Pork Chop Casserole

Prep time: less than 5 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Serves: 8-10
Cost: approx. $7.50


2 cans of stewed or diced tomatoes ($1.00)
1 envelope onions soup mix ($.50)
1/4 cup brown sugar
8-10 pork chops ($5.00)
1 box instant rice ($1.00)

Sprinkle 3 cup-4 cups instant rice in 8x12 greased baking dish. Lay prok chops on rice. Mix together other ingredients and pour over pork chops. cover and bake 350 for 1 hour.

Freezer Jam

I tried my hand at canning a few years ago and have to say that it was a lot of work just keeping the little kids away from the boiling pots and hot jars. I was able to get some frozen berries from Meijer with coupons and thought I'd try this method of making jam. It literally took 5 minutes to do and cost about less than $5 to make six jars. One jar of blackberry this size would price at about $3.50. This jam will taste great in Kiflis.

6 cups smashed berries
1 1/2 cups sugar (more or less to taste)
1 package of freezer jam pectin

First, mix together the sugar and pectin. Add smashed berries and stir for 3 minutes. Ladle into jars and seal. Let sit for 5 minutes before putting into the freezer.

Irish Pork Chops

The original recipe calls for 2 lbs diced apples. I use applesauce instead to save on money and time.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Serves :8
Cost: approx.

8 pork chops ($4.00)
1 small jar apple sauce ($1.00)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 onion diced
6 carrots chopped ($.50)

Place pork chops in single layer in greased baking dish. Top with apple sauce and brown sugar. Cover and bake at 300 for 1 hour covered. Then add onions and carrots and bake for one hour more.

**This is an easy meal to make when pork loin is on sale. (I was able to buy 10 lbs for $10 on manager's special.) Eat it hot and freeze the rest. Just thaw in the fridge and reheat.**

Dry Rub

Being that it's summer, there's not a lot of baking and cooking going on while it's so hot. For us it is meat on the grill and fresh vegetables and fruit. My friend, Beth, introduced me to this recipe that tastes delicious on any kind of grill meat with ingredients that are right in your cupboard. She always made it from memory and often without measuring. I've done my best to simulate her creation and found this to be pretty close. It's a little spicy and a little sweet. I like to slice the left over meat thinly and add to a salad for the next meal.

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Sausage/Green Beans/Potatoes

This is a comfort food to me. Getting off the bus from school I could smell it cooking from down the drive way. This is a super easy dish and very satisfying as well. We always eat ours with corn bread and applesauce. The combination just works somehow.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: at least 2 hours
Serves: 8-10
Cost: approx. $7.00


1 package of smoked sausage sliced ($2.00- we like turkey sausage)
2 large cans of green beans ($4.00)
6 potatoes washed and sliced ($1.00)

Brown the smoked sausage in a skillet. In a crock pot layer the potatoes, then the sausage and top with the green beans. Cover and cook on high for at least 2 hours or until the potatoes are soft. I prefer to cook all day on low in order to combine all of the flavors.

**Oftentimes in the summer smoked sausage is on sale at Meijer Buy 1 get 2 free. I stock up then and just freeze the meat until ready to use, thus making this meal even less expensive.**

Birthday Cakes

My friend, Amy, once got suckered into buying a Hello Kitty Cake for her niece's birthday to the tune of... well let's just say that for some of us it is our weekly grocery budget. I decided long ago that I would be the birthday cake maker at our house and the sky is the limit.

Originally, I took a Wilton Cake decorating course just to get down the basics. Being that I get to create seven unique cakes a year, I've found myself falling away from some of the more traditional cake making techniques. It's fun to look at magazines for ideas (I especially like Family Fun) or to just ask one of the kids for an idea or theme of what they would like and doing my best from there. Sometimes the cakes are shaped and other times they are decorated with toys. They are not Martha Stewart perfect by any means, but made with lots of love.

This year, since we have a beach time birthday, Elizabeth had her very own sand castle cake complete with shells and a school of fish.

We've had these cakes: horses, princess, Angelina Ballerina, Jay Jay The Jet Plane, Thomas the Tank Engine, Bitty Baby, Elmo, PBS kids, Nemo..... someday I'll have to dig up the pictures.

And then there is Miriam who just wants a cherry pie with a "M" on top every year. Cake isn't for everyone:)

What fun and creative cakes have you made? I'm always looking for inspiration.

Pudding Cake

I can take no credit for this recipe. I watched my friend, Cindy, whip it up for the kids when I was over for a visit. This is the easiest and moistest cake I've ever made. It's a great fix when the cupboards are bare and you want a treat:)

Prep time: less than 5 minutes
Cook time: 25-30 minutes
Serves: up to 16
Cost: approx. $2.00

1 Box of Cake mix ($1.00)
1 large box of instant pudding ($1.00)
2 cups milk

Mix the pudding and milk. Add cake mix and beat well with electric mixer. Bake at 350 in greased 9x13 pan for 25-30 minutes. Can be baked until knife comes out clean or it is just as good to keep the middle a little gooey.

Mix up your cake and pudding combos or add some chocolate chips. Sometimes I add whipped cream and some chocolate sauce to make it extra special.

We've tried:

Chocolate/chocolate
White/butterscotch
Strawberry/banana
Yellow/vanilla

Still yet to try:
carrot/cheese cake

What combos for cake and pudding can you think of?