Melissa & Doug on Amazon

There are some great $10 Melissa & Doug toys today on Amazon at 50% off!  Great Christmas or birthday gifts!

Shutterfly Christmas cards

We ordered our Christmas cards last year thru Shutterfly & loved them!!!  This year, they have even more awesome cards to choose from.  We thought this vintage look was great with our venue. We had fun taking this photo shoot with Carolyn Jayne Photography.

We love how it turned out!  Can't wait to get them!!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

More recipes

Probably the best Beef Stroganoff I've ever had.  I used ground beef instead of stew meat. Even better the next day!!!

Made two different kinds of Pizza Bites - pepperoni & cheese and tomato, basil & cheese.  Dipped in pizza sauce.  Delish!!!

Made this Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf for dinner tonight.  We ate it all!!! :O

Making this Egg Nog Bread tonight too.  Can't wait!

finally

I know it's been a long time.  I'm posting several recipes that I've made recently.  Enjoy :)

Mexican Shredded Pot Roast- start in the morning & this turns out awesome!

Pumpkin Pie Bars-  I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top :)

Super Nachos with Butternut Squash Queso- I've made this a couple of times.  The butternut squash queso would make a super soup too.

Avocado Chicken Parmesan- simple and delish!

Cranberry Beef Roast- I've made this before & it's super easy and good!

Sweet Chicken Nuggets- these are almost like Chick fil a's nuggets.  yum!!

Pumpkin Ricotta Shells- very tasty!

Roasted Squash Soup- wonderful for a cold evening!

Pumpkin Pie French Toast- so good!

Chipotle Honey Meatballs- great!

Sun dried tomato pesto pasta salad with chicken

I made this for dinner tonight... it was easy and yummy!  This would be great on a hot summer night when you don't want to cook in the oven.

Recent delights...

Here are few of my recent treats...

I made these Banana Bread Pancakes this morning. They melt in your mouth. I cut the sugar in half and they still are wonderful.


A yummy breakfast frittata... Baked Potato Frittata

Bought real maple syrup for the first time recently. Oh my! It's heavenly.  These were a nice sweet treat!... Maple Walnut Muffins

LOVED these Grilled Cheese and Ham Waffles!  Awesome as leftovers for lunch for my son.  Pop in the toaster and done. :)

A little healthy comfort food... Chicken with Lemon & Leek Pasta

YUMMMMY!  Low fat onion rings!  I had some issues at the end with the breading sticking to the onions because it got too wet from the milk from the onions.  Next time I'll put the breading mixture into two different bowls to out smart it. ;)

A twist on the usual Chicken Parmesean... Cube Steak Parmesean.   I always find cube steaks on sale so this made for an inexpensive meal & delish too.

This soup was tastey!!  Corn & Chipotle Tortilla soup.  I added some chicken too. 

You'd never know that this was healthy!  Sooo good!  Weight Watchers Chicken Fried Rice

Oh boy these were yummmmy!  Mini Meatball Sliders with Pesto

I need to make these again! Devine!!  Butternut Squash Enchiladas

These were very easy & good!  Would be great for a party.  Mini lasagna cups

MIA!!!

Sorry I've been MIA for awhile.  Too much going on & something has to give. But I'll be posting some of my favorite eats & treats today.  Enjoy!! :)

National Geographic~ $10 for one year subscription!

WOW- what an awesome deal for National Geographic!  It says $15 but after you put into your cart, it'll show up at $10. 

Lots of recipes...

here are some of the latest dishes I've made...

• Beef Stroganof With Egg-noodles...  very easy and good!
• BBQ mini meatloaves... yummmmy!
• Pasta with pumpkin/butternut squash and sausage ... this can be made with either pumpkin (canned) or butternut squash.  I used turkey sausage and whole wheat pasta to make this healthier.  Something a little different and very good!
• Blueberry pancakes... try to let the batter sit about an hour (if possible) before you cook.  Very fluffy and good!!
• Super Nachos with Butternut Queso ... OMG- I loved this!!  I made it for my aunt and she enjoyed it.  The butternut queso would be awesome as a soup (minus the nachos). ;)
• Crockpot Chow Mein ... good!!!
• Gluten free Chocolate Banana Muffins... pretty good since I've never cooked gluten free.  I used brown rice flour, substituted butter for the oil and add some chocolate chips to the recipe.
• Mini taco meatloaves ... if you or your family doesn't like spice just use regular canned tomatoes.  I didn't use the queso salsa b/c I didn't have any.  These were delish!!!!
• Banana crunch muffins... the granola adds a great taste.  very good!!!

Sierra Nevada Beef Stew

One day last week, my husband emailed me a recipe for a beef stew.   I couldn't help but laugh that he was sending me a recipe. Little did I know at the time that it included his favorite beer.  I knew there was a reason. ;)
The meat was very tender and we thought it was very good!

Here's the recipe that I tweaked a bit.  Reduce onions if they aren't your favorite.  I love them so I used 1 onion.

Sierra Nevada Beef Stew

1 tbsp. oil
2 lb stew meat
3/4 lb. mushrooms [I used 2 cartons of sliced mushrooms]
3 tbsp. flour
1 cup Bigfoot Sierra Nevada [I used their Celebration Ale]
1 cup beef broth
4 carrots [I used a couple handfuls of baby carrots]
1 sliced onion
2 potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
4 cloves garlic [minced or grate right into the pot]
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt  [I didn't use b/c broth is pretty salty]
1 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf

Brown beef in oil. Cook mushrooms & flour-stir until thick, add beer and broth and boil. Move to slow cooker. Add all remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Discard bay leaf before eating.

Snapfish- 11x14 collage poster for just shipping (and tax)!

Here's an awesome deal for a FREE collage poster. Snapfish has a promotion running right now where you can get a free 11×14 Collage Photo Poster valued at $8.99 for free.

Create your poster and use code: POSTERBABY at checkout. Make sure you make the collage one that is priced at $8.99.

I just made one for $2.16 shipped. :)

Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day~ Epic Mickey

This is an awesome deal!  Normally $49.99, yesterday listed at $43.99 and today only (or until supplies last), it's only $29.99!   If you're a Disney fan, I'd jump on this fast.

FREE $20 from Shutterfly

The site 'Our Wedding Day' is offering a free $20 Shutterfly credit when you register with them. This credit will be emailed to you right after you register. After you get this email [check your junk mail], add the code to your account:

•Login or Sign up to your Shutterfly account
•Click on “My Account” at the top of the page.
•Scroll down to “Enter Special Offer Code” and enter your code.

This code is valid for a one time $20 credit towards a purchase of $20 or more (excluding shipping, handling and taxes) at Shutterfly.com. This offer is good while supplies last or 4/15/11 whatever comes first.

Extra 20% off at Michael... Sat. (1/15)

This is a great coupon because it's good for sale items too!  Good tomorrow (1/15) only.

We need a coupon frames so I'll be heading there tomorrow.  It pays to procrastinate. ;)

BRU wipes deal

This is an awesome deal! Starting tomorrow (1/14) through Monday. Babies R Us will have Babyganics baby wipes- 400 count on sale for $10.   They are Buy One, Get One free!! So two for $10!!!  That is a GREAT Stock up price at $.12 a wipe or .90 a tub (72ct).   This would also make a great baby shower present.

FREE timer for washing hands

Here is a great freebie from Colgate and American Public Health Association! This free hand washing timer is meant to help children learn how long they should be washing their hands in order to prevent infectious disease.  You can request up to 3!  This would be a great treat for a teacher.

new recipes...

On New Years Day, I made a bunch of appetizers.  Here are a few of them...

Sorry not the best pic but they were delish & SOOO easy! 

Pizza bites... I used garlic & herb pizza dough from Trader Joes.

Potato Nests ... I didn't use salmon. Instead just used bacon.

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Here are few of the tasty treats I've made in the past couple of weeks. 

--Potato Leek Soup... yummmmy!

--BBQ Chicken Pizza Soup... I love bbq chicken anything & never had soup before.  Very easy & good!

Black Bean Soup... I pureed some of the soup.  Very good!

--Rachael Ray's Fajita Chilaquiles Casserole... excellent!  I used green peppers b/c that's all I had.  I'd suggest cutting the tortilla chips smaller when baking them.

--Pizza Bites... made these for dinner tonight with a big martini ;)

 

Follow up to Amazon post...

Can't post this one on Facebook. ;)  SOOO excited to find that Wii Fit Plus deal on Amazon.  Hubbie has a bday next week and I didn't know what to do.  I think this present is more for me that him... but I won't tell him. ;)

I'll be posting a few new recipes later tonight. :)

HOT- Amazon deal on Wii Fit Plus $79.96

This is the lowest price since Black Friday.  In typical Amazon fashion act fast if you want this great price.  It gets awesome reviews!!

Poll

This blog is for you!!!  There is a poll over to the right.  Please let me know what you'd like me to post.  If there are other things, feel free to leave me a comment.  I'm open to whatever.  Thanks!!!

Recipe for Mix and Match Muffins

I saw this recipe for "Mix and Match Muffins" on GoodCheapEats.com.  It's so versatile as you can add anything you want to it... fruit, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, jelly, etc.   I think I'm going to make Banana Blueberry.  What sounds good to you?

Pantry Challenge

Last January, I did this Pantry Challenge and I'm going to do it again. My stockpile of pasta, meats, oatmeal & more is pretty good.  I'm going to only buy essentials at the grocery store this month... fresh fruits & veggies, milk, diary, juice and anything that is a 'rock bottom' deal.  I'm hoping to spend about $40 per week at the grocery store.  Let's see how I do! 

Are you up for the challenge with me?????

December meals and treats

I've been a little MIA lately.  The holidays are a busy time & I'm struggling with juggling all the 'balls' right now.  Thank you for your support and reading my blog this past year!!!!

Here are a few of the tastey treats that I made in Decemeber. Enjoy!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole... this is great if you're looking for a low carb yummy meal.


Mac and Cheese Muffins (not sure if I posted this or not).  Awesome recipe that you can hide puree butternut squash too. ;)

Chili Beef Sliders... very easy and delicious!!!

Pasta with Mushrooms and Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Sauce  [I used regular mushrooms].  A bit different but very good!!!

Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Cheddar Chipotle Soup [adjust the amount of chipotle if you're feeding kids.  I only used about 1/2 a chipotle pepper.]  We had a friend over for dinner and he raved about it.



Spiced Pumpkin Waffles... we loved it!

Eggnog Pancakes... yummmmmy!

These recipes aren't online.  I got them from Paula Deen's Christmas magazine.  Super yummy!
-Bananas Foster Fritters with Warm Banana Rum Sauce... delish but kind of fell apart on me.
-Roast Been and Mini Biscuits and Sage Butter
-Pecan Crusted Fried Brie Bites
-Mac and Cheese with Sausage Topping
-White Chocolate and Toffee Fudge


I was a bit 'domestic' with some of my holiday gifts...

• Made these Peppermint Hot Cocoa jars for my son's teachers.  Super easy and you can download the cute labels too.
• I made two different body/hand scrubs... Sweet and Spicy Sugar Scrub and a Lemon Sugar Scrub [I zested some orange zest too.]
• Cranberry Hootycreek Cookies {funny name!}
• Lemon Curd

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year to you and your family!!!!!

May it be blessed, healthy & prosperous!!!