cake, minestrone and pasta

i love an easy dessert that is not another popsicle or bowl of ice cream.  and ree drummond from pioneer woman has some of the easiest, quickest and tastiest desserts.  i made her pig cake this week, with a few modifications and i love it!  here is her recipe:  pig cake

in the cake i changed the margarine to butter.  butter is more expensive than margarine but it taste so much better.  also i used canned peaches instead of mandarin oranges because the supermarket was stocking shelves and their cart was in the way and the worker wasn't around and i could reach the oranges.  so it was either pears or peaches and i went with peaches.  this was supposed to be baked in a 9x13 pan but it was in use and i just went for cake pans and cooked it for the same time.  i also changed the frosting and left out the pineapples.  i love pineapples but in frosting it always weirds me out.  so i followed this recipe instead and cut the milk down by half for a thicker frosting:  frosting.  side note, i grabbed banana pudding instead of vanilla and didn't realize til i ate a bite but it totally worked with this dessert.  total cost:  cake mix-$1, eggs- a couple of cents, stick of butter-$.75, peaches-$1, generic whip topping-$1, banana pudding-$1 and powdered sugar and milk i already had on hand = about $5 for dessert :)

so light and tasty for summer

usually being on a budget means that spaghetti is a staple dinner but honestly i can't take another spaghetti with marinara (well unless it is my dad's homemade roasted red pepper but that's another dish).  i stumbled upon this next dish and it sounded perfect and light for a summer night.  here is the recipe:  pasta.  i don't really buy fresh garlic to often because it can get expensive.  so i buy garlic powder for $1 and use that instead.  in using garlic powder i skipped the first step and tossed the almonds, garbanzo beans and the garlic powder in olive oil and toasted this in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring every so often.  then just follow the directions from there.  it was so simple and it is definitely on our permanent menu. total cost:  wheat pasta-$1, canned garbanzo beans-$1, almonds-$2.50, tomato-$.25, parmesan-we had some already in the fridge = almost $5 plus we served up some carrot sticks and ranch.  not to shabby!  hope you guys enjoy it too!

so simple

i love soups because most take nothing at all to make and they are packed full of everything and anything.  veggie minestrone is one of those.  i made this one in the crockpot so i didn't swelter over a hot stove.  here's the recipe:  soup.  i made this with two cans of beans i already had on hand so that wasn't part of my budget this week.  side note too, most think that require broth in the recipe is made with chicken bouillon cubes.  so it isn't 100% veggie but to stay in my budget i have to use these.  just wanted to mention that :).  i left out the onions and fresh garlic and just sprinkled in some garlic powder again.  i left out the kale (no one would eat it), celery (cooked celery weirds me out) and bell peppers (those weird my nerdheart out) but i put in extra carrots and added corn too.  anyway, we served it up with some crackers and cheese and had some fruit afterwards.  tasty and perfect :).  total cost: tomato sauce- less than $1, half a bag of peas and half a bag of corn-$1, broth-maybe a few quarters for a few cubes, pasta-$1 = less than four dollars spent at the store this trip but if you add all the ingredients together then it would be maybe $8 or $9 total.  not to shabby for a dinner with leftovers :).

remember that a mix of colors from fruits and veggies promotes awesome health :)