Scratch Microwave Chocolate Pudding

I have lots of milk! For those of you that are following the Instagram posts....I couldn't resist the milk! $2.59 for 4L!!! So, I thought I should make some pudding. This recipe is so easy and so quick!

 Chocolate Pudding
 3 Tbsp Corn Starch
 1/3 cup cocoa
 1/3 cup sugar
2 cups milk
 Whisk all the dry together. Whisk in milk. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Whisk. Cook on high in 1 minute increments until thick. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap right on the pudding to keep it from forming a skin. Cool. Serve with whip cream....Yum.

Chicken Breasts on Sale

Today we stopped in at Save On and found this manager special! 2kg of chicken breasts(boneless skinless) in either Souvaki or Sundried Tomato for $9.99, that makes them $4.98/kg or $2.50/lb! Manager says they are on sale till they are all gone. This was at the Save On on Harvey Ave.
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Gluten Free Crepes

This week I was thinking of recipes to use lots of milk and eggs. I thought of crepes. Chicken Caesar crepes! My oldest daughter first introduced me to them and they are sooooo yummy. We haven't had them since hubby's diagnosis so I decided to try making them gluten free. I looked at all sorts of gluten free cookbooks and then went on-line and googled recipes. It's always about the flour.Since I had good success with the ATK version I thought I would try substituting it in for the flour used in this recipe. It seems with gluten free cooking it is a good idea to let the mix sit. This recipe called for it to be refrigerated overnight. These were really good eaten fresh. Like rice tortillas they tend to be less flexible than the real flour versions. I suggest you make enough for your family to eat fresh. We did try and use the leftovers the next day for scrambled egg and cheese wrap, but found them fairly uncooperative!

Gluten Free Crepes
1 3/4 cup flour(ATK Gluten Free Flour Mix)
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp butter (melted and cooled)
Combine wet and dry in separate bowls then add altogether and whisk until smooth.Refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days. (I just refrigerated it for a few hours and had good results)When ready to use take out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Heat electric frying pan to 350. Oil the pan. Using a ladle full of mix pour onto pan, quickly tilting the pan side to side to make an even covering. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. Serve right away.
The chicken was really easy as I just took the frozen, boneless, skinless breasts and put them on the George Foreman grill for about 10 minutes!
    

Instantaneous Deal Sharing With Instagram

I have been hoping to find a way to share deals I find instantaneously. Sharing on the blog is fine for long date sales but it takes time for Blogger to send the emails out and so it can be days before you get an email. Well, I may have found the perfect platform in Instagram. With Instagram I can take a photo in store and upload it right away! For example, tonight I was in Shoppers and found they had brown eggs with the store sticker coupons on them. The regular price was $3.49, the store sticker was $2 off, making them $1.49 a dozen!(They don't expire until March 24, and there were lots when I left.)With Instagram I took a picture and uploaded it! So, if you are interested in seeing the latest deals immediately all you need to do is get an Instagram account. It's free in the App and Google Play Stores. You can find me by typing in savingyourhardearnedmoney in the search for a user area. That's it. When I find a deal I will post the photo and a quick info blurb. I hope it helps you save more on your groceries!

Yummy Gluten Free Waffles!!!!! Happy Dance!

 I am so excited! So happy! I have found a gluten free flour that works!!!!! LOVE, LOVE LOVE America's Test Kitchen.....SO much.
They have a new cookbook coming out March 25 called How Can it Be Gluten Free Cookbook.
A blogger here tested their recipe.
Here's the recipe for the Waffles
Ingredients
12 ounces (2⅔ cups) ATK gluten-free flour blend
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1¾ cups buttermilk
3 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Instructions
Heat waffle iron according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Whisk the flour blend, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter until combined. Whisk the buttermilk mixture into flour mixture thoroughly until batter has thickened and no lumps remain, about 1 minute (batter will be thick).
Bake waffles according to manufacturer’s instructions (use about ⅓ cup batter for 7-inch round iron and generous ¾ cup for Belgian waffle iron). Repeat with remaining batter.
Notes:
If you do not have buttermilk on hand you can use ATK’s buttermilk substitute

Mix ½ cup milk with 1¼ cups yogurt (both whole-milk and non-fat yogurt will work) and substitute this mixture for the 1¾ cups buttermilk.

Substituting the buttermilk with a mixture of lemon juice and milk is not advised in this recipe because the liquid will be too thin.

G-F Testing Lab
For King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour: 12 ounces = 1⅔ cups plus ½ cup
For Bob’s Red Mill GF All-Purpose Baking Flour: 12 ounces = 2¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons

Note that waffles made with Bob’s Red Mill will be somewhat darker and have a slight bean flavor.
   
 Here's the Bob's Gluten Free Flour. This 1.24Kg cost $8.79.It's about 10 cups of flour.
That makes it about .88/cup   The America's Test Kitchen Flour is a blend of :
4 1/2 cups plus 1/3cup white rice flour
1 2/3 cup brown rice flour
 1 1/3 cup potato starch
 3/4 cup tapicoa starch
3 Tbsp non fat milk powder
 Mix together really well. Put in airtight container and store in the fridge. The cost: I bought all the ingredients except for the tapicoa starch at Bulk Barn. White Rice Flour was on sale for $2.97/kg Brown Rice Flour was on sale for $2.97/kg Potato Starch was $4.29/kg Skim Milk Powder was $15.85/kg Tapicoa Starch $2.50/Kg.(I used the $3 off when you spend $10 coupon, so my mix costs 33% less)
Total Cost of this mix was $3.29 for almost 9 cups of flour. This makes it about .37/cup

Gluten Free Corn Tortillas

I decided to try my hand at a corn tortillas. The post title is gluten free corn tortillas but it's not a modified recipe, it's just a naturally gluten free corn mix. I used Maseca instant corn masa mix and I used the recipe off the bag. I was surprised how easy it was and how nice the dough is to work with.
Corn Masa Mix
2 cups Maseca
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water
Mix thoroughly for about 2 minutes to form a sot dough. If dough feels dry add more water 1 Tbsp at a time.
Divide dough into small balls. Cover dough you aren't using with a damp cloth. Then using wax paper, or a ziploc bag cut open, press the dough. I used my cast iron frying pan as it is nice and heavy. I then put another piece of wax paper on a plate and carefully transferred the pressed tortilla but flipping it onto the wax paper, without touching it. Repeat until you have used all your dough. The recipe says it will make 16. I think I got about 12. Heat your cast iron pan up on med high. No oil is necessary. Carefully flip your tortilla into the frying pan. The directions say 50 seconds per side. I found it took a bit longer to get them browned. As they are done place on a plate and cover with a warm towel to keep them warm and soft. Serve with refried beans, cheese and tomatoes......YUM!

Zucchini Noodles and Sausage

This week we came upon some zucchini in the clearance area of Quality Greens. 5 big ones for $1.49. So, I started thinking....how can I use this zucchini in a yummy way. It feels like we have eaten quite enough potatoes, rice and pasta lately. I wanted something different. Then I remembered, zucchini noodles! My friend, Heather, had blogged it quite awhile back, so I decided to make my own variation of it. I got out my handy dandy mandolin, which I must say my husband hates me using! He worries I will slip and injury myself. It's quite a lovely tool, but does need to be handled carefully!
Zucchini Noodles and Sausage
2 large zucchinis (cut into noodles)
1 package of sausage of your choice
1 Pepper, whatever color you have, cut up fine
1/2 onion chopped fine
1 clove garlic crushed
1/2 a pint of grape tomatoes cut in halves
spices of your choice, I used Cajun and Greek(club house)
sprinkling of Parmesan cheese
 Put the onion and garlic in the frying pan with a small amount of butter. Season. Fry until soft and remove. Cook up the sausage with a bit of water. Remove and cut them up small. Add sausage back to pan with the peppers. Add in zucchini and put on the lid and cook for a few minutes. Add grapes tomatoes and cook to warm. Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese and serve.  You can change it up with whatever you think would be yummy. Leave out the meat and it's vegetarian! It's such a refreshing meal!

Update Canada Wide Price Matching

Just a heads up that some stores are still price matching. I was told that head office was stopping it everywhere effective last night, but I heard from some of you saying Southern Alberta is still price matching as of this morning. I was contacted by friends in Edmonton that they were told it was over earlier this week. So, I guess the best thing is to be prepared to not be able to Canada wide price match on your next shop, and if your area is still doing it, bonus! I would check with customer service ahead of time. Walmart is continuing with local store price matching.

No More Price Matching Canada Wide

Well....My sister in law and I  headed out to do some shopping today. Odd for us as our habit is Thursday or Friday, but we were both low on fruits and veggies. Our trip started off with a lurch as my car decided it just wanted to stay in my driveway..... that was as far as it was going. So, my dear sister came and collected me! We headed off and got some yummy fruits and veggies at Quality Greens. Cauliflowers for .79/lb, Anjou Pears for .79/lb and Ambrosia apples 2/5lb bags for $5(.50/lb!) as well as some clearance zucchini and carrots. Next stop was Save On where Bob's All Purpose Gluten Free flour was on for $8.79 for the 1.2 kg size. Costco had the Newman's Spaghetti/Marina Sauce 4 jars for $4.99. Our last stop was Walmart. We started at customer service as my sister had a return of something she had bought online. While there we got into a discussion with the customer service staff about the cashiers that were good at Canada wide price matching. Our favorite teller was on the express line, so we were at a loss as to who we should bring our purchases to. The manager told us to come see her in a half hour when we were done. 25 minutes later we were looking for a line to join when the customer service manager approached us to tell us that as of right then Canada wide price matching was over. No longer would Walmart match flyers Canada wide only locally. We were sad......we are sad....I am sad to share this with you! It made me so happy to get emails from you saying you were Canada wide price matching in your city! I knew it wouldn't last......it was fun, but now it's over. We will go back to our habit of frequenting all the stores once a week. We will get the lost leaders and sales and look for great clearance deals.  How about you? What creative ways do you save money on groceries?????

Quebec Flyers Starting Mondays

Across Canada flyers start on different days. These are 2 that I know of that start on Mondays. Super Marche emails the flyers usually Sat. You can sign up on their website if you are interested. As you can see there are some good deals this week. Lalumiere Bonaza usually has great fruit and veggie deals to price match each week.
 Lalumiere Bonanza Mar 3-9
Strawberries 454 g .99
Asparagus .89/lb
Chicken Breast skin on back attached $1.99/lb
Bananas .49/lb
Pears .79/lb
Lemons 4/.99
Garlic 3 packs 2 for .79
Eggplant .99/lb
English Cucumbers .59
Zucchini .69/lb
Roma Tomatoes .69/lb

Super Marche Mar 3-9
Grapes red .99/lb
Zucchini .69/lb
Roma Tomatoes .69/lb
Cantaloupes 2/$3
Broccoli .99
Honeydew $1.99
Roma Tomatoes .69/lb