How Not to Be Closed-Minded About Food {Or, Thoughts on Cooking Through a Whole Cookbook}

A long time ago (okay, about six and a half years ago), I went on a cruise to Alaska. Each night, we went to the formal dining room for a multi-course dinner, and I came face to face with a truth I had never considered before: I was a LOT pickier than I thought I …

Open-Faced Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Secret Family Recipe: Open-Faced Tuna Sandwiches (A Quick Meal From the Pantry!)

As I mentioned earlier this week, we’re working on clearing out our freezer and cooking up meals from our pantry in order to keep our grocery budget at $250 for this month, all as part of our challenge to save $1000 in 100 days. This is a quick meal option that uses ingredients I almost …

Money Saver #1: Tackling the Freezer

Last week, I announced our intention of adding $1000 to our emergency fund over the next 100 days. Now, for some families, this wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, but for us, trust me when I say that this is going to be a true challenge (especially as we are expecting the hospital bills …

Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese, 3 Ways

  I grew up with three older sisters who all, to some degree, liked to cook (or at least had certain “specialties” that they were known for). While I remember loving my sister Hannah’s homemade donuts and personal pizzas and my older sister Jill’s banana drop cookies (which I am definitely posting the recipe for …

The Top 5 Resources I Use for Finding What to Cook For Dinner

While I haven’t always been a huge fan of cooking, it has blossomed into one of my favorite hobbies since getting married. However, though I usually enjoy cooking more than the average person, I also have my moments of pre-dinner panic, when I realize that everyone is expecting to be fed sometime within the next …

Easy Weeknight Meal: Tater Tot Casserole

  Even now that I no longer work full-time, I still want my weeknight meals to be quick, easy, and at least relatively healthy. While this tater tot casserole isn’t going to win any blue ribbons for creative combinations or out-of-this-world flavor profiles, it DOES come together easily and quickly, and I think that it …

Creamy Bow Tie Pasta (aka, What I Make When My Pantry’s Almost Bare)

Because of one thing or another, we’ve been doing a lot of living off of our pantry lately. Tonight, when I had about 20 minutes to get dinner on the table, I was fresh out of ideas, and since the fridge looked pretty bare, I wondered what on earth I was going to throw together. …