Chicken stock is one of those basic kitchen practices that everyone should know. It's probably THE kitchen practice to know. It is liquid gold. It's a thing of beauty. It's full of flavor and it's delicious. It's also dang near free if you make it yourself. With Thanksgiving coming up, you are going to need a lot of chicken stock. I bet the average American spends $10 - $15 ...
pasta
Fried Egg over Pasta
Cheap, easy and totally satisfying. Fried eggs on top of pasta is the best way to make an inexpensive dinner seem chic. This post has been updated I have a secret love affair with fried eggs. I just think they are sexy. Culinary speaking of course. There is just nothing better than cutting in to an over easy egg and watching it ooze all over the plate. Just begging for a ...
Creamy Chicken Bacon Pasta
I'm getting pretty excited about this weekend. The Food Blog Forum is coming up and I'm excited about meeting all of these other bloggers out there. A little nervous too, but mostly excited now. I've got my camera batteries charging, a full tank of gas, and my friend Dawn's GPS ( because I always get lost in downtown Atlanta). Now the only thing left to do is figure out what ...
Giveaway Winner and Roasted Garlic Lemon Pepper Chicken
Wow. What a crazy month this has been! I finally got back into town on Sunday after almost an entire month away from home. I have driven about 2000 miles in the last 28 days which is a feat that I never thought could be accomplished with two 3 year olds in the back seat. Thanks to the DVD player and copious amounts of ring pops, juice boxes, and crayons, we made it there and ...
Pasta GIVEAWAY and Lemon Shrimp in a Spinach-Basil Pesto !!!
I am finally back from a long and wonderful vacation. While I was gone the springtime breezes turned into summer's sweltering heat. Heat like this means dinner will be much lighter fare for us. A light and flavorful pesto pasta dish fits the bill nicely. Lucky for me, Amalia from Garofalo Pasta sent me a free sample of their amazing pasta for me to try out. Now, one of the ...
Chicken Zucchini Pasta
Don't you just love an easy summery, pasta dish? Something you can throw together in a flash and it taste delicious? Me too! This super simple chicken and zucchini pasta is just one of those meals. You can even make this with leftover cooked chicken if you've got some lying around. If you don't have Herbes de Provence, feel free to substitute Italian Seasoning instead. ...
Quick and Easy Summer Pasta
Does this ever happen to you? You are busy all day going from here to there picking up carpet cleaners and putting up with kids and suddenly it's 5 o'clock and you don't have a clue what to fix for dinner and you already had spaghetti this week and everything is frozen. Toddlers are now standing at the kitchen gate demanding outrageous things for dinner like Popsicles and ...
Beans, Beans, Good for Your…Pasta
Let me tell you a little about myself. I love tulips, trashy novels, my kids and beans. Especially white beans. I could eat them every day and have been eating them every day for the last week. I made a BIG pot of white beans from dry beans and have been using them in cooking all week. Pretty soon, I ran out of ideas. I was digging through the fridge to see what I had for ...
A Little Bit of Spring – Pasta Salad
I am totally over wintertime. I hate being cold all the time and as a tightwad I refuse to turn up the heat. I just want it to be sunny and warm outside. I am ready for Spring. Unfortunately, Spring is a long ways away. Today's weather was beautiful...until you went outside. It was bright and sunny and very cold. As I stared out the window I thought that I would love a nice ...
The evil "C" word – Casserole
When I first got married, I was all about cooking really great, really original food every single night. The very mention of casserole had me turning my nose up. I thought I was too good for casseroles I guess. Well, five years and two kids later, I LOVE casseroles. Not only are casseroles superb at cleaning out everything that is about to go bad in your fridge, but they are ...
Hakuna Frittata – Spaghetti Frittata
It seems that whenever I make spaghetti I always make way too much. I don't really do it intentionally, but I always end up with this big wad of pasta leftover in the morning. In an effort to use the leftovers, I came across this recipe in my trusty Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Now I know it may sound strange, spaghetti and eggs, but Good Housekeeping would never lead you ...
Homemade Marinara Sauce
If there is one recipe every frugal parent should have in their repertoire it is Marinara sauce. I can't think of one child ( or adult) who doesn't like spaghetti with mounds of sauce and piles of cheese. Not to mention it is one of the healthiest, easiest and most versatile meals to fix for dinner. You can hide a multitude of things in marinara. Vegetables, ground turkey ( ...