on meals...

I have been preparing dinners. It's just that none of them are really of interest. I have been partly lazy in my desire to not go to the grocery store, but also after straightening out our pantry, I realized how very much food we have that is getting replaced. I've been lazy and I've been wasteful, so my goal is to go for as long as possible without hitting up the grocery store. We've been to BJs and to a farmer's market, plus I got diapers at Shoprite, but otherwise, I haven't gotten any groceries.
We've had lots from the freezer--I've been much better about trying to defrost the night BEFORE the meal.
Tonight, we had some pierogies from the freezer, although we are out of sour cream. Since we didn't have quite enough for both of us, I also made a veggie side dish. Yeah, we both didn't eat as much as we would have normally, and will be more likely to snack as the evening wears on, but I'm still happy.

This would be a whole lot easier if M would eat beans, regular pasta with sauce, or mac and cheese.

Earth Friendlier giveaway

Bargain Briana is giving away several "Eco Friendly" cleaners. Check it out here!

Apron giveaway!

Mama's Losin it is having YET ANOTHER Apron Giveaway!
YIPPIE!!!
Check it out here

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

I saw this mentioned on A cookie a day... a long time ago. I had planned to make it for the hubs for Father's Day, but then ended up being away on business for Father's Day. I finally got around to making it for Valentine's Day. I could only find a baguette type loaf of French bread, which was totally unsuitable for this! What I could do with it was good and tasty, but it would have been so much better with a larger slice of bread. Maybe next time, I'll make the bread fresh too in the bread machine and see how that comes out (haha, who am I kidding??).

Anyway, this was really good. I just realized, looking at the recipe, that I completely forgot to add sugar, and it was still really tasty. What we had was plenty for the two us, so next time I will probably make no more than half--maybe even bring it down to 1/4 (although who knows how much filling I will use when I have a normal sized slice of bread).

Definite keeper!!

1 (1 pound) loaf sourdough or French bread
1 (8 ounce) package light cream cheese, softened
2 tablesppons sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1-1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped strawberries
*powdered sugar and real maple syrup to finish
Mix the cream cheese, sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and strawberries together in a bowl, set aside. Slice the bread on a slant, giving each side of the slice a nice surface area. Make a slit in each slice of bread through the crust to form a pocket. Place the cream cheese in a plastic or piping bag and pipe about 2 tbsp of the mixture in each slice of bread.
In a small bowl, beat together eggs,1 tsp vanilla, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg
Melt butter in a griddle or frying pan over medium-low heat. Briefly dip the bread slices in the egg mixture and place on the griddle. Brown on both sides and serve warm with sliced strawberries, powdered sugar and maple syrup

Tomato Soup with Chicken and Feta Cheese

This recipe appeared in my email on a day that I was cold, tired, and not in the mood to cook dinner. Perfect; we'll have soup and a sandwich for dinner. I went to the store and purchased prepared chicken salad, Perdue shortcuts (grilled chicken), and some feta cheese (sooo much cheaper than the Gorgon), and went on my merry way. I picked an Israeli feta simply because a gentleman at the store told me it was the best of the best but, more importantly, it was the cheapest per pound available.

This was so easy to prepare, and, with the exception of the feta and the chicken, was all stuff I had on hand. It was very tasty too, although not a great compliment to the chicken salad sandwiches. It was something a little bit different than our normal creamy tomato soup, so it was nice!

I was lazy and mixed the feta into the soup rather than crumbling it on top. This was also good leftover; I was a little concerned about reheating the feta, but it was still yummy.

I'll be making this one again for sure. Now, what to do with all the feta I have left over... hmmmm.

Chicken coupon?

Bargain Briana is hosting a giveaway that centers around "Crack Dip." Yep, that's the Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe created by Frank's Hot Sauce (which calls for 8oz of hot sauce, but my husband used a whole 12 oz jar when making... that's a whole nother story).

Go here to enter!

Apron Contest

Mama's Losin it is an awesome blog.

Even better is that she's hosting an apron giveaway! Check out the Marilyn apron... so funny!
Link