Fiesta Rice

K.I.S.S and plus easy to eat on the go at work in a van.. I came across this quick recipe that I could whip up and eat on the go plus doesn't have to be HEATED UP.. Very tasty plus I usually have everything in the house except the Limes..EZ to add to the shopping list..I also plan to add shredded or diced chicken to this mix as well..

It's in the Bag

I wanted to have my snacks for my lunches but I didn't want to have to package these daily or rush trying to get them together before walking out the door before work at 245 am. So I decided to only by enough snacks for 4 days worth of snacks and then baggie them up into a box in the cabinet..Takes me 2 seconds to grab out and drop into my lunch box...K.I.S.S.

 

Homemade Granola Bar

I surfed the web and found this recipe hoping I might like with a few tweaks for things I prefer in a bar. THESE were better then just good they are a keeper for sure recipe.. I can't get enough of this granola bars.. I have already made a second batch with a few extra ingredients I used oatmeal/cranberries/strawberries/blueberries/cherries/pumpkin seeds/pecans/macadamia nuts/flax seed/sunflower seeds/10 grain mix

Applesauce Bread Pudding

Crockpot Yogurt

MAKE SURE YOU SET A TIMER...THEN UNPLUG FOR 3 HOURS SET TIMER AGAIN THIS ALLOWS THE THE MILK TO COOL TO AROUND 110*F BEFORE YOU ADD IN YOUR YOGURT CULTURE..



REMOVE 2 CUPS OF THE WARM MILK AND MIX TOGETHER WITH THE YOGURT CULTURE TO TEMPER THE MIX AS TO NO KILL THE ACTIVE CULTURES BEFORE ADDING IT TO THE WHOLE CROCKPOT OF WARM MILK.

I USED MY WHISK TO MIX IT WELL HOWEVER I SHOULD HAVE JUST STIRRED IT AS IT CREATED LOTS OF AIR AND BUBBLES...














LOVE THIS YOGURT I WILL BE MAKING A LOT MORE IN THE FUTURE.. COST FOR ME WAS JUST THE CULTURE $1.00 SINCE I ALREADY HAD THE POWDERED MILK IN THE CABINET. NEXT TIME I WILL TRY WITH FRESH MILK AS WELL SO FOR $1.79 FOR A GALLON I CAN GET 4 QTS OF YOGURT FOR MY SMOOTHIES...

Homemade Potato Wontons

I had lots of potatoes sitting around the house and recently I had some potato pierogies from a box that usually cost about $3.00 a box for say 10 of them..I thought I can make them cheaper, get more and mix and match fillings for quick summer time meals plus right now use up 10 pounds of potatoes..

Break down of the cost of several meals... $5.00

Time to prep food & bake under 1 hour
Potatoes in the pantry FREE
Butter from the frig FREE
Sour Cream from frig FREE
Shredded chicken from freezer FREE
Shredded Cheese from frig FREE
Wonton Wrappers $5.00

DD wanted shredded chicken and cheese as she is not a mashed potato person...

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

I am sure you have empty liquid soap container laying around the house but no extra liquid soap to fill them up. I have read on the net about making homemade liquid soap my first thoughts were as follow...Why make it? Will it work the same? How hard is it to make it? Is it worth it?


I read that you use about 1 cup of soap shaving and about 3 cups of water so I filled the bottles with water ( I had 2 empty) twice then poured that into stainless steal.

I had a very small soap sliver of Glycerin left and shredded it with a small hand grater that I had.

I boiled the water then dropped the grater soap slivers into the hot boiling water for 1 min then turned it off to allow to cool.

Allowed to cool to room temp you will notice the difference in both color as well as it is thicker like pudding..

I was able to slowly pour it into the 2 bottles it was VERY THICK and Goopy yet to use it I just added a little more water into the bottle and pushed and it worked Perfectly and the cost was just Time...I will need to check the recipe in the AM and see if I needed to add more water to the bottles.


Update 6-1-11 The Goopy stuff got to be VERY VERY Thick to thick to get out of bottle via the pump so I have emptied it into another container and ALOT more water seems to be alot better...

Crescent Dough Pizza

Pillsbury Seamless Dough Sheets for only 99 cents on sale... If I had a coupon it would have been less.....Great Deal
I quickly used parchment to line a large cookie sheet then rolled/stretched out the dough


Weeks ago I precooked shredded chicken in the crockpot for just grab and make a meal...This shredded chicken worked great for this pizza
A friend a work had purchased this jar to eat with chips but he didn't like it so I used it in the recipe as well....

Leftover steamed Broccoli was hiding in my refrig..I had a few days ago cooked up some mixed veggies

Shredded cheese from the frig ...So I quickly layered all the ingredients onto the dough rolled it up nicely then topped it with garlic & oregano and Butter.....



I was able to cut this up and eat 1/2 for dinner and the other 1/2 for lunch the next day for the cost break down listed below...

Precooked shredded chicken-Cost zero already in the house
Spinach Dip- Cost Zero got it from a co-worker
Veggies- Cost Zero already in the house ready to use
Shredded Cheese- Cost Zero already in the house ready to use
Dough Sheet- Cost 99 Cents

Quick Chili

I quickly needed a meal whipped together in under 30 mins to drop into my lunch box for work...I grabbed a can of Rotel Tomatoes however I prefer non-chunky puree so I poured the can into the food processor and gave it a quick spin....

I had some black beans in a container leftover from another meal so I grabbed them from the frig...

Leftover sauce to using in place of some of the tomatoes usually used in a chili recipe.


Cumin-Chili Powder-Cracked Peppercorns

I poured all the ingredients into a pot and simmered it for 30 mins then into a lunch container it went quick meal ready to go.

In a Jar

In my pantry I have lots of Jello and lots of Pudding I decided to give my little mini mason jars a new project to handle... Pudding in a Cup since purchasing these are around $1.00 for 4. The cost to me to have these on hand was very little this time around it was around 45 cents for 5 desserts how did I figure this out you may be asking...Well I had recently got some 1% milk on clearance the other day for .89 Cents made one batch of pudding using a large box which called for 3 cups of milk I figured I could make another batch using the other 45 cents :O) and still have enough for a cup of milk with dinner :O)