Bargain Hunting Moms

Dutch Oven Bread - An Aldi Find

 I have a little obsession with Aldi these days. I go at least once a week just to check out their "special buys" and "Aldi Finds." It's so much fun because I always walk out with something I didn't realize I had to have until I saw it.

So, last week, I bought this Dutch Oven at Aldi. (If you're not following me on Instagram, click here to follow me. I follow back!) I don't know if it's still available because it was an Aldi Find which means it's only there until they're gone, but if you have an Aldi nearby, you might want to check for it. It was $24.99 and I was blown away by it.

I was more blown away by the idea that I can bake BREAD in it. Did you hear me? BREAD. And it was so crazy easy to do that I feel like everyone needs a Dutch Oven JUST to bake bread.

I mean, LOOK!

Doesn't that look like a crusty loaf of artisan bread that you'd pay $4-$5 for at your local grocery store? I think so. It tasted amazing, too! For a first attempt, I thought it was fab. I paired the crusty bread with some tortellini soup which was just some onion, green pepper, chicken broth, tomato puree, canned tomatoes and cheese tortellini cooked for 4 minutes in the Instant Pot and dinner was done!

I won't take credit for this recipe at all because I just googled it, but it worked. I will tell you that when I put the bread in the pot to cook, I thought it was going to be a disaster. It was a sticky mess and I basically wound up tossing it in and crossed my fingers. If I can make the mess I had in my hands turn out like this, so can you. Check out the recipe HERE and pick up a Dutch Oven to use HERE. It's not Aldi. It's Amazon, but it has great reviews.

I'll be honest. I'd had my eye on this one from Amazon for a while before I saw the one at Aldi pop up at my store. I think this one is a good value, especially when you consider how much one from Le Creuset can cost!

Pies, Pies, Pies! Wewalka Pie Crusts Review & A Chocolate Pie Recipe

I received samples to facilitate this review of Wewalka pie crusts. All opinions are my own.

I've told you about Wewalka pizza dough and puffed pastry before, but now Wewalka makes pie crusts. I was delighted to be able to sample their pie crusts and put together a few desserts for my family. Who doesn't love pie?

First, I have to tell you that in all honesty, pie crusts are one type of dough that has always intimidated me. I've never been able to get that perfect, flaky pie crust when I've made my own, so I usually resort to store bought doughs. What I like about the Wewalka pie crust is that it has no lard and the dough definitely seems a bit thicker than the kind I usually buy. That means it's easier to handle.

The dough also comes rolled on parchment paper which is another thing I love about Wewalka doughs.  I worried the dough would be too cold straight from the fridge and break apart on me when I unrolled it, so to solve that problem, I just sat the dough out for a few minutes while I was gathering all my ingredients and when I was ready to make the pie, it worked out perfectly. Using the parchment to roll out the dough keeps it from cracking and I wound up with a perfect crust for my apple pie!

Isn't that a beautiful pie? The crust was so flaky and light. That's also a BIG 9 inch pie pan and the dough was the perfect size. No trimming was required.

Keep in mind that each package contains one crust, so if you're making a pie with a top crust, you'll want to pick up two packages.

I also made this lovely cherry pie with a lattice top. Again, the crust was so yummy and absolutely perfect!

Yummy!

Who can resist a slice of cherry pie with ice cream? I know I can't! I had so much fun baking pies. I realized as I was baking that I just don't do this enough. My family was also very happy to have these delicious treats because usually pie is reserved for holidays around here.

I may have gone a little overboard with the pies. My mom loves chocolate pies with meringue topping. I remember her baking at least a half dozen of these at a time over the holidays when I was a child, but at some point, she stopped baking and I decided to surprise her with her favorite pie. I managed to get my sister to hand over the recipe and whipped one up using the Wewalka pie crust as a base. 

Isn't it pretty? I know she loved it. I sent it to her warm and asked her to take a picture of it when she cut a slice, but she forgot to do it. I'm sure it was as pretty inside as it was out. 

If you'd like the chocolate pie recipe, this is the one I used. I'm sharing the photos because I love seeing old recipes hand written out! This is from an old Betty Crocker cookbook from the late 1950's.

I still have a few crusts that I want to use to make some other desserts from the Wewalka site. Perhaps these Crispy Chocolate Mousse Bites or these Macaron Squares.  Make sure to follow me on Instagram to see what I bake next!

2 Ingredient Bread Breadsticks in the Air Fryer

I keep seeing this two ingredient bread recipe on the web, so I had to try it. The recipe is supposed to be low in Weight Watcher points and good for things like bagles and pizza crust.  I decided to try it for some breadsticks to snack on during the football game Sunday.

I looked at a lot of recipes and watched a lot of videos on Youtube. The recipes seemed to all be a little different. I decided to wing it. I know you're looking at that photo and saying that's more than two ingredients. You're right. The recipe calls for 1 cup of self-rising flour, but I only had regular flour and didn't really want to go spend the money on a bag of self-rising for this one recipe when I wasn't sure if I'd even like it, so I did a web search and you can make your own self-rising flour by adding 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder to 1 cup of flour.

Once I mixed the salt and baking powder to my flour, I added in 1 cup of GREEK yogurt. It must be GREEK. I also had a couple of brands in my fridge, so this is a mixture of Fage and Chobani plain Greek yogurt.

Hamburgers in the Instant Pot

 

There are those who will think this post is utter blasphemy. That's ok. For those of us who will try anything once, this is worth trying. Cooking a hamburger in an Instant Pot may seem like a crazy idea. Everyone knows a burger is best grilled, right? That may be true, but what if you don't have a grill? What if all you have in your freezer is some frozen ground beef patties and people are hungry? Then what?

The Instant Pot to the rescue!

As I've said before, the Instant Pot is a great tool for busy families. You can cook meat from frozen so the question "What's for dinner?" becomes less scary to answer. You can literally pull something out of the freezer and in many cases, have a delicious dinner on the table in an hour or less.

That was my issue the night I decided to try hamburgers in my Instant Pot. I looked on Youtube and found a video. The next thing I knew, I was pulling the hamburger patties out of the freezer and getting to work.

I decided to wrap these burgers in foil because I was afraid they'd fall apart if they were just stacked on top of each other in the Instant Pot. I added some dehydrated onion(you could just chop some fresh) and salt and pepper to the frozen patties and wrapped it in foil.

I had seven frozen burgers, so I did this seven times.

From Frozen to Dinner - Why I Really Bought My Instant Pot

I must talk about my Instant Pot a lot on Facebook because it seems like every time one of my friends gets one, they tag me in their posts about their new pot. Yes, I admit, I'm a little addicted to my Instant Pot. It's something I use at least 3-5 times a week. Sometimes I use it every day, but I have to tell you the reason I bought it originally. I tend to stock up when I see a good deal, so my freezer is generally full of frozen meat, but I'm not a good planner.

I really admire all of you who have the meal planning down for weeks or even the whole month. I'm just not good at that. I'm very bad at remembering to defrost meat for dinner and before I got my Instant Pot, when that happened, we'd wind up ordering pizza or getting take-out. The money we were spending on take-out was negating the money I was saving when I stocked the freezer with meat deals.

It was frustrating. I was also dealing with being newly diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease and the fatigue and brain fog from that made it even harder to plan. Enter the Instant Pot.

I don't have to defrost meat! If I do, great, but if I don't, it's not a big deal. For instance, the other night, I was working and noticed it was already 5pm. Oops. I hadn't even THOUGHT about dinner. I went to the freezer and started to pull out a couple of frozen pizzas, but then I saw two packages of frozen chicken legs and thought, "why not?"

As you can see, these were frozen solid. I stuck them in the microwave just long enough to be able to get them out of the package so we wouldn't be eating plastic and styrofoam with our dinner.

 I put my trivet in, added 1 cup of water and then the frozen solid chicken legs in two layers. My 6 qt Instant pot held 11 chicken legs. I sprinkled them with salt, pepper and some Fox Point Seasoning from Penzeys and closed the lid.

Instant Pot Southern Style Green Beans Recipe

 

I love my Instant Pot and to me, the best way to make Southern Style Green Beans is in the Instant Pot. When I was a little girl, I was the pickiest eater there was. I'm not exaggerating. No vegetable was allowed to cross my lips unless it was the tomato in the ketchup I put on everything. I didn't trust those crunchy, green foods at all--something that I'm sure had to be exasperating to my mother.

My aunt, however, had a garden and every year, she would can quarts and quarts (or was it pints...I have no idea...maybe it was both) of  green beans from her garden. She would always gift some to my mom so that we could have some of her fresh green beans in the wintertime. Mom would always put the beans in the pressure cooker on the stove and cook them until they were tender and falling apart. At some point, I decided that I could try some of those green beans that came out of that scary pot that whistled on the stove. Those green beans were the first vegetable I ever liked and I would ask for Aunt Nellie's Green Beans.  Aunt Nellie would also make sure to bring some of her green beans to Thanksgiving dinner. I would eat the green beans with my Thanksgiving ham. (Hey, I told you I was a picky eater. I wouldn't even eat the Thanksgiving turkey!)

When I moved up north after I got married, I discovered that not everyone cooks their green beans until they're falling apart. The first time my mother-in-law offered me green beans, I got a surprise. She just STEAMED her green beans for a few minutes in a basket on the stove. There was no bacon fat! There was no pork! They were done in minutes and they were crunchy, not soft and mushy. No, I didn't care for them, but I pretended to because that's the polite, southern thing to do, right?

Anyway, the other day, I was wandering through Aldi's produce section--which isn't really big enough to wander through, but that's beside the point--and I saw they had green beans for $.99/lb. It made me think about Aunt Nellie's Green Beans and I decided to try to make them in the Instant Pot. I didn't get to hear my mom's pressure cooker jiggling and whistling, but they tasted very much like I remembered. 

There's so easy to make and you don't have to cook them for hours like you do if you want southern style green beans and don't have an Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Southern Style Green Beans

Prep Time: 10 - 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 - 2 pounds of fresh green beans
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 slices of bacon or bacon grease to season
• 1 cup of water or chicken broth.

Directions:

    1. Snap the ends off the beans and cut or snap them into 2-3 inch pieces.

    2. Dice up the bacon and onion.

    3. Brown bacon in pot until done. Add a small amount of broth or water to pan to deglaze.

    4. Add onion and beans to pot along with the rest of the broth or water.

    5. Set Instant Pot to manual and cook 20 minutes.

    6. You can do a manual release or let the pressure release on its own. It's up to you. 

    7. Open lid and serve.

Notes:

I searched a ton of recipes to find a time to cook the beans and got anywhere from 8 minutes to 25 minutes. 8 minutes was not long enough, so I went with 14. I opened my pot and my beans were not quite there, so I went another 6. I think anything over about 17 minutes will do it. The longer you cook them, the more tender they'll be.

 

Air Fryer Potato Wedges Recipe - As good as KFC

My kids love the potato wedges from KFC. Ok, maybe so do I. I don't like all the grease and the other unhealthy stuff that is probably in them, so I started making them at home in my air fryer.

These are super easy to make. They don't take long and your kids will be happy! 

Tried & True: Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Chicken & Noodles

I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I think it is wonderful for food porn. The food I see posted always looks amazing which is why I HATE it when I try a recipe that looks absolutely delicious on Pinterest and comes out like something that belongs on Food Networks "Worst Cooks" before they learn how to cook.

I'm a decent cook. I may not be a Martha Stewart or a Bobby Flay, but no one has ever complained about my food skills at my house. My Pinterest fails were making ME feel like a failure though. Then I talked to a few friends. They were having the same experiences. So it's NOT just me?! Thank goodness!

Because of that, I decided to start posting some tried and true recipes that really work for my family. Some are from Pinterest. Some aren't. The first one isn't although you can probably find a similar one on Pinterest. This is something my mom used to make for us as kids, but she did it on the stove top.

If you know me at all, you know I can be disorganized. I can't remember half the time to take something out of the freezer for dinner, so my electric pressure cooker has become one of my best friends! If I need some cooked chicken for a recipe, I just pop it in there and in 20-25 minutes, I have moist, delicious chicken. This recipe is for the pressure cooker, but you can make it easily on the stove in a big pot. It will just take a lot longer and you won't have dinner on the table in 45 minutes like with my recipe. :)

Yes, you CAN add some veggies to this if you want. I've added carrots, peas, etc and it's almost like a pot pie but with noodles and no crust. This is a really simple recipe that everyone loves. It's comfort food at it's best.

Pressure Cooker Chicken & Noodles

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

2 cans chicken broth

1 package egg noodles

4 tbs butter

Salt, pepper to taste

1. Place chicken in pressure cooker with one can of broth. Cook for 20 minutes. (Longer if frozen)

2. Remove chicken from pot. Add second can of broth and butter. Turn pressure cooker to "brown" or "saute" option. (If your pressure cooker doesn't have this option, you'll need to do this part on the stove in a separate pot.)

3. Add noodles. Let them cook in the pot while you shred the chicken.

4. Once the noodles are cooked, add the chicken back in. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve this with a loaf of fresh bread and everyone is happy.

5 Minute Pressure Cooker Instant Pot Tacos

 

Since I first posted this recipe for Fast & Easy Pressure Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs, I've become even more obsessed with my pressure cooker. Most days I'm all about getting a quick meal on the table, but I want food that tastes good or my family isn't going to eat it! My electric pressure cooker is helping me do that several times a week.

A few months ago, I got a deal on ground beef. After I brought it home, I wasn't sure what in the world I was going to do with all that ground beef. At first I thought about just using my FoodSaver and dividing it up into one-pound packages for the freezer. Then I had another thought. Why not brown up some of it and freeze it? Then when I took the meat out of the freezer, it would already be browned and it would save me some time. I didn't do this to all the ground beef I bought, but I browned up about 8 lbs of it and did that ever make my life easier!

Now it's become a regular thing for me and this is why. When 5pm rolls around and I realize I haven't given dinner a second thought(or even a first thought,) I can grab a package of pre-browned hamburger and have tacos in FIVE minutes. I'm not joking! By the time I get the lettuce and tomatoes chopped for our tacos, the meat is done.  (It does take a few minutes for the pressure cooker to get to pressure, but cooking time is 5 minutes. You can help your pressure cooker get to pressure faster by turning it on saute/brown while you gather your ingredients. Add your meat and broth and then switch it off saute/brown.)

How? In the pressure cooker!

This is my 5 Minute Pressure Cooker Tacos recipe.  (I'm not sure it's even a recipe. It's just an easy way to get dinner on the table fast!)

Ingredients:

• 1lb frozen, previously browned ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning(or make your own)
• 3/4 Cup Beef Broth(use water if you don't have broth)

Directions:

1. Add frozen browned ground beef to pot.
2. Add taco seasoning and broth
3. Set your electric pressure cooker to 5 minutes and go chop your tomatoes and other toppings
4. When it's finished you can let it naturally release or release manually(up to you.)
5. Set to keep warm

 Once you open your pressure cooker, be sure to give the meat a good stir. Since it went in frozen, it might be lumpy, but it easily separates. You may want to set your electric pressure cooker to saute/brown for a few minutes to cook down a bit, too. 

We decided to have taco salads the night I made this. It seriously is a fast meal. Add whatever you like to yours, lettuce, tomato, black olives, and of course CHEESE! Those Mission tortilla chips were on sale at Kroger last week and I'm a little obsessed with them.

 

5 Minute Pressure Cooker Tacos

 

Since I first posted this recipe for Fast & Easy Pressure Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs, I've become even more obsessed with my pressure cooker. Most days I'm all about getting a quick meal on the table, but I want food that tastes good or my family isn't going to eat it! My electric pressure cooker is helping me do that several times a week.

A few months ago, I got a deal on ground beef. After I brought it home, I wasn't sure what in the world I was going to do with all that ground beef. At first I thought about just using my FoodSaver and dividing it up into one-pound packages for the freezer. Then I had another thought. Why not brown up some of it and freeze it? Then when I took the meat out of the freezer, it would already be browned and it would save me some time. I didn't do this to all the ground beef I bought, but I browned up about 8 lbs of it and did that ever make my life easier!

Now it's become a regular thing for me and this is why. When 5pm rolls around and I realize I haven't given dinner a second thought(or even a first thought,) I can grab a package of pre-browned hamburger and have tacos in FIVE minutes. I'm not joking! By the time I get the lettuce and tomatoes chopped for our tacos, the meat is done.  (It does take a few minutes for the pressure cooker to get to pressure, but cooking time is 5 minutes. You can help your pressure cooker get to pressure faster by turning it on saute/brown while you gather your ingredients. Add your meat and broth and then switch it off saute/brown.)

How? In the pressure cooker!

This is my 5 Minute Pressure Cooker Tacos recipe.  (I'm not sure it's even a recipe. It's just an easy way to get dinner on the table fast!)

Ingredients:

• 1lb frozen, previously browned ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning(or make your own)
• 3/4 Cup Beef Broth(use water if you don't have broth)

Directions:

1. Add frozen browned ground beef to pot.
2. Add taco seasoning and broth
3. Set your electric pressure cooker to 5 minutes and go chop your tomatoes and other toppings
4. When it's finished you can let it naturally release or release manually(up to you.)
5. Set to keep warm

 Once you open your pressure cooker, be sure to give the meat a good stir. Since it went in frozen, it might be lumpy, but it easily separates. You may want to set your electric pressure cooker to saute/brown for a few minutes to cook down a bit, too. 

We decided to have taco salads the night I made this. It seriously is a fast meal. Add whatever you like to yours, lettuce, tomato, black olives, and of course CHEESE! Those Mission tortilla chips were on sale at Kroger last week and I'm a little obsessed with them.

Fast & Easy Pressure Cooker Spaghetti & Meatballs

 

I took on a part-time job. It's only temporary and it's a work from home job(yay!) but I've been working 30+ hours most weeks. That's meant getting dinner on the table a little difficult--especially since I work weird shifts. Sometimes it's 11:30 - 8:oo PM and sometimes the shifts are shorter, but I still work all afternoon. This has left me searching for quick and easy meals that I can throw together while I'm on my break or lunch--30 minutes.

When my husband is around, he's willing to go out to get us dinner, but actually cooking? No way. He does good to make toast. Boiling water would actually be a challenge for him.  Shhhh! Don't tell him I said that. Plus, take-out gets old fast for me!

I bought my electric pressure cooker for reasons just like this but I admit I haven't used it to its full potential. Over the weekend, I started doing some searching and decided to try to make spaghetti and meatballs in the pressure cooker. I wasn't sure how the spaghetti would come out and really worried this whole experiment would be a disaster, but I kept seeing excellent reviews and decided to try it out.  I have to tell you, I was impressed and I'm going to be trying other pasta dishes in my pressure cooker very soon! 

If you want to buy an Instant Pot, check out this selection at Amazon!

 

Cupcakes in a Jar #SundayFunday Perfect for Mailing

 

My daughter heads back to college in a few weeks and this summer hasn't been fun for her at all. It's been filled with doctor visits, trips to the hospital and tons of tests. We haven't had much fun. We like to bake though, so I thought it would be fun to try to make some Cupcakes in a Jar.

As a bonus, I wanted to see how they turned out so I could make them to send to her at college. They'll package up great in the jars packed in a flat rate Priority Mail box.

These were so easy to do. I used a Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix because I have a supply of cake mixes in my stockpile that I got super cheap(and some free) at Kroger a while back. We just made the cake according to the directions on the box.

First spray your jars with some non-stick cooking spray. These are 8oz (half-pint) jars.

We filled the jars about 1/3 of the way. To do this, I recommend using a cookie scoop or pour it in carefully. If you get mix on the side, try to clean it off before baking. (We did)

Place the jars on a large baking sheet. I made sure the jars weren't touching when I placed them in the oven.

Check the cupcakes about 5 minutes before they should be done according to the box. (Use the cupcake time listed.) If they're not done, keep an eye on them. Mine seemed to cook a little more quickly.

 

Once the cupcakes done, carefully remove them from the oven. The jars will slide around a bit. Just let them cool on the cookie sheet. Do NOT handle the hot glass. You don't want to get burned!

When they're cool, decorate them however you'd like! We just used Funfetti frosting and sprinkles. My daughter loves purple, so we did half purple and half chocolate.

Once you decorate them, just add the lids. I think they turned out cute! I'm sure they'd be even cuter if you're crafty and could put some cute ribbon and labels on them.

I'm dying to experiment with different fillings, flavors and topings now! You could also make little cheesecakes and other desserts in jars like these. How cute would they be for birthday parties, too? You wouldn't have to bother with cutting cake. Just hand everyone a spoon and a jar.

 

Some things I learned while making these:

1. Don't fill the jars up so much. Even 1/3 made for more cake than I was expecting. I wanted more space at the time for frosting and goodies.

2. Wide-mouthed jars may be easier to fill. If you have those around, I'd recommend them.

3. 1 box of cake mix made 12 of these little cakes. If you use less per jar, you'll probably be able to make more like 16 - 18.

 

If you like this, follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!

3 Ingredient Cobbler OR How to Use Up Those FREE Pillsbury Cake Mixes

I'm not going to lie. I'm sure I bought way too many Pillsbury Cake Mixes during the past two weeks of Kroger's MegaSale. I donated some, but I've been looking around for other ways to use them up.

Over the weekend, I thought I'd try out a 3 Ingredient Cobbler. You might think of it more as a dump cake. Either one is probably ok. All I care about is it's EASY.

All you need is a yellow cake mix, a stick of butter and your choice of fruit. I used 5 apples, sliced and cored. (You could also use a can of cherry pie filling or peaches, etc.)

Place the apples in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle liberally with sugar and cinnamon. Stir so the sugar and cinnamon are evenly distributed.

Spread the cake mix over the fruit.

Melt a stick of butter and pour evenly over the cake mix.

Bake at 350 until brown and bubbly.

Here's what you get:

And of course, it needs some ice cream..

Recipe: Chicken & Dumpling Casserole

 

In an effort to cook a wider variety of foods, I've decided to post some of the recipes we're trying out at my house. Many of them come from Pinterest. I've been busy pinning for a long time, but I don't seem to MAKE the recipes. This week, I was inspired by my friend Shelley, to at least try one new recipe a week.

This week, it's this Chicken & Dumpling Casserole. It's super easy and if you love chicken & dumplings, you'll like this. It's much easier because you just throw it all in the oven to cook.

It's also simple because the ingredients are probably things you have on hand already:

3 cups shredded chicken(I used a rotisserie chicken)

Cream of Chicken Soup

Chicken Broth

Milk

Self-Rising Flour(or Bisquick)

Butter

Nothing crazy there, right? Easy to make and it's also delicious as left overs. You can double the recipe to make more.

Find the full recipe HERE.