$13 Worth Of Goodies From My Local Produce Vendor
Before going grocery shopping today, we decided to jinx the veggies from the store and just buy some from the local produce vendor that’s situated in the circle plaza of where we live. I knew the veggies would be much cheaper but I didn’t expect to only spend $13 for all the stuff I bought. Actually, it’s $12.50 but my husband told the vendor to keep the change.
Crunchy Praline Carolina Pecans
When we had our Yard Sale this past Saturday, there was some kind of a community yard sale around the town proper as well. Some of the sellers had crafts and novelty snacks and goodies. My husband stopped at one “booth” when he went to get us some lunch and bought Crunchy Praline Carolina Pecans. $6 for a 4oz bag. Yup, that’s expensive but the pecans were soooo good.
Baked Potato Gnocchi W/ Spinach & Ricotta Cheese
In the spirit of Ash Wednesday yesterday and I guess Lent Season, I made meatless dinner last night coz I guess we can’t eat meat at this time of the year? Waaahhhhhhhhhhh *Envision me bawling my eyes out*. Good thing I’m not a practicing Catholic anymore. We’ve been going to a Baptist church for years. But I digress. As much as I love meat, especially pork, I don’t object to meatless dinners once in a while. As long as it’s good of course. And this baked potato gnocchi with spinach and ricotta cheese is definitely delicious beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined. Ahhhhh.
Corabella Pasta Giveaway
ATTENTION: This giveaway is closed. The winner has been announced.
Somehow, someone from Corabella Pasta found out about my post on the Tri-Color Four Cheese Tortellini last month. I love it when that happens. Anyhooo, they’ve contacted me via e-mail then sent me a case of other products to try. That case of various Corabella products arrived today and before I cook 2 packs of potato gnocchi for dinner tonight, I decided to share some of the pastas with 1 lucky winner. Find out how you could win all that stuff in the picture, after the fold…
Tobasco Original Red is Love
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TABASCO® Original Red. All opinions are 100% mine.
I am famous in my family for putting hot sauce on everything I eat, except for desserts of course. I’m most probably one of those people who’d have a small bottle of TABASCO® Original Red in her purse. I particularly love Tobasco on hash brown, eggs, fried chicken, fried breaded pork chops, and wings. Whenever we have the chance to dine out in restaurants like Cracker Barrel or Bob Evans, I always make sure to ask the waitress for a bottle of TABASCO® Original Red. My dining experience won’t be complete without it.
TABASCO Original Red also enhances dishes I cook at home. It gives the most welcome kick and flavor to marinades that I make for pork, chicken, and beef. A few drops of Tobasco are also good in hearty soups, stir-fry recipes, Quesadilla, burritos, fajitas and many more. I never say no to sprinkling Tobasco on homemade dips as well. Guacamole is so much better with Tobasco Original Red, that’s for sure.
Pop-Tarts Galore
Have you been paying attention to the whole breakfast aisle at the grocery store? If you’re limiting yourself with the cereal boxes then you might have missed the new (??) flavors from Pop-Tarts. To give credit where credit is due, it’s my husband who’ve discovered the new flavors that Pop-Tarts is offering. And they have lots…
Pork Sisig With Celery & Wasabi Mayonnaise
I’m always thinking of ways to incorporate the Wasabi Mayonnaise into a few dishes so I figured I’d add it to pork sisig with celery as well. See, I use wasabi mayonnaise as a dip for sushi and occasionally add it onto tuna sandwich filling. I’ve also used it in lamb kilawen which was inspired by the goat kilawen. The latter asks for goat brain but since that’s not readily available, you can substitute it with regular mayonnaise. Too add more kick, I suggest you use wasabi mayonnaise instead.
You can find Wasabi Mayonnaise at any Pinoy/Oriental stores. A 16 oz jar is about $6. Yeah, a little pricey but it’s good and it lasts for a long time. As long as you store it in the fridge after opening of course.
Back to the pork sisig…
INGREDIENTS:
3-4 pork chops or pork steaks
oil for pan-frying (or you can grill the chops)
1 sm onion, chopped coarsely
2 stalks of celery, chopped coarsely
1 tbsp of wasabi mayonnaise
sprinkle of red pepper flakes
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 + cup of soy sauce
Heat the oil in a pan. Pan-fry the chops on both sides. Slice the chops in cubes once fried.
In a large bowl, combine the sliced chops, lemon juice, soy sauce, onions, celery, red pepper flakes, and Wasabi mayonnaise. Drizzle a little bit of the oil from the pan into the bowl. Just a little bit. Let’s live dangerously. Stir everything together.
Serve with white rice. YUM!!! Add more red pepper flakes and/or wasabi mayonnaise if you like more spicy flavor. I had to tone it down myself coz my son can’t stand spicy food. Nevertheless, it was YUM!!
French’s Cheddar French Fried Onions
When I opened the can of French’s Cheddar French Friend Onions this past Thanksgiving, of course I popped a few in my mouth like I always do with French Friend Onions. That’s how I roll. But then I tasted the cheddar variant and I almost ate the whole can. They were sooooo good.
French’s Cheddar French Friend Onions tasted like cheesy thin potato chips with enough salty flavorings that you’d think these are actual cheesy potato chips.
Seriously, if I didn’t know any better I’d say they weren’t onions at all but crispy and cheesy potato chips. I had to pry my fingers away from the can coz they were meant to be for the green beans casserole.
I put a handful of the Cheddar French Friend Onions into the green beans mixture(green beans, cream of mushroom and a little bit of milk), baked for 30 minutes, then topped the casserole with more Cheddar French Friend Onions, and baked for another 5 more minutes or so.
I highly recommend French’s Cheddar French Friend Onions for your casserole this holiday or try it with the Baked French Fried Onions Pork Chops. OR, just buy a can for snacks, heh. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you. NOT AT ALL!
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This is NOT a sponsored post!
Chicken With Salsa Verde
I could tell you I roasted the jalapeno peppers, and tomatoes, then cussed the living daylights when I accidentally rubbed my eyes while peeling the roasted jalapenos, then pureed them into coarse perfection with fresh onions, a little bit of water, salt, distilled vinegar, lime juice, and garlic.
But I won’t….
Coz I didn’t…
All I did was preheat the oven to 355°.
Opened a jar of World Table Roasted Salsa Verde, placed a thin layer of the salsa verde into a baking pan, placed 3 chicken quarters on top, generously slathered more salsa verde on top of the chicken, then put the pan in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes.
Yes, 2 ingredients. Chicken and World Table Roasted Salsa Verde. A 16oz jar is about $2.50 at Wal-Mart.
At first glance you’d think the salsa verde would be strong once cooked with the chicken but that wasn’t the case at all. I kept adding more into my plate to eat the chicken with coz the combination was really good. If you make your own salsa verde then good for you. If not, well, store-bought is great too.
Thanksgiving Day Dinner For 4/6 People In Under $100
I realized after doing my Thanksgiving Day dinner grocery shopping today that thanks to my Food Lion MVP Card, I would be cooking up a Thanksgiving Day Feast for under $100. This dinner would be for 2 adults and 2 children but could easily feed 6 adults.
The MVP card gave AWESOME deals in everything I need to make the Turkey, 6 different sides, and desserts. A $30 purchase alone gives any MVP card holder a $6 -15 pounds Turkey. There are also the Buy One Get One Free deals that I took advantage of.
That whole thing is under $100. My table will have a roasted turkey, mashed potatoes w/ cream cheese, corn bread casserole, broccoli with crispy bacon bits and garlic, green beans casserole, sweet potato muffins, and 2 sweet potato pies come Thanksgiving Day.
Del Monte canned products were $1.19 each, buy one get one free. You have to be smart about these deals. The store brand will have a price of .79 cents each. 2 cans would be $1.58. At first glance, the .79cents each will catch your attention but once you do the Math you’ll find out that sometimes it’s better to get the Brand ones. Don’t hesitate to get the store brands sometimes though if you’ll be saving more coz frankly there’s not much difference between store brand and brand ones. It all depends on your preferences and the deals.
So the tricks are:
- sign up for the costumer card (you can do this anytime and save instantly)
- pay attention to the prices
- compare while doing the Math
- make a list beforehand of what you’ll need
- bring a calculator
Some of the ingredients like flour, sugar, oil, eggs, shortening, and bacon wouldn’t even be used completely therefore they’ll be added to the regular grocery stock. So that’s another savings there. We wouldn’t be having appetizers this year because my husband will be working that day so we’d be feasting during our regular dinner time which is about about 6pm.
Nevertheless, if I bought Ritz crackers, 2 bricks of cheese, cheese ball and shrimp cocktail ring like we always have as appetizers, to add into the entire bill, it would still come out to under $100. Mind you, I didn’t use any coupons. I just followed the deals in-store and used my MVP card.
