This Recipe's a Winner! Cabbage Minestrone With Chick Peas

I made this delicious recipe the other night and it turned out to be a major winner with young & old alike in our household. The yums & mmm mmm mmm's kept coming. It's a very economical dish and filling without any meat. I did a bit of tweaking as usual:

I used half coconut oil & half olive oil. (1 Tbsp of each) I had a can of garbanzos/chick peas on hand so I used that instead of the dried version.
Hubby's not a fan of cooked onion so I just left out the fresh & sprinkled in a bit of onion powder for the flavor~not too much.

I love my OXO can opener! It's the kind that doesn't leave sharp edges on the lids & interior of the cans.

Another tried & true kitchen gadget that I use alot & love is this Terraillon scale. I put the empty container on it, turn it on and the weight starts at zero (it doesn't add in what the container weighs so no adding & subtracting.)

I used the whole head of cabbage.

Happily bubbling away. I cooked it for about half the time that the recipe called for since my beans were precooked.

It's a great winter's eve soup but would be equally fitting any time of the year!

Bread Pudding Tweaks~A Frugal Way to Use Up Those Leftover Bread Bits

I have made this bread pudding recipe in the past, and although we like it enough to make it again and again, I wasn't crazy about the vanilla sauce that is to be served with it. So, I poured the sauce over the pudding after it was done baking and left it in the oven after turning off the oven and just let it sit in the still hot oven for about a half hour. Long enough to let the sauce soak in and evaporate a bit. We liked it SO much better that way. And no side dish of congealed butter sauce to deal with.
I had enough bread bits left over and socked away in the freezer to double the recipe, and then some. (I had two extra cups worth so I went ahead and threw that in too. Didn't hurt it at all.) There was even a gluten free blueberry muffin in my stash that I added to the recipe.

The gluten free bread was a cinnamon raisin bread with a decent amount of raisins in it so I didn't add any extra raisins (that the recipe calls for). I also greased my baking dish with organic virgin coconut oil.

(butter, milk & sugar getting heated up to pour over the bread crumbs. I never use margarine.)

(cinnamon for the egg mixture to pour over the bread & milk concoction)

(cinnamon, vanilla & egg mixture)

Ready to go into the oven!

Fresh from the oven. Warm, moist & a bit of crunch.

Can you tell I just had to try it?

All the tweaks & changes worked just fine. The gluten free bread worked, we couldn't tell the difference. (Even though there was some regular homemade french bread that went in too. And that blueberry muffin!)

As of this writing, (the morning after) half of that big ol' pan of bread pudding is gone!

Have a great day!

It's Thursday!

We are one day closer to the weekend, which so many people look forward to. I love each day just about equally but I do enjoy the days most when the whole family is home & gets to be together. Yes, I do work most weekends but am only gone for about 6 hours at the most.
Speaking of loving certain days of the week, Wednesdays are one of our favorites because it is a designated day that we go out to dinner to one of our favorite nearby restaurants. So, that being said, I had forgotten yesterday was Wednesday and had planned on trying this new recipe but had to postpone it 'til today. We went to an Italian restaurant and hubby had pasta while DD & I had their white pizza with extra garlic and a dish of marinara on the side to dip the crust in P:. So good.
Today I've been cleaning house, mostly focusing on our bedroom. Where DOES all that dust come from?!
I also made bread pudding to use up those odds & ends of bread that I have been stashing in the freezer. This time I used some gluten free cinnamon raisin bread and a gluten free muffin that DD lost interest in before it was used/eaten up. I've never used gluten free bread in the recipe so I'm interested in how it will turn out. I'll keep you posted.
We finally got our rain yesterday and some cool weather followed. I'm in heaven on earth. I'm convinced I was meant to be living in London or some other equally gray and dreary area...I love that kind of weather. I'm a weirdo I know!
I still have yet to do a scrapbook page but I have been working on new aprons for the shop. I have a new apron that I call "Mamaw's Favorite Workaday Apron". My grandson calls me Mamaw & the style of apron truly is my favorite style when I have messy work at hand so that I can protect my clothing. Many a time I have forgone donning an apron only to regret it when the first splatter of grease or sauce hits my blouse.
Well, I'm off to wrap up the days doings...

Where's the Rain?

After a season of drought in our area, this rain lover has missed rain more than ever. The forecast for today was rain & lots of it, but so far only light rain and clouds interspersed with a bit of sunshine. Time to do a rain dance.
I'm still Somersizing (with a few minor cheats & treats here & there) and can happily say I've lost 6 pounds since the beginning of January! I have a plan of getting up early each weekday & going for a walk with the dog to get that exercise in that has been eluding me lately. Today was day one of that plan. Wish me luck because I am SOOOOO not a morning person!
And last night, I gathered some supplies to get to work on those scrapbooking pages (that I haven't done yet /: ) Progress.
Since it's a cloudy(-ish) winters day, and I have all the ingredients on hand, I plan on making this: Cabbage Minestrone With Chick Peas for dinner. Looks & sounds yummy.

Great Grocery Saving Tips & Updates!

I'm always looking for ways to save money (so I have more money to spend on other fun stuff! ...I should say SAVE instead of spend, right?) and I find the grocery budget one of the easiest areas in which to save money. I got this great email today & thought I would link it up here.

Update on my exercise & scrapbooking/crafting: no & no. I'm just so far off track right now but I'll get it together. Soon. The family's schedule is just still not back to normal & when they're home I just don't seem to be able to follow my hard & fast (*giggle*) rules I set for myself. But then again, I guess that's why I'm home; to be available for my family. I have been getting some (a little) sewing done for my shop though so I've not been totally unproductive in that area.

I think this may go hand in hand with my exercise goal: I have gotten back on the Somersize saddle again and though I've fallen off a time or few, I get right back up on it! And since I've been following that WOE, I've managed to lose a couple of pounds over the holiday season rather than gain. I'll take that any day!

A New Year...

Wowowowow! The holidays are winding down around here. The time between Thanksgiving and January 2nd (hubby's birthday) it seems as if everyone is home. Everyday. This year hubby has extended his break from work and is not going back until Monday. Wowowowow. I truly enjoy all the family togetherness but it totally throws me off my routines. And for some reason, I have a hard time getting back into the swing of things when life goes back to normal. About the time when Spring break rolls around, I will have just gotten the hang of "normalcy" only to be thrown by my DD being home for a week. I keep reminding myself to treasure each moment because kids grow up & move on. And hubby? Well, lets just say...no...never mind. (I do enjoy his company...no, really...I do! (: )
In newer news, am trying to think up a workable weekly schedule for myself so I can accomplish all the things I would love to accomplish. Like sewing aprons for my shop, working on this here blog, tending to my Avon business and getting started with an ebay shop to sell some stuff. I figure I need to treat my weekdays as if I were working a full time job outside the home and try to accomplish all my housewifely duties in the evenings and on weekends. The only glitch is, I work most weekends outside of the home. What to do, what to do?
Well, I'm off to bed. It's late and I have to be up bright & early tomorrow. Night night!