A Few Things from the Kitchen

An attempt at cake doughnuts.

They weren’t pretty,but they tasted good.

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers and Rosemary Potatoes

Gluten free Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits

Big Mac in a Bowl (New to Us Recipe)

I’m not a huge Big Mac fan, but my husband loves them.  We decided to try this recipe.

http://healthytofit.org/big-mac-in-a-bowl-healthy-and-fit/

It was a hit.  I even enjoyed them.  I did make a few changes.  I used ground turkey, which I cooked with onions and bell pepper added.  I seasoned it with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  We also used a regular Thousand Island Dressing.

Batch Cooking Ground Turkey — Mini Cooking Session

I haven’t really felt the need to do huge cooking days since I am only cooking for two right now.

However, I still like to do some meal prep.  Now I am mostly just doubling or tripling when I cook.

I took 2 pounds of ground turkey and divided it for four meals.

I seasoned this with bell pepper, onion, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to keep it kind of generic.

I made one meatloaf for the freezer.  I’ll cook this in the crockpot when I cook it.

I kept one portion out for Big Mac in a Bowl (recipe share coming tomorrow) — I kept this warm in the crockpot until supper time.

One portion went into the refrigerator — it will go in pasta sauce to serve over spaghetti squash.

The last portion went into the freezer and will either go in chili, a “hamburger” helper, or another pasta dish.  

Trying a Pinterest Recipe

I tried my hand at homemade "Cheez Its."

They weren't to bad, but in the future I will probably add more cheese.  

The recipe is a simple one, and I'll probably make these again.

A Week of Simple Dishes

 I’m still adjusting to one and sometimes only two being around at meal time.  Added to that for this week has been a topsy turvy schedule that has had me not knowing who would be here until the day of and sometimes mere hours before.  So in no particular order these are the main dishes I pulled together in keeping with the pantry challenge.

 We served breakfast one night that included hash.  I know this isn’t the healthiest dish, but I always keep some in my hurricane box.  Once the season has passed I try to make sure we rotate this stock.  

 

I thawed a 2 pound package of lean ground turkey breast, which I used in a pot of vegetable soup and for filling for Shepherd’s or Cottage Pie.  I had enough to make two casseroles so I took advantage and made one for the freezer for next week.  To change it up I’ll serve the one tonight topped with mashed potatoes, but I’ll use a box of stuffing from the pantry to give the second one a different twist next week.  I love it when I can cook once and get multiple meals from it.  (The soup will be for my lunches and for anyone who wants a bowl as a side with meals.) 

Pumpkin Oatmeal bars that used up the rest of a can of pumpkin and some lingering raisins.

A simple dessert using a box of pudding I had hidden in the pantry.

Homemade pizza night -- I made pepperoni rolls for my daughter and then a pan pizza (gluten free) for myself.

Sorry for the dark photo -- beef stew using home canned veggies and beef from the freezer.

 I baked a small pan of macaroni and cheese, and the leftovers went home with my daughter for her to have a quick meal on her busiest day.

Then for a lunch for myself, as I continue to eat up the hurricane food supply, I heated a can of chili and topped it with some cheese.  

Nothing Beats Homemade

In an effort to keep using up items on hand I decided to look for recipes that will use up some of the canned pumpkin I have.  I found this recipe I had saved for a cakelike chocolate pumpkin doughnuts.  I altered mine to make them gluten free and for some reason I only ended up with 6 instead of the 8 the recipe said it would make.  However, they were a hit.  

The original recipe is here.

https://www.dashofsanity.com/chocolate-pumpkin-cake-donuts/

January Challenge — Use it Up

I don’t know why I didn’t photograph it, or if the photo simply didn’t “take”, but Carol (previously of CT on a Budget now on Facebook for those of you missing her blog like I was) has been encouraging us to make sure we don’t let any leftovers go to waste.  Always a good frugal practice!!!!  

After all the holiday indulgences we were craving some simple food and I made a pot of beef stew.  Of course we had leftovers.  I decided to turn the leftovers into a pot pie, which is missing from my saved photos.  Since I was going to dirty the food processor anyway to make pie dough and have the oven going, I thought I may as well have it all do double duty.  I made enough dough for three pie shells — double for the pot pie and single for this peach pie.  I cooked the pot pie at the lower temperature that the peach pie calls for (only about 50 degrees lower than I would normally cook the pot pie anyway) and just increased the time.  

 I used not only the beef stew, but all the ingredients came from items I already had on hand including using canned peaches for the pie. I reduced the sugar content and made both dishes gluten free. The bonus, my husband absolutely loves peach pie, and he was a happy camper!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Oat Bars Recipe (with "regular" flour directions included)

Chocolate Chunk Oat Bars Recipe

1 cup of Better Batter flour (or all purpose flour if not making gluten free)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups uncooked old fashioned oats certified gluten free (or not gluten free as desired)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks (I like Enjoy Life brand), divided

Preheat oven 375 F.  Grease an 8" square pan and set aside.
In small bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in oats.  Set aside.
In larger bowl, cream sugar and butter.  Add egg, water, and vanilla mixing until well blended.  Stir in flour and oats.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups of chocolates.
Spread dough evenly in the pan.  Sprinkle the last 1/2 cup of chips on top of the bars and press down slightly.  Bake about 30 minutes or until the center feels firm.  Cool on wire rack.

Cut into bars.

Canning Split Pea Soup

Sharing a bit of my small batch canning.  I like to cook a family sized recipe and can the excess so I have ready-made soups.  (The recipe is typed out under the video on the YouTube site.)

Blueberry Muffin Recipes

The Bisquick blueberry muffins are found here:

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/blueberry-muffins/ca00251f-d317-4b55-bdce-d32fa7d8c142


I do not thaw my blueberries.  I add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of orange zest.




The Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins:
by Nicole Hunn https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/

This recipe is from Gluten Free on a Shoestring and the following is my pithy directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together:
1 stick of room temperature butter
2/3 cup of sugar

Add in:
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Beat until fluffy.

Add in:
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
2 medium super ripe bananas, mashed
Mix well.

In separate bowl combine:
1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour
3/4 tsp xanthan gum  (if using Better Batter flour, omit this.)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until it becomes thick.  Fold your blueberries in.
Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes or until done.

Baked Spaghetti -- typed recipe

Baked Spaghetti (preheat 350F)

8 ounces of cooked spaghetti noodles, drained
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1 to 2 cups of shredded mozzarella
about 4 cups of pasta sauce with your choice of meat and veggies
parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top

Mix egg, milk, 2/3 of mozzarella, and pasta together.  Pour into greased dish.
Top with rest of mozzarella and the parmesan.  Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes.
Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Easy Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese

This is my grandson's favorite mac and cheese.  It's my idea of fast, easy food.  A win-win!

Although I made this in the Instant Pot, I have tried it in two other electric pressure cookers with good results.

Chinese Pot Roast -- Crockpot Recipe

This is a family favorite -- even my pickiest loves it.  As always it is a versatile recipe and you can alter the veggies to suit personal preference.  You can use almost any cut of beef because of the slow cooking.  You can also use the same concept with a pork loin.

Cook with Me -- Chicken Fajitas

We tried a new to use chicken fajita sauce and it was a hit.  I found it at Aldi.  Even my daughter loved it, which is saying something.

Cream of Whatever Soup

Carol, sorry it took so long.  On a good note, I've finished both my classes this week.  I'm slowly working on catching up on the rest of my commitments.


An easy how-to for making any kind of creamy soup you would like for use in casseroles

Freezer Cooking

I found ground beef on mark down this week at almost half off.  I decided to prep it for freezer meals.  Not bad for about 30 to 40 minutes work.  Plus I’m ahead of the game for some future meals.

Saturday Morning Food Prep

We are still working on using things up.

I had Biquick left that I bought to make sausage balls for my husband’s Christmas party.

This used up the last of it.

These are for my daughter’s breakfasts this week.

I cleaned the waffle iron well and made a triple batch of gluten free waffles, too.

This used up a box of mix I had in my cabinet of gluten free items.

I ended up with 22....by the time I took a photo my husband had already swiped a few.

Part of these will go with him this week, we will eat some, and then I will pop any left in the freezer.

We’re continuing to use things up to make sure our stock is rotated.

The bonus is that this gives us a head start on our upcoming week.

Pressure Cooker “Egg Bites” aka “Mini Quiches”

Apparently these things are all the rage amount the IP community.

Starbucks sells some overpriced version.

This is my quick version.

6 eggs, beaten with a dash of milk added

Some crumbled cooked bacon, shredded cheddar, onion powder, etc.

1 cup of water under the trivet in the IP

6 minutes high pressure

5 minutes natural release

Remove from pressure cooker.

Cool for 4 minutes and pop from liners.

You can easily use silicone baking cups.

If you don’t have any or just want this little shape they sell various molds.

Obviously this is a pretty versatile way to use up leftovers.

Pretty much any meat will work, pretty much any cheese, pretty much any form of milk/cream, etc.

 These are perfect to make up on a weekend to grab to go with breakfast throughout the week.

Waste Not Want Not (Using up Produce)

It never fails that I end up with something lingering in the veg bin of the refrigerator.   While I was making out my menus, I did a quick glance to see what was there, and a huge eggplant was staring back at me.  I’ve been craving tomatoes — vitamin C I am guessing.  So I decided to make eggplant lasagna with the self imposed restriction of only being able to use what I had on hand.

A quick pull through and I found I had more than enough ingredients to pull together a decent vegetarian lasagna.  I used:

Garlic (Sam’s Club)

Kalmata Olives (Aldi)

Parmesan (Lidl/Aldi)

Mushrooms (Dollar Tree)

Tomato Powder (food storage)

Canned tomatoes (Walmart purchased on sale and with coupon)

Dried onion (food storage)

Dried bell pepper (food storage)

Ricotta (Lidl?)

Egg (Aldi)

Italian seasoning (Sam’s Club)

Eggplant (Aldi)

I sliced my eggplant and salted it to draw out some moisture and bitterness.

I mixed the ricotta, the powdered parm, and an egg together and set aside.

I put the sauce ingredients (except for tomato powder) in the pressure cooker along with a can of water.

30 minutes (soup function)

Then stirred in tomato powder to thicken it.

Rinsed and drained the eggplant and assembled two lasagnas.

This one I topped with cheese immediately and put in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes.

The one in the glass baking dish is not topped with cheese. 

I’ll top it with cheese when I get ready to cook it, but for now it is going in the freezer.

This was really good!

Packing for Vacation — Food Prep

On one hand, having food allergies is more expensive.

Some ingredients just cost more.

On the other hand, it can be quite frugal in a way....simply because you have to cook your own.

My daughter and I spent hours getting mixes, seasonings, canned and boxed items, etc. together for our upcoming vacation.

I was able to pull all of this from our food storage so that was nice.

I also have a turkey breast bought on sale at Thanksgiving that will come from the freezer.

I’m picking up my extra meats the day we leave.

When we arrive at our destination — grocery prices are higher there — I will pick up fresh fruit, eggs, and a few things like that.

Basically the items I don’t want to try to transport that far.

 Not too bad for a week’s meals of 3 a day for 6 people.