I am taking the next few days off to spend with family and friends. 

 I hope you have a Happy Fourth Of July!!!!

Our camera has not been working well.  We have been able to use it, but it is starting to have some problems.  It is several years old and we have used it a lot, especially since I started this site.

So, guess what my husband gave me for an anniversary present?

Yep, a really nice camera.  He got me a Canon Rebel.  I can’t believe it.  I love it. It takes great pictures.

Thank you Matthew!!! I love my new camera!

I decided to practice using my new camera ,so I took a few pictures the other day after our fields had been hayed.

The river that borders our property.

I love the way the fields look with the large hay bales in them.

One of my favorite trees on our property.

Fifteen years ago today I married my best friend.

Happy Anniversary Matthew! It has been a great fifteen years!

 
My kids love spaghetti and meatballs. My daughter requested them for her birthday dinner, that is how much they enjoy them.

I used to think meatballs were a lot of trouble to make. But then I discovered baking them in the oven. It works great and is a lot less work and mess.

The other thing I discovered was using two different kinds of meat in my meatballs. I love to mix ground beef and ground pork. It makes them so much better.

I like to make a double batch of meatballs, cook them, and then freeze them.  This way I have them ready when I need them.  We like them in sauce over pasta, but we also make meatball subs out of them.

Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese (this is one of the recipe that I use the stuff in the green can)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 cups stale bread, crumbled (basically home made bread crumb)
1 cup water

Combine beef and pork in a large bowl. Add garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.
Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture. Slowly add the water 1/2 cup at a time. The mixture should be very moist but still hold it’s shape if rolled into meatballs. Shape into meatballs.

Place on a baking sheet. I line the sheet with foil to make the clean up easier.

Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes or until done. (time will vary depending on how large you make them)

Melissa, one of my readers, recently emailed me saying that one of my recipes inspired her to come up with her own version.  I love it when readers do this.  Your family may have different tastes than mine or you may have a different budget. So, I always enjoy hearing how you adapted my recipes to fit your family.

I had Melissa do a guest post on what she came up with. I hope you enjoy.

Homemade Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza

We love pizza at our house. For years we had it delivered, but when we started trying to cut corners, we decided to try to make our own. It is SO much better! It is cheaper and tastier and much less salty. Best of all, my son gets to help me make it, which he loves.

We started out making just a basic pizza with sliced mozzarella cheese and ham and green peppers. Then, I saw Lynn’s recipe for a Cheeseburger Calzone, and it inspired me to create our Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza.

The bacon cheeseburger pizza was a huge hit in our house! We will definitely be making it again. I hope you like this as much as we did.

Homemade Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza

1 pizza dough (I follow Sara Moulton’s Food Processor pizza dough recipe found here.)
2/3 c. ground beef
¼ c. ketchup
1 tbsp. mustard
1 garlic clove
1-2 green onions
1/3 c. shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices bacon
¼ c. shredded mozzarella cheese
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomato

–Prepare dough.
–While the dough is rising, brown 2/3 lb. of beef in a skillet. When it is done, drain and rinse the beef. (We do this to lower the fat content.) Let the beef cool.
–Meanwhile, cook the bacon.
–When the dough is ready, spread it out on a greased pizza pan and pierce it with a fork.
–Cook the dough at 450 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until the bottom turns light golden brown.
–Mix the cooled beef with the ketchup, mustard, diced garlic, diced green onion and shredded cheddar cheese in a bowl. Stir well.
–When the crust is nicely browned on the bottom, remove from oven and spread the beef mixture over it.
–Bake at 350 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese.
–Remove from oven and sprinkle on crumbled, cooked bacon and shredded mozzarella cheese.
–Cook 2 to 3 more minutes until the mozzarella cheese melts.
–Garnish cooked pizza with shredded lettuce and tomatoes.
–Enjoy!
Melissa is a mom of two who enjoys cooking and saving money. Her blog, Mom’s Plans,  focuses on the financial adjustments she and her family are making so that she can be a stay-at-home mom within the next year.

My family is finally getting used to whole wheat pasta. It only took about a year, until the complaining stopped. So either they got used to it or they decided that I was not going to stop serving it.

What I have found though is that they like it mixed. I mix it about half whole wheat and half regular pasta. I just mix it together and cook it.

I recently served whole wheat pasta with my easy pasta sauce and it was really good. No one complained at all. In fact it was the end of the meal before anyone even asked if it was whole wheat pasta

So, do you use whole wheat pasta? Does your family like it?

I know a lot of people buy store bought spaghetti or red sauce, like Ragu and Prego. In the past I have purchased it some, but I have never been a big fan of it. Now that I am trying to stay away from packaged and processed things, I never buy it. I have a jar that has been in my pantry for over a year. I just don’t use it. Why use it when homemade sauce is so much better and really very easy.

I also think homemade sauce can be more frugal. I know the jars of sauce at the store can be really inexpensive, especially when on sale. But I really don’t think homemade costs anymore, especially when I get tomatoes on sale. Plus, I know what goes into it.

I found this recipe several years ago in one of Emerils Kids Cookbook. I love his kids cookbooks. Not so much for cooking with my kids, but for kid friendly meals. And this is one of my favorites from his kids books.

This recipe makes a lot. It makes about three meals worth for us. Four meals depending how I use it. But I like to make it up a batch and freeze most of it. That way I have it ready when I need it. But you may want to half the recipe.

I like to add meat to this for a great spaghetti sauce. I also serve it with my meatballs over pasta. I have used this in a ravioli casserole and also for meatball subs. I use this for all kinds of Italian type recipes.

Now, do you buy your sauce or make it? I am starting to wonder if I am the only one that still makes it.

Basic Red Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups water
1 teaspoon sugar

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat.

Add the onions, garlic, salt, basil, oregano, and pepper, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, and sugar to the pot with the onion and stir well.

Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally with a long-handled wooden spoon.

Remove the pot from the heat and use the sauce as needed. You can store this sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months.

For more frugal ideas see Grocery Cart Challenge and Frugal Fridays.

Today’s guest post is by Toni , also known as The Happy Housewife. Toni is a  military wife and homeschooling mom of seven. If you have never visited her site you should.  She talks about a wide range of subjects including tips about how she saves money and tries to eat healthy on a limited budget.  Thanks Toni for the great recipe idea.

My kids love corn dogs, but I don’t like the hefty price and preservative
laden kind you can find at the store. Inspired by Laura’s post I decided to attempt mini corn dog muffins.

Corn Dog Mini Muffins

Muffin mixture

* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup yellow cornmeal
* 2/3 cup white sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 egg
* 1 cup milk
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix together dry ingredients. Then add the liquid ingredients. Stir until
mixed thoroughly.
Scoop into a greased mini muffin pan, filling the cups about 2/3’s of the
way full.
Take hotdogs and cut into 1 inch pieces. Stick into the muffin mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until the cornbread is a nice
golden color.

They make the perfect dipping size for kids as well as a great appetizer.

Last week I tried something new.  I have been picking a lot of green beans from our garden.  I was not sure what to do with all of them.  After hearing several people talk about pickled or dilly beans, I decided to give them a try.  I hope we like them because I now have 10 pints.