Baked Cheese Pumpkins

This recipe is great as a snack or with lunch or dinner. Children will love helping you make these.

8 slices bread
4 slices orange cheese

pumpkin cookie cutter.

Line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil (can be wiped and reused later).

Cut out pumpkins from bread.

On one Cookie sheet, place the cutouts.

On the other cookie sheet, place the edges of the bread with the cutout middle.

Bake both at 350* until cheese is melted.

Autumn Trail Mix

This is good as a snack, and would be great as an addition to your Thanksgiving celebration. It is easy for children to put this together by themselves. Store in a jar.

I use store brand items whenever possible to make this as cheap to make as possible.

Autumn Trail Mix:
	2 cups sunflower seeds, raw
	1 cup peanuts
	1 cup pumpkin seeds, raw
	1 cup Craisins or other dried fruits
	2 cups Chex type cereal

Throw everything into a mixing bowl and mix with your hands.

* Also good as an on-the-go breakfast.

Vegetable Mix-Up Stew/Soup

I will be posting a couple of other recipes for the Vegetable Mix-Ups that I explained in the previous post. Here is a nice one with variations for a soup/stew.

Ingredients:

1 container frozen veggie mix-ups

enough water/stock/broth to cover mix-ups

 

1. Add the frozen mix-ups to a pan with the liquid.

2. Cook on medium to medium high heat until vegetables are thawed and warmed through.

Very simple.

Variations:

• You can add noodles, or noodles and chicken. Don’t add the noodles until shortly before you want to serve the stew/soup.
• You can add dumplings.
• You could add another kind of meat: Ground beef, ham, turkey.
• Add any herbs and spices that you would like five or 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Shannon

Freezer Mix-Ups

I feel very blessed to have been able to freeze some produce for winter us. Today I froze:

• 3 bags vegetable mix-ups
• 1 bag fruit mix-ups

So, what are mix-ups?  Well, to make a mix-up, all you do slice/chop fruits or vegetables for freezing. These will likely be different each time you freeze, with different types of produce and different amounts of each.

Here is how I make a vegetable mix-up:

• Take out a large mixing bowl and a cooking spoon for mixing.
• Get you your cutting board and a sharp knife.
• Take the vegetables out of your refrigerator that you are worrying about going to waste. Produce that may not be the freshest, but could be used in a stew or something.
• Chop up all of the vegetables and throw them into the bowl.
• When you are done with the cutting, throw out the trash (or compost it!) and then mix up what is in the bowl.
• Judge how many freezer containers you will need, get them ready and label them veggie mix-up.
• Spoon the vegetables into the container(s) and freeze.

To make fruit mix-ups, take the same steps above and use the fruit mix-ups for smoothies.

These are great ways to help your frugal life along. It is frugal to also use leftovers in the same manner, adding even as little as a teaspoon of corn or pees to a freezer mix-up will save you money in the long run.

Shannon

Black Bean Soup in the Slowcooker

Actually, I changed this one slightly from a Sandra Lee Recipe. Her recipe would have made too much for a try it meal. This one will be perfect for my daughter and nephew. I don’t eat onions, though, so I won’t eat it like this.

They loved it.

In a slow cooker, put:

1 can black beans, and liquid

10 oz. chicken broth

10 oz. diced tomatoes, and liquid

1 chopped, fresh tomato

1/3 cup diced onion

1/2 cup carrots, canned, and liquid

1/3 Tbsp. paprika

2/3 tsp. ground cumin

1/3 tsp. garlic powder

1 pinch ground cloves

 

Cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Cheap After School Snacks

After schools snacks are important to have on hand for our children. By the time they get home from school they may not have eaten anything for two or three hours, and it may still be just as long before dinner time. It would be great to have things available for them to snack on when they get home.

You may want to limit them to one snack and a drink, so as not to ruin their appetites before dinner. You will definitely want them to eat something before doing their homework.

Here are some ideas for snacks:

• A granola bar and a glass of milk. You can find a granola bar recipe at The Kitchen Sink (scroll down).
• Celery with peanut butter and a glass of milk.
• Homemade muffin or bread slice with peanut butter and a glass of juice.
• Fruit with water.
• A bowl of soup.
• Pre-cut vegetable sticks with dip, and a glass of water.
• Air popped pop corn with a glass of iced tea.
• Peanut butter and jelly or fluff sandwich with a glass of iced tea.
• English muffin pizza with a glass of milk.
• Crackers and peanut butter or cheese with a glass of lemonade.

Shannon

Almost Homemade Tomato Vegetable Soup #3

Ingredients:

1 can condensed tomato soup, plus 1 can of water

1 can corn, drained

1 small zucchini, peel left on, sliced into circles and then cut into fourths.

1 small can peas, drained

 

* Simply heat through and serve.

* This makes a meal for one person, or a snack or partial meal for 2-4 people.

Almost Homemade Tomato Vegetable Soup #2

Ingredients:

1 can condensed tomato soup, plus 1 can of water

1 tomato, chopped (This was from our garden)

1 small zucchini, peel left on, sliced into circles and then cut into fourths.

1 small can corn, drained

 

* Simply heat through and serve.

* This makes a meal for one person, or a snack or partial meal for 2-4 people.

Almost Homemade Tomato Vegetable Soup #1

Today I made a soup for my nephew. It was made solely from food we received from the food cupboard, in an effort to use them up before they went bad.

Ingredients:

1 can condensed tomato soup, plus 1 can of water

1 tomato, chopped (This was from our garden)

1 small zucchini, peel left on, sliced into circles and then cut into fourths.

1 small can carrots, drained

 

* Simply heat through and serve.

* This makes a meal for one person, or a snack or partial meal for 2-4 people.

He liked it very much, and it was very filling for him.

This meal was free.

Shannon