The Couponing Cook

So I'm finally updating you on the deals I got this week. Pay attention cuz here I go!!! :)

Tried this out on Monday, and it was delicious!  A little messy but very good.  I got this recipe from a taste of home magazine and this recipe was given by Charlene Brogan of Falmouth, Maine.

Prep: 40 mins. Cook: 5 min,/batch  Yield: 4 servings

2 large onions
2 TBS. canola oil ( I used Pam to lower the fat content)
4 slices of provolone cheese ( I used muenster)
1/2 lb. thinly sliced ham
1 large tomato, sliced
8 garlic-flavored sandwich pickle slices (used regular sandwich pickles)
8 slices of Italian bread (1/2 in. thick)
2 TBS butter, softened

1. In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until softened. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until deep golden-brown.
2. Layer the cheese, ham, tomato, pickles and caramelized onions on four bread slices; top with remaining bread. Spread outsides of sandwiches with butter.
3. Cook on a panini maker or indoor grill for 3-4 minutes or until bread is browned and cheese is melted. (Used my George Forman grill)

**The onions didn't take quite 30 mins. to caramelize.  I had to slice the bread in half and then in half again because it was too thick. If you used a different thick bread like Texas toast or something, it would work too.

 Prep: 15 minutes Cook:45 minutes Yield: 6 servings

*Yet another recipe from Taste of Home. This was given by Beverly Matthews of Pasco, WA, and of course I tweaked a little.

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped
1 each medium green, sweet red and yellow peppers, chopped
1 medium onion
2 TBS olive oil (used Pam)
3 C. Water (I used 1 C. of water)
2 Cups frozen corn
1 C. uncooked brown rice
1 C. green enchilada sauce (I used the whole 28 oz can)
1/4 C. canned chopped green chilies (I used the whole 4 oz can)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C. (4oz.) shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 C. (8oz) sour cream
Tortilla chips, and minced fresh chives, optional

1. Put rice in rice cooker to make it cook faster if you have one, if not then proceed to next step.
2. In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook and stir the chicken, peppers and onion in oil (or Pam) until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in the water, corn, rice (if not using the rice cooker), enchilada sauce, chilies and salt.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 35-40 minutesn or until rice is tender. (won't take this long if using rice cooker, just poor cooked rice in pot when it's done)
3. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese and sour cream until cheese is melted. Serve with chips and chives if desired.

**I served mine with chips, homemade salsa and homemade guacamole. I will post the recipe for this next.

My "happy" customers.  They liked it, really!!! :)

My brother and sister-n-law Matt and Jane.

*Currently this is my couponing binder
* I organized mine by what isle the item would be in at the store. You can organize it however you would like.




*Had a $4.00 off coupon for a Gillette razor. And received $4.00 in extra care bucks. Total: FREE

*Candy on sale 2/$5.00 and had a B1G1 Free Coupon and received a $1.00 +up. Total: $1.50.


                      

*Target had them for $2.74. I had a $1.00 off printable Target coupon that I got off their website, and a $1.00 off manufacturer coupon that I got from the Newspaper. I could stack them. Total price: $.74

***The Target deal I learned about from Hip2save.com
*** The other deals I got from sitting down and looking through the ads and figuring out for myself what coupons I had and what kind of deals I could get. Just so you know these stores are still having these deals. So you can do the same if you have the right coupons.

4. Put in a bowl and cover with a dish cloth and let rise for 45 minutes
5. Knead on a floured surface for aout 7 minutes. Adding flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to your hands. Or you can just put it in your kitchen aid for that amount of time.




6. Put dough back in the bowl, cover again, and let rise for 2 hours.
7. Knead again for a couple minutes and roll with rolling pin until thin. As shown in picture
8. Spread Pizza sauce and BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Rays) on pizzas.
9. Add desired toppings, putting cheese on last.

Sorry for those who are following me.... Haven't had time to organize all the couponing information I want to blog yet. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow you will have lots of information to read over. :) 

A few more recipes on their way as well!

This is the recipe I use to make my homemade flour tortilla shells. Unfortunately I can't claim the credit for this one. But I sure can share the tasty goodness.  I follow this recipe to a  "T" and they turn out beautifully.


Texas Flour Tortillas (adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)
Ingredients:

I have had several people ask me how I coupon. Let me first say that I am not an expert. I have only been doing this for four months and am still learning myself.

Today I am just going to get you started.  It is very time consuming so how much you put into it is how much you will get out of it.

The first thing you should do is buy yourself an inexpensive coupon organizer from the dollar tree or something. I have a three ring binder, but you mustn't start off with that at first if you don't have a whole lot of time to put into it. If you do have time then stay tuned I will be updating my blog as often as possible to give more pointers.

I buy 4 newspapers a week. I recommend you start off with 1 or 2. If you follow my advice, I promise you will get your money back plus some. I will start giving you more pointers Monday after this Sunday's newspaper comes out. 

Pointers:

*Dollar Tree sells Sunday newspapers for $1.00. Make sure you check to make sure the coupons are there before you buy it. People like to steal them out.

*I learned this the hard way. Cut out ALL the coupons, not just the one's you think you will use. (For example, if you don't have a dog you don't need dog coupons, unless you want to give them away or something). I still cut out the diaper coupons and give them away.

*Organize your coupons as soon as possible. It's crazy shopping and trying to look for your coupons and not being able find the one you're looking for.

*Everybody is different. If you want to buy a 1 inch 3 ring binder now and baseball card protectors you can. I will tell you how to do this Monday.

*WEBSITES TO GO TO!!!
     *Hip2save.com
     *Coupons.com
     *Redplum.com
     *Smartsource.com

* I print off A LOT of coupons. If you buy the cheap printer paper and only use black ink, it's not that expensive to print off coupons. 

Please let me know if this is of any help to you.. I don't want to keep updating this blog and nobody is reading it. I could be doing couponing stuff!!! :) Have fun!

Thanks Heather for posting your Jambalaya recipe and giving me the inspiration to throw this together. I used the ingredients I had on hand to make this.

Ingredients:
*1 package Kielbasa sausage
*1/2 onion- diced
*2 garlic cloves- peeled and chopped
*2 very ripe large tomatoes- diced
*1 can tomato soup
*1- 6.4 oz box of Rice-A-Roni chicken and mushroom rice
*1/2 C. Brown Rice
*Creole seasoning to taste
*Hot sauce to taste

**Combine both types of rice into a rice cooker or in a pot. You want to double the amount of water that there is rice. Get that cooking while you throw the other things together.
**Spray pan with cooking spray. Brown Sausage, onions, and garlic until golden brown and  onions are tender. Add diced tomatoes and can of tomato soup. Add Creole seasoning to taste. I recommend about 1-2 TBS. depending on how spicy you like it. Cover and cook on medium for 5 minutes or so. Take off cover and cook to evaporate some of the excess water.

***Now, you have a few choices at this point. You can combine the rice with the mixture, or you can serve them separately. For my bowl I added a packet of Taco Bell's Fire sauce to it because I like kick. I highly recommend this if you like your food a little spicy. Add more Creole to taste.

Enjoy!!!! Let me know how it turns out!

 I got a recipe off of Tasteofhome.com and tweaked it. The following is my tweaked version, They turned out yummy, especially with a glass of cold milk!

Ingredients:
*2/3 C. shortening          
*10 1/2 Tbs. Butter, softened            
*1 C. sugar
* 1 C. packed brown sugar              
*2 eggs
*2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*3 1/2 C. all-purpose flower
*1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
*1 tsp. salt
*1 C. Chocolate chips
*1 C. White chips

**Preheat oven to 375
**In a large bowl, cream shortening, butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. fold in the chips.


***Roll dough into balls a little smaller than a golf ball and place on baking sheet. I used a baking stone.


**Bake at 375 for 13-15 minutes. Yield: Aprox. 2 dozen

This has absolutely nothing to do with cooking, but hey, it's my blog so I can do what ever I want to, right?! :) Couponing is another passion of mine. I got all this stuff for $2.39!!!

Here's the original recipe:



**I love using the crock pot for anything that I possibly can. It makes my life so much easier. I recommend this meal for a day that you have a lot going on and you want to be able to just eat when it's time for dinner. I left my crock pot on low for 5 1/2 hours and it turned out great. If you try this recipe leave some feed back and let me know how it turns out!