Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun!

[Ninner]

Denise, thanks for the recipe & saved it to hard drive. Dh will like this & it works in to his non existent arrival times.

[HeatherFeather]

I'm late to the game - but I've been reading and would love to play ....

I'm pretty good with canned / dry goods - I donate those to the food bank and even speciality foods such as dips and marinades are enjoyed by the folks use the service.

But .... I have some stuff in my freezer that is bothering me....

1) Frozen Stawberries - boys were on a smoothie kick this summer, but now have tired of it . Could I make freezer jam with these ? I've made topping fro waffles with some.

2) flour tortillas .... I know .. I know .. should be easy to use up ... but I don't like them, and other than quesadilla's .. no ideas how to feed them to the boys.

3) skinless boneless chicken thighs... I'm a white meat gal ... bought these to make soup and it was good ... but have some still left.

Thanks - I've been using all the great ideas so far to work on some of my stash !

Glad to have you!

[HeatherFeather]

I have a really good tortilla soup recipe - I'll copy it over here for you so it is on Zazz, but for now it is already posted on Food and is called Holly's Tortilla Soup Recipe #205314

The tortillas get cut up and tossed into the soup at the last minute - and they soften and turn into delicious noodles.

I have also done the same using them for quick & easy chicken & dumplings. Here is how I made them:
http://heatherfeather-lavenderblue.blog ... bread.html (for how I made them as well as the broth and a picture)

and the video on how to make the actual chicken & dumplings is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6UpWVIhZc

[HeatherFeather]

I almost forgot to post what I used tonight

I used half of my apples in homemade applesauce - I tried a variation on Alton Brown's recipe. I also prepared a box of jello that was hiding in with my instant pudding mixes.


Peach Chops with the applesauce I made

The quesadillas (using that taco bell sauce)


and the rice & beans I made using a package of yellow rice mix:

[KareninMass]

Wow that all looks very good. Do you have the pork chop recipe posted. I have 5 in the freezer ... but I make the owrlds worst chops they are usually dry rubbery and tasteless.

[crazyndncook]

I have been doing my best to use somethings up. Tonight I got to use some chicken breasts, and all this talk of gravy got me craving it, so we had mashed potatoes and gravy too. Then some canned cherries from my cupboard stash.

Yesterday we had 1 bag of shrimp,some frozen veggies and rice.

Been using frozen veggies as our side dish, mixing and matching as we go.

I have emptied 2 containers from the freezers, I know one was zucchini sticks, but I can't remember what the other one was.

[HeatherFeather]

Wow that all looks very good. Do you have the pork chop recipe posted. I have 5 in the freezer ... but I make the owrlds worst chops they are usually dry rubbery and tasteless.

I have just now posted it here - once approved it should be Recipe # 016777 Peach Chops

[Kchurchill5]

Looks good HF

[racrgal]

I'm not getting notifications so I popped in to see what's going on. Sure glad I did! There is some great info floating around here.

[HeatherFeather]

Ok, another item from my list is getting cooked tonight - making some steak bites using my beef tenderloin tips.

Still haven't touched my oatmeal or those horrible canned peas. I did find the recipe I had originally bought them for, so I will try to make that this weekend. It is a pea salad. The recipe was part of a meal I saw on a cooking show and they also made a meatloaf recipe to go with the salad, which happens to contain oatmeal. I might make the meatloaf as well.

Hope everyone else is doing well too. How are you all coming along with your lists?