Don't Pass the Muffins

Am I the only one who had nearly given up hope of finding a low fat, low cal muffin that tasted great and didn't have that gluey-gooey-sticky-tough texture?

I found a treasure today on allrecipes.com:

BLUEBERRY BRAN MUFFINS

I read all the reviews and gave it a shot... glad I did! I made a couple of adjustments (see below) and ended up with a non-sweet, 1 weight-watcher point muffin with THE TEXTURE OF A REGULAR MUFFIN!! DID YOU HEAR ME PEOPLE? A REGULAR MUFFIN!!!

It's another Easter Miracle.

Here's what I changed after reading the reviews and realizing I was out of brown sugar...

I used 1/4 cup honey instead of brown sugar
I added another 1/2 tsp of baking powder and baking soda
I added 1 small chopped apple
I used 1 tsp Victorian Epicure Maple Spice (I would have added cinnamon otherwise)

Enjoy!

Femme Frugal

Just wanted to share a find and an idea for anyone trying to make the grocery budget stretch a little further:

Extra foods has recently been offering a big box of frozen chicken legs for $10-something. They have the back attached, skin on and there are about 20 pieces in the box. I've just cooked up a big box using the following method and it looks to me like I'm going to get 4 meals plus a bit of leftovers for my $10.

Thaw chicken in fridge or under cold water.
Divide into three portions.

Portion #1 - Roasted Chicken Legs
I put 8 legs in my large roaster, seasoned the pieces and roasted until thoroughly cooked.
I made gravy with the drippings and we had a good sized meal (potatoes & peas) plus one left over lunch. If you don't eat the skin, it slides off easily.

I cooked these guys while I prepped the other two dishes, and just kept them in the fridge until the oven was available for the next shift.


Portion #2 - Orange Chicken Legs (or any other saucy chicken)
Using 6 legs in a 9 x 13 glass dish, and used this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Super-Orange-Chicken/Detail.aspx. Once this cooked and cooled, I popped it in the freezer for another time.

Portion #3- Mexican Chicken & Soup
Put 6 legs in a 9x13 glass pan, sprinkle cumin, chili, taco seasoning and dried cilantro on top. Bake until thoroughly cooked. Cool in pan and then refrigerated. The next day I pulled the skin off and threw it out. I pulled off the easy-access meat and put it in one bowl, while the bones and remaining meat went into a pot for soup stock.

I ended up with 3 cups of cooked chicken, which I coursely chopped and am saving for tonight o make "Flautas". Here's a recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Flautas/Detail.aspx... but I'm using flour tortillas (cuz corn tortillas make me gag) and I'm going to bake them instead of fry them... but you get the idea. You could also use the meat for Fajitas, Chicken enchilladas, chicken tacos... whatever your little Mexican tastebuds desire.

I have the soup simmering right now... just making a basic chicken soup... the mexican flavor will be very mild since i'm not using any skin, just the bone and the neighboring meat.

A little chicken broth tip: If you're like me and don't want mushy veggies in your soup, you can add a coupel of whole carrots, quartered tomatoes (or a can of diced ones), whole celery leaves, lemongrass (try it...sooo good!) and let it all simmer together for a couple of hours. Strain the broth, pick out the meat and throw out all the veggies. THEN you can throw in the fresh chopped carrots, celery, spinach, peas... etc. and cook until desired tenderness. The soup still has all the flavor but the veggies have their fresh color.

So, there you have it... 4 meals worth of meat for $10. And one mess, about 1 hour in the kitchen total.

We'd like to draw your attention to....

this AMAZING blog with intersting, simple recipes, weight watchers calculations and gorgeous, inspiring photos. I could look at it all day. Drooling.

http://weight-watchers-points-recipes.blogspot.com/

Really Yummy.

Apologies for losing momentum on our blog. Sigh, we are human and easily distracted by Christmas goings-on, facebook and tv. Honesty is the best policy.

For our first entry of 2010, please enjoy this amazing recipe! I have never baked with pumpkin before, and LOVED these!


For any Weight Watchers out there, I cut the sugar down to 1.5 cups after reading the reviews and did not do the streusle topping, which works out to 12 large muffins at 7 WW points each. I want to keep working with this recipe to see how to get the points down and will keep you posted. Ha.


Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins - All Recipes:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean."

Here's the link incase you want to check out the reviews:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Apple-Streusel-Muffins/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

What's for Christmas Breakfast?

I wanted to share this recipe with you... one of my family favs! We'd also love to hear what your favorite Christmas Morning Recipes are! Please share them in the comments!

OVERNIGHT FRENCH TOAST

Day old French bread in 1 inch slices
5-7 eggs
3/4 cup milk
brown sugar
1/4lb melted butter
cinnamon

Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Sprinkle brown sugar on bottom of the pan. It should be 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with cinnamon (I use a lot). Pour melted butter over this mixture. In separate bowl, beat eggs and milk. Dip bread in. Allow bread to absorb egg mixture (I count to 20). Place in pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 375'. Turn bread bieces over (VERY IMPORTANT). Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY! I'm also experimenting with a layer of creamchees and fruit in the middle... I'll let you know when I have a real recipe!
D.

Green Christmas

{photo source: Tree Hugger}

One of my least favourite things about Christmas is all packaging. Aside from the usual injuries getting through all those plastic toy holders and twist ties the bags of garbage and recycling sends my guilt-o-meter spinning quickly.

Here are a few ideas to keep the packaging down and your Christmas a little greener.

1. Re-usable bags. If you are crafty and can sew just a straight line you can make them yourself and if not, purchase them. {a couple of Canadian sources are Love a Tree & Etsy }

2. Use the wrap as part of the gift. For example, is anyone on your list getting a Snuggie this year? Wrap that bad boy around another gift (may I suggest a new telephone that the lucky recipient can talk for hours on, while wrapped up warm in their new Snuggie?) Other items you can use for wrapping would be scarves (they are ALL the rage this year, no?), towels and leftover fabric.

Check out this video tutorial:

Furoshiki Japanese Wrapping

3. Instead of bows and ribbon what about bringing nature in?

{photo source: Country Living}

We challenge you to use one of these ideas for your Christmas wrapping this year! If you have any other green wrapping ideas, please leave a comment and share with us!

Try This at Home

If you don't stop to think about all the germs on the utensils and the potential for contamination, I love a good salad bar.

Kinda lame, I know. But there's something about having choices and control and the ability to make my salad my own that makes me happy.

Setting up a simple "salad bar" at home is really easy and gives everyone a bit of a choice. With all the great pre-washed greens out there all you need to do is add the extras. If you have some cooked chicken or bacon on hand, the salad bar can be your whole meal. A couple of salad dressing choices are nice to offer... balsamic is always a good go-to when in doubt.

Green Ideas:

Spinach, Spring Mix, Romaine

Protein ideas:

Pre-Cooked Chicken*, Bacon, chopped ham, tuna, salmon

Cheeses:

Feta, Goat, Shredded Cheddar or Parm

Extras:

Sliced Grapes, Strawberries, Craisins, Dried Currents, mixed seeds & nuts, Pomegranates

*Last time I brushed balsamic salad dressing onto 4 breasts and oven roasted them. This gave me plenty of chicken meat for salads for a day or two.

Simplifying the Gift Front

We're all for spending less and keeping it simple around the tree. A few years ago we heard of someone who uses this system for gift giving with each of her kids:

Something to Wear.
Something to Play.
Something to Read.

Three gifts.

Pretty genius.

Check out this link for some prize winnning reads for kids.

Airplane Essentials

Having just stepped off a plane for a short trip to Edmonton, (more on that later), I wanted to post a couple of ideas for the next time you're traveling by plane.

A few things to keep in a medium sized ziplock:

- Your own earphones
- sanitizer & chapstick inside a smaller ziplock
- granola bars
- oatmeal cereal packages and a plastic spoon, (because you can always find a cup of hot water if you get really stuck and starving in an airport.)
- a pen for filling out immigration forms

Anyone have any other ideas? Post 'em in the comments!

Happy Travels!

T minus 44 days...

Christmas is coming! Hard to believe it's here again already.

For all of you crafty types, check out this cute handmade Christmas planner





found at Miller's Ink

organizing the world,

one closet at a time...





A little peek at a recent job we just completed.

We Love Puppies

We do. It's true.

And I recently came across a really great little invention, created by a local gal who happened to be one of the fabulous Ortho techs responsible for my new, gorgeous smile!


Take a look at GRAB BAGS FOR PETS for a really great way to keep poop-bags, (that is the technical term, right?) on your leash. They work really well and there are loads of different looks to choose from. Support a local lady entrepreneur and pick up a functional and fun gift for you or someone on your list.

Branching Out

As most of you know, Cheryl and I have become closet designers! We work with a distributor for Stor-X Organizing systems. We've been having SOOOO much fun working with this Canadian product. If anyone is interested in some design ideas and a quick, free quote, we'd be happy to chat with you.

Here's a quick little video to give you an idea of this great, simple closet system.

64 Days

... until Christmas that is!

Between now and then we'd like to offer a few ideas to keep the chaos down in those last few days! Christmas should be about everything but stress and pressure.

So, for starters... we suggest a conversation with the fam.

We know that many families, for many reasons, are looking to keep this Christmas less expensive. We're all for it! Start the conversation now with the kids and the extended family and whoever else is involved in your goings-on. Don't be afraid to be the first one to say, "What if we scaled back a bit this year?" We'll bet that others in your Christmas huddle are thinking the same thing. Draw names, give to a charity, set reasonable limits... just do something to lessen the financial burden and the focus on "stuff".

Enjoy the freedom that a fresh approach to the season might bring and let us be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Mmmmm.... bacon.

I'm confessing to a new addiction.

Bacon.

Yes, there might be healthier choices out there, but well.... bacon has a hold on me.

The upside is that a little bacon flavor goes a long way, so you can use it sparingly and still get loads of flavor. I've been in this shady relationship with bacon for a month or so and I've found so many simple meals in which to feature my prized pork pieces.

To save yourself time, money and mess you can try these two menthods:

1) Costco sells big bags of cooked bacon for about $10... a good amount and I think it tastes great.

2) Take a package or two of bacon, freeze it to the half way point so that it's easier to cut, and chop it into about 1/4 inch pieces. Scramble fry till it's well cooked, drain and pat the oil off with a paper towel, then put the cooled pieces in a ziplock bag in the freezer. You've made one mess and have the potential for many meals.

Meal Ideas with Baconygoodness (yes, that's one word.)

• Spinach Salads (my other binge)... sprinkle a little bacon on some pre-washed spinach with a bit of goat cheese or feta, a finger pinch of seeds or nuts, some chopped apples or pears and a drizzle of vinagrette -- DELISH!


• In scrambled eggs or omlettes


• Baked in quiches


• On a toasted tomato sandwich


• Pasta carbonara


• In a big Caesar Salad with some fresh garlic bread


• Sprinkled on perogies


• In a quick corn chowder or minestrone soup

The possiblities are endless.

May the pork be with you.

Happy Day After Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.

We were especially thankful for friends that fed us this weekend, which while leaving us leftoverless made us feel loved.

And speaking of leftovers....

Did you know that you can freeze turkey dinner?

It's true!

When the boys were little we used to cook an entire turkey just to split up into different containers to pop in the freezer to enjoy at a later date.

Time saving AND delicious.

And now here's a little eye candy for your Tuesday morning.

This pantry leaves me a little weak in the knees.

My pantry looks nothing like it.


It does inspire me to get at my pantry, wipe it down and get it cleaned up a little.

We challenge you to do a 15 minute clean up in the pantry and let us know after you are done!

AND WE'RE BACK.

After a very long summer (and half of fall) hiatus, we're happy to announce that we're back on the blog and looking forward to a new season of ideas & inspiration to help us all live simply.

How did we spend our summer vacation?

Cheryl conquered the West Coast Trail with her man and some special friends.
Dawn took a chilly cruise to Alaska with her extended in-laws.

Cheryl floated around in her new pool.
Dawn helped her mother-in-law prepare to downsize and took 6500lbs of junk to the dump.
(Someone is a little bitter about those two points.)

Cheryl and family flew to Ontario to celebrate a Granny's big birthday!
Dawn and family celebrated her parent's 60th birthdays and 40th anniversary.

Cheryl's kids read about 200 books.
Dawn's kids did a triathalon.

Our two grade sixers are ready to move on to middle school next year.
This will be Dawn's graduation from elementary school and Cheryl's introduction to the world of sex, drugs and jr. high. Ahhhh.... we're really growing up.

We are REALLY looking forward to being in touch with you this year. We'd love for this blog to be interactive and invite your comments, questions and ideas. Thanks for reading and joining us on the journey to being free for what matters, by living simply.

Hope you all had a FANTASTIC summer and that this fall is full of fun and adventure for you!

Simply,
Dawn and Cheryl

JULY CONTEST WINNERS!

Hello friends! As you have noticed, we've decided to talk a little summer break from the blog, but can't forget our July Contest for our Followers!

In the spirit of relaxation and sharing, we'll let Melissa F. in on this little draw too! Thanks all of you for sharing some fabulous summer recipes! LOVE the sound of all of them and look forward to tasting them too!

So, without further adieu...

Melissa F., Melanie F. and Christine will each receive this handly little note-pad, decorated by us.

... and Melissa M. had her name drawn for our "big" (tiny) prize of handmade gift tags, in a little holder!

Thanks for playing and we hope you enjoy!

ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR SUMMER EVERYONE AND WE HOPE YOU'LL CHECK US OUT AGAIN IN THE FALL!

JULY FOLLOWERS CONTEST!

With all the beaching/picnicing/entertaining, we though it was high time for recipe sharing. For our follower's draw this month, we'll enter your name not once (all followers are automatically entered in our monthly draw), but THREE, count them THREE times IF you kindly take a few minutes to post a favorite summer recipe for the beach or the backyard :-) Just share your recipe in the comments area... thanks for helping build our Life Simplified Community experience!



SUPER BONUS REWARD PERK PRIZE GIVE-AWAY...

Everyone who posts a recipe WILL RECEIVE a cute little prize, made by us... promise it'll be worth your while :-)

Great Summer Recipes

Time to start sharing some great summer recipes for BBQ's and Picnics... and to be a part of the mind-meld, stay tuned to our July Followers' contest! Until then, here's one of our favorites...

Santa Fe Salad (From the Best of Bridge)

Ingredients:
Cilantro Lime Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp. cumin
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Salad:
19 oz. can black beans (turtle beans) rinsed and drained
1 red bell pepper, diced
12 oz. can kernel corn, drained
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

Instructions:
In medium bowl, whisk together oil and lime juice.
Add cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper and mix well.
Stir in salad ingredients and correct seasoning.
Serve at room temperature.
Serves 6