Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Potato Soup and Jalapeno Corn Muffins

Doesn't this look just absolutely delicious. Well made our Potato Soup with ham chunks and corn along with Jalapeno Corn Muffins. There is simply nothing better or easier on the pocket than this meal. The only bad thing was there was no leftovers.

Merry Christmas everyone

Cold Weather Again

Well, today brings more cold weather at least we think so. So on that note today will be some good ole Potato Soup with Ham chunks. We baked a wonderful ham last night along with an Apple Cobbler, so this is a good way to incorporate leftovers. Anyways I am dying for a good bowl of potato soup along with jalapeno cornbread. Oh, just thinking about it makes me want to hop into the kitchen and get started.

With Christmas right around the corner, we wish all a very Merry Christmas.

Hot Ham and Cheese Pocket

Another wonderful morning. We attended Church which as always our Pastor is very uplifting; however, today I do believe that my belly was trying to talk over him. So on our way home all could think about was, What are we going to eat when we get home? As my mind tinkered, I thought about the can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls in the fridge and the bright light hit.

First what we did was take the crescent rolls one triangle on the other and create what would resemble a triangular pita pocket. After this was completed, we then filled the pocket with ham, scallions, cheese and then closed the top off. We then put it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 11 to 13 minutes and above is the finished product. They are absolutely wonderful. Now my mind is running wild on what filling will be next.

Merry Christmas and God Bless

Turkey and Yellow Rice

Hello:

Just when I thought we had worn the pork out, it turns out that the turkey has replaced it. We baked a turkey on Monday. Tuesday was of course leftovers. Wednesday was turkey sandwiches, Thursday was turkey Alfredo, Friday more leftovers and tonight was turkey and yellow rice. This must have been the cheapest week for cooking and believe it or not I am not complaining.

The weather is cooler and I can only wonder if tomorrow might reign in some turkey noodle soup in order to finish off ole Tom. We still have two more turkeys from our fantastic buy before Thanksgiving; however, Christmas dinner for us has always been a standing rib roast so I am not really for sure when turkey will be fixed again around here.

Happy Holidays

Beauty

Even on a rainy day there is so much beauty to be found. This morning it was wonderful to see this beautiful yellow rose and listen to the baby woodpecker learning how to peck. His or her little beak was so tiny, but it did not stop him or her from pecking away. As I tried to take pictures, he or she would continuously jump another branch trying to avoid me. Just love it.

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Garlic Butter and Turkey Alfredo

Hmmm, don't know if the turkey Alfredo looks all that appealing, but it sure was good. We also made some garlic butter to rub the baguette down with and it too was also delicious.

For the garlic butter, we simply let a stick of butter soften. Then we added fresh crushed garlic and fresh garlic chives from the garden. Also something different that we tried was the water that we fixed the noodles in. Normally we just add salt and olive oil; however, this time we added crushed garlic to the water and it gave the noodles a little extra zap. Dinner was so wonderful last night, so much so that my tummy is beginning to rumble. How about yours?

Have a great day.

Another Beautiful Day

Hello Everyone:

Wow, this morning we woke up and watched the movie Julie and Julia. This movie is so inspiring, so much so that not only were we in the kitchen making breakfast it kinda turned into a competition on who will fix the best. This would be between us and our son. We made scrambled eggs with ham, mozzarella, cheddar, young scallions picked from the garden, bell pepper, maple syrup, salt and pepper. They were wonderful. Our son fixed scrambled eggs with maple sausage, scallions, bell pepper, kielbasa, jalapeno pepper, mushrooms, cheese, salt and pepper.

Tonight we will make homemade Alfredo sauce to accompany a nice dish that we love using turkey. We will post the recipe and pictures of this lovely dish later this afternoon.

Have a great day.

BBQ Pizza on the Grill

Recipe for Barbeque Pizza

1 lb ready made pizza dough brought to room temperature
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb cooked sausage, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup assorted grilled vegetables (peppers, onions, zucchini, mushrooms) whatever you choose
6 ounces of shredded Colby jack cheese
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp dry red pepper flakes

Preheat grill to medium high heat. Oil the grill rack.

Roll out dough to a 12 x 15 rectangle. Brush top with olive oil. Place dough, oil side down on grill rack. Cover and grill about 3 minutes or until bottom is lightly browned. Punch air bubbles if needed. Brush top with olive oil and turn over. Immediately top evenly with reminaing ingredients. Cover and cook 3 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Minature Egg Cups

Just another delicious small bite breakfast item. Ham, garlic chives, onion, green pepper, bacon bits and eggs baked in small muffin pan with the ham being the cup. After we finished baking them, we then drizzled them with Maple Syrup. Perfect two bite size.

Another Turkey Day

Good Morning:

Well before the Holidays started, we came across a great deal on Turkey at $.39 a lb. So needless to say we nabbed about three turkeys. For Thanksgiving, we decided to smoke the turkey this year and it was kinda heartbreaking to not have the smell from ole Tom being in the oven. However, this morning we have been awakened with the wonderful aroma of Tom and how refreshing for a Monday morning.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Whomping Hamburgers

Hello:

Last night was some of the biggest burgers we have made in a while and WOW were they really good. They were accompanied by potato salad and baked beans. Really Good.

What A Beautiful Day

Hello Everyone:

Just wanted to share some pictures of our Christmas Cactus and Bananas.

Brrrr Rabbit

Well the rain brought in some chilly weather. On the other note, the bleu cheese stuffed meatballs were delicious; however, we needed to tweek the buffalo sauce a little bit. All we did was add a little of Sonny's BBQ sauce to the Frank's Wing Sauce and it matched beautifully with the meatballs. We have not decided on dinner tonight, but I almost think that chili would go quite nice with this chilly weather.

Have a Great Day.

Bleu Cheese Stuffed Meatballs with Franks Hot Wing Sauce for Dipping

Tonight we will be experimenting with meatballs filled with bleu cheese and then use Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce as the dipping sauce. This is just purely experimental tonight as dinner will be Ultimate Nachos.

Yuck, rainy weather again today; however, temperatures are dipping a little so at least it is not in the 80's.

Have a Great Day.

Pork, Pork and more Pork

Just when I thought that we would be finished with pork tonight, Albertson's put out a coupon for buy one get two free pork loins. Publix who accepts competitor coupons has pork loin on sale for $1.99 lb. So needless to say we went to Publix and got 30 pounds of pork for $19.32. We ended up with 40 1" thick pork chops, 3 pork roast, 1 bag filled for pulled pork and 1 pork loin to smoke-rotisserie on the grill. Spent $25.18 and saved $65.09. Can't beat that.

Cuban Subs Tonight

Wow today is just beautiful. A little warm, but the breeze is helpful. Tonight is more pork and hopefully this will finish it off. We are going to put together some cuban subs which I must admit are very good.

1 loaf of cuban bread
Sliced pork loin
Sliced ham
Mayo and Mustard mixed together for a nice sauce
Swiss or Provolone Cheese
Pickles

We usually coat our bread with the mustard mixture, layer on the pork, ham, cheese and pickles and grill on the panini grill.

Have a great day everyone.

Chicken and Pork Pot Pie?

Hey Everybody:



We could not even begin to express tonights creation. This was made from leftover chicken and dumplings, roasted pork and vegetables. We will present the picture first and then the recipe. So here we go.

Left over roast pork cut into cubes.
Left over chicken and dumplings as is.
Add two cans of corn
1 can of green beans
1 can of peas
2 cans of cut carrots
salt and pepper to taste
Two Pillsbury Ready To Go Pie Crust

We deciced to cook the first crust on 450 degrees for 7 minutes. Then we added the mixture which was slightly warm and already seasoned. Then we added the second pie crust to top it off and let it go at 450 for about 15 to 20 minutes until bubbly. Good God Girdie. This is so rewarding, no money spent tonight. This meal was free from total leftovers.

God Bless.

Pillsbury Crescent Roll Pin Wheels

Today, we made one of the best finger foods using Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Wow, there are so many different things that one could do, but this is what we tried today.

Thinly slice leftover London Broil
Provolone Cheese
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

We took two perforted rolls and made them into one. Then we layered the london broil on it along with provolone cheese. After that you simply roll the biscuit and cut into pinwheels. Preheated the oven to 375 degrees, baked for 13 minutes and then simply enjoyed. They are absolutely wonderful. Will get some pictures up later; however, checkout the coupons for Pillsbury Rolls in this blog.

For dinner we are doing hot wings baked at 500 degrees for 20 minutes and then dipped into Frank's Wing Sauce.

Chicken and Dumplings with Blackeyed Peas

Hello:

After a wonderful morning at Church today will be followed up with a nice pot of Chicken and Dumplings, Black eyed Peas and Yeast Rolls. Today's weather is a little bit kinder. Still a little cool, but thank God for no rain right now.

This morning after Church we made a wonderful breakfast and it was very rewarding to go outback and pick fresh green pepper as well as chives. Why do vegetables always smell better when they come out of your own backyard?

Well, have a great day and God Bless.

Cold Weather

Hello Everyone:

Weather here is a little bit cool and rainy. The Gators are playing Alabama. Go Gators!!!!!! We have been hankering for some good chicken and dumplings, but we will have to settle for steak on the stick and a really good baked potato loaded with all the goodies. Hope everyone has a nice day.

Today, we made Crock Pot Turkey Casserole. The recipe is as follows:

12 cups of Turkey (can be Ham or Chicken)
1 10oz can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 onion diced
1 bag of frozen corn (you can add peas, beans or whatever you desire)
1/2 Milk
1/2 Mayo
1 Celery Stalk diced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook on low for four hours and serve over noodles or toasted bread.

Another thing that we added today on the site is that Save a Lot is offering a Holiday Dinner for $19.41. We have listed what all you can get in the site.

Have a Great Day.

Holidays are Amongst Us

Hello All:

Again it has been a while. We have been very busy these past couple of months, but have now gotten back into the groove.

First Happy Belated Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time and feast with our family. This year we also smoked our own turkey on the rotisserie which was absolutely wonderful. What we did was brine the turkey in a mixture of salt, water, lavender, sage, pepper, rosemary, cilantro, onions and celery. The brine itself had our mouths watering while it was being prepared.

Secondly, today while taking what we thought would be a quick trip to Target turned out to be an actual shopping trip. We were able to get 60lbs of potatoes for $6.00 and 6 heads of broccoli for $4.00. We spent $25.86 on groceries and saved a whopping $20.34. So needless to say we were very happy.

We will be posting some more delicious recipes and helpful hints in the coming days and it was surely nice to get back on and start sharing information and ideas again.

Have a Great Day!

It has been a while since my last post. Tonight is meatloaf, but last night we made a really good stuffed pork loin. We are still enjoy the corn we blanched and also the green beans.

Buttermilk Chicken

Today was buttermilk chicken, fresh corn off the cob and mash potatoes with homemade gravy. Yum, Yum. Marinated the chicken in buttermilk for about six hours along with sugar, salt and pepper. Then we drained the chicken, coated it in flour, seasoned it with Cactus Dust and fried it up. This was a delicious recipe and great dinner.

Have a Good Day all.

Our version of the egg cup

Oh! my goodness. This was our twist on the egg recipe we posted yesterday. Instead of using the muffin pan, we used a mini meat loaf baking pan. The recipe is as follows:

Generously grease the baking pan with melted butter. Line each cup with ham. We added chopped scallions, bacon, 4 Cheese Mexican Cheese, chopped green pepper and then eggs beaten to fill up the cups. We baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or so and it was absolutely wonderful. The plate is drizzled with maple syrup, sprinkled with garlic chives and pieces of maple bacon.

Neat little breakfast recipe

Good Morning Everyone:

Ran across this recipe and looks so delicious. What they have done is taken sliced ham placed in muffin baking pan, put a little bit of maple syrup in the bottom, add an egg and baked for 20 minutes on 350 degrees.

This basic recipe could be twisted in so many different ways for example:

The ham cup could be filled with a vege scramble, top with garlic chives

Instead of using ham, substitute roast beef, sprinkle what ever variety of cheese you may like in the bottom, a little bit of horseradish and egg

This is definitely a recipe that will be tweeked here and we look forward to sharing.

Have a great day.

Happy Labor Day

Today is burgers, hotdogs, potatoe salad, fruit salad and bake beans. Hopefully the rain will stay away so that our family can enjoy a fun day in the pool. God Bless that we are fortunate enough to enjoy a lovely day.

Labor Day Weekend

Oh Boy! it's Labor Day Weekend and a great time to grill out and hang out by the pool. We have not yet decided on what we will fix, but with all the great grocery deals that we ran across this past month it will either be ribs, surf and turf or chicken. One thing is for sure and that will be a good fruit salad. Last week for our Church's brunch we made a fruit salad that was just absolutely delicious. Here is what we did:

Cantaloupe
Honey Dew Melon
Strawberries
Blueberries
Bananas
Grapes
Watermelon
1 large can of fruit cocktail

Have a great day to day and we will definitely post whatever yum yums we have this weekend.

Chicken Gnocchi

The Chicken Gnocchi was wonderful last night. There was not one ounce leftover which indicates that it was a big hit. We have posted the recipe in the website. Today we are going to attempt to make our own Gnocchi which we are hoping will turn out really good.

The weather here has been dreary. Hot one minute and rainy the next. The beans, onions and cucumbers are doing really well. Some of the lettuces are happy, but some are not. It appears that the Kale and Endive are the happy ones. We are going to move them to a shadier spot to see if this helps perk them up a little.

Have a great day everyone and if you have any favorite recipes, grocery savings etc., that you would like to share, please do so.

Home Made refried beans

Looks kinda like hmmmm. All jokes set aside these refried beans were the best we have had. We used our left over pinto beans from the night before, mashed them up, seasoned and surely enjoyed. We will never eat refried beans from a can again.

Beef on a Stick

London broil sliced, marinated, put on a skewer and grilled. Simply delicious and easy. This is the only way we do London broil now.

More Grocery Savings

This morning we had another great time saving money on groceries. Our first trip was to Albertson's where we were able to get six boxes of Quaker's cereal for $6.00. Our next visit was of course to Publix because Albertson's had the St. Louis Style ribs buy 1 get 2 free. Well they wanted $20.00 or better for one rack, so we headed over to Publix where St. Louis Style ribs are on sale for a $1.69 lb. used the coupon from Albertson's and we were able to get three racks of ribs for $6.10. We just love it.

Have a wonderful day everyone and God Bless.

Planting beans, cukes and onions

Today, we are going to plant the beans and cucumbers. Since we did not prepare for a garden this season, we will be planting the bush beans and cucumbers around our fence. Our tomatoes from last season are branching out again so it will be exciting to see how well they produce for a second season. Our scallions, we planted those in a window box and they are up and doing well. We are currently waiting to see what the banana trees will do this year and hoping also that the pineapples decide to bare more than two fruit. Surely we are not complaining because what two pineapples we did get were wonderful; however, it would be nice if all the pineapple plants would produce. Our asparagus is running wild and what grapes we did get off our Concord vine was good. Can't wait for next seasons round of blueberries as we have four and with God's good grace they should produce upto 15 gallons per bush.

At this point, we are going to head out back and play. Have a good day all.

Well this weekend was wonderful. This past week Albertson's had a coupon for buy one london broil and get two free. Of course the deal at Albertson's was not the best, but there is this thing called competitor coupons. Soooo, we took the competitor coupon to Publix and was able to get three London broils for around $10.50. This is a whole new world for us as far as savings; however, when we returned home and decided to Google competitor coupons we found that there are some really smart shoppers out there that have been doing this for a while. Oh Well, we are definitely looking forward to see the ads this week.

The corn that we blanched this past week and froze, we decided to dip into for dinner this weekend and it was wonderful. The kids were saying that it tasted if as it had just come off the cob fresh. We had a wonderful time preparing it and now the satisfaction of enjoying it.

We will be updating the Grocery Tips section of the website throughout the week, so check it out.

Have a wonderful day.

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How to blanch and store corn.

Corn on the Cob

Today is very exciting for us, we sent the kids off to the supermarket for some corn on the cob and they came back with huge ears. So needless to say, we have sent the kids back to Wal-Mart for 80 ears of corn which is $20.00 worth. Tomorrow we will be cutting the corn off the cob, blanching and freezing it. So on this note, we will take some pictures and upload them to show a step by step process of how we do it.

Weather here has been quite unpredictable one minute raining and the next sunshine, but always hot.

Have a wonderful evening.

Good Morning Everyone:

Well the weather here is quite different. There is a breeze, sunshine and clouds. Not much to report on garden work today and tonight we will used the left over meatballs to make a homemade meatball pizza.

The only other piece of interesting news today is that it would appear that our legislature has a bill on the floor to allow a tax deduction for animals. Wow, hope this passes as we have three wonderful dogs. Wonder if you can count the birds in your yard? lol

Okay then, everyone have a wonderful day and we let you know how the meatball pizza works out.

Wow, what a busy week was last week. Well last night we made homemade meatballs which turned out wonderful. Tonight we will take the leftovers and make a homemade meatball pizza. Here in Florida it appears that we have tropical storms coming about, so the weather might tend to get a little nasty.

As far as the garden goes about two weeks ago we trimmed back our impatiens, salvia and Dahlias. At the same time we used a 6-6-6 fertilizer and now they are beginning to thicken up again for another season hopefully. The hibiscus somehow as lovely as they are decided to attract every aphid in the state, but this was quickly remedied with Sevin ready to spray insecticidal soap.

The banana trees, blueberries and mango are doing extremely well. Last week we cut back the asparagus and it is going nuts, growing very quickly. Our pineapples were wonderful; however, we only harvested two this year out of about 11 plants. Watermelon has blooms going, so we are hoping for a couple. The tomatoes have started to bloom again and the peppers (Tabasco, habinero, bell and jalapeno) are producing nicely. Our lettuces are up and soon ready to be transplanted (a mixed variety).

We have updated sales going on at various supermarkets, so make sure to take a look at beeting high cost - grocery tips.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

Hello Everyone:

Today is TGIF and also the day that a very dear friend is being put at rest. This past week Ashle Jackson a very beautiful soul unexpectedly lost her life. So for all you out there, today look up and give remembrance and thanks to God for having such wonderful people in our world.

On another note, the tomato plants are doing well. The lettuce seeds are up and going plus more. We were really excited to see that the blueberry bushes are putting off new growth. This is our first year growing blueberries and we are very proud of them.

Everyone have a wonderful day and weekend. If you have the time please say a prayer for Ashle and her family.

Thank you

Empanadas

Wow, today was what we would call fun in the kitchen and yummy to the tummy. Sunday, we made a sirlon tip roast. Today we used the left overs from the roast and made empanadas for the very first time. Again, we say wow. They were absolutely wonderful and have now filled our heads with all sorts of ideas about what different types of fillings we can use. I will post the recipe under filling fruity or vege.

Butterflies

As I have mentioned in the website about attracting hummingbirds and butterflies, I just wanted to share with you guys what we had in our backyard this weekend. The butterflies have been fluttering around everyday and we giggle because they do a loop around the house. So when we are in the front yard, we watch them visit the hibiscus and then they float into the backyard to visit the Salvia and Dahlias. But the picture we were able to capture shows three little butterflies just doing their thing.

Hey Everybody:

This week Bravo has London Broil on sale for $1.99 and Publix has it for $2.99. Albertson's has Seven Up, Canada Dry and A&W Rootbeer, 3 - 12 packs for $7.00 until Tuesday. They also have cantaloupe 2 for $3.00 which is a pretty good deal.

Gals in the Garden

Welcome to Gals In The Garden. This Website was created to offer and share gardening ideas, experiences and useful tips for "beeting" the economy crunch we are all in.

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