Recipes | Clever Homemaking

Easy Fruit Salad

January 11, 2011 Jen No comments

I got the idea for this recipe from the annual Pillsbury recipe book. It is so easy to make, but tastes like a lot of effort goes in to making it!

Photo by Elana Amsterdam

Ingredients

4 oz Mandarin Oranges
4 oz Pineapple Tidbits
4 oz Mixed Fruit with Cherries
Blueberries
Sliced Banana
(Or 4 servings of ANY fruit you have on hand!*)
Lemon Yogurt

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

* This recipe is very versatile and will fit any fruit you have on hand. Now that Dole is making fruit cups with 100% juice (instead of syrup!), it’s much easier to stock single servings of fruit in your pantry. (Walmart has followed suite by making generic Great Value brand fruit cups in 100% juice!) Use these or fresh fruit to your liking.

My favorite yogurt for this recipe is Yoplait Thick & Tasty Lemon Meringue Pie.

I make this recipe for my family of 4. If you are making this recipe for a potluck, simply double or triple the ingredient list and you are all set.

Apple Crisp

September 26, 2009 Jen No comments

Photo by MrLunch

Ingredients

4 medium apples, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.

In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, spread the apples and sprinkle with sugar, lemon juice, and honey.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture crumbles.

Spread flour mixture over the apple mixture.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is browned.

Easy S’Mores Recipe

August 10, 2009 Jen 2 Comments

You don’t need a campfire to make these super easy S’mores.

Ingredients

Graham crackers
Marshmallow creme
Chocolate chips

Directions

1. Place one cracker down.
2. Spread cracker with marshmallow creme.
3. Top with chocolate chips.
4. Top with another cracker.
5. Microwave until chocolate is just starting to melt.

YUM! Some fun additions to the traditional s’mores are Reese’s cups and bananas.

Beef Roast + Leftover Tacos Recipe

July 07, 2009 Jen No comments

For this week’s HEB Bargain Meal, we are going to get two meals out of one! Tomorrow Beef Shoulder Roast goes on sale for $1.97/lb. That’s nearly half off so its a great time to buy.

Beef Roast

To cook your roast, line the bottom of your crockpot with a chopped onion. Place your roast on top of the onions. Sprinkle with taco seasoning, a 4 oz can of green chiles, 2 tsp minced garlic (or a bit of garlic powder), salt, and pepper. Add 1/2 cup beef broth to crockpot and cook all day on low.

Leftover Tacos

Shred leftover roast and use to make delicious tacos on night two!

Posted as part of $5 Dinner’s Bargain Meal of the Week. Additional Clever Homemaking Recipes.

Beef Carbonade Recipe

June 30, 2009 Jen No comments

Beef chuck steak goes on sale tomorrow at HEB. This is a good cut of meat to use when making Beef Carbonade – this week’s “Bargain Meal of the Week” in affiliation with $5 Dinners.

2 slices bacon
1 1/2 lb beef chuck steak, cut into small pieces
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup onions, chopped
3 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup beef broth
1 cup beer
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 325.

Cook bacon, remove from skillet (reserve), and use the bacon grease to brown your beef chuck steak. Remove beef from skillet. Add butter to the skillet and saute the onions until tender. Add mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add half the beef broth and all of the remaining ingredients other than the flour. Cook for 2 minutes. Mix the beef into the skillet mixture and pour into a baking dish and bake for 75 minutes.

Mix the flour and the remaining beef broth. Mix into the casserole and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles and top with crumbled bacon.

Kid Friendly Recipe: Grilled Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

June 16, 2009 Jen No comments

Ingredients:

2 slices bread
Butter
Peanut Butter
Banana, sliced

Directions:

Spread one side of a piece of bread with butter. Place in a medium heat skillet buttered side down.

Spread top of bread in skillet with peanut butter. Layer top of peanut butter with banana slices.

Spread one side of the remaining bread with peanut butter. Place peanut butter side down on top of banana slices.

Butter the top of the sandwich.

When bottom bread starts to brown, flip the sandwich. Continue cooking like a grilled cheese until both sides are golden brown.

Homemade Italian Dressing

May 04, 2009 Jen No comments

Mix together the following dry ingredients:

2 Tbsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp celery salt

In a separate container, mix together the following liquid ingredients:

2/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 Tbsp water

Add 2 Tbsp of the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients. Mix together.

Store the remaining dry ingredients for future dressing.

Homemade Easter Egg Dye

April 07, 2009 Jen 1 Comment

If you already have food coloring in your pantry, there is no need to pay for Easter Egg Kits. Simply dip your hard boiled eggs into a solution similar to the following:

1 cup of hot water
1/2 tsp white vinegar
food coloring

Add food coloring one drop at a time until you achieve the desired color.

When the valentine’s clearance reached 90% at CVS, I picked up a bunch of Disney/Pixar stickers for $.29. My 2 year old will be using these stickers to bring our homemade easter eggs to the next level!

Homemade Chili Seasoning Packet

February 20, 2009 Jen 2 Comments

You can save money when seasoning your food by eliminating the prepared seasoning packets and seasoning blends. This is our standard “Chili Seasoning Packet”.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp minced garlic

If you don’t use fresh onion in your chili, you can add a couple of Tbsp of minced or chopped dried onion to your seasoning packet.

Directions

I usually make a “packet” as I’m fixing my chili. I mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then add the seasoning to my chili. These packets are very easy to make ahead of time, however, and store in your pantry to save you some time. Simply portion out each “packet” on to a square of foil and seal. Store your packets in a ziplock bag or glass jar until needed.

Make Ahead Freezer Potatoes

February 16, 2009 Jen 1 Comment

Photo by _neona_

Ingredients

6 baked potatoes
2 Tbsp melted butter
8 oz. sour cream
4 oz. shredded cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp salt

Directions

After baking potatoes, cut in half and carefully scoop out the potato into a mixing bowl. Reserve skin. Add the remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix well. Spoon the potato mixture back in to the potato skins and refrigerate until chilled. Wrap potatoes individually in plastic wrap and freeze.

On serving day, bake thawed potatoes at 400 for about 20 minutes until golden brown.