Ranch Spaghetti Salad – yes Ranch and Spaghetti! You’ve got to try it.

This is another crowd pleasing favorite. I’ve taken this same dish to every work potluck for the past one and a half years. My co-workers will accept nothing else and if I start to mention bringing something else they won’t let me! I got the recipe from my grandmother – thanks for the idea Sandy! Like my last recipe – Taco Salad – this salad doesn’t have exact measurements and is also a cold salad. (See I told you I missed summertime!!!). This salad sounds different and you may think its weird putting Ranch Dressing on spaghetti but you really need to try it and it is easy to make. Please enjoy.

Ranch Spaghetti Salad

• Spaghetti (a 1lb box is how much I use)
• Red onions (I used about a 1/4 to a 1/2 of an onion)
• Tomatoes (I use one box of grape or cherry tomatoes. I’ve used cucumbers before, you can add cheese too, but I mainly use the regular 4 ingredients. You should have fun with what you are cooking and like Claire Robinson says “BYOC – Be Your Own Chef”)
• Ranch Dressing (for one 1lb box of spaghetti you will use at least 1 bottle of 16oz Ranch but maybe more)

1. Boil your spaghetti like normal. Your spaghetti has to cool completely in order to make this salad properly. The best way I’ve found to do this is to spread it out on a couple of cookie sheets or a countertop, stirring occasionally. If the pasta is not cooled enough then it will absorb all of the dressing and you will end up using much more than needed.
2. Slice your onions how you would like, I like using a mandolin, and cut your tomatoes in half if needed.
3. I layer all of the ingredients and stir as I go - In a large bowl start off with some spaghetti (a couple handfuls), pour in ranch (probably a cup or more, you will use much more than you think is necessary) and then put your desired amount of toppings. Stir and keep layering until you have reached your desired amount. I found layering was the easiest way to keep an equal amount of onions and tomatoes in the whole dish and keep it all in the bowl at the same time.
4. Cool overnight.
5. Add in more Ranch to the top and stir in the morning. It absorbs some of the dressing over night.

Let me know if you try the recipe and I hope you enjoy it as much as all of my co-workers do!!! Happy carry-in tomorrow!

My Coupon Savings Today!

Ok, I found out some tips from Misty when I went to her class last Monday – please refer to my blog from earlier this week by clicking here to find out more about Misty and check out her blog. I spent the morning looking through the CVS and County Market ads and finding manufacturer coupons to go with my purchases. This actually was quicker than I thought. I mainly used coupons.com to choose all of my coupons and print them. A couple of weeks from now I may not need to rely on the coupon website as much because I will be getting the Sunday paper regularly, but I did find the website really easy to find what you want and it would be a great supplement to the coupons you already have.

First I went to CVS. There were two things in the CVS ad that caught my eye:

• if you spend $20 in Garnier Fructis products then you receive $10 in ECB (Extra Care Bucks).
• buy 1 Stride gum for $.99 and receive $.99 in ECB.

So I ended up walking out with 2 hairsprays, 1 mousse, 1 haircolor box, and 1 packet of stride gum – my total before coupons was $24.26 and all I paid was $7.47 —- AWESOME!!! The register lady actually didn’t add my $10 ECB from the Garnier purchases so she handed me $10 in cash, extra bonus! But I do still have $.99 added to use next time. I also purchased the green tag to use with a recyclable bag and so that will also add ECB’s!

Next I went to County Market. I purchased way too many things and would really bore you if I listed everything so I will simplify. My total before coupons and sales deals was $93.68, I saved a total of $40.81 and that brought my final out-of-pocket cost to $52.87!!! My savings definitely could have been better but I wasn’t able to find coupons for all that I bought and I purchased 2 packages of meat and a 24 pack of soda – that took up $17.50 so really the rest was one heck of a deal!

Grand savings of $57.60! Not too bad, right?

On my dinner plate tonight? My Mom’s Taco Salad!

I have LOVED  this taco salad since I was a kid. It is a great summer time meal and where I live we have an inch of ice and more snow on top that is STILL on the ground….. I could really use a touch of summertime right about now. This is a really easy recipe that is just thrown together. I do not have any exact measurements at all, sorry, but if you can make tacos you can make this! I made tacos for dinner last night and so I’m eating it as leftovers tonight. I hope you enjoy!

Mom’s Taco Salad

• Doritos!!! (you can use Taco Doritos if you like them but I prefer regular ol’ Doritos, also one of my favorite foods as a kid)
• taco meat (I use turkey burger because it is a leaner meat but you can choose whatever ground meat you normally use)
• shredded lettuce
• chopped tomatoes
• chopped onions
• shredded cheese
• creamy french salad dressing

1. Crunch up your Doritos - I place them in a bowl and use a glass to crunch them into small pieces. The size of your bowl? I use a small bowl if it’s just for a couple of people. My mom would always use a very, very large bowl – this stuff disappears quickly!
2. Throw in your meat, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cheese – you can add as many toppings that you like and normally would use on your tacos.
3. Pour on creamy french dressing just to coat the salad. Don’t be afraid to start with less dressing and add more to taste. Sometimes I add Taco Bell Mild Sauce to the mix but I normally do not add sour cream, instead I add some on top once its plated.
4. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours before serving. It’s a cold salad – that is why it is great for summer time!

Like I said I don’t have any exact measurements or even exact ingredients but this will get you started. I really hope you enjoy one of my childhood favorites – I ask my mom to make it for me every year for our family reunion!

My Binders!

This has worked well for me so I hope you like this tip too! I have  always enjoyed saving recipes but always hated re-writing them. So I would just rip them out of my magazines and put them in a folder – that didn’t work out so well. A good friend of mine shared this idea with me for my recipes – Thank you Carol Ann, it was much appreciated and very helpful!

I use binders! I purchased plastic sleeves and slid my recipes right in. This made it so much handier to thumb through (especially since I also bought tabs for breakfast, dinner, dessert, etc) and to keep clean – just wipe off any messes with a towel. Also if I find a recipe in a recipe book, I of course do not want to rip pages out of a recipe book, so I make a copy of it with my printer to print out and then add to my binder. I’ve utilized small 4×8 picture albums for recipe cards that I find. Most recipe cards have the recipe primarily on one side so you don’t have to remove it from the plastic sleeve either.

Since I realized how handy that binder idea was, I do that with my coupons too! It will be so much easier to find the right coupon instead of little clippings every where. I used to keep them all in a small 5×3 plastic file organizer and I would always have to pull all of them out just to dig through and find the right one – that didn’t work out well either. Now that I put learned how to use small 4×8 picture albums for my recipes I now use them for the coupons I have already clipped to keep them organized and easily found. I also bought tabs for this binder. I like to sort by laundry, bathroom, kitchen/cleaning, pets, food and other.

Hopefully you try this out and it helps you too!

Keeping it all organized.

Come back tonight because I going to give you a tip on keeping your coupons and recipes organized!! You don’t want to miss out!

“Coupons are not for being cheap” – Misty

Last night I  attended a coupon class and was blown away. I already knew some about coupons but not as much as I needed to know so I could actually be successful. The lady’s name that taught us her tricks is Misty and she has a blog!!! Great news for us and she updates it all of the time - thefrugalfamily.blogspot.com. Go to this blog now! Here are a couple of things that she taught me:

• Get the Sunday paper – she handed out a card in order to get the first two weeks FREE!
• Have a budget and a menu. I already do this but it is a great idea so you know exactly how much you have to spend and only run to the store once a week. If you go back more or do not create a list when you go you will always overspend.
• You can combine in-store coupons and manufacturer’s coupons!!!  
• CVS – make sure to get an extra care card because its like making $$$!

Well I’m going to go to Misty’s blog now and find more ways to save. Let me know if you enjoyed it!

Plans

The purpose for my blog is to meet new people who share the same interests that I do. I love food, saving money (I get a rush out of saving money - this is something you should do whether you have to or not), my pets, and trying new things. Here is a tip for you: when you go through your magazines that you purchase or receive monthly pull out the articles that you like and then discard the magazine. You’ve already gotten out of it what you wanted so no need for them to pile around. I then put those articles in a binder so they are easy accessible and quick to find. I will share with you the ideas that I pull from these magazines, tv, or where ever they arise.

Here is the first food item that I will tell you I’m in LOVE with right now. Unfortunately I’m not at home right now to pull something out of my binder of goodies but this will definitely suffice. I take my lunch everyday to work and most of the time its a frozen meal because its quick to grab and fix. Stouffers has a potato and cheese casserole in the frozen meal section - OMG it is amazing. I wish I knew how to make it. They have that as a side to BBQ chicken or by its self. It’s definately worth trying. And if you can figure out how to make it, even better, post below and I will try to make it at home.

Hello everyone!

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This is my first blog, welcome to it! I created my name of FoodieShan because I love food, maybe too much. Growing up I loved to watch Julia Child over any cartoon. Now I love to watch Rachel Ray, 5 ingredient fix, Paula Deen - anything on Food Network. But this is not everything that I love. I have a wonderful boyfriend named Bryce and two pets that I love and who are my everything – Bailey is my cocker spaniel and Jinger is my redheaded  kitty. Bryce and I love to go out, eat at new places and experience new foods. It is sometimes complicated to find meals that we both love to eat.  I will post new recipes that we try and let you know our thoughts. The type of meals that I enjoy cooking have few ingredients and are quickly completed. Feel free to post any recipes that you think will be a hit and we will let you know how it goes once we try. I are looking to forward to this weekend and will let you know of any new experiences we encounter!