Sausage Calzones

We love making homemade pizza dough with our kitchenaid mixer. So we thought this calzone recipe would be great and it was! We use the basic dough recipe that came with the mixer, which I can share with you in a later post. David then ran the dough through the pasta maker step 1 attachment to make it thin and smooth instead of rolling the dough out by hand. It actually worked pretty well. This recipe which I got from The Fairhope Foodie Blog uses Pillsbury type dough (which is easy to use if you don't want to make your own).

Ingredients-

1 lb. Italian sausage (was on sale last week!)

1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can olives, sliced
1 8-oz. jar pizza sauce (more for dipping)
2 tubes refrigerated pizza crust

1 8-oz. bag of shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook sausage in a medium skillet until browned, breaking up the chunks with a wooden spoon. Drain off excess fat. Return to pan and add onion, garlic and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables soften. Stir in pizza sauce and sliced olives.

Unroll one package of pizza dough across the entire rectangular baking sheet or baking stone. Sprinkle half of the cheese in two rows on the dough with about 2-inches in between (remember you're making two long calzones). Top cheese with the meat & sauce mixture, dividing evenly between the two rows. Top each row with the remaining cheese.

Unroll second package of pizza dough and stretch to cover the top of the first. Press along the edges to seal. Press down the center creating the two calzones. Use a pizza cutter to cut down the center of the dough, making two separate calzones. Press the seam to seal. Lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cut five two-inch slits in top of each calzone to vent.

Bake 22-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with extra sauce for dipping.

Mmmm This was by far the best calzone ever!!

Happy Weekend!

Chicken Lo Mein

My Chicken Lo Mein Recipe comes from Kraftfoods.com. I love their site and recipes. You can create an account there and add recipes to your recipe box. It is stored for you so you can always go back and look. The recipes have you use some of their dressings and sauces (smart!) so they aren't difficult at all.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. spaghetti, uncooked

1/4 cup  KRAFT Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

2 cloves  garlic, minced

1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen bell pepper and onion strips, thawed, drained (I used fresh)

1/2 cup  fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 Tbsp. peanut butter

1/4 cup  lite soy sauce

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

2 Tbsp.  chopped PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts (I left those out)

You can always double the liquids and add more spaghetti for leftovers or for more guests!

COOK spaghetti in large saucepan as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic; stir-fry 3 min. or until chicken is no longer pink. Add vegetables, broth and peanut butter; stir-fry 3 to 4 min. or until chicken is done.

DRAIN spaghetti; return to pan. Add chicken mixture and soy sauce; mix lightly. Spoon onto platter; top with cilantro and nuts.

It is so colorful and yummy!

Variations:

Spicy Chicken Lo Mein: Add 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper to the hot dressing along with the chicken and garlic. Pork Lo Mein: Substitute 1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into strips, for the chicken and reduced-sodium beef broth for the chicken broth. 

Enjoy!

New Roof

We finally got our new roof! This past February in Atlanta we had some storms that had caused hail damage to roofs in the northern Georgia counties. We kept noticing all our neighbors getting roofs and we finally asked one day what was going on. I was hoping it wasn't time to replace roofs because our house is less than 10 years old. They confirmed that there was a lot of hail damage to the roofs if you got up and looked at it. We had our insurance company come out and take a look. They verified we did have damage and we were a candidate for a new roof. This process took quite a long time to even get started. Here are some photos of the work being done. 

 Font View

Side view

Back view

Here is the after! It's hard to see on this view, but they are 30 year black architectural shingles 

With the new looking roof we made a conclusion, we need to pressure wash the outside of the house! Everything else now looks dirty after getting a brand new roof! I have started a list of house projects for the short term and long term that we want to get done. I figure we spend so much time here we might as well get going on some easier/cheaper projects soon.  David is fixing the inside back door area where we've had water damage on the hard wood floors (since we moved in). More to come on that later.

I saved 40% on my grocery bill!

Here is a little background to catch you up. I have been clipping coupons since mid October. I started reading money saving blogs and got intrigued by it all. I thought "I can do that".  I read their blogs daily and they do all the work for me. I know I don't have a big family of 4+, but its still fun for me to save money. We are on Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball plan and this is just one way that I can contribute by not overspending, but by saving money. I told David yesterday that it was a rush! I am over-exaggerating a bit, but I thought it was fun.

This is the most I have saved since starting this little adventure. My average savings is usually around 30% each bill. So this was pretty big for me. My store of choice is Kroger. It's close to the house and they have great sales and good quality. This week was a MEGA sale event where you buy 10 items from a predetermined list and you get $5 off your total bill. This makes for .50 off each item. Here is where the fun comes in. You match your manufacturers coupons from Sunday papers and online with the sale items and you get even more money off! This week I actually got that box of cereal for FREE and I think one of the cheeses and dressings absolutely free. I know I am getting way more excited than most of you are so just bear with me.

So for my grocery budget for the month, I only had $50 left to spend. I usually spend about $70-80 at the least on groceries so this was going to be a challenge. I did have half a beef roast and some chicken frozen from previous weeks good deals so that would help me out a lot. I needed to buy a lot of fresh vege's (asparagus, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, peppers, etc.) which they hardly ever give coupons for produce. So the grand total before the coupons and kroger card was $78, man was I nervous. It wasn't the end of the world if I went over, but I was determined to be under. The amount I actually paid was $46!!! That is a pretty great deal for all this!

Here is a picture of my Coupon Organizer. I use a photo organizer I found at Michaels and wrote my coupon categories on the tabs. When I get my list made for the week, I put it on the back of an envelope(my mom has always done that and I do it now too) and you can put your coupons in the envelope instead of lugging this around to the store. I go one step further by organizing the coupons by aisle or how I walk through the store. I was only in the store an hour, but sometimes I'm in there for 1.5 hours just trying to see what my coupons are for and I'm running around the whole place.

Here is the actual receipt that I am so proud of!

 

Now comes the fun of making food with all this good stuff. I want to start posting my menu plan for the week. I'd like to say that I shop every Sunday, but that just doesn't happen sometimes as this week it was Wednesday. I will post the recipes after we eat them so you can enjoy as well.

Meal 1- Chicken Lo Mein (Kraft foods) One of Davids favorites!

Meal 2- Italian Sausage Calzones (Fairhope Foodie Blog)

Meal 3- Chicken Giardino (olive garden recipe) Thanks Jen for telling me they have them online!

Meal 4- Slow Cooker Beef Roast with Sweet Potatoes ($5 Dinners Blog)

Meal 5-Baked Ziti (no recipe, just my own concoction)

Well, I'm pretty sure this all sounds super psycho, but this is what I do and I really enjoy it.

Vac-Pack-Back-Pack

I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about my husband, David. He hasn't really made an appearance on the blog so I thought this would be the perfect time. I'm sure he won't appreciate the picture I'm about to put up, but this is David. If you know him, then you already know that he is Mr. Inventor, Mr.Fix-It, & Mr. Build Anything.

We most of the time use our Shop Vac to vacuum since we have lots of dog hair and our wood floors show all the grass and dust everywhere. One day he figured it would be easier to maneuver the vacuum around if he made it into a back pack. It is made from truck straps that he uses to hold down furniture or large items and a big blue hiking backpack frame.  It's very practical for him, he straps it on his back and away he goes vaccuuming. It's too heavy for me, I put it on once and almost fell over backwards (guess I can't do the vacuuming any more, darn). My sister has also experienced seeing the vac-pack in person and she can attest that we actually do use it.

This particular instance he wanted to unclog any lint that came from our dryer so he got a tall ladder and went to the vent hole on the side of the house. He then put the vac-pack-back-pack on and began vacuuming the vent pipe. The picture speaks for itself.

Well, there you have it. Now you know a little bit about David. I really am lucky to have such a great, handy, loving guy for a husband!

French Dip Sandwiches

You are going to LOVE this recipe! It is so easy and tastes so good!! It came from Our Best Bites blog. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients-

1 2.5-3 lb. beef roast
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 1-ounce packages dry onion soup mix
2 c. water
2 cans beef broth
6-8 large buns
Swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced.

Directions-

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper.

2. When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You're not cooking the meat, you're just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices. I have never done this step before making this recipe and it really does make a difference.

3. Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onions soup mix. Pour water and beef broth over roast.

4. Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low. It's done when it starts falling apart.

5. Shred the Roast with a fork, I put it back in for 20-30 mins to soak in the juices.

6. Serve in Rolls or you can broil your bread in the oven with your meat and add cheese. Pour juices in a small bowl for dipping.

It shreds so easy when it's done

Delicious! Don't mind the paper plate (didn't want to do the dishes that day). I didn't picture with cheese, because most all of you know I don't really like cheese and it doesn't need it.

The Lovely Bones

The work gals and I went out to dinner and a movie on Thursday Night. We like to see movies our husbands probably won't see with us. We went to the Thai diner and had sushi, lo mein and stir fry. We went to see the Lovely Bones. They had all read the book and I got through about 5 chapters before we saw it to fill myself in. I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it, but they all said that the book was better (as usual). I thought it was pretty good, but I did get scared a few times and had some scary weird dreams!

All of us gals

Lacey and Angela

Leah and me

Movie Time!