February 27, 2009
I’ve been meaning to post the recipes I mentioned in my post about stocking the freezer, but I forgot. So here’s the first one: Beefy Cheesy Pasta. I’ve also attached the recipe in several different formats (Meal-Master, MasterCook, and Living Cookbook). I think. lol
Beefy Cheesy Pasta
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
5 c. rotelle pasta
1/4 c. milk
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. grated cheddar
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef, soy sauce, and garlic until beef is brown and juices run clear. While beef is cooking, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Return cooked pasta to its pot over low heat; stir in milk and butter. Stir in beef mixture until well combined. Stir in cheese until melted. Serve at once.
(If the beef is already cooked, add it to a saucepan along with the soy sauce and some garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. Stir over medium heat until well heated, then proceed with the recipe.)
Beefy Cheesy Pasta (Living Cookbook format)
Beefy Cheesy Pasta (Meal-Master format)
Beefy Cheesy Pasta (MasterCook format)
On a totally unrelated note, if you were going to put some flowering trees in your yard – preferably fruit trees and not too incredibly large – which trees would you plant? Hubby likes Bradford pears and, honestly, I do, too, but I don’t think they produce edible fruit. (Or do they?) We have a couple of ugly trees in our garden that I’d like to replace, and something that’s useful besides just being pretty would be my preference.
February 26, 2009
I forgot to mention on Tuesday, when I was sharing our deals, that we went to IHOP for free pancakes. On “National Pancake Day,” IHOP serves free short stacks, with the hope that you will donate to the Children’s Miracle Network. The short stack is three huge pancakes, and Sophia ate all of hers but four little bites!
Our tax refund should be here in less than a month, and then we can begin work on our kitchen, a process I’m excited to share with you through pictures! In the meantime, there are some little things we can do around here, like installing Michael’s “discount ceiling fans.” By “discount,” I really mean “free.” lol When Michael was working at Rappahannock Westminster Canterbury, he would often get items that the community was discarding as they remodeled, either for a small fee, or free, depending on the item. Among other things, he picked up three ceiling fans. One is in his mom’s house, and we have the other two. One is a really (in my opinion) gaudy brass-and-crystal fan. (He likes it, though.) The other is kind of neat. It’s just a basic white fan, but the blades are exceptionally short, so it can go into a smaller space. We’ve not gotten around to installing either of them anywhere yet. We also need to replace the light kit on the girls’ ceiling fan, as it no longer has a globe. (It’s an odd size, so it was cheaper to replace the whole light kit than to buy a globe that fits it.)
February 24, 2009
Well, I missed out on several of last week’s best deals at CVS. All of our stores were either sold out of, or just plain don’t carry, the relevant items. 
Bummer. But I got some pretty good deals today. (Not at CVS, though. I got a couple packages of cookies for a pretty decent price, but nothing amazing. 
)
Walgreen’s
Revlon Creme lip gloss $9.99 -$9.99 rebate = FREE
Glade Scented Oil refills $2.50 -B1G1 coupon -$2.00 rebate on 2 = $0.50 for 2
Garnier Fructis WonderWaves
conditioner $3.49 -$1 coupon -$3.49 rebate = $1.00 overage
RiteAid
10 individual SoyJoy bars $5.00 -$2/10 coupon -$5.00 rebate = $2.00 overage
Garnier Fructis WonderWaves
shampoo $2.99 -$1.00 coupon -$2.99 rebate = $1.00 overage
Physicians Formula
Bronze Booster $14.95 -$14.95 man. rebate* = FREE
Physicians Formula
OrganicWear Blush $6.97(PF on sale B1G1) -$2.00 peelie = $4.97
*You must buy a package with the “Try me free” peelie on it in order to apply for the rebate.
February 19, 2009
There are times when it would be really nice to have the tankless hot water heater I dream of. (Unfortunately, they’re still quite pricey. Maybe someday.) This past week was one of those times. I ran us out of hot water on at least one occasion as I tackled all of the dishes – and handwashing – generated by preparing lots of meat for the freezer! But ground beef and boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale, and I had a “free” turkey in the freezer from November, waiting to be cooked. So we now have:
-4 lbs. of ground beef, browned.
-1/2 lb. of ground beef, browned and seasoned for Beefy Cheesy Pasta (We ate the other 1/2 lb. already.)
-1 lb. of hamburgers
-4 lbs. of meatballs and salisbury steak
-somewhere around 10 lbs.-ish of chicken breasts, either sliced and frozen plain, diced and frozen, or cut into strips and frozen in marinade for my mom’s Italian Chicken with Pasta.
-I forget how many cups of cooked turkey. I think it’s around 21.
-a bag of turkey legs/wings for making soup later.
-6 cups of condensed turkey stock
-about a quart of turkey drippings for gravy
Oh, and a dozen onions sauteed and frozen.
Not bad! (And, boy, am I glad that all of that prep is done! lol)
February 17, 2009
It seems like “they” make practically everything wireless nowadays – you can get a wireless phone, a wireless internet connection, even a wireless security system. Well, this weekend, we took advantage of wireless technology when we bought a set of those wireless telephones. Not cell phones – a set of cordless telephones where only the first one requires a telephone jack. This is very handy in a house with few telephone jacks, with most of them inconveniently located. Better yet, the handsets can be used as intercoms. Now instead of sending Ariel down the stairs and back around to the other end of the house to call her daddy for dinner, I can just – literally – call him. Very nice!
Even nicer, though, is the other new stuff we bought. We replaced all of the bedding in our bedroom. We had a comforter that we got when we got married. One side was blue flowers on a white background; the other was a blue and white plaid. We liked it just fine. Unfortunately, the water in Gloucester did not. It had so much rusty water embedded in it that it looked as though we’d never washed it. Yuck! The sad thing was that it looked like it desperately needed washing because I washed it! So, we went out this weekend and bought all new bedding and curtains, and it’s all of very luxurious feeling fabrics. (Sateen sheets. They are sooo soft!) Silk throw pillows. Velvet curtains. I forgot to take a “before” picture, but here’s the “after.” (Now we need to replace that cheesy blue lamp. lol And sorry about mess; we haven’t finished finding places for everything in this house yet. Like the extra blankets that are piled on the dresser.) The plan is to cut the curtains off and hem them shorter, then use the remnants to make a couple more throw pillows for the bed, to tie it all together.
(reading chronologically)
