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Meal Planning and Easy Peasy Recipe

December 2nd, 2011 at 12:00 am

I've been sort of at a loss lately on what to do about dinner. Meat prices have skyrocketed so I am trying to make do with poultry as much as possible. We have a lot of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer. By a lot, I mean 32 pounds. And I've been trying to come up with alternate ways of making it than just grilled with seasoning on the George Foreman or in stir-fries.

I was perusing some of my old recipe files and came up with something I haven't made in ages, a recipe I made up several years ago when I first started eating controlled carb: Chile Cheddar Chicken.

It's so simple I can't believe it has skipped my mind all these years. So I'm making it for dinner tonight. And the best part is the leftovers are great in a bun or shredded up and rolled in a tortilla.

Chile Cheddar Chicken Recipe:

1 4 ounce can diced mild green chile peppers
1 pound package of boneless, skinless chicken parts
As many slices of cheddar cheese as you have chicken pieces (I slice my own off a brick or sometimes use shredded)
Olive oil

In a medium sized skillet put in enough olive oil to cook the chicken. Dump in the can of peppers and saute for a minute on medium high. Arrange the chicken pieces evenly and turn heat down to medium. Cover with lid. Turn after five minutes and cook another five. Check for doneness by slicing into a piece and cook longer if necessary. Top each piece of chicken with cheese and let melt. Remove from pan. Spoon green chiles on top of the chicken pieces. Voila. You are done. Jack cheese works well, too.

Homemade Coleslaw

August 9th, 2011 at 12:47 am

Today I made up a huge batch of homemade cole slaw. Well, I call it cole slaw. I don't like the traditional kind with carrots in it, so I just do an all cabbage version. I had a head of green and a head of purple cabbage so I cut them up. Usually I am Mrs. Lazypants and buy the pre-shredded cabbage from Trader Joe's when I want to make cole slaw, but I had some on hand because my daughter likes to just cut a wedge out and eat it straight.

This was technically the first time I cut up a cabbage. DH has done it in the past, but I had a real hankering and didn't feel like waiting another week or so for him to come and cut them up. It took me a bit to get the hang of it. I was cutting the strips too wide, but about halfway through the first cabbage I got it right. Wider strips still taste the same, though.

My dressing is super simple. For two heads of cabbage I use one cup of canola oil (corn oil, saffola oil, soybean oil, or plain vegetable oil is fine, too). (Olive oil or any of the fancier oils will overpower the flavors). One cup of TJ's organic mayo (but any brand will do), and 2 TBSP of honey. Whisk or stir well and dump on cabbage, mixing in until absorbed. It's easily cut in half if you only use one cabbage.

It's so simple and so good and so cheap, really, even with the cost of the mayo. I spent about $4 all told for a gallon of cole slaw. Not bad for a side dish that I will get a few days use from (though I tend to eat it as a snack because it is so tasty). A quart of cole slaw from the store is about that same price, so I'm pretty pleased. Plus I saved by not using pre-shredded cabbage.

A Treasured Day to Myself and Homemade BBQ Chicken Wings

July 3rd, 2011 at 02:50 am

Days alone are few and far between when you are a stay at home mother and school is out for the summer, but today I am having one and I am loving every minute of it. My queasy stomach seems to have settled down for the most part and it's a gorgeous, sunny but nicely breezy day.

One of my five nephews turned 17 today and so my mother took my kids down south to see him. His two older brothers are also there (one lives in Arizona, the other has been off with the Job Core), and of course the youngest is there, too, as well as a couple of my brother-in-laws nieces. It is a full house and so I elected to stay home. It's hard for me to travel too much these days, and certainly not in a vehicle as uncomfortable as my mother's car, and when I do, I usually need ice for my leg and to be able to elevate it for a few hours once we reach our destination and that is not really an option at my sister's house.

I have spent most of the day alternating between writing and reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (which has been amazing so far). YA fiction is one of my guilty pleasures and this one is a definite winner. I'm going to have my daughter read it when I am done.

I did send along $20 in case they stopped for food along the way. That probably breaks my no eating out challenge, but I don't like my mom spending her own money on the kids when she's on a fixed income. She may do it anyway and I could very well end up with that $20 back.

I bought fireworks today. I went slightly over budget at $104, but got a lot of the buy one get one free types to take advantage. I need to buy a new long lighter as well.

I had a serious craving for barbecued chicken wings and I debated Little Caesar's or Boston's but I really didn't want to go out or spend the money and I had some frozen chicken wings sections in the freezer and a nice sweet barbecue sauce in the fridge. So I thawed out six wing parts while I looked up recipes on line to find out how long to deep fry them for because I didn't want to bake them for an hour.

I made up a coating of cornmeal, sweet Hungarian paprika, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and oregano and very lightly breaded the wings by shaking them in a Ziploc baggy and then deep fried them 12 minutes, turning every 3 minutes. It was about an inch of canola oil on medium high heat. Then I took them out and coated all but one of them with my barbecue sauce, as I wanted to see how it tasted plain as well (yum).

They tasted very good, but I think I need to knock the cook time down to ten minutes on the flat pieces with two bones. The pieces that look like little chicken legs were fine. I will definitely make these again, especially seeing as it was a ten pound bag of chicken wings. I will try to be more patient and bake them in the oven as it is much healthier.

Homemade Fish and Chips Recipe

April 20th, 2011 at 02:46 am

So we just had the most delicious fish and chips for dinner tonight. I'm not sure it's the most economical of recipes, depending on how expensive the fish is that you buy, but in comparison to store bought or restaurant bought it is quite a savings. I made enough to feed five people for $10 so not too shabby.

The fish counter had Dover Sole on sale for $3.99 a pound today. Up until a month ago I had never had that before, but what with the price of cod and snapper rivaling the cost of salmon lately I was looking at it more seriously. Then Mom bought a piece and we all tried it and it was great. So I decided to try my fish and chips recipe with it and it was so good, I think it was better than with Cod.

Cook time may vary depending on how hot your oil is.

One pound of dover sole (or cod, snapper, haddock, or pollock)
2 cups flour
2 to 3 eggs
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP corn starch
1 TSP salt
1/4 TSP pepper
Canola oil for frying

Cut sole into 8 to 10 pieces
Mix flour, corn starch and salt and pepper in one bowl. Mix 2 eggs and water (you may need the third egg depending on egg size of eggs) in another bowl. In third bowl put panko bread crumbs. Dip fish in flour mixture, then egg mixture. Allow egg to drip off so it doesn't get gummy. Dip in panko.

Fry in hot oil (350 degrees or so) for 2 to 4 minutes, until breading is crispy and fish is cooked through.

Chips:

Peel two pounds of potatoes and cut into wedges (the size of steak fries). Fry in hot oil (350 degrees) for 4 to 6 minutes. Test for doneness. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.

Inexpensive Tex Mex Chicken and Rice Recipe

April 11th, 2011 at 02:27 am

This is probably the laziest recipe ever, but it's pretty cheap, especially if you have coupons for salsa. Good for leftover chicken and leftover rice.

4 cups cooked rice (I use brown, but white is fine)
2 16 ounce jars bottled salsa (I use an all natural one)
2 cups leftover shredded chicken

Mix together, heat and serve. The nice thing about this is that you can vary the heat of it by choosing mild, medium, or hot salsa. In a pinch this can be made with just one jar of salsa and add some tomato sauce if it's not moist enough.

Pizza Dough Recipe

March 15th, 2011 at 02:51 am

Momcents also wanted my pizza dough recipe so here it is.

1 TBSP active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 TBSP oil (I use a basil infused olive oil)
1 TSP salt
2 and 3/4 cups flour

I make this in my bread machine on the dough cycle, but it can also be made in a stand mixer with a dough hook or if you are particularly so inclined, by hand. If by hand knead for five minutes. Let rise for at least one hour (1 1/2 is recommended but my dough cycle is only an hour and I'm impatient).

This makes one 16 inch pizza or two 12 inch pizzas or 4 calzones.

Press dough out on pizza pan (one of those round ones with the little holes works better than a plain pizza pan, but use what you've got).

On the 16 inch pizza I use half a can of tomato sauce and sprinkle on Italian seasoning (or if I don't have it, basil, oregano, thyme and marjoram. Or if I have leftover homemade spaghetti sauce I'll use that. I use a pound of shredded mozzarella (but you could use less, we just like extra cheese) and then top with whatever toppings I have on hand, usually ground beef, sausage, turkey ham, bacon, proscuitto, salami or pepperoni and onions and peppers.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes. I have a gas oven so electric might vary on the timing. You'd have to check it until you know for sure how long it takes in your oven.

My Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

March 14th, 2011 at 06:26 pm

Momcents asked for my taco seasoning recipe. I make a lot of my own seasonings because so many of the packets have fillers and things from making them stick together, not to mention sugar. I like a pure mix of herbs and spices. It just tastes better and I don't have to worry about allergens. I tend to keep a lot of spices on hand, which makes it really easy to throw these things together.

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablepsoon dehydrated onion flakes (or 1 tsp onion powder)
3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

If you use fresh garlic and onion flakes those get stirred into the hamburger while you cook it. If you use the powders instead just mix all the seasonings together and add to the hamburger with a 1/4 cup of water and cook the water down until it is gone. You can change the heat by either reducing or increasing the red pepper flakes.

I Hate Waiting and a Recipe for Mini Breakfast Casseroles

February 21st, 2011 at 09:22 pm

Long weekends are the hardest thing when you are waiting for payments to post to your accounts so that you can run the new figures of where you stand and what's left to pay off on your way to being debt free. I'm sure nothing will post until tomorrow. I'm waiting for the new balance on the BoA VISA and the car payment to come through and no amount of account stalking is going to make it happen any faster than tomorrow. I want to know my progress on bringing down the evil empire. *sighs*

Meanwhile I did the baking today. Two loaves of bread and since the kids are home on holiday from school, soft pretzels. I don't like rolling out the ropes for pretzels but the kids do so I only make them when they are home to help me.

I put the ham bone in the crockpot last night with all of the ham drippings and 5 quarts of water. It is still going for a little while longer and then I am going to add the ingredients to make one of the soups that Tightwad Kitty posted the other day. Yummy. There's nothing like a ham (or ham bone) cooking away to make your house smell divine.

For breakfast this morning I made mini egg casseroles. I love eating them and I had some stuff that needed using up so thought today would be a good morning for it.

12 eggs, whipped
1 cup leftover meat, diced (I used ham, but sometimes I use bacon or crumbled sausage)
4 scallions
1/2 a red bell pepper
Large handful of cheese (extra sharp cheddar or parmesan is what I normally use, but any highly flavored cheese would do)

If veggies are uncooked saute them until soft.

Grease a muffin tin and divide the meat, vegetables and cheese evenly between each cup. Pour 1/12 of egg mixture into each cup. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes or until egg is set in the center of each cup. These freeze well, but we usually have them gone before that is necessary.

I will use up pretty much any veggie I have on hand, just dice it and throw it in. A lot of times that's leftover broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus or zucchini.

If you want a creamier result you can add 1/2 cup of cream, sour cream, or milk, but I like it better without the extra richness.

Baking Bread, Homemade Sausage, and Mini Breakfast Casserole Recipes

February 21st, 2011 at 08:29 am

Tomorrow is baking day and it also coincides with a school holiday, so the kids are going to help me. I decided not to bake rolls this week, but to bake bread instead. I had to buy five pounds of whole wheat flour, because the recipe I have calls for half whole wheat flour and half white flour. We get the white flour in the 25 pound bag from Costco. I'm getting quite low on that and when DH comes home on the second we will pick up a new bag of that as well. But I can make it through the next couple weeks on what is left.

We are also going to make soft pretzels. I only do that when the kids are available because I hate rolling the dough into long ropes and they love it. If there is still time I will do a pan of cornbread as well.

It's also time to make sausage as my freezer stock is gone. Too many sausages have fillers and sugar in them and I don't like that and have made my own since even before we became aware of my son's allergies. The organic ones are super expensive and some of those still have sugar in them.

I like making sausage and over the years I've perfected a recipe that is perfectly suited to my family's tastes. I don't stuff casings, although I easily could since I have a pasta/sausage maker. It's just more work than necessary in my opinion when I am perfectly content with patties and crumbles. When I make it up I usually do several pounds at once. I do about 4 pounds of patties and one pound of crumbles for pizza topping.

My recipe is for one pound because even though I make five pounds in a session, I find that mixing it together in the smaller amounts makes a more evenly distributed ratio of herbs and spices to meat. It's hard to work with five pounds of ground meat all at once. I happen to have tons of different herbs and spices, so the cost to me is far lower than it would be too someone going out and buying the ingredients, but if you happen to have them on hand this is an economical recipe. After the initial outlay of course, the herbs and spices will last through several uses.

Anyway, here's my recipe:

1 pound of fatty ground meat (either pork or 80/20 hamburger)
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt*
1/4 tsp paprika (hot, not sweet)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes**
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp black pepper

Add spices to ground meat, mix with hands and form into patties. 1 pound makes 4 fat patties or 8 thin ones.

*Ground pork often comes salted. If you are using salted ground pork, eliminate the 1/2 tsp salt from the recipe. **For a milder sausage eliminate the red pepper flakes. For a hotter sausage double the red pepper flakes. If you decide to use ground turkey or chicken I'd say only use half and mix the other half with the fattier pork or beef as it will be dry if you do not.

I freeze the patties uncooked and then cook them from frozen in a skillet. For sausage crumbles I cook them up before freezing them so that when I want to toss some on pizza it's already done and I just need to take a couple handfuls out the morning of to thaw.

I'm also going to make mini breakfast casseroles. I don't have an exact recipe for that as I sort of just throw in what I have. I mix up a dozen eggs and throw in either diced leftover ham, crumbled bacon, or cooked sausage crumbles. It's usually about a cup of meat. I have half a red bell pepper that needs using up and four scallions so I will chop those up as well and throw in a crushed clove of garlic. If your veggies are raw saute them until soft before mixing them into the eggs. (I've used anything from chopped broccoli, zucchini, and asparagus to cauliflower). A handful of cheese (I usually use extra sharp cheddar or parmesan) tops it off and I mix it well. (If you'd like it a bit creamier you can add cream or sour cream). Grease a muffin pan and pour 1/12 of the mixture into each cup. Bake for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until egg is set in the centers. These freeze well if you want to freeze them, but we usually have them eaten up in a couple days time.

Stretching that Chicken

February 19th, 2011 at 05:12 am

I seriously am having a hard time believing how much food I got out of one 5.78 pound chicken. Last night for dinner I roasted it and it fed four. I then picked off all the remaining chicken and ended up with four and a half cups worth of shredded meat.

I put the carcass in the crockpot overnight with a couple of chopped onions, a head of garlic, minced, a couple of chopped carrots, 2 stalks of chopped celery and all the leaves from the inner bits, 1 bunch of parsley, chopped, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1 tsp of salt and a TBSP of black peppercorns. This morning I had stock. I drained the liquid into another container and threw out the veg (into the compost, I have issues giving the chickens veg cooked in chicken stock.

There was enough stock to make two batches of soup plus have one cup leftover, so I made egg flower (or egg drop) soup and chicken noodle soup. The egg flower soup was made with this recipe:

Text is http://blogchef.net/egg-drop-soup-recipe/ and Link is
http://blogchef.net/egg-drop-soup-recipe/ and it was so delicious. It actually tasted like the stuff from the Chinese restaurant we love. I've tried making it before with other recipes but this is the best it's ever turned out. I did add some finely chopped carrots and some peas because the kids like it that way. I sauteed the carrots first to make sure they were soft and the peas came from a can (1/4 of it) so they were soft anyway. We had that for lunch today.

The chicken noodle soup I made by putting the extra stock (minus one cup I was saving) back in the crockpot and chopped up two fresh carrots, 2 stalks of celery, one small onion, 1/2 can of peas. I cooked that for a couple hours in the crock until the veggies were soft and then added half a one pound bag of egg noodles and cooked until soft (about a half hour). I added salt and pepper to taste and 1/4 cup of leftover chicken. That soup is currently sitting in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch.

For dinner tonight I took 2 cups of the cooked chicken and made TexMex Chicken and Rice. This is a very simple recipe. I made up a double batch of brown rice (you can use white) and it yielded 8 cups finished rice. I sauteed a chopped, yellow onion in a bit of olive oil with a 4 ounce can of mild green chiles. I then took half of the rice, stirred it into the onions, added 2 cups of homemade salsa (but you can just get the large jar from the store), and then added two cups of leftover chicken. I stirred it all together until the salsa and chicken were hot, about five minutes.

For lunch tomorrow we are making chicken quesadillas with two cups of the leftover chicken. Take four whole grain tortillas, spread 1/2 cup of chicken on each one, sprinkle with cheese, top each one with another tortilla. You can then nuke in the mircowave until the cheese is melted or you can do them one at a time in a dry skillet over medium heat until the cheese melts. Flip it so both sides get lightly browned. Cut into wedges with a pizza cutter. (I'll add some kind of veg and fruit.

That leaves us 1/4 cup of chicken. So I will make this for dinner tomorrow as a side dish. Heat a wok or skillet with some peanut or sunflower oil in it. Throw in peas (I had 1/4 can left from making the soups) and some diced carrots, and a little fresh, peeled ginger if you have it (maybe a diced tsp) cook until soft. Throw in a handful of bean shoots. Add leftover quarter cup of chicken that remains. Stir for a minute or so. Add leftover rice and the last cup of chicken broth. (If you didn't have fresh ginger, here would be a good place to add a tsp of ground ginger if you have it). Stir until chicken broth is absorbed by the rice. Variation: If you are out of leftover chicken or just want more protein, scramble two eggs into veggies before adding rice.

There will be leftovers of both the rice dishes so some of that will go into something else, probably eaten in rolled up tortillas for breakfast or lunch.

Who knew you could stretch a chicken so far?

Homemade Hamburger Buns

January 23rd, 2011 at 04:06 am

Miz Pat wanted to know how I make homemade hamburger buns so I'm posting the recipe. It costs about 50 cents for me to make these and the cheapest I can find them during the winter is $1.29 for eight, and that's not the additive free kind my son needs for his diet which is around $2.49 for eight. Recipe makes twelve. I make the dough in the bread machine, but you could use a stand mixer with a dough hook, or I suppose mix it by hand, but that's a lot of work.

2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 pkg)
1 1/4 cup warm water
3/8 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
4 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt

Put in wet ingredients first, then yeast, then sugar, then flour. Mix in bread machine. Let rise one hour (or covered overnight in the fridge, will keep for four days). Pinch off into balls, place on cookie sheet, and flatten a bit with your hand so they are the shape of hamburger buns. I usually do twelve. You can make them oblong if you want hot dog buns, or you can make three smaller balls per each and put them into a muffin tin cup and make cloverleaf rolls. But I generally just make them round in the shape of hamburger buns. Let rise in a warm place at least one hour, two if you want bigger buns. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Optional: Brush tops with melted butter.





Economical Recipe--Braided Chili Loaf

October 10th, 2008 at 06:39 am

Since I've mostly been posting boring things like coin jar updates lately, I thought I'd pass along one of my favorite meals. It's pretty fast and easy to make, despite the fact that you have to assemble a dough for it and there's a short rising time, and it's delicious and tastes good cold as leftovers the next day if you want to take it for lunch. Of course, we never have leftovers, but you might. I like it because its ingredients are alway things I have on hand in the pantry, fridge and freezer. I've left out the salt and substituted the sharp cheddar for medium (which is cheaper) with little discernable difference in flavor.


Braided Chili Loaf

1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

Dough:
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm milk
1 tablespoon oil
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Cornmeal


Preparation Instructions:

1. In a skillet, heat oil. Saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in the beef and break up while browning.

2. Pour off any excess fat. Stir in tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, cumin, pepper and salt.

3. Cook a few minutes until sauce is absorbed. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, milk, oil, garlic, salt, and most of flour. Stir, adding enough flour to make a soft dough.

5. Knead a few minutes. Keep dough soft.

6. On a greased baking sheet, sprinkled with cornmeal, roll out dough to a rectangle, about 10 by 14 inches. Spread meat mixture down center of dough. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

7. Cut 1 inch strips along both sides. Fold strips at an angle across filling. Cover. Let rise 30 minutes.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until golden. Slice and serve.

Original recipe from Great American Recipes.


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