Frugal In Florida

I love, love, love a spicy steak salad, or rather, an Evil Jungle Salad from Houston’s, or a spicy Asian Noodle Salad … the names can go on and on. These are generally just a bed of greens, some thin noodles, basil, mint and cilantro and thin sliced steak served with a nice spicy dressing. Some, like the one from Houston’s counterbalance the spiciness with avocado and mango slices which is delicious, but not mandatory. I am only giving the dressing recipe as the salad should be how YOU prefer … Noodles, thin slices of beef or chicken are an excellent addition ... just stay away from the boring ole iceburg lettuce ... 1 lime ½ cup oil (canola) ½ cup soy sauce (I love JCS Reggae Country Style Thick Soya Sauce) 3 tbs sesame oil 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 ½ tbs ground ginger or 3 tbs fresh grated 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped Red pepper flakes to desired hotness Cilantro, if available, chopped. Do NOT add until you are ready to serve the dressing, otherwise it gets icky. ...

I've got a birthday coming up. Not a *big* birthday, well, sort of big, because geesh...I've only got a few more years before AARP starts sending ME mail ... Every time Hubby goes to Vegas for business, I'm always like, man, wish I could go ... This year, he surprised me (and NO, he's not going on business) ... I was notified by email with an airline confirmation from the airline for our flight schedule. WOO - HOO Baby!! I do NOT know where we are staying (I think it's going to be a surprise too). UPDATE: MGM Grand! The Lion Sanctuary is there!! I've declined the opportunity to go on the sandy buggy exciting excursions (somehow, I do not think Hubby's back doctor would approve of same). I'm apprehensive about going on any rides at the Stratosphere thingy ... let alone standing in the observation deck and looking down at the city (afraid of heights and get severe vertigo ...) Hubby has recommended I have a few cocktails beforehand, yeah, so I ca...

Easter sort of snuck up on me this year. I mean, I didn't even buy any jelly beans! The kids were highly disappointed I think. We didn't even have friends over. My friends are probably highly disappointed, I think. I didn't even make a special trip to the store to buy anything for the Easter Feast. The stores are definitely disappointed, I think! I pulled out a frozen lasagna, made some french bread, the cheesecake (drizzled with carmel topping, yumm!!), deviled some eggs, sliced some cheese and some cucumbers and called it a feast. Hey, it worked for us. We had a busy weekend all around. Plus Hubby is out all week to Philly so I didn't want a lot of leftovers hanging around, you know?

I haven't been shopping shopping in a little while which is perfectly fine by me. We have PLENTY of food in this house! Saturday evenings, I usually let Hubby decide what to have for dinner, and it almost always involves the grill and late night chowing. This time around, it was Chicken Wings. I still have two 5 lb bags from a trip a while ago, so now I have one left (and a nice big spot in the freezer where the other one was!) ... All he did, easily enough, thaw the wings. Put them in a large plastic bowl. Squeezed some lemon juice out of the bottle into the bowl. Sprinkled with sea salt, mixed up and let them sit for half hour or so. Right before putting them on the grill tray (sprayed liberally with Pam), he seasoned them (in the bowl) with a little of his special poultry mix. This is a seasoning that he made himself back around Thanksgiving and keeps making more. Don't ask what it is, I don't know. We grilled those babies on low heat for a long time. And then ...

I don't *follow* it per se but do have the point plus calculator on my phone ... but listen up, there's something EVEN better! If you have a droid phone, search for WW ScanCalc. Ummm...according to that, my Coors Light that I'm currently enjoying is one mere point. Yahoo! :) Not sure if that's points plus but I can probably figure that out if necessary ... Excuse me while I run to scan some more items :)

You probably already know, but I dislike shopping at Winn Dixie. The stores are dirty, the prices are high and the employees are well, rude. There. I said it. Anyways, they have Arizon Tea, Arnold Palmer Light on sale this week. And of course, like anything else that is a decent deal nowdays, the shelves have been empty. Hubby could drink a bottle of this stuff a day if we could only get our hands on the stuff. Therefore, it's become a thing to stop at the store every night on the way home from the gym. I've struck out twice this week with the tea. However, I did get a steal...what a deal! 1 lb ground chicken, Perdue. $1 per package. Yes. You read that right folks! This stuff is normally $5.99 per package if I recall. AND WE LOVE GROUND CHICKEN TACOS!!!! So much better than ground turkey! So, I bought all 7 packages. Sell by date was yesterday (when I bought them) so I definitely need to get crackin on the packages tomorrow. Sweeeeeet deals are few and far in be...

I almost forgot that Easter is right around the corner. Oh. Like in 4 days? :) This is what happens as you get older .... So for me, perfect time to share a few egg tips and tricks!! 1. To have hard boiled eggs with beautiful yolks and none of that grey green stuff around the edges? Place eggs in pan and fill with water to cover by an inch. Bring to a boil and IMMEDIATELY remove them from the heat and cover. Let sit for 15 minutes. Cool with ice water to stop cooking. Amazing. I never knew and heck, this is way more frugal too! 2.  To peel the egg so it stays intact? First, don't start off with super fresh eggs from the chicken. Second, crack the top and bottom of egg first. Find that little inner membrane of the shell and be sure you are peeling that otherwise you will have the *dry* peel and that thin membrane will still be on the egg. Ick. I'm sure there is a true technical name for this but I'm not interested whatsoever! 3.  Deviled Eggs ... I don't have a r...