Baking With Candy

Stock up on candies for baking, such as mint patties and M&Ms, in early November - just after Halloween. The discounts are significant after the Halloween holidays. The candies can be frozen for up to 6 months.

You'll save a lot of money and have tasty treats to add to your baking whenever you want to do something special.

Apples

The best apples to use for baking pies are Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Pippin and Northern Spy.

McIntosh apples taste really good, but they become mushy when they are baked.

If you're baking apple pies, be sure to save one for me. My husband adores them.

Money Saver Tip

Most milk will keep up to a week past the pull date if it is stored properly.

Milk that has begun to sour is perfectly fine to use in baked goods even if it doesn't taste so good to drink.

Milk can be frozen, too, so if you find it on sale you can buy it and freeze it for later use. Be sure to pour some of the milk out of the gallon container to leave room for expansion - or pour the milk into smaller, easier to handle containers. When you thaw the milk, you will need to shake it vigorously to mix the butter fat back into the milk.

To make life easier, you could always measure the milk into one cup amounts and freeze the milk in this manner. Then when you are cooking, the milk can be pulled out in pre-measured amounts to make your cooking time a bit faster.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

This is a fairly easy alternative to a whole pan of lasagna.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

12 lasagna noodles

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 1/2 tbsp dried parsley

2 cups shredded mozzerella cheese, divided

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained

1 jar (28 oz) marinara sauce, divided

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Mix ricotta, egg, parsley and 1 cup mozzarella in a bowl - set aside.

Spread 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking dish.

Spread 3 tblsp ricotta mixture on each noodle.

Top each noodle with some of the beef.

Roll each noodle into a swirl.

Arrange each roll in the baking dish - seam sides down in the dish.

Top roll-ups with the remaining sauce and the remaining mozzarella.

Bake - loosely covered - for 15 minutes.

Remove cover and bake for 10 minutes longer or until brown and bubbly.

Chicken and Dumplins

Ingredients:

4 leg quarters

2 cups flour

1/4 cup crisco

1 box chicken stock

Add milk to thin the dough.

Instructions:

Boil Chicken until done.

Remove chicken from the broth. Strip from bones and skin.

After chicken is done - return stripped chicken to the pot of broth and add the box of chicken stock.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Return liquid to a boil.

Mix flour and crisco together - by hand.

Add milk to thin the dough - thinner than biscuits, but not soup. (thicker than pancakes - needs to be lumpy)

After the broth is boiling, drop the dough into the broth in bits and pieces. Drop the dough in different areas of the pot. Use a kitchen spoon to drop the dough into the pan. This is a gradual process.

Stir after dumplings have cooked for about 5 minutes.

Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Turn it off and let it cool.

Serve to the happy husband!!!

Stir Fry

Ingredients:

2 bags - Contessa's Chicken Stir Fry

1 jar Kikoman's Stir Fry Sauce

1 pack frozen broccoli

White Rice ( Or A Taste of Thai Rice Noodles)

Instructions:

Follow directions on the Contessa's Chicken Stir Fry.

Add the extra broccoli while cooking.

Add the sauce at the end, as well as the Kikoman's sauce.

Cook Rice (or noodles) according to directions.

Mix Stir Fry with Rice.

Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 package taco seasoning mix

2 cans refried beans

4 flour tortillas

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 roma tomatoes, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook beef until browned. Drain.

Combine meat with taco seasoning and refried beans.

Spread half the mixture in a 9 X 13 baking dish.

Top with two tortillas, trimming if necessary and half of the cheese.

Repeat the layers.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes until heat through and cheese is bubbly.

Top with tomatoes.

Let cool for 5 minutes.

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Very versatile and easy to adjust based on whatever happens to be around.