Friday, October 9, 2009

My two favorite (cooking) recipes for the moment.

I just thought I would share my two recipes that I've made lately that are my absolute favorite! Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have about them (Shelly_Welly_Belly@yahoo.com). p.s. I'm going back to school for real this time in January! Yay! (only part time, so don't worry!) :)





Sweet Russian Cabbage Soup

PREP TIME: 10 Min
COOK TIME: 1 Hr
READY IN 1 Hr 10 Min


INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds ground lean beef
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
4 cubes beef bouillon
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons white vinegar (I use 1/4 of a cup instead for a little extra "bite")
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 quarts water, divided
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 head cabbage, cored and cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS
Crumble the ground beef into a large pot. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef bouillon cubes, carrots, onion, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour in 1 quart of water, and bring to a boil. Stir to break up the beef while heating. Once the soup comes to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat.
Pour in another quart of water, and return to a slow boil. Add garlic and cabbage. Simmer for 25 minutes, until cabbage is tender. Ladle into soup bowls to serve.




Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Enchiladas!

Ingredients:

SAUCE: Large Pork Loin, 18 oz Coca-Cola Classic (do not use diet or generic), 1 cup sugar, (1) 7 oz can of chipotle chilies in ADOBO sauce, 1 tsp dry ground mustard (heaping), 1 tsp. minced garlic.

OTHER: Large package of flour tortillas, green salsa that has tomatillos and sarano peppers in it, and LOTS of shredded mozzarella cheeze.

Directions: PORK: Remove chilies from the can of adobo sauce. Rinse chilies with the coke to get all the sauce. Discard chilies. Also rinse can with coke to get all remaining sauce. Put all ingredients in blender. Blend, pour over pork in crock pot. Add brown sugar towards the end, a tablespoon at a time. After cooking, pull apart with forks into bite size pieces. Leave in sauce while you serve it.

ENCHILADAS: Add heaping spoonfulls of sweet pork to flour tortilla, sprinkle with generous amount of cheese. Fold tortilla burrito style. Drizzle green salsa over the top (not too much) and again sprinkle on top with generous amount of cheese. Fill caserole dish with as many enchiladas that you can and stick in the oven to broil until cheese is melted.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Introducing Coupon Shelly!

Okay, so I'm just starting to get into this whole coupon business. It is VERY confusing! As I go along, I'm going to post things that I found that are helpful. For example, I keep seeing these women post things to their blogs about how they got their Walgreens purchases for free after using their "Register Rewards." I had NO idea what that meant, so I googled it and found this VERY informative description about how to save at Walgreens at about.com. So click HERE if you're interested like I was about how all these women get these super deals at Walgreens. I'll let you know how I do!

Also, here is the link for the same type of info for CVS.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my favorite Jane Austen book. It represents the incredible bond between sisters. Parts of this book remind me a little of that movie "He's Just Not That Into You." It addresses the issue of class division and is a constant reminder of how guys can be the biggest jerks, but can also have redeeming qualities at the same time. :)

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Bridget Jone's Diary: The Edge of Reason

Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2 volume paperback boxed set) Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Of course I had to read the sequal to Bridget Jone's diary. This one did not disappoint! An even funnier encounter is had between Daniel Cleaver and Mr. Darcy. The movie was funny, but had an almost completely different plot, which is okay because it's almost like getting another story out of the series!

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Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park Mansfield Park by Jane Austen


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Okay, I loved the drama in this book! Who says they didn't have soap operas in the late 18th century?! Albeit the incestual love story between cousins is a bit awkward at times. If you can get past that and realize that it wasn't a social taboo back then, then you'll be just fine. It was a lot longer than I expected, but didn't let me down.

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Bridget Jone's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow! I LOVED this book! It was required reading for Brian's Women's Studies course his last year of undergrad, so I read it for him since it was a less important class. Truly funny and revealing of female insecurities. It has a bit of vulgar humor in it....okay, more than a little! I simply had to go watch the movie after reading this and I was not let down. If you have already seen the movie and not read the book, I still recommend your read the book as the plot has a few little interesting twists in it that the movie does not have.

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Eva

Eva Eva by Peter Dickinson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
And interesting read. Brian had this one on the shelf from when he was in middle school I think. It's an interesting twist on the evolution theory of humans starting out as apes. A girl gets into a car accident in a futuristic world where wildlife and plant life are going extinct and they take her brain and put it into an ape's body. Like I said, interesting.

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