Home Sweet Simple Home

New recipe post- Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

These pancakes are some of the yummiest, most moist ones I’ve ever had. They are by far my ultimate favorite. Someday, perhaps, I’ll have Mr. Steady cook up a double batch and we’ll put some in the freezer- that way I can have them whenever I want!

Bread Machine- Whole Wheat Bread

1 ¼ cup water                                  (free)
1 Tbsp+ 1 ½ tsp vegetable oil        (20 cents)
1 ½ tsp salt                                       (1 cent)
4 Tbsp packed brown sugar           (8 cents)
3 ¼ cups whole wheat flour           (52 cents)
2 ¼ Tbsp milk                                  (2 cents)
1 ½ tsp yeast                                    (4 cents)

Place ingredients in bread machine in order listed.
Note: original recipe called for dry milk but we’ve substituted reg. 2% milk without any change in taste (plus it’s cheaper that way).
Cost for homemade Wheat Bread: $.87

A new recipe: Coffee Cake!

 Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
2 ¼ cup flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup butter.
Combine and reserve 1 cup; set aside.
¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg (beaten)
1 ½ tsp almond extract
Add to remaining crumb mixture. Mix well and spread in a 9”x9” baking pan.
Filling
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup sugar
1 egg
Beat well and pour over batter. Spoon ½ cup seedless raspberry jam on top of filling. Sprinkle ½ cup slivered almonds on top, along with reserved crumbs. Bake at 350* for 55-60 minutes. Let set 15 minutes before serving.
Note: Use 1 ½ recipe for 9x13 pan.
Cost breakdown: 30 cents for flour, 30 cents for sugar, 72 cents for butter, approx. 5 cents for powder/soda/salt, 95 cents for sour cream, 16 cents for eggs, 99 cents for cream cheese and approx. $1.15 for jam (I omitted almonds & extract but added a whole cup of jam instead of half).
Total cost: $4.62.
I find this recipe to be oh, so delicious! So much better than store bought coffee cake. The 9x9 recipe was more than enough to feed my family of 5 for two breakfasts. I love how it plumped up in the oven!
We served it on Easter Sunday Morning with a blend of semi frozen fruit on the side.

New Recipe- White Chicken Chili

White Chicken Chili (for Crockpot)
1 lrg. Jar Northern Beans
½ jar water (from beans- helps rinse out)
1 jar Salsa (11.5 oz)
4 chicken breasts (cooked & shredded)
8 oz. shredded cheese (either cheddar or co-jack)
Place all ingredients in crockpot, stir and cook on low for 3-4 hours.
Serve with corn chips.
Cost breakdown: 89 cents for beans, $1.59 for salsa, $2.56 for 4 chicken breasts (64 cents each), $1.69 for cheese.
Total Cost: $6.73

Crockpot Layered Dinner- Easy Peasy

Thank you Godfor giving us food

Notes: It’s Thanksgiving Week! Lots of yummy food. This is the week of the 3 Family Dinners so we’ll be cleaning out the fridge to make room.

Monday
B: French Toast, apple sauce
L: hot-diggity dogs, cheese crackers, pickle spears
D: Campbells mac-n-cheese, sausage
Dessert: ice cream sundaes
Daily Cost: $9.33
Tuesday
B: Mama’s cheesy scrambled eggs, toast
L: Homeschool group lunch: Bring: nada- provided for! Thank you Lord!
D: Harvest Soup, h’made bread
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $7.21
Wednesday – Clean Out The Fridge Day
B: Choice: cereal or yogurt
L:  Diner Dinner
D: Clean out the fridge nite- leftovers
Dessert: whatever you find!
Daily Cost: $1.00 (or so)
Thursday – Happy Thanksgiving
B: Pumpkin waffles, fresh fruit
L: @ my parents- bringing: Spoonbread, Mr. Steady’s mashed potatoes and Triple Fudge BrowniesSupper: leftovers from dinner
Daily Cost: $15.66
Friday – Day After Dinner
B: Pumpkin waffles (leftover) & sausage
L: Diner Dinner
D: Turkey Dinner w/Mr. Steady’s parents
We’re heating up leftovers and Mr. S is frying a turkey (given to us free).
Daily Cost: $2.00
Saturday –Day After After Dinner
B: Daddy cook (eggs, bacon, toast etc.)
L: Leftover Smorgasbord
D: @ my sister’s- bring: leftover potatoes, homemade bread
Daily Cost: $3.50
Sunday
B: Cocoa Wheats, toast
L: Open Face turkey sandwiches
D: Leftover Smorgasbord
Daily Cost: $2.75
Weekly Total: $41.45
~~ Don’t forget to check out the yummy menu ideas every Monday over at The Organizing Junkie’s blog. You just might find your next favorite family recipe!

The MIX

MPM- more of a guideline

Menu with Daily Costs

Notes: My menu is really more of a set of guidelines- what I’m prepared to prepare. Sometimes life gets in the way and meals get switched or we find ourselves helping out at my parents’ place and eating supper with them. Often I will carry over a meal to the next week if we didn’t get to it- since I have the ingredients on hand. With the holidays coming we have declared this week to be a pantry week- meaning we will be eating from the pantry and freezer and only purchasing staples like milk and eggs this week.

Monday
B: Oatmeal with your choice of topping
L: ravioli, bread and butter, cubed cheese
D: Tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, dill pickles
Dessert: iced monkey bread
Daily Cost: $7.92
Tuesday
B: Mama’s cheesy scrambled eggs, toast
L: Homeschool group lunch: Bring: cranberry Jell-o jigglers
D: Maiden cook: skillet lasagna, garlic bread
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $7.56
Wednesday
B: Choice: cereal or yogurt
L: chicken noodle soup & mini sandwich triangles
D: Peppy Macaroni
Dessert: Twinkie Cake
Daily Cost: $11.12
Thursday
B: Toad in the Hole
L: Nachos
D: One Dish Chicken bake, steamed veggies
Dessert: leftover Twinkie cake
Daily Cost: $7.64
Friday – Family Movie Nite
B: Oatmeal with your choice of topping, toast
L: Diner Dinner
D: Cheeseburger Casserole
Dessert: is there any Twinkie cake left?
Daily Cost: $5.14
Saturday
B: Daddy cook (eggs, bacon, toast etc.)
L: Leftover Smorgasbord
D: Leftover Smorgasbord
Daily Cost: $3.00
Sunday
B: Cocoa Wheats, toast
L: Harvest dinner @ church: bring greens salad
D: @ my parents
Daily Cost: $5.25
Weekly Total: $47.63
~~ Don’t forget to check out the yummy menu ideas every Monday over at The Organizing Junkie’s blog. You just might find your next favorite family recipe!

MPM: a week of delightful dishes

Notes: I didn’t get a chance to post my menu last week- lots going on with mine and Mr. Steady’s back to back birthdays and such. On Friday Maiden and I will be traveling to a women’s conference, Sassafras will be staying the nite w/ Nana and Pawpaw—Mr. Steady and Mr. Conductor will be having guys night.

Monday – Movie Nite- Fireproof!
B: Friendship bread, apple slices
L: Sunday leftovers
D: w/friends- bringing: Maiden’s crockpot mac-n-cheese
Dessert: w/friends
Daily Cost: $6.65
Tuesday
B: @ MOPS meeting
L: Homeschool group lunch: Bring: salad
D: Crockpot Cowboy Stew, biscuits
Dessert: brownies (birthday treat from the weekend)
Daily Cost: $9.88
Wednesday
B: Choice: cereal or yogurt
L: Polka Dots
D: Chicken and veggie alfredo, h’made bread
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $8.87
Thursday
B: French Toast
L: Chicken sandwiches, chips, cubed cheese
D: Peppy Macaroni
Dessert: warm tapioca pudding
Daily Cost: $9.11
Friday – Guys Nite
B: caramel apple oatmeal, toast
L: Diner Dinner
D: Pigs in a blanket
Dessert: milk shakes
Daily Cost: $6.43
Saturday
B: Boys cook together
L: Leftover Smorgasbord
D: Leftover Smorgasbord
Daily Cost: $1.75
Sunday
B: Cocoa Wheats, toast
L: Crockpot: Chicken Cacciatore, h’made pickles, h’made bread
D: Lunch Leftovers
Daily Cost: $5.98
Weekly Total: $48.67
~~ Don’t forget to check out the yummy menu ideas every Monday over at The Organizing Junkie’s blog. You just might find your next favorite family recipe!

A new Recipe- Yippee!

Crockpot Triple Chocolate Surprise
1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
8 oz. sour cream
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup water
4 eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix
---- Spray/lightly grease crockpot. Mix all ingredients by hand and pour into crockpot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
Serve hot or warm with ice cream or whipped cream topping.
I found this cake came out best when cooked on high for 3 hours and then turned to “warm” setting. This gave it plenty of time to “plump up” yet remain moist and didn’t cause the edges to harden like I’ve had trouble with in the past.
Cost breakdown: cake mix 79 cents (Aldi’s), sour cream 50 cents, 1 cup chocolate chips 50 cents, 4 eggs 46 cents, vegetable oil 36 cents, chocolate pudding mix 33 cents.
Total Cost: $2.94
I love to serve this warm with a few slices of strawberries and a dollop of whip cream.
This recipe is a real crowd pleaser! And such a wonderfully low cost!

Crockpot Cowboy Stew recipe

Crock Pot Cowboy Stew Recipe

1-1/4 lbs beef stew meat
4 unpeeled potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (28.00 ounces) can baked beans
2 Tbsp. BBQ sauce

Mix stew meat, potatoes, onions, salt and pepper in crockpot. Spread beans over the meat mix and pour BBQ sauce over beans (work it in a bit with the flat of the spoon on the beans). Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours until the beef is tender. Or on high for 3-4 hours.
We love to serve cheddar chive biscuits with this! Also- I love using our enamelware bowls and cups and bandanas for napkins- gives us a cowboy feeling!
Cost breakdown: stew meat (a little over 1 lb)cost $3.31, potatoes- free (out of garden), onion- free (also out of garden) can baked beans $1.00 and BBQ sauce- well, we’ve had this sauce in the fridge for awhile- no price tag, I have no idea- let’s say 10 cents.
Total Cost: $4.41 or there abouts.
Add the biscuits (you can purchase a mix for 99 cents- just add water or milk depending on mix) and you have a delicious meal for under $6 for a family of 5.

Autumn Yum Cake Recipe

Autumn Yum Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 eggs
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Blend all ingredients together and pour into two 8 inch round pans (that you’ve greased and floured ahead of time). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick poked in center comes out clean. Cool cakes and frost with cream cheese frosting (you can make two separate cakes and therefore share one or make a two layer cake). This cake took 1 ½ containers of frosting.
Cost Breakdown: boxed cake mix 79 cents (Aldi’s), cup of mayo- 50 cents (32 oz. jar @ Aldi’s for $1.99), 35 cents for 3 eggs, less than a penny for the cinnamon so it’s a wash. Containers of Icing- sale at local little store 99 cents each used 1.5 so that comes to $1.49.
Total Cost: $3.13 for a beautiful two layer cake.
Sprinkles were free- from my very own Mama.
Frosting done with love by me and Mr. C {who of course had to lick the frosting knife before we were done frosting and who repeatedly stuck his little gooey fingers into the icing making swirling patterns- however, this did not affect the yumminess of the cake in any way.}

Crockpotting not Crack potting- at least not yet

Recipe turns into a 2 dish meal

Um- Hmm I love these muffins

Since the oven AND kitchen were already flaming hot with supper baking, I decided to whip up tomorrow’s breakfast tonight rather than heat the oven up again tomorrow morning.
I love the following recipe but hardly ever make it due to the fact that I don’t keep maraschino cherries on hand. Also due to the fact that those cherries aren’t cheap. But I was doing a pantry inventory and found these shoved way back on a shelf with a price tag of 99 cents. Wha-hoo!

Cherry Chip Muffins
1.5 cup flour
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 jar maraschino cherries (reserve juice- chop cherries)
¾ cup chocolate chips
1 cup powdered sugar
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl, whisk egg, milk and oil. Add dry and wet ingredients together. Drain cherries, reserve 2 Tbsp juice for glaze. Chop cherries and fold into batter with chocolate chips. Drop into muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 13 minutes.
Glaze: combine powdered sugar and cherry juice to make glaze and drizzle over top of muffins.
Cost breakdown: 12 cents for flour, 8 cents for sugar, figuring 3 cents for baking powder and salt, 8 cents for egg, 9 cents for milk, 5 cents for oil, 99 cents for cherries (reg. $2.19), 37 cents for chocolate chips and I bought the powdered sugar so long ago I don’t have a clue- lets say 5 cents.
Total Cost: $1.86 for 1.5 dozen muffins [that's 10 cents/muffin]
Now- these would cost $3.06 purchasing the cherries for regular price. [I like to keep breakfast cost under $2.]
Also I probably could squeeze 2 doz. muffins out of this recipe if I didn’t fill the muffin cups up so high.
Perhaps I should try making these as mini muffins. Course, I don’t own a mini muffin tin . . . . . best to stick with what I’ve been doing.

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip

1 can chunk chicken
½ cup hot sauce
2- 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
16 ox. Bottle Ranch Dressing
16 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
-- Combine all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low until bubbly approx. 2.5 to 3 hours. Keep an eye on it!
Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.
Cost breakdown: can of chicken $1.69 (Aldi’s), hot sauce approx. 50 cents (bottle purchased for $1), cream cheese $1.78 (Aldi’s), Ranch Dressing 99 cents (Aldi’s) and cheese $3 (on sale at local grocer).
I’ll be serving it with wheat and butter crackers I purchased for $1/each at local dollar store.
Total Cost: $7.96 or $9.96 with crackers.

Sharing another recipe- cinnamon rolls in my bread machine

Update- I've decided to be lazy and make this post my Works For Me Wednesday post of the week. [I could have said, "I decided this post was so good I just had to share it for WFMW but I decided honesty would be the better course here! LOL]
Go here to see what tips and  tricks others have to share.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls
1 cup water
2 Tbsp softened butter
1 egg
3 1/3 cups bread flour
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
Place all ingredients in bread machine in order listed. Run thru dough cycle in your bread machine. Grease a 9x9 pan. Combine 1/3 cup sugar & 1 tsp cinnamon. Roll dough into large rectangle (about 18x9 in.) Spread dough with 2 Tbsp softened butter and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Roll up tightly, beginning at 9” side. Cut roll into 1” slices and place in pan, cut sides up. Cover and let rise in warm place for about 1 hour. Bake @ 375* for about 25-30 minutes.
Remove from pan and frost with cream cheese icing (you can make your own or buy pre-made icing at the store).
Side Note: I use unflavored dental floss to cut my rolls otherwise I tend to squish ‘em trying to cut with a knife.
Cost breakdown: butter 24 cents , egg 10 cents, flour 47 cents (I use Bread machine flour), sugar 36 cents, yeast 36 cents and add 5 cents to the figure for salt, plus sugar & cinnamon mixture. Add an additional 99 cents for the store bought cream cheese icing.
Total Cost: $2.57
That’s $2.57 for giant yummy homemade cinnamon rolls dripping with cream cheese icing. Oh. My. Stars.

Simple, yummy chicken

Recipe- Garden Veggie Scrambled Eggs

Yummy Breakfast Recipe