Strip Steak with Hazelnut Cream Sauce #whatsyourid

May 23, 2013 By

I cook…a lot!  For quite some time, I have been able to make just about anything that I feel like making.  As such, it has long been pretty hard for me to say what my favorite foods or flavors are.  I actually wrote a paper about that very subject when I was in college!  Maybe that’s why I am always experimenting with different kinds of foods and flavors.  I’m looking for my newest favorite!  So my preferences tend to ebb and flow.  Lately, I have been kind of entranced with hazelnuts.  I don’t know what it is, but they just have this particular flavor that has my attention lately.  I have even taken to adding International Delight’s Hazelnut cream to my coffee with outstanding results!

As I am ever the experimenter, though, I figured, why stop there?  If coffee creamer is mostly cream, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that a flavored creamer would make an amazing cream sauce?  Well, I thought it would!  So here’s what I did:

Strip Steak with International Delight Hazelnut Cream Sauce

International Delight Hazelnut Cream Sauce over Strip Steak

This really couldn’t be simpler!  Take two strip steaks and season them with salt and pepper.  Take a heavy pan (like cast iron) and place it over medium-high heat.  Add a little butter or oil and let it heat up.  put the steaks in for 2-5 minutes per side depending on how well done you like them.  Take them off of the heat and set them aside to rest.  Add about 2 cups of creamer to the pan and toss in some peppercorns.  Let it reduce by about half.  Slice up the steak and spoon the sauce on top.  Serve with your choice of sides.  Easy, right?

Stripe Steak with Hazelnut Cream Sauce

So, obviously, my ID is Hazelnut cream.  I shared it with the world at http://whatsyourid.com.  I’m hoping to win some pretty cool prizes for that! Maybe a VISA gift card, a new mixer, or even a Magical Trip! Plus I might have an opportunity to be featured as an ID Fan of the Week.

International-Delight-Map

What’s Your ID? International Delight is looking for their most passionate flavor fans. Put your ID on the map to enter to win a Magical Trip, play games and discover more unexpected delight. Share your ID flavor at http://whatsyourid.com. 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

What’s Your ID? International Delight is looking for their most passionate flavor fans. Put your ID on the map to enter to win a Magical Trip, play games and discover more unexpected delight. Share your ID flavor at http://whatsyourid.com. 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

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GIANT Meal Planner #cbias

May 22, 2013 By 7 Comments

During our weekly meal planning, as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias®, we used the GIANT meal planner to help inspire us and prepare our shopping list for a trip to our local MARTIN’S Food Store.

Meal Planning with GIANT Meal Planner

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you know that we are big meal planners.  For quite a while, we even published monthly meal plans!  Planning our meals a week or more in advance is just one of the ways that we keep our family eating healthy dinners on a budget.  Seriously, if we weren’t planning ahead, who knows what these kids would be eating.

Still, it can be pretty easy to get bored with the whole process.  At some point, it just feels like you keep on going back to the same basic set of meals.  Oh sure, you changed things up by using ground turkey instead of ground beef, but we both know that that hardly counts!

That’s why I am constantly on the lookout for new inspiration for planning out our menus.  I was so happy to be informed about the GIANT meal planner from GIANT Food Stores.  It actually lays out an entire week’s worth of meals for you.  I’m not one to just copy and paste meals, but if you were, you absolutely could here.  Not only do you get the daily dinner menu and recipes, but in each recipe, you can check off the items that you need and add them to a shopping list!  How easy is that?

For me, though, life cannot be that simple.  I’m looking to be inspired by recipes and ideas and then turn them around and make them my own.  My challenge was to take beautiful, fresh ingredients from our local MARTIN’S, cook once, and make dinners for two nights!

Fresh vegetables ready to be chopped

First, I was inspired by the Steak Tacos with Guacamole and Jambalaya recipes on the GIANT Meal Planner.  I pretty much followed the Jambalaya recipe, with a couple of little tweaks, but nothing to get up in arms over.

Shrimp, Sausage, and Chicken Jambalaya

Since I was getting shrimp for the Jambalaya anyhow, I figured that it would be silly to get steak, too.  I just got some extra shrimp and peppers and made Shrimp Fajitas with the same Guacamole recipe (no hot peppers, though…kids, you know?).  This made even more sense once I found out that the shrimp was on special this week.

Shrimp Fajitas with Homemade Guacamole

Every good dinner needs a great ending, right?  The GIANT Meal Planner does include dessert with every menu.  That definitely inspired me!  Since strawberries are in season, Strawberry Shortcake seemed almost too obvious!  Big bonus…strawberries were BOGO this week!  Woo hoo!

Strawberry Shortcake

With it warming up, I decided that a simple frozen dessert would be nice.  Some store-bought juice and simple syrup later and we had this lovely berry sorbet!

Simply Berry Sorbet

Since we keep onions, garlic, chicken, rice, tortillas, etc. around the house as staples and I had some sausage left over from earlier in the week, my shopping list was actually pretty small.  You can follow along with my shopping trip in my Google+ Album.

GIANT Meal Planner shopping at MARTIN'S

Are you inspired to meal plan for even two nights? What is holding you back from meal planning? Leave us a comment and let us know how you can strive to meal plan for your family.

 

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The Real Kettle Brand Chips! #TheRealKettleChips

May 3, 2013 By

Kettle Brand Chips

Did you know? …

  • Kettle Brand uses only real, all-natural ingredients!
  • Kettle Brand is the first potato chip to be verified by the NonGMO Project!  They started selling the market’s first Non-GMO Project Verified potato chip earlier this year, and will soon have 16 verified products with the Non-GMO label featured on front of their packages in the marketplace. They are working diligently to achieve verification on all of their products.
  • Kettly Brand has 24 delicious all-natural chip flavors!
  • What exactly does “kettle-style” mean?All we really know is we’ve been cooking up real chips made with real ingredients
    by real people in Oregon’s Willamette Valley for over 30 years.
    Kettle isn’t just a style. It’s our name.”

Check out the Kettle Brand website for more details! You can also find Kettle Brand on Twitter @KettleChips! #TheRealKettleChips

I want to share a few pairing ideas to help inspire you to add Kettle Brand Chips to your recipes this Spring and Summer.

Kettle Brand Chips - Salt & Pepper

Chicken + Kettle Brand Salt & Pepper Chips

Crush up the Kettle Brand Salt & Pepper Chips as your breading for chicken. But don’t stop there … chop up the chicken for a chicken salad based on what your family loves in chicken salad and enjoy the extra crunch!

Fish + Chips 

Chips that are paired with Fish for Fish and Chips are generally french fries. Make sure your “chips” are all natural by pairing Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips with your fresh Fish this Summer!

Movie and … Chips

Forget the popcorn as you host family movie night or an at home date night but keep the salt snack with Kettle Brand Sea Salt Chips. Your all natural snack choice will still give you the sanctification of snacking during the movie and maybe even make you feel a little less guilty about that late night snacking!

Guess you can tell that the favorite flavors around here involve salt, huh? Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips, Kettle Brand Sea Salt Chips, and Kettle Brand Salt & Pepper Chips … mmmm. (I will add that we had the Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque® Chips too but they were gone before we could even snap a picture. oops!)

Remember to answer the question about why REAL ingredients matter to you and your family to be entered to win $250!

Why are real ingredients important in your recipes?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kettle Brand. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Charquican

April 22, 2013 By 3 Comments

On my recent trip to Chile, I was on the lookout for traditional dishes that I could bring back home to share with my family and with yours.  One dish that really stood out as something that my family would love to eat was a simple peasant dish called charquican.  Charquican is, traditionally, a Chilean beef stew.  It was originally made with beef jerky, or charqui.  As I understand it, most people just use stew beef.  Typically, people will mash up potatoes and winter squashes and add whatever veggies they have hanging around.  It really seems to be a “clean out the fridge” kind of dish.  That’s right up our alley!

Charquican-1

The version that I had during my trip was a little more dressed up.  With a red pearl onion pickled in a red wine sauce, drizzled in a butter sauce, and topped with a nice piece of salmon, the restaurant version of charquican was really something special.  However, the homeyness of the base really shone through for me.  Since it was served as a side dish, there was no beef.  This struck me as a great opportunity for a Meatless Monday!  As such, one of my first recipe attempts after coming back from Chile was to make this meatless version of charquican.  I hope you enjoy!

Charquican-2

Vegetarian Charquican

In order to make this side dish into a filling, and satisfying, main meal, I added mushrooms and topped the whole thing with a poached egg.  The meatiness of the mushrooms and the velvety egg yolk combine to really bring this whole thing together.  I’m a big eater and one serving was all I needed to leave the table happy.

Ingredients

5 large red potatoes, cut into half-inch cubes
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 sprigs thyme
1 tsp. paprika
1-12 oz bag frozen mixed veggies
1-15 oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tsp. merken (optional)
8 eggs

Directions

1.  Place the potatoes into a medium-pot, cover with water, salt well, and bring to a boil.  Boil until potatoes are tender.  Drain and set aside.

2.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and mushrooms.  Season with salt and pepper and allow to cook until beginning to brown, about 3-5 minutes.  Add garlic, thyme, and paprika.  Cook another 2-3 minutes.

3.  Add mixed veggies and potatoes.  Stir to combine.  Season with salt, pepper, and merken, if using.  Allow to cook until the mixed veggies are warmed through.  Add pumpkin and wine.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  The mixture should have a creamy texture holding the potatoes and vegetables together.  If the mixture is too tight, add another splash of wine or water until you reach the desired consistency.  Cover and put over a low heat to stay warm.

4.  Fill a wide saucepan with water and allow to come to a simmer.  Crack eggs into individual bowls and pour into the water.  Turn off the heat and cover.  Let stand for about 4 minutes.  Remove to a paper towel to drain.

5.  Scoop the charquican onto a plate.  Top with one of the poached eggs.  Serve and enjoy!

Do you think that you could tell the difference between my dish and the one served at the restaurant?  What would you change to have this fit your family?  Would you like to see more of these dishes from Chile?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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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!

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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.

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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?

 

 

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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!

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This Cookin’ Dad Challenged – King Cake

February 12, 2013 By 3 Comments

I decided to challenge This Cookin’ Dad to some seasonal recipes this year. The first one up was easy. It was a King Cake for Mardi Gras. You see, we live in Central Virginia and King Cakes aren’t really a thing around here. I remember Brian finding one back in 2004. Yes, I can remember this based of where we lived at the time but I can’t remember what I wore yesterday. That is so sad. Anyway last year he complained he couldn’t find a King Cake around here so I figured the easiest way to fix that was to have him make his own!

I saw some of this …

And some of this …

Do you follow me on Instagram and see the pictures I posted there?

Here is a half of a King Cake. To see the rest … check out the King Cake post over at This Cookin’ Dad! (I’ll break the news that he not only made one but he made SIX King Cakes this year!)

half king cake

What do you think? How did he do? 

The next challenge for This Cookin’ Dad is Irish Soda Bread. Do you have a favorite recipe he should try? Let us know!

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Great Value Valentine’s Day Sweet Treats Part 2

February 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Last week, in Great Value Valentine’s Sweet Treats, I shared a couple of easy recipes to use for Valentine’s Day. You got to see just how easy it is to make Berry Tartlets, Tickled Pink Heart Cinnamon Rolls,  and Frosted Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies using dough products found in the refrigerated section of your local Walmart.  It is so easy to great yummy treats for entertaining using Great Value refrigerated dough. So where did all of those sweet treats go?

The Frosted Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies were a planned snack for an upcoming party but they didn’t even survive the afternoon that I made them long enough to even get a picture of someone eating one. The good news is that even though they didn’t survive, they are really simple to make and I can make a dozen more with a big fuss so here was another round of the Frosted Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies !

Our kids love cinnamon rolls … OK, they love anything breakfast but, when they see cinnamon rolls, they go a bit nutty. I  have to confess that I didn’t even get one of these Tickled Pink Heart Cinnamon Rolls. Grace asked for more and well that little six year old girl has me wrapped around her finger, so I said yes. Sophie LOVED the heart shape and kept taking bites to make other shapes. Matthew was just all in it for cinnamon roll and didn’t even care they were pink. I think he would have noticed more if I  made them red since that is favorite color right now!

Last but not least, the Berry Tartlets actually made it to a Super Bowl Party instead of a Valentine’s Party. Beth was asked for the recipe four times and had to admit each time that it wasn’t written down yet. ummm … oops! She knew there was success with this recipe when she saw the last of the mini size Berry Tartlets stuffed in a coffee cup to be eaten on the way home! That is a recipe endorsement right there! Oh and this tray was full of the Berry Tartlets when it arrived at the party!

great value berry tarts

For more great holiday recipes and budget friendly ideas, make sure you check out Great Value on Twitter:  #GreatValue

What are some great dishes that you’ve make using Great Value or other store brand refrigerated dough?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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