Oatmeal Pancakes, the epitome of cheap eats

I like oatmeal, not the instant flavored variety, but Old Fashioned Quaker Oats.  I also like Silver Palate Oatmeal, which can sometimes be found on sale or at Ocean State Job Lot here in the Boston/Providence area.  Ocean State Job Lot

Silver Palate Oatmeal takes even longer to cook than Quaker Oats.  Of course the Irish steel cut oats are totally delicious, but pricey, and this blog is about pinching pennies.


So imagine how pleased I was to find this recipe in the New York Times Wednesday food section.
Oatmeal Pancakes


I like it for several reasons:  1)  it's nutritious 2) I have all the ingredients 3) not high-cal 4) looks pretty tasty 5) can be served for dinner with some grilled ham and a fruit salad.    Oh, and did I mention EASY?  And Different? 
I'll let you know how edible the oatmeal pancakes are. 
I also have an Austrian recipe for noodles with bacon and cheese that looks pretty good.  At the end of the month when the money might be tight, you need cheap, filling food.  This is the time to go to those bought-on-sale frozen vegetables.  Or to pick up a 99 cent head of iceberg lettuce.
We keep dried fruit on hand:  cranberries, raisins (golden and dark) currants (sometimes) apricots (always) and sometimes dried cherries or whatever I found on sale.  With an apple, orange, banana or grapes and a handful of dried fruit, you have a delicious dessert.  These days, if not on sale, an apple or an orange costs over a dollar.  Bananas are still relatively cheap. 
Banana bread is a killer dessert/breakfast/snack dish. 
Find a recipe that calls for 3 bananas.  That's the whole secret.  Two won't do.  As you acquire overripe bananas, you can pop them into the freezer with skins on, and when you have the magic number, zowie, it's banana bread.  You can toss a handful of fresh or frozen blueberries in for extra taste and nutrition.  Or raisins.  A tad of grated orange rind.  Yummy!  Good for kid's school lunches. 
I'll report back on the pancakes.  With photos if I remember.   And dig up my banana bread recipe.   So easy, so delicious.  And in keeping with our commitment to frugality.
In the meantime, long live oatmeal. 


The Cheeseparer

American Chop Suey

I had some mending and hand-sewing chores (long put off) today, and so I turned on Public Television, which on Saturday afternoon is totally devoted to cooking. The problem was, we are having a really cheapy dinner tonight (and tomorrow and lunch on Monday). This meal is called American Chop Suey, which I learned when I came to the Boston area and discovered a dish by the name on the cafeteria menu.

American Chop Suey is tubular pasta, tomato sauce, ground beef and seasonings baked in a casserole topped with Parmesan cheese. I bad been eating in all my life in school cafeterias. It was one of the few things on the school menu that I would eat.

Now this is tasty, but no one on the PBS or the Food Network is ever going to devote any time to this dish. It's homemade, frugal and plain. Not dreary. We love it.

I put the rest of the ricotta in mine, and used a combo of canned tomatoes and pasta sauce. Again frugal, maybe even cheeseparing. Meanwhile, Ming was roasting delicious chicken and cooking salmon on a bed of veggies and Christopher Kimball was going crazy with smoked and grilled pork chops, all stuff one can get excited over. Todd English was in Japan eating Kobe beef and tongue and noodles and of course Todd is so sexy one can get excited about just strolling through Japanese restaurants with him, vicariously. Then the Foodie Gourmet showed up and they did slow food in Australia and the sight of all that wonderful rhubarb was giving me
palpitations, and the wine and the cute black pigs.

So I finally pulled myself away from the quasi-gluttony and made my way to the kitchen to brown the beef, the onion and garlic, cook the pasta and mix everything together. It's waiting to go into the oven, and I'm still feeling a little let down, but of course the price is right, and unlike Kobe or Wagu beef, it won't break the budget. Hell, it hardly dents it.

Frugally yours, and feeling someone out of sorts,

The Cheeseparer