This from my friend Traci, Look Out!...I love it!

Traci Salmons Klekner January 31 at 5:48pm Report

First, I want you to know that I got my grocery bill for this week to $114. This includes 2 gal. milk, 2 loaves of bread, dog treats, TP, Tylenol (generic, of course) and some really yummie looking cinnamon rolls that I couldn't pass up. Second, we are having Fet. Alfredo w/broccoli and mushrooms w/garlic bread, meatloaf, mashed, green beans and crockpot swiss steak, mashed w/carrots. The swiss steak is one of my favorites and I wanted to share how I make it.
Family Pack (usually 3) of THIN cut Steak for "braizing". Rinse and roll (coat) in flour that is seasoned with salt and pepper. Put in crock with a little bit of water (just cover the bottom) Cube about 1/4 lg onion and put in for flavor. Cook on high for at least 6-7 hours. Add mushrooms if you prefer. Mashed potatos (we don't eat gravy, but one could put a little more water in the crock so they can make gravy from that - or open a jar :) ) Veggie of choice. The meat should fall apart. It's SO YUMMIE ! OH, please excuse any misspellings....

Barbecue Chicken with pineapple Taco's, Vegatarian Dirty Rice, and Unfried Ice Cream

What are you having tonight? I need something simple, Josh has a sports event, so we will be out this evening. I am making BBQ chicken with pineapple tidbits in my slow cooker, which we will eat as soft taco's or maybe quesadilla's topped with cheddar cheese and jalopeno's. On the side I will make vegatarian dirty rice, and for dessert, we will have fried ice cream (not really fried, not really ice cream but frozen yogurt...they will never know) Should be tasty, my boys will eat mexican food anytime.

Barbecue Chicken with pineapple

3 large chicken breast; cooked and shredded
1/3 cup minced onion
2 cups BBQ sauce
1  20 oz can pinepple tidbits
1 package flour tortillas
shredded cheddar cheese
slice jalopeno's (optional)

Place cooked shredded chicken, minced onion, BBQ sauce, and drained pineapple in crockpot on low for 1 hour. Warm tortillas and place filling, cheese, and jalopeno's...eat. You can also spoon mixture into tortilla with cheese, and fold over; place in fry pan sprayed with cooking spray, and lightly brown both sides. Cut in half and serve as quesadilla's.

Vegatarian Dirty Rice

4 cups cooked minute rice
1 cup steamed diced veggies (I use green pepper, onion, carrot, and zuchinni)
1/2 cup of velveeta melted with 2 cups of salsa

Combine all above indgredients, add more salsa if desired and eat.

Easy Unfried Ice Cream

2 cups french vanilla frozen yogurt
1   1/2 cups granola cereal; or corn flakes : crushed
1 T of sugar plus 2 tsp cinnamon
2 T melted butter
Honey or Chocolate Syrup-warmed

Using a half cup scoop, make 4 ice cream balls and freeze 2 hours. Combine butter, crushed cereal, and cinnamon sugar. Roll ice cream balls to cover completely, and return to freezer. Serve with drizzled warm honey or chocolate syrup.

Lasagna Soup..Baby it's cold outside

Have you ever had Lasagna Soup? I love this recipe, and so does my family.  I first made this recipe 15 years ago when I was having my parents over for dinner, I wanted to please my dad who is a big lasagna fan. I have since made it hundreds of times, and its always a huge success...never have leftovers of this meal.

Lasagna Soup

1 lb ground chuck
1 small onion diced
1 tsp chopped garlic
6 cups of water
2 cans (14  1/2 oz each) diced tomatoes in olive oil, garlic, and spices, undrained
1 can (6oz) tomato paste
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
3 cups uncooked mafalda pasta (I get this at Marc's it's mini lasagna noodles use half of the package)
1  1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 cup Italian-style croutons
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

In stock pot or dutch oven cook beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until beef is brown and onion is tender; drain. Stir in water, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce until blended. Add seasoning and pasta. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until pasta is tender. Add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and stir. Serve in your favorite soup bowls, and garnish with additional mozzarella and croutons.

Lettuce Wraps- Chicken copies my favorite PF Changs

Have you been to PF Changs? The first time we went as a family and shared the lettuce wrap appetizer, my son Josh loved them so much that he said next time he just wanted to order that for his meal. We recently went back with our friends Devon and Kim and had a great time, we love this restaurant. I have made these at home a few times, and also have taken them to friends house, everyone loves them.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

3 Boneless Chicken Breast (cooked and diced into small pieces)
1/4 cup Minced Onion
1/4 cup Chopped Green Onion
1/4 cup Hoisin Sauce (located in chinese section of grocery store)
1 T Minced Garlic
1 T Soy Sauce
2 tsp Fresh Chopped Ginger
1 T Rice Vinegar
1 T Sesame Oil
1/8 tsp dried chili pepper
1/4 cup water mixed with 1 tsp cornstarch
1/8 cup chopped peanuts (optional)
1 package cellophane rice noodles (optional)
Boston Bibb, Butter Lettuce, or Iceberg Lettuce leaves

In sauce pan mix hoisin, garlic, soy, chopped onion, vinegar, oil, ginger, chili pepper and heat over medium to a low boil, add water cornstarch mix and chicken and heat through.
You may serve on top of broken up cellophane noodles (I usually leave these out)
Place chicken mixture in serving bowl, sprinkel with green onions and peanuts. Place a spoonful into a lettuce leaf and eat like a taco....fantastic!

How much do you spend a week on groceries? What do you think about $100.00 a week to feed a family of 4; including 3 packed lunches a day?

I'm curious what you spend a week, give me your feedback! The pictures are one weeks worth of groceries, I spent a total of $90.87. Before I go to the store, I check to see what I have. I don't have to buy potatoes, carrots, pasta every week, or toothpaste, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, or napkins. When I get to the store, I check to see what types of meats are on special, and I try to plan my meals around that. I pack three lunches a day, once in awhile my boys ask to buy lunch, most times they do not like what the schools serve. I make three stops, all close to each other and my house. Giant Eagle $51.24, Marc's $25.18, and Beiler's $14.45. I have $9.13 left to get more milk later in the week, and let the boys buy lunch one time each. What did I buy.........

Dairy-1 gal skim milk, 1/2 gal whole milk, coffee creamer, pint half and half, 2 packages shredded cheddar, 1 package american cheese, 1 package string cheese, 18 pack eggs

Produce-2 heads broccoli, 1  1/2 lb baby red potatoes, 1 red onion, 2  1/2 lbs bannana

Deli- 1 lb off bone sliced ham, 1 lb garlic beef bologna, 1/2 lb slab bacon

Meat- 1 whole chicken, 1   2lb package western style ribs, 2  1lb packages ground chuck

Misc- juice boxes, mayo, 2 cans soup, peanut butter, chicken bouillon, tomato juice, v-8 fruit juice, hamburger buns, 2 loaves wheat bread, 2 bakery french breads, oreo's, cheeto's, potato chips, 2 packs lil debbies, taco kit, bbq sauce, marshmellows, era laundry soap

I left out Saturday, we go out to dinner usually on this day.
Heres a menu for dinners : Sunday- Spaghetti and meatballs
                                           Monday-BBQ pork sandwiches w/broccoli salad
                                           Tuesday-Taco's and veggies and dip
                                            Wednesday-Rotisserie Chicken, roasted red potatoes,      broccoli, french bread with applebutter
                                             Thursday-farmhouse biscuits (basic biscuit recipe put in muffin tin and filled with pork bbq topped with cheddar and baked) and  scalloped potatoes, marinated carrots
                                              Friday-leftovers; chicken with alfredo, broccoli and carrots over pasta with french bread.

Time to go shopping again, what do you think?????

Heath Bar Chip Cookies

I made up a new cookie recipe today, and they are fantastic! They are just the right amount of crispy, and very tasty.

Heath Bar Chip Cookies

1 stick butter flavored crisco
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp molasses
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2   1/4 cups flour
1   12 oz package of heath bar chips
3/4  cup of mini chocolate chips

Cream together crisco, sugars, vanilla, molasses, eggs, and the baking soda. Add flour and mix well. Stir in the heath bar chips and the mini chocolate chips. Roll into 1-2 inch balls and place on cookie sheet, flatten slightly with palm of your hand. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and cool on wire racks.

Awesome Crockpot Beef Roast

Several years ago, my girlfriend Tina had us over for Beef Tips and Noodles. Her recipe though strange, was so good. We liked it so much, that I started cooking all my roasts with this recipe, and using the sauce as gravy for mashed potatoes. You can prepare this, and add button mushrooms 10 minutes before serving over cooked egg noodles, or serve with mashed potatoes...it's awesome either way.

Awesome Crockpot Beef Roast

1    2-4 lb Roast depending on whether you want leftovers (you can use Chuck Roast, Spencer Roast, or whatever your favorite is.
1 can french onion soup
1 can condensed golden mushroom (you can use cream of mushroom)
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup

Place roast in crockpot, add all soups, and cook on medium 6-8 hours. I don't thicken the sauce when I use it as gravy, its perfect the way it is. I know it sounds like a strange combo, but it does make the best roast gravy I have ever had. It doesn't taste like any of the soups, it just taste like awesome gravy.

If you do have leftovers, and like Shepherds Pie try this next recipe. In England my mother in law had this which was made with ground chuck, instead of beef roast. I will also give an easy recipe for this version.

Shepherds Pie

Take your leftover roast and gravy and simmer in a pan, add 1 cup of frozen peas and carrots and steam until done, about 5 minutes. Place beef gravy veggie mixture in 9x13, or individual oven safe dishes (for single serving, my kids love having thier own) You can make fresh mashed potatoes if you don't have leftovers. Warm mashed potatoes, add a little milk 1 T at a time so that it is creamy, not runny, Spread potatoes over top of gravy mixture, and sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in 350 oven 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Shepherds Pie with ground beef

1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup minced onion
3 envelopes of brown gravy prepared according to package directions
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
2 packages instant mashed potatoes
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef with onion in skillet, drain, add peas and carrots and steam until cooked, about 5 minutes. Pour gravy over meat and veggie mixture and stir. Place in a 9x13 pan. Prepare potatoes, and spread over top. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes.