Basket Breakdown 9/10/2011

10 Sep

This week I contributed $15 for the conventional basket, plus the $1.50 handling fee, so $16.50 total.  Here is what I got at Bountiful Baskets this morning.

I got a head of lettuce, spinach, green beans, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, table grapes, peaches, pears, bananas, figs, and plums.

The lettuce and spinach I washed and dried, so wish I had a salad spinner to help with drying.  Then, I wrap it in paper towels and put it in gallon size zipper bags, making sure to let as much air out as I can.  It really helps keep it fresh longer.  Cauliflower, I might try making roasted cauliflower as a side to salmon and rice.  The sweet potatoes, I will probably make sweet potato fries as a side to cheesy spinach burgers.  Green beans, I might blanch and freeze.  I’m still working on ideas for the figs, possibly a fig cake or cookies.  We’ll see how the week goes for cooking!

Tags:

Mashed Potatoes

10 Sep

We are still trying to get through all the potatoes we have, so with last night’s dinner, I made mashed potatoes.  I used to just make them from a box or a package because I thought making them from scratch took too long.  And, it really is a time-consuming process, so I usually have to plan ahead and start them before anything else.  My favorite potatoes for mashed potatoes are Yukon Gold.  I also really like red potatoes and leave the skins on with those.  But, we have russet potatoes, which make pretty good mashed potatoes too.

What You Need:
– 2 pounds potato of your choice
– 1/2 cup milk
– 1/2 stick of butter

How to Make it:
Wash, peel, and dice the potatoes.  Add them to a large pot and add water to about 1 inch above the potatoes.  Bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium-high and keep at a rolling boil.  It’s important to find the right amount of heat or you will find the water boiling over the sides of your pot.  Continue to boil until potatoes soften, about 20-30 minutes.  Drain water.  Mash the potatoes, then add in the milk and butter.  Stir thoroughly until well blended together.

If you like, you can add in some parsley, and/or salt and pepper.  I try not to go overboard on spices though, I don’t want to over-season things.  I figure salt and pepper can be added after serving to a certain person’s taste.  I serve mashed potatoes with a variety of dishes, and do it this way more often since I am trying to use less pre-packaged foods.

Tags: ,

Strawberry, Blueberry, and Banana Smoothies

10 Sep

Last night was one of those nights where I was lost on what to cook.  I had ideas, but needed to run to the store if I wanted to be able to make any of them.  K was whiny after school, and it’s probably better that we didn’t go because it has been raining all evening.  My girls were both getting hungry, so I decided to make them smoothies.  I still have plenty of strawberries and blueberries in my freezer, I bought them back in June/July when both were really cheap.

I added about 1 1/2 cups of frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, and 1 banana to my blender.  I poured in milk until it came up to about the 2 cup line on my blender.  If you use fresh berries instead of frozen, you will need to add in 1/2 cup of ice.

I then turned it on and pureed until well blended.  Both girls were very happy!

Tags: , , ,

Steak, Egg, & Potato Burritos

9 Sep

For last night’s dinner, I decided that I would make burritos.  I had large flour tortillas in my freezer from 8/27 Bountiful Baskets.  I also had steak leftover from a couple of nights ago, plus the roasted corn salsa I made.  I had roasted Poblano peppers on the grill last week that had been in my 8/27 Bountiful Baskets Mexican pack.  And, we need to work through the 15 pounds of potatoes we still have.

First, my brother-in-law helped by washing, peeling, and dicing the potatoes, about 2 pounds of russets.  I put some olive oil in a large skillet and started cooking half of the potatoes.  After cooking for a few minutes, I added some diced onion and the Poblano pepper.  I cooked until the potatoes started to soften and brown, then added in the cut pieces of steak.  Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, I scrambled 6 eggs.  I mixed this all together in a bowl and started the process again to use up the other half of the potatoes.  I had to do it in 2 parts because my pans weren’t big enough for all of it at once.

Once the filling was complete, I cleaned the large skillet and added it to medium-low heat.  I placed a tortilla in the pan, added some of the filling toward one side of the tortilla, and sprinkled on Mexican blend cheese.

Fold over the side of the tortilla closest to the filling over the filling.

Next, fold over the top and bottom of the tortilla.

Finally, fold the section with the filling over to complete the burrito.

Brown on that side for a few minutes, then flip the burrito over and brown on the other side for a few minutes.  Remove from pan and serve.  I served mine with roasted corn salsa over it.

Yum!  Since I get 3 dozen of the large tortillas in the tortilla pack from Bountiful Baskets, I’m always playing around with fillings for burritos.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Huggies Deal at Target

8 Sep

There is a great deal on Huggies Slip-On diapers this week at Target!  If you haven’t tried these new diapers yet, they are a lot like the Huggies Pull-ups, except that they are more absorbent like a diaper.  I like them for S right now, she’s not really showing a lot of interest in using the potty, but likes to occasionally sit on the potty and pretend.  It’s a pain to take off and put a regular diaper back on, but since she’s not really going on the potty yet, the Pull-ups don’t absorb well enough.  I have heard mixed reviews on how well other people like them, but if you need diapers, these are fairly cheap to at least try to see how they work.

Buy 2 big packs of Huggies Slip-On diapers at Target, $19.79 each
– Use 2 $3/1 Huggies Slip-On diapers from 8/14 Smart Source
– Use 1 $2/1 Huggies Slip-on diapers Target store coupon (I only say 1 in this scenario because the Target coupon is limited to 1 per transaction)
Pay $31.58, get $10 Target gift card back

Now, to make this an even better deal, if you have a Kroger family store near you, like Fry’s Food Stores, stop in there and purchase a $25 Target gift card first to use on this diaper purchase.  The 4x fuel points promo is still running right now, so you will get 100 points for the purchase of the $25 Target gift card, which will get you $.10 per gallon on your next fuel fill up at a Fry’s fuel station, or select Shell and Circle K fuel stations.

This deal is good through September 10, 2011.

Tags: , ,

Dehydrating fruit

7 Sep

Each week in Bountiful Baskets, I get a nice assortment of fruit.  It mostly gets eaten outright, but lately it’s been tough for us to get through it before it goes bad.  Or, it’s just something we don’t particularly like a lot.  This week and last week, I got pears and nectarines that have sat, and the plums I got last week were starting to not look great anymore.  While trying to decide what to do with the pears, my friend D got a new fruit dehydrator to make raisins with the grapes we got.  I decided to ask to borrow it to at least dehydrate my pears and I picked it up yesterday.  Since you need the base and at least 4 trays, I decided I would try doing the nectarines, plums, and a couple bananas, plus we ended up putting a Granny Smith apple in too.

For the pears and the apple, I got out our peeler/corer/slicer.  Seriously, one of the best inventions for prepping pears and apples.  My girls love helping me use it.

Next, the pears, apples, and nectarines all need to be pre-treated to prevent them from browning.  There are a variety of options to do this, but I chose soaking them in lemon juice.  D had dehydrated her pears and dipped them in lemon juice, but felt like the lemon taste stayed with them, so I diluted my lemon juice with water, 50/50 ratio.  I left it in there about 5 minutes.

The plums I cut in half and removed the pits, the bananas I cut into 3/8″ slices.

I arranged it all on the trays, stacked the trays, plugged it in, and flipped the switch.

I let it run overnight, approximately 10 hours and here is what I woke up to.

It’s a browner than I wanted it to be, but it’s still sweet and full of flavor.  I think I may have left it in the dehydrator too long, probably should have started it later in the evening.  Also, I wonder if some of it was not in the lemon juice long enough or if my diluting the lemon juice had some effect.  Still a good experiment and thanks to D for letting me borrow the dehydrator!

Tags: , , , , ,

Steak, Potatoes, and Roasted Corn Salsa

6 Sep

Busy night of cooking for me!  We had a ton of meat in the fridge.  I had thawed out steak and had hot dogs on hand to grill out for Labor Day.  Then, hubby had invited over some friends to cookout on Tuesday, so I decided to not grill on Monday and wait until Tuesday.  Hubby went to the store and bought 2 more packages of steaks and 2 packages of brats.  Then, the friends ended up not being able to come over, so 1 package of brats went to the freezer and I decided to go ahead and grill a package of hot dogs and a package of brats, plus all the steaks.  I also had a few potatoes left from Bountiful Baskets, so I decided to grill those as well.  (Don’t get me started on potatoes, hubby also bought a 10 pound bag of them when he bought the steaks, not knowing that I already had close to 10 pounds at home.  This is why only I should do the shopping!)

Anyway, we had plenty of steak left, so we cut it into pieces, and hubby has requested that I make steak and egg burritos, to which I will add roasted Poblano peppers and onion.  More about that tomorrow, back to tonight’s meal.

The day before, I put all the steak into a 9 x 13 glass pan and marinated them with Dale’s Seasoning.  No, it is not made by my hubby.  We recently discovered this at the Commissary and laughed because it has his name, but seriously, this stuff is really good.  Then, I prepped the potatoes. I washed them really good, then mixed together olive oil and Italian seasoning to brush on them, and rolled them up in aluminum foil.  Then, it was time to put it all on the grill!

As that was cooking, I worked on finishing up roasted corn salsa.  I had already roasted the 7 ears of sweet corn that I received from Bountiful Baskets on 9/3 because I didn’t want it to go bad before I got the chance to use it.  To roast it, I take off some of the outer husks, then pull back the husks to remove the silk.  I put the husks back around the corn and put it on the grill.  I leave it out there 20-30 minutes, turning every so often, and get nice, roasted corn.  If you don’t have a grill, you can roast the corn in your oven’s broiler.  Turn the broiler on low, and line a baking sheet with foil.  You can leave the husks on or remove them.  Place about 6 inches from the broiler and turn the corn every so often until it is roasted.

Next, you cut the kernels off the cob.  Now, the tricky part is what else to add.  I will give you a rough approximation of what I add, but salsa is really about making it to your taste.

  • 4 ears of corn, roasted, removed from cob
  • 1/2 yellow or red onion, or 1 bunch green onion, chopped (I use whatever I have on hand or what is cheapest)
  • 2-3 jalapenos, seeded and diced
  • 1 can black beans, drained
  • 2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 2 tsp garlic salt
  • Juice of 2-3 key limes or 1 large lime

Here is the final result to serve with your favorite tortilla chips.  We usually get the scoop type tortilla chips, it’s easier with this chunky salsa to be able to scoop it up.  Note that this is a double batch of the recipe above since I had 7 ears of corn.

After this was all finished and cleaned up, I went to work on some fruit that is currently in the food dehydrator.  I will have a full (hopefully good) report on that tomorrow!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Fun with Pipe Cleaners!

6 Sep

While I was at the dollar store last week getting the supplies for the Popcorn Sight Words game, I saw pipe cleaners and decided to grab 2 packs.  Now, I say pipe cleaners, but you may also call them chenille sticks or stems, which is how they are sometimes labeled at at the store.  I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with them yet, but I know that there are plenty of fun things to do with them, plus they are great for working on fine motor skills.

First, we made some shape, circle, triangle, square, rectangle, heart.  Then we started making some letters, B, b, R, J, L.  Lots more possibilities there!

Then, I remembered  an idea I had seen on Pinterest, and got out my colanders.  Mine do not have circles, just lines, but it still worked well.  The girls had a blast with this!  We decided we were making rainbows!

Next time I am at the dollar store, I will look for some beads to use for stringing on the pipe cleaners.  I also might make up a box with holes and colors around the holes to do color matching along with putting the pipe cleaners in holes.  What kinds of activities do you do with pipe cleaners?

Tags: ,

Playdough!

6 Sep

Last week, K’s pre-K teacher asked for volunteers to make playdough.  Always eager to help, I told him I would help and he gave me the recipe.  I already had everything on the list except cream or tartar and Kool-Aid, plus I was getting low on salt.  Off to the store we went and then came home to try this out.

Playdough
– 3 cups flour
– 1 1/2 cups salt
– 3 tablespoons oil
– 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
– 3 cups water
– saucepan
– mixing spoon
– hot plate or stove

Combine all ingredients.  Cook over very low heat until mixture is no longer sticky to the touch.  Add food coloring or 1 packet Kool-Aid for color (Kool-Aid also adds smell).

Ingredients for Playdough

All mixed together on low heat on stove

Starting to be less sticky

Finished playdough! Note how it easily pulls from the sides of the pan and it will be no long sticky to the touch

Cooled, put into gallon sized bags, and dated

The most expensive ingredient for me was the cream of tartar.  I didn’t have time to check out the dollar store, so bought it at the grocery store while I was there.  Otherwise, all the ingredients are things normally on hand.  In all, this takes about 20 minutes to do, 5 minutes to measure things out, 10-15 minutes for it to cook on the stove.

In the end, we ended up doing this recipe 4 times, making 4 bags of playdough.  We went through about 5 lbs of flour, 2 26 oz canisters of salt, 1 2.5oz container of cream of tartar, not very much of the container of vegetable oil.  Depending on where you shop for the ingredients, it’s a pretty cheap activity.

Update: A friend let me know that she made this recipe and does not have non-stick pans like I used, and the playdough was still stuck to the bottom of her pan even after it was all done.  If you have non-stick pans, I would advise using one for this project.

Current Promos at Fry’s

5 Sep

Right now, there are some great promos at the Kroger family of stores, which includes Fry’s Food Stores here in AZ.

First, there is the Spin to Win game.  This promo is going on while they are having the Buy 4, Save $4 P&G sale.  You load 4 P&G coupons onto your rewards card and get a chance to spin the wheel.  You can spin the wheel once a day, and you can win 2 prizes throughout the promotion.  My mom has gotten $4 and $2 on her Kroger card, I have gotten $3 on my Fry’s card and now keep landing on Tips.  Click on the picture below to play and see if you win!  This game will be available to play until 9/10/2011.

Second, there is a fuel point promotion with gift cards.  For any gift card you purchase, you get 4 times the fuel points instead of the normal 2 times the fuel points.  They have a variety of cards to choose from, but it excludes Kroger family gift cards, Green Dot prepaid reloadable products, MoneyPaks and American Express Variable Load, Visa Variable Load, 1-2-3 REWARDS Reloadable Visa Prepaid Debit Card and MasterCard Variable Load gift cards.  If I know I need gift cards for a gift for someone or if I know there is somewhere I have budgeted a purchase for the month, like Lowe’s or Target, or if we are planning to eat out at Olive Garden or Chili’s, I go get a gift card at Fry’s first so I can earn the fuel points.  Why get so many points?  Because for every 100 points, you get $.10 off per gallon of gas.  Currently, you can redeem up to 1,000 points at a time to get up to $1 off per gallon of gas.  Gas is expensive right now, so every little bit helps!  Click the image below for more details.  This promotion runs through 9/13/2011.

Tags: ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →