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I do not want to clean, so I will dehydrate!

Today I decided instead to dehydrate some fruits. Banana's were a great price this week, I had blueberries in the freezer, and my local store had a coupon for a free pint of blueberries with 2 juice purchases. I put the following together in the food dehydrator. They are not done yet, but looking good!

Blueberry Leather

* 2 pints of blueberries (mine were frozen)

* 3 tablespoons sugar

* dash of lemon juice

* 1/8 of a cup water

Put the ingredients in a saucepot. Cook until berries thaw and begin to soften. As you stir smoosh the berries. Cook for a total of 15 minutes. Taste to make sure they are sweet enough. Blend the ingredients until smooth and place on 2 fruit leather sheets that go in the dehydrator. This can also be done in the oven. Make sure your layer is thin. Dehydrate for 8 - 12 hours or until no longer sticky.

Dehydrated Blueberries

Place one pint of blueberries on the rack. I used the insert made for smaller items. Make sure berries have been rinse and throw out any soft berries. Dehydrate.

Banana Chips

6 - 7 bananas will fill 2 dehydrator trays. Slice about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. Toss in lemon juice for a few seconds. This allows the color to remain and banana not turn brown. Dehydrate for 8 - 12 hours.

Here is is very humid. You may have to run the dehydrator longer. It will not hurt the items to stop and check on them. The blueberries seem to be taking the longest time. All other items are about 1/4 was done and it has been 6 hours so far.

If you do this is the oven, you may need to turn the bananas after a few hours. Recipes suggest 140 degrees for the oven, but the lowest mine goes is 170 degrees. I cooked last week for 8 hours, then turned oven off and let it continue over night.

Meal Planning Made Easy

Starting August 1st, there will be a special on the Hines-Sight Blog on meal planning made easy. I will update this page with her ideas and suggestions. You can click on the button at the bottom of my page to directly link to her site at any time. Have fun and I look forward to more recipe ideas!

No Sew Oil Cloth Placemats

It is such a rainy day and I have to go to the craft and fabric stores for school supplies. I thought of a great rainy day project for me to do with the Reeseter. No Sew Oil Cloth placemats. I will use my Hancock coupon and this should be great! I found a how-to over at Pink of Perfection. Check it out! It really is a cute, easy, fun idea for home or for a gift.

How do I get the cute clothes for my kids without breaking the bank?

Well, I have always loved to dress my children really well. This is a family tradition after all. So, how do I do this and still stay on some kind of budget. I am also terrible about making it to the huge consignment sales. I always seem to be busy and by the time I go everyhting is gone. Introduce Facebook sales. Well, I have become huge fans of certain sites on FB and I watch them regularly to see if something is on sale or just a great price. Perfect example: about 2 months ago I got an orange knit dress with a black monogram for Halloween. I spent less than $20 and that included the monogram and shipping. I will pair that with the cite Chez Ami tight and I have a great outfit for far less than I would have paid. I have done the same thing for Christmas. The quality is great and I purchase smocked things as well. If you have not tried Facebook auctions yet give them a try. This is the main way I save on children's clothing. I can get a clearance dress for the same or less than at Target with a better quality. In years past I have also hosted various trunk show parties. This season I am a consultant so that will also help out on the clothing end. The point is, your can dress your children really well even on a budget.

Links:

www.lollywollydoodle.com the is the website and there is a FB link on it

https://www.facebook.com/Smockadot Has Auburn and Alabama Collegiate wear tonight

www.caroline.dube.chezami.com link to my chez ami where I will get the tights to match the sale dresses I purchase.

Dinner Tonight and Later - Chicken Spaghetti

Here is a recipe that I found on The Pioneer Woman website. I love Ree Drumond and the way she writes and photographs all of her recipes. I did alter this a bit. I thought I had more soup than I had and I wanted to beef up the chicken. The original recipe can be found here.

This is my version which is very close to the original. I cooked the chicken in a large glass casserole. Since I am oh so lazy I shredded the meat in the same casserole and used it to mix ingredients. I even used it to bake once I had removed half. Easy cleanup!

Chicken Spaghetti - Ree Drumond

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cooked Chicken - my store sells in packs of a little over 1 lb and I used two full packs.
• 1 box Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
• 1 can Cream Of Mushroom Soup
• 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1/4 cup Finely Diced Green Pepper
• 1/4 cup Finely Diced Onion
• 1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained - I left this out
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 1/8 teaspoon (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper - I left out due to the kids
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

harp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Cook chicken breasts in the oven. I sprinkle mine with a little salt and pepper and spray with cooking spray. Cook at 350 degrees until done which varies based on the thickness of your breast. Cook spaghetti. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar. I used more stock since I used less soup. Split mixture in half and top each with equal amounts remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

I baked one immediately in the original pan and the other I doubled bagged in a gallon freezer bag for later use. With bread this easily will make 2 casseroles that serve 4.

Meatloaf in Peppers - Freezable

It seems that ground beef does not last but 2 days once purchased. Since I shop on the weekends this often causes a problem. I either have meat go bad, I have to freeze it, or I have to prepare in advance. Yesterday I made 2 different beef dishes. The first is here. The recipe below is modified from a Food Network Recipe by Sunny Anderson. I modified to first double the recipe so I can freeze some, and to work with ingredients I had in the pantry. When I finished I had 3 bags to freeze. They contained the following meatloaves per bag: 4, 6, 7. This is perfect for small meals or larger.

PAN FRIED MEATLOAF IN PEPPERS

Ingredients

• 6 green peppers (I ended up needing 7)
• 2 lbs. ground lean beef
• 2 cups breadcrumbs
• 2 (28-ounce) cans Hunts diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano (1 to be used now and 1 for when final meal is cooked)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 egg2
• 2 small onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped sage leaves
• A few dashes Worcestershire sauce - 6 dashes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove core and seeds from peppers. Slice into 1 inch rings and place on nonstick baking sheet. You should get about 3 rings per pepper. In a large bowl mix together beef, bread, 1 can of the tomatoes, garlic, egg, onion, chopped sage, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and season with salt and pepper. Press meatloaf mixture evenly into pepper rings. In a skillet over medium-high heat, add oil. Saute meatloaf rings on both sides until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Add remaining tomatoes to skillet and bake until cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.

To Freeze: Do not brown. Transfer after preparation immediately to a freezer bag. Freeze for 3 months. Once ready to serve thaw in the fridge. Follow above directions.