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.

I’ve always liked mashed potatoes with turkey and gravy for Thanksgiving. Since my mother-in-law, whose house we usually go to for our big Thanksgiving meal makes both potato salad and scalloped potatoes instead, I haven’t had them in a while and thought it would be nice to bring them along as a side dish. So I made a big pot of homemade mashed potatoes this year. Guess what… when I got there, my mother-in-law had the same idea. It got really funny when my sister-in-law showed up with a big pot of steaming mashed potatoes as well.

Obviously there are only so many servings of mashed potatoes a person can eat in one meal and I am now stuck with a big tub of them in my fridge and we are all tired of eating them and have run out of the gravy to go on top.

So, what can I make with prepared mashed potatoes?

Since this is thanksgiving week, anything remotely related to turkey day is on sale at our grocery store, including marshmallows. Since they are pretty much our daughter’s favorite food, I stocked up and got 3 bags of minis and 3 bags of regular sized ones. As soon as I got home, our daughter announced that she no longer likes them….

I’m still hoping she’ll change her mind, but just in case she doesn’t, I need some ideas on what to do with all these marshmallows. We made a batch of rice crispy treats last night, following the instructions on the cereal box. They were a big hit, but I can’t see myself making 6 bags of marshmallows worth of those… the sticky mess cleanup wasn’t nearly as much fun as making them

So, what are your ideas… what do you make with marshmallows? Leave me a comment below with your ideas and recipes.

The Halloween candy is about gone and now it is time to focus on Thanksgiving! I love this holiday because it is so traditional. The family meets, we eat, we relax, watch football and skim the papers for the big sales for the following day.

Thanksgiving dinner is planned a week before the big day with my mother calling everyone to tell them what they are expected to prepare and bring. My dish for the last three years has been a recipe I received from a coworker.It is simple to make and is obviously delicious or she wouldn’t ask for it three years in a row!

Corn bread Casserole

1 can (12 oz) creamed corn
1 can (12 oz) sweet corn, drained
1  8.5 oz. Jiffy Corn muffin mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 stick melted butter
1 cup cheddar cheese (optional)

Heat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients and place into a casserole dish. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove and layer with cheddar cheese. Return to oven until cheese is melted.

I double the recipe for my larger family. The double batch feeds at least 12 and more if there are various other side items to eat.

Since we’re getting close to Thanksgiving, I’m seeing sweet potatoes on sale everywhere. Like I do with my turkeys, I’d like to stock up and take advantage of the super low prices. But once I get all these bags of sweet potatoes home, what do I do with them or how do I store them?

We like to eat baked sweet potatoes with a little butter and sugar throughout the year … it’s a sidedish and dessert all in one. Other than that, I only use them for sweet potato pies that I usually bake just for Thanksgiving.

Any other ideas and / or good recipes?