May 2009

Brown Bag Burritos

Brown Bag Burritos

I have no clue why they are called brown bag burritos hehe, they came from the
Tried and True Cooking Blog

BROWN BAG BURRITOS
1 lb. ground beef
1 can refried beans
2/3 c. enchilada sauce
1/4 c. water
1/3 c. minced onion
1/2 TBSP chili powder
1/2 TBSP garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 c. shredded colby/jack
10 flour tortillas

Brown and drain meat. Add all ingredients, but tortillas. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Fill tortillas and roll up. Serve with shredded lettuce, cheese, sour cream and salsa.

Ch,ch,ch Changes

Hi to all readers and listeners:

I am Melissa Smallwood, of Organized Life by Design and Multitasking Mama, now the proud new owner of this site.  Angie has created such a fabulous network for moms, I am honored andexcited to be taking over.  The feel, function and focus of the site will remain the same as well as the podcast/BlogTalkRadio show format and schedule.  The header, post schedule and minor cosmetic things will be changing. 

I would love to hear feedback from readers, suggestions, comments- what you would like to see!  All or any of the above.  Feel free to leave a comment on this post or email me.

If you are interested in information about contributing to the site or our new advertising packages, email me.

I look forward to helping you learn practical ways to live the life you were designed for!

Sincerely,

Melissa

Baked Ham Rigatoni

If you have a love for pasta and cheese then Baked Ham Rigatoni is the recipe for you. One of my weaknesses is “Pasta” oh how I could eat it everyday, add some cheese and that just makes it that much better. I saw this recipe for Baked Ham Rigatoni at Recipes of a Cheapskate. At first glimpse I knew I had to make it all that cheesy pasta with a homemade white sauce, it just looked to good to pass up. This dish was so fast and easy to throw together and everyone loved it. I mean how can you go wrong with pasta and cheese, plus this dish is pretty inexpensive to make as well. I get a bit nervous sometimes when I have to make my own creamy white sauce. I always think I am going to mess it up, but I didn’t it turned out perfect. Serve with a salad and some crusty french bread, definitely comfort food at it’s best. I will be making this dish again.

BAKED HAM RIGATONI

1 pkg (16 oz) rigatoni pasta
2 – tablespoons real butter (1 oz)
1/2 cup flour
1 qt milk (4 cups)
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (separated)
about 1/2 lb thinly sliced ham
seasonings
(onion salt, pepper, cayenne pepper is optional)
small pads of butter for top

Preheat oven to 425degrees. Melt butter over medium heat and start water boiling for pasta. Once butter is melted, whisk in flour. Add your milk, and continue to stir until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. When the water is boiling, add pasta and cook until just past the Al-dente stage. Just starting to get soft. When the white sauce is done, add your seasoning, ham, and one cup cheese. stir well, to get the cheese melted. Drain your pasta and add to the sauce. Pour mixture into a greased 9×13 pan, smooth the top and sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese. Dot the top with your pads of butter and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top is bubbly and brown.

For step by step directions and photos of this recipe and more visit my Recipe Site: Mommy’s Kitchen

Frugal WAHMs Talk Radio FOR SALE Make an Offer

Sale of Frugal
WAHMs Talk Radio

Email me at AngelaWenke@aol.com

Due to family emergency and not
having enough time I am having to sell Frugal WAHMs Talk Radio. Frugal WAHMs
Talk Radio has a very high traffic ranking and tons of traffic from heavy
advertising, search engine placement, and networking, Our Asking Price is very
negotiable we will accept best offer

Asking Price
for Site and Everything included is $500.00 OR BEST OFFER

Sale Includes:

Opening Commercial for the show

Mailing Lists in Word Format (600
members)

3 Wordpress Templates I purchased
(value $300)

Blog Talk Radio Site with a year and
half worth of MP3’s

Three months paid web hosting via
Prim Web Designs ($9.99 a month)

Staff Information and Contact
Information

All graphics for the site

All files I have for upcoming posts
you can use

15.000 PLR Articles you use for when
you need some content

10 Product Reviews with photos you
can use

Domain name Frugal WAHMs Talk
Radio.com through Godaddy

Wordpress site

Upcoming Guests info

Will also throw in my Twitter
Account which has over 3,993 Followers and is linked to the site

Our Ning Community Site also

As part of the sale I am asking that
FULL Credit is still given for the articles I have written. And I would be happy
to stay on and occasionally contribute articles if the new owner wishes. Also
with the sale of the site I ask that my banners to my two graphics site remain
up and running.

In the past we have had paid
advertising on the site but because I have been busy dealing with family issues
I have slacked on this! Right now the site brings in $40 a month in advertising
but it has been a lot more in the past as it a heavily advertised and visited
site.

What to Make for Dinner When It’s Too Hot to Cook

What is worse than the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner mom”? In the summer, it’s the thought of turning on the stove or oven to make dinner. I thought it would be good to share some great summertime dinners, everyone in your family will love. Not only do they not require any cooking, but they are healthy and delicious as well.

In the summer many families enjoy some wonderful salads. Here are a few of favorites. Of course you can incorporate whatever ingredients your family prefers.

Not your traditional tossed salad: A traditional tossed salad is awesome and easy to make, but sometimes as a standalone meal, it may not fully satisfy those hungry appetites at dinner. To enhance a traditional tossed salad try adding some of the following ingredients for extra flavor and protein:

· Chunks of cubed cheddar cheese

· Slices of lunchmeat, like turkey, chicken breast or ham

· Leftover chicken breast

· Zucchini squash slices

· Yellow squash slices

· Crumble some leftover taco meat, tortilla chips and Catalina dressing for a taco salad

Chef’s salad: Basically a chef’s salad is an upgraded tossed salad. Just add hardboiled eggs, chunks of cheese and sliced ham, turkey, chicken breast and roast beef and voila, you have a chef’s salad. Hearty and yummy!

Spinach salad: Made with yummy spinach leaves or baby spinach leaves, a spinach salad is cool, refreshing and yummy! I like to add shredded cheese, slices of ham, turkey and roast beef, cucumbers, pickles, black olives and for added zest some jalapenos! I top mine with an Italian dressing or balsamic vinaigrette.

Sandwiches: Another great meal idea you can create without cooking is sandwiches. Yes, sandwiches for dinner. When it’s too hot to cook, some cool sandwiches are the ticket. Not only are they easy and heat free, but they are also less filling than a big huge dinner! Some great summer sandwiches are:

Chicken salad: I love chicken salad and love to have a batch made up for last minute, easy on the go meals. Serve some on a pita or flat bread, in a tortilla or in a croissant to change things up a bit.

Deli style sandwiches: I love to sink my teeth into a yummy, thick sandwich filled with all of the fixings of a deli. Pile on the meats, cheeses, and veggies! Some of my favorites are:

· Ham

· Turkey

· Roast Beef

· Chicken Breast

· Corned Beef

· Salami

· Pepperoni

· Bacon

· Alfalfa or Bean Sprouts

· Cucumbers

· Pickles

· Tomatoes

· Romaine or leaf lettuce

· Green Peppers

Serve on thick bread with brown mustard, if you like, and mayonnaise.

Dinner doesn’t always have to be a huge 3 or 4 course cooked or baked meal. A hearty salad or sandwich will satisfy your kids, hubby and guests, while keeping you cool at the same time.

Five Cool Snack Ideas for Kids

Got kids? Got kids that get bored, hungry and hot in the summertime? If you do have kids you know all of those things go together whether we want them to or not, right? Do you get tired of hearing, “but I don’t like THAT mom” or other complaints when you offer them a quick snack? Are you looking for some healthy, delicious, “cool” (as in refreshing AND neat) treats to satisfy kids of all ages? Then look no further! Here are five treats your kids will love and ask for over and over. Not only will your kids love them but so will you because they are easy to make, delicious and healthy. Who could ask for anything more?

Fruit Pizza:

Delicious and oh so easy to make; fruit pizza will please every person in your household and it will help get your kids (and hubby) to eat more fruit.

The ingredients:

· 1 pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough mix

· 1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

· 1/3 cup granulated sugar

· 4 cups assorted fruits, sliced (strawberries, bananas, oranges, blueberries, etc.), you can throw these together in a bowl if you wish.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees Celsius). Roll cookie dough into a ball and place in the center of a pizza pan and spread evenly over pizza pan, into a 12 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Mix the sugar and cream cheese together and spread over the cookie crust. Top with the fruit and then sprinkle the lemon juice over the fruit (this helps to keep it from turning brown). Refrigerate. Slice into 12 pizza wedges and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers. This is also a great treat to serve at a birthday party. Kids and adults love it!

Fruit Juice Spritzer

Do your kids like soda, but you hate for them to have it all the time? One of my favorite beverages any time of the year is a fruit juice spritzer. It’s refreshing, cool and tasty. Plus it has the added benefit of fruit juice so you can count is as a fruit serving for the day! I prefer using 100% Juicy Juice, being that it’s, well, 100% all natural juice. But you can use any juice you prefer. You’re kids will love it and it’s a cool, easy to serve beverage made of ingredients you probably already have. It’s also healthier than letting them have a full glass of soda.

It’s so easy. All you do is pour about 1/2 a glass of juice in a cup over ice and fill the rest of the glass with 7UP or Sprite. Voila! You have a Fruit Juice Spritzer. It’s better than a full glass of soda and your kids get the fruit serving they need. You can vary the amounts of course; a little more juice or a little less, depending on your taste, but don’t defeat the purpose of cutting down on the soda.

For an added treat you could blend the juice with some ice in the blender and make “slushies.” Just fill the glass with the slushie mix and pour the soda over the icy juice.

Homemade Juice or Kool-Aid popsicles

One of my kid’s favorite treats growing up was homemade popsicles. They loved helping make them and of course eating them. Plus they are super easy to make and oh so handy when your kids need a quick snack to tide them over until dinner.

Ingredients:

· Pitcher of Kool-Aid or other drink mix, prepared. You can also make juicy pops using your favorite fruit juice, but mix with water first, 5 parts water to 1 part juice.

· Freezer pop molds. If you don’t have them, just use ice cube trays.

Pour the prepared drink mix or Kool-Aid into freezer molds or ice cube trays and freeze. If you want to put a popsicle stick into the ice cubed pops, freeze slightly first, and then insert in the middle of the ice cube pop so it will stand up.

Voila! Easy, handy, yummy and cool! You’re kids will think you’re the best mom ever.

Ice Cream Float

Who doesn’t love ice cream? What better summertime treats than a delicious ice cream float? It’s so quick, easy and refreshing. Here’s a neat twist on the traditional float:

Using your choice of ice cream put two scoops in a dessert or tall glass. Break up your favorite candy bar into pieces and place in glass. Fill with your favorite soda, like root beer or cola.

Yogurt and Fruit Lollies

When I was a kid I loved having something I could grab and go outside with my friends. (Where have those days gone?) Better yet, I loved having a treat I could share with my friends. These yummy yogurt and fruit lollies are the perfect summertime treat. They are cool, refreshing, healthy and easy to take on the go.

What you need:

· Popsicle molds with sticks, preferably the flat molds

· A container of flavored yogurt, preferably a fruit flavor

· Sliced fruit

How you make it:

Fill the molds with the yogurt, insert stick and place fruit on the top. Freeze. Place mold in warm water to remove the lolly when ready to eat.

Healthy, delicious, and handy all wrapped up into one! Every mother’s dream and every kid’s treat. Making kids happy and keeping them healthy doesn’t have to be a huge chore, nor does it have to taste bad. Using these simple ideas will serve both purposes, quick, easily and efficiently. Your kids will thank you for it.

Chocolaty Toasted Almond Ice Cream

What You Need:

6 T of cold water

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

3 C of milk

3 C of sugar

1/4 t of salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

7 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

4 C of heavy whipping cream

2 t vanilla

1 C slivered almonds, toasted

How to Make It:

Pour the cold water into a small mixing bowl.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let stand for at least 2 minutes.

Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan and place over medium heat.

When the milk reaches 170 degrees whisk in the sugar and salt.

Stirring continuously, cook the mixture until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Place the eggs into a small mixing bowl.

Pour 1/4 C of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk until well combined.

Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the hot milk, whisking as you pour.

Place the heat on low and stirring constantly cook the custard about 5 minutes or until it coats the back of a metal spoon.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the gelatin mixture until completely dissolved.

Blend in the melted chocolate.

Quickly cool the custard in an ice water bath for 5 minutes.

Stir in the whipping cream and vanilla until well blended.

Press plastic wrap onto the custard surface and chill the custard overnight.

Fill the ice cream maker cylinder 2/3 full of mixture and freeze according to manufacture’s directions.

Stir in the toasted almonds and allow the ice cream to ripen at least 2 hours.

Makes 2 quarts

When adding nuts to homemade ice cream be sure to always follow the directions on the recipe. If nuts or fruit are added to soon they become hard and loose their flavor.

Ways to Make Cents at Home

In the midst of all these skyrocketing prices, come the how’s, ways and means to save money and earn extra.

There are creative but practical ways you can engage in to help the family save and at the same time earn extra. The things that have been sitting in your attic for sometime and those that become all too familiar and useless might mean extra bucks. This way, it saves you space, cleaning materials and containers. This reduces maintenance expenses.

Garage sale at home is a save-and-earn endeavor for starters. Look at the success of flea markets where people can buy almost anything at a lower price but large amount of income for vendors.

How to maximize the potential of flea markets and bargain sales to help you save? Primarily, a flea market is a place where almost all who have something to sell can sell for tremendously lower costs but good quality items. If you have the right tools and enough preparation for a day’s trip to a flea market, then you are ready to go with some handy tips:

1.    Ready your tools, maps, measurements and cash:
•    easy-to-carry tool kit with screwdrivers, pliers, tape measure, pencil, ropes, set of swatches, paper and plastic bags and boxes;
•    floorplan measurements;
•    maps, directions and phone numbers;
•    bring enough cash and checks for high-priced items;
•    dress yourself appropriately for bargain hunting.
2.    Early birds usually get the best selections.
3.    Keep a critical eye during shopping.
•    Be ready to negotiate and haggle on the prices of items.
•    Items sold here have greater possibilities, either you can redecorate or repaint them to make it look unique and attractive.

How to make this activity an earning endeavor? After your hands-on training in an established flea market, hope you took note of your observations and ideas; it is time to try out on your own.

Bear in mind five things crucial to garage sale success: location, date and time, variety of goods, organization/presentation, advertisements and prices.

•    Spot a strategic location where people can access and drop by easily. Your house is the perfect venue for this. Weekends are the best to schedule your sale.
•    During your cleaning session, take note of candidate items for the sale, label them (keep, for repair, must go) and give them a brand new look.
•    Organize them well according to prices, use arrangement styles, decide on the tables, baskets and boxes for the items and decorate your venue with fabrics and other helpful materials.
•    Lower your prices. The idea here is to dispose of the things but earn from them reasonably.

Product Reviews-Clorox Greenworks Free and Clear Dishsoap

Available by the dozen at Amazon.com for $54.99 –> B001G84VWI

Also available at grocery and warehouse stores nationwide.

Our Rating: 3 out of 5

In the kitchen is one of the places that just about everyone is trying to be a little greener. It’s likely to be the place that many people are realizing they were the least green to begin with.

Take a moment to think about the things that come through our kitchens. Not just processed foods, but garbage, cleaning products, containers, the list could go on for miles.

No matter where you live or how you feel about the green movement, one thing we all have to do is dishes. Plates, glasses, bowls, silverware, pots and pans all need to be cleaned on a daily basis all across the world.

Clorox GreenWorks dish soap is one of the many products released by Clorox in response to the growing interest in cleaning products that are both green and reliable. To take a brand name people know and trust for clean, and to make it safe for our environment, affordable for most budgets, and widely available to just about everyone.

GreenWorks dish soap contains no phosphorous or bleach, and is made using natural ingredients such as coconut cleaners for a fresh kind of clean. You’ll get the extraordinary cleaning power you’ve come to expect from Clorox, without any harsh chemical residue on your hands and dishes.

Of course, you’re probably wondering how this dish soap stacks up to the competition! Have no fear, these suds as well as the other cleaners in the Clorox GreenWorks lineup have been blind tested and rated by over 200 households as being just as effective, if not more effective than the leading conventional cleaners.

My personal opinions are on that same level. I’ve gone through 3/4^th’s of the bottle and been nothing but pleased with the way this dish soap gets to work and cleans. It doesn’t leave behind a filmy residue, and it cuts through grease and grime just as well as my previous bottle of suds.

One thing I hope to see in the future is more scent choices on the shelves. When I’m doing dishes it’s nice to have a pleasant scent, and from time to time I like to change things up and try different scents.

Product Review-Dropps Laundry Detergent

Available in packs of 3 at Amazon.com for $22.46 –>

Also available at most Target locations

Our Rating: 5 out of 5

Three types of Dropps are available, Free & Clear Unscented, Fresh Scent, and Dropps for Baby Laundry

Whether you do your laundry at home or at the local laundromat , you’re going to need detergent. The sudsy good smelling stuff that gets our clothes, blankets, and socks fresh and clean.

Dropps makes sure that you don’t waste a single drop of detergent. They earn bonus points for making laundry washing simple and easy. You just add a premeasured drop to your loaded washing machine and start the load as usual.

The best part is they work with all types of washing machines, from the typical top loading washer to the new top of the line High Efficiency (HE) machines, your laundry will come out perfectly washed and rinsed free of soap every time. Not only do they work in any machine, they work great with the cold wash cold rinse cycle, so you can save energy as well by not using the warm or hot settings.

Price wise you’re going to spend a bit more on Dropps than your average laundry detergent. However, the average detergent bottle says it washes 32-36 loads. But, with all the mis-measuring that occurs, not many people actually get that many loads from the bottle. Using Dropps eliminates that problem.

Now, you’ve saved energy and made washing the laundry so easy that even the younger kids can do it without the worry of making a mess or using too much soap. That perk alone is enough to make Dropps my detergent of choice!

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