For your Money

Anyone who knows me knows that I am the go to person for finances and money info. I finally forked over the money to subscribe to Money magazine and I'm already so glad I did. This month's issue has an entire section on best websites. My favorite so far is Yodlee money center, which is a lot like Microsoft Money, except it's free. You can download virtually all of your online accounts and this program will manage them for you. Take a few minutes to set up categories and you'll have a monthly analysis of your spending. Sound like a lot of work? I promise it takes just a few minutes in the beginning then it practically runs itself. I especially freak out about people stealing my credit cards and this program has an alert function that will email you if anyone uses it, or spends over a certain dollar amount (you choose). Not only does this site include your financial accounts such as investments, checking, savings, and credit cards, but it will sign in to your online billing accounts such as your cell phone, cable bill, utilities, the possibilities are endless.

Benefits:
Get spending reports
Know your net worth
Set up reminders and alerts
Pay your bills
Have all of your online accounts in one place

So what are you waiting for, check it out!
https://moneycenter.yodlee.com/

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

For X-mas dinner, I wanted to plan something that would use leftover turkey. I decided on a Mexican theme, with Enchiladas Suisas and Dulce De Leche cheesecake. Here they are:

Enchiladas Suisas

10 Corn tortillas
1 28 oz can mild green enchilada sauce
2 cups Monterey jack cheese
1 70z can diced green chilies
Left over turkey meat
1 cup Crema Mexicana (Mexican Sour Cream)
1 cup sliced olives

Heat oven to 350. Take tortillas and heat them in the microwave in 30 second increments until the tortillas are soft. In a bowl, shred turkey meat, then add, green chilies and 1 cup of the cheese, add enough enchilida sauce to saturate the meat, but it should not be runny.
To assemble: Pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan. In a pie plate, pour about 1/2 inch of enchilada sauce. Dip a tortilla on each side, fill with meat filling, roll, and then place in enchilada pan. Do not stack enchiladas on top of one another. Pour crema over enchiladas, cover with remaining sauce, top with remaining cheese, then olives. Bake 2o minutes, covered with foil, then ten without foil.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Apparently, there was some controversy online about this cheesecake. I decided to make up my own after I saw all the bitching and I'm giving my disclaimer now that I'm a total gringa and I made this up, so I'm sorry if it's not authentic. My sister loves dulce de leche ice cream though and she said it tasted just like that, so there!

graham cracker crust, or 1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers mixed with 4 oz melted butter
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
3 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tbs vanilla

Fill a large pot with water, remove paper from condensed milk cans, then place in pot. Make sure the water covers the cans at least two inches. Boil the cans in the covered pot for one hour. Let cans cool for about 2o minutes before preparing cheesecake. Preheat oven to 325. Mix cheesecake, egg, and sugar until well blended. Open one can of the sweetened condensed milk (which is now dulce de leche) and stir in to cheese mixture. Add vanilla. Pour batter into pie pan with graham cracker crust (make sure you use a deep dish pie pan). Place the pie pan inside of a water bath (this step is mandatory). Bake 45 minutes. Open second can of condensed milk and pour the contents on top of the cake. Return to oven and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until set. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake sit in the water bath for 15 minutes. Then remove pie pan from water bath and let it sit an additional 45 minutes. Cover and refrigerate over night.

Things I did over X-MAS

I don't cook Thanksgiving dinner since my step mom does that. Instead, I look for after Turkey day deals on turkeys. That is why we had Turkey on x-mas. My favorite thing from that dinner was the stuffing. Last time I checked, it was called stuffing because it is supposed to be stuffed into something, in this case a turkey's butt. Make sure you put it in there too because stuffing that hasn't been basting in the juices and fat of a bird is not worth it.

Turkey Stuffing

For a 15 pound bird:
1 Box of stuffing (two bags)
3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Saute the onion and celery until the onion is translucent and the celery is soft. Add the mushrooms until cooked. Mix vegetables, stuffing, broth, cranberries and walnuts together in a large bowl. Stuff turkey in the back and the front. Don't worry if your stuffing is a little dry, all those juices from the turkey will run into your stuffing, giving it flavor and moisture.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Yummy to the twin's and my tummy. I made this tonight for dinner and we ate the entire thing. I can't believe the girls ate so much.

Tuna Pasta Salad

1/2 lb. whole wheat rotini

1 Celery Stalk, diced
1 Carrot, grated
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced and roasted
1 can tuna
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
12 kalamata olives
Caesar-Italian dressing to taste
crumbled feta cheese -optional

Method:
Boil pasta until tender. Rinse with cold water when cooked. For the Red Bell Pepper, spray with cooking spray and broil until soft. Toss all ingredients.

Vacation finally!

One of the great things about being a teacher is the vacation. I am ready for my two weeks off. The twins are going to their dad's house for a week, so I plan on doing a lot of needle work. I am hoping to make myself a sweater. For their birthday, I decided to make them each a purse and put some money inside so they can go buy themselves something. Here is a pic of the exchange bags I made for them, I used Bernat softee chunky, which was scrap yarn I had lying around. I decided on a zipper, and the fabric for the lining was some fabric I had bought for them a while back. I think you could get away with about 1/4 yard of fabric for one of these purses. I am proud to say I did these two purses in three days (work days too), and the twins don't suspect ( I hope).

Sun and Stars

Last night my sisters came over for the night and drove me nuts as usual. (Gotta love family). Alena brought the sun and stars blanket I crocheted her for her b-day. So I thought I would share one of my creations...

Beef Enchiladas

I made these for dinner last night. Maybe next time I'll flash a picture...

Ground Beef Enchiladas

1 onion diced

1 celery stalk diced

½ small red bell pepper diced

1 small zucchini diced

1 clove garlic finely chopped

½ c. frozen white corn

½ pound ground beef

½ package taco seasoning

10-12 corn tortillas

1-2 cups grated Mexican style cheese

1 can green chili enchilada sauce

small can diced olives

Method: Preheat oven to 350. Sauté onion, celery, and red bell pepper five minutes, add zucchini and cook another three minutes, then add corn and garlic and sauté for about two more minutes. Remove all vegetables to a bowl. Fry ground turkey in a pan until browned and add powdered taco seasoning and water. Heat tortillas (I do it directly on the flame, but they can be warmed in the microwave). Add half veggies and meat to each tortilla. Place in a pan. Pour sauce over enchiladas. Top with grated cheese and olives. Bake for about twenty minutes.