Don't Forget General Conference

Can  you believe six months have passed since our last General Conference!! I know I look forward to Conference. It is a great opportunity to refill our "glasses", regroup, and refocus! Let's all prepare to partake of the spiritual feast that will surely be shared with us this weekend.
Tune in April 1st and 2nd. All sessions will be broadcast at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00p.m. locally on KIFI channel 8, as well as,  KBYU, and BYU tv (on Dish Network), and on LDS.org. The Priesthood Session will be broadcast at the Stake Center (on Satterfield Dr.) at 6:00 p.m.

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

These muffins are DIVINE!! You could substitute raspberries, strawberries, or diced peaches in place of the blueberries.

   

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins
(makes 24 muffins)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 1/4 cups sour cream (10 ounces)
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.

3. Add frozen berries to dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. (Small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick. Do not overmix.)

4. Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and insert toothpick into the center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes. Serve as is or with the cinnamon sugar topping below.

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
While muffins are cooling, mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon in small bowl and melt 4 tablespoons butter in small saucepan. After baked muffins have cooled 5 minutes, and working one at a time, dip top of each muffin in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar. Set muffins upright on wire rack.

Frugal Tip: Watch for cupcake (muffin) papers on the after holiday clearance sales. You can usually find them for 50% to 90% off, making them much cheaper than the ones at the grocery store.

Warm Banana Cobbler

Holy Moses! I have to share this recipe with all of you! I made Warm Banana Cobbler for dessert tonight. I had some bananas that were freckly (see I can turn this into a frugal post). I wanted to try something new, and my family is getting sick of banana muffins or pancakes every time the bananas get ugly (which seems like about every fourth day).  I was hankerin' to do a little baking, and I found this recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks ("Better Homes and Garden's 9x13 The Pan That Can). If your a banana fan you have got to try it; it is FABULOUS! I made a few tweaks by adding some nutmeg, and cinnamon. I also added an egg into the batter to give it a richer flavor. I also omitted the nuts. I'm telling you it tastes like heaven! 

Warm Banana Cobbler

1 1/2 cups self rising flour, divided ( just mix 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt together in a small bowl. It is exactly the same thing)
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup butter melted
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 ripe bananas
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 butter
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

In a medium bowl stir together 1 cup self rising flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg. Add in milk, melted butter, egg, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Slice bananas over the top of the batter in a single layer. In a large bowl combine butter, 1/2 cup self rising flour, oatmeal, and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Cut in the 1/2 cup of butter until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over bananas. Bake at 375 for 30 - 35 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes, and serve while it is still warm with ice cream.

Great Sale At Smiths!

For those of you who don't get the newspaper, Smith's is running a great sale this week! They are running a promotion that if you buy any of the participating items (you can mix or match) in groups of ten you save $5.00 off the transaction at  checkout. That means you will save another $.50 off of each sale item. If you have kids (big or little) who like Powerade it ends up being $.39 each (if you ten). American Beauty and Ronzoni pasta also ends up being $.49 a package. Go to this link to check out the sales flier. They are also running a cereal promo. If you buy four boxes of participating Kellogg's cereal (4 for $10.00) you get two free gallons of milk. A dozen large eggs are $.99 and Kroger brand cups of yogurt are 3 for $1.00 this week, too..

Parker House Rolls (a.k.a. Home Made Hamburger Buns)

Today I made up a batch of  Parker House Roll dough to turn into home made buns. I am a big fan of using this roll dough for making homemade buns. The rolls are fluffy and stay fresh for several days.They taste so much better than the store bought kind! It took a couple of tries to get the size and shape right. The first try I cut them out with a biscuit cutter, but when they rose they were still too small for the hamburger patties (Oops!). Not long ago, I was looking through a cookbook and saw a tutorial for shaping rosette rolls. I thought it would work great for shaping hamburger buns. After the dough has risen for the first rise, punch the dough down and divide the dough in half.

1.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle.

 

2.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into sections.

3.  Divide the dough into eight section.

4.  Cut each of the eight sections into thirds.

5. To make each hamburger bun, lay the three sections side by side

.

6. Overlap the three sections to start the braid.

7.  Braid the three sections together like you were braiding hair.

8.  Twist the braid into a circle to form the bun. Pinch the ends of the roll onto the dough to secure.

9.  Place rolls onto a greased cookie sheet, and allow to rise until doubled (about 45 - 60 minutes). 

10. Bake according to the recipe. When they are done baking, you have snazzy looking hamburger buns!

Tonight's rolls accompanied BBQ Chicken, but they are great with grilled hamburgers, sloppy joes, or any BBQ style sandwich. My kid's like to use them to make hoagie sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly for school lunches.

Square Foot and Container Gardening

Yeah! Spring is almost here! It's time to start think about gardening!!!  Come learn how to grow vegetables in any amount of space! Veggies can be grown in flower beds, swimming pools, or even empty buckets.  Please join us for :

Square Foot And Container Gardening 

April 7th

6:30 p.m.

in the Relief Society Room at the Church

Make Your Own Baby Wipes

Here is a great money saving recipe for baby wipes. I used these wipes with all four of my kid's and they work great! The are especially fabulous if you have a baby (or toddler) with sensitive skin. My only suggestion is that you use a thicker paper towel (like Brawny) so that your wipes don't break apart at a "crucial" moment!! Click this LINK for step by step instructions.

Ridley's (Nel's BiLo) Case Lot Sale

This starts the second week of the Ridley's (Nel's BiLo) case lot sale. If you haven't already stocked up; you still have until Monday March 14th. Case lot sales are a great way to start or add to your food storage. I have heard from several reliable sources than food prices are going to continue to rise this year. Even if you only purchase a couple of items it's still a great start. The following items are a excellent buys:

• W.F. (15 oz) canned corn or green beans $11.72 (24 cans)
• W.F. (15 oz) canned beans $12.72 (24 cans)
• W.F. ( 4 oz) canned mushrooms $9.78 (24 cans)
• First Harvest (29oz) canned peaches or pears $11.58 (12 cans)
• Liberty Gold (20 oz.) canned pineapple $20.35 (24 cans)
• Liberty Gold (14.5 oz) fruit cocktail, peaches, or pears $13.98 (24 cans)
• 10 pound box of  frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast $15.87
• 40 pound box of FRESH boneless, skinless chicken breasts $59.95
• W.F. (36 regular or 18 double rolls) toilet paper $5.95
• W.F. (24 oz) ketchup $10.44 (12 count) or $13.92 (16 count)
• W.F. (7 pound) pancake mix $5.49 each
• W.F. (128 oz) pancake syrup 5.49 each
• W.F. (16 oz) frozen vegetables $9.48 (12 bags)
• 25 pound bag Pendleton white all purpose flour $5.85 each (this is the cheapest I have found flour!)
• W.F. (20 pound bag) white long grain rice $9.99
• Campbell's Spaghettios $6.64 (12 count) or $13.28 (24 count)
• W.F.  (16 oz) hydrogen peroxide or alcohol 2 for $1.00
• Tide (100oz) liquid laundry detergent $8.98 each
• Clorox (96 oz) regular bleach $1.44 each
• W.F. seasoning packets (spaghetti, taco, stew, etc.) $6.95(24 count)
• Nissin (3 oz) Top Ramen noodles $2.88 (24 packages)

Click on the highlighted store names below to see the ads.

Ridley's   Nel's Bi Lo Marketplace

Crockpot Refried Beans

I found the original recipe for this at allrecipes.com. I tweaked it a little bit to give it more flavor. It's super tasty (even my kid's ate it without complaint), and very economical. Leftover beans can place in storage containers and frozen for later.

Crock Pot Refried Beans

(makes fifteen 1/2 cup servings)

Cost per serving $.09

3 cups dried pinto beans

1 cup of finely minced onion ( I chopped mine up in the food processor)

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 (4 oz.) can of chopped green chili peppers ( I tossed mine in with the onion and chopped them up more)

1 tablespoon chicken bullion

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

9 cups water

1. Place dried beans in the crock pot . Cover with water and soak overnight.
2. Drain water off of soaked beans and return beans to crock pot.
3. Add onion, garlic, chili peppers, bullion, and spices to beans. Stir together.
4. Cover with water. 
5. Turn the crock pot onto high and cook for 8 hours. Check beans periodically. If the water seems to be evaporating (the water is below bean level) add  more hot water.
6. When beans are soft and mash easily, drain beans. Reserve the liquid!*
7. Mash beans with a potato masher or mixer adding in enough bean broth to get a soft (not runny) consistency. You will not use all the broth. ( I cheated and ran my beans through the food processor in small batches. I just start the processor and slowly poured the broth in the neck of the lid until the beans reached the desired consistency.)

*Freeze the leftover bean broth to use in soup, stew, or chili.

Party Punch

Here is the recipe for the punch served at the Relief Society Birthday party. Thank you to everyone who attended, and especially all those who worked so hard to make it a FABULOUS evening!

Party Punch

3 Two liter bottle of Diet Sprite

2  envelopes of Wyler's Cool Raspberry Sugar Free drink mix

1 - 2 (16 oz.) package(s) of frozen strawberries*

1  lemon (sliced)

Pour Sprite into a large punch bowl of drink dispenser. Stir in powdered drink mix until completely dissolved. Add frozen berries to punch. Lay lemon slices on top of strawberries in the punch bowl. 

 

* Frozen fruit works great in place of ice in drinks. Bonus: Frozen fruit won't water down the punch, and it absorbs the flavors of the punch - making a tasty treat.