Paul Ivanovsky

About Paul Ivanovsky

Racquel is a stay at home mom with an extensive background in interior home design. She loves baking & creating beautifully decorated treats, cooking new and unique recipes for the whole family, designing and decorating on a budget with upcycled projects, and making kid and grown-up crafts.

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Here are my most recent posts

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Jan 25 by Paul Ivanovsky Leave a Comment

The family and I love Buffalo Chicken and love chips so what could be better than Buffalo Chicken Dip for my tortilla chips?!? This recipe is inexpensive, gluten free, easy to make, and packs a huge punch of flavor! It’s also a hit at any get together and is usually one of the first things gone. You can also use this as sandwich spread or on wraps to make a meal out of it!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:

1 13 oz can chicken breast
6-10 oz buffalo sauce – we like Frank’s brand
4 oz cream cheese – room temperature
1/4 cup ranch dressing
8 oz shredded white cheese
2 celery stalks

Instructions:

Use a fork to separate the canned chicken in a medium bowl. You want it to be almost shredded. Add the buffalo sauce and mix well. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Combine the cream cheese and the ranch dressing. Stir ingredients together to create a smooth mixture and spread evenly to cover the bottom of your serving dish.

Top the cream cheese mixture with the buffalo chicken mixture.

Cross cut the celery to create 1/4″ thick textured slice. Layer the celery on top of the chicken. The dip is best with a little bit of celery in every bite. It adds a great crunch to the dip.

Top the celery with shredded white cheese and serve with tortilla chips or as a sandwich spread.

You could substitute blue cheese dressing in place of the ranch or sprinkle crumbled blue cheese on top. We love to load a tortilla shell or flat bread with this dip, lettuce, tomato, and other toppings!

You can make this dip for around $10 including the chips to serve it with. It’s a great dish to pass for a party or picnic.

Do you have a favorite recipe spin off of buffalo wings?

Meal Plans – 4 Meals for Less than $40

Oct 29 by Paul Ivanovsky 1 Comment

Meal Plans are an important part of sticking to a grocery budget. This week we have 4 delicious and hearty meals you can make for your whole family for less than $40, complete with recipes, and a shopping list to make sticking to the grocery budget even easier!

Meal Plans – 4 Meals for Less than $40

French Toast Wrapped Sausage – $11.94

First up is breakfast for dinner with French Toast Wrapped Sausage. Our family loves breakfast food and will eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. These French Toast Wrapped Sausages are so delicious and filling! We pick up a value pack of sausage links, a loaf of bread, and some frozen hash brows and with what we usually have on hand, we have a quick and easy meal that is filling. They are pretty easy to eat on the run too for those nights that the kids are running in different directions. Who am I kidding, that’s every night!

Lemon Pepper Cauliflower Pasta – $8.07

Next up is a gluten free pasta dish that we can’t get enough of. You don’t have to use gluten free pasta as any pasta will do. This Lemon Pepper Cauliflower Pasta is full of flavor and sure to be a family favorite of yours too. Again, it’s quick to prepare and filling! It only takes a few ingredients to make a meal with pasta.

Pork Fajita Filo Lasagna – $10.34

Love pork? Love fajitas? Love lasagna? Who am I kidding, everyone does right? This Pork Fajita Filo Lasagna is a totally different take on lasagna but man is it delicious! It’s a hearty and flavorful casserole for when you’re wanting to change things up. You probably have rice in your pantry so you’ll only need to stock up on a few items to make this tasty dish.

Lemon Pepper Poached Chicken – $9.56

Last but not least on our Meal Plan of 4 Meals for Less than $40 is Lemon Pepper Poached Chicken. I’d never really poached chicken before but it is a quick and simple way to prepare chicken for a lot of people. Poaching it makes for a flavorful and juicy piece of chicken and you can use any cut of boneless skinless chicken. The bonus is that boneless skinless thighs and other cuts are much more affordable than breasts. Picky eaters won’t notice the difference in this meal though. It’s great served with rice and sauteed peppers, onions, zucchini, and summer squash.

Most of these recipes call for olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and other seasonings or staples you probably have on hand. You’ll want to double check the recipes for each to make sure you have everything you need. We’ve compiled a Shopping List of all the main ingredients for these 4 meals. The total for all the items on the Shopping List came in at just under $40 at my local Walmart. This Shopping List is also set up to save time. Most Walmart stores are set up with basically the same layout. I work my way from the back to the front, hit the check out, and am on my way home. The list is organized just that way, isle by isle so that I can get in and out with just what I need and not a cart full of stuff that was tempting!

Copycat KFC Chicken Pot Pie

Oct 25 by Paul Ivanovsky Leave a Comment

I love chicken pot pie and have tried a long time to come up with a Copycat KFC Chicken Pot Pie recipe. They really do make a great chicken pot pie! Chicken pot pie is a great meal especially on these cool fall days. It’s hearty and filling and the whole family will love it.

Copycat KFC Chicken Pot Pie

INGREDIENTS:

6 5-6″ Foil Pot Pie Tins
1 Rotisserie Chicken or Fried Chicken
2 sheet Puff Pastry Dough
4-5 Potatoes
4-5 Carrots
2 cup Frozen Peas
2 can Cream of Chicken Soup
15 oz Milk
1 tsp Sugar
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

DIRECTIONS:

Pick meat from bones and cut into bite size pieces.

Peel and cut potatoes into 1/2″ cubes

Peel and slice carrots into 1/4″ slices.

Remove pastry from box and thaw at room temperature.

Boil potatoes and carrots in water until almost tender. Drain liquid, add frozen peas and set aside.

In a large pot, add soup, milk, and sugar. Mix well and simmer.

Preheat oven to 400.

Add chicken and vegetables to the sauce and simmer until warm, stirring frequently.

Spoon mixture into each pie tin, do not over fill.

Cut pastry into 6″ circles and then roll slightly to make sure crust will overlap rim.

Moisten edges of pastry and cover each tin pressing edges to the rim.

Bake at 400 18 minutes.

Peanut Butter Banana Mocha Frappe

Aug 31 by Paul Ivanovsky Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a delicious frappe recipe with a little bit of nutrition to start your day you’re going the love this Peanut Butter Banana Mocha Frappe. It’s like combining a smoothie and a frappe for the best of both worlds. If you like you could also add a meal replacement mix or instant breakfast to this too.

Peanut Butter Banana Mocha Frappe

Ingredients:

1 banana
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup chocolate syrup (or a chocolate meal replacement packet)
10-12 ice cubes
1 cup cold coffee

This makes 2 large frappes

Instructions:

Blend the ice and cold coffee in your blender until the ice is crushed.

Add the peanut butter and chocolate (or drink packet). Blend until smooth.

Add the banana and continue blending until mixture is a thick liquid.

Pour the mixture into two glasses or mason jars and enjoy. You can also top with a bit of whipped topping and chocolate syrup.

Here is a similar recipe from MyLitter for a Berry Nutella Smoothie. You could easily use cold coffee in place of the milk called for and turn it into a frappe as well.

What’s your favorite frappe or smoothie recipe?

Menu Plan – 7 Meals for Less than $70

Aug 25 by Paul Ivanovsky 44 Comments

It’s weekly Menu Plan time again and this week we have a full week’s worth of dinners for less than $70. If you missed them before, check out our ideas for 4 Meals for Less than $40 and 5 Meals for Less than $50! Once again, we have great recipes and a printable shopping list for you to make your weekly menu planning easier.

One night when we were talking about menu planning, the kids came up with the idea for putting a theme to our weekly meals. It goes something like this – Meatless Monday, Try Something New Tuesday, SandWich Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fish Friday, Taco Saturday, and Soup Sunday. We don’t always stick to this plan of course but it’s a fun idea to get you out of making the same meals week after week. So this week’s menu plan I’m sharing was designed with this theme.

Menu Plan – 7 Meals for Less than $70

Meatless Monday – Quinoa Chili $15.00

Not only is this a Meatless Monday recipe, it is a gluten free recipe too. This Quinoa Chili recipe is high in protein and is easy to make early in the day and have in the crock pot for when the busy family is able to grab a bowl. Monday’s can be so crazy with kicking off the week so this is a great meal for a Monday.

Try Something New Tuesday – Creamy Chicken Broccoli Curry $8.46

This idea came about because it is so easy to get into the habit of always eating the same thing over and over or cooking only our favorites. You never know if something new might become a favorite if you don’t give it a try. So this week, Try Something New Tuesday! The recipe for the Creamy Chicken Broccoli Curry comes from All You and since curry is something many people don’t cook with, give it a try. It’s also an extremely affordable meal!

SandWich Wednesday – Ham & Cheese Sliders $13.29

Sandwiches are a great meal for mid week. You’ve already tackled half of a hectic week and you’re really needing a simple meal for Wednesday evening. These sliders can be made ahead and popped in the oven when you’re ready to eat them. You can also make them ahead and freeze them!

Thrifty Thursday – Pork Carnitas $8.04

While all our meals are focused on being really affordable, this recipe from All You is a really thrifty meal at less than $1 per serving! It’s easy and delicious which we’re always looking for. Serve this with rice, lettuce, tomato, and any other favorite toppings!

Fish Friday – Broiled Tilapia Parmesan $7

To quote my wife “My little kids LOVE it. They will eat 2 tilapia fillets each. When we make it for the 8 of us we have to make 15 pieces. If you are looking for a fish recipe that EVERYONE will eat and enjoy, this is it! Try it! I promise you will like it, and if you don’t tell the kids it is fish they will love it also!”

Seriously, get the stuff and try this fish recipe for your Fish Friday!

Taco Saturday – Easy and Simple Seasoned Chicken Tacos $10.66

Tacos, fajitas, burritos…we never tire of any of them! This simple chicken taco recipe is great for Saturday. Put everything in the crock pot early Saturday morning and go about your day and when you’re all ready to grab dinner, it’s ready to go. You’re going to want to double the recipe though because you’ll want the left overs for Soup Sunday, trust me!

Soup Sunday – Chicken Tortilla Soup $7.35

See, I told you that you’d want the left over chicken taco meat for this recipe! You’re going to love it. Tiffany, who is a tortilla soup connoisseur will tell you, this might be the BEST tortilla soup she’s ever had. The recipe calls for canned chicken breast which will work great if all the taco meat was gobbled up the night before but the taco meat just makes it all the better (and left overs used up means a tighter budget!).

To get the full recipes for each of these great meals, just click the photos or the meal title. We’ve put together a convenient shopping list for you that includes all the main items but double check the recipes to make sure you have the spices and miscellaneous items on hand. Just right click on the shopping list below and select print and you’re ready to shop!

Fall Treats – Candy Corn Cereal Treats

Aug 24 by Paul Ivanovsky Leave a Comment

As much as I’m really not ready for it, fall is just around the corner and that means Fall Treats like these Candy Corn Cereal Treats. I really do love fall and all the things that come with it!

Candy Corn Cereal Treats

INGREDIENTS:

6 1/2 cup Krispy Rice Cereal
3 tbsp Butter
10.5 oz Marshmallows
Red Food Coloring
Yellow Food Coloring
Wilton White White Icing Color (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Lightly spray a pie pan with non stick spray.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted.

Transfer about half the marshmallow mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add about 10 drops of yellow food coloring and mix well. Add 3 cups cereal and mix well.

Butter your hands or use wax paper to press the mixture firmly into a ring around the outer edge of the pan.

Transfer most (about 4/5) of the remaining marshmallow mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add about 10 drops of yellow and 6 drops or red food coloring and mix well. Add 2 1/2 cups cereal and mix well.

Butter your hands or use wax paper to press the mixture firmly against the yellow ring around the outer edge of the pan leaving an empty circle in the middle.

If you desire, add about 6 drops of white icing color to the marshamallow mixture remaining in the saucepan and mix well. Add 1 cup cereal and mix well. The plain cereal treats will look just fine if you choose not to use the icing color.

Butter your hands or use wax paper to press the mixture firmly against the orange ring into the empty spot in the middle.