Month

If there’s one food that I could make for every single meal without hearing any complaints it’s mashed potatoes. With or without gravy. Doesn’t matter. Everyone in my house really enjoys them and they always get eaten up, even if it’s a day or so later. I always seem to go a little overboard when I’m peeling potatoes. Mainly because I never know how many everyone is going to want to eat. Sometimes we empty the bowl, other times there is quite a bit leftover. When we have leftovers, I have started making these scrumptious loaded mashed potato cakes that I found on Spend With Pennies. Of course mashed potatoes are good as is, but these are amazing.

There are so many different things that you can do with them, they never taste like the same cakes twice. The first time I made them following the recipe exactly as it was written, and the only thing I would have changed was making more! These went flying off the plate so fast I barely got a chance to eat one.

You don’t have to wait for leftover mashed potatoes either. I will make some just so that we can have these. You can also use those already prepared mashed potatoes in the refrigerator section at the supermarket if you really want to save some time.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to Mom, What’s For Dinner?

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Quick Tip: Try adding in some stuffing… delicious!

We were having some family over for a holiday BBQ. I love those kinds of events. Everyone gets to sit outside, relax, enjoy the sunshine, and forget about other responsibilities for just a few hours. I love to be the hostess too, so I always open up my house to everyone and anyone that wants to come. Whenever I can, I try out new recipes to see if anything can be added to not only the party menus, but also our every day meals that the husband, kids, and I eat. These bacon wrapped green beans quickly got added to both when I made them at that BBQ. They not only looked cool, they were amazing tasting.

Something about that brown sugar glaze just makes these really stand out on the plate. They look kind of like something you would find in a restaurant too, making them irresistible for people when they are filling up their plates.

I whipped together a double batch of these following the ingredients that I found on Spend With Pennies. They were completely gone by the end of the meal. I was hoping for leftovers… but to see them gone was satisfying too!

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to Relative Taste.

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Quick Tip: You can also do this with asparagus.

Since the beginning of time, I think it’s safe to say that we have been eating pasta salads at our BBQs, family reunions, weddings, birthday parties, or just about any other sort of gathering where there is a meal being served. Tuna macaroni salad is one of the super easy and really affordable salads that you always find in the buffet line. Some of them are really good, others I could live without. It’s usually a pretty safe bet that it’s a least going to be edible. There have been a few that I’ve had to toss out under my napkin, but that doesn’t happen very often.

Now that I have this recipe from Spend With Pennies, I can guarantee that I won’t be throwing any tuna salad away. This is by far the best that I’ve ever made or tasted. I like the sweet and tangy mixture of the pickles and relish and what it does to boost the flavor of the tuna fish.

Another thing that’s nice about this is that it looks just a touch fancier than traditional tuna salad, making it great for dinner parties and other events where you are trying to impress. It always works for me!

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to FoodBlogs beta.

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Quick Tip: Use any pasta shape that you like.

My Grandma moved away from our hometown when I was just about to finish high school. She had been retired for some time and she and Grandpa wanted to go and experience life somewhere else for a while. They moved South to Florida where it was a lot warmer. They found a community of people that were around their age and that’s where they planted their feet, and where they still live to this day. When they left I was devastated. I went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house a few times a week. They only lived about five minutes from my house by bike. Grandma always would be in the kitchen making supper when I would go after school.

She had some of the best recipes. If I got invited to dinner, I was taking it. She made these chicken and dumplings, very much like this recipe from Spend With Pennies, that were out of this world. I could eat three bowls full back then. I can’t today, but I was a growing child.

When Grandma and Grandpa called and said they were coming hoe for a visit not long ago, I made these for them to remind them of the times when I would come to their house for dinner. They just loved them.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to Gonna Want Seconds.

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Quick Tip: Keep your lid on tight and don’t remove it any more than necessary or you will increase the cooking time.

My youngest son was finally graduating from college. It was such a bittersweet time for me. All of my kids did very well in school, so I was extremely proud of their accomplishments. Despite that though, that meant that my last baby would soon be moving out of the house. I knew it was coming sooner or later… it just seemed like it was way too soon. In order to help properly send him off to this new stage in his life, my husband and I were going to throw him a graduation party. I considered catering in, but I decided that homemade would be better. That way I could be sure that I was making all of my boy’s favorite dishes… it was his party after all.

The one thing I knew that I was going to do was his shredded buffalo chicken sandwiches. I found the recipe on Spend With Pennies and after making them once, they quickly became one of his most requested meals. I had to do up a super huge batch to ensure there was enough for everyone, and it was a big success.

I don’t think that there was one drop of chicken left in the slow cooker that I had set them out in. I got tons of compliments and even a few people asked for a copy of the recipe. It was a crowd pleaser that day for sure.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to Emily Bites.

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Quick Tip: Try it with cheese!

Before coffee, there was chocolate malt; at least in my life as a kid. My Mom allowed us to drink chocolate malt because it gave us good energy. I love the taste of chocolate malt; I even had a particular favorite brand. Before coffee came into my life, that has been my favorite drink. I always loved the fact that it was sweet, but at the same time not too sweet. It’s the perfect substitute to those overly sweet hot chocolate mixes that I couldn’t finish drinking even if they were so delicious.

I even loved eating chocolate malt powder. I remember putting a few spoonfuls in a glass and eating like how I ate ice cream. I admit though that I never imagined chocolate malt in any form other than chocolate malt.

This chocolate malt cake recipe is a bit of a surprise for me. I mean yes, it’s not impossible since there’s chocolate shake cake recipe somewhere, but I just couldn’t imagine it. I grew up eating chocolate malt powder or drinking it, can you blame me?

But when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it. You can’t just let a good cake recipe pass by without trying it! So if I were you, grab a copy of this amazing cake recipe on the next page!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Food.com.

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Quick Tip: The malt powder makes the cake extra soft.

Meatballs are probably one of my family’s weaknesses. My husband loves meatballs because he can eat them with anything-rice, bread, or pasta. It’s a pretty versatile dish and he wouldn’t mind eating it every day. My kids love them because they’re easy to eat for them. They can just nibble on the meatballs once a piece is caught on a fork. I also make my meatballs pretty soft and chewy because that’s how we all loved them. This is where my best friend, the slow cooker, comes in.

Whenever I want to cook meat for my family, I rely on my slow cooker. It means the end result will be tender and moist meat that’s perfect for anything.

I cooked meatballs on my slow cooker one day. I decided that we all deserved a really good meat recipe after a few weeks of hard work. So I took out my slow cooker and prepared my meatballs.

I have my own meatballs recipe, but I made it more special by adding cheese inside the meatballs. I got the idea from Cookies And Cups, which has the most amazing ricotta stuffed meatballs recipe.

A full copy of the ingredients and the instructions for this recipe can be found on the next page. Don’t hesitate to make this one for your family because they will surely love this! You can never go wrong with an amazing recipe like this!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Cookies And Cups and Everyday Good Thinking.

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Quick Tip: Use really lean ground beef so you wouldn’t have as much grease in the slow cooker. You could use ground turkey too.