Monday, January 31, 2011

Disney Deals!!!

When you purchase a non-discounted 4-night, 4-day Magic Your Way vacation package at a select Disney Value Resort at the Walt Disney World Resort for stays most nights Feb. 17 – April 16, April 28 – June 14, 2011 or Aug. 14 – Oct. 1, 2011, kids ages 3-9 stay and play FREE!*

Offer Details:
This Walt Disney Travel Company package includes accommodations at a select Disney Value Resort and a Magic Your Way Base theme park ticket.

Booking and Travel Windows:

* Book: Jan. 3 – Feb. 13, 2011
* Travel: For stays most nights Feb. 17 – April 16, 2011

* Book: Jan. 3 – March 27, 2011
* Travel: For stays most nights April 28 – June 14, 2011 and Aug. 14 – Oct. 1, 2011

Sample Pricing:

* Book Jan. 3 – Feb. 13, 2011 and pay $503 per adult, based on adult double occupancy for this 4-night, 4-day Magic Your Way Package, at a select Disney Value Resort in a standard room for stays most nights Feb. 27 – March 10, 2011.
* Book Jan. 3 – March 27, 2011 and pay $452 per adult, based on adult double occupancy for this 4-night, 4-day Magic Your Way Package, at a select Disney Value Resort in a standard room for stays most nights Aug. 14 – Sept. 29, 2011.

If anyone is interested or have any questions, please let me know and I can get you a no obligation quote! The deposit on a Walt Disney World vacation package is just $200 with the balance due 45 days before travel.
I am a cook from scratch sort of person though I find recipes to be hard. I can read a recipe and all but we almost always change something about it. A lot of the things that I make I do from memory. I learned how to do it growing up and neither my mother nor grandma used a recipe. So I learned without one. Tonight is Sausage Potatoes and Onions. This is Boyfriends night to cook. I love this stuff. Pure comfort food. Even better, it is cheap and makes a bunch. This is almost like hash so we have a habit of frying it in a little olive oil for breakfast sometimes. I try to make it so that we always have leftovers for lunches.
Tomorrow is turkey pot pie. This is a super cheap meal since it utilizes almost only leftovers. I am a keep til you can use it sort of person. You can use leftover chicken for this recipe too. I won't call this healthy but I will say it is healthier than the stuff you buy in the store. I have learned over time that I suck at making pie crust so I just don't. I also don't like soggy pie crust in pot pie. So here is how I make pot pie. Take your leftover turkey, and the broth that you made from boiling the carcass (cuz you know you did! and you should separate that so you have turkey broth in your freezer for the turkey next Thanksgiving!), whatever leftover veggies you have in the freezer. You know those odds and ends that are never quite finished in the bag or the quarter cup that no one ate. Save those! I use whatever is on hand..carrots, celery, onion, green beans, peas. So, simmer your turkey in the broth with the veggies. When it is nice and hot you want to thicken it up. I thicken with cold water and a couple spoonfuls of cornstarch. Let that simmer to thicken. While that is thickening, turn your oven on to 425 degrees. Then I make biscuits. You can use any recipe. I am super fond of Hillbilly Housewife's recipes so I use hers. You can find it here: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/homemadebiscuits.htm Now, instead of cutting out circles, I just roll it out to 9 by 13. Put the thickened turkey mix into the 9 by 13 pyrex pan and place the rolled out biscuit dough on top. Bake until the biscuits are done. See, super easy and practically a free dinner since it uses all those leftovers!
I am also fond of biscuits and gravy. Boyfriend makes the best! Instead of cutting out circles, I just use a knife and cut squares. If you have kids, you could use cookie cutters for fun shapes too. Maybe I will make Mickey head shaped biscuits! That just sounds fun. LOL

Sunday, January 23, 2011

It has been a while but I have decided to try to do better with my blog. I am going to start posting my menus and costs. I have recently discovered a new grocery store. It is about 45 minutes away but they sell you groceries at cost plus 10%. What I cannot get there, I got to Walmart, Winn Dixie, or Publix for. Yesterday I spent $74 at Pic and Save and $47 at Walmart. I still have a little more shopping to do. I need some more veggies but want a better price than I was seeing. We are a family of five. Boyfriend, 31, me 34, Doodle 14, little miss 1, and my father 62. This is all meals for all of us plus snacks and what not. This is for a two week menu. I am using up some stuff from the freezer this menu which is what made it so cheap. I put anything that can be saved away. We eat leftovers for lunches. I am not working so I try to save as much money as I possibly can on what I can. So here is the menu:
Sun: Italian Beef Subs (left over)
M: Fireman's Chicken, baked potato, veggie
T: Beef Enchiladas
W: Spaghetti
Th: BBQ Chicken leg Quarters, side, veggie
Fr: Pizza, we make pizza every Friday. at least one is pepperoni.
Sat: leftover beef tips and noodles
Sun: Turkey (bought when on sale at Thanksgiving!)
Mon: Sausage, Potatoes, and Onions
Tues: Turkey pot pie (use leftover turkey, broth from carcass and veggies from freezer)
Wed: Alfredo Pasta
Thur: roast
Fri: Pizza

Here is today's recipe for Italian Beef Subs

it is a throw stuff in the crock pot and cook until it is done recipe, no formal instructions or amounts.

1 chuck roast (like you would use for pot roast) as big as you need
vegetable oil
1 jar pepperoncini peppers
beef broth, a can or two, or three
Liptons Onion soup mix
Italian seasoning

Brown the roast in the oil on all sides in a pan on the stove. Transfer to the crock pot. You can deglaze the pan with a little beef broth and add all that if you want. Add beef broth to cover. You can add water if you need a little more liquid. Add the onion soup mix. Pour all of the liquid from the pepperoncini peppers in and a few of the peppers depending on much heat you like. Dump in a bunch of Italian seasoning, I usually use about half the jar, maybe 3/4.

Cover and let it cook for about 8 hours. It should be falling apart. Remove the peppers. Shred beef in the juice and serve on really good quality sub rolls warmed. You can add extra juice to the sandwiches or serve on the side. Add Provolone or mozzarella cheese if you like, and also serve some more of the peppers.

This is really almost better made a day ahead of time and then refrigerated overnight. You can also make it on the stove in a large pot. Cover it and let it cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.

I found this recipe on Disboards.com. Thank you to whomever posted it! Even picky Doodle ate this and loved it. My roast was rather large so it ended up making two meals. Today is leftovers from the last time a few weeks ago. One thing I did was took the juices in a separate pan and thickened it up a little with some corn starch.