Sunday Ham, Sour Cream Potatoes and Cobb Salad

So I'm back. Sunday dinner is always my favorite meal. For some reason I like to go all out. But I have to say that cooking dinner while fasting is NOT my favorite thing. So we had yummy ham and sour cream potatoes (funeral potatoes) and cobb salad (minus chicken). They were all very good.

Frugality: I had the ham in my freezer. I had all of the ingredients for the potatoes already. I had to buy avocados and tomatoes for the salad, but I had everything else. So very little out of pocket for this meal.

Waistline: The ham isn't horrible in calories if you don't eat too much. The potatoes, let's be real. They are full of fat and calories. So not so good there. But the cobb salad was healthy.

Then I had a hankering for some sweets (when don't I?) so I made these yummy brownies. I got the recipe here...


Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies
Batter Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. sugar
½ c. butter (1 stick) softened
½ c. oil
1 T. vanilla
3 eggs
1 ¼ c. flour
¾ c. cocoa powder
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Filling Ingredients:
1 c. creamy peanut butter
2 T. vegetable oil
1/3 c. sugar
2 T. flour
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla

Frosting:
¾ of a bag of milk chocolate chips
3 T. creamy peanut butter
1 c. powdered sugar
¼ c. water
½ tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt

Batter: Preheat oven to 350 and spray 9x13-inch pan. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add oil and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt - blend well. While beating, gradually add flour mixture to creamed mixture – mix well. Evenly spread batter into pan.

Filling: In a small bowl cream together peanut butter and oil. Add sugar and flour – blend well. Add eggs and vanilla – beat until smooth. Carefully spread filling over batter in pan. Gently cut through layers to create marble effect throughout brownies. Bake for 30 minutes – do NOT over bake.

Frosting: While baking, in a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate and peanut butter over LOW heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients – mix until smooth. If frosting is too thick, add 1-3 T. water. Spread frosting over brownies immediately after baking. Cool in pan 2-3 hours before serving. Can top brownies with chopped peanut butter cups.

Pan Fried Pork Chops

Before I even had a chance to decide what to make for dinner tonight I read the Pioneer Woman's blog and found this little wonder. I'm quite excited because I have plenty of pork chops in my freezer. Which makes the cost on those $0. I also have some potatoes so check on that. They aren't new potatoes but they will do.

My friend Mindy's husband's father (say that four times fast) is a corn farmer down in Southern Utah. They have a corn fest every year and then Kevin and Mindy bring home tons of sweet corn on the cob. Last year we sealed a bunch in freezer bags with this nifty device and so we're still stocked full on yummy corn. How about that? Oh and since we are such good friends, it was free. That's right. A years worth of corn-free.

Frugality: No money out of pocket for dinner tonight.

Waistline: Um, ya. Didn't do so well on that one tonight. But don't they look yummy? And to think, all of the ingredients are in my house already. Although it is glaringly obvious that there is nothing green on my plate. Next time I'd do a wedge salad instead of corn.