Easter with Great Value, Part 2

March 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Wondering what to do with your leftover Easter ham?  Our kids will tell you that one great way to use it up is to make some yummy Ham and Cheese Pockets using Great Value brand crescent rolls from Walmart.  Check out how much they loved them when we whipped up a batch for them!

Ham and Cheese Pockets

 

If you have kids, maybe you are wondering what to do to keep them busy while you are getting Easter dinner all ready.  We like to put ours to work!  The work has to be a little fun for them, though.  While I’m getting dinner together, Beth can take the kids aside and let them help make dessert!  She made a great big Easter Bunny cookie cake that needed decorating.  See how much fun they had making a mouth, ears, bowtie, and whiskers?  How much fun would your kids have doing this?  Look out for Matthew…he’s getting caught trying to sneak a piece.  After dinner, Bubba, after dinner.

Easter Bunny Party

 

As much fun as they had decorating, that cannot compare to the sheer joy of eating cookie covered in frosting and candy!  That poor bunny just never had a chance!  Thankfully, we did this on bath night, because all three of them just had frosting everywhere!

Easter Bunny Snack

 

 How do you use your Easter leftovers?  Do you put your kids to work on Easter?  How do you keep them occupied while you fix dinner?  Leave us a comment and keep the conversation going!

Filed Under: Kids, Simply Family, Simply Food, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Aunt Jemima: Breakfast Made from Scratch

March 19, 2013 By 1 Comment


Sunday wasn’t a normal Sunday for us. We are used to cooking for two families on Sundays and basing our afternoon on that. We didn’t have that task this past Sunday. Instead I played catch up on errands which included grocery shopping and meal planning for the week. We are JUST starting to get back to a routine around here after Brian’s multi-week bronchitis episode. After hours of errands and driving around on my own with three kids plus unpacking all of the groceries on my own, I realized it was dinner time. ugh. I didn’t plan dinner.

I decided breakfast for dinner was easy and I would make pancakes. I had to clean the kitchen to make pancakes though so I cleaned the kitchen. I was then too tired to make pancakes but what was I going to feed the kids? It was now past dinner time and I still had no food ready! Then I remembered buying Aunt Jemima Lil’ Griddles at Harris Teeter. Grace was so excited they had blueberry ones as that is her favorite kind of pancakes! 

I admit I wasn’t sure about them being in one big bag but it worked out well for feeding the kids in bulk like I did for dinner. What was the best part of this dinner (besides the kids cleaning their plates of course?) … the back of the Aunt Jemima Lil’ Griddles box! I loved the “Every batch made from scratch” message. That was my plan but it didn’t happen. Thankfully Aunt Jemima had a plan and had already made the pancakes for dinner this night! 

Oh and the kids, they were pretty happy with the idea of mini blueberry pancakes for dinner. Breakfast for dinner is one of their favorite dinners. To show her excitement for this new purchase, Grace has managed to have these pancakes every day this week so far. Now that she knows that there are Aunt Jemima Lil’ Griddles in her favorite blueberry variety, I think they will be a staple at our house and she wont’ have to wait for the special days I have blueberries and time to make pancakes from scratch!

 

Can Aunt Jemima’s breakfast from scratch help your morning schedule … or save your dinner? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Thank you to Aunt Jemima Frozen Breakfast for being a sponsor. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

 

Filed Under: Promotional, Reviews, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mushrooms for Easy Healthy Eating

March 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

March is National Nutrition Month!  The theme for 2013 is “Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day.”  Did you know that the humble mushroom is full of  health benefits?  Not only are they very tasty, but they bring plenty of protein, fiber, and antioxidants to the table with very few calories.  Since they are available all year long, they are a perfect addition to any diet.

When we go heavy on our diet plans, mushrooms are always a big part.  We substitute nice big portobellos for steaks or even hamburgers!  We also cook up some mixed mushrooms or just plain ole white buttons and set them aside in the refrigerator for use throughout the week.  I simply pour a little olive oil into a pan, dump in the mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and start to cook them down.  At first all of the water leeches out of them, once that water starts to evaporate, though, the magic happens.  They start to brown up in the pan, just developing their flavor further.  At this point, the mushrooms can really start to accept other flavors.  Some garlic, shallots, soy sauce, butter, white wine….really, your options are wide open.

Once you’ve finished cooking them up, store them in the refrigerator and you’ve got a good 3-4 days to use them up (not that they’ll last that long).  How can you use these cooked mushrooms?  We use them with eggs for breakfast, we make cheese-steaks with them, risotto works really well, or just warm them up and have them as a side with a piece of chicken.  However you do it, the mushrooms are a great healthy filler for any meal.

If you are looking for mushroom recipes or just more information about mushrooms, in general, check out the Mushroom Channel!  The Mushroom Channel consists of a website and social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest) brought to you by the Mushroom Council, a group of mushroom producers and importers.  In fact, if you want to join in the conversation about mushrooms, make sure that you join the Twitter Party on Wednesday, March 20, from 8-9 pm EST.

Do you have mushrooms as a regular part of your diet?  How do you get the most out of them?  Anything special that you do with them?  Share with us and keep the conversation going!

Filed Under: Simply Food Tagged With: , , , ,

Kroger’s Cart Buster Savings Event 2nd Select Your Deal

March 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment


It is the 2nd Select Your Deal promotion for the Kroger’s Cart Buster Savings Event! Did you catch our post last Friday?

 

Kroger’s Cart Buster — Did you know? …

  • Cart Buster runs until March 16 at all Kroger Co. Family of Stores (you can pick your store on the landing page)
  • There are HUNDREDS of products on sale throughout the store
  • Deals include Bounty, Tide, Pampers, Gatorade and many other brands from P&G and Pepsi (click here for the complete list of brands on sale)

 Kroger’s 2nd Select Your Deal promotion is TODAY! – Did you know? …

  • Go HERE on TODAY to be served THREE random digital coupons for additional in-store savings, delivered via load-to-card coupons onto your Kroger shopper card (NOTE: you must have a Kroger.com account and sign in to get the coupons)
  • The coupons are random.
  • You will be shown 3 deals and can choose the one you want to use!
  • Deals may include products such as Crest 3D White toothpaste, Tropicana orange juice, DiGiorno pizza, Secret deodorant, Pantene and more!!

Last week I hoped for the Tropicana Orange Juice random coupon and boy was I surprised to see it! So I picked that coupon for sure. This week I am hoping for a Bounty paper towels coupon. We buy a lot of Bounty paper towels at our house. Are your kids as messy as ours?!  Here is an example screen of the coupons you might be offered!

What product do you hope to find in the Select Your Deal promotion this week? Did you get the Bounty coupon I want? Leave us a comment and let us know!

NOTE: I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Filed Under: Promotional, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Spring in the Kitchen: Cuisinart Stainless Steel Set Giveaway

March 15, 2013 By 62 Comments

Are you ready to get cooking this Spring? The Spring in the Kitchen Giveaway we created is designed to do just that. Get you in the  kitchen creating healthy meals for your family while sticking to your budget!

We are excited to bring you this giveaway as a result of partnering with a great group of bloggers that are sponsoring the giveaway. Be sure to check out their sites so we can keep offering giveaways such as this!

Hosted By: Simply Budgeted
Co-Hosted By: Supermom Challenged

Sponsored By: 

So what is the prize?! The prize is a Cuisinart Stainless Steel 11 piece Cookware Set valued at $249.99!

Premium stainless steel construction ensures lasting quality.
Aluminum encapsulated base provides fast and even heat distribution.
Cast stainless steel cool-grip handles promise a safe, secure grip.
Tempered glass covers lock in moisture and nutrients.
Tapered rims allow clean, drip-free pouring.

What is included?

11-piece set includes: 8-in skillet, 10-in. skillet, 1 1/2-qt. covered saucepan, 2 1/2-qt. covered saucepan, 3-qt. covered saute pan, 8-qt. covered stockpot & steamer insert
Dishwasher safe
Oven safe to 500°F
Manufacturer’s lifetime limited warranty
Model no. 77-11G
Now go enter … and GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

NOTE: This giveaway is open to US residents that are 18 or older and runs from March 15- 30.
Disclosure: This prize has been sponsored by the participating blogs. The prize will be shipped directly to the winner by the owner of Simply Budgeted.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Promotional, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Green Giant Giant Surprise: New Veggie Chips

March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment


It was a big surprise for our kids to get chips for an after dinner snack one night. Sure we have chips from time to time but they aren’t normally a snack after dinner. So what did we let them snack on after dinner. Check out new Giant Surprise from Green Giant … Veggie Chips!!

Product details …

The Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips – Zesty Cheddar Flavor are made with real vegetables, 17 grams of whole grain per serving (48g are recommended daily), and are naturally flavored.

The Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Sea Salt Flavor are made with real sweet potatoes and made with 14 grams of whole grain. Plus, they contains 40 percent less fat than regular potato chips*!

Our Thoughts …

I was really excited to see the Sweet Potato variety of the Green Giant Veggie Chips. I love sweet potato chips but they can be hard to find around here. The kids loved both varieties. Matthew loved the “orange ones” (a.k.a. the Green Giant Zesty Cheddar Veggie Chips). He ate almost the whole bowl I poured so I had to add more for the girls to even try them. That bag was gone by the next day so went I found the Green Giant Zesty Cheddar Veggie Chips at Walmart a few days later, Matthew jumped up and down excited to see him.

Our kids aren’t unfamiliar with veggie chips but they really love these chips. I know that these will be a new request from them for snack time for sure! 

So I asked the kids what their favorite chip was and they voted …

 

Check out the surprise talents the Green Giant has unearthed! Do you have a surprise talent to show off? Share it on the  Green Giant’s Facebook page! Also check out their YouTube channel!

Which variety of Green Giant Veggie Chips would be the winner at your house? Leave us a comment and let us know!

NOTE: Thank you to The Green Giant™ for being a sponsor. Show the Giant your surprise talent at www.facebook.com/greengiant

Filed Under: Promotional, Reviews, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , ,

Easter Food Ideas with Great Value

March 12, 2013 By 3 Comments

It will be Easter before you know it!  At our house, that means tons of ham, mashed potatoes, all the fixin’s, and loads and loads of Easter candy!  The candy is never too hard to get rid of.  (Beth just takes it to her candy dish at work!)  The leftovers can be a bit of a hassle sometimes.  I mean, seriously, who wants ham dinner every night for a week??  We have a plan for some of that excess ham.

Another thing that can be kind of difficult is to make a special Easter-themed treat that isn’t candy.  In the past, Beth has made coconut cakes (because of the fuzziness of the coconut), but I’ve never been a big fan of coconut.

Today, we are going to show you how to make some Ham and Cheese Pockets using Great Value brand crescent rolls and a festive Easter Bunny Cookie Cake made with Great Value brand refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough.  Hopefully, these tasty treats will inspire you to make your own money-saving treats!

Ham and Cheese Pockets

Easter Leftovers Ham and Cheese Pocket

Alright, so these require a little time, but very little effort.  Two packages of Great Value crescent rolls and some leftover ham and shredded cheese was all it took.  I probably could have filled them a little more, but I was a little paranoid about them busting open all over the sheet pan!

Ingredients

2 cans Great Value crescent rolls
leftover ham, diced into 1/4-inch cubes
shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate out the individual crescent rolls.  You should have 16 altogether.  Place two next to each other.  Top one with ham and cheddar, making sure to leave space at the edges.

Stretch the second roll out over the toppings and crimp the edges with a fork.  Place onto a sheet pan.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes and allow to cool slightly before serving.  Enjoy!

 

Easter Bunny Cookie Cake

Easter Bunny Cookie Cake

Who doesn’t love a chocolate chip cookie?  Well, we decided to turn our great big, giant cookies into this amazingly cute Easter Bunny!  In fact, we put our kids to work to make some of this.  (Pictures of that to come later!)  Isn’t that a great idea?  It’s an easy way to occupy the kids while you are whipping up Easter dinner.

Ingredients

2 tubes Great Value refrigerated cookie dough
2 cans vanilla frosting
colored frosting for decorating or vanilla frosting with food coloring
jelly beans
licorice strips
colored sugar
any other decorations you want

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread one tube of cookie dough into an 8″ cake pan.  Do the same with the other tube.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes  or until cooked through and set.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan.  Remove from pans.  Place one cookie onto a large serving platter.  Place the other onto a cutting board and cut as shown below.

Arrange pieces of cookies onto a serving platter as shown below.

Completely ice the cookies with the vanilla icing.

Let the kids help decorate!  Use pink for the ears, color the bowtie, and give the bunny some eyes, a nose, a mouth, and some whiskers.  The sky’s the limit!  Have fun decorating and then have even more fun eating him all up.  Enjoy!

Do you have anything special that you do at Easter?  How do you keep the kids busy?  What do you do with your leftovers?

 

 

Filed Under: Simply Food, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lazy Meatless Monday Dinner

March 11, 2013 By 3 Comments

Today was a long day at our house. Maybe it was the switch to Daylight Savings Time? Maybe is Brian STILL being sick with bronchitis? Maybe it is me just being worn out. It was Meatless Monday day though. Thankfully we had planned for a lazy meatless Monday dinner. Part of the planning was that we needed ONE thing from the store for this dinner … the hummus. I made up two plates and let the kids eat in the living room … I was just too tired after work to do more than that today.

They ate up the plate of veggies. The kids ate more off their plate of veggies than we did. They did opt for the ranch dressing instead of the hummus but I am OK with that. They sat there and ate veggies for dinner. Just veggies … even little man!! This is a HUGE deal for him because just a few months ago, the only veggie he would eat was carrots and he would eat like two of them. We are excited that he is starting to eat more with us and expanding what he will eat with us. We are on the plan of just continuously offering the healthy food choices to him and he is picking them up.

In the middle of getting dinner together … OK, I only had to cut up the peppers, celery, and cucumber but I do get extra points for using the sharp knife and not cutting my fingers off … I realized that before I started dating Brian I had no idea what hummus was. It is now one of my favorite dips and I love to try different varities since they offer up such different flavors. I think I will have to write a post soon about the new foods that Brian has introduced me that I have come to love.

Would this dinner be a hit at your house? Do you enjoy hummus as much as I do? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Filed Under: Meatless Monday, Memes, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Wishin’ For Summer Sunday Dinner

March 10, 2013 By 3 Comments

Last week when we had 10 inches of snow on the ground, I dreamed up this Sunday’s dinner. Then I named it. I have no idea why I named the dinner as we don’t generally name our dinners but I told Brian it was the “Wishin’ for Summer” dinner. Today is was 63 degrees outside at dinner time. That was a nice taste of warmer weather for sure to go with this Sunday dinner. The menu was pork ribs, baked beans, and potato salad. Not in this picture were the creamsicle cookies the girls picked but they fit the summer theme too!

Brian mixed up a rub for these ribs and used a sauce from the Metro Cooking Show media bag. They were so good the kids were asking for seconds. I admit that baked beans were Bush’s Original Baked Beans straight from the can. Brian has a hard time not doctoring them up but I won the battle today and they were straight from the can. yum! The potato salad is the Robert Ivrine’s potato salad recipe from one of his Dinner: Impossible shows! Brian loves this potato salad recipe and honestly only makes a few minor tweaks to the recipe. I have to say that I am a fan of this recipe too since it isn’t a heavy creamy potato salad! 

One of these days, I will catch up and get the March Meal Plan posted … it is almost done. Brian being sick has made our meal planning an interesting experience this month. I do have to say that we were all happy he was in the kitchen cooking today. I know he loved being back in there even if he did over do it a bit much today. Hopefully we will be back in our routines here at Simply Budgeted, his posts over at This Cookin’ Dad, and maybe even catch up on cleaning the house at some point soon. Until then … I will think about the rib sandwiches that are the menu for  Tuesday’s dinner. 

What is a perfect Sunday dinner for your family? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Simply Food Tagged With: , , , ,

Kroger’s Cart Buster Savings Event and Select Your Deal

March 8, 2013 By 3 Comments


Are you ready for the  Kroger’s Cart Buster Savings Event and Select Your Deal promotion?

 

Kroger’s Cart Buster — Did you know? …

  • Cart Buster runs from March 3 – March 16 at all Kroger Co. Family of Stores (you can pick your store on the landing page)
  • There are HUNDREDS of products on sale throughout the store
  • Deals include Bounty, Tide, Pampers, Gatorade and many other brands from P&G and Pepsi (click here for the complete list of brands on sale)

 Kroger’s Select Your Deal promotion – Did you know? …

  • Runs on March 8 and March 15 (watch for another post next Friday!!)
  • Go HERE on March 8 and March 15 to be served THREE random digital coupons for additional in-store savings, delivered via load-to-card coupons onto your Kroger shopper card (NOTE: you must have a Kroger.com account and sign in to get the coupons)
  • The coupons are random.
  • You will be shown 3 deals and can choose the one you want to use!
  • Deals may include products such as Crest 3D White toothpaste, Tropicana orange juice, DiGiorno pizza, Secret deodorant, Pantene and more!!

What are we excited to see included in the Kroger Cart Buster promotion?! Bounty paper towels for all of the kiddo messes are required around this house. Plus the Tropicana Orange Juice is a great every week grocery purchase for us to save on during the Cart Buster promotion! Sophie has decided she wants orange juice for breakfast and Matthew would just drink orange juice if we let him. We buy a lot of Tropicana Orange Juice! I so excited to see that coupon in the Select Your Deal Promotion when I got my random options!! YAY!!

What product do you hope to find in the Select Your Deal promotion this week? Leave us a comment and let us know!

NOTE: I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Filed Under: Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , ,
«Older Posts
Newer Posts»