Tips:
- I love having leftover rice. You can toss it into soup, sprinkle on fruit or veggie salads or have it for breakfast with a little milk, cinnamon and sugar. You can also make a quick dessert with rice stirred into Cool Whip that has been sprinkled with half a package of Jello.
- If you do heavy amounts of canning and your stove stays messy, try covering it with foil, cutting holes for the burners, for an easier clean up.
- When blanching things like tomatoes, use a deep fat fryer. Fill it with water and let it come to a boil. Drop in tomatoes using the fryer basket so you can easily lift them out. If you have or can find a frying basket of some sort at a garage sale you could use a large pan to do the same thing.
- Use all those “crumbs” in the bottom of your sweetened cereal boxes in place of sprinkles when you are decorating a cake or cupcakes. If you are in a pinch, make some cereal crumbs to use as decoration.
Menu:
In today’s quick and easy summer menu, the Ham wraps are great, not only for supper, but to wrap up and take on a picnic or a trip in the car. The Rice and Fruit Salad is especially good to help you use up leftover rice.
Ham Wraps*
Rice and Fruit Salad*
Marshmallow Bars*
Ham Wraps
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Sugar
Salt
Ham, thin deli sliced
Swiss cheese, grated
Lettuce, finely chopped
Tomatoes, diced
Green onion, diced
Flour tortillas
Spread tortillas with mayonnaise and just a tiny bit of mustard. Sprinkle with 2 pinches of sugar and a dash of salt. Layer ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion on it and roll tightly. Secure with toothpicks.
Rice and Fruit Salad
You can use other types of fruit in this salad if you like. Just use about 2 cups total. The recipe calls for fresh fruit, but you can use canned fruit.
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks
1-2 cups rice, cooked
1/2 cup each strawberries, bananas, peaches and pears, cut into bite sized pieces
2 Tbsp. yogurt, plain or flavored
1 Tbsp. honey
Fresh spinach leaves
Drain pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup. Mix first 3 ingredients. Mix yogurt, 1/4 cup pineapple juice and honey. Pour on fruit and rice. Serve on spinach leaves.
Marshmallow Bars
1 pkg. (18 1/4 oz.) devil’s food cake mix
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup water
1 egg
3 cups marshmallows
1 cup M&M’s or chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
Mix dry cake mix, butter, water and egg. Press into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 375° for 20-22 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with marshmallows, M&M’s and peanuts. Bake 2-3 minutes longer until mellows are melted. Cool before cutting.
For more quick and easy recipes to make your life easier, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook.
Photo By: jeffreyw
the favorite thing in my house with leftover rice is to make rice pancakes…my son asks if we can have rice just to get some of these. I found the recipe on hillbilly housewife’s webiste and they are just delicious.
I LOVE your newsletters! Thank you for all the hard work you do to keep it fresh and informative and enjoyable.
Thank you Ann Marie. It really makes the hard work worth it to get thanks from our readers like you. We for some reason have the sweetest, kindest and nice readers. Half the time I feel I should be thanking you all for the encouragement you give us all the time.
These Marshmallow Bars sound yummy! I was wondering what to make for dessert and I already have these ingredients in my pantry. Thank you! I always look forward to your newsletters, even though I have all your books!
I love your newsletters. I anxiously look for the next one. Two days ago I purchased the E-book, Penny Pinching Mom…I was so touched by the author’s faith in God and her dedication to being a good mom. We should all be such good moms. I pray that she is enjoying some prosperity these days after all of her sacrifice and dedication.
Love the ham wraps, so quick and easy! Thanks for all the great articles and advise. Believe or not I made some of these for a baby shower( I wanted to bring something different) and they were a big hit! Every one asked for the receipe!
I am enjoying reading your emails and appreciate the helpful tips and recipes. However, I am surprised at how many dessert recipes you place on your website. I think one way to cut down on food costs and also create healthier meals is to cut down on the sweets and desserts. I’d like to see more fruit trays or other ideas on your daily menu and less desserts and cookies. Thanks for all the handy information.
Usually what I try to do is write a complete and balanced menu with a main dish, veggies and/or fruit, bread, dessert and sometimes the drink. This gives everyone a chance to pick and choose what they want or can use from the menus. Of course if the creditors are banging at your doors you need to be much stricter but at the same time we have many people who are eating out all the time and would save a huge amount just cooking at home so I try to cover a little bit of every thing for everyone.
That ham wraps looks absolutely delicious. I will surely give it a go. It actually looks like the kind of ham recipe my kids will eat. They’re really okay with veggies, except the youngest (3-year old girl) who’s not really fond of onion. So, no onions for her. But the rest, 9 and 6-year old twin boys have no problems with it whatsoever. Although, my eldest tried caramelized onion in some restaurants one time, and have been asking regularly for it. Even if we’re having lasagna for dinner! Lasagna and caramelized onion? That is really weird!
Can’t believe you are talking about caramelized onions. I must confess onions are one of a couple of things I can’t gag down but I try to be brave and give our readers who are more normal :) then me recipes with onions but anyway back to caramelized onions. I was looking at a recipe for them just yesterday trying to decided if I should use them in a menu sometime or not. They looked pretty gross to me but I thought hummm…. I bet onion eaters would love this. :)
I LIKE THE DESSERTS! Also, I bought the ingredients for the Ham Wraps last night. They look so good and I always wanted a “wrap,” but didn’t want to pay the outrageous prices in restaurants or delis. SO THANKS. And keep giving dessert recipes, please.
Amen to that Bea. I always think taking away desserts would be like living life without those little moments of joy popping in here and there. Of course like I keep saying with everything balance and moderation is needed. Hummm….. maybe I should make an exception to that rule when it comes to desserts???? Just joking. HA!HA!
I’m with Bea I love deserts! Got a sweet tooth that won’t quit! Thanks for the
marshmallow bars recipe
Actually, Jill, I think MANY of your desserts aren’t bad at all, calorie-wize or fattening in other ways. You have a lot of yummy fruit desserts. I liked the Hot Spicy Fruit, that was real good. And the apple recipes and the Fruit dips, etc. You are doing a great job with all the recipes INCLUDING the desserts.
Another thing for left over rice is Rice Patties. Mix 1 cup of leftover rice with 1 egg, and fry in a skillet till golden brown. Butter and serve, 1 patty is 1 serving. We love them, and my son is always asking me to make extra rice for them when I make rice. Very filling and great for any meal.
Leftover rice is great to have in the freezer. It can be quickly defrosted in the microwave, then heated in a frying pan with a little butter (plus mushrooms, onions, whatever you want) or just set to simmer in a pan with a small amount of beef or chicken broth.
We love sandwich wraps! We spread tortillas with cream cheese, then place any type of lunch meat (usually ham), and sometimes the pretty leaf lettuce. Then roll up and slice into 2-4 sections, depending on size of tortillas. Secure with a toothpick if needed. These are great for road trips, picnics, or events where we are to bring “finger foods.”