Blueberry "Pixie Dust" Granita

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Most days it is all fairy wings, tutus, and pixie dust here with my little girl.  Needless to say when we found out that Disney's The Pirate Fairy is coming out on Blu-Ray & DVD on April 1st, we were both pretty excited.  We have seen every single Pixie Hollow movie at least 5 times.  And honestly, I may be just a little more excited about the bonus DVD that comes with The Pirate Fairy when you purchase it at your local Walmart- The Pixie Hollow Bake Off!

I am a long time fan of The Food Network & all their cooking challenges, so I found it super cute that Giada de Laurentis is the voice of Gelata, the head baking fairy. :)

To get geared up for the release of the DVD (and for the magical bake off!), I created a sparkling, healthy dessert inspired by the Blue Pixie Dust stolen by the Pirate Fairy and that the fairies of Pixie Hollow need to retrieve to save their home. 

Game Time Pizza Dip Trio

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Football always means pizza in this house. One of our favorite frozen take home & bake pizzas are the DiGiorno Rising Crust pizzas.  They are better than delivery & faster too! These pizzas bake in around 20 minutes- the delivery guy usually takes at least 30 minutes, usually more on game day. Am I right? ;) Plus, you really can't get any fresher than hot from the oven!

When I heard that Walmart had our favorite frozen pizzas on rollback for just $4.50, I headed right over and picked up a couple of pizzas for the big games this past weekend...

5 Tips to Getting Back on Track & Achieving a Balanced Lifestyle

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Finding balance hasn't always been my strong suit.  Occasionally I nail the whole balance thing, but then find myself straying back to one extreme or the other.  (Usually towards the "I will eat whatever & work out when I feel like it" extreme.  Yeah, not the balanced lifestyle I was aiming for... )

And being a food blogger- especially during the holiday season- definitely doesn't make it easy to keep a healthy balance.  Hello... my job is to create amazing holiday perfect treats & sweets for the masses. ;)  By the time January 1st rolled around, I wasn't feeling very good about what I had been putting into my body lately, how very little I had been making it to the gym, and how snug my once perfectly fitted jeans had started to feel. 

I determined it was time for me to find balance...

And when I say balance, I am not just talking about the foods I eat and how many times a week I practice my yoga.  

A Tale of FROZEN Fun

Once upon a time in a kingdom not so far away lived a happy little girl who just wanted the below zero temperatures & ice and snow to go away so she and her mommy could go on a special pre-birthday mommy/daughter lunch and shopping date.  The bone chilling temperatures and chilly wind blew for almost 3 days and nights.

On the third morning she awoke to a break in the cold weather.  All that was FROZEN started to thaw and melt....

Today would be the day! :)

Bananas Foster Cheesecake Bars with Caramel Rum Frosting

Raise your hand if you have ever worked retail during the holidays. (Raising hand.)

I am pretty sure it is one of the most thankless jobs to have during the holiday shopping season.  It is long hours with cranky, frazzled gift shoppers all while listening to that incessant company soundtrack of holiday music that is played on a constant loop.  (You all in retail know exactly what I am talking about, don't you? ;) )

I worked retail for a couple of years in my early 20's.  Not my thing.

My husband on the other hand?  He's a natural at it.  

But even the holiday season can wear on him. (Ahem... he cringed when I put on some holiday music while we hung ornaments on the tree and begged me to put Elf on instead.  I gladly obliged.)

Peanut M&M's Buckeye Bars

Peanut butter and chocolate is just one of those baking flavor combos that is perfect any time of the year.  Throw in some Peanut M&M's?  And oh yeah!  You have yourself a crowd pleaser for sure. :)

As some of you may have seen me mention before, I lived about 8 years in the scarlet & gray city of Columbus, Ohio.  I embraced the Buckeyes culture after a couple of years of living there.  It was difficult to not get caught up in it all, especially on a game day Saturday (and even more so if that game happened to be against the Wolverines ;) ).  

Buckeye candies were the signature candy of the city.  You could find them in every store there.  For those of you not familiar with a Buckeye candy, it is basically a peanut butter fudge ball that is dipped into chocolate leaving a small circle of the peanut butter candy open at the top thus resembling a Buckeye nut.

Ohio State fan or not, Buckeye candies are amazing! 

Pumpkin Spice Scones with Pumpkin Spice Coffee Glaze

These Pumpkin Spice Scones are the perfect partner for a warm cup of coffee & for sharing a few smiles with friends and family...

In my pre-husband, pre-baby girl days, catching up used to mean meeting up with a girlfriend or my sister at one of the many nearby coffee shops in the large Midwestern city we used to live in.  Meeting up for coffee was always the perfect way to catch up when you hadn't connected in a couple of weeks- it could be planned on a whim, it could be budget friendly (meet up for coffee versus meeting up for dinner or drinks- yep! Coffee is cheaper. ;) ), & typically you could linger all day at a coffee shop laughing and chatting without a barista giving you the stink eye.  

6 Date Night Ideas Under $20 & 2 Hours {With a Little Help From Stouffers Satisfying Skillets}

My husband and I have been struggling lately to find the time and the funds to squeeze in date nights or dinners out... you know, just the two of us.  With my son smack dab in the middle of his cross country season, an almost 20 month old who is still mama's little nursling, and my husband's not always date friendly work schedule (he works almost every weekend), it is difficult to find a day and time during the week that works for both us and for a babysitter (aka, usually my parents).

And then there is the whole single income thing.  Fancy dinners out are now reserved for very special occasions.  Dinners in are now a date night staple for us.

So what is a time crunched, money strapped couple to do to carve a little date time out for themselves?

Maintaining our relationship and the couple part of us is important to us both. 

So we started brainstorming and came up with this list of date ideas that take less than 2 hours and can be done on $20 or less....

1.  Make dinner at home!  This one is a no-brainer, right?  We drop the kiddos off with my parents, and head back home for a dinner for two in.  And Stouffers Skillets make that super easy! Not only are they affordable at less than $6 a bag (try getting greasy fast food for two for cheaper than that!), they are also super quick.  It took us less than 15 minutes to whip this up!  Less time spent cooking means more time spent together. ;) (Psssttt... The Stouffers Satisfying Skillets in Grilled Asiago Chicken & Penne Pasta is delish!)

2.  Head to a local coffee shop for a couple slices of pie or cake and some coffee. This is one of our favorites.  We canoodle at a little table in a corner, get to enjoy some delicious desserts and of course, each other's company.

3.  Weather permitting, stop at a local ice cream shop and pick up a couple of cones or sundaes (or maybe a banana split to share?) and head to a nearby park to walk, eat ice cream, and hold hands. 

4.  Do a quick Google search and see if there are any local festivals happening in your area.  Most festivals are free to get into, and there is so much to see and do at them.  Check out local attractions, artisans, and have a bite of some local favorites.  Become a tourist in your own home town.

5.  Stop at your local movie rental shop or Redbox or queue up your Netflix and choose a movie together that is less than 2 hours long.  Pick up a couple boxes of those movie candies  and microwave a little popcorn at home.  Bonus- you can PDA as much as you want! ;)

6.  Break out the board games! And maybe a glass of wine or two. Sometimes in this day and age of XBox and Playstation, we forget how much fun connecting over actual, tangible board games can be.  Play some Uno.  Get out the Battleship.  Heck, we even like a friendly game of Connect4.  Make some friendly wagers to keep it interesting. 

What are some ways you stay connected to your significant other when time and money are obstacles?

For more budget friendly and tasty dinner options whether for date night or beyond, be sure to visit the Stouffers Facebook page or follow along with Nestle USA on Twitter.

Interested in seeing our shopping trip to Walmart to pick up a bag of Stouffers Satisfying Skillets for our date night?  CLICK HERE to view my Google+ album of the shop! :)

Chipotle Kicked Hickory BBQ Beef Sandwiches {Dinner Tonight}

Now that the school year (and my son's cross country season) is in full swing, finding a couple of quick family meals to make each week has become essential.  I still have a few evenings each week when I can take a little more time with dinner and make something from scratch, but there are those days when only a ready-made meal will do.  And when I say ready-made, I am not talking about fast food, folks.  This single income family rarely has the extra funds to splurge for fast food.  Not to mention that most fast food meals are far from being healthy for my family.

On those busy evenings, I still want to feed my family a delicious, healthy meal though.

What is a mama to do?

Cue the #KraftRecipeMakers! 

Typically I am not one to purchase Meal starters.  They are usually pretty pricey, and the powdered sauces and spices do not appeal to me.  But Kraft Recipe Makers is not your typical meal starter!

Kraft Recipe Makers come with actual sauces.  Nothing powdered here! And they are affordable.  I picked up my box of Kraft Recipe Makers for less than $3 at my local Walmart store. (Want to see how my shopping trip for Kraft Recipe Makers went?  Be sure to click on over to my Google+ album for details on the full shop!)

We tried the Hickory BBQ Beef for the slow cooker (are you all shocked that I chose one of the Kraft Recipe Makers for the slow cooker? ;) ), and it came with a tasty simmer sauce and a delicious finishing sauce.  We just needed to add beef and buns! It doesn't get much easier than that folks.

Of course because my family & I enjoy a little heat, we kicked up our Hickory BBQ Beef sandwiches with a little chipotle... 

Chipotle Kicked Hickory BBQ Beef Sandwiches

by Frugal Foodie Mama

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 8-10 hours

6054205

Ingredients (6-7 sandwiches)

• 1 package Kraft Recipe Makers in Hickory BBQ Beef
• 1 2.5 lb boneless beef chuck roast
• 1-2 tsp of chipotles in adodo (pureed)
• Sandwich buns

Instructions

Place the roast in your slow cooker. Pour the simmer sauce found in the Kraft Recipe Makers box over the roast. Add in the pureed chipotles in adobo.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours. (You could also cook on high for 6-8 hours.)

Take the roast out of the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes, then using two forks shred the meat.

Ladle out the liquid from the slow cooker and set aside. 

Add the shredded meat back to the slow cooker and pour the finishing sauce over top and stir. If the mixture seems a little dry, add in a little of the reserved liquid you removed from the slow cooker earlier.

Increase the heat to high and cook for another 15 minutes in your slow cooker.

To serve, pile the BBQ beef onto sandwich buns and serve with your favorite pickles or chips.

Enjoy!

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The beef cooked up so tender with the Kraft Recipe Makers simmer sauce!  I barely had to shred it.  It just fell apart when I placed a fork in it.  

My Chipotle Kicked Hickory BBQ Beef Sandwiches got rave reviews from my family!  This one is definitely going on my short list of best family meals. :)

Of course, if you prefer less heat (or no heat) you can leave out the chipotles in adodo.  It is tasty both ways!

CLICK HERE to check out all the Kraft Recipe Makers! Which one do you think you and your family will want to try first? 

For more tasty recipes and tips, make sure you hop on over to the Kraft Foods Facebook page and click Like.