How Do You Cook Corn?

I grew up surrounded by corn.  Literally.  There was a dairy farm down the street, and one of their corn fields ran parallel to my yard.  We used to run around the fields and play hide and seek.  Even so, however, I have no idea how to cook corn on the cob.  We ate it regularly and, while I was in charge of husking the corn on the front porch, my mom was the corn cooking master.  Whatever she says, goes, and, while this is true in pretty much every aspect of our lives, she's particularly particular about her corn.  (And hamburgers, but that's a story for another time.)

So the moral of the story is: I don't know how to cook corn.  The only wisdom my mom imparted to me is a story she tells every time we eat corn about how we once visited one of her college friends and she put the corn on to cook right before we all left to go to a playground down the road.  We were at the park for an hour, probably, and the corn was still cooking when we got back.  Mom thinks that's way too long to cook corn, and she'll be willing to tell you so any chance she has.

Shelle and I have been enjoying some corn this season (not yet fresh from farm stands, but we're getting there), and when it came time to cook it, neither of us were sure quite what to do.  A quick internet search yielded a variety of results - put the corn in and then bring it to a boil, bring the water to a boil and then put the corn in, cook it for one minute, cook it for ten minutes, you get the idea.  We basically ignored it all and went with our gut feeling - and it was wrong.  Our corn is weird.  It's either overdone or underdone, but we can't tell which.  It's weirdly chewy, not crisp like corn should be.  So this begs a question to all of you: How do you cook corn?

Maybe I'd better just call my mother.

Frugal Friday: My Favorite Ice Cream Sundae

Hi folks!

Weird, I never use the word folks. I was looking back and every time I greet you people I say "Hi everyone" and that was getting old...so today, you are folks.

As you know, we eat a lot of ice cream. There is an amazing ice cream stand down the street from us, but it is sort of expensive and we are sort of poor. So we only let ourselves go to the ice cream stand when someone is visiting and we want to show it off. Sad, I know, but when you're broke it is the little things that make a huge difference and spending five bucks on ice cream is five dollars we could have put towards our student loan debt.

Anyway, we eat a lot of ice cream at home, and it can get boring really quickly when it is just carton after carton with no toppings or anything fun. So we started experimenting with different things in the house to top our ice cream. The Fresh Strawberry Sauce was a good one, but now that strawberry season is coming to a close, we are back to our old friend...peanut butter!

We love peanut butter, and melted on ice cream is the best way to eat it! It hardens a little bit when it touches the ice cream and every bite is just delicious! I like to add some chocolate syrup and peanut M&Ms too. Amanda is a big Cool Whip fan, but I prefer the whipped cream. It is clearly better!

Sound off in the comments section below...oil or cream?

Sweet and Spicy Barbecue Chicken

Amanda is a vegetarian, and I am not. I eat a lot of vegetarian meals, but sometimes a girl just needs some meat. Chicken is by far my favourite and it is so easy to make on the side of a vegetarian dinner! When I buy chicken, I usually get a big bulk pack because the unit price is significantly cheaper than buying the smaller packs. I spend the time upfront and clean all of the chicken breasts and package them individually into sandwich bags, then when I want some chicken it is ready to go!

I like to experiment with flavors, but I always come back to barbecue. We live in a small apartment with no yard, so cooking chicken on a grill is out of the question. I use a large skillet and cube the chicken and add a little bit of olive oil. I like my chicken over cooked and crispy brown, so I cook it for about 15 minutes on medium-high heat. Right before the chicken is done, I add about 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 to 2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce, a sprinkle of garlic powder and some red pepper flakes, I like it spicy. Let the sauce bubble and reduce for a minute or so before turning off the heat.

If you like more or less sauce on your chicken, you can change the ratio of sauce, sometimes I like to add in more of the sauce and have the chicken over rice.

This chicken does not disappoint! I had it last night with some corn on the cobb and salt potatoes, yum!

Frugal Friday: Swiffer Solution

It's a Frugal Friday!

Today's Frugal Friday tip is a recipe for the swiffer solution. We have all hard wood floors in our apartment and they can be a bitch to keep clean. It seems like every other day they need to be swept and swiffered. We were going through a lot of the solution and did not want to spend what little cash we had on swiffer cleaner.

After a little research on how to make cleaning products, we came up with this:

1 cup of water
1/4 cup of vinegar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of scented oil

Every year when people don't know what to buy us for Christmas, we end up with an abundance of candles and scented oils. Don't get me wrong, I love candles and think they are wonderful gifts, but this house would smell like a weird garden with baked goods and cinnamon and fresh cotton if we used them all. So we decided to get creative and use the scented oil in the swiffer solution - it certainly helps to cover up the vinegar smell!.

We just keep refilling the bottle that originally came with our swiffer, so we just make a little at a time.  Good thing it's so easy!  If you are having a hard time getting the top off the swiffer solution bottle, try soaking it in really hot water, this should loosen it enough to unscrew.

Have a great weekend!!

Hash Brown Casserole

Remember when we made potato salad a little while ago?  We bought a pretty good sized bag of potatoes at the time, and we still had a few left we wanted to use up before they go bad.  And what's a great way to use up potatoes?  Throw them in a casserole!

This casserole is an old standby in my family, and we like to eat is as a main dish for weeknight dinners or as a side dish for holiday meals.  It's creamy and delicious, and it warms up really well in the microwave to make leftover lunches.  We eat it in winter and summer, pretty much any chance we get.  I'm telling you, you can't go wrong!

Here's what you'll need:

about 4 large potatoes, shredded
1 cup of sour cream
1 can of condensed potato soup
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Throw all of the ingredients minus 1/2 cup of the shredded cheddar into a bowl and stir.  Once the ingredients are well mixed, pour them into a greased 8x8 pan.  Top with the remaining shredded cheddar and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until the cheese on top begins to brown.

If you're short on time, you can prepare the casserole ahead and let it sit in the fridge.  Just pop it out and into the oven an hour before you want to eat and you'll be good to go.  And if you have left overs, you can reheat the whole dish in the oven or spoon a bit into a bowl and warm it in the microwave.  That's what I'm doing for lunch tomorrow!

Chocolate Cake (From Scratch!)

I was raised on box mixes.  Cakes, brownies, macaroni and cheese - you name it, and if it came in a box, that's the version we ate in my house.  I imagine it was for convenience, it sounds like it would be time-consuming and difficult to make something from scratch (at least to me, who probably didn't even learn the meaning of the word until middle school).  But it's a bit more expensive too, and being broke just doesn't afford me the luxuries of counting on Betty Crocker to do my dirty work.

I decided to master one thing at a time, and began my adventures into baking from scratch with a chocolate cake.  I figured I'd use the Hershey's recipe since, well, Hershey's is basically synonymous with chocolate.  I found it here, and was certainly not disappointed.  At first it seemed a little funny to me, a born and raised box mix girl, but I needn't have worried.  I totally second-guessed Hershey's (I know, who do I think I am?  They're the ultimate chocolate authority!) about adding the boiling water in at the end, and it made my batter super runny (basically a brown liquid), but the recipe has never failed me.  Cakes back up wonderfully, and they're moist and delicious.  It tastes better than using a box mix, is probably healthier, and sounds a lot fancier too.  Plus it's cheaper!

I used this mix last week to bake up some cupcakes.  We had strawberries coming out our ears at that point, so I cooked up a little of our Strawberry Sauce to fill them.  I added a little extra cornstarch so it gelled up a bit more, then cut the tops off the cupcakes.  I scooped out the centers (and promptly ate them, of course) and spooned in some of the strawberry filling before placing the tops back on.  I frosted them with some buttercream frosting, and then decorated the top with a chocolate-covered strawberry.  Yum!  The only thing wrong with this dessert is that fresh strawberry season is far too short!

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Amanda's favorite food is ice cream. I'm pretty sure she would sell her soul if there was a shortage.
And the addiction runs in her family - there was a time when it seemed like every time I came to visit we went out for ice cream. (I am not complaining by any means, but I prefer other desserts - chocolate chip cookies are probably my favorite.) After picking so many strawberries for jam, we had a bunch left over. We are way too broke to let anything go to waste, so we made a really tasty strawberry sauce to put on top of Amanda's favorite dessert!

We took about a cup of cut strawberries and added them to a sauce pan with about a teaspoon of lemon juice. Once the strawberries were warm and their juice had accumulated on the bottom of the pan, we added in about three tablespoons of sugar and about a tablespoon of corn starch. We just cooked the sauce on medium heat until it was thick and bubbly. You can always add more or less corn starch depending on how thick you want the sauce to be.

Enjoy!

Ice Cold Wine!

I like wine...a lot. In the summer Amanda and I tend to drink a glass or two with dinner. The problem is that summer is always so hot, and our wine gets warm easily. Who wants to water down their wine with ice cubes? Not me! So I thought about different things I could do to keep my wine cold, and then it hit me! Frozen fruit! Amanda and I always eat frozen green grapes on really hot days, and we have an abundance of strawberries from our jam-making extravaganza. So I threw some grapes and cut-up strawberries in the freezer.

It kept my wine cold and by the end of the glass, the fruit had thawed and tasted delicious! Frozen fruit dresses up a glass of wine and looks so classy! I am all about it!

Frugal Friday Tip: Homemade Pizza

My parents have a thing for pizza.  Every Friday night at about 5:00 my dad calls to order it, then leaves the house to pick it up around 5:20.  You could set your watch by it.  Normally it's a large cheese pizza, plain and simple, two if my brother or Shelle and I are home visiting.  On special occasions, maybe they'll get pepperoni or sausage or green peppers and olives.  If they're really living it up, they'll get chicken wings too.

Now my parents probably spend between 10 and 20 dollars a week on pizza alone.  Even if it's only $10, that's still over a solid $500 per year they spend on pizza.  As a broke gal, that's sometimes more money than I can comprehend.

I was raised on Friday pizza, and it isn't something so easy to give up.  But Shelle and I don't have the $500 a year to shell out, so we've had to get a little creative.  We started buying pre-made pizza dough at the grocery store for about $2, and that certainly helped to cut our costs.  But now we've done it one better - homemade pizza dough, from scratch.

It's a pretty easy recipe, even though I was initially frightened by the yeast.  The idea of knowingly and willingly throwing a live bacteria-like substance into my food scared me off a little, but I bit the bullet and boy, was it worth it.  This dough is super easy to make, and it freezes really well.  When I know I'm going to be around all day, I tend to make a few batches at once and toss them in the freezer so we'll have dough ready to pull out whenever we have a craving for Friday pizza.  Just put the dough in the fridge in the morning or on the counter a few hours before you plan to eat, and you'll be good to go!

To make the dough, dissolve 1 teaspoon of sugar into 1 1/2 cups of water.  The water should be just over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so it should feel warm to the touch but not hot.  Once the sugar is dissolved, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast onto the water.  Let it sit for ten or fifteen minutes until it's all foamy on top of the water.  Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and stir.

Now add 3 cups of all-purpose flour one at a time, and stir well between each addition.  Use an additional 1/2 cup of flour to dust your kneading surface (I like to knead on a cookie sheet - much easier clean-up!), and put the dough onto the surface.  Knead for about five minutes or until most of the flour is worked in and the dough forms a smooth ball.  Put the ball of dough into a bowl well-greased with olive oil, and then cover it with a clean towel.  Leave it for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size.

After the dough has risen, punch it down and form it back into a ball.  At this point, I normally divide the batch in half and have enough dough to make two 12-inch pizzas, but if you like a thicker crust or are planning to use a bigger pan, you may want to leave the dough all together.  Form the dough into log shapes and place them on a floured cookie sheet.  Cover with a clean towel and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Now you're ready to make your pizza.  Roll your dough out however you'd like - Shelle tends to use a rolling pin, and I like to pull and stretch until it's about the right size for the pan.  If you're feeling particularly adventurous, toss it around a little and take a minute to revel in your awesomeness.  Dress and decorate your pizza however you'd like, and you're good to go!  And all for way cheaper than ordering out every week!

I'll have to teach you a thing or two, Mom and Dad!

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes

All I can say is YUM! I came home from work today and Amanda was in the kitchen making up a new concoction.  Sometimes this works out better than others, but today was a wonderful surprise...Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes! She took our usual homemade chocolate cake mix and baked the cupcakes. When they cooled, she took a knife and carved out the middle. She used our cookie dough dip as the filling and placed the carved piece back on the top. Amanda is the frosting master and made homemade buttercream for the top. These cupcakes are absolutely delicious, cookie dough has to be one of my favorite foods for sure. Just by looking at the cupcake you would never know there was a nugget of delight in the center...you take a bite and yum...cookie dough just fills your mouth! Amanda, the mad scientist, won this one for sure!! 

Strawberry Pie

Nothing says June like strawberries, I say.  It's pretty much the best fruit ever, and it's a real shame the season is so short.  Shelle and I have been picking strawberries like it's our job, and we're planning to do so much with them!  We'll definitely have our Strawberry Feta Spinach Salad again, it's so much better with fresh berries.  And Shelle's already had her favorite - strawberry shortcake.  We've been making jam like crazy.  This afternoon, though, I made the one thing I wait all year for: strawberry pie.

My mom makes this pie once every June, and I definitely plan to continue this tradition (except maybe make it twice.  Or thrice.  Four times?)  It's a quick and easy pie to whip up, and it goes so well with any kind of summer food.  We ate it with corn on the cob and salt potatoes for dinner tonight, just after I finished up the last of my papers for the school year!  Now it really feels like summer!

My mom always uses one of the refrigerated crusts she buys in the grocery store, but we went all out and made one from scratch.  It doesn't matter what you do, so just pick your favorite crust - the strawberries are the real star here!  Start with a quart of berries, which is equal to four cups.  Hull and wash them, and then separate out three cups of the berries.  Leave these berries whole (unless there are a few that are super large, then you may wish to cut them in half), and lay them in the completely cooled crust.  Put the other cup of berries into a pan, and crush them with a potato masher.  Add 3/4 cup of cold water, and cook and stir for about four minutes.  Add in 1 cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, and a teaspoon of lemons juice.  Make sure to keep stirring, and cook until it's thick and bubbly.  Pour the mixture over the whole berries in the crust and you're good to go!

Strawberry Shortcake

Yum! We just finished a delicious bowl of the easiest strawberry shortcake ever! We used an easy and cheap Bisquick mix where you just add milk. Added some sugar to the berries and covered it all in whipped cream!

Since we're broke, instead of going to the store and buying quarts of berries, we went to a strawberry patch and picked them ourselves. Ten pounds later and we are home having some tasty desserts! Tomorrow the plan is to make a strawberry pie. Check back for that recipe!

What is your favorite strawberry dessert?

Mod Podge Magnet Board

I had these friends in college I used to meet up with in the dining hall at dinner a couple nights a week.  I've often wondered if the creators of "The Big Bang Theory" were sitting at the next table over, since I'm pretty sure they were the inspiration for all of the characters (I like to think I'm the Penny of that crowd, of course, but I sense Shelle might have an entirely different opinion).  Anyway, they once had a several week-long debate about which invention has had the most impact on human life: plastic, penicillin, or the internet.  Well, boys, I've got a new one for you:

Mod Podge.

That stuff can do some seriously amazing things.  It's like glue, but on steroids and way more awesome.  I've used it a lot, especially recently, but I still can't get over the way it not only holds things together, but also forms such a smooth and finished surface over the top of paper and makes something we throw together on a whim in our living room look so professional.  (I'm also intrigued by the warning labels, but I figure since it's ingredients are thought to cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive harm only in California and I live on the opposite side of the country I'll totally be okay.  (I do know that's not how it really works, but let me live happily in denial!))

Shelle and I headed to a graduation party this weekend for an old family friend (we're bringing couscous salad) and, since we're broke to the point that any money we could afford to stick in a card would be laughable, we decided to break out the Mod Podge and get our craft on.  Leigh is headed to college in the fall, and we wanted to give her something that would help liven up a drab dorm room, but also help her to stay organized.  Thus, our Mod Podge Magnet Board was born.  And the best part - it cost us even less than a couple bucks!

The only thing we had to go out and buy was a pizza pan, which we got at Walmart for 92 cents, everything else we already had in our crafting bins.  We simply cut some scrapbook paper to fit the pan, glued it on with a thin layer of Mod Podge, and then Mod Podged over the top (if Mod Podge is not already a verb, it clearly should be).  We dressed it up a little more with some ribbon hot-glued onto the board, and then added magnets made out of scrapbook paper Mod Podged onto tiles that spelled out her name.  We finished it up with a ribbon hot glued to the back so Leigh can hang it right up when she's settling in to her new digs in late August.  Congrats, Leigh!  We hope you like it!

Are you getting crafty for graduation party season?  Let us know what you're planning in the comments below!

The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Pizza Edition

There's a restaurant a few towns over from where I went to college.  Actually, I'm not even one hundred percent sure I can call it a restaurant - it was basically a couple of tables in a man's living room.  There were no menus, no prices, he cooked in his personal kitchen right next to the living room where we ate.  The place doesn't even have a name - it's listed under just the letter "T" in the local phonebook, and you need to call a few hours ahead of time to see if the owner will be around and up for having company for dinner.

I'll admit I was skeptical the first time we went after a recommendation from one of our professors, but I was absolutely blown away by the food we were served.  The owner asked what we were in the mood for, if we had any allergies or dietary restrictions, took stock of the ingredients he had on hand, and decided to make us pizza.  And let me tell you, pizza has never been the same for me again.

His crust was whole-wheat and homemade - soft and chewy, just the right thickness, and cooked to perfection.  His sauce was seasoned unbelievably well - a little sweet, a little salty, and downright addictive.  He used spinach and mozzarella cheese - both fresh and colorful, but the walnuts are what really made the pizza.  I know what you're thinking, I thought it too, but the man knows what he's doing.  Walnuts chopped up and sprinkled on the pizza add a nice crunch and really help to bring out the flavors of all the other ingredients.  It's unexpected, but delicious, and I don't know why more pizza joints haven't picked up on it.  I'm obsessed, clearly, but who could blame me?  If Shakespeare was still around, I bet he'd write sonnets about that pizza.

Although I unfortunately haven't had the chance to return to that restaurant in a few years now, I do my best to recreate that pizza in my own kitchen.  Although I'm not sure it'll ever really compare, it's still pretty darn good.  And guess what we're having for dinner tonight?

Roasted Veggie Couscous Salad

Hi everyone!

We have a graduation party this weekend for a friend of the family and offered to bring a salad. There are bound to be plenty of salads there, though, and we clearly want ours to be the best! It was important to me that we don't bring a salad that everyone else will bring. We wanted something colorful, unique, and above all else...cheap! After all, we don't call ourselves two rich gals!  So, we decided to bring the fabulous Roasted Veggie Couscous Salad, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Here is what you'll need:

2 cups of couscous
1 zucchini
1 eggplant
1 yellow pepper
1 large tomato
1 cup of frozen peas
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of thyme
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon of pepper

Cut your zucchini, pepper and eggplant into small chucks. Put them into a large bowl, drizzle with the olive oil, and cover them with the garlic power, salt, pepper, and thyme. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes.

While the veggies are roasting, get your couscous going. Put the couscous in a pot and cook according to the directions on the package.  I like to add in a sprinkle of thyme at this point too, to help add flavor to the couscous. About 5 minutes before the couscous is done, throw in the frozen peas and cook them together.

Once the couscous and peas are done, stir in the tomato and the roasted veggies. This salad is awesome both warm and cold. We usually have it with dinner while it is warm and then eat it cold the rest of the week, it makes a lot!

We're looking forward to experimenting with different summer veggies, let us know what you use and how it turns out! 

Broke Burgers - Veggie Style

Hi everyone!

Today we bring you one of our favorite recipes...veggie burgers!! Stop right there meat-eaters - don't close the page before I tell you how delicious these burgers actually are! Amanda is a vegetarian and we were looking for a cheaper alternative to the Morningstar Farms or Boca burgers that she likes. These burgers taste amazing! They have wonderful spices that really add a smokey and delicious flavor, and lots of beans for a hearty taste. I will tell you, though, these do not taste like hamburgers. They are a different flavor and different consistency. Please go in with an open mind and think of it as trying something entirely new.  Even if you're not a 'veg head' like Amanda, you will have no problem falling in love with these awesome veggie burgers!

Here is what you'll need:

1 can of black beans
1 can of chick peas
1 can of white beans
1 cup of olives
1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of peppers and onions (we tend to use the mixed bag from the freezer section)
3 eggs
1 cup of uncooked oatmeal
3/4 cup of bread crumbs

Spices:
Salt
Pepper
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Cumin
Season Salt
Oregano
Red Pepper Flakes

In a food processor, chop up the the peppers, onions and olives. Put them in a skillet and and sprinkle them with garlic powder. Cook until the peppers are tender. Put them in a large bowl an set aside.

In a food processor, puree the beans. You want them to be a mix between a paste and chopped beans. Add them to the bowl.

Now you will add a plethora of spices, we added about a tablespoon of the onion power, season salt, chili powder, and cumin and about a half tablespoon of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano. You want to heavily season, these are beans we're starting with and we want them to taste like delicious, smokey burgers! Feel free to add more or less of each spice depending on your taste buds.

Next add the oatmeal, eggs and bread crumbs. We like to get in there with our hands to mix together all of the flavors and ingredients. You will get your hands dirty anyway when you form the burgers.

We got about ten burgers and 12 meatballs from this recipe. You can make them as thick or thin as you want to yield more or less burgers.  (We figure these burgers come out to cost less than 40 cents a piece, which is much cheaper than the approximate $1 each Morningstar Farms version!)

Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil into a skillet and cook the burgers over a medium heat. Flip them after about 5 minutes. The burgers should be crispy on both sides.  Enjoy!

Tell us what you think in the comments section!

Jello Pretzel Salad

Hi everyone!

Tonight we bring you an awesome 'salad'. I use the word salad loosely, as it's really a dessert. This recipe is tasty and very pretty! You can use any flavor of Jello and any frozen fruit that you like. We usually use strawberries.

Here's what you need:

First Layer
2 cups of pretzels, crushed
3 tablespoons of sugar
3/4 cup of melted butter

Second Layer
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup of sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip

Third Layer
1 large or 2 small packages of Jello
3 cups of boiling water
1 1/2 to 2 cups of frozen fruit, chopped

Here's what to do:

First layer - Mix the ingredients and press the mixture into a 9" x 13" pan. Bake the layer at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes (the pretzels were look the same before and after). Let that layer cool.

Second Layer - Blend the cream cheese and sugar, then fold in the cool whip. Once combined, spread over the pretzel layer. Make sure to go all the way to the edges so that the jello layer doesn't leak through to the rest of the salad.  We also recommend you lick the bowl!

Third Layer - Dissolve the jello into the boiling water and add in the frozen fruit. Stir until the fruit thaws (about 2 minutes). Pour over the cool whip layer and use a spoon to make sure the fruit is evenly spread out.  Cover in saran wrap.

Chill in the fridge for at least four hours or until the jello layer is firm.

We would love to know what flavor jello and type of frozen fruit you use...comment below!

Tangy Potato Salad

Shelle and I decided we must celebrate the first weekend in June with a buffet of our favorite summer foods, and I definitely made sure my favorite potato salad was included.  My mom has made this salad for as long as I can remember, and it wouldn't be summer without it!

Here's what you'll need:

3-4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
1 cup green olives, chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 1/2 cups Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
1/4 cup yellow mustard
a dash of black pepper

Boil the potatoes until they're soft, but not mushy.  You should be able to easily stick a fork into a piece and pick it up without it falling apart.  It took us about 10 minutes to get to this point once the water was at a full boil.

Drain the potatoes and stir in the chopped olives and eggs.

In a separate bowl, make the dressing.  Stir together the Miracle Whip or mayonnaise and the mustard, and then add a dash of black pepper.  Feel free to taste it now and make sure it's exactly how you like it.  Pour the dressing over the potatoes, olives, and eggs,stir, and you're pretty much ready to go!

My mom likes to eat it warm, but I prefer to make it ahead and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour before we dig in.  It keeps well, so I always make a lot and have leftovers for lunch all week!

What are you eating to kick-off June?  Let us know in the comments below!

Frugal Friday Tip: Banana "Ice Cream"

As two broke gals, Shelle and I try to save money wherever we can.  Although that's certainly easier said than done, one of the ways we've been able to save the most is by only buying the food that we're sure we'll use.  Overall, I'd call our efforts a success, but sometimes those pesky bananas throw us off.  They may be green in the store, and brown by the time we get them home; under-ripe one day and totally overripe the next!  What's a broke gal to do?

Let's just say we've eaten a lot of banana bread.

As good as our banana bread is (and we're not kidding, we'll share the recipe sometime), it gets old after awhile.  And now that it's June, sometimes we just don't want to turn on the oven.  Sometimes something light and cold does just the trick.  And we have just the thing for you!

Thanks to Pinterest, we recently discovered userealbutter.com's recipe for an ice cream-like dish made out of bananas!  We highly recommend you check out the post here:

http://userealbutter.com/2010/08/12/single-ingredient-ice-cream-recipe/

It certainly didn't disappoint!  We made a peanut butter flavored "ice cream" with chopped up peanut butter cups folded in, and a nutella flavored "ice cream" with chocolate chips folded in.  Yum!

I think we've found a new way to use up bananas and we won't go even more broke spending all our money at ice cream stands!