Even the Wall Street Journal Carps about Food Prices

I couldn't believe the WSJ, a publication that prints a section called "Mansion" every Friday, had a story last week complaining about food prices.  After I read a bit, I realized the woman involved was entertaining 200 guests and serving lots of expensive booze, so naturally the price would be a concern if one is not "made of money" as the saying goes.  Sticker Shock at the Supermarket?

Meat prices are  high, cereal is high, honey will be going through the roof.  What's a shopper to do?  Eggs are still a bargain, and a good omelet (try spinach) or quiche is always within reach.  The Boston Globe's recipe section today (September 3rd) had a quiche with tomtoes and basil featured.  We're going to eat one of those tonight.  Tomatoes and basil from the garden and shredded mozzarella from the grocery story.  The grated cheeses are frequently on sale.  Don't get carried away, as they don't last forever.  Never tried freezing them.  If you've done this successfully, let me know. 

It really pains me to pay $4.00+ for a loaf of decent bread.  I have a good recipe for food processor bread that is easy (just 10 minutes max of total concentration) and tasty.  I invested in a special bread pan for it, as it makes two loaves.  Eat one, freeze one.  Food processor French bread

We're been using tomatoes from the garden in many recipes, and I've tried some new kebab meals that have been successful, both with chicken and with pork.  There was also a fab orzo salad with eggplant, fennel and zucchini.  I'm not a big fan of zucchni which is basically tasteless, but it was o.k. in the salad and also in a vegetable crostata the next night with a whole wheat crust. 

The recipe was for tomatoes,  zucchini and eggplant, and I added some spinach.  It called for fresh mozzarella which I didn't have quite enough of, so I added feta.  Unless you are baking, use the ingredients as a guide.  Of course I made the crust exactly according to instructions. and it was tender and tasty.  Keep your whole wheat flour in the fridge and it will stay fresh. 

Hope this gives you some new ideas.  Think Quiche, Crostata and Kebabs.  Less meat and lots of flavor.  And if you cater a party for 200, serve chicken not beef!  

Bon Appetit! 

Fresh Corn Griddle Cakes

Now that fresh produce season is in high gear, this recipe is cheap.  I always buy stone ground corn meal--so healthy and delicious.  One of the things I like about this recipe is that the corn meal mixture is NOT gunked up with a lot of sugar.   Here is the way our dinner looked.

I had problems chopping the onion (crying jag) so dumped all the coarsely chopped ingredients into the food processor.  This makes for a soupier salsa, but still good.  Couldn't find quesco fresco  but did find a very reasonable grated mixture of REAL Mexican cheese for chump change, and it will be perfect for the pork tacos we're having on Monday.

My garden has fresh mint, basil, parsley, chives, sage, oregano (great to Mexican cooking), tarragon, thyme and rosemary.  Orange cherry tomatoes we have to pick daily.  I dumped a few of them into the salsa.  They're little pops of color and flavor.

Here is the recipe from the New York Times.  Make the salsa early, and you can also prep the batter and dump the wet and dry together when  you're ready.  Really tasty.  Filing, too.  And cheap.

Fresh corn griddle cakes

I use Bob's Red Mill stone ground cornmeal.  Makes all the difference. I like the yellow, but the white is good, too.

Lunch for two for 26 cents!

Do you eat Ramen?   The noodles are my granddaughter's favorite lunch and we by them 12 packs at a time.  By themselves, with just the noodles and flavoring mix, they aren't much, but zowie, can you make them super-tasty.

I like to use part chicken broth if I have any in the fridge for a richer broth.  We chop scallions and mince ginger for the broth.  Cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered.  Thin, thin slices of carrot and/or celery.  Mushrooms, if you have them and like them.  Herbs like cilantro and chives do well.  Little bits of chicken, pork, beef or shrimp can be added.   I chopped a little kale into ours yetserday.  Baby spinach works well, too. 

The end result is a really delicious soup with plenty of healthy veggies.  I always beat the package with a meat mallet to break up the noodles so they are neater to eat, but if you like to slurp them, well, omit this step.  A few frozen peas work well.  Use your imagination.

A hint of curry or red pepper is not amiss.  Sesame oil and soy sauce add resonance.  Hey!  You can cook!

If you're broke at the end of the month, ramen is cheaper than cold cuts  or the salad bar, even cheaper than boxed mac and cheese.   

27 Better Ways To Eat Ramen

Taco Salad Always Pleases

We are eating through the contents of the kitchen freezer this week.  All the ice cream is gone.  I had some frozen steak leftovers, good quality stuff, some from a restaurant meal.  What do make?  Somewhere, I thought I had a steak salad recipe calling for red peppers and black beans.  I couldn't find nothin'.  Grrrr.  What I did find was my ancient taco salad recipe using ground beef, onion, iceberg lettuce, kidney beans,tomatoes, grated cheddar and avocado. 

Hmmm.  Substitutes!  The steak for the ground beef, Boston lettuce and romaine for the iceberg. Black beans for the kidney beans.  The pantry provided the cheese  and the makings for the dressing (dynamite) which was 1/4 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sour cream, and a 3 oz. tin of chopped green chilies which I drained.  Mix together and chill.  Very tasty. 

I had already purchased a smallish red pepper and an avocado.  Had leftover red onion.  I roasted the pepper and the onion for a few minutes to take the rawness off of them.  We also had tortilla chips.  And homegrown tomatoes, small yellow cherries and bigger red ones. 

Looked like a lot of ingredients when assembled.  The recipe said serves 4 and there were two of us.  I served the lettuce separately and also the crumbled tortilla chips.  Used only 1/2 the avocado, and yesterday we had a second meal that tasted as fresh as the first.  Cut the meal up into 1/3 inch cubes.  It went a long way.  This is meat as flavoring, not meat as main course.  Dressing on the side.

Having a well-stocked pantry saves lots of trips to the store:  we had on hand
1)  the beef
2)  onion
3)  cheese
4)   all ingredients for the dressing
5) tomatoes from the garden
6) some cilantro which I forgot the first time and added the second meal.  
7) I chopped up a couple scallions, too.
8)  tortilla chips
9)  black beans 

I bought one smallish red pepper and one avocado and got 2 meals out of the taco salad.

Forgot about a jalapeno in the veggie drawer, but the dressing gave the salad a nice pop of flavor.

This would be a delicious vegetarian meal without the steak.  

I always have onions, cheddar, tomatoes, tortilla chips and black beans.  Also mayo and usually sour cream.  The diced chilies were a serendipitous pantry item.  

Main dish salads are "da bomb" in hot weather, like soup is to cold weather.  No issues with getting enough veggies either.  Shrimp, chicken, beef--all are ideal for summer salads.

Next we travel from Mexico to Italy. Stay tuned for my chicken pesto salad.  

The taco salad looked pretty much like this:  I didn't go overboard with the cheese.

Swiss Steak in an Iron Skillet and other delights

Swiss Steak chez Cheeseparer

My mom used to make something called Swiss steak.  All I remember is that she pounded round steak, browned it after dipping the steak in flour, and did something with onion and tomato and simmered the whole business for a while.  Served it with mashed potatoes and a salad.

As a bride, I tinkered with the recipe a bit, first browning the onions (one large) and removing them from the skillet (note cast iron--ugly but so cook for serious cooking).  Brown round steak, floured, pounded, and seasoned (lots of salt and black pepper) in  fat.  I usually use canola oil and a bit of butter, but all oil is  all right.  When the meat is browned, smother it in the sauteed onions, sprinkle with dried marjoram, and pour an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce over the whole business.  Cover and simmer until tender.

Eat and enjoy.  Don't know if I've ever seen a recipe for Swiss steak.  Round steak is fairly lean (cut off extra fat) and fairly cheap, and has a good beefy flavor.  Oh, I usually saute a garlic clove or two with the onion.  A green vegetable like broccoli, beans, or even Brussels sprouts goes well.

Did your Mom make this, too?  

Old Time Swiss Steak


This is very close to my mom's recipe.  Enjoy!

The Humble Meatloaf Always Pleases

This is slightly fancier than my mom's old recipe, but it calls for the topping of ketchup, mustard and brown sugar she always used.  I took this meatloaf, served cold, to a party last night and folks gobbled it up.  Nice and firm, it cut neatly and easily into small portions.  


I always buy ground beef at the butcher counter, because you can't be too picky.  85% lean yields a tasty meatloaf.  I used marjoram and thyme instead of the sage.  Pick the herb(s) you favor.  Used part scallions, part regular onion.  The cupboard yielded only panko bread crumbs, so I used that. 

Not only do you go to war with the army you have, you often cook with the ingredients on hand.  


This was the first dish I learned to make.  My dad learned to expect it when my mom couldn't cook.  BTW, I substituted cilantro for parsley, being too lazy to go out and cut parsley in the rain. 


Meatloaf tastes good with baked potatoes,  almost any veg. and a green salad.    Sauteed cherry or grape tomatoes (with garlic and herbs) are always a colorful side dish, should they be on sale.   Carrots, also give great color.  Remember, we eat first with our eyes. 


Here is where you'll find the recipe:  Better Homes and Gardens Meat Loaf
I think the recipe was around when God was a boy.   Enjoy.  


The Cheeseparer

Naan Takes the Cake

Home Made Naan

I made a spicy red lentil soup yesterday, and decided to try some home made naan bread.  Food processor needs parts, so I couldn't make the recipe I had picked out earlier.  Another recipe made 14 helpings and called for more flour than I had in the house.  Found this recipe on the food network: Naan Indian Flat Bread


I made it with poppy seeds, but next time (and there will be a next time) I'll do the garlic naan.  Pretty simple and the dough was not that difficult to work with.  Only one rising.  Also found a non-yeast recipe.  I didn't have any plain yogurt, so I substituted 1/2 sour cream, 1/2 low-fat buttermilk, and that seemed to work.  Tasted great.  You do need a cast iron skillet and make it on top of the stove.  No hot oven on a hot day. 


The lentils were red ones from Whole Foods.  Our supermarket only has the plain brown.  No French, no red.  
I served a salad and we were so full we didn't need dessert.    Enough of everything left for tonight, which is my writing group night, so I have to leave the house early. 


We're having soup week this week, always good for the loss of a couple pounds.  Also lost two during salad week two weeks ago.   I will post the soups later.  The lentil one is so old it may not be on the web.  Just the right amount of spice. You are basically making  your own curry powder.  


If you're eating on the cheap, paring that cheese, in other words, ethnic food rocks.  


Berries have been on sale and we've had good fruit salads, and they are soooo good on my morning Cherrios.  We try to eat whole grain cereal without much sugar.    Shredded wheat is the best and I have a coupon.                                                                    

Pasta with Sausage in a Vodka Cream Sauce

This recipe serves one, but I double or triple it depending on the number of hungry mouths to feed.  It is absolutely delicious and you can use an ordinary brand of Vodka.  Serve with Italian bread or grissini (thin break sticks).  Add a green salad.  One day you'll be famous for your chef skills.  Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Sausage by Emeril Lagasse


Spaghetti, Italian sausage, and most of the ingredients are often on sale.  Don't skip the heavy cream, by the way.  You can used a good grade of canned sauce and add vodka and cream.  I jazz it up with a bit of fresh garlic.


I just returned from New York, where the living is not cheap, nope, but as always, there are ways to economize. 

Happy Chinese New Year

Ah, the year of the dragon!  We celebrated in style.  Most years we celebrate the Chinese New Year chez Cheeseparer, a long family tradition dating back to when Nixon went to China and was served chicken and walnuts.  The Chicago Tribune printed a recipe.  So delicious we make it to this day.  Simple, too.


This year we went with Szechuan cuisine, with Gong Bao Chicken and Spicy Szechan-style eggplant. Yummers.  To cool the palate I made a salad out of iceberg lettuce and clementines, both on sale as was the chicken.  And we had rice, of course.  For dessert, something I hadn't made in years:  pineapple fritters.  Whole Foods had pineapples for $2.50 each, a great deal.  We had it in fruit salad yesterday and the fritters today and  there's enough fritter batter and pineapple for some breakfast fritters.  


Here is the recipe for the main course: Gong Bao chicken


The peanuts add lovely crunch, and the red pepper and the Sichuan peppercorns add heat, but it's not so hot you have to move the tissue box to the table.  There's enough left for a light dinner tomorrow.  My eggplant recipe was for 2 eggplants, so I cut it in half.  Both recipes called for ginger and garlic (both healthy seasonings) and I cut the garlic cloves and ginger root on the mandolin to get really thin slices. 


I always keep soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger,  and scallions on hand.  Dried red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns, too.     Rice, a given.  This means that with the inexpensive staples, we can have stir fry at the drop of a hat.   Shrimp, beef, and pork are good, too.  Whatever is on sale, with whatever veggies are cheap at the market.  


You know the drill. 

Celebrate the year of the dragon with your own Asian feast.  I use cast iron skillets instead of woks.

Saturday we're having goulash soup, one of our all time faves.  A little beef or  pork go a long way in soup, and it contains onions, celery, carrots and potato.  Bell pepper, too.  Sometimes tomatoes.  It's easy to eat our veggies when we cook in other cuisines.  

What cuisine have you cooked in lately?  


The Cheeseparer

The Yin and the Yang of Home Cooking

 We all know (or should know) that eating at home is cheaper and also nutritionally sounder than eating out all the time.  Yet, why is it so hard to plan menus, shop and prepare the food?

If we had unlimited time, budget and calories, then no problemo.  But who does?  Anyone who has time and budget constraints and a desire not to increase in girth has some real juggling to do. 

At Chez Cheeseparer, we have all these limits, plus we love food.  If you “ate to live” there would be one less ball to juggle.  Here’s how we go about it the process of shopping and cooking.

First, I pore over the weekly specials in the flyer of the stores where I shop most.  This helps with menu planning and money saving, because you can center your menu around the produce and meat sale items.  This week, for example, whole chickens and chicken breasts were on sale, as well as cranberries, all varieties of squash, pears and apples.  Oh yes, and avocados. 

Southern Cornbread

Puerto Rican Rice and Beans - yum!

I decided to roast a chicken on Sunday, and save the leftover for chicken enchiladas on Tuesday.  On Monday, we’ll have curried butternut squash soup.   Maybe on Wednesday, too.  An omelet on Thursday and I can scrounge in the pantry (always well stocked) on Friday.  Keep your eye on the calendar for nights where time is short (for us that’s Monday) or you’ll be eating out.  None of the my selections are complicated, and they are all tasty.  A cinch, right?

Wrong!  The store has no poblano peppers for the verde sauce for the enchiladas.  I make some substitutions but when I arrive in the Mexican aisle there are neither canned tomatillos and nor verde sauce.  I will have to go to another store.  On Tuesday, I’ll be in Wellesley and can stop by Whole Foods which will likely have poblanos, maybe even tomatillos and/or some canned tomatillos or sauce.  By now, I am mentally committed to enchiladas verde, one of my faves in the world of Mexican food. 

Tomorrow we will trek to Walmart before my soup coupons expires.  They sell for $1.50 per can what everyone else sells for $2.38.  Plus I can save 25 cents off per can with the coupon.  We had an expiring coupon for cat food at Petco today, too.  Thisbe is diabetic and has to eat “Atkins for kitties” food, low on carbs, high on protein.  I jump through hoops to get it.  

So what we have this week is a shopping time suck, a decent budget and moderate calories.  I have done pretty well, and we have replenished the pantry after a) Hurricane Irene and b) a two-week vacation.  The larder was pretty bare when we got home.   

Tonight we are eating the pictured meal, Puerto Rican rice and beans and homemade Southerns corn bread with stone ground corn meal, no white flour, no sugar.  So good, so healthy. No problems with that meal except I almost burnt the beans.  Did not set the timer, always a mistake.  A portable kitchen time can save you endless headaches and burnt food.

Eat hearty and well,

The Cheeseparer 

 

Potatoes to Die For

I  haven't posted for a while due to 1) preparing to go to camp, 2) being at camp 3) a trip to the big Apple and 4) laid up with sciatica.  If you like you can add falling behind in everything and a young houseguest to the mix. The houseguest is a vegetarian and us carnivores work around that in various ways.  The simplest way is to prepare a vegetarian meal, and here is a good one:
Southwest Potatoes 


With cilantro from the garden, grated cheddar on sale, and so forth,  this really rocked.  Today I'm making sweet corn and basmati rice salad. This is a winner that I make every summer.  Here is the link:  Sweet Corn and Basmati Rice Salad  


Corn is ridiculously cheap these days, and I have pecans from Georgia relatives.  Went to Whole Foods for the cress, as they always have some.  Other supermarkets iffy.  

Last night we had panzella, a tomato bread salad with mozzarella balls that also satisfies.  I'm going to eat the soggy remains for lunch.  


On the bad news front, the chipmunks and even the birds are eating the tomatoes.  When I left for camp, there were lots of cherry tomatoes on the vines.  None when I returned.  Significant Other professed not to have eaten any.  Somebody sure did, and it wasn't the neighbors.  I have oregano for the masses, and good basil.  Parsley has been tempermental this year, and mint is out of control.  Lots of cleomes reseeded themselves from last year, and the Four O'Clock seed I gathered in Boston's North End is doing great.    Garlic harvest sparse.  Cukes growing like crazy.  Every year is different and one learns to roll with the blows.  Some of the tomatoes got the blight, and now we may not get any unless I can find a hiding place from the critters.  Grrrrr.  So it goes and whatever.   And did I mention I gained all the weight I lost back? 


The Cheeseparer

A Cheap Dinner with an even Cheaper Lunch

Last night I chopped up a grilled pork chop.  Set some onion to saute in the pan, added the pork chop with a handful of diced grape tomatoes.  Seasoned with cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  I added about 1/3 can of refried beans and kept the heat medium low.


Meanwhile, I cooked 4 corn tortillas in oil, and cut up the following: scallions, cilantro, radish, tomato, mild cheddar, and lettuce.   When the pork chop glop was hot, we sat down at the table and concocted our own tacos.  I also put the sour cream and the salsa out.  Boy was it tasty!


Today for lunch, I cooked 3 tortillas (two for Significant Other, one for me).  Heated another 1/3 of the beans in the microwave:  served lettuce, tomato, chopped fresh mozzarella, radish and cilantro.  Also sour cream and salsa.  It was the last bits of lettuce, cheese, radish and cilantro.  Drank a glass of white wine with the feast on the deck, admiring garden and the tuberous begonias which are blooming like crazy.  Delightful meals.


And so cheap!


In the oven right now is orange yogurt bread.  We'll eat 2 slices tonight and freeze the rest for company.  This has become one of my go to quick breads. Find the recipe on this link.  This food blogger has other good recipes, too.  Orange Yogurt Bread   I use whatever Greek yogurt is on sale.   0 % fat is fine, 2% is even better.  This bread keeps well and is popular with guests and family.


The other food item on the agenda is:  Lemon-Lime Ice Milk from Epicurious.  the Plum Streusel-pie is good too, but we really go for the ice-milk. Here is the Epicurious link.  Many of their recipes are a) easy and b) don't break the bank.  Almost always tasty.  Try it!   Luscious Lemon-Lime Ice Milk

Good and Simple Chocolate Cookies

Made these last week.  Gave some to the neighbors and froze the rest.  I am sorry to say that we kept defrosting a few at a time and eating them.  I had some chocolate leftover from Christmas baking.  This is a recipe that would lend itself well to half-butter, half-shortening.  I would use those bars of Crisco that are shaped like quarter pounds of butter.  Half and half will yield a nice crisp cookie.  If you're not into crisp, use all butter. 


You can leave the dough in the fridge for a few days and bake the cookies as needed.  These are really good.    I don't know why they're called chocolate "macaroons," but that's their name.  Do not expect a standard macaroon.  I think the recipe is an old one from The New York Times.  I daresay that I'm an old fogey, because the older recipes are the best.  


Chocolate Macaroons


1/2 cup shortening
4 squares (ounces) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


Confectioners' sugar. 

1.  Melt shortening and chocolate in top of double boiler. 
2.  Stir in the sugar.  Transfer to a bowl and beat until the sugar is no longer grainy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Note:  This is a good workout for your arm.
3.  Fold in the flour sifted with the baking powder and salt.  Chill the dough at least three hours.
4.   Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. 

5.  Shape teaspoons of dough into balls.  Roll balls in the confectioners' sugar.  Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.  The cookies will be soft when taken from the oven.  Cool on a rack 

About 5 dozen  
I used parchment paper on the cookie sheet and that worked, too.  I'm sure this recipe predates parchment paper for home cooks.  


Bon Appetit!

Chicken Soup for the Pocketbook

Chickens were .99 cents a pound, so I grabbed one for the freezer.  It's turn arrived last night.  I cut out the backbone, rubbed it with some spices (onion powder, granulated garlic, cumin and paprika with generous salt and pepper,)  and I browned the skin side  in oil in a cast iron   skillet.  Tossed in a quartered onion and put the skillet to bake at 350 degrees along with a casserole with carrots and parsnips and more onion with butter, oil and a little chicken broth.  Salt and pepper, natch.  The chicken cost $3.54 and half of it was left due to ingesting a large salad with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado and ranch dressing topped with dill.  


So. . . chicken soup!  I took the meat off the bones this morning and cooked the bones with carrot, onion, celery tops and a bay leaf.  When it came time to make the soup, I sauteed onion, carrot and celery, and then added the broth and some extra broth from the fridge.  Cooked the veggies, then added peas and the already cooked leftover veg from last night, chopped chicken, some dry mushrooms soaked in hot water and their liquid, the "jus" from the skillet last night with all those tasty spices in it, and some leftover rice that I'd defrosted.  More salt and pepper.  A little more water.  Taste until just right.  


Made that kick-ass salad again and served up the soup with  toasted English muffins.   Very toothsome.  And there's leftovers!    Six servings of high-quality protein for .59 cents per person.  Can't beat that.  And all those wonderful vegetables.  Last night I had saved some leftover  rum glaze for a cake and we heated it up and poured it over ice cream.  Died and gone to heaven.   
The Boston Globe now always offers two meals, one using leftovers from the first.  This is just smart and of course, frugal and tasty and time-saving and even delicious.  That's a lot to like.  I could have made chicken fritters or something Mexican.  Leftovers are versatile.
Yours ever in frugality and downright cheapness. 


The Cheeseparer

Blood Oranges and pork chops and rum cake

Last year I ate blood oranges for the first time and loved their sweetness.  Our supermarket had them on sale (a rare occurrence), and I bought four.  Found a recipe for pork chops and oranges and did a riff on it, because the recipe called for Mandarin oranges, and I'm substituting blood oranges with some blood orange juice.  I cooked them with the boldly seasoned rice and I browned the chops with more seasoning (this is a Penzey's recipe, so naturally spices are called for).  The recipe also did not call for browning the chops, but it seemed to me that this would improve the flavor.

Penzeys Pork Chops with Oranges  


I'm also making a few organic carrots (so delicious) and a salad.  We can eat it for two nights, always a plus. 

My Significant Other's birthday is Tuesday, and I promised I would make him his favorite meal, beef Stroganoff.  Who remembers beef Stroganoff?  Raise your hand.  Years ago it was on every "continental" menu, and now the only place I know where one can eat it is at a pricey Back Bay Russian restaurant.

I found a sale (can you believe?) on beef tenderloin, so we have a pound of filet, some dried mushrooms, onion, cognac, and real sour cream.  I'll serve it with buttered noodles, peas and carrots and salad.  Iceberg lettuce was requested.  Except for the Stroganoff, the menu sounds rather pedestrian, but ordinary can be good, and it won't compete with the main course.


We have a busy week and I promised (fingers crossed) to make the favored marble cake (Marmorkuchen) at a later date.  It's totally from scratch to the point of beating the yolks and whites separately.  A true labor of love.  What could I make instead?


Recently, going through all my mom's old recipes, I came across her rum cake recipe.  She always made this for Significant Other and I do recall that it was very tasty and he relished it.  I had never realized that the cake was from a mix, with oil and pudding and eggs dumped in with some dark rum.  The glaze was delicious, too. 


I am not a cake-mix person, but I remembered the cake and my mother so fondly, that I thought what the hell?  It must be fate, because the grocery store had cake mix on sale for $1.00 and the pudding was cheap, too.  This is the first time instant pudding has crossed our threshold. 


I'm going to freeze half for company coming at the end of the week.  Two people and one big cake is asking for weight gain, although I'm sure the neighbors would be thrilled with a couple slices. 

I just bopped out to the web, and sure enough the recipe was there.  Do try it.  Read the reviews.  Cooks always have good ideas. 

Bacardi Rum Cake 

Yours in frugality, good taste and sometimes even shortcuts  

Oatmeal Pancakes with Ham and Two Syrups

Pancakes in various stages of grilling

Tonight between the football games, we tried the healthy oatmeal pancakes from the New York Times.  They were easy to make (tended to fall apart a bit) and I cut up a ham steak and served it along with the pancakes and apricot and maple syrups instead of honey.  Quite tasty and filling and there's enough left for tomorrow morning, always a bonus.  Here is how they looked on the table, and they kinda sorta matched the tablecloth.  Who knew?

Ready, Set, Eat!

Oatmeal Pancakes Deluxe  

For delicious apricot syrup and dried apricots and other goodies, order at 

The Apricot King

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

Comfort Food and Cheap Eats

It's been good lately, with the snow piled thigh high or in some cases over one's head.  We feasted on homemade Chinese (yakisoba) and some Korean shrimp and scallion pancakes.  Think MEAT AS FLAVORING.  The Yakisoba called for one pork chop and I used 1/4 pound of med. shrimp for the pancakes. 


Then we moved into Swedish Meatballs. Meat as Meat.  One night I served them with mashed potatoes and last night with noodles.  Tonight we're having a Minestrone with Italian Sausage, something always on sale in the Boston area.  Soup is good food. 
  Minestrone soup with sausage

We did a chili earlier, using reduced for quick sale steak.  Zowie!   And a diet rice pudding that was so flavorful, thanks to currants, cinnamon and nutmeg.


Cherries on sale brought forth a Caflouti.  Nonetheless, it seems like grocery prices are higher and one has to shop ever cannier.  Are you a canny shopper? It pains me to pay over a dollar for an apple or an orange.  Still, it is better to spring for produce and to cut back on processed food and meat.


Here are some photos of the good meals we've been indulging in.  We haven't eaten out for weeks.  Maybe that's why the grocery bill is higher.  Unless you buy filet mignon and caviar,  eating out costs a lot more than from scratch cooking.  But you knew that.


Today the New York Times had recipes for some pancakes that would work great for dinner, with whole grains and I would serve a few ounces of sauteed ham with each meal. Amd a fruit salad. Remember: meat as flavoring. 

Cherry Caflouti

Yakisoba with Pork and Cabbage - yum! 

Korean Pancake just beginning to cook

Finished Korean Pancakes with scallions and shrimp - good as a snack, too!

Chicken With Forty Cloves of Garlic revisted

The sweet garlicy sauce was totally to die for.  Yum!  Although the chicken was small, we  kept enough for a second meal.  I served it with onions roasted in olive oil and fresh thyme from the garden, and cooked up the other half of cabbage I had used earlier for some slaw.  I put some bacon fat in the cabbage along with more thyme!  All the dishes had a hint (just a hint) of thyme, the unifying presence.  
recipe

I can't tell you how much fresh herbs from the garden will spice up (!) your meals. 
We also had two more small helpings from the pear tart.  All I will have to cook tonight are some mashed potatoes out of the box (we like Hungry Jack, which I find sometimes at the Ocean State Job Lot), and  some baby carrots to supplement the left over cabbage.  We gobbled down the roasted onions.  Another super-cheap side dish, along with the cabbage.  
Eating well does not HAVE to depend on spending a lot.  Be creative.  Oh boy, was that garlic sauce good.  I used the last bit of a bottle of white wine and made my own chicken stock out of the back and neck.  To repeat:  be creative. 


Speaking of which, crepes stuffed with whatever can be a delicious, elegant meal at little cost.  I will post my recipe soon.  Remind me if I forget.  You will, won't you? 

I found  a pasta recipe for Italian sausage and chicken thighs, both always on sale around these parts. 
Do not neglect your fruits and veggies.  Delicious squash (we're partial to acorn) will be on sale in the stores soon.  It keeps if cold, so stock up.  


The Cheeseparer

Save! Save! Save!

Yesterday, when the sun was hot, there was a bit of a breeze and no rain forecast, I washed a heavy wool blanket in cold water and put it on the deck to sun-dry, thereby saving at least $15.00 of dry cleaning fees.  After the blanket was dry (quicker than you could imagine), I air-fluffed it in the dryer and stuck it into the cedar closet for the summer. 

With house guests here for a month, we have been trying to keep grocery bills under control while catering to their needs:  one vegetarian, one picky eater.   My Significant Other and me are voracious and eat basically anything that's food.  So we have been buying cage-free eggs, organic whole milk, and a host of other pricey groceries.  You would think not buying much meat would be cheap, but you would be wrong.  Today, we're having farfalle with mascarpone, hazelnuts, and asparagus.  It's a delicious vegetarian dish, but the ingredients are expensive.  I'm hoping to get two meals or one meal and a lunch out of it.  

The day after, we're having re fried rice with some cheaper ingredients.  For the carnivores, I will grill a small cheap sirloin and chop it up for us to put over the rice.  Tasty and cheap.  Last night we had bratwurst, sauerkraut  and fried potatoes.   I "doctor" my sauerkraut with onion,  brown sugar, bacon, caraway seed, bay leaf and paprika.  Lots of white wine.  I buy a huge jar at Ocean State Job lot for $2.00.  Of course potatoes are cheap and I got some baby ones on sale.  The vegetarian ate Morningstar Farms Buffalo Nuggets ($4.99 for a box).  We had a HUGE fruit salad with 7 different fruits for dessert.  So tasty and nutritious.  Spell check hates this post.  WTF? 

We are also finding that shopping every three days, with some visits to the supermarket, Whole Foods and Walmart is helping.  We also do not bring the guests along to toss stuff into the shopping cart.   Ya do what ya can.   Just about anything is cheaper than taking four to dinner. 

It is amazing how much terminology a 10 year old doesn't know.  Greasy spoon?  Not playing with a full deck?  All sorts of expressions. 

I have to go up and iron the stuff I used to send to the cleaners.  Being cheap has become a way of life.

Cheers