Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts

Monday, April 5, 2010

Overdosing on Chocolate Bunnies


**Thank you East-ah Bunnie**  (for the 4 pounds of chocolate that you left in your wake!) So, what to do with all of that leftover candy?   Yes, in my household (so far) there is leftover candy (grandma gave BabyK a bunny the same size as her- and I think weighs as much too!)
  • 1 Peep + a choice bunny part + 2 crunchy graham crackers = mmmm s'mores!
  • Put in a resealable bag and crush and add to brownies, cake batter, or cookie dough as an extra "homemade" touch
  • Got milk?  Pour melted bunny into your milk for yummy choc-milk or hot cocoa, or even your morning java jolt
  • Random mini bunnies make for a great cordial- cut of the tip of the ear(s), pour in a shot of your fave liquor and make a toast to EB Bunny
  • Melt down the chocolate in a double boiler and use for:
    • chocolate covered strawberries (they're in season right now!)
    • chocolate covered Peeps (umm, I like those nasty marshmallow-y things!)
    • chocolate covered pretzels (heck, sprinkle these with any other leftover candy- perfect salty/ sweet snack!)
    • dip plastic spoons into melted chocolate, wrap with plastic and save for your morning mochas! 
    • 're-purpose' your chocolate and pour into plastic candy molds and 're-gift!'
    • Fondue- who says you can't have chocolate for dinner (forget the cheese!)
    • ice cream topping
    • ... need I go on?  What DOESN'T chocolate go yummy with?
I was thinking that I should do an entry for the leftover eggs, but that's so not as much fun!  Besides, the picture of the cute baby and two dozen eggs isn't as cute as the one above!

Enjoy your chocolate!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Magical Frittata!!!

It's like a sandwich without bread.... but better- lots of protein and yummy fabulousness cracked into a pan! Since it does require a little bit of 'oven' time, it might not be exactly suitable for the HOT summers, but it's such a great meal, how can you resist???

Gather your main ingredients and then Preheat oven to 350°F. You can vary your fritatta depending on your mood (or what you have in your pantry and fridge at the time!) so feel free to be creative!

The basic foundation is:

4- ounces cream cheese, softened
6 to 8 eggs
1/3 cup of milk, cream or even some sour cream diluted with water
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper


Whisk all of the above ingredients together until blended and then set aside while you get the "fillings" together and set aside. You'll also need potatoes- either 1 to 2 cups of hash browns, thinly sliced potatoes (any variety) or even tater tots!

Whatever filling you decide (about 1-1/2 cups total) to use will have to be cooked or sauteed prior to adding the egg mixture, so you can use leftovers from dinner, or saute up some fresh veggies! Make sure that all of the fillings are diced fairly small. The potatoes can be thrown in towards the end of the cooking process (until slightly transparent) and then remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg mixture over the top and bake in the oven until done.

I love a vegetarian version myself- artichokes, feta cheese, sauteed red pepper and some lemon zest- you can add herbs to taste and then serve with some fresh lemon wedges.

Other variations:
  • Denver- ham, bell peppers, cheddar cheese and onion
  • Farmer's Market- broccoli, sliced red potato, zucchini, peppers
  • Brunch- ham, sausage, onion, bacon, cheese
  • Italian- peppers, sliced tomato, Parmesan, basil and lots of garlic- you could even substitute cooked pasta or rice for the potatoes
  • Pesto- asparagus, garlic, pesto sauce, Parmesan
Place in oven and bake 18-20 minutes or until egg mixture is set in center. Remove from oven; serve warm. ENJOY!!!

The leftovers make a great lunch or snack!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

What Happens In Vega$... a Random Rant!

.... makes you a guest of the Clark County Bed & Breakfast, or as my darling mom says, "Go on Vacation, leave on Probation!" Oh, don't worry, not the case for myself or my DH- but while in Lost Wages last week, we saw three separate occassions of police action- one was being filmed by cither "Cops" or "Jail" (the camera crew was a dead giveaway), the second was questionable as to if it was just a hefty fine or even worse- bail, and the third, well, let's say that someone didn't know that Las Vegas Boulevard is arguably the slowest street in the nation and tried to make a run, after "a hit!" Can you imagine the sheer humiliation of being handcuffed right in front of the New York, New York while 12 of Las Vegas' finest congregate and tourists take pictures (no, not me!). When we were there in April, we saw another incident where the police officer was going to let the lady (and I'm using that term losely here) go, and she kept mouthing off, and then off she went to jail! The joys of people watching in Sin City! Oh, c'mon, you know you would stop and watch too- it's one of the FREE things to do in Vegas! I had to restrain myself from providing my neighbor's- the bailbondsman, don't laugh, it's true (and actually needing him for a friend is a subject of another post!)- card to the poor individuals who had the unfortunate experience with LVPD.... speaking of restraint....


Do you know how you see a 'sign-spinner' and wonder how they can actually get people to perform that job? There is worse, and dealing with the lesser model of the sign-spinner requires restraint! For those of you that have ever been to Vegas and have walked down the "strip," you will full on understand this, for those of you that haven't, when you do finally see it , you'll laugh and think of me! Okay, so there are people that stand on nearly every square inch of the populated strip and hand out baseball-card sized flyers for, um, professional women to passers-by. They often slap their inner arms once or twice and then try to hand off the "advertisement" to you. Mind you they are also usually wearing neon shirts, and hundreds of these guerilla marketers liter the street with these cards. As if the "slap, slap, pass" isn't enough to get your attention, they might throw in an occassional whistle, or now, their handlers have the poor people wearing half of a sandwich board that extends a foot over their heads. I'm sure to ignore the moving billboard trucks that crawl down Las Vegas Boulevard displaying said professional women, but these little um, porn flickers will definately convince me to call 966-BABE. Oh, and the target market certainly is equal opportunity- men, women, old, young (yes, even kids!) aren't off limits. So, my question is how do they get paid? By each porn card they hand off? and how do you find this job- on craigslist under promoters? I equate them much to the kiosk-workers at the mall- you know, you hug the wall to avoid ending up getting some random hand cream slapped on you, or even pretend to be on the phone and avoid eye-contact at all costs. Ugh- how annoying!

Okay, I said it was going to be a random rant! But really, I do love Vegas! And this particular time, we actually extended our visit as we were having so much fun. We weren't winning tons of dinero, but enough to stay over. Mind you that one of the reasons that we did stay over was becuase of the three hour delay at the airport (only one runway is open) and we didn't spend as much time on the strip that we wanted. Changing our flight to the next day meant that we had to get up at 4:30 a.m., but our flight only had NINE (seriously...) people on it and wasn't delayed.

Some interesting points:
  • Do you know how many people are still awake at 4:30 a.m.? We passed a trio of girls that were strolling in from what appears to be an all-nighter clubbing. Oh to be young again! And there were FULL tables of people gambling. I know, it's Vegas and it never sleeps, but its still crazy!
  • If you are going to Vegas and want to save some money, sign up for the Pocketbook of Values through the Anthony Curtis' Las Vegas adviser . You will save tons of money on BOGO buffets and even match play. Also, check out the American Casino Guide- it's full of deals as well. These include hotel deals that are BOGO and can save money on the hotels. Between the two books, we made about $150 on match play- seriously- and ate for dirt cheap. You might also try the entertainment book, but the 2009 version wasn't as good as others. I also recommend Tickets2night and Half price tickets- there are kiosks everywhere and they sell tickets for that night's performances as well as discount vouchers for many nice restaurants. We saw CarrotTop and Mystere for 1/2 price (although that was in previous trips)- so if you can be flexible, you'll save money on show tickets and you HAVE to see a Vega$ show at least once. We found out that you can catch a shuttle from Harrah's to the Rio and Gold Coast, the Palms and The Orleans for just a tip. Also, if you take their transit system, the Deuce, for just under $2 you can get around the strip or even take it to Fremont Street.

So, like I said, completely random- but I do feel better now that I shared! (: And I'm sure that you will totally think of me the next time you are in Lost Wages and see a porn flicker!