Homemade Yogurt & Granola

I have contemplating recently about doing home made yogurt and granola as an option for my breakfast. Wouldn't you know Sarah that A Beach Cottage went and beat me to it! So, I plan to use her recipies which you can find here and here and if you have not perused her blog. Please do!

And if that is not tempting enough - here is some eye candy from her blog!

Have a great weekend and wish me luck as I clean out my patio storage!

Hummus

A double post day. I tried a hummus recipe today that Creepy Cupcakes had posted last week. It's really good. Here is the recipe below and my notes.

1 15 oz. can chickpeas/garbonzo beans lightly drained
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic
5 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
ink of paprika

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Grind until you have a smooth texture. If it is to dry for you add water 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Serve with crudites or crackers.

I probably would use one clove garlic next time and did not use salt. I always have lemon juice in the fridge so just splashed in what I thought would come from one lemon. I added 6 teaspoons of water to get the right consistency for me.

Enjoy!

Small Accomplishments, Mini Quiche & Roller Derby

What do they all have in common? Not really sure but it's what has been going on in my world lately.

Last weekend the hubs got the rest of our baseboard molding installed in our living room. We still have to patch the holes and paint but all base and crown molding is now installed in the main part of the house (kitchen, living, hallway & dining). We technically still have to install moldings around the bedroom and bathroom doors (three of them) but narrower molding so I am calling this step in the project done!

Last night I made mini quiches with red bell pepper, mushroom, bacon and cheese. I did them in muffin tins. I was NOT pleased with how they turned out. Too small and even though it was cooked through it was too watery. I even cooked the veggies BEFORE I put them in the egg mixture.

The egg mixture probably needs to be increased in order to make enough fuller mini quiches for breakfast for the hubs and I each morning. That is a lot of eggs! I have not figured out the calories yet. Anyone have helpful tips on mini quiches?

Last Saturday the hubs and I went to Roller Derby for the first time. It was a friends birthday and she saved three of the front rows for us all to hang together. That night we even set an attendance record! It took me a while to get the general idea of the rules and I still don't understand everything but it was fun. The medics only had to be called out once and a girl ended up on crutches.

The local league is the Rat City Roller Girls. There are four teams; Derby Liberation Front, Grave Danger, Sockit Wenches & Throttle Rockets. They have the GREATEST names like Yoko Onoudi'nt, Georgia O'Grief, X-Khan & Betty Ford Galaxy.

Oh yeah, and their "cheerleaders" and fans take things seriously! Below Skeletora or Countes De Bodies - not really certain.

A huge Grave Danger fan. He was VERY in to it.

My SD and her friend with a member of the Throttle Rockets.

Her friend (in the hat) is in Jr. Roller Derby. I think my favorite was the Sockit Wenches. Probably because I liked their uniforms the best and they kicked some serious but in their match.

Quick Easy Inexpensive Meal

I picked up a couple cookbooks at the library recently. Both by Sandra Lee of Semi Homemade fame. For those of you who have not heard of her. Her whole philosophy around cooking and food is 70/30. Mix 70% quality prepackaged foods with 30% fresh ingredients. I watched her show on the Food Network a lot when I was unemployed three years ago. I can't believe it's taken me this long to pick up one of her cookbooks!

Tonight I made cashew chicken from the Money Saving Meals cookbook. It took hardly any time at all and it was good. I bought a roasted chicken which is more than enough meat for two recipes (tomorrow night it's chicken mole), a bag of frozen stir fry veggies (also will cover both dishes), canned sauces, cashews, canned chopped tomatoes and Top Ramen. Total cost for these groceries $23.48 (already had rice for chicken mole at home). Recipe says four servings each but it makes more like six for the cashew chicken. That comes out to $2.35 per serving unless the chicken mole makes six servings then it's $1.96 per serving!

I lucked out too cause the cashew chicken recipe called for a can of waterchestnuts and the bag of frozen veggies I bought already had them in there (along with mushroom, carrot, broccoli & yellow carrot). I think next time I make this dish I will make a few substitutions.

• The stir fry sauce was a little to salty for my taste so I will substitute peanut sauce.
• Two packages of Ramen noodles were a lot (my veggies actually had a small amount of noodles included too) so I will try just one package if it's just hubby and I.
• Not as many veggies as I like so I will double the veggies next time.
  

Just the other night hubby and I went to a local restaurant that has a really good happy hour special and spent $26 (including tip). Granted our beers were $6 each (Guinness) but our appetizers were $3.50 and $4.50 each. The appetizers were really more like regular servings. Hubby got a huge burger and fries and I got a regular serving size of Rigatoni Bolognese. We were totally stuffed.

Even though the happy hour meal was a good deal for the price for eating out it just goes to show how much you can save by cooking at home. Not only that but this recipe was pretty Weight Watchers friendly. The Ramen noodles were probably the worse in the dish point wise! Also, it's a recipe I can make from memory. I don't need a cookbook to tell me how to make it again.