// // Bottom round steak is an economical cut and is usually less expensive because it tends to be tough and requires special care in cooking. Many recipes call for marinating for several hours, cooking with moisture or cooking slowly in a crockpot.  I recently found a way to prepare round steak that doesn't include any of the above. Basically it requires you to cut the meat thinly.  This method works is because you are cutting through the connective tissues… Read the rest

A couple of weeks ago I shared my favorite muffin recipe with you, Banana Nut Muffins.  This week I'm going to share my second favorite, Carrot Spice Muffins. I have to give my sister credit for these two recipes as she is the one that started to make muffins for her children for breakfast every morning. There were a few other versions that we made when our children were growing up, but these two were favorites and I continued to… Read the rest

How many of you buy a Starbucks coffee and one of those giant muffins every day?   Probably not too many of you, especially if you're into personal finance.  But I bet you'd like to buy one of those giant muffins every once in a while. Well, guess what? You can make them yourself, and they'll be fresh, cost less per muffin and be much healthier for you because you'll know exactly what goes into making them. I'm going to share… Read the rest

During the years I was a stay at home mom, living below poverty level, we often craved delivery pizza.  Of course we couldn't afford such a thing very often so I might have ordered a pizza for a special occasion once or twice a year, maybe for someone's birthday.  When we did happen to have delivery pizza, we could seldom afford to have more than one or two toppings. I decided to learn how to make pizza myself so that… Read the rest