The Art of Eating When Moving - Chicken in Cream Sauce and Italian Sausage Pasta

Oh, so much has happened since my last post. (Seems like that will be a theme in my blogging) I had a third child (a girl!), summer came and went, our neighbors and close friends moved away, our son started Pre-K at one of the happiest places on earth (Disney and Trader Joe's being two others), and we're buying a house.

The Baby

The Summer

The Neighbors

The Schoolboy

The House

Lots of major stuff, but that last one is the point of this post. It focuses on using up what's in your house so you don't have to move it all to your next house. It's also good for occasions when you can't get to the store, have left over ingredients from another recipe or just want to stretch your dollar.

Chicken in Cream Sauce over Pasta
Today's dinner for my husband (I say this because he works midnights and eats dinner at noon) was chicken, pasta, broccoli in lemon cream sauce. I used this recipe for the lemon cream sauce (it's yum-o). I omitted the lime zest because I didn't have any limes. The chicken was frozen chicken strips from Trader Joe's, which are, in my opinion, the best chicken strips out there. Any pasta you have in your house will do and my broccoli was fresh, but frozen would work just fine. I cooked the pasta and made the sauce at the same time (it takes about the same amount of time). I steamed my broccoli while I heated the chicken strips in the microwave. Then I put it all together and ta-da! Dinner is served.  

Italian Sausage and Pasta
This has been a favorite for the summer. If we grill, I put a package of mild Italian sausage on the grill, too, and make this the next day. If we don't grill, I cook them on the stove. NBD. Anyway, you cook the sausage all the way through, then in the same pan you cooked the sausage sautee your peppers in oil until crisp tender (I like to use yellow, red and orange - any combo. If you grilled your sausage, sautee your peppers until almost crisp tender, then add your sausage in to heat through. Add to cooked rigatoni (the preferred pasta for this dish), then drizzle with olive oil to coat and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. So good every time!

I'll post another few ideas between packing boxes :)

A Word About Rewards Cards

It seems like every retail store has some kind of rewards program. This can be a bit annoying when all you want to do is pay for your stuff and go, but the cashier is obligated to offer you the opportunity to sign up for this money saving opportunity and when you say, "No thanks", an "Are you sure? You'll get money saving coupons and the rewards add up fast!" is sure to follow. Now you feel like a jerk and a bit annoyed that your initial polite response was ignored, but you have somewhere better to be! Well, go if you're short on time, but if you have the extra couple minutes and the rewards program is FREE, fill out the paperwork! Here's an example:

I don't shop at Famous Footwear. Ever. I can't even tell you where one is although I'm sure there are some on my usual routes. I think I ordered some shoes online a year or so ago because they had some deal on something I wanted with free shipping. Somewhere in the online transaction it asked if I wanted to become a rewards member. Yes. I like rewards and discounts and whatnot. So I took the extra couple minutes to fill out the forms. What I quickly learned is that they send out $10 off your $10 purchase cards every so often. Yay! Today I cashed that in for some shoes for my daughter that are EXACTLY what I have been searching for for about 4 months (brown Mary Janes in a toddler size... didn't think it would be that hard, but it is!). They were $14.99 (which was 50% off) + $10 off + shipping and tax, my total came to $9.80. YAY! You may say, sure you saved money, but you SPENT money by signing up for that rewards card at that store that you NEVER used to shop at. True, but I got exactly what I wanted that I haven't been able to find anywhere I usually shop, and do you know how fast toddler feet grow?! We always need shoes!

Another example: I have a total of 1 retail store credit card. It's the place I shop the most for clothes for our whole family. The reason I have it? It's not to pay interest on the stuff I buy - it gets paid off almost as soon as I get home from the store. The rewards add up fast and I get $10 off your $10 purchase cards ALL THE TIME. You have to check each store's policy on what coupons and rewards can be combined because sometimes they just see your "reward" as a coupon.

Final example: The grocery store rewards card is ESSENTIAL. Their prices can be ridiculous and their discounts deep (because of the ridiculous prices). Even if you don't coupon or make a plan around the sales, you'll save about 10% every time you go. At least that's the truth where I shop. And if your total comes to $100, that's $10 that the grocery store doesn't take out of your wallet! (I love simple math.)

Bottom line, if it's free and you need the product anyway, or you're always buying things from that store, take the time to sign up for the rewards card. The worst that can happen is you get a few extra emails and you have an extra card or two in your wallet.

Tomato Cream Sauce for Pasta

In an effort to use up perishable items before leaving on vacation, I decided to try out this recipe. I had to use up some heavy cream, tomatoes and broccoli and happened to have all the other ingredients on hand. I used this recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tomato-cream-sauce-for-pasta/detail.aspx with these modifications:

I forgot the sugar. Probably better for my gestational diabetes anyway. No canned diced tomatoes. Instead I used whole cherry tomatoes heated in a skillet with my frozen grilled chicken strips. If you go this route, add the tomatoes (and the broccoli) to the skillet when the chicken is done. Heat until tomatoes are about to pop or skins blister. You don't want them all to explode and some will burst when you stir them into the cream sauce.

The sauce was great. My husband actually said, "I want to know when we're going to have this again. I want 2nds and 3rds of this!" Unfortunately, we had just enough for dinner. I successfully accomplished having just enough food to get us through the day we leave for vacation!

Sorry there's no photo here of what I made. I had to serve it in inappropriate bowls because all the "right" ones were in the dishwasher. But since it's already been requested for a future meal, I'm sure I can get one up here sometime. :)

Baked Pork Chops

Keep reading if you want melt in your mouth pork chops. Stop reading if you don't like your recipes to take too much time, because this one takes 1 hr 30 min bake time, but only 15 min of prep. Are you still with me?? Good. Read on.

So me and my deal matching self got a good price (for the City of Chicago) on pork chops. I decided to look for a recipe that didn't involve the crock pot since the last 3 or more meals I made came from it. (What can I say... it gets crazy around here!) Allrecipes.com comes through again :) Here's the recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-pork-chops-i/detail.aspx This recipe calls for a can cream of mushroom soup, which I didn't use. I used a homemade cream of chicken that you can find here on my blog. But there is a catch... I didn't have chicken stock, or bullion. What to do?! I didn't want to use water (totally bland boring yuck). I used some of the white wine the pork chop recipe calls for... quite fragrant! The wine was Barefoot's Sauvignon Blanc - it was on sale :)

here's the browning process

 

post soup application

right out of the oven

here's the end result... pork chop goodness!

These were exactly what I was looking for. Not tough bland pork chops. These pretty much fall apart and have plenty of flavor. Even my recipe substitution of wine instead of chicken broth worked out just fine.

I do recommend browning your pork chops until there is a deep brown crust that has formed. That's REALLY good. 

These were even awesome as leftovers... maybe even better. You know how food does that sometimes? Yeah. Real nice.

So, give it a try if you have the time.

DIY Cream of Chicken Soup

Forgive me if you already saw this from my Facebook page, but I got tired of buying Cream of Chicken soup and finally got around to Googling for a homemade version. It's not bad. A friend suggested adding actual shredded chicken and onion powder to make it a little more authentic. Good suggestions.

Here's the link. http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-diy-crea-16827 I plan to use this in my recipes instead of canned versions. Way less expensive and without all the sodium and preservatives!

Printing My Own (Coupon) Money

I'm currently taking a short break from meal planning/grocery list making/couponing. While I was doing this planning I printed some coupons from a manufacturer's website (2 $1 off coupons) and I thought to myself, "I'm printing money!" It made me laugh, but it's kinda true. I went through all the coupons I had for this particular item, which is on sale at my grocery store for $1.97. When my binder came up a loser, I decided to look on coupons.com. Nope, nothing there either. Then I Googled it. And there it was. Right there on the manufacturer's brand website! That means I'll get my item (usually priced somewhere in the $2.50-$3 range) for $.97 each! Happy day!!

The moral of the story here is the following: always search for a coupon. Just because it isn't in your physical arsenal doesn't mean it isn't out there. Doing that tiny bit of research could keep money in your bank account rather than the grocery store's.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole - Slow Cooker

Have you heard that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? It is 100% true, in my case. This past week we haven't eaten out once and I've noticed a certain happiness and contentment coming from my husband. Funny how that works :) I made all the meals in an effort to help keep money in our checking account, rather than restaurant chains, but this side effect is always welcome.

Most of the meals have come from the crock pot with massive amounts of leftovers (that's how we roll... well, survive really). This is one I've posted before. It doesn't have a photo because it's really not pretty. Of course, the picture in the book it came from looks fantastic. I'm sure if I was a photographer and actual chef I'd have a nice picture. I'm not, so I don't, and I'm ok with that.

Anyway, here you go. Hope you enjoy.

Here's a favorite from my "Rival Crock Pot Best-Loved Slow Cooker Recipes" book, and let me tell you, this one is best loved!!

Slow Cooker Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole (with optional sausage!)
1 lb italian sausage, browned and sliced (optional)
2 T olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
1 large green pepper, finely diced
8 oz button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 t dried oregano
1 t paprika
2 T butter
2 T all-purpose flour
1.5 c milk
8 oz pepper jack, Cheddar or Swiss cheese, shredded (I usually use sharp cheddar)
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
2 c wild rice mix, cooked according to package instructions (I usually use 2 boxes of rice-a-roni long grain wild rice mix)

1. coat slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
2. heat oil in large skillet over medium heat until hot. add onion, bell pepper and mushrooms. cook and stir 5-6 minutes until vegetables soften. add garlic, tomatoes, oregano and paprika. continue to cook and stir until heated through. Transfer to large bowl to cool. (add in sausage, if using)
3. Melt butter in same skillet over medium heat; whisk in flour. Cook and stir until smooth and golden, about 4-5 minutes. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Whisk shredded cheese into boiling milk to produce rich, velvety sauce.
4. combine cooked wild rice with vegetables in large bowl. Fold in cheese sauce to combine gently. Pour into prepared slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 4-6 hours or on HIGH 2-3 hours.

Experiments Galore

So, last year I started this blog as a means of documenting my new year's resolution to try at least one new recipe every week. When deciding on a name for my blog, I purposely didn't make it something about food because I thought I may want to experiment with something other than food one day. Good thing I'm always one step ahead of myself (insert laughter here, especially if you know me).

This year may not hold experiments in the truest sense of the word, but I plan to do a couple things I've done in the past. Only this time it's gonna be hard-core. Two words: Couponing. Etsy.

COUPONS: I've cut coupons for a long time. I did it pretty hard-core for about a year. And then... there was pregnancy. I felt so sick and tired all day long for about 20 weeks. Then it was just morning sickness. Now I have some energy and I have a pretty big goal in mind: BUY A HOUSE. You see, come April there will be 5 of us in a 2 bedroom condo. Most of you out there are gasping. Those of you who are urbanites or have larger families are saying, "So what?" As with anyone, there are a lot of factors to where you live and why you live there. But here's our bottom line: we can and we want to so we will. How long it takes us to get what we want (in this case) is mostly in our hands.

To me, coupons are free money. If someone handed you a wad of $1 bills, would you take it? I know, I know... you have to buy certain things and whatnot, but I'm ok with that (as long as we will actually use it or can give it away). I just went through some old coupons from months ago and probably saw at least $50 in coupons that had expired that I actually purchased in the last couple of months. Blurg! So frustrating! But we move on and do better.

Along with the clipping of the coupons is the deal hunting. There are many, many, many women out there with blogs posting the coupon match-ups and hot deals for the week. This makes couponing much easier, faster and now totally worth the money saved. I'm not going to be one of those women. I plan to share super awesome shopping trips with you, and maybe a deal or two I know is too good to pass up. I'll share the websites I visit to help me with my deal hunting and match-ups. Maybe it will encourage you to try it out. Maybe you'll just be excited for me. Maybe you'll encourage me to continue in my craziness :). Whatever the case, that's my plan. Hard-core couponing.

ETSY: Did you know I have an Etsy shop? www.beadonastring.etsy.com I've re-opened my shop and every tiny bit of profit from the shop goes toward that down payment for our future home. I've had the shop since 2009. Closed down for a year or so and now it's back up and running. I plan to do a little bit every day or two to make new items, photograph them, get them in the shop and (fingers crossed) send them out to customers. This is really where I need encouragement! Most of my success with my jewelry business has been at home parties and craft shows, but 3 kids and a husband who works midnights and is doing Grad school full time make it difficult to do much of that.

I'll share some of my new creations with you. Provide photos. Maybe even a tutorial or two for the extra crafty. I'll probably even share some non-jewelry related things I make (let's just say Pinterest has taken a hold of me and I've found so many things I'd like to try).

There it is, folks. All the things I'd like to experiment with this year and what I'll be sharing. Of course, I'll still share recipes. Hope you enjoy and are encouraged to experiment with something, too!

Awesome Beef Stew for Beef Stew Haters - Slow Cooker

I will begin with this:

I HATE BEEF STEW

I don't know what it is. I don't really like beef unless it's steak that has been grilled (mouth watering at the thought). So beef in beef broth with potatoes and carrots and onion soup mix doesn't appeal to me. Of course, it's one of my husband's favorite things since it includes beef and potatoes. Anyway, on a Saturday afternoon he has a vision of having our friends over after church for beef stew with tiny potatoes. (BTW - If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they sell teeny tiny potatoes and it's SO worth the trip to the store to get them... sold in a 1 lb bag and no cutting of potatoes required - leave skins on... awesome!). Of course, I think to myself, gross. Beef stew. Maybe I'll just eat a little of it and eat a lot of salad or something. Then I decide to search for beef stew on the ever-handy allrecipes.com and came across this:

Kyle's Favorite Beef Stew
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/kyles-favorite-beef-stew/detail.aspx

The recipe had a lot of reviews with a lot of stars, so I read through the ingredients and saw Worcestershire sauce and wine. I think to myself: Yes. This will make it all better. And the inclusion of mushrooms. Cooked in the wine. Then it goes in the crock pot. Yes. This is the one.

I did a few things differently right off the bat: I used whatever red wine we had in the house and open (it may have actually been a bottle of 2 buck Chuck Merlot :). I used 3 cups of beef broth instead of 2 cups of water and only 1 packet of onion soup mix. I used baby carrots and teeny tiny potatoes with the skins on for ease of preparation. I cooked all the beef, onions, garlic and mushrooms as directed the night before and put them in a container together and refrigerated them overnight. I don't believe this had any adverse affects, but I haven't had it any other way, so I can't comment at this time. The next morning I put all the refrigerated ingredients in the crock pot along with the carrots, potatoes, parsley and pepper and cooked it on high for 4 hours. Then came the cornstarch thickening thing at the end, which I did as directed.

The result: AWESOME

The use of Worcestershire sauce and wine makes all the difference in this recipe. When I was preparing the beef, my house smelled like we had sat down to a steak dinner with red wine flowing. When we got home from church the house smelled awesome again. Everyone seemed to enjoy the stew and the extra punch of flavor. My husband had leftovers the next day and the stew was still awesome. I believe he called it the best thing ever put on a plate. I don't know about that, but I can tell this recipe will be made over and over again.

NEXT TIME: I'll probably cut the onions a little smaller. They're just too big to eat when only quartered. I'd like to try it when I have time to cook it the full 8 hours and not prepare and refrigerate ingredients overnight to see if there is a difference.