Unleavened Puri ( East indian) bread

This is a recipe that was handed out last year at our assembly:

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup soft shortening ( I used Coconut oil)
• 1 1/3 cups Yogurt

1. Mix all ingredients well.
2. Roll into 1/8 in thickness and cut into rounds with a 4 in cutter.
3. Fry in hot oil (350 degrees) until puffy and brown.
4. Drain on paper towel or napkins

This was a delicious recipe, kid and husband approved.

bean and cheese burritos

This is a simple, delicious and frugal recipe to try. Also you can freeze these and use them for lunches or dinner. Maybe add some eggs to them for a quick breakfast.

• A bag of dried pinto beans
• tortilla shells
• cheese

Rinse the beans and pick out the broken ones. Place them in a crock-pot and cover them with water. 

 Add garlic, bay leaves and cumin to flavor

Cook on low overnight

Drain some of the water but leave some in and mash the beans with a masher

Scoop beans onto shells and add shredded cheese on top of the beans

Roll the tortillas into burritos

At this point you can choose to freeze them in a freezer bag or cook them

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place burritos on cookie sheet

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes


My kids loved these and we will have  often for our home-school lunches and may also try some breakfast ones :)

Sea foam candy Recipe

Need~
9 by 13 glass cake pan
aluminum foil
measuring cups
measuring spoons
Large pot

Ingredients~
 2 cups light corn syrup

2 cups packed brown sugar
4 teaspoon baking soda

• Line the glass pan with foil
• spray or brush on butter
• Pour the sugar and corn syrup in large pan stir together well until sugar is dissolved- cook on medium heat
• Let it get to about 300 degrees F without stirring~ Approx 15 minutes
• Remove from heat and add baking soda and mix well
• pour into the cake pan
• Allow to reach room temperature

Pour on melted chocolate if desired.

This recipe was found on www.nobiggie.net

I didn't realize the thermometer was on C and so I cooked it a bit too long. It is more of a taffy substance if this happens. Still worth trying again.

Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

I have discovered a healthy, fast and delicious breakfast my kids love! A fruit and yogurt parfait. I buy the big 32 oz carton of french vanilla yogurt so I can use it for smoothies also. Any yogurt will work. Then all you need is your favorite fruits and cereal to top it off.

Ingredients: 
Yogurt
Fruit- we use blueberries and strawberries
cereal

Directions:
Layer the yogurt on the bottom of a cup and top with your one of your fruit.
Put yogurt on top of the fruit and add the other fruit.
Put yogurt on top of that and then top off with your favorite crunchy cereal or granola. (we use honey cheerios)

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Today is my son Nolan's 5th birthday. I decided to make him some pumpkin cupcakes. This recipe also has some cream cheese frosting but my Nolan wants chocolate :)

I got this from Cooks.com

Cupcakes:

4 eggs

1 C. Vegetable oil

2 C. Sugar

2 C. Flour

1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 c. Canned pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs in a large mixing bowl, add next 6 ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer. Spoon batter into paper lined muffin pans, filling 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool and then frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 pkg. cream cheese softened

3 tbsp. butter, softened

2 1/2 C. sifted powered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

Combine cream cheese and butter, beat until light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth.

Chocolate Frosting:

2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar

6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

6 Tbsp. butter

5 Tbsp. evaporated milk (or regular milk)

1 Tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. in a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and  cocoa and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Adjust consistency with more milk or sugar if needed. I believe this is from allrecipes.com

       

Homemade tomato sauce

This is a great and easy recipe from recipetips.com .

 1 green pepper
1/2 onion-quartered

4 tomatoes skinned

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon salt

In a blender, add the green peppers strips and onion. Process until liquefied. 

( I put them all together and added salsa, cumin, chili powder and Cayenne pepper to make this a enchilada sauce)

Add the tomatoes, garlic and salt. Puree until liquefied

In a large saucepan, add vegetable mixture. Bring to a boil for a few minutes, and then allow it to simmer. As it the tomato sauce simmers, the excess water will rise to the top. Go ahead and take a spoon and skim off the excess water. ( I found this unnecessary since water usually boils out)

Simmer until it reaches your desired consistency. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Once sauce has cooled, you can either use it in a recipe, or it can be placed into a freezer container and be stored in the freezer for up to a year.

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

I found this on cooks.com.

Homemade Pizza Dough
1 Pkg. dry yeast
1 Cup Warm Water
3 Cups Flour (used whole wheat)
1 TSP. Sugar
1 1/2 TSP. Salt
1/4 Cup Salad Oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add Sugar, salt and oil: Mix thoroughly. Add 1/2 of the flour and beat until no lumps. Gradually add remaining flour. Knead dough for 5 minutes. Place on Greased pizza pan, leave edges a little thicker than middle. Let rise 20 to 30 minutes. Bake at 450 degrees until beginning to brown, remove and add sauce, toppings and cheese. Bake again until cheese browns.

This recipe was simple and a lot of fun. The pizza tasted great. I made mine into the shape of a heart for fun.

Wonderful Yogurt Cake

I found this recipe from allrecipes.com. This is great for any kind of yogurt. I had some yogurt I wanted to use in my fridge so this recipe worked great.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain yogurt ( I used stoneyfield vanilla yogurt)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 inch bundt pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until smooth. combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the yogurt. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until the knife inserted into the crown comes out clean.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Recipe comes from Cooks.com submitted by Colleen Skaines

Quick Mix Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Stir together dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk and oil. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Cook on preheated griddle until bubbles form and edges start to dry. Flip and cook until lightly browned.

Frosted Sugar Cookies

Get out your sprinkles and all your measuring cups, spoons, mixing bowls and most important your kids to help you make and decorate some sugar cookies. This is a fun and frugal activity to do with your kids. My kids were so excited to help, we had a lot of fun and made a wonderful memory. If you want to use cookie cutters bring them out and a rolling pin :)

I found the cookie recipe from allrecipes.com and it was submitted by Stephanie

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. (we used a rolling pin and cookie cutters for ours)
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet 2 minutes before removing to cool on wire rack.

I found the vanilla frosting recipe on Cooks.com
Ingredients:
3 Cups powdered sugar
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
about 2 tablespoons milk

Mix powdered sugar and butter. Stir in vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. This will frost a 13x9 inch cake or fills and frosts two 8 or 9 inch cake layers or frosts 24 cupcakes. (or in my case a batch of sugar cookies)

We had fun making these cookies and though some where misshapen and not perfect they tasted delicious and looked festive.

Buckeyes

This is a recipe from allrecipes.com submitted by Tammy Winters
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups peanut butter 1 cup buttersoftened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups confectioners' sugar ( I only had 4 cups on hand seem to work just as well)
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips ( I was about 1/4 cup short)

Directions:
1.In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and sugar. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed lined cookie sheet.
2. Press a toothpick into the top of each ball (I used one toothpick to put the ball into the melted chocolate) and chill in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Melt chocolate chips in double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until smooth. (I melted in a pan on medium heat and stirred frequently until melted)
4. Dip frozen peanut butter balls in chocolate holding onto the toothpick. Leave a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them like Buckeyes. Put back on cookie sheet and refrigerate until serving.

I found this to be a tedious endeavor, but I figure the next time I can have my kids help more with the chocolate since I will know what to expect the second time around. They were however, very delicious so worth the time it took to dip them in chocolate.

Banana Bread

This recipe is from Allrecipes.com

2 Cups all-purpose flour ( I used Whole Wheat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

I added crushed Walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out into a wire rack.

Lemonade

I got this from The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn:

Lemonade:
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 quart water

Homemade liquid laundry detergent

1 quart water (boiling) 2 cups Bar soap (grated) 2 cups borax 2 cups washing soda 2 more gallons water You will need about a 2.5 gallon container of some sort.

• Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water ( 1 quart) and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.


• Pour the soap water into a large, clean pail and add the borax and washing soda. Stir well until all is dissolved.


• Add 2 gallons of water, stir until well mixed.


• Cover the pail and use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. Stir each time you use it (will gel)

This recipe came from TipNut.com. I used this on my baby's cloth diapers. They smelled fresh and looked clean. I used Kirk's Castile bar soap in mine.

Eggplant and mushroom Linguine

1 eggplant
mushrooms
1/2 onion
Jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
mozzarella cheese
oregano
Parmesan
linguine noodles

peel eggplant and dice
sprinkle with salt and rinse in colander
cut mushroom and onion

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
cook eggplant, onion and mushroom in oil add some oregano and other desired spices
boil noodles according to directions
Put cooked linguine, eggplant, onion and mushroom in a baking dish
Add spaghetti sauce and mix ingredients together
Top with Mozzarella and Parmesan
Bake for about 20 minutes to melt cheese and warm dish

Yummy and easy Guacomole Dip

1 ripened Avocado ( I set mine on the counter until it feels soft)

A bit of Lemon juice for flavor and to keep it from browning

Mix desired amount of your favorite salsa

Peel Avocado and mash up

Add in lemon juice and salsa

Viola! a fast, easy and nutritious dip, just add some chips.

Homemade Mac and Cheese

This is from Cooks.com

1lb elbow macaroni
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1lb. assorted cheese (sharp, cheddar, Velveeta, Parmesan)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring Medium sized pan of water to a boil. Add elbow macaroni. Cook macaroni until done. Meanwhile, cut up cheese into thin slices or small cubes. Drain water and pour macaroni into a casserole dish.

Add butter, salt, pepper, milk and cheese. Stir together.

Bake for about 20- 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. If it gets dry you may need to add a little milk.

Cheesy Rice and Chicken Casserole

2 chicken breasts
minute rice
1 can chicken broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of mushrooms
1 onion
shredded cheese

preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut up chicken and brown in a skillet pan
Chop and Saute onions
make rice
Mix rice with chicken
pour in chicken broth
add mushrooms and onions
add in can of mushroom soup
Stir all ingredients together
put cheese on top and mix some in if desired

bake in oven for 30 minutes

My very own recipe turned out delicious.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
• 
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease six muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Stir together 1 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, baking powder and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix in oil, egg and milk. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling to the top of the cup.
3. In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix together with fork and sprinkle over unbaked muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

I got this recipe from Allrecipes.com Click Here to view the direct page. They are a little crisp, because I put them in for 5 minutes over what it said. Usually that is what I have to do for recipes in my oven. Next time I will make them at 20-25 minutes instead of 30 minutes. They still tasted delicious though.

Penne Pasta Bake

This is one of our favorites.

Ingrediants:

1 box of Penne Pasta

1 Jar of Spaghettie Sauce

1 roll of Turkey Sausage

1-2 cups shredded cheese

various spices such as Oregano, Cilantro, Garlic, Pepper ect

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook pasta according to box directions

Cook Turkey Sasuage

Mix sauce, pasta and sausage in a baking dish

add in spices and cheese

Bake for 15-25 minutes to heat and melt cheese

This is a recipe by me :)