A guest post Between college and work, my daughter puts in long days and often misses meals at home. She makes up for it by packing home cooked meals to take with her. Occasionally she comes up with suggestions for variations on my recipes tailored to her "perfect packable lunch" specifications. My daughter requested that I make a casserole using Alfredo sauce and rotini … [Read more...]
Peppermint Divinity
As soon as you pack up the Christmas decorations the candy canes become out of season treats. However, peppermint never goes out of season, so I crush my candy canes and use them to add peppermint flavor to candies and treats. Peppermint Divinity makes a delicious hostess gift if you attend any New Year's Eve parties. It is also a lovely Valentine's Day … [Read more...]
Pork Roast with Pumpkin Pie Spiced Sweet Potatoes
I discovered long ago that I could get my kids to eat any orange vegetable if I season it with pumpkin pie spices. WINNING! I decided to take that idea and kick it up a notch and apply it to Sunday Dinner. This is an easy one-pot dinner. It is also quite frugal for a fancy Sunday dinner. Pork roasts go on sale for as little as $1.49/lb. in my area, and sweet … [Read more...]
Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole
I always make too many mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. I assume everybody will want to eat as large of a serving of mashed potatoes as I do. Shockingly, that is not the case and I am left with a bowl of leftover mashed potatoes. I don't mind though because that means I have enough mashed potatoes to make Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole. This is a fast and easy way to … [Read more...]
Southwest Pasta Skillet
This quick and easy recipe was inspired by mushy salad greens. I had plans to make taco salad and had already started browning the hamburger when I pulled the lettuce out of the refrigerator and discovered it had turned. I didn't have a lot of time to come up with a new dinner plan. I surveyed the cupboards and fridge and decided to use the beans and tomatoes that I was going … [Read more...]
Minestrone Casserole
The evenings have been cooling off and I am beginning to crave soups. I have one little problem...my 4-year old. He thinks he is big enough to eat the same things we eat, but he still struggles to get soup from the bowl to his mouth without any mishaps. Last week I was going to make Chicken Noodle Soup, but my son had already created several major messes - we're talking "new … [Read more...]
Squash Calzone
My oldest son saw me chopping up squash and said, "Are we having squash again?" My husband told him to get used to it, "Your mother will be making squash for breakfast, squash for lunch, squash for dinner, crunch, crunch, crunch". The cheer did nothing to alleviate my son's concern and he walked out of the kitchen with a panicked look on his face. But after he tasted the Squash … [Read more...]
Grilled Ratatouille
Ratatouille is one of the most frugal dishes in my repertoire. When my garden is in full swing the only ingredient I have to buy to make this dish is olive oil. As much as I like ratatouille, I must confess it has a couple of downsides. First, if I turn on the oven on a hot July day and only have vegetables to show for it, I will have a mutiny on my hands. Which brings me to … [Read more...]
Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Chimichurri Sauce
Chimichurri Sauce is a traditional Argentinian sauce. It is the consistency of pesto and is usually served over grilled steak. But I serve it over everything I can because it is a great way to use up surplus parsley and cilantro. I dial down the heat on this sauce for my children, but you can make it hotter by substituting a hot pepper for the bell pepper. I love when the … [Read more...]
Vegetable Lasagna with Spinach “Noodles”
Summer finally arrived and all of my cool weather crops reacted to the heat by bolting. One nice thing about spinach when it bolts is that the leaves along the flower stalk are flat making them a great substitute for noodles in lasagna: I overlap the spinach leaves to create a layer. If you only have curled spinach leaves you can flatten them out a bit by making small … [Read more...]