Living On A Dime 50% Off Sale!

The wonderful ladies at Living On A Dime are currently having a half off sale on two of their books!  Now through March 4th, you can pick up the following books for 50% off!

Penny Pinching Mama

500 Ways I Lived On $500 a Month by Jill Cooper

{available as print copy or e-book}

HALF OFF PRICE $6.48 (through March 4th)

Groceries On A Dime E-Book Series

by Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam

{available as e-book only}

HALF OFF PRICE $9.98 (through March 4th)

Don't miss this great sale!

Mary Ellen

(Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Read my disclosure policy here).

Quick Meals for Working Moms - Homemade Sloppy Joes

Homemade Sloppy Joes
with Homemade Sweet Potato Oven Fries

{Reposted from my former blog}

Instead of reaching for a can of Manwich, try this quick and easy homemade Sloppy Joe recipe.  It's sure to be a crowd favorite - especially with the kids!

Homemade Sloppy Joes

{adapted from this recipe}

1lb ground beef {local and grassfed are my preference}

1/2 c diced organic green pepper

1/2 - 1 c diced organic sweet onion

15oz can organic tomato sauce

1/4 c organic ketchup

1/4 c organic barbecue sauce

1 tbsp organic sucanat {or brown sugar}

1 tsp dry mustard

pepper to taste

 

Brown meat over medium heat, then drain fat.  Add diced onions and green pepper and cook for a few minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients, simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If sloppy joes are too soupy, uncover until desired consistency.  Serve on whole wheat buns along with homemade oven fries.

Mary Ellen

Early Start to Spring Garden

Ashleigh's Cabbage Plant

My Spring gardening got a much earlier than anticipated start last week.  Ashleigh came home with her latest school project in hand - a cabbage plant.  For the next two months, she has to care for and document the growth of her cabbage plant.  Since my arugula plants had started to bolt, we replaced them with the cabbage plant in our little garden square.  Previously, I tried growing red cabbage one Fall gardening season.  But ended up in a losing battle against cabbage worms.  Hopefully, we'll have better luck this time!

Mary Ellen 

Daytona 500!

Racin' is back, and I'm so excited!  Sunday is the Daytona 500!  So you know exactly where I will be tomorrow afternoon :)  It's going to be a Roush Fenway front row, with Carl Edwards on the pole and Greg Biffle starting second.  Here's where my favorite drivers are lining up:

Defending champion Tony Stewart starts 3rd

Kyle Busch, winner of last week's Budwiser Shootout, will start 14th

Racing his way into the 500 via the Duel, owner-driver Robby Gordon will start 17th

2011 Nationwide Champion and regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr will start 21st

And with his new team Phoenix Racing, Kurt Busch will start 28th

Also of note, Dale Earnhardt Jr will start 5th and Danica Patrick will start 29th.

Anyone else excited about the start of the NASCAR season?

Mary Ellen

Lenten Meal Ideas - Fish & Chips with Homemade Tartar Sauce

Fish Nuggets with Homemade Tartar Sauce

During the Lenten season, our family will be observing meatless (with the exception of fish) Fridays.  A quick meal for a Friday dinner after work, would be fish and chips.  This sort of falls into the convenience/semi-homemade category.  For ease, I like to use the fish nuggets from Trader Joe's.  But one could certainly make these from scratch.  Simply Scratch has a homemade crispy baked fish nuggets recipe that is on my recipes to try list.  To accompany our fish nuggets, I made an easy tartar sauce using a 1/2 cup of mayo and several tablespoons of my jalapeno pepper jelly.     

For the chips, I made a batch of my homemade oven fries.  Peel and dice 5 russet potatoes.  Toss in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and paprika.  Bake on a greased baking sheet at 450 degrees for 20 minutes (flip after 10 minutes). 

Mary Ellen

Giveaway Winner - Dining On A Dime Cookbook!

The winner of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook giveaway is...

Congrats Shani!

I will be contacting you for your mailing address.

A HUGE thank you to all who entered the giveaway!  I'm planning to have more giveaways.  So, look forward to more fun in the future!

Mary Ellen  



Shrove Tuesday - It's Pancake Day!


Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

Today is Shrove Tuesday - also known as Pancake Day.  It's the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the start of the Lenten season.  As a tradition, we have breakfast for dinner on Shrove Tuesday.  With pancakes (of course!) and bacon or sausage and scrambled eggs.  My favorite from scratch pancake recipe is the Pioneer Woman's Lemon Blueberry pancakes.  Using cake flour makes the pancakes so soft and fluffy!  For extra lemon flavor, I substitute lemon flavoring for the vanilla called for in the recipe.  And since the kids aren't fond of blueberries in their pancakes, I make a separate batch with the lemon but sans blueberries.  So good!  Even the batter tastes like a delicious lemon cake batter.  And this year, I'm making the berry butter recently featured on the Pioneer Woman's Food Network show to accompany the pancakes.  Yum!

Mary Ellen  

(Note:  This post contains an affiliate ad.  Read my disclosure policy here).