Confession time: I haven't actually been to an Olive Garden restaurant in at least 5 years. Probably more. Mostly pasta and bread are not too friendly to the gluten free crowd. But when we used to go, one of my favorite things was to get the unlimited soup and salad combo, and have plenty of their Zuppa Toscana soup as my main course. There are a billion copycat recipes out there for this soup, but I'm still going to share how I make mine, because I stretch it to feed our family of 7 … [Read more...]

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I receive a bit of a commission at no additional charge to you. Are you a variety eater, or a same-thing-every-day eater? I prefer a little bit of variety most of the time, although we revisit a lot of favorite meals fairly often. But my husband could eat the same thing pretty much every day, and he would be just fine with it. Today's recipe is one that he eats for lunch all … [Read more...]

We don't eat a ton of soup during the summer, but tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches is a standby pretty much year round. And while it's an easy enough thing to make tomato soup on the stovetop, it's even easier to make it in the instant pot. And this isn't just any tomato soup. This is fancy tomato basil soup. It tastes like the kind you get at a restaurant, the kind that you pay several dollars for a bowl. But this tomato soup is a really frugal meal. And did I mention it's really … [Read more...]

I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm in the mood for a big, hearty meat and potatoes meal. But I need to feed a whole family of seven people, and I'm always looking for ways to stretch that meat-and-potatoes meal to feed us all for less. That's why I love making shepherd's pie - it feels like one of those meat-focused Sunday dinner meals, but it's still frugal and easy to make. If you ask several people how to make shepherd's pie, you'll probably get several different answers. This … [Read more...]