Don't Buy Stuff--from Heavenly Homemaker

I just love the way she writes....

"When you buy stuff, you have to pay for it with money. And then you have to find a place to put it once you bring it home. And it won’t stay where you put it because someone will get it out and not put it away. And then it will get lost. Or broken. Or forgotten.

Buy food. You need to eat.

Splurge on toilet paper. It’s very useful.

Invest in soap…using soap is good.

But don’t buy stuff.

You’ll save a lot of money."

-Laura @ Heavenly Homemaker

I've got a lot of kisses...do you?

Failed gift baskets with chocolate kisses ended in peanut butter cookies with kisses on top. Hubby is happy! My intent for these is our Bible study, but he was my taste tester and I believe he approves! They are very rich and oh so good! Found on Recipe Zaar-Peanut Butter Kisses.

I used Trader Joe's something, something healthy PB. Why do all of those brands add so much?? Mush up some peanuts and you have peanut butter. Yes, I know...it can be a challenge to work with, but is well worth the lack of preservatives and whatever else they put in that impostor peanut butter!

One thing I really liked about these cookies is that they don't spread in the oven. So you can make 20 on a medium size pan very easily. My kind of cookie when it's nearly midnight and you want to go to bed...:-)

Grab a glass of milk and let one of these melt in your mouth!

The Daily Struggles of the Domestic Un-Goddess: meal planning for the uninitiated

An article on meal planning. I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but she has a really interesting writing style and some good tips.
The Daily Struggles of the Domestic Un-Goddess: meal planning for the uninitiated

More Natural and Inexpenisive Cleaning Ideas

I'm definitely going to try this soon. You can find hydrogen peroxide at Walmart--I believe in the first aid area (please correct me if I am wrong). I have used it for blood stains, but not much else. I was just thinking last night that I don't want to have so many cleaners. If all of these ideas work, then it definitely takes care of a few! You can even get two giant bottles at Sam's Club for a few dollars.

Here is the link from Passionate Homemaker:
Natural Stain Remover & Cleaning Agent: Hydrogen Peroxide!

Leave a comment if you give it a try!

Spaghetti With Broccoli and Lemon

I love Real Simple. My hubby got me a subscription for my birthday and I anxiously anticipate every month for this brilliant magazine. I can't get enough of it!

Tonight's dinner was Spaghetti With Broccoli and Lemon. Yum! I would never have thought to put garlic, lemon and crushed red peppers together, but they all work together. This was a good way to slip some more veggies into our diet, which I am always trying to find a way to do! It didn't take long and I had everything on hand--I love recipes like that! Next time I want to add some cherry tomatoes, I had something similar at a friend's house and the tomatoes were a nice touch. I may try melting the cheese directly on the broccoli next time as well because the cheese didn't want to stick to the noodles. Another nice touch may be to try a bow-tie pasta or something fun like that. I love pasta--so many options! Oh, one other thing. I didn't serve this with anything else, we added chicken so I knew there would be enough of everything to serve as a full meal. Plus I was out of ideas for what else to put with it. Normally I would have added a salad, but we had a big one for lunch and I already knew I was already pushing it with the broccoli....

What would you have added with it?? Any comments would be much appreciated!

Roastin' Garlic

Tonight I was making pizza and I wanted a strong garlic flavor. I found on Pioneer Woman how to roast garlic--very yummy! I roasted it, smashed it and put it on my partially cooked crust, then added the sauce and cheese and it was wonderful. Here is the link. I made some extra and froze it, explained here. Next I want to try it with some pasta. :-)

Yummy in my tummy!

We tried a new chicken recipe at the last minute for dinner. I was thinking Chicken Caesar Salad, but my stomach wasn't completely convinced and then I started thinking about the potatoes that needed to be used up and well, somehow that led me to Pioneer Woman's recipe for Parmesan Crusted Chicken (that's her photo above). It sounded yummy and easy--my favorite combination! I had a few errands to run and the only thing I needed for the recipe was sun-dried tomatoes. I found them at the 99 cent store and they looked disgusting! I've only had them a few times and only liked them on one recipe (from a restaurant and I was afraid my cooking wouldn't be anything like it). I had hopes that they would look better in a real grocery store, so off I went. But no, they still looked gross. AND they were really expensive. I decided to give the recipe a try without. It was amazing! Here are the ingredients. Obviously I skipped the sun-dried tomatoes. :-)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Hellman’s Mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese4 chicken fillets (or boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
2 sun-dried tomatoes, jarred
1 tsp Italian herbs
1 tsp basil
cayenne pepper

Crumbs:
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
Lawry’s garlic salt
1 tbsp Parmesan
1/2 oregano

That gives you an idea of what simple ingredients it calls for, I had most of this on hand or something similar. I encourage you to go to her link though she has incredible photos, not to mention many other great recipes. I cut everything in half since we were only doing two chicken breasts, used ground red pepper instead of cayenne (I think it's different...?), seasoned bread crumbs over plain, some other brand for garlic salt and dried herbs for everything else. It was awesome. And Hubby didn't even know it was mayo until I told him--the cheese makes it de-LISH. We had it with mashed potatoes, garlic bread and salad. So very satisfying!

Let me know if you give it a try!