Bargains and A Recipe.

I love a good bargain. It is such a thrill for me to see how good of a deal I can get on things. It's even more exciting when I sit down with my receipts and calculate what I saved. It's another one of my simple pleasures in life. So last night when we made an unexpected trip to Target and I discovered Christmas stuff was 75% off I thought I was in heaven!

I bought a cart load of things. A wreath for our front door, some wrapping paper, tons of white tissue paper (24 cents a pack for something you use year round?! You gotta love it!) Cake mixes galore (again, 39 cents a box for something I use year round?!) Gift bags, a topiary for my dining room and on and on....I had a blast! I walked out of Target with my overflowing cart of treasures feeling like I was on top of the world.

So having said how much I love a bargain, something else I love just as much is using things up. It truly drives me bonkers to only have a handful of something left in a bag. It seems wasteful to throw it, yet it isn't enough to really use on it's own. So when I was left with a handful of chocolate chips in two different bags, a handful of butterscotch chips in another bag (all leftover from Christmas baking) I figured there had to be something I could use them in.

Well, of course there was! I dug around in my pantry, reading recipe ideas on the backs of things and viola, on the back of my chow mein noodles bag was a recipe using the noodles, peanuts (luckily the kids had these on hand from Christmas presents) and.....chocolate/buttersotch chips. These were such a hit around here I had to share the recipe!

1/2 bag of Crunchy Chinese Noodles
1 bag of chocolate or butterscotch chips
A handful of peanuts

Melt chips. Stir in peanuts and noodles till combined. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let clusters sit till cooled and hardened. (I popped mine into the freezer to set faster)

So here's my challenge for you.....What bargain can you find today? What can you use up instead of just throwing?