Beef Burgundy {Crock Pot Style!}

INGREDIENTS:

One package stew meat

3 cans of mushroom soup

3/4 can red cooking wine

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in crock pot, cover, and cook on low about 6 hours. Serve over egg noodles.

Dalton Style Homemade Chili | A $ Saving Meal

If you're like me you look for meals that will allow you to stretch your bucks BUT, taste good & your whole family will like. Even the picky eaters...I know I'm not the only one with a couple of those!! :)

I developed my homemade chili recipe about 3 years ago and I don't have complaints from ANYONE...even my fussiest eater! And it's VERY budget friendly!! My meal tonight cost me a grand total of $8.20 for my family of four (4) and there is ALWAYS leftovers which either get frozen or turned into another meal!!

From my kitchen to yours......Dalton Style Chili Beans!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 jar salsa (we use HOT!)

2 cans pork & beans

1 can chili beans

1 can kidney beans

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 large onion, diced

3/4 lg. tomatos, seed & diced

1 palmful chili powder

2-3 tbsp. olive oil

{$.69ea for Pork & Beans, $3.25 for 1lb ground beef, $1.99 for the salsa, $.69 for the Kidney beans, and $.89 for the Chili beans! I had the tomato, garlic, onion, chili powder, and olive oil on hand!}

Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven.

Add the onions, garlic, and tomato to the heated oil.

Sautee until the garlic & onion become fragrant.

Next, add a palmful of Chili powder to the sauteed vegetables.

Next add in the ground beef.

Brown the beef and, when it's done, drain the grease.

When the meat is browned and drained--add in the beans, salsa, and 1/4 can of water.

Simmer to blend the flavors!

Serve with your favorite shredded cheese & a slice of cornbread!!

Yummmmm-o!!!!

I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does!!

Jambalaya

I swear I think Mr. Homemaker should have been born in Louisiana! The man loves anything the spicer the better! He and I were trying to figure out supper for tonight and we borrowed a recipe that his mom had given us for homemade Jambalaya. Now let me preface this by saying I'd NEVER eaten Jambalaya let alone prepared it AND Mr. Homemaker LOVES it (he's eaten it resturants). So I had everything that I could cross, crossed, praying that it turned out ok!! And I will tell you, Mr. Homemaker LOVED it!! He just said it needs to be a little spicer!

Homemade Jambalaya

 In large saucepan, heat oil over moderate heat. Add 8 oz. shrimp (remove tail, shells) and saute, remove & set aside, leave drippings in pan.

Chop 1 large Onion, 1 small Bell Pepper, 1 stalk of Celery and 1 clove of Garlic. Then, add the Onion, Bell Pepper, Celery, Garlic and sausage to pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for approximately 3-4 minutes.

 Stir in 1 1/2c. Chicken Broth, 14 oz. can Tomatoes, 1 tsp. Thyme, 1tsp. Pepper Sauce, and 1 Bay Leaf into the mixture. Increase the heat to boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed... Stirring occasionally.

Add in pre-cooked rice and add shrimp, cover and cook until Shrimp is re-heated. Discard the Bay Leaf, and season with salt/pepper to your likings :)

When you're finished cooking, you should end up with something like this:

DIY Gift Reveal!

Do you remember how I posted a DIY Gift Sneak Peek the other day?!? Well here is the final product!

I will tell you, this gift cost me a total of $5.50 to make using all items from the dollar store!

Go HERE to find out to make one for your next occasion!

Pumpkin Carving

So as you know we've been doing our Countdown to Halloween Advent calendar (I've forgotten to take some pictures...bad mommy! LOL!), one of our activities was to carve our pumpkin! And that we did!!

We decided on "the eye" for our design!

What did you all choose??



DIY Gift...Sneak Peek!

Can anyone guess what these handful of kitchen accessories are going to be??

Obviosuly a gift as the title says, but what??

I will share that little bit of wonderfulness tomorrow!! :)

Chicken Fajita Hot Pockets

Mr. Homemaker took the kids and I out for supper last night, so I had to whip up something later in the evening for him to take to work for lunch today! I found this recipe online at http://www.thenateshow.com/ and tweeked it just a bit. I made 3 of the hot pockets and they are quite large. I still have some of the filling left over so you will just have to wait and see what that gets turned into. Until then, enjoy the recipe and let me know if you make them, and they turned out for you!

Homemade Chicken Fajita Hot Pockets

INGREDIENTS:
1 lg. green bell pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 entire container of fresh, sliced mushrooms
1 pkg of Puff pastry
2 bags of Tyson Fajita chicken breast strips

 

Toss sliced onions, mushrooms & peppers and minced garlic into a heated & oiled skillet.
Sautee the vegetables.



Next, to fit the meat better in the hot pockets, pour out the meat from the bags onto a cutting board and dice the meat.



Now, add the diced meat to the mushroom/onion/pepper/garlic mixture. Sautee a bit more to heat the chicken and flavor the vegetable mixture.

Once the chicken/vegetable mixture is done--take your thawed puff pastry sheets and roll them out to a large square on a floured surface.

Then when that's done, cut them into 3 strips.

Next cut those 3 strips in half, ending with a total of 6 pieces of puff pastry.

Next, scoop your filling onto one piece of the puff pastry..brush the eggs with egg wash.

Finally, slit 3 openings in your top piece of puff pastry and lay it on top of your filling.
Press the edges closed (I used a fork for decoration) and brush the tops of your pockets with the egg wash.
Bake these beauties at 375 for 20-25 minutes until nice and golden brown!



Countdown to Halloween ~ Day 3

Day 3 of our Countdown to Halloween was "Mother/Son, Daddy/Daughter Date Night".

The idea came from a flyer Mr. Homemaker and I had seen at Chic-Fil-A a while back.

BUT.....

after Ms. T found out she wouldn't be going with mommy & big brother, she was a little upset.

SOOO....

Mr. Homemaker and I decided instead of seperate "dates", we would just have a big family date!

So we got the kids ready and headed out the door.

Our first stop was going to be for supper, since it was quickly approaching!

We ended up at Taco Bell, per Mr. Homemaker's craving for a Steak Grilled Stuffed Burrito!

The kids ate their meals without a hesitation because we informed them that after supper, we had a SUPRISE!! What kid wouldn't eat if they knew they had a good thing coming?????

The kids suprise was a trip to Extreme Play!!

If you can't tell they had LOADS of fun!!!!