Just before school, when school supplies are on sale, is a good time to stock up on lots of little gifts that will be great for Christmas! [Read more…] about Turn School Supplies Into Christmas Gifts
frugal cooking
2 Recipes To Clean Burned Pots and Pans
Do your pots and pans look like they’ve been to war? It can be a challenge to clean burned pots and pans, but these easy recipes and tips make it easier! [Read more…] about 2 Recipes To Clean Burned Pots and Pans
Roast with Cranberry Sauce and Leftovers
Roast with Cranberry Sauce and Leftovers
From: Shelley
I loved your recipe for the cranberry roast (see below). It was awesome. The next day, I heated the leftover roast and gravy added about a tablespoon of soy sauce and 1/2 a bag of broccoli florets. I served that over ramen noodles and it made a wonderful broccoli beef type dish.A lot cheaper than take out!
-Shelley
Cranberry Roast
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1 (3lb) roast
1 can (16 oz) cranberry sauce
Pour soup mix in a crockpot. Add roast and top with cranberry sauce. Cover and cook for 8 hours. To thicken gravy, mix 1 Tbsp. cornstarch and water and add to gravy. You can add carrots and potatoes 4 hours into cooking.
Photo By: matthewreid
Frijoles a la charra
Frijoles a la charra
From Lindsey F.
Heat 6 cans of pinto beans with half a can of water over medium high heat, until hot. (It’s ok if it boils.) Add a sprinkle of dried cilantro and a can of tomatoes with green chilies. Stir and serve with tortillas or corn bread.
If I was a bean eater I would try this because it sounds so good and easy. Super inexpensive too. I will definitely give this to my daughter-in-law who loves beans.
-Jill
Photo By: Jason Lam
Hash Brown Bake
Delicious Hash Brown Bake
This recipe is a great quick and easy way to use leftovers! You can add fried sausage, crumbled bacon or diced ham to this recipe and use it for breakfast. If you have leftover hamburger, toss it or some veggies in for dinner.
Years ago, one of the mainstays of people’s diets was hash, which is all the leftovers from the previous day thrown together with some finely diced or grated potatoes and fried in a pan. I wonder if that is why they are called “hash” browns because it was what everyone used for hash?
-Jill
Hash Brown Bake
2 lbs. frozen hash browns (slightly thawed)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken or celery soup
8 oz. sour cream
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup crushed potato chips
Combine all except 1/2 cup cheese and potato chips. Place in a 9×13 baking dish. Cover with remaining cheese and potato chips. Bake for 1 1/4 hours at 350°.
For more money saving recipes and tips, check out the Dining On A Dime Cookbook.
photo by: lindstorm
Easy Ground Meat Sandwiches
Don’t waste that leftover meat! Try making these easy meat sandwiches, which can be a tasty way to use leftover meat or take advantage of sale prices. [Read more…] about Easy Ground Meat Sandwiches
Homemade Chow-Chow Relish
This recipe calls for a box of brown sugar. That is the only way you could get brown sugar years ago so a lot of older recipes are written this way. A box of brown sugar is 1 pound, 16 oz. or 2 1/3 cups.
Chow-Chow Relish
1 medium cabbage
4 medium onions
3 green peppers
2 red or hot peppers (I used red)
3 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. mustard seed
1 Tbsp. turmeric
5 medium tomatoes (not quite ripe)
2 cups cider vinegar
1 box brown sugar
Wash 9-10 pint jars in hot soapy water. Sterilize jars by boiling in water for 10 minutes. Keep jars hot until ready to fill. Using a food processor, grind all the ingredients except tomatoes, vinegar and brown sugar. Chop tomatoes by hand. Mix all ingredients (except the vinegar and sugar). Let stand for 30 minutes and strain excess water if necessary. In a large pot, add vegetables, 2 cups cider vinegar and 1 box of brown sugar. Cook until mixture boils. Place in jars and process for 30 minutes in a boiling water bath. Note: Makes 9-10 pints, and is absolutely fabulous on hot dogs!!
photo by:spin spin
Creamy Pumpkin Cupcakes and Philly Apple Crumble
Apples and Pumpkins make the perfect fall deserts. This Creamy Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe and Philly Apple Crumble recipe are two easy and delicious options! [Read more…] about Creamy Pumpkin Cupcakes and Philly Apple Crumble
Time and Money Saving Tips and Ideas
Time and Money Saving Tips and Ideas
Here is an odd collection of tips that you might find useful:
This morning I went to buy eggs. I usually try to get them on sale but couldn’t find any. Since I needed the eggs right then, I had no choice but to pay full price, so I bought a carton of medium eggs.
Sometimes we automatically buy the large eggs (we do that with so many things) thinking that they are the best but for my purpose (baking), the medium eggs worked just fine and they were cheaper.
If you are having trouble with a recipe being extra sticky or not quite right in some other way, you might change your egg size and see if that helps.
Another thing I did this morning was hang my clothes out. After writing an e-book about laundry and how to hang clothes on the line I didn’t think I had missed anything. As I was hanging some T-shirts on the clothesline, I noticed that one of them was sagging in the middle, so I pinned it on the line and I re did it. You need to hang the items taut on the line, not stretched too tight but not sagging. This helps get rid of much of the wrinkling that some of us experience. Sometimes we tend to let our clothes sag in the middle to give us more clothesline space but don’t do this. It’ll only make more work for you.
Here are some more useful miscellaneous ideas:
- If you lose the plug for your bathtub, use a golf ball. If it happens to get dislodged, it just rolls right back into place.
- Rub hair conditioner on your shower curtain rod to make your shower curtain slide more smoothly.
- Wipe up those spills. I know I sound like a parrot but if you spill something on your stove top, clean it right away. If you turn on a burner or your oven, the mess bakes and hardens on the stove. I recently heard about a new way of doing finger nail polish and guess what they use to make it harden and stick more firmly? -Heat. The same principle works with your stove, so don’t wait to wipe up the mess.
I hope some of these ideas help make your day go more “smoothly”. : ) Have a super day everyone!
-Jill
Photo By: Brenda Gottsabend
Apple Barn Soup Menu – Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe
Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe and Menu
Tips:
If you don’t have time to make cornbread or are out of crackers when serving soup, serve it with some of your favorite seasoned croutons.
It is so easy to make your own croutons. You can use any old, dried bread you want but tougher breads like French bread work best. This is a good way to use things like leftover hamburger buns, bagels or dinner rolls.
All croutons store well an airtight containers for a couple of weeks.
[Read more…] about Apple Barn Soup Menu – Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe