Beef Stew

This is my FAVORITE dish.  Its very cheap and very filling.  I brown my meat the night before, chop all of my vegis so in the morning, I can just pop it in my slow cooker and have a delicious hearty healthy meal for my hungry hubby!

Beef stew

4 servings

2 T flour

1/2 lb stew meat (or a cut up roast, SAME cut of meat, maybe cheaper/on sale!)

2 T vegetable oil

1 med onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 c corn

3 large red potatoes, diced into bite size pieces

3 cloves garlic

1 can low-sodium V8

2 cups beef broth(can be frozen or defrosted, I use frozen)

8 oz red wine, like Cabernet

1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t oregano

1 t thyme

1/4 t rosemary (I find powdered rosemary, or just blend rosemary to a fine powder)

1/2 t black pepper

1/2 t Celery Salt

2 bay leaves

1.  Cut beef into SMALL bite size pieces.  They will cook down in the Crockpot, but I like to cut up the roast into bites first, just in case.

2.  Put flour in a large bowl, add beef, shake to coat

3. Heat oil in large cast iron skillet, brown beef.  Do not cook, just brown.  This is where your meat gets lots of flavor, DON'T SKIP IT!!!   Some browning of the crust should be on the outside, while the inside is still rare.  Roasts are cheap because they are tough cuts of meats, they have to be SLOW roasted to get good.  You brown the meat for a more complex taste, you slow roast for the tenderness.

4. In crockpot, place all remaining ingredients

5.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours, high 4-6.  As with all crock cooking:  the longer it cooks, the better it is!

Cream of Chicken Soup

I use this recipe as the "insides" to my Chicken Pot Pie, its one of my husbands favorite meals.  This can also replace your canned cream of chicken soup!  No preservatives, it tastes better, and there is more good stuff in this recipe!  1/4 of this recipe = roughly one can of soup.  Subtract the potatoes and add peas or green beans for different vegetables.  Potatoes tend to be finicky when frozen. The other servings can be frozen for up to 3 months, but the texture may be a little thicker than usual.  Rewarm, add milk, and stir like mad! 

Cream of Chicken Soup

2 servings

Ingredients:

4 T butter

1/4 c flour

1 c corn

3 carrots, diced

1 med onion, diced

3 Med potatoes, diced

3 garlic cloves

1/2 lb chicken, cooked (think leftovers!)

2 c broth (I usually use Smoked Cajun-yum!)

1 c milk

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.Saute vegetables in butter for 10 minutes. 

Add chicken, warm

Add flour, cook for 5 minutes

Add broth and milk

Salt and pepper to taste, serve

If using for pot pies:

Ingredients:

1 pie crust = 2 individual SINGLE CRUST pot pies

Directions:

1. Let soup fully cool, otherwise crust will be soggy
2. Pour soup into individual bean crocks
3. Cover with pie crusts
4. Poke holes into crust
5. Bake 40-50 minutes
6. Let cool AT LEAST 20 minutes, serve

Potato Soup

With fall just around the corner, theres nothing better than turning your crock-pot on for the day, forgetting about it while you run errands, and coming home to a wonderful smelling house and dinner ready.  Why not use it for some soup and some nice crusty bread?! Yum!

Potato Soup

serves 4

Ingredients:

3 lbs potatoes (about 5 c) (I like using red or yellow)

4 c broth

4 cloves garlic, chopped (I like using roasted when I can)

1 t salt

1/2 t fresh ground pepper

8 oz sour cream

1/2 package bacon, crumbled

1 c cheddar

green onions, chopped

Directions:

1.Put potatoes, (frozen) broth, garlic, and seasonings ing crock pot on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4

2. Cook bacon, crumble

3. Stir in sour cream, cheese, bacon, and the green onions.

4. Cook for 20 minutes on LOW for cheese to melt

5. Top with additional green onion, bacon, sour cream and additional cheese, if desired

Tips:

1. Cut up your potatoes the night before, keeping them in a bowl, covered in water.  Keep the rest of the ingredients near them, so its easy to put the soup together before you go out the door! 

2.  Cook the entire package of bacon, freeze the other half for another recipe.  Use in 3 months.

3.  Keep the skins on the potatoes to save all the fiber you can.  Chop in bite size peices since they will minimally break down.

4.  If you would like a thicker soup, mash a few of the potatoes with a fork at step 3.

Vegetable Stock

One of my first ventures in my scratch cooking was vegetable stock.  After doing it once or twice with vegetables I bought specifically for my stock, I got to thinking.  I throw away a lot of odds and ends vegetables that still have all those nutrients!  Onions in particular. So I started saving my remnants.  This recipe was spawned from my frugel-ness. 

My stock bags change with every bag, but roughly they contain:

2 onions
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 green pepper
2 jalapenos
3 garlic cloves

Vegetable Stock

about 8 cups

Ingredients
1 gallon bag of Stock Vegetables, defrosted
2 T olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 T Kosher Salt
small handful of peppercorns, plus some freshly cracked black pepper
olive oil
water


Directions

1. Add olive oil to your stockpot and turn heat to med-high

2.  Add stock bag pot , saute for about 5 minutes

3.  Add enough water to cover the vegetables x2.

4.  Bring to boil

5.  Turn heat to med-low

6.  Boil until reduced by half, about 3-4 hours.  The longer you cook your broth, the more condensed it will be.  Less liquid= more concentrated goodness!

7.  Let cool slightly on the stove, place in refrigerator overnight
(NOTE:  If making a meat-based broth, after it has been sitting in the fridge overnight, skim the fat off the top for fat-free broth!)
8.  Place colander over a gallon pitcher and CAREFULLY pour stock into pitcher.  Toss vegetables.

9.  Pour liquid back into stockpot or another container (look how yummy!)

10.  Line colander with cheesecloth (or paper towels) and CAREFULLY pour stock into pitcher again.  This may take awhile and at least 2 cheese cloths, depending on how much sentiment is in your stock. (Note, you don't need to strain the sentiment, but I find by removing it has a better texture in the food I cook my broth with)

11.  Pour out into 1-2 c portions and put in freezer bags.  Place on cookie sheet flat and put in the freezer until frozen solid.  Keeps for roughly 6 months, if it will last that long!

Variations

~Smoked chicken- After Steve smokes a (yummy!) whole chicken, I put the (picked clean) carcass in my stockpot (without a stock bag) and add water to cover x2 and do the same process.  Use also with store bought (gasp!) or homemade roasted chicken. This makes DELICIOUS gravy!

~Chicken- After sauteing vegetables, place an entire whole raw chicken in the stockpot and add water until 2 inches from the top of pot.  Cover and put to a low boil for 6-8 hours.  After cooling in refrigerator overnight, skim stock of fat and continue with step 8. Remove all meat from carcass and use for Chicken Soup, pot pie, or any other casserole needing cooked chicken.

~Thanksgiving Turkey!!

~Beef- Go to your local Butcher and ask for Beef hocks (knuckles).  Preheat your oven for 350*.  Smear the hocks with tomato paste and place in a roasting pan.  Cook for an hour.  Continue with step 1, adding hocks after vegetables have simmered.


UPDATED:
This is Cajun Turkey Stock:

Before skimming fat and removing bones and vegetables

After skimming most of the fat and removing bones and vegis

During the filtering

*Tip* Wet your cloth before you begin filtering.  That way, your broth wont soak it, it will just go into your pitcher.

Look at that yummy goodness!

Chicken Nuggets

Look at all the chicken nuggets I made for $1.50!!

Chicken Nuggets

4 Meal Servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c bread crumbs

2 large eggs, beaten

2/3 c flour

1 lb chicken breast, cubed

Vegetable Oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

1.  Pour oil in skillet to a depth of about 1 inch.

2.  Heat oil until shimmery (should be about 360*)
3.  In one bowl, put the flour, in another, the egg, in a third, the bread crumbs.

4.  Salt and pepper the chicken

5.  Dredge chicken cubes in flour, dip in beaten egg, and then coat in breadcrumbs(you can freeze at this point!)

6.  Fry nuggets in oil in 3 batches, careful not to overlap chicken.  Fry for 5-6 minutes, stirring twice.

Variation:

1.  Try any italian seasoned breadcrumbs

2.  Try any flavor potato chips, doritos, nuts, corn flakes, or Fiber One Cereal

3.  You can also bake at 375* for about 15 minutes

Bread Crumbs

Why throw the heels of bread or that one hot dog and hamburger bun away?  Keep a bag in your freezer and keep adding to it until its full.  Then, make bread crumbs!

1.Preheat your oven to 350
2. Place your bread on a cookie sheet and bake until dry.  You're basically making toast.
3.  Tear the toast in chunks and put them in a big, deep bowl
4.  Blend with your immersion blender until you make small crumbs.
5.  You can also do this by putting your toast in a gallon baggie and either roll with a rolling pin or letting your 3 year old smash the dickens out it!
6.  Store in an airtight container for about 6 months

Variations:  For Italian breadcrumbs:

2 c Breadcrumbs
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
1T Garlic powder *note*
1/2 t powdered rosemary
1 t Oregeno
1 t Basil
1 t Fresh Cracked Pepper

Mix and use!

*For future reference, The Tobins are garlic FREAKS.  If this is not to your liking, reduce to about 1-2 teaspoons.

Roased Red Pepper Hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus is my favorite snack.  Hummus is Chickpeas (also called Garbanzo beans)  blended with Tahini and Spices.  Tahini is roasted sesame seeds made into a paste, like peanut butter.  Now, tahini is pretty expensive, so for $$ purposes, I use creamy peanut butter.  Cant taste the difference! ;)


Most recipes call for a can of beans.  Remember:

1 can of beans = about 1 2/3 cups COOKED beans
2/3 c dry beans = about 1 can

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

makes 3 cups, 12 servings

Ingredients:

2/3 c dry Chickpeas (also called Garbanzo beans)
1 Roasted Red Pepper
1 T creamy peanut butter
3 cloves of garlic
1/8th jalapeno
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 t black pepper
3/4 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t cumin
water, if needed
Directions:

1.  measure beans, add 3-4 cups hot water in a large pot
2.  Bring to a rapid boil, boil for about 5 minutes
3.  Cover and let stand for 1 hour
4.  Drain and rinse beans, put in a large container
5.  Add the rest of ingredients

6.  Blend until smooth, adding water if needed (I like mine a little on the "clumpy" side)

Variations:
1. Plain: Subtract Jalapeno, black pepper, cayenne pepper
2.  Olive:  Plain Hummus, add 3/4 c Olives (Kalmatas!)
3.  Garlicy: Plain Hummus, add 7 cloves garlic

Use hummus as a dip for pretzels, pita bread, or vegetables.  Or even in replace of mayonnaise in sandwich or wraps.  I freeze this in 2 T portions, that way its perfect for single servings.  The recipe I use makes about 3 times the amount for about 1/10th of the price!

Freeze in portion sizes in your freezing container until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag:

Roasted Red Peppers

Roasted Red Peppers are a fine thing.  They're very easy to do and provide Oh So Much Flavor to dishes that you wouldnt get if you just put the plain pepper in.  They are very smokey and sweet.  Wait for a sale and do several at a time. There are several ways to roast a pepper, I find the oven is the easiest.

Roasted Red Pepper
1 pepper = 1/2 c pepper puree


Directions:
1. Put your rack to the highhest point and preheat your oven to 500*

2.  Wash your peppers and remove any stickers

3.  Put your peppers directly on the grill

4.  Cook for about 5 minutes on each side.

5.  Pepper should be charred looking, but not entirely black

6.  Place pepper in a bowl and put in the fridge to let cool.

7.  Once cooled, remove skin, ribs (the white part on the inside) and seeds

8.  Place entire pepper on baking dish and place in the freezer and freeze.

9.  After frozen, put in labeled bag and keep frozen until needed, keeps indefinetly in freezer.

Variations:
1.  Roasted Tomatoes:  Take a pint of cherry tomatoes, clean, and slice in half.  Put on a cooking sheet, open side up.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook for roughly 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Delicious in salads!

Tips for a Successful Kitchen

As I find more tricks of the trade, Ill update this page and post again ;)

~Keep a Bag in the freezer for bread.  Put the heels of your loaves, leftover hot dog and hamburger buns.  Even bagels. About every 6 months (for me, a family of 4) you'll have enough for your breadcrumbs.  Recipe later!

~Keep another bag for leftover vegetables.  Peel a carrot?  Keep the peel.  Cut up fresh broccoli, but only like the tree tops? (Guilty!) Keep the tree trunks!  When you chop an onion, keep the "paper" and the first layer of onion in the bag.  Chop the onion until you don't feel comfortable cutting anymore.  For me, that's about a 1/3 of the onion.  Keep it!  Keep the tops/bottoms/ribs of green onions and jalapenos!  About every month, I have enough to make a vegetable broth!

~Speaking of broth, don't throw that super market rotisserie chicken away after dinner!  Pick it as clean as you can, and make a stock of it.  Recipe soon!

~Buy your bread at the Bakery section of the Supermarket.  Its cheaper, healthier, and doesn't have all the preservatives!  Since it doesn't have all the preservatives, keep it in the fridge, it will keep longer.

~Always Always ALWAYS read you're ingredients before you buy that "convenience food"  I've learned that if its got under 5 ingredients and/or you recognize them, its a good product.  The first item on the list is what that product is made up of the most.  Second product is second most prevalent item, and so on.

~Half and Half is just that; 1/2 milk, 1/2 heavy cream, use accordingly

~I find that buying single serve alcohol is best if you don't normally keep it in your house.

~If you don't like to use alcohol, Substitute for broth or apple juice

~Substitute applesauce for butter in quick bread recipes (like banana bread and brownies) It will save you the fat and sneak in a fruit! Use the same amount applesauce you would butter.

~Depending on what I'm cooking, I half the sugar in the recipe.  I usually don't miss it.  We're such a sugar addicted society, we could use a little reduction ;)

~You can easily replace honey for sugar in most recipes.  Because honey is sweeter on the tongue, you can use less of it in a recipe, and its all natural, not refined!  For every cup of sugar, you should use 3/4 plus 2 teaspoons honey, for a rough 4:5 ratio.  Keep in mind honey has a strong flavor on its own, so it depends on the recipe you're looking at.  For a crispy cookie, you can replace up to 1/3 the sugar with honey; with brownies: 1/2, Fruit desserts: up to 2/3.  There are some rules, however.  Honey is acidic, so for every cup, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. There is water in honey, so bear in mind for every cup of honey, you should decrease the liquid content of your recipe by 1/4 cup.  Honey also absorbs moisture, so it makes your cakes extra moist.  You should decrease your cooking temperature by 25*, as well, to prevent burning.  Children under the age of 1 shouldn't eat honey for botulism risks.

~Increase the fiber in your diet by switching your white flour for whole wheat.  Using whole wheat flour will make for a denser product, so you can either sift your flour 1-2 times more or use 7/8 cup for every 1 cup white used.  You should increase your liquid by about a tablespoon for every cup, as well.  You can usually get away with a half white, half whole wheat ratio when cooking without sacrificing anything.

~Keep a wipe board by your fridge.  On one side, keep a list of all the dinners you have bought ingredients for.  On the other, keep a running tally of what you need from the store. 

~I buy my margarine (a BIG tub of Country Crock) at Sam's.  When its empty, wash it out and keep it.  Its the perfect size for your ice creams! 

~When making a casserole, double your recipe.  Use one today, freeze another, and save for a lazy day. 

~To prevent frostbite when freezing casseroles, line the inside of your Pyrex dish with aluminum foil, leaving double the amount of foil over the edge of the dish.  Then, line the foil with saran wrap.  Load your casserole into the saran/foil lined dish.  Wrap with saran wrap, careful to remove as much air as possible.  Wrap with foil, molding to the casserole and dish as much as possible.  Set in freezer to freeze SOLID overnight.  After frozen, the wrapped casserole should come easily out of the dish.  Label dish, deep freeze for up to 4 months.  When ready to cook, do not defrost, unwrap totally and place in original dish.  Cook at original temperature, but cook an additional 30-45 minutes. 

~Start with a clean kitchen, a full sink of water, and an empty dishwasher on your "stock cook" days. Clean as you go, and things will go a lot smoother!

~Watching your figure?  Change up your taco night with lettuce shells instead of taco shells!  Buy a whole head of lettuce, and tear off entire leaves.  When you're through with dinner, shred the remainder and have a taco salad for lunch leftovers!

~Speaking of lettuce,  the above way is the only way I have lettuce in my house.  I keep spinach stocked in my house now.  MUCH healthier for you, more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

~Buy vegetables intending on snacking, but they usually get thrown out (or in your stock bag!)? Cut them up that day, and you'll have snacks for about 5 days.  I do the same with onions and green peppers, it saves on your daily cooking prep work. What you don't use goes in your stock bag.

~I still measure everything.  I'm a terrible judge of spices, especially.

~ To easily remove burnt on foods from your skillet, add water to it with a drop or two of soap and bring to a boil.  It will come off a lot easier.

~Put a slice of bread in your cookie jar to keep the cookies fresher and softer, longer

~When separating eggs, crack the egg over a funnel.  The white will fall through, leaving the yolk intact in the funnel.

~Use an old ketchup bottle to squeeze pancake batter.

~ Most recipes only call for a tablespoon or two of tomato paste.  Freeze the rest of the can in tablespoon portions.

~You can peel and chop potatoes hours ahead of time! To prevent browning, keep in a bowl of water in the fridge until you need them!

~Prevent bananas and apples from browning by tossing them with citrus juice.

~ Keep the fat from frying your bacon in a mason jar in the fridge.  You can saute vegetables in the grease to give the dish a smokey flavor.

~If you run out of cheesecloth, use paper towels!  (Incidentally, I buy my cheesecloth in the CRAFT department at Walmart.  Not even in the "cooking" craft section, the "beaded" craft section)

~Remember:
*8 oz pasta = 4 c cooked
* 1 lb flour = 4 c
* 1 c dry beans = 2 1/2 c cooked
*1 c dry rice = 3 c cooked
* 1 lb granulated sugar = 2 cups