FRUGAL QUATTRO FORMAGGI PLUS

One our favorite dishes at a local restaurant is Quattro Formaggi but as the last time we went their it ran around $13 a plate. I searched the internet and found dozens of recipes and this was my attempt to try to copy it.

Quattro Formaggi means "four cheese" in Italian, but I used the Italian Blend Fancy Shredded Blend from Walmart and it contains six cheeses (Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, Romano, Fontina and Asiago so that would be where the "plus" in the title comes in. I chose this as this as:

It contains all of the cheeses that were recommended in many of the recipes I researched: Mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano and Fontina (although several recipes contained Gorgonzola, Gouda, Ricotta, Gruyere or Marscarpone).

Walmart has a limited selection of cheeses and gourmet cheeses at other stores start at $7 lb. The in this bag  were already shredded/grated and it saved time as I did not need to shred/grate it.

The bag of cheese was affordable at $1.67 for an 8 oz bag.  The total cost to make this was under $5.00 for approximately 6 servings.

This is recipe I came up with which turned out to be closest without breaking the bank to make it:



Pasta
1 box Barilla Medium Shell Pasta
2 TBSP margarine

Cook according to directions on the box. When done, drain and place in an oven safe bow and mix in the margarine. Place in oven on low heat to keep it warm.

Sauce
1 16 oz box of Half and Half
1 8 oz bag of Walmart Fancy Shredded Italian Blend Cheese
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper


Slowly warm the Half-and-Half on medium heat and the cheese. Once all of the cheese is added, add the nutmeg. Continue to cook until the all of the cheese is melted. It will be a sticky consistency and look like this:

Pour the sauce over the pasta and serve.


This is part of Presto Pasta Nights being hosted over at Sweet and Savory.  Go over and check out all of the other amazing pasta dishes!

Scotty Dog Scarf

My inspiration was this little stuffed Scotty Dog at "Cut Out And Keep" by Mrs. T.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/mister_scotty_the_scotty_dog

Instead of making a stuffed Scotty Dog, I cut out the pieces and appliqued him to to a scarf. To make the scarf, I bought 1/2 yd. of fleece (most instructions only call for 1/4 yd., but this wider scarf you can use to tie around your head in extreme cold and it will keep the back of your neck covered to), cut about 1/4 inch at both ends then cut fringe up to one of the lines on both side of the fabric. (Cost for fabric - just under $2.00).

The Scotty dog himself is made from scraps of fabric from other projects and I cut the coat at the top and had to make some minor adjustments, then I hand stitched him on. Instead of cutting out the fabric bow, I used ribbon I already had and ties it around his neck on each dog.

I bought a pack of 100 different sized googly eyes in a packet for $1 and used the medium size and hand stitched them on also (you just poke 2 holes in the back of the eyes before you sew them on and use white thread.

I bought black fabric paint (.97 cents) and outlined him to cover up the hand stitching and I used coral fabric paint that I already had on hand for his nose.The total cost was under $4 and I still have 99 googly eyes and the black fabric paint left over for other projects.

Entry in to Craftster Challenge 34 - Thrifty & Stylish Wraps - "Wraps from Scraps"

I entered the above challenge with the following:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=285682.0

The Guitar Shaped Gift Bag

This is the guitar gift bag for smaller gifts that was fashioned out of a magazine page, plain paper, a ribbon and glue stick with a template made using old CDs. I posted a How-To on Cut And Keep: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/guitar_shape_small_gift_bag

The Shrektacular Corseted Reusable DVD Wrap

This barely made it in on time for the challenge as I had to get batteries for my camera to take pictures.

I had a design sort of in mind before I started to try to prevent peeking by making it hard to get into and it worked out well, but as I wasn't sure it would work out at all I didn't document the process as I went and now will backtrack to make a tutorial.

Recycle Gift Wraps From Magazine and Catalog Pages:

I also posted recycled wraps from magazines and catalogs. I posted a How-To on this at Cut And Keep:

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/recycled_gift_wrap

WRAPS FROM RECYCLES BAGS AND PAPER Here are wraps made out plastic bags with the tags made out of paper. The idea for the plastic bags were from the following:

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/reusable_christmas_gift_wrapping/versions/1

KIDDE COCKTAIL FOR NEW YEARS EVE

This is a version of the kiddie cocktails that I had as a kid except we didn't have blender and it was just mixed and then a lot of ice cubes added.

I made up a pitcher for Kyle and I to celebrate the beginning of 2009.

It is a quick and easy cocktail to make for kids on special occassions and all you need is a can of grape juice concentrate from a can, ginger ale and ice cubes and blender.

For older kids and to make it look more like a cocktail, you can skewer marichino cherries, pieces of orange, lemon, or line on a toothpick and teeter it on the edge of the glass.

Blend 6 ice cubes, 1 can of the juice concentrate and slowly add the ginger ale and blend. Once you get to the top you may need to wait 30 seconds or so for the fizz to settle before adding more ginger ale. Continue to fill the blender until it gets to the top and continue to blend.

Once it is done, pour into decorative cups (we used plastic cups that we got on clearance after Halloween) and serve.