The Sonshine Digest

***After taking the time to read, Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy, I have decided to post about some of my "miserly" ways! I know that there are many websites, blogs, and books for that matter that share how to have a frugal/thrifty mindset already but each one does things a bit differently to suit their needs. So I figured that I wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes if I shared some thoughts as well.*** --Chicken and turkey are usually less expensive, but contain more protein and nutrients than many other meats. They are also lower in saturated fats and cholesterol than many meats . --Save money by cutting a whole chicken into parts yourself. You can do this or just watch ads for when then different chicken pieces are on sale. Around here I can get drumsticks and thighs for 99 cents/lb. I can also get whole chickens for 99 cents/lb. Bone-in chicken breasts are usually on sale around here for $1.29/lb and when they are I usually will snag several packs. I cook the bo...

Breakfasts at my house are pretty much routine.  Each day of every week is pretty much the same which can help to make things simple and frugal!   I have been diligently working at collecting some new recipes to work at adding to our breakfast repertoire.  I decided to share a couple of family favorites.  I am going to share my breakfast sandwiches recipe. Around my house we called them "Mom's McBiscuits" or "Mom's McMuffins"! " Mom's McBiscuits or McMuffins" 1 tube of Grands Biscuits, baked 1 dozen eggs, cooked 6 slices bacon, cut in half and then cook 5 slices American cheese 2 sausage patties I made these this morning here is how I put them together. I baked two tubes of biscuits last night for dinner. We ate one for dinner, the rest I cooled and put in a ziploc bag. I also went ahead and cooked a pound of bacon and a package of 8 sausage patties. Before I cook the pound of bacon, I cut the bacon strips in half. Before I cooked ...

What is one of the most healthiest foods ? Carrots!! They are rich in Vitamin A. Carrots are one of my kids' favorite foods. They love to take them out of the fridge and snack on them hence my love for going to Aldi's and getting a 1# bag of the baby carrots for 69 cents! Yesterday I was in the kitchen most of the day fixing a spaghetti dinner for my family and my hubby's work team. I got thinking about those little orange veggies as used them. Did you know that you can use carrots as sweetener instead of adding sugar to your foods? Since my kids love them it is easy for me to add them to different dishes. Although I have a few that would rather eat them raw than cooked!  I have not gotten them to drink them in smoothies or juice yet! I love to add shredded carrots to my tomato based dishes. I could just chop the carrots up but I have several who don't like seeing chunks of veggies, especially in their spaghetti sauce. To add the extra vitamins along with sw...

We are not much of a salad family. I don't make many pasta salads or green leafy type salads on a regular basis. Usually our "salad" consists of a plate filled with raw carrots and a bowl of ranch dressing! However, my favorite salad is my homemade chicken taco salad! When I make my Taco Bar night I always try to make more chicken taco meat than what we will need so that I can use it for a leftover lunch or two during the following days. I love the fact that making this salad I am using leftovers and it doesn't require much in the way of heating up! This salad tastes great cold or warm. Chicken Taco Salad 3 boneless/skinless chicken breast, cooked & cubed 2 TBSP taco seasoning 1/4-1/3 cup mild taco sauce Combine altogether. The taco sauce I use instead of water so that the chicken doesn't taste dried out. To make the salad: Layer the following on a plate: tortilla chips or crushed taco shells chicken meat shredded cheddar...

I love this simple, colorful, and flavorful side dish of zucchini and summer(crookneck) squash. Zucchini season would not be complete without having this side dish along with a burger off the grill or a piece of marinaded grilled chicken. And the best part but rather unhealthy side of this dish is that it tastes soooo much better cooked in bacon grease(I keep a jar of grease in my fridge during the summer months just for using in cooking!). My mom steps it up a notch in color and adds shredded or julienned carrots to the dish. The directions for this dish are easy... Cut up into quarters some zucchini and summer squash. You want chunks over slices because the squash will cook down. Cut up some onion. The amount of onion that you use is based on the amount of squash you cut up. If you only cut up one summer squash and 1 zucchini, only do 1/4 of an onion. OR if you are like me and don't have fresh onion on hand, use 2 TSBP. of dried minced onions for the 2 sq...

One of my newly found favorite meals is chicken pot pie and homemade bread ! Aside from chocolate, I classify it as a comfort food! I love taking the bits and pieces of leftover veggies and chicken and using them to make something so comforting. There has been times though where I just make up chicken pot pie from scratch because there is no leftovers to be found to make up the pot pie. I know how to make pie crust from scratch but sometimes it is just nice to be able to take a box of ready made out of the freezer to put this dish together. It just can make life so much easier especially when you find them on discount for $1 per box and you have a coupon making them 50¢ a box! It is quicker to use a bag of frozen mixed veggies when making this dish, however, I usually do not have any on hand so I use fresh carrots and potatoes that I dice up and cook together in a pot until tender. I drain them but reserved the water just in case I need more liquid for the pot pie. ...

I picked up the 30 Day Gourmet Cookbook from the library and have been looking through it and finding yummy recipes.  Even though I haven't taken to freezing any of the main dish recipes yet, I have throughly enjoyed finding new ideas to use with some old favorites. One of the recipes that I have tried is Parmesan Crusted Tilapia .  Not only did I use the seasoned bread crumbs with tilapia but with some shrimp. These were easy to make and yummy! Parmesan Crusted Tilapia 1 lb frozen tilapia filets (or 1 lb shrimp) 1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. paprika 1/4 tsp. black pepper 1/4 tsp. dried basil 3 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted 3 tbsp. mayonnaise or Miracle Whip Thaw. Drain any liquids from the fish. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a shallow container thoroughly mix butter and mayonnaise until combined. Stir in seasoning mix until combined. Pla...

In my reading of blogs this week, I read a post answering a question from one of their readers in regards to leftovers and the fact that their family didn't like eating leftovers.(I can't remember who it was or I would link it!) Well it got me thinking and being thankful that I have a family who doesn't mind eating leftovers. My hubby takes meal leftovers in his lunch every day , my kids love to eat from my leftover buffet  and every once in a while I end up sharing those leftovers with others. To keep my family from complaining during the times of excess leftovers and to use them up before they turn into science projects. I have been giving them a "makeover", instead of just heating them up and eating them the same way again. I can't believe how much doing this has cut down on amount of complaining from my crew and hearing "I would rather have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich than to have leftovers!" Here is a list of leftover makeovers I ha...

I have shared before  how to purchase meat on the cheap , and with the summer months upon us I thought it would be a great time to share different ways to use ground meat. I usually can't get ground beef on Manager's specials/markdowns so I usually will purchase it in bulk at Sam's. Sometimes though I able to find it in the grocery stores for cheap and with the summer grilling season upon us now will be the time to look for the sales at the grocery store.  I will get around 9-10 lbs all at once, sometimes more! When I first starting getting it in bulk, I thought what in the world am I going to make with all this meat! I thought I would end up having and making the same thing all time! Well I found several recipes that have become family favorites. I like to use ground beef for my recipes but you can use ground pork or ground turkey as well! I cook all my ground meat and then divide it into one pound packages for the freezer so that I can just pull out what I need to ...

My friend, Kate, at Cooking during Stolen Moments posted her top 10 freezer recipes  awhile ago but it got me thinking that I would explain and share what I have done in the past and currently to have healthy meals in the freezer to eat rather than eating nothing or eating out at restaurants every day. I make sure that I had some freezer containers that are acceptable for the freezer and could be used in the microwave. My best bet is getting some Rubbermaid type containers because those probably will last longer than getting just Gladware or Ziploc brand plastic containers. I get various sizes and types of containers, so that you can have some for soups, and some for a full meal(maybe look into getting one that is divided into compartments). I also get some quart size freezer bags for those food items that don't need to go into a plastic container. I get enough so that I can do a week's worth of dinner meals. Now I have my containers I can fill them!! What are good thin...

I am not new to the blogging world! I have been blogging off and on for many years.  I did savings  and homeschooling posts over at Glimpse of Sonshine.   Over the last several years, I have been taking a sabbatical with blogging due to my schedule. I am no longer homeschooling so continuing to blog over at Glimpse of Sonshine did not seem logical. So I decided that it was time to move on and start another chapter on a new blog. I hope to keep a consistent dialogue of posts moving forward as I want to start this as more as a journal of daily life for me.  Daily life for me has recently changed due to just recently being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes as an adult in her late 40s.  I am not shocked in the least due to both of my parents having the same diagnosis at the about the same age as me. I am not shocked in the least due to having no outright symptoms of diabetes but looking back now and seeing that some symptoms were there just thought they were r...