Using Up Those Boxes of Cereal

After I got so many good cereal deals, the Fish Sticks were kind of getting tired of the same ole ones.

I had the idea to make rice crispy treats out of the Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles that we had in plenty.

They are more sweet than regular rice crispies but didn't stay around long.

I used the entire box of cereal, the whole bag of marshmallows and 3 Tb. butter.  

Melt the butter and marshmallows in a big bowl in the microwave, add the cereal and stir well.

Press into a 9x13.  That's it - the 5 minutes snack.  I stick my hand in a plastic sandwich bag like a glove to press it into the pan so it won't stick all over me.  Try it!

Good Deals

For some reason there have been super deals on cereal the last couple of weeks.  Like deals I have not seen in FOREVER!!  When cereal is under $2 a box, snag a bunch!

Walgreens was a bit hit yesterday.  I got Chex Mix (6 bags - perfect snack for football games) at 75 cents a bag.  Nivea face cleaner and shave gel for $1 each.  GM cereals were $1.67 and I had a coupon that brought it down to $1.33 a box.  I got 9 boxes.  Even without the coupon, it's a great deal!  Oscar Meyer hotdogs were BIGI with a free pack of buns so 2 hot dogs with 1 pack of buns totaled $3.49 - another great meal for football games.  Scope mouthwash and Crest toothpaste both came to 49 cents each and Charmin toilet paper was $3.14.

I plan to go to CVS today.  There is another cereal deal there.  Time to stock up!

Great deals!

Looks Are Deceiving

I pinned Breakfast Cookies.  Looks delicious.  Tastes like rubber.  I found the container this a.m. with all 5 chocolate chips picked off each cookie and several with one bite taken out of them.  Unfortunately My Man overheard from the back of the house the general consensus of the cookie taste and opted out of having one for breakfast.

I'm not a good salesman.

I hate waste, so I guess I will be eating these until they are gone.  Slowly chewing and chewing.

Gotta go delete that pin.

Pinning It & Making It

My pin that I actually made lately has been homemade flavored coffee creamer.  It comes from Next to Heaven blog and you can find it pinned on my Pinterest boards.

I've made the Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer several times.  It's very yummy but if you don't strain it, the pumpkin settles at the bottom of the coffee cup and makes for a yucky last sip.  The smell and taste is very good though.  I guess I should take the time to strain.  :)

I also tried the Peppermint Mocha.  It was very good and very chocolatey.

Next to try is Cinnamon Strudel and Chocolate Almond.  I'm nuts about almond flavoring.

These creamers are not as sweet as the store bought so some of you might want to add some stevia to yours.  The recipes fall right in line with our "real eating" plan so I suggest you give them a try and see what you think.  Your kids will want to drink them plain if you decide they are not great in your coffee.  :)

Overnight Granola Cereal

I have made many granola recipes over the years and basically all of them are similar to one another and good.  The reason why I like this recipe is because it's simple and I can make it the night before.

It's from TEACH magazine, the Sanity Saving Breakfast Ideas booklets that I love so much.

Lorries Lazy Granola

**Mix 1/2 cup each of brown sugar (I used sucanat), oil (I used coconut oil) and raw honey in microwave safe bowl.  (You can use the same measuring cup if you measure the ingredients in this order since the oil washes out the sugar and slicks the cup down which  makes the honey pour right out.)

**Bring to a low boil in microwave.

**Add 1 ts/ cinnamon and 2 tsp. vanilla (I've tried almond also)

**Add 1 cup pecans (I use whatever I have on hand.  Last night it was half sunflower seeds, half sliced almonds)

**Pour over 7 cups of oats in large pan (like metal lasagna pan)

**Stir until totally coated

**Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, take out and stir well.  Put it back in the oven, which you have turned OFF and go to bed.  Wake up to wonderful, homemade granola for breakfast!

Day 1

The Halloween candy is put up and we are geared up to start Day 1 of our month of "real foods."

For breakfast, I made Lorrie's Lazy Granola the day before.  (Recipe coming tomorrow)

The Fish Sticks ate it over plain yogurt with honey and I had it with some milk with sliced bananas on the top. 

 For snack we had 3 slices of blocked sharp cheddar with 4-5 Triskets.

Lunch was natural peanut butter with fruit spread on whole grain bread, hummus with carrots and grapes.

Side note - I bought these things at Aldi and although the peanut butter and fruit spread have a small amount of sugar, they are free of corn syrup and about 1/4 the price of the 100% natural things I found at Kroger.  It was worth the purchase to save the money.

For supper, I have pintos brewing in the crock pot for my favorite refried beans, ground turkey with taco seasonings, and all the trimmings for a Mexican buffet.

So far so good, if I can get my 5 year old to understand "Mommy said NO HALLOWEEN CANDY!"  :)

Oatmeal Bar

Add caption

 Need a good breakfast idea??  How about an oatmeal bar?  Not like a granola bar, but like an oatmeal buffet. 

Just recently Grandma made us oatmeal the way that her mom used to make oatmeal.  The Fish Sticks loved it and I loved how healthy and filling it was, not to mention yummy!!

First make oatmeal - rolled oats - the good ole fashioned way.  I like to soak mine overnight with equal parts of oats and water.  Then add the same amount of water in the a.m. to make the ratio 1 part oatmeal to 2 parts water.  If you add 1 Tb. of an acid like vinegar or lemon juice when you soak it, it increases the nutritional value greatly.

As you cook it over a medium stove, stir frequently until you get a good consistency.  It doesn't take long.  You can add a bit of salt and/or butter at this time.  Stir well.

Lay out an array of toppings for your family.  I have brown sugar, apple chunks, walnuts, coconut, raisins and bananas above.  Some other ideas might be dried cranberries, other nuts like almonds or pecans, berries, peaches, or chocolate chips.

They will definitely want seconds!

And When She Went There, Her Cuboard Was Bare...

We use an envelope system for our monthly budget.  At the first of each month, I get out my money in cash for the month.  I separate it into a coupon organizer that I have labeled (from Dollar Tree) and use it according to my categories.  Sometimes at the end of the month, I'm pleased to see a few bucks still in my wallet.  On most months, no matter how careful I have been to monitor my spending, I have nothing but change and my pantry and fridge is bare.  This past weekend, I had to get really creative because we had NOTHING to eat in this house.  Yes, I was fully stocked on my couponing items but who wants to eat BBQ sauce, ketchup and Tobasco for a meal??  Now understand we had plenty of canned goods, frozen veggies and meats in the freezer from our garden and farm.  Supper wasn't a problem.  It was the breakfast items and snacks that required much creativity.

With Monday morning fast approaching, I was planning on spending the day shopping.  It would be October 1 and my wallet would be full.  Monday morning breakfast would be a bit tricky.  We'd already had 18 eggs for supper on Saturday night, so the eggs were sparse.  There was NO cereal.  I grabbed my favorite "Sanity-Saving Breakfast Ideas" booklet from TEACH magazine and flipped through it.  Sunday night I threw together "Overnight Coffee Cake" using ingredients I always keep on hand.  Yummy and quick and the perfect fix for an empty pantry at the end of the month.

Overnight Coffee Cake

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. shortening
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk (pour 1 TB. lemon juice or vinegar into your 1 c. measuring cup.  Top with milk and let sit while you combine other ingredients.  It's instant buttermilk!)

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and pour into greased 9x13.  Stir together an additional 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle over top of batter.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

PERFECT!

Think Outside of the Cereal Box

I don't know about you, but the more I read about health and nutrition, the more I realize that boxed cereals are just not the best breakfast.  Almost ALL of them are packed with sugar...even the ones you would least expect.  They just aren't filling.  Why else would your kids want 2-3 bowls of them?  When all research shows us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, why would we give our kids cereal for breakfast that just doesn't pack the punch?

Problem is that cereal is just plain convenient.  It's not extremely costly either.  (Sad thing is the more the unhealthy it is, the less it costs!)  But honestly, who has the time or energy at the crack of dawn to make a big, homemade, healthy breakfast?  It's hard, I know.

One month last year we went on a cereal fast. I told the kids I would not buy cereal for a whole month.  This forced me to be creative and intentional about planning a good breakfast menu.  I made a brain-storm list of breakfast items to help me plan for each day.  Some things are just easy and some need some prep time the night before or cooking time in the a.m.  I refer to this list regularly to help remind me of my options.  My latest rule is that I buy X amount of cereal at the first of each month.  When it's gone, it's gone.  Then we gotta think outside of the cereal box.  :)

Cinnamon rolls (make the night before and cook in the a.m.)
oatmeal
french toast
pancakes/waffles
sweet rice (Mexican style)
muffins
cinnamon toast
toast & jelly
biscuits & jelly
eggs cooked with chunks of ham
grits
monkey bread
crepes with jelly filling (or pie filling)
mini quiches
omelet
homemade granola & yogurt
smoothies
puff baby
pigs in a blanket
banana bread
hashbrowns with cheese and ham
English muffins/bagels