Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Minestrone with Sausage

A few weeks ago our supermarket had a special on Italian sausage. It was $1.00 per pound or some ridiculously cheap price so I tossed a pound into the shopping cart and then into the freezer.

This week, being the end of the month and the money running out, I thumbed through my soup recipes to see what looked good. Keep in mind it's been cold and rainy here in New England, so hearty soup in June is not as weird as one might think.

I found a recipe from Penzeys spices catalog, Minestrone with Italian Sausage. The only things I had to buy were a can of tomatoes and a zucchini. Pare that cheese.

Listen, the soup was fab and I made my food processor bread, because you need to float a loan to buy good bread and this recipe makes two loaves. I used the new oven stone and it came out really well.

We have the remainder of last night's blueberry tart for dessert. Blueberries on sale, and again, too cheap to spring for the Pillsbury crust, so I made my own from the food processor cookbook and was it good! The tart looked and tasted scrumptious. Blueberries on sale this week, natch.

What more can I say? You don't need a lot of money to eat well. We had a salad of spinach from the garden, artichoke hearts from Ocean State Job Lot, and an on-sale tomato. Home made dressing again.

Yeah, I've had to spend some time in the kitchen, but the results have been spectacular. This is not fancy cuisine, just food. But it's tasty and mostly healthy.

By the way, what happened to rhubarb? Our store doesn't carry it this year, and the (young) clerk at another supermarket did not know what it was. She charged us the wrong price, too.

Have you noticed your groceries have not been, like properly bagged for years? The baggers are careful not to put the heavy food on the squashable food, but they load up our bags with two big bottles of cranberry juice, a half gallon milk and a half gallon of o.j. in one bag. I just about get a hernia taking it out of the trunk of the car. Even the manager does it. We said something once and got a VERY dirty look.

I would wring my hands and ask what are things coming to, but I have chores before the Red Sox game. Got to run.

the Cheeseparer
W

Monday, June 29, 2009

Cheap Trick

On Saturday, I saved $48.57 on a $93.36 grocery bill. 21 of the items were on sale. The savings broke down at $1.60 for coupons, Sales items $26.55, and BOGO savings $20.42.

Saturday's shopping involved several challenges. I only had $97.00 left in the grocery budget for the month. The store had some specials I needed to stock up on for houseguests arriving th second week in July. We needed meat for two meals.

I didn't buy any specials that I didn't need immediately or else for the guests. The guests have difficult to meat eating requirements. We don't even want to go there.

What we are eating. I had a package of chicken breasts, and we ate chicken piccata two nights, one night with grilled zucchini and lettuce from the garden, and the second night with corn on the cob and organic romaine hearts on sale at a good price. With the romaine, I could plan that I would use all the lettuce before leaving for the 4th of July weekend.

Last night we had petite sirloin on the grill, and I saved one of the steaks and a portion of a 2nd for steak salad (remember the romaine?) tonight. Cluster tomatoes were also on sale. Tomorrow I'm making a minestrone with Italian sausage, on sale two weeks ago. I bought zucchini and coleslaw mix for the soup, and one can of tomatoes.

Eating cheap does not mean forgoing food pleasures. Remember the steak! Cherries and blueberries were also on sale, and we had blueberry waffles yesterday morning and blueberry pancakes this morning. Sale bacon, of course. Some of the cherries went into a ricotta dessert last night. Tonight I may use the rest of the blueberries for a freeform tart. I'll be making the crust myself and baking some food processor bread tomorrow to go with the soup. I do hate to pay $4.00 a loaf for decent bakery bread. I can make the bread while dealing with the soup.

Thursday, en route to the holiday weekend locale, we're packing a lunch of chicken sandwiches on home made bread, cookies (on sale two weeks ago), chips, plums and coke on special last weekend. We'll eat better and faster.

Remember, eating cheap(er) doesn't mean yucko margarine and boiled cabbage. We had a delicious salad last weekend of cucumber, dill from the garden, and a dressing of plain yogurt and sour cream.

Menu planning and keeping a well-stocked pantry are your greatest helpers on the road to supermarket savings.

For instance, after the chicken piccata, we need capers. I'll haunt the job lot for a nice big jar at a fab price instead of paying through the nose at the grocery store. Capers (if you like them) add zest and flavor to a lot of dishes.

Everything is a balancing act between time, money, health and taste. It's a lot to consider, and you do have to plan ahead.

Yours in frugality,

The Cheeseparer

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A summer salad: Tasty, Healthy, Cheap

This recipe makes a huge bowl, so tasty and good and even good for you. Fresh veggies add mouth and eye appeal, and a home roasted chicken adds even more taste and flavor.

I give it three stars!

Southwestern Chicken and Pasta Salad

Dressing:
2/3 cup vegetable oil 2 limes, juiced
2 TB. Southwest Seasoning 2 tsp salt (I used a little less)
1 ½ t. minced garlic

Salad:
16 oz. rotini pasta (any tubular pasta will do)
1 ½ cups whole kernel corn (I used 2 ears fresh and cut it off the cob)
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup red bell peppers, diced (1 medium)
¾ cup green onions, chopped
1 cup tomatoes – any kind of fresh will do

Recipe calls for 4 boneless, skinless breast halves sautéed in olive oil and sprinkled with the Southwest seasoning, but I used a roasted chicken (the breast, thighs and a little bit of other meat from the bones). Tear or chop chicken into bite sized pieces.

Mix dressing and set aside.
Cook pasta in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside. If you are using fresh chicken breasts, sauté them in oil with Southwest seasoning while the pasta is cooking. Otherwise, remove meat from bones of purchased roasted chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, combine pasta, corn, beans, bell pepper, green onions and tomatoes with the cooked chicken. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Prep time 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 20 minutes (for the pasta)

Serves 6-8 as main dish.

Southwestern Seasoning is from Penzeys. Mix your own Tex-Mex spice mixture if you like or order the original from www.penzeys.com

Yours in frugality and flavor,

The Cheeseparer

Monday, June 8, 2009

Paring Cheese in the Summer

So, we've revved up the smoker for salmon and kielbasa, a BOGO. This weekend we're entertaining, and I'm grilling a pork roast with a special slaw.

The lettuces, spinach and herbs from the garden have been paying big dividends, and the tomatoes are growing like weeds.

Corn is getting cheaper. Potatoes were on sale and I made a bistro potato salad with yukon golds and some onion. My husband gave me a slicer (Mandolin) that makes ultra thin slices and it's fab for onion and cukes. Makes the salads so suave looking. And thin slices use less of the vegetable.

I'm going to make Cuban sandwiches with he leftover pork. You need pork, ham, swiss cheese, crusty bread and pickles. A little garlicky mayo.

Ocean State Job Lot had all manner of picnic stuff today, so I bought paper plates, napkins, toothpicks, and plastic platters for another party. Water, too. The table will look lovely and summery with cheap stuff.

The Job Lot always has a lot of customers these days. No wonder. If you pick your recipes, and buy the store specials, you can always eat well at home. Grow your garden. The rewards are not just cheap produce, but the joy of gardening, and the relaxation of this kind of work. Believe me, it's so worthwhile.