We're not in Kansas anymore....

It's been a crazy few months for me and my two boys as we prepared to spend as much time with my husband before he left for Afghanistan. Being married to the Army, it has it's disadvantages, but it makes us stronger. Before my husband left, we had decided that since he'd be gone for an extended period of time, that the boys and I should spend the summer in NC with family and then return to Kansas before school starts back. It's bittersweet and odd being back "home", seeing friends and family, but you do what you got to do. And I thank my husband and all of his fellow soldiers for their sacrifice for our country and our freedom.

Yesterday morning, I got up, picked up Mande and ventured off to the farmer's market in Lexington to see what we could find to make for dinner. The produce was amazing and we decided a salad would go along great with dinner. We spent a total of less than $15 between the two of us and in addition to our salad fixings we grabbed some veggies for us to enjoy later in the week.

 Here's Ayden posing with a pig at the Farmer's market.

 Ayden enjoying a homegrown tomato as a snack.

 Some of our veggies from the Farmer's Market.

Next we hit up Harris Teeter and I finally succumbed to the sticker shock of groceries. I'm used to shopping primarily at the Commissary on post, where we pay for items at cost and usually 30% cheaper than anywhere else and not pay tax, just a surcharge fee of 5%. 

So, we grab some fruit and some mushrooms that we couldn't find at the farmer's market and spent about $40 there. I also got some staple food items there since I'm restocking the kitchen in our vacation home for the summer. Next we traveled to a brand new Aldi's across the street. It was crazy in there, but we picked up a few items that we knew we're cheaper than a regular grocery store and ended up paying less than $5 there. Food Lion was our last stop and we hit up the meat department and picked up $30 worth of steaks to grill for dinner. 

So, last night for dinner my family got together (12 out of 18) to celebrate my return to North Carolina. Mande made Boursin cheese for me to try, Julie brought blackberry Merlot to wash it down and we enjoyed it as we prepared dinner. We had grilled steaks served with a red wine cream sauce, had a huge farmer's market salad and homemade French bread. Later we enjoyed fresh fruit dipped in chocolate for dessert. 

 The Boursin Cheese appetizer Mande made and a glass of Blackberry Merlot.

 Joey showing off the steaks. 

The ingredients for the red wine cream sauce.

Homemade French bread fresh from the oven.

Let's do some math, we spent roughly a total of $90 on food for 12 people (and we had leftovers) which breaks down to $7.50 per person. Wow, if that's not impressive, then I don't know what is! :D

 Dinnertime!

Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.
Check back for the recipes! 

Recipe Testing

I love to be inspired to create foods that I find from magazines, cookbooks, websites, and even the emails that I receive.  This weekend,  I was able to attempt several things that I found on Pinterest and one from The Modern Gamily Cookbook by Meta Given. 

To start my journey this weekend, I wanted to make myself feel better (due to health problems), I made Cheesecake Strawberries.  These were a huge hit and have been requested to make while we are at the beach this coming summer.  It was quite easy to make, as the toughest thing was coring the strawberries.  I used the knife method shown on the website.  I didn't do the swirl as I didn't have the chocolate available but we thought they were divine without the chocolate.

I saw this next recipe when I was perusing thru my I<3 Food. board on Pinterest.  I changed it up by making my own Italian Sausage (yes, I said make my own Italian Sausage-we'll get to that in a sec) and the pepperoni, I picked up 2 thick slices of sandwich pepperoni from the deli, then diced it.  Okay, now to the Italian Sausage.

The Italian Sausage was not on sale, so it was $4.99/lb and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that. So, I grabbed some ground pork and then headed to the spice isle to get a jar of fennel. Bringing it home, I measured out the spices until I thought it smelled like Italian Sausage. Basically, it was fennel, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, marjoram, salt and pepper. This recipe is still in the making, so right now, I am not going to post the amounts that I used.  However, I can't wait to make some of Nikki's Italian Mac n' Cheese with some of my homemade Italian Sausage.

So with this homemade Italian Sausage and diced pepperoni, I made Pizza Puffs. We now call these Pizza Bites because it's only a bite or two of a lovely taste of a pizza.  I think these would be great made in bulk then frozen so when a hungry teen comes in they can grab 5 or so then nuke them until warm for a quick snack.  If I am able to accomplish that I will let you know! 

In addition to the Pizza Bites, I made up some Mozzarella Bites.  This recipe is based off of the tv being on when I was in the kitchen and Giada at Home was on and she was making these.  The big differences is that I cut up string cheese and she used fresh mozzarella. Other than that, the recipe was pretty much the same, oh and I didn't make the chutney.

Also, I made some pizzas to round out the meal.  The dough was the mix from the store that you just add water and milk to and the pizza sauce that was also used for dipping I just kinda took a can of Hunt's SweetOnion Diced Tomatoes and mixed in lots of spices and let it simmer for 2 hours.

This brings us to this morning. When I came across this recipe, I knew I had to make it.  On page 97 of The Modern Gamily Cookbook by Meta Given is a recipe for Bacon Muffins. Yes, Bacon Muffins.  They were okay. It tasted like a bacon biscuit, honestly it was nothing super special.  It's almost like it was missing something. Maybe some gravy? Now that is an idea I need to try!

Finding the dessert for this evening was something that was not to bad - Jell-o Cookies.  I personally think that some of them need more flavor to them but the kids liked them just fine. Emma and I may need work on the flavor depths in some of these cookies.  They are extremely colorful and fun to makes.  Once again, they made their appearance on Pinterest. Our flavor choices were Lemon, Strawberry, Lime  and Orange.

I need to work on my food photography as I am not the greatest in showing off what I make, but please believe me that these recipes will leave your taste buds dancing.

I do know that if money wasn't an object in my home, that I would have tested out more recipes this weekend. I do hope that some of these give you inspiration!