Holiday Entertaining: Start Planning Now with This Guide

Are you planning on entertaining this holiday season? Are you tired of trying to live up to all of the gorgeous pictures and ideas in those magazines at the checkout stands, and failing? Because, really, no one can recreate those tables and that home decor, except, of course, Martha herself.

If you're looking for ideas on how to beautifully decorate your home, cook a feast fit for a king, get the kids and the rest of the family involved all without losing your sanity and still keeping money in the bank, this guide is for you.

Erin Chase, also known as the $5 Dinner Mom, has created the perfect guide to thriving, not just surviving, this holiday season: The Holiday Entertaining Guide.

The guide includes:

• How to budget for your holiday meal
• What you must include and what you can leave out
• Getting the most value from your coupons
• A plan for cooking everything all in one oven
• How to turn the leftovers into more great meals

And best of all, with this guide you get 30 simple recipes. Now that's a deal.

The Holiday Entertaining Guide is available now in eBook format, but it's also available for your Kindle, Nook, and coming soon to your iPad and Kindle Fire. Get it now!

You'll also receive the following bonuses:

• FREE Holiday Planners
• FREE Holiday Treats - an additional 10 recipes for yummy holiday sweets!

Special Offer!
Get The Holiday Entertaining Guide now for 50% Off! Enter the coupon code THANKS to receive The Holiday Entertaining Guide, free printable planners, and free additional 10 treat recipes for just $1.99. Go get it!

To give you a little taste of what's included in the guide, here's a sample recipe:

Carmelized Onion and Blue Cheese Bruschetta

Two powerful and delicious flavors collide over toasted bread slices.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 white onions, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
16 slices baguette bread, thinly sliced
½ cup blue cheese crumbles

DIRECTIONS

“Balsam-melize the onions” – In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, then stir in the chopped onions, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Let cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring often. (The onions can be cooked up to 2 days ahead of time and stored in the freezer until ready to assemble and broil.)

Meanwhile, slice the baguette bread, place on a baking sheet and run under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes to toast the pieces some. Then add the “balsam-melized” onions and a few crumbles of blue cheese to each bread slice. Run under the broiler again for 1 to 2 minutes, until cheese softens.

Serve Caramelized Onion and Blue Cheese Bruschetta.

Makes 16 appetizers.
 
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Doesn't this make you want more? Go here to get your Holiday Entertaining Guide now!
 
 
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Recipe: Easy Beef Enchiladas

I don't even know how I started making this recipe, but I whipped it up one time for my parents back in my single days, and it's been a hit in my family ever since. My kids even love these enchiladas, and that's saying a lot right there. The recipe has been adapted a little bit over the years here and there - sometimes rice and/or refried beans will be added - but for the most part it stays pretty basic. I hope you love it as much as we do.

Shannon's Easy Beef Enchiladas

Photos Coming Soon!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 packet Taco Seasoning
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pack flour tortillas, small or medium, whichever you prefer - base it on your pan size
• 2 cups chredded cheddar cheese (I prefer Sharp)
• 2-3 small cans or 1 large can Old El Paso Red Enchilada Sauce (my fave) - amount depends on how saucy you like your enchiladas

Brown ground beef with onion until cooked through. Mix in taco seasoning according to instructions on packet. Remove from heat.

Pour about 1/4 cup enchilada sauce in bottom of greased baking dish and spread around. I usually use a 9x13 glass dish.

Place one tortilla on a plate, and spread about a teaspoon of sauce around entire tortilla. Scoop meat and onion mixture on tortilla, then sprinkle with cheese. Roll, and place seam down in pan.

Continue with the rest of tortillas until you either run out of meat or space in the pan.

Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas, making sure all of them are covered. I also like to make sure the sauce gets down in between the enchiladas - if they're packed tightly in the pan, I just scooch (technical term) them aside a bit as I pour the sauce.

If you're freezing the enchiladas to cook later, STOP HERE. Cover the pan in foil, then wrap in foil again. If you're using a smaller pan, like an 8x8 foil pan, cover in foil, then slip into a freezer bag. Make sure you mark the package somehow that's Enchiladas. No one likes a mystery pack in the freezer! When you're ready to bake the enchiladas, thaw, remove foil, then continue the steps below.

Top entire dish with shredded cheese according to your taste. We love cheese in this house, so I usually use a full 2 cups on the top.

Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes or until it's nice and bubbly and the cheese on top is melted. Tip: If you like crispy, or slightly burnt cheese, leave them in a bit longer. We happily discovered this one time when using an unfamiliar oven timer.

Dig in and enjoy!

The great thing about this recipe is that it's easy to adapt to your tastes. The measurements aren't exact; use as much or as little sauce and cheese as you like. Add more vegetables, use chicken or turkey instead of ground beef if you like.



Recipe: Crockpot Salsa Chicken

If you're a crockpot nut like me, you're going to love this. The only thing better than throwing something in the crockpot in the morning to be ready that evening is just dumping the premixed ingredients out of a freezer bag into the crockpot. No fuss, no gathering of ingredients, just dump it, turn on the crockpot (a very important step), then go!

If you've been paying attention, I've started a series called Freezer Cooking Fridays right here on this blog. This series stemmed from my newfound love of Freezer Cooking, so I've been trying to combine Freezer Cooking and Crockpot Cooking. The results have been great so far! It's simple: take your favorite Crockpot recipe, gather ingredients, do any prep work needed, put everything in a freezer bag, and pop it into the freezer. Then when that busy morning comes along, toss everything from the freezer bag into the crockpot, set it, and you're done! You don't even have to thaw it out, which works out great for me.

So, are you ready to try it for yourself? Here's a perfect recipe to get you started with Crockpot Freezer Cooking...

Crockpot Salsa Chicken - Freezer Style

photos coming soon!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 jar of salsa or picante sauce (regular size jar)
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can of corn, drained, or about 2 cups of frozen corn

Combine ingredients in freezer bag, place in freezer. Done!

Night before Cooking Day: take bag out of freezer and leave in fridge overnight. If it doesn't thaw a little bit, you might have a hard time fitting the frozen chunk into the crockpot.

On Cooking Day: Dump contents of freezer bag into crockpot, and cover. Cook on low 8 hours or until it looks good. If ingredients aren't frozen, cook on low 4 hours or until chicken is no longer pink.

Enjoy!

Cheeseburger Meatloaf - The Recipe

-- Photo Courtesy of MoneySavingMom --

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup uncooked regular oats (I had to substitute crushed Ritz crackers - still yummy!)
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp. minced onion (I used chopped raw onion)
1 large egg
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 dry mustard
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup chili sauce (I substituted barbecue sauce instead)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 11 ingredients in a large bowl; stir just until blended. Shape mixture into a loaf, and place in an ungreased 8×4-inch loafpan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Pour chili sauce over meat loaf, and bake 40 more minutes or until meat is no longer pink in center. Let stand for 10 minutes. Drain and cut into 8 slices.

To freeze: If you used meat that had not yet been frozen, you can freeze this uncooked. When you’re ready to eat, thaw, and follow the instructions above for cooking.

If your meat had already been frozen, bake without chili sauce on top. Freeze. When you’re ready to eat, thaw meatloaf. Pour chili sauce (or BBQ sauce) on top and heat in oven until hot.

---> Shannon's Note -> Freezer Packaging: Form into loaf, then wrap in plastic wrap. Wrap again in foil, label, and toss in the freezer.


-- Recipe and photo courtesy of Money Saving Mom


My First Attempt at Freezer Cooking - And Not the Last!

--Photo Courtesy of DailyDishRecipes 

Freezer cooking. Have you tried it? A few months ago I decided I would give it a go and see what it's all about. I had read about it on sites such as Money Saving Mom and Once a Month Mom, and was intrigued. You mean I can prepare and/or cook a bunch of meals in one day and then throw them in the freezer for later? Then on a busy weeknight just throw something in the oven and be done? I'm in.

I actually didn't even go overboard on this project - shocker I know. I decided that I would buy a cookbook and look online, pick out a few recipes, then prepare enough meals for a week's worth of dinners. I did a bit of research and found Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer on Amazon, used some Amazon gift cards I got from Swagbucks, and poof! it was at my door in a couple of days. Have I mentioned lately that I love Amazon? Anyway...As soon as I received the book I was going through and making lists; tons of great recipes that even my kids would eat. Cheesy Chicken Bundles? Done. Hawaiian Chicken in the Crockpot? You betcha. There's even a recipe for Teriyaki Sauce that looks good, but I still need to make.

So I did my shopping, hit Sam's Club for the huge trays of ground beef and chicken breasts, the regular grocery store for the fill-in ingredients and I was ready. I temporarily misplaced my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but here's a list of what I prepared:

• 2 pounds of taco meat (browned ground beef with taco seasoning)
• 2 loaves of Cheeseburger Meatloaf (check "Recipes" page for details)
• 1 Hawaiian Chicken Crockpot dish - just need to thaw it and throw it in the crockpot - done!
• 8 or 10 (I forget) Cheesy Chicken Bundles - probably enough for 2 meals, the way the kids eat
• About 2 dozen meatballs - and I LOVE meatballs, so this will just be enough for one meal

All in all, I have about 8 meals ready and waiting in my freezer, and I did this all on a Sunday afternoon. There was very little cooking involved, thankfully - really the only cooking I did was the ground beef for tacos. Everything else I just prepared, packaged, and tossed in the freezer. Love it! Now all I have to do is figure out what we're having when, take it out of the freezer to thaw, then pop it in the oven. Dinner's ready! I love making taco filling ahead of time; all I have to do is warm up the meat, set up the taco toppings, and dinner's ready in about 5 minutes. Perfect.

If you're new to Freezer Cooking, or Once a Month or Week Cooking, I highly recommend Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer. There are lots of other books out there on the subject, and excellent blogs and ideas online, but this is the book I used. They explain in great detail the best way to package the meals for the freezer, and all of the recipes sound yummy.

I'll post the recipe for the Cheeseburger Meatloaf right after this one. Its SO yum. You'll love it.

In my research for this post, I also found Daily Dish Recipes, and am totally in love. I'll be doing lots of recipe-printing in a few minutes!

Weekend Wrap-Up, May 2

As always, I didn't get as much finished this weekend as I had wanted to, but I did get a few things accomplished. I think I expect too much out of myself, since weekends are really the only time I have to seriously craft. I also have to remember that the weekends are the only time I can really spend quality time with my children, and, well, the crafting falls to the wayside most of the time, and that's okay.

Ever since I made my first Oreo-stuffed Brownies, I wanted to try it again with mint cookies. And I did! I followed the same basic recipe: brownie mix, marshmallow creme, cookies. Only this time I used the Mint Fudge Creme Oreos instead of the regular. They were SO yummy! I highly recommend trying these brownies if you haven't already. Of course I didn't get any pictures this time around, but they look basically the same as this:

So, if you like minty cookies and brownies, you won't regret trying this one. Go here for directions and more pictures.

I also completed an order for my Redneck Wine Glasses. I still chuckle at these whenever I see them. I think Vivian's going to love her glass!

My daughter and I went shopping on Saturday afternoon, and we found these fun water bottles for kids. Of course my first thought was, I can personalize these! My daughter's first thought was, I want one in every color! That's my girl. So we got a bunch of them, in every color, and I put her name on her favorite color, pink. I love this font I just discovered recently, too: Ziggy Zoe. So fun, and perfect on this bottle.

The available colors for the water bottles are: pink, green, purple, red, blue, turquoise, and orange. I think they look great with white personalization, but other colors are available too. These are now avaiable in the shop, check them out!

That was my crafting for the weekend. What did you do? I'd love to see it. :)

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Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls - A Love Story

When I went home earlier this month to visit my parents, I rediscovered something from my childhood that I absolutely loved: homemade chocolate-covered peanut butter eggs. One bite, and I was in heaven. It took me back to the days when I didn't have a care in the world.

When I got home to Atlanta, I decided that I would make these delightful eggs for myself, and thus began the quest for the perfect Peanut Butter egg recipe. Little did I know that my own dear grandmother (may she rest in peace) used to make these eggs for her kids - for some reason she never made them for my generation, her grandchildren, but I'll let that one slide. So, a special thank you to my Aunt Cindy for sharing Grandma's recipe with me. I'll be sure to pass it on!

If you want to make these for yourself, here's what you need:

• 2 pounds of powdered sugar (10x)


• 1 cup peanut butter - I prefer Jif, but use your favorite brand


• 2 cups marshmallow creme


• 1/4 pound margarine (1 stick)


• a smidge of milk, if the mixture gets too dry - I had to use a little bit because the dough, or batter, was getting too hard to mix together


• chocolate to melt for dipping - I used milk chocolate chips, but you can use semi-sweet or dark. Whatever you prefer.

Mix ingredients together, kind of like pie crust. I ended up having to use my hands because it really was doughy, and I had to knead it in order to get it all mixed together. I think next time I'll try my stand mixer and let it do the dirty work. If it just gets too thick to mix together, that's where the milk comes in. Just add a little at a time until everything is mixed together nicely.

Instead of shaping the dough/batter/mixture into egg shapes, I just rolled them into balls. After all that kneading, I was ready for something quick and easy, so rolling the balls fit the bill. At this point it's best to put the rolled balls in the fridge to set for at least an hour. Try to hold out, it's worth it! Some recommend letting them sit over night in the fridge, but I just can't wait that long.

Once everything is nice and firm, it's time to dip them in chocolate! I used my handy dandy little Wilton Chocolate Pro to melt the milk chocolate chips. Of course you can also melt the chocolate in the microwave or crockpot. I think a crockpot would be nice and easy, since it will keep the chocolate melted until you're finished.

Use a skewer or a fork to stab each ball and roll it in the melted chocolate, making sure it's covered entirely.

Plop the chocolate covered goodies onto wax paper to set, cover the holes with more chocolate, and you're finished!

I could barely stand to let them set as long as they needed to, so I put the first batch in the fridge until the chocolate wasn't so gooey. The second batch I'm just letting sit out overnight to see how that works.

When the chocolate is set, grab one and dig in!

So yummy - enjoy!

The next time I make them, I'm going to add a little more peanut butter, just because I love peanut butter. I'm a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg addict, but I really think these give the Reese's eggs a real run for the money!

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Oreo Stuffed Brownies - A Recipe

I was bloghopping the other day when I stumbled upon this sinfully delicious-looking recipe over at Moms of all Trades: Oreo Stuffed Brownies. Brownies? Oreos? Marshmallow Creme? I'm all over it. And boy-oh-boy, I did not regret trying this out one little bit. Do you want to try it?

Here's what you need:

• Brownie Mix - any brand/variety will do


• Oreo cookies, or other chocolate and cream-type cookie - I used the store brand because I didn't have a coupon for regular Oreos (I'm thrifty that way). They taste just as good as the real thing for this project. Next time I'm going to try the Mint Oreos for that extra little kick


• Marshmallow Creme - usually found in the baking aisle, or maybe even close to the peanut butter

Step 1: Spray muffin tins with Pam, making sure to cover completely

Step 2: Mix brownies according to package directions. Add 1/2 cup marshmallow creme, mix well.

Step 3: Open up your cookies. Try not to eat them all...

Step 4: One cookie at a time, dip into brownie batter, making sure cookie is completely covered.

Step 5: Place in muffin tin. I also scooped a little extra batter on top of the dipped cookie, just to make sure there was enough.

Step 6: Bake according to package directions. Mine got a little charred around the edges, but I didn't mind. I like the crispy brownies.

Step 7: Let cool, them pop them out of the muffin tins. From the outside you can't even tell there's a supersweet surprise inside...

Once they've cooled just a little bit, take a bite, and enjoy!

You're welcome. :)

Just think of all the wonderful goodies that could be stuffed into brownies!

Easy Weeknight Recipe: Monterey Chicken

I know it's Saturday, but I decided to go ahead and post an easy recipe, perfect for a weeknight! My friend Jennifer discovered how easy and delicious Monterey Chicken is, and I had to try it.

Here's what you need:

• McCormick Grill Mates Monterey Chicken Seasoning


• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - I used three rather large pieces for the 4 of us


• Lawry's Seasoned Salt


• About 2 tbsp of butter or margarine

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease your baking dish with Pam, just in case.

Coat both sides of each chicken breast lightly with Lawry's, then again with the Monterey Chicken seasoning. Place in dish.

Put a little splap of butter or margarine on each chicken breast.

That's it! Put them in the oven for about 35 minutes or until the juices run clear, then serve and enjoy! Tonight we had rice and veggies on the side, but of course any side will do.

Yum!

If you try it, let me know what you think! The seasoned chicken is also good in salads, and I have a hunch it would be quite tasty in tacos or sandwich wraps as well...I think I'm going to have to try that. There are also other varieties of the Grill Mates seasoning I'm going to try. This one is so good, the others can't be that bad, right?

Enjoy!

- No, this was not a sponsored post. :)