I paid around $2 or $3 for just one of these tortilla shaped cinnamon-sugared yummies!

I decided I could probably make these cheaper at home and I was right! I can make 8 or 10 for $.99 (price of tortillas at Aldi, I’m not adding in any cost for the oil, cinnamon and sugar which I keep on hand as staples).

Now I make them for a treat at home and my 7 yr old can eat 3 at a time if he wants

These are so easy and I use coconut oil (not virgin) to make it healthier, at least I think its healthier. As you may or may not know, Coconut Oil solidifies when the temps are cooler and it melts into oil when the temps are warmer.

• Use your oil of choice. I just scrape out as much coconut oil as I want and put it in a frying pan, heat it  (till its hot enough to sizzle and crack when you sprinkle a few drops of water in it) then put your flour tortilla in the pan. You have to watch so they don’t burn. These do not take long. Flip them once.

• Remove tortilla  from oil and place on a paper towel to soak up excess oil
• Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on both sides

Watch that its not too hot for your child to bite into and enjoy!

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Baked Corn Casserole

Mix the following together in a bowl:

2 eggs

1 stick of butter

8 oz. sour cream

1 box of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix

1 (16 oz.) can creamed corn

1 (16 oz.) bag of frozen corn or 2 (16 oz.) cans of whole kernel corn, drained

After mixing, pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes.

This is a great side dish to make for a large gathering and is also a great fall-time comfort food!

*Linking to Women Living Well and Raising  Homemakers.

The other day became a freezer-cooking day for me because I found my local Buehler’s had their Angus beef on sale for $1.99/# when you bought it in (apprx.) 10 pound rolls. This is some of the best hamburger, in my opinion. Its cooks up beautifully. I typically avoid buying hamburger when it is more than $1.99 per pound.

I divided it up into sections and made taco meat (which can also be used in Taco Soup or chili) using a homemade taco seasoning mix (recipe link below), a little for homemade spaghetti sauce, then mixed about 3 pounds of it into a meatloaf type mixture which I packed up raw to be used later for meatballs or meatloaf. I still have about 2-3 pounds left in the refrigerator to make hamburgers out of.

My meatloaf recipe:

I don’t follow one~ so the “recipe” changes every time I make meatloaf .  But for this batch I used about 3 pounds of beef, 4 eggs, lots of crushed crackers, pepper, and all the seasonings I thought would be good… I used garlic powder, minced dried onions, Italian seasoning, and maybe some paprika. If I were using this meat to make  meatloaf or stuffed peppers for dinner I would pour tomato sauce or ketchup on top before putting it into the oven.

Mix up really well and bag it up into portions to be used to make meatballs, hamburgers, or meatloaf.  My inspiration for doing it this way came from one of my old Taste of Home magazines. Save your cooking magazines, they are so useful for years down the road.

My homemade spaghetti sauce tips:

I say tips because, if you know me, you know I typically don’t do “exact measurements” or follow directions to a “t”. I love my spaghetti sauce, I think its so tasty and I hope its very healthy. If I’m adding meat, I recommend browning your meat or sauteing onions in oil (I’ve switched to using Coconut Oil more often)  first, then add meat.

Then add… 2 cans of tomato sauce and 1 can of tomato puree, fresh pressed garlice (3-4 cloves), generous amount of Italian seasoning and FRESH (or in my case bought fresh, then frozen) Basil and Cilantro. Seriously, the Cilantro is awesome in this sauce. It doesn’t take too much, maybe generous palm size amount and a little less of the Basil. All the while heating on med-high heat to a low boil. Then keep it simmering for a while.

I also made up about 18 breakfast burritos to freeze.

I only show about half of the burritos I made in the picture. They are delicious! These are considerably better than the ones I use to make because I took a cue or two from MoneySavingMom’s recipe. I used sausage but she used ham in her recipe. The sauteed onions and green peppers do make a wonderful difference!

I use wax paper to wrap each burrito individually and then stick them into a ziplock bag to freeze. The wax paper unwraps easily and then I wrap the burrito in a paper towel and microwave for about 1-2 minutes depending on the temperature setting.

Crafts and homemade recipes I like or want to try:

I started making my own homemade taco seasoning thanks to Smashed Peas & Carrot’s blog.

Check out this:  23 ways to use Pumpkin Puree from Simple Bites.

Fall Leave Craft from Permanent Posies <— I like!

I’m going to try this healthy chemical-free homemade deodorant Lori gushes about in her Preventing Breast Cancer post. Her husband loves it too.

I shared about my sister-in-laws easy adorable paper bag Christmas cards. If I were going to make Christmas cards I would consider this craft!

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*Linking up with Women Living Well and Raising Homemakers.

I came across a super easy recipe for making homemade caramel from another blogger. She had it listed in her Top 10 Coffee Drinks list one day. I’ll share a link to the post below.

Her recipe called for different measurements than what I used. Because the can of Sweetened Condensed Milk was larger I had to tweak the recipe.

Her recipe also called for using natural brown sugar and I didn’t have any of that.

Easy Homemade Caramel (my version)

1 (14 oz) can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

a little less than 2 cups of brown sugar (not packed)

*Stir while melting till smooth over Medium heat. Store in an airtight container. I’m going to put mine in the refrigerator to keep. I did notice as it sits out it doesn’t stay as smooth as when its heated up.

I used about 2 teaspoons of this caramel in my coffee today and I liked it. I didn’t feel like I needed to add any additional creamer.

I’m thinking about using this caramel to drizzle over an apple crisp later. (It might also be good over ice cream or as an apple dip!

*Want to follow along? You can receive my updated posts delivered to your email inbox.

You can see Mama Hall’s Top 10 Coffee Drinks, check out my Homemade version of a [Starbuck's] Carmel Macchiato, and my 2 ingredient easy apple dip.

Also linking at Mom’s the Word.

What’s for dinner?

Pillsbury Crescent Dough Turkey Puffs (or Pouches),  grapes, broccoli and homemade No Bake cookies.

I got a good deal on Pillsbury Crescent Dough during Week 1 of our $35 Budget Experiment.  As a rule I make these with chicken but since we are on a budget and I had plenty of turkey- this is what I used. You could really stuff these with just about anything I guess such as ham and cheese, vegies and cheese, hamburger with vegies and cheese… the sky’s the limit.  Right?

Okay, so I will never get an award for Best Recipe Presentation- cuz I do alot of winging it and can’t give exact measurements. So if you’re not afraid to experiment, I’m your girl   I will say though, I have made Chicken Puffs many times over the last 10 yrs and it is one of my husband’s favorite meals!

Preheat your oven at about 375 degrees.

I had frozen shredded turkey that I pulled out of the freezer for this. If you are using chicken or turkey, make sure its cooked first, then in a pan on the stove mix some cream cheese in with the turkey or chicken and heat thoroughly. For 4 puffs/pouches I’d say you’ll need between half- to a full brick of cream cheese or 8 oz.

I use a Pampered Chef baking stone, but you can use a pan. Lay out your side by side triangle pieces of Crescent dough so it makes a square. Now pinch the perforated markings in the middle so it sticks together completing the square.

Scoop out a heap of your mixture above and center on your square.

Put a dollop (or teaspoon) of mayonaise on the top of the mixture. And yes, this does make a difference in the taste!

Pull up the 4 corners and pinch together like you see in the picture.

Put in oven till the dough is golden brown. Maybe 20 minutes. I’m not sure. Just watch. BUT, before you think you’re done…

Sometime before they are done brush some melted butter on the tops and sprinkle seasoned bread crumbs on top!

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*Linking to TastyTuesdayParadeoffoods and A Wise Woman’s Home Cooking and Feed Me Thursdays.

I’m Featuring this post on my Home page today because its an awesome way to get a few or more servings of your fruits and vegies into your body without much prep work. Personally, I don’t like to do much work in preparing fresh fruit but I love to get my fruit via the “way of the smoothie”. I’ve been drinking this lately with black raspberries in place of the strawberries.

I just love this smoothie! Its so healthy and simple to make. I don’t have a big blender but I have a Bella Cucina Rocket Blender that is like the Magic Bullet you see on those infomercials. Since I’m the only one in my home that appreciates smoothies this single serve Rocket Blender
is just fine. But it not only makes smoothies- I can make other things with it if I want. I just use it mainly for smoothies right now.  I’ve had my blender for maybe 3 yrs now.

If you’ve seen my recipe category you may recall that I’m a big believer in just winging-it when it comes to experimenting and measuring. So, you won’t find a lot of exact measurements. AND if you freeze some of your ingredients to keep them fresh and available you won’t need to add ice.

Make to taste, here’s my basic guide to my favorite homemade smoothie:

~A handful of whole cranberries that are in season now. I’m buying mine now while they are in season and throwing them in the freezer!

~About 3-4 medium to large frozen strawberries. I usually buy mine fresh and freeze.

~One whole banana.

~As much orange juice as you need to make it as smooth as you like. I like to drink mine with a straw so I need it to actually  move up the straw 

Blend Away!

I love this because I know its really good for me and I’m sucking down a  lot of  fruit easily with little fuss involved in preparing it.

*My affiliate links are in this post.

My secret ingredients? Milled flax seed (go look it up and see the health benefits for yourself) ….  And ground cinnamon (check that one out too).

Pancakes are “okay” with me – but they score on my list of favorite foods when I, in addition to the flax and cinnamon, throw in a generous portion of dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks! I even like butterscotch chips and dark chocolate chips thrown in together. Note: I have tried the carob chips in place of regular dark or semisweet chocolate chips and it just didn’t taste the same.

• Following the directions on the box or your favorite recipe,  I add a healthy heaping of the milled flax seed (I buy mine at Walmart – look in the baking aisle) to the dry ingredients and as much cinnamon as I desire (I use a good bit).

• Mix your dry ingredients and then add the wet. If its too thick, just add more water. Throw in as many dark chocolate chips, etc. that you desire (chopped nuts might be good too).

• I use a hot (about 350 degree) electric skillet. Then transfer the pancakes when done, to a wire rack to cool.

I’ll tell you, the dark chocolate chips really do it for me. I eat these by hand with NO butter or syrup! I wish my boys would eat them without the butter and syrup too.

What do you do to healthify the food you feed your picky-eaters? Leave a comment and share!

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*Also linking this post to TemptMyTummyTuesdays, TuesdaysAtTheTable, DiningWithDebbie, and BalancingBeautyandBedlam.

But doesn’t it look good!  I’ll tell ya it was GOOD! …and warmed up the next day was maybe even better!  {NOTE: I did not know for sure at the time that I was going to share about this on my blog, hence the lack of photos and the not-so-pretty crust job.}

So, being the non-measuring, risk-taking kinda cook I am here’s how I made it (or as close as I can recall)…

• I sauteed my chopped onions, added the mushrooms and cooked a bit. While this was going on I was boiling my frozen baby carrots and chopped celery until it was soft enough to easily cut or mash into small pieces.

• Then to the onions and mushrooms I added 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (like 10 oz cans)  and cooked. I think I added the corn to this and poured it all into a large bowl.

• If memory serves me correct (I know I forgot about this when sharing on Facebook- don’t want my Aunt Donna to think I was holding back on her ) I cooked up the ham broth and my small pieces of ham in the same skillet I used for the onions, etc so I could scrape up the good stuff still stuck to the pan and then added it to the bowl.

• I drained my carrots and celery and in the drainer just cut them up easily into smaller pieces. {Remember I was using baby carrots.} And added it to the bowl with the other ingredients.
  

Now I left the mixture in the fridge overnight because I decided I didn’t want to bake it that day. So the day I did bake it I first heated the bowl of ingredients in the microwave for about 10 minutes or so while the dough-crust was warming up a bit towards room temp.

• Next I lined an ungreased casserole (deep round) dish with one crust, filled the inside with the bowl of ingredients and then topped with the top crust. I baked it for about 30-40 minutes following the instructions on the crust box. HOWEVER, since everything had been cooked once (the mixture) and I didn’t want the crust to burn I did turn the temp down to about 350 degrees somewhere towards the end. You can also make sure the rack is up a little higher in the oven and fold aluminum foil over the edges of your pie crust to avoid burning.

Again, this was delicious and I think it was even better the next day warmed up. I noticed the “gravy” wasn’t runny like shown in the pic either. Must have thickened up I guess. Yum!

I think if I make this again, which will likely be a more purposeful-planned event versus  a “clean out the freezer event” I will omit the celery and mushrooms and instead use potatoes and green beans. What do you think?

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But…

I experimented today and I really like my version better. I prefer to cook them on an electric skillet instead of baking them in the oven also.

• If you’re using an electric skillet (or oven) go ahead and preheat to 350 degrees.  Spray your skillet or pan with a little cooking spray.

Sorry, that pic isn’t better. And I’ll add, I’m not much for measuring other than eyeballing it. Thats the freedom in experimenting

I mixed about

• 8 oz of  canned pumpkin (about half of a 15 oz can)
  
• 6 eggs
• about a cup of milk
• generous shaking of cinnamon and  pumpkin pie spice
  
• about 3/4 cup of sugar
  
• then add some molasses. For the molasses I just used the “smell” method (hehe). I added enough molasses till I thought it smelled perfect (did NOT take alot).
  
• Mix it all up.
  

I got about 15 pcs of bread cut in thirds (about 45 sticks) out of that mixture. I ran out of eggs, otherwise I could’ve made more or I could have diluted the mixture also.  Dip your bread pieces in the mixture to coat and I left them in a bit longer (don’t over do it) to soak it up. This may be why mine turned out so moist

They took a little while to cook, several minutes at least, just watch them. My main concern is to get the egg part cooked well enough so I may have overdone them a little bit but they turned out so moist and delicious that I ate some without any syrup. They were that good!

But of course, they were so much better with some syrup to dip into!

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*Also linking to ThingsILoveThursdays &  Tutorial Tuesdays.

I hadn’t realized (or did I forget?) that MoneySavingMom was doing a link up for this again!  I was already planning to do some freezer cooking (see one of my other freezer cooking days).

Here are the few thing I’m planning to be stocking the freezer with this week:

1. 1-  lasagna with wheat pasta and meat sauce
   

2- bagging up fresh fruits and vegies for my yummy healthy smoothies! I will be experimenting with carrots and pineapple this time too

3- pumpkin molasses french toast sticks! I made these today already I tweaked a recipe I’ll share later into the one I made today. So the ingredients are not all the same, nor is the cooking method and I REALLY like my version better   I’ll share my recipe later.

4- ham & potato soup

If you want to join in on the fun check out MoneySavingMom’s post here. If you’re blogging about it you may want to add your link when she has that post up too.

I’ll try to post pictures and more info after I make the other items too!