Crockpot Cashew Chicken

It is that time of the year again to not worry about dinner....  Use your Crockpot and dinner is ready when you get home ~ Enjoy

Crockpot Cashew Chicken.. Oh so good

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders or chicken breast tenders
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup cashews

Directions:
Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Add cashews and stir. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings

Fabulous & Frugal Quiche

This is a Fabulous and Easy way to use odds and ends of Left-overs in your refrigerator to make something "new"

2 cups or 8 oz shredded cheese~ any type you like
1/2 cups of any add ins~ chopped ham or chicken, diced peppers, onions, chopped broccoli
3 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cup baking mix, such as Jiffy or Bisquick

Preheat oven to 400. Grease an 8x8 inch square glass dish or a 9 inch round pie pan.  Spread the cheese on the bottom of the pan....add any of the add ins listed above spread this over the cheese.  Mix the eggs, milk and baking mix together and pour over the cheese.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.  Allow to cool slightly and serve.

You can serve this for breakfast or with a salad for lunch or dinner.  Remember to take left-overs for your lunch.

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!!

Enchilada Pie

I made the Enchilada Pie Today......  It is absolutely de-lish!!!!  This is what I will be taking in my lunch.


Enchilada Pie in the Crock Pot

INGREDIENTS1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef



1 small onion, chopped (about 1/3 cup)



1 clove garlic, finely chopped



1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup ( I also use a can of Tomato Soup)



1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles



1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce



10 corn tortillas (6 inch)



3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (12 oz)



Paprika



Chopped fresh cilantro



1 In 10-inch skillet, cook ground beef, onion and garlic over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in soup and chiles.



2 Spray 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Spread about 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce in bottom of slow cooker. Place 4 corn tortillas over sauce, overlapping and breaking in half as necessary to make an even layer. Top with 1/3 of beef mixture, spreading evenly. Drizzle with about 1/4 cup enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese.



3 Repeat layering twice, using 3 corn tortillas and half of remaining beef mixture, enchilada sauce and cheese in each layer. Sprinkle paprika over top.



4 Cover; cook on Low heat setting 4 hours 30 minutes to 5 hours 30 minutes.

Soup & Biscuits

For what-ever reason, it snowed here last night, and we have had hail storms off and on today.  I decided to clean out my refrigerator and make a nice pot of hot soup.  Cleaning out the leftovers and throwing them in a pot, I call it Love Soup.  So today I built a fire, and have hot soup and biscuits for dinner.  I am going to lay around and watch a couple of Netflicks Movies.  This is going to be a Fabulous & Frugal Night.

Garlic Baked Chicken

Saute a 1/2 cube of butter with a teaspoon of minced garlic. Dip your chicken breast in the butter & garlic and then dip into a bowl of bread crumbs.  Coat the chicken well both sides in the bread crumbs.  Place the chicken breast in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake the chicken at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes. 
This is absolutely delicious~ restaurant quality good.  Serve with rice and a green salad and you have a Fabulous & Frugal dinner....  enjoy

Cooking Weekend

Today is my Monday....  Happy Monday to all of you.....
I spent my weekend driving 5 hours to my parents house.  On Sunday I cooked all day, and loaded my Mom and Dads' freezer with pre-cooked easy to prepare recipes.  They have marinated chicken, pork roast, Hawaiian Pork, Chicken and Navy bean soup, 3 batches of meatballs, and Salmon patties.  My mom has had some health issues lately and is not able to stand for long periods of time (in the kitchen).  My dad hates to cook, so this was a win win situation for them. 
It is frugal and cost effective to prepare food for the freezer, and eat it as you go.  It is much cheaper than eating out or buying pre-packaged food, unless of course the pre-packaged food is on sale and you have coupons.  Another advantage of making your own food, is that you can control the salt, and fat content of your recipes. 
It is hard work, and it took me pretty much all day cooking, but if you are organized, you can really put some delicious recipes in the freezer. 
One of the things I do at home, if I have made extra soup or dinner items, I will put the leftovers into freezer bags (always date and say what the contents of the bag are) and throw them in the freezer instead of having them sit in the refrigerator for a week and throwing them out. 
This is an excellent way to stretch your food budget, and avoid throwing food away.

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!

Dinner In Less Than 30 Minutes

Here it is.....  the old trusty standby.  Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup. 
This is just another advantage of having the "Well Stocked Pantry". 
I have currently been working 10 hour days and the weather has been less than desirable, so my commute time has increased by nearly a half hour each day.  So when you figure I have been gone 12 to 12 1/2 hours a day, cooking is the last thing I want to do when I get home. 
There is just something warm and comforting eating a hot bowl of soup and a hot sandwich on a bitter cold night. It sure beats eating out and spending the money.

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!

Dinner in Less than 30 Minutes

Bratswurth with grilled onions, baked potato, and salad

Brown the bratswurth, and then add a can of beer and cook until the beer is just about gone on med heat.  Scrub up a couple of potatoes, and pierce them, and throw them in the microwave. And cook according to your microwave settings. Cut up some lettuce and cucumbers and green bell peppers, or what ever you like, and toss them together. 

Crock Pot

All I can say right now is "Thank God" for my Crock pot.  The weather has turned really bad here, lots of snow and ice.  My commute is grueling, and long.  It has been taking me about an hour and 10 minutes to travel 32 miles.  This week I made chicken hindquarters in the crock pot, added 1 cup of orange juice and seasoned it with garlic and pepper.  I cooked some white rice and removed the chicken from the bones and threw it in the rice and just a little bit of the juice from the crock pot....  and this is what I have taken in my lunch the last 2 days.  Today before I left my house, I put a bean mixture together.  It is 16 bean variety of soup and I also had about 3/4 cup of split peas left over from the last time I made soup.  I mixed the split peas with the 16 bean variety and soaked them overnight.  When I got up I threw 2 ham hocks in the crock pot...  rinsed the bean mixture, added about 8 cups of water, chopped up 1/2 an onion and a 1/2 bag of baby carrots, seasoned with garlic and pepper...put the crock pot on low, and left for work.  I cannot wait to get home and have hot soup.  The temperature here is 19 degrees, and I just think there is nothing better than hot soup on a cold day.
Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!

Thanksgiving Left Overs

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  Now that the big meal is done and over, here come's my favorite part...the Left Overs.
I just love turkey sandwiches, and mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.  I will eat this for the next several days and not grow tired of it.

I made a pan of turkey enchiladas, I boiled the turkey carcass, and picked the meat off all of the bones, I took a can of green chili enchilada sauce and used 1/2 the can to line the bottom of a cake pan. 
I took a tub of sour cream and mixed it with a can of cream of chicken soup and a can of diced green chilies.
I used 10 tortilla shells.  put this sour cream mixture in the middle of the tortilla and a handful of turkey meat.
rolled them up like burritos and put them in the cake pan.  When the pan was full of enchiladas, I mixed the rest of the enchilada sauce with the sour cream mixture and poured it over the top of the rolled up tortillas.
I topped it with grated cheddar cheese and olives and baked it at 350 for 30 minutes until the cheese was all bubbly. 
Very easy and very tasty...... 

Now.... the broth from the boiled turkey....  I skimmed off the fat, loaded it up in a ziplock freezer bag, and stuck it in the freezer.  I will use this broth for a batch of home made soup in a week or two. 
Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!!!

Fabulous Home Made Cranberry Sauce

This recipe is so easy and so fabulous, that you will never buy canned cranberry sauce ever again.  Your friends and family will truly be impressed and your house will smell amazing.  It is a win win recipe

12 oz bag of fresh cranberries
3/4 cup orange juice
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar (can use more if you like it sweeter)
2 oz gold rum

place all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on med high for 15-20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has reduced, stirring occasionally.  You will hear the cranberries "pop"....  no worries, that is what you want them to do.  Remove from heat and serve.  Cranberry sauce can be made days ahead and brought to room temperature or slightly heated before serving. 

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!

Impossibly Easy Chicken & Broccoli Pie

I totally love Bisquick, I actually use the generic, I think it is called Krusteaz, and it works like a dream. If you have not tried the Impossibly Easy pie recipes from the "Bisquick" website. I highly recommend the recipes, it makes for some tasty frugal cooking and the left-overs are fabulous for my lunches.

1 box (9 oz) Green Giant® frozen broccoli cuts, thawed, drained
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (6 oz)
1 cup cut-up cooked chicken or 2 cans (5 oz each) chunk chicken, well drained
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs


1.Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray. Sprinkle broccoli, 1 cup of the cheese, the chicken and onion in pie plate.
2.In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients with wire whisk or fork until blended. Pour into pie plate.
3.Bake 35 to 38 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake 1 to 2 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Makes 6 servings

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!

Shepherd's Pie

Dinner tonight is Shepherd's Pie. I hope there are left-overs for my lunch tomorrow.

Ground beef (or Elk is what I used)
pepper and garlic powder
1 can of tomato soup
2 cans of tomato sauce or 1 big can
1 can of corn drained
1 can of french sliced green beans drained
left over mashed potatoes~ I had left-overs from last night
grated cheddar cheese

brown the burger season to your taste~ drain fat (if there is any) add the tomato soup and 1/2 soup can of water. Stir in the 2 cans of tomato sauce. Mix well and put in a casserole dish or cake pan. Drain the corn and sprinkle over the meat mixture. Drain the green beans and sprinkle over the meat mixture. Drop rounded spoons of the mashed potatoes right on top of the meat and veggies. Top with grated cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes. Broil on hi for about 5 minutes until cheese is bubbly.

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!

ahhhh// Chicken Noodle

I am at the tale end of my week, and boy has it been a long one. I am completely ready for a weekend.
Today I made "Chicken Noodle"
I boiled the meat off of 3 1/2 hindquarters that were made on Tuesday
I seasoned the water w/ garlic salt, and pepper
I picked all the meat and skin off of the bones (nice treat for kitty, the skin and bones)
put all the "meat" back into my pot of seasoned water
added 4 stalks of celery/ chopped
added 5 carrots / chopped
cooked these until tender
added 1/2 bag of egg noodles~ cooked to package directions

This was super delish~ Once again my plan was to bring the left-overs to work.....and there was nothing left. I brought a sandwich to work.

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!!

Crock Pot Goulash

Spray crock pot with non stick cooking spray
5-6 medium potatoes, peeled & chopped in the bottom of the crock pot
1 medium onion, chopped
5-6 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 can of corn (drained)
1 can green beans (drained)
2 lb. hamburger
salt and pepper
1 can tomato soup + 1/2 can of water (mix this together, and pour over the top of all ingredients)

Starting with the potatoes, layer vegetables in the crock pot. You can use frozen vegetables but will need to add 1/2 cup water. Place raw hamburger on top of vegetables and top with the tomato soup. Cook on high 4-5 hours, or cook on low 6-8 hours.

Serve with Biscuits.


This recipe is simply fabulous. My kids and hubby love it. I was going to take left-overs to work, but there weren't any. This was perfect to throw in the crock pot and cook while I was sleeping.

Have a Fabulous & Frugal Day!!!