Welcome to my money saving Blog where I share many of your favorite recipes and stories with everyone who visits here. Feel free to comment – feel free to ask questions! All are welcome! I also hope you pay a visit to my blog – history files for more money saving hints and tips for everyday life.I believe that making your own food saves more money than any other part of our lives. My email is grannyj40@yahoo.com you are welcome to write to me anytime.
Valentines day foods 2 and tips for defrosting foods safely.
This is a special day.If you don’t have a sweetie to share the love with ,gather a group of your friends and have a pot luck.If it is your Birthday you have double the Love.
Marshmallow Truffles
From Kraft. A perfect Valentine surprise. Cook time is cooling time.
2 hours | 20 min prep
SERVES 20
1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chunks, melted
1 (10 ounce) package marshmallows
2/3 cup pecans, chopped (or rice krispies,crushed Graham crackers or coconut)
Place chocolate in a microwave-safe glass bowl. Melt chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth.
Dip marshmallows, one at a time, in chocolate, turning to evenly coat each marshmallow. Gently shake off excess chocolate.
Place marshmallows, in single layer, on sheets of wax paper. Sprinkle each with about 1 teaspoons of the pecans.
Let stand at room temperature 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until chocolate is set.
Store in airtight container at room temperature.
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
There is not much to say about this recipe…if you love chocolate and strawberries.
30 min | 20 min prep
28 strawberries
2 pints strawberries, with stems if possible
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or milk chocolate chips)
2 tablespoons corn syrup
6 tablespoons butter
Wash strawberries and pat dry.
Place on paper towels until they reach room temperature.
Melt chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter in a double boiler, stirring occasionally.
Or microwave at 10 sec segments
Remove from heat and dip each strawberry into chocolate, coating 2/3 of strawberry.
Allow excess chocolate to drip off into pan.
Place stem side down on waxed paper covered baking pan or cookie sheet.
Refrigerate until set, about 15-20 minutes.
Valentine Chex Mix
Betcha cant just eat a handful lol enjoy
Ingredients
9-cups Rice Chex cereal
1-cup white vanilla baking chips
1/2-cup peanut butter
1/4- cup butter or margarine
3/4 -cup powdered sugar
1/2-cup red, white and pink candy-coated chocolate candies
1/4..cup red or pink sprinkles
Directions
In large bowl, place cereal. In small microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.
Pour peanut butter mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.
Place 1/2 of the cereal mixture in 1-gallon food-storage plastic bag.
Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated.
Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, stir candies and sprinkles into remaining cereal mixture.
Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes. 4. In serving bowl, mix both cereal mixtures.
Store in airtight container
Chocolate Marshmallow Snowballs
Yummy
40 min | 40 min prep
24 cookies
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 ounce) bag chocolate chips, I use milk chocolate chips
5 cups miniature marshmallows
2 cups coconut
Over low heat, melt chocolate chips with the condensed mik while stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Add marshmallows – mix well ensuring all marshmallows are coated.
Drop by tablespoonful into coconut and roll into balls in the coconut.
Chill for several hours.
Blueberry Syrup For Milk
An alternative to chocolate milk. Everyone loves this stuff.
Ingredients
1 cup frozen unsweeted blueberries, thawed
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup warm water
Directions
In blender, combine all ingredients.
Cover and blend until smooth.
Store in airtight container.
To serve, mix 2 Tablespoons syrup (or more, to taste) into 8 oz. cold milk.
Layered Lettuce Salad
20 min | 20 min prep
10 servings
First layer
1 small head lettuce, shredded fine
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup green pepper
16 ounces frozen peas, thawed with hot water but not cooked, then cooled
Then mix
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sugar
Spread over last layer and sprinkle over that
1/2 lb cheese, grated
8 slices bacon, fried, then crumbled over cheese
Layer vegetables.
Mix sour cream, mayonnaise and sugar.
Spread over vegetables, then sprinkle over that the cheese and bacon.
Seal tightly and allow to stand for 24 hours before serving.
Valentines Day Strawberry Cream Crepes for 2
This is a good valentines day recipe.
10 min | 10 min prep
SERVES 2 , 4 crepes
1 1/3 cups slice fresh strawberries
2 teaspoons sugar
4 2/3 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 1/3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 2/3 tablespoons heavy cream, whipped [cool whip will do]
4 dessert crepes [can be purchased in a package]
4 strawberries, whole, for garnish
Sprinkle sliced strawberries with sugar; set aside. Beat milk with lemon juice until thick. Fold in strawberries and whipped cream. Divide among crepes; fold. Garnish with additional whipped cream and a strawberry centered on the cream.
Chocolate Dessert Quesadillas
10 min | 5 min prep
SERVES 4
1/4 cup butter
4 small flour tortillas
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
ground cinnamon, to taste
sugar, to taste
1 cup vanilla yogurt
Lightly butter both sides of each tortilla.
Place each tortilla in a medium-hot skillet and sprinkle 1/4 of the chocolate chips on each tortilla.
Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar to taste on top.
As the chocolate starts to melt and stick to the tortilla, fold over and brown lightly on each side.
Cut into wedges and serve with vanilla yogurt.
Apple Enchilada Dessert
Apples rolled in flour tortillas. Very delicious,easy and fast to make. Substitute apples with peaches or cherries if desired. Allrecipes
Ingredients:
1 (21 oz) can apple pie filling
6 (8″) flour tortillas
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 c margarine
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spoon fruit evenly onto all tortillas,sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down on lightly greased 8×8″ baking pan
Bring margarine ,sugars and water to a boil in med. saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer.,stirring constantly for 3 mins.
Pour sauce evenly over tortillas;sprinkle with extra cinnamon on top,if desired.
Bake for 20 mins.
I have made these and put some cream cheese with a little sugar on the tortillas under the apple filling. If too runny,add 1 T cornstarch to water.
3 Ways to Defrost Food Safely
You can hardly wait. The juicy rib-eye steaks you picked up a few weeks ago have been sitting in your freezer, just waiting to be grilled. Tonight, you plan to fire up the barbeque and do just that.
But first, you’ve got to defrost the steaks. And you need to take special care: Some approaches to thawing food, like leaving it on the counter all day, are unsafe and can cause illness.
You’ve got 3 choices for safely thawing any type of food. Here’s what you need to know about each:
1. Refrigerator Thawing
This is certainly the easiest method for defrosting frozen food — just stick it in the fridge and wait until it’s thawed.
But you may be waiting longer than you thought. It usually takes an entire day to thaw even a small amount of frozen food, such as a pound of ground meat or boneless chicken breasts. For large items, like a whole turkey or ham, it’ll take about 24 hours of defrosting time for every 5 pounds of food.
All that waiting does have a payoff, though. A major advantage of refrigerator thawing is that you don’t have to cook the defrosted food right away — especially helpful if you’re faced with a last-minute change in plans.
Poultry, fish and ground meat that’s been defrosted in the fridge can be kept for an additional 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator before cooking. Beef, pork, lamb or veal (roasts, steaks or chops) will keep refrigerated for another 3 to 5 days after thawing.
Another plus: If you decide not to cook the thawed food, you can safely refreeze it within these same time limits.
2. Cold Water Thawing
The upside to this approach is that it’s much faster than refrigerator thawing. The downside is that it requires a lot more attention on your behalf.
To thaw the food, submerge the bag in cold tap water. Never use hot water, as that can cause the outer layer of the food to heat up to a temperature where harmful bacteria begins to multiply. You’ll need to change the water every 30 minutes to ensure that it stays sufficiently cold.
Using this thawing method, small packages of frozen meat or poultry (about a pound) can defrost in one hour or less. For larger items, you should estimate about 30 minutes of defrosting time per pound of food.
Once the food is thawed completely, you’ll need to cook it immediately. If you have a change in plans, you can safely refreeze the food once you’ve cooked it thoroughly.
3. Microwave Thawing
The microwave, as you might expect, offers the speediest method of defrosting food.
Set your microwave to the “defrost” or “50 percent power” setting while thawing to ensure that the outer edges of the food don’t become cooked while the remainder is still frozen. If you’re defrosting a package of meat, poultry or fish that is in pieces, separate them as the food thaws.
If you use the microwave thawing method, you’ll need to cook the food immediately after it’s thawed. Once you’ve cooked the food, you can safely refreeze it if you like.
How Not to Thaw Food
It may be tempting to just leave your frozen food out on the cupboard to thaw — it’s easy and it’s fast. Don’t do it. Nor should you thaw food in hot water.
The problem with both of those methods is that the outer layer of the food can sit between the bacteria-breeding temperatures of 40°F and 140 °F for far too long to be safe.
For more information on safe defrosting, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service Web site.
Tofu and Veggies in Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 small head broccoli, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
5 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 pound firm tofu, cubed
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup hot water
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
ground cayenne pepper to taste
Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Saute broccoli, red bell pepper, mushrooms and tofu for 5 minutes.
In a small bowl combine peanut butter, hot water, vinegar, soy sauce, molasses and cayenne pepper. Pour over vegetables and tofu. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender crisp.
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