Showing posts with label money savers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money savers. Show all posts

Friday, October 16, 2015

Freezer Meals: Spinach Feta Wrap (similar to the Starbucks version)



Oh, how I love the starbucks spinach feta wraps. I usually can't resist them if I haven't had breakfast and am in line for coffee! Plus they are *sort of* healthy, right?

Anyway, I've been prepping for the arrival of our Little Lady and making freezer meals, including breakfast. I find I function much better with a hot breakfast that is higher in protein and have had a hankering to try and replicate these at home. They are not exact, but close and I like them so I suppose that's what really matters! They can be made lower carb too if you use the right wraps!

Spinach Feta Wraps

makes 8 wraps

8 large tortillas ( I used low carb)
3 cups egg whites, salted to taste
2 jars tomato pesto
4oz feta cheese
2 cups fresh spinach (more if you like spinach!)

*also aluminum foil

1. Gather ingredients. Pull off 8 pieces of aluminum foil, larger than your tortillas and stack them. Place your first tortilla on top. 



2. Heat a small frying pan on low. Chop the spinach into strips (I did not do this in the photos, and should have, easier to eat!). Add the fresh spinach and 2 tablespoons of the tomato pesto. Heat until SLIGHTLY WILTED-- it should not be dark green in color, only wilted.



3. Find a microwave save bowl and add about 1/3 cup of the egg whites, microwave until cooked. You can fry them instead but I think the texture is better from the microwave believe it or not, similar to poached eggs.


 4. Layer from the bottom to top: 1-2 tablespoons tomato pesto, 1/2 oz feta cheese, wilted spinach, egg.  Roll the wrap, bottom side down, then roll up in the foil. Don't forget to label them with dates too!



5. Repeat 7 more times! It helps to set up a "workstation" since you have to make these individually. I don't have a lot of counter space but if you do, spread it all out to make it go faster!

The bowl of cheerios on the right is optional for parents of toddlers!

 When you are ready to eat them, remove the foil, wrap in a paper towel and heat in the microwave for 1.5-2 minutes.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Cheap and Easy Make Ahead Breakfast Burritos


Since being pregnant, I feel like I'm hungry... ALL.THE.TIME. Even when I eat a meal, I'm hungry after. It's kind of awful, and expensive, and adding to my expanding waistline.

I'm also getting seriously hangry- especially if I miss breakfast at work or just make cereal at home. I love eggs for breakfast, but ain't nobody got time for that!

So using the fantastic pinterest machine, I found this recipe for breakfast burritos by Run to Radiance. I liked the idea of low carb, and tweaked the recipe just a bit, so I thought I'd share my version of it! She even made lunch burritos, but after the third time getting interrupted, I thought I might just stick with breakfast for now. 

And- it's cheap! She calculated 1.25 each, I don't have all the exact numbers I spent, so I went online to price things. Another awesome bonus is that it can easily be made lower carb with the low carb tortillas (see my note below on that little surprise!).

I should note that her recipe is also great- I just always use heavy whipping cream and season my eggs when cooking them. I also didn't have salsa and ended up preferring the Rotel because I could drain it really well.

I'll break down the costs and nutrition at the end of the post.

Make Ahead Breakfast Burritos
Makes 8

Ingredients:

10-12 large eggs (fewer if using xtra large)
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
2 tsp salt and pepper (or the red cap adobo seasoning) 
1 tablespoons butter (or butter spray)
8 large tortillas (I used the low carb version)
1 28oz can of Rotel or large jar Salsa, drained thoroughly
3 tbsps taco seasoning
1-2 cups of mexican or fiesta blend shredded cheese (don't use low fat- that stuff tastes awful!)

Also:
aluminum foil


Directions:
1. Preheat large frying pan, add butter or spray to coat pan

2. In a large glass bowl, whisk eggs, heavy whipping cream and salt/pepper or Adobo to taste.

3. Pour egg mixture in frying pan, stirring occasionally until eggs are fried very dry. ***Note: I had to make these in 2 batches

4. Make sure the salsa or Rotel are very drained as well, place in a bowl and add taco seasoning.

5. Mix the eggs with the rotel/salsa mixture. Note how dry everything is! Seems bad but when you reheat it you will be thankful!

6. Precut 8 pieces of aluminum foil


7. For each burrito: Layer one tortilla, egg/salsa mixture, and top with cheese to taste. I set up a little workstation to speed up the process.


8. Roll the burrito- this is a little harder than it looks, make sure it is tight on one side, then tuck the sides in and finish, laying the seam facing down.


9. Roll the aluminum foil- I call this "subway style"... you know, like the sandwich shop- start at the corner, roll the foil around the burrito, then halfway tuck the sides in and continue. You should have a tightly rolled burrito. Mark the date, and type of burrito with a sharpie.



10. Freeze. 

When ready to eat, remove from freezer, wrap in a paper towel and microwave 1.5-2 minutes.




Costs:
I should warn you, I don't consider pantry staples like butter and salt and foil into the costs because I always have them on hand. I also always have taco seasoning in bulk and heavy whipping cream (soooo many uses!) but I'll still figure them in. I'm using walmart prices since that's what seems to be the cheapest and most widely available.

4.10 1 dozen eggs (6.16 for 18 eggs at walmart- you can probably find them cheaper)
0.20 Heavy whipping cream (3.18 for 16 oz)
2.98 8 count large tortillas
2.00 28 oz can rotel
2.48 fiesta shredded cheese (online I only saw the price for 1 3/4 cups- and I had a lot left over honestly)
0.53 taco seasoning (1 packet)
---------------------------------------------
12.29/8 = 

1.53 each burrito
Not too bad :)


Now lets look at the carbs..


HOLY COW 32 carbs per tortilla? Well, won't be purchasing those again- geesh. I'm sure you can find them with a better carb count. The eggs come to .9 carbs and the cheese, cream, salsa are pretty much nothing so it's all just the tortilla.


So, that was my morning. It took less than an hour and now we have breakfast nearly ready to go! Hope this finds you well, again I need to thank Run to Radiance for her great inspiring recipe. Of course, you could totally change this recipe by using mozzarella or swiss, asparagus and ham, or sausage and bacon. So many options :)

Happy cooking!




Monday, July 29, 2013

Updates!! Lots of them! And a cheap and easy chicken recipe!

So, I have been MIA over the last several months, but I have a great excuse! Several, actually.. 

The first? My husband and I are expecting our first child! We are very excited but I will tell you this pregnancy has consumed me! I was nauseous for the first 20 weeks, and now that we are about 35 weeks along and the nursery is about done, I have just a few moments of time where I can blog! I can't promise anything, but I will be home for a good chunk of time, so I hope to post something more frequently.. and fair warning, there might be some baby photos to go along with that.

Our little guy :)


The second? I've become an entrepreneur. Twice. I'm not sure if it was early nesting or if things just fell into place but I now have two small businesses. The first is a photography business. I'd been taking photos of other peoples' children for so long, it was about time I got paid for it. If you are interested, my website is Courtney Marie Photography. I will probably include photo tips and such on this blog, when I can.. but for now I'll leave you with some cute photos :)

What a cute toddler she is! She was so good for this shoot!

A client's little one- adorable!


The other business is a Mary Kay business. I get all sorts of reactions on this one! No, it's not just grandma's makeup :) Yes, I absolutely love their products. No, I'm not crazy. I have a lot of skin reactions and finally found some products that have improved my skin, even during pregnancy. Plus, living in the south means a high risk for skin cancer and they have a great daily facial sunscreen that agrees with my skin. I probably won't mention it again on this blog, but if you are interested, send me an email to craftyhobbyhouse@gmail.com and I'll be glad to give you more information :)



I've also gotten back into a healthier eating pattern (for the most part). Pregnancy has disrupted this, but I have been loving some new recipes and will share as I get them. I try to eat a higher protein, lower simple carb diet but on busy nights and when we are on a super tight budget (when are we NOT) I have to go to the staples of rice or pasta- but I still try to make those as healthy as possible. Here is a recent recipe I got off of BigOven (love their app!!) that was yummy- although it doesn't look like much-- it's easy and cheap (add frozen veggies and it's a little more healthy!)

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

Main Dish  »  Casseroles     Original Yield: 4      Sized to 4 Servings
Easy to Make. Kids Love it!
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake
photo by Rayel 

Ingredients

1 10.75-oz can Cream of Chicken Soup; Regular or 98% fat free1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper ground
1 1/3 cups Water1 1/2 pounds Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast Halves about 4 - 6
3/4 cups Rice; Uncooked Regular long-grain white1 cup Cheddar Cheese (4 oz) Shredded
1/2 teaspoon Onion powder

Preparation

Mix soup, water, rice, onion powder and black pepper in 2qt. shallow baking dish. Top with chicken. Sprinkle chicken with additional pepper.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 F for 45 min. or until chicken is no longer pink and rice is done.
Uncover, sprinkle cheese over chicken, the cheese melts from the heat of the chicken.
For a nice addition stir in 2 cups of fresh or canned, or frozen vegetables into soup mixture before topping with chicken.


An update on the garden? Nada. Being prego killed my motivation this summer.. but I do want to have another winter garden. I'll probably update you all now and then!


And finally, I've really slacked off on project life :( I've been taking occasional notes, and keeping up with taking photos, so it won't take too long to catch up but I hate having to catch up! I plan to be better when our little man arrives.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

A Quick Project Life update and a Giveaway!

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks! I just got finished working 12 out of the past 14 days, and I am tired! With that said, my tiredness will benefit you guys, I promise!!

Lets start with an update to my project life.. ready? GO! Okay, no go actually.. I'm behind ALREADY :( When life gets busy I'm just happy to get 6 hours of sleep!  Regardless.. here is an update! 

Week 2:



Look at all that Journaling!! Okay, I kid, I kid. Actually I HAVE journaled-- in evernote. I will be catching up over the next couple of days. I will keep you updated and will post the finished product.

And last but not least, a GIVEAWAY! 

I have to give you a little background as to WHY there is a giveaway first! I ordered my Seafoam dividers (which are awesome, BTW) and while I was at it I added a Seafoam paper pack and the Clementine dividers since that was the kit I used last year. When my amazon box arrived, I was a bit shocked to find TWO sets of Clementine dividers! Is it possible they made a mistake and gave me two? Oh no- I totally ordered two on accident. This is what happens when I am tired. So, I figured I could maybe do a little giveaway and put it to good use! The colors of the dividers are beautiful, and interestingly they are very similar to the seafoam kit, so if you are looking to save a little money, what is better than free? Or, you may have a friend who purchased the Clementine kit or have considered it for next year, here is your chance :)





Here are the rules:

1. Go to the Crafty Hobby House facebook page HERE and click "friend"

2. At the bottom of this blog post, leave a comment with your name!

3. At the bottom of ANY other post (or page) on this blog BESIDES THIS ONE, leave a comment! It doesn't matter the topic :) The main blog link is HERE.

4. The deadline is 11:59pm on February 26, 2013. Return to this post on WEDNESDAY, February 27, 2013 to see if you won the giveaway! You will have 48 hours to respond, if not, I'll go to the next randomly selected person until someone claims their prize!

I will also post the winner via facebook on February 27th, so keep an eye out there too :) 

Good Luck and Happy Crafting :)

Friday, December 7, 2012

The Household Notebook

Ready for more total randomness? Thought so.

I try to stay organized. I have been much more successful at it since I learned about the benefits of a Household Notebook. It's basically a "go to" folder where you keep a little bit of everything. Our notebook contains shopping lists, price books, coupons, recipes and grocery money. Important phone numbers are in the back and our schedules are at the front. I am about to go grocery shopping, and went to coupons.com, printed everything and just clipped it in the book, to be organized later if I want. The important thing is they are with me when I'm shopping! It has really saved me a lot of money with very little time invested!

I get all my notebook printables online from a great little website: Organized Home

I highly recommend this little book! It keeps me organized and helps me save money. Plus, it gives me reasons to buy more page protectors :) and what project lifer doesn't love that?

Happy crafting :)

The front of the notebook contains pens, scissors, a highlighter and grocery money


The shopping list is the section I go to most frequently for sure

I love this, but I'll admit I wish I used this more often- it would totally save me time when I go shopping! When I do use it, it's fabulous :)


The REAL money saver is right here! Everytime I go shopping, I add to this list (usually the more frequently purchased items only). When I can, I sit down and figure out what items are cheaper where! You can see I haven't had time to break down the prices yet :)
I put the most frequently used recipes in this book- very handy when I need the hubby to start dinner!

Used baseball card holders for manufacture coupons


I seriously love coupons.com. When I can, I cut out the coupons and arrange them by basic category (food, soaps, cleaning supplies, etc), then  tape them to a blank sheet of paper and slide into a sleeve.
This is what happens when I run out of time! Just punch holes and go shopping! Scissors in the front pouch and extra 8x10 sleeves to put leftovers