Eggplant Casserole

Eggplant Casserole:

2 medium/large eggplant
1 1/2 pds ground beef or turkey
1 cup of chedder cheese
1 can mild rotel tomatoes w/chilies
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 onion
2 tsp. minced garlic
plain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp.basil
paprika
italian seasonings
garlic powder
cinnamon
salt
pepper



Peel and cut eggplant into chunks and soak in water with salt. Brown ground meat, saute finely sliced onions and add to meat. Add rotel, tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp of chopped basil leaves, minced garlic, a dash of italian seasoning, a dash of paprika, a dash of cinnamon, salt & pepper and garlic powder to taste and simmer. Boil egglant for 1-2 minutes and drain, then in a bowl mix together with the meat mixture. Mix in 1 cup of shredded chedder cheese and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Put in a casserole dish and sprinkle shredded chedder cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

 

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Ball

 Chocolate Chip
Cream Cheese Ball
 (Recipe courtesy of Cheryl Lin)

1 (8 oz) block cream cheese
1 stick butter (NOT margarine)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 bag mini chocolate chips (divided)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Soften cream cheese and butter at room temp. (Do not microwave!) Cream together cream cheese & butter. Add vanilla & both sugars. Mix until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips. Refrigerate overnight or minimum 2 hours. Scoop chilled mixture onto Saran wrap. Wrap & form into ball. Return to refrigerator. Place remaining chips and/or chopped nuts onto paper plate. Remove ball from refrigerator, shape, and then roll in chips/nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with chocolate graham cracker sticks, chocolate Teddy Grams or chocolate graham crackers broken into individual rectangles.

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Toast Cups

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Toast Cups

These are so easy and a clever way to make breakfast when you don't have time to serve everything separately. These are not my idea but is a variation of a Martha Stewart Recipe I found on Pinterest.

Ingredients:
Bread
Eggs
Bacon or Sausage (partially cooked or pre-cooked)
Shredded Cheese
Butter
Salt & Pepper

Melt butter in large muffin pan in each cup.
Cut edges off of bread to make a circle and push down into each cup.
Place partially cooked or pre-cooked  bacon or sausage into bread cups.
Add some shredded cheese.
Crack and egg into each cup.
Sprinkle salt and pepper into each cup.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Eggs will be cooked through, even the yolks.


Enjoy!

Salsa Verde

Homemade Salsa Verde


Tomatillos (about 6)
garlic (about 2 cloves)
jalapeno pepper (1-2)
1 lime
Corn oil
cilantro (optional)

Roast tomatillos, jalapeno, garlic in over under broiler about 7-10 minutes

or

I use a pampered chef micro cooker instead of roasting. I wash and place items in the cooker, I poke holes in the tomatillos and add salt to taste and cook in the microwave for 8 minutes on high.

Put everything in a food processor with about a tablespoon of corn oil and blend.

Liver & Onions

Liver & Onions

A friend's inquiry of how to cook liver & onions got me craving some so here's what I did:

Rinse liver well



lightly bread and fry in olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste:



Cook 5-7 minutes each side



Remove Liver from pan and add sliced onion


Add butter


Add flour to make a gravy:


Add liver back to pan



Cook for another 10 minutes


Serve:


Served with dinner tonight

Taco Ring!

Taco Ring - thanks goes to Nikki Barcelona.

Two cans of Crescent Rolls
Two lbs of ground beef
chopped onion
2 packs of taco seasoning
Cheese of choice (I used fiesta blend)
lettuce
tomatoes or salsa (I used homemade chunky blackbean and corn salsa) (see below for recipe)

Brown beef with onions and taco seasoning
Layer crescent rolls in a circular sunburst pattern
Pour ground beef in the middle
Cover with cheese
wrap the crescents over the top and press in the middle
Bake 350 for 13-15 minutes
Top with lettuce and salsa

Chunky Black Bean Salsa

Chunky Black Bean Salsa - courtesy of Amanda. Thanks!


4 cups chopped vine-ripe tomatoes or 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes
2 cups dried black beans, cooked in salted water until tender or 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of corn, drained
1 cup small diced red onions
1/2 finely diced bell pepper
1 jalapeno finely chopped w/seeds
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3 cloves chopped garlic
Salt & Pepper
Liime juice to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Local Daily Deal sites for Baton Rouge, La.

Local Daily Deal sites for Baton Rouge, La.

Here are the daily deal sites: It's hard to pay full price at a restaurant anymore.

www.groupon.com

www.livingsocial.com

www.bargainbee.com

www.225besteats.com

http://brno.neofillstore.com/ - this site offers great deals on tickets and local activities for both Baton Rouge and New Orleans

www.bayoubuys.com

http://batonrouge.halfoffdeals.com/

http://www.doubletakedeals.com/deals/la-lsu-bocage

Here's the thing about restaurant.com, It's not great in Baton Rouge. If Rafael and I know we are going to travel to another area, I look up certificates for that city and we eat cheap in other places. I often get codes for $2.00 for a $25.00 certificate. There aren't many participants in the Baton Rouge area and if you buy one for Baton Rouge, call the establishment BEFORE you go to make sure they are still taking it. We had issues with Sakura and Arzi's who are no longer participating and there seems to be a feud between these establishments and Restaurant.com.

We had no problem using our restaurant.com certificates at Maggio's and at a restaurant in Texas. It can be hit or miss so do you research. If you do get a certificate and call the establishment and find they no longer take it, Restaurant.com WILL exchange it for you. New Orleans has lots and lots of restaurants to choose from on the website. Sign up to to get email promotions and you will get the 80% off codes too. First you'll get 70% offers but hold out for a few days and they'll offer the 80% off code.

Also look for the rules and restrictions. Many $25 certificates can only be used with a minimum purchase of $35. So let's say you paid $2.00 for the certificate and your restaurant bill is $40, you pay $15 out of pocket at the restaurant for a total of $17 all together for a $40 meal. Not bad.

Online daily deal and bargain sites.

Online daily deal and bargain sites.

Here are the online daily deal sites I frequent and have been successful at finding deals.

These sites are one deal a day sites. They aren't local, they just have outstanding deals but only one a day. Once the deal is sold out, another one won't appear until the next day.

Check the right hand side of each site because they have more than one catagory. ex. woot also has kids woot and wine woot. 1sale a day also has wireless and family catagories as well.

www.woot.com

http://1saleaday.com/

http://www.dailysteals.com/

https://www.friendsandfamilycircle.com/

Amazon, Target, and Walmart have special spots on their sites now for daily deals as well. Amazon has the gold box section, just look for the link on the top of the page. Their daily deals aren't as good as the above mentioned sites. Amazon will have a great deal every now and then.

This is target's:

http://dailydeals.target.com/?ref=+sc_iw_ss

This is walmart's:

http://www.walmart.com/cp/Value-of-the-Day/1058864?povid=cat14503-env172199-module101210-lLink1_VOD

I strategically plan when I shop and am motivated to find the absolute best deal on whatever it is that I am looking for.

Also here is a link to a site that gives you coupon codes and printable coupons to lots and lots of retailers. Just search for the retailer you are looking for:

www.retailmenot.com

This site is run by users who submit sales each day. Users are motivated to post great links or provide really good coupon codes in order to boost their reputations and get rated on the site.

I found Gregory's laptop at Staples because of a link on this page at an INSANE price. They link to popular merchants and tell of sales we would not have normally known about.

http://slickdeals.net/

Coupons!!

Coupons!!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE a deal. I can't stand to pay full price for anything and can't stay to pay fees even more. I am often asked what websites I use to print my coupons and have found that I am emailing people often and sharing this info, I figured I put it out there in one place.

Here are a couple of pages to "like". They usually have the weekly coupons listed to look for. One of them even goes so far as to match the weekly coupons to the weekly store ads to save the most money.

http://www.facebook.com/mybatonrougemommy1

and the krazy coupon lady. She was featured on that extreme couponing show. She is always publishing tips and point to the best sales.

http://www.facebook.com/TheKrazyCouponLady

If you aren't already printing your coupons at home, here are the sites I use:

www.coupons.com

www.smartsource.com

www.redplum.com

http://www.mambosprouts.com/ (for organics)

www.couponmom.com

Also here is a link to a site that gives you coupon codes and printable coupons to lots and lots of retailers. Just search for the retailer you are looking for:

www.retailmenot.com

Pretzel Treats

Pretzel Treats




I got this recipe from a friend several years ago and it is so versatile that I make these treats for just about every holiday.

Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Snaps
Hershey's kisses of your choice
M&M's of your color choice

Pre-heat oven to 175
lay our pretzels on a cookie sheet. I place wax paper on the sheet in case the chocolate sticks.
Place a hershey's kiss on each pretzel.
Heat in oven for 10 minutes. Be careful not to overheat.
push an m&m in the center of each kiss
cool completely

I like to use white chocolate/milk chocolate hugs with red and green m&m's for Christmas as well as the pink and white mint kisses. I use milk chocolate kisses with pink and green m&m's for Easter. I use milk chocolate kisses with candy corn for halloween.

Another variation of this idea is to make Rolo pretzel turtles by melting Rolo candies on pretzels and pressing pecan halves into the melted Rolos.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread



Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4-5 over-ripe bananas
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
small dash of cinnamon
tiny dash of nutmeg

1. Cream together butter and sugars
2. Add eggs and crushed bananas
3. Combine well.
4. Sift together flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla.
5. Pour into greased and floured loaf pan
6. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes.
7. Keeps well, refrigerated.

*This is a wonderfully moist banana bread. Easy to make and delicious. I could not find a recipe I liked so I improvised between a few and this is what I came up with. :)*