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Chocolate Chip Banana Snack Cake

Kitchen Therapy

Getting in the kitchen and baking/cooking is therapy to me. Well, up to a point. When I happen to be worried about something or I’m just out of sorts, getting my hands into flour and batter just really helps me – and it’s cheaper than a therapist.  But then there are those times when getting the kitchen makes me feel like I NEED A THERAPIST. I burn everything and throw a hissy fit. The smoke alarm goes off (again). I get mad and throw a dish. Annie says, “what is THAT?” So, yeah. But baking is still cheaper than a therapist. A chocolate chip banana cake to therapy session is about to begin!

I wish I could explain to you the deep satisfaction that I get when I take a conventional recipe and turn it into something healthy (or healthy-ish). It’s a deep sense of calm. There’s a deep sense of pride. It’s a deep sense of humility – because the next time I try to do it, it tastes like sandpaper and you can’t even choke it down. But, I would have to say that about 75% of the time, making a recipe healthy turns out well – and I can suffer through the other 25% that it doesn’t. I’m SURE Barry is going to remind me of that the next time I sit in the floor, crying, rocking, and holding on to a pan of sawdust cake.

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Crock Pot Maple Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I’ve been known to say that you can make dirt taste good by adding bacon. I stand by that statement. Bacon is like ketchup, but BETTER. If you want your kids to eat something, add bacon or ketchup. Or sometimes even both. Do you know that my brother in law puts ketchup on everything? E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Of course, we can’t really stand by his culinary genius, because he also wraps his Pop Tarts in cheese. So, he doesn’t count. Take maple, bacon, and chicken, and you’ve got a real winner.

But yes, I am a bacon lover. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t have bacon in SOMETHING. Last night on Pinterest I saw someone wrapping their Cinnamon Rolls in bacon. Now that, my friends, is culinary genius.  Chocolate Bacon. Bacon Bacon. Candied Bacon. The world has gone crazy over bacon. And I hate to say this…but I liked bacon before liking bacon was the cool thing to do. Of course, I was frugal before frugal was cool too – I hope eventually that OCD will also be cool and then I’ll really fit in.

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Crock Pot vs. Instant Pot

When the Instant Pot became all the rage, a lot of my friends get rid of their slow cookers because they didn’t think they would ever use them again. It became a Crock Pot vs. Instant Pot “thing” for some reason. But they’re both pretty amazing in their own ways.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Pressure cookers are nothing new – they’ve been around for a long, long time. I had already been using a stove-top pressure cooker for about two years when Instant Pots became popular, and yet I still had my Crock Pots. Why? Because I used (and still use) both.

While the Instant Pot (or other like versions) do offer the slow cooker option, a lot of times (from what I have read), they don’t work as well as a “real” slow cooker and have a tendency to burn food. I know that’s likely not the case for ALL Instant Pots; however, I think it makes sense for me to have both and I’m going to tell you why. 

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Fruity Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal

I’ve been making this recipe for fruity baked steel cut oatmeal for several years now…and it’s become one of my go-to breakfasts. For us, it ranks right up there with Baked Oatmeal and Sweet Potato Oatmeal. We all LOVE it! It’s so easy to customize to your desire and it works with whatever is in season. I found the general idea online and made my own version. 😉

Steel cut oats can be a little tricky…if you don’t cook them just right, they’re crunchy. I’m not sure about you, but crunchy oatmeal is just not cool – not cool at all. If you expect them to taste like regular oatmeal, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. They do have a bit of a bite to them, but they should not be crunchy when cooked. For us, we had to learn to like them – and buddy, do we like them!

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Basic Overnight Oats

I’ve been making Overnight Oats for many years. At first, I started because it was a cool breakfast to eat in the summer months when it’s HOT as soon as your feet hit the floor and you just want to sit in the nude and eat cold food. What? Oh, that’s just me? Oh well.

And then, my kids fell in love with them so I found myself making them all the time. 

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Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

I think this is the place where bananas come to die. We LOVE them. But no matter how many I buy, at least 4 are always in a state of decay. I’m not talking: eh, those are a little gone. I’m taking: if you pick it up, it will smush in your hand. Banana pancakes are one of the solutions to use such “smushy” bananas. 😉

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Miss Sally’s Chocolate Cake

When we had Ruthie, our church delivered several meals to our house – because they’re holy like that. And we love them. Our pastor’s wife, Miss Sally, (I know, I know, it is technically “MRS. Sally”, but the name Miss stuck) is the most amazing woman of God you’ll ever meet. She’s gentle. She’s kind. She just casually dropped off a chocolate cake. Like it was no big thing. And friends, I had never had Miss Sally’s cake before. But I can tell you, I never want to be without it AGAIN. 

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20 Frugal Real-Food Chicken Dinner Recipes

Do you like chicken but don’t want to break the bank? Read on for some yummy AND FRUGAL real-food chicken dinner recipes!

Y’all, there are some things I don’t mind spending money on. Every five years, I have an absolute breakdown and go spend some major birthday money on clothes that fit the body I actually have at that point. Also, date nights…Even if our budget gets very tight, we will scrimp and save to spend time together – eating, most likely. Because date nights together are that important.

But I will tell you something I do NOT like to splurge on.

It’s chicken, y’all. Whenever I see meals calling for prosciutto, and two and a half large chicken breasts PER PERSON, stuffed with some rare French cheese and umpteen fresh herbs…I click that ol’ browser shut as fast as I can. I’m sure it’s delicious, but I cannot afford to serve every member of my family three pounds of chicken in one sitting! No way.

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The Snack Basket

(Saving Mommy’s sanity since 2018)

I’m not sure about you, but the NUMBER ONE question my kids seem to ask is: Can I have a snack? I’ll be honest – this question drives me bonkers. “You just ate like 5 minutes ago. How can you be hungry again? You haven’t even finished chewing that last bite.” The snack basket idea has officially saved my sanity.

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