Parmesan Crusted Talipia

Welcome all! Thanks for stopping by. I am doing something quite shocking today. A recipe post! WOW, hunh? I feel ashamed really. I have fallen into that old "mechanic doesn't want to work on his own car after work scenario". But no more I say. I have a bunch of great things to share with you so by golly I'm going to suck it up!

This is such a easy recipe. Very yummy and budget minded too! My youngest daughter requests this for her birthday dinner. You may notice in the picture a lei around the plate. That was from her luau dinner last year.

Parmesan Crusted Talipia

1 package of frozen talipia fillets( I get mine at Aldi)

2 eggs

1/4 cup of milk or buttermilk

2 cups Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup parm cheese

2T lemon pepper seasoning

2 teaspoons garlic powder

Olive oil for frying

Mix all dry ingredients in a shallow dish and set aside. Mix egg and milk in a dish big enough to hold talapia. The Aldi package usually yields 7-8 fillets. Rinse the fillets and place in egg mixture, coat them well and let set for a few minutes. In the mean time add a few TBS oil to pan on medium heat. Roll your fillets in bread crumb mixture and let rest while pan is heating. Just about 3 minutes on each side and they are perfect. Drain on paper towels and serve with lemon wedges! Easy peasy! They are very delicious to boot!!!!

This is a very forgiving recipe you can change it up anyway you want, use corn meal, panko or any fish friendly spices or herbs.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. I have never tried it in the oven. If you decide to, let me know how it turns out for you.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Hugs, Deb!

Weekly Menu Plan The Late Edition

Hello there everyone! Hope you weekend was wonderful. I am getting a late start on the menu plan this week. That dead fridge really messed up the menu plan last week. We had to eat different things to clear space and beat the clock with the perishables.

So here is the plan for this week:

Chili Lime roasted pork sirloin chops
Creamy Corn casserole
cottage cheese


Homemade Pizza
Salad

BLT's
veggies and ranch dip
oven fries

Honey Brown Sugar Ham
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans with Caramelized Onions

Grilled Chicken
Steamed Rice
Asparagus

Hopefully this week will go off without too much kitchen chaos. Hop on back tomorrow and I will be posting a easy Talipia recipe. Make sure you stop over to see Susie and link up you menu plan or just get some great ideas!
                                                                           Hugs, Deb!

Debt Snowflake Challenge Week Two Still Plugging Along

Hello everyone, HAPPY FRIDAY! It's time to link up with Melissa at Moms Plans for the Debt Snowflake Challenge. Participating has been really motivating for me. If you haven't been by to check it out I suggest you scoot on over there ASAP. I am staying accountable and learning new ideas too. Much love Melissa!!!!!!

I am slowly plugging along in my second week. The death of the fridge is still stinging in the area where our Emergency Fund once lived. All the more reason to eliminate debt, right? RIGHT! Build old EF back up to its former glory and LARGER!

The snowflake total for this week is $80.97. It breaks down to baking profit, $67.00, Rounding hubby's pay to nearest ten $8.97 and a $5.00 deposit from my bank for a customer satisfaction survey. They are tiny but rolled together they are mighty!

I'm hoping to get that grocery budget tamed too. There are some really great deals this week so I'm hoping for a under budget trip this week!

How are your snowflaking efforts going this week? Cant wait to stop by and visit everyone! Have a wonderful weekend! HUGS! Deb

Murphy Stopped By Today!

Welcome all! It has been a very unfrugal day here in the country! OUCH! I woke up to a horrible screeching sound in the middle of the night. It was my kitchen nemesis, the REFRIGERATOR! This side by side beast has been a thorn in my side since I bought it almost nine years ago!

                                                    photo credit- convergence.com

It has made noise and broke down on a nonstop basis. I have had it repaired 4 times under warranty, 2 times under the extended warranty(one rare time it ended up being worth it to purchase a extended warranty!) and 3 times out of our pocket, all small things of course.

But today was different. The compressor locked up and a horrible smell filled the kitchen. I am glad its dead, really I am. I just wish it didn't take our emergency fund with it. I just had it built back up from the September dryer fiasco. Will we ever surpass the initial $1000? Feeling defeated toady but maybe tomorrow I can be thankful we could replace it. Sigh!!!

Ever wonder why Murphy loves to visit in January? He needs to lose my address. Dave said he will try to move in. Have you had a visit from Murphy lately? So much for a spend free day!

Well, I am off to wait for the delivery men. Have a great, calamity free day!
                                                                     Hugs, Deb

Weekly Menu Planning #2

It's week 2 already. I guess this year is going to try to fly by me too. While I might not be able to control time, at least I will be organized and frugal as possible.

The house is finally back to normal schedules and the older kids are gone. So hopefully my grocery budget will creep back down. The bad news is I am $15.79 over budget this week and for week one $22.34 bringing my negative total to $38.13. BOOO!!!! I keep telling myself it isn't too bad considering we had New Years Eve and company.

Now back to regular life! Phew!

I am dusting off some family favorites this week. My family got neglected in the weeks leading up to the holidays due to my busy baking season. So this is our menu this week.

Parmesan Crusted Talipia
Roasted Asparagus
Baked potato


Sticky Chicken
Cheesy Corn casserole
Spinach salad with lemon vinaigrette


Homemade Pizza with whole wheat crust
Pepperoni for the kids
Canadian bacon with pineapple and jalapenos for hubby and I

Leftover night (Probably Wednesday)


Ham and beans with homemade cornbread
(made with yummy ham bone from the holidays)


Soup and salad (french onion and some crusty bread)

One night for sure we will be running around like maniacs and just forage through the refrigerator. Does anyone else do that? Oops. told on myself!

So that's the week in food. What's cookin' in your neck of the woods? Have a wonderfully frugal week!!! 

I just wanted to add that I will be linking up with Susie at SusieQTpies Scraps of Life for Menu Planning Monday. I just love her blog and am so glad I found it. Go check her out!
                                                     Hugs, Deb

Debt Snowflake Challenge Week One and Having Fun!

Happy Friday fellow bloggers and followers. It has been a great week for snowflaking. It's so motivating to collect up my little "flakes" and package them for debt repayment!

Why I have never tried this, I will never know! For several years I have read lots of blogs which practiced this method. Everyone had wonderful success too, but did that motivate me? Nope!

Recently I stumbled upon this wonderful blog. Melissa will be updating every Friday. She had had some great luck this week with a unexpected deposit fee. Stop by and see what all the buzz is about!

The hubby and I have decided that all of our snowflakes will be tucked away in our new ING Electric Orange account.Then once monthly they will be assigned to the smallest debt to quickly clear up according to Dave Ramsey. I know its not the popular method over paying off high interest debts first but I like Dave's ideas. He the the "go to" guy in my book.

Here is the breakdown for this weeks "flakes".

Profit from my little baking gig $94.00

Rounding off my hubby's paycheck to the nearest ten dollar increment $8.65

A check for $2.84 from old insurance company

This makes a grand total of $105.49! In the old days this would have floated away somewhere on the weekend. What a waste! But no more, every dollar is going to work as hard as we do!

I am kind of still in limbo on what to do about my coupon savings $ and the balance in my grocery envelope. Currently they are hanging out together. The plan for now is to build a stockpile of no more than 3 each items of all our toiletry and household supplies. We have only two choices for grocery shopping in a 40 mile radius Walmart and Aldi. Not as great as I would like but I am determined so save regardless.

I welcome any input on this. I would love to hear how you all do it. You just gotta love feedback from the pros! Have a wonderful weekend and happy snowflaking. I am off to see how everyone else did with their first week.
Hugs, Deb!!!

More Frugal Blog Love!

                                                              photo credit: pennyjar.org


So glad you dropped in! I hope everyone is enjoying the new year. I was blessed with some free time over the New Year's break and I decided to revisit some of my old favorite frugal blogs since one of our resolutions for 2012 was getting back to frugal living and eliminating debt. I found several amazing new ones also.

One of them is Frugal In Florida. Frugal is a working mom of grown kids trying to keep it on the cheap in balmy Florida! That alone is enough to hook me! But while browsing around her blog I found out about her great plan for 2012 The Year Of Zero . Hop on over to see her rules for 2012. I personally love 1, 9 and 10. I have joined in and they are in my rules for 2012! Nothing like making blogging buddies with the same ideas to keep you accountable in the year ahead.

What rules would you have for finances in 2012? I think Frugal In Florida is going to inspire us all in 2102. What are you still doing here? Get on over there! I'm right behind you!!!! Let's all be fab and frugal!!!

                                                                   Hugs, Deb