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We're been paring cheese like crazy. Earlier in the week it was Chicken Tortellini Soup with spinach and mushrooms, and today I made bean soup from scratch. So good, so cheap.
I had planned to cook the beans with some turkey kielbasa which I always get as a two-fer, but when the "kielbasa" thawed, it was a Chorico. Thanks heavens it wasn't a banana. I do freeze overripe bananas, and when I get three, I make banana bread. Amazing the difference that extra banana makes. It takes the bread to a whole new level.
The chorico made the soup even more delicious than usual. Recipe was 3/4 lb. of navy beans, one large onion, chopped, 3 cloves garlic, 4 slices chopped thick-cut bacon, the chorico (about 12 oz) and 1 can low-fat low-salt (14 oz) chicken broth and 1 14 oz. can garden vegetable broth. I usually add carrot, chopped, but I forgot. I added 1 t. dried thyme for more flavor.
I serve this with homemade southern-style cornbread. This is a recipe, at least 200 years old, that calls for only corn meal (stone ground is best), buttermilk, egg, salt, shortening (your choice), baking soda and baking powder. NO SUGAR. It tastes so good and so wholesome and a little whipped butter on it just hits the spot. Sugar in cornbread is a yucky New England tradition like flour tortillas that must be cast out.
We had a salad with the rest of the spinach bought for the soup, grape tomatoes and a good Caesar store-bought on sale dressing. I've been saving between 20-30 percent every week at the grocery store and am psyched!
It really helps to plan menus around the specials, especially the meat and the produce.
Slowly, but surely, I'm getting caught up after the holiday. How about you? We ate the last of the frozen cheese twists on Monday. So nice to have hors d'oeuvres in the freezer, and cookies, too. I froze some of each recipe of the cookies I baked, and we had them well into January.
The oven thermostat crapped out early in January, and we cooked on the stovetop for a few weeks. The stove was 22+ years, so it did need to be replaced. I got a fancy Kenmore with a nice warming oven (where bread can be proofed) and a convection oven and a fancy burner in the middle that takes a griddle. We'll be cooking up a storm to figure out how everything works.
I did pork tenderloin two ways right off the bat. We get them as two-fers, and I made cutlets out of one and served them with a red currant/wine sauce (mega-yum) and stuffed the other with a bread stuffing mix left over from Thanksgiving. Made a rosehip jelly sauce for that. These cheap Ocean State Job Lot jams make good sauces, too. A bit of broth, a little wine, some seasonings, and maybe a tablespoon of jelly make a great sauce. Don't be afraid to experiment.
Yours in frugality,
The Cheeseparer
We live next door to two young men who have discretionary income. Once (just once) they had a dinner party and planted flowers in in the yard beforehand and pulled them all up afterward. Another year, they put a nice but wilted cherry tomato plant out in the trash. The trash collectors whipped the plant into their cab, not the back of the truck. I heard one of them say, "Just needs a little water."
Today is trash day, post New Year's. After beaucoup house guests and the big changing of the cat litter, we had a lot of garbage, in spite of recyling of plastic and bottles plus newspapers and using the cardboard as kindling for the fireplace.
The site of a discarded Christmas tree in the neighbor's waiting trash was not so remarkable, but what was crazy was that it was still decorated. I walked the few yards along the street from our trash to theirs, and found a lovely little Norfolk pine still adorned with beautiful sparkly red balls. Of course I removed them, because some of ours are pushing old age, and felt sad that the tree was to be discarded. The instructions said it could not tolerate cold under 45 degrees, and we are still in the thirties and were low twenties last night. Then Significant Other mentioned that their trash had been put out just this morning.
I'm as tender-hearted with plants as with animals. I mourn each houseplant that bites the dust and each annual that succumbs to frost in the fall.
I rescued the Norfolk Pine. They are devilishly difficult to grow, and need certain temperature, water and humidity requirements that are going to make this a major pain in the butt.
Nevertheless. It is mine, along with 15 or so nice new ornaments.
Scrounging is what I do best. My only bad luck was to acquire a table for the porch at the Wellesley Dump that apparently harbored a poltergeist. It was returned months later with apologies to the spirit. Never had that before. Wouldn't have believed it. Still don't, but it happened.
I'm posting a link to the World's Best Macaroni and Cheese and it doesn't cost a fortune, using as it does ordinary grocery store ingredients. The Christmas bills and the economy are fearsome, so we all must cope. It's a recipe that both kids and adults will love.
Trust me. This recipe rocks!
http://www.bigoven.com/124565-The-Best-Macaroni-And-Cheese-recipe.html
Yours in frugality. Think good thoughts for the Norfolk Pine.
The Cheeseparer
