Seeds to $avings

12/10/2026

You might not know this but....
This recipe for Southern Baked Spaghetti is one of the best ways to live the whole "cook once, eat forever" dream so many people talk about, and you don't even have to eat leftovers for days in a row! How does it work, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you.

The recipe I'm sharing today comes from Frannie Jo Savvy Sweet. What I love in particular about it is, I can make this recipe and instead of putting it all in one big casserole dish and eating leftovers for a week, I split it into an 8x8 pan for the current night's dinner and the next day, a 5x7 pan for the freezer stockpile, and I even had enough sauce left to freeze separately for someday when we just want to make regular pasta with meat sauce!

In this video, I stayed very close to her original recipe. We loved this so much, I have made it more than once! I now like to use fire roasted diced tomatoes in the sauce, it seems to add a particular depth that I'm fond of and my husband could NOT stop talking about how good it was!
Making this recipe is also the perfect opportunity to sign up for Ibotta if you haven't yet - they almost always have some sort of deal on pasta sauce whether it's BOGO or a dollar or so cash back. This last time, I was able to get two jars of Bertolli (I used the four cheese and the garlic and olive oil) and get a dollar back on them. Sign up using my referral code for $5 bonus cash!! Use code: JUOEOYX

Here's my video, Hope you enjoy it!!
Southern Baked Spaghetti:

11/10/2026

I haven't been feeling good the past few days, but as we used to say in the business- "The show must go on!"

I had all these ingredients on hand in the freezer and pantry to throw in the crockpot before heading out for the day, and it turned out to be a delicious, hearty and medicating meal. I had never tried making this in a crockpot, and in retrospect, I loved the chicken and gravy, but I would rather just cook biscuits separate and have them on the side. Something about the dumpling texture just didn't quite jive with me. But if you are a dumpling person - this will be perfect for you! They definitely got fluffy and cooked through. I'm just more of a crispy texture person, I guess. lol This just goes to show with a little imagination, and some low-level effort, you can make something great with what you already have! So, check your pantry and your freezer and save yourself the trip - especially with these gas prices.

Anyway, I hope this helps if you feel too sick to cook, and I pray you get well soon if that's the case!

Psalm 103:2-3
"Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases."

Here's the video: https://youtu.be/A1ZajQJHZrs

Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings
2lb boneless, skinless chicken
32oz low sodium chicken broth (or 4 cups of water with 3 tsp of boullion)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 cup frozen chopped onions
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (such as carrots, peas and green beans)
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 can biscuits (grands style, you want the big fluffy ones but they don't have to be name brand. I got the name brand because Ibotta had $1 back deal on them 🤷‍♀️)

Line your crockpot with a slow cooker liner, add in chicken, onions and mixed veggies. Dump in the soups and chicken broth. Sprinkle the seasonings. Give it a small mix and crock for 7 hours on low or 4 hours on high. When the time is up, remove the chicken and shred it. Return it to the soup. Have the man of the house open the biscuit can. (Or you can do it, if you're brave) Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces and drop them individually on the top of the mix. Turn the crock to high and let cook without opening for 60 minutes. If after that time the dumplings don't seem done, use a spatula to separate them and push them into the soup a little bit so they get warmed on all sides. May need an extra 15 minutes. Spoon it out and eat!
Feel free to just cook the biscuits on the side and smother them in this "gravy" as an alternative method of enjoyment.

As always, comment if you'd like a 4x6 recipe card for this!

see you in the next one...

10/10/2026

Sometimes, you just want something to feel a little "extra," y'know what I mean?
In this case it's my cornbread. We love cornbread around here so it turns up as an accompaniment to our meals pretty often. I wanted to take it a little further than normal and make the cornbread more of the star of the meal, so I started making what I call Jalapeno Cornbread Supreme. This is a tender, rich, melt-in-your-mouth sort of cornbread and it comes together in a "Jiffy!" ;)
In this video, I paired it with a crockpot of ham and beans as a little bonus "recipe" 😂 Just keeping with the crocking theme of the month.

As always, here's the video: https://youtu.be/efJrG3mmxRk
Comment below if you'd like a 4x6 printable recipe card for it!

Jalapeno Cornbread Supreme
1 box jiffy corn muffin mix
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup of milk
1 egg
2 Tbs pickled jalapenos (or serranos) diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 with a 9in cast iron skillet inside.
Mix butter, sour cream and egg well.
Stir in Jiffy mix just until combined - leave it lumpy
fold in the jalapenos and cheese
When the oven is preheated, pull out the skillet and add 2 tablespoons of butter to the bottom and sides.
Pour in the cornbread batter.
Bake 17-20 minutes until a chopstick comes out clean. (Or a toothpick if that's what you have!)

This Jalapeno Cornbread Supreme comes to you by request from ...

08/10/2026

It's a busy weeknight, you've just gotten home from work and you're juggling taking care of the family, the dogs, and the house all in one fell swoop. Dinner hasn't even been mentioned in your daily conversations with your partner! You need something easy and quick, but you want it to feel like a good homemade meal and not just something thrown together at the last minute or something you eat almost every day.
Enter this cozy Salisbury Steak recipe!!!
It took a total of about 30 minutes with sides and all, and when we sat down for dinner, it felt thought about and special - not just an everyday, run of the mill ground beef recipe. I always want dinner to feel like something to look forward to, even if we haven't talked about it at all that day lol So here it is - my simple, almost one pan weeknight Salisbury steak recipe. Most ingredients are already in your home, making it an even easier go-to. I hope you enjoy it!

As always, here's the video: https://youtu.be/w8PVRPOOI7w
Weeknight Salisbury Steaks
1 LB ground beef
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Gravy:
2 cups frozen mushrooms (1 bag)
1 small onion, sliced
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
2 cups beef broth
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp yellow mustard (or 1 tsp dijon)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix the steaks gently, form into 4 patties
2. Brown in a skillet over medium high heat, 3-4 minutes each side. This is not about cooking them all the way through, this is for color.
Remove from skillet.
3. Add butter and onion to the skillet and cook until the onion softens
4. Add frozen mushrooms, cook until browning
5. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 1 minute
6. Slowly add the broth while stirring so it stays thick
7. Add Worcetershire and mustard, mix
8. Put the beef back in, reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes until beef is at least 160 degrees.
9. Taste the gravy and make sure you don't need more salt and pepper.
10. THAT'S IT!!! Just enjoy the fruits of your labor making a weeknight feel like a special occasion. :)

If you'd like a printable 4x6 card for this recipe, just let me know in the comments!! Happy Weeknight Adventures!

It's a weeknight, and we all know that means getting home is a whir...

07/10/2026

HAPPY WORLD TOUR WEDNESDAY!!!
This week, we are back in Mexico because.... well I'll be honest. I could eat Mexican food for every meal every day forever and never get sick of it lol. However, today's recipe is special!! Quesabirria is quite possibly one of my favorite meals.
What better way to kick of Crock-tober than with the perfect crockpot quesabirria recipe?!
Many people are scared off of trying to make this themselves because it seems labor intensive. I'm here to tell you, it's easier than you think! There are a couple more steps than just throwing it in the crock and calling it a day, but when you taste this.... I promise you will feel like it was worth it!! The first time I made this, my husband and I stood at the griddle just sopping up the consumme and practically inhaling the taco. I've since made it for our family reunions, which is great because it's so scalable. We just added another crockpot and used my parents Blackstone and we fed 20 people!
Next time you find a chuck roast and don't just want to make pot roast AGAIN, give this a try. Comment below when it changes your life forever lol

Here's the video: https://youtu.be/sKQkmb3XC8w
Crockpot Quesabirria
2LB chuck roast
1 small white onion, diced
8 cloves of garlic (or 8 tsp of jarlic) (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
3 guajillo chilis, stems removed (dried chilis at Walmart)
6 chiles de arbol, stems removed (can be found at Homeland, and some other grocers - or amazon at https://amzn.to/4dqm9TI
2 Bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick (optional, but highly recommend you try it WITH the cinnamon first!)
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tsp chili powder (or chipotle chili powder if you have it!)
1 Tbs Oregano (Mexican oregano is best, but I've made it with regular too and it's just as good!)
1/2 Tbs cumin
48 oz beef broth
salt / pepper
cooking oil

1 small onion diced for fixins
1 pkg corn tortillas
1 pkg of Oaxaca cheese, shredded (or mozzarella)

Salt and pepper the roast. Preheat iron skillet on med-high heat. Add oil and let heat. Add the roast and sear 4 minutes on each side.
Add all the other ingredients to the crockpot and stir. Add in the roast. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10-12 hours. Remove the roast and shred the meat. Remove the bay leaves and toss. Pour the broth into your blender and after blending well, strain to remove debris. Add 1 cup of broth to the bowl of meat.
Heat a frying pan or griddle over med-high heat and add cooking oil. Grab 2 corn tortillas and dip them in the strained broth (consumme) then place them in the pan flat and fry for about 2 minutes. flip the tortillas, add the meat, onions and cheese and fold in half. Spoon a little of the sauce on the taco, let it cook for about a minute then flip it and do the same thing again.
Serve with a side of the consumme for dipping!!

Meat and consumme stored separately in the fridge is good for 7 days. You can also freeze it, if you'd like. 🤷‍♀️ As for my house, we pretty much have it all eaten by the second day 😂

I really do hope you give this one a try. Let me know if you'd like a printable 4x6 recipe card in the comments.

Quesabirria is quite possibly one of my favorite meals. What better...

30/09/2026

World Tour Wednesday is back!! This week, I wanted to make something unique with what ingredients I already had available. These chicken drumsticks were on clearance months ago and have just been taking up space in my freezer, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them! I wasn't sure what the flavor profile would be when I looked at the ingredients alone, but after tasting it, I'd say it's savory, tangy and maybe the slightest tinge of sweet. A total blast of flavor that's not too salty. Although it's not traditional, I will also probably substitute ground pepper in the future. The big peppercorns were not my cup of tea when trying to enjoy the meal lol.
Another great thing about this recipe is, you don't need a lot of dishes - just one pan makes cooking and cleaning a breeze! It is definitely a recipe for the books. We loved it, and plan on having it regularly now. It's a perfect budget meal, that utilizes things most people already have, but yet feels like a restaurant dish.
If you would like a 4x6 printable recipe card for this, just comment below!

Filipino Chicken Adobo
1.7lb chicken drumsticks
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
6-8 cloves of garlic (or tsp of minced jarlic)
1 Cup of water
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Black peppercorns
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp cooking oil
cooked, white rice for serving

1. Brown the chicken - pat the drumsticks dry, heat the oil over medium high heat in a large skillet and brown the chicken for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Don't worry about cooking them through, this is just for color.
2. Add everything else!
Turn down the heat to medium and add the garlic - cook for 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce, water, vinegar, bay leaves, black pepper, and brown sugar. Let it come to a boil and cook uncovered for about 3-4 minutes.
3. Simmer - Lower the heat to medium low, cover and simmer of 30-35 minutes, turning the drumsticks occasionally. This is where you want the chicken to cook through.
4. Reduce the sauce - Remove the lid and simmer another 5-10 minutes turning the chicken occasionally until the sauce thickens slightly and coats the chicken. I ended up removing the chicken and turning the heat up to reduce the sauce as you'll see in the video. It should get darker and thicker.
5. Serve with rice!
I was lucky to find long grain white rice in those little microwavable packs on clearance last week, but any white rice will do! Jasmine I think is probably closest to culturally accurate. (Correct me if I'm wrong!!)

That's it for this one, Hope ya'll enjoy it and let me know in the comments if you have a suggestion for my next international dish!!

https://youtu.be/6xp2elJt9_0

29/09/2026

POV you hate wasting food but you don't really like leftovers...

did you know you can just... freeze half of it for fresh cooking later?

28/09/2026

Monday Meatloaf! Sounds like a plan right?
This recipe is special; it's the meal my grandma used to make for my mom when she was little for every birthday. I remember her as such a soft, quiet woman. Every time my brother and I would spend time at grandma and grandpa's she was just this calm presence that kept the home warm and comfortable. She was frequently in the kitchen, and she was so little that she had to use a stool to reach even the regular hanging cabinets. I often sat on that stool and watched her cook, trying not to cause too much "monkeyshine" as she called it. I only got to know her for 8 short years, but she made a lasting impression on me. Little things she said have lasted long into my adulthood as a quiet reminder of her gentle spirit. So, here's my tribute to her, and to my mom, for all the ways she turned out just like her mom. I am so thankful to have both of their influence in both my life and my cooking :)

"Everyday Meatloaf"
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs (We use Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Classic Stuffing - just as is)
1/4 finely chopped onion
2 Tbs Parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 LB ground beef
1 LB italian sausage
Glaze:
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp dry mustard

In bowl combine the eggs and milk, stir in bread crumbs, onion, parsley, salt, sage and pepper. Add the meat. Thoroughly mis meat and seasonings - I use my hands in a "scoop from the bottom and fold" sort of technique. Put the meat into a bundt pan and firmly pat it to fit. Bake in 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. Mix all Glaze ingredients until well incorporated. Set aside. After the 50 minutes, pull the meatloaf out and spoon off the grease and drippings into a bowl made of foil (so you can just toss it!) Then scrape around the edges of the pan with a long spatula to loosen it from the pan. Flip it onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Add the glaze to the meatloaf. Put back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!!!
If you prefer a "bread loaf" shape, just switch the bundt pan out for a loaf pan. Extend the cooking time to 1 hour and 15 minutes before glazing.
I served mine with sauteed zucchini this time, but for the best tradition, serve with scalloped potatoes!!!

As always, if you would like a 4x6 recipe card for this, just comment below and I'll get you one :)
Here's the video, I hope you'll give it a try!

This meatloaf has been a favorite in my family for years. A traditi...

25/09/2026

It's Dolly Day, and while I wasn't a super fan or anything, I do appreciate some of her music and the generous person she appeared to be. I am also grateful for the Imagination Library she sponsored which is giving my baby a free book every month until she's 5 years old! What a cool way to encourage literacy and imagination. In honor of her, I dug out some pumpkin spice cookie mix from my pantry and realized it was older than I thought 😬 but, I revived it and added some of my own touches to make some delicious cookies anyway. I always find myself making do with what I have and that was a concept very familiar to Dolly as well- she immortalized in her song Coat of Many Colors. So, here to the first week of fall 🎃 🍂 and to Dolly's memory. Enjoy!

In honor of unofficial Dolly Day I dug out some of her Pumpkin S**c...