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Showing posts with label dip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dip. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

What's Been Cooking? Cheater Lemon Cake, Buffalo Chicken Dip and Honey Mustard Pork Chops

Tonight we have dinner with the Boy Scouts for the Blue & Gold Banquet, 
so I don't have to cook dinner!  Gotta love that!  

Every family has been asked to either bring a dessert or salad.  Normally I'd bring a nice green salad or a yummy quinoa salad, but since I'm trying to reserve my veggies for my family's dinners this week, I decided to bring a dessert.  


I took a look in my pantry to see what I had that needed to be used up and came out with a lemon cake mix.  I usually try to buy cake mixes when they are on sale for $1 or less per box.  So, I baked up the cake, according to the box directions.


Once it was done cooling I made a very simple glaze to go on top.  I figured a glaze would be more cost effective than a frosting.  

Simple Lemon Glaze for Cheater Lemon Cake:
  • 2 Tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 Tablespoon water
Whisk all ingredients together and then pour over baked and cooled cake.

The total cost for my pot luck worthy Cheater Lemon Cake: about $2


Since I'm not making dinner tonight and the banquet isn't until 7pm, I decided to make the kids a yummy after school snack that should hold them over until the later dinner.  We didn't watch The Super Bowl this past Sunday, since we got rid of satellite TV in 2014 and now only have Netflix.  Not that any of us actually missed watching the game, but we did miss out on all of the yummy game time foods that we usually eat while watching for the commercials.  


Enter Buffalo Chicken Dip!  Served with a sleeve or two of club crackers, this dip hit the spot for my boys when they got off the bus.  

Back when I started this blog, Pinterest wasn't a thing yet.  And now, we can type in any kind of dish we want to make and have tons of recipes pop up WITH pictures!  I eat with my eyes first, so Pinterest makes picking recipes out, so much easier.  

I found this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip and decided to give it a try.  Of course I changed things up a little, to use what I had.  And cooking on a budget is all about flexibility!  You must be able to alter recipes to fit what you already have in your house if you want to save money.  

Buffalo Chicken Dip:

  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
  • 1/2 cup ranch dressing
  • 1 large can chicken, drained
  • 1/2 cup shredded Sharp cheddar cheese
Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients, except for the shredded cheese, in a baking dish.  No need to dirty two dishes, so just mix it all up in what you are going to bake it in. Once all of the ingredients are mixed, add the cheese on top and bake for about 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Total cost for Buffalo Chicken Dip: about $4, plus the cost of crackers.

The picture above is before baking, I didn't get one after it was cooked.  But, my boys loved it and it was much appreciated by them when they got off of the bus. 



Since I'm not cooking dinner tonight, I thought I'd link over to the recipe that I used last night to make Honey Mustard Pork Chops.  They were a hit!!  Served along with roasted potatoes that we gleaned back in October from local Potato fields (which equals lots of free potatoes!) and a side of honey glazed carrots (can we say cheap!?), our entire dinner last night cost us about $4 or so.  Since we have to pay for the pigs to be butchered, that's our main cost.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Creamy Cilantro Avocado Sauce & My First Giveaway!

Oh, I'm in love with this sauce. Seriously, it's yummy!! I love anything with cilantro in it, and for me, the more cilantro the better!! And don't even get me started on avocados!! I love them!! I made this creamy delicious sauce recently to go on some tacos that I was making. I've actually made it twice in the past couple of weeks, it's that good! The first time I made it with some grilled marinated pork chops it was sooo good! Then we had it the next week with fish tacos that my hubby made (sorry no recipe for that one, he made it up as he was going). I can't wait to make this again!!

And, the secret ingredient in this yummy sauce is Greek yogurt!! I just recently found Oikos Greek yogurt, made by Stonyfield Farm in my local stores. I was so excited to see it at the store! I had heard people rave over Greek yogurt for the longest time and could never find it out here. Now I know why everyone raves about it! It's creamy and delicious and works great in this Creamy Cilantro Avocado Sauce!!

Are you ready for the giveaway!!??? I've got two great prizes to giveaway today!! One of you will be winning 4 free 5.3 oz Oikos coupons, $5.00 worth of other Stonyfield coupons, and a reusable Stonyfield shopping bag!! And the next winner will be getting a coupon for a free 16 oz Oikos yogurt along with $5 worth of other Stonyfield coupons and a nifty little magnet!! I'm so excited about this giveaway, it will give you a chance to try the yogurt and fall in love with it!! To enter the giveaway, leave me a comment on this post about your favorite recipe of mine so far!! You will have until Friday, September 11th at 10:00 pm Mountain Standard Time to enter and please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you are a winner! I'll announce the winner on Saturday the 12th! Good luck to you all and in the meantime, visit Stonyfield Farm for some great coupons!

Creamy Cilantro Avocado Sauce

1 bunch cilantro, leaves cut off some of the stem is fine
2 large cloves garlic
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded
2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons water
5.3 ounce container plain Oikos Greek Yogurt
2 medium avocados
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sugar

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend well until the sauce is a smooth texture. Enjoy over tacos or as a dip for chips!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Pico de Gallo


I love fresh salsa, it's so easy to make and it tastes so good!! Made with fresh from the garden tomatoes, it's even better! I love the already minced garlic in the jar, that is what I usually use in most of my recipes, it can be used in this recipe, but fresh garlic that you mince yourself will be 100 times better! It's worth the extra work for me to mince the garlic for this Pico de Gallo. This recipe is more of guide then an actual recipe also, you can adjust anything in the recipe to your family's likings. If your family doesn't like much onion, don't put as much in. If you really love cilantro, like me, add a whole bunch. If you don't like much spice, only add one jalapeño. Make it how your family will enjoy it!! Serve with homemade or store bought tortilla chips and your good to go!!

Pico de Gallo

6 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeño peppers, minced
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or more to taste)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. Stir once more before serving and enjoy with your favorite chips!

Homemade Tortilla Chips

desired quantity corn tortillas
oil for frying
salt

Heat oil on high heat in a large skillet. Make sure there is at least ½” of oil. Cut the corn tortillas into slices that resemble chips. Place cut tortillas into hot oil and cook 1 to 2 minutes per side, until they are a golden brown color. Take browned tortilla chip out of oil and place on a paper towel lined plate, season with salt and enjoy!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Fry Sauce, My Way


Never heard of fry sauce? Don't worry, I hadn't either until we moved out here to Idaho. Everyone out here knows what fry sauce is and can't seem to eat french fries without it! Even the McDonalds out here has fry sauce! Regular fry sauce is a mixture of mayonnaise and ketchup, which is good, but I like a little bit more flavor, so I came up with this zesty dip! Try it!!!

Fry Sauce, My Way

½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup or your favorite barbecue sauce (we only ever use Sweet Baby Ray's)
½ teaspoon season salt

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and serve with your favorite fries! Makes about ¾ cup.

Have you tried this recipe? If you have, head on over to Tasty Kitchen to rate and review!