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Monday, March 14, 2011

Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli

Are you ready for another crock pot recipe? Of course you are! I found this here at Crockpot 365 - a blog with a year's worth of crock pot recipes! I'm impressed by that undertaking and luckily we get to reap the benefits!

Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli Recipe (slightly adapted)

makes 8-10 servings depending on what else you serve with it

Ingredients:

1.3 lb ground turkey (1 package), browned and drained

1/2 large red onion, chopped

1 cup or so carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 cans diced tomatoes, not drained

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 cups fat free beef broth

16.5 oz pasta sauce

2 tsp oregano

1 Tbs tabasco

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 cup dry pasta (I used elbow noodles I had on hand)

Directions:

(Use a large crockpot or reduce the recipe) Put carrots, celery, and onions in crockpot. Add beans, tomatoes, and pasta sauce. Add beef broth, tabasco (don't worry it doesn't make it spicy), and seasonings. Stir in cooked turkey. Cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 4). When veggies are tender, add pasta and cook another hour on low. Serve and enjoy!

Tip: Before adding the pasta to the crock pot, I like to take out soup servings for the freezer and then add the respective portion of noodles for the soup left. I have found that noodles do not do well in soups after frozen. Later when you eat the leftovers from the freezer, just cook up some noodles on the stove and add to the soup.

If you know me or have been reading previous posts then you know how much I love cheese! I had some shredded mozzarella and hubby had some parmesan on top. You could serve with salad too or rolls. Perhaps some 3 ingredient rolls!

Yum! We really enjoyed it and liked having another recipe using ground turkey. Many of the other ingredients we had on hand which goes back to my sessions on Ways To Save Money. We will definitely be eating this again, especially since there are some servings stashed in our freezer haha!

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Pitcher redo

I grabbed this pitcher for a few bucks at our goodwill. I mut have been really anxious to paint it because I forgot to take a before picture but it had some ugly flowers on it. So I spray primed it.

Then I spray painted it with a few coats of antique white rustoleum. But it actually didn't stick very well. It bubbled in places and kinda cracked in a few other places. So I had it in my garage while I figured out what i was going to do. I was hand painting primer on another project when I decided I would just slap some on the pitcher.

And I actually liked the result. You could see some brushstrokes and it wasn't perfect but at least it covered well and there weren't bubbles or cracks. It is a little antique-ish looking and rustic which is fine by me :)

I picked up some blue hydrangeas at Michael's and I already had some long green grass looking stuff to fill it with. I stuffed some plastic bags in there to get the arrangement positioned like I wanted it and it worked like a charm!

I think it looks fabulous on hubby's dresser!

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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Ways to Save Money Part 2

Here is the next session of how to keep cash in your pocket (or on your credit/debit card - who uses cash that much these days anyway?)

Ways to Save Money Part 1 in case you missed it.

Ways to Save Money {Part 2}

1. Cut coupons. I know some people say this is a waste of time but it doesn't take very long. I get mine from http://www.coupons.com/, http://www.smartsource.com/, and http://www.redplum.com/ and Target has some online too. The key to saving with coupons is to only print and cut coupons for things that you already buy. DO NOT be tempted to spend money on something you don't usually buy just because you found a coupon. These sites change out their coupons each month but you can print a few within a month if it is something you buy a lot of - we do that with the cereal coupons.

2. Ask yourself "do I really need/want this?" and "will I get my money's worth out of it?" for non-essentials and bigger items. Like will you really wear it/ use it/ watch it enough to pay the price or are you fine without it. Sometimes it helps to walk away and think about it again for a couple of days... may be you will decide you you don't want it as much as you thought.

I once thought I wanted one of these but after thinking it through, I didn't really want it.

3. Research it. For bigger items you do decide to buy, do your homework on where the cheapest place is to purchase the item.

4. Shop at goodwill, thrift stores, and craigslist. They are great places to find decor items or things you can turn into decor like this and this. Never buy a vase or vase filler items again - go to goodwill and the dollar store. You can find some great furniture on CL but you have to be a very patient shopper on there.

dollar store glass hurricanes

5. Shop the sales or clearance if you can. A place I like to frequent for work clothes etc. is Banana Republic Outlet. I never shop at the regular BR because I know those clothes will end up cheaper in the outlet and I am okay to wait for it. Marshalls/HomeGoods is also a great place that has marked down shoes, clothes, housewares, and more.

collage items mainly from HomeGoods

6. Buy books at goodwill and thrift stores. They are between 50 cents and $1.50 for paperback and hardback. Or check book out at the library for FREE! A couple months ago I found The Shack (a current bestseller and AMAZING must read!) at goodwill and it looked brand new. I didn't read it right away because I had a few other books to read first so I lent it to my SIL which brings me to the next item.

7. Swap books with friends. I am always swapping books around with friends and family so that means less books to buy and plus it's a great way for books to be recommended to you.

8. Reuse Ziplocs. For lunch, I pack a sandwich wrapped in a paper towel in a ziploc and I use that same ziploc the rest of the days that week to put another wrapped sandwich in. Same thing with crackers etc. I don't even have to wash them. No need to waste ziplocs each day (and spend more $). For some larger ziplocs/freezer bags, we will wash them and reuse them. Just do not reuse ones with meats in them.

9. Repurpose containers. I have washed and saved lunch meat containers to use as tupperware or storage later, filled old glass sauce jars with decorations, and the like. The Hilshire lunch meat ones are wonderful to organize drawers.

10. Upcycle clothes that you don't wear. See if you can use the fabric from them in your next sewing or craft project.

Snap on rosettes

Hope you enjoyed these tips! Stay tuned for another session!

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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Framed Embroidery

If you have an embroidery machine take a look at these!

How cute right? If you hadn't guessed my talented godmother made these and sent them to me as a birthday gift back in January.

We had these two out in the living room for our birthdays and for valentines day.

This one is probably my favorite and right now it's in the guest room. I am contemplating bringing it into work and putting it in my cube for a little fun decor :)

I think the possibilities with this are endless! And now I wish I had an embroidery machine too haha.... but I must stick with my sewing machine for now.... one machine at a time!

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Monday, March 14, 2011

Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Pitcher redo

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Ways to Save Money Part 2

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Framed Embroidery