Saturday, February 18, 2012

Get Rid of Clutter and Make Money!


Become a seller on Ebay! It's easy to do! Right now I sell my excess coupons on Ebay using my FREE 50 listings each month, but pretty soon...it's time for spring cleaning and then I'll be selling our "clutter" and making some extra spending money for family time activities this summer!!

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Chuck E Cheese Reward Program

This a fun way to help your children achieve new things...they have a bunch of different reward calendars to choose from such as potty training, being a good eater, good manners, etc. The only catch is you do have to use them with a food purchase, but you can readily access coupons on their website or sign up for the coupon emails and it can still easily be a budget friendly fun family outing!! Also know, that you can bring in your child's good grades report card from school and also get FREE TOKENS for that as well!

http://www.chuckecheese.com/

HomeUpdate Your ProfileLocationsReserve a PartyChuck E-Games
Freshly Baked Pizza!
Fresh Dough, Never Frozen
100% Real Cheese
Crispier Crust

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Family Deals at Chuck E. Cheese's

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Reward Your Kids With Free Tokens!

Need some fun ways to reward your kids? We've added NEW Reward Calendars! When your child completes a calendar, just bring it in and they'll earn FREE tokens! Check out all of our Reward Calendars now! No more than 1 of any free token offer can be used per child, per day. Food purchase required.
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Where A Kid Can Be A Kid
 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Cannellini Comfort Soup

Cannellini Comfort Soup
1/2 lb reduced fat fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup white wine or chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can (19 oz) cannellini or white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups coleslaw mix

In a large saucepan, cook sausage in oil for 2 min. Add the green pepper, onion and garlic. Cook and stir 2-3 min. longer or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the 1/3 cup wine or broth; cook about 3 min. longer. Stir in the broth, Italian seasoning and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 min. Stir in beans and coleslaw mix. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until beans are heated through and cabbage is tender. Yield: 4 servings

Cannellini Comfort Soup with Garlic Bread

Thank you 2006 Taste of Home's Light & Tasty Cookbook for this wonderful recipe! Delicious!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Vegetable Quiche Cups To Go

This recipe is from the original South Beach Diet Cookbook; it's wonderful because you can make a batch and store them in your freezer...so they're ready for a quick, easy healthy breakfast when you're in a hurry and on the go! Also...you can substitute whatever veggies you like to make it your own!

Vegetable Quiche Cups To Go
1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
3/4 cup liquid egg substitute (or you can use 3 regular eggs)
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheese
1/4 cup diced green bell peppers
1/4 cup diced onions
3 drops hot pepper sauce (optional)

Microwave the spinach for 2 1/2 minutes on high. Drain the excess liquid. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil baking cups. Spray the cups with cooking spray.

Combine the egg substitute, cheese, peppers, onions and spinach in bowl. (or mix eggs well using a fork/whisk in a bowl and add the rest). Mix well. Divide evenly among the muffin cups. Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on baking rack before freezing...or you can eat them while they're hot!

Serves 6

Thursday, February 9, 2012

2 Week Meal Planner

Two Week Meal Plan (Dinners):

1- Homemade Turkey Chili w/ Cornbread
2- Baked Chicken, Green Beans & Side Salad
3- Broiled Steak, Steamed Broccoli w/ Cheese Sauce
4- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup w/ Onion Rolls
5- Balsamic Chicken w/ Side Salad
6- Taco Salad (soft tacos for kiddos)
7- Mosh Posh Night (use up leftovers)

1- Cannellini Comfort Soup w/ Garlic Toast
2- Turkey Breakfast Sausage, Eggs & Toast
3- Baked BBQ Chicken, Baked Potato & Garlic Green Beans
4- Cheeseburger w/ Baked Beans
5- Carrot Soup w/ Homemade Rolls
6- Chicken Pasta Primavera w/ Side Salad
7- Homemade Sausage Pizza

Monday, December 19, 2011

Beef Taco Lasagna Recipe

The original recipe makes 2 dishes so you can store one in the freezer and have one for dinner that day too. I cut the recipe in 1/2 and only make one...just my preference. I've made my own modifications...but want to thank Taste of Home Cookbooks for another great recipe!

Beef Taco Lasagna
12 lasagna noodles (I do 4 layers of 3 instead of recipe guidelines)
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning (I add water and simmer down like pkg says so it adds some sauce)
2 egg whites
1 carton (15 oz) ricotta cheese
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I use what I have on hand, this time it was Colby)
1 jar (24 oz.) chunky salsa (I puree the salsa for my kids' preference, they won't eat chunky tomatoes)

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in taco seasoning (add water, follow pkg instructions so it adds sauce). In a small bowl, combine egg white and ricotta cheese. Drain noodles.

In a 13x9x2 baking dish, layer four noodles (I do only 3 per layer, making 4 layers so noodles don't overlap in dish), 3/4 cup ricotta cheese mixture, half of the beef mixture and 1 1/3 cups cheddar cheese. Top with 4 noodles, 3/4 cup ricotta cheese mixture, 1 1/2 cups salsa and 1 1/3 cups cheese. Repeat. (If you're doing 4 layers instead like I do...them adjust your layer amounts. Bottom: 1/3 of your ricotta mixture, 1/2 of your beef, 1/4 of your cheese. Next: 1/3 of your ricotta mixture, 1/2 of your salsa, 1/4 of your cheese. Next: 1/3 of your ricotta mixture, 1/2 of your beef, 1/4 of your cheese. Top: 1/2 of your salsa, 1/4 of your cheese.)

Bake @ 350, uncovered, for 35-40 min. or until heated through. Let stand 10 min. before cutting. Yield: 8 adult size servings.
Beef Taco Lasagna

Garden Patch Bread Recipe

Today...I tried a new recipe from Better Homes and Gardens: The Complete Guide To Bread Machine Baking, in hopes of finding more ways to get veggies into my kids' bellies!

Garden Patch Bread
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrots (I did finely shredded instead)
1/3 cup tomato juice
2 tbsp coarsely chopped green bell pepper (I diced my peppers so they were smaller, less noticeable)
2 tbsp sliced green onions (I used diced regular onions, they're clear & less noticeable)
1 tbsp margarine, butter or cooking oil (I used margarine)
3 cups bread flour (I used non-bleached all purpose flour)
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried basil, crushed
1 tsp active dry yeast or bread machine yeast

This recipe is for the 1 1/2 lb loaf (20 slices) and I made the dough in my bread machine and then once the dough was done, I lightly greased my 9x5x4 bread pan on the bottom and 1/2 in. up the sides...placed the dough in the pan, covered and let it rise one more time for about 20 min. Baked @ 350 for 45 min. Here's the result:

Garden Patch Bread

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