Homemade Spaghetti-O's

Well it has taken me longer than I wanted to get back to blogging, but I'm hoping to be more consistent with posting next week! I have a fun giveaway in the works too, so stay tuned!

I was able to get several meals made ahead of time and stuck in the freezer before my son was born. One of the things I made was Homemade Spaghetti-O's for my daughter. I had recently bought a few cans on sale and started thinking that it would be pretty easy to imitate the recipe. I did a quick search and found a recipe that sounded like it was worth trying at Oven Love. Her recipe is simple, and leaves room for you to make it to taste.

Homemade Spaghetti-O's

6 cups canned tomato sauce

3-4 cups water

2-3 teaspoons garlic powder

1 lb bag anelletti (I used alphabet-shaped pasta!)

1-1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I used a bit less, and then added some extra when I reheated)

1/4-1/2 cup milk

2 tbs butter

salt, to taste

I started with the tomato sauce, then added water and garlic powder, along with a little basil. Bring to a boil, then add your pasta. Be sure to stir somewhat frequently because the small pasta sticks to the bottom of the pot very easily (ask me how I know...).

I found this box of pasta on sale for 80 cents!

After the pasta is cooked, add the cheese, butter, milk, and salt. Taste it and see if you need to add more of anything! I decided to freeze all of the Spaghetti-O's, so I put them in 2 cup containers. I made 8 cups of Spaghetti-O's for less than $2...that sure beats store-bought!

I did let the pasta cook a little long, so many of the letters lost their shape. Next time I will add a little more tomato sauce too. I just add some when I heat them up for lunch, and that has worked well!

Have you ever made Spaghetti-O's? If you try this recipe, let me know!

I have a really good reason for not posting this week...

Our son was born Wednesday morning at 11:31 weighing 6 lbs 11 oz!

We are all doing great, but I'll probably be taking another week or so away from the blog...I had a few posts planned but I never got them finalized since he came a few days early!

Food Waste Friday

I've been participating in Food Waste Friday with The Frugal Girl for a while now; I go through our fridge (and freezer) on Friday and toss anything that has gone bad. I also take a look at what needs to be used up so that it does not go bad and try to work that into our meals over the next few days. This has really helped us to throw out less food (and so we're actually buying less because we're using what we've already bought!).

Well, I've got another week of good news and no picture! I've been doing some extra cooking and freezing this week so that we'll have some meals in our freezer for after the baby comes. Since I'm having to plan that out, its been really easy to plan to eat up our leftovers!

How did you do this week? I hope you are seeing improvement in the amount of food you are having to throw out, even if there is still something every week! It has been a process for us, and one that I am sure I will have to continue to be diligent about in order to keep up with over the coming months.

Smarty Pants final days

I've mentioned several times about the going out of business sale at Smarty Pants (the children's resale shop in the center of Middletown). This is the final week (through the 13th) for Smarty Pants, and they are running a sale where you can fill a bag with as many clothes as you can stuff in it for just $15. Everything else in the store (including shoes) are 70% also.

I went yesterday and found a number of great pieces of clothing. In fact, I got this pile of clothes for $15. The prices on the tags totaled over $100! (and resale stores usually sell clothes for 50% or more off regular retail prices)

Some highlights included a pair of sweaters from Gap and Gymboree: 

This beautiful, silk lined coat:

And Carter's footie pajamas:

I don't know what the selection is like now, but there were still tons of great merchandise at Smarty Pants yesterday!

If you are not local to Middletown, be sure to look at your local resale stores for clearance sales on summer clothes!

Low-Maintenance Risotto Recipe

I had planned to get this posted yesterday, and it completely slipped my mind until I was getting ready for bed...but this is a great recipe for another cooler day!

Back before the crazy heat of summer made cooking a hot dinner unbearable, we enjoyed several different varieties of risotto for dinner. This creamy rice dish is great as the base of your main course because you can add so many different things to create different meals. It also works well as a side dish, so really, the possibilities are endless! Making risotto had been fairly time-consuming, simply because I would add the broth a cup or so at a time, wait for it to be absorbed, then add another cup. But I was really excited to see this recipe in the October Real Simple that reminded me I did not have to babysit my risotto nearly as closely!

First, melt 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter in a large pan. (My favorite piece of cookware is my large saute pan)

Add some chopped onions, salt, and pepper. Let the onion cook for a few minutes until it becomes translucent (and smells amazing!)

Add 1 cup Arborio rice.

This stuff is a little more expensive than "regular" rice, but I've seen some nice coupons also. I think this container was around $5, but I had a coupon for $2.50 off!

Let the rice cook for just a few minutes; you'll see it start to change in color.

Then add the white wine (if using). I have made it both ways, and while I'm sure a better cook would know the difference, we enjoyed this just as much without the wine. Just compensate with a little more broth. Add half the broth and allow that to absorb into the rice (about 10 minutes). Then add the remaining broth. This will take a little bit longer to fully absorb.

Once you are satisfied with the consistency of your risotto (nice and creamy!) add Parmesan cheese and parsley. I usually opt for the less expensive Parmesan, and it still adds so much flavor.

As you can see, my risotto was a bit on the runny side still at this point...but I was ready to eat!

The great thing about this recipe is that you can add pretty much anything and it will taste great. We've done a veggie version with spinach, green beans, and asparagus, and also enjoyed it with shrimp and bacon.

Do you have a favorite way to do risotto? I'd love to hear about it!

Stocking up this week: Febreeze Noticables (free at Acme!)

Mindi at Moms Need to Know does a great job of highlighting the good sales at Acme every week, including listing the coupons you can use.

This week Febreeze Noticables are on sale for $2.50 each, and with the $3 off coupon from last week's P&G coupon insert you can get them for free! If you have multiple copies of the paper, this could be a great way to get a few housewarming/hostess gifts to have on hand, or a free way to create a nice scent in your own home!

Check out the rest of the Acme add too!

Food Waste Friday

I've been participating in Food Waste Friday with The Frugal Girl for a while now; I go through our fridge (and freezer) on Friday and toss anything that has gone bad. I also take a look at what needs to be used up so that it does not go bad and try to work that into our meals over the next few days. This has really helped us to throw out less food (and so we're actually buying less because we're using what we've already bought!).

Well, I do not have a picture this week, but I did have to get rid of 2 of the apples we picked last weekend. One must have gotten bruised in the transport home, and the other served as a meal (or two) for some sort of little critter. I really could have salvaged more of the apples if I'd dealt with it earlier in the week...

We have a ton of leftovers in the fridge right now, but I'm pretty happy about that situation because it means less cooking for me this weekend! I've been having feet swelling issues, especially when its time to cook dinner each night, so yay for leftovers!