The best meal is currently being cooked right now. My Grandma's pot roast! It's mouthwatering and super easy to make. It's a meal you're going to have to save a little for, because the meat is kind of expensive, but you get a good amount for what you pay. I would recommend making this if you have a slow cooker, that's all I've ever used for it, but I'm sure you can put it in a big glass pan in the oven at 375 degrees for about 4-6 hours. So, the shopping list for this is going to consist of . . .
1. 1 chuck roast, I got a smaller one because I'm only cooking for 3 tonight. (Hyvee 7.50)
2. 1 bag of russet potatoes (Hyvee 3.00)
3. 1 bag of baby carrots, I got a big bag, (Hyvee 2.50)
4. Olive Oil about a 1/2 cup (Walmart 2.00)
5. Spices, I used, salt, pepper, seasoning salt, garlic salt, and onion salt
6. 1/2 cup of water
This total is 15.00 plus the spices, but I don't know what I paid for each of them separately. So, your're probably using about 13.00 worth of stuff, so make sure it's for a good occasion ;]
What you're going to do for your pot roast is, get your slow cooker. Put the meat in the middle of the slow cooker. Wash and cut the potatoes in 4 pieces, I used half the bag and place around the meat. Wash the baby carrots, I used 1/2 the bag, and also put them around the meat. Mix up the potatoes and carrots up with big spoon so that when you put the seasoning in it gets on all of it. Once everything's in there pour the water and the olive oil all over the meat and veggies. You can put more olive oil in there with everything depending on how full your crock pot is.
Then your going to put the salt and pepper on. Don't use too much salt because the carrots will really soak it up and you won't even be able to eat the carrots they will be so salty! So use in moderation. Then add everything else, not too much, just enough to cover the top layer of all the food.
Then, leave the roast in the crock pot or oven for about 4 to 6 hours. It honestly doesn't matter how long you leave it in after the roast is done cooking, you just need to make sure you keep adding water and olive oil to keep it moist.
When it's cooked all the way through take out the meat, slice it, toss it back in the crock pot and serve! Everyone's mouths will be drooling when they take the first bite.
-Steph
I don't know about most kids my age, but I like to eat breakfast, or I feel like I'm starving all day. Something I like to make in the morning, time permitting of course, is big fluffy homemade pancakes! You're going to need a few things first . . .
1. 1/2 cup flour (Schnucks 1.75)
2. 1/2 tbsp sugar (Schnucks 1.25)
3. 1 tbsp baking powder (Walmart 1.00)
4. 1/4 tsp salt (Schnucks 1.50)
5. 1/2 cup milk (Walmart 1/2 gallon 2.00)
6. 1 egg (Walmart 12 pack 1.00)
7. 2 tsp veggie oil (Schnucks 2.99)
So your total is 11.49, but you'll be using about 2$ worth of stuff. And, hopefully you already have most of this stuff at your house already.
Okay, so, get a decently sized big bowl and add the milk, egg and oil and get it stirred together as well as you can. Then, with another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir a little bit of the flour mix into the egg, milk and oil until its all in there. It's okay if there are a few lumps.
Then, get out a pan put some butter in it drop your batter and just make sure you don't burn it. Then enjoy!
-Steph
So, you like fried pickles, huh? Me too! The best fried pickles I've had are from the bar, Fatty's, in Dekalb. Yum. My second favorite fried pickles are from Buffalo Wild Wings. And these are my favorite homemade fried pickles. You're going to need . . .
Dipping Sauce
1. 1 beaten egg. (Walmart 12 egg pack 1.00)
2. 1/2 cup milk. (Walmart 1/2 gallon 2.00)
3. 1 tbsp flour. (Schnucks 1.75)
4. 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt (Walmart Morton Sea Salt 2.00)
Breading
5. 3/4 tsp. black pepper. (Walmart 1.50)
6. 1 1/2 cup flour. (Schnucks 1.75)
7. 2-4 sliced dill pickles (Schnucks 2.00)
Frying
8. 3 cups veggie oil (Schnucks 2.99)
The grand total for the whole shopping trip is . . . 14.99. But in reality you're using maybe 2.00 to 3.00 of materials. And don't forget to buy store brand! I'm all about store brand to save the extra dollar. :]
Pour veggie oil into a pan and heat on medium or a little higher. After that, get a mixing bowl, start mixing the dipping sauce. Throw in all the ingredients together, there is no specific order to be followed here. Next, for the breading, get another mixing bowl, get a fork, and mix all those ingredients together.
When this is done, cut your pickles in hot dog or hamburger style throw 2 or 3 slices into the sauce, then the breading, put ONE pickle slice into the oil to see if it's ready. Make sure to have a plate with 2 paper towels on it so it soaks up all the extra oil. Keep the pickle in there for about 20-30 seconds until ideal crunchiness is achieved and then go crazy until all the unfried pickle is gone! Try not to eat them right out of the pot, they're scorching!
Pour some ranch and dip to make them even more delicious!
-Steph
I've tried to make this 2 times. The first time it was EXTREMELY over cooked and the second time it was really good. So, hopefully if you try this it will turn out decently the first time you make it. The key is to get it out of the microwave before it over bakes. You're going to need:
1. 2.5 tbsp unsalted butter (Schnucks 1.50/4)
2. 1 1.2 tbsp granulated sugar (Schnucks 1.25)
3. 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar (Schnucks 1.25)
4. 2.5 tbsp beaten egg (Schnucks 1.75)
5. 1/4 tsp baking soda (Schnucks 1.00)
6. 1/4 tsp salt (Schnucks 1.50)
7. 1/3 cup of flour (Schnucks 1.75)
8. 1/4 tsp vanilla (Schnucks 1.25)
9. as many chocolate chips as you want! (Schnucks 2.00)
Your grand total will range around 12.25 for the ingredients. But you'll be using >2.50 dollars worth.
Okay, so first you are going to want to take the butter and sugars and mix them together. Then add the egg and vanilla, mix. After, put the flour, baking soda and salt, mix again. Put in the microwave for about 1 minute 20 seconds take out top with whatever sounds good and enjoy!
Hope it turns out okay!
-Steph
Man, I am just making some killer treats lately. I made these over Halloween weekend for my 1st Halloween party at my apartment. They were a big success and everyone loved them! So, for this wonderful little recipe, these are the ingredients you're going to need . . .
1. Pretzels: (Schnucks 2.00)
2. Milk chocolate chips (Schnucks 2.00)
3. Peanut butter (Meijer 2.00)
4. Powdered sugar (Schnucks 1.25)
5. Granulated sugar (Schnucks 1.25)
Your grand total is 8.50. But, you're going to have a lot left over, so you're using >3$ of it.
First, you're going to make, the stuffing. Take 1 1/2 cup of the peanut butter, 3/4 cups of powdered sugar, and 3/4 cups of granulated sugar and mix it all together. If its still sticky, add 1/4 cups of both sugars until you are able to hold it without your fingers getting all gooey.
Then, roll about a 3/4 inch ball and smash it between 2 pretzels. Repeat this action until your peanut butter stuffing is gone. Place the stuffed pretzels on a pizza pan in the freezer for about 20 minutes, during the last 5 minutes of freezing start melting HALF the bag of chocolate in a microwave safe dish and heat the chocolate in 30 second increments and stir until the chocolate is melted! Take your stuffed pretzels and dip one side into the chocolate. Put the pretzels back into the freezer until the chocolate is fully hardened. When done, take them out and thoroughly enjoy. Just don't eat so many that you get sick!!! Because these babies are rich!
Enjoy the deliciousness
-Steph
I just ate this recipe for lunch. Yum is all I have to say to this. I've never tried this one out before, so I wasn't really sure how it was going to turn out. But, it really was delicious. So, the things you're going to have to get for this are:
1. Chicken breasts (get a big bag of chicken breasts, the store brand, there are a lot and its usually cheaper than if you were to just buy a 3 pack of breasts from Purdue or a different name brand.) I got my bag of 8 precooked chicken breasts from Walmart for 7.00
2. Italian dressing: At Meijer I found a deal through my mPerks buy 2 Meijer brand dressings get 1 free, also I had a 1$ off coupon from a previous purchase when I bought 2, so I got 3 dressings for 2.00
3. Bacon: Any bacon will do, I used bacon bits, (Walmart: 1.50)
4. Bread: I used potato bread, but again any bread will do, (Walmart: 1.75)
5. Lettuce: I bought a caesar salad mix, because I like to eat it with other meals, (Hyvee 1.68)
6. Tomatoes: I don't really eat tomatoes, and I didn't on this but normally you can get 4 on a vine for 2.00
So, the grand total is . . . 15.93, but EVERYTHING even the bread can be reused. So you're probably only using >4$ worth of food. Which is really good!
First take the chicken breast defrost it in the microwave until unfrozen. Then, place it in the frying pan with about 3 to 4 tablespoons of Italian dressing and your bacon, however much you want. If you bought precooked chicken, cook the chicken until its a little crispy. If it's raw, please make sure to cook it all the way through so you don't get sick!
While your chicken is cooking toast your bread, put on some mayo, the lettuce, tomato and maybe a little salt and pepper if you want. Once the chicken is done slap that baby onto the bread cut the sandwich together and you're good to go! My sandwich was gone in a flash, and sadly I wish I could have another and another and another!!!!!!!
Hope you like it!
-Steph
Okay, so my aunt gave me this super amazing veggie pizza recipe. It's semi-healthy and it's extremely delicious! Also, this pizza recipe stays good for 2 to 3 days after it's made, so you'll have a good snack to munch on for the next couple of days. For this recipe you're going to need:
1. Store brand pizza dough (the uncooked kind in the fridge section!) (Walmart 1.18)
2. Cream cheese softened (I bought Philadelphia 2 pack brand ) (Walmart 2.25)
3. Sour Cream (Again, store brand is just as good!) (Walmart 1.25)
4. Powdered Ranch Pack (Walmart 1.00)
5. Mayo (I used Hellman's Regular Mayo) (1.50)
6. Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, store brand! (Walmart 2.00)
6. Any of your favorite veggies! I used carrots, cherry tomatoes and broccoli (Walmart 5.00)
So, this comes out for a grand total of 14.18, but again, EVERYTHING can be used for other things except the pizza dough!
The first thing I did was preheat the oven. To find this out look on your pizza dough! Then, while the oven is preheating, pop open the dough, grab a pizza pan, rectangular or circle, and flatten the dough out leaving an edge around the side of the pan. When that's done pop it in the oven for the recommended time on the pizza tube.
While the pizza dough is cooking, you're going to want to start making your sauce. Take 1 cream cheese pack, I think it's 1 cup, 1 cup of sour cream, and 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. Mix this together until the ingredients are smooth and creamy, it's okay if there are a few clumps. After dump the whole ranch packet in and stir it all together. Put it in the fridge And there you have your sauce.
After you take the pizza dough out of the oven, cut your veggies finely or in chunks, Pretty much however you want to eat them!
If you want to make little veggie pizzas, just buy crescent rolls and don't roll them up, leave them in their little triangles.
Once the pizza dough is all cooled, take your sauce and spread it all over, save the extra sauce for dip for crackers, it's really good. Sprinkle your veggies and your cheese, and you're done! Enjoy this it's a great dish to bring to parties or just enjoy for yourself!
Until the next recipe,
-Steph :]
My latest food recipe tackled was, Reese's cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. May I just say, they were amazing.
The things you'll need for the cupcakes,
1. White or Chocolate cake mix, I used white, the mix usually takes eggs, water, and veggie oil. I used about 1/4 cup less water then recommended. (Walmart 1.25)
2. Cupcake liners (Walmart 0.50)
3. Reese's Peanut Butter cups mini, buy them the week after a holiday! Usually the holiday candy goes on sale for up to 50% off, in almost every store. (Walmart 2.00 (bought after Halloween)
For the frosting
4. 1 cup butter, softened (1.25/4 Schnucks)
5. 1 cup creamy peanut butter (2.00 Schnucks)
6. 4 cups powdered sugar (1.50 Schnucks)
7. 5 teaspoons milk (price varies)
After all is added up, the total comes to 8.50. You might also be able to find things for cheaper too! BUT, everything can be used for other things except the cake mix!
So, first you're going to pre-heat the oven. As the oven is heating up get the cake mix ready! Follow the instructions on the cake box, I used a hand mixer to combine all the ingredients together, place cupcake liners and put a 1/4 cup scoop of the cake mix inside of the liner. Unwrap 12 mini Reese's cups and push 1 into the middle of each separate scoop of batter, don't worry about the dent in the cupcake, when the cupcakes bake the gap will close. Then, place in oven for recommended time.
While you're waiting for your delicious, tempting cupcakes to come out of the oven, start making the frosting! First combine the softened butter and the creamy peanut butter and milk, I used a hand mixer for this part too, so make sure you wash the blender blades. Once fluffy, add the powdered sugar. The mix shouldn't be watery, so if it is, add powdered sugar until it is not watery. I put the frosting in the fridge until it was ready to use on the cupcakes.
Once the cupcakes are out of the oven, put them onto a plate or separate dish and pop them in the freezer for a couple minutes or by an open window so they cool down quick so you can plop some frosting on them and devour one!
When applying the frosting, I put a sandwich bag into a coffee mug and put frosting into the bag. Cut a tiny slit at an angle in one of the corners of the bag and pipe it onto the top of the cupcake from the outside in. And, BAM! These fantastic little cupcakes are like heaven in your mouth!
Until next time, enjoy :]
-Steph
