MAC vs NYX Serengeti : MAC Dupes

I received the NYX trio in Serengeti today and I did some swatches. I quickly got online and had to compare them to some MAC swatches. The NYX shadows come in soooo many colors, and the color payoff is wonderful! What you see in the container is what you get. These are extremely good quality for the price. You can find the trios anywhere from 5-8 dollars. So at less than 3 dollars a color, there is no need to buy anything else! The trios also fit into MAC and Coastal Scents palettes. I am determined to slowly collect all the NYX and Coastal Scent hot pot colors, they are so cheap and you can do about any look at a fraction of the cost for any MAC eyeshadow. You can make the color appear lighter or darker depending on the color you want to achieve. I did all my swatches over a tan/cream jumbo eye pencil, and here are the colors the swatches matched. Sorry I don't have photos, my camera is still broken!!!

MAC color - NYX colors from Serengeti Trio

Gorgeous Gold - yellow color over a white base

Goldmine - yellow color over a nude base

Juxt - middle green color over nude base

Swimming - darkest green color over nude base

Bitter / Lucky Green - middle green and yellow mixed over nude base
*(This matches Lucky Green better because bitter is matte)

Humid - Darkest green over dark base

Super easy recipe: Skillet Salsa Chicken plus bonus budget tip

I don't know how I came up with this recipe, probably one of those days I was searching and searching through recipes on the internet and combined the ingredients I had on hand into one recipe! This recipe is super easy, you will be serving a healthy dinner in no time. I served mine over brown rice and it was a hit with hubby, and he dislikes 'health food'. Buy chicken breast with the bone in, this will be more friendly on your budget, plus you can use them to make chicken broth for your dinner or lunch the next day, and it won't cost you any extra cooking time, all you need is a crockpot. Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what I did with my broth!

Recipe serves 4

Skillet Salsa Chicken and bonus recipe*
(you do not have to do the bonus recipe, but it will save you money and time
for dinner the next day. Stretch your dollar!! Simply leave out the recipe step marked with the *)
Ingredients:

4 chicken breast, bone in
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 jar salsa (flavor of your choice)
1 tbsp olive oil ( or cooking oil of your choice)

Place your chicken on a cutting board and cut away the bone and skin. Slice the chicken into 4 or 5 long strips. *Toss the chicken bones and some seasonings, as well as some left over veggies (see my vegetable end recipe tip) into a large crockpot. Fill with water, cover, and turn on low. Let cook overnight, and your broth will be ready for tomorrow!* Heat a large skillet over medium heat and drizzle in 1 tbsp of oil. Put chicken strips into the skillet, put in the taco seasoning, and toss to combine. Cook the chicken strips until just a small amount of pink left, about 5-8 mins. Pour in salsa over chicken. Let mixture come to a bubble, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Serve over cooked rice or noodles. Can also be served with sour cream or guacamole on top!

*nutrition is without the rice, facts are approximate, depending on the salsa and seasoning you buy

Nutrition Facts

4 Servings

Amount Per Serving
Calories 294.7
Total Fat 3.3 g
Saturated Fat 0.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Cholesterol 136.9 mg
Sodium 919.5 mg
Potassium 601.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 6.9 g
Dietary Fiber 1.0 g
Sugars 4.3 g
Protein 55.6 g

Budget streatching tip: Save bread ends for bread crumbs!

I came across this tip in a low budget recipe cookbook bye taste of home called 'Dinner on a Dime' It was a gift from my mother-in-law and I love it! There are so many good recipes and tips. This is one of my favorite tips that I have found to be very useful to me. When you get to the last of your bread, save the ends and any other pieces that are broken or just about to go bad. Toss them into a gallon zip top freezer bag and place in your freezer. When your bag is full, or when you need some bread crumbs, thaw out the bread and process for soft bread crumbs, or dry out in a warm oven for dry bread crumbs.

Extremely frugal Cooking tip: Saving veggi scraps

I am on an extreme budget for groceries, so I never buy more vegetables than what I need, and I am always looking for ways to stretch my food for recipes. I came up with this tip:

Save your vegetable scraps. Save the tops and ends of carrots, save the tops of onions or bell peppers, and save the tops of celery, and those tiny soft sticks in the center you never eat. Keep them in a zip top bag through the week or two weeks, if your veggies will keep that long. At the end of the week, toss this bag in some water to make a veggie broth for soups. Broths are so low maintenance! I through mine in a crock pot over night with some chicken bones (from chicken breast that I took the bones out myself) add seasonings, and tada! You have a broth to freeze for later or use for a healthy lunch or dinner. Broths don't have to be just for soup! Use them in the place of water when making rice or other savory recipes.

I also like to save the tops of my tomatoes for an at home tomato scrub I saw on youtube!