Tips from Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart didn't always have houses in East Hampton, Connecticut and Maine.  As a young woman she learned frugality, and although today she has no need to pinch pennies, she still understands that saving and frugality are Good Things. 


Food Saving Tips From Martha  


Fresh herbs are expensive and oh so tasty, so do pay attention to Martha's tips on how to save them.  Herbs also contain micro-nutrients that we all need.  I hope  you have an herb garden every summer.  I use the basil, sage and oregano that I dry all year round.  The oregano is particularly tasty.  Alas, I cannot keep a rosemary plant alive in the house after bring it in in the fall.  This year's died early.  Once I kept it going until March and then it died.  What is my problem?  

We are eating white chicken chili that rocks.  Made totally from scratch without cheese or sour cream from fresh peppers, chicken and herbs.  Google White Chicken Chili and Cook's Illustrated.  It's not often low cal food tastes so good. 


Yours in frugality, 


The Cheeseparer

Hobo Slang

Off topic, or OT as we say in the writing listserves.  I am always intrigued by colorful speech.  My dad came from Texas and my Mom from central Kansas, and they both spoke with lots of idioms that came from the farm, speech that would now be somewhat, well, inscrutable.  My mom always said, "I went to bed with the chickens," meaning early.  Something that would never happen was "she will wait until the cows come home."  Bad cows!   My dad, when something was too difficult said, "It's too wet to plow."  He called a big knife a "toad stabber" and big shoes "gun boats."  I love it 


For some interesting expressions and phrases, try The Hobos Dictionary




Good stuff.  Language is a living thing.  


We had our "traditional" Super Bowl meal of meatloaf, roasted potatoes and broccoli yesterday.  I always make meatloaf, because it is easy to eat while watching TV.  The Pack is Back!  


I made guacamole from an old Mexican cookbook (Elena's) and it was wonderful.  Full of onion, tomato, cilantro, jalapeno and fork mashed (still chunky) avocado.  I made my own chips from corn tortillas.  Better than packaged.  


Happy Monday.  Do you think they're getting any work done this morning in the offices of Green Bay?  Water cooler time!  


The Cheeseparer

Beef Vegetable Barley Soup for cold winter dinners

My Homemade (no knead) Focaccia rocks with soup or stew or pasta

I've been making soup every week, and we never get bored with it.  Soup has many virtues:  cheap, easy, tasty, nutritious.  I found a good deal on "petite sirloin" at the supermarket, and used two of them, about a pound as the basis of a beef-vegetable-barley soup.
 Cut the meat into small bite-sized pieces, and brown well in canola oil.  I added a bit of onion and 3 cloves of smashed garlic and browned that, too. Add water and/or broth and cook until meat is tender.  Doesn't take long with sirloin.  Before cooking the meat add a soup bone, thyme, marjoram and a large bay leaf to the cooking liquid. 


When the meat is tender, add more onion, carrots, celery, and a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes.  I think some mushrooms would also go well.  Cook the veggies until almost tender and then add 3/4 cup barley.  My barley took longer to cook than the package indicated, so make sure to cook it long enough.  Add more water or broth (vegetable broth will do) if you are getting stew rather than soup.  Salt and pepper if you've used low-salt broth.  (I do).  Maybe a bit of paprika.  More spices?   Is the meat tender?   Correct seasonings, as they say.  I sprinkled some fresh parsley on it before serving, because we eat with our eyes first.


We ate this with a salad and multi-grain rolls.  Southern corn bread would work, as would garlic bread.  This is a cheap meal that offers a lot of nutrition.  We had chocolate chip cookies for dessert. 


Being snowed in, I find I'm watching a lot of TV.  The Good Wife, Big Love, and PBS are my current faves.   And the food show.  Guy Fieri really rocks. I loved his tailgaiting football eats show this week.


Tonight we're eating the remainder of the beef-barley soup.  With garlic bread.  And more salad.  And maybe a banana caflouti. 

We have a movie and the rest of The # 1 Ladies Detective Agency to watch. 

I'm saving $30 as we speak by washing some sweaters instead of sending them out at $5 bucks a pop.


Tomorrow we're having a gourmet diet recipe.  I know that sounds like an oxymoron.  It's a chicken pie that calls for a mashed potato topping instead of crust.  The potatoes are mashed with low-fat sour cream and chives.  I've made it before and you have no clue that this is a reduced calorie meal.  I think perhaps some cranberries would work as a side.  And the rest of the caflouti for dessert.  The pie calls for chicken breast,  shallots, mushrooms, carrots, celery and peas and parsley.  Low fat broth and white wine make the sauce.  Some herbs like thyme and tarragon, a spoonful of sherry and a sprinkle of nutmeg are added before baking.  This is Gourmet, remember.


Stay warm and dry and get creative if you are stuck in the house with weird or incomplete ingredients.  You may astonish yourself with the yummy eats you can concoct.  

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

Nita's Banana Bread, The World's Best Banana Bread

Here, as promised, is the banana bread recipe.  I've had it since my neighbor Nita gave it to me when I was still a bride. 

Nita’s Banana Bread

1 cup sugar

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

pinch salt

2 eggs, beaten

3 ripe mashed bananas

3 Tablespoons sour milk, buttermilk or sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups white flour

Cream butter, add sugar, mix well and add bananas.  Mix salt, flour and baking soda and add to banana mixture alternating with sour milk.  Mix together lightly.  Pour into a 9 x 5  inch greased loaf pan.  (Non stick is great!)

Bake in slowish (325 degrees Farenheit) for 45-60 minutes, until tested inserted in middle comes out clean.   Cool on rack and remove bread from pan.  Eat and enjoy.

A handful of blueberries or raisins may be added after dry ingredients. 

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!