BOUNTIFUL BARGAINS

Howdy Doodie my little band of bloggies LOL! How are you doing this frostbitten morning!? I’m absolutely icy. Boy do I have some interesting reads for you today. First off, I gotta ask… who cashed in on the free food deals yesterday and if you did, what kind of an experience did you have? I started my day with hitting the Jack in the Box free grilled sandwich wyb a large drink. I tried the Turkey Bacon Cheddar and let me tell you- I was expecting not to like the taste, but it was pretty dang good!! LOL… I hit it again to try the other sandwich, the deli trio, on the way from leaving my mom’s to get my kids from school. I didn’t like that one as much.

As you know, I went to hang with my mom yesterday and we had a great time! I always have a blast when I’m with my mom. We chatted, washed laundry, reviewed recipes, and lots of other things. Thanks mom! I always feel so much better after hanging out with you!



Ok, so one of the things we did was to sort coupons. My grandma mails her a bunch of coupons and she cuts them and we share them. So she gave me a HUGE pile of coupons for all kinds of things. After I picked up the kids from school, I headed over to the store with those little beautiful pieces of paper and had a ball! Here are some of the great deals I got with the coupons she gave me:

White Cloud Toilet Tissue- $1 4pk.
Breathe Right Nasal Strips 12ct- $2.82
Febreze Air Effects- $1.50
Lactaid 12ct.- 97c
Cottonelle wipes- 47c
Blistex 2pk- 47c
Johnson’s Baby travel pack- $1.77
Angelsoft Toilet tissue- 50c 4pk.
Whiskas Dry cat food- $2.97 bag
Friskies Dry cat food- $2.97 bag
Friskies canned indoor cat food- 3 FREE cans
Gain Laundry soap- $5 for the 100oz. bottles
Fancy Feast dry cat food $1.12 bag
Fresh Step cat litter- FREE 20 lb. Box
Bandaid Brand fabric bandages- 88c each

Those were just some of the great deals I found… I bought other things too (generic) and I had coupons for some things that weren’t “impressive” (just like 50c off, etc) but all in all I saved $32.30 in coupons. Not too shabby! OK so THEN I went over to Lowe’s because I needed another bag of dirt. Well… the last time I was there, the cashier in the Garden center and I got to talking and she asked me for some “advice” on her plants and such. So I told her about my dirts, foods, and some good container plants, etc. Well I found some plants I decided I wanted to bring home with me… check these out!



So anyway, I get to the counter and she asked me if I was Renee and was the one who told her about the tomatoes and such last time I was there. After being spooked out that she actually remembered me, LOL… we started talking again and she said she wanted to thank me for all the “good advice”. She said she invested in some plants and has them indoors right now, but they have exploded! Well, one of the plants I got was a clearanced house plant (which didn’t look sick at all BTW), so when she rang it up she said “Oh you know this is on clearance right?” I said yes and she proceeded to ring up the rest of my order. Here I am expecting to pay about $60 for all the plants and the 2- 40lb. Bags of soil. NOPE! She said my total was $21.43 and I raised an eyebrow. I was like “Are they on sale or something?” and she was like “They are all clearanced”… She had discounted everything for me as a “thank you” for the gardening help I gave her I guess. I was excited and shocked! I walked out with 2- 40 pound bags of soil, 2 Husky Cherry tomato, 1 House greenery, 2 Italian parsley, 2 cilantro, 1 strawberry, 1 large and 1 small rosemary, and a 9pk of broccoli plants. Is that awesome or what? I was super stoked! Another step closer to a grand-e-ous green garden!

OK, so I went to Walgreens to pick up a couple of things as well. I found Midol Menstral on sale for $2.50 a bottle… well guess who had $2 off 1 coupons? YEP! So I had another great find! It was just a day of bountiful bargains!



Another thing my mom showed me was the March issue of Texas Monthly. The cover story is called “The Bucket List”. The story says 63 things Texans should do before they pass… so my mom and I sat and she read it to me. We have actually done a few things on there already and there are some more things we would like to do. Tomorrow I’ll go into further detail about what was on the bucket list…. It’s rather interesting!

And then we went over recipes. She is making a book of recipes from all the magazines, newspapers, etc. When she finds something she would like to try, she clips the recipe and pastes it on colored paper and puts it in a notebook. Pretty smart if you ask me! I just go look it up online LOL. So she had 5 that really struck my fancy and I would like to try. I’m gonna share a couple with you today. Keep in mind I have NOT tried these yet, so I am not sure on YUM-ability yet! But the picture looked yummy and that is part of the appeal…



Spanish Skillet Chicken

INGREDIENTS

5 each chicken thighs and drumsticks (about 4 1/4 lb), skin removed from thighs
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 box (8 oz) yellow rice mix
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup frozen peas

PREPARATION

1. Sprinkle chicken with paprika and pepper. Cook chicken in a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium heat, about 5 minutes per side, until browned. Remove chicken to plate.

2. Remove all but 1 Tbsp drippings from skillet. Add onions and garlic; sauté 4 minutes until golden. Stir in yellow rice mix, tomatoes and water.

3. Place chicken pieces on rice. Bring liquid to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes.

4. Stir in peas, cover and simmer 3 minutes until rice is tender.



Tennessee Whiskey Cake

You can substitute 3 tablespoons water and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract for the whiskey.

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup 2% reduced-fat milk
½ cup sorghum or molasses
¼ cup Tennessee whiskey, such as Jack Daniel’s or George Dickel

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat butter using a mixer at medium speed; gradually add sugars and beat until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Add to egg mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stop mixer and add sorghum. Restart mixer and slowly add whiskey. Mix until smooth, about 30 seconds. (Batter will be thin.)
4. Pour into a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with Sorghum Frozen Yogurt. Serves 8.

Ok, so doesn’t that sound totally scrum-diddly-umptious?! OMG LMAO! MOM- LOOK! That cake calls for SORGHUM! OMG I just noticed that LMAO! (Inside joke peeps…) Anyway, I gotta get to the store to pick up some of the ingredients, so tonight for us, its taco salad! YAY! LOL… not only is it what we have, but I need quick and easy because my show comes on tonight… the new episode of Criminal Minds YAY! LOL… so I’m gonna hop off of here and get some things done, run a couple of errands, and get prepped for dinner so that once its done I can watch my show in peace LOL! Ya’ll take care and I will see you tomorrow… HUGS! (And to my mom… SORGHUM!)

HINTS AND TIPS FOR THE SAAVY SHOPPER!

Good morning everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful day! I went to the doctor yesterday morning and its just as I suspected… kidney stones AND an infection on top of a bladder infection… fun huh? Already went to storage today and brought home 16 more big boxes to sort through (FUN) and while I was there, a mouse scared the crap out of me! Oh let me see him again… I will accidentally let a box fall on him! That’s what he gets for scaring the crap out of me! LOL… OK so yesterday after I got back, I had the most fun in the kitchen! I had every crock pot and every burner on the oven going… it was wonderful! It was a literal soup kitchen! I had Hot & Sour, Clam Chowder, Butternut Squash, Ginger Pumpkin, Potato, and Miso soups going! Then we had the Asian dinner as well LOL! I’m gonna do it again tomorrow LOL! AND I actually got to build up some freezer meals! LOOK what I am up to in one of the freezers!



Alright, we got such a great comment from Melissa yesterday… and I’m gonna blog about all her questions! I thank you for your comments and will be happy to share some of my “secrets” with you LOL! Let’s start out with the baby food. Rather than write out a ton of recipes, I’m gonna give you the best website I have ever found for making homemade baby food! It’s simply called Homemade-Baby-Food-Recipes.com! Be sure to read the Preparation & Storage page before you begin this adventure as there is a lot of helpful tips and hints… including a storage time chart. It’s a great website and I send all my mommies there!

As for being crafty… well today I am making a few Neck coolers in between of the purses and towels and such. Also check out these Baby Footies… they are so cute!

Ok saving money… it can be a chore sometimes but it can be done no matter HOW big your family! I used to teach a class from material I put together called “The Common “Cents” of Saving Money”. It was popular for a while until people just couldn’t even afford the class. I’ve thought about selling my packets as there is SO much information in there. 7 years of writing and collecting data… way more than I could put on here! I have been couponing and such since I was very young… with my mom. It allows us to always eat very healthy and like kings! So here, I’m going to cover some of my basics…

1. I buy in bulk.- I do not buy prepared foods very often. Breads, snacks, stocks, etc. are all homemade unless I get a good coupon for it or I find them very cheap. When you cook as much as I do, it pays to buy in bulk. I buy bags of sugar, flour, etc in the 25-50 pound bags. Eggs, if I can get them fresh from a local chicken farm, then they are cheaper there. If not, I buy dozens at Sams or Walmart (they carry the 5dz. Boxes). Bones are saved and boiled into stock/broths along with the “scraps” of veggies, shells of seafood, etc. NOTHING is wasted in this house!

2. I buy in-season- I have a chart I found and printed out that says what is in season (as for fruits and veggies). Its in the picture form of a rainbow and it stays in my planner in my purse. Its from a site called “Houston Foodie” and it’s the best thing I have ever printed out. I also enlarged it into a poster size and hung one in the kitchen! Click here to print it out! And make sure to bookmark it or save it on your PC cause if you’re like me, you’ll go thru a lot of copies LOL! I give them to people and of course the wear and tear on them… yea I print it a lot LOL! Buying in season assures you are getting fresh items for a very cheaper cost.

3. I shop at Farmer’s markets, meat markets, and discount stores - Many times I can buy bulk bags of onions, melons, gourds, and other finds very cheap at the farmer’s markets. Sometimes they are a bit more expensive than the grocery store, but I know they are fresher and I am supporting my local farmers… so I splurge there and cut somewhere else. My local meat market sells “value packs” of meats. It’s a variety of meats (hamburger, chops, steaks, sausage, bacon, roasts, etc) for a specific cost… and the bigger the package you buy, the cheaper the meat ends up being. So I always get the big packs and add a few extra things I want special. I buy sausage by the case... etc. If my brothers need meats, they normally get a small package and give me what they don’t want/won’t use… say the fryers, etc. Those little Hispanic markets are good for things like chorizo, etc. And there are bread and bakery outlet/thrift stores that have good deals on breads, rolls, etc.- In the Houston area, there is a HUGE Farmer’s market downtown and its surrounded by a mexican bakery and gift shops and all kinds of neat stuff! We make a day out of it and have so much fun!

4. I stock up on sale with coupons- There are coupons for just about EVERYTHING out there… including meats, produce, eggs, etc! I use a coupon clipping service to obtain multiple coupons of things I know I can stockpile and buy next to or completely free. Meat and seafood, milk and produce coupons are also called “Winetags” and are good off ANY purchase (depending on coupon). So if I find split chicken breasts on sale for $1 a pound, and I have a $2 off any chicken purchase, then I find a 2 pound package of meat, use 1 coupon and just got free chicken breasts! Look for winetags on places like ebay, etc. It works with all kinds of stuff! Buy smaller items with high value coupons and get it free. Then to save space, transfer all the items to a bigger container. Making space for storing stockpiles saves a lot of money. I got 10 boxes of cornstarch once for 99 cents after coupons! I transferred them all to a gallon canister and saved a lot of space!

5. I barter- I have 3 hunters, 2 fisherman, and a commercial fisherman in the family. So when they go hunting/fishing, they always bring me free/fresh meats and seafoods. It stocks my freezer and in return I either make them some meals or I do something they may need. (I am Native American background and we have strong hunting ethics… and other beliefs which we live by whole-heartedly). I have also made friends with some of the people at the local meat and seafood markets and they take good care of me… telling me how to save money there, making sure I get fresh items, etc.

6. I eat before I shop- Never EVER go shopping hungry! You are tempted to buy more than what you planned on..

7. LISTS- I always make sure I keep a running list of things I need to buy and I stick to it. I make a shopping list by store by what’s on sale and if I have a coupon for it. I also have a list (in a notebook) of the items I frequently buy and how much they normally cost at the top 3 stores I usually shop at. It takes me about 6 hours to plan a good shopping trip, but when I can get $480 worth of food for about $15, I think its worth my time LOL!

8. Coupons- another obvious one! Coupons here in Texas on the Gulf Coast go like this- 0 to 39 cents triples, 40 to 50 cents doubles, and everything else is face value! So 35 c triples to $1.05 off (one of my favorites) and if my item is only $1.19, then I only pay 14 cents for that item! Kroger will triple 3 of the like (same) coupon and every other one is face… so only buy 3 of those items per order. You can always do separate orders or multiple trips! (Having teen shoppers comes in handy too LMAO!) Be aware of your area stores and their policies. Also remember value places like Dollar General and Family Dollar, etc. also accept coupons!

9. Timing is everything- I either shop early in the morning or late at night if I can. There are less disruptions during these times of the day/night. And I try to shop alone as well to avoid impulse “Mom can we get…” comments. Now I will take others with me on large runs or runs I need to make multiple purchases.

All of these tips and hints allow us to eat cheap and still splurge if we want. I buy lobsters, T-bones, you name it! Like I said, my packet goes into much more detail about a ton of shopping hints! Now lets get to some yumminess! FOOOOOOOOOD!!!! YAY!

OK so I’m gonna let you in on a little secret (but don’t tell my kids LMAO!)… my meatballs, meatloaf, and hamburgers? ALL THE SAME MIX! Its just the spices and sauces I use to make them different LOL! Normally, I will buy some ground meat bulk and mix a huge batch… then form some into meatballs, some into mini meatloaves, and some into hamburger patties. I freeze the extras after they are cooked. All the meat mixture contains is- ground meat, egg (1 per pound of ground meat), crushed Ritz crackers or stale bread crumbs, and salt/pepper/garlic powder. That’s it! You can add dried minced onion if you’d like too. Then for the meatballs, I use a melon baller to make the perfect size. Roll it up and dredge it in flour. Skillet fry it in a bit of vegetable (or canola or olive oil- your choice!) oil. Remove them and drain on a paper towel. You can then freeze them or use them in your meal. For the meatball subs, you need to either make hoagie rolls or buy some from the bakery department. I put the meatballs in the crockpot and simmer them in homemade marinara sauce all day. You can use jarred marinara as well… its just as yummy! Top the meatballs and sauce with some shredded mozzarella cheese and a warm hoagie bun and OMG YUM! As for the WingStop question… I’m not quite sure. I’ve never eaten there but I’ll do some research for you ok? There are a ton of great places to get copycat recipes of tons of your favorite restaurant specials… so I’ll see what I can dig up!

Now… time for the new recipe for today! Another soup recipe… to use those meatballs in as a matter of fact! I love soups in the winter time… hearty, filling, and warms you to the bones!



Swedish Meatball Soup

Ingredients

1 egg
2 cups half-and-half cream, divided
1 cup soft bread crumbs
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-3/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
3 cups water
1 pound red potatoes, cubed
1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas, thawed

Directions

In a bowl, beat egg; add 1/3 cup cream, bread crumbs, onion, nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add beef; mix well. Shape into 1/2-in. balls. In a Dutch oven or soup kettle, brown meatballs in butter, half at a time. Remove from the pan; set aside. Drain fat.

To pan, add flour, bouillon, pepper, garlic salt and remaining salt; stir until smooth. Gradually stir in water; bring to a boil, stirring often. Add potatoes and meatballs.

Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in peas and remaining cream; heat through. Yield: 8 servings (about 2 quarts).

Okie dokie kids, well I think I talked your ear off enough for today! Hope you got some good information from all this… so I’m off to conquer more clutter! (Eww I hope that little buzzard doesn’t try to hitch a ride back to my house! My cats will make short work of him LOL and then bring it to me like they are proud… EWWW!) LOL! I’ll see you tomorrow! HUGS!

I LOVE FREE STUFF!

Top of the morning to you kiddies! I am so unrested this morning… and you would think I would be refreshed seeing as I have the bed all to myself til Sunday LOL! Not the case… the weather, the pain, the mind running 90 to nuttin… UGH! ADHD and OCD is NOT a good combo LOL! Alex has been waking up VERY early (like 3-4am) and I don’t get to go to bed til at least 11pm or so I am seriously lagging. But the strong shall prevail, so here I am blogging yet again lol.

I want to talk about couponing for a bit and share with you my day yesterday. I had some major finds and some not so good experiences yesterday. Let's start with the bad... get it out of the way! Remember I had those JC Penny coupons? Well I went to redeem them yesterday and it seemed like everything I picked out either wasn't enough or did not qualify. I got so frustrated after 3 tries that I left the store, got in my car, cried, screamed and went home. Bungholes need to be a little considerate when they tell you "no" instead of making you feel like crap! Now on the good side, I took my coupons for other stuff like food, etc. to Kroger and their lovely 10 for $10 sale and the "W" store for some super sales! Look at this haul!



4 ziploc containers (basically like buy 3, get 1 free plus cents off another with my coupons), 3 snuggle (free plus cents off the rest of my order with the coupons), 6 febreze in my fave scent (I stock up every year so I have enough to last til next holiday season! It's "fresh evergreen & snow LOL"), 6 free cans of tomato soup (I use as a base) after coupon, free chili, 7 free cocoa, free pillsbury stuff, etc etc etc... grand total after sales and coupons? $18.37! YAY go me! I even had produce winetags for my onions to make them free! YAY go me! LOL. I was one happy shopper after that!

Ok today's craft... hmmm... how about some homemade lip gloss? Little girls really like it, especially when you make flavors like chocolate and peppermint!

Craft Idea of the Day: Homemade Lip Gloss

CRANBERRY LIP GLOSS
1 tablespoon almond oil
10 fresh cranberries
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon petroleum jelly

Mix together all the ingredients and place them in a microwave or
heat-resistant container. Heat in the microwave or a water bath until the mixture just begins to boil (1-2 minutes in the microwave). Stir well and gently mash the berries. Let sit for 5 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve to remove all pieces of cranberry. Stir and allow to cool completely. When cool, spoon into a clean container.

VANILLA LIP GLOSS
1 T. grated beeswax
1 T. coconut oil
1/8 tsp. vitamin E oil
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
Place the beeswax, coconut oil and vitamin E oil in an ovenproof container. Heat gently until the wax and oils are melted. Stir in the vanilla extract and mix well. Pour the mixture into a clean container and allow to cool completely.

CHOCOLATE LIP GLOSS
Powdered Cocoa Mix
Petroleum Jelly
Small Container
Put desired amount of petroleum jelly into a small glass bowl. Put it in a microwave for 30 seconds; take it out and stir. Continue doing this until the vaseline is melted. Add the desired amount of cocoa powder (experiment!) and stir. Miscrowave for 30 more seconds and stir. Set it aside to cool. Once it is cool enough to handle, spoon it into a small container (recycle old makeup containers or 35mm film containers, or look in stores that carry beads, crafts, or fishing tackle). Set it aside until the petroleum jelly gets firm.

FRUITY LIP GLOSS
2 Tbs. solid shortening
1 Tbs. fruit-flavored powdered drink mix
35mm plastic film container, washed
Mix shortening and drink mix together in a small microwave-safe container until smooth. Place container in microwave on high for 30 seconds, until mixture liquefies. Pour mixture into film container or any other type of air-tight container.
Place mixture in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, or until firm.

Tips
Decorate your lip-gloss container with markers, glitter or adhesive-backed shelf paper. Create a fruity lip-gloss necklace by placing an O-ring around the plastic film container filled with lip-gloss. Then tie a piece of yarn around the O-ring.

Ok so I'm all alone and what do I do... COOK and clean of course! We've got the Christmas parade downtown that the band has to march in, so I'm gonna be stocking up on some quick stuff that will be ready when they get home and stuff to reheat quick when they get home to warm their bones. Homemade pizza rolls, soups, and I am going to make homemade TV dinners of chicken fried steaks and sides during the day.

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Ingredients
4 cups shredded pizza cheese or mozzarella cheese
1 lb sausage, cooked, drained
2 (3 ounce) packages sliced pepperoni, chopped
1 medium green pepper, finely chopped
3/4 cup fresh sliced mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped black olives
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, very well drained
2 (14 ounce) jars pizza sauce
32 wonton wraps
oil (for frying)

Directions
1. Combine above ingredients except wrappers (and oil). Place a ¼ cup filling in center of each egg roll. Fold bottom corner over filling. Fold sides toward center over filling. Moisten remaining corner w/water and roll up tightly to seal.

2. Fry in 1” of 375º oil for 1-2 minutes til golden brown. Serve with addition pizza sauce for dipping if desired.

Well there ya have it kids... I am off to make a bunch of food, do a bunch of laundry, decorate a bunch of walls, and sing a bunch of songs LOL! Love you all and see ya tomorrow! HUGS!

EARLY MORNING...

OMG Hi there! I am so glad this blog is back up and viewable! Last night I tried to check it out and it had been disabled. I was freaking out! OK, so how are you this morning? I am up real early obviously... can't sleep. My mind is running too fast... things I have to do, things I need to get from the store, gotta take hubby to the airport this morning, etc. When I get like this I have trouble sleeping. Oh well, it will catch up with me sooner or later LOL... one day, right Jean? LMBO! (Inside joke peeps...)

Ok, so the plan is simple... Once I take Frank to the airport at about 9 or so, I'm gonna go to the BIG discount store on the way home and knock out my small shopping list. Think everyone knows what store I mean... not sure if I can say it or if that's why I was temporarily lost last night?!? Hmmm... either way, we'll say the "W" store like my son used to when he was younger. I found out they carry my divided containers I use to make homemade TV dinners, so I have to go buy them out LOL... I LOVE those and haven't been able to find them locally in about 7 YEARS!

Gonna GOOD DEAL ALERT you (at least the people in my area) that in the mail I got a flyer from JC Penny yesterday. Its a 3 day shopping pass and the top one is $10 off a $10 or more purchase! YAY can you say free gifts? I posted on freecycle that I was looking for them and I already have 5 more so far! $60 in free gifts?! I think I can handle that!! So if you are in my area and you don't want them, let me know! LOL... I'll take all I can get! Ziploc coupons too! Shoot, think I'll place an order with my favorite processing center to get my multiples... you can get rebate forms, etc. And fast... I get my stuff pretty quick. I'll find out if I can link you, then if so I'll come back and post it.

OK, crafts... hmmm... crafts... what do we share today... hmmm LOL! I'm gonna do something fairly simple this morning. Hair Scrunchies!

Craft Idea of the Day: Hair Scrunchies
You know those little fabric rubber band things that women and girls tie their hair up with? Yea those things. They make a great stocking stuffer and they are EASY as pie to make! All you need is a little bit of fabric and some elastic and thread. That's it! Depending on how much fabric you have, the possibilities are endless on how many designs you can have! (I'll come back with a pic later on today) What you do is cut a piece of fabric about 5 inches wide by 20 inches long. fold it in half with the right sides together (so it is inside out people lol) and sew along the open side. Flip the tube you just made right side out. Then take a 3/8 in wide piece of elastic about 5 inches or so (depending on how tight you want the scrunchy) and feed it through the tube to where one end is hanging out both sides... gathering the fabric in the middle. With a threaded needle, sew the two ends of elastic together and secure closed. Make sure to "test tug" it to make sure it will not come apart! Then fold each end of the tube inside itself to hide rough edges and sew the 2 ends together. There ya go... you just made a hair scrunchy! Congrads! I know you can get roughly 12 from 1 yard of material, so ya see, you don't need too much!

So today seems like its gonna be fairly busy, so I need to plan something easy for dinner... I think Italian Sausage Soup sounds in order! Its like a 30 minute or so meal! Yea with maybe some corn muffins for a side... yea I think that is good. Here's some before-the-sun-comes-up morning goodness lol!



Italian Sausage Soup

Ingredients

1 pound Italian sausage
2 clove garlic, minced
4 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
2 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
1 cup sliced carrots
1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained
2 small zucchini, cubed
2 cups frozen spinach - packed, rinsed and torn
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
½ cup uncooked orzo
1 potato, peeled and cubed
1 med. Onion, choppped

Directions

1. In a stockpot or Dutch oven, brown sausage with garlic. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.

2. Stir in beans with liquid, orzo, and zucchini. Cover, and simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.

3. Remove from heat, and add spinach. Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach leaves. Soup is ready to serve after 5 minutes.

Well that's all for today folks. Fixing to go wake my chillins for school, get dressed (Yes I'm still in my PJ's LOL), deliver them, come back and take Frank to the airport, go to the store, etc. Tomorrow and Friday I'm gonna be home alone all day (YAY! LOL) so I plan on doing some major cooking and cleaning so I will have lots to share with you tomorrow and Friday! YAY! Maybe some "bonus" recipes and crafts! Aren't we gonna have fun! LOL... ya know what they say... when the cat's away... the mom still stays home and works! LMBO (yea I know that's not really the phrase but I was amuzing myself so hush LOL!). OK boys and girls... See ya tomorrow... HUGS!