Broccoli and Cheese Omelettes ... Yum!

    It is not in my nature to try new things.  If it is not something that I have known since birth, I am extremely resistant to try it, I know it's child like.  I always think "what if I don't like it?".   It seems a waste to, well waste.  It's just the way I am.  All of this changed when we went to Disney.  

    At Disney I was in a new place trying new things, I was a new person, well sort of.  Every meal that I had the opportunity to, I tried something new.  It was relatively risk free, because most of our meals were buffet.  At the buffet I just tried small amounts of the new foods to see if I would like them (this feels like I'm talking about my kids here, I am a little ashamed to admit.  "Just try a little bite, and if you don't like it, you can spit it out.")  I tried a lot of new and exciting foods.  Some of them I have always wanted to try, some of them I had never heard of, but they looked benign.  One of those foods that I tried was a broccoli and cheese omelette.  Before you start shaking your head, I have tried omelettes before.  In fact I very often make toasted western omelettes.  Broccoli just does not seem like it should go into egg.  I was in a new place, trying new things, so when I saw it offered for breakfast, I went out on a limb and tried it.  It was delicious!!!!!!

Just so you know, I had already made several omelettes in this pan before I took this picture,
 although this sad little pan has indeed seen better days.

    Yesterday morning Christopher woke up and announced that he had a hankering for a broccoli and cheese omelette.  I sent him to the store for broccoli and well the rest as they say is history.

    I began by getting all of my ingredients ready.  I mixed a dozen eggs with a tiny bit of milk, and whisked, adding salt and pepper.  I then precooked my broccoli and chopped it up.  I shredded my cheese, and cut some chives.  Then I slightly heated my sad little well loved frying pan.  I decided to do one omelette at a time, to make them look pretty.  When I make westerns, I mix it all in together, including my diced ham, and chives, then I pour them into my big electric frying pan, throw the lid on and wait.  When they are cooked I toss on a generous amount of shredded cheese and cut the omelette into toast sized squares.  Not fancy, but really tasty.

    Yesterday I wanted to recreate the beauty of the Disney broccoli cheese omelette.  I went with the omelette bar style.  So I heated my pan, and added about a tablespoon of butter (ummmmm butter).  I melted it and spread it around.  I then added the egg.  I just poured enough to coat the bottom of the pan, about the same amount you would add for a large pancake.  I watch a lot of cooking shows, and on all the cooking shows when they make omelettes, they run their spatula around the outside of the omelette (between the omelette and the inside of the pan), so that it's easier to flip.  Turns out that those experts are right.  It does make it easier to flip if you do that.  I waited until the top of the egg looked firm, not runny anymore, and then I flipped it.  After the first one it became easier, as I gained a technique.  The trick is to have the perfect thickness to your omelette, not too thick.

I had my fillings right beside me so that they were ready to go.

    After I had flipped the omelette, I added the broccoli and cheese, and chives to half.  

I turned the omelette onto the half with the broccoli and cheese.  I put the lid on the pan

 for a minute to let the cheese melt, then it was done, and ready to serve.

My broccoli and cheese omelettes were not quite as good as the ones at Disney,

 but that is only because I had to make these, and clean up, 

but other than that, they were identical.  They were a big hit with my kids too. 

I served the omelettes with fresh bakery bread (Sweet Temptations Bakery), and we were good to go.

It was a real win win breakfast.  

Dinner for 6, for $10.00 - Angel Hair Primavera

     Angel Hair Primavera;

    In sharing my favourite budget stretching recipes,  I have come to realize that a lot of them are pasta recipes.  I think in a past life I must have been Italian.  This recipe is a real favourite, and really easy.  This dish is inspired by my favourite dish at East Side Mario's.  The funny thing is that they charge more for a plate full of it than it costs to make enough to feed 8 easily!

you will need...
1 package of capelleni pasta (or angel hair if you are lucky enough to find some)
approximately 1/4 of olive oil
2 garlic cloves (you can adjust this to your own tastes)
salt pepper
1 chopped onion (or more or less, depending on what you like)
any vegetables that you like.


The first thing I do is to take a mason jar and fill it with 1/4 of olive oil.  I then smash a clove of garlic and let it sit.  It's better the longer you let it sit.  How long I let it sit depends on how much time I allow myself.

Next, I take out my wok, a frying pan also works really well.  I throw in olive oil into my wok, then I fry up the onion.  The smell at this point is like heaven.  I then salt and pepper it up.  At this point you want to put your salted water on to boil for your noodles.  Next I throw in celery, thinly sliced carrots, I love this stuff that they sell at the store called "broccoli slaw" it is excellent for this and costs about $2.00.  I like to pre-cook the broccoli, and then throw it in last so that it does not molt.  I have found that if I put it in too early the broccoli looses it's "branches".  I like to give the veggies and nice browning.

I at this point have water on to boil for my noodles and also for my shrimp.  You can top this with anything you like.  It's also nice with left over grilled chicken.  I always buy "raw" shrimp.  They taste so much better!  On a visit to Myrtle Beach we learned how to cook shrimp properly.  You want to salt your water and when it boils throw the shrimp in.  We were told that you don't want to cook them for over 2 minutes, otherwise you will overcook them.  I use the bag of frozen and am way to disorganized to predefrost, so I cook mine for 3 and a half minutes.  I have a bowl of cold water on stand by.  After 3 and a half minutes I drain them and throw them into the cold water to stop them cooking.  I then peel and put them aside.

When the big pot of water has boiled for the noodles, I toss half a bag in.  The key to capelleni noodles is to cook them for no more than 2 and a half minutes.  I have learned the hard way that more than 2 and a half minutes results in unusable mush.

When I have cooked the pasta, I rinse it in cold water to get rid of the starch and stop it from clumping. I empty my veggies into a big bowl and set it aside.  I then put a pit more olive oil into the pan and dump the noodles.  I like to crisp them up a little. You only want to do a few seconds.  Put it back into it's pot and mix in the 1/4 of olive oil.  Put a lid on it to keep the heat in.  Now toss the shrimp into the wok with a little olive oil and grated garlic clove.  You just want to brown them.  Shrimp are very easy to over cook, so you need to be careful.

Now it's time for plating.  Put your pasta on the plate, then top it with the veggies and shrimp.  I like to top it with a little grated parmesan cheese, but that's me.

There you have it, Angel Hair Primavera, enjoy!  (The kids say that if I had a restaurant, this would have to be on the menu).

The Boulevard Cinema

  Today is the last day of March Break.  It has, as always gone too quickly.  It's been busy.  The kid's had friends over, Grace had band camp for a few days, Riley and I headed into Toronto to visit Sick Kid's, a busy week.  Today is the last day.  Today we are going to the movies to see The Lorax.

   Normally if we went to a Cinneplex it would cost us $57.46 for myself and the 4 kids, this does not include the at least $30 .00 at the concession stand.  We have discovered a jewel in the rough.  There is town about 45 minutes from here called Napanee.  In Napanee there is a little movie theatre called 

 "The Boulevard Cinema".  It is not high tech, it is not flashy, or new.  The seats are old school, and a little well loved (that's the nice way of saying ratty).  But the price is sooo right.  The price is $6.00 a person, so I can take my 4 kids to the show for $30.00, and about $15.00 for the concession.  At that price I can afford to take the kids out.  They even have $4.00 Tuesdays which are even better.

   Today we are meeting up with friends.  It is a great way to end the March Break.  We have done this lots of times on PA days and on March break.  We meet up with a large group of friends and their moms. The kids all sit with their friends, and the Mom's sit in the row behind them, and quietly catch up (we whisper .. I swear).  It is the best of all worlds.  Most times we take up one or two rows.  We have a great time, and we don't have to mortgage the house, win win.

Dinner for 6 for $6.00 or under - Tuna Cakes Yum !

    This is a tried and true family favourite.  If I were a betting woman, I would say that this kid pleasing recipe has been in my family for at least three generations!  So tasty, inexpensive and quick.  As a little girl I would get very excited when I found out that we were having Tuna Cakes.  My whole family gets excited when I tell them that tuna cakes are what we are having for dinner.  This recipe makes enough for a family of 6 to gorge themselves, and have left overs.

Tuna Cakes Yum

You will need...

1 pot of mashed potatoes ( left overs work perfectly well.  I use about 2 and a half pounds of potatoes)
chives or finely chopped green onion
salt and pepper
butter ( you can adjust this to suite yourself, I LOVE butter)
2 cans of tuna, rinsed and drained

Make your mashed potatoes.  I like to use the potato masher and then add my butter, salt, and milk.  I use my mix master to whip them.  Then add your chives/ onion pepper, and drained tuna, stir in.
Melt some butter in the pan.  As you can tell by my picture below, I have a very old dilapidated frying pan.  That old girl has stood the test of time, just like this recipe.  It is missing a leg and a handle, I just use an oven mitt to balance it (how's that for safety first).

    After the butter is all nice and melted, I use my scoop and scoop my potato/ tuna mix into the pan.

    I then press them down lightly with a fork.  You want to let them get a nice brown ( the crusty part is the very best part.  We all fight over the crusty bits).

    It takes about 5 minutes to crisp them to a golden brown.  It makes them crusty on the outside, and soft and mushy on the inside.  These are a real kid pleaser.  I teamed it up with broccoli for dinner because at our house, broccoli is the only vegetable that the kids can all agree on.

If you are asking yourself how I came about $6.00 for this dinner, here is the breakdown...

half of a bag of potatoes $1.50

two cans of tuna $1.00 each

1/4 of a pound of butter $3.00 a pound on sale - so $ 0.75

milk

2 heads of broccoli $2.00 ($1.00 each on sale)

So now I have shared a family recipe, that is quick, easy and soooooooo good.

Dinner for 6 for $13.00

    Here is dinner for 6 which could really have been for dinner for 8 because there were leftovers.  This dinner cost approximately $13.00 ($20.00 if you include the delicious delicious Girls Night Out wine).  This meal was spinach cannelloni with broccoli and a cheese biscuit.  Not a 15 minute meal, but pretty fast and easy, and really tasty.
    So here are the recipes...

Spinach Cannelloni

1 box cannelloni noodles
2 eggs
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 bread crumbs
10 oz frozen spinach thawed
salt and pepper
sprinkle garlic salt.
1 bottle of spaghetti sauce

    I heavily salt my noodle water (1- 2 tsps).  I used oven ready noodles, but they are never really "oven ready".  I put them in boiling water for 5 minutes.  The next step that I take is to pour 3/4 cup of spaghetti sauce into a lasagna pan.
    Next I take out my handy food processor.  I throw in the eggs, grated mozzarella ( I use a fine grate), cottage cheese (ricotta is also an excellent choice), parmesan cheese (asiago is also amazing in this), the bread crumbs, salt and pepper, garlic salt.  I mix them all up.  Then I add the spinach.  Walmart sells a great product.  It is spinach that is frozen into almost like ice cube size.  I LOVE it.  I defrost 4 of the cubes in the microwave, then blot them really well with paper towel.  I then toss them in with the rest of the mixture and pulse it for a few seconds.  The reason that I do this is because experience has taught me that if you put the spinach in too early and too long, it turns everything bright green, which is great for Saint Patrick's day, but not my thing.

    I then take my mixture and put it into an icing bag.  This is the best trick ever!  I then take the cooked, rinsed in cold water noodles and start filling.  The best technique is to hold the noodle carefully and put it on the palm of your left hand (this stops all the filling running out of the bottom of the noodle, just ask me how I know this).  Then put each noodle into your lasagna pan that has the sauce in it.

Pour the remaining spaghetti sauce over the top of the noodles, then cover with tinfoil and cook for 15 - 20 minutes.  

    Last night I added a little variation to the above tried and true recipe.  I had gone to the sales cart at my grocery store to look for browning bananas (perfect for banana muffins), and discovered a bag of perfect tomatoes for $1.50.  There were at least a dozen... how could I pass this up?  So I diced about 5 tomatoes added diced green pepper, an onion and grated garlic clove.  I then threw them in my frying pan with olive oil.  The smell was like heaven.  When everything was tender, I scooped it onto the top of my cannelloni.

Yum!

     When the cannelloni has cooked about 20 minutes, I pull it out, take the foil off and throw about 1/4 cup of parmesan and mozzarella cheese on the top.  I cook it uncovered for another 10 minutes.

Part 2 of the meal - Cheddar Biscuits (very close to Red Lobsters)

This amazing recipe I got from The Food Network Magazine (October 2009).  So good.

You will need...

1 3/4 cups all- purpose flour

1 tbsp plus 2 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp vegetable shortening

4 tbsp butter cubed (I never do this part)

1 1/4 grated cheddar cheese

3/4 cup milk

To top it...

3 tbsp melted butter

1 clove smashed garlic ( I use about 1 tsp garlic powder)

1 tsp chopped parsley

Heat the oven to 425.  I then put all of the dry ingredients into a big bowl.  I stir them around, then add the shortening and butter.  I like to use my pastry cutter, I really find it works great.  I guess you could pulse it in a food processor. Then add the cheese, then the milk.  I then use my scoop and put them onto a parchment sheet.

    Bake these for about 15 minutes or until a golden brown.  Then pull them out of the oven and brush the garlic butter onto them.  So so good.  Crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside.

    I topped off the meal with broccoli.  Contrary to popular opinion, my kids LOVE broccoli.  

I make this meal when I have a little more time to spare.  When friends and family find out I am planning to make cannelloni, I generally have to double the recipe, because people mysteriously stop by.

Dinner for 6 plus for Under $10.00 in under 15 minutes!

    Part of my job description is raising the kids and making the budget stretch.  Sometimes I feel like I am pulling a rabbit out of a hat.  It always makes me giggle when we are filling out forms and someone says "Stay at home mom... so you don't work?"  My smart reply, "OHHHHHHH I work, I just don't get paid for it."
    A favourite dinner at my house is Fettuccine Alfredo.  It is a crowd pleaser (keeping in mind that it is rare for two of the kids to agree on liking any one food).  It is inexpensive and easy on time.  To round out  the food groups I included a Caesar salad and Bruschetta bread.  All of this took less than 15 minutes to make, and less than $10.00 to make, now that's my kind of meal!

 So here are my recipes...

Fettuccine Alfredo;
you will need ...
1 bag of noodles (I like penne)
salt for the water
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup of flour
1 Tbsp cream cheese
1 Cup of milk
1 cup cream ( or evaporated milk)
1/4 - 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I like the brick, but you can use pre-grated)
a shake of pepper

The first thing that you will want to do is put your water on to boil.  I like to put about 1 and 1/2 tsp of salt in the pot.  While the water is boiling, take a medium to large pot and melt butter.  I like to take the pot off the heat to add the flour.  I whisk it until it is well blended.  Then add the milk and cream.  Feel free to play with the milk/ cream ratio.  I then whisk this together and put it back onto medium high heat.  Watch it and whisk it.  When it has thickened I add my cheeses.  Your sauce is now finished, you just need to wait for the noodles.  I usually let my penne noodles cook for 11 minutes, that is the tenderness that I prefer, but everyone is different.

While the water for the noodles is boiling it is the perfect time to make the salad and the Bruschetta.

Bruschetta;
3 tomatoes
1/2 green onion (you could also use white onion finely chopped, but green onion is a
 little easier on the stomach)
1 clove garlic, grated (you can adjust this to suite your taste)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup of olive oil.

Dice the tomatoes and put into a medium sized bowl.  Cut the green onions finely and mix into the tomatoes.  Mix in the garlic and salt and pepper.  I then poured the olive oil over top and mixed it in.
Cut your bread into slices I use crusty, but any bread would do.  Sometimes I brush olive oil that I have let sit with a crushed garlic clove.  To save time I just buttered the bread and sprinkled on garlic power.
Spoon the tomato and onion mixture over the bread.  I like to top it with a mixture of grated cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese and parmesan and asiago, but you can put whatever cheeses in that you would like.  Pop the bread into the oven on broil.  It should take about five minutes, but watch it.
This makes about 6 - 8 pieces of bruschetta.  Only two of us like tomatoes in my house, so this is perfect for us.

By the time you have finished making the salad, and bruschetta, the water should be boiled and you are ready to make the sauce.

There you have it, dinner on a dime.  You may notice that I did not include the recipe for Ceasar salad, I cheated, and just used Renee's Dressing.  I have made my own dressing from scratch, but store bought is faster and easier.

My All Natural Cleaning Arsenal

   I grew up the daughter of a granola loving, health store regular, mother.  The other kids at school took Joe Louis to school for snacks, I took oatmeal cookies, and if we were really good girls, mom would put carob chips in them for a treat.  The other kids ate Kraft Peanut Butter, we had to skim the oil off of the top of the ground peanut peanut butter.  The other kids ate Flintstone vitamins, we ate ones the size of a pillow that mom got at the health food store.  I could not wait until I grew up and could eat junk food, like all of the other kids.
    When I had my own children my resentment for everything healthy began to melt away.  In many ways I have become my mother (minus that nifty bandana thing she wore on her head, and the bell bottom jeans).  I make most of my food from scratch, to save money and because I like to know what my children are eating.  I draw the line at carob chip cookies, but different strokes for different folks.  I am now really coming around to natural cleaners.  I think if they are toxic to germs then what are they to us?

    I have really been noticing on my beautiful new obsession, Pinterest that there are a lot of entries about "8 uses for vinegar".  I really am not a fan of the smell of vinegar, and so I tend to shy away, even if it is wonderful.  I instead reach of my fresh smelling, naturally bleaching, natural antiseptic lemon juice.  I am also a BIG fan of baking soda.  I keep my baking soda in a Tupperwear shaker, and another one in larger Tupperwear container to refill my shaker.
  Bathtub scrub -  In my upstairs bathroom I keep a large preserve jar full of a mixture of equal parts baking soda with coarse salt.  This makes the best bathtub cleaner.  For really bad soap scum (for when I have been lazy) I like to mix the baking soda / salt with lemon juice.  I make a paste of it, then scrub scrub scrub.  This works really great for cleaning the top of the stove also.  The salt is a great abrasive and like I said, the lemon juice is a natural bleaching agent.
  Microwave Cleaner -   To clean my microwave I put a cup of lemon juice and water in the microwave and zap it for 5 minutes.  Let it cool a bit, then wipe away.  It makes the microwave smell great and you don't need to wash the chemicals off, because there are none!
   Laundry freshener -   I recently purchased some Borax so that I could make "goop" with the kids.  I read on the box that it was a "natural freshener".  It just so happened that a certain little girl was on a real bedwetting streak, and I had some not so great smelling sheets that needed cleaning.  Normally I add a healthy dose of Lysol to pee sheets, but I thought I would put Borax to the test.  I have a new love!  Not only did the sheets not smell like urine, they smelled like I had just brought them in from the clothes line.  Not only that, they felt softer, not only that, they looked brighter.  So I have stumbled upon an ancient product that is naturally occurring that seems to be a miracle.  I just did a load of grimy socks.  I try not to bleach them too much because it breaks down the fibers, so my socks have a little bit of a grey ting to them.  I decided to do a little experiment.  I soaked the socks in the washing machine with a healthy dose of Borax for 15 minutes.  I added lemon juice to the rinse cycle.  I then rewashed them because my family has really sensitive skin.  The socks are now white.  I think I'm in love.
   Removes baked on food - Last night I discovered pure magic.  I had made sausages for dinner.  I baked them in my stone wear lasagna dish which I love.  It is however not that easy to clean baked on food off of it.  I tried another experiment last night.  I sprinkled baking soda really thick in the dish, then poured apple cider vinegar ( I know I'm a hypocrite, but the apple cider vinegar does not smell as bad as white vinegar).  I let it sit overnight.  This morning I did not expect anything.  I figured that I would have to scrub until my arm fell off to get the baked on food off.  So I emptied the dish into the sink, and the baked on food, all slid out.  I could not believe my eyes!  This is a WONDERFUL trick that I will use in the future.

   I am now going to do a lot more experimentation with natural cleaners.  So if you hear about a house explosion in Tweed, that would probably be me.

Natural Gas Dryer + Tankless Water Heater = SAVINGS

Natural Gas Dryer / Tankless Water Heater...
    I do a lot of laundry!  A lot of laundry.  I am still trying to convince my kids that they can wear clothes more than once if they are not dirty (underwear is the exception).  I do about three or more loads a day.  As I have already mentioned we are a single income family and need to find cost cutting measures anywhere we can find them.  At this time last year our hydro bill was over $350.00 a month, it was killing us!  We needed to find something that would cut down on our energy consumption.
   I looked into solar panels. I called several businesses and shook my head after each conversation.  The first person I spoke to could not understand why I did not want to spend $20, 000.00 to get huge solar panels for all over my yard.  I told him I just wanted maybe one or two for my roof depending on the cost, he literally laughed at me and wished me luck.  The next few businesses were in the business of selling solar panels to individuals who wanted a solar farm, and could not understand why I would want to use the solar power for my own use not sell it to Hydro.  The next, and last business I called told me that for what I wanted I was looking at $8, 000, and it would maybe power my t.v..  It was after that conversation that made us decide that solar panels were not the direction that we were going.
    I then looked into waterless tank heaters.  I called around for prices, but the big box stores had limited information.  We called Reliance Home Comfort, and got some good information and we decided to go with a rental natural gas tankless water heater.  We also purchased a natural gas dryer.  It was about $100.00 difference from the same electric model, and Sears only had two models of gas dryer that they carried.  We called a gas fitter and got the ball rolling.  By the time it was all said and done we paid $500.00 to get extra natural gas lines, and the water heater installed, and almost $800.00 for the natural gas dryer.  We then wondered if the savings would equal the out- put of cash.
   It was the best decision to spend that cash!  We have not once run out of hot water, and our hydro bill is less than half of what it was (it averages about $150.00 a month now).  Our natural gas bills are only a fraction more.  The natural gas dryer is more efficient than the old electric dryer and costs so much less to run.  If there is a downside, and it really is minimal, the water has to run longer to get hot.  We made back the money we spent on the appliances and pipes in the first three months.
Money well spent!
    If anyone is considering the switch, I highly recommend doing it.  When we were considering switching things up, we could not find anyone else that had.  It was stressful wondering if we were making a good decision.  If anyone has any questions, you now know someone who has made the switch, so feel free to fire off the questions!
    Now if I could just get the kids to wear their clothes more than once, any suggestions?