This apple and bacon salad recipe is packed with bold flavor and delicious texture—sweet, salty, crisp, and savory all in one bite! It’s the perfect fresh and satisfying salad when you want something a little more exciting than the usual.
If you’re tired of the same old salad routine, this Apple and Bacon Salad Recipe is just the refreshing twist you need! With the perfect balance of sweet, salty, crunchy, and savory, this easy recipe transforms simple ingredients into a salad that’s anything but boring. Crisp apples, smoky bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese served on a bed of fresh lettuce and carrots, all tossed in a tangy homemade vinaigrette that brings every bite to life.
This salad is a wonderful side dish for just about any meal—chicken, pork, beef, or even a light lunch on its own. It’s a great way to add a pop of flavor and color to your plate, and it’s incredibly quick to throw together. From start to finish, it takes just a few minutes, making it perfect for busy weeknights or last-minute company.
The vinaigrette is simple and tasty, made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, dry mustard, and oregano. It ties everything together beautifully without overpowering the fresh ingredients. And if you want to save time for your Apple and Bacon Salad, cook a few extra slices of bacon at breakfast and set them aside for the salad later—easy and efficient!
This apple and bacon salad recipe is not your standard boring salad! Whether you’re looking for something to elevate your dinner menu or just want a more exciting salad option, this easy salad recipe is sure to become a favorite. It’s proof that salads don’t have to be plain to be easy—and they definitely don’t have to be boring to be healthy!
This easy apple and bacon salad recipe is the perfect combination of sweet and salty with a nice combination of delicious flavors! This recipe spices up regular salad and is so much tastier than plain lettuce and dressing! It’s easy to make with just a few minutes’ work and is the perfect side for chicken, beef or pork dishes!
Author:Jill Cooper
Ingredients
1/2 head Boston lettuce
1/2 head leaf lettuce
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 red apple, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. oregano
Pinch of salt, pepper and sugar
Instructions
Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together in a salad bowl.
Add all of the salad ingredients on top of it.
Toss everything together.
Notes
To save time and make this salad easier fry extra bacon when you cook breakfast in the morning and save it back to use for the salad.
Meat is one of the biggest expenses in most Americans’ grocery budget. Try these simple ways to save money on meat without depriving your family!
Let’s face it: Meat is one of the biggest expenses in most Americans’ grocery budget. Try these simple ways to slash the meat portion of your bill without depriving your family!
16 Ways to Save Money On Meat
Try using 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 the amount of meat in your dishes. Most of the time it doesn’t change the taste and you save money on meat.
Cook twice as much meat for dinner. Freeze half and then when you need a quick meal just remove from the freezer and use.
Stock up on meat when it is on sale. If you don’t have enough money to stock up, try making a double batch (like lasagna) when you cook the next meal, then freeze it for later. Use that frozen meal for a quick dinner instead of eating out when you’re too tired to cook. Take the $30.00 savings and stock up on meat the next time it is on sale.
Buy Meat on clearance. The clearance stickers on meat in the store don’t mean the meat is bad. It means the meat needs to be SOLD by that date. Then you still have 3-4 days the meat is good after that date to cook it at home. You can just put it straight in the freezer and cook laster.
Add beans or lentils to meat to help stretch. This works especially well with recipes like tacos.
Check your prices. A lot of time you will get the tip to buy 1/2 or 1/4 of a cow and then freeze. In some places this “might” be cheaper but in many places it’s luxury and it is MUCH more expensive than buying it from the store.
To store your meat long term in the freezer, vacuum seal it.
Make recipes like chili that have the “feeling” of a lot of meat but don’t use a lot. You can use 1/2 pound of hamburger for chili for 6-8 people and no one will know if you bulk it up with beans, onions and peppers.
When cutting meat for recipes like stew, make the pieces small so they will go further.
Buy meat after major holidays. I can usually find marked down meat for a great deal like hamburger and ribs after Memorial Day or Labor Day. Turkeys on clearance after Thanksgiving. All meat on sale the day after Christmas.
Some butchers will cut turkeys in half. Then just cook like a chicken but for 1/4 of the price!
Use liquid smoke in place of bacon grease or salt pork in recipes. The liquid smoke saves time and money if you don’t have any bacon grease on hand.
Save the plastic liner bags from empty cereal boxes. Next time you need to pound steak, chicken breasts, nuts or crackers, pop them inside to eliminate the mess. Also, use plastic liner bags to shake coatings such as flour or bread crumbs on meats. Just throw away after using it. Store in a file folder.
Use leftover gravy in soups. It adds great flavor!
When making meatloaf, mix the ingredients and fill a muffin tin with the meat. Each mini loaf is one serving. Also very easy to freeze!
Sometimes, it can be a challenge to get kids to eat, but here are 50 breakfast and snack ideas that are sure to give plenty of options for picky eaters!
Breakfast and Snack Ideas for Picky Eaters
Many of our readers ask, “How do I get my kids to eat? They are so picky and I’ve run out of ideas…”
It’s in a kid’s nature to be picky. It’s funny that kids will frown upon anything new. Our children will eat the same thing almost every day and then one day say, “I don’t like sloppy Joe’s”. Our oldest son eats pizza but does not like sausage pizza. One day recently, he tried the sausage and loved it. He said that he loved the little meatballs. When Mike told him it was good to see him eat sausage, he suddenly wouldn’t eat it. Later, we decided it was better to let him call them meatballs if that’s what it took to get him to eat it! Let this be a lesson to you – If you give the kids zucchini bread, just tell them that it is “bread”! ;-)
Kids’ eating habits could send a family to the poor house!Between pop-tarts, fruit chews, juices boxes and containers of cool applesauce it would be easy to spend the entire month’s grocery budget in one week. Here are some tips to help you find something they will eat while hanging on to some of that cash in your pocket.
Breakfast:
Are you being squeezed? – The USDA recommends two 8 oz. (1 cup) glasses of milk per day for a child. If you give your kids more than two cups a day, everything over the 2 cups is just calories, and expensive calories at that. The same is true of juice. The USDA recommends 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day for kids.
Did you know that for children under age five, 3/4 cup of juice is one serving of fruit? How often do you fill a glass to the top with juice for your child only to find that the child doesn’t drink most of it? Limit the amount of juice served to one or two small glasses a day and serve the rest of their fruit and vegetables in whole form. Whole fruits are more healthy for them than juice.
French Toast Sticks – After cooking french toast, cut each piece into 4 strips. Kids love to dip these in syrup.
Present oatmeal in a fancy glass such as a sundae dish. Place some homemade granola, fruit, honey, brown sugar or nuts on top.
Stir any of the following into oatmeal:
sugar
cinnamon and sugar
brown sugar
butter or margarine
molasses
maple syrup
applesauce
chopped apples
dried apples
raisins
berries
bananas
chopped peaches
jam or jelly
plain or fruit yogurt
wheat germ
dark brown sugar and 1 drop of maple extract make oatmeal taste just like the store bought instant oatmeal
Snack Ideas:
Have a snack sitting at the kitchen table for the kids when they come home from school. This way they won’t be grouchy in the afternoon from being hungry. This will also prevent them from digging though the kitchen cabinets looking for something themselves and messing up your neat, well-organized pantry. It is also the perfect time for you to sit and visit with them about their day at school.
To discourage bad snack habits, don’t buy unhealthy snacks or keep them in the house.
Present your snacks with a plate, placemat, napkin and maybe a flower from the garden. This way your snacks always look inviting.
Have jars sitting on the counter with sunflower seeds, raisins, granola, prunes or peanuts for the children. If they see healthy snacks they’re more likely to want them.
Apples, quartered and cored with 1 tsp. peanut butter on each quarter
Bananas sliced in half and spread with peanut butter
Bread or toast cut into quarters and spread with jelly, jam, peanut butter, spiced honey or honey butter
Crackers spread with peanut butter and jelly or jam
Place some peanut butter and honey on a pancake and roll up for a snack. This is great for leftover pancakes.
Quick and Easy Snack Mix
If you need a really fast snack or treat for company or a party, go to your dollar store and buy a couple of boxes of caramel corn. Add things like candy corn, raisins,dried fruit, nuts, pretzels or any other candies and things you would like.
Be sure to hit after Halloween or Christmas sales to find candy to use to make this snack mix.
Hello. I just thought I’d share a tip I learned recently about oatmeal (after seeing your post of breakfast tips). We find re-heated oatmeal unappealing to serve again as a cereal. But the thrifty in me hates to throw it out. I learned recently to put it in pancake batter.
Just mix your batter normally and add in the oatmeal to the finished product. You may need to add just a touch of milk, but I rarely do. This actually makes the pancakes heartier as well as using up something that may otherwise go to waste. The same gal that told me of this trick also adds it to bread dough. I haven’t tried it yet, but look forward to doing so soon!
If you’re spending too much on your food bill, here are some easy ways to save money on groceries! Most people spend too much because they don’t know these simple tips!
If you are a frugal beginner, try these simple suggestions for saving on your food bill:
Cooking frugally is like changing your diet. You need to learn gradually how to save money and cook frugally. Don’t expect that you will get your food bill down to $300 for four people in the first month if you are spending $600 a month right now.
Try cutting just $25.00 or $50.00 a month. Even if you cut back only $50.00 a month, you will save $600.00 a year. If you save just $1.00 a day that is $365.00 a year. You can then apply that $365.00 a year to paying off your credit cards. At 21 percent interest, you will save over $70 a year. This will eventually cause a snowball effect since the more you pay off, the less you pay to interest. When you pay less to interest, you have more each month to apply to paying off your overall debt. This means that as you pay off the debt, the rate that you can pay it off increases.
Before you shop, take a tour through your pantry and your refrigerator. Be organized! Don’t buy what’s already hiding in your kitchen.
If you’re a fan of coupons, remember this: It’s not what you save, it’s what you spend. If you save 30 cents on something you wouldn’t ordinarily buy anyway, you haven’t really saved anything.
A typical fruit item is significantly larger than one serving. Most people would be just as happy eating a small apple as eating a large one — so buy smaller fruits! You will save money by the pound.
You can also try allowing one glass of juice at meal times. Then serve water after the juice is gone.
You save over $500.00 a year by cutting just one glass of juice per person per day for a family of four.
Don’t assume that homemade is cheaper. If you get a VERY GOOD deal on chocolate chips and ingredients for candies, it is cheaper to make them than buying them pre-made. Make sure you do the calculations, though! If you don’t purchase them on sale, homemade candies can be more expensive than candies purchased at the store.
Stop wasting food. Give young children small portions. They can always have more if they are still hungry. Give them a half glass of juice and a half sandwich so you don’t waste uneaten food. Put food in the refrigerator right after the meal so it doesn’t spoil. Use leftovers for lunches, in other dishes or frozen in one portion sizes for a quick meal.
Don’t buy everything at one store. Prices vary greatly from one store to the next. Go to different stores to buy only their sale items. You will save more than the cost of your gas. It usually only takes half an hour to 45 minutes per store to get the items that are on sale including driving time. If you save a minimum of $20-$30 per trip, it is like “earning” $40-$60 an hour. If you save $60 spending one hour going to two different stores, it is four extra hours you might not have to work to pay for that same food purchased at the regular price.
Even if you earn significantly more now, the math doesn’t change. Paying off one year’s income over five years is very achievable when you control everyday expenses—especially groceries. The higher your income, the easier it becomes if you avoid lifestyle creep and put those dollars to work intentionally.
Keeping our grocery budget low was one of the key ways we made it happen. Small, consistent savings added up month after month—and they can for you, too. When cutting your grocery bill, it’s the little things that add up.
One of the easiest places in your family budget to save money is on your food bill! Here are 6 simple, practical ways to cut your grocery bill and take control of your food spending. This post shares real-life strategies for frugal beginners, plus an easy, budget-friendly Green Chile recipe that shows how small changes can lead to big savings!
6 Ways To Save On Your Grocery Bill
For many people, making the decision to switch from two incomes to one can be a scary experience. You may know you’re spending too much, but figuring out where to start cutting back can be intimidating..
Most people don’t think they can live the frugal life and still be comfortable. I currently feed my family of 4 on $400 per month. Back when we were first married, my husband earned an average of $22,000 per year over 5 years. During that same time, we paid off $20,000 in debt. Today, that means these same ideas can help you pay off debt equal to nearly a year’s income—simply by making small, consistent changes.ears.
There are countless ways to save money, but if you’re new to frugal living, it’s best to start with simple, manageable steps. Your grocery bill is one of the easiest places to see quick results.
Before you shop, take a tour through your pantry and your refrigerator. Be organized!
Don’t buy what’s already hiding in your kitchen.
If you are a fan of coupons, remember this: It’s not what you save, it’s what you spend. If you save 30 cents on something you wouldn’t ordinarily buy anyway, you haven’t really saved anything.
A typical fruit item is significantly larger than one serving. Most people would be just as happy eating a small apple as eating a large one — so buy smaller fruits!
This month, try two meatless meals a week. Try one or two meatless meals each week. When you do use meat, treat it as an ingredient rather than the main dish. Recipes like the Green Chile below stretch as little as ½–1 pound of meat into multiple meals.
Cut back on the juice and milk. Reducing juice and milk purchases can free up money to buy sale items, which can help lower your grocery bill even more next month.
Thicken with flour or cornstarch so it is like a thick soup.
Spoon about 1/4 cup into the center of a flour tortilla.
Roll up tortilla.
Top with more green chile.
Sprinkle with cheese, lettuce and tomato.
Top with sour cream, if desired.
This green chile freezes really well.
Notes
This easy green chile recipe calls for pork, but I also occasionally make it with cubed cooked chicken.
This recipe is a great way to use leftover pork or chicken.
If you like, you can make the green chile and instead of serving wrapped in a tortilla, you can use to pour over your favorite Mexican dishes like burritos or enchiladas.
This green chile recipe is also good served over rice and garnished with the cheese, lettuce and other toppings.
Staying home and managing your budget isn’t about making drastic sacrifices—it’s about realizing that small changes add up over time. It’s the little things that really add up!
This easy tater tot casserole recipe is an easy and delicious meal that families with kids really love! Tater tot casserole is a traditional comfort food that can easily be a one dish meal and it’s a great way to use leftover mixed vegetables and hamburger!
Who doesn’t love tater tot casserole? It is a perfect comfort food that many of us remember growing up! The delicious flavors of potatoes, seasoned ground beef and vegetables slow baked and melded together in a casserole make a perfect one-dish meal.
You can easily make this tater tot casserole recipe with just 5 minutes’ work! Then just toss it in the oven and wait for dinner! Why spend too much money and time eating out when you can have something this easy and delicious at home, where you don’t have to wait in line or hear the kids complaining about that restaurant food that really didn’t cut it even though you paid too much!
This tater tot casserole is great to serve anytime, but I prefer to make it more often when it is cool outside or in the summer when the kids have been playing outside and are ired and ready for an easy meal! If your kids are having friends over or if you’re expecting a lot of family with not a lot of notice, this recipe is the perfect easy family dinner!
In addition to making this for your family, this tater tot casserole recipe is a great recipe to take to potlucks and parties because it is quick and easy to make and virtually everyone loves it. And if you’ve had a busy day and don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you can quickly mix it up, put it in the oven and be done!
1 to 2 lbs. hamburger, browned and seasoned to taste 1 pkg. dry onion soup mix 8 oz. sour cream 20 oz. frozen mixed veggies, or leftover veggies* 1 can cream of mushroom soup 2 lb. bag of Tater Tots 8 oz cheddar cheese or cheese of choice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
Gently mix together all of the ingredients except the cheese.
Place into a greased 9×13 pan.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 350° for about 1 hour.
Notes
*Keep a container in the freezer and, when you have a small dab of leftover vegetables, put them in this container to use for recipes like this. This casserole is a great way to use leftover vegetables instead of making the usual veggie soup.
If You Like This Tater Tot Casserole Recipe, Try These Easy Recipes!
This Sour Cream Enchiladas Recipe makes yummy enchiladas that are easy to make and super popular with families. It’s easy to add your own variations to satisfy everyone in your family!
This Sour Cream Enchiladas Recipe makes yummy enchiladas that are super easy to make. It’s easy to add your own variations to satisfy everyone in your family!
Author:Tawra Kellam
Yield:4 servings
Ingredients
1 can enchilada sauce 8 oz. sour cream 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese 12 corn tortillas
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
Spray a 9×13 pan (or one slightly smaller) with cooking spray.
Place a tablespoon of sour cream and cheese in the center of each tortilla.
Roll up each one and place it in the pan.
Pour enchilada sauce over it all.
Spread the remaining sour cream and cheese on top.
Cover and bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes (or 250° for 45-60 minutes).
This recipe serves about 4. If you have hearty eaters, you may want to double or triple it.
Notes
You can make this in the morning and let it sit until you are ready to cook it.
Optionally, you can include additional items like:
cooked ground beef
diced onions
chopped bell peppers
chicken
pork roast
green chiles
black olives
or anything else that sounds good with enchiladas!
This Sour Cream Enchiladas Recipe is from volume 1 of our cookbook:
[dining]
Other recipes that go great with these sour cream enchiladas:
Stop Cutting Coupons and Start Saving! Here are some easy suggestions how you can save almost $10,000 in just one year cutting a few things from your food bill to help you save money. (more…)
It is possible to prepare tasty and nutritious meals in 30 minutes or less without spending a fortune eating out! Grandma knew the secret and you can, too!
10 Meals in 30 Minutes or Less
I was having dinner at my son’s house the other night and my daughter-in-law had made “old fashioned” baked potatoes. You know– in the oven and not the microwave. Boy, they were good. It seems so many things taste better slow cooked in the oven.
The funny thing is that it is still possible to prepare these meals in 30 minutes.
We started talking about how much longer it took to cook them in the oven compared to the microwave. That started me thinking. Yes, it does take longer in actual cooking time but it is often easier to cook in the oven and it is usually possible to prepare meals with 20 minutes or less prep time.
How Cooking In The Oven Can Actually Be Easier
When I bake potatoes in the oven, I work for just 5 minutes to get them ready and in the oven an hour before dinner. Then I just forget about them until dinner is ready. When they are finished, all I have to do is set them on the table and dinner is served.
When I microwave baked potatoes, I tend to start cleaning them and preparing them at the same time that I’m trying to make a salad and heat up the veggies. While I’m doing all of that, I have to remember to keep checking on the potatoes and turning them. If I am cooking several potatoes, I have to put a few in the microwave at a time. When each batch is done, I have to pull them out and add more, all of this at the same time that I am trying to prepare the rest of the meal.
Even though we have faster methods of cooking our meals, meal preparation has become more frenzied and hurried than years ago. With the introduction of the microwave and the idea that you can prepare meals in 30 minutes, most people do nothing to prepare or plan their meals at all until 30 minutes before they are planning to actually eat, which makes the cooking take. long longer.
So 30 minutes before dinner you find yourself trying to thaw something, cook it, and slap it on the table and at the same time talk and deal with tired, hungry, cranky kids. Let’s not forget how exhausted you are at this time of day, too.
We need to warm up our ovens and start using them again the way our grandmothers used to do. Here are some tips and ideas that prove that cooking meals in a conventional oven instead of a microwave can be just as quick and easy, not to mention how much more delicious they taste and smell. You might be surprised to find out how easy it is to make meals in 30 minutes or less.
I think we underestimate the power of coming home and smelling something yummy cooking. We automatically seem to relax, feeling that “all is well with the world”. I really think it can change the whole atmosphere of your home for the evening.
I am not living in a dream world. You can prepare meals in 30 minutes the way our grandmothers did. I hear some readers saying, “Our grandmothers weren’t ever as busy as we are so they had time to cook large meals.” I can hear our grandmothers chuckling at that statement. My husband’s grandmother had to help on the farm from early in the morning until evening. She took care of a large home garden, canned, cleaned house every day, did laundry without a washer or dryer and still provided meals not only for her family, but up to 20 farm hands as well. She had to do it all without a refrigerator, microwave, or a grocery store and the nearest water was a mile away from her house.
My mother-in-law would go to work as early as 7 am and work until 9 pm 6 days a week, but she still managed to make three large meals each day. If you’re thinking, “That’s great if you want to spend all your spare time in the kitchen,” consider that they spent less time in the kitchen than we do with less of the conveniences and still managed to have well balanced delicious meals each day.
What was their secret? They had never heard of 30 minute meals. Even if they had they would probably have laughed and wondered who would spend so much time preparing a meal? They knew that the key to preparing a meal in 30 minutes or less wasn’t how fast you could cook, but how organized you were. You can easily have a meal on the table in 15 minutes if you are organized and plan ahead.
Making quick and easy meals the old fashioned doesn’t mean microwaving and frying everything to have a quick meal either. Slow cooking something in the oven not only makes things taste better but is quicker with less prep time.
Here are some ideas about what to prepare. These aren’t elaborate gourmet meals. If you are too busy to cook dinner, then you are to busy to make gourmet dinners. Stick with the basics and keep it simple like our grandmothers did and you will be able to make meals in 30 minutes.
Slow cooked roast: Place a roast in a crockpot or pan. Peel five potatoes and carrots and drop them in with it and turn on the oven. This takes five minutes. Clean and cut broccoli, celery and cucumbers for a salad — five minutes. At dinner time, chop lettuce and tomato for the salad, adding the already prepared veggies. Then put the meat and the fixings on a platter — five more minutes. Voila! Dinner in 15 minutes.
Stew: It takes me seven minutes to cube meat*, peel five potatoes, carrots and onions, toss it into a pot and to season it. At dinner time, I put bread or dinner rolls on the table — one to two minutes and I have dinner in nine minutes.
*Ask your butcher to cube or slice all your meat for you. They usually charge nothing or just a few cents per pound. It saves not only time in cutting but in clean up too.
Chicken: Toss a chicken in a pan or crockpot — two minutes. Clean potatoes to put in with chicken or to bake in the oven — three minutes. At dinner time, warm a veggie — two minutes. Slice some fruit — three minutes. Dinner in 10 minutes.
Lasagna: Put noodles in a pot to boil — one minute. Brown the hamburger. Get out the cheese, tomato sauce, and the rest of the fixings; Mix the sauce while the noodles boil, 7-8 minutes. Layer everything — two minutes. Cover and put it in the fridge for dinner the next day or that evening.
Put the lasagna in the oven to heat while you get out of your work clothes, check the mail, etc. Set the table and cut a salad — five minutes. Dinner is served; 15 minutes.
Beef stroganoff: Make your beef stroganoff in your crockpot. (If you don’t want to use a crockpot, this recipe usually takes very little time, even when you’re just stirring it up in a pan.) Dump everything but sour cream and noodles into the crockpot. This takes three minutes’ work and then you can simmer all day on low.
Clean carrots, celery sticks, and broccoli for a relish dish (five minutes) and put it in the fridge. At dinner time, boil egg noodles (5-7 minutes). While they are boiling, add sour cream to the sauce and set the table. Total time: 15 minutes.
Chili: Mix everything in a pot the night before. Depending on what you put in, it should take 5-10 minutes. Simmer throughout the next day.
These are just general examples of ways to prepare quick and easy meals in 30 minutes or less. It isn’t really a matter of time as much as it is a matter of being organized and getting things done before you are too exhausted to think.
If you have meats thawed and the ingredients on hand, most things can be tossed together in about the same amount of time it takes to order and wait to get your food at a fast food place.
Also, remember when you have your oven going, try to cook more than one thing in it. For example, if you are going to be baking a casserole, bake a pan of brownies, muffins or baked apples at the same time.
-Jill
For lots of quick and easy meals that you can make ahead of time, check out Quick and Easy Menus On A Dime, which is full of pre-made menus and recipes for meals in 30 minutes or less. Make it easier to put dinner on the table and get out of the kitchen faster!
This easy Cheerio marshmallow treats recipe makes a tasty cereal bar similar to Rice Krispies treats, but with Cheerios and peanut butter! It’s a perfect treat for kids’ lunches and after school snacks!
Author:Jill Cooper
Yield:about 24 servings
Ingredients
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine 1 pkg. mini marshmallows (6 cups) 1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy 5 cups Cheerios cereal
Instructions
Grease a 9×13 pan well.
Microwave the butter in a large bowl on high for 45 seconds or until melted.
Stir in marshmallows, coating with the butter.
Microwave on high 1 1/2 minutes or until melted, stirring after 45 seconds. Watch carefully in case you need to stir more frequently.
Mix in peanut butter and immediately add cereal.
Lightly mix to coat well with the peanut butter.
With a greased spatula or wax paper, press the mixture into the baking pan.
Notes
Mix 1 cup of M & M’s or raisins and 1/2 cup of peanuts. Add to the mixture at the same time you add the cereal.
Do you rack your brain trying to make lunches your kids will eat? These 15 cheap and easy school lunch ideas will save you lots of money and time while satisfying your picky eaters!
Easy School Lunch Ideas
It’s that wonderful time of year that lightens your heart and fills your soul with peace & tranquility. No, I’m not talking about Christmas! I’m talking about school starting!! Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s a bitter-sweet time for most moms. Bitter because you’re back to hectic mornings, finding everyone’s books and papers and trying to get them out of the door on time… because you now have 180 lunches to make over the next nine months if you have one child and 720 if you have four — But hey, who’s counting?
It is sweet because the peaceful quiet that penetrates the house is like gentle music to your ears and you can take a lovely relaxing bubble bath without what sounds like the whole US army trying to break down the bathroom door. Well, now that I think about it, I haven’t known many moms that had the luxury of a bubble bath in the middle of the day but I can dream, can’t I?
I can’t help you find time for that bubble bath but maybe I can help you with those 720 lunches by sharing some healthy and easy school lunch ideas.
Here are some easy school lunch ideas and snack ideas that will satisfy all of your picky eaters:
School lunches don’t have to have exotic ingredients to be healthy, so don’t overthink it! A well balanced lunch including some protein, fruit and veggies and carbohydrates is healthy and kids need a lot of energy throughout the day.
To keep drinks cold in lunch boxes, pour a small amount in the bottom of the container (not glass) and then set the cap loosely on top. Put it in the freezer overnight. The next day fill with the rest of the drink. The ice should slowly melt all day long, keeping the beverage cool.
Have the kids pre-package chips and cookies in baggies on the weekends. Store in a basket. Grab one as needed for lunches. This is one of the school lunch ideas that will save you the most money.
Make a large batch of puddings and gelatins on the weekends. Pour into individual containers and refrigerate.
Save the ketchup and mustard packets and napkins you don’t use from the fast food restaurants. Use them in lunch boxes.
Puddings – sprinkle with marshmallows, coconut, nuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips (for chocolate pudding) or berries (in vanilla pudding)
This easy granola bars recipe makes homemade healthy granola bars everyone will love! They’re perfect for breakfasts, snacks or packed lunches!
Author:Tawra Kellam
Yield:24 bars
Ingredients
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 Tbsp. honey or corn syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 1/4 cups crispy rice cereal, crushed bran flakes, corn flakes or crushed graham crackers
1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter until fluffy.
Add honey, vanilla and egg. Mix well.
Blend in flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Press firmly into the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes.
To microwave:
Press the ingredients into a microwave safe dish.
Microwave on medium power for 7-9 minutes. Rotate the dish every three minutes.
The bars will firm as they stand.
Cool and cut into bars.
Save the crumbs for yogurt or ice cream topping.
Notes
Variations
Use any of the following in addition to or in place of chocolate chips:
1 cup coconut
½ cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
½ cup nuts
½-1 cup raisins, dried apples or apricots
½ cup fruit preserves
If you like these easy school lunch ideas, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbooks, which are filled with quick and easy recipes to make your life easier!
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Save money on school lunches or any time the kids need to pack a lunch! Use these easy tips for preparing school lunches for the week in 30 minutes on the weekend.
Save $600 on school lunches this year!
These days in America, it seems that everyone is so busy that preparing school lunches is liable to push a typical mom right over the edge. When you have to choose between making school lunches or spending that extra 15 minutes in bed, it seems like buying ready-made school lunches at the store is a no-brainer, but your budget doesn’t agree.
The average mom packs $3.00 worth of pre-packaged goodies into each school lunch she sends to school with her kids. (That works out to $1080 for 2 kids.) What mother hasn’t wondered if those lunches are even getting eaten and if there’s an easier way to save money on school lunches?
Try these easy school lunch ideas and tips for things you can do in 30 minutes or less on the weekend to save money on school lunches and make preparation a snap!
Easy School Lunch Ideas To Save Money!
Those snack bags of munchies cost a lot! Make your own by pre-packaging chips, pretzels, animal crackers and other snack items into sandwich bags on the weekends. (Have the kids help!) Store them in a big container or basket and just throw them in the lunch box in the morning.
Let the kids create their own Pizza lunch kits- Toast bread and cut out little circles with a biscuit cutter. Add small containers of pizza sauce, cheese, and other toppings.
Make fruit gelatin and pudding and put in small plastic containers for the week. Make a large batch of granola bars, cookies, pumpkin bread, banana bread or muffins. Divide them into zip top sandwich bags and freeze so that you can grab one or two when needed.
Brownie bites are simple to make. Bake brownie mix in mini-muffin pans and put three “brownie bites” in a sandwich bag for each child’s lunch. They freeze well too!
Fill thermos (not glass) half full with juice the night before and freeze. In the morning, remove from freezer and fill the rest of the way. The juice will be cold when the kids are ready to drink it and it keeps their food cold too.
Clean vegetables, slice into pieces and bag. Preparing a weeks worth of veggies at a time for lunches and snacks saves money and time.
Purchase cheese in blocks, cut into pieces and put in sandwich bags.
It’s easy to learn how to save money on groceries! These easy tips show you painless ways to easily save hundreds of dollars a month on your food bill!
How To Save Money On Groceries
If I said I would give you $150 extra a month to help you pay off your credit cards, lose weight and help your family become healthier, would you accept it? Does it sound too good to be true? The average American family spends 1/4-1/3 of their monthly grocery bill on things to drink but can’t find any extra money to pay off their credit cards. It’s really not that hard to learn how to save money on groceries. In this post, we’ll look at just one way to do it, but there are lots more!
Do you buy sodas, coffee, tea, juice and milk, plus all the things that go into these drinks like creamer, flavorings and sugar? Do you grab a glass of soda, juice or milk instead of a cold glass of water? You may even argue that juice and milk are good for your children.
We all know that fertilizer (food for you grass) is good for your lawn, but too much fertilizer will kill it and if you don’t water it, it will die. I’m beginning to wonder if most of us are more concerned about making sure our yards are watered than our children. Of course they need some milk but like everything else do it in moderation.
Here are few tips to cut the costs of the drinks in your home, save money on groceries and find some extra money to pay off your credit cards:
Find out how much milk is actually needed for your child. The USDA recommends that children under 5 get three to four servings of dairy per day. That is 2 cups of milk OR one serving equals one slice of cheese OR ½ container of yogurt. Don’t forget milk added to cereal.
Juice is just sugar water. Eat the whole fruit instead and give one glass of juice as a treat for breakfast or snack.
Limit the number of glasses of milk or juice given a day. After the allotted amount they get nothing else but water. If they are used to drinking it for meals, either give them one glass (1/2 cup) and when it’s gone they drink water or have them drink water first and then milk after they finish their meal.
Use small juice glasses. They give the appearance of more.
Don’t fill their sippy cups with juice or milk. Give them water instead.
If you put some milk in a cup and they don’t drink it all, put it in the fridge until later.
Limit sodas to a treat once or twice a week.
Don’t dilute your juice with extra water. Not only does this not taste very good but by “stretching” the juice you teach your kids bad eating habits by giving into their demands for juice instead of giving them water.
Keep water in the fridge. After water has set, the chlorine evaporates and the water also tastes better cold.
Add a small amount of lemon juice to your water if you don’t like the taste.
Use powdered milk instead of creamer in coffee or tea or try mixing your creamer half and half with dry milk.
After making coffee save the coffee filter and the coffee grounds in the maker. Add your coffee for the next day on top of the old grounds. This way you can use each filter 2 or 3 times. Buy a reusable coffee filter. They last for years.
If you run out of coffee filters, use a paper towel until you can get to the store to buy more.
You don’t always have to make a full pot of coffee. Just make one or 2 cups at time.
Save extra coffee in a thermos instead of making a new batch or buy a smaller coffee maker.
To make flavored tea, add a package of flavored drink mix to each pot of tea.
For leftover soda – Combine 2 cups of flat soda with 1 package of unflavored or same flavored gelatin to make a rich flavored gelatin. This is particularly good with root beer, orange and grape sodas.
Here are some easy recipes for drink treats to help you save money on groceries:
This easy Orange Julius recipe makes a creamy orange smoothie that tastes just like the ones at the mall. Starting with orange juice and ice cream, it makes a perfectly refreshing cool treat for warm summer days!
Author:Tawra Kellam
Yield:4 servings
Ingredients
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate 1/2 tsp. vanilla 1/2 cup milk 5-6 ice cubes 1/4 cup sugar 2 scoops vanilla ice cream 1/2 cup water (optional)
Instructions
Combine all of the ingredients in blender until smooth.
Pour into a glass and enjoy!
This Orange Julius recipe can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. Serves 4.
Notes
If you like, you can add other things like strawberries, banana, pineapple or coconut. If a smoothie-type ingredient sounds good to you, you can probably add it!
For Dairy Free:
If you’re dairy free, you can substitute coconut milk for the milk and vanilla coconut milk ice cream in place of the ice cream.
You can use Coconut Silk, but it will result in a thinner smoothie. It is better to use coconut milk in a can, if possible, because it has a thicker consistency and will more resemble a smoothie or shake.
This easy Cafe Vienna recipe is a delicious homemade specialty coffee. Creamy like a mocha but with a cinnamon orange flavor, it is sure to please the coffee lover in your family.
Author:Tawra Kellam
Ingredients
1/2 cup instant coffee 2/3 tsp. cinnamon 2/3 cup sugar 1 tsp. dried orange peel 2/3 cup nonfat dry milk (optional)
Instructions
Stir ingredients together.
Process in a blender until powdered.
Store in a jar or container. Makes 1 1/3 cups mix.
*If you’re making a jar mix for a gift, attach this note to the jar:
To Make Cafe Vienna: Use 2 teaspoons of mix to 1 cup of hot water.
Save money with this easy Swiss Mocha recipe! It’s a less expensive way to enjoy this tasty treat and works well as a jar mix that you can give as a gift!
Author:Tawra Kellam
Ingredients
1/2 cup instant coffee 2 Tbsp. cocoa 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. vanilla 1 cup nonfat dry milk
Instructions
Stir ingredients together.
Process in a blender until powdered.
Store in a jar or other container. Makes 2 cups mix.
*Attach this note to the jar if making a jar mix:
To Make Swiss Mocha: Use 1 cup of hot water and 2 tablespoons of coffee mix for each cup of coffee.
It’s easier than most people think to make quick and easy home cooked meals! You can save money on food and your family will enjoy better meals! Here are 9 easy ways to make quick meals! (more…)
What is the difference between all purpose flours, self rising flours and bleached and unbleached flours? Get the quick and simple answers here!
What’s The Difference Between Baking Flours?
Rose Asks:
What is the difference between all purpose flours, self rising flours and bleached and unbleached flours? Sometimes the bag just says flour… I want to start cooking from scratch but I am not sure of what flours I need to use. Thanks…
I’m glad you want to start cooking and baking from scratch. The good news is that it is really pretty easy to know the difference between baking flours and when to use each of them. I will include a brief description of each of them here.
I don’t go into the super scientific details, but rather the practical information you need to get cooking and baking fast! I hope this helps you understand the difference between all purpose flour, self-rising four and the other names you may see on flour bags!
All Purpose Flour, Bleached And Unbleached Flour
All purpose, bleached and unbleached flour can all be used interchangeably. The main difference is that unbleached flour has slightly more nutrients in it than the others. All purpose flour is what is used mostly in baking. For a beginning cook, I suggest you always use all purpose flour unless the recipe states otherwise.
Cake Flour
There are some differences in the type of wheat between cake flour and other flours, but the most important thing for you to know is that cake flour is ground more finely than other flour. Cake flour is also made of a particular type of flour that produces a softer texture, so it is often preferred by professionals for making baked goods with a super light and fluffy texture.
If a recipe calls for cake flour and you don’t have cake flour on hand, it is perfectly OK to substitute 2 tablespoons less of the cake flour per cup of all purpose flour. In other words if the recipe calls for 1 cup of cake flour then you can use 1 cup minus 2 Tbsp. of all purpose flour.
Self Rising Flour
Self rising flour already has the salt and leavening mixed into it. A lot of bakers don’t like to use self-rising flour because it can lose its potency. It is usually not recommended for bread. If you have a recipe that calls for self rising flour but you don’t have self rising flour on hand,
I could go into all the scientific details about protein percent, varieties of wheat and a lot of other details but it’s easy to get into information overload so I won’t. I have included the details you need to make most recipes. Too many details just discourages us from trying something because we are afraid to get mired in irrelevant details.
When A Package Just Says Flour
If you find a package of flour in the store that just says “flour”, it is generally all purpose flour. I hope your scratch cooking goes well!
This cheesy mashed potatoes recipe is a quick and easy recipe that makes mashed potatoes extra special! I have made this tasty recipe since I was a newlywed and my family absolutely loves it. This cheesy mashed potatoes recipe is easy to make in just 5-10 minutes. It includes cream cheese and garlic to give it a more restaurant-quality taste! Families love it and it’s also great to bring to potlucks!
This cheesy mashed potatoes recipe is a quick and easy recipe that makes mashed potatoes extra special and includes cream cheese and garlic! It takes just a few minutes to throw together and then 3-4 minutes under the broiler!
Author:Tawra Kellam
Ingredients
Units
3–4 cups mashed potatoes 4oz. cream cheese, softened in microwave 1 clove of garlic or 1 tsp. garlic powder, to taste 1cupMexican cheese blend, shredded
Instructions
Mix potatoes, cream cheese and garlic.
Place in a 1-quart greased baking dish.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Place under a broiler for 3-4 minutes until cheese is melted.
Be very careful removing this from the broiler as it will be very hot!
For lots more quick and easy home cooked recipes, check out our cookbooks!
Try these 3 quick and easy ideas to make dinner fast! Eating out frequently is one of the biggest mistakes you can make with money but these ideas will help you save! (more…)
Here are some easy and delicious recipes to use all those Easter leftovers like leftover Easter eggs, ham, chocolate bunnies, other Easter candy and more!(more…)
Here’s a quick list of some cheap, quick and easy snacks for kids! It’s easy to choose something quick and healthy from this list that fits your kids’ needs!
Cheap, Quick And Easy Snacks For Kids
Donna writes:
I am faced with getting two boys to soccer and baseball practices in the evenings. I am hoping to pack drinks and a hearty snack to get them through practice. I leave work at five and practice is often at 5:30. What can I feed the kids that fits the following criteria?
Can be eaten in the car on the way to practice
Can be made in the morning and either kept in the car or at my desk
Will be hearty enough to get them through practice and home again for dinner
Jill: You can adapt most snack foods to take in the car. You can even bring things that need to be refrigerated. Just use a small cooler or lunch box. Even a brown paper sack keeps things nicely insulated. You can buy small ice packs to pack with the food. (You should be able to find them by the coolers and thermoses at your store.) Another good idea is to freeze water, lemonade or some other drink in a plastic bottle. When you pack it in with food, it works as an ice pack and as something cold to drink for the kids. If it is going to be an extra long day, I sometimes use both the ice pack and the frozen drink.
If you can, pack the boys their own individual snack boxes using either small shoe boxes or lunch boxes. They can then hold these on their laps to catch the crumbs and when they’re done, the boxes are a great way to “pack out the trash” so you will not have quite as big a mess in the car!
Keep things as easy as possible. For example: if you are taking oranges, have them peeled and broken into segments for them. This will make it easier for them and reduce the mess in the car.
Keep a running list of the snacks you take each day for a couple of weeks. At the end of that time you will have a list of about 20 to 30 snack items to refer to when you can’t think of what to take.
Without knowing your food preferences, it is hard to tell you specifically what to take but here are some general ideas. Some may be a little messy in the car depending on the age of the children and some may need to be kept cooled (use my ideas above for keeping these cool). To expand the variety, give them different variations of my suggestions. For example, with fruit, give them an apple one day, an orange the next and so on.
Try starting with these cheap, quick and easy snacks for kids:
Sandwiches (to prevent them from becoming soggy take packets of ketchup,mustard etc. to be put on right before they eat them) peanut butter, cheese, turkey, roast beef, ham, chicken
Crackers with cheese
Popcorn or Popcorn balls
Sandwich bags filled with cereal
Granola
Banana bread
Dried fruit
Nuts
Muffins
Fruit
Veggies
Pudding
Yogurt with fruit
Hard boiled eggs
Burritos
Cheese
Chips
If your kids don’t mind leftovers, bring that leftover piece of chicken or small container of leftover fruit salad for them too.
Are the kids driving you crazy? These easy and cool summer recipes including an easy snow cones recipe will entertain the kids all summer. And happy kids means happy you! (more…)
One secret to cooking dinner in 30 minutes is to be organized and plan ahead. These ideas are easier than you think and can save you time, money and stress!
How To Cook Dinner Fast – Quick Dinners In 30 Minutes
Here are some simple tips to cook dinner faster and clean up quicker—perfect for busy families looking to save time in the kitchen.
Part 1 – Make Cooking Easier Before You Begin To Cook
Ever since the phrase “30 minute meals” came into being I have been confused. My children say I have always been confused, but that is an article in and of itself. : ) Anyway, 30 minutes is considered a quick and easy meal, but I always thought of a 30 minute meal as an average meal, which is why I’m confused.
Recently, I heard something that clears things up for me a little: The average family spends 2 hours preparing for and cleaning up after a meal. I just about had a heart attack. No wonder so many people are writing saying they don’t have time or are too worn out to cook dinner each evening. I would probably never go near the kitchen either if I spent that much time cooking and cleaning up.
Since eating at home can save you a lot of money, I came up with some tips that many fast cooks have used over the years. I hope these will help you get in and out of the kitchen quickly. Like all new things, you need to practice and make new habits, which may take time, but in the long run it will more than pay off.
Don’t worry if you can’t do it all. Just start slowly and go from there. Also don’t feel compelled to use these tips all the time. If you have the time, feel free to make more complicated menus. These tips are for everyday busy schedules.
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Before Dinner
Plan ahead.
Most of you already know this but now it is time to put it into practice. If at first you can’t plan an entire week in advance, start by planning the next day’s meal the night or morning before. Meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated. Keep it simple. If you need more tips, check out our How to Save Money On Groceries e-Course.
Choose 10 of your family’s favorite meals.
Once you feel comfortable planning a day ahead, pick out 10 of your family’s favorite meals. Get your family to help here. A study I read showed that most families eat the same 10 meals over and over and are happy with that.
(If you need some delicious and easy recipes that your family will love, you’ll definitely want to check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbooks.
If you eat out at least once or twice a week (fast food, going to friends’ homes for dinner, church potlucks, etc.) the 10 meals should cover 2 weeks of meals. Repeat once and you have a whole months of meals taken care of.
If you’re concerned that your family will be bored eating the same thing, consider this: The same meal will only be served twice a month. It doesn’t get any easier than following these easy steps!
A whole month of menus is taken care of with just 10 menus. You may have thought you would have to come up with 30 new meal plans at the end of each month, but you don’t. Don’t make planning meals so hard.
If you find that you just have a mental block about meal planning or you just want some easy pre-made menus and recipes, you can get our Menus On A Dime e-book set where we’ve done all of that for you. It’s much better to use already made menus than to give up and spend a lot more money going out to eat.
The more ingredients there are in a recipe, the longer the recipe takes to prepare. Additionally, it takes longer to shop for 15 ingredients than to shop for five. If the ingredients are unusual, you usually have to spend even more time roaming the store looking for them.
Here are a few recipes to help you plan easy meals.
Do as much prep work ahead of time and not during the busiest part of the day – dinner time.
Make sure you have all your ingredients.
Clean vegetables.
Place meat in the pan so it’s ready to pop in the oven.
Make salads.
For recipes like biscuits and cornbread, measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and put in the remaining ingredients when you are ready to bake. Better yet, try to bake things like cornbread and muffins early in the day, not when you are trying to make dinner.
Easy homemade popsicles are a great summer treat! These tasty popsicle ideas and recipes are quick, easy and healthy and are sure to satisfy your kids!
Easy Homemade Popsicle Ideas And Recipes
Remember when you used to sit on your front steps on a hot summer day eating a popsicle? It was usually red or purple and on special occasions you got a fudgesicle. Remember how you tried to lick the drips faster than the sun could melt them? Sometimes the drips would roll down your fingers, forcing you to make the mind numbing decision whether to lick your fingers or the new drips forming on your popsicle.
Every once in a while a few drips would get out of control and fall on your bare toes. Remember how your dog’s tongue felt like sandpaper when he licked the sweet gooeyness off of them?
It’s funny how we try to make drama and expensive memories for our children when it’s the simple everyday things we remember the most.
Try some of these ideas for easy homemade popsicles to keep the kids entertained this summer:
To find popsicle molds, look at discount and mail order stores or garage sales. If you don’t have any molds, use small paper or plastic cups. Put a wooden stick or plastic spoon in the center.
For mini homemade popsicles, pour orange, apple or grape juice or flavored drink mix into ice cube trays. Partially freeze and then place toothpicks in the center of each cube (or place plastic wrap over the top, secure and insert toothpicks through plastic wrap).
Making your own homemade popsicles can give great variety and keep your kids cool this summer!
For non-traditional homemade popsicles:
Freeze applesauce in popsicle molds.
Mix fruit or jam into yogurt. Freeze in small, snack sized Ziploc bags for frozen yogurt on the go. Cut a hole in the end of the bag for easy access/eating.
Mix gelatin and freeze. Add gummie fish or worms before freezing for added fun.
Freeze syrup from canned fruit.
Add food coloring or sprinkles to yogurt or softened ice cream for added pizzazz. Then freeze in popsicle molds.
When you have leftover jam or jelly, put 1/4 cup of hot water in the jar and shake well. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.
If jelly or jam doesn’t set up well, use for popsicles or add more water, boil and make syrup.
Make a batch of pudding. Add coconut, nuts, marshmallows, crushed cookies or sprinkles if desired. Pour into molds. Freeze several hours until firm.
Stick a toothpick in the center of blackberries, strawberries, raspberries or sliced bananas. Dip in chocolate if desired. Freeze on a tray. Once frozen, store in freezer bags.
For easy snow cones, freeze orange juice (or any other flavored juice) in ice cube trays. Store frozen juice cubes in a plastic bag. Blend 5 cubes in the blender until they have a shaved ice consistency. The shaved ice will keep its consistency if kept frozen in a container.
For watermelon homemade popsicles, blend one cup each watermelon chunks (seeds removed), orange juice and water. Blend well. Then pour and freeze into molds.
For strawberry homemade popsicles, blend 2 cups strawberries, 1 cup vanilla ice cream or yogurt, 4 cups orange juice and 2 tablespoons sugar. Blend smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.
For banana homemade popsicles, dissolve one 3 oz. package strawberry gelatin with one cup boiling water. In a blender, mix gelatin, 1 banana and 1 cup yogurt or ice cream. Blend well and pour into molds.
Pudding Pops
1 pkg. pudding (not instant*)
3 cups milk
Combine 1 large package of pudding with 3 cups of milk. Mix only enough to blend well. Quickly pour into popsicle molds and freeze. Chocolate and vanilla pudding may be layered for a fun treat. Makes 8-10 popsicles.
*Regular homemade pudding may be used instead of store-bought pudding mix.
Moo Fruit Freezer Pops (submitted by Roxie in Texas)
1 bag (16 oz.) frozen fruit. (I used some strawberries I had frozen)
1 1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of sugar or Splenda
Combine the fruit, sugar, and 1/2 cup of milk in a food processor and process for 5 seconds. Add the rest of the milk and process for 15 seconds more. Mixture should be smooth and almost frozen. Scoop 1/2 cup of frozen mixture into 5 oz cups or popsicle molds. Insert sticks and freeze until firm.
Banana Pops (Submitted by Lisa)
Slice bananas into disks (we have bananas on sale this week for $.29/lb)
Roll banana discs into PLAIN yogurt (you can use vanilla yogurt, but I used plain because that’s what the recipe said, and that was back in my super healthy days)
Add any kind of topping you wish. We rolled our disks in chopped pecans. I know that’s expensive, but we love pecans so much. After freezing these we ate them AND YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE THE TASTE! It was like eating a frozen candy bar. Okay, maybe not that good, but they were sweet and refreshing, and I didn’t have to put a limit on how many the kids could eat.
Other toppings that work well: chopped raisins, granola, any kind of nut (cashew, peanuts, almonds), peanut butter (this would be without the yogurt), and of course, melted chocolate or chocolate chips.
My son is not a fan of bananas, but he really liked this treat. You can even eat them plain. Oh, yeah, another topping we did was a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Believe it or not, it was good too! I will warn you that it’s messy because of the yogurt. And super messy if the kids help! But you don’t have the guilt of giving them something unhealthy, and it’s a cheap “popsicle.”
Spiced Honey Ham
Boiled or steamed new red potatoes
Deviled eggs
Carrot and celery sticks (in honor of the Easter Bunny of course)
Peas and pearl onions
Cornbread
Pineapple Sour Cream Pie
Spiced Honey Ham
1/2 cup mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp. cloves
1 ham
Mix first 5 ingredients and pour over ham. Cook ham according to directions on the package basting every 30 minutes or so.
This dessert is great a change from all the sweets everyone has probably had from the Easter Bunny that morning.
Pineapple Sour Cream Pie
1 pkg. (5 1/2 oz.) instant vanilla pudding
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple plus juice
2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 baked pie crust (you can use a store bought one of course)
Whipped topping
Combine all but the crust and beat slowly for 1 minute. Pour into the crust and chill 3 hours. Top with whipped topping when ready to serve.
Easter Leftover Tips:
Run leftover Easter hard candy through your spice grinder. Sprinkle it on cakes, cupcakes and cookies for color, sparkle and taste.
To keep egg yolks from crumbling when you slice hard boiled eggs, wet your knife before each slice.
What to do with 1001 hard boiled eggs:
Use them and some of the leftover ham and veggies from your Easter relish dish to make chef salads.
Chop them up with ham, bacon or sausage and a little grated cheese to make breakfast burritos.
Use them for Scotch eggs. Wrap uncooked sausage (the moldable kind that comes in a plastic tube) around each peeled, hard boiled egg. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. You can serve these cold or hot and make a great on the go breakfast.
Make your favorite egg salad. Then add to it equal amounts of ham. Slice a hoagie roll or French bread roll in half. Place bottom half of roll on baking sheet and spread with 1/4 cup of egg/ham salad. Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Broil until cheese is melted. Top with roll top and broil a minute.
If you have a mound of leftover hard boiled eggs, don’t forget the simple ways to use them up like for deviled eggs, egg salad sandwiches, on a chef salad or just thrown in a lunch to be eaten with a little salt.
Here are 4 easy ways to save money on groceries before you even leave the house! It’s no extra work, you don’t have to deprive yourself of anything and you don’t have to clip any coupons. (more…)
This easy herb guide helps you figure out which herbs go best with which foods! Find out which herbs work best in various dishes and make more tasty meals!
[dining]
Herb Guide – Herbs That Complement Different Dishes
