Julie's Food Pantry Lasagna

As much as I hate to admit it, since moving to Cascade, our finances have been very tight.  Therefore, we have had to rely on the food pantry (also known as the food bank) for some of our groceries.  I have been able to come up with some pretty good recipes using food given to us, and this is one of them.  All of the ingredients in these 2 lasagnas (one had meat and the other meatless), with the exception of the small amount of cheddar cheese I used, were all from the food pantry.

I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients, but the lasagnas included:  whole wheat lasagna noodles, sun-dried tomato sauce (yum!), corn, spinach, refried beans, mozzarella, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, onion, and Mel's had sausage.  We both really loved this - turned out better than I expected.  We both give it a 9!! 

If you have ever contributed to a food bank (as I have done in the past and will do again someday) - thank you!!!!

Scott's Soccer Practice Bars

Got this recipe off the back of a bag of sugar.  I made them about 2 hours ago.  These are amazing!!  Mel & I both give them a 10 - a new favorite!!!  The only thing I changed was adding vanilla to the bars & the topping & instead of chocolate chips I used both white chocolate & butterscotch chips. Oh & I added walnuts.

Menu Board for January

Here is the menu planned for January.  Most of these things I have made before, so the only item on this list I'll take pictures of are the "Soccer Bars" (I'll probably make them later this week.)  I have never made a roast before, but I'm just going to crock pot it w/ gravy and potatoes, so not really worth blogging about.

Anyway, happy 2015!!  And happy cooking!

Butternut Squash Soup & Mel -n- Julie's Tater Soup

 

 

I made butternut squash soup about a week ago for my dinner (Mel doesn't like squash).  It is the first time I have ever made this kind of soup.  I just happened to have been given both squash & tangerines so this is why I chose this recipe.  I didn't have enough tangerines for the entire amount of juice the recipe called for (less than half), but this was such an amazing recipe anyway.  I would give it a 9!  I will make it again soon! (The white you see in the photo of the soup is yogurt.  The recipe also called for pistachios on top, but I didn't have any.  I almost used walnuts, but changed my mind.)

 

I made the potato soup yesterday because Mel had to have a tooth pulled and I wanted to make him something soft to eat (and we have a lot of potatoes).  I could not find a recipe I liked, so Mel and I came up with the ingredients list for this soup (I also added a can of corn right before I placed it in the food processor.).  I turned our pretty good, but not great, we both give it an 8.  We topped it with cheese.  Mel is going to top it with BBQ beef and I am going to try applesauce (just like I would for potato pancakes) to see if it improves the flavor.  I would make it again, but with less pepper and minus the beans.