Sausage Soup

Tonight we tried out a new recipe and it was DELICIOUS! I got it from my favorite online recipie site, All Recipes. I enjoy sausage and I find it adds a little "pizazz" to my cooking.

Here it is:

INGREDIENTS

• 3 sausages (I use Mild Italian)
  
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained
• 1 small zucchini, cubed
• 1 cup spinach (frozen)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup of pasta
  

DIRECTIONS

1. I like to boil my sausage to get rid of alot of the fat, so boil them first. Then throw it in a stockpot or Dutch oven, brown sausage with garlic. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, beans, spinach and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for atleast 30 minutes.
2. Cook pasta as per directions
   
3. Add zuchinni and the cooked pasta for 10 more minutes.
   

I'm finally handing in my review...

I'm sure you can imagine what kind of a student I was in school...keen at the beginning of the year but a slacker towards the end, lol.

We survived the month with a single trip to McDonald's. That's pretty amazing in our household.

I didn't realize until the challenge was on just how much we were eating out. The boys and I would go to Tim Horton's for bagels once every weekend and there were usually 1 or 2 nights per week when we seemed strapped for time and we'd normally grab take out but the challenge forced us to make a back up plan. I think soup and sandwiches were a staple for these occasions.

I also realized just how boring my cooking is. I stick with what's tried and true for our family but I have tried Lori's Italian Wedding Soup and Jenn's Hoisin Sauce.

Thanks Jenn for the challenge. I'm sure we saved $200 easily. If I figure fast food is about $25/30 each time and Starbucks about $25 a week...sigh....that's right...a lot of wasted money.

Wrap up at the Campbell's

Well...I admit it. I'm a horrible person. On Friday, I gave up on being creative and trying new recipes plus taking pictures of our meals just 5 short days before the end of the Eat @ Home Challenge. Now, don't get me wrong...we kept up with the challenge until the last day but we spent those last 5 days repeating some of the meals we'd had earlier in the month and we dug some leftovers out of the freezer which was not exciting but we did eat at home.

This challenge has taught me a few things:

1. Although I love to read blogs and I love to put my thoughts in print, I don't think I have the dedication to be a blogger. Between bargaining with my teenager for time on the computer and the time involved to download pictures, I just don't do a good job of getting blog entries ready in a timely fashion. Kudos to all of the bloggers out there...you're truly amazing!

2. I love number crunching, so budgeting and making my grocery money go as far as possible has always been a big priority for me. Especially in this day and age with the fast-rising cost of food, fuel, utilities, etc...there is very little we have control over with the exception of what the money experts call "consumables". This challenge has reminded me that you can get so much more food for your money at the grocery store than you can if you're eating out.

3. We have a family of 3, so I really only need to cook 4 nights per week because if I cook any more than that, we can't possibly keep up with eating all of the leftovers! I even fed some of the leftovers to my two wiener dogs!

4. I really do love to cook and although I'm not an adventurous cook when it comes to flavours from other parts of the world, it's still extremely satisfying to sit down to a meal that tastes gourmet and looks really appealing.

5. Lastly, although I'm glad the challenge is over (whew!...the pressure is off!) it wasn't as hard as I thought and I'm curious to see what Jenn has in store for us next!