Homemade Rice Milk

As I have shared before, we have been trying to eliminate dairy in our house because of one of my daughter's allergy to it and because it is just overall a more healthy choice.  There are times, however, that you just want some milk for your oatmeal or cereal. We have bought soy milk, rice milk and almond milk, but they can get pretty pricey.  Well, I discovered that you can make these milks at home for a fraction of the cost and it is easy.  I shared some friends that I was making my own rice milk and they looked shocked.  "You make your own rice milk?"  They seemed impressed.  Well, once you hear how easy this is, you will find me very unimpressive. [wink]  AND you will think twice about spend $4 for a half gallon of it in the store.


Homemade Rice Milk

Step 1:  Cook up some brown rice.  I like to use my rice cooker, but any old way is fine.  Just follow the directions of the package.

Step 2:  Add 3 cups of your favorite water to your blender.

Step 3:  Add one cup of cooked brown rice to blender.

Step 4:  Blend.  Your water will turn white and milky fairly quickly.  I keep the blender running on high for several minutes to pulverize the rice thoroughly.

Step 5: Add flavorings if desired.  I usually add a squirt honey or agave nectar while the blender is still running.  If you like the vanilla flavor like they sell at the store, add a splash of vanilla extract, too.  You could even add chocolate if that's your thing.

Step 6:  Enjoy!  You can strain it if you want, but I don't find it is very gritty unstrained.  You can also just let it sit for a minute and let the things settle a bit.

See, I told you it was easy!  You can use this same technique for any grain based milk.  I plan on trying quinoa as another healthy alternative.  You can also use this method to make soy milk.  Just cook the soybeans and use them instead of rice.  You will probably find that you want to strain that, though.

Later I will share with you how to make almond milk as well as other nut milks.

Hummus!

A new family favorite in the house is homemade hummus.  We used to buy the ready-made stuff at the store, but it is a bit pricey.  When you figure that it is made up of mostly garbanzo beans (chickpeas) it is a fairly inexpensive thing to make.  We like it with tortilla or pita chips, fresh veggies, and I have caught my oldest just eating it with a spoon.  Hey, it is gluten-dairy-egg free and yummy.  Who can blame her?  This is the recipe out of the Vita-Mix Whole Food cookbook with a couple of tweaks. (Yes, we were blessed with a Vita-Mix for Christmas.  I am sure I will be sharing more about that later.)  Although this calls for canned beans, you can save even more money by buying a big bag of dried beans and cooking them.  It is super easy and then we bag them in individual portions and put them in the freezer for later use.

HUMMUS

• 2 (15 oz) cans chick peas, one drained, one with liquid
• 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds (or tahini)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (about the juice of one lemon)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• salt to taste
• handful of fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped (optional)

Process all ingredients except the fresh herbs (if using) in a blender or food processor.  Once smooth add herbs a process just enough to mix them through (If you blend too much, your hummus will turn green.  Trust me; I know this from experience.)

You can get creative and flavor your hummus with roasted red peppers, spinach, or other herbs.  Use your imagination.

Gluten-Free Baking

Well, I am officially trying something new.  I think I have shared a bit about my oldest daughter and her stomach issues.  We had allergy testing done on her and discovered that she is definitely allergic to dairy, confirmed that she is allergic to pork as well as possibly being allergic or sensitive to many other foods.  She has decided to "go with her gut" and cut out a lot of different foods from her diet.  She is feeling SO MUCH BETTER, so she is very determined to be disciplined in this area.  She cut out dairy and mourned the loss of cheese. She also eliminated all meat, and eggs.  This helped a lot, but she realized that there was still something bothering her.  It seemed that her beloved bread was giving her stomach aches.  So, she decided to try cutting out gluten.

You may wonder what is left, what in the world DOES she eat.  Plenty of rice, fruit (fresh and dried) and veggies.  Back in November hubby and I decided to eat better and started to follow the Hallelujah Diet which is a plant based diet consisting of 85% raw food.  This fits very well with the way that Elizabeth has been eating already.  However, she has been complaining that she is craving crackers and bread.  Santa tried to buy her some for her stocking, but couldn't find a single store-bought gluten-free cracker that didn't have any dairy or eggs.  Store-bought gluten-free bread is ridiculously expensive and I have been told is not very tasty.  So, I decided that I had to find all the strange ingredients required and make my daughter some gluten-free goodies.

A friend who is going through the gluten-free thing with her son, told me about a book she found called Cooking for Isaiah.  In it, the author has a recipe for for a gluten-free all-purpose baking mix that she uses for all of her recipes (which are also dairy-free).  I decided to mix some up and create some crepes.  I suppose this was pretty adventurous since I have never done the gluten-free thing OR ever made crepes.  They were delicious!  We stuffed them with fresh apples, raisins, honey and cinnamon.  My only complaint was that they took forever to make.  That was only because I had one pan to make them in and had to do them one at a time.  That was a s-l-o-w process when cooking for a family of eight.  Next time we will stick with pancakes and put the fruit on top because I can get a couple of griddles going at once so we aren't cooking all morning.

Next I decided to tackle gluten-free bread.  I have shared before that I have been making bread for the past couple of years using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day technique.  Their newest book includes several gluten-free recipes.  I picked one that the main ingredient was corn starch of all things.  Although the dough does not behave like traditional bread dough, the bread came out very good with a heavy yet springy texture.  My daughter was thrilled to have bread once again!  Next time I may try this recipe and compare it.

 Both of these recipes I used called for eggs.  My daughter has given these up too, so I had to get creative.  I remembered reading years ago in the Tightwad Gazette that you could substitute 1 tablespoon of soy flour plus 2 tablespoons of water for 1 egg in a recipe.  There it was done for frugality, I decided to try it for health restrictions.  It seemed to work just fine.  I have never tried the egg versions of these recipes to compare, but we were very satisfied with how things came out.  I think you can by a soy-based egg substitute, but I am sure it costs way more than this method.

So, I would have to say that my initial attempts at gluten-free baking have not scared me off.  I think I will continue to experiment with it.  The gluten-free ingredients are definitely more costly than wheat flour, so I will probably not bake like this for everyone in the house all the time.  I will have to come up with some sort of balance.  Perhaps I will try baking several things, cutting them into single serving sizes and freezing them. Then when we are eating something that my daughter can't have, we can pull something out of the freezer for her and thaw it in the microwave.

Leftover Magic: Seasoned Taco Meat

Do you eat leftovers?  We do - we love them!  I even count on them for lunches throughout the week.  I am always amazed when I hear that people hate leftovers and just throw them away.  I supposed I was just raised that you do not waste food.  With the advent of microwaves and quick easy reheating, leftovers are wonderful.  I seldom make enough of one dish to get two complete dinner meals out of it, but we can usually squeeze out lunch for me and the kids or pack my hubby's lunch.  Just packing a lunch for my husband daily saves a fortune when you consider that he spends $6-7 a day on average if he has to go out and grab something.  We can save $35 per week, over $150 per month and over $1800 per year just by packing up leftovers in a container for my husband to take to work with him.

Sometimes, though, I do go overboard and make way too much of something.  Although the family may love it the first time around, by the third meal of it, they are crying, "Enough!"  Since I have a no-throwing-away-perfectly-good-food-policy, I have to do something.  One option is to package leftovers in the freezer to pull out in a few weeks when it will seem new again.  Be sure to LABEL things well.  I cannot tell you how many times I have hurriedly thrown something in the freezer thinking, "Oh, I'll remember what this is." only to unearth it months later from the back of the freezer with NO IDEA.  Sometimes you just have to thaw it to figure out what it is.  I suppose if you like adventure, you could just do this and call it a "mystery meal" and no one (including you) knows what's for dinner before it hits the the plates.

Another option for surplus leftovers is to morph them into something else.  That is what I am going to talk about specifically here.  My son had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and requested tacos for his family birthday party meal.  When I do tacos, I usually have enough fixings for hard or soft shell tacos as well as taco salad. The kids love tacos, hubby and I prefer to create a yummy taco salad with lots of lettuce and veggies over corn chips topped with salsa and Italian dressing.  I never am quite sure how much seasoned taco meat to prepare, especially when we are having guests.  So, I decided to err on the side of too much.  I cooked a LOT!  It was pretty economical because I used the ground turkey from Sam's Club that I mentioned before along with some ground beef I had in the freezer from Angel Food.

As a side note, I never use those little packets of taco seasoning from the grocery store any more.  They are too expensive. You can by taco seasoning in a big container at Sam's Club or Gordon Food service.  The container at Sam's club costs on $3.88 and seasons 14 pounds of meat. Compare this to the packet at the grocery that sells for over a $1 and seasons only 1 pound.   I find that this is even cheaper that making your own homemade taco seasoning.

Anyway, I ended up have TONS of leftover taco fixings.  We ate tacos again the next day and still had lots left.  I didn't think that I should push the envelope and eat it a third day, so I decided to get creative.  I had bread dough in the fridge which is not uncommon, so I decided to create a stuffed braid.   I rolled out a rectangle of bread dough and placed my leftover taco meat, onions, tomatoes and cheese down the center of it.  Then I cut 1 in strips along the edges and wrapped these over the top of the filling to create a braid.  I realize that is kind of vague.  I am a visual person and I need to see images.  Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and didn't snap photos of the process.  However, this page has a good explanation with pictures.  I did take a photo of my finished braid before baking it which you can see here.

I know it looks more like a mummy than a braid.  The kids were kind of amused by that fact.  Like I said, I was in a hurry because we had someplace to be right after dinner.  I didn't snap a shot of this baked, but you can use your imagination.  It looked like the before picture only more brown and puffier.  Make sense?   The verdict was that it was really yummy and it didn't feel like we were eating tacos again.

Believe it or not, we still had taco leftovers the next day.  So, we made mexican pizzas.  I had some flat tostada shells and topped them with tomato sauce straight out of the can, taco meat, refried beans, onions, and cheese.  I microwaved the taco meat first so it would spread better and not clump, so these only needed to bake long enough for the cheese to get toasty.  I popped them into a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  We topped them off with leftover shredded lettuce and diced tomato.  Even though these tasted rather taco-like, it was a fast and fun variation.  We had a few of these leftover and ate them cold out of the fridge the next day for a snack and it was even yummy that way.  This, by the way, used up all of our taco leftovers.

Other ideas for leftover taco meat:

• Chili
• Mexican casserole
• Sloppy Joes
• Tortilla soup
• Spanish rice
• Enchiladas

There are so many things you can do with this, you may decide to make extra on purpose and do some mega cooking and prepare a bunch of these dishes ahead to freeze.  I love having already prepared meals in my freezer on a day when I am overloaded.

Leftovers are a treasure trove in the frugal kitchen.  Don't relegate then to the garbage disposal; get creative and use them up.

Tried the Mac'n Cheese!

Yesterday after lunch I decided to start a double batch of the Rice Cooker Mac n' Cheese that I posted the other day.  I didn't have any heavy cream, so I used a combination of half and half and whole milk which I did have in my fridge.  To make up the difference in fat content, I added about 3 tablespoons of butter to make sure it was plenty rich and yummy. 

Part way through the cooking time, the rice cooker started to sputter and spew liquid out of the vent.  Just when I thought that I would have to shut it down to prevent a big mess on the counter, it settled down and cooked just fine.  After the rice cooker was done and switched to warming mode, I added the cheeses and salt.  I didn't have any mozzarella, so I just used more cheddar instead.  After mixing it through, I shut the lid and let it go until dinner.

I was wonderful to have a a big chunk of dinner done and ready ahead of time.  I cooked some pork chops and broccoli to go with it for a quick and easy meal.  A real bonus was that part of the family wasn't home at dinner time and I just put the meat and veggies in with the macaroni in the rice cooker which kept it warm and ready until they got home.  No reheating and nothing was overcooked.  Loved that!

Oh, and the mac 'n cheese? It was delightful!  It was well received by all, even my macaroni-and-cheese-hating hubby! I am glad to have this recipe in my stash.

I am really falling in love with my rice cooker.  (This is the one I have.) It is not a fancy one, but it seems to work like a charm.  The other day when I was searching for rice cooker recipes, I noticed the Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook mentioned.  I placed it on hold at the library and already have it in my hands.  I see many yummy recipes in the future.  When I find some winners, I will be sure to share them with you.

Rice Cooker Mac 'n Cheese

Sounds kind of crazy doesn't it?  Who ever hear of making macaroni and cheese in a rice cooker?  I found this recipe on a rice cooker thread on the ChowHound site.  (It was posted by tbunny27...thanks tbunny!)  I am posting this untried, but I wanted to preserve it here for future reference because I fully intend to experiment with this.  Here's the thread, if you are interested:  Rice Cooker Recipes.   I also found another site with a bunch of recipes that sound pretty yummy at Food.com.

Rice Cooker Mac 'n Cheese

1 1/2 cup macaroni of your choice (shells, stars, macaroni etc)
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 up chicken broth/stock
3/4 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup Parmesan
1/4 tspn Kosher/Sea Slat or to taste.
Combine noodles, broth & cream in rice cooker.
When machine switches to warm, add rest of ingredients & stir thoroughly until cheese in melted.
When switches to warm, its done.
The bottom will be browned like in the oven, so you can invert in into a casserole dish and sit back to rave reviews.

We have been making a lot of rice lately due to my daughter's food allergies and stomach issues.  She is happiest living on a diet of rice, veggies and fruit.  Who am I to argue with that?  I have been looking for some ways to spice up plain rice and cooking different grains.  My hunt for a Spanish Rice dish prepared in a rice cooker led me to this site.  Of course, the mac 'n cheese wouldn't be eaten by my oldest daughter due to the dairy, but the rest of the family would probably enjoy it.

My Discovery of Ground Turkey

For years I have read that substituting ground turkey for ground beef is a healthy choice.  So, I trekked to the store and my jaw hit the floor when I saw the PRICE of ground turkey.  It was usually over $4 per pound.  Well, I stuck to my ground beef.  Then one day I was at my local Sam's Club and discovered that they sell two 20 ounce packages (5 pounds) of ground turkey for just over $10.  $2 per pound is less than even the cheapest ground beef unless you find a good sale. 

So, I decided to try it.  When cooked, ground turkey is much lighter in color than ground beef and does have a different flavor.  However, when you are mixing it into a dish, these differences are not very obvious.  One nice thing about ground turkey is the lack of fat that cooks out of it.  You can brown it and not drain it or use it in a dish like meatloaf and not worry about it swimming in a pool of fat.  Because of this, though, I find that I need to add a little olive oil to my skillet when I am browning it. 

So, you might be wondering what exactly to do with this stuff.  I have used it in casseroles and chili.  It makes wonderful seasoned taco meat, too.  I have also started making meatloaf with it which is quite yummy.  We use one 20 ounce package of ground turkey to make this and it feeds our little family of 8 with some leftover.  Although you can form it into loaves, I find that it is simpler just to press it into a 9" x 13" casserole dish like a big meat cake.  We cut it into pieces, like cake, to serve it. 

Turkey Loaf

A delicious yet healthy version of meatloaf made with ground turkey.  Could also be made with lean ground beef. Serves 8.

• 2 1/2 pounds (40 oz.) ground turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large eggs *
• 1-2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 cup applesauce (unsweetened) **
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup dry unseasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese ***
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce

Mix all ingredients EXCEPT the spaghetti sauce together.  Clean hands work best for this.  Press into a greased 9" x 13" pan/dish. (You can form this into several loaves, but I find that it is quicker and easier to just place into dish and cut like a cake to serve.)  Pour sauce over top.  Place in a 350 degree oven for 60 minutes.

*To lower the fat in this recipe you can substitute 4 large eggs for the 2 whole eggs.
**When I am out of applesauce I have substituted ketchup, baby food, or cooked and pureed vegetables.
***May be eliminated if trying to keep this dairy-free. (Yes, sadly, this is now a concern in our house.)

The recipe can also be found here.

You can also make this and freeze it baked, half-baked, or unbaked.  If your family is smaller, you could make this into two loaves and bake one and freeze one for a future meal.  I love when I can make two meals for the effort of one.  What a bonus!  You could also make snack size meatloaves in muffin tins.  You could just bake them and eat them for dinner or bake them and freeze them for individual lunches or snacks.  You could pop one or two out of the freezer and microwave them.
Hope you enjoy!

The Recipe Cache

I have talked about menu planning before.  I have to be honest, I think it is a marvelous idea, but struggle to be disciplined to do it all of the time.  (I think there is a part of me that enjoys the creative process of making something out of the odds and ends in my pantry each day.)  One of the things I mentioned that is a good tool for me to aid in meal planning is having a list of tried and true recipes to refer to.  I have made lists, changed lists, and often misplaced lists.  Yes, organization is not one of my natural-born gifts. [wink] 

I decided to go at this recipe list thing a little differently.  I have set up for myself another blog site dedicated to my recipes. Every recipe I post is one that is tried and true in our household, meaning we have made once or twice and LOVED it or have made it dozens of times and it is an old standby. Most recipes are scaled to the quantity that I prefer to make which means they are probably more suited to a larger family. Each recipe is also categorized.  The category labels are linked on the right side of the site for quick reference. 

Although I made this selfishly for myself, I thought that it might be something that others would enjoy.  Right now, there are only about 20 recipes posted, but I plan to continue to add them on a regular basis.

So, the site is   The Recipe Cache

Chicken Feta Pizza

Yesterday, I talked about making your own crust for pizza.  Today I thought I would share a non-traditional pizza that I have been making and loving.  Normally I make this along with a traditional cheese pizza because that is what the younger set prefers. 

• Pizza crust of choice (I make homemade)
• Canned tomato sauce
• Garlic salt
• Cooked chicken, diced or shredded (leftover, canned, etc.)
• Feta cheese
• Red onion, thinly sliced
• Herbs of choice (Herbs de Provence, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme...)

Form pizza crust.
Spread very thin layer of tomato sauce on crust.
Sprinkle with garlic salt.
Top with chicken, feta and red onion.
Sprinkle with herbs.
Bake at 450 F for about 12 minutes.

Pizza!

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about my favorite bread dough that I love to keep on hand in my fridge, the Olive Oil dough.  Not only does it make great bread, but it works fantastic for pizza crusts.  Now, I love making homemade pizza.  If you already have the dough on hand, it is a very quick meal to make.  The trickiest part, though, is making a decent crust.  There is definitely a trick to getting a nice crust.  You don't want it too thick or too thin.  Round is preferable and holes kind of ruin it.  I have to admit that I have struggled a bit with this.  I have made my share of no-so-pretty pizzas.  Fortunately, it is pizza and my kids don't really care what it looks like.

My usual method to make my crust is to whack off a hunk of dough, put it down on a floured counter, flour the top liberally and roll it out.  This usually results in a misshapen crust.  Then I saw somewhere how you can stretch the dough with your fists.  That definitely helps.  I also decide that I would try tossing it.  This is very entertaining for the kids, but you must make sure you don't accidentally drop it on the floor when you have witnesses [wink].  I found a great video that demonstrates how to make a pizza crust that I found very helpful.  Unfortunately, I can't find it now, but when in the process of searching online for it, I found quite a few other good ones.

Stretching the dough:


Here is a great instructional video on how to actually TOSS a pizza crust:


And here is what it looks like when you get fast:


Hopefully this has inspired your to make your own pizza. It is a fast, fun, and it can definitely be a cheap eat.

It's Fair Time! (Kettle Corn Recipe!)

I know that it has been fair time all summer, but Fall is when the really good fairs happen.  In my neck of the woods, Fall is the time for the country fairs.  They are full of real artisans and craftsmen selling their wares.  My all-time favorite is the Johnny Appleseed Festival.  They have strict requirements that don't allow anything modern in appearance.  There are wood carvers, blacksmiths, civil war era reenactors, along with every kind of traditional craft you can imagine.  Then there is the FOOD:  fresh apple cider, caramel apples, corn on the cob, ham & beans, apple dumplings, funnel cakes, sausage burgers, and one of my favorites, caramel/kettle corn.  Around here, there is a church that does caramel corn in a big copper kettle over an open fire at all the fairs.  It is not the heavily coated traditional caramel corn, but it more closely resembles the lighter coated kettle corn.  It is so yummy to get fresh while it is still hot!  If you have never tried kettle corn, you need to.  Put that on your bucket list.

Did you know that making your own kettle corn is a piece of cake and you can do it right on your stove-top at home?  Once you try this, you will wonder why you never did it before.  The other bonus, is that it is a Cheap Eat.  I mentioned it before when I was talking about Cheap Eats: Popcorn a while back.  Since then I have made it quite a few more times and tweaked the recipe a bit.  I make mine in a Whirley Popper.It has a stirrer inside that keeps the popcorn from burning or sticking.  I just throw 3 simple ingredients in the pot, turn the heat on high, and turn the crank.  Now, I have never tried it, but I don't see any reason why you could not just do this in a big pot.  I would probably keep a wooden spoon or spatula handy to stir it at least until the kernels start popping.  At the fairs, all they have is a big copper pot and a big wooden paddle to do just that.

Kettle Corn
1/4 cup oil (vegetable, corn, canola)
1/4 cup sugar
Scant 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn


Throw all of this in a stovetop popcorn popper or big pot.  Place over high heat and stir until popcorn pops.  As soon as the popping slows, remove from the heat.  Otherwise, the sugar will burn.  Dump it in a big bowl and lightly salt with regular table salt.  Don't forget this step; this is what makes it magical!  Salt it while it is still hot and sticky.  The combination of the sweet and salty together is pure bliss.  I will warn you, though, don't sit with a big bowl of this in your lap - you will regret it because before you know it, you will have consumed way more than you intended and will feel helpless to put the bowl down.  (Please, don't ask me how I know this.)
Go forth and enjoy this fun time of year at the fairs.  Then let the fair food live on in your kitchen making many, many bowls of yummy kettle corn. 

Stretching the Food Dollars: Simplify

My last and final word on stretching your grocery dollar is to train yourself to eat more simply. We don't have to eat elaborate restaurant type food in big portions for every meal. This is an easy trap to get in the habit of setting our food expectations high, especially if you are used to eat out often. There is nothing wrong with a simple meal of beans and rice with a piece of fruit. It is healthy and cheap. The other day I cooked up some rice and melted some cheddar cheese over it to serve to the kids for lunch. They loved it! It was a simple and healthy meal paired with carrot sticks and canned fruit. Think about what simple foods your family loves. Make a meal out of this. Yes, we have the big meals, too, but keeping it simple is a very good thing, too.

Other tips for stretching the food dollar:
Eat less food. Don't wait until you feel full to stop eating. Put your fork down when you no longer feel hungry. It takes time for that food to hit your stomach and give you the feeling of being full, but once your brain realizes it has some good food in your stomach, it will turn off the hunger signals. You will eat less food, thus saving money, and perhaps loose a couple pounds in the process.
Avoid processed foods. Although that convenience food made look delightful on the box, it is full of extra fat, flavorings, fillers and chemicals that you don't really want. You are paying for the convenience of the quick, no-brainer prep, but if you learn some basic cooking skills, you will realize that you can make something from scratch in about the same amount of time. It just takes a bit of planning ahead to have the right ingredients on hand.
Set daily food budget challenges for yourself. I do this often, especially when the finances are extra tight. I will set a goal to feed our family of 8 for only $10 per day. I have to tell you that this is a bit challenging and takes some creativity. I set a goal of $5 for dinner, $2 or less each for breakfast and lunch which leaves $1 for snacks. Unfortunately, my children can blow the snack budget with just a piece of fruit each.
If you want to try this, here are some blogs with budget conscious recipes:

• 30 Bucks a Week – a couple living in New York City living on $30 per week in groceries.
  
• $5 Dinners – Just like the name implies. Also includes, tips, meal planning, and online coupon links.
  
• Budget Bytes – Frugal recipes with costs listed.
  
• Broke and Healthy – Cheap, healthy recipes with costs listed.
  
• Homespun and Cheap – Economical homemade meals
  

This wraps up this series on stretching the food dollars. I hope you have enjoyed it and gleaned some ideas from it.
I would love to hear from you. What are some of your ways to stretch your food dollars? I'm certain that there are many great ideas that I haven't even begun to touch upon. Leave a comment and share your stories.

Stretching the Food Dollars: Cooking

This week, I am talking about how to stretch our food dollars. Everyone has to eat, but how we go about doing that can have a huge impact on your budget. I think most of us would love make our money go further. So, let's just jump right in.
My #1 way to stretch my food dollar is to....

Cook!
I have a confession to make. During the first decade of my marriage, I was pretty lazy in the area of cooking. I did cook regularly, but because we lived in town less than 2 minutes away from a plethora of yummy restaurants, it was very tempting to get lazy about cooking. Often, I would find myself at dinnertime with no meal planned, nothing thawed, and no ambition to cook. And, I sheepishly admit, I knew that if I just told my husband that I could whip up some creamed tuna over toast, he would run to grab some take out. That being said, my husband and I look back on those years, remembering how good our income was and how low our expenses were and wonder where all the money went. Our income isn't really any higher now than it was back then when we were living on two good paychecks. However our mortgage payment is about five times higher and our number of mouths to feed has quadrupled. So what did we do with that cash? I think much of it went to frivolous eating out.

Cooking is a skill that will reward you financially for the rest of your life. Do what it takes to acquire that skill. Find a good cook who will mentor you, read books, watch cooking shows, take classes, and practice. Do whatever it takes to learn how to cook decently. It will be worth every penny you spend and every minute you invest. You will have to eat for the rest of your life. You can pay someone else to prepare your food by eating out or purchasing convenience heat-and-eat foods at the store or you can cook for yourself from scratch and learn the creative joy of making a meal and save yourself a ton of money, too.

There are lots of good resources available to learn to cook from scratch. A couple of books that I would recommend are How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart and Miserly Meals: Healthy, Tasty Recipes Under 75¢ per Serving. Both are good because they are not so much about the specific recipes and ingredients, but the techniques. If you know how to make a basic white sauce, you can do a multitude of things with it. Knowing the techniques is important for freeing yourself from recipes. That is key in utilizing what you have in your pantry, saving trips to the grocery store and ultimately saving money. Also, a search on the subject of "Low Budget Cookery" on my local library's website yielded 91 titles. There are a lot of free resources out there!

Make cooking fun. Think of a meal that you love and crave. Maybe it is something from your favorite restaurant or a memorable dish your grandma used to make. Do a little research and figure out how to make it yourself. Search the internet. AllRecipes is my personal favorite, but there are many great recipe sites.

This past weekend, we got fresh cabbage in our Angel Food box (We'll talk more about that later). My husband saw it and instantly got a craving for cabbage rolls. Although I have eaten them and loved them, I had never made them before. I found a well reviewed recipe and decided to go for it. When I had a bit of trouble forming the rolls, I called my mother-in-law for tips because I knew she had made them before. I also found a step by step video on You Tube that showed me the technique. It did take a bit of time, but they were absolutely delicious. When I do them again, they will be much easier and faster to make.

Something we love is sushi. There is a local place that makes wonderful sushi, but we just can't afford to go out to eat there. So, we found a recipe for the sushi rice, watched some videos online to learn the rolling technique and now we make our own. It has become a fun family project and we can make it just the way we like it and in abundant quantities. Simple maki rolls are actually quite inexpensive to make. If you would have told me that I would be making sushi 5 years ago, I would have laughed at you, but now that we have done it on several occasions, it doesn't intimidate me at all.

So my point is practice. Just get in your kitchen and do it. You will never regret learning to cook the foods you and your family love. It can become a joy to you and it is a tremendous way to stretch your food dollar.

These are evil, but you must make them...

I made some of these babies on New Year's Eve. I had seen them on The Pioneer Woman's blog and then I got her cookbook for Christmas and they were in there, too, wooing me to make them. So, I did. YUM! I removed all the seeds and membrane from the jalapenos so there were barely spicy. The cream cheese cooled them sufficiently. Then, these are wrapped in bacon. Isn't everything better when it is wrapped in bacon? Well, there may be a few exceptions to this... but at the moment they all escape me.

Well, I made a bunch and had leftovers. I discovered them to still be pretty good reheated in the microwave. I put them on a paper towel to absorb any excess bacon grease and although not near as good as the fresh-out-of-the-oven version, they were still quite yummy.

Here's the evil part, though. This morning I was quietly minding my own business when I got this incredible craving in mouth for one of these babies cold right out of the refrigerator. I swear that I could here them calling me - tempting me.........................................yes, they are pretty delightfully tasty ice cold, too. Evil, I tell you! But you gotta try them!

Photo Credits: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Yummy Recipe to Try: Fudge Sauce

When I was a girl, still living at home with my mom and dad, one of the treats we would make is homemade fudge sauce for over ice cream. I am pretty certain that the recipe came from the side of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder can. I am fairly certain that was a pretty simple recipe with sugar, water, cocoa powder, and vanilla. The trick to getting it right was cooking it for the just the right amount of time and boy, was it yummy!

Just the other day, I stumbled upon this recipe for fudge sauce. It is a bit different, but sounds good, too. It does seem to have quite a bit more sugar, so I am sure the younger kids will like it.

Fudge Sauce

1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 T. butter
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups powder sugar

Cook until desired consistency.

The recipe did not elaborate on how to cook it. I suppose there would be no harm in just placing all of the ingredients into a small pot and cooking over medium to low heat. It probably should be stirred the whole time it cooks, perhaps with a whisk to keep the powdery ingredients from clumping. While you are stirring it would be easy to see when it thickens to the right consistency remembering that when the sauce is poured over ice cream it will cool and be even thicker.

If you try this let me know how it goes and if you liked it or not.

Ahhhhh...the smell of fresh baked bread

There really is nothing like the smell of bread baking. It is a delightful, homey smell. I have been baking almost all of our bread we eat at home from scratch for over a year. There have been a few times when life has gotten harried and I broke down for a while and bought store-made bread, but the allure of the fresh home-baked stuff is strong and I always come back to making my own.

Bread making can be a very time consuming process. I did all the kneading and rising and punching down. Making a loaf of bread would take at least half of a day. Then I discovered a book that I must say is nothing short of revolutionary. It is called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. In it, the authors spell out a method for bread making that requires little more time than it takes to mix together a handful of ingredients. After mixing (not kneading), you allow the dough to rise an then refrigerate it. When you want fresh bread, all you have to do is pull off a hunk, form a loaf, let it rise and bake. Easy-peasy!

One of the bread recipes in the book is brioche. I got a brioche pan for Christmas so I can now make an official "Brioche a Tete." I feel so French! Brioche bread is full of eggs and butter and is almost cake-like and so yummy. There are lots of things you can do with it. If you want the recipe and some inspiration, check out this article.

Homemade bread doesn't have to be hard and it is definitely worth giving a try.

Adventures in Domesticity: Homemade Mayonnaise

We scraped the bottom of the Hellman's jar today at lunch while making tuna salad and I got the bug to try my hand at making homemade mayonnaise. As I have shared before, we have been trying really hard to eat more healthy and cheaply. I figured this might be a great way to do this. I had read a recipe in the book, "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon (which is listed in My Library down on the right side of this page). It uses olive oil. Most store-bought brands seem to use soybean oil. Since we suspect my little guy may be allergic to soy, I like the idea of having a mayo recipe that is not soy-based. I will say that unless you are big fan of the flavor of olive oil, substitute something else. We found this to seem very bitter from the oil so we added additional lemon juice and a bit of honey. That was enough to temper the flavor and we did not notice that bitterness in our tuna salad. The book says that you can substitute sunflower oil if you don't like the strong flavor of olive oil. The book is not a big fan of vegetable oil and therefore does not suggest it, but I think my basic canola oil would work just fine, too.

Homemade Mayonnaise

1 whole egg (at room temperature)

1 egg yolk (at room temperature)

1 teaspoon Dijon-type mustard

1 1/2 tablesppons lemon juice

1 tablespoon whey (optional - we didn't have any to use)

3/4 - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil or expeller-expressed sunflower oil

Generous pinch sea salt

In your food processor (we used a blender), place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt and lemon juice and optional whey. Process until well blended, about 30 seconds. Add oil very slowly with the motor running. Taste and check seasoning. You may want to add more salt or lemon juice.

If you have added whey, let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature, well covered, for 7 hours before refrigerating. With the whey added, mayonnaise will keep several months and will become firmer with time. Without whey, it will keep for about 2 weeks.

We will continue to use this and probably try this recipe again with a milder oil. I have been trying to have the attitude of "why buy it if you can make it" when it comes to our menus. It is definitely a mental adjustment. You walk through the stores and are surrounded by processed foods. I wonder how good all of these foods filled with unpronounceable ingredients are for us. I am slowing trying to wean us away from all of this and cook from scratch using more basic staple foods. While this may require a bit more time in the kitchen, it seems to make grocery shopping simpler. I spend more time selecting fewer better-quality ingredients. Then we also suppliment with visits to a local farm stands. Just today, I swung by a farm stand on our way home from dentist appointments to get fresh eggs. They also had some locally-made, no sugar added apple syrup which was reasonably priced so bought to try on pancakes. She also had some red onions which were a bit past their prime, but what do expect in March in Indiana. I couldn't find a price, so I asked her about them. She said she was embarassed to sell them in their condition and gave me a big bag full for free! Ya' gotta love that. I am thinking that we may have to make some french onion soup for dinner. It will be cheap and oh so yummy!

Homemade Eggrolls

We attempted a new culinary experience last night. We made homemade eggrolls. It was fun and pretty easy, so we will probably be attempting it again. What made me decide to do this? I was shopping for some bean sprouts to throw in a salad and right next to them in the produce department was this package of eggroll wrappers for $1.19. I bought them on a whim. Then they sat in my fridge for several days while a contemplated what I was going to do with them and what was I ever thinking when I bought them. There was an eggroll recipe on the back of the package and I decided that I would buy the necessary ingredients next time I was at the store.

Amazingly, the whole process of making these was fairly simple. The hardest part of making the filling was cutting up all of the ingredients really small. I used a Salad Shooter for the cabbage and carrots and some kitchen shears for the chicken.

Here is the recipe:

EGGROLLS
1 lb. lean ground beef, pork chicken OR firm tofu drained and crumbled (I used chicken)
1 tsp. minced ginger
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
1/4 lb bean sprouts
1/2 cup shredded carrot
3 green onions
2 TBSP Oyster Sauce
1 pkg eggroll wrappers

FILLING:
Stir-fry meat or tofu and ginger in a wide skillet over high heat until lightly browned. (2-3 minutes)
Add vegetables and cook 2 minutes.
Stir in Oyster sauce.
Let mixture cool.

MAKING THE EGGROLLS:

Use 2 TBSP filling for each roll.
Follow folding instructions.
Deep fry at 350 degrees a few at a time, turning occasionally, until golden, 2-3 minutes.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve warm with mustard and catsup or sweet and sour sauce.

I don't have a deep fryer, but used my big cast iron skillet with about an inch of hot oil. I made some homemade sweet and sour sauce, but I won't share the recipe because I was less than thrilled with it. It tasted too strong of vinegar and didn't thicken up well. I am not sure if I messed it up or if it was the recipes fault. For now, I think I will just blame the recipe. ;-)

Assembing these babies was fun and easy. I got Elizabeth to help me and found that she is a much prettier eggroll maker. (And her egg rolls looked better that mine, too!) I followed the filling recipe rather loosely and made way too much for one package of wrappers, so I guess I will have to buy some more and do it again!

Interestingly enough, there was a recipe for Cannelloni using the eggroll wrappers inside the package. Sounds like another fun recipe to try.

A little scrappin'

I finally managed to sneak in a little scrappin' time this morning and I did this silly page.

Journaling reads:

Yes, I confess...I am having a torrid love affair. It is so hot and steamy, so delicious that I can’t bear to give it up. The amazing thing is that Barry doesn’t even seem to mind. In fact, he has encouraged it. So who is this “Ned”? He can often be found checking out the contents of my fridge and I do feed him often. But what I love about him most is his amazing talent at baking bread. Yes, Ned is my homemade wild yeast (sourdough) bread starter. Am I crazy for giving such a thing a name? Perhaps, but I have heard that explorers in the Klondike would sleep with their starters to keep them warm. At least I haven’t gone that far...yet.

Credits for the page can be found here.

Label tool