Weekly Grocery Deals & Frugal Recipes: Summer Berry & Plum Pudding

(Note: Each week Frugal Townie and I, in a combined effort post the Grocery Deals Round-Up and aFrugal Recipe that goes right along with the current deals.)

Lately I’ve shared the recipe: BBQ Yardbird Pizza. If you have any leftover chicken, this is a great way to use it!

This week…

There are a LOT of grilling stuff (and veggies) on sale! Visit my recent recipes for ideas. With all the fruit on sale, I’d like to focus on that this week.

Following is a recipe that goes right along with Frugal Townie’s Round-Up for the week of May 16th.

These are the items on sale for this week’s Frugal and Healthy Recipe:

Blueberries – $3.98/ 18 oz pkg @ Checkers
- Raspberries- $1.98/ 6oz @ Checkers
- Strawberries- $0.99/ lb @ Aldi 

 

 

Summer Berry & Plum Pudding

(Originally from Real Simple)

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, over medium-high heat, bring the plums, blackberries, blueberries, half the raspberries, the sugar, and ¼ cup water to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries begin to burst, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in the lemon zest and juice and the remaining raspberries. Transfer to a bowl and let cool for 15 minutes.
Line an 8-inch square baking dish with 2 sheets of plastic wrap, allowing at least 6 inches to hang over each side. Place the bottoms of the buns in the dish, cut-side up. Spoon half the fruit mixture over the buns.
Top with the remaining buns, cut-side up, and the remaining fruit mixture. Cover with the overhanging plastic wrap, a plate, and two 15-ounce cans. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 1½ hours. Spoon the pudding into bowls and top with whipped cream (if using).

 

Coming soon: Recipe tab!!

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What recipes have you been enjoying lately?

Linking up at: Taylor House ThursdayFriday Fun PartyTGIF, and Project Party Weekend!

 

Take it on Tuesday #29: Wine Bottle Luminaries

It’s great to see more new faces this week!! I just love hosting this blog hop and getting the chance to see what projects are out on the blogsphere!! (Scroll down to link up!)

Sorry, I haven’t made it to everyone’s link yet (busy graduation weekend), but I will!! I make it my priority to follow everyone’s blog by the second time they link up (usually in my Google Reader) and like/follow them on  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. So if you link up, you will be followed! (by me, at least) Plus, I do pin your projects on my Favorite’s Board.

First, I’d like to show you what I’ve been up to this week, then I’ll reveal my favorite 5!

 

 

Wine Bottle Luminaries

As we’ve been going through our house and decluttering, we found that we had MANY wine bottles we have collected. My husband suggested we put them to use in our decor as luminaries!

 

This was really easy to do, once we had the right tools. All we needed were:

- protective glasses & masks
- drill
- glass drill bit $15 from Home Depot

 

I helped to hold the wine bottles in place, while my husband drilled the hole:

 

 

This took some time, but once we had the holes drilled, it was easy to put a string of lights in and voila!

 

 

I love how it looks in our corner table in the living room:

 

 

 

My Favorite Five!

(You need to have a link back to Romance on a Dime on the project post or sidebar to be featured.)

 

 Lindy’s {Itsy Bitsy Paper Blog} Candy Tags for Teacher Appreciation Week

 

 

 

Hilani’s {Handmade by Hilani} Front Porch Message Board

 

 

 

Megan’s {Our Pinteresting Family} Jute Wrapped Pot

 

 

Chrissy’s {The Taylor House} Chocolate Caramel Chex Mix

 

 

Deanna’s {Little Green Bow} Homemade Rosemary Bread

 

 

If you’ve been featured today, or in the past, please grab a feature button from the sidebar!

 

What projects have you been working on lately?

*Link to a specific post (no giveaways)
*Link something you’ve done recently
*Post my button (found on the sidebar) on your blog OR a text link on the post (otherwise you won’t be featured!)
*Visit & comment on at least TWO other links posted
*Come back to see if you’ve been featured or pinned!

Please ‘like’ my facebook page!




Come back Wednesday for a Frugal Recipe, Friday for Fabulous Friday Links, and Saturdayfor Saturday Spotlight. Thank you all! I LOVE seeing what you’ve been up to!

 

Linking up to I Made it MondayMade by You MondaysMore the Merrier MondayOne Project at a TimeTrash to Treasure TuesdayA Diamond in the StuffTutorials & TipsSimply Sensational TuesdayTuesday’s TreasuresTip Me TuesdayTake a Look TuesdayTell it to Me TuesdayShow Me What Ya GotTutorial TuesdayToot Your Horn TuesdayHope StudiosNaturally NiftyTuesday Linky,Today’s Creative BlogParty with my PeepsTutorial TuesdayShare the Wealth WednesdayFrom Dream to RealityHomemade by YouWow Me WednesdayDIY Under $5Wednesday’s WowzersWomen Living WellThe Pinterest ChallengeShow & ShareTaylor House ThursdayWeekend Wrap Up PartyStrut Your Stuff Saturday, and Project Party Weekend.

 

Menu Planning Monday: Recovering from Graduation Parties

How’s it going everyone? Whew! I’m still recovering from the weekend. I’m exhausted physically and socially. Both my husband AND my youngest sister graduated this weekend. Friday evening we had the Arts convocation to attend for my husband (beforehand we hosted a BBQ dinner for family and close friends) and afterwards we hosted a party! Saturday I watched my sister graduated, then hung out at her house to celebrate on Saturday evening. Yesterday, my husband “walked down the hill” as is tradition for KU graduates. After that I/we didn’t do much of anything for the rest of the day.

 

We had a good number of leftovers from our graduation party, so you will note that on this week’s menu (we also froze some hamburgers for another time!!)

 

Menu Plan

Greek Pizza

Monday

Lunch: Eggs & Bacon Pitas

Tortilla Meatball Soup (we never made it last week)

Dinner: leftover Healthy Hamburgers, Spring Salad with Grilled Veggies, and Grilled corn

 

Tuesday

Lunch: Taco Salad

Step 1: In a microwave-safe bowl, stir together 1 c. black beans4 Tbl. salsa1 tsp. ground cumin and microwave on high for 40 seconds.

Step 2: Arrange 24 baked tortilla chips on two separate plates, top each with 1/4 c. reduced-fat Cheddar cheese and microwave on high for 30 seconds.

Step 3: Top chips and cheese with half of black bean mixture on each plate. Then add 2 c. lettuce1/2 tomato(chopped), 1/2 c. salsa2 Tbl. fat-free sour cream to each plate.

Serves 2.

Dinner: leftover Greek Pizza (I’m working on putting the recipe up on Romance on a Dime!)

 

Wednesday

Lunch: Taco Salad

Dinner: P.B. & J with fruit (maybe we will still have some leftover Pizza)

 

Thursday

Lunch: Taco Soup

Dinner: Soup & Sandwich with Amish White Bread

 

Friday

Lunch: leftover Taco Soup

Dinner: Pepperoni, Onion, & Olive Pizza

 

Saturday

Lunch: Chicken Curry

Dinner: leftover pizza

 

Chicken Curry from Prudent Homemaker

 

Sunday

Lunch: Soup & Sandwich

Dinner: leftover Chicken Curry

 

What are you cooking this week? We’d love to hear about it!

For more recipe ideas,visit my other Menu Planning Monday posts or Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday Blog Hop!

 

10 Goals for this Week

I’ve decided to break down all my goals for 2012  and May’s goals into manageable bite size weekly goals. Each Monday I will plan on blogging about my 10 Weekly Goals – how I did and giving my new goals for the week. Here are my goals for this week:

 

Wife/Marriage Goals

1. Write a love note to Matt

 

Home Management Goals

2. Declutter project - finish office organization (craft supplies) - I still have a little bit of craft stuff to organize.

3. Calculate the cost for the meals I make this week - I didn’t get this done…

4. Freezer cooking: Healthy Granola

 

Personal Goals

5. Couch 2 5K – Week 7

6. Read 7-10 chapters of the Old Testament

7. Finish the Resolutions for Women study and start a new study

8. 31 Days of No Complaining

 

Blogging/Business Goals

9. Set up a “recipes” section to my blog - I’ll have to work on the recipes this week

10. Meet with piano students and tutor students’ parents

 

This week…

Wife/Family Goals

1. Write a love note to Matt

2. Call my sisters & mom

 

Home Management Goals

3. Declutter project - declutter and organize hall closet

4. Calculate the cost for the meals I made last week

 

Personal Goals

5. Couch 2 5K – Week 8

6. Read 7-10 chapters of the Old Testament

7. 31 Days of No Complaining

8. Try out a sewing project on my machine

 

Blogging/Business Goals

9. Set up a “recipes” section to my blog

10. Write a guest post

 

(I’m linking up to MoneySavingMom’s 10 Weekly Goals)

 

 

Saturday Spotlight: Creatively Living's Mailbox Makeover

Hello all! I’m really excited about this Saturday Spotlight series!!

 

Each Saturday, I am featuring a guest post from another blogger. (Last week we had a great post with an Apple Dip recipe by Handmade by Hilani.)

 

This series will be covering topics from creative crafts to DIY projects/tips to inspiring stories.

Look at this fantastic line-up:

     May 19th: Mrs. Hines Class
May 26th: Green Willow Pond
June 2nd: Jess & the Boys
June 9th: 4 You With Love

I have all of June lined up as well. But I don’t want to spoil the fun by telling you all of my line up now!! If you are interested in guest posting for Romance on a Dime, check this post for a list of suggested topics.

 

This week we have Katie from Creatively Living in the Spotlight! She is so inspiring!! I have LOVED all the projects she has linked up to my Take it on Tuesday blog hop. Top, she is showing us a recent mailbox makeover. I love the end result:

 _________________________________________

 

Hi Romance on a Dime Readers!
My name is Katie, and I blog over at Creatively Living.

 

 

I’m excited to be guest posting at Romance on a Dime today!
I’m going to share one of my latest project with you.
You see, I had a very ugly mailbox.

 

 

I liked the triangular handle, and it’s shape, but it was faded, and boring.
 I wanted to adhere some nice vinyl wording on it, or something fun, but we have a serious lack of fun vinyl where I live, and I could only find any words I liked in black.

 

So, I decided to make my own wording for my mailbox makeover!
First I took the handle off and spray painted it with black.
Next, I took my favorite vintage wallpaper, (that I have stashed in my basement), and used WordArt in Microsoft Word to create this “Hello” sign that could be cut out.

 

 

Then I took the wording and used two coats of Modge Podge to seal them on the mailbox.
Even though it was thicker wallpaper, I still had to smooth the ridges out a couple times. I put one coat of Modge Podge on, let it dry, and then applied the second coat.

 

 

Perfect. Now i have a eye-catching mailbox in my entryway.

 

 

Now this mailbox is under an awning, so it won’t be getting very wet. I’m not sure how well this would work if it was constantly getting hit by bad weather.
I really like how it turned out. It works well with the blue house and my red geraniums
….and, the makeover was FREE :)

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by. A big thanks to Betsy for letting me share it with you!
I hope you all enjoyed the project :)
–Katie

 

Weekly Grocery Deals & Frugal Recipe: BBQ Yardbird Pizza

(Note: Each week Frugal Townie and I, in a combined effort post the Grocery Deals Round-Up and a Frugal Recipe that goes right along with the current deals.)

Lately I’ve shared the recipe: Spring Salad with Grilled Veggies. Many of the items needed for that are still on sale this week (bold items means it’s the best price):

Corn- $1/ 3 ($0.33 ea) @ Hy-Vee
- Mushrooms- $0.79/ 8oz pk @ Aldi
- Peppers (Bell Multi-Colored) – $1.59/ 3 pk @ Aldi

This week…

There are a LOT of grilling stuff (and veggies) on sale! Here’s a recipe that goes right along with Frugal Townie’s Round-Up for the week of May 9th.

These are the items on sale for this week’s Frugal and Healthy Recipe:

- Chicken (breast, boneless/skinless)- $1.58/lb @ Checkers
- Cheese (Kroger block/sliced/shred)- $1.79/ea @ Dillons

 

 

BBQ Yardbird Pizza

Ingredients:

Base: ½ cup ready-made barbecue sauce

- Toppings: ½ cup sliced roasted chicken breast + ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese + ½ cup sliced red onion + ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro – optional (we didn’t choose to use cilantro the first time making this, but we certainly will the second time!)

 

Preparation:

I make my own pizza dough using: 6 cups flour + 1-2 Tbl. yeast + 2 cups warm water + 2Tbl. oil.

Mix together ingredients, knead, and let rise until doubled. (This makes 2 pizza crusts.)

Add base and toppings to pizza, then cooked at 425 degrees for 25 min (I switch the pizzas in the oven halfway through for even cooking.)

 

So easy to make and it’s also very affordable. This pizza costs me about $3 to make. Pretty cheap meal! (Flour & Cheese from CostCo, Chicken – boneless chicken I cooked up myself for $1.88/lb., red onion from checkers) I am still adding to my recipe calculator, but that is something that is coming to Romance on a Dime in the near future!

Subscribe to Romance on a Dime so you don’t miss out when it does!

Or, if you want to have Romance on a Dime delivered to your email, just add in your email address (located in the sidebar, near the top). Thanks so much!!

 

Additionally, Yogurt (Kroger Greek) is on sale – $4 / 5 @ Dillons.

Last week I posted a recipe on how to make your own Homemade Yogurt – it’s really easy and you only need 2 Tbl. of yogurt and 1 quart of milk to make 1 quart of yogurt!

 

What recipes have you been enjoying lately?

Linking up at: Taylor House Thursday, Friday Fun Party, TGIF, and Project Party Weekend!

Take it on Tuesday blog hop #28: Duct Tape Purses

It’s great to see more new faces this week!! I just love hosting this blog hop and getting the chance to see what projects are out on the blogsphere!!

 

Again, I’m going to make it my priority this week to follow everyone’s blog and like/follow them on  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. So if you link up, you will be followed! (by me, at least) :) If I didn’t follow you last week, I will this week!! Plus, I do pin your projects on my Favorite’s Board.

 

My Favorite Five!

(You need to have a link back to Romance on a Dime on the project post or sidebar to be featured.)

 

Katie’s {Creatively Living} The Kitchen Reveal – she has a pretty amazing kitchen!

 

 

 

Marissa’s {Rae Gun Ramblings} Knock-off Cheesecake Factory Bread

 

 

 

Jess’ {Jess and the Boys} Meal Planning Magnet Board - I just LOVE this idea and plan on doing it myself sometime.

 

 

 

Brittany’s {Crafty Mischief} Funky Braided Scarf

 

 

 

Finally, because I DID clean my microwave this week after reading her blog post, Jessi’s {Practically Functional} How to Clean your Microwave in 2 Minutes

 

 

Finally (yes, I’m adding a sixth again!) I absolutely LOVED Lindsay’s {Southern Lovely} Knock-off Striped Skirt

 

 

If you’ve been featured today, or in the past, please grab a feature button from the sidebar!

 

Duct Tape Purses

My Sister-in-law and Mother-in-law have been busy crafting lately. This weekend they showed me, and allowed me to help with one of their projects!!

 

 

Aren’t they so cute? They are amazingly easy to make too!

 

Step 1: Create Duct Tape Fabric

You do this by putting duct tape back to back. In this instance we chose the pink polka dots and a solid blue duct tape. The blue duct tape was actual duct tape sheets they had purchased at Michaels.

 

 

After creating duct tape fabric for the front and back of the purse, we put strips together to form the binding. For this we chose pink polka dots on one side and a cupcake pattern for the other side.

 

 

 

Step 2: Tape the pieces together and add binding

After we had all the pieces made, we lined them up like this and started taping them together, using the cupcake patterned duct tape for our binding:

 

 

Step 3: Make the ruffles

We used a box to help hold the form, as we were bending it around. (Sorry I don’t have any pictures of the rest of the process!!) Velcro secured the top flap over the purse.

 

 

I didn’t take any pictures of us making the ruffles, but here’s a pretty good video tutorial.

 

 

Have you ever made anything out of duct tape? What projects have you been working on lately?

*Link to a specific post (no giveaways)
*Link something you’ve done recently
*Post my button (found on the sidebar) on your blog OR a text link on the post (otherwise you won’t be featured!)
*Visit & comment on at least TWO other links posted
*Come back to see if you’ve been featured or pinned!

Please ‘like’ my facebook page!




Come back Wednesday for a Frugal Recipe, Friday for Fabulous Friday Links, and Saturdayfor Saturday Spotlight. Thank you all! I LOVE seeing what you’ve been up to!

 

 

Linking up to I Made it MondayMade by You MondaysMore the Merrier MondayOne Project at a TimeTrash to Treasure TuesdayA Diamond in the StuffTutorials & TipsSimply Sensational TuesdayTuesday’s TreasuresTip Me TuesdayTake a Look TuesdayTell it to Me TuesdayShow Me What Ya GotTutorial TuesdayToot Your Horn TuesdayHope StudiosNaturally NiftyTuesday Linky, Today’s Creative BlogParty with my PeepsTutorial TuesdayShare the Wealth WednesdayFrom Dream to RealityHomemade by YouWow Me WednesdayDIY Under $5Wednesday’s WowzersWomen Living WellWhimsy WednesdayThe Pinterest ChallengeShow & Share, Taylor House ThursdayWeekend Wrap Up PartyStrut Your Stuff Saturday, and Project Party Weekend.

 

Menu Plan Monday: Once a Month Shopping Cost Breakdown & Weekly Goals

Last week I talked about our new “Once a Month Cooking Plan“. The goal is to spend $125 the first week, then $25 each additional week. This week I’d like to share with you the breakdown of what we spent our money on the first week:

 

CostCo trip (I set $40 aside to spend for this trip, but only spent $30)

  • $6.75 for 25 pounds flour
  • $4.35 for 32 ounces Cheddar Cheese
  • $1.99 for gallon of skim milk
  • $13.50 for Perrier (my husband is now drinking Perrier instead of Pepsi!)
  • $1.19 for dozen eggs (I took a friend to CostCo and we split 3 dozen eggs)
  • $1.08 for 5 Aluminum pans (again, my friend took most of the package)

Total (with tax) = $29.25

 

Aldi trip

  • $2.97 for 3 pounds strawberries
  • $1.68 for 3 pounds Gala apples
  • $4.47 for 3 jars (24 oz. each) of Salsa
  • $2.38 for 2 bags Tortilla chips
  • $1.38 for 2 cans evaporated milk
  • $1.98 for 2 cans pitted olives
  • $2.97 for Basil, Oregano, & Parsley Flakes (1.125 oz each)
  • $1.18 for 2 cans Black beans
  • $3.38 for 2 bags Spinach (9 oz. each)
  • $2.29 for coffee creamer (though this might be the last time we buy it)
  • $1.49 for 2 pounds brown sugar
  • $3.29 for 1 pound deli ham
  • $1.48 for 4 pounds oranges

Total (with tax) = $33.68

 

Checkers trip

  • $1.79 for Wheat Pita Bread
  • $3.99 for gallon of orange juice
  • $5.69 for Mozzarella cheese
  • $2.49 for Feta Cheese
  • $1.50 for Chocolate Chips
  • $2.99 for Toasted Oats Cereal (32 oz.)
  • $1.16 for 2 cans diced tomatoes
  • $2.91 for 3 bags of hamburger buns
  • $2.60 for Vanilla Extract
  • $1 for 5 packages of Ramen Noodles
  • $1.98 for Yellow corn tortillas
  • $1.68 for whole wheat Penne
  • $2.48 for 10 pounds potatoes (yes, I know this is not the best price)
  • $.88 for 3 pounds of yellow onions
  • $.94 for fresh Basil
  • $2.98 for 12 ounces of blackberries
  • $1.10 for Broccoli
  • $2.48 for 3 pounds green beans
  • $1.38 for 2 bell peppers
  • $1 for 1 pound red onions
  • $.99 for tomatoes (clearance)
  • $1.76 for 2 pints grape tomatoes
  • $.60 for 1 pound roma tomatoes
  • $1.88 for Pepperoni Link (which we will cut for a pizza)

Total (with tax) = 52.52

 

Second trip to Checkers on Thursday (for Bananas!)

  • $1.46 for 7.7 pounds of Bananas
  • $$3.84 for 2 containers of Peanut Butter (the around 11 cents/oz. at Checkers is a cheaper price than CostCo!)
Total (with tax) = $5.77

Final total for first week = $121.22!

 

Menu Plan

 

Bacon, Tomato & Arugula Pizza from Cooking Light

 

Monday

Lunch: Tortilla Meatball Soup (we never made it last week)

Dinner: leftover Bacon, Tomato & Arugula Pizza

 

Tuesday

Lunch: Chicken Fried Steak (from freezer)

Dinner: Soup & Sandwich with Amish White Bread

 

Wednesday

Lunch: Spinach Salad

Dinner: P.B. & J with fruit (maybe we will still have some leftover Pizza)

 

Thursday

Lunch: Greek Pizza

Dinner: Soup & Sandwich with Amish White Bread

 

Friday

Lunch: Homemade Whole-Wheat Waffles

Dinner: Graduation Cook-out!! (My husband graduated last fall and we are finally celebrating this week!)

 

 

Saturday

Lunch: Eggs & Bacon Pitas

Dinner: my sister’s Graduation party!!

 

Sunday

Lunch: Spinach Salad

Dinner: leftover Greek Pizza

 

What are you cooking this week? We’d love to hear about it!

For more recipe ideas,visit my other Menu Planning Monday posts or Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday Blog Hop!

 

10 Goals for this Week

I’ve decided to break down all my goals for 2012  and May’s goals into manageable bite size weekly goals. Each Monday I will plan on blogging about my 10 Weekly Goals – how I did and giving my new goals for the week. Here are my goals for this week:

 

Wife/Marriage Goals

1. Write a love note to Matt

 

Home Management Goals

2. Declutter project - finish office organization (craft supplies)

3. Calculate the cost for the meals I make this week

4. Freezer cooking: Healthy Granola

 

Personal Goals

5. Couch 2 5K – Week 7

6. Read 7-10 chapters of the Old Testament

7. Finish the Resolutions for Women study and start a new study

8. 31 Days of No Complaining

 

Blogging/Business Goals

9. Set up a “recipes” section to my blog

10. Meet with piano students and tutor students’ parents

 

(I’m linking up to MoneySavingMom’s 10 Weekly Goals)

 

Saturday Spotlight: Handmade by Hilani

Welcome to the third post in my new guest post series: Saturday Spotlight!

Each Saturday, I will be featuring a guest post from another blogger. This series will be covering topics from creative crafts to DIY projects/tips to inspiring stories. If you are interested in guest posting for Romance on a Dime, check this post for a list of topics.

 

This week we have Handmade by Hilani in the Spotlight! I have LOVED all the projects she has linked up to my Take it on Tuesday blog hop. It’s fun to see what she comes up with – very creative! Today, she has a yummy treat to share with us:


Hi Romance on a Dime fans!

 

Hey everyone, I’m Hilani from over at Handmade by Hilani.

 

You can normally find me, in my spare time, outside of Staying at home with two boys, sewing! I love sewing and by the request of friends, I turned my hobby into a small business. I’ve been sewing off and on for over 13+ years and never seem to get bored by it!

 

I’m Crafty when free time allows & Passionate about a lot; one passion being sweets. I’m so excited to be here, sharing my fun Apple Dip recipe. It’s always a hit when ever I bring it. And I feel less guilty about eating it, since there’s fruit involved. 

The Apple Dip

Satisfies 10-12 Adults





Prep to Serve Time:
15 Minutes – the apple cutting takes the longest

 


Ingredients:
1 Bar of Cream Cheese, soften (1/3 fat ok)
1/2 of Light Brown Sugar
4 large Green Apples, sliced 
1/4 or so of Creamy Caramel 
4 Skor or Toffee Candy Bars
1 Pie Dish or a Serving Plate


Step 1:
Combine in a small bowl your Brown Sugar and Softened Cream Cheese

Step 2:
Smear Cream Cheese mixture into/onto your serving dish

Step 3:
Open your Caramel Tub (I try to use Low-Fat when available, makes me feel better)
Grab a large Dollop with your Spatula and begin to spear a layer of it onto the cream cheese mixture

It should look like this when finished.

Step 4:
Break open all candy bars and place into your processor. If a processor isn’t available, in the past I’ve placed all broken candy pieces into a ziplock bag.  I’ve then place the bag in between a dish town and used the flat side of a spoon to mash up the pieces finely.


After mixing it should, can, look like this; some finely chopped and some pieces still large.

Step 5:
Remove all large pieces and place to the side.  Sprinkle finely chopped candy over top of dish to evenly cover the mixture below.  Add remaining large pieces to the processor and mix again.

Step 6:
Wash and dry your apples and begin to cut them into wedges.  You can use an apple cutter but I’ve found that it’s the same amount of time.  I like to cut them clean, meaning remove any core pieces from the apple.


Once you’ve finished cutting, place your apples into an air tight container and marinate them in 1/4 cup of lemon juice to preserve freshness and prevent browning. 7-up works as well.

When ready to serve, assemble apple wedges all the way around the brim of your dish.

Enjoy!!!




A Big thanks to Betsy for having me over, and letting me share this with her fans!



Follow Handmade by Hilani in a variety of ways:

10 Easy & Frugal Mother's Day Ideas

As I’ve been thinking about the coming year and gift giving, my plan is to make more presents so we can save money. I still want to give something meaningful and useful, but I would like to spend little, if no money on it. Instead, I’m going to put time, effort, and thought into my gifts.

 

With Mother’s Day coming up, I set about the task of searching for something perfect for my mom(s). Here are some ideas:

 

Make a Vintage Bookmark from a single earring, or other jewelry piece! {Country Living}

 

 

Cute Bath Jars and label printables!! {The Idea Room}

If you already purchase Starbucks Frappuccinos, then this is nearly free!

 

 

Vanilla Sugar Body Scrub {Freucake}

 

 

These Glass Coasters look absolutely gorgeous!!

Too bad I don’t have glass lying around…{Homemade Simple}

 

 

DIY Wildflower Seed Bombs {The Frugal Girls}

 

 

Jewelry Organizer {Home Happy Home}

 

 

Vintage Necklace made of buttons and beads! {More Numerous Than Sand}

 

 

Crochet Washcloths (this would be a good excuse for me to learn!) {A Winding Road}

 

 

 Herb Garden with cute labels! {The Taylor House}

 

 

 

 

Or, if you have a few heirloom rings lying around that don’t quite fit your fingers…

DIY Rings Bracelot {More Numerous Than Sand}

 

 

Hope that gives you some good ideas!! Let me know in the comments what you are working on or plan to make!!

 

Weekly Grocery Deals & Frugal Recipe: Grillin' Out

(Note: Each week Frugal Townie and I, in a combined effort post the Grocery Deals Round-Up and a Frugal Recipe that goes right along with the current deals.)

Lately I’ve shared the recipe: Tropical Fruit Toss. Here is a list of fruit on sale this week (bold items means it’s the best price):

Bananas- $0.19/lb @ Checkers 
- Grapes (Red)- $1.88/lb @Checkers
Mangoes- $0.29/ ea @ Aldi
- Pears- $0.99/ 4 pk @ Aldi
- Strawberries- $0.99/lb @ Aldi

This week…

There are a LOT of grilling stuff (and veggies) on sale! Here’s a recipe that goes right along with Frugal Townie’s Round-Up for the week of May 2nd.

These are the items on sale for this week’s Frugal and Healthy Recipe:

- Corn- $1/ 3 ($0.33 ea) @ Checkers
- Mushrooms (Monterey, sliced)- $1.49/ 8oz pk @ HyVee (coupon in store ad)
- Peppers (hot varieties)- $0.68/lb @ Checkers

If you have a charcoal grill:

- Charcoal briquets $5.98/1.6 lb. bag @ Hy-Vee

 

 

Spring Salad with Grilled Veggies

This Spring we’ve been able to use a gas grill for the first time (we were given it late last fall). It has been so amazing!! The above picture was taken after we decided on the spot that we wanted grilled veggies on our salad, not raw. In no time the grill was ready and the veggies cooking.

 

Neither my husband or I are zucchini fans, but we LOVED the grilled zucchini on the salad. The flavor really meshed well with the romaine lettuce, grilled red onion, and EVOO Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing.

 

Since there are mushrooms and peppers on sale this week, I’m sure they would be a great addition to the salad!

 

Grocery Savings Tip: Making your leftovers a full meal with veggies

Another thing we have had recently grilled is corn on the cob. Sometimes, we were are trying to stretch our leftovers into a full meal, it’s nice to add fresh veggies or fruit to the mix. This week I made Butternut Squash & Parsnip Baked Pasta. When we were eating the leftovers, I suggested we grilled the corn on the cob as the side. This really complemented the meal and filled us up! Plus, we were using produce we had bought on sale.

 

What recipes have you been enjoying lately?