Slow Cooker Lasagna

Yesterday, it was too darn hot to cook.  There is no way I was going to spend any time near that hot stove, regardless of whether it was the range or the oven that was heating up the kitchen, it was just.  Too.  Hot.  The kids had been asking for lasagna for dinner for a while now though, so I gave them what they wanted.  Sure, my oldest said his dad's girlfriend's lasagna is better, but, like I told him, this isn't my best lasagna.  This is the recipe for my "it's too darn hot to cook" or "I don't have the time to make a 'proper' lasagna" lasagna.  Like most slow cooker recipes, this is pretty much a toss-it-in-and-let-it-go kind of thing, although still more layered than some dishes would be.

Another nice thing about this lasagna: it can be made cheaply.  In fact, when calculating out how much it cost me to make the lasagna last night, between sales and coupons and making my own tomato sauce last year, it was a $5 lasagna!  Making it like this makes it harder to notice the cottage cheese (which I got on sale, with a coupon, for $1) taking the place of the ricotta, which makes it easier to skimp on costs.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

1/2-1 lb ground meat, browned (optional)
4 cups plain tomato sauce
1 tbsp dried onion
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 lb cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
about 9 uncooked lasagna noodles

Combine browned ground meat (if using), tomato sauce, onion, basil, oregano, and garlic in a medium mixing bowl.  Combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, cottage cheese, and Parmesan cheese in a separate mixing bowl.  Spoon 1/4 of the tomato sauce mixture into the bottom of a slow cooker.  Layer on 3 lasagna noodles, broken to fit.  Spoon on half the cheese mixture, then 1/4 of the tomato sauce mixture, 3 more lasagna noodles; repeat.  Finish with remaining sauce mixture.  Cover and cook on low setting 6 to 8 hours, or until lasagna noodles are tender.  Turn off slow cooker and top lasagna with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella.  Cover and let stand 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted, before serving.

Easy Pasta Skillet

The focus of this blog may be not so much couponing as a way of life (would you like some posts on how to coupon, now that I'm routinely getting 30-50% off retail on my grocery store purchases?), but couponing helped save me a lot when I made this dish last night!  I got the pasta for free with a $1 off one coupon for Barilla pasta I got for "liking" their Facebook page and using it when the pasta was on sale for $1 each.  I paid $0.50 for the cooking creme I used in place of regular cream cheese (it was too zippy for the kids...I won't be buying it again, but regular cream cheese works fine) by getting it on sale for $2 plus using a coupon for $1.50 off one I got from the Kraft First Takes website (this recipe is actually very liberally adapted from the package of the cooking creme).  I used venison for the meat and homemade tomato sauce as well, so total cost to feed the family last night (with leftovers available for a couple individual future lunches) was probably only about $3 at the most!

Easy Pasta Skillet

1/2 lb ground meat

1/2 cup onions 

3 cups tomato sauce

2 cups water

1/4 tsp garlic powder (or to taste)

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp basil

1 box penne or rotini pasta

8 oz cream cheese (the kind in the tubs works best)

Brown meat with the onions in a large deep skillet (I actually used a 3qt saute pan, but whatever).  Stir in sauce, water, and seasonings and bring to a boil.  Stir in pasta.  Cover and simmer on medium low heat for 15-18 minutes, or until pasta are al dente, stirring occasionally.  Stir in cream cheese; remove from heat.  Let stand covered for 3 minutes.

Chicken, Meaty, or Cheese Enchiladas

How's that for a deal!  You can make these enchiladas several ways and they're good any way you do it!  This is also a great way to use up leftover chicken or taco meat.  There are so many variations that are possible on this, so you can use what you have or what you can obtain the cheapest!

Yup, this is a pretty terrible picture, I know.  Can't really tell what it is, besides possibly something involving melty cheese.  I figured that, in this age of Pinterest "cookbooks" where people tend to file recipes they want to try, I needed to have some sort of image for people to Pin, and a crappy picture is better than no picture for that purpose!

Enchiladas

12 6-inch corn or flour tortillas (I find the corn ones have a tendency to break, so I end up with more of a lasagna looking dish)

2 cups tomato sauce (or 1 15-oz can)

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2-1 cup taco meat, unseasoned browned ground meat, shredded chicken, or sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 cup shredded Monteray jack cheese, divided

1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley (optional)

cooking spray or olive oil

Preheat oven to 425.  Warm the tortillas according to package directions.  Grease a 9x13 baking pan.  Combine tomato sauce, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and garlic powder.  Set aside one cup of tomato sauce mixture.  Add meat, chicken, or sour cream.  Stir in 1/2 cup of each cheese and cilantro or parsley (if using).  Spoon some of the meat mixture onto each tortilla and roll up; place seam side down in baking pan.  Lightly spray enchiladas with cooking spray or brush on olive oil with a pastry brush.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 400; pour remaining sauce on top of enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Cover and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove cover and bake for 5-10 minutes.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Venison Stuffed Mushrooms

I usually don't make this as stuffed mushrooms.  I'm too cheap to buy 2 whole pounds of mushrooms unless they are on really good sale, so I usually get two 12 oz packages of mushrooms and call that good enough, so I end up with smothered mushrooms, but they are still yummy like that! 

I love making these for special occasions or potlucks, but they aren't really pretty in a picture, so when I made them for New Year's, I didn't take a picture.  I'm still posting the recipe (finally) though, as part of my late New Year's resolution to try to post all my favored recipes, regardless of whether I have a decent picture or any picture at all.

Venison Stuffed Mushrooms

1 1/2 to 2 pounds fresh mushrooms, stems removed, chopped, and reserved
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 pound ground venison (or ground meat or meat substitute of choice), browned
2/3 cup dry Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup soft bread crumbs
2 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place mushroom caps upside down in a 9x13 baking pan.  Melt butter in a large skillet.  Add chopped mushroom stems, bell pepper, and garlic powder.  Saute for about 5 minutes; remove from heat.  In a large bowl, mix ground venison, bread crumbs, cheese, and mushroom stem mixture.  Spoon mixture onto mushroom caps.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Mouthwatering Burritos--a new take on leftovers

I'm always on the lookout for new recipes.  Two kinds of recipes that especially appeal are super quick, easy recipes that still use real food, not a bunch of prepackaged convenience "food", and recipes that use random bits of leftovers in a new and delicious way.

Burritos fit both of these criteria.  The other night when I didn't feel like cooking, I came up with this to use some leftover rice, some salsa that no one was eating and I was worried it would go bad soon, and a partial can of refried beans.  It is good enough that I might consider making up fresh rice, opening a jar of salsa specifically for it, and opening a can of refried beans as well! 

Burritos

cooked rice

salsa

refried beans

large flour tortillas

Cheddar, Monteray jack, colby or a "Mexican" cheese blend

sour cream (optional)

other fillings such as guacamole, seasoned meat, lettuce, etc (optional)

2 tbsp olive oil

Combine the rice with the salsa in desired proportions and heat through.  Spread a thin layer of refried beans on each tortilla.  Layer seasoned rice, cheese, and any other toppings onto the burrito and fold.  Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Place burrito on skillet and gently brown each side before serving.

Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

I love stuffed peppers. The rest of my family does not. They like the filling alright, which is also my favorite part, but don't want the peppers. So why not have the best of both worlds? This casserole is mostly filling for stuffed peppers, but it doesn't use as many peppers so everyone likes it better...and it takes a lot less time to make!

Using venison, homemade soup or sauce, and and homegrown veggies, this meal costs under $3 to feed my family!  So simple, but so yummy and so cheap!

  

Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

1/2 lb ground meat

1 onion, diced

3 cups cooked rice

approx 20oz tomato sauce or tomato soup, divided

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 green bell peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brown ground meat with onion.  In a 2-quart casserole dish, combine rice, about half the tomato sauce/soup, garlic, paprika, and salt.  Stir in cooked meat mixture and green peppers.  Top with remaining soup/sauce and sprinkle Cheddar cheese on top.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Eggplant and Tomato Casserole

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

It is probably just as well that my phone, which I use to take all my pictures for this blog, is broken.  I wouldn't want to show you a picture of this stuff anyway.  It does not look tasty, but boy is it!  My kids didn't like it, but I think it was just too much of a "grown-up" dish, not so pleasing to a child's palate...either that or they couldn't get over how yucky it looked!

Really, it is yummy though, so just close your eyes when you eat it if you need to.  It's worth it!

Considering I didn't have to pay for any of the vegetables (either I grew them or a friend did) or the venison (my father-in-law's hunting bounty he shared with us), I estimate this meal cost about $2 to feed the family.  

Eggplant and Tomato Casserole

1 medium eggplant, pared and sliced 1/4 thick

salt, to taste

1/3 lb ground meat

1 small onion, halved and sliced thinly

2 tbsp fresh basil

4 medium tomatoes, sliced thinly

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350.  Season the eggplant with the salt and let stand for 10-15 minutes.  Drain off liquid that forms.

Brown ground meat, adding onions and basil toward end of cooking time; set aside.  Quickly brown eggplant slices on each side.

Place 1/3 of the eggplant slices in a casserole dish.  Layer 1/3 of the tomatoes, 1/3 of the meat mixture, 1/3 cup of the cheese, 1/3 of the tomatoes, 1/3 of the meat mixture, 1/3 of the cheese, and the last of the tomatoes.  Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the tomatoes, then layer on the last of the meat mixture and the last of the cheese.  Mix olive oil and bread crumbs; spread over casserole.  Bake for 30 minutes until top is golden brown and eggplant is tender.

Meatmuffins

The short version:  a meatmuffin is a mini-meatloaf made in muffin cups rather than a full sized loaf pan.  My kids don't like meatloaf, but my husband and I do, so this is a great way to keep everyone happy!  Plus, as an added bonus, I realized that I could slip in some frozen homemade tomato soup I made last year that we didn't like in them, so it wouldn't go to waste.  Yay!  I was wondering what I was going to do with that! 

There are other advantages to meatmuffins, even if you don't have old tomato soup lurking in your freezer looking for a use.  These things take a lot less time to cook, so the are great if you need to get dinner on the table more quickly or don't want the oven on very long to keep it from heating up the house.  Not only that, but they are great for portion control if you are on a diet, or just are trying to limit your meat consumption. 

The limited meat consumption was a huge part of why I decided to make these last night.  I've been wanting meatloaf, but we are almost out of ground venison, so I need to be using it sparingly.  If I made a regular meatloaf, I would have used at least a whole pound and we probably would have eaten it all.  I made a half batch of this recipe last night (turned the other half into freezer meatballs), and we ate a total of 10 of them, so there are still a couple in the freezer for next time I want meatloaf or to send with my husband for part of a lunch at work.

Meatmuffins

1 1/2 lbs ground meat
2/3 cup dry oats
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup condensed tomato soup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  If using a lower fat meat such as venison, grease the bottom of 24 muffin cups.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  You may need to use your hands to thoroughly mix (be sure to take of any rings and wash your hands really well and/or wear gloves.  Yuck!).  Fill muffin cups approximately 3/4 of the way full.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until lightly brown on the outside and no longer pink in the middle.   Top with ketchup if desired.

Unused meatmuffins may be frozen in a freezer safe container or bag.  To reheat, thaw completely then bake at 350 degrees for 10-20 minutes until heated through.

Use-it-up Harvest Spaghetti Sauce

I'm starting to think I'd do all right on the show MasterChef, especially on those Mystery Box Challenges, since apparently I face the basically the same thing at home on a fairly regular basis!  Just the other day, I had a half pound of ground venison that needed to be used up, an abundance of summer squash, an assortment of other garden veggies, and kids that wanted spaghetti for dinner.  I came up with a super hearty and delicious spaghetti sauce that it barely needed the spaghetti to make it a meal!  I only ended up using half the box of spaghetti to feed the whole family!  Keeping that in mind, using garden veggies, homemade tomato sauce, and venison my father-in-law gave us (we ran out of what my husband got.  Guess I need to send him out more to hunt this year!), this whole meal cost under $1 to feed the whole family!

Another nice thing about this meal is that it is super quick!  Start it when you start your water to boil for the pasta and by the time the pasta is ready to serve, so is the sauce! 

Harvest Spaghetti Sauce

1/2 lb ground meat
1 small onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 small summer squash, pared (if desired), quartered and sliced
2 cups plain tomato sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tomato, chopped

Brown ground meat with onion and green pepper.  Add summer squash and saute until squash just begins to soften.  Add tomato sauce, garlic, basil, oregano, and tomato.  Simmer about 10 minutes.  Serve on pasta, topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

Zucchini Pasta Bake

This recipe could easily be made into a vegetarian version by omitting the meat (just use a little olive oil for cooking the veggies) or even a vegan version by substituting nutritional yeast flakes for the Parmesan, but my family loved it with the ground venison I used when I made this yummy dinner.  Even though I had to buy some tomatoes at the farmers market, this meal for the whole family was still under $3!

Zucchini Pasta Bake

2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta
1/2 lb ground meat
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, peeled, quartered and sliced
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain.

Brown ground meat with onion.  Add zucchini, tomato, garlic powder, basil, oregano, and salt.  Cook for about 5 minutes. 

Combine pasta and vegetable mixture in a 2-quart casserole dish.  Stir in the tomato sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Zucchini Casserole

Last night, I could resist temptation no longer.  Even though it was still hot as Hades outside, I couldn't resist the appeal of zucchini casserole any longer.  I don't have any fresh tomatoes from the garden yet, so I used some canned tomatoes from last year (drained), and I didn't have any croutons so I substituted 1 cup cubed homemade bread (crusts removed) plus 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs.  It would have been better with the fresh tomatoes, but the canned tomatoes got the job done, so my belly was full and happy.  Not only that, but with the homemade bread, homegrown veggies, and venison that my husband got last fall, this entire meal cost less than $4 to feed the whole family.

Zucchini Casserole

1 lb ground meat
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 medium to large zucchini, peeled and sliced
4-5 tomatoes, chopped
8 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tbsp fresh basil (1 tsp basil)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cup seasoned croutons
1 tsp Parmesan cheese

Brown meat with onion and green pepper; drain off excess fat.  In a large bowl, combine zucchini, tomatoes, and cheddar.  Add meat mixture, basil, salt, pepper, and croutons.  Mix thoroughly (with hands if needed).  Pour into an ungreased 2-quart casserole dish and top with sprinkled Parmesan.  Bake uncovered at 350 for one hour.

Meatball Subs

Who wants a $5 Footlong when you can have these homemade subs for a lot less money (like $5 to feed the whole family!), minus meat of mysterious quality, that taste so much better, and you don't even have to leave home to get them!

Mini Meatball Subs

3 cups plain tomato sauce (preferably homemade with homegrown tomatoes)
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
24 meatballs  or enough to fill the subs
8 whole grain mini sub buns
8 slices mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine tomato sauce, basil, oregano, onion powder, and garlic powder in a small casserole dish with a lid.  Stir in meatballs so they are coated in sauce.  Cover and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Open sub buns and place, open end up, on a baking sheet.  Split cheese and place it so it covers bottom of buns.  Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Spoon heated meatballs on sub buns and serve.

Nachos

Back before I knew how to cook, I'd frequently order nachos at restaurants when I'd eat out.  How silly was that?  Now, nachos is one of my go-to quick and easy meals when I don't really feel like cooking or don't have a lot of time to put something together.  It is a great way to use up partial onions, peppers, and tomatoes, as well as being versatile to suit a number of picky eaters with one meal or able to adjust to what you have on hand.

The picture above actually demonstrates the flexibility of this tasty treat to some extent.  My boys love olives, but my husband, my daughter, and I don't care for them.  When putting this together tonight, I just put olives on half of it to accommodate this varying tastes.  I also put onions and green peppers on the half that didn't have the olives, since my husband, daughter, and I like those veggies.  When serving it, my husband and I got one end, my 6 year old got the far side, and my oldest and youngest boys, as well as my daughter ate more from the middle, so no one got upset if a veggie wandered some place it shouldn't have when the cheese was melting.

Nachos

Tortilla chips
cheese:  monterey jack, cheddar, colby, or some combination
other toppings:  refried beans, ground meat (seasoned or unseasoned), shredded chicken (seasoned or unseasonded), peppers (green, jalapeno or other), onions, olives, green onions, tomatoes, or anything else that sounds good.
condiments:  salsa, sour cream (or plain yogurt), guacamole, taco sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the tortilla chips on the bottom of a baking pan (9x13 is a good size for a family).  Dollop refried beans on top of the chips.  Spread cheese over beans.  Distribute other toppings over the cheese as desired.  Bake for 10 minutes and serve with condiments of choice.

Best Lasagna Ever

Don't worry, vegetarian friends, I'll share some of my favorite vegetarian lasagnas another time (or you could just use TVP or frozen veggie crumbles in place of the ground meat).  Today's adventure is about my mega cheap lasagna, that my 6 year old dubbed and my husband and I agreed is the best lasagna ever! My husband thinks that the venison is part of what made it so fantastic, but even with some other meat, it should still be pretty darn awesome.

I got the milk I used to make the ricotta and the mozzarella for free, made my tomato sauce from garden tomatoes last fall (herbs also mostly garden), and used venison my husband got last fall for the ground meat, so I only paid about $2 for this entire lasagna, but even if I had to pay for the dairy, it would still only cost about $5 to make.  Can you even buy a piece of lasagna at a restaurant for that little?   I was hoping to get two meals for the family out of it, but there wasn't enough left over.  Oh, well.  Maybe next time, I'll have some homegrown salad to pair with it so there'll be more left!

Meat Lasagna

1 lb ground meat
1 onion, diced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 cups plain tomato sauce
9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
2 cups ricotta cheese
3 tbsp fresh parsley
2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
1/4-1/2 cup cheddar (optional)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Brown the meat and cook with onions until no pink remains.  Add basil, oregano, garlic, and tomato sauce and let simmer while the noodles cook.  Cook the noodles according to package directions.   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, parsley, and 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella.  In an ungreased 9x13 baking dish, spoon some of the meat and tomato sauce mixture, enough to barely cover the bottom.  Layer 3 cooked noodles, half the cheese mixture, 1/3 of the remaining meat mixture, 3 more noodles, the remaining cheese mixture, half of the remaining meat mixture, the last 3 noodles, and the remaining meat mixture.  Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella, the cheddar, and the Parmesan over the top.  Bake for 35 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Shipwreck

Growing up, one of the reasons I liked to go to my cousins' grandparents' house (not our shared grandparents, the other ones) was that their grandma made a yummy dish for dinner called shipwreck.  I never had it anywhere else, and am not sure I remembered what exactly was in it, but I remember liking it a lot.  Years later, around the time I got married, I came across a recipe for something also called shipwreck.  I have no idea whether it actually is the same dish and I tweaked it after I found it, but my family enjoys it and it is a good use of foods that store a long time, so I figured it was worth a share.  Since I have some cooking in the oven at the time I'm writing this, I figured now was a good time to share, since I'm not inviting you all to dinner tonight!

Shipwreck

4 potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 lb ground meat of your choice

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (10.75 oz) can condensed tomato soup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Arrange the potato slices in the bottom of a two quart casserole dish.  Crumble the ground meat over top of the potatoes.  Spread the onion slices over the meat.  Layer the beans on top of the onions and spread the soup over top.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and bake for an additional hour.

Masses of Meatballs

Making meatballs is another way I can stretch a little meat a long way.  I make giant batches of meatballs at once, freeze them, and just pull out as many meatballs as I need for a meal.  I find that about 4 meatballs makes an adult happy in a meal, when properly sauced, and children will usually be happy with less.  A pound of ground meat goes really far this way!  I generally use either ground venison from my husband's hunting, or ground turkey that can be found in the frozen food section of the grocery store for $1.59 regular price, but I generally pick it up for a $1 a pound on sale.  Any ground meat would work in this recipe though, so use what you like.

Half a batch

Meatballs

6 lbs ground meat

2 2/3 cups dry outs or cooked brown rice

2 cups onion, diced

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp garlic powder

8 eggs

2 2/3 cups ketchup or tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, using hands if necessary to thoroughly mix.  Form into small balls using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon.  Place the meatballs on a greased baking sheet (if you wish to save a lot of cleaning time, you can also line the baking sheet with aluminum foil, but that obviously would be a lot less frugal).  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned and no longer pink in the middle.  At this point, you can either use some right away, or cool them for freezing.  Freeze directly on cookie sheets then transfer to a large freezer container or freezer bags once frozen, so that you can pull out just what you need.

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Here are some of my favorite sauces for these meatballs.  For all of these, I just make the sauce as directed, then add meatballs and heat through.  Ideally, the meatballs would be thawed first, but I honestly never remember, so I end up throwing them in frozen and heat them a bit longer.

• Brown gravy
• Salisbury sauce (1 1/2 cup white sauce plus 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce)
• Barbecue sauce
• Spaghetti sauce
• Teriyaki sauce

Enjoy!

Buying fewer groceries

People have often asked me how the heck I can feed my family of 5 (or 6, depending on if my oldest is with me or his dad) for about $30 a week on average.  Well, to begin with, I garden.  Even in our tiny trailer park lot, I'm able to grow quite a bit, and I'm sure this will be a topic of many blog posts to come, so you can learn from my several years of accomplishing this.  Plus, I glean goodies from my parents' garden and I know someone with chickens that I can usually get free eggs from.  I often make my own bread as well (although probably not as often as I should.  I'm still working on this).

The fewer groceries we have to buy, the less we have to spend, right?  And the less prepackaged stuff we have to buy, we can spend even less and probably improve our health as well, since we are in complete control of what goes in the food, right?  Sounds great when talking about basic things like meats, eggs, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, even breads.  Any of those are pretty easy to stick to the basics and get ingredients that it is easy to identify the source of, or perhaps even create them ourselves (with the help of animals in some cases).  But, when it comes to how to prepare some of these things, that's where a lot of people get tripped up.  For a long time, even I was buying things like canned sloppy joe sauce, taco seasoning, and cocktail sauce (popcorn shrimp is one of my guilty luxuries that I allow myself from time to time!).  I noticed however, that my daughter would have severe behavioral problems after eating tacos, so I needed to figure out a different kind of seasoning for them that I knew she wouldn't react to.  And then once I forgot to put cocktail sauce on my shopping list so had to improvise at dinner time when it came to that night...and discovered a super easy, inexpensive alternative.  And then there was that time when I got a craving for some sloppy joes, but didn't have any sauce, so I figured out how to make that as well.  Today, I'm going to share these money saving recipes with you.  I'll admit, a couple of these recipes involve a fair amount of ketchup.  That is one thing I haven't started making myself yet, but I have seen a recipe that looks promising in the book Nourishing Traditions, if you want to truly start from scratch on these recipes.  First the recipe that doesn't contain ketchup:

Taco Seasoning Mix

2 tsp minced dried onions

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp cornstarch (optional, if you want it to be a little thicker)

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container or use right away just like you would a store-bought package mix (brown ground meat, drain off fat, add seasoning + 1/2 cup water, simmer about 10 minutes)

Cocktail Sauce

leftover shrimp & cocktail sauce ready for someone's lunch

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp honey

1/3 tsp salt

pinch of black pepper

Thoroughly combine all ingredients in a cup or small bowl.  Chill for an hour and serve.

Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground meat 

1 medium onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup water

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp red pepper

1 tbsp Worchester sauce

Cook the meat, onion, and green pepper together in a skillet until the meat is browned and the vegetables have started to soften.  Drain off any excess fat.  Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer until desired consistency.  Serve on hamburger buns.

See how easy saving money can be?

Dealing with leftovers

For a long time, I hated leftovers.  There was never enough for everyone to have some another time and I strongly dislike preparing special meals for anyone that couldn't have some of the leftovers.  I'm not such a fan of eating the same thing day after day anyway.  I came up with a few ideas to manage leftovers though, so now we almost never have leftovers go to waste.

1) Send the leftovers as lunch:  This works best if there is someplace to reheat it, but even if there isn't, it may be possible to use a wide-mouth Thermos to keep something warm until lunchtime.  This is my favorite way to handle a single serving of a leftover meal.  It also works very well for larger portions of leftovers that freeze well.  I freeze individual servings in reusable freezer containers to be used as homemade microwave meals for my husband to take to work as needed.

2) Have one or two dinners a week be "leftover" night.  If there are a lot of leftovers over a few days, I'll set them up buffet style on the kitchen counter and let everyone pick out what they want on their plate.

3) Use components of previous meals to make a new different meal a different night.  For example, last night we had baked chicken, rice, corn, and carrots.  I cooked up a whole chicken to use over several meals and I made a lot of extra rice so one of those meals will be chicken fried rice (chicken recipes will be for a future post).  Another example is our dinner tonight--a couple nights ago, we had tacos and, since the taco meat isn't or family's favorite part of the taco, we usually have a lot of leftover taco meat.  Rather than having to splurge on taco shells twice for one week (or freezing the meat for next time we want tacos), I'll frequently make another recipe involving taco meat.  I have two such recipes right now, so we have options.  Tonight, I'm planning on serving "Mexican egg rolls".  They are neither truly Mexican (since I invented them and am not Mexican), nor are they probably truly egg rolls (what actually makes an egg roll an egg roll anyway?), but they use an egg roll wrapper and leftovers from taco night, so that's what I call them.  My oldest son is kind of a picky eater and doesn't care for any sort of egg roll, so when he's here, I use my other taco meat leftover recipe--soft taco casserole.  I really like using these "planned leftovers", since it cuts down considerably on prep times for homecooked meals for the family and makes it easier to consistently get good food on the table!

Since we are dealing with leftovers, all quantities in these recipes are approximate.  Adjust according to what you have available and/or taste.

MEXICAN EGG ROLLS

1/2 lb taco meat

8 oz cheddar cheese

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 pkg egg roll wrappers

water for sealing wrappers

vegetable oil for frying (optional)

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Place 2 to 3 tbsp of the meat and cheese mixture into the center of an egg roll wrapper. Use a spoon, basting brush, or your clean finger to moisten the corners of the egg roll wrapper. Fold the bottom corner of the wrapper tightly over the mixture, then fold in the sides, then the top corner. Repeat with the rest of the egg roll wrappers.

Pour vegetable oil into a deep frying pan to a depth of 3 or 4 inches. Heat to 350 degrees (or until a wooden chopstick stuck into it boils almost immediately). Carefully place egg rolls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. When removed from oil, let drain on paper towels.

For a healthier variation (that my family agrees doesn't taste nearly as good), lightly spray egg rolls with cooking spray, place on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

SOFT TACO CASSEROLE

1/2-1 lb taco meat

5 tortillas (sized to fit casserole dish)
1 can refried beans
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup salsa or leftover tomatoes from taco night (or both)

 Layer half of the prepared taco meat in the bottom of a round casserole dish. Layer a tortilla, half the beans, a tortilla, half the cheese, a tortilla, the rest of the meat, a tortilla, the rest of the beans, a tortilla, and the rest of the cheese. Top with salsa and/or tomatoes. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbly. Serve with sour cream, taco sauce, and/or lettuce.