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Home > Saving Money on Food--2 Recipes--English Muffins and Crockpot Burritos

Saving Money on Food--2 Recipes--English Muffins and Crockpot Burritos

March 18th, 2010 at 09:29 am

On my quest to save money by eating more at home, using up what I have in the cupboard and freezer, and making as much as I can from scratch I tried a new recipe this week and an old favorite.

I made English Muffins from scratch on Wednesday and they were so easy. Ridiculously easy. I don't know why I never attempted this before. And I think it works out to about half the cost of buying them and I can be sure of the ingredients. I had to tweak the recipe I made to make it Feingold safe, but this is what I ended up with.

1 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons honey
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 pkt)
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Warm the milk in a small pan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the honey, stirring until combined. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. It should be bubbly.

2. In your bread machine add the milk, yeast mixture, butter, flour and salt. (I use this order because my machine says liquids go in the bottom). Start dough cycle.

3. When dough is done rising remove from bread pan and punch down. Roll out on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with a biscuit cutter. I used an empty, clean tomato sauce can since I don't have a biscuit cutter. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.

4. Heat griddle. Brush a bit of butter on to season the griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side over medium heat.

5. It said to keep the baked muffins in a warm oven until all had been cooked but I didn't see the point in this since we weren't eating all of them right then. Then it said to allow them to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast.

It was pretty straight-forward. In the original recipe I changed the shortening out for butter and the sugar out for honey. I used equivalent amounts. They taste great, way better than anything I've ever purchased.

I have Canadian bacon and cheese and eggs on hand, so I think I'm going to make up some egg muffins like McDonald's has and wrap them in plastic wrap, put them in a freezer bag and store them in the freezer for fast breakfasts on mornings we just can't seem to get started properly. T is going to love this. He likes anything he can do independently foodwise.

Tonight before I came to bed (not to sleep, obviously), I put the ingredients for burritos in the crockpot. I don't follow a particular recipe for these, though it's basically the same every time.

In a blender whirl (umm...I think the technical term is puree) 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes, 1 4 ounce can green chile peppers, 1 TBSP chili powder, 3 heaping spoonfuls of chopped garlic, and 1/2 of the smallest size can of tomato paste until mostly smooth. In the crock pot place a 2 to 3 pound pork roast. Pour the sauce on top. Cook on low for 10 hours.

When it is done take two forks and shred the meat in the crockpot mixing with the sauce that has accumulated on the bottom.

We eat it on tortillas with shredded cheese, but you can add sour cream and guacamole if you want. My son puts plain vanilla yogurt on his. Another variation is to eat it on leftover hamburger or hotdog buns sloppy joe style.

I'll end up packaging up about 2/3 of the meat and freezing for future meals. A 2.5 to 3 pound pork roast usually produces enough for 3 full meals for a family of four around here. I spent about $10 on the ingredients originally (they were all on hand in the freezer or cupboard). So for $10 we get approximately 12 meals. And they are as good as the burritos from our favorite Mexican place where one burrito platter with the same amount of food would cost $8.

2 Responses to “Saving Money on Food--2 Recipes--English Muffins and Crockpot Burritos”

  1. NJDebbie Says:
    1268928107

    I think I'm going to try your burrito recipe. Do you wrap in the tortilla before freezing? I made 3 meals last night using ground beef. I made chili, meat sauce for pasta and "picadillo" for our traditional Puerto Rican empanadas (pastries filled with meat and potatos). These will yield about four meals for four people. Thanks for the recipes!

  2. LuckyRobin Says:
    1268944307

    It depends on what type and size of freezer containers I have available at the time whether I freeze them as burritos or just freeze the meat/sauce mixture. It works either way. If they are done up ahead of time then you only need to cook and eat. If it's separate you'd have to thaw the meat/sauce mix before using. But since it's only putting it in tortillas and adding a bit of cheese, it barely takes any extra time to do it that way, too. Your empanadas sound yummy. I've never made those before.

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