Who loves bargains? I do!

I have to brag about my new bargains!

Puma sneakers
Price of similar shoes on Zappos.com: $79.99
TOTAL I paid: $6.00


Express Stretch Editor Crop Pants
Price on Express.com: $59.50
TOTAL I paid: $2.00 (yes, that's a 2!)



Victoria's Secret Pink Old School Sweats
Price on Victoriassecret.com: $39.50
TOTAL I paid: $2.00

Beat those great deals!

Loafing around...

Lowfat Spinach & Cheese Meatloaf

Meat mixture:
3 slices bread, crust removed
1/2 c. milk
1 lb. ground chicken
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 egg white
1 tsp. oregano
Fresh ground pepper

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.
Tear bread into 1 inch pieces. Put in a bowl, pour in the milk and mash the bread with a fork until all the milk is absorbed.
In another bowl, mix the chicken, mustard, egg white, oregano and pepper.
Add in the bread mixture and mix well, until creamy.
Press the meat mixture onto the baking sheet so that it covers 1/2 the baking sheet
Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour (up to three hours)

Filling:
1 10 oz. package of frozen spinach
3 green onions, chopped (green part only)
1 egg white
Fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
Parmesan cheese, grated, about 1/3 cup

Thaw and drain spinach. Press out all the water.
Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the spinach and onion and cook until mixture is somewhat dry and the onions begin to wilt, about 5-6 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Mix in egg white and season with lots of pepper.

Preheat oven to 350.
Remove baking sheet from fridge.
Spread the spinach mixture over the meat, leaving 1 inch border all the way around.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Place baking sheet horizontally.
Starting at the end closest to you, use the foil to lift the meat and roll jelly roll style, pushing forward a little bit at a time.

Bake at 350 for about an hour, until a thermometer registers 160. Serve with tomato sauce. We also made some mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it and it worked perfectly together.

Chicken Philly Fun!

I love chicken philly sandwiches and they are so hard to find in restaurants. Why not make my own? I found this recipe from Cooking Light and had to try it.
*See my notes on the final outcome at the end.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into (1-inch-thick) strips
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup red bell pepper strips
• 1 cup green bell pepper strips
• 1 cup vertically sliced onion
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 4 (3-ounce) submarine rolls (such as Cobblestone Mill brand)
• 4 (1-ounce) slices provolone cheese

Preparation

Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Sauté 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan. Add red bell pepper and next 5 ingredients (red bell pepper through garlic) to pan; sauté 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken and pepper sauce; remove from heat.

Slice each roll in half horizontally, cutting to, but not through, other side. Place 1 cheese slice and 1 cup chicken mixture on bottom half of each roll, and gently press roll halves together.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add 2 sandwiches. Place a cast-iron or heavy skillet on top of sandwiches; press gently to flatten. Cook 4 minutes on each side or until cheese melts and bread is toasted (leave skillet on sandwiches while they cook). Repeat with remaining sandwiches.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 490 (28% from fat)

Fat: 15.4g (sat 6.5g,mono 6.2g,poly 1.5g)

My notes:
-The sandwich could use a little more flavor. Next time I'm going to double the amount of spices and add carmelized onions.

Going bananas!

(Ignore the missing piece! Someone stole a slice before I got my pic!)

We had some extra bananas this week, so I decided to try to make banana bread using a recipe from a friend. This baking session was also momentous because it was my first experience using the famed KitchenAid mixer that everyone raves about. In the past, my husband has always been my mixer : )

Banana Bread

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour (we use whole wheat) & we also add fiber
Nuts are optional

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix.




Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour.
Cool on a rack.
Remove from pan and slice to serve.

My notes:

-I used 4 bananas so the bread needed to bake for about 8 minutes longer so it wasn't too wet

-I do like the mixer! It's so nice to watch a machine do all the work for you!

What time is it?

My bargain of the day: a new clock for our family room! I saw this and couldn't resist! It looks so similar to clocks I've seen in the stores, but for super cheap! Once I move, I'll post how it looks in the room.TOTAL: $3.00

Here's some similar ones I found:

Pottery Barn Pocketwatch Clock
$29-$59

Black Wrought Iron Table Clock from Vintage Tub & Bath
$33.95

Regal Black Vintage-Style Roman Numeral Mantle Clock from Christmas Central
$74.99

Aaltje 3.5" Table Clock from CSN Clocks $35.00

Wipe Your Feet!

I can finally start working on a few crafts now that I might have a house soon! I saw this craft on a blog and it inspired me to try my own.

Supplies:
Rubber gridded mat (I got mine at Joann's)
Old towels (3 full size towels made a 20"x30" mat)
Scissors


A standard bath rug is 20x30 inches, so I cut a piece of mat that size. You can make a mat of any size or shape.

Then I cut my towels into strips. The thinner the better, so I cut mine to about .25 inches wide by 5 inches long. No need to measure each strip, just use one as a guide when cutting the rest.


Knot each strip on the mat. For a fuller look, use every box on the grid. If you get impatient easily, use every other box.


Done and looking cute in the bathroom!

Some new bargains to AW about!

Bragging about my latest bargains!

Lately, I've had a watch obsession. I have to wear one or I'll go crazy, but they get so boring after awhile. I have a hard tine finding cute ones that fit because my wrist is small. I also have to think about whether the watch will work well while sitting at a computer all day. Some of them can get pretty banged up after hitting the desk day after day.
White watch
TOTAL: $3.74

Bronze bracelet watch
TOTAL: $3.74

Old Navy gray fuzzy sweater with large gray buttons
Brand new with price tag $34.50
TOTAL: $3.50!

Orange chicken lovers, listen up!

I don't know about you, but I love me some orange chicken. (Hello, Panda Express!) It's not the healthiest meal so we're always looking for ways to make it tasty, but low fat. I found this recipe on A Year in the Kitchen. Her presentation is much nicer than mine, but it all tastes the same, right? I also added some extra veggies like onion and mushrooms. If you don't like spicy food, cut back on the chili sauce...it was burning my mouth!

Spicy Orange Chicken with Rice

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

1 head of broccoli

2 bell peppers in a 1” dice

For the Sauce:

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

Zest of 1 orange

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 tbsp. thai chili sauce

1 clove of garlic, grated

1/2” ginger root, grated

1 tbsp. cornstarch

2 tbsp. sugar

Prepared brown rice

Mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl, whisk and set aside.

Bring a nonstick wok to medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp. evoo, then toss in chicken seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until brown, toss around until almost cooked. Add in sauce, and turn to low. Let sauce thicken and cook chicken through.

Bring an inch of water to a boil, place steamer in the pot. Add in peppers, stea m for a minute, add broccoli on top, steam for 3 more minutes.

Add drained veggies to the chicken mixture, plate over rice.

Yummy Sage Turkey Burgers

Thank you to my mom for this great recipe!

We always try to make our own turkey burgers with different spices, but they never turn out that great. This recipe totally changed my mind on making homemade turkey burgers - you have to try it!

Turkey Burgers with Sage

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground turkey

8 large fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

1 large scallion or some chopped onion

2.5 teaspoons poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon salt (original recipe said 2 teasp.)

6 tablespoons butter, softened

6 onion rolls

Prepare a hot grill or use George Foreman

In a large bowl, gently mix turkey, sage, scallion, poultry seasoning

and salt; form into 6 burgers.

Grill over high heat 4-6 minutes (about 8 min. on 300 in Foreman Grill).

Optional -- Spread butter onto onion rolls and grill lightly.

A window to the world

Loving this DIY idea from Crafty nest!


Use an old window to create a pretty piece of wall art! All the instructions are on her blog (including pics). As soon as I saw these pics, I knew I had to share them with you. SO pretty!

And in honor of this idea of reusing an old window, I want to show you some other great ideas...

Storage Solutions

I think we all wish we had more storage in our homes. Here are some unique solutions that you may not have thought of.

Sew pockets in your bedskirt.

Recycle old paint cans or baskets and hang on the wall.

Make a pretty skirt or curtain to hide things under a sink or shelf.

Hang little buckets or cans for holding supplies.

Mount shelves on a cabinet door.

Wall art

Wall art should be unique. You don't want someone to walk into your house and see the same thing hanging that they saw on display at Target last week. I've collected some creative examples of ways to make your wall art different and unique to show off your personality.

Use vintage items as frames. Scan your old family photos and glue or decoupage them on to vintage pieces.



Ceiling tiles and rosettes are lightweight and easy to hang. Use spray paint to change the color to match your room.


Use illustrations from a book and put them in different sized frames.


Enlarge copy from an old book. After trimming the pages close to the text, glue the papers to a large piece of canvas. Cut colorful tissue paper into irregular shapes. Using glue diluted 3:1 with water and a wide paintbrush, affix the tissue-paper shapes to the canvas. When the tissue gets wet from the glue, the words show through.



Display multiple greeting cards and spray mount them onto foam core for a 3-D look.


Frame a piece of embroidered fabric or a quilt.