Have you ever been to a party and seen those awesome cute little cheese balls, then fell in love with the taste. Next you go to the grocery store and get all excited when you see them…and then looked at the price and put it back down. I have. Many a time. This last holiday season, despite the sales, I still could not bring myself to pay the price of those things, no matter how good it sounded.
So, I searched recipes and found this one. We all loved it, though it almost made TOO much for our small gathering of 5 adults and one toddler. It was my first time trying it though so we just used the leftovers through the week.
Here’s what I did:
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened(you can soften cream cheese either by leaving it out a few hours or microwaving it in small intervals)
1 (1 oz) package ranch dressing mix (dry)
2 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 ½ c chopped pecans
In medium size bowl, mash cream cheese. Mix dressing mix and cheddar cheese into cream cheese.
Shape into a ball.
Roll in nuts. Refrigerate covered for at least 2 hours, until ready to serve.
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Showing posts with label from scratch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label from scratch. Show all posts
Monday, April 26, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Saturday Fun
I take weekends off from working out. Some people go every other day, I like to go M-F, and spend weekends taking care of "business" with my husband.
That being said, I still am trying to watch what I eat and how much. I have never been so overweight as to really work hard to lose it all...and now I'm becoming almost obsessed. Ultimately, I want to lose a total of 50 lbs. I know that it will take a long time to do it the most healthy ways possible, but I'm okay with that, partially because I want to form healthy habits anyways.
Part of something I would like to do is to eat less red meat. We eat 3-5 red meats a week...usually ground beef. My eye opener is that my brother in law has been diagnosed with high cholesterol. I grew up primarily on ground beef though, so I ask you all, how do you eat frugally but healthy?
That being said, I still am trying to watch what I eat and how much. I have never been so overweight as to really work hard to lose it all...and now I'm becoming almost obsessed. Ultimately, I want to lose a total of 50 lbs. I know that it will take a long time to do it the most healthy ways possible, but I'm okay with that, partially because I want to form healthy habits anyways.
Part of something I would like to do is to eat less red meat. We eat 3-5 red meats a week...usually ground beef. My eye opener is that my brother in law has been diagnosed with high cholesterol. I grew up primarily on ground beef though, so I ask you all, how do you eat frugally but healthy?
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Container Gardens
I am majorly bummed about something.
Our plan for this year was to finish switching out appliances, as we have a nice stove and dryer in our back shed, than empty that shed and tear it down. Not only is this shed just worn out, but it is taking up precious space where I would like to put my garden in.
We're not going to make it. My very generous friend who will be helping Mr Scratch switch said appliances out, is extremely busy right now. Sucky, but understandable. So, our vegetables will cost a little more than I intended to grow, as we will have to do a container garden.
I would like to share our expenses and plans with you.
I would like to have 13 tomato plants, 6 jalepeno pepper plants and 6 bell pepper plants.
I was also given 4 cucumber plants by my neighbor.
We decided we didn't want to invest in expensive pots, just wanted the cheap nursery style pots.
I spent a night searching online for pots. It was beginning to look hopeless! Many of the websites, I would get excited, a 5 gallon pot would only be $1.50. So, I'd load up my 'basket' with everything we needed...and shipping would cost more than the products! The added shipping would make it more worthwhile to go to the hardware store or Walmart and just buy their cheapest pots and call it a day.
Than I found this website...Alternative Gardening
Their pots were cheap...and so was their shipping.
For a total of 28 pots, and shipping, we paid $57. Most other sites were around $100 or more!
So, we ordered them, and about 4 days later, they showed up.
Next was to figure out how much soil we needed...the answer? almost 400 gallons. I knew that was going to put a hole in my pocket!
After shopping around, we got it down to $38 for all that soil.
Everything else we need has been either given to us or reused from years past, so I don't tend to count those--afterall, if I use these 'new' pots next year for seedlings, I wouldn't count them towards my total spent towards gardening!
I will be lining the pots along my back fence, so they should be fun and decorative too!
How is your gardening coming along?
Our plan for this year was to finish switching out appliances, as we have a nice stove and dryer in our back shed, than empty that shed and tear it down. Not only is this shed just worn out, but it is taking up precious space where I would like to put my garden in.
We're not going to make it. My very generous friend who will be helping Mr Scratch switch said appliances out, is extremely busy right now. Sucky, but understandable. So, our vegetables will cost a little more than I intended to grow, as we will have to do a container garden.
I would like to share our expenses and plans with you.
I would like to have 13 tomato plants, 6 jalepeno pepper plants and 6 bell pepper plants.
I was also given 4 cucumber plants by my neighbor.
We decided we didn't want to invest in expensive pots, just wanted the cheap nursery style pots.
I spent a night searching online for pots. It was beginning to look hopeless! Many of the websites, I would get excited, a 5 gallon pot would only be $1.50. So, I'd load up my 'basket' with everything we needed...and shipping would cost more than the products! The added shipping would make it more worthwhile to go to the hardware store or Walmart and just buy their cheapest pots and call it a day.
Than I found this website...Alternative Gardening
Their pots were cheap...and so was their shipping.
For a total of 28 pots, and shipping, we paid $57. Most other sites were around $100 or more!
So, we ordered them, and about 4 days later, they showed up.
Next was to figure out how much soil we needed...the answer? almost 400 gallons. I knew that was going to put a hole in my pocket!
After shopping around, we got it down to $38 for all that soil.
Everything else we need has been either given to us or reused from years past, so I don't tend to count those--afterall, if I use these 'new' pots next year for seedlings, I wouldn't count them towards my total spent towards gardening!
I will be lining the pots along my back fence, so they should be fun and decorative too!
How is your gardening coming along?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tortillas-From Scratch
One our family's favorites is taco night. It is funny in a way because growing up, I liked tacos, but didn't have to have them a lot.
When I was pregnant with Miss Lorelei, many many things changed in my eating habits. This was one of them. I craved tacos a lot. I got mad (we're talking almost crying) because Taco Bell got rid of the Grande Soft Taco. I loved this thing, it was a taco with an extra tortilla. Between the two tortillas was nacho cheese. And it was cheap-Dollar menu cheap. I walked in one day and it was gone. Since than, Taco Bell just isn't what it was for me.
Anyhow, so we find ourselves having tacos sometimes as frequently as once a week. Now tortillas are fairly cheap, until you start going through them like we were. Let me tell you, tacos once a week, plus I came to like to experiment making wraps in the last few months...we've been averaging buying 5 "bags" of flour tortillas a month, minimum!
Tonight, was taco night. Some of you may know the blog Under $1000 Per Month. I know some of you chastise it, and may think poorly of her for how she does things, but she's at least got a start at some good frugality. She also stands by her beliefs. Anyhow, she makes her own tortillas.
Independently, one day, my husband began to comment on making our own tortillas. Really, it's him that comes up with most of the from scratch ideas.
I grew up using flour tortillas, so when I found a recipe in Betty Crocker's cookbook (you know the one, it's the one EVERY mother seems to own.) I was excited and started mixing ingredients. I was going to make a tortilla! My husband came over to help and makes the comment-without even realizing anything- "Oh, we're making corn tortillas?"
Oops. Yeah, you'd think cornmeal being an ingredient, I would have figured it out. Nope. It snuck past me. We tried anyhow.
Made one, it wouldn't flip. Scraped it into the garbage.
Andrew fried a second after spraying our pan with Pam. Tried it. Blech! Not my style!
So I remembered Emily had a post. I checked it out, and used her recipe for a starter.
I whipped up
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup water
2 cups flour
and 3/4 tsp of salt.
The flour sucked up the water, but still left a lot of flaky. Being that I would want a dough to make a ball out of, than to roll out, this didn't seem right. So I kept adding water until it worked. I'm honestly not sure how much water I added. If I had to guess though, I'd say maybe 1/4-1/2 cup more.
I than continued on in the directions and divided the dough, rolled them out, than threw them on a plate. Andrew fried them. Side one: Fry until it first starts bubbling. Flip, fry about thirty seconds than done.
It was easy.
Would I make this recipe again? I probably will. Honestly, they don't taste like store bought, but they aren't bad. We would like to try a few more recipes, and see if we can possibly get healthier and closer to store bought.
But really? The cost came out near $0.50 for a dozen or so tortillas.
And I am a believer that every penny counts. If this were the recipe we'd start using, I would say we would save a minimum of $5 per month, or $60 per year. Not bad!
When I was pregnant with Miss Lorelei, many many things changed in my eating habits. This was one of them. I craved tacos a lot. I got mad (we're talking almost crying) because Taco Bell got rid of the Grande Soft Taco. I loved this thing, it was a taco with an extra tortilla. Between the two tortillas was nacho cheese. And it was cheap-Dollar menu cheap. I walked in one day and it was gone. Since than, Taco Bell just isn't what it was for me.
Anyhow, so we find ourselves having tacos sometimes as frequently as once a week. Now tortillas are fairly cheap, until you start going through them like we were. Let me tell you, tacos once a week, plus I came to like to experiment making wraps in the last few months...we've been averaging buying 5 "bags" of flour tortillas a month, minimum!
Tonight, was taco night. Some of you may know the blog Under $1000 Per Month. I know some of you chastise it, and may think poorly of her for how she does things, but she's at least got a start at some good frugality. She also stands by her beliefs. Anyhow, she makes her own tortillas.
Independently, one day, my husband began to comment on making our own tortillas. Really, it's him that comes up with most of the from scratch ideas.
I grew up using flour tortillas, so when I found a recipe in Betty Crocker's cookbook (you know the one, it's the one EVERY mother seems to own.) I was excited and started mixing ingredients. I was going to make a tortilla! My husband came over to help and makes the comment-without even realizing anything- "Oh, we're making corn tortillas?"
Oops. Yeah, you'd think cornmeal being an ingredient, I would have figured it out. Nope. It snuck past me. We tried anyhow.
Made one, it wouldn't flip. Scraped it into the garbage.
Andrew fried a second after spraying our pan with Pam. Tried it. Blech! Not my style!
So I remembered Emily had a post. I checked it out, and used her recipe for a starter.
I whipped up
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup water
2 cups flour
and 3/4 tsp of salt.
The flour sucked up the water, but still left a lot of flaky. Being that I would want a dough to make a ball out of, than to roll out, this didn't seem right. So I kept adding water until it worked. I'm honestly not sure how much water I added. If I had to guess though, I'd say maybe 1/4-1/2 cup more.
I than continued on in the directions and divided the dough, rolled them out, than threw them on a plate. Andrew fried them. Side one: Fry until it first starts bubbling. Flip, fry about thirty seconds than done.
It was easy.
Would I make this recipe again? I probably will. Honestly, they don't taste like store bought, but they aren't bad. We would like to try a few more recipes, and see if we can possibly get healthier and closer to store bought.
But really? The cost came out near $0.50 for a dozen or so tortillas.
And I am a believer that every penny counts. If this were the recipe we'd start using, I would say we would save a minimum of $5 per month, or $60 per year. Not bad!
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