Frozen Chocolate Pudding Banana Popsicles

I'm a little disappointed. My husband dosn't even look at me like I am crazy anymore when I come home with things like a boatload of bananas. I miss the old days.

I couldn't help it! The bananas were $.25/lb! And I had high hopes and plans for these particular bananas!

Here's my math - we buy bananas every week + summer is here = fun healthy banana Popsicles for hot summer days! As an added bonus my compost pile is definitely going to be fat and happy by the time I am done!

I found 150 count Popsicles sticks at Family Dollar for $1.00 - not bad. I went to several different stores before I actually found them as I was determined NOT to go to Michael's where I knew they were. Why? Because it's nearly impossible for me to walk out of Michael's without spending $20 bucks I didn't mean to spend.

So anyways, here is what I did. First, I peeled and cut the bananas and stuck the Popsicle stick through the cut end. Then I placed them on a cookie sheet with wax paper (although later I learned I liked the plastic wrap better - although you could probably use parchment paper too). Make sure none of the bananas are touching. If they are touching when they are freezing and you pull them apart there is a good chance it will damage the banana.

(Hint: After they are made and already frozen you can store them touching - just not while they are freezing).

Go through your stockpile (if you have one) and look for some fun crunchy type coatings for your nanas. It's not a must to have a coating on your nana's but they do freeze (look) better. Without the coating all the pudding just runs down and pools around where the bananas are laying. Here are a few things I found in my stockpile to use for my coatings:

Okay - not the healthiest, I know but I was going with the whole chocolate/peanut butter thing.

Pour some of the Peanut Butter Capn' Crunch in a baggie and hire your 4 year old son to smash them up.

I also found some white chocolate chips that I thought would be a good match -

And this tiny sample bag that Blue Diamond sent me -

This was only enough to do one banana but since I was experimenting - what the heck. I thought the almonds and cinnamon brown sugar flavors would be interesting. My husband had suggested that peanuts would be good but I told him I didn't have any peanuts in my stockpile. You mean go out and actually (gasp) BUY peanuts? That kind of misses the whole point in trying to be creative - and stuff - by using things in my stockpile - don't ya think?

I also used cinnamon sugar graham crackers and if I had any pretzels I think I would have used those too...maybe.

For my pudding mix I used 2 1/2 cups of milk (instead of the suggested 2 cups). I didn't want the instant pudding to thicken up on me too much because it would be hard to dip/coat the nanas. Next, just take your nanna and swirl it around in your pudding like so...

Then roll it around in your coating like this...

And this....

Place them back on your cookie sheet and freeze them again until the topping is completely frozen - usually another hour or so.

And Wha La!

I think it was a huge hit! The white chocolate was definitely their favorite - of course it was. Now only 489 more banana pops to make...

California Rolls

I love California Rolls. Several years ago my husband and I attempted to make our own - needless to say that was a sticky messy disaster.

While visiting my husbands parents in California last summer my mother in law showed me how to make California Rolls - the right way. She made it look so easy so I was excited to attempt this on my own again.

It was a success. I am now a California Rolling Pro!

Now, I make these every few months and as an added bonus (almost) all my kids like these also!

You know what the best part about eating California Rolls? The Wasabi! There is just something thrilling about using a little too much wasabi, burning your nose and watching everyone's facial expressions. It's definitely a fun way of living life on the edge.

Money wise, buying all the ingredients for making California Rolls can be a little expensive. Especially because these are items that never go on sale and rarely have coupons. By the time you buy the sushi rice, seaweed, avocado, crab meat, cucumber, rice wine vinegar, wasabi and soy sauce you can easily spend $15 buck-a-roos - or more! However, you wont need to spend this each time you make them because not every time you will need to buy rice wine vinegar, wasabi, seaweed, or rice. Then if you wait until the other ingredients go on sale you can save money that way also.

Another way to save money on this expensive snack is by writing to Louis Kemp or Trans Ocean and request coupons. I've done this a few times and they have always been more than happy to send a few my way. The same for Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

Menu Plan Monday - 4/13/09

I am a Menu Plan Monday newbie - but not new to menu planning. I usually prefer to do things on a larger scale so when I plan a menu - I usually do it for a month. Along with the cooking for a month. But seems how lately things haven't been going quiet as planned - imagine that.

Monday - Leftovers (Yes, I totally realize I am starting the week off with leftovers - but that's just the way life is in my fridge right now.)

Tuesday - Chicken Broccoli Salad (1 of the fresh broccoli's and 1 of the bagged salad I bought Sunday.)
Wednesday - Loaded Potatoes and Salad (2 of the fresh broccoli's and 2 of the bagged salad I bought Sunday. Tuesday I will cook extra chicken for the potatoes today. These potatoes are a meal in itself. I plan on loading them with chicken, cottage cheese and broccoli - and maybe anything else I find.)

Thursday - Lentils and Cornbread (Using 1/2 bag of the carrots bought Sunday)

Friday - Chicken Wild Rice Soup (This was made from scratch last month and frozen.)

One of the things I like to do when planning a menu is make notes and keep track of my fresh veggies I am using. Since I try and plan my menu around my fresh veggies I want to make sure I use them all. In this menu I will use 2 of the 3 broccoli's I bought yesterday and the 3rd one will be used during the week for the babies lunches, along with the other 1/2 bag of carrots. They love broccoli and carrots with ranch dressing.

My Baby Turned 15 Today

That would be 15 years.

It seems like yesterday she was turning 13 and I couldn't believe I officially had a teenager in the house. And it seems like a few weeks ago she was playing with Barbies and My Little Ponies. And wasn't it just a few months ago I was teaching her how to walk and proud and excited every time she would say a new word.

*Sigh*

This past week my 3 older children have been at my mom's (spring break). I was planning on making a chocolate cake from scratch for her birthday and when I called her this morning to wish her happy birthday, she informed me that she didn't like chocolate cake.

What? When did this happen? I mean, what 15 year old dosen't like chocolate cake?

Oh, and she also informed me - definitely don't put chocolate frosting on it either because that just taste weird.

What? Weird? Chocolate frosting?

So what kind of cake DO you like - today? She said she liked carrot cake. Fine. I had a box carrot cake in my stockpile - I was kind of disappointed in using it cause I really like making the birthday cakes from scratch but I didn't feel like searching for another recipe, since I already had the chocolate cake recipe picked out and had all the ingredients for that.

But here is what I did do to make it a little different and special. I saw this idea on Sandra Lee a few weeks ago:


The frosting I used is just simply powder sugar, butter, milk, nutmeg, vanilla. By using decorating gel icings you make circles, lines or other designs on top of the icing and then take the tip of a toothpick and drag it through the icing to make awesome designs. For the tie die ones, just make a bunch of dots all over the cup cake and use your toothpick and swirl the colors together. Of course, mine don't look as good as hers and I wished I would have gotten some brighter colors - but I think they turned out pretty good. It definitely takes some practice and getting the hang of it.

Here are some tips I figured out along the way, maybe it will help someone - if they decide to do this:

1. If you make you icing from scratch don't make it too thick. You want the icing to be smooth and wet enough to be easily manipulated when you run your toothpick through it - otherwise it will crack and crumble and ruin your design.

2. Also, if using your own homemade icing I would suggest only icing one cupcake at a time - for the same reasons as above. After sitting for a few minutes the icing forms a 'crust' and it's hard to manipulate the frosting. By the time I figured this out I actually when back and had to scrap off all the frosting and then iced and decorated them one at a time.

Roasted Asparagus with Garlic Butter Sauce

For awhile now I've been seeing asparagus on sale for just $.99/lb. That's nearly half price off the regular price. Now, I personally love asparagus, but my husband said he dosn't like it and I had little doubt any of my children would. It is a bit of an acquired taste.

So anyways, this past weekend I said, 'What the Heck' and bought a bundle. I am always trying to put new things on our menu and now was as good of a time as any.

Tonight we were to have pork chops and potato wedges and I thought the asparagus would go great for a needed green veggie. After I made it I felt really good - my oldest son ate the most of it - at least 8 stalks! He loved it! My oldest daughter had some and said it tasted good, but she has never been picky about food and will eat most things. My husband, who told me he didn't like asparagus even had some and said it tasted really good. That didn't surprise me so much cause my husband always tells me he dosn't like pork but every time I make something pork related, he complements me on how good it taste and then asks me what kind of meat it is. 'Honey, that's the pork you don't like,' I say with a smile.

The babies and my other daughter didn't like it - but that's okay - it was a hit with half the family and that's good enough for me! I had actually only made half the bundle cause I wasn't sure how well it would go over - that was just enough and none was wasted!

In case your wondering, here is how I made my Roasted Asparagus with Garlic Butter Sauce:

First, I roasted my garlic. I did this by wrapping my garlic in foil and drizzling with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Next I melted about 4 T. butter in a measuring cup and added 2 T. olive oil and about 5 or 6 cloves of roasted garlic. I blended it up really good with my hand blender, thing.

I used the same piece of foil I roasted my garlic in and laid it out on a cookie sheet and bent up the edges. I laid my asparagus on the foil and drizzled the garlic butter sauce over top and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

I baked this at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes or until tender.

It was very yummy! Can't wait to make the other half again - tomorrow!

February Cooking for a Month

I think I had a theme going on this month for my monthly cooking - Mexican food and chicken! I think it started with great sale and coupon deal on Ro Tel at the end of January and ended with 2 rotisserie chickens I had frozen in my freezer. That's fine though cause there is nothing like spicy Mexican food on cold winter days to warm you up!

Here is my February Menu:


Spinach & Chicken Salad, Broccoli & Ham Cheese Casserole, Bread Salad, Egg Rolls, Tortilla Soup (2 times), Chili Mac (2 times), Beef Fajitas, Beef Stew, Pork Chops and Potato Wedges, Salmon Chowder, Chicken Fajitas, Chicken Wild Rice Soup (2 times), Mexican Lasagna, Cheese Chicken Tortellini, Winter Soup

Here is (just about everything) I already had in my stockpile to make my menu. I say just about everything cause I think while cooking I had to go back to my stockpile and get a couple more cans of Ro Tel, Beans and a few other things.


Here is everything I had to get at the store that I didn't have on hand to finish my monthly cooking.

I spent a total of $27.95.

The first thing I did when I started cooking was put my 2 rotisserie chickens in water to boil. This would give me the chicken broth I needed for my soups. While the chicken was boiling, I chopped all the veggies I needed.

As I chopped the veggies, I put all the carrot peels, celery and onion ends into the water with the chicken. This would give the chicken more flavor as it boils and also flavor the broth. I am thinking next month I might chop my veggies the day before - just to take a little time off doing it on cooking day.

If I decide to cook my noodles or macaroni for a dish, I always cook it a little more than al dente. That way when I finish cooking it or heating it up the noodles will just finish cooking and not over cook or get mushy. The Broccoli Ham & Cheese Casserole, I cooked the macaroni and sauce and mixed it all up in a casserole dish and marked how long to cook it for and what temperature.

After cooking all day, one of the very last things I want to think about is what's for super. I always try to plan something quick, simple, healthy and filling. I made some horseradish cream cheese and ham spread for pita chips. I actually used 3 packets of horsey sauce left over from Arby's a few weeks ago. Worked great! I also made a quick and easy cheesy broccoli and cheese dip. I had some left over celery which I spread with peanut butter. I didn't have any raisins (for ants) so I used mini chocolate chips. Interesting combination - but the kids loved it!

For desert we had fresh blueberries with whipped cream. I sprinkled nut meg and green Christmas sprinkles on top. Aside from the green Christmas sprinkles, I was surprised how good the flavors of blueberry, nut meg and whipped cream were together.

(There is only 6 because my daughter was at her friends house).

So now I can relax for the rest of the month and feel good when I get inspired to make something and not feel like I've already been in the kitchen all day.

Tackle It Tuesday ~ January Cooking for a Month

I was waiting for the time to strike when I would get back into my cooking for a month routine. I had started doing this a while back as a way to cater to my sanity. I'm feeling confident now that I can get back in to this routine.

Some people might ask if I am insane - cooking for a month? The answer to that is - always yes! But you see, although I do enjoy cooking, most nights I feel so pressured to hurry up and 'get it on the table' that it's not enjoyable anymore. Sometimes I feel like I am just cooking the same thing night after night. I dare not ask anyone tips, idea's or thoughts on 'what's for dinner tonight'. Nights I am having trouble thinking of something for dinner, I will ask my husband, 'What's for dinner tonight?' His response: 'I don't know, I'm not hungry.'

Uhh, well listen buddy, although you might not be hungry, I know there are at least 5 other people in this house who are or will be. So ya want to throw me a bone or something?

So, I am left on my own. My solution to this irritating madness is my monthly cooking.

First I plan my menu:

When planning out my menu, I am only planning The Weekday Dinners and 4 snacks/desserts. Notice on the last week of the month there are some days without dinners - so I guess we won't eat those days.

Just kidding! I actually goofed somewhere and came up a few dinners short. What can I say, I'm out of practice.

I always have tons of frozen or fresh veggies or salad on hand for sides. Also, because the main bulk of the cooking is done this allows me more freedom to be more creative with my side dishes.

I start by going through my stockpile and coordinating meals with what I already have on hand. I also try to substitute ingredients I don't have with something I do have that will work just as well. For example, I needed bread crumbs (which I didn't have on hand) for my meatloaf. However, I did have boxes of instant mashed potatoes that I planned to use instead of bread crumbs. This saves me money because now I don't have to buy the bread crumbs.

So, after completing my rough draft menu, and collecting all the ingredients I need, hauling them all upstairs, this is what already have on hand for my monthly cooking:

I then go though my menu again and compile a list and collect any coupons I can use to complete my menu.

I spent a total of $25.29

While shopping I found these bags of Mann's Rainbow Salad on clearance for $1.31. I had 2 coupons that would give me $1 off, so I got both bags for just $.62 cents!



Now, this wasn't on my monthly cooking list, so why did I get them? After seeing them and doing some careful thinking I actually knocked off about $6 or more off my 'would be' grocery bill.

Let me attempt to explain:

The fist week of this month I had 4 meals planned: ABT Pitas (Avocado, Bacon Turkey Pitas), Tacos, California Rolls, Egg Rolls. On my original grocery list I needed tomatoes (which are always expensive but these where for the tacos and pita's), cucumbers (California Rolls) and cabbage (Egg Rolls). Instead of buy the overpriced tomatoes, cucumber and cabbage, which would have cost me about $6 bucks, I spent $.62 cents and got these 2 bags of Mann's Rainbow Salad to replace them. I thought it would be something really fun and different to have this on the pitas and tacos instead of the traditional lettuce and tomatoes. I also plan on making my egg rolls using this rainbow salad mixture. I know it's traditional to use cucumber in California rolls, but I am going to use this instead because it will give the same 'crunch' as the cucumber - and it's already sliced into strips so one less thing I have to prep.

All in all I think it will work out great. The Mann's Rainbow Salad is also super nutrish - more so (I think) than the lettuce, tomato and cucumber I was going to buy. This salad is made up of Broccoli and Cauliflower hearts, Carrots and Red Cabbage. We had the ABT Pitas last night and everyone loved it! There was a little left over, so today for the babies lunch I divided it up into two bowls with a little ranch dressing and they ate it right up! They love crunchy veggies!

All n all, I spent a good 12 hours cooking, shopping and planning. This is worth it to me because even if I was Rachel Ray and could do 30 minute meals - 17 meals over a month would amount to 8 1/2 hours + cleanup time. That is IF I was Rachel Ray. So I think it saves a little time and it's nice having everything done and ready to go. It's also nice having it all planned out and everyone knows what is for dinner that night.

I know there is more to tell so if anyone has any questions feel free to leave me a comment or email me. If you would like to know more about how I plan my menu, how I cook the meals, how I freeze the meals or anything else - let me know.

Challenge Accomplished - My Beautiful Pumpkin Roll

I've been really wanting to bake something fun and challenging. So last night, I did it! I made a Pumpkin Roll!

It turned out beautiful - if I may say so myself! I thought it would be hard but it was a lot easier than I thought. Have you ever tried to cook something you thought would be hard - then thought later 'that wasn't so hard'?

I tried to make it all pretty and fancy looking - not sure if I accomplished that or not. I did make my own homemade carmel sauce and drizzled it over top before shifting it with powder sugar. I think the carmel sauce gave it a third definition of taste. It was really good and as far as I know, I have never seen anyone do this before.

While I was on a roll, I also made an Egg Pie for breakfast for the kids:

And.....

... Peanut Butter Fudge! I wasn't 100% impressed with the fudge. I think I cooked it too long so it didn't come out soft and gooey the way I like. It's not hard - just not as soft and gooey. Also, when I try this again, I need to use a smaller deeper pan. This pan was too big and long, and the fudge turned out more like fudge pancakes. It taste good nonetheless - so I'm sure it wont go to waste, but I will definitely have to try this one again.

Christmas Pudding

While cleaning out my spice cupboard the other day I found a box of vanilla pudding all the way in the back of the cupboard. So to get it out of the way I went ahead and mixed it up. While I continued to work as it set up in the fridge I came across this bottle of red and green Christmas sprinkles - that had - uhhh - about 20 sprinkles left in the bottle.

Not kidding. And no, I didn't count them - but really that's about how many there were.

How does that happen? When was the last time I baked and couldn't finish off the 20 sprinkles left in the bottle? I just couldn't fit 20 more sprinkles on a cookie?

*Sigh - Who knows these things...

So, being the clever mom I am, I got out 2 of the bowls of pudding that were setting up in the fridge and sprinkled the remaining sprinkles into the pudding. I stirred it just enough to make it swirly-like. It was something new and different and the babies loved it!

Tackle It Tuesday ~ My Spice Cupboard

Last week on Tackle It Tuesday I read where at least 3 other bloggers had tackled their spice cupboard. This inspired me to tackle my own! My spice cupboard is high above my kitchen sink. Being the shorty I am - it's frustrating to always use the stool to find what I need because I can never see what's going on up there. All the little bottles of spices and what nots get lost in the mix of the bigger bottles. I think I may have found a solution!

Here is my spice cabinet before:

Here is some other stuff that is 'suppose' to go in the cupboard. However, I pulled everything out last week, looking for my tiny bottle of vanilla so it's been sitting there ever since.


Don't pay any attention to that basket on the left. That was going to be the basket I used for my plan but it ended up being too big and wouldn't fit in the cupboard. I found this out AFTER I had everything in there the way I wanted it - I guess maybe I should have checked to see if it would fit first. So, my plan was to take all my baking supplies, spices and other tiny what nots and put them in a basket on one side of my cupboard. This way all my baking supplies would stay together and the tiny bottles wouldn't get lost in the mix with all my bigger stuff. I am hoping that this will make it easier when I bake something then I can just pull out the basket and have all my sugar, spices, cocoa, baking soda and powder all in one place - opposed to having to dig for everything separately in the cupboard. Here's hoping anyways...

So here are my after pictures:


I guess this dosn't show my basket too well, but it's over to the right. All my bigger bottles of olive oil, vinegar, cooking spay is over to the left. Notice I have a spice rack below my cupboard, that holds all my herb spices - usually not my baking spices like nutmeg, cinnamon etc.

I am hoping that it will go something like this when I am ready to bake. Just pull down the basket and have everything I need...

More than One Way to Bake a Cookie

While Blog Hopping this evening I was visiting Donna Freedman's Blog. She was talking about extreme savings and how Kimberly Palmer at U.S. News & World Report went searching the Internet for extreme savings. I think she found it when she came across Baking Bits where another blogger shared her experiment of: Car-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Although I thought this was such an amazing idea - I don't' think my kids would wait for 2 1/2 hours for chocolate chip cookies.

Which got me to thinking - wouldn't this be the neatest money saver? By using the heat of your car and sunlight to bake your cookies, not only are you saving money by not using the oven, you are also saving money by not heating the house up, causing the air conditioning to work harder.

Also, the 2 1/2 hours is perfect timing to do some shopping with the kids. What better way to bribe the kids to be good. The next time you have a whole day of shopping ahead of you, place the cookies on the dashboard of your car at the beginning of your shopping adventure. When your done shopping - whoola! Soft, warm chocolate chip cookies for the ride home!

Tuna Salad with Grated Onions

We love tuna salad and every time I make it I add chopped onions. I love the taste of the tuna, mayo and onions - but I don't like the raw onion chunks. I can never seem to chop them small enough to satisfy my 'no chunk desire'. Then the other day as I was making tuna salad - it came to me - grate the onion. This was perfect! Grating the onion made the pieces small enough - no chunks - and gave that great onion flavor I like in my tuna salad.

Has anyone else tried this?

Grilling Out Pizza

In the summer I always try not to turn the oven on because I don't want to heat up the house. If the air conditioner is on - turning on the air conditioner is working against you saving money. If the air conditioner isn't on then by turning on the oven will might make you want to turn it on.
Boycotting the oven, even in the summer is really hard sometimes. It leaves cooking limited and when you are craving something baked - it can be tempting.

My answer to this is - my grill. To help save money this summer I am going to try grilling out more. This way I don't heat up my house anymore than I have to and I still get my 'oven meal' I want. It only takes a second to lite the grill and get it going and it seems to heat up a little faster than the oven. Also gas is cheaper than electric so it seems like it's a winner all the way.

This was my first adventure in grilling:

Anyone tried grilling a pizza? It turned out really good. (well the second one did anyways)

My Pizza Grilling Tip: Don't cook it according to package directions. Lower the heat by at least 50 degrees and cook it for about half the time. Just keep your eye on it cause it will cook faster than it will in the oven.

Cashback rewards for eBay shopping

Monthly Cooking For November

Here is my monthly menu for November. Each of the older kids picked out 3 meals they would like this month. Also added in is two nights were we will go out to eat.

On Saturday, November 3rd, I did my shopping for the things I didn't have for my Monthly Cooking for November. I spent $70, which is way more than I ever spend at the store, but this will basically provide all the meals I need for a whole month - so that's not bad.

This is almost everything I bought. I didn't have to buy any meat cause I already have a freezer full of meat that I planned my meals around.

For the rest of the month I will only need to buy staples, watch for deals and meat on sale for the following month, then plan December's meals around that.

This month hubby was doing lawn work so I was on my own. It wasn't too bad though, it took me about 4 1/2 hours. I'm still working out the details to improve my technique.

Cooking Game Plan - Cook Once A Month

I like to cook - really. I love making up my own recipes and having it all come together. What I don't like is all the frustrations that come along with the cooking. I spend at least a half hour digging in the fridge trying to come up with something. Chasing the babies out of the kitchen or worrying about if they are going to get under food when carrying a pot of hot pasta water to the sink to drain. I hate dirty dishes and having the kitchen a mess - which always seems to be the case after I cook something. Then I am left asking myself - was it really necessary to use 4 pans and a skillet to make that one meal? Yup - I'm a mess in the kitchen - but I really do like cooking.

Let's not talk about the look my husband gave me when I told him I only wanted to cook one time a month. But I was serious.

From couponing and deal hunting I have a large stockpile that will allow me to make just about anything anyone wants. Not only that, I have a chest freezer stuffed full of meats, fish and other frozen items. With a piece of paper and a pencil I went through my stockpile and started writing down meals I could make with what I had - or at the most only needed a few ingredients. After I was done I had about 30 or more meals listed. I took this list to my kids and husband and had everyone pick out 3 meals they would like - or if there was something they wanted that wasn't on the list, to write it down.

After that I constructed my calendar:


These are only the main dishes. I have tons of frozen veggies I can add in as a side. I am calling the weekends 'a la carte kitchen' so that is why I didn't plan anything. I also planned for us to go out to eat twice this month. The days were there is not a meat dish, I planned another protein rich dish such as eggs or beans.

On Sunday my husband helped me to chop veggies, fresh herbs and meat. I can't really give you very good details on how cooking day went cause it was a disorganized mess. I do know I spent 3 hours in the kitchen and when the end came - I felt I really accomplished something. I had gotten lots of meals made, which if we weren't eating them in the next week, I placed in the freezer. I had all my meals for the next week in the fridge. I felt very relieved - if not for anything else, just knowing what I was going to cook that day.

Another great thing is that now I have my main course made and ready to go, I can spend more time on my side dishes and be more creative in that area. The other night we had Salmon and I made the most wonderful Tomato Stuffing - even using my own toasted bread crumbs. It so SO GOOD - everyone loved it. I would pass the recipe on but I don't know how I made it. I guess that's the bad part of creating your own dishes. I have got to learn how to write things down.

I have learned a lot with this first experiment and I am definitely doing it again next month. There are some changes I will make, to make things more organized and hopefully I will be able to write in more detail about how I managed to pull this off.

Stay tuned until next month.