3 Beans and Sausage YUM

So both Matt and I were very pleasantly surprised by this meal. It was WAY better than we thought it would be. I got it from the 2007 Taste of Home Quick Cooking book. And yes, that is a picture of my actual meal.

1 1/2 lbs smoked sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 can (16 oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (16 oz) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (16 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup water

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

2/3 cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

In a 5 quart slow cooker, combine ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4-4 1/2 hours. Discard the bay leaf. Serve over rice.

Yields: 8 servings

Ease of Preparation: A

- pretty easy. Gotta love the crock pot! Threw it all in before we went to church and had dinner all ready to go when we got back. nice.

Taste: A- (Matt and I agreed)

Overall: A-

I did make a few changes. (shocker, I know) I used different beans then the recipe called for: black and pinto beans from the freezer that were seasoned so I'm not sure how much of their flavor added to this. I also used garbanzo beans because that is what I had. I didn't have celery, so I threw in some celery salt.

This was a great way to use up some of the sausage from the freezer I buy when it's close to the expiration date and on clearance.

We had this with homemade wheat bread. It was very filling, I'll tell you what. I'd make this again.

Menu 1/8/10

Look at me, posting a menu 2 weeks in a row. Wow!

Menu:

• Three Beans and Sausage
• Sloppy Joes with homemade buns
• BBQ Chicken and Pepperoni Pizzas with homemade dough (from baking day)
• Roast with Gravy
• Chicken Enchiladas
• Chicken Paillards with Lemon Butter Sauce

Sides: fresh/canned/frozen fruits and veggies, including roasted asparagus and glazed carrots, homemade rolls

To Buy for Menu:

• fresh fruits/veggies with WIC voucher, including celery, spinach, shallots, lemons

WIC

Retails: $16.55

Total Spent: FREE

thanks WIC!

homemade tortillas

Yes, an actual shot of my little beauties. Notice how many different sizes you can see.

That's how you know I'm a "professional."

If you're a bread person like me then you may want to try out making your own tortillas. YUM. Yes, they do require some work, but hey! I'm counting making these today as a "workout." My OB would be so proud. Speaking of which, you should see my growth chart from after the holidays. Yikes.

Anyways, here's the recipe I've been using. I used to use one that had baking powder in it and couldn't figure out why the blasted things kept puffing up so big. I got this basic one from my step-mother-in-law who is a fabulous cook.

Ana's Tortillas

• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup warm water

I throw this all in my mixer and it makes this super easy. Mix the flour and salt. Add the shortening and mix until tiny balls have formed. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together. Let rest for 20 minutes. (this is the hardest part for me because I just want to get going on them, but the rest time is apparently important)

This is the time consuming part. After the dough has rested, break off small chunks and form into a ball. A little goes a long ways. Roll out until the dough is almost transparent. No worries if they aren't perfectly round. Nothing says "love" more than imperfection. Cook on medium heat on a large fry pan, flipping when bubbles form. The second side cooks in a few seconds, so don't go anywhere.

This makes about 16 tortillas, depending on how big you make them. Mine were a little bigger than taco sized. I throw any leftovers in a big baggy and freeze them for later.

Albertsons

I know I’m not spending any money right now, but I couldn’t help myself! Plus, this went on a Visa gift card, so I really didn’t spend cash. And we go through cheese like candy. And we got all this for less than the regular price of one of the blocks of cheese.

(This is what I told Matt tonight. Are you convinced? I don’t think he was either.)

Retails: $23.97

Total Spent: $4.46

Percent Off: 81%

How did I do it?

Cheese, reg. $5.49 each for 2lbs

- $2.99, in ad store coupon

- used 2 $1 manufacturer’s coupon from coupons.com (ID & UT only)

- $1.99 each

Solo Paper Plates, reg. $3.49 each

- on sale $1.99 each

- used 3 $1 coupons from newspaper

- used 3 Albertsons Twice the Value coupons from newspaper (took off another $3 total)

- FREE

Money Left for the Month: $145.54

I’m keeping a running total in case we become ‘un-broke’ sometime soon so I can go crazy.

December Budget Review

I'm not a regular grocery shopper. I buy stuff before I even need it, matching manufacturer coupons with store sales. This way I'm able to "shop" from my own pantry and pay a fraction of retail with items I use. No, we will not use all that brown sugar this month, but we will use it this year. When I make meals for us, I menu plan around what we already have on our shelves and in the freezer. There are occasional items I have to pay full price for, but they are the exception as I build up my food storage with stuff we actually use, all for less then I used to spend just to get us by every month.

And as a side note, I spent way under our $150 budget for December. We were out of town for some of it. Plus, we are BROKE right now. Thank goodness for food storage!

not including wic:

Retails: $278.35

Total Spent: $96.90

Percent Off: 65%

This month I was able to stock up on diapers, stocking treats, ground beef, pasta, paper towels, brown sugar, powdered sugar, cheez-its, tabasco sauce, chili powder, chips, chicken, corn starch, cheese, flour, baggies, cough meds, chicken broth, coconut milk, tomato sauce, cream soups, and chocolate chips.

WIC items

Retails: about $73

Total Spent: FREE

thanks WIC!

DELICIOUS french bread

My little sister makes the BEST french bread. And the best part? It only has 4 ingredients! I have yet to make this but think she should bring by another loaf sometime very soon.

Here's the link.

mmmmm...