Chilli Leftovers

I made chili the other night, but it had too many beans in it. What was I going to do with the leftovers? (I've been cooking)

Since I didn't have any more tomatoe sauce to make it soupier...I improvised and made a casserole out of it instead.

I dumped the beany stuff into my dish....

I cooked up some macaroni noodles....

I added the cheese sauce from the macaroni, the noodles, and some milk and mixed it all up.
I baked it for 20 minutes, and volia!

Served with garlic bread and salad and fruit....it was just fine!

Coupon Deals

Well, I haven't found any spectacular coupon deals recently....but boy am I ready! Here are all the fun inserts I've got in the mail recently, plus a couple picked up at our local grochery store.

Butter Chicken

I tried this Butter Chicken recipe recently too. (I've been cooking) It's great...and really does taste like real India. The best part is....it's in the slow cooker and is ready when I get home from work! Now that's nice!

What is really delicious with this, is Garlic Butter Naan.....but I haven't figured that one out yet. :)

What now?

You know...it's been a little busy up here for me....and I had a lot of things to post about but no time....and now that I find myself with some time....I can't remember what I wanted to post about! ha!

The past week I tried some new recipes....and they turned out delicious! We had come down with colds, and so I made a special treat for our stuffy-nosed-sore-throated selves: Idli!

These are a bunch of idlis with the sambar (red gravy) alongside. They are basically a steamed rice cake that you use to soak up a savory sauce, usually of vegetables.

You use these pans to make them. But I don't have these pans, so I made up my own version. Thanks to a friend, I have a large soup pot with a steamer basket. I used some small dessert bowls and mixed up the batter (from a mix I had). I could only cook one at a time because of the sizing, but it was worth it! (Well, except for the one that tasted burnt because I let all the water boil away in my pot until the fire alarm went off...)

Here is a very informative article about them.

It was delicious and perfect for our achey bodies.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

The Good
Today I was able to get a gallon of milk and 2 boxes granola bars for .89 cents! Milk is on sale at Target for $2.29, and when you buy two of their Kashi granola bar boxes, with 4 coupons ($2 manufacturer and $1 Target), you get .50 cents overage. This brought my total down to $1.79, and I had .90 cents left on a gift card...so .89 cents for all! That was fun.

The Bad
Not so much fun was my "deals" on chocolate. I was all excited to go candy shopping, using some coupons I'd been saving for the after Valentine's Day clearance. It was a plan that didn't work. I can't believe how quickly the stores here sold out of all their good candy! I couldn't find any candy at all that matched my coupons at either Target, Walgreens, or Pamida! And 2 out of 3 of those were sold out of M&Ms too! *sigh* Though I did pick up a couple bags of clearanced chocolate, it was more a waste of my time than ever planned :(

The Ugly
And the Ugly....well, I don't really have anything ugly but it just seemed to go in the title so well. I guess it's an old movie title...but I've never seen it, just heard the music. :)

Valentine's Day Concert

Last week, pre-Valentine's Day, our community hosted a free orchestra concert that was a lot of fun and very good. One of our friend's was in it, so that was fun.

I really enjoyed the music....especially the Star Wars Theme, Selections from the Phantom of the Opera, and Gabriel's Oboe.

When I go to concerts like this, I'm reminded of my school days, and it brings back sweet memories....and it makes me want to play duets again, or accompany singers again, or just go play piano for a while.

Gluten Free

A couple friends of mine have Celiac....and they can't have gluten products. Recently, I have decided to find out more about it, and see if I can learn how to cook that way too!

Above is a Valentines/Anniversary Pizza Kit I made for one of the friends.

• Gluten free pizza mix (from health food store...although I found recipes to make it here and here)
• Pepperoni
• Cheese
• Red Apple
• Red M & Ms
• Red jello
• Tomato sauce
• Jasmine hand lotion
• Red coupon book to Perkins

Last week, when we had the Ladies Tea Party, I made these glueten free snickerdooles (made with rice flour), with raspberry cream cheese frosting. They were yummy.

In my research...I've run across Xanthan Gum alot.....in recipies. I thought it might be a rising agent, but as it turns out, it's a non-glueten stick-things-together agent.....so your baked goods don't fall apart without any glueten! Cool.

• This is a neat blog of gluten-free recipes.
• Here is another celiac informational site.
• Here is a site of 365 slow-cooker/gluten-free recipes.

Ladies' Tea

Last Saturday was a busy one. One of the fun things we did was to have a Ladies' Tea at church.

Just to get together and encourage on another, we got together and drank tea and ate cookies. We read our Bibles, prayed, visited, watched little kids play, and learned a little more about hospitality!

What fun deals

All this for $15.79!

Abbi had told me about this good coupon-match-up deal at Marketplace this week. When I had a chance, I went over to check it out. I also made a trip to Pamida for their double coupon daze. It was great fun!

The apples were on sale 2/$3.00 with the daily Marketplace Coupon.

The chex mix (6 bags) and the soup (4 cans) were all free, with $3.00 in overage!

The onions were 38 cents a pound.

The ramen noodles and chicken were splurges...for some upcoming supper ideas I have.

The sunflower seeds were free...because of the overage from the chex mix! $7.80 here...a savings of $36.00.

At Luekens, they are running a 10 for $10 sale on margarine and juice. Right now there are coupons out there for the juice....and I might go back for some more. $5.00 here...a savings of $5.00.

At Pamida I got 4 boxes of kleenex (with 2 coupons, one double and the other for a free box) and a thing of dishwashing soap...all for $2.99....less than the regular price of just the thing of dishwashing soap! $2.99 here....a savings of $6.37.

Valentines Ideas

We thought we might be babysitting on Valentines Day, so I came up with a plan. As it turns out, it's not needed, so I thought I'd share it with you :)

Things to Do:

• In-the-house Treasure Hunt (clues written on paper hearts....leading to the treasure:construction paper hearts stapled back to back and filled with treats)
• Sledding
• Read any books emphasizing that God Loves You
• Make cookies
• Hide small hearts around the living room and hunt for them
• Visit some of our elderly friends with baked goods and cards
• Go for a walk

Breakfast Plan:

• Strawberries
• Heart shaped pancakes

Supper Plan:

• Spread the table with a red tablecloth, white plates, and red and white napkins
• Heart-shaped Pizza
• Apple slices
• Red jello in heart mold
• Red rice-crispy bars

Old Orchard Coupon

I just had to post this good deal that came up today (I'll post about the good deals I got yesterday, later).

At Lueken's Food Store....Old Orchard Juice is on sale 10 for $10. Today, this coupon came out, $1 off 2! That makes them 50 cents each! Pretty good for Sunday morning breakfasts!

The other to print is $1 off 4 concentrates....to use later :)

Sprouts

My sprouts grew! I've eaten sprouts before, but this was my first time growing them myself....and it was very fun! Thanks to Abbi! Above is my first batch. It's all gone now. Time for more.

I stopped at the health food store and looked around yesterday. I found some hand-outs about sprouting that are really quite interesting! You can sprout all these different things:

• Alfalfa
• Barley
• Buckwheat
• Clover
• Mung beans
• Kidney beans
• Lentils
• Oats
• Peas
• Radish
• Soybeans
• Sunflower
• Wheat

It also had a section of "seeds to sprout together," like 2T. alfalfa, 4 T mung, and 1 tsp. radish for salads, sandwiches, and omletes. Or how about 2 T mung, 1 T sunflouer, 2 T lentil, 2 T garbanzo - cook and mash sprouts and use as sandwhich spread!

The basics of sprouting are:

1. Sort and soak
2. Drain
3. Harvest (after some days)

It's best to eat them withing 4-5 days of harvest, but some you can freeze for later use!

Then it had recipes to use the sprouts in, along with their nutrition facts and length of growth peiod.

I told Concha the other day I'm going to try growing lettuce and grass inside soon too. Just to have some greenery...and I guess I'll eat the lettuce. :)

Pretty

I saw these paper hearts and it reminded me of May Day...but that's soooo far away! I'm sure I can think of another reason for these pretty hearts!

Not that you need directions....but if you'd like to see them, and other ideas, go here.

Window Treatments

Look at these wonderful ideas for windows! I think I should try one of these in the near future.....

I found these neat (and some interesting) window ideas at Better Homes and Gardens website.

Here is one with different curtain ideas.

Joy of Baking

Oh my.

I came across this wonderful website. I didn't know it exsisted. Or that it was so pretty! It's not like the other recipe sites out there, though I find those handy as well....to look up a lost ingredient.....to get ideas for supper.....to learn a new tip. This one.....this one I could get lost in for a long time!

The Joy of Baking

Just look at these tantalizing options:

Chocolate Roll

Chocolate Butter Cake

Fruit Tart

Meringue Hearts

Sugar Cookies

Strawberry Shortcakes

Shortbread Cookies

Peppermint Patties

So many things...

Since I've been in the "blah" mood, I've spent more time just browsing some fun sites I had bookmarked, and reading some good books. I guess I've forgotten to post them all this week! So, I have some catch up to do I guess :)

First off....do you remember my burnt chex mix? Well, I just found out I can make it in my crock-pot....without the burning factor! nice. Check out the directions here.

The rest of this week was filled with dress-shopping, work-pending, deal-searching, flight-finding, supper-making, lesson-prepping, friend-visiting activities. :)

Blah.

I certainly have been "in a mood" these past couple days.

I keep forgetting things.
I seem to have lost my people skills, annoying those I'm around and they annoying me.
I am constantly leaning toward "the left" (I like to call that my negative side), and am in constant motion trying to balance myself out more to the right.

I feel like a hermit....I'd love to curl up, bake something, sit down with a good book and the scarf I'm trying to make, and stay at home.

I don't feel like dressing up.
I don't feel like going out.
I don't feel like making decisions.

But even still....I know I can't live my life based on feelings. As much as they are part of my life, I know they still need to be under God's control. As Carolyn McCulley said in her book "Radical Womenhood,"

"The Bible [does] not shrink back from the reality of our fluctuating feelings. it also [does] not leave us wallowing in them. Our emotions were designed by God to propel us toward truth and faith."

I take that to mean, no matter what I'm feeling....it should be propelling me closer to God....down on my knees....seeking Him more. And it's true....there's no season that make me realize how desperately in need of Him I am!