Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Mother's Day sure smells good

I have no idea where he pulled the money from but Corey got me the most wonderful Mother's Day gift. It is a fitting gift since I am the mom of a toddler and an infant and we are the family of a cat and a dog as well.
With the litter box and the diapers and the cloth diapers and toddler messes, the house can get a bit funky at times. I go through so many Glade plugins which are limited in their scents and seem to only last 3 weeks and cost $4 each. I recently read that they are also contributors of VOCs in the air, which is not healthy for our family but I never got around to trying to refill them with essential oils.
So Corey gets me a Scentsy!

It's not a candle-it's not a plug in...
it's both!
The unit plugs into the wall and warms the scented wax which melts and makes the house smell fantastic in about 10 minutes. There are no burning candles and we can turn it on and off at our leisure to save the smell.
Plus when guest are coming over, it quickly disperses the smell through the living room so we can welcome with any fragrance we choose. (And there are 80 to choose from, but we are stuck on Satin Sheets)

The only bummer is that I only have one so far- But we are working on one for our room and a wall outlet one for the bathroom as well.
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Super Cheap Dinner

Since we are at the tail end of our check this month (our last $5 until Friday)
I have been trying to get creative with the foods we are eating. Not only am I trying to budget, but after awhile there are only so many ways you can eat pasta. I discovered www.supercook.com where you can search for recipes based on the ingredients you have on hand. There are other websites as well, but Supercook searches through all the other websites to bring your suggestions to one place.

I didn't actually use one of their recipes, but discovering what I could make gave me an idea for my own cheapo dinner:

Mexican Stuffed Crepes.

1 C Whole Wheat Pancake Mix
1 1/2 C Milk (give or take) we used Soy
1 TBS oil plus more for pan
1/2 tsb salt

1lb ground beef or turkey
1/2 bell pepper
1/2 onion
cheese
1/2 carton Ricotta (which was leftover from another dish)

Mix the first ingredients with a blender or mixer until really smooth- the mixture should be really thin and the consistency of cream- add more milk if needed.
Brown the meat with the onion and bell pepper.
(you can also add anything else that sounds taco-y)

You can't really cook the meat and make crepes at the same time so either enlist the help of your hubby or make the crepes ahead of time.

For Crepes:
  • heat a 10" skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking oil or lightly oil the pan with butter or EVOO.
  • pour about 1/4-1/2 C batter in the pan and rotate the pan quickly to coat the entire bottom with a thin batter layer
  • cook until all the bubbles have stopped popping and the edges start to curl
  • flip and cook the other side for 2-3 more minutes.
  • Stack on a plate and keep in the oven on warm
It took me three crepes tossed to the dog before I got the hang of it. These do work better with white flour but I had Whole Wheat on hand and wanted a healthier dinner

Assembly:
Grate cheese on the bottom of a crepe then add the meat to the middle in a "line".
( I should have taken pictures)
Fold one side in, then roll it like a jelly roll, putting the seam on the bottom
Add more cheese to the top
I then popped them in the microwave to melt the cheese, but they would have been better tossed in the oven for a few minutes.

Serve with Salsa, or sour cream and guac.

You can fill a crepe with ANYTHING-
Chicken & Spinach
BLT
Bananas and Chocolate
PBJ

So don't toss the leftover crepes- use them for breakfast!


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