Menu Plan Monday: 1/5 - 1/11

This week's menu planning is sort of a huge cop-out. For Christmas, I told my parents they weren't getting physical stuff this year. Instead, I'll be taking each out separately to a nice restaurant for dinner. They don't usually go out to eat ever and if they do, it's usually a bargain-end restaurant. Lucky for me, the next two weeks are Restaurant Week in the Providence, RI area so I'll be getting great deals on delicious food for my parents. To boot, I use OpenTable to make my reservations and earn points when I check in using the reservations. 2000 points = $20 dining check :-)

Sunday - Family Dinner at my in laws' house.

Monday - My sister and I are taking our mom to Chardonnay's in Seekonk, MA.

Tuesday - Steak tips and spinach salad

Wednesday - My sister, my husband and I are taking our dad to Ruth's Chris in Providence, MA.

Thursday - Brinner (crepes, eggs, etc.)

Friday - Pork chops, apple sauce and broccoli

Saturday - Baked chicken, couscous and spinach salad


Want to start menu planning to help save time, money and stress at supper time? Use my menu plan template.

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Flourless Chocolate Cake (Gluten Free!)

I discovered this recipe when on a mission to find a gluten-free dessert option for a party I was attending where the host has a gluten intolerance. Since it was such a hit at that party, I decided to make it for my mommy's birthday last week. (Happy Birthday Mommy!)

This recipe for flourless chocolate cake is taken from RealSimple.

Ingredients
2 sticks of unsalted butter (1 C), cut into pieces
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used semi-sweet and it tasted just great)
5 large eggs
1 cup sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" springform pan and dust it with cocoa powder. I lined mine with some wax paper since my pan seems to leak a tad. In a saucepan, heat butter with the heavy cream over medium-low heat until melted. Add chocolate and stir until melted. Remove the pan from the heat. In a bowl, whisk eggs, sugar and cocoa powder. Then whisk in your chocolate mixture. Transfer to your pan and bake until puffed and set, approximately 35-40 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for at least an hour before running a knife along the edge to remove it.

*Your cake will look super puffy when it comes out of the oven, but it will quickly sink as it cools. This is supposed to happen! This cake tastes a bit like molten lava cake; it is really gooey and delicious.

Feel free to garnish with just about anything. Dust with powdered sugar (although be careful because it's sometimes not gluten free), make your own whipped cream or use some fresh fruit.

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Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Homemade Bourbon Cranberry Sauce

I haven't posted a What's Cookin' Wednesday post in awhile, but since I made so many dishes from scratch for Thanksgiving and my family raved about them, I figured I'd share some of the recipes with you.

This recipe for bourbon cranberry sauce is taken from FoodNetwork.

Ingredients
1 bag of fresh cranberries (12 oz)
1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (or more if you like it super cinnamon-y)
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup bourbon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a casserole dish (I of course use my Pyrex), mix the cranberries, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Cover with foil and bake for approximately 55 minutes. Stir and put back into the oven for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and mix in the bourbon. Let cool completely before refrigerating. This should last about a week in the fridge but you won't need to worry about that because I promise you that your family will gobble it right up!

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Menu Play Monday: 8/19 - 8/25

Monday - My brother's birthday dinner; we're going to my mom's for pizza. I made this delicious-looking Upside Down German Chocolate Cake. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks!

Tuesday - No-noodle Lasagna with meat sauce

Wednesday - Beer chili in the crockpot, baked potatoes and beer bread

Thursday - Baby back ribs, mashed potatoes and broccoli

Friday - Pork chops, cauliflower and apple sauce

Saturday - Burgers and tater tots.

Sunday - Family dinner at my in-laws' house.

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Cake Balls

 

Cake Balls

 

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix (and ingredients to make it)

1 container of frosting

chocolate chips (or peanut butter chips or white chocolate chips)

shortening

 

 

1. Bake your cake. Then cut it into cubes. Then crumble then heck out of it. Typically I make a small cake for a purpose (birthday cake, trifle, etc.) and then I use leftover frosting (usually a half a container or so) with half of the original cake I made.
 
2. Then I mix the cake crumbs with the frosting until it's "doughy." I roll them into blobby balls (whatever size floats your boat), throw them on some wax paper and put 'em in the fridge for a half hour or so to harden up.
 
3. Then I taken them out of the fridge, roll the blobby balls into better looking balls. I put some chocolate chips and a small scoop of shortening into a microwavable (glass) dish and melt for 20 second increments until melty. DO NOT OVERMELT - your chips will burn!
 
4. I roll my balls in the chocolatey goodness and put them back on the wax paper and back in the fridge to harden up. If you want to get decorative, you can add sprinkles, powdered sugar or sparkly crystal sugar on top of the chocolate coating before it hardens.

Fancy photo courtesy of AllRecipes (my cake balls never look this aesthetically pleasing!)

 

 

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Menu Plan Monday: 2/24 - 3/2

 

Sunday - Family Dinner; I made delicious cake balls with leftover cake (just baked and left alone) and frosting from when my hubby made my atrociously ugly birthday cake!

 

Monday - Steak fajitas with rice

Tuesday - Chicken sausages on buns with fries and broccoli/asparagus

Wednesday - Beer chili in the crockpot

Thursday - Fresh homemade pasta from Italian Corner Deli! I'm buying a pound of pasta and making it at home along with some meatballs in the crockpot

Friday - Pork chops, apple sauce and broccoli

Saturday - I'm babysitting - my hubby is on his own!

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

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Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Free Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Recipe Book (in pdf format)

Don't have a kindle and are bumming that you miss out on all those great FREE ebooks?!

Get Martha Stewart Living Radio Thanksgiving Hotline Recipes 2011 book in a pdf file! The pumpkin soup and pumpkin cheesecake look to die for!

Free Recipe Book

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

What's Cooking Wednesday: Crockpot Chourico & Peppers

I'm half French, which is where my maiden name, Lachapelle, comes from. But most of the rest of me is Portuguese. My mom's side of the family is extremely invested in their Portuguese heritage and this shines through their food. Luckily, we also live in an area where there is a large population of people who are Portuguese. As a result, you don't have to go very far to find some great Portuguese food like mozambique, biscuitos, and chourico and peppers.

Now chourico is not produced chour-ee-co. It's actually should-eeees. Don't get it confused with the Spanish style sausage chourizo -- that's very different!

Here's an easy way to make chourico and peppers and not have to slaver over a saucepot on your range for hours.

Crockpot Chourico and Peppers, adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 pound chourico sausage, casings removed and crumbled (I used ground chourico)

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I had some already chopped and frozen)

1 sweet onion, peeled and chopped (I only had yellow onions)

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (I only had a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes - I used the whole can)

1/2 cup red wine (I used chicken stock made with a boullion cube)

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons crushed garlic (I used garlic powder)

 

Directions           

In a slow cooker, combine the sausage, green pepper, onion, tomato paste, wine, water, and crushed garlic.

Stir so that everything is evenly distributed.

Cover, and set on Low. Cook for 8 hours.

Uncover the pot, and cook an additional 2 hours to allow some of the liquid to evaporate.

Serve over rice, or with Portuguese rolls.

 

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Candy Bar Trifle

 

Candy Bar Trifle

 

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix (and ingredients to make it)

1 box of pudding mix (and ingredients to make it)

1 container of Cool Whip

any candy bar (crunchy works best - think Heath bar, Snickers, etc.  I let my husband pick and he chose Milky Way)

1 shot or so of Kahlua or Baileys (completely optional)

 

 

Bake your cake. Then cut it into cubes. You won't end up using all the cake, so you can make an additional trifle or just eat the cake with your hands like I do.

While your cake is cooling, make your pudding and stick it in the fridge to chill.

Cut up your candy bars. Again, crunchy is best. Hubby wanted Milky Way so he got Milky Way.

So you drop a bunch of cake at the bottom. Drizzle some Kahlua or Bailey's on top (if you want), throw some pudding on top of that, then top with cool whip. Drop a handful or so of your candy bits on top of that. Then do it all over. You can keep doing this 'til you run out of ingredients or space in your trifle dish. I could only do two layers of everything.

Make sure you've got candy bits to put on top so people know what's in your trifle!

 

Now I've done trifle with strawberry cake and strawberries (instead of candy), white or yellow cake with oreos.... There really is no wrong way to make a trifle. Think about combos you like and try to find a cake/pudding/accessory mix you can use!

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts