Author: Crabby Housewife

Lori is a full-time housewife and writer, living in the Midwest with her husband of 35 years - they have two grown daughters and two precious granddaughters. Lori has a house full of pets and her house is never quite perfect. She's also the author of small town stories, which you can learn more about on her website https://lorisoard.com.

Frugal Dinner Menu for Tonight

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Frugal Dinner Menu for Tonight

Looking for something delicious to cook for dinner, but you’re on a tight budget? Check out these frugal recipes for dinner tonight:

Main Dish

  • Simple Crock Pot Roast: A pot roast is one of those meals that you can usually serve a couple of days or repurpose the leftovers, so it is more frugal than you think. Buy the roast on sale to save even more.
  • Chicken Monterey with Crispy Bacon: This ooey, gooey dish is plain delicious. It’s very easy to pull together, but your family will be impressed.

Sides

  • State Fair Grilled Corn: Corn is a fairly inexpensive dish to serve. Even when corn is out of season, you can pick up frozen ears of corn to recreate this meal. Cook in the oven during extremely cold weather where you don’t wish to be outside manning a grill.
  • Super Easy Parmesan Garlic Potatoes: These potatoes are so easy to throw together in a pinch. Simply open canned potatoes, or use leftovers, add some things to dress them up and you have the perfect side for almost any meal.
  • Made from Scratch Cheddar Biscuits: If you’d like some bread with your meal, these biscuits are a little work, but they are so worth. Nothing truly fabulous comes super easy, after all. However, you can whip them up in about 10 minutes and then bake them while the other food is cooking.

Dessert

  • Ice Cream Sundaes: Set up a sundae bar for your family. Keep ingredients on hand for this and you can save a bundle by buying toppings while on sale. For example, when Halloween ends, stock up on 50% off candies that would make great ice cream toppings.
  • Light Glazed Pumpkin Cake: Looking for a dish on the lighter side? This pumpkin cake is moist, yummy, but has a fraction of the calories of regular cake.
  • Orange Dream Ice Cream Pie: This is a great dessert to serve a large family or crowd. It is much cheaper to make than to buy already made, plus you’ll have better control over the ingredients.

Of course, you can always use stand-by frugal meals such as spaghetti and salad, eggs and toast, or beans and cornbread. Rice is also an inexpensive dish when on a tight budget that you can add nearly anything to, such as chicken you found on sale or fresh veggies.

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Low Carb Protein Cookies Will Save Your Diet

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Low Carb Protein Cookies Will Save Your Diet

I’ve been working hard to eat healthier. While my scale isn’t moving super fast (I’ve lost about 7 pounds in two months), it is moving in the right direction and I feel better about what I’m putting in my body. One of my biggest down falls is my sweet tooth.

I can do well for a while but then those cravings hit. However, I have come up with a recipe that seems to help this tremendously and also puts a bit more protein in my diet. There are a ton of protein cookie recipes out there, but I found them really dry and the cookie would crumble as you tried to eat it. I started experimenting with my own recipe and here it is. It has a wonderful taste to it.

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Low Carb Protein Cookies Will Save Your Diet - Mug Cookie
Author: Crabby Housewife
Ingredients
  • 1 pat or about 1/4-1/2 tablespoon butter real butter
  • 1 teaspoon all natural peanut butter ingredients should be peanuts and salt ONLY
  • 1 tablespoon Splenda
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder I like Robb's
  • 5 Atkins candy coated chocolates
Instructions
  1. Melt butter and peanut butter in a small mug (about 20 seconds in microwave)
  2. Stir until smooth.
  3. Add Splenda and protein powder. Stir until smooth.
  4. Microwave on high for about one minute. Check. If it is not starting to firm up around the edges, nuke 20 seconds at a time until it does.
  5. Sprinkle on the candies (they will melt a bit from the heat of the cookie, but not too much).
  6. Let sit for about five minutes and enjoy. I just eat it with a spoon right out of the mug. So yummy and kills that sweet urge in a healthier way than sugar and white flour.

Note: You can also make these with chocolate protein powder. However, I think it gives them a bit of a bitter taste. I much prefer the vanilla. If you are craving chocolate, though, that might be a good solution.

photo credit: Cookie Monster via photopin (license)

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Slow Cooker Recipe for Asian Lime Chicken Wings

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Slow Cooker Recipe for Asian Lime Chicken Wings

Now that fall is here, I know my crock pot will be getting a workout. There is just something about having food cooking slow and tender all day and having that warm and comforting meal ready when you are.

My lazy heart loves slow cooker meals. Not only is everything in one pot (or two), but if your family is busy, they can serve themselves as they get home. For example, my husband made chili Wednesday. He is on vacation this week, so he’s been busy with some home improvement projects he hasn’t had time to do. My daughter has school, work, and a million activities going on. I work from home, so my schedule is more flexible.

Everyone was able to come in and eat the food as they were ready for it. My daughter ate early as she had to leave for an event on campus and to check her work schedule. My husband ate when she did. I ate later in the day. We have enough for leftovers, too, btw, which is another bonus.

This recipe is one of those that should please everyone in your family. You can nuke some precooked rice to go with it or serve with a side of salad for a full meal. It is also tasty with some sliced cabbage lightly fried in olive oil or sesame oil with onion, salt and pepper in a skillet. You only want to very quickly and lightly fry the cabbage. It should still be crunchy. However, you could also serve these wings as an appetizer at a party or take them along to an event.

This is an inexpensive dish that tastes expensive and has a slightly eastern flair that will satisfy your Chinese food cravings.

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Slow Cooker Recipe for Asian Lime Chicken Wings
Author: Crabby Housewife
Ingredients
  • 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
  • 1/8 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons Honey
  • 3 Minced Garlic Cloves
  • 2 Teaspoons Sriracha
  • 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
  • 1 Lime
  • 2-3 Pounds Chicken Wings
  • * Optional - 4 Teaspoons Corn Starch or Other Thickening Agent
Instructions
  1. Place the chicken wings into the slow cooker. I like to use the Reynolds Liners for this for easy cleanup later on.
  2. Cut the lime in half and squeeze both halves over the chicken until no more juice comes out.
  3. In a blender, combine soy sauce, vinegar, honey, minced garlic, ginger, and Sriracha (if you're adding corn starch, do so now along with two tablespoons of water). Blend until mixed and then pour over the wings.
  4. Cook on low for 7 hours.

Personally, I don’t add corn starch. I’d rather have the sauce a bit less thick than to add ingredients that simply aren’t very nutritionally valuable to my family and may even be bad for us. You may want to try this recipe first without the corn starch. If you find the sauce too runny, you can always add it next time you cook this meal.

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10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming a Parent

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10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming a Parent

There is a moment in most women’s lives where they hold a baby, see a cute child, and they suddenly want a child of their own more than anything else in the world. I like to call it baby fever. Who doesn’t love a sweet little newborn? Even when they are squalling, they are so tiny and cute.

What no one tells you, however, is that the 7 pound newborn turns into a full fledged monster as a teenager. No one warns you of a few of the things that are not so great about parenting. Below are ten things I wish I’d known before becoming a parent.

1. Babies are a 24/7 job

Yes, they are definitely cute and sweet and all that, but they are also work. A LOT of work. Between changing diapers, 2-3 hour feedings, laundering the clothes the baby spit up on, washing the baby because she also spit up all over herself, and trying to get the baby to rest, you will get very little sleep those first months.

2. You will be grossed out

At some point, and likely a lot o points, you’ll be so grossed out that you’ll want to hurl. Think diapers that explode out the back and all the way up into your baby’s hair. You’ll have to launder clothes and sheets and bathe baby, all the while choking back your urge to throw up.

3. You’ll spend many sleepless nights

Whether it is a child who is ill and calls for you every few minutes, or it is a teenager saying out past his curfew, you will lose out on a lot of sleep. This isn’t just for the first month or two, but an ongoing thing that goes on even after your child is grown.

4. Everyone you know will offer you advice, whether you ask for it or not

Everyone seems to have an opinion about whether or not your baby should be on a schedule, what schedule, what you should feed your baby, if you should let your baby cry and a million other topics. The truth is that you simply have to learn to trust your own parental instincts and do what is best for you and your baby. Relatives and friends may mean well but ultimately this is your child and you are the one raising him.

5. You’re not going to look hot and you won’t care

The days of spending three hours getting ready to go out are gone. Even if you do somehow manage to find an hour to primp, the baby will just spit up on you as you head out the door. Instead, go for classic looks, simple to put together pieces, and opt for a simple hairstyle, such as short or wear long hair up in a loose chignon.

6. You’ll love your child, but you won’t always like her

Just like us, children aren’t perfect people. Your child will lie to you, make huge messes, back talk when she hits her preteen years, do at least one rotten thing as a teenager and even aggravate you as an adult. Do your best to address the behavior while validating the person and it will all turn out okay in the end.

7. That cute baby turns into a teenager

The adorable little baby will turn into a teenager one day. The bear hugs she gives you today will turn into “don’t touch me” comments and she will fight fiercely for her independence. My husband and I used to teach youth. We’ve raised two daughters. Our niece lived with us for a while. I can assure you that every teen alive does something at some point that is rotten and will infuriate you.

Use these situations as learning opportunities. Let your child suffer the consequences. If she stayed out until 3 a.m., take her car away for two weeks and make her ride the school bus. If she got drunk at a party and you found out from another mother, ground her from attending parties.

The one exception I had with my daughters was that if she was drunk and needed a ride home, she should call me and I would not lecture or punish her. We might talk about it the next day. However, I really felt she needed that safety net if she found herself in a situation she didn’t know how to get out of.

Then, there are the moments of heartbreak. There is nothing worse than seeing your child heartbroken and knowing all you can do is offer a hug – if she’ll even let you.

8. You’ll make more trips to school than you thought possible

Especially if you stay at home and work or just stay at home (that’s work, too, btw!), your child can and will call multiple times a week with tasks. “Mom, I forgot my field trip money.”, “Mom, I sat in chocolate, can you bring me new pants?”, “Mom, please bring me lunch. I hate this food.”

You’ll grow weary of making these trips, but go ahead and make them as you’re able. This time passes so very quickly and then you’ll miss being on a first-name basis with the school secretary.

9. That teenager grows up

Then, one day you blink and your child is graduating from high school and headed off to college. Suddenly, this little being you’ve watched out for since she was in your womb is going out into the world alone. You have no control, very little input, and all you can do is pray and hope that she learned what you tried to teach her.

10. It is all worth it

In the end, being a parent is the greatest journey you’ll ever take. You’ll look back on it and remember moments of joy, tears of pain, and you’ll realize that you had a hand in shaping this amazing adult that baby has become.

I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. My life would have been incomplete without my daughters. I can’t imagine a world where they don’t exist. So, despite sleepless nights, trips to school, moments of heartbreak, I am so blessed I got to experience it all.

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Make Ahead Grilled Chicken for the Week (freezer meals, too!)

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Make Ahead Grilled Chicken for the Week (freezer meals, too!)

Grilled chicken is such a versatile and healthy food to have on hand. One of the things I love about chicken is that when cooked correctly you can keep it in the freezer or fridge to have the basis for quite a number of quick meals you can throw together on the run. Here are some ideas:

  • Microwaveable brown rice, chicken, cabbage, soy sauce (heat it all up in a skillet). So good!
  • Cabbage and grilled chicken chunks. I like with soy sauce and some onions.
  • Chicken soft tacos. Use low carb or whole wheat tortillas, add toppings like shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese and sour cream.
  • Grilled chicken salad with bagged salad and chunks of grilled chicken. We love to throw in some berries for added nutrients or even have fresh spinach as the base.
  • Grilled chicken by itself with any side.
  • Grilled chicken breasts with Monterey cheddar, diced tomatoes and bacon pieces on top.

If the chicken is precooked, I can have most of these meals together in under 10 minutes. Example, pull diced chicken from fridge, nuke frozen rice, throw rice, chicken, cabbage and soy sauce in skillet and heat through. Or, nuke precooked bacon for 1 minute or so until crispy. Add Monterey cheddar to top and nuke for a minute or so to melt cheese and heat chicken while you dice tomato. Add bacon and tomato to top. Dinner is ready!

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Make Ahead Grilled Chicken Recipe
Author: Crabby Housewife
Ingredients
  • Chicken breasts with visible fat removed.
  • Garlic powder
  • Paprika
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Olive oil
  • Parchment paper
Instructions
  1. Although you can grill this chicken on a grill or stove top, I actually prefer to bake it for the most part so it stays moister and tender when freezing, reheating, etc.
  2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. Grab a sheet of parchment paper and line as many baking sheets as you'll need depending on how many chicken breasts you are cooking. Keep in mind that juices will escape, so you want something with sides.
  4. Trim the fat from the breasts.
  5. Place side by side on top of parchment paper.
  6. Brush on olive oil to both sides.
  7. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, garlic powder (wait on paprika as it tends to take on a burnt quality in skillet).
  8. Now, preheat a large family size skillet on the stove top.
  9. You'll likely need to cook the breasts in batches, so start with your first batch.
  10. Grill each side of each breast for about two minutes or until the outside is browned.
  11. Transfer that first batch back to the parchment paper and start second batch of breasts to brown.
  12. While the second batch is browning, sprinkle on just a bit of paprika to add color.
  13. Cook breasts for 20 minutes in oven. Since you're cooking in batches, you may have them coming out at different times. You want an internal temperature of 165 degrees according to FoodSafety.gov.
  14. You can also cut through the center of the thickest breast and make sure there is no pink. Chicken has a flaky texture when cooked through. It should not be smooth or shiny.
  15. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes and then refrigerate, freeze or predice for salads and dishes.
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