Spaghetti Sauce

It really isn't that hard to make your own spaghetti sauce and the difference in taste is HUGE! Also you can freeze it to pull out for a quick dinner later. This recipe is my mom's basic recipe that I have changed to fit my families taste and to hide a few more veggies in it. It is one of our favorite meals. I will say once you try making your own sauce you can't go back. Consider yourself warned!

Spaghetti Sauce
1 can tomato paste
½ t dried parsley (or 1 1/2 t fresh)
1 heaping t dried basil (or 1 T fresh)
1 heaping t dried oregano
1/2 t ground dried rosemary
2 cans tomato sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
1 zucchini, diced small (optional)
2-3 Carrots, diced small (optional)
4 oz. fresh mushrooms, diced small (optional)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (optional)
1 lb. Ground beef (or homemade meatballs)
½ onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
¼ green pepper, finely diced
1/2-1 C water or beef broth
¼ C brown sugar
1 C Parmesan cheese, grated



Combine the first 11 ingredients in a large heavy bottomed pot and place over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer. In a large skillet brown ground beef or meatballs. If you are using ground beef go ahead and add the cooked beef to the sauce. If you are doing meatballs set the browned meat balls aside on a paper towel to drain. Add the onion and green pepper to the pan you browned the beef in (adding some olive oil if needed). Saute over medium heat a few minutes until softened. Add the garlic and continue to saute another 3-4 minutes. Add the sauteed veggies to your sauce. Return the skillet to the heat and turn the heat up to med-high heat. Add the water or beef broth to you pan and use a whisk to deglaze the pan. Make sure to scrape up all of the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. That is where the flavor is. :) Add the deglazing liquid to your sauce. Stir sauce well. If you are adding meatballs now would be the time to add them to your sauce. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for 1-3 1/2 hours until thickened. Be careful not to break up your meatballs when stirring. If it starts to thicken too much you can add more water or beef broth to thin it. Add the sugar and cheese the last 5 minutes of cooking. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve over hot noodles. This sauce freezes beautifully once it is cooled.

Weekly Menu

The sales are a little ho-hum this week so we are mostly eating out of our storage. I also have my kiddos home this week for fall-break so that will affect my menu a bit as well. Here is what we are having this week.

Breakfast
Cereal & Fruit
Pumpkin Spice Muffins (I am trying out a new recipe I will post it if it turns out yummy)
Breakfast Burritos
French Toast (made earlier in my freezer) & Fruit
Banana Berry Smoothies
Scrambled Eggs & Toast

Lunch
Crescent Mummy Dogs
Lots of Left Overs

Dinner
Dinner @ Friends
Creamed Beef Gravy over Mashed Potatoes
Creamy Sunday Chicken, Rice & Roasted Asparagus
Beef Stew (will tweak this a bit to fit our taste) & Bread Bowls
Spaghetti & Meatballs, Spinach Salad & Bread sticks
Cream Of Broccoli Soup
Crockpot Chicken Tacos & Homemade Refried Beans

Snacks
Graham Crackers
Cheese Sticks
Yogurt
Pineapple
Bananas
Apples
Pears
Plums
Granola Bars
Bell Pepper Slices
Carrots
Cucumbers

Dessert
Carmelitas (didn't get to make these last week)

Carmelitas

This recipe was passed to me from my mother in law. After she made it for me one time I had to have the recipe. They are so delicious. I am always so excited for fall to come so I can make these each year. Now that I am couponing it was extra hard to wait for the caramels to go on sale.lol But they are sooooo worth the wait!

Carmelitas
(Preheat 350 degrees)
¾ C packed brown sugar
1 C flour
¾ C melted butter or margarine
1 C oatmeal
½ t baking soda
¼ t salt
1 C pecans, chopped
1 C chocolate chips
50 caramels
½ C evaporated milk

In a double boiler melt caramels in evaporated milk stirring frequently until smooth and completely combined. You can also do this step in a microwave safe bowl on high for 2 minutes, then in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each interval until the mixture is smooth. Cool Slightly. Combine remaining ingredients except chocolate chips and pecans in a large mixing bowl. Press half of the mixture in a 9x13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips and pecans over crust. Pour caramel mixture over top and spread to cover evenly. Sprinkle with the remaining crumb mixture and bake 15-20 minutes. While these are delicious warm they cut into squares a lot better if you let them cool completely.

Weekly Menu

My menu this week is a little on the boring side.lol. We have a lot of nights where we are not eating at home so it will be short and sweet. :) Here is what we are having.

Breakfast
Cereal & Fruit
French Toast(made earlier in my freezer) & Fruit
Oatmeal & Fruit
Scrambled Eggs & Toast
Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Lunch
Pretty much all leftovers.

Dinner
Chicken Spaghetti, Steamed Broccoli and Homemade French Bread (recipe to follow)
Creamy Tomato Soup & Cheese Toast (never made last week)
Breakfast Burritos
Maple Pork Tenderloin, Creamy Chive Mashed Potatoes and Wintergreen Salad
Birthday Dinner @ my Brother and Sister in laws ( I haven't had someone cook me birthday dinner in like 7 or 8 years! I am so excited to not have to cook on my b-day!)
Dinner at Church
Left Overs

Snacks
Watermelon
Canteloupe
Apples
Pears
Bananas
Grapes
Carrots
Radishes & Ranch
Cheese sticks
Yogurt
Granola Bars
Applesauce

Dessert
Carmelitas

What are you having this week?

Weekly Shopping Trip

Sorry I am late getting this one up. This week was a little crazier than usual. I had to break up my shopping into two days and I didn't finish till Monday. Here is what my trip looked like.

I got all of this...

including this

this

and all of this.
for a total of $58.77 OOP!
without coupons and sales I would have spent $185.40
That is a savings of 68%!

September Totals

Can you guys believe it is already October?! It seems like September just flew by for us. It is that time again...time to see what my totals for this month are. Here are the numbers from this week

My total OOP for this month was $211.31
Without coupons and sales I would have spent $521.80
My total % saved this month was 60%!

Looking at these totals I am pretty pleased. Although I did go over my weekly budget a little, I was able to stock up on some things that we were quite low on (like meat). Because I was trying so hard to stay in my budget I did shop at Wal-Mart, Sams and Sprouts for things although maybe not on sale I needed and were cheaper there. This definitely brought down my % saved as they do not figure in savings from those stores. Overall a good month.

Next month I have a little bit extra money that we are allocating to our grocery budget. So if there are some good sales (specifically on meat) I can stock up. So I am not sure if I will stick to my $50 a week next month or not. I think my goal will be to try to still stick to it as much as possible. :)

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

This recipe is a staple at our house. I love it because it is super simple, almost everyone likes it and it can feed a crowd very inexpensivly. The original recipe was one I found online but I have changed it a bit to fit our tastes.

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

4-6 frozen chicken breast
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can corn, drained (or frozen equivalent)
1-2 C salsa
chipolte chili pepper (my go to mc cormick seasoning)to taste
garlic salt to taste
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 C cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 C cilantro chopped (optional)

Spray a crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Place frozen chicken in crock pot and sprinkle with a bit (about 1/2 tsp.) both garlic salt and chipolte chili pepper. Add beans, corn and salsa to the crockpot. Cook on high for 3-5 hours (depending on your crockpot) until chicken is cooked through. Shred the chicken using two forks and taste. Adjust the seasoning if needed. Add cream cheese to the top and place the lid back on Let it sit (turned off) for 30 minutes (or until the cream cheese is nice and soft). Mix in the cream cheese until chicken mixture is creamy. Sprinkle the top with cheese and cilantro to serve. This dish doesn't look all that appetizing but tastes so yummy. The cheese and cilantro help it to look more appetizing. :) Serve with flour tortillas and all the taco fixings. This mixture is wonderful left over. We use it to make nachos, tostadas and quesadillas. It freezes well too.

Weekly Menu

Here is what's on the menu at our house this week. As always a few repeats from last week we didn't get to.

Breakfast
Cereal & Fruit
Breakfast Sandwiches
Gorilla Bread & Hash Brown Quiche (new recipe...I will post if it turns out yummy)
French Toast (made ahead & in my freezer)

Lunch
Left Overs pretty much all week

Dinner
Cowboy Calzones & Salad
Home-made Creamy Tomato Soup & Cheese Toast
White Chicken Enchiladas
Ribs, Baked Potatoes & Wintergreen Salad
Mexican Pizza
Breakfast Burritos

Snacks
Cheese & Crackers
Popcorn
Granola Bars
Yogurt
Apples
Plums
Peaches
Watermelon
Bananas
Pears
Carrots
Radishes & Ranch
Bell Pepper Slices

Dessert
Apple Dumplings

Also really quick I have to let you guys all in on a new feature that Springs Bargains in doing. It is called "What to do with what is on sale" It is awesome when trying to plan a menu based on whats on sale. Lots of people post recipes and ideas. I really like it. Here is the link to this weeks post.

What are you having this week?