Having a Frugal Christmas!

I don't know about everybody this year but this Christmas is going to be really tiny!  We really are in a mess since we are a sah family and the ton of my husbands overtime has been cut off for a whole year. I am relying on God and  trying to make the best of what we will have. Christmas is about God anyways how we have turned this into spending tons of money, I don't know. I would love to make some homemade gifts for family and teachers. Here are a couple of ideas that I thought I might try

Chocolate Covered Pretzels with Topping!
Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa and Homemade Marshmallows

One thing about gifts in a jar is that you can by the ingredients a little at a time so it doesn't cost so much!

Another thing for next year is swagbucks
You get swagbucks for searching the web that you can trade in for gift cards etc.

I have earned several five dollar gift cards from them and I should have been saving for this christmas. Especially since Amazon usually puts magazine subscriptions on sale for 5.00 pretty often. I have seen tons of food magazines and even southern living which all would make wonderful gifts.

If you haven't signed up and would like to I would appreciate you signing up under me!
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/basketballmomma

I will be posting more gift ideas as Christmas gets closer!

for more frugal friday ideas please visit  http://www.lifeasmom.com/

Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies

I love to cook and bake and so I saw these brownies and knew I had to give them a try. They are not for the faint of heart or those on a diet because there is a pound of butter and about 1 cup and half of chocolate chips. They are really good but also really sweet, I wouldn't skip the walnuts because they cut some of the sweetness in the brownies!  I have had nothing but raves on the brownies.

Looking for my delicious recipes visit
Tasty Tuesday
Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

menu plan monday

Today actually feels like fall yeah!!! It never feels like fall and with the temps this summer well over 100 this is a wonderful change!  Here is my menu plan for this week!



Monday- Homemade Taco's
Tuesday- Hamburgers and fries
Wednesday- StuffedPoblano's with Refied Beans
Thursday- Grilled Fish and Veggies
Friday- not sure yet

I really need to cut down my meat, so if anyone has a good meatless recipe and would love it for you to leave a link below or just the recipe in the comment section please do!






* if you linked earlier my that linky site messed up please link again!

to find more menu pland please visit orgjunkie.com

Perrys' Plate: Easy Homemade Chicken Stock + Other Homemade Pantry Staples

looking to save money on pantry staples, check out this link. Tons of homemade pantry staple recipes!


Perrys' Plate: Easy Homemade Chicken Stock + Other Homemade Pantry Staples

Marinades made easy - latimes.com

I am sorry I haven't posted in so long but here is a link I think is worth the read. It gives you the basics of making your own marinade . It is much cheaper and better for you than the bottled
store stuff!

Marinades made easy - latimes.com


check out tasty tuesday  
for more great recipes

winner

Used Random.Org and the winner of the yoplait spa pack giveaway is #1 Renee.
Congratulations and they will be getting in touch with you soon!

Works For Me Wednesday: Eating what is in season! and Giveaway!

I love fresh fruit but it can be expensive! There is one tip to getting the best deals on your fruit and that is to eat in season. I love blueberries and cherries and right now is the time to buy. My husband bought to quart size bags of blueberries for 10.00  from a friend that raises them. I just checked the sales papers today and cherries were a 1.99 a lb and those that love cherries know that is a really good deal. So it you love fruit eat what is in season and you will spend quite a bit less.

Speaking of Blueberries we tried a new blueberry recipe the other day and it is delicious! These were so much better than the store bought muffins and were very moist!

Also check out my giveway here, right now only one entrant and it ends tonight!

for more works for me wednesday please check out http://www.wearethatfamily.com/


Beverly

Yoplait Greek Yogurt Giveway!

 
Yoplait through blog spark has given me a chance to try and review  their new Greek yogurt! Unfortunately I can not find a store near me that sells this particular product ,so I honestly can not offer an opinion. They generously still offered to let me hold a giveway for spa pack . This includes some really nice stuff such as spa slippers and loofa sponge and more plus coupons for you to try their new yogurt yourself. In full disclosure,  I also received the same prize package!  My opinions though are still my own and as a christian I pray that you would be able to trust me that I would be honest!

To win this prize pack please leave a comment with your favorite flavor of yogurt! Drawing closes at midnight  Wednesday the 16th and winner will be notified on Thursday! The drawing will be done by a random number generator Please make sure you leave an email address if not connected with your blog!

Homemade Mother's Day Ideas

I love mothers day!

Here are my babies lol!


I don't know any mom that doesn't. The problem is the stores try to get you to buy the most expensive things and that is supposed to show how much they love you! Sorry charlie, that is not what Mother's Day is about! To me Mothers Day is about spending the time with your children. It is not about what you get it is about the thought, time and effort of what they put it!

I honestly love homemade thing. Here are some things that I would love to receive.

Homemade food (cookies, brownies,etc)
Help (cleaning around the house, etc)
Homemade pictures and crafts!

with the internet you can find so many ideas and recipes and ideas, that you can just about
make everything that you can buy and it will be so appreciated!

what do you consider a perfect Mother's Day?

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

Roasted Corn

My husband and I love to take the kids over to a flea market that is not to far from us. While we are there we always stop and get fresh roast corn on the cobb. They dip it in butter and have tons of spices for you to add! Well one day I was watching food network and they showed you how to do that at home and it is so easy!

Preheat the oven to 350

Place whole corn on cob on oven racks (you do not have to wet or do anything else to it)

Roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until tender!

When finished if you grab the top of corn and grab the silk from the top and pull it you will get most of the silk off the corn so when you peel the corn you don’t have very much work to do!

Butter and Season as you like!

If you would like more delicious recipes please vist

http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com/
and


and always remember to smile, God loves u!

MPM and a question about carrot cake?

My husband's Bday is the 4th of may. He loves carrot cake but I have never made one! Does anyone have a good tnt recipe for carrot cake! I would appreciate it very much!

Getting on to menu plan monday:


Monday: Broiled fish and salad
Tuesday: Hamburger Helper
Wednesday: Potato Soup
Thursday apple pork chops
Friday: chicken parmesian
Saturday Maybe husbands bday party? He wants cinco de mayo theme!
Maybe chicken enchiladas, spanish rice,


Have a blessed Monday and remember to smile because God loves you!
for more menu plans and recipes please visit. www.orgjunkie.com

Digital Scrapping Freebie

Here is a little freebie I created. Hope you enjoy.

Click on the picture to download!

crockpot chili

I love my crockpot. It takes the work out of dinner! I also love chili! Here is my favorite recipe.

Hope you enjoy

Crockpot Chile

1-1.5 lbs of browned hamburger
1 onion sauteed
2 cans (original) of rotel tomatoes
1 large can of crushed or diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
1 pkg of chili seasoning
1/4-1/2 tsp of chipolte chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
enough water or tomato juice to thin out

Brown Hamburger meat and onions until cooked through! Next put all ingredients and put in crock pot put on low for 8 hours or high for 4! that is it, so simple and delicious!
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

works for me wednesday! Restaurant Meals for Fraction of Cost

I don't know about you, but I love to go out to eat! The problem is it really just not possible right now! If you check the net, you can have your favorite restaurant food at home for a fraction of the price! one place you probably never thought of checking would be the restaurant website!

The olive garden and red lobster both have a ton of recipes on their site! If you are a novice cook, they also have cooking technique videos to help you out!

If favorite restaurant doesn't have recipes, you probably find a copycat recipe on the net that will come very close! Here are some copy cat recipe websites

http://www.cdkitchen.com/copycat/
http://www.topsecretcopycatrecipes.com/
http://www.all-restaurantrecipes.com/recipes.html

For more wfm www.wearethatfamily.com

Whatever!! (digiscrap freebie)

Do you have a teenager! I love mine, but sometimes the attitude just drives me crazy!
I thought I would create some word art that is typical of a teenager! Hope someone can use it!
Just right click and save, it is a png file!


Love ya and always to remember to smile because God loves you!

Lemon Squares!

It is summer and nothing reminds me summer than lemons! Never really cared for lemons until I tried these lemon bars! Oh my these are heavenly!

Lemon Squares

Crust

2 cups unsifted all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsifted icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup margarine

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, icing sugar and salt. Cream in the margarine until the mixture turns into a pliable dough. Pat the dough evenly by hand into the bottom of a buttered 9"x13" pan.

Bake for 11 minutes. Let cool slightly before adding filling.

Filling:
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup all purpose flour

While the base crust is baking, beat together all ingredients until smooth.

Pour over the hot baked base. Return the squares to the oven immediately. Bake at 350°F about 25 minutes until pale gold in color. During last 5 minutes, put a cookie sheet below the baking pan to be sure the bottom does not burn.

Remove from the oven. Let cool completely in the pan on a cake rack.

Cut into squares. Store in tightly covered container.

for more tasty tuesday recipes, please visit

http://beautyandbedlam.com/food-presentation-tasty-tuesday/

www.blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com

Have an awesome Tuesday and remember to smile because God loves you! :)

Freezer Meal how to and Ideas!

Don't let the title of the link fool you! scroll down and watch the video!. She shows you exactly how she does some of her freezer meals! This is a very worth wild video! As far as homemade gourmet goes, if you check there products and do a search on the web I am sure you can find a copycat recipe that would save tons!

Easy Family Dinners with Homemade Gourmet


Links to Homemade Mixes!

Digital Scrapbooking

I love digital scrapbooking. It is fun, more forgiving and economical. It is a great way to preserve your memories and not spend a fortune.I have gotten away from digital scrapbooking! I really enjoy it but I guess life just got in the way. I want to get back into it again. I was able to upgrade to cs4 this year and would love to do some more detailed work. What is your favorite Photoshop Tutorial (technical or creating elements)? I am trying to do more from scratch, because I just do not have the money to go out and purchase a ton of things!

Best Punch Recipe

Best Punch Recipe

I am telling you this recipe is soo good and makes 2 gallons! we had this at my wedding and it is delicious!

3 sm pkg of strawberry jello
1 sm pk peach jello
4 cups of water
2 1/2 cups of sugar
1 large can unsweetened pineapple Juice
1 1/2 cups of apricot nector
1/2 can pink leonade or 12 oz frozen

mix jello, sugar and water. Bring to a boil, let cool, add all ingredients together. Divide into 2 gallon jugs and finish filling with water! Put in the freezer for atleast 12 hours remove and and 1/2 of a 2 liter of sprite to each gal!

I am not telling you wrong this is awesome!

for more awesome recipes please visit http://beautyandbedlam.com/

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Turkey Breast and veggie
Tuesday: Grilled Skirt Steak, Potato and Veggie
Wednesday Salsa Black bean Skillet Dinner
Thursday: Sloppy Joe
Friday: Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

for more mpm visit orgjunkie.com

frugal friday: Just Ask

was with my mom the other day and she had 2 coupons for board games. It was 5 dollars off a monopoly and connect four. Target had those on sale for 7 dollars. We got to target they had a few monopoly left but know connect four. Jenga was on sale also for the 7 dollars so she was going to ask if she could use it on that instead of connect four. I honestly wouldn't have done it but she did and they let her use it. She got 2 awesome games for less than 6 dollars!

check out the other frugal friday ideas and http://lifeasmom.com

supplying a gift closet on the cheap

We have a new kohls opening tomorrow and as usual they are having lots of sales. I received a card in the mail stating I can get 10 dollars off anything and there is no dollar limit. It got me to thinking that I need to start a gift closet.
The other day my mom got coupons in the paper that had 5.00 off of monopoly games and target had them on sale for 7, so that makes that game o I can go in there find something for ten dollars and stash it away for a bday or christmas and that is one less thing I have to buy later on. I want to try to pick up stuff on clearance and stuff from dollar stores.

for more works for me wednesday tips visit www.wearethatfamily.com

Stuffed Poblano Peppers!

I am trying to get my recipes from my old blog! Since I can't log in because gmail will not give me my account back because it was hacked on facebook. I have to go to the website and copy and paste everything! The original is from guy's big bite on the food network channel!

Here is one of my favorite recipes.

Stuffed Poblano's

8 Nice Sized Poblano's
3 links of mexican chorizo (near mexican cheese and tortilla's in fridge section)
1 clove of garlic sliced
1 onion
1 cup of rice
2 cups of chicken broth
2 tbs of olive oil
cheese

Preheat and oven and roast the poblanos on a pan on 350 for approximately 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cook, but keep oven on!

While that is started in a a deep pan with a lid start frying up your onions in olive oil until tender and translucent: Next add garlic and the chorizo (making sure you break up chorizo) cook about another five minutes and then add your rice and make sure it is thoroughly coated with oil. Add in your two cups of broth stir once and put your lid on the pan. Let cook on medium low for approximately 20 minutes until rice is done.

While the rice is cooking take out poblano's cut top off and remove seeds. As soon as rice is done stuff the poblano laying it down and cover top with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted about another 5 minutes or so!

mpm/ low calorie meals

I honestly do not know how to make menu out anymore. My husband has a lot of weight to lose and it almost seems like everything that really good for him is more than my budget will allow! Ugh, any ideas for any low cal inexpensive recipes would be greatly appreciated! I know we could do baked chicken breast, but chicken get old after a while!


monday: navy beans and ham
Tuesday: Black Bean burgers
Wednesday Baked Potato w/chili
Thursday: slow cooker jambalaya
Friday: Black Bean Soup

Frugal Friday! saving money on gifts

This saturday I have a birthday party for an 8 year old! I don't want anything expensive so what I am doing, my mom picked up these cute little purses for 1.99 then I am going to go to the dollar tree and pick up a couple of little things to go in it. It will be a nice little gift and it will be around 5 dollars!

Also check out stores like marshalls and tj maxx's they have some really nice stuff for cheap. I am a foodie and I like all kinds of stuff to cook with. They have all sorts of gourmet food , sauces and seasonings for next to nothing and you could create your own basket with that!

Gifts don't have to cost a thing, you can make homemade gifts. If you are a sewer, you can make a purse or quilt. If you are a baker you can make their favorite baked goods! Most importantly it is the thought and love that is behind it that counts! What are some of your gift Ideas, especially for teenager? for more frugal friday please visit www.lifeasmom.com

I have been wanting to get organized so that I could save some money! Well I want to direct you to this post on tip junkie. She list some awesome money saving tips and ideas on how to get yourself organized. I am going to have to take the time to create one of those binders myself!
http://www.tipjunkie.com/2010/03/money-saving-and-frugal-tips.html

Here is a really good money saving site! I also have more listed on my blogroll under frugality!

http://moneysavingmom.com/wp-content/w3tc/pgcache/moneysavingmom.com/

what about you? any sites that you enjoy that are not listed?

Works for me wednesday! Discount Bakery Specials!

Check your grocery stores rack for marked down pastry and breads. I went the other day ad Got a bag of pepperoni bread and a pack of 4 braided apple turnovers for 1.50 each. They were still as fresh but much cheaper. Also check your marked down meat. I got a skirt steak the other day for 3.00 everything else was 9.00 so did pretty well! I ended up shaving about 20.00 off my grocery budget the last week! I was pretty proud of myself!

for more works for me wednesday tips please visit www.wearethatfamily.com

Remember these / Spring Time Pasta Salad

My mom brought these over the other night when we had salad for dinner! These were before the real bacon bits! I am not a snob at most things, but I forgot how terrible and chemically tasting they were! love ya mom but not these! :) So here I am trying to redo my blog again from scratch, I am so upset that I lost everything and all of my subscribers !

My husband and I had financial trouble several years ago and we eventually got our finances back on track. We said we wouldn't have credit cards anymore, well I guess you should never say never. We have and we have now ended up back into a bad position again so I am going to have to really cut my grocery budget. I have been watching blogs and reading how people do it for a while but I guess I have not tried hard enough! This past week I managed to cut my grocery by 20.00. It is a small amount but it is a start.

The biggest thing I found was the reduced meat at the grocery store! I found skirt steak for 3.00 and lean beef for 1.99 a lb. I also stopped the other day and took a look at the reduced bakery section at walmart. I was able to pick up a bag of pepperoni rolls for 1.50 ad a bog of 4 apple strudels for 1.50 . They were still really fresh! I really want to start learning to use my coupons even though no grocery store doubles around here! I hope you stay along for the ride and help me along the way. I will have recipes and stories to share!

speaking of salad, now that spring time is just about here, here is my


Springtime Pasta Salad

1 pkg of cooked pasta (spaghetti, or rotini ) whatever you like
1 bell pepper chopped
1 onion chopped
1 or 2 tomatoes chopped
1/2 bottle to a whole bottle of italian dressing
parmesian cheese to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and refridgerate . You could also add cucumbers or any favorite veggie.
Best Served Cold!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Taco Soup
Tuesday Leftover Taco Soup
Wednesday: Corned Beef and Cabbage
Thursday: whatever is onsale or marked down at the grocery store!
Friday: "

I am just starting on a journey to lower my grocery bills so hopefully lots of post to come on that subject. I just hope you all stick around.

for hundreds more Menu Plan Mondays please visit

www.orgjunkie.com

Hello

Hi all, I am not new to blogging, but facebook was hacked and gmail wouldn't give me my account back so I am having to start all over new! So if you were following me on www.havingmycakeandeatingittoo.blogspot.com this is where I am now! First let me warn you all with gmail's system. If you have your email through gmail, be careful. If you are everhacked you will have to answer some of the most detailed questions in my life. If you can't answer most of them you are not getting your email back. One of the questions that was asked was what date did you sign up for gmail. This was over 5 years ago when you had to have an invite. I don't know about you, but I do not write all that info down. I am going to be back with a post about my family and learning how to save money on groceries!