Category Archives: Uncategorized

Velveeta Cheese Soup

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It is time to pull out the soup pot! Cold weather has hit good ole Missouri and what better way to warm your toe-sies than to eat some soup. My PIC (sister in law) emailed me today to get my recipe for cheese soup. OOOOwww that sounded good. I had not even thought of making soup tonight for dinner. I was set on making pigs in a blanket. Those piggies have got to wait till tomorrow for lunch, cause soup is on the menu.

What makes this soup so convenient to make is that you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry. I did stop on my way home from work and buy the frozen veggies just cause I did not want to do a freezer dive to find some. (okay…give me a break…it is Friday right?) I did find some on sale for a dollar a piece to redeem myself. I even froze the leftover for my next soup inspired night.

You will need some onions, celery, potatoes, milk, cream of chicken soup, chicken bouillon, velveeta and frozen carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Oh and I forgot 4 cups of water : ).  I substituted chicken base for bouilon because that is what I had, and it worked great. I had two half onions left over from something else and celery already in the fridge.

                   

First thing you need to do is heat some oil in the bottom of your stock pot (I used olive oil). Next chop up the celery and onions. Add the celery and onions to the hot oil and saute until the onions are translucent.

                   

Slowly pour 4 cups of water in to the pot with the onions and celery. Next add the bouillon (I used a dallop of chicken base). Then bring the stock to a simmer.

Now it is time to dice the potatoes.

                   

Once the stock in simmering add the diced potatoes and the frozen vegetables.

We are over half way there!

Simmer everything in the soup pot until the vegetables are slightly fork dinner.

                             

Next, stir in the cream of chicken soup, the diced velveeta and the milk.

Ok…stop drolling….in just a minute you can eat some.

Gently stir the cheese  until it is melted.

That’s it! It is time to eat!

This soup really hit the spot! So much so I took a picture of it and sent it to PIC (sister in law) and said, “look what we are having for dinner.”

 She texted back and said, “U R Evil,”

 I felt so bad I sent her a picture of my second bowl.  

It makes up for the picture she sent me of ribs on the grill my brother made a couple of weeks ago.

All is fair in soup and grill.

Enjoy this recipe! 

Becky

Velveeta Cheese Soup 

Ingredients:

4 cups water

4 chicken bouillons cubes

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

1 pound Velveeta cheese

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 cup milk

2 1/2 cup diced potatoes

1 box frozen cauliflower

1 box frozen broccoli

1 box frozen carrots

Directions:

Saute onions and celery in a small amount of oil in the bottom of a stock pot. Saute’ until the onions are translucent. Slowly pour in water. Add chicken bouillon. Bring mixture to a simmer. Add in diced potatoes and frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Simmer the vegetables until they  are almost fork tender. Stir in cream of chicken soup and diced velveeta cheese. Gently stir until the cheese is melted. Pour in the milk and stir to combine.

Serves 6 to 8.

Chocolate(chips) Anyone?

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I thought I would share a couple of my, “deals of the week. ”

A couple of weeks ago Hershey put out a .50 cent coupon for any size chocolate chips. Whoohoo! With holiday baking right around the corner, this was the perfect coupon for me. I knew I would need these chocolate chips if I was going to make my PIC (sister in law) her favorite peanut clusters for Christmas. I was on a mission to score some cheap chocolate chips.

I had already used 4 of my coupons at Walgreens and got chocolate chips for $1.50 a bag (12 ounces). Not bad, since in the store they are running around $2.50 a bag. But my eyes about bugged out when I seen that a local grocery store was doing a 10 for $10 deal on chocolate chips. There were just the 6 ounce bag, but with .50 cent coupons that doubled, it would make them free.

Problem was I only had one coupon left.

I had to somehow talk my daughter out of her coupons. She does not cook anyway. (Don’t tell her I said that.) I needed those coupons.

I asked her real nice, she said she would look for them. I asked her again, she said she would look when she had time. I was getting desperate. I asked (really told) her that the sale was ending soon. I got the LOOK. You know what look I am talking about.

I was able to print off some coupons for .50 cent off of two bags and decided I would make do with those. The store I was going to has a 3 same coupon limit. I used the one .50 cents off of one, and then three .50 cents off of two. This is what I came home with.

         

Yippee! I got seven 6 ounces packages of chocolate chips for $3.13. Not to bad right??? 

I was still on a mission to get those coupons from my daughter. I had to take matters into my own hand.

Hand me the scissors.

I found her inserts that she had not had time to cut out and found her coupons. By this time she came home and I got caught in the act. She really did not care. I told you she does not cook. I also told you not to tell her I said that! : ) Anywho, this is what I got on my, round two, shopping trip to buy chocolate chips.

         

For $10.85 I bought, two-8 count cinnnamon rolls, four-8 count cresent rolls and (what I really went after) five 6 ounce packages of chocolate chips. PLUS….I got a register rewards for $2 off my next purchase for buying 6 General Mills items. In addition General Mills will donate $2 to Susan B. Koman for the Cure. Since my Mom had breast cancer three years ago (she is a survivor YEA) this was really a easy way to coupon and support breast cancer research.

Whew….pass me some chocoate (chips).

What are your, “deals of the week?”

Becky

 

Ordering Coupon Inserts by Mail

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Have you ever forgotten to buy your newspapers for the coupon inserts on Sunday Morning? Or, you have gone to your favorite grocery store to snag yourself a couple and they were all out? Or WORSE, bought your newspaper only to find out when you got home that someone has taken the inserts out of your newspapers….UGH!!!

I have had all of these things happen to me.

If you want to spend a little more money (for shipping) you can always order your inserts. Sometimes the coupons are higher value coupons than the ones you are getting in your local newspaper, or in my case, even when I purchase the larger city newspaper.

Today, when I got home from work, I found this package on my front porch. 

 

A couple of weeks ago I could not get out to get my newspapers. My daughter (who coupons too) could not either. We just decided to order them. We do not do this every week, because the purpose of couponing is to save money, and the shipping does add up. But, when you need them and you do not have another resource, you can always order them.

When you order your coupons, you get charged per insert. So, if that week has 3 inserts, and you want to order all 3 inserts it will cost more money plus the shipping. On the flip side, it is nice to just have them come in the mail. You don’t have to have the hassle of running to the store in your pj bottoms, hair clip and dark sun glasses, hoping not to see anyone you know. (but you usually do)

In this order we recieved a Red Plum, and two Smart Source.

             

 I ordered 5 of each insert and my daughter did too. This might be too many coupons for you. Sometimes, it is a lot to keep control over but when I can get 5 items free from my 5 coupons it is worth it.

If you are interested, check out, thecoupongirlz.com web page to see where you can order coupon inserts.

In the meantime, I will be bribing my daughter to cut out my coupons.

Where’s the scissors?

Becky

Is 40 Boxes of Cereal too Many?

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We love cereal at our house! Not just love love. We LOVE LOVE cereal at our house!

Kellogg’s, General Mill, Post and Quaker Oats; I could have used these names for middle names for my girls.

But, I ask you, is forty boxes of cereal too much???

Normal people would be aghast and fall over in a faint!!!! Not so, with people that use coupons.

I will try to explain.

The coupon deals comes in waves and you got to catch the wave and buy buy buy. It means you will save save save.

My stockpile of cereal had a wee little bit of empty space.  Youngest college daughter came home for the weekend and poof an empty space in cereal stockpile appeared. I wondered why her car looked loaded down when she waved bye and peeled out of the driveway.

I have not bought cereal for several months because we have been using from the stockpile. (Stockpile is a couponers term for, “kitchen pantry is too full”) My family and I would just go to the stockpile, like you would at a cereal isle in the store and get another box of cereal when we needed it. The main rule is that you have to get the cereal from the front row. So sorry, if you are craving frosted flakes and the only box of frosted flakes are in the back row. The cereal is put oldest to the front and newest to the back. The only way the rule is broken, is if you are sick for 10 days and the doctor orders you to eat the frosted flake cereal from the back row. OR, if you are the Mom….and if the kids are not looking,  grab the frosted flakes from the back row, hide it under the bed and go happily to the bedroom with a glass of milk and a bowl…oh, a spoon too. : 0 )

Anywho, going back to my wee bit of space in my cereal stockpile. There just happened to be a sale on Cheerios and other General Mills cereal this week at Gerbes. I could buy cereal, with a coupon, from 75 cents to $1.69 a box.

Hallelujah!

First, I bought 4 boxes of cereal; 3 cheerios and 1 cocoa puffs.

         

I got four boxes of cereal for $4.11.

The cereal zombie in me took over and I bought eight more boxes.

This time 4 cheerios, 2 cocoa puffs and 2 golden grahams for about $11 dollars. I would show you my receipt but the wind grabbed that receipt and took it on a trip down the street. I could not decide whether to drop the cereal in my arms and start running after the receipt, or just saying bye bye receipt?  It is probably in Kansas by now.

12 boxes of cereal for an average cost of $1.30 each. (I added $4.11 plus $11.50 and divided it by 12)

Whohoo!!!!

I can sleep like a (cereal) baby tonight. I have that wee bit of space in my stockpile filled with cereal, I bought it for a great price, I don’t have to worry about buying cereal again until college daughter comes back into town with an empty trunk, and the best part is that I still have a hidden box of frosted flakes cereal in the back row…..

Is 40 boxes of cereal too many????

Well…..do I have to answer that question or can I just go eat some frosted flakes….

Where is my favorite spoon??

Cee–re–all later!

Becky

Stop and smell the flour!

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I have postponed cooking with my students at school, as long as I could get away with it!

Every day they would ask, when they came in the classroom door, “When are we going to start cooking?”  Sigh

We have done some “baby” cooking as they call it. We have made microwave monkey bread,  microwave pop corn balls, and microwave frittatas.  Do you see a theme here?.

The students thought it was high time to use the “grown up” ovens.

Students and cooking and stoves……oh My!

One of the first things I let the students make in the oven is either biscuits or cookies. They decided to make biscuits. Of course, the main ingredient for biscuits is flour.  Usually, I can get free flour through the commodity program at school. The commodities are provided free or at a very low cost to the schools for the lunch program. What the schools feels like they have a surplus of, we (the FACS teachers) get to order. Flour, has been on the list for the 13 years I have been teaching.

This year is a little different.  The midwest was pretty much in a drought all summer and it has caused a drought in the flour availablity.

 I even loaned our school kitchen two bags of flour I just happen to have have on hand to make apple crisp. This was serious business!  What would school lunch be without their famous apple crisp????

 I felt like I had “saved the day” at lunch, you know kinda like the old Mighty Mouse cartoon…… FACS Teacher to save the day!…(ouch, that dates me doesn’t it?).

Bake, no, back to the flour shortage.

 I felt like Old Mother Hubbard, when I looked and saw my storage room was bare.

I was checking the sale ads in the paper and Hyvee had a two day sale on flour. UMMMM..I did not see a limit. I wondered if they would happen to have an extra 100 bags of flour just laying around. I wondered if I could get 100 bags of flour into my car. I wondered if I could talk 5 teachers into putting 20 bags of flour into their cars and bringing them to school. I wondered if I could required all my kids to bring in a bag of flour instead.

I wondered if I was crazy. Help!

I just decided to call Hyvee. To make a long story short….I got my flour for 99 cents a bag, they shopped  and delivered all 100 bags to my classroom. I even ordered 30 bags of sugar they had on sale too, you know, to sweeten the deal!

         

This is what my storage rooms looks like now with 100 bags of flour and 30 bags of sugar.

 Well…not really.

We used 3 bags of flour to make biscuits, (I will post about that later this weekend).  The students used one bag of sugar to put in their koolaide. Yes, the whole bag into one pitcher of koolaide. ok…almost a whole bag before I rescued the sugar from them.

Now, I can go into my storage room and look at all my flour. The pretty yellow color with blue trim…..and I can stop, and smell the flour.

Better than saying, “I can smell something burning, right?”

The day of a FACS teacher,

Becky

Urban Community Farm Hootenanny

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My oldest granddaughter and I took another adventure to the local urban farm.

They were having a Hootenanny.

 You have not heard a hootenanny?  Well, it is a old country word for “party”.

Today the urban farm had a big street party with square dancing and a meal cooked from their garden. All you had to do was make a donation to help provide raised gardens beds for low income families and the party was free. It was a bargain.

My granddaughter went on a scavenger hunt around the garden. I walked around looking at all the silent action items. Local businesses had donated all kinds of gift cards, garden tools, jewelry and gift baskets. I had my eye on a cast iron skillet, $40 gift card and 3 embroidered hand towels. Musicians were playing,  square dancing was going on in the street; this really was a party. 

In all this feel good hootenanny atmosphere….I was worried.

Last week, if you remember from my earlier post, we had visited the urban garden. We had walked down and checked out the chickens. They had white ones in one coop and different colored ones in another coop. The different colored ones followed us around, being friendly and wanted fed. The white ones just laid around looking at us.

Today, there was grilled chicken on the menu.

Did the white chickens know their fate?

I walked down to check out the chicken coops to see if my suspicions were correct. The coop with the white chickens in it seemed a little less crowded. Like 76 chickens less. 

Squawk!!

I had to take this bit of information in. I am not a vegetarian. I like to eat chicken. This just makes it a little more….say….real.

My grandparents had farms. I know what happens.

Better this way then a raccoon…right?

Let’s talk about Mr Bee Bumbles houses instead.

They had two bee hives. They had a lot of bees in them. They were behind yellow tape. Does that tell you something? I zoomed in and the bees zoomed at me while I took their picture. They were a little camera shy.  I beehived it out of there.

Next, came the neat rows of gardens. I wish I had a garden that looked like these. 

         

         

           I read all about the garden program.                             They had a sample of a raised vegetable garden.

After chasing my granddaughter through the scavenger hunt. Running from bees and looking at all the silent action goodies, I was getting hungry. I could smell great aromas coming from the grill.

It was time to eat.

As my granddaughter and I got in line, I was trying to explain about the chickens. This was worse than a birds and bee talk.

My granddaughter chose the free range hamburger patty.

Me, well I chose the……

         

 …………chicken.                                                     I ate squash too.

 Burp! Enough said.

Now, it was time for the games.

As with any good grandma…..or one that is too tired to argue, we had to play some games. This one cost me a dollar.

It was kinda like cow patty bingo, but this was a chicken drop(ping) game. You buy a ticket for a dollar. If the chicken “drops” in your number square you win a all natural Popsicle. 

All the kids stand by the chicken fence and chanted, “Plop, Plop, Chicken, Chicken, Drop, Drop”

I guess they were listening cause…..

Granddaughter won a popsicle (lucky number 19) and was given another one.

         

                    A pumpkin one.                                               A caramel apple one.

I got a bite of both. She said she was full. I think it was the all natural ingredients.

Thank you for letting me share about our adventure to the urban garden. I was so impressed that these dedicated volunteers want to feed and teach lower income families how to raise vegetables and fruit and also provide these families with a free raised garden bed. All I can say is Dedication!

 Besides teaching about raising your own vegetables, they also teach you about composting and using recycled dishes.

         

They taught me to separate my food scraps (from the foil)  for the compost pile. They also use REAL plates and silverware. But, real recycled dishes means you have to wash them, right?  Any volunteers?

It was time for us to go home : ).

Squawk! Squawk!

Becky

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

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Have you ever used the excuse you had to make something just to buy the magazine the recipe was in?

Whew…I thought I was the only one that did that.

Tonight, I did just that! I was looking at all the great fall baking magazines at Sam’s Club. I was in recipe heaven! I kept going back and looking at this recipe in a Better Homes and Garden Holiday Baking magazine.  It was a cheesecake that had cookie dough in it. Hmmmmm…I did need to make a dessert tonight for a lady’s day church lunch tomorrow.

Perfect!

I can buy the magazine, make the cheesecake for tomorrow and not feel an ounce of guilt over buying the magazine. The bonus was, I had almost everything at home to make it. I bought the couple of items I needed (eggs and cream cheese) and headed home to make a cheesecake. My granddaughter helped me to make this cheesecake. We had it in the oven in less than 20 minutes. If I can do this with a 10 year old, I know you can whip this up in no time at your house.

 For the Crust. First thing you need to do is crush the chocolate sandwich cookies. I did mine in a food processor. You can do yours in a zip lock bag and pound them with a rolling pin. Depends if you have had a bad day or not. 

I guess I had a pretty good day.

         

Next, add the sugar and melted butter to the crushed cookies.

Put the cookie mix in a 9 inch spring-form pan and press onto the bottom and up the sides, 1 and 1/2 inch.

         

I started using a spatula. It was faster just to use my hands.

         

For the filling. In a large mixing bowl, add your cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and flour. My granddaughter is adding the ingredients. Don’t you love her green sparkle nail polish : ) ?

Stir in the milk.

Add in your lightly beaten eggs. Mix together.

         

Take two cups of the cream cheese mixture an pour over the crust. Top the mixture with half of the cookie dough, a teaspoon at a time.

         

Pour the rest of the cream cheese mixture over the cookie dough. Add remaining cookie dough to the top and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Put the spring-form pan on a shallow baking dish. Put it in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for about an hour.

This is what mine looked like when it came out of the oven.

I hope the church ladies will be impressed. : )

I am happy I had a great excuse to buy a new magazine full of recipes : ).

I will let you know tomorrow if I have any left : ).

Enjoy!

Becky  

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

adapted from Better Home and Gardens Holiday Baking magazine

For the crust:

1 3/4 cup of finely crushed chocolate sandwich cookies.

1 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons melted butter

In a mixing bowl, mix crushed cookies, sugar and butter together. Press mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9 in spring form pan.

For the filling:

3 – 8 ounce packages of cream cheese (softened)

3 eggs (slightly beaten)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1 roll of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough.

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and flour until combined. Beat in the milk until smooth, then stir in the eggs.

Pour half the mixture (about 2 cups) over the chocolate cookie crust. In spoonful amounts, dap half the cookie dough onto the cream cheese filling. When you are done, pour the rest of the filling over the cookie dough and cream cheese bottom. Top the second layer with spoonfuls of cookie dough, then sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Put the springform pan onto a shallow baking dish and place a 350 degree oven. Bake for approximately one hour.

A couple of helpful hints. Make sure the bottom of the spring-form pan is securely locked in. (why would I know that?)

The next time I bake this I will lower the temperature 10 degrees to 340 degrees. I thought it looked a little on the brown side and I only baked it 55 minutes.

Make sure you put it on a shallow pan. The butter from the cookie dough will leak out the bottom. If you put it on a cookie sheet you just might set off your smoke alarms. (been there done that).

Urban Community Garden

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Everyone loves a field trip! Including me. Yesterday, I just had the urge to explore something new.

I had read a little story in our local paper about a community urban garden. It is a garden that provides education and resources for families to create a edible garden in thier backyard. As a teacher, this really interested me.

 A couple of days later, I just happen to accidentally drive by it. Whoohoo, what is the chances of that. I knew, when I had more time I had to go back and explore.

Sunday afternoon was a perfect afternoon for my field trip. My granddaughters are my little explorers……my car is the Santa Maria.  I was able to take one of my granddaughters. I picked her up, she got buckled up and we sailed away to find this garden of urban.

I was very interested in seeing the chickens. Don’t know why. I am just a little “cuckoo” sometimes.

The first thing we found was land. Ok…we parked next to the curb. But, we were delighted to find the fence surrounding the garden decorated with the cutest, cleverest, and adorable string art.

    

We were greeted by Mr. BeeBumble and Mrs. C. Carrot and of course Mr. Heirloom Tomato.

         

We can’t forget to mention, Ms. Lettuce B. Friends and Sister Pie Pumpkin.

What we were really looking for was the chickens.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

I don’t know either.

         

There were two large coops on the urban (farm) garden. One housed white chickens and the other coop housed different colored ones. The different colored ones, followed us up and down the side of the coop.  They wanted to be friends. We were making a connection….wait…I think they wanted to be fed.

The white chickens just kind of sat around, ignoring us.

We really liked the different colored ones.

Next, we visited the home of Bee Bumble.

Bees sting.

We did not stay long.

Next, we took a walk through the garden. The rows are so nice and straight. My granddaughter looks down for a closer view.

         

We found these little guys hiding.

What are these little guys? or girls? Are they beets?

We were able to talk to one of the workers. He was so gracious and answered so many of my questions.

I need to go back and ask some more.

Next time, I need to take all my granddaughters on an expedition for further exploration of the urban garden.

Or maybe a closer look at Bee Bumbles house with out fear of being greeted at the door by a angry door (bee) man.

We may not know a lot nowabout the urban garden . We may not know how it all works. But, we do know one thing.

All gardens and chicken need a little water!

I will share more information about this urban garden as our exploration continues.

It was time to go home. We climbed back on board the santa maria to sail for home via a pit stop at McDonalds.

Happy Gardening!

Becky

Fried EggPlant

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    Today marks the first day of Fall.  What better way to celebrate the arrival of cool, crisp air than to make a little fried eggplant. Not too long, long. long ago, I thought eggplant was a food that only vegetarians ate when they were really hungry. I mean, who eats a purple, egg looking vegetable, that leaks water? Right?

 My first encounter with eggplant was when I was in high school. I worked at this drug store and one of the pharmacy ladies brought in a eggplant sandwich. She proudly showed me this sandwich novelty and told me that everyone at her commune ate it.  Hmmm….They must have been really hungry. She offered me a little taste. I politely declined.

 My mistake.

Fast forward a college degree, many years, and a trip to a local restaurant where I was out to lunch with some teachers during a break from beginning of school meetings. A teacher at my table ordered fried eggplant appetizers. (Did she secretly live in a commune?)   It a wink of an eye, a heaping plate of french fry looking eggplant arrived at our table. They were fries in disguise! I had to try them. They were crunchy. They were delicious. They had a sprinkling of cheese on top. I was addicted.  

I now love purple looking egg shaped vegetables. I have made them several times but I have gone back to that restaurant many times and ordered their eggplant appetizer.

They make me happy.

I hope this recipe will make you happy too!

fried egg plant            

Start off with a couple of nice eggplants. Slice them into 1/4 inch slices.

fried egg plant

Line a strainer with paper towels. Salt the eggplant lightly on each side and place in a strainer. Let the egg plant “weep” in the strainer for at least 45 minutes. This will allow all the extra moisture to drain out, leaving your eggplant ready for frying.

    

Take the eggplant out of the strainer and pat dry. Dip egg plant in a egg and milk bath and coat with Italian bread crumbs.

         

Place well coated eggplant in a frying pan with 1/2 inch of vegetable oil. The oil should be heated to around 360 degrees. After you fry them to a crispy brown, place them on a paper towel to drain.

You could eat these little crunchy flying saucers now. Serve them warm with a little ranch dressing.

Lock yourself in a closet and eat them all yourself.

 I would never tell!

         

 Or, you could top them with saute’d tomatoes, garlic and artichokes in olive oil. Then top them with parmesan cheese and bake in the oven till the cheese gets all melty. 

Now, hide in a lock closet and eat them. Or, share them.

They are perfect. They are a meal.

Enjoy!

Becky

Recipe for Fried Eggplant topped with tomatoes, artichokes and parmesan cheese.

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants sliced in 1/4 inch slices

salt

2 eggs

3 tablespoons of milk

vegetable oil (enough to fill frying pan 1/2 in full) to fry the egg plant

2 cups Italian bread crumbs

4 roma tomatoes (seeded) diced in 1/4 cubes

1 jar of artichoke hearts (in water) drained and diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

3 tablespoons olive oil (to saute the tomatoes, garlic and artichoke hearts)

3/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese.

Directions:

Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch slices.

Line a large strainer with paper towels and place in the sink or place the strainer on a cookie sheet (to catch excess water).  Lightly salt the sliced egg plant on both sides and place in the strainer. Let the eggplant “weep” for at least 45 minutes to release excess water. This will help in making a crispier fried eggplant.

Take the eggplant out of strainer and pat dry with a paper towel.

In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and milk.

Dip the slices of eggplant into the egg and milk mixture. The dip the eggplant into Italian flavored bread crumbs. Thoroughly coat both sides.

Heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a frying pan to around 360 degrees. Fry the egg plant on both sides until it is lightly brown and crispy.

Place eggplant on paper towel to drain.

Take the roma tomatoes and take the seeds out. Dice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch cubes. Drain the artichokes hearts and dice. Mince the garlic.

In a sauce pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the tomatoes, garlic and artichokes hearts for approximately 4 minutes.

Measure equal amounts of tomato mixture and place on top of each fried eggplant slice. Place the eggplants on a foil lined cookie sheet. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Sprinkle shredded parmesan cheese on top of each eggplant slice. Place the fried eggplant slices in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted.

Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.

Couponing, Three reasons why I love it.

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I blame my journey into couponing on my sister Nina. She was so excited! She was so in love! She thought the whole world should be watching the show, “Extreme Couponing”. She would call me and make sure I knew what time the show started.  She wanted everyone to buy a binder, load it down with coupons and get their groceries for free. FREE…really….ok…she had my attention. I was intriqued yet very skeptical but thought I would give it a go. I have made mistakes but learned a lot I now have a binder of my own. I bought several newspapers each week. I cut and clip and try to add match. I guess this means I am now a couponer (is that a real word?) Am I an extreme couponer…no…do I save money…Yes…do I get all my groceries free…No! but here are three reasons why I love couponing (this week).

Here is reason number one why I love couponing….

               

I bought a bag of mini sweet peppers ( l love these roasted in the oven) 2 bags of salad mix and a couple of pounds of bananas for .21 cents

Reason number two why I love couponing….

         

At Target I bought 5 bags of simple pleasure chocolates for $1.00.

Reason number three why I love couponing…….

         

At Gerbes I bought 8 pringles and 2 laughing cow cheeses for $4.07.

These are three of my best deals I got this week at my local stores.      

Does it take time?….Yes.

Do you have to plan it out?….Yes

Do you have to go to more than one store?….Yes

Do you really have to go to more than one store?….No…but you get the best buys if you do.

Couponing tip number one. Start small.

Couponing tip number two. Go to the store that you are most familiar with and coupon match with their sale adds.

Couponing tip number three. Do not be embarrassed buying 10 boxes of Frosted Flakes for $1.25 each. You will say “GREEEEAT” at the check out.

Couponing tip number four. Do not eat all the chocolate in one sitting……this is why they invented locked doors.

 Try a little coupon trip to your favorite store. Let me know how you do!

Becky

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