Penny Pinching Peach

For the semi crunchy, homeschool friendly and totally frugal!


9 Comments

Peeps Easter Candy Cake

Peeps Easter Cake Pin

My daughter and I made this Peeps Easter cake together.

I was going to just line the cake with the Peeps and scatter jelly beans on top, but then I realized that I had this adorable bunny shaped cake pan. My daughter thinks this cake is the coolest thing since iced tea, and is very proud of our handiwork. 🙂 I was surprised at how easy it was to do, and how yummy the Peeps tasted with the chocolate cake.

All you need are simple & inexpensive items.

“Penny Pinching Peach is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com”

Peeps Easter Candy Bunny Cake

  • First step: Make your cake flavor of choice. We made a devil’s food cake in our 9″ bunny shaped pan. I can’t find the same one online, but this Easter bunny one is nicer and cuter, honestly.
  • Second Step: Let it cool, then pop it out on a cake platter, Cake Stand like this, or large tray.
  • Third Step: Ice it with your choice of icing, making sure it’s pretty thick around the sides.
  • Fourth Step: Decorate the top. You can do a bunny face like we did, use sprinkles, jelly beans, M&Ms or other candy of choice, make designs with decorative icing,…just use your imagination and get creative.
  • Fifth Step: Press the Peeps firmly and carefully around the side of the cake.
  • Sixth Step: Admire your handiwork, take a picture, and show it off here!

What kind of cake and decorations would you like best? For another fun Easter treat, try our Key Lime Rice Cereal Eggs!


5 Comments

Money Saving Mexican Food

Pinch Those Pennies!

Pinch Those Pennies!

¡Hola! Let me tell you, not only are these some mouthwatering Mexican dishes, but they are loaded chock full of savings. I’ve got six- yes, count ’em, people- six coupons to go with this delicious budget dinner! I can see a fun Mexican dinner night in my family’s future this week, with this kind of savings to tick off on such a yummalicious menu. Read this twosome of toothsome recipes with a napkin handy to wipe up the drool, and keep it on hand for the salivating over the savings at the end! 🙂

Drool over these dishes, y’all!

♦Chicken Chilaquiles

1/4 pound chorizo
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 (10 ounce) bag tortilla chips
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 (19 ounce) can green enchilada sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cook the chorizo in a skillet over medium heat, stirring to break it into tiny pieces. Place the raw chicken into the skillet with the chorizo; cook and stir the meats together until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes.
Spread half of the tortilla chips over the bottom of a casserole dish; top the chips with the cooked chorizo and chicken mixture. Sprinkle the corn evenly over the meats and layer the remaining chips over the top. Whisk together the green enchilada sauce and sour cream in a mixing bowl; pour over the top of the casserole. Top the casserole with the shredded Monterey Jack cheese.
Bake the chilaquiles in the preheated oven until the casserole is bubbly and the chips begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Mexican Red Rice

2 Roma (plum tomatoes), cored
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup canned tomato sauce
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 sprigs fresh cilantro
Salt to taste

Grate tomatoes into a bowl using a box grater; discard skins.
Heat vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and cook onion until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir garlic into onion and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
Stir rice into onion mixture and cook, stirring often, until rice is lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.
Stir grated tomato, chicken broth, and tomato sauce into the rice, bringing the mixture to a boil.
Mix in jalapeno pepper, cilantro, and salt; reduce heat to low. Cover skillet and simmer until rice has absorbed the liquid, about 15 minutes. Do not lift the cover while the rice is cooking.
Turn off heat and let rice stand covered for 8 minutes. Fluff with fork before moving rice to a serving dish.

Now to salivate over the savings!

For the coupons, go to this link: http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/?pid=13101&nid=10&zid=pt82
Print these coupons: Old El Paso, Swanson Broth, Hunt’s Tomatoes, Riojano Spanish Chorizo, Sargento’s Shredded Cheese and Uncle Ben’s Rice.

My family loves Mexican food, but we also love Italian, Chinese, Southern style and all sorts of other ethnicities of food. Variety keeps our palates pleased. What’s your and your family’s favorite kind of food?


2 Comments

Frugal Pies For Dinner and Dessert!


2 Comments

We Can Coupon For Hoppin’ John!

I may be a sweet Georgia peach, but I love myself some spicy food! 🙂 When I found this recipe, it looked to be just hot enough to give it some twang without setting the ol’ tastebuds on fire. Half of the ingredients have coupons available right now. Most cooks I know keep hot sauce and onions on hand, anyway, so it’s awesome for the budget cook, too! Please vote in my poll before you drool over the recipe. 🙂 Coupons at the end…

Hoppin’ John Skillet Supper

2 slices Oscar Mayer bacon
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup Uncle Ben’s quick cooking brown rice
1 3/4 cups Swanson’s reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 3/4 cups frozen black-eyed peas, thawed
1 large tomato, seeded, chopped
1 1/4 cups Sargento Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided

Directions

Cut bacon crosswise in thin strips. Cook bacon and onion in large deep skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion is tender.

Add rice; mix well. Add broth and hot pepper sauce; bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in black-eyed peas. Cover; reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Stir in tomato; heat through.

Remove from heat; stir in 1 cup cheese. Transfer to 4 serving plates; top with remaining cheese.

Sargento Shredded Cheese (or Kraft Shredded Cheese), Uncle Ben’s Rice, Swanson’s Broth, Oscar Mayer Bacon

Go here and print the coupons listed above: http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/

Do you like spicy foods? Let me know what you think of this dish, and enjoy those savings! 🙂


Leave a comment

Spicy to Sweet: Dinner & Dessert Discounted with Coupons!

Penny Pinching Peach

Penny Pinching Peach

I love the kind of meal you can throw together all in one dish. It means less clean-up and it’s easier to keep an eye on one dish while watching my munchkins destroy the housecleaning I just finished than it is to babysit multiple fancy dishes. I can do it, but the headache is sometimes not worth it or I just plain don’t have time to do that and everything else I’ve got going on. With a nice coupon available right now for sausage, and taters always being cheap, this Sausage Potato Dinner in a Dish fits right in with my laidback frugal mommy vibe. My family also has a super duper sweet tooth, so if I find a simple dessert that uses ingredients I usually have on hand, I’m tickled pink. With strawberries being in season right now, they are always in my fridge, so the Strawberry Yogurt Pastries were perfect for this time of year!

I’m putting the savings information after the recipes. There are double savings this time, which makes this a really sweet deal! 😉

Sausage Potato Dinner in a Dish

4 small red potatoes, cubed
2 small zucchinis, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound Hillshire Farms smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon pepper

*Place potatoes in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
*Meanwhile, sprinkle zucchini & onion with garlic salt. In a small skillet, stir-fry zucchini in butter until crisp-tender. Add sausage; cook until browned.
*Drain potatoes; add to skillet. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and pepper; heat through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
*Yield: 4 servings.

Strawberry Yogurt Pastries

1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) Yoplait strawberry yogurt
1 1/3 cups strawberries, halved

*On a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, separate crescent dough into 4 rectangles; seal perforations.

*Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.

*Cool on a wire rack. Spread yogurt on each pastry; top with strawberries. Serve immediately.

*Yield: 4 servings.

Now for the savings part of the menu! 🙂

Got to http://www.coupons.com

Select and print Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage, Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and Yoplait Yogurt coupons.

If you have joined SavingStar, Pillsbury and Yoplait also have coupons available with that program right now, which will double stack your savings together on those two items. If you haven’t joined, please check out my blog on SavingStar under Sites for Savings to learn more. It’s a great program! 🙂


3 Comments

Pudding and Printable Coupons

Penny Pinching Peach

Penny Pinching Peach

This week I thought I’d go for a recipe that is both quick & simple, all while being light on the tummy and the pockets.

Refreshing Rice Pudding

1 cup cooked (Uncle Ben’s) white rice (approximately 1/3 cup uncooked)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup (Dixie Crystals or Imperial Sugars) white sugar
1 cup (Dole) crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup shredded coconut

*Be sure to rinse, drain, and chill the cooked rice.
*In a small glass or metal mixing bowl, whip the cream, adding sugar gradually until cream becomes fluffy.
*Next, fold the whipped cream, drained pineapple and coconut into the chilled, cooked rice.
*Spoon the mixture into dessert dishes, serve and yum it up! 🙂

Coupons for: Uncle Ben’s Rice http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/ and
Dole Canned Fruit and Dixie Crystals/Imperial Sugar http://www.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=MKRU3JAAR6CCY
Total Value of Coupons: $3.50

Savor the savings! 🙂


3 Comments

Saving and Slow Cooking

Penny Pinching Peach

Penny Pinching Peach

If you’re like me,  a slow cooker is your best friend! I received a slow cooker (aka crockpot) as a wedding present. We  use it so frequently that it never gets put up in the pantry with all of my other bulky kitchen gadgets, unless we are prettifying the house for company. Since I’m not only busy, but habitually frugal, I love finding delicious dinners that can be quickly thrown together in the crockpot and hardly cost a thing. That kind of meal makes me happy on many levels! It satisfies my love of all things yummy, simplifies my life, and keeps my purse a little fuller. What more could a girl ask for?

This recipe is super simple and should be a hit with adults and kiddos alike. Are you ready for this? It is Slow Cooker Pizza!! On the count of three, we all say “YUM!!!” 1, 2, 3….YUM!!! Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system… 😉

There are a few coupons available for the ingredients in this recipe, so that spices things up a bit, too. Link and savings will be after the recipe…

~Slow Cooker Pizza~

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (we use ground deer or turkey as a substitute for ground beef)

1 (8 ounce) package rigatoni (or other shaped) pasta

1 (16 ounce) package Kraft shredded mozarella

1 can Campbell’s condensed cream of tomato soup

2 (14 ounce) jars pizza sauce

1 (8 ounce) package Hormel pepperoni

Veggies of choice (i.e mushrooms, peppers, onions)

*Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook about 8-10 minutes,  until al dente; drain and set aside.

*Brown the ground beef over medium-high heat. Drain off grease.

*In slow cooker, alternate layers of ground beef, noodles, cheese, soup, sauce, pepperoni and any veggies you chose to add.

*Cook on Low setting for 4 hours.

Total number of coupons for this menu: 3, but I added Sargento cheese to the list to print because I didn’t see the Kraft one there when I went to publish, so it shows 4.

Now go print ’em, redeem ’em, cook it up and enjoy!

I’d love to hear how it turned out for you. 🙂

The coupons should be pre-clipped at the link below, but if it didn’t stay clipped for you, just look at the items above that have a brand name and that’s what to look for.

http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/


2 Comments

Valentine’s Cooking With Coupons

 

The Day I Married My Valentine

The Day I Married My Valentine

I know most of us are on a budget, even at Valentine’s, so I thought I’d show you how to put together a special meal on a budget. All of the featured recipes have coupons that go with them to make this an inexpensively special meal, and most other ingredients are pretty inexpensive. All are simple enough for any fairly competent cook to try a hand at. The coupons you’ll need and link to print them will be at the bottom, after the recipes.

Sausage and Zucchini Quiche
Strawberry Feta Salad
Red Velvet Cupcakes

~*~Sausage and Zucchini Quiche~*~

1 1/2 cups cooked & crumbled Bob Evans Sausage
4 cups grated zucchini
2 cups Kraft shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

~Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
~Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well blended. Pour into large pie dish (lightly greased).
~Bake until browned and eggs are set, about 35 minutes.

~*~Strawberry Feta Salad~*~

1 pkg. (5 ounces) mixed baby greens
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 Tbsp. coarsely chopped Diamond Walnuts, toasted (or your favorite chopped nuts of choice)
1/4 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing

~Toss together all ingredients except dressing in large bowl.

~Add dressing just before serving; mix lightly.

~*~Red Velvet Cupcakes~*~

1 pkg. (2-layer size) Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix
1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 cup thawed whipped topping
Red glitter sprinkles

~Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 24 cupcakes, blending dry pudding mix into batter before spooning into prepared muffin cups. Cool.

~Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually beat in sugar. Whisk in whipped topping. Spoon 1-1/2 cups into freezer-weight resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Cut 1 small corner off bottom of bag. Insert tip of bag into top of each cupcake to pipe about 1 Tbsp. frosting into center of cupcake.

~Frost cupcakes with remaining frosting. Sprinkle with red edible glitter. Keep refrigerated.

Okay, now that you’ve seen the yummy recipes, go print those coupons. I’ve pre-clipped the ones at coupons.com, so all you should have to do is press print. If you want more coupons, though, feel free to clip away! At SmartSource, just find the Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake mix and clip it for the cupcakes.
http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/

http://www.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=MKRU3JAAR6CCY

 

 

Happy Cooking With Coupons!!

<img src=" photo DSC_0213.jpg” alt=”Holding Hands On Our Wedding Day” />