Frugal In Florida

I am in shock that it's actually January 31st, 2015. Really?? How did that possibly happen? Geesh, time is flying again this year! Anyways. Hubby came home Friday night ... had to pick him up at the airport at 9pm and we went straight to our favorite Italian joint, Umbertos for chicken parm (me, didn't eat the pasta on the side) and linguine with white clam sauce (him) and he ate the linguine. We had 2 beers each at $4.50 each. YIKES. That was a little disappointing when I looked at the bill ... next time I won't order booze ... which really should be the general rule anyway!  We spent $70 with tip and I had the pasta and half the chicken left over that we split for lunch today.  Well, Hubby ate the pasta and half the chicken and I ate the rest of the chicken. Funny enough, I've been really watching what I eat this past week while he was traveling (since I can cook and eat whatever I want!) and notice that when I ate something heavy with flour/grains, I had a hea

You probably already know that I LOVE margaritas ... uh huh ... but not the heartburn at 2am after a few of the ones using the pre-made margarita mix ... Hubby already has the system worked out where he just pulls out the bottle of Prilosec and sets it next to my glass. Pretty pathetic, don't you think? ;-) So, that with the fact that I'm trying to eat a little healthier and more whole foods, this was a perfect recipe to give a try AND it qualifies as part of the pantry challenge since I have frozen strawberries in the freezer and way too much tequila on the bar ... plus it used the big blender which made me very happy! This makes ONE generous drink ... I had a couple and let me just tell you that 1 cup of tequila is a LOT ;-)  Was wishing the following morning that Hubby had set out the bottle of Advil too! 1/2 cup tequila 1/2 cup frozen strawberries juice of half a lime 1/2 tbs triple sec 1/2 tsp powdered sugar 1/4 cup sparkling water (I grabbed the soda stream

I've been wanting to remake this recipe for awhile and said THIS is the week ... but then I found out that Hubby was going out of town (Yeah! and BOOO!) ... but figured, heck, I'm still going to make this and will just serve it to him on Friday when he gets home from his trip (it will be late, 10ish) ... And believe it or not, it qualifies as Pantry Challenge friendly in that I have everything on hand to make it ... sweet! Here's how I did it: 2 1/2 lbs of ground beef (umm, 90/10 is what I used because it's what I had) 2 egg, beaten 2 shallot, chopped or 1/4 onion chopped 2 clove garlic, chopped 6 tbs parsley chopped 1 tsp ground mustard 3 tbs panko or bread crumbs 1/4 c plus a dash  flour (I still want to try almond meal but will again til next time) 2 tbs oil 2 tbs butter salt  and pepper to taste Then you need this to make the gravy (this made tons of gravy which was good with the noodles): 4 tbs butter 3 8 oz package of shrooms, sliced (or 3