Pennywise Cook

Hot Boiled Peanuts: It’s a Southern Thang

May 16, 2013 By amy Leave a Comment

Sometimes you feel like a nut…

And sometimes you feel like a boiled nut.

My husband and I are doing the Daniel Fast right now. We’re on day 11 of 21 right now. If you’re not familiar with the Daniel Fast, I’ll sum it up by telling you some of the guidelines.

No meat, dairy, sugar or artificial sweeteners, leavened bread, or caffeine
You can have all vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, and whole grains
No fried foods
Only water to drink
It’s based on the book of Daniel in the Bible and 2 of his fasting experiences
It’s not only physical, but meant to be a spiritual experience

The first time that Daniel did this fast was for 10 days. The second time was for 21 days. We’ve done the 10-day before without issue so we’ve challenged ourselves to try the 21-day. It’s gone really well so far. Considering that my husband is a cheeseburger and french fry kinda guy, it’s VERY surprising how he gets along with this type of fast. Praise God!

And me? What do I do about my sweets you say? Well let’s just say that bananas and raisins are my best friend these days. Remember my Peanut Butter Choco-Banana Ice Cream? I can actually eat that on this fast! But I have to eat it out of a bowl instead of a cone. Darn…

But I digress…

We’ve also been eating a lot of nuts lately. Almonds and peanuts mostly. You can get these HUGE, I mean HUGE bags of salted and roasted peanuts (in-shell) at Sam’s Club for around $5. It’s amazing how much peanuts will fill you up while providing you with energy.

If you’re from the south or have visited the south before, you’ve probably heard of folks offering Boiled Peanuts. There are signs just about everywhere once you get into Alabamer (yes, Alabamer) and Misippi (yes, Misippi). No need to pronounce words correctly around here, we’re too busy enjoying our boiled peanuts. I wish I could insert an audio clip of how I say boiled for y’all. Words like coil, boil, toilet all come out of my mouth a little on the Paula Deen side. Oh who am I kidding? It sounds a LOT like Paula Deen says boil.

So with all the nuts we’ve been eating, I wanted a little change in the nut department. So I though why not boil them?

Since the Hamptom Farms peanuts that I bought were already salted, I knew I didn’t need to salt them again. And I didn’t want them swimming in a bunch of oil (once again, just imagine a little Paula Deen accent). So I used water!

1 big pot full of water, a huge amount of salted and roasted peanuts, and 5 hours later you have hot boiled peanuts good enough to make you slap yo mama! It honestly didn’t get any easier than that.

And we didn’t even have to make a trip down to Alabamer!

Hot Boiled Peanuts: It’s a Southern Thang

Recipe type: Snack, Appetizer

Author: Pennywise Cook

There is nothing to making hot boiled peanuts just like they make on those road-side stands in the south!

Ingredients

Any amount of in-shell roasted and salted peanuts
Water- to cover the entire amount of peanuts

Instructions

Place the amount of desired peanuts into a large pot.
Cover with water.
Bring to a boil, then lower the temp to a simmer.
Cover and let simmer for 4-5 hours or until the shells begin to give a little and the peanuts inside are soft.

Notes

You can of course get peanuts that aren’t salted already, just be sure to salt your water when boiling them.
Your water will evaporate throughout the boiling process, be sure to continue adding more hot water in order to keep the peanuts covered.

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Homemade Strawberry Belgian Waffles

May 3, 2013 By amy Leave a Comment

It is MAY! Where in the wide world of sports did March and April get off to? I remember thinking wow, it’s already March and then BOOM it’s May. I’m mostly caught off-guard because both of my girl’s birthdays are in May which means that mommy has a lot of work to do. My oldest’s birthday is next week and I decided not to procrastinate this year by asking her cake preference a week before instead of, oh, the night before.

These are Mom Of The Year qualities, you know.

She chose My Little Pony with a Rainbow Dash emphasis. For those of you who don’t know about these girly things, just know that I have a lot on my plate next week.

There’s probably a chance that you’d like to know about those big, fluffy waffles up there. I could tell you many stories about when my mom used to make these for me. Without exaggerating, I probably ate 4 of these in one sitting when I was younger.

I could do the same now, but I try to practice self-control.

My mom always made them from a box. Do not get me wrong, that is normally the very method that I would use. However, since I do have a tendency to eat a redonkulous amount of them, I wanted to make sure and healthify them up just a bit.

These Homemade Strawberry Belgian Waffles contain no butter, oil, or eggs. You could use soy milk or almond milk in place of the milk and you’d have them dairy free! They aren’t artificially made to taste like strawberries like some boxed mixes might work. They are literally made with fresh strawberries which give them a more natural flavor.

I almost called these Strawberry-Banana Belgian Waffles because I used bananas instead of the oil/butter/egg, but the banana taste didn’t come through as much as I was expecting. Even the strawberry taste didn’t become as potent as I would have liked. But if you’re brave and don’t mind a little sugar, you can add a tsp of sugar to the strawberries before adding them to the batter and I’m sure that it will bring out the strawberry flavor a little more.

I think my favorite part about Belgian waffles as opposed to regular waffles is the fact that they are super fluffy.

I love fluffy food.

Does that sound weird? I’m sure it does, but I don’t care. I like whipped cream, cotton candy, mousse of all kinds, lighter-than-air angel food cakes. You name it, if it’s an ounce away from losing it’s gravity and joining the angels, then I probably enjoy eating it. The key to eating them, at least in my opinion, is to top them with fresh (or sliced and sweetened) strawberries and then give them a few squirts of Reddi Whip. I’m not sure that I could be in the presence of a Belgian waffle that didn’t contain whipped cream. That’s just the way that I was taught to eat them. I wonder what the Belgians think of me…

My waffle iron makes 2 of these at a time. With the amount of batter that I mixed up, I got 4 total. To help you know how many of these you’ll get out of 1 batch. I’d recommend doubling the recipe if you have a hungry bunch.

Believe me, they won’t eat just one.

Recipe adapted from Vegan Heartland.

Homemade Strawberry Belgian Waffles

Recipe type: Breakfast

Author: <span class=”mceItemHidden”><span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>Pennywise</span> Cook- Adapted from Vegan Heartland</span>

Serves: 4

Strawberries add a summery flavor to sweet and tasty belgian waffles! You’d never know these were healthy. There are only about 150 calories per waffle!

Ingredients

1 c flour (I used about 1/4 c whole wheat)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp maple syrup (I used sugar free)
1/4 c mashed banana (about 1 banana)
3/4 c skim milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c fresh strawberries, finely chopped

Instructions

In a small bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder until combined. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine maple syrup, banana, milk, and vanilla. Mix on low until fluffy.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.
Then gently fold in the strawberries.
Cook according to your waffle iron’s directions.
Optional) Top with fresh strawberries and Reddi Whip!

Notes

- If you wanted to bump up the nutrition, you could also add some flax to these. I used about a 1/4 c whole wheat flour in mine.

- You can use pretty much any type of milk in place of the dairy milk if you’d like. Even coconut milk. It’s just a matter of your preference!

- These don’t have a strong strawberry taste (what’s in a name anyways?), so if you want to bump that up, add about a tsp of sugar to the strawberries. OR you could add the strawberries in the at the beginning and let them mix in well with the wet ingredients. The flavor would disperse a little more there. (I will be trying this myself)

- Or if you have any other suggestions for these, I’d love to hear! They are a work in progress.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

Facts (per waffle not including toppings): 147 calories, 40 carbs, 0 grams fat, 5 grams protein, 417 gram sodium, 3 grams sugar.

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Filed Under: Breakfast, Desserts, Healthy, Kid-Friendly Tagged With: Belgian, Belgian Waffles, Breakfast, Breakfast Waffles, Homemade Belgian Waffles, Homemade Waffles, Waffles

5 Reasons Bad Things Happen to Good People

April 19, 2013 By amy Leave a Comment

photo credit: Squire of Cydonia

With all of the recent tragedies including the Sandy Hook Elementary Shootings and the Boston Marathon Bombings, I couldn’t help but want to dig into scripture. The Bible has a way of comforting, even when the words aren’t always what you expected.

In the past few months, I’ve also been given my fair share of personal trials and I can’t help but wonder why do bad things happen to good people? This is the result of my journey through scripture and why God says we are called to go through the hard times. I pray that this will not come off as inconsiderate, but as encouragement to get you through hard times.

1) To Get Us to Pray

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

- Romans 12:12

There’s nothing that brings us closer to God than prayer. After all, this is our time to make our concerns known to Him and to give thanks for our blessings. While trials can sometimes blur our vision of the good, behind the scenes God is delighted when we lean on Him.

We have a tendency to pray more intensely when we are in trouble, crying out to the Lord for help. Sometimes even in desperation. He wants us to be desperate for Him. It’s our chance to be reminded of hope.

When we’ve neglected to pray during times of joy and happiness, sometimes it takes a bad situation to bring us to our knees and cry out to the Lord.

2) To Remind Us of His Suffering

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

- 1 John 4: 12-13

Jesus Christ is not just our Savior, he was a physical man. Just like we don’t deserve some of the bad things that come our way, Jesus was undeserving of His suffering. The verse above actually encourages us to be glad! (I’m sure you’re thinking yeah right) Our trials make us partners with Christ. Have you ever considered that?

Your bad “stuff” gives you only a small glimpse of what He went through for us. This puts your suffering in comparison with His. Anybody second guessing anxiety about a bad hair day right now? Sometimes when I am in the middle of a hard time, I’m drawn to remember the cross. Everything else is but a shadow beneath it.

3) To Fulfill God’s Purpose

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

- Romans 8:28

How many times have you been going through a hard time and someone say God has a plan. And you think, well why in the world is losing my job part of God’s plan? Or did God really plan for my dog to die this young? Or may it’s something bigger or something very tragic. How can we possibly wrap our heads around something so horrible being something that God has planned for our lives?

The verse above says that And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God… Everything excludes nothing. It is ALL a part of his master plan for each of our lives and according to His purpose, though it may be hard to see at the time. It could be days, months, even years before we can look back and see why we were put through that trial in our life. In all things, He has control.

4) To Give Us Endurance

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

- James 1:2-4

I found that the word endurance means bearing hardship; staying power. We’ve addressed that when we have hard times that we are called to prayer, to be reminded of His suffering, and to carry out God’s will. Each of these things work together to get us through our own sufferings. What happens when we come through difficulty? We make it to the other side! Praise God!

I’m sure that you’ve heard the saying what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This might just be exactly what was meant by the verse above. But did you realize that adversity could actually make us well-developed? With each challenge, God says to consider it a gift. An obstacle overcome gives us another badge on our spiritual Brownies vest. (Do they wear vests?) Our endurance through one difficulty prepares us for another. We build knowledge and maturity that strengthens our faith.

The thesaurus has the words patience, perseverance, and courage listed as synonyms for endurance. I’m not sure that you can have any one of these without each other. We should be comforted to know that what we are going through will have a reward in the end and make us a better person.

5) For His Glory

Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.

- Psalm 50:15

Perhaps one of the most important reasons that we are called to go through trials and tribulations in this life is for God’s glory. After all, this was the precise reason that we were created. And what an honor it is to have such a purpose.

Bag things happen. It’s a part of life and the evil that exists in this world. Though God did not create evil (man and free-will did), He can rescue us from it. And yet the only thing that we must give in return is praise and glory to our gracious Savior. This alone thrills Him. Isn’t that amazing?

We aren’t called just to glorify Him in the bad, we are to glorify Him at all times. Through sickness and health, for richer and poorer, until we go to be with our precious Father.

Once we realize that our purpose in life is to glorify Him, it doesn’t matter if we’re having a joyful, encouraging day or a down and dreary day. We should not neglect to bring Him honor with our praise, especially through our trials and tribulations.

_________________________________________________

If you’re reading this today and are going through something challenging in your life. I’d love to pray for you. You can leave a comment here with your prayer request or feel free to email me. You don’t even have to tell me what for if you’re not comfortable.

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Filed Under: My Life Journey, Random Blurbs

2-Ingredient Homemade Magic Shell

April 16, 2013 By amy 2 Comments

Ever since I can remember, I have been in love with the dipped cones from Sonic. I remember as a kid, we’d be coming home from church or school and I’d close my eyes and imagine that my parents’ blinker would come on once we got to Sonic. Oh the joy that would come when I’d hear that click click click. And if we did stop, sometimes that joy would be crushed by my dad eating the tip off my dipped cone. I still have a complex about that to this day…

I also adore that Magic Shell liquid that you pour over your ice cream. You know the stuff. It starts as a liquid, but the minute that it hits your ice cream it starts to harden and forms a shell. It’s basically the same thing as the dipped cones from Sonic. No wonder I love the stuff.

It was only recently that I found out how extremely SIMPLE it is to make magic shell. You can pay around $3 bucks for a bottle of it at the store. After you read this recipe, you may never purchase it ever again. I know I won’t.

There’s something about the fun of starting off with a liquid and watching it turn to a solid. Brings me back to high school when we would do science lab. I was usually pretty bored until we did the hands-on experiments.

You see the TWO ingredients that are used to make this lovely, tasty, and sweet ice cream topping combine together to make your own little science experiment each time that you eat a bowl of ice cream. Coconut oil is the ingredient that essentially causes the hardening with contact to the cold. And then of course, you have your chocolate chips that mix with the coconut oil to create the “shell”.

Therefore, you end up with a liquid that becomes a chocolatey, yummy, shell on top of your creamy ice cream. And to think that this recipe only contains two ingredients that takes only seconds to make. You’ll never go back to store-bought, I promise…

You can use your favorite flavor of chips to make this. Use butterscotch chips, white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk, or semi-sweet. I store mine in an old chocolate syrup bottle. With the coconut oil as an ingredient, it tends to harden in the bottle after a while at room temp. Simply pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and it’ll be back to liquid and ready to create a chocolate shell over your ice cream.

Recipe courtesy of I Wash, You Dry.

2-Ingredient Homemade Magic Shell

5.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: I Wash, You Dry

With just 2 ingredients, you can create your own magic shell without a trip to the store!

Ingredients

1/2 c. Coconut Oil
12 oz. Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (or your choice)

Instructions

In a large microwavable bowl, combine the coconut oil and chocolate chips.
Microwave at intervals of 30 seconds at 50% power, stirring between intervals.
Pour over ice cream and allow to dry and harden.
Store in an airtight container at ROOM TEMPERATURE.

Notes

If your magic shell hardens in the bottle, microwave it for about 30 seconds to get it back to a liquid again.

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Filed Under: Desserts, Kitchen Tips and Tricks Tagged With: Chocolate Ice Cream Topping, Chocolate Shell, Ice Cream, Ice Cream Topping, Magic Shell

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

April 12, 2013 By amy 1 Comment

Well hello there! Long time no….er….blog?

As I was preparing the pictures for this post, even my husband made the comment about my lack of my snapping of photos of our dinners. Yes, I am usually known as the papparazi of food around here, but for the past couple of months there have been some awesome things happening around here and needless to say, I’ve been just a bit preoccupied.

But have no fear! I have a recipe today. One that even the least of cooks can throw together in minutes and makes for a family pleasing meal. Crockpot Chicken Tacos only take 3 ingredients and one of them is water. Your HUSBAND could make these.

He might get a big head afterwards. Just tell him that he did fabulous on dinner and that you adore his culinary skills. You didn’t realize that Crockpot Chicken Tacos could help you stroke your husband’s ego did you?

The most important ingredient in this one is, well, chicken! You need about a pound to a pound and 1/2. I used fresh because I got some on clearance, but frozen will also work. You’ll just need to adjust your crockpot setting depending on how fast you’d like it to cook.

Use tenderloins, breasts, thighs, whatever you’d like. It’s going to get tender and you’ll shred it anyways.

Brace yourself, this is where it gets a little tough. You must open a packet of taco seasoning and sprinkle over the chicken. I know, I know. How could I ask you to do such a laborious thing? Well suck it up. You’ll live.

Here’s the last step. Add the amount of water listed on your taco seasoning packet to the crockpot.

Place the top on your crockpot and walk away. Go update your status. Take out the trash. Clip your toenails (you know who you are). Hey look, now you have time to make a dessert! Might I suggest Salted Caramel Brownies?

I usually let it cook for about 6 hours on low when I’m using fresh chicken. Towards the end of the cooking, I usually add just a tad bit more water and then shred up the chicken. It’s so tender that just stirring it usually shreds it without hassle.

Add your favorite toppings and enjoy.

We’ve started having what we’re calling Taco Tuesday. Some form of taco will be made on Tuesdays. Whether casserole, soup, or plain tacos, that’s our theme. And beef is good, but sometimes chicken feels a bit healthier. Plus, it’s a nice change.

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

5.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Main, Crockpot

Author: Pennywise Cook

With only 3 ingredients (one of which is water) and a crockpot, you can have chicken tacos for dinner tonight!

Ingredients

1- 1.5 pounds fresh or frozen chicken breasts, tenders, or thighs (your choice)
1 package taco seasoning
Water listed on taco seasoning packet + a bit more
Toppings of your choice

Instructions

Place fresh or frozen chicken into crockpot.
Sprinkle with taco seasoning.
Add the amount of water listed on the seasoning packet.
Cook on low for about 6 hours (fresh chicken) or medium/high for 6 hours (frozen).
Add a little water, about 1/4 cup towards the end. Let absorb then stir and shred.
Serve with tortillas or shells and add your favorite toppings!

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Filed Under: Chicken Recipes, Crockpot, Healthy, Kid-Friendly, Main Dishes Tagged With: Chicken, Chicken Tacos, Crockpot, Crockpot Chicken, Easy Tacos, Slow Cooker, Slow Cooker Chicken, Tacos

The Supernatural Bell Boy

April 9, 2013 By amy 1 Comment

photo credit: chattygd

So they asked the LORD, “Where is he?” And the LORD replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.” – 1 Samuel 10:22 (NLT)

Have you ever looked around and compared yourself to others? For instance, maybe you’re sitting and enjoying a cone at the local ice cream shop and notice a family come through with 5 extremely loud and obnoxious kids. You think wow, I’m really glad that I don’t have 5 kids. What a nightmare! Or maybe you see a couple arguing outside and you think to yourself, I’m so glad that we don’t argue like that. It’s so easy for us to use others as a means to justify who we are, isn’t it? For the past 3 months, I’ve been on a journey. An incredible, spiritual, freeing journey.

Have you ever packed for a vacation saying that you’re really going to try and pack light this time? I think I say this every single time.

And yet each time, I find that I have at least 2 suitcases full of junk that I will never actually wear. I just think that I need those extra changes of clothes for comfort. Comfort in knowing that if I don’t like this outfit, I can wear that one. Comfort in knowing that if I eat too much that day, I can wear these elastic pants instead of those tight, hip-hugging jeans. At the end of the vacation, you end up with half a suitcase full of clothes that you never wore. And yet, you have lugged around this suitcase for days when had you just packed it lightly in the first place, you could have saved yourself an arm workout.

In the same way that I tend to overpack for vacations, I have carried “baggage” for years in my life. If this baggage were physical suitcases, there would probably be 10 of them stuffed to the brim.

You know, where I have to sit on top of them to actually get them to close.

I’ve never needed a bell boy to help me with my baggage. I have a tendency to want to carry them all by myself. After all, if someone helps me, they might see all of my ridiculous baggage and try to remove some of them from me. Wouldn’t that be scary. Not only that, but I hate tipping. But you see, after carrying around this “stuff” for years, I realized that there’s always been a bell boy standing there just waiting to lighten my load. He doesn’t even require a tip. His name is Jesus Christ. Seems so simple doesn’t it? Just drop your suitcases and this supernatural bell boy will carry them for you. It really is that simple.

I’m praying for the right time to write and share this baggage of mine. It has become my testimony and my faith has grown in leaps and bounds.

This supernatural bell boy can take your baggage too. And keep your tip. He doesn’t need it. He just needs you to drop your worries, cares, struggles, burdens and give them to Him.

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Filed Under: My Life Journey, Random Blurbs

Things That Say Cluck: Dinner Made Easy

March 26, 2013 By amy Leave a Comment

I can’t help my love for chicken. I love it almost any way that you can cook it up. Though if it’s difficult, you most likely won’t catch me trying. I’m all about the simplicity of meals as most of you already know by now. I’m also fond of eating healthy and this is another reason why chicken is my meat of choice on most occasions. With the exception of frying it, you can really eat very healthy when you pick chicken over other meats. If you’re like me in the simple and healthy boat, then listen up!

Check out those stats! Here’s an interesting fact: the stats based on the survey above state that 66% of women and 61% of men admitted to cooking most often with chicken! Kinda staggering consider how men like their steaks and pork chops don’t you think?

One of my favorite shortcuts when it comes to simplicity (and healthy too!) are the Tyson® Grilled & Ready® products. I actually just made dinner with them last night. I cut the grilled strips into bite-size pieces, tossed them with some brown rice and stir-fry veggies along with some seasonings and voila! Super fast and easy chicken fried rice.

Tyson® Grilled & Ready® chicken and beef products are fully cooked, available in the frozen and refrigerated sections. Tyson® Grilled & Ready® frozen chicken and beef products are conveniently packaged in resealable bags to create delicious and smart meals in minutes

Or check out this yummy Chicken Avocado and Pear Wrap Recipe below.

Chicken Avocado and Pear Wraps

Recipe courtesy of Tyson Foods, Inc.

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 0 min

Total Time: 10 min

Ingredients:

6 ounces Tyson^® Grilled & Ready^® Fully Cooked Refrigerated Grilled Chicken Breast Strips

2 large whole wheat tortillas
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and julienned
1 small pear, julienned
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Cooking Instructions:

Prepare Grilled & Ready^® Chicken Breast Strips according to package directions.

Spread each tortilla with cream cheese to within 1/2 inch of edges. Sprinkle evenly with chopped shallot.
Arrange chicken in a line across center of tortilla, top with avocado and pear slices. Sprinkle walnuts over top.
Roll up and tuck in the ends. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Slice in half for presentation.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve with a side of fresh fruit.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories 370 Total Fat 14 g Protein 22 g Carbohydrate 41 g Cholesterol 35 mg Sodium 640 mg

Serves: 4

Countdown to a Better You Program

Just in time for summer, Tyson® Grilled & Ready® is rolling out a program designed to help you feel better about yourself! The Countdown to A Better You program not only helps you eat healthier with Tyson Grilled & Ready products, but it also gives you a chance to win some awesome stuff! The “Countdown to a Better You” program will motivate you to eat smarter by encouraging you to create good-for-you recipes with a variety chicken and beef products. To reward you for eating better – the more products you buy, the better the prize!

You’ll need to go HERE and click on the “Countdown to a Better You” tab to register for the program which runs through June 21st, 2013. Start purchasing the Grilled & Ready products. You only need 6 of them to be eligible for the first prize level! You can also enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win 1 of 10 gran prizes- a $500 visa gift card!

1. Buy Tyson® Grilled & Ready® products
2. Save UPC codes from eligible Tyson® Grilled & Ready® products
3. Redeem by mailing in UPC codes along with the submission form available at Facebook.com/GrilledandReady to receive gift codes you can use at online retailers.

You decide the value of the gift code.

6 UPC codes = $10 gift code
9 UPC codes = $25 gift code
12 UPC codes = $50 gift code

Plus, while supplies last, there are 10,000 product coupons available on their facebook for download!

I was compensated for this sponsored post made possible by Mom Spark Media. All thoughts are 100% my own.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Sponsored

No Time To Make Dessert? {Giveaway}

January 10, 2013 By amy 13 Comments

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Edwards. All opinions are 100% mine.

Strawberry Cream Pie 1 No Time To Make Dessert? {Giveaway}

The words you are about to hear may come as a shock to you….

I don't always have time to make a homemade dessert. Yes, it is true. Sometimes, just sometimes I don't even feel like making dessert. And perhaps the reasoning behind it is that I spend so much time on dinner that I justdon't care to spend anymore time in the kitchen. It's understandable right?

The only times that I really feel it's necessary to have dessert as a requirement is when it's a formal meal. You know, friends over or perhaps a holiday dinner. We had a dinner like this recently and of course, dessert was a forgotten project. Edwards Crème pies to the rescue! We stopped by the store and I let my daughter pick out her favorite. Strawberry Cream Pie was her dessert of choice and it was a good one. I'd probably recommend it for a get-together. I love when there's no baking involved.

For the holidays, Edwards is still offering a holiday e-card that you can send to family and friends! I know it's January, but the link still works so try it out! It's pretty cute. I sent my e-card in no time flat and received a coupon via email.

My favorite part of the e-card offer? You AND your recipient get a $1 off coupon. Throughout the month of November and December, Edwards Desserts donated $1 for each and every Edwards product purchased. How super cool is that?

Now, let's get to the good stuff! One of YOU are going to win a FREE Edwards Creme Pie! The winner of this giveaway will receive a coupon for a FREE Edwards Creme Pie AND Edward's Desserts will be making a $20 donation to Toys for Toys in the winner's name! This will be a quicker than normal giveaway ending on Tuesday, January 15th at midnight CT.

Edward's Desserts Giveaway

Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this post with your favorite Edward's pie or perhaps one you'd like to try.

Optional Additional Entries:

Follow Edward's Desserts on Facebook and leave a comment here that you did/are.
Follow Pennywise Cook on Facebook and leave a comment here that you did/are.
Follow Pennywise Cook on Twitter and leave a comment here that you did/are.
Subscribe to Pennywise Cook’s daily email. Leave a comment that you did/are here.
Follow Pennywise Cook on Pinterest. Leave a comment her that you did/are

This giveaway will end on Tuesday, January 15th at midnight CT. I will contact the winner on Wednesday, January 16th and they will have 24 hours to respond. If I have not heard from them, I will name a new winner. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery of your coupon. US residents only.

20121010 fba8typdmy23x7c56jbsx1addi No Time To Make Dessert? {Giveaway}

20121010 ggwa1y3n6kisci851bm5i1ne31 No Time To Make Dessert? {Giveaway}

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Filed Under: Desserts

Financial Fast: 8 Days In (Almost Fail)

January 9, 2013 By amy 2 Comments

photo credit: jessdamen

When I first began on this journey of fasting financially for just 21 days I thought, Oh sure piece of cake. Honestly, even a piece of cake isn’t expensive. You wouldn’t think that half the things that my husband and I spontaneously did were *gasp* expensive. I mean think about who we’re talking about here.

It’s me. Saving. With. Amy.

They really do still call me that, you know. I’ll never be known as anything different to some. I digress…

I’m cheap and I know it. While I lived with a dollar philosophy for years and almost fell out if I had to pay more than a buck for something, I have loosened up just a bit since I quit the savings blog. But this fast has really been a challenge for me. Coupons made it possible for me to feel comfortable in a grocery store.

Exhilerated almost.

When some folks feel overwhelmed and stressed in stores, I usually can remain calm. Until I see someone pushing a cartful knowing they don’t have even 1 coupon and they could probably spend half as much if they were using them. Once again, I digress…

This is about ME and my challenges with this fast. It’s harder than it sounds. 21 days of NO eating out. 21 days of NO shopping. Not even at $.99 day at GOODWILL y’all! Oh yes, this is a major challenge for muah. So far though, I haven’t gone through withdrawals but keep me in your prayers.

No, the biggest challenges have been mostly small things and 1 large thing. We were walking by a Redbox the other night and almost walked up to grab a flick. Not so fast! That’s frivolous and against our rules! I had a Groupon about to expire for frozen yogurt and we thought we might drop in. And then we remembered that we are yogurt fiends and that we’ll most likely purchase more as a family than our Groupon would cover, therefore causing us to pay for the difference. No yogurt. We were really knocking these challenges down one by one!

And then I spent my morning the other day putting together my grocery list complete with coupons and everything I needed to feed us for the week. Sparing you boring details, just know that every other week our grocery budget changes a little. This makes it difficult each week for making a list. I’m trying to get used to making my list smaller on the weeks that I get less money to spend. A long story short, I went OVER budget this week by $10. I’m not proud of it. I decided that I would spend $10 less next week to make up for it, but there was still a feeling of failure.

I come home and I’m talking to my husband that night. He said that HE too failed. Co-workers went out to lunch because he had forgotten his from home. He felt bad about it. I shared that I had spent about the same and we both decided to make up for it with next week’s grocery budget. And then of course there’s out water heater. It stopped heating the water and we took numerous cold showers. And of course it would need servicing while we were on a financial fast wouldn’t it? I think this is one of those that falls under a necessity, but it was still hard paying for it.

So while we’ve technically failed, we’re going to buckle down and fix it and remain on track.

What about you? Are you doing or have done something like this? I’d love your input!

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Filed Under: Blog Stuff, Random Blurbs

Homemade Tomato Soup

January 7, 2013 By amy Leave a Comment

The other day my daughter came home from school and declared that she liked tomato soup. Can you imagine that? She said that they serve it at the cafeteria and that she really liked it. Then she proceeded to ask me to make some at home.

Music to my ears!

My little one actually requested something other than pizza, macaroni, or a hot dog. I was speechless.

And like any good mother, I set out to find a recipe that I thought she’d enjoy and put it on our menu plan for this week. To make the hubs happy, I made grilled cheeses (tomato soup’s partner) to go with the soup.

I found this recipe at Spark People and it is surely a winner!

The entire recipe took me only about 15 minutes to make. It made a large pot so there will be leftovers. You can even freeze this for later on.

Dipping my grilled cheese into this soup was absolutely a match made in heaven. I cannot express the happiness that this soup brought me.

I didn’t even know I liked tomato soup!

If you’re looking for a quick meal on a weeknight or perhaps a last minute idea for the weekend, this should be on your list! What’s even better is that there’s only about 71 calories per serving.

Low cal? For reals? Yuuuup!

This ain’t nothing like that mess in a can y’all!

Homemade Tomato Soup

Recipe type: Spark People via NARKMEISTER

With just a few ingredients you can create super tasty homemade soup that pairs great with a yummy grilled cheese!

Ingredients

2 Medium Onions, Diced
4 Garlic Gloves, Chopped
4 Cans of Chopped Tomatoes
1 Pint of Stock (Your preference)
1 Tbs Dried Basil
Low Calorie Fat Spray/Olive Oil

Instructions

Brown onion and garlic in a few sprays of cooking spray over medium heat.
Add 4 cans tomatoes and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes.
Add broth or stock and bring to a boil. Simmer another 5 minutes.
Add basil and salt and pepper to taste.
Use an immersion blender to smooth to your liking.
Serve with a grilled cheese and enjoy!

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

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Filed Under: Healthy, Soup Tagged With: Homemade, Homemade Soup, Homemade Tomato Soup, Soup, Tomato, Tomato Soup

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