Penny Pinching Pantry Raid Update

Well, I was doing great not spending money at the grocery store. I only went to the store once last week to get 2 half gallons of milk & creamer for my coffee totalling $6.09. I was so proud that's all I had spent! I had to go to the store today to get bread, milk and fruit. I always have fresh fruit on hand for my daughter Saryn to eat for snacks or with her meals. I ended up spending $20.04!!! UGH!! I was so disgusted when the cashier said the amount! So, now my total for week one is $26.13 which leaves me $73.87 for the remainder 3 weeks or $26.62 per week. Hopefully I can make it!!

For week one here are the groceries I bought:
1/2 gallon milk $1.99 (x2)
1/2 gallon milk $1.20 (x2)
creamer $1.99
cheese cubes $2
bread $1.99
oranges $.59 (x2)
red pepper $2.49 (ouch!)
red tomato $1.29 (i need a garden!)
strawberries $2
carrots $.99
grapes $5.49 (buh!)

Everything I bought was on sale and I saved $5.97 that way, but man that's still a lot for what I got! The fresh fruit and veggies are what killed me but that's something I just won't go without.

In just one week we've done a pretty good job of eating the food in our refrigerator and pantry.



Our freezer is still jam packed though! Guess I need to start cooking some of the food in there for the second week!



We usually spend about $150 a week on groceries so I am happy with the fact I spent under $30 this week. That's a huge improvement! Hopefully I can stick with it for next week as well. I'll keep you posted as to how things are going!

Hot Crab Dip

Anything that goes into a bread bowl and is baked until hot and bubbly is going to be delicious. This recipe is no exception. I was looking online for a new appetizer recipe to take to a party. I had a craving for crab and stumbled across this recipe on allrecipes.com. After I read some of the reviews I decided to make the following changes.

Ingredients:
1 package cream cheese, softened
1 small onion, finely chopped
5 tablespoons mayonnaise
8 ounce package imitation crab meat
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 large bread bowl
cheddar cheese if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, onion, mayonnaise, & garlic powder - I also tossed in a few handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese. Gently mix in the crab meat.



Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread mixture into a 1 quart baking dish. Sprinkle top with cheese.



Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. While the dip is baking, cut a circle in the top of the bread, and scoop out the inside to create a bread bowl. Tear the removed bread into pieces for dipping.

Remove baked crab dip from the oven, and stir well. Spoon the mixture into the hollowed out loaf. Place bread bowl and chunks of bread on a medium baking sheet, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

This crab dip received great reviews at the party - give it a try!

Penny Pinching Pantry Raid

I came across this idea to only spend $100 on groceries for 4 weeks on one of the food blogs I visit occasionally. The idea came from She's Becoming Doughmesstic and it was supposed to be for the month of July. I of course didn't come across this until this past week so I'm a little late. I still like the idea of the challenge though. We have so much food in our house yet several times a week I go to the grocery store to get more. I forget what I even have and a lot of it goes bad before we can eat it.

Here's what our pantry looked like on the day we started. Look at all that food! Wow, I really should have organized it before taking the photo!! :)



And here is a shot of our refrigerator and freezer. I mean seriously, we shouldn't have any problem with this challenge. We just need to eat the food we have!



So, I started this on Wednesday July 22 and will end it on August 19th. I'm not going to include going out for lunch or dinner - just groceries we buy at the store.

On Wednesday I bought 2 half gallons of milk and creamer for my coffee totalling $6.09 and that's all I've bought all week!

This morning Saryn & Jordan had Raisin Bran for breakfast. I don't eat breakfast usually so I just had a ham & cheese sandwich for lunch. Saryn had cheese, an apple cereal bar and yogurt melts.

We are going to have dinner at a friend's house tonight so we won't need to buy or use anything for that.

I'll keep you posted as to how we are doing! Let me know if you decide to give this a try and how it goes for you!

Cool Garden Pizza

I had this appetizer at my friend Lou Anne's house a few months ago for a ladies movie night. It was so good I could have eaten the whole tray! She gave me the recipe so I could make it for Jason's surprise party. I almost forgot to take a picture of the end product again. People had already started to eat and I ran to grab my camera! Phew! :)

Ingredients:
1 cup mayo
1 package cream cheese, softened
1 package ranch dressing mix
2 tubes of crescent rolls

As for the toppings, you can put whatever you'd like on top. This is what I used:
Chopped broccoli
Chopped red & yellow peppers
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped black olives

Directions:

Roll out crescent rolls onto a cookie sheet to form a single rectangle shape. (I had to use two separate cookie sheets since I didn't have one long enough for both) Bake until crescent rolls are golden brown - about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Combine cream cheese, mayo & ranch. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled crust. Start layering your veggies, pressing into the cream cheese mixture a little with each veggie so they won't fall off.



The last layer should be the shredded cheese. Chill for about an hour or until you are ready to serve. Cut into squares to serve.

Baked Apples with Jack Daniel's and Brown Sugar

Jordan and I have a pig cooker that a bunch of our friends chipped in and bought us as a wedding gift. We cooked a pig for a friend's surprise birthday party on Saturday and Jordan asked if I would make some baked apples to go along with it. I've never had baked apples before let alone made them. (must be a southern thing) He pointed me to these baked apples on the NC BBQ Society web page. They came out pretty juicy but Jordan said they were supposed to be that way. Everyone at the party liked them so I guess that's what matters most!

Ingredients:

8 cut, cored, quartered and unpeeled apples ~ Red Delicious, Rome or McIntosh apples are recommended ~ (I can't follow directions very well. I used granny smith and peeled a few of mine before I realized, oops!)
1-3/4 sticks salted butter
1/2 cup Jack Daniel's black label whiskey (to taste)
3-3/4 cups brown sugar lightly packed
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

The directions called for a 15x10 baking dish, which I don't have. The only thing I had was a 9x13 so that's what I used. Place quartered, cut and cored apples skin side up 2 layers deep and add water.



Place additional apple pieces over the holes created by the first layer until you have a relatively even surface (enough to fill dish to 3/4 full). Cut butter into 1/4inch pats and place over apples.



Drizzle whiskey over apples. Next pat brown sugar firmly over apples.



Cover brown sugar with white sugar. I could only fit 3 cups of brown sugar and 1/2 a cup of the white sugar on my pan and they turned out plenty sweet. Do not pat. Simply smooth white sugar over brown sugar by hand. Sprinkle ground cinnamon lightly on top of white sugar.



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place baking dish on baking tray or cookie sheet in case apples bubble over the baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I had to take these apples and put them in a pan with a lid so we lost the nice cripsy topping which I was a little bummed about. No one knew any different though but next time I'll make sure to cook them in a pan that can travel. We just served this along with the pig and other sides but the BBQ site has this as being a dessert. With all the sugar on it, it certainly could be! Below are the directions to make it a dessert if you choose too. You'll enjoy these either way!



Place 1 or 2 apple pieces in a dessert bowl and pour a tablespoon of the apple juices over the apple slices. Top with a tablespoon of sea salt toasted English walnut pieces and finish with a dollop of whipped cream.

Best Chicken BBQ

My family and I have been traveling most of July so far, which has left me no time to cook new and exciting recipes. I have managed to get a few meals in but had no time to post them on the blog! My apologies for being absent from the blogging world for so long! Now about this chicken....

I grew up in upstate NY eating grilled chicken that had been marinated in Cornell Sauce. As a child it was one of my most requested dinners. Chicken, potato salad and baked beans, so yummy! It is still my favorite way to have grilled chicken. It's best if it can marinate in the sauce for at least a day - two if you have time.

Ingredients:
2 cups vinegar (you can use white or cider, I used white this time)
1 cup olive oil
1-2 Tablespoons salt (I only used 1/2 Tbsp this time and it wasn't nearly enough)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp pepper



Whisk all ingredients together and pour over chicken.



I usually put the chicken in a large zip lock bag then pour the marinade in the bag. It coats the chicken better than if you put it in a pan. I didn't have a large enough bag this time so I used a large bowl. Marinate for at least a day. Grill until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink in the center.

Enjoy!