One of my favorite comfort foods is pinto beans and corn bread. In fact, I have a pot of beans cooking right now. The problem is I can’t seem to judge how many dry beans we actually end up eating. I keep forgetting how much they swell up in the cooking process. The result? We end up with way to many cooked pinto beans.

Any ideas on what I can make with them? My family loves beans and cornbread, but isn’t big on eating the leftovers and I end up tossing them. What a shame!

Take a moment to share your favorite recipes and ideas as a comment below. Can’t wait to hear how you eat your pinto beans.

Since today is National Pie day, I thought I’d pose this question - What Can I Make With Pie Crust?

Obviously there are all kinds of different pies from sweet to savory that you can make with this tender, flaky crust. Speaking of Pie Crust, here’s my favorite recipe for it. - Easy Pie Crust Recipe -  I didn’t have much success in making my own pie crusts until I tried this particular recipe and it turns out great every single time.

How about you? What are your favorite pie recipes? Do you have any other ideas / suggestions on what we can make with pie crust? Share your ideas and recipes as a comment below.

Susanne

We all know how delicious Pepper Jelly is. I have been to many a gourmet cooking parties where the hosts feature a selection of pepper jellies served over cream cheese with crackers. Not only is the appetizer appealing to the eye with its colorful presentation, but it is irresistible to the taste buds. I find myself unable to stop at just eating one, four, ten, and, if nobody is looking, even twenty.  By the end of most parties, I have ignored the serving knife and plunged the crackers straight into the pepper jelly/ cream cheese combo in order to pile more on faster.  I leave each party with a heavier body and a lighter wallet.

Needless to say, I have a pantry filled with Pepper Jelly. As much as I love it served with cream cheese and crackers, does anyone have any suggestions what else to make with Pepper Jelly?

I started the new year off by cleaning out my spice cabinet and found two packets of rapid rise yeast. I can’t remember what I bought them for originally, but they haven’t expired yet and I’d love to use them up. I’m just no sure what to make with it. Each of the packets has 3 smaller pouches of yeast in it and they say rapid rise yeast on them.

Ground beef of one sort or another almost always seems to be on sale at one of the stores in town. It’s also usually one of the cheapest meats to buy and pretty versatile. I usually keep a few packs of it in my freezer and use them for anything from burgers and meatloaf to spaghetti with meat sauce, but to be hones, we are starting to get a little tired of the same standard hamburger dishes.

I’m looking for some fresh recipes and ideas that use ground beef - will you help me and my family out? Please post your favorite recipes as a comment below.

Down here in the south, we have a tradition of eating mustard greens or collard greens on New Year’s Day. It’s supposed to make the new year prosperous for you and bring you lots of money (thus the green).

As a result, I am now seeing sales on mustard greens in just about every grocery store around and of course would love to take advantage of it.

I usually cook them by steaming the greens in a little bit of water in a large pan and season them with salt and pepper. When I’m ready to serve them, I also pour a little bit of white vinegar over them.

That’s about the only way I’ve prepared them, and I would love to hear your recipes and ideas for mustard greens.

A few weeks ago my local grocery store had cranberry juice on sale. I like the juice and know it’s good for the health of your urinary tract to drink cranberry juice regularly, but to be honest, after two weeks of drinking a glass of the stuff every morning, I’m starting to get a little tired of it and I still have a couple of bottles left. Any ideas on what I can make with cranberry juice?

I know it’s pretty good with some vodka, but I’m trying to stay away from alcohol and would love to make some healthy dishes with the juice. I’d love to hear your ideas and recipes.

A business associate of ours just gave us a 5 lb wheel of cheddar cheese. This thing is huge and I can barely fit it in the fridge. So far we’ve sampled a little of the cheese with some warm French bread. Very yummy and a nice sharp taste to it.

I’m already planning on making homemade mac and cheese with it a few times between now and Christmas and also told my mother-in-law that that’s what I’m bringing for Christmas dinner along with a plate of guess what? Cheese and crackers.

We also usually use a good bit of cheddar to make grilled cheese sandwiches or tortillas but other than that I’m at a loss…

Any ideas on what else I can make with lots of cheddar cheese? Has anyone tried freezing the cheese?

I’m desperate for your suggestions before the cheese goes bad.

I accidentally grabbed a can of crushed pineapple instead of pineapple chunks. I like to use the chunks on pizza or in fruit salad, but the crushed pineapple just doesn’t work with either one of those. Now that I’m stuck with a large can of the stuff, I’m wondering what I can make with it.

I thought about possibly throwing it into a smoothie. Has anyone tried that? Mixed with some coconut milk and yogurt it might make for a nice tropical treat. Any other ideas, suggestions or recipes that include crushed pineapple?

I look forward to reading your ideas in the comments below.

Susanne

We like to make tuna salad sandwiches for lunch every once in a while. For the past few weeks we had been out of canned tuna, so I stocked up on the them and bought 10 cans. Then hubby came home from grocery shopping with quite a few more (he didn’t notice that I already bought some last week). So we now have a pantry full of canned tuna.

I usually drain the tuna well, mix it with a little mayo, a splash of pickle juice, some shopped pickles, salt and pepper. Then server it on bread or rolls.

What else can I make with canned tuna? I’d love to hear some of your favorite recipes.