By Request...

We all know that economic times are tough and we probably all have tightened our proverbial belts a bit. I however have always been a bit frugal. It's one of my frugal habits that my friend Dawn asked me to write about. I thought it was a worthwhile discussion so here it goes, red label meat and why I love it. First off for those of you that don't know, stores discount meats when they are getting close to their expiration date. There's nothing wrong with the meat they just need to sale quickly. Their need to sale and my need to save go together like peanut butter and jelly. To score these savings you need to know several things. You need to know when your store gets deliveries and when they generally do the markdowns.You also need to get there early. My favorite place to hit is Food Lion. I know they had that whole bleach thing in the past, but because of that I think they ruthlessly mark down meat now since they don't want Dateline showing up at their door again. My store generally does a big mark down on Tuesday mornings (I don't know if I should tell that since someone might be trying to get there before me, lol). Luckily for me I have a deep freezer in my garage and hence I have become the queen of the red label meat. Now you may have never considered this as a way to cut your grocery bills, but I'm telling you it's a great thing to consider. For example I found a pork lion on clearance that I will cut in half, hence getting two meals f($4/meal) from it and it was 40% off. This is the very reason I always chuckle at those morning show segments where they bring in some expert who will show the audience how to feed a family of four for $20. I generally come in under $10 for a family of 6. I'm talking meat, starch, vegetables and dessert. I also regularly shop at Aldi's and I'm not afraid of generics. I tend to cook from scratch rather than preboxed items. If you aren't afraid to crack open a cookbook the possibilities are unlimited. So next time you're at the store and they're marking down the meat, don't walk away, take a good look because you might just find tonight's dinner.

I heart this

This week I've had to bake a bunch of cupcakes for O's birthday. Well, I just wanted to share with you this nifty little tool I picked up. It's called the mechanical pastry bag and I got mine from Williams-Sonoma. Wilton makes one too and as far as I can tell the big difference is there tips are plastic instead of metal, in fact I bet they probably make it for Williams-Sonoma since I read somewhere that Wilton tips work with it and the Wilton one is less expensive, but I digress, we were talking about the WS one. I love it. It made frosting cupcakes a cinch and they looked so professional. I just made up a double batch of butter cream frosting and was decorating away. The kids were so impressed. So I thought I'd tell you all about it. I also bought the Wilton one...you know, 4 kids, everyone wants to help...you get the picture. I'll have to tell you later how that one works out.

Monday's Meal

My friend Susan gave me this recipe and although I haven't tried it yet...it sounds delicious and seems worth sharing.

Creamy Ham and Potato Casserole

1 med. onion, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 of an 8 oz neufchatel cheese (or you could use cream cheese)
1 cup gruyere cheese, shredded (4 oz.)
1 tbsp fresh chives or green onions
1 1/2 lbs yukon gold or red potatoes cut into small pieces
8 oz. black forest or country ham, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup of coarsely crushed bagel chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2qt baking dish.
In a medium saucepan cook onion in hot butter over medium heat for appox. 5 mins or until tender, stir constantly. Stir in flour and mustard. Add milk , cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat to low. Whisk in neufchatel cheese until smooth. Gradually add 1/2 cup of gruyere cheese until melted. Stir in chives.
In another bowl combine potatoes, ham and the sauce, mix well. Transfer to your baking dish.
Bake covered for 1 hr or until potatoes are tender. Uncover and stir, sprinkle the remaining cheese and the bagel chips on top. Bake for 15 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Serves 6.

Breakfast of champions

Last night before heading off to bed I mixed up a batch of cinnamon rolls. I've shared the recipe here before. They are so delicious and so good to wake up to. I left them to rise and this morning popped them into the oven. Ahhhh...the smell! Anyway, it is the perfect sweet indulgence. It's not lowcal or healthy, but every once and awhile it hits the spot. I brewed up some coffee, a dash of half and half and I'm all set to begin my day. It's raining out so I'm thinking this might be the perfect time to sew up a few things for the boys. I spend so much time making things for O. and of course indulging my purse fetish that I might go periods without sewing something for them. Shameful, but true. So today is all about my guys. I think I'll finish that camp shirt for M., a few tshirts with some cool embroideries, a couple pairs of shorts, oh and I have about 6 pairs of boxer briefs cut out. That should keep me busy.

Monday's Meal

Well, strawberry season is in full bloom here. I plan to take the kids this week as long it doesn't rain. In honor of that I thought I'd share a strawberry shortcake recipe. So, here you go...enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcakes
4 pints of rinsed, hulled and halfed strawberries
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tbsp of sugar
2 cups of self rising flour
2 1/2 tbsp of sugar
1/8 tsp of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) of cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Place the strawberries, lemon juice and sugar into a bowl and lightly toss, let rest for 2 hrs.

Now preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet.

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add butter using a pastry blender or fork mix until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir in the milk until a very soft dough is formed. Do not overwork the dough.
Drop the dough in equal portions on the prepared baking sheet. Pat the dough into rounds approx 3 inches in diameter and lightly brush the tops with the heavy cream. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.
To assemble the shortcakes, cut them in half, place the strawberries and whipping cream inside and reassemble the shortcake top, top with more strawberries and whipping cream. Yummy!

Whipping Cream
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp of confectioners's sugar.
Blend together with hand mixer until cream is light and fluffy. You can use less or more sugar depending on how you prefer it.

Monday's Meal

So today I thought I'd share my swiss steak recipe...it's not mine in the sense I created it, but mine because I collected it from a Southern Living magazine. Great magazine by the way, full of great recipes and they are kind enough to put an annual compilation of them together for us. Anyways this is so yummy and so easy. Great served over rice or egg noodles.

Smothered Swiss Steak
1/2 tsp salt
6 cube steaks
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp of seasoned pepper
4 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 (14.5 oz) can of petite diced tomatoes
1 (12 oz) can of cola soft drink
1 tbsp of beef bullion granules
2 tbsp of tomato paste

Season steak on both sides w/the salt. Combine the flour and pepper in shallow dish and then dredge the steaks through it.
Brown your steaks in a medium high skillet in about 2-3 tbsp of oil for about 3 minutes on each side. Drain drippings from skillet reserving 1 tbsp in the skillet. Next cook the onions and peppers in the reserved drippings until softened, you may need to add the rest oil now. Add the next 4 ingredients and bring it to a boil to thicken, stir to keep from sticking on the bottom. Now add the steaks and remaining ingredients, reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes. Check for doneness of the meat. Cook a bit longer if need be. Serve over rice or egg noddles along with a nice green salad. Enjoy!

Monday's Meal, time management and a milestone!

Well...it's Monday again and it's also my 100th blog post. I don't know how the week goes by so swiftly or that I'd have so much to say! I have to say that I've enjoyed the process of blogging and I love the comments I've gotten. Here's to another 100 post.
Well, I have a long to do list this week, plus I'd like to get some sewing and cooking done. I only worked on the AB bag once last week (I have a post about it,but still need to upload the photos before I post it) and Mother's day will be here before I know it so the pressure is really on. Ah well, such is life.

Now...the meal...well, it's actually more like a side dish to go with the meal, but it one of my favorites. Delicious, decidedly Southern and oh so easy.

Hash Brown Casserole

1 26 oz bag of frozen country-style hash browns
2 cups of shredded Colby cheese (of course you can sub. any cheese you like)
1/4 cup minced onions
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of beef stock or canned beef broth
2 tbsp melted butter (yeah butter baby!)
dash of garlic salt
1 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees
Combine the frozen hash browns, cheese and onions in a large bowl.
Combine the milk, beef stock, half the melted butter, garlic salt, salt and pepper in another bowl. Mix until well blended and then add it to your hash brown mixture. Mix well.
Now get an oven proof skillet and heat the remaining butter in it. When the skillet is hot add your hash brown and cook for 7-10 minutes stirring occasionally and until all the cheese has melted. Then put the skillet in to the hot oven to bake for about 45 mins until the surface of the hash browns are a golden brown.

If your skillet is not oven proof just transfer your hash browns to a casserole dish and bake as directed.

Enjoy and happy cooking.

Monday's Meal

At the suggestion by my youngest son, M. I'm sharing my recipe for waffles, actually his suggestion was that we have breakfast for dinner everyday, lol!

Here you go,belgian waffles. Super easy recipes and is easily doubled or tripled. Oh and they freeze well too. I sometimes make a bunch to freeze and they make a nice quick breakfast on those busy school mornings. The perfect combo of crispy yet fluffy goodness.

2 cups of cake flour (I just usually use all purpose, but cake would be lighter)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter (yep! butter baby!)

Nonstick cooking spray for your waffle iron. Preheat waffle iron.
Mix all the dry ingredients together, make a well in the center and add the liquid ingredients in order, mix just until combined but don't overmix. The batter will be slightly lumpy.
Pour approx 1/2 cup of batter or the amount needed to almost feel the waffle iron slot. Cook till done, should be light golden brown. Enjoy!

Oh and to kick it up a notch you could top w/fresh fruits and homemade whipped cream or confectioners' sugar.

Whipped cream

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp of confectioners' sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Monday's Meal

The following recipe is one of my favorites. It freezes beautifully and is a nice change from just plan old chili. We serve it with tortilla chips and a generous dollop of queso and it is delicioso. Enjoy!



Taco Soup

1 lb of ground turkey (or you could use beef, chicken or pork)
1 chopped onion
2 tsp of minced garlic
1 pkg of taco season
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can of corn
1 15 oz can of pinto beans
1 15 oz can of kidney beans
1 cup of water

Of course you can substitute an equal part of prepared dried beans, but for ease I just use canned.
Brown your meat along with the onion and garlic. Place you meat mixture in a dutch oven (or whatever you use to cook soup in) along with all the other ingredients and simmer over low medium heat for approx 40 minutes.

A 2fer...something simple and something sweet

Since I neglected Mom's Monday Meal, I thought I'd give you a bonus.
First off is a simple crockpot meal. I grew up in TX and I love bbq. In Texas it's all about the beef. But living on the east coast now, they seem fond of the pork. Along with that strange concoction of sauce they soak it in made with vinegar. Strange! Anyhow, this recipe combines the East Coast w/the Texas flavor, it uses pork, but w/a more traditionally Texas style sauce (or KC or Memphis...it's sweet and thick rather than bitter and watery...can you tell I just don't get the whole Carolina bbq thing)?

Texas Style Pork Ribs

2- 3lbs of Country style pork ribs (these are more meaty than say your babybacks or spareribs)
Season salt to taste
Season pepper to the taste
1 Lg bottle of your favorite bbq sauce (you can make your own...but I don't bother to, I mean Sweet Baby Ray's has already done it for me and better than I ever could so I just use his recipe.)

Place your seasoned ribs in your crockpot...now hold on, you can braise the ribs before hand in your broiler, but again this is about simplicity. The reason you'd do that would be primarily for color...well you're going to cover the meat up with sauce so I don't braise the ribs, I just toss them in the crockpot, ok...back to the pot.
Cook them on high for 2 hrs. Then open the lid and add your sauce to coat all your ribs and continue cooking on high for another 4 hrs or until done. The meat will be so tender it will literally fall off the bone. Simple and Delicious.

Now for the sweet. I love my bread machine. I know it's an affront to a those of you who are purist about bread making, but I know me and if I had to make bread by hand, I wouldn't...but I use my bread machine regularly...in fact I have 2 of them.
So this is a little sweet treat that you can prepare the dough in your bread machine and then pop it into your oven for the final product. Can you say heaven?

Cinnamon Rolls
1 cup whole milk
1 envelope (2.25 tsp) of active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 tbsp of sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup of melted unsalted butter
5 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp of salt

Now if you make this in your bread machine, remember to follow the manufacturers instructions and add all the liquids first and then the dry ingredients w/the yeast being last. Make a well in the dry ingredients for your yeast to go in. Mix it all up on the dough cycle. If your mixing it up in your stand mixer you can add them as listed.

Now for the filling
1 stick (1/2 cup) of softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1 cup of chopped pecans (optional)
1 cup of raisins (optional)

The icing
2 cups of confectioners' sugar
1-3 tbsp of milk


The following is if you are not using the bread machine. If you're using the bread machine your dough is already going.

Heat milk over medium heat until it begins to boil, remove and let stand until cooled to room temp.
Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water (100-110 degrees so you don't kill your yeast) in a large bowl. Add 1 tbsp of sugar and let stand until it gets foamy, approx 5 mins. Beat in the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar, eggs and butter. Now add in your cooled milk. Gradually add in the flour and the salt, be sure to scrap down the sides of the bowl, you will be forming a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining flour into your dough, add more flour is your dough is too sticky. Knead until the dough is smooth and soft(about 10 mins).
Grease a large bowl and place your dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until doubled in size (about and hour or so). If you've made the dough in your bread machine, do the above with the dough you have made.
Now coat 2 9 inch round pans w/ cooking spray, line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper. Prepare your filling by mixing the ingredients together (leaving out the raisin and nuts, you'll sprinkle those on top) in a medium bowl. Now punch down your dough and roll it out on to a floured surface. You'll make a rectangle about 18 X 12, spread your filling on the dough, sprinkle with the nuts and raisins. Starting at one of your long sides roll it like a jelly roll, pinch your seams closed. Cut crosswise, you should get 12-14 portions. Place them cut side down in your pan. Cover with plastic and let rise again for 30 mins. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Uncover your pans and bake the rolls until they are golden and bubbly...30-40 mins. Let cool before icing.
Make your icing while rolls cool some, use a bit more milk if icing isn't smooth enough, Drizzle icing on top and serve warm.
Enjoy!

As promised...Mom's Monday Meal

This recipes is something simple and savory for the crockpot or slow cooker. I love the slowcooker. I love that you toss a bunch of stuff in there, turn it on low and before you know it you've got a delicious hot meal that you didn't spend all day slaving over. Who wouldn't love that?

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken A Go Go

1 whole chicken (or you can use breast or whatever parts you have)
1 can of Cheddar cheese soup
2 can of any other variety of soup you like (cream of broccoli, chicken, mushroom...)
1/2 cup of heavy cream (you can use milk too, but I'd use a bit less)
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 small chopped onion (you can cook the onions before if you like, but I don't)
Season with salt and pepper to taste (for an extra kick you can try season salt, season pepper or whatever spices you like)

For a bit more nutritional value you can add a bag of mixed veggies the last 30mins to 1 hr. of cooking

Spray slow cooker w/cooking spray. Place chicken inside. In a separate bowl mix your soups and cream together, pour it over your chicken. Add seasoning, onions, and garlic powder. Cook on high for approximately 6 hours. Don't lift lid while cooking.
Serve over rice or egg noodles for a delicious one pot feast.

*Please note that you need to know your slow cooker. I have a newer one and it is pretty hot compared to my older one, so I tend to cook things on low for longer and check it.

Enjoy!!!

Freezer Cooking Revisited

So...last week I mentioned I wanted a return to basics. So to that end I've planned out my menus for the next 2 weeks. I've been planning my menus for the last couple of years and it really does help, not only in terms of budget but in eating out. I also used to cook meals in bulk to freeze and have on hand. I had gotten away from it, but I started back up last week and have made this part of my routine. Hoping to shake up my old menu routine I decided to do an online search for some freezer friendly recipes. Allrecipes yielded some great options. I also found tons of site that supported this type cooking as a way to feed your family healthfully. So I think I'll share a new recipe each Monday, tune in tomorrow to see what the offering is.

Yummy chocolate goodness

I love to bake and M. is my able assistant, lol. Here's a pix of the cake we made the other day. We cut into it while it was still warm. It's so rich and chocolaty that you don't even need frosting. Yummo!!!

The Kitchen/Grocery Challenge

I started this last year, but I slacked off big time. But, baby I'm back! We've been spending way to much eating out lately. Plus with gas prices what they are I need to be organized and avoid running to the store 10 times/week. So I found this cool site called Cindy's Porch and I'm going to print off the list and begin my once a month cooking again. I even have a new cookbook to try out and I think it will make the summer much more relaxing if I don't have to stress about cooking big full meals. So, tonight I will make out my menu and tomorrow the cooking begins. I'm also going to try and eat fresher. I took the kids to the farmer's market last week and the veggies we got were so delicious. Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt like I was eating a wonderful meal and doing something great for our community by shopping at the farmer's market. Ah well, next I'll be going organic!