Sides- Cilantro Lime Rice

So tonite went better. I bought some Carnitas from BJ's and they were awful! No flavor, fatty, yucky...should I go on? Nah.

To the right you will find my Cilantro Lime Rice. It's actually pretty good. We get this at one of the "Chain" Mexican restaurants in our area. The flavor is subtle, yet delicious.


2 cups chicken broth
1 cup rice
dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper
1-2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro
1 TBS lime juice (give or take, more or less, whatever)

Bring broth to a boil and then add rice
Throw in all the other stuff, cover and let it roll
When rice is pretty much done I add a little more lime juice

Side- Chinese Noodles

So tonight wasn't as successful as yesterday. Good, not great. I made Potstickers that I bought frozen from Bj's and those were delicious, however, my Chinese Noodles left a little to be desired. They were a good start, but need a lot of work.

I used ramen noodles because the chinese noodles at my store were like $4 and that defeated the whole "save money" thing so I opted to borrow ramen's noodles! :)

3 packs ramen noodles, discard flavor pack
1 packet of stir fry dry seasoning (follow directions, sugar, soy, water)
1/2 cup broccoli
2 eggs

After I boiled the noodles I heated up the pot again and stir fried the broccoli in a tid bit of oil.
Added the noodles, stir fry sauce and scrambled eggs.
Eh, it was ok. Christopher ate all of it that I put on his plate (except the broccoli) but I didn't think it was all that good. The flavor was pretty good, but the noodles went soggy on me too soon. BUT, I should have known that would go down all sogged-like. So in the future I will spring for the real Chinese noodles!

Sides are important, too.

This little experiment has taken a turn for the best? I work late almost every night and even tho I enjoy cooking....it's late and I'm tired! Grabbing take out 3-5 nights a week adds up. I spend on average $20.00 a night for Christopher and I. Also, do you ever get in a rut and everything you work so hard making turns out to be junk? I'm there. I always overlook side dishes because after I slave away over the main course I don't care anymore about sides. So the purpose of "Sides are important, too" has a few main goals:

1. Try some new side recipes and make my own
2. Save money
3. Because I've been reading the Pioneer Woman's blog and decided I needed a project


I went to BJ's (bulk store) and bought some of the premade, gulp, frozen entree's. Go ahead and stone me now. Blasphemy! It'll all make sense...maybe. This evening we had Premade Chicken Cordon Bleu, Macaroni and Cheese and my new side dish Big Bird Bowl. (I can name it whatever I want, don't roll your eyes at my corny name...hehehe it also has corn in it!)

1 Small yellow squash (cut into thin slices)
1 Small can of corn
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dash cayenne
2 TBS butter
Handfull of french fried onions

Melt butter over medium-high heat
Add squash slices and stir to coat in butter
Add spices, however much tickles your fancy. I went easy on the garlic and cayenne, little heavy on the onion.
Sautee until squash starts to brown a tid bit.
Add corn and stir to heat thru.
Add handful of french fried onions (again, however much floats your boat)

I'm not a big squash fan, but I actually really liked this. Everything in it is yellow and I figured if Big Bird were to ever come over for dinner that he'd probably like this.

So lets review:

Frozen Chicken Cordon Blew $10.00 for pack of 6. I used 3: $5.00
Box of the fancy mac n' cheese that I got onsale 2 weeks ago: $2.00
Squash, corn and such maybe: $3.00

Total of $10.00! I saved $10 this evening. Yeaaahhhhhh!

Mega Breakfast 3

It was time for another Mega Breakfast! Allison just had baby Ellie and she was 3 days old! We had some of the regulars: bacon, sausage, grits, eggs, hashbrown casserole....U get it. Some additions were added.


Sausage Gravy:

1 package of Jimmy Dean Ground Sausage (sage is the best for this)
Good 3 TBS flour
2 cups milk
Biscuits (duh)

Crumble and brown sausage
Sprinkle flour over sausage and cook until browned. You don't want that flourey taste!
Gradually stir in Milk.
Salt, Pepper and throw it on a biscuit!


I had some boneless ham steaks in the fridge and had a burning desire to eat them that morning.

2 ham steaks cut into 6 pieces
Brown Sugar
Small can of sliced pineapple
Hungry belly

Heat griddle to about 350
Slater both sizes of ham w/ brown sugar and cook until brown and heated thru. Throw the pineapple on there too and brown it a bit.
Add about TBS of brown sugar to pineapple juice
When I took the ham off the griddle and into my serving dish I poured the pineapple/brown sugar sauce over it. Big Hit! Too Easy!!





Here's Ellie! Isn't she the sweetest little thing!

Below is the whole Shebang! Yummy!