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Cooking, Entertaining and Party Planning

Delicious & Nutritious Beans Make Very Thrifty Meals

Looking for ways to save money on food? Pick up a bag of dried beans for between $1-$3 or canned beans that go for anywhere from 69 cents to $1.25. Beans like navy beans,black beans, black eyed peas, pinto beans, or kidney beans, are excellent sources of protein and vitamins and are a wonderful alternative to meat. Add beans to your soups or stews, roast a butternut squash and combine with white navy beans, lots of time and sage and toss with pasta, or add some cumin and chipotle pepper to bla...

Cooking, Entertaining and Party Planning

Transform 1 Batch of Soup or Stew into Many Different Dishes

if you made a big batch of chicken soup, for example, enjoy the soup as is the first night with some homemade biscuits or a nice salad. Then, take the leftovers from that same chicken soup and start experimenting: add rice or noodles, heat it up and add some nice big dumplings to make a thick stew, or change up the flavouring and add some pureed chipotle peppers and butternut squash for a south-west soup. Add different vegetables like tomatoes or kale, diced red pepper, or bok choy. The key to t...

Cooking, Entertaining and Party Planning

Black Bean Dip Any Way You Like It

To make a basic black bean dip, simply add 1 can (or more for more dip) of drained and rinsed black beans, 2 good glugs of olive oil (you can use less if you like a chunkier dip), the juice of half a lemon, and a pinch of salt and pepper to your blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Now, to jazz things up a little, try adding a couple of roasted red peppers to the mix, or make a spicy black bean dip by tossing in a couple of chipotle peppers or even dried chipotle pepper. Or, add ...

Cooking, Entertaining and Party Planning

Tea Drinker? Get the Best Quality & Value with Loose Leaf

People often think that loose leaf tea is expensive and that buying it already bagged is the cheaper way to go. This isn’t always the case and it certainly isn’t the case if you’re comparing quality. Now, buying loose leaf at a trendy tea shop probably isn’t your cheapest option. Instead, look for and buy loose leaf at your local health food store, bulk grocer, or head to China Town where a large number of the shops will carry loose leaf. Another great thing about loose tea is that there...

Cooking, Entertaining and Party Planning

Easy, Thrifty Pickled Vegetables or Relish

To make a Cucumber Relish: 1 Cucumber (if you want more relish, use more cucumbers), peeled and finely sliced 2-3 tsp of salt (really, you’re looking to sprinkle all of the cucumber with the salt, so adjust the amount of salt depending on the amount or size of cucumber) 1 Tbs Sugar 2 Tbs Vinegar (again, adjust for the amount/size of cucumber) Place your cucumber in a colander and sprinkle each piece with salt. Leave to macerate for approximately 30 minutes. Using a clean dish t...

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