74
1 cup water/negligible
1 tsp garlic pepper/negligible
sliced jalapenos (optional)

The Directions.

This makes a lot. Make sure that your crockpot is at least 5qts.

Add your browned ground beef, onions and garlic to the crock pot.

Open all of you cans, and dump them into the crockpot. Drain the corn and the potatoes (I cut the potatoes in half because I don't like big chunks of things), but add the rest of the can liquid to the crockpot.

Add the cup of water and garlic pepper. Stir to combine all the ingredients

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5. Soup and stew tastes better the longer you cook it, so opt for the longer cooking time if you can.

Garnish with sliced jalapeno peppers, if desired.

Total cost of the cowboy stew to feed a family of four with leftovers? $4.42, lets round it to $5.00 for the other "negligible" ingredients. If you want to save a little more money, cut out the ground beef. The beans provide enough protein that you really don't need the beef. But be warned, Ranch Style Beans are not vegetarian. The can says that they do contain animal fat.

You know figuring out how much a meal costs is a new hobby of mine. The other day I made breakfast and figured out the entire breakfast cost me about a dollar (for me and the girls). We had eggs ($0.33 for 4 eggs), those biscuits from the can ($0.25) and some sliced apple ($0.25). Yes I was bored. There is only so much that you really think about when you are scrambling eggs. :)

It doesn't cost a whole lot to eat well and provide for a family of 4. I tell people my budget per week on groceries and people faint. They don't understand how we can survive on $60.00 a week. But I know people who do it for less. The writer of the Frugal Living section on About.com budgets $40.00 a week for her family of four and they eat mostly organic. To me that's crazy! I could not stock up on sales if I only had $40.00 a week to go on. But then again she could live in a warmer climate and is able to grow veggies year round. That would definitely cut back on my food budget if I was able to grow my own veggies year round.


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Update:

I have to say that I was really impressed with how this turned out. The potatoes stayed nice and firm and weren't as scary as I thought. If I had used regular potatoes they would have turned to mush, I'm sure of that. I wonder if I took potatoes and soaked them in water overnight, if I could use that in this and it would give the same effect? Hmmm...need to experiment.

Anyways it was really good. This is a must try. I'm actually really glad that I didn't use the additional can of tomatoes as suggested in the original recipe. I think it would have been too saucy for me. Stews and chili's to me need to be thick and hearty and not soupy.

The jalapenos added at the end were a must and took the dish to a whole new level. It was honestly a little blah for me without the jalapenos. Kylie and Kaitlynn both ate 95% of their dinner so that tells you how well it was received at our house. I did end up serving this with some brown rice. Jeff ate two servings even with the brown rice so again, a testament to how well it did in our house. He did have to add a little salt to his dish though. But that's my husband. He likes his food a bit saltier than the rest of us.