Husband gives this recipe a “thumbs up.”  I finally found a great use for the dark meat I froze from the Christmas turkey.  I’m frugal and don’t want to waste any food, however, we don’t particularly like the dark meat on turkey.  I was thrilled to find out it actually makes delicious soup. My husband commented that he thought this was one of the best homemade soups he’s tasted. He really liked the plentiful amount of turkey in it.

I want to post the recipe so I won’t forget how I made it!  Do you ever have that problem?  You make up a recipe, don’t write it down, and then can’t re-create it later?

Anyway, here’s the easy recipe.  Add all of this to a large pot:

• 2 cans beef broth (I used beef broth with onion)
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 2-3 cups bite-sized pieces of cooked turkey – I put the turkey in partially frozen
  
• 1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 large bay leaf  (or 2 small)
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley (I didn’t measure so this is approximate)
• 1/4 – 1 teaspoon dried thyme  (Again, I didn’t measure)
  
• Salt & pepper to taste

Cook on medium until veggies are tender and the soup is thoroughly hot.

People nowadays are saving money by fixing things themselves.  Where they might have called a repair man for everything just a year or two ago, they are now researching and finding out they can do the work themselves.  They might have to get a few tools, spring plungers, or whatever the job calls for, but it’s worth the savings to do the research and complete the job themselves.

With money being tight right now, a lot of people are pinching pennies and looking for ways to save money in different areas of their spending.  Some are looking to find what is the cheapest auto insurance,what is the best way to save money on groceries, what is the most efficient way to cut back on utilities, and the list goes on and on.  Cutting back in all these areas adds up to a substantial saving!

A lot of people are planning weddings this time of year.  Actually it’s a year-round thing because when our daughter got married, we started planning over a year in advance.  Crazy, isn’t it?!!  Anyway, I just wanted to share this picture of a groom’s cake where the groom, who is an avid fan of …hmmm…I wonder what  , had his ideal groom’s cake complete with a puzzle he put together himself.   Pretty creative!  Just put the cake on a pretty silver tray surrounded with greenery and baby’s breathe, and it looks elegant!

Mornings are such a hectic time, so I put out a “breakfast basket” for our son so he can grab something to eat in the car and/or later in the morning when he has a break.  This way he doesn’t skip breakfast.  These items are healthier than some other breakfast items that are low protein, low fiber, and high sugar.

I change the items up from week to week.  Fresh fruit is great to add. Variety is good!

Here are some ideas for what to put in a breakfast basket:

• Stretch Island Fruit Co./All-Natural Fruit Leather (no sugar added, all natural fruit)
  
• Fiber One Bars (2 grams of protein, 9 grams of fiber)  These are really good!  If you haven’t tried them, I recommend them.
  
• Quaker Oatmeal to Go / High Fiber – Maple Brown Sugar  (4 grams of protein, 10 grams of fiber)
• Quaker Oatmeal to Go (4 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber)
• Bags of peanuts (Hot Peanuts have 11 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber)
• Small boxes of raisins (fiber, antioxidants, good for teeth, gums, and eyes)
• Bananas
• Apples (already washed)
• Oranges
  

#1. Potato chips. Flavored? Regular, ridged or stacked?

Yes, flavored.  Sour Cream and Onion or those with pepper.   Probably ridged would be my choice of the three.
#2. Cheese doodles. Yellow or white? Puffed or crunchy?

I like them all.  Variety is good (of course I don’t have these but “once in a blue moon”)  The organic puffy ones from Lay’s called Natural Cheetos White Cheddar Puffs are really good.  The spicy crunchy ones are good, too, and I tend to like these when my allergies are bothering me.
#3. Pretzels? Your favorite shape? Favorite flavor?

Twists for the shape.  Flavor:  regular and honey mustard.
#4. Share a recipe for salsa or dip.

Here are two easy ones we like:

Guacamole:  Mash ripe avocados with a fork.  Squeeze fresh lime juice over them.  Add chopped fresh onion, sea salt, cilantro (from a jar is OK), and salsa (from a jar) to taste.

Salsa: Using your favorite salsa from a jar, add chopped fresh onion and one chopped fresh tomato to the salsa.

Thanks to Val at Fun, Crafts and Recipes for hosting Four Foods on Friday every week!

There are a lot of good books on the market nowadays such as Fireproof and The Love Dare.  There has been a lot of talk about these two books being such great books to read.  These are books I eventually want to get.

There are also other good fiction books on the market, too.  I like to look at Christian books for these.  Janette Oke is one of my favorite authors in this category, and I have read several of her books and have more that I want to read.

With Spring Break just around the corner, some people are already making travel plans to take advantage of the week off from school.   Some will go by car and some will fly to their favorite vacation spot.  Whether flying or going on a cruise, it might be good to get travel insurance quotes.  Travel Insurance Center has the best travel protection plans available.

A lot of people are pinching pennies nowadays, so here are a few ideas for saving money:

• Refill ink cartridges yourself when your printer runs out of ink.  Instead of paying $27 for a new printer cartridge, my husband pays $11 for printer ink and does it himself.  The bottle of ink will refill the cartridge 4 times!!!  He saves over $100 when you count in the tax.  (Be careful when doing this, though.  It’s best to do it over the sink or newspapers.)  For even more savings, buy bigger bottles of ink.

• Refill toner cartridges yourself. Just like with the ink cartridges, you can save a lot of money here.
  
• Check  GasBuddy.com  to find the best gasoline prices. You can check daily for the best gasoline prices in your area.
  

• Sign up for free birthday dinners in your area.  Many restaurants do this. You can sign up online or in the restaurant. In fact, for my last birthday I received seven email certificates:  four free birthday dinners, one free appetizer, one free dessert, and a coupon for $5 off a $10 purchase.
• Buy a programmable thermostat or adjust the thermostat. We bought a programmable one for $30, and it will eventually pay for itself.  My husband programs it to where the heat will come on when we need it and then drop the temperature when we’re away or during the night.  (We’ve also been keeping it a little cooler this winter and a little warmer on warm days than we have in the past.  I know a lot of people do this.)
• Use energy-saving florescent light bulbs in lamps and lighting fixtures.   We have these in most of our lamps and light fixtures.  However, I brought in a lamp we never use that was in our guest bedroom and put it in the living room.  I was sitting close to it and started to feel warm.  It had a regular light bulb in it, and the heat produced from it was making me hot.  That doesn’t happen with florescent light bulbs.  Think of the energy saved!