Tag

Every year, my husband gets a turkey given to him by his work. I always keep it in the freezer for as long as possible, because we go to other places for the holidays. There is no reason for me to make a great big turkey around that time. So, it usually gets saved until around the early spring time. Then, when every gets over being tired of eating the bird, I will make it up and it’s a really special treat. The only problem is, we always have tons of leftovers. Our little family of four simply can’t eat an entire turkey. Some of it gets frozen, we make sandwiches and pot pies, but there is still some left. I’m always on the hunt for what I can do to reinvent it in a way that my family is going to eat it without complaint.

This turkey tetrazzzini recipe from Spend With Pennies is one that I always use that is usually a pretty big hit. It’s creamy, cheesy, and delicious, and it doesn’t make me feel like I’m eating turkey for the third day in a row, which is most likely the case.

The family even likes this, even though they are usually sick of the meat after the first day. I think it’s probably all the ingredients that combine to make this a huge crowd pleaser. It’s pretty versatile too, so feel free to make it your own.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits to Wishes And Dishes.

USE THE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW FOR THE RECIPE AND INGREDIENTS

Quick Tip: Plain cream cheese will work in here if you can’t locate the garlic flavor.

It was my husband’s 50th birthday coming up, and I wanted to do something special for him. I hinted around to him about a few things to see what kind of reaction I was going to get. He sometimes will want a big party with all the bells and whistles, and some years he would rather do nothing at all. I was getting the impression for this one that we were somewhere in the middle of the road. His birthday is in the summer, so an outdoor BBQ sounded perfect for him. We could invite all his friends and their families. We have horseshoes, a swimming pool, and plenty of other things to do. I could do the cooking, just because I love to. And I would plan to ask a few people to bring in some dishes that we could share, sort of like a potluck. I wasn’t going to ask everyone, just those that I knew wouldn’t mind.

One of those people was my sister. She loves to bring food, even if I tell her that we don’t need any. For the birthday party, she brought this amazing buffalo chicken pasta salad that she said she found on Spend With Pennies. The best part was, buffalo chicken anything is the hubby’s favorite, so it was like his very own birthday food.

It went over extremely well with everyone at the party. I told my sis nice work and had her jot down the recipe for me. I’ve made it a bunch of times since then, mainly because my husband keeps asking for it. It pairs up perfectly with all kind of BBQ foods, and all year long.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits to A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventure.

USE THE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW FOR THE RECIPE AND INGREDIENTS

Quick Tip: Use any pasta type that you have on hand.

The in-laws were coming for a visit at the end of the school year. It’s their usual routine. They don’t like coming to our house unless they know that they are going to get to spend all of their time with the kids. It’s one of the things I love most about them. My husband and I will usually take a day or two off from work, but that’s it. The parents want to take the kids and do stuff with them on their own, so there really is no point of us staying home any more than that. I like to make their visit as comfortable as possible though. I always try and get some sort of breakfast going for them before I leave in the morning, so that they don’t have to get up and feed three hungry kids. That usually means that they are going out to eat and that can get expensive after a few times. So, I found a bunch of overnight recipes this last time that they came that I could take advantage of.

Spend With Pennies had a great recipe for an overnight apple pie French toast. I mean, that just makes my mouth water, just the name all by itself. I tossed it together one night before I went to bed. It was ready in the morning before I went to work and I had it sitting out for when all the sleepyheads got up.

My son actually called me at work to tell me how tasty breakfast was and to thank me for doing it. Now, that doesn’t happen every day. I was so proud to call him mine, and wished him a fun day with his grandparents.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits to Wine & Glue.

USE THE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW FOR THE RECIPE AND INGREDIENTS

Quick Tip: Use whatever apples you like best. Granny Smith seem to fit just fine in here.

How many people take chicken out of the freezer and toss it in the fridge to thaw with absolutely no idea what they are going to do with it? I know that it can’t possibly be me. I do it all the time. I love chicken in certain recipes, but sometimes I don’t want to make a salad or a casserole with it, and I don’t really want to just chomp into a chicken breast either. Over the years I have learned how to season them so that they are good, but that gets boring after a few times in a month. One day when I was flipping through an old recipe book that my mom had given me, I came up on this baked chicken that had my Aunt Janet’s handwriting all over it. She was always a good cook, so I knew it was going to be spectacular.

I grabbed up all the ingredients that I didn’t have in the house already on my next trip to the supermarket. I made this for dinner when I looked in the fridge and saw the dreaded chicken sitting there. When my husband asked what we were eating, I could see the disappointment in his face when I replied chicken.

That all changed the second this came out of the oven. He was hovering around the kitchen already, that’s how I can tell he’s getting hungry, and when this was done, he went and sat at the table right away. It was by far better than my chicken!

Recipe and photo courtesy of Spend With Pennies.

USE THE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW FOR THE RECIPE AND INGREDIENTS

Quick Tip: Serve with potatoes, in a sandwich, or with a salad.

Getting my kids to eat dinner can be like pulling teeth. Sometimes I will come up with a meal that I think is going to be a huge hit, only to watch my little humans push it around their plates until they get dismissed from the table. It’s extremely frustrating, because I know they aren’t filling up their bellies with something that is good for them, or at least classified as a meal. I can always get them to eat a fruit, but as far as the main entree and vegetables go, that’s a toss up. When I discovered this pizza pasta bake on Spend With Pennies, I was positive that they were going to love it. We eat pizza all the time, but never in a pasta bake. I figured I could hide some veggies in there too, so that was a little mom bonus.

When they first looked at it, they kind of crinkled their noses a little bit, which I expected. Don’t all kids do that when you serve them something that they’ve never had?

After some convincing, I finally got them all to at least take a bite. (Ice cream bribes… don’t say you’ve never done it.) They took that first taste and then kept going back for more until all their plates were cleared. Yay! Victory for Mom… finally.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to Drizzle Me Skinny.

USE THE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW FOR THE RECIPE AND INGREDIENTS

Quick Tip: Add all your favorite pizza toppings. You can’t go wrong.

My Grandparents were hardworking people. The lived on a ranch, and whenever we went there, we know we were going to have jobs to do. Sometimes, when we told my parents we were bored, they would drive my siblings and I out there just for something to do. They thought it was hard work, I thought it was fun. There was so much to do there, you were never left twiddling your thumbs I can tell you that much. They always let us decide what tasks we wanted to do too. They never made us do the awful jobs like cleaning up after the horses. Feeding them though, we could do that. Whatever we did, we were helping them out in some way. We were also getting some good bonding time in with them.

When all the work was through, there was always a hearty homemade meal waiting for us too. My Grandma was awesome in the kitchen. She could take just a few ingredients and turn it into a masterpiece. Thankfully, I paid attention.

One of my favorite meals was her ham and potato casserole. My mom often made it too. There weren’t many food items required to toss it together so it was affordable. It was a lot like this recipe from Spend With Pennies, and I still make it to this day.

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.

USE THE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW FOR THE RECIPE AND INGREDIENTS

Quick Tip: Try it with pepper jack cheese.

When my daughter had to have surgery recently, she really wasn’t feeling all that good for quite some time. I couldn’t find much that would make her happy either. Her appetite was non-existant. Needless to say, I felt extremly helpless in the whole situation. No mother wants to see their child in that kind of shape. I tried everything I could think of to cheer her up, and it just wasn’t happening. Finally, I thought about one dish that used to always comfort and make me feel better when I was younger. Broccoli and cheese soup. It was the ultimate comfort food back then, and I was hoping it still would be for her in her current situation.

I didn’t want to leave her side for too long, in case she needed me. Thankfully, I found this recipe on Spend With Pennies for a 20 minute version of it. I had to make a quick trip to the grocery store and then I got to work.

This went together just as quickly as what the recipe had said it would. My daughter actually ate it too. Soon after, she was feeling much better and got up and started moving around the house. Thank you soup!

Recipe courtesy of Spend With Pennies. Photo credits go to CopyMeThat.

USE THE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW FOR THE RECIPE AND INGREDIENTS

Quick Tip: Add in some cauliflower or do half and half with the broccoli.