Avocado Brownies with a Mix

Okay I'm obviously all about brownies and avocados lately! But I just LOVE that you get the health benefits of an avocado, without having to actually taste one :)

This recipe is super simple because it uses a boxed brownie mix. I've heard that it works for all sizes of mixes (Betty Crocker usually has less ounces in each box than say, Ghirardelli). It kind of works that way but I did make mine with Ghirardelli and I should've added a little extra water.

What you need:
box of brownie mix, your choice of brand and type
1/3 water (or slightly more, if you use a bigger box. I would recommend adding a tablespoon at a time until you get what you want)
1 large avocado, ripe and well mashed

Put the brownie mix in a bowl and DON'T add the ingredients the box tells you to. You just want the dry mix. Then add your mashed avocado and desired water until you get a good consistency. Pour in your brownie pan and bake according to the boxes instructions. Voila! Done! Does it get any better than that??

These turned out great and I would DEFINITELY make again. I used the triple chocolate Ghirardelli mix so there was plenty of chocolate to hide the avocado taste (but as you probably noticed with these recipes, you don't need a lot to hide it. And if you actually like avocado, I don't  think it would be bad).

My kids gobbled these up too!

Avocado Brownies

I always love combining avocados with chocolate desserts. I've done pudding and chocolate chip cookies before so brownies just seemed like the next step! They turn out a little lighter in color than traditional brownies but there is no green to be detected! I will mention that my 3 year old made these with me and she saw me add the avocado ("eww! I don't like those. It's green!") but she still ate two entire pieces (and wanted more!). I am myself am not a fan of avocado either but with chocolate, it's fantastic. It adds fiber and healthy fats to the dessert, as if you needed another reason to eat dessert!

This is the recipe I made. I only made a few minor adjustments.

Ingredients:
3 avocados (I debated adding a third one, and next time I might only do 2 but I can't give an exact reason why)
most of a bag of milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar (people had commented saying they brought it down to even a half cup or less and it was still good)
4 eggs
splash of vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

I followed her instructions (it took my "special" oven about 40 minutes to cook them) but I misunderstood the stand mixer and somehow ended up doing this in my food processor. It actually ended up okay but if you have a stand mixer (which I actually do! Although I dare you to ask me where it is right now...) I would definitely use that instead! My processor got quite full and has so many ridges, it's hard for the flour to get fully incorporated so I did have to do it a little by hand.

But these were a hit! I love them, the kids love them! Only 187 calories per brownie (assuming your 8x8 pan is 16 pieces)! Awesome!

Wonton Pizza Bites

I had tomatoes and wonton wrappers to use up. I scoured Pinterest for an idea (what else do I do, right?) and I found people who did mini pizzas with wonton wrappers. So I did a take on that. You could easily sub the tomatoes I use for real pizza (or pasta) sauce too.

I doubled up on the wrappers per pizza because of the juicy tomatoes and weight of the ingredients. You could try it with just one but don't be surprised if your filling falls through. These would also make great appetizers for a party!

Ingredients:
24 wonton wrappers (homemade or you can find them at Walmart, near the tofu and organic stuff)
4 roma tomatoes (You actually might want more like 5, since two of my pizzas were tomato-less but the kids liked those ones better. My tomato hating husband though surprisingly liked the ones with tomato better. So your choice)
Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc)
garlic powder
onion powder
cheese
pepperoni/other pizza toppings

I also think these could be good with added mushrooms or red peppers but I didn't have any on hand.

So then you line a muffin tin with two wrappers each (no need to spray the tin, the wrappers come pre-floured). Chop up your tomatoes and mix with the seasonings. Add tomato mixture to your cups, sprinkle on cheese, add toppings. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Your bake time may be a little longer or shorter (they're done when the wonton wrapper is browned and the cheese is melted). I use a toaster oven that claims you don't have to preheat but I usually have to play with the time something takes to bake. In this case, they took me about 15 minutes and since I only had one 6 cup muffin pan, I had to make two separate batches.

But these were really good! Of course, I don't post bad recipes but I would definitely make these again. They remind me of a healthier version of a thin crust pizza. But don't eat too many! Besides having vegetables and seeming smaller and healthier than a slice of pizza, the calories still add up  fast!

Pasta Sauce Cheesy Beef One Pot Wonder

First post of the new year! Yay! I have high hopes of blogging more this year, but let's see how that actually goes. :)

Last night, I made this recipe with just a few modifications. It turned out SO good but I'm not sure the cheeseburger flavor was very strong. I think the can of tomatoes and the pasta sauce kind of took away from it. But that's okay! It was still delicious.

My ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/3 can of Hunt's Traditional pasta sauce
1 large jar of tomatoes from Grandma's garden
1 medium onion
~1/4 cup ketchup (I eye balled it)
~1 tablespoon yellow mustard
8oz block of cheddar cheese
1lb box large elbow macaroni
1 1/2 cups water plus 1 bouillon cube (I thought the two cups was going to make the end result too liquidy and this worked out just fine)
1 roma tomato for garnishing (I rarely do the garnish for a recipe but I thought this was worth it. If you don't have one, that's okay too)


Then I followed her cooking instructions. Despite the elbow noodles needing less time to cook according to the box, they did still take the full time she had said (13 minutes?).

This makes a big batch (about 10-12 servings) so be sure to use a big enough pot! But I do love one pot wonders, especially with my current kitchen cooking conditions.

I will DEFINITELY make this again. David couldn't stop eating it and the kids even ate some of it! (That's a big deal these days. They aren't picky, they just don't eat dinner for some reason, even if it's something they asked for!)

High Protein Breakfast Muffins

This morning I was looking for something to have for breakfast. I typically have a protein smoothie but we just got a Keurig (for free!!) so I was trying a coffee concoction and I thought that would be too much liquid to do a smoothie for breakfast too. I always need high protein in the morning though or I get sick so what can I do but Pinterest about it!

I found this recipe but I only had 2 bananas on hand so I cut it in half.

So I did 2 bananas, 1/2 cup oats, 1 whole egg, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 2 T baking powder, and 1/4 cup peanut butter. I mixed it all by hand since I still haven't been able to find my mixer (it's packed) but that actually went better than I expected. This made 6 muffins perfectly (I don't think the original poster ever mentioned how many muffins it makes). This was really good! I'm glad I added the chocolate powder too. I could even see this being good with other powders. I think you could change it up quite a bit and still get a good result!

If you're sharing it with kids, like I was, I recommend a plant based protein powder. It's gentler on their tummies :)

I will definitely make these again and it actually went really quick! (I'm always nervous to make something that requires bake time because I need to eat pretty soon after waking up but this wasn't so bad!)

10 Ways I Save Money

I would like to think I've always been money conscious but since moving out here, we've had to be a little more careful because we are buying our house supplies out of pocket (instead of with a loan or bigger mortgage on the house). We get a lot of our stuff from auctions, which is great because we can even get NEW, in the box items if we're super lucky. And we never pay more than 50% of what it's worth. In fact, we usually pay much less than that. For instance, I bought new knotty pine interior doors for our house and I got them for $16 a door! They are worth about $200 at Menards (our favorite shopping place!).

So auctions save us a lot of money but for the day to day savings, it takes a little effort. The following are in no order and I'm sure I'm forgetting some!

1. We very rarely buy something that isn't on sale. Even when we use coupons (which surprisingly isn't that often. Typically, generic is cheaper than name brand even with the name brand coupon!), we wait until the item is on sale. The only exceptions are things we need, like milk.

2. We shop at cheap places. For us, this means Menards, Walmart, and Aldi. I try to exclusively grocery shop at Aldi, Walmart is for household and presents. And Menards is for everything else. Menards runs an 11% off sale frequently throughout the year so if we need to buy something that we know doesn't really go on sale, we wait for one of these sales. They also give away lots of stuff for free after rebate.

3. We also shop at Amazon. We pay for Amazon Prime and it's definitely worth it for the free shipping (but we also like the Amazon Instant Video stuff too). We pair it with Honey and WikiBuy so we know we are always getting the best deal. These add ons tell you where the best price is. If you need more info, comment below. Here are our referral codes if you are interested:

http://wbuy.me/B9R2665
http://joinhoney.com/ref/vdypyd

4. We utilize the library! I can't believe how many people don't. This is SUCH a great resource. You get books, even brand new ones, for FREE to keep almost as long as you like (with renewals). They have DVDs, books, even toys for the kids to play with. It's such a family friendly place. We go here at LEAST once a week.

5. We cook. I'm not saying I'm a gourmet, 5 star chef or anything but cooking saves more money than going out. This is also healthier so technically, you are saving on medical costs too by doing this. Even if you are cooking with a pound of butter and 5 cups of sugar, it's not all the preservatives and additives in prepackaged food. We do go out sometimes. Actually, we still go out more than I wish we were but it's a work in progress. I totally get that sometimes you're on the go or in a hurry and those nights it seems so perfect to grab something from a drive thru but if you can prevent it, it's better. If you can't, you can't.

6. We keep our thermostat at 65 during the winter and 72 in the summer. This may seem extreme to some of you but our bodies easily adapt. We do usually go down a degree at night (in the summer) because I can't sleep if I'm too hot. We had a few years without air conditioning (and we don't have air conditioning here) but I just hate that miserable feeling. In winter, it's so easy to turn the thermostat down a little because we can add a sweatshirt or we're asleep under blankets anyway. An adjustable thermostat is great for this so you don't forget to change the temp at night. We use a Nest.

7. We typically shop once a week. This not only saves on gas, but it saves on impulse purchases. If you buy something not on your list every time you go out, the fewer times you go out = fewer impulse buys. We do sometimes end up getting milk at the gas station because that's usually what we run out of first. We tried shopping only once a month but then we weren't eating anything fresh (because what fruits and veggies just don't last all month) so that wasn't working out for us. But we aim for once a week (or less).

8. Back at our old house, we went to Ruby's Pantry once a month. This is SUCH a great organization. Anybody is eligible. You bring two boxes or laundry baskets and you leave with them filled (or even overflowing!) of a variety of food and sometimes household products. Since starting to go to Ruby's two years ago, I haven't had to buy toilet paper, bread, or chicken. They even give you fresh produce sometimes and they always give you at least one package of meat. Sometimes, during our lucky months, they would have so much bread that they would tell us to "take as much as we wanted"!!!! This is when having a chest freezer really comes in handy. Since moving, I haven't been able to go (although they do have one near me) because of my lack of storage space but as we get more settled and eat up more of the food we do have, we are planning on returning. When we were going frequently, i could go to Ruby's and the rest of the month, the only things I would have to buy would be fruit and veggies and maybe milk (they give milk away frequently too).

9. We love reusable products. Yes, you pay more initially but then you can stop buying that product for years and years and that is your savings. We use Norwex (comment below for more info) for lots of household things. I use reusable pads and a menstrual cup. We all have stainless steel water bottles. We use gift bags over and over again. We use reusable grocery bags. Our kids love silicone straws and I use stainless steel ones. You get the idea. We are always looking for more and more ways to have zero waste and less plastic in our lives.

10. This is probably my most important tip. We follow the old saying of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without". We try to use every last drop of something, we wear our clothes, towels, sheets, etc until they get holes or wear thin. Sometimes I even patch our clothes if they rip at a seam. I use the "make it do" part most in cooking. If I don't have a special ingredient, I find a way to make what I have work. And the do without part is the hardest. But with limited space and trying to downsize, it makes a lot of sense. We don't need so much stuff in our lives. Living in our camper over the summer really showed that. We lived in less than 175 square feet and we were HAPPY. We were getting by just fine. I need to remind myself of this all the time because sometimes, I think "stuff" makes us happier but it really doesn't. Kids don't need toys, toys, toys. Mine can play in a pile of sand for HOURS (yes, literally). And having less stuff, I really notice a decrease in stress levels, despite my current living conditions. It's really crazy. But the best way to save money is to not spend it in the first place.

Homemade Mushroom Gravy with Salisbury Steak

I found some "ground beef steaks" in my freezer and had no idea what that was. Was it a hamburger patty? Was it a steak with a weird texture? I asked David and he goes "oh! That's for Salisbury steak!"

So tonight I was able to cook them from frozen but then I realized they probably didn't have any seasoning in them because the company expects you to put gravy with it. I've never made gravy (not from inside a turkey) before so I was definitely intimidated. I didn't think it was hard, I understood the basic concept but it was still uncharted territory for me.

I had mushrooms and no beef broth (or stock) so I looked up recipes for "mushroom gravy". I found this recipe and tweaked it just a bit.

First (in my electric skillet), I cooked the steaks. I set them on a plate but left the grease in the pan. Then, I sauteed some mushrooms and onions in the grease, until well cooked (the onions even got this nice almost char on them). I added 2 tablespoons of flour (the original recipe calls for 3 but I didn't want a ton of gravy. I only had 3 steaks).

Next mix it up well and make sure there's no flour bits anywhere. Then, I didn't have any broth but I did have a spare packet of chicken ramen seasoning. I added 1 1/2 cups of water (instead of two) and half of the packet of seasoning. Then I added some garlic powder, onion powder, a splash of liquid smoke, thyme, and sage. I stirred frequently, letting it bubble so it grew thicker.

After a couple minutes, I added the steaks back in the gravy so they could absorb some of the flavor of the gravy too. I let everything heat throughout and let it cook until my desired consistency (just another minute or two). Then I served!

I made this with mac and cheese because that's what my kids requested, French bread to soak up the gravy, and raw snow peas because I ran out of time to make anything else and I happened to find those in the fridge.

I was (am) SO giddy that I was able to make gravy! And it was all absolutely delicious. I honestly rate this a 10/10!