Frugal In Florida

Over here , I shared the recipe for this fun sounding martini but it didn't have the wow factor I was looking for ... so I wanted to retry it again this past Friday. I did, and WOW!! Vanilla vodka gives it the OOMPF that I was looking for. Wowee.  So very good that I just made a batch for tonight's dinner party with one cup of vanilla vodka and once cup of pineapple juice, tossed in my reusable water bottle, shaken and tossed in the freezer. Ummm, after a 'few' of these on Friday, I just tossed the skewer and dropped 2 cherries and 2 pineapple chunks in the bottom of the glass...definitely made the red pop! NOTE: I bought the Smirnoff brand of Vanilla Vodka, because there weren't very many options and I wanted the least expensive one since I'm not sure what else I'd use it for ... I believe it was $10.99 which is CHEAP in my opinion for Vodka (and just a side note, no hangover, unusual for cheap vodka fo...

I made these last weekend, just one. It didn't knock my socks off because: a. I didn't use vanilla vodka, big mistake b. the pineapple juice is unsweetened and I like sweet things. This weekend, I'm picking up a SMALL bottle of vanilla vodka and doing a remake ... you should too! 3 ingredients, way too easy ... Of course, found it on Pinterest and the video is pretty cool so I highly recommend you watch so it shows you how a PROFESSIONAL bartender does it. Me? I'm a simple girl who likes to entertain at home, so I do it different! Here's what you need: 1/2 ounce grenadine  (see the canning jar there? I MADE MY OWN ... watch for recipe) 2 ounces pineapple juice (no sugar added!) 2 ounces vanilla vodka (redoing with vanilla vodka!) If you have, cherries and pineapple chunks for garnish Pantry staples in this house Pour the grenadine directly into your martini glass Pour the other 2 liquids in a shaker filled with ice. Cap the shaker...

One of the key things about being frugal is the ability to improvise. Well, sort of ... I planned on making a little veggie and chicken stir fry ... I had some chicken that I was thawing and was going to use up some of the frozen veggies from the mammoth bag taking valuable space up in the freezer ... But I ALSO had some chicken and gouda sausages that I took out a few days ago ... (didn't happen, didn't cook anything last week, not ONCE) And mushrooms I picked up on Friday to do shrimp skewers (see comment above, didn't happen). And a red pepper that was bought to do the oriental cabbage salad thingy ... it's starting to go squishy in areas (again, see above, DID NOT HAPPEN). AND the rest of a LARGE onion (I only needed a little bit for the Chicago Dogs) that was seeping fumes into the fridge through it's plastic bag ... Ahhh...what the heck, lets just fire up the grill and cook it ALL. Yes, I knew it was 8pm on a Monday night. Put chicken br...

It's bad that whenever we go to visit family in the Midwest, (Chicago to be exact), the first thing Hubby does is start looking for a hot dog stand ... all he wants is a Dog. Chicago Style. Even my kids, the pickiest one of them all, enjoys them. Not sure if it's the sport pepper or what ... Heck, even I like them and they have mustard and relish on them! Two things I don't particularly care for! So we try to recreate things that we like at home ... and of course, these are pretty dang easy. So much so that when Princess had to contribute to a "Food Tradition" project at school her senior year, this is what she took ... (we added green food coloring to the relish to make it brighter green and cut the dogs and buns in half) Here's what you need: Dogs ... these need to be a good quality dog. This time around I used the Oscar Meyer Select Chicago style dogs. I like these as they don't have a whole lot of extras in them! Buns - squishy white buns....

It's going to be a rough week around here, I fly out next week to bring my dad back to Florida on Easter Sunday ... in the meantime, I need to be crunching numbers, checking out assisted living facilities and making phone calls with regards to Medicare Part D (I think he will be able to sign up since he's moved to another state) and Veterans Aid and Assistance benefits (they will apparently HELP with the cost of assisted living facilities in certain instances). If these two things are positive, I will be able to put my dad in a GOOD place. And I will be able to sleep easier. This past week, I didn't make one single thing on the menu. NOT ONE. I didn't make dinner ONE time. Seriously. I think I finally ate dinner Saturday after my girlfriend and I got back. Hubby made some burgers for us, and I chowed. I know that dealing with stress means EATING but honestly, I can see how people just say they can't. I couldn't for 5 days. Booking the flight Saturday somehow t...

This is so late in happening, I'm almost ashamed to even post the list on MARCH 18! Good grief. It was suppose to happen at the first of the year to kick start the Year of Zero ... Of course, when I started doing this, just like that I REMEMBERED the deep freeze at my dad's place ... I never even looked in there. Oh boy.  He seems to think perhaps my brother and wife were tapping in and removing stuff ... I hope so! Anyways ... here's what I got started so far: Guest Freezer: 14 bags (2cup) mozzarella cheese 2 bags of Tabasco pulp 2 OM Black Angus hot dogs (these are pretty much the ONLY dog I will eat now) OM Chicago style hot dog 2 bags (1lb) key west shrimp 2 lb bag (open) large key west shrimp (shell on) cheddar cheese (2 cup) 2 gallon size ziploc of red sauce 3 (1cup) parm romano cheese shreds 40 ct egg rolls 4 pkgs pineapple meatballs (I'm the only one that will eat these) 2 bags brocolli (smaller bags) 3 1/4 lb bag of cooked chi...

It's that time again ... time to root around and see what we have to eat this week! Actually, we have a lot. I was doing SO VERY WELL for a while there, and well, these past 2 weeks I've been quite a grocery shopping machine. Uggg.  I spent a few hours on Sunday organizing two of the three freezers and all I can say is WOW we have a lot of food. Seriously. A LOT. I need to commit to avoiding the grocery stores for at least a week, skip the whole $20 a week thing PERIOD. I also believe that Sonny Boy may be coming home for a few days this week ... his girlfriend is needing to get some service hours in at a school (she is getting a teaching degree) so she doesn't want to drive by herself so he will probably drive with her. On to the menu plan.... Sunday - wanted to make homemade pizzas BUT as Hubby pointed out, we have leftovers which was this lovely mushroom sauce he made Saturday. For the record, he is horrible about following a recipe but the end results were stel...