Recipes | How to Save Money, Earn Dreams- SamiCone.com

Healthy Recipes for Busy Moms: Talk of the Town Video March 2012

March 20, 2012 By sami

Talk of the Town Frugal Love Sami Cone 300x225 Healthy Recipes for Busy Moms: Talk of the Town Video March 2012

Watch the Talk of the Town video from today’s show: White Chicken Chili Crock-Pot healthy recipe for busy moms on the go:

Today on Talk of the Town (March 20, 2012) I shared how busy moms can still cook healthy recipes even when they’re on the go! Busy moms often find themselves in a conundrum: how to find the time to not only cook for your family, but how to make those meals healthy!

Well the answer may be older (& closer) than you think: your crock-pot!

For some reason I always used to associate crock-pots with casseroles (which I’m not a fan of)…but that couldn’t be farther from the truth!

Here are just a few reasons why your crock pot should be your friend (whether you’re a mom or not):

They use less energy than the oven, saving you money on electricity
The slow-cooking process adds more flavor without adding extra fat and calories that come with traditional cooking methods
You can plan (& start cooking) your meal WAY in advance of the dinner hour, when it’s more convenient for you….even putting food in overnight after the kids are asleep!
You can cook enough to last beyond one meal and re-purpose the rest for a dinner later in the week (for example, cooking a whole chicken for dinner, but then using the rest to shred for salads, fajitas, etc)

My latest favorite recipe is one that you can literally toss all the elements into the night before and end up with a perfect & healthy meal for dinner the next day. It’s White Chicken Chili, and you just might be surprised at what’s used to thicken it up…

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 (16-ounce) bag dried Cannellini Beans
1 (16-ounce) bag frozen Sweet White Corn
1 (16-ounce) bag frozen fajita blend (peppers & onion), pulsed in food processor
1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into small florets
2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Suggested toppings: sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, chopped red onion

Cooking Directions

Arrange chicken in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker.
Top with beans, corn, poblanos, cauliflower, onion, broth, cumin and chili powder.
Cover and cook on low until beans are very tender and cauliflower has fallen apart, about 10 hours

Adapted from Whole Foods Market Slow Cooker White Chili recipe

This is less than 300 calories and under $1 per serving. We make a big batch and usually have enough left over to freeze for an additional 2 dinners! Serve with cornbread or crackers to round out the meal.

If you don’t yet own a crock-pot or slow cooker, check out some of my favorite crock-pots for every need!

Filed Under: Deals & Freebies, Food, Recipes, TV Tagged With: busy, frugal, healthy, mom, recipe, talk of the town, video

Budget Meal Planning around the Whole Deal: Whole Foods Market Green Hills

January 19, 2012 By sami

I’m partnering once again with Whole Foods Market Green Hills to teach you budget meal planning around their Whole Deal.

Our ‘Everyday Ways to Save at Whole Foods Market” posts were so popular last year that we’re back to help you save even more money in 2012!

One of my favorite savings tips is to make use of the Whole Deal: not only does it always have fabulous health tips and tons of money saving coupons, but they also feature a weekly meal plan!

Watch the video here:

So if you missed any of those details, let me break it down for you here.

Since the Whole Deal comes out 6 times a year, you can’t rely on it for your weekly meal plan, but you can use the recipes you’ll find in their meal planner as a template.

Essentially, what you want to do is take a piece of paper (or a spreadsheet) and break it down into 7 columns, one for each day of the week. Then, instead of assigning a recipe to each day, I want you to assign a category of food. For instance, here’s what we did in our family (as seen in the video):
Monday: Soup night
Tuesday: Mexican night
Wednesday: Asian night
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner
Friday: Appetizer/Family Fun Night
Saturday: Pizza Night
Sunday: Leftovers

Just take a look at the spread for a week’s worth of meals I created that was inspired by the Whole Deal:

Now, on to the recipes!

Monday: Slow Cooker While Chili

Monday night is a great soup night for us, especially during the winter months. We love finding recipes that we can throw in the slow cooker and walk away until dinner time, like this Slow Cooker While Chili from the Jan/Feb Whole Deal. The greatest thing about this recipe is that you can alter it to your preferences. For instance, I added a frozen pepper/onion blend because it offered a better value. It’s easy, hearty and nutritious – a real crowd pleaser!

Tuesday: Tequila Lime Chicken

Tuesday in our house is known as “Taco Tuesday”, but really, we serve up all kinds of Mexican food on Tuesdays! Of course we love our tacos and salads, but it’s fun to mix in those Mexican flavors with some more traditional dishes, like with this Tequila Lime Chicken recipe. The actual Whole Foods recipe calls for salmon, but since I’m allergic to salmon, we just swapped it out for chicken (plus it makes it more kid friendly too!).

Wednesday: Miso Soup & Gyoza

Our kids LOVE Asian food and would eat us out of house and home if we let them when it comes to Japanese food in particular. That’s why I love the 365 Everyday Value Organic Miso Soup: It’s less than $3 for 4 servings (when you’d pay that for just one bowl at a restaurant!). I paired it with some gyoza (Japanese dumplings, also known as potstickers) that we picked up in the freezer section at Whole Foods Market. This is great for midweek if you don’t want to spend all night in the kitchen, or if you’d rather make homemade gyoza, you can use my gyoza recipe

Thursday: Waffles with Kefir

Another fool-proof favorite in our family is breakfast for dinner. When I saw the coupons for waffles & kefir in this issue of the Whole Deal, I jumped on it! We also love just cooking eggs, grits and bacon too. It’s a great way to make a playful dinner and breakfast is almost always a great value (especially when using the Whole Deal coupons!)

Friday: Warm Spinach Cheese Dip

Fridays are always family fun night in the Cone Home, so we LOVE to watch a movie in the living room and make a dinner out of finger foods and appetizers. A new favorite in our house is this recipe for Warm Spinach Cheese Dip. You’ll actually see the recipe is for a Warm Broccoli Cheese Dip, but I didn’t have any broccoli on hand, so I pulled out some organic spinach I try to keep on hand in the freezer and it turned out great! This week we paired it with some tortilla chips, the yummy Whole Foods Market guacamole and 7 layer dip that I picked up in their prepared foods section and Voila! Dinner is served!

Want to win everything you see above?

One person will win a free pantry makeover that will include the ingredients to make all the amazing meals you see above…plus you’ll win a one-on-one value coaching session with me (total value over $300)! All you have to do is enter at Whole Foods Market Green Hills between now and February 2, 2012. Then, show up for my live workshop and value tour on 2/2/12 at 7:30 to see how to shop from start to finish and save even more at Whole Foods Market.

You don’t have to be present at the workshop to win, but if you are, you’ll also win a $25 gift card (on top of all the other prizes!)

So what are you waiting for? Find out more details about my “Saving with Sami Cone” workshop and get entered to win today!

Filed Under: Deals & Freebies, Food, Meal Plans, Recipes, Whole Foods Tagged With: budget, dinner, Food, Grocery, meal, plan, save, video, whole deal, Whole Foods, Whole Foods Meal Plan Budget Nashville

Perfect chocolate chip cookies recipe tips

December 19, 2011 By sami

Looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookies recipe tips? Look no further!

I’m ashamed to say I just made my first batch of Christmas cookies with the kids this year, so I was determined to make them my best chocolate chip cookies ever! For that, I was determined to do two things:
1. Use quality ingredients
2. Scour Google for recipe tips!

The first was easy: I got organic flour and chocolate chips for next to NOTHING at Whole Foods last month. The second was a little more difficult, but I eventually found some great tips that led to, what I think were, our best chocolate chip cookies ever…so I wanted to pass the tips on to you:

1. Mix in Chocolate Chips before the flour

I found out that over-mixing the dough equals tough cookies, so after creaming your butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together, switch to the paddle attachment and slowly mix the chocolate chips into the batter before adding the flour. Then add the flour in until just incorporated. This will allow your chocolate chips to be evenly distributed without over beating your batter!

2. Use a small ice cream scoop to form your cookies

A key to perfectly baked cookies is uniformity in size. Use a small ice cream/sorbet scoop (or melon baller) to scoop your batter and put onto the cookie sheets so they bake evenly. This will also prevent your from handling them too much (another no-no in cookie baking I’ve come to learn).

3. Leave plenty of space in between your cookies

I baked only a dozen cookies on each tray this time around. Normally, I try to shove as many cookies as possible on the tray to get it done faster, but that keeps them from cooking and forming properly. You also want to leave the cookies on the tray for a few minutes after bringing them out of the oven before transferring them to the cooling rack so they set properly.

4. Refrigerate your cookie dough balls before baking

I used to stick my bowl of dough in the fridge before scooping it out, but this time I scooped into balls and put on a plate in the fridge for about 10 minutes before baking. I think it helped them keep their shape better in the end.

I also love this image from ThePerfectChocolateChipCookie.com: it shows examples of different kinds of chocolate chip cookies and what went wrong with each.

problem Perfect chocolate chip cookies recipe tips

Image from ThePerfectChocolateChipCookie.com

Do you have any great cookie baking tips? If so, I’d love for you to share them below! After all, I still have more cookies to bake!

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: baking, chocolate chip, Christmas, cookie, Perfect, recipe, tips

Homemade Maple Syrup Recipe with no Corn Syrup

November 27, 2011 By sami

I wanted to share this homemade maple syrup recipe with no corn syrup that I found when I was in a pinch this weekend.

You know me, I never (or rarely ever) buy grocery staples unless they’re on sale, so I’ve found myself without syrup for awhile. That, and the fact that I’ve been trying to find one I could afford without high fructose corn syrup in it. What I didn’t realize was just how easy it is to make at home!

I will say that this is much thinner than traditional maple syrup, but the kids liked it better than our regular syrup.

Homemade Maple Syrup with no Corn Syrup

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp maple flavoring

Cooking Directions

Combine the first three ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover and cook 3 minutes. Cool slightly.
Cover saucepan for a few minutes, then stir in final two ingredients.

The original recipe this was adapted from came from Cooks.com. I’ve also heard people adding raspberry to this and I think next time I’ll try adding a bit of orange essence or cinnamon as well! Really, the possibilities are endless

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: corn syrup, Food, homemade, maple, recipe, syrup

Herb Popcorn Recipe

October 22, 2011 By sami

My new favorite crave-worthy (& healthy!) snack is Herb popcorn….even my kids love it! So I wanted to share this super easy and flavorful recipe with you:

Herb Popcorn

Ingredients

1/3 c Popcorn Kernels
1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 T Melt organic butter alternative
1/2 t Garlic Salt
1 t Herbs de Provence

Cooking Directions

Drizzle the olive oil evenly around your hot air popcorn popper.
Sprinkle the popcorn kernels over the olive oil, cover & turn on.
If your popcorn popper has a well to put butter in on top, put the Melt directly in there so it will melt as your popcorn pops. Otherwise, microwave it slowly until it melts and then pour over popped corn.
Once popcorn is done popping, turn over into bowl and sprinkle with garlic sale & Herbs de Provence - delicious & nutritious!

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: Food, herb, popcorn, recipe, snack

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe

September 7, 2011 By sami

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe
From the kitchen of Ashleigh Maynord

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 cup shredded cheese
8 oz cream cheese
¾ cup hot pepper sauce
Extra shredded cheese

Combine all ingredients except the extra shredded cheese. Pour into greased baking pan and top with extra cheese. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes (or until heated through).
Serve warm with Fritos, tortilla chips, wheat thins, etc.

*This recipe is from the sister in law of one of my closest friends here in Nashville, Mary Elizabeth. We had it last time we all got together at her house and we just HAD to have the recipe! The fun thing about it is that you can use whatever type of shredded cheeses you like: try blue cheese for a traditional Buffalo Chicken taste or cheddar for a crowd-pleaser!

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: appetizer, buffalo, chicken, dip, Food, recipe

Kids Easter Activity: Resurrection Buns Recipe & Video

April 22, 2011 By sami

A favorite Easter activity to do with our kids is to make Resurrection Buns on Easter morning. A friend told us about this years ago and it is so easy! I’ve since had so many people ask me about this kids Easter activity, that I thought I’d share the recipe and video with you here.

You just take your favorite frozen rolls that you’ve allowed to thaw and rise and then stretch and ‘smush’ them into a round circle. Then take a marshmallow, place it at the center of that circle and stretch the dough around and over it, covering it completely. Put each dough ball in a baking dish (like a lasagna pan) then brush with melted butter and sprinkle with a cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake according to package directions.

Watch the video and hear some of my favorite kids Easter Sayings:

They key to this is making sure your kids help you make them. They’ll see that when they make the resurrection buns, the marshmallow is inside the ‘tomb’, buy once they’re baked, the marshmallow isn’t inside anymore….just like Jesus wasn’t in the tomb! It’s a fun (and delicious) way to reinforce the Easter message with your kids!

Filed Under: Family, Recipes Tagged With: activity, easter, Food, Kids, recipe, resurrection, video

Club Med’s Famous White Chocolate Bread Recipe and Video

April 14, 2011 By sami

On a recent trip to Club Med Sandpiper Bay, I was reminded of why it was so tough to keep up my bikini body even though I used to play tennis all day as a GO: the famous White Chocolate Bread.

You may be thinking, “What’s the big deal? It’s just bread.”

Oh no, my friend. You are so wrong. I don’t even like white chocolate and ALL my attempts to avoid this treat were futile.

So imagine my delight when Chef Christian not only shared the recipe, but also discovered a video for how to make white chocolate bread!

Now I’m not claiming that I’ll be able to come anywhere close to making it as good as the expert chefs at Club Med, but even if I can make my kitchen smell half as good as the Club Med Sandpiper Bay Marketplace, I’ll be a happy camper!

Here is the Club Med White Chocolate Bread Tutorial video:

Now I mentioned the recipe. What I didn’t know until looking at it later was that it had all the measurements, but not the step by step instructions. But don’t fret! Just watch the video and all your questions will be answered! Here’s what you’ll need for the white chocolate bread recipe:
4 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp gluten (with all purpose flour)
2 1/2 cups water
…and of course White Chocolate as desired!

It’s safe to say that I lived almost exclusively off of bread and cheese during my stay at Club Med Sandpiper Bay…and I’m not ashamed to admit I enjoyed every minute of my French Food pampering

Have you been to Club Med? Which bread is your favorite?

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: bread, chocolate, club med, recipe, video

Winter Lentil Chili Recipe

January 4, 2011 By sami

Winter Lentil Chili
As featured on “Talk of the Town” in January 2011

This is a great take on an old favorite and saves you SO much money by substituting lentils for meat & beans.

Bulk it up even further by adding additional other winter vegetables like squash & eggplant that have been chopped finely in the food processor. If you’re not worried about keeping this a vegetarian dish, substitute beef stock for vegetable stock and add a couple dashes of worcestershire sauce for a meatier taste!

Ingredients

8 cups vegetable broth or stock
½ cup frozen yellow onions, diced
2 cups frozen tri-color bell peppers, diced
2 carrots, diced
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Montreal Steak seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (16-ounce) package brown lentils (about 2 1/4 cups lentils if buying from bulk section)
2 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional for garnish)

Method

Bring 3/4 cup broth to a simmer in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add vegetables and garlic and cook about 10 minutes or until tender. Combine chili powder, steak seasoning and cumin in small bowl, add to pot and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add lentils, tomatoes and remaining broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, 30 minutes or until lentils are almost tender. Uncover and cook 10 minutes longer. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Note: If you want to speed up the cooking time, soak your lentils in water overnight before cooking and reduce stock in the recipe. You can also omit the Montreal Steak seasoning to keep it a low sodium dish.

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: chili, health, lentil, recipe, vegetarian

Pesach Sponge Cake Recipe

December 14, 2010 By sami

One can’t help but think of family traditions and favorite recipes over the holidays. After my parents got divorced when I was seven, I didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate the Jewish holidays with my dad’s side of the family as much anymore. However, one thing I never forgot was my Aunt Ellen’s Sponge Cake!

I don’t know if I could ever make it as well as she does, but I recently asked her if she’d share her recipe, and she graciously agreed to do so. Thanks Aunt Ellen!

Pesach Sponge Cake Recipe
courtesy of Ellen Strauss

1 Cup Pesach Cake Meal
¼ Cup Potato Starch
1 ½ Cups Sugar
¼ tsp Salt
12 Eggs Separated
1 Lemon Rind
½ Cup Lemon Juice

Using a large pan for the yolks, and next largest for the whites, separate the eggs.

Sift the Cake Meal and Potato Starch ( I sift on waxed paper.)

Beat the yolks well, add sugar, add lemon juice and rind ( minced fine), beat again.

Fold in Cake Meal and Potato Starch.

Add Salt to the whites and beat ‘til stiff (‘til they will hold their peaks)

Pour into a Sponge cake tube pan (ungreased)

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

I cut around it and remove the rim of the pan, and leave the bottom of the pan in,

I wrap it in foil, and then I freeze it.

It’s easy and delicious !

Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Reviews Tagged With: dessert, jewish, recipe, sponge cake

Monday: Slow Cooker While Chili

Tuesday: Tequila Lime Chicken

Wednesday: Miso Soup & Gyoza

Thursday: Waffles with Kefir

Friday: Warm Spinach Cheese Dip

1. Mix in Chocolate Chips before the flour

2. Use a small ice cream scoop to form your cookies

3. Leave plenty of space in between your cookies

4. Refrigerate your cookie dough balls before baking

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe From the kitchen of Ashleigh Maynord

Latest Printable Coupons:

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe
From the kitchen of Ashleigh Maynord