Go Phillies Cupcakes

Check out these Phillies cupcakes from my friend Allison at Cuppie Cakes

While you're there, you can check out her Hello Kitty, S'Mores, Black and White Cupcakes with some other cakes and goodies thrown in as well!

Leftover Meal - Rice and Black Bean with Kielbasa

Had enough Smoky Black Bean and Rice Stoup leftover (the rice had saoked up the stoup part) to make this dish.

Simply cut and browned kielbasa and cooked it up! Not the fanciest meal but it used up what I had.

No biscuit mix - what to do?

Wanted to make biscuits as a side to the Smoky Black Bean and Rice Stoup but I didn't have any mix and I'm just learning the baking game so I googled and found this recipe on cooks.com

QUICK AND EASY BISCUITS

2 c. self-rising flour
1 c. milk
6 tbsp. mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients and pour into a greased muffin pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.

I was a bit hesitant about using mayo and baking them in muffin trays but it did the trick and my biscuit loving hubby dug them just fine.

Smoky Black Bean and Rice Stoup

As you may tell from the word "stoup" this is a Rachel Recipe from her Express Lane Meal cookbook (link below). I changed it a bit so I'll give you my adapted ingredient list (not tons different)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- one pack of Turkey Bacon (baked it in the oven)
- Bay leaf
- 2 celery ribs
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic gloves (but I use a jar so I estimate this one)
- 1 cup frozen corn kernel (I didn't feel like putting it back so I used the whole bag:)
- 2 15-ounce cans of black beans
- ground coriander (I'm not putting spice measurements cause I just use what I want)
- chili powder
- ground cumin (my favorite spice)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 quart low sodium chicken stock
- 1 cup brown rice (I recommend sticking to the cup because I added more which soaked up the broth so I added more stock and it just kept soaking it up, however since it was so thick I used the leftover to make rice and beans with sausage!)

Veggies went in first, then the corn and black beans (half a can of black beans were smashed to thicken it). then spices, stock sauce and rice. Pretty easy.

I chopped up some avocados (topped with lime juice), onions and fresh tomatoes for a topping along with some shredded cheese.

I served it with biscuits, but for some reason they didn't make the picture:)

Really Easy Chicken Pot Pie from the freezer and into the Crockpot!

Just chopped some chicken and stuck it in the crock pot.

I had a recipe for this, but somehow the ingredients didn't seem to make it to my list, so I did some ad-libbing from the freezer.

Just took a variety of frozen veggies (I think I had broccoli, asparagus, peas and corn) and added them in.

Then - I didn't have chicken gravy but I did have mushroom gravy so I added some canned mushrooms (I know I'm evil for not using fresh, but on crock pot days, which are busy days, anything goes).

Doesn't it look pretty all mixed together:)

The recipe called for boxed mashed potatoes but I did decide to go fresh with this, just chopped some red potatoes, boiled them, added some nonfat yogurt (instead of sour cream), seasoned, mashed, and there you go.

Added the potatoes to the top when the crock pot was done and stuck it under the broiler.

This one was a big hit with my kids and hubby.

Been Baking (and I didn't burn it!!)

Granola Bars (Emeril's Recipe) on the right I substituted Trader Joe's pumpkin granola for the oats for something different. Guess which one disappeared first:)

I've been trying to save by making bread (with the bread machine) and also healthy snacks for the kids because I find these are some of the key things I keep running back to the store from and they keep putting me over budget.

I'm getting closer to making less trips, but until I get that cow in my backyard I will still be going back for things like milk but at least I've cut down some.

Oatmeal bars to replace the endless supply of fruit bars I keep buying. These were technically supposed to have apples but I didn't feel like cutting them so this batch was just plain. These went real fast.

Pumpkin Bread - I cheated and used Trader Joe's boxed mix with Trader Joe's pumpkin butter in place of the oil.

BTW - Did you know you can replace oil in baking recipes with apple sauce?

Bread for sandwiches from the bread machine which is my new money saving toy and it really takes such a short amount of time, it's easy and I can't burn it cause it does itself! :) Plus, I didn't have to spend money since I got my grandmothers that she wasn't using, so it's even better!

Sorry and help (recipes) needed:)

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've still been cooking away and trying to save money. I've taken loads of pics and tried some new things along the way so stay tuned, you may even see more than one post a day on days I have more free time.

Here's where I need help. Vegetarian meals are a great way to save money. So all you Food Bloggers and just plain food lovers, got any great vegetarian recipes? I'll be making up my meal plan later today so I'd love some ideas and would love to post your links as well!