Grilled Flat Bread, Thrifty Finds

I finally got around to trying the Grilled Flatbread recipe I saw on Martha Stewart’s show a few months ago.  It was super easy and so tasty. I grilled the bread on my griddle pan.  Here’s a picture before I rolled the sandwich, which I filled with food from Expressly Leslie in Algonquin, IL. One my favorite things there is the Moroccan Eggplant Salad.  This sandwich included tabouli, z’hug, baba ganoush, and Moroccan eggplant salad. YUM!!!! We had this for dinner and then took it for lunch the next day.

I’ve had this pic on my camera for a few months. I picked up this Nordicware Gingerbread Pan at Target’s after Christmas sale for $8.50 (plus tax).  It’s just darling! Every Christmas, I make baked goods for friends and family and this will make things even more festive.

Vegan Brownies, Impulse Buy, Groundhog Day

On Sunday, I made some vegan brownies that were scrumptious. These brownies were a fudge-type brownie versus a cake-like brownie. They were easy to make and I liked them more the second day. Rob loves brownies and said these were “moist, chocolaty, and delicious.” I used the recipe from Hollywood Dish by Akasha Richmond. I had my brownie with some Raspberry Earl Grey tea from Tealuxe. As you probably already know, everything tastes better when eaten off a vintage snack set:

 

At Target I made an impulse purchase. I just couldn’t help it. I saw this Veg Hog Vegetable Brush and had to have it. I think it was something crazy like $4.99. It’s adorable and works great! Hand modeling in this picture provided by Rob as always:

When my parents came out to visit, we promised to take them to Woodstock, IL and show them where scenes from the movie Groundhog Day were filmed.  We all love that movie.  Below is a pic of the Bed and Breakfast (exterior only used in the movie). Although it was a private residence, I read in the local paper they are planning to turn it into a real Bed and Breakfast.

Spinach Pie, Thrifty Finds

Hi everyone! I’m glad I finally have some time to start updating my blog again. I’ve just been really busy. We’re enjoying our new home very much and will be doing some painting soon.  My parents came out last week to see our place. We turned one of the spare bedrooms into a guest room (the other is an office).  Everything around here is still a work in progress at the moment.

Just over two weeks ago, I had to have a root canal. Thankfully, I am feeling much better now. Rob also had a bout with the flu last week and everyone at both of  our workplaces are sick with something. I’m trying my best to fight off all these germs! I’ve even been known to “threaten” a few co-workers with being sprayed with Lysol if they come too close to my desk. LOL

Before I get to the food, I wanted to mention that my blog was included in the Top 100 Blogs for the Frugal Gourmet by the Culinary School Guide’s web site. Yay!

I checked out From the Land of Figs and Olives by Habeeb Salloum from the library and enjoyed it so much I bought my own copy. I do own another book by him, Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East & North Africa, which I highly reccommend.  I decided to make Spinach Pie.  They were pretty easy to make but a little time consuming. The spinach pies were very tasty and are a good substitute in the meantime until I go Andersonville.  Even though we live farther from the city now, we still like to go for a day trip.  Oh, and the spinach pies were plated on a salad/desert plate, not a dinner plate…sadly, I did not make ginormous spinach pies.

I am always talking about Caputo’s and I had to take a picture of my bargain bananas! This entire box was just $1.00. Yep, only a buck. I made smoothies and lots of banana bread with them. As an added bonus, I was talking about this at work which led to one of the owner’s of the company bringing me in leftover bananas she had. Score…free bananas! As a thank you, I did bring in a banana bread to share with my office. I do make other banana treats but lately, I’ve had a lot of requests for banana bread, especially from my family back in Suckigan. (yes, my rage against the state has not diminished).

I haven’t been too happy with estate sales lately. The prices are just insane and I think due to the economy, more people are going to them. I did find these six cooking booklets from the 50’s and 60’s.  They were 2/$1 but I  paid $2 for all 6. In the past, I’ve found these for 10¢ or 25¢ each…I guess I’ve become a spendthrift. Ha ha ha. These booklets were in excellent condition though and these were ones I didn’t have yet.

While flipping through one of my vintage cookbooks, I found a hilarious ad from Swan Down Cake Flour. It’s a cake recipe with the heading “Man-Dazzler”.  Since finding this ad, I will have to admit that I have announced a few dinners to Rob by saying “Here’s dinner…I call it the MAN-DAZZLER”. This is usually accompanied by “jazz hands”.

It looks like a rainy weekend so I can’t wait to get caught up on all my blog reading. Take Care!