Cute Cheap Stuff!

This is how I feel about what I just made:

!!!

Intrigued? Check it: Frozen Peanut-Butter-Chocolate-Chip Milkshakes

Peanut butter milkshakes are my favorite, so I was very excited to try this somewhat healthier version. And I have to say it’s pretty darn good. It’s not the same as a regular milkshake, but it’s a lot closer than I expected it would be. I definitely recommend giving it a go, and I definitely plan on making it again. I’m not a huge chocolate chip fan, so next time I’ll probably use chocolate syrup. Actually, now that I think about it, Nutella would be amazing. But Nutella is amazing on everything – which is why I have banned it from my apartment.

The recipe also gave me a chance to use my food processor for the first time. The food processor I got for Christmas. Yes, six months ago – that food processor. The one I was dyyyyyyyying to get and was so excited about that I let it collect dust for half a year. There’s a needs vs. wants lesson in there somewhere.

To recap:

Delicious “milk”shake? Check.

Food processor does in fact work? Check.

The recipe made two servings like it said it would? Check.

Pretended like it was one serving? Check.

I’ve made a couple new dishes lately that turned out to be pretty bland, but fortunately I came across one winner: cheese and caramelized onion pizza. It’s sooooo good, you guys. I’ve never cooked caramelized onions before, and while I didn’t do a stellar job of it, the onions still turned out well. (This could have something to do with the fact that I got a new stove/oven, and I’m amazed at how much better it cooks. It’s just faster and cooks more evenly.)

The pizza is not exactly cheap, as prosciutto is rather expensive considering how much you get. And fontina isn’t really low cost either. But I think the cost is worth it, as it’s a nice change from the usual tomato sauce and mozzarella pizza.

Made anything noteworthy lately?

No, I’m not going gluten-free, but I know a few people who are, so in honor of them (I am inspired by their efforts and self-control), here are a few budget-minded links from Wisebread:

• Budget Friendly, Gluten-Free Grocery Staples
• Homemade Gluten-Free Noodles
• Homemade Gluten-Free Bread
• Gluten-Free Desserts

Tip time!

• Apartment Therapy is doing a Home Hacks series, and it’s pretty awesome. There are some rather silly ideas, but plenty of good ones too, including using a walnut to cover up dings in wooden furniture.
• From the Kitchn, a couple egg tips: how to test an egg for freshness (it seems like they last forever?) and how to get the eggshell out of a cracked egg (I run into this problem quite a bit!)

Treat time!

• Also from the Kitchen, 11 grown up cocktails without alcohol
• S’mores cupcakes. I’m not sure what to say about this, other than I WANT TO TRY IT!

A couple booze-related links:

• Magic Juice – this sounds and looks wonderful!
• How to make grenadine and why you should bother. I never really thought about grenadine having high fructose corn syrup. Of course, I’m not exactly trying to avoid HFCS either. But still – this is good to know! My initial thought is that this would be good if you’re having a party where you’ll be having a lot of drinks with grenadine, but if you want to keep something in your fridge for a long time, it might not work. However, comment #13 points out that this concoction will keep for a long time depending on how you store it. If you’re like me and it takes you forever and a day to use up alcohol and other alcohol-related mixers, this is good news.

Feeling like your homecooked meals are boring? Does your chicken need pizazz?

Try 8 Swanky Sauces to Glamorize Dinner. I’m a fan of piccata sauce and other sauces with capers. Capers just feel fancy.

And while you’re sexing up supper, invite Color Me Badd over:

(This is one of my favorite songs. I’m not even joking.)

This is for Seattle people:

Did you know that The Stranger keeps an event calendar for food? It includes lots of specially priced events and other fun things – like World Nutella Day! Who knew? Some of the events are more on the fancy end of the spectrum but there are some deals thrown in there too. The next time you feel like heading out for dinner, check the calendar first!

Kashi wants to make 2010 your healthy year blah blah blah resolutions blah blah blah. The point is: they’re giving you free stuff.

You can get a free sample of either:

• GOLEAN Crisp!™ Toasted Berry Crumble cereal,
• TLC® Dark Chocolate Coconut Fruit & Grain bar
• GOLEAN Crunch!® Honey Almond Flax cereal

Click here to sign up!

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about recipes. I haven’t been cooking very much lately, but in the past week I did try a couple new ones.

First up is roasted cabbage with bacon. I rarely buy cabbage because I just don’t really know what to do with it. But this recipe was so popular I thought I’d give it a shot. And it was good – but greasy. I loved the cabbage, and I of course love the bacon, but the grease from the bacon was a little too much. That said, I still enjoyed it. However, the leftovers were soggy and extra greasy.

The other problem I have with this dish is that I only like bacon when it’s super crispy. Some of the bacon became very crispy during the roasting process, but some of it stayed soft. It was still cooked okay, but it just wasn’t at that primo crispy stage. I’m not sure that I would make this again, but I’d still recommend it.

On to the second recipe: garlic noodles. I give it a meh. I don’t think I’ll make it again, but it wasn’t terrible – just average. And now my apartment smells like garlic, which can be good to an extent. However, this garlic smell goes just beyond my threshold of acceptable.

Made anything good – or meh – lately?

Enter discount code reindeer to get free shipping at fredflare.com! There’s not even a minimum purchase amount! The code ends Dec. 21.

I recently came across this article about 7 foods that some experts say we should avoid. To be honest, I tend to take these things with a grain of salt, but it’s worth reading.

The microwave popcorn one was interesting. I never would have thought the bag could be hazardous, but it really does make me second guess if I want to continue buying it. Here are some other suggestions for how to make popcorn that don’t require possibly cancer-causing chemicals.

For this weekend only, my favorite place to shop, FredFlare.com, is offering free shipping! There isn’t even a minimum purchase! Just use discount code awesome when you check out.

This is so tempting, so very tempting…

With Thanksgiving almost here, I’m probably late in talking about pumpkin recipes. But better late than never, right?

I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin, but I find that when it’s baked with a bunch of sugar, it’s suddenly delicious!

First I want to alert you about the best pumpkin bread ever. Ever!!! 22,000 people agree with me, so you have no choice but to make this bread immediately. Note that the recipe yields 3 loaves, so if you’re feeding less than 36 people, I recommend making 2 loaves (1 will not be enough!). There’s a handy calculator right above the ingredient list.

For someone who isn’t a big pumpkin fan, I sure have a lot of pumpkin dessert recipes bookmarked. Since sharing is caring, here are recipes that I’ve bookmarked that I do – and maybe you will – eventually want to try?

Now word on the street is there might be a pumpkin shortage. Let’s just ignore that and salivate over these:

• Pumpkin muffins with milk chocolate chips
• Pumpkin chocolate chip bread
• Easy pumpkin muffins
• Turtle pumpkin pie
• Pumpkin pie dip
• Pumpkin chocolate bread
• Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
• Pumpkin chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
• Iced pumpkin cookies
• Sour cream pumpkin coffee cake
• Pumpkin crumb cake

P.S. After all my talk about pumpkins, for my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner this year, I’m making cranberry sauce muffins. Go figure.

If you live near a Pinkberry, you should know a couple things:

1. I am crazy jealous of you.
2. Pinkberry now has chocolate! yogurt.
3. Here is a coupon for a Buy One Get One Free small yogurt with toppings.
4. You’re welcome.

(Thanks for the tip, Misty)

I rarely see movies in the theater. Sometimes I go to a local $3 discount theater, but even that’s a pretty rare event. I love to watch movies, but I’d rather get them for free from the library than pay $12.

That said, when I do go to the movie theater, I am always tempted to get popcorn. That buttery aroma just draws me in, but I always turn it down because I know that it’s not very healthy. I also know that it costs waaaaaay too much.

A new report finds that movie popcorn isn’t just unhealthy – it’s REALLY unhealthy.

A medium-sized popcorn and medium soda at the nation’s largest movie chain pack the nutritional equivalent of three Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter, according to a report released today by the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Um. Yikes.

Thankfully, we have some alternatives. You can still enjoy popcorn without having to book an appointment with a cardiologist. I like to buy 100-calorie servings of microwave popcorn. Orville Redenbacher’s makes them, and I’m sure other popcorn brands do as well. It’s not very buttery, but you can make up for it by using seasonings. You can mix up your own batch of seasoning using spices, or you can buy prepared popcorn seasoning. I like using Kernel Season’s.

Now whether you choose to eat the popcorn at home or smuggle it into the movie theater – that’s up to you. I was taught at an early age to never buy snacks at the theater. We were candy (and occasional popcorn) smugglers. We also snuck in cans of pop. I do remember one time having to fake cough while my dad opened up a can of Pepsi (as if a cough would mask the loud kshhh! sound) and thinking that it was a little too much. And then in the middle of the movie, I accidentally kicked the empty can and everyone in the theater listened as it rolled all the way down the slanted concrete floor.

Classy. Real classy.

(Photo from flickr member Hey Paul with Creative Commons license.)

(Photo credit: Flickr member cordery licensed for use under Creative Commons)

I don’t buy meat that often, but I’ve been thinking more about it lately. I found out that I have low iron (which was surprising because I’ve had high enough iron to donate blood for the past couple years). Now I’m taking an iron supplement, but I think it might be good to incorporate more iron-rich food into my diet, especially meat. (Yes, I’m aware that you can get iron from vegetables as well, but non-heme iron – which is what’s found in vegetables – is less available for absorption than heme iron – found in animal sources.) I’m not planning on going meat crazy, but just trying to eat a little more of it.

As I’m thinking about meat again, I came across this post about where to buy ethical meat. (Adam lives in NYC, so his references don’t really apply to a lot of us, but the comments have some interesting links.)

I’m feeling conflicted about what to buy as I balance what I believe to be humane treatment of animals vs. how much I want to spend and how much effort I want to put into finding ethical meat.

Do you buy ethical meat or other products? Why or why not? If you do, where do you buy it?

Hooray! Use discount code “PREVIEW” at Fredflare.com, and you get 30% off everything. The code expires Nov. 16.

I love fred flare and their collection of cute yet mostly affordable things. This is a great time of year to check FF out, especially if you’re looking for an unusual secret santa or white elephant gift.

I have this shower curtain. It makes me happy.

Cute!

For your favorite "too cool for Christmas" friend?

If you live in Seattle, listen up. If you like to dine out, check out Stranger Mart (brought to you, obviously, by The Stranger). You can get awesome deals on gift certificates to good restaurants (try the sliders at late night happy hour at Broadway Grill – amazing!). There’s a bunch of places, including Bimbo’s (did you know they have happy hour all day on Mondays – also amazing!), Skylark Cafe, Triple Door, and Via Tribunali. Enjoy!

(Thanks, Seattle Moms Deal Finder)

Want a free Kashi TLC granola bar? Click here and then click on the banner.

(Thanks, Money Saving Mom)

If you happen to be a 7-Eleven customer (or you’re just frugal and willing to drive anywhere for a deal), go here to print out a coupon for a free hot beverage from 7-Eleven. It’s good for a 12 oz. coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate or tea, and it doesn’t expire until Oct. 31.

Also, I know it’s not 7-Eleven and doesn’t have anything to do with money, but just because I’m now in convenience store mindset, I’d like to share a classic quote from “Say Anything”:

“I got a question: If you guys know so much about women, how come you’re here at like the Gas ‘n Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?”

(Photo credit: Flickr member steev-o licensed for use under Creative Commons)

I recently made a polenta casserole that was supposed to use fontina cheese. But when I went to the grocery store, I found one little hunk of it (which wouldn’t have yielded the 2 cups that I needed), and it was over $12. I understand that some kinds of cheese just cost more, but I had a hard time justifying buying food that costs that much and isn’t made from unicorn tears.

I wound up buying a different cheese that was much less expensive, which worked out because, cheese aside, the casserole wasn’t that good.

I’m not opposed to buying somewhat expensive food; I just want to be sure it’s going into something I know will turn out well.

What foods are you willing to pay more for? What do you splurge on?

I’ve never used Restaurant.com for gift certificates because I like to pretend that I don’t actually blow money by eating out at restaurants somewhat frequently (even though, like many people, I do).

But this seems like a pretty good deal: 80% off gift certificates. Click here for more info. Has anyone done this before?

I have been cooking up a storm this week. I didn’t really intend to. I had a couple recipes planned, but then I had leftover ingredients so I had to make more stuff to use up that stuff.

Most of what I made isn’t worth mentioning, but here are a few things:

• Spinach and basil lasagna – I made a half batch, and it was really good. It’s also the easiest lasagna I have ever made. No chopping, no boiling, no effort.
• Shrimp with white beans – This was pretty good, but it’s very very beany. Next time, I would reduce the amount of beans and add more tomatoes.
• And finally my favorite: The BETA sandwich. You guuuuuyyyssss!! It’s so good. I used the recipe here for the Spanglish sandwich (a BLT with egg and avocado – a BELTA). I did not have lettuce, so mine was a BETA. I made substitutions (shredded cheddar instead of monterey jack, plain ol’ wheat sandwich bread instead of the nice bread), but even my lame-o cheaper version of the sandwich was really good. I highly recommend it!

Made anything lately?

I came across this post recently on The Kitchn that explains how to make brown sugar.

That’s pretty good to know! Brown sugar gets clumpy and while there are ways to fix that, it’s nice to know that you don’t even have to buy brown sugar in the first place.

Now you may be thinking “Why would I have molasses handy but not brown sugar?” Here is why you need to have molasses: The best ginger cookies ever. I’m not that big of a ginger fan, but these cookies are amaaaaazing!

If you happen to find yourself near a mall on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., stop by Mrs. Fields for a free chocolate chip cookie. It’s National Cookie Month apparently. And thanks to Halloween, it’s unofficially national sugar month!

If you have whole wheat flour in your cupboard and need some ideas for how to use it up, check out this free whole wheat baking cookbook from Gold Medal.

(Thanks, Money Saving Mom)

Tonight I made something that I will definitely make again: Thai Chicken Pizza.

My favorite Thai Chicken Pizza is from California Pizza Kitchen (I looove that place. Maybe I should be like the cool kids and despise chain restaurants, but CPK is just too good.) I’ve never tried to make it myself because I figured it would never compare to CPK’s.

While this pizza isn’t quite that good, it’s still pretty tasty! I really like the peanut sauce. I find most bottled peanut sauces to be not very good, but this sauce was good. It’s not spicy (which I appreciate!) but it’s still flavorful.

I also tried out a pizza dough recipe that doesn’t require a food processor or kneading. It’s dough for lazy people. I usually buy dough from Trader Joe’s, so making it was a new experience. It turned out okay, though I should have left it in the oven a little longer.

Made anything lately?

The Kitchn is running a Quick Weeknight Meals recipe contest and there are some awesome recipes that have been submitted. Check it out! I’m planning on trying out Lauren’s shrimp with white beans.

I’m not big on grocery coupons. If I get some for free in the mail, then I try to use them. But I don’t buy newspapers for the coupons or print grocery coupons from online (printer ink is expensive!). There are lots of blogs and coupon sites out there if you’re interested in going coupon craaaaazy.

However, there is one site I’d like to highlight: Shortcuts.com. Here’s how it works: You create an account at Shortcuts and you add the numbers for your grocery club cards (like Safeway, QFC, Albertson’s, etc.). The website will then offer you various coupons that you can select and it will add those coupons to your club card number. When you go through the check-out at the grocery store and scan your club card like you always do, the register will automatically use your Shortcuts coupons if they’re applicable.

From time to time, Shortcuts will email you with various coupon offers. Most of the ones that I’ve selected have been for yogurt, cereal, granola bars – stuff like that. It’s all brand name items. I think there’s only been one time where I’ve used a Shortcuts coupon and that was on accident.

The problem I have with Shortcuts is that unless you’re diligent about either keeping a running list of your coupons or just having a really good memory, you’re not going to know what coupons you have – unless you log in online. For those of us with non-fancy cell phones, logging into your Shortcuts account while you’re at the store doesn’t really work.

I do think the digital coupons are a good idea, and it beats carrying around coupons, but it’s just not quite there yet.

I am not a vegetable kind of person. Never have been. But I’m trying to improve on that, and fortunately, I have the world’s best broccoli recipe to help me.

Are you intrigued? Well, you should be, because this broccoli will rock your face off. I have made it many times and it never fails to deliver. I have to stop myself from eating the whole pan in one sitting. Now, with the oil, nuts, and cheese, it might not be the healthiest vegetable dinner ever, but, hey, there’s broccoli in there somewhere.

While I had a successful broccoli dinner tonight, I had a not-so successful dessert. I’ve had this recipe for Cherries and Cream Pie bookmarked for years, and the other day at Trader Joe’s I finally came across that jar of Morello cherries I’ve been looking for.

It started off well. The cake base was fine, the cherries were fine, but somehow I messed up the cream cheese topping. Instead of spreading on all smooth-like, mine was so liquidy I had to pour it on, so it mixed in with the rest of the cake, resulting in this:

That’s not quite right. Oh well. It still tasted okay, but I don’t think I’d make it again.

Made anything good (or bad) lately?