Six Hearty Soups for Those Blustery Winter Days

When the weather outside is frightful, it's time to warm up with some hearty soup. Add your favorite bread and salad and your meal is complete.

Most of these soups call for chicken or turkey stock. I make my own homemade stock, but you could use store bought. Don't let the idea of making your own stock scare you. It is very easy and it really stretches your dollar.

Chicken Corn Soup




Red and White Chicken Chili



Easy Chicken Noodle Soup



Chunky Potato and Leek Soup



Turkey, Kale & Orzo Soup - The turkey can be substituted with chicken.



Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup


What is your favorite soup to eat on a cold winter day? Let us know in the comments and include a link to your recipe if you have one.

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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinners Challenge
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Resolve To Lower Your Grocery Bill

Did you resolve to find ways to reduce your spending for 2011? Your grocery budget might be a good place to start. There are tons of ways to reduce your spending in your kitchen. Here at Family Balance Sheet, we are always trying to find ways to trim the grocery bill without sacrificing quality and nutrition.

Here are 5 popular posts on this site to help you reduce your grocery bill in 2011:

• Nine Ways To Save Money On Groceries Without Using Coupons


• Six Ways To Save Money On Organic Food


• Small Changes in Your Home Can Protect Your Earth and Your Balance Sheet


• Ten Simple Strategies For Easier Menu Planning


• When Buying Meat, Don't Let The Yellow Stickers Scare You

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This post is linked to:

• Frugal Friday at Life as MOM

A Cash Experiment

Apparently, consumers spend more when they use a credit card in place of cash. I have read about this over the years and while I can't find hard evidence online backing this theory up, I have decided to do my own study.

We use a rewards credit card for almost every purchase we make. Every 12-14 months, we receive a rewards check for about $250 and put it into our vacation fund.

While $250 is certainly nice, it really isn't a lot of money anymore. Could I save even more money if we stopped using credit cards altogether and started using cash? By using a credit card, has it become too easy to put an extra book, t-shirt or bag of pretzels into my cart? And that pesky Target now offers 5% off when you use their Target Visa card on purchases at their store. The check that I write at the end of every month to pay off the credit card is not so nice.

How much money could we save if we start using cash? I have identified 3 categories that I am going to use cash for instead of handing over our credit card: groceries, restaurant meals and clothing. When I deposited our paycheck on Monday, I took out cash for these categories for the month.

These are categories that I feel I can reduce our spending. I let our grocery bill creep up this past fall. We enjoy eating out for dinner once a week, but those bills have also gotten a little high. We actually spent less on clothing in 2010 than 2009, but after looking in our closets, I just can't think of anything that we truly need. They are all pretty full.

My problem will probably be remembering to take the cash with me when I leave the house. I have used credit cards for so long that I'm not used to having cash in my wallet. I actually don't like carrying around a lot of cash. But I am committed to this experiment and I can't wait to see how well I do at the end of the month.

How do you pay for your purchases? Cash or credit?

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This post is linked to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM.

Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Keeping Your Eyes on The Road...to Financial Freedom

I can still hear my dad saying to me, "keep your eyes on the road" as he was teaching me to drive when I was 16.

I'm sure he saw my eyes wander as we drove past the mall or the Dairy Queen or a cute guy walking down the street. "Kris, keep your eyes on the road."

Fast forward 25 years...the holidays are behind us and a New Year is upon us and I want to re-focus myself to my series and our goal.

I want to keep my eyes on the Road to Financial Freedom.

Care to join me?

The Road to Financial Freedom - the Series

• 4 Ways to Help you Become Financially Literate
• Is Clutter Interfering with Your Road to Financial Freedom?
• Get Your Finances on the Calendar
• My Dumbest Money Decision
• Our Wisest Money Decision
• Our Riskiest Money Decision

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Turkey and Veggie Loaf

"More Please" is music to a mom's ears, especially when the dish is loaded with veggies. I found it in the newspaper years ago and it has been a family favorite ever since.

Turkey and Veggie Loaf
adapted from Southern Living Magazine

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup Roasted Red Plum Tomato Sauce or your favorite tomato sauce, divided
• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
• 1/2 cup uncooked regular oats
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots to the mixture and cook until the onion and carrots are soft, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup tomato sauce, turkey, spinach, oats, seasonings, egg and the onion mixture. Mix together until well combined. I find it the easiest to use clean hands to combine this loaf mixture, as long as the onion mixture is cool enough to handle.

3. Shape into a loaf or two. This can be made into one large loaf or I divide into two loafs and freeze one. Place loaf on a baking rack in a boiler tray or a baking pan coated with olive oil spray.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce on top and bake for 10-15 minutes more or until a thermometer inserted at the thickest part registers 155 degrees. After removing from oven, cover loosely with foil and let it sit for 10 minutes.

5. Serve with Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes and your favorite green vegetable and Enjoy!

Great Freezer Meal: Once the loaf mixture is mixed up and before it is baked, I divide in half and wrap one of the halves in foil and then put it in a freezer bag to freeze. I pull the loaf out of the freezer the night before I want to bake it and let it thaw in the refrigerator. Follow the baking instructions above.


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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinner Challenge
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wedneday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
• Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade