So I started experimenting with making homemade shamrock shakes a couple of years ago. I was so surprised with how well they came out and how easy it was to duplicate the flavor. Our homemade shakes may not be the real deal, but they definitely come close enough that no one minds.

In previous years, I’ve made the shakes with vanilla ice cream, milk and mint extract. (These are obviously not green, but you can add some green food dye if you want an almost identical replica.)

As if that wasn’t easy enough, I decided to make things even easier this year.

Homemade Shamrock Shakes

For each shake:

• 1 1/2 c. mint chocolate chip ice cream
• 1/4 – 3/4 c. milk, depending on how thick or thin you like your shakes

Add everything to a blender and process until desired consistency.

Seriously, it couldn’t get an easier and I actually feel like a cheater for claiming that is a “recipe.”

But, the taste is fantastic and the price can’t be beat. We had 6 large shakes for less than $3.50. That’s almost the cost of one shake at that other place!

Stop by Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for Tasty Tuesday, A Soft Place To Land for DIY Day and Blessed With Grace for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Enter my giveaway for your chance to win one of two $125 Amex gift cards through March 23.

There are definitely some interesting hometowns in the running. I had a great time reading through all the semi-finalists and selecting my favorite, although that wasn’t an easy decision. Reading about all those fabulous hometowns make me long for summer in our hometown!

As the days grow slightly longer and slightly warmer, I’m looking forward to the coming spring and summer when I know my family will spend countless hours walking around our hometown. We’ll visit stores, say hi to friends, feed some ducks (and maybe ourselves) and just have a simple, wonderful time. Those are the kinds of afternoons we love best! And our hometown makes it easy to indulge in those simple pleasures.

Those Single Best Town semifinalists are enjoying a little friendly competition with an awesome grand prize for the winner – a concert in their hometown featuring hot new country group Love and Theft and ABC Soap Stars.

While I don’t have a prize that awesome to give away, I do have something pretty fantastic for you. Two somethings, in fact. How does TWO $125 Amex gift cards sound to you?

To enter the giveaway, go vote for your Single favorite town of the ten semifinalists then come on back to tell me what your Single best afternoon looks like in your own hometown.  I’ll be picking two winners from the comments here at random.

You have until March 23 at 11:59 pm EST to enter the contest. I will announce the two winners on March 24.

Have fun reading and voting! And don’t forget to come back here for your chance to win one of two $125 Amex gift cards.

I have partnered with KRAFT Foods to help promote the “Single Best Town” in America program.  I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes writing about my own hometown experiences and hosting a giveaway where the prize has been provided by KRAFT Singles.  However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

We had a fairly busy weekend around our house. On Saturday, my brother-in-law, father-in-law, stepmother-in-law and step-niece-in-law came over to celebrate our youngest’s third birthday. It was also my father-in-law’s birthday, so we had kind of a double celebration.

I hope I’m not alone in saying that having company over means a very busy morning of cleaning house. Fortunately, my husband has done a great job with getting the kids excited for the teamwork required to clean the house for company. So although it’s busy, it’s a relatively stress-free time.

Our celebration included a late lunch of a party platter from Subway, pretzel jello salad, fruit salad and chips and dip. For dessert we had strawberry birthday cake and the last of the cupcakes from Thursday.

We typically have these types of mini-parties a few times a year and we budget separately for them so that the extra money doesn’t eat into our monthly groceries. Actually, we use our entertainment fund for these types of events. That money is reserved for things like going out to eat, trips to the zoo or museum and other things along those lines. It works perfectly to tie our extra party expenses in there.

After everyone left on Saturday, we just picked at leftovers for a late dinner. On Sunday, we had French toast before church, leftovers for lunch and tacos for dinner.

I spent a large chunk of the day on Sunday working in the kitchen on a new recipe idea I had. It still needs a bit more tweaking, but I can’t wait to share it once it meets my (and my husband’s – he’s my best critic!) standards.

It always surprises me how differently our family eats on weekends. Some weekends we eat a lot less than on normal weekdays just because we’re so busy and running around out of the house. On other weekends, it feels like we eat non-stop.

Are your weekend eating habits different than your weekday habits? How does that affect your monthly budget, if at all?

Make sure you stop by The Happy Housewife and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam to see what Toni and Jen were up to in their kitchens this weekend.

Cheesy Sausage & Veggie Casserole

• 2 lbs. potatoes, cubed (peel if desired)
• 2 t. oil
• 1 lb. Polish or smoked sausage, sliced
• 3 T. flour
• 2 c. milk
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheese
• 1 t. cumin
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. black pepper
• 1/2 lb. California-blend frozen veggies, thawed

1. Place potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for about 15 minutes, until fork tender.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add sausage and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3. Whisk flour into drippings in skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Add milk and bring to a slow boil until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add cheese and seasonings. Stir until melted.

4. In a large casserole dish, layer the potatoes, veggies and sausage. Pour cheese over the top and stir to incorporate everything. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until bubbly and lightly golden brown on top.

Stop by $5 Dinners for the $5 Dinner Challenge.

I realized today that although I’ve been sharing recipes for things we’ve eaten, I haven’t really done a meal-by-meal accounting of our days this week. So, I thought I’d take some time to get caught up on that.

Wednesday morning started with a breakfast of cinnamon-sugar toast, bananas and milk. That has become one of our biggest stand-by breakfasts on really busy mornings.

For lunch, the 4 of us at home had tuna pasta salad and nectarines. The tuna pasta salad is a favorite with the kids, although to be honest, my husband and I are a little tired of it. But we still eat it because it’s quick and filling. I basically just stir together some mayo, a can of drained tuna, a few spoonfuls of relish and salt and pepper. Then toss in some noodles and call it lunch. Easy enough!

After school, our oldest daughter and I made cookies together for a school project. The assignment was to make cookies as a way to fit in some fraction practice. We made Fruit Loop Cookies. (Which is the same recipe as the Apple Jacks Cookies, but with fruit loops instead.) We also made 1 1/2 times the recipe, fitting in some extra fraction practice!

For dinner we had a simple casserole of Polish sausage, potatoes, veggies and homemade cheese sauce. I put this dish together in a hurry in the morning and then just baked it for about 45 minutes before dinner. It was great!

Today (Thursday) was our youngest’s third birthday. I let her call the shots for meals, at least as much as a 3 year old can. So we had cereal and bananas for breakfast, leftovers for lunch and barbecue meatballs, Ranch pasta salad and peas for dinner. I find it kind of amusing that my 3 year olds favorite dinner is barbecue meatballs, but I’m not complaining.

She also decided she wanted cupcakes for dessert. I have a confession to make – I don’t think I’ve ever made cupcakes before…ever. Personally, I’ve never been a very big fan of them although I know they’re all the rage currently. But, my baby girl requested cupcakes, so cupcakes she got.

I figured if I worked with a recipe that I knew we all really loved, I’d up my chances of creating a successful batch of cupcakes. I used my all-time favorite white cake and buttercream frosting recipe. I changed things up a bit by adding 1/3 cup of chocolate sprinkles to the cake batter and replacing part of the powdered sugar with cocoa powder.

I am definitely pleased with the results, although the cake will still be my go to. And for the kids, I believe the novelty of having cupcakes was more important than the taste. But, they all finished in record time, so I’m guessing they enjoyed them.

Today also included a quick grocery run for a gallon of milk and powdered sugar. The total for those two purchases was $3.99. Add that to the $368 we’ve already spent this month and we’re up to $371.99, leaving us $78.01 in the monthly grocery budget.

Tomorrow I’m planning to answer a few questions that I haven’t gotten to yet, so feel free to ask away if you have any questions.

And make sure you visit The Happy Housewife and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for more 3 Moms, 3 Kitchens, 31 Days.

1. It tastes amazing!
2. The family loves it.
3. It’s easy and stolen moments friendly.
4. It’s frugal.
5. It’s versatile.

Anytime a dish meets all 5 of those criteria, you can bet it will get added into our regular rotation and be made on a fairly frequent basis.

This dish delights all the senses. It smells as good as it tastes and looks. It’s a simple sauce that bursts with fresh flavors. I could give you a whole string of adjectives and write paragraphs of praise for this sauce, but that would be overkill, at least a bit. So I’ll just get on to the recipe and urge you to give it a try. You won’t be sorry!

Chicken Pomodoro

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 t. sugar
• 3 T. pesto or 1/3 c. fresh basil leaves, torn or cut chiffonade style
• 1/2 lb. chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until onions are nearly translucent, about 3 minutes.

2. While the onion and garlic cooks, pour the tomatoes (with liquid) into a food processor or blender. Process until coarsely chopped to desired consistency. (Process less time for a thicker, heartier sauce or longer for a creamier sauce.)

3. Add the tomatoes and sugar to the skillet. Simmer for about 5 minutes, until very fragrant and somewhat thickened.

4. Stir in the pesto and simmer an additional 5-10 minutes. (If using fresh basil, let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes and then stir in the basil after removing from the heat.)

5. Stir the chicken into the sauce just until warmed through. Serve over pasta.

Personally, I love the pomodoro sauce as is (pictured above), without the addition of the chicken. But the chicken does make it a complete meal and my husband swears the only way to eat this is with the chicken. It’s really up to you.

Stop by Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

I’ve actually started to look forward to my big ground beef batch cooking days. It doesn’t take very long to get everything prepared and I know that everything I make will be useful throughout the month. Plus, I know that the things I freeze will, for the most part, be versatile enough that I can change up plans as needed.

Here’s what I did with this month’s batch of ground beef:

• Meatballs for 2 dinners (tentatively planned serving ideas – bbq meatballs and sweet and sour meatballs)
• 7 bags of browned ground beef (each bag contains at least 1 lb. of ground beef)

• Salisbury Steak with Pan Gravy for 1 dinner (this will go perfect with mashed potatoes I plan to freeze later this week)
• 1 mini meatloaf (to be used for sandwiches or for the kids if my husband and I have a date night this month)
• 1 bag of Beef & Rice Burrito filling
• 1 casserole of Cheeseburger Pie (which we ate for dinner)

The beef and rice burrito filling is super easy, freezes perfectly and will mean dinner on the table in under 15 minutes.

Beef & Rice Burrito Filling

• 1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
• 1 1/2 c. cooked rice, white or brown
• 1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 2 t. chili powder
• 2 t. cumin
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. garlic powder

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir to combine. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

2. To serve: Spoon (thawed) filling down the center of a tortilla. Top with shredded cheese. Roll up and repeat, using about 8 to 10 tortillas total. Place rolled tortillas in a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until heated through.

If you have the available freezer space, you can assemble these completely ahead of time and freeze. Then just bake from frozen for about 45 minutes. But if your space is at minimum like mine, just freezing the filling is a perfect solution.

Don’t forget to see what Toni and Jen are cooking up in their kitchens. Toni just saved a cake wreck and Jen’s talking about tracking your food expenses. Sharing tips and keeping it real…what’s not to love?

So one of the first things I did after unloading groceries was make a huge batch of pesto. I love pesto! Plus, it’s the perfect treatment for prolonging the life of basil since it freezes so well. I like to freeze my pesto in ice cube trays so that I can just pop a cube or two into whatever I’m making (especially soups and spaghetti sauce) for an extra kick.

As soon as I tasted the pesto, I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied with just packing it all away in the freezer. I wanted to eat some immediately. So I quickly threw together some French bread pizzas and they were a huge hit all around.

Pesto Chicken French Bread Pizza

• 1/2 – 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Desired seasonings
• 2 loaves French bread, halved lengthwise
• 1 – 1 1/2 cup pesto
• 2 c. Italian or pizza blend cheese

1. Season chicken breasts to taste. (I used a Tuscan spice blend, but even just some simple salt and pepper would work.) Bake at 350 degrees until fully cooked, about 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into thin slices.

2. Spread pesto on each of the four halves of bread. Evenly layer the chicken pieces on top of the pesto.

3. Cover completely with cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until cheese is completely melted and lightly golden brown.

If I had been thinking ahead a bit, I probably would have picked a big tomato to slice and add to our pizzas as well. That would have added some nice contrasting texture and color. But they were still great as is.

We enjoyed the pizzas for dinner with a salad and some grapes, but they’d work equally as well for an appetizer when entertaining.

Toni and Jen have been cooking up lots of great stuff in their kitchens, so don’t forget to visit The Happy Housewife and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

This post is being linked to:

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• $5 Dinner Challenge at $5 Dinners