More Recipes?

I continue to get quite a few daily hits on this website, so I can only assume that folks are searching out recipes here.

I'm not going to be posting here anymore, but I have another blog up and running, and it does include recipes and food photos among other things.

For personal reasons, I'm not providing the link here, but anyone who is interested can send an email to me here and request it. I'll send the link to you right away.

Kitchen Is Closing Indefinitely

I'm closing Blogarita's Kitchen down indefinitely. If you want to know the reasons why, you can check out my other blog, which I'm also closing.

Thanks for stopping by here. I did almost nothing to promote this blog, yet I had several thousand hits in the seven or so months it's been up. I think that's because everyone loves food.

I toyed around with the idea of replacing this with a full-on homemaking blog, not just a cooking blog, but at this time in my life, I just don't have the time to devote to doing that kind of thing well.

Maybe some day.

Chicken Lickin' Good

Feast your eyes on this! It's Paula Deen's Southern Fried Chicken Recipe. You can find the recipe here. It's by far the best fried chicken I've had at home.

Sorry for the dearth of posts here lately. I'm busy getting ready for another garage sale, getting ready to go back to work, and working on a new project (to be announced here soon).

Restaurant Review: The Courthouse Exchange

I thought I'd try something new here by doing a restaurant review now and then.

Spouse Guy and I don't go out to eat often -- once a month or so is about it for us. When we go out, we: 1) like to try places we've not tried before, 2) prefer local eateries over the franchises, and 3) try to get a good value for our money.

I'm not saying I'll never write about a franchise restaurant, but most of the places I write about may be of interest only to my handful of local readers or any of you who might have the opportunity to visit Greater Blogaritaville (the Kansas City metro area).

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The Courthouse Exchange
113 W. Lexington
Independence, MO 64050

Type of food: American/Home Cooking
Atmosphere: Casual
Blogarita's Rating (1 to 5): 4.5

Some of our local radio stations sponsor "dining deals" in which you can buy a $50 gift certificate to area restaurants and/or business for half price. One of these dining deals is how we decided to try The Courthouse Exchange. That was back in May. Since we had enough money left on our gift card, we were happy to go back again this past Saturday.

Situated on the south side of the square in historic Independence, MO, the restaurant was established in 1899. Located in the basement of the structure, the decor is an interesting cross between the bar in "Cheers" and an actual courtroom, with hardwood booths and tables, renderings of the Jackson County courthouse during different eras, and photos of Independence native, President Harry S. Truman. It's said he was a regular of the restaurant during his day.

Our first trip was for lunch on a Saturday, and the dining area was busy with patrons of all ages. The restaurant features a separate bar. Like the restaurant, the bar seemed to be a non-smoking area, making it a family friendly establishment, evident by the number of young children who were there. Although the restaurant was busy, the noise level was surprisingly low.

The food at The Courthouse Exchange is home-cooking, pure and simple - no warmed-over canned green beans or instant mashed potatoes here. Portions are very generous; the tenderloins are plate-sized, and one of the kids' meals featured a 1/2-inch thick burger with fries, drink and ice-cream cookie sandwich. The onion strings, pictured above, may be the best onion appetizer I've ever tasted.

Service at the restaurant was great. We were seated quickly, our waitress was friendly and helpful, and our food arrived at the table in short order.

Prices at the Courthouse Exchange are quite reasonable, especially considering the size of the portions. Daily specials, ranging from meatloaf dinners to steak, are even better values. Our tab, which included an appetizer, two adult meals, a kid's meal and drinks for all of us, was just $35. And unlike some establishments, who will not give change for any unused portion of a gift card, they gave us the difference on a new gift card, which we used over the weekend.

This time, I tried a Reuben sandwich instead of the chicken-fried steak dinner I had before, and was just as pleased. Spouse Guy and Sparky are creatures of habit; he ordered a tenderloin sandwich both times, and she ordered the cheeseburger kids' meal both times. I heard no complaints from either of them.

Try out the Courthouse Exchange if you ever have the opportunity. Don't forget to order the onion strings!

The ABCs of Reading

Yesterday Sparky was on a field trip with her daycare to an old-fashioned country school house. While there, she wrote her name with chalk on a small slate. This is a big step for her, because she is only 4 and because she wasn't asked or encouraged to do it by her daycare teacher, Miss Amanda.

She couldn't have done this a month ago, but Miss Amanda has spent a lot of one-on-one time with her. Although already knew, mentally, the importance of reading tutors, having the results right before my eyes just reinforced what I already knew.

I hope Sparky continues to have success in learning to read, and learns to truly love reading. But there may come a time when she doesn't love reading because she's struggling with it. If that happens, I won't hesitate to consider getting her a reading tutor. Her literacy is just too important not to.

This has been a sponsored post.

Why I Gave Sparky Ice Cream For Breakfast

All through the cooler months, Sparky would wake up famished in the morning and wolf down whatever I made for her. Her favorite was a scrambled egg, two pieces of toast and some chocolate milk.

Lately, though, she hasn't wanted much for breakfast. I don't know if it's the warmer weather or if her appetite has changed, but some mornings it's a struggle to get her to eat anything at all.

This morning she asked if she could have ice cream. At first I told her no and offered her other things, all of which were refused. Then I mentally compared a small bowl of ice cream with a donut and decided it couldn't be any worse for her nutritionally. I was right. Here's how a bowl of ice cream compares to some other, more traditional, breakfast foods.

FYI, the information for the donut was just a generic Google search. The rest of the figures came straight from the product packaging or website. The ice cream we had was homemade from a mix and probably nutritionally a little different than store bought. I threw in a couple of tablespoons of dry roasted peanuts for a little protein, but those aren't counted in the information (much like the syrup isn't counted with the waffle).


1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
Calories - 120
Fat - 3 g
Carbs - 21 g
Protein - 3 g
Cholesterol - 10 mg
Sodium - 40 mg
Calcium - 10%

1 glazed donut
Calories - 180
Fat - 8 g
Carbs - 25 g
Protein - 3 g
Cholesterol - 0 mg
Sodium - 250 mg
Calcium - 0%

1 Eggo waffle (before adding syrup)
Calories - 180
Fat - 6 g
Carbs - 26 g
Protein - 5 g
Cholesterol - 15 mg
Sodium - 4 mg
Calcium - 10%

1 oz. Honey Nut Cheerios (before adding milk)
Calories - 110
Fat - 2 g
Carbs - 20 g
Protein - 4 g
Cholesterol - 0 mg
Sodium - 2000 mg
Calcium - 8%

1 Pop-Tart (frosted strawberry)
Calories - 200
Fat - 8 g
Carbs - 38 g
Protein - 2 g
Cholesterol - 0 mg
Sodium - 170 mg
Calcium - 0%


While I don't really consider any of these to be an ideal breakfast, they're foods most of us probably give our kids (or eat ourselves) from time to time. I don't think the ice cream is any worse a choice than any of the others.

I think eating anything for breakfast is better than eating nothing, so I'm not going to worry about a bowl of ice cream now and then.

An Important Resource

As I expand the scope of this blog, I hope to add links to lots of resources that readers will find helpful in one way or another.

Part of living a simple, healthy and frugal lifestyle is living a life free of addictions and dependency. Addictions and dependency are expensive, not only in the obvious sense of the word, but also in terms of lost health, decreased productivity, relationship problems and/or counseling, medical bills and the cost of drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

I hope none of my readers or loved ones ever has to seek out drug or alcohol rehabilitation. But if they do, I hope they start their search with Rehabs.biz for a comprehensive listing of rehabilitation facilities in their area.

This has been a sponsored post.

Have Cats? Save Money

No, this isn't another sponsored post. It's just my opinion on a good product.

We have two cats. A few years ago, we switched to a pine pellet cat litter. The litter is made up of small pellets of pine sawdust. When the cats use the litter box, the pellets turn back into sawdust and absorb the fluids and the odors from both the liquid and solid waste. (The pellets themselves, to me anyway, smell less like pine and more like sunflower seed shells.) A 1/2-inch layer in the litter box would about a week, although I occasionally "scoop the poop" between changings.

It was great; the brand name was a little costly, but because we used so little at at time, it seemed worth it in comparison to regular clay litter or scoopable litter. The odor control alone was enough to make us want to stick with the pine litter.

We were lucky enough to learn that one of the major pet supply stores carried their own generic. We used that for a couple of years. The cost was much less than the brand name, running about $8 for a 20-pound bag. For us, 20 pounds would last 6 to 8 weeks.

Then one day we were in our local farm and ranch store for something and I noticed they had a product called Equine Fresh. It was the exact same pine litter packaged to use in horse stalls. The pellets were just the tiniest bit larger, but that didn't matter to our cats. The best part is the price. It runs about $6 for a 40-pound bag. It saves us more than 60% over the generic we were buying.

Now if I could only figure out a way to save money on cat food.

Crafty Savings

In my spare time, I like to do crafts. My favorites are knitting, crocheting and cross-stitching. It’s always fun to go to a craft store and look at all the new things. But the next best thing is shopping online AND saving money on craft supplies using Joanne.com. coupon codes.

Joanne.com and many other online shopping coupons are easy to find at www.couponchief.com.

After all, who doesn’t like saving money?


This has been a sponsored post.

Spinach Salad With Oranges and Beets

Here's a nice salad to go with just about any kind of meat. We had it with KC Strip steaks. The beets discolored the cucumber slices a little, but it still tasted great. We added a few last minute toppings as well: sunflower seeds kernels, shredded cheese and for Spouse Guy, some bacon bits.


Spinach Salad With Oranges and Beets

Fresh spinach, about 5 ounces, rinsed and stems removed
1 7-ounce can mandarin orange segments, drained
1/2 of 15-ounce can of sliced beets (save rest for another meal), cut into julienne strips
1 small cucumber, cut into slices, then cut into quarters
2 green onions, thinly sliced
prepared Italian dressing

Toss all to combine. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 4 - 6 servings.