October 16 - Dinner - Pulled Pork Sandwiches - Kaiser Rolls

Here's the recipe I used to make the kaiser rolls for the pulled pork sandwiches. It comes from Taste of Home.com

Kaiser Rolls
2 packages (1/4 oz each) active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees), divided
4 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
6 to 6-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 egg white
2 teaspoons cold water
poppy and/or sesame seeds

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.


Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Beat egg white and cold water; brush over rolls. Sprinkle with poppy and/or sesame seeds. With scissors, cut a 1/4-in.-deep cross on tops of rolls.

Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 16 rolls.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 225 calories, 5 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, 39 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Mine didn't look quite as pretty, but they tasted great! I'm still learning technique on shaping buns. LOL

Love,

Sarah

October 16 - Dinner - Pulled Pork Sandwiches

So, I know I'm really bad about updating this blog! Guess I shouldn't "commit" to doing it every day. LOL

Actually, it's been a good thing that I've been too busy, I've been creating products for the sales I've been making lately on my stuff. Anyways, yesterday, I decided to make pulled pork sandwiches.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches
2 boneless pork chops
1/2 bottle bbq sauce
1 small onion
4 buns
cheese slices

Place your pork, onions, and bbq sauce (you may need a little more depending on the size of your chops) in the slow cooker on low heat. Cook for 8 hours (or however long from the morning until you are ready to eat). Use 2 forks to shred the pork. Scoop 1/4 of the shredded pork onto a bun, top with a slice of cheese, and serve!

These were delicious! Especially because Felicity and I baked the kaiser rolls from scratch!

Estimated Cost: about $5.00

Enjoy!

Love,

Sarah

Monday Mailbox Madness

Sorry that I'm not posting this until Thursday. I'm really going to
try to be better at keeping up with this blog.

Anyways, here's what I got last week in the mail! It was a GREAT week!!

Menu - Mon, October 5 - Sunday, October 11

Monday, October 5
D - Pork w/Apples & Stuffing

Tuesday, October 6
D - Spaghetti & Meatballs w/Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

Wednesday, October 7
D - Family Dinner @ Potter's

Thursday, October 8
D - Family Dinner @ Dymond's

Friday, October 9
D - Stuffed Shells

Saturday, October 10
B - Spinach & Cheese Quiche
D - Chicken ceasar Tetrazzini

Sunday, October 11
B - French Toast
D - Golden nugget casserole

***Remember, the menu could change at any time!***

Love,

Sarah

October 5 - Dinner - Pork Chops w/Apples & Stuffing!

This was a hit once again!

For the original recipe post, click HERE!

Enjoy!

Love,

Sarah

October 3 - Dinner - Stove Top one-dish Chicken Skillet

We had some friends over for dinner for this meal, and it was a hit! Even the kids all ate their meals!

Stove Top one-dish Chicken Skillet
1-1/2 cups hots water
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margerine
1 package (6 oz) stuffing mix for chicken
6 small boneless chicken breasts (or halves)
1 can cream of muchroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix hot water, butter and stuffing mix.

Cook chicken in nonstick skillet on medium-high heat for 5 minutes on each side or until browned on both sides.

Mix soup and sour cream. Pour over chicken. Top with stuffing; cover. Cook on low heat 10 minutes or until chicken is done.

***You can also make this in your oven (which is how I did it because my skillet is heading towards it's grave. I'm waiting for my new one from Proctor & Gamble!!). Here's how:

Heat oven to 375. Prepare stuffing as directed. Mix soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Top with stuffing. Bake 35-45 minutes or until chicken is done.

This will definitely go on the menu again! We LOVED it!

Estimated Cost: $7

Enjoy!

Love,

Sarah

Kmart Double Days Trip # 4

Total OOP: $30.93

5 packages Huggies diapers

1 package Luv's Diapers

1 package Huggies wipes

1 travel Huggies wipes (these are great because I use these for my boutique wipes cases!)

1 Payday bar (this was because my 2nd transaction was negative!!)

2 Venom Energy drinks FREE

Ok, so I first paid $29.42 for the diapers. Then bought the Luv's with the $12 coupon I got back from the diapers, and used a $1 off coupon (making me negative, so I had to get the Payday bar). So, $0.03. Then I bought the Wipes and the Energy drinks and used a $5 off coupon ad two $1 off Venom coupons, making it $1.51!

I will get $3.75 back for the diapers!

If you want to read about the EXTREMELY amazing deal I got on diapers, check it out HERE on my other blog!

Ok. Now to catch up on the cooking stuff! Next time I'll post these things on my Family Blog!

Love,

Sarah

Kmart Trip #3

All of this for: $15.24!

1 box of Special K

6 bags Halloween Candy

6 FREE Reese's Cups

4 packages Tuna

2 Tide-to-go pens

2 Right Guard Deoderant

40 (yes, 40) disposable razors - FREE

4 bottles Worchestershire (sp?) sauce - FREE - Donated 2

1 Vaseline Lotion

1 Nature's Source Bathroom Cleaner

Total Savings: $74.22!!

October 2 - Dinner - Baked Fish Fillets

I was not thrilled with these. I thought that the cod was WAY too fishy tasting for me. But, Will LOVED it. Guess you have to be a fish-eater to really like this meal.

Baked Fish Fillets
4 cod fillets (about 4 ounces each) - you could probably use tilapia or something else
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 450. Coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray. Pat fillets dry. Combine melted butter and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, oregano and basil in a shallow dish.

Dip fillets in butter mixture, coating boath sides. Dip fillets in bread crumb mixture, coating both sides.

Place fish in prepared baking dish. Drizzle with remaining butter mixture left in bowl.

Bake fillets until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a fillet registers 145 and fish just begins to flake when tested with a fork, about 8 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Estimated Cost: about $9

Enjoy!

Love,

Sarah

October 1 - Dinner - Sloppy Tacos

So, we were supposed to go to Will's mom's house, but he had work, so she came to our house instead. So, I decided to make Sloppy Tacos! It's just a twist on Sloppy Joes and Tacos!

Sloppy Tacos
1 lb ground beef
1 jar (16 oz) salsa
1 package hamburger buns
8 slices American cheese (or whatever cheese you like! Cheddar would probably be delish!)

Brown meat in a large skillet; drain.

Stir in salsa; cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Fill buns with meat mixture and top with slice of cheese.

This was so easy to make a very tasty!

Estimated Cost: about $5

Enjoy!

Love,

Sarah

September 29 - Dinner - Steak w/Onion & Potato Cakes

Well, this was OK. I really messed up the potato cakes, so they were more like potato mush, but they still tasted pretty good. LOL.

Steak w/Onion and Potato Cakes
1, 1-pound boneless sirloin steak
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 large onion, cut crosswise into 4 slices
4 teaspoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2, 8-ounce potatoes, scrubbed and shredded
1/2 teaspoon salt

Spray the broiler rack with cooking spray; preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the steak with the Cajun seasoning; place the steak on the rack. Arrange the onion around the steak; drizzle the onion with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Broil until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the steak registers 145 for medium, 5-6 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 3 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the potatoes and salt; press down into a flat cake. Cover and cook until the cake is golden on the bottom, about 5 minutes. With a rubber spatula, cut the potato cake into fourths; then turn and cook, covered, until golden on the other side, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer the steak to a cutting board. Let stand 5 minutes, cut into 16 slices. Serve with onion and potato cakes.

I bought a london broil instead of sirloin (because sirloin wasn't in my budget). The steak turned out perfect. I think I used too much oil for the potatoes, so they just soaked it up. I think I will also let the potatoes dry out a little bit next time, so they are not quite so moist.

Enjoy!

Love,

Sarah

KMart Double Days Trip #2

**Also made this trip in September! But, I couldn't pass up the diaper deal!**

One of the blogs I read, STL Mommy, posted this great deal for diapers at KMart double days:

Buy 5 Huggies diaper products, use 4 $2-off coupons and 1 $2-off pull-ups coupons, plus buy one other product (from a certain list, I chose toilet paper, which I had a $1.00 of coupon, making it $1.99 for 4-rolls), only pay $24.95 for diapers + product, get back a $12 coupon! This made each diaper just over $0.08! The brand I normally buy is $0.17 per diaper, and they're the least expensive brand!

Anyways, I spent a total OOP: $68.92

My total should have been: $213.05

That's a savings of: $144.13

So, basically, for what I would have paid for 2 months worth of diapers, I got:

10 packs of diapers (2 months worth)

3 bags of dog food (1 is missing from the picture because I had to feed the dog and didn't take the pic til after)

3 boxes Special K cereal ($0.50 ea!)

2 boxes Special K crackers

2 four-packs Scott TP ($1.99 ea)

3 boxes A& H Dryer Sheets ($1.00 ea)

2 bags Bliss Chocolates ($0.86, this was because my coupons made me in the negative, and the cashier would have had to have paid me! So, I got 2 bags of chocolate instead! LOL)

2 Containers Lysol Wipes

1 Glade Scented Oil Candle ($0.50)

1 Glade Scented Oil Candle Refill ($0.50)

3 Ajax Dish soaps (FREE!)

1 Nature's Source Cleaner ($0.99)

2 Hormel Compleats Meals

You know, I'd say that's a pretty darn good deal! I would have had to have bought diapers this month anyways, and now we're stocked up for at LEAST 2 months! I just hope Westley doesn't grow out of size 4s too soon. At the rate he's growing, he very well could!

I also learned how to get 2 items for FREE using a BOGO coupon! I think I'm going to try to do that today . If I get some good stuff for free, I will probably donate it to the food kitchen where my parents volunteer. I really don't NEED anything else. I just love the rush from getting good deals! And, if I can not pay anything, I might as well donate the items! I'll let you know if I decided to go or not. I may just leave it alone for now. =)

Anways! Off to get some work done! I've got several orders to fill!

Love,

Sarah

KMart Double Days Trip #1

**This trip was made in September and does not count towards my October budget**

Yes, KMart Double Coupon Days are back! Here's how I did on my first trip:

OOP (out-of-pocket): $19.56

Total Should have been: $127.20
Total Savings: $107.64

Here's what I got (if I remember the prices I paid after Qs, I'll put that here too):

Softsoap hand soap: FREE

Clearasil On the Spot Acne Treatment

4 Men's Speed Sticks - FREE

2 Crest Kids' Toothpastes - $0.45 ea

4 Tylenols - $0.19 ea

2 Purina cat food - $1.29 ea

Soft scrub pads

2 Ziploc packs - $1 ea

2 Ajax dish soap - $.19 ea

2 Huggies Wipes - FREE

3 Frappuccinos - FREE

2 Juicy Juice - $0.50 ea

5 Special Dark 8-packs - FREE

4 cans Pringles - $0.50 ea

3 boxes Wheat Thins - $0.50 ea

2 Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers - FREE

Woo-hoo! I have done 1 other trip since, and will post that today too! I really made out on both days! I'm going to start posting couponing tips on my other blog soon. Check it out: http://dymondfamily2001.blogspot.com/

Love,

Sarah