White Chocolate Cookies

Tonight I made these white chocolate cookies which came out yummy...on the sweeter side but with a great balance of buttery goodness. My second batch was topped with coconut shavings and it was a good hint of alteration (picture not shown).

Recipe from Barefoot Contessa on Food Network with 5 stars.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound unsalted butte,r at room temperature (I used Smart Balance)
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I just used large eggs)
• 2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa (I didn't have this so I skipped this)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.
Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

::Sous Chef: Lynn

::Taste Testers: "Phan"tastic, My lil sister T-Bone, and my Hus

A Healthy Ah-ha

Tonight we had taco night and we had an ah-ha. I usually love sour cream but hate the calories associated with it. If you've been following along, you know that my recipes for lasagna and enchiladas replace sour cream and ricotta cheese with cream cheese (AHH cream cheese is not healthier!) COTTAGE CHEESE (if you haven't tried it, try it already...it's great, guilt free, and people don't even notice if I don't tell them).

Anyways...Ah-ha= sour cream replacement for taco night is to use original non-fat yogurt. I was hesitant but thanks to my little sister T-Bone and her "Phan"tastic friend we tried it and it was yummy, guilt free, and we didn't even notice.

 

There's even a chart of things you can substitute yogurt with.

(referenced from Mountain High Yogurt)

Per 8 oz.	Total Fat	Sat. Fat	Calories
Regular Mayonnaise	160g	19g	1440
Light Mayonnaise	56g	8g	640
Regular Sour Cream	40g	26g	480
Light Sour Cream	20g	15g	320
Regular Cream Cheese	72g	48g	800
Light Cream Cheese	48g	24g	560
Heavy Cream	88g	55g	821
Half-n-Half	28g	17g	315
Light Whipping Cream	74g	46g	699
Original Style Mountain High	8g	5g	180
Lowfat Mountain High	2.5g	1.5g	140
Fat Free Mountain High	0g	0g	120

FrEeeeeee~

This is what I got for free! (picture below) Before I got the hang of couponing I use to think that the generic brand was still cheaper than the name brand even with a coupon. Now I know that the tip to a good coupon deal is to match a coupon with a sale and to use it wisely at a store who doubles coupon...OR just follow blogs and copy what they do. My motto: Fake it til you make it.

I got these things on clearance and or used a coupon and bought the things that were less than the coupons.

 

At Target, you get $0.05 per recyclable bag that you bring! I brought 2.

The Dove Deodorants were on clearance, I had 2 BOGO free coupons and they cancelled each other out. 

Dove wash for men was BOGO free + $1 off so it was $2 for 2

Nail files are always a need in the classroom b/c as a special ed teacher I'm always tapping my fingers on things to prompt. My nails always chip and I'm too cheap to buy files when I need it. These were all Free! + Free nail clippers using coupons on Revlon tools.

I found My baby C jeans on clearance for $2 and had a $2 off coupon = FREE jeans!

Score!

Almost 70% savings

Last night I did a Target run w/ my hus. I love coupon shopping with him b/c he calculates so fast and he sees things I don't notice (like men's products...I'm really selfish sometime). Kiss that brain of his! :* Most of my savings were found from Money Saving Mom and Totally Target.

All this came out to Original Total: $39 and paid $15 and some change.

I bought two pair of Jeans for my Sweet A for $4. How? Target.com has coupons for denim right now. I found these jeans in the picture on clearance for $4 each. I used 2 $2 off coupons and BAM!

Other great deals from Target.com:

Market Pantry Sandwich Bread $1 (Sale thru 7/16)
*-$1/2 Sandwich Bread AND Eggs Target Web Coupon x8/13
= Like getting FREE Bread with the cost of your eggs!

Sharpie Permanent Markers Fine or Ultra-Fine (2-ct) – $1

Use $1/1 Target printable
Free after coupon 

(I also bought the highlighters which were $1.24 and got it for $0.24 after coupon)

Paper Mate Pens $1.02

Use $1 off Target Coupon and pay $0.02 per pen package found in back to school bins.

I used a $5 off from Sunday Paper a couple weeks ago for 2 Revlon tools and got $0.50 overage!

I used a 3 manufacturer's coupons of Neutrogena facial and 3 Target coupons for Neutrogena and got $5 Target Gift Card + about $2 overage! Right now, it's buy 3 Neutrogena products and get a $5 gift card.

Veggie Macaroni was on sale for $1.44 and I had two $1 off coupons and paid $0.44 each.

As for the denim coupons. Adults are $3 off and kids is $2. I found some adult jeans on clearance but size 6. If you're a size 6 go get them! It was only $4.98.

These two things came out to $16 and some change.  

Ribs that Fall Off the Bones

Here's another dish that I haven't made in a while. This dish is super easy to make also. My 3year-old "A" did the hard work for me and I just plugged in the crock pot.

I forget how many pounds of meat this was but it was enough to feed 5 adults and 2 children 

(and we left 2 pieces for my other sister who we forgot to invite. Oops but we love you!)

Preparation

1) Buy Ribs of your choice

2) Put in the crock pot

3) Season with paprika, rosemary, oregano, garlic,

OR 

dump in some of the Lindberg Snider Porthouse Seasoning that I used.

4) Add Cumin

5) Add about a cup of brown sugar

6) dash around some pepper

7) Chop an onion in there

8) Dump 3/4 of a bottle of bbq sauce (My favorite is Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce but I bought the Bull's-Eye for $0.25 after couponing so this is what I used. It was pretty tasty!) Save the rest of the bottle for the option to dip while eating

*Rub the dry ingredients around the meat, on both sides.*

Cooking directions

Turn on crock pot to high (4 hours)

Wait, get a mani/pedi, go shopping...

Serve 

(I served on a bed of Spinach and I poured some of the juice on top)

EAT.

Here's the picture of the Porterhouse & Roast Seasoning and the ingredients

::Picture Collage: My lil Sister T-bone

::Pictures: My BB

::Sous Chef: My Sweet A

50% is good

So today I did an Albertson's run. I got a $5 off of $25 coupon with my coupons and Albertson's coupon book (which you find at the register). Right now Albertson's is also having a sale where you buy $30 worth of P&G products and you get a $15 itunes gift card + all the P&G products are on sale. I found that the Tide was cheaper than Target for the 60 load size and I also used coupons. P&G products included toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, pampers diapers, and tide.

The original cost was $164 and some change and I walked out paying $80 and some change with a $80 savings. This trip was fun for me b/c I finally got meats included in my purchase as well as some fruit and salad.

NachoooOOOO~ Chili

My future brother in-law makes THE best chili nachos in the whole wide world! So I asked him for the recipe and he shared...the only thing is that I altered it a little and he called it blasphemy but I call it healthier or more filling. It's so~ easy.

Things you need:

• crock pot

• nacho cheese (big can)

• XLNT chili brick (frozen section @ any market)

 

 Here's where I went off the road. 

I added 1 can of Kidney, 1 can of Pinto, and 1 can of Refried Beans with the cheese and chili brick.

(Side note: Crock pot liner bags are the best inventions every! No more washing/scraping crockpots!)

Here's where I really went crazy.

I added green onions, avocado and peppers to the topping.

We used tortilla chips from Superior Market. I layered chips, nacho chili sauce, and then more chips and more nacho chili sauce before topping it off with all the goodies so that every bite had the goodness of the nacho chili. :)

Now I make the best nacho chili in the whole wide world! ;P

::Picture credits to: My Blackberry & Christina :)

::Recipe thanks to: Nish