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Holiday Gift Giving: Cookies in a Jar

December 17, 2012 in Cassie, kid friendly, Living Frugally, Sweets

I love baking at the holidays, but holidays are already full of cookies, pies, cakes and other baked goods. It’s sweets overload.

And then the worst thing happens – the cookies go stale, the pies go bad, and a few weeks later when you want the sweets, you are all out.

Well fear no longer. Give the gift of cookies in a jar. Because come January, we’ll be back on the wagon of eating all kinds of deliciousness. Unless, of course, you’re one of those people who make resolutions.

Then just make it for your kids.

It’s a great gift for family and especially kids, because the measuring of dry ingredients (which I think is the messiest) is already taken care of. And in the end, the kids get to feel pretty accomplished.

Here’s the link to the free gift tags with instructions. (Courtesy of Organized Christmas)

Here’s how to make it!

Ingredients

For the Jars:

1  wide-mouth quart (4-cup) canning jars with lid and rings
2 cups sifted flour, all purpose
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄4 cup sugar
3⁄4 cups brown sugar, packed
1 1⁄4 cup M&M-brand chocolate candies
Directions
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Top with the brown sugar and pack down. Pour the M&M’s on top.
Print appropriate number of gift tags. Cut gift tags apart and attach to ribbon. Or, hand-write recipe tag using the recipe below.

For when it comes time to make the cookies:

Empty jar of cookie mix into mixing bowl; blend thoroughly.

Add 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened, 1 beaten egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix until completely blended.

Roll into 1-inch balls, and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees until edges are lightly browned, about 12 to 14 minutes.

Cool on cookie sheet for five minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

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Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup: Ditch the chemicals

November 5, 2012 in Cassie, Living Frugally, Main Dishes, Slow Cooker

A lot of what I cook with in the crock pot use cream of chicken soup. For a long time I had been using the canned stuff, always having to make special trips to Target or Giant Eagle,  but then I realized why Trader Joe’s doesn’t sell it.

Have you looked at the ingredient list?

CAMPBELL’S: Chicken Stock, Water, Wheat, Flour, Modified Food Starch, Cooked Chicken Meat, Cream (Milk), Contains Less Than 2% Of Chicken Fat, Salt, Monosodium Glutamate, Soy Protein Concentrate, Dehydrated Cooked Chicken, Yeast Extract, Lower Sodium Nautral Sea Salt, Flavoring, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Vegetable oil, Potassium Chloride, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Huanylate, Spice Extract, Beta Carotene For Color, Soy Proetin Isolate, Sodium Phosphates, Chicken Flavor (Contains Chicken Stock, Chicken Powder Chicken Fat), Chicken Flavor, Butter Milk, Cream Powder Cream Milk, Soy Lecithin, Enzyme Modified Butter Milk Nonfat Dry Milk, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean And Cottonseed Oil, Lipolyzed Butter Oil, Oleix Acid Butter Oil, Lactic Acid, Butter Flavor

I tried to stay ignorant to it and continue on in my little bubble, but then I started becoming neurotic, as per usual, and when I made my favorite crock pot Chicken and Stuffing, I just couldn’t eat it.

I’m seriously not joking. I couldn’t do it.

There are many different ways to make cream of chicken soup. And believe it or not, it costs way less and takes just as much time to make as it does to heat the soup from a can. This is the one that I’ve found to be the best for my crock pot recipes and it doesn’t lack in flavor. I haven’t however, eaten it plain, as if it were cream of chicken soup, but then again, I never did that in the first place.

Here’s how to make it!

 

recipe adapted from Milehimama

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tbs minced onion
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cup sour cream
Directions

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Using a whisk, add in the flour and mix until smooth. Remove from heat briefly to add in the onion, garlic and pepper. Then stir constantly with the whisk until fragrant, about one minute.

Add in the chicken broth and continue to stir. Add in the sour cream and again, stir.

Bring to a simmer and continue to whisk for 1-2 minutes until thick and bubbly.

Then proceed to use it however you choose, for me, it’s dumping it into the crockpot.

 

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Living Frugally: Cheese Edition

March 28, 2012 in Cassie, Living Frugally

How much do you spend a week at the grocery store for cheese? A 1 pound brick of sharp cheddar cheese at our local grocery store is 7 dollars. That’s a lot of money for cheese.

I used to joke when my kids were little that the cheese we were eating was older than them.

C’mon, tell me I’m not the only one out there who does that. Aged 6 months…well, Luca, you’re only 5 months, so respect your elders!

Back on subject.

A while back I got sick of paying a ridiculous amount of my grocery bills in cheese. So I finally said no more.

So I got smart and bought in bulk.

Did you know you can freeze cheese? YOU CAN. Given that you freeze it correctly, in a air tight freezer safe bag, you can get a good 3-6 months out of that cheese. And trust me, when it’s thawed, it tastes exactly the same.

At my local Sams Club I bought both cheddar and mozzarella cheese for 10.88 a piece. I was able to get 6 2-cup bags of cheese (a standard amount at the grocery store) out of each bulk bag. This then translates to 1.81 a bag. For cheese.

Looking at my Trader Joe’s receipt, I had payed upwards of 4+ a bag for cheese.

So. I’m saving money, yes. BUT – I’m also having to buy less at a time. Now, in my freezer I have 12 bags of cheese. That’s enough for a lot of pizzas, dinners and what have you.

Doubt I’ll run out any time soon.

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