Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge: Recipe idea resources

For those of you who are participating in January's Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge (including my co-hosts -  Denise at Shopper Strategy, Robbie at Going Green Mama, Crystal at Mrs. Happy Homemaker, and Rebecca Jean at Midnight Maniac), it can be challenging to come up with recipe ideas to use up the items in the pantry.

Here are a few resources to help you use them up!

• Bigoven.com has a searchable recipe list - just enter the names of ingredients you'd like to use, and up will pop lots of recipe ideas.  
• Do an Internet search with your ingredient names - a bunch of recipes containing those ingredients should come right up.  For instance, I searched on the ingredients I have the most of - pasta, salad dressing, and mushrooms, and came up with this Summer Pasta Salad recipe.
• The Canned Food Alliance has tips on using canned foods in cooking.  (Right now the front page of the site features the $5 Dinner Mom.)
• Allrecipes.com has over 9,000 recipes calling for canned food. 
• As you use up items and don't replace them, you might need to cook some items from scratch.  I'm almost out of salsa, so I'll be making fresh salsa myself sometime soon.  CD Kitchen has lots of back-to-basics recipes available for all kinds of sauces and seasonings.
• You also might run out of a key ingredient and need to find an adequate substitution.  Try this list of ingredient substitutions from North Dakota State University.

Hope these tips help you to Clean Out the Cupboards!

Check out these sites for other frugal ideas:

• Frugal Friday @ Life as MOM
• Making Dollars out of Change @ Madame Deals
• Penny Pinching Party @ The Thrifty Home 
• Works For Me Wednesday @ We Are That Family
• Thrifty Thursday @ Coupon Teacher 
• Fantastic Frugal Fridays at Frugality Is Free and Being Frugal and Making It Work
• Money Saving Monday @ Homebody  
• Simple Lives Thursday @ GNOWFGLINS