Lately.......

I figured since I haven't posted in awhile that I would do some latelys....

reading: What haven't I read lately?  Seems like I have read a ton the past couple of months!  A friend found this awesome author, her name is Kristen Ashley. She has ten million books (literally) and I have read about all of them. They are fun reads, long, but detailed and full of hot men, gaggle of girls, drama and kidnappings.  Weird, I know, but they are so much fun to read!  I'm not the biggest fan of bikers, but one book got me hooked on them! hahaha.  Check her out, her ebooks are cheap and its a really fun read!  I suggest  "motorcycle man", "games of  the heart", "the gamble" and "breathe" of course those are all in series, so you should read the series too!

obsessing: trying to find a house to live in.  I am sick of apartments.  We need room, Zoe needs a yard to play in.  I'm sick of cramming all our things in this tiny apartment. we have outgrown it.  but its so hard finding a house to rent in our budget. 

listening to: still loving Of Monsters and Men

baking/making: I bought an apple peeler/slicer/corer this summer, so I plan on a lot of apple desserts this winter :) 

looking forward to: Christmas festivities. this year we start the tradition of elf on the shelf.

want to accomplish: getting rid of a lot of our stuff we haven't used in awhile.  I decided since I haven't scrapbooked in a long time, and just cart the stuff around that I am going to get rid of it all.  sad, i know.

  

watching: vampire diaries! revolution is good, the mindy project=hilarious, new girl, once upon a time and revenge are on my must watch list.  Also watched breaking amish, disappointing in that one.  those kids were ridiculous.  

missing: being young and having no worries!

I'm Back!

I have been MIA for a bit, took the summer off to relax, get some organizing done, and do some more relaxing.  I'm working on a post of things that I actually completed this summer.  Some are still work in progress.  I have still been pinning like crazy and I came across some yummy prosciutto the other day and I couldn't pass it up, so I purchased some and decided to make some pasta carbonara.  My all time favorite pasta.  My favorite Italian restaurant Enzo's makes it perfect, but they are expensive, so my version will have to suffice.  Let me tell ya, my version came out perttty good!  

Here is the original recipe.

Here is my adaptation:

Pasta Carbonara:

4 eggs; room temp
1/2 c. shredded romano
1/2 c. parm cheese
3 oz. prosciutto; diced (can use pancetta)
3 garlic cloves; minced
1lb. spaghetti
1 c. frozen peas
fresh cracked black pepper

First off boil your water (don't forget the salt), cut up your prosciutto (original recipe calls for pancetta, but I had prosciutto) and saute over med-hi heat.  Now mine didn't render a lot of fat, so if yours does then scoop it out when crisp and reserve some of the rendering.  While crisping the prosciutto, I added the minced garlic.  I had the prosciutto in the pan for about 6 minutes or so.  When the water is boiling add your pasta and cook until al dente.  Towards the end, add the peas. 

While the pasta and prosciutto are cooking crack your eggs and add the cheese, I added a touch of half and half to mine, whisk together.  Reserve a cup of pasta water and temper the eggs with half a cup of pasta water, this will cook it.  (tempering, just add a little at a time and whisk quickly, so the eggs don't curdle)

Add cooked pasta to pan of prosciutto and toss with 1/4 c. pasta water.  Then add egg mixture and cracked black pepper, then toss to coat. Top with a little bit of cheese and enjoy!

My 1st couponing experience!

At the beginning of the summer I had a class in my home about couponing.  How to do it, where to go, how to stack.  All that good stuff.  So we all purchased four papers, which means Wednesday-Sunday we get four papers a day.......that's a lot of papers.  20 a week!  But I made my coupon binder and labeled everything with dates, and we are just starting to get out and do it.  I consulted with couponersunited and went for it.  I was so excited today!  I went to CVS.  We had $8 in care bucks, which means I could use that as payment!  Whoohoo!

So I packed my coupons, had them in order, went to the store in the storm and stocked up.  Cept I thought my care bucks were on the card....no turns out you have to have a receipt with the care bucks amount on there.  Which you can get at the machine in the front of the store when you walk in.  So I got my 16 items and went up to pay.  Thinking I was only going to pay $6.  But I did not, but I can still use them next time, for maybe even a better purchase!

So here is the break down.

2 xtra detergents...$1.49 each (no coupon, just cvs card)

4 Palmolive soap....$.99 each (4/.25 off coupons used)

Hellman's mayo.....2/$6 (2/$1 off coupons used)

4 mitchum deodorants.....$1.99 each (4/$1 off  coupons used)

4 Bayer 20 ct. aspirin.....$3 each (4/$3 off coupons used)

Grand total $14.80

Amount saved $47.46

All Bayer aspirin FREE!!! 

So for my first trip that included a screw up I think I did pretty good!

Anyone else have the extreme couponing bug??

*Allie 



Not your average cupcake

Hello!  So I just got back from vacation and feeling a little guilty that I left my daughter at home with my mom.  I know every parent needs time to themselves, but I really missed her.  So I am trying to make up for it. 

First, I made cupcake pancakes.

Sorry for the picture quality. 

These are super simple.  Just make pancakes how you usually make them (I just use pancake mix), but you add your syrup in there.  1/4c. of maple syrup in your pancake mix.  Pour into sprayed cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Easy peasy!  My daughter really enjoyed them and ate them up!

Next I made meatloaf cupcakes....

quick and easy!

for the meatloaf all I use is 1 lb ground turkey, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 BBQ sauce, 1 box stuffing ( I use cornbread stuffing) and one egg.  mix together form little balls and plop in a muffin tin! (don't forget to spray!) Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (if using turkey, make sure temp is 165 degrees)

I made homemade mashed potatoes, stuck it in zip lock back, snipped off the corner and pipped it on.  They came out super cute and super yummy!  Good for portion control as well.

yeah these werent a big hit with the kiddo.  She wasnt buying the whole cupcake thing! haha.  She'd rather regular frosting, not mashed potato frosting!

Anyone have any not your average cupcake recipes?

 *allie 



A little bit of latelys.....

Latelys.....

I figured since I haven't posted in awhile that I would do some latelys....

reading: Well a friend lent me a book on nook that I am gonna start reading tonight!  Cant wait!

obsessing: trying to organize our lives....trying new fun recipes.  I'm on the hunt for new stuff all the time!

listening to: I just downloaded a bunch of old songs on to my ipod.  Ive been having a lot of nostalgic feelings lately!  like early mid 90's.  I miss the music of those days!

baking/making: Lets see.  Blueberries were cheap the week before I left for vacay so we froze a bunch of them.  Made yummy lemon blueberry donuts. On the agenda is blueberry muffins, I am into cupcakes...but that I'll save for another post :)

looking forward to: spending lazy summer days with my baby!

want to accomplish: OPERATION ORGANIZATION!  I have only put a little chip in the iceberg of that one!!!

watching: well its summer time, so that means True Blood is back on!  I went a little crazy there for a hot minute and bought season 1 and 2, then read the 1st two books of the series again......just because the latest book sucked so bad!  I'm also watching pretty little liars and drop dead diva!!

missing: having no bills. I don't mind the normal ones, but these medical bills are killing me!!  I want my co-pay back!!!

 

What have you all been up to lately???

 

 

*Allie

New Recipes

Its been awhile, since I last posted and I just noticed that my last post was my 100th!  How exciting.  Well, its exciting to me, haha. 

The past few weeks I have been hanging at home trying to start operation organization.  Its not as easy as it looks.  I'm weeding out a lot of junk, but with my three year old at my heels, things just seem to get messier.  But that's OK, there is nothing I can do about that! 

I did just recently host a couponing class.  There is this awesome group around the Orlando area called couponers united (fb link) that give you links to printable coupons, as well as deals in local grocery stores/drug stores so you can save money.  Also they are big on giving back to the community.  Which I think is awesome.  We all need to save money now a days and you can give away the items you spent so little on and really help a person in need and save money while doing it.  I never understand some of those extreme couponers who seem to hoard all the things they buy.  Maybe they give it away, but it dosen't look like it to me.  But that's just my view on it. 

Any who, I am way off topic now.  So whenever I have a get together at my place I have to make some yummy food.  Where do I go to find this yummy food??  Pinterest of course!  I made some goodies, that will definitely be made again!

 Pizza Stuffed mushrooms via how sweet it is

These were yummy and tasted like pizza.  Many variations you could do with it.  I did not add the onion and parm.  I used black olives, five cheese Italian cheese blend, pepperoni and green pepper.  I wonder how pineapple and ham would taste for a Hawaiian pizza mushroom!

Strawberry yogurt cake via a spicy perspective

I think the cake came out yummy!  I used betty crockers bottled glaze for the top, b/c when I make my own it comes out too translucent.  Try it for the summer, who doesn't love strawberries!?

Has anyone tried any new recipes I need to try out??

*Allie



Yummy Pot Roast

This is my absolute favorite pot roast recipe.  I have been using it for years, so I don't remember the source.  Some magazine.  I use the crock pot, so all I had to do was make my sides and dinner was done! 

Allie's Favorite Pot Roast

bottom roast (I used a roast a little over 2 lbs.)

2 cans of cream of whatever soup (I used celery and mushroom)

packet of Lipton's onion soup

carrots

potatoes

onions

salt and pepper

Throw the soup and Lipton's soup mix in the crock pot and mix.  Add potatoes, onions, carrots (chop however you like).  Now I also salt my roast on both sides and then throw it it.  I turn it around so it gets covered in the "gravy".  Put on low for 6-8 hours.  After its done its so tender you can just shred it and then your gravy is already done. 

For dinner I made buttered noodles for it.  Or you could make mashed potatoes, whatever you like!

Now for my side, this I found on pinterest and it smelled delicious!  It tasted delicious!  This one is def. a keeper!

Found over at kalyns kitchen.

Cheesy Zucchini and Squash

2 zucchini

2 yellow squash

2 T. fresh basil, chopped.

1 t. fresh thyme

2 green onion stalks, chopped

salt and pepper

garlic powder

1/2 c. white cheese + 1/2 c. white cheese (for topping)

1/2 c. parm cheese

Mix all together, except 1/2 c. cheese for topping.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  After the 25-30 minutes add the rest of the cheese and pop back in the oven for another 10 minutes, or until browned. 

So quick and easy and yummy!

Anyone making anything new for dinner??