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November

I know this is coming after Thanksgiving but my week has been a busy one with all the cooking and Hubby being ill. He is fine and back to work.

Crock Pot dressing is something Hubby’s family does, and the concept is really great if you are not a fan of the crust on top of dressing. Also you save room in the oven for the turkey, I think that is the reason they started doing it.

I am going to tell you how I do it. And you can tweak it any way you want to. Remember this is dressing not stuffing, and in the south the main ingredient is Cornbread!

Make three pans or sets of corn muffins. Break up the lumps as much as you can. Then put them in the food processor to keep them all the same size. (Remember I have bags I put this into the frig a day or two ahead of time)
The next thing I do is toast the bread. We don’t use a toaster but it is easier if you have one. Either way you can toast it the broiler or a toaster. I use about 1/4 to 1/3 of a loaf of bread. Then I do the same thing break up and process. Then bag it, and frig it.
The next thing I work on is to finely chop my celery and onion. Honestly I only know how many onions I use. I use two, and make sure I get the pieces as uniform as possible, then I use an equal amount of celery. Chop until it is half and half. I saute this in butter of low to medium low heat. Thanksgiving is a time for good food and one meal will not kill your cholesterol numbers. I use between one and two sticks until the veggies are all see through.
Then I crock pot a very small chicken. This is something Hubby’s family does. It does give the dressing better flavor so I would do it either way.
The only other ingredients you will need is salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chicken broth, a couple of eggs and sage if you like it.

I have everything pre-done, so all I do is dump and stir in a crock pot about 4 AM. By lunch time I will have added more broth to keep it moist. It is cooked and ready to go.

I highly suggest it for any cook that cannot figure out where to put a huge pan of dressing or wants to plan ahead rest the day of eating!

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Birthday Week

November

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Hubby has a birthday on Halloween. And yes it is Halloween every year. I was born on or near election day. Our birthdays are three days apart. Just about the time I have an empty cake pan it is time to make another cake. This year is my last working the election on my birthday. Today I am going to figure out which cake I want for my birthday and go ahead and make it. Otherwise tomorrow I won’t have time to. Hubby decided he wanted my Jello Cake for his birthday, it has become his favorite overtaking carrot cake.

Here is a picture of it from the summer.

I wanted to share with you the very simple recipe. I make a white cake by the recipe on the box in a 9 x 13 pan. Then while it is still warm I make a concentrated blend of jello, Hubby wanted strawberry so that is what I made. You poke holes in the cake with a ice pick, then put it in the frig until the jello is set. You will be able to see the cake absorb the jello. You ice it with coolwhip or whipped cream. I always put on sprinkles somehow the blank whiteness calls for sprinkles. I used fall color sprinkles for Hubby’s cake. The picture shows what is called watermelon sprinkle color.

I love chocolate cake with white icing, and yellow cake with chocolate icing. I will be making one of those today!

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Peas and Carrots

October

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I love cupcakes. Matter of fact I think cupcakes are a meal of their own kind. Okay not a meal but a dessert, they are not only cake and they are not pie. The author of Hello Cupcake was on Paula Deen yesterday. I rarely watch TV during that time, had it not been for the rain I would have probably never known. Hello Cupcake is the most beautiful book on cupcakes I have seen to date. I did not buy it, but I have drooled over it in Walmart for about thirty minutes.

This Thanksgiving I am making Peas and Carrots Cupcakes. When my nieces and great nephews are running around saying they don’t love vegetables I will tell them they have to eat peas and carrots for desert. I know they will love them!

Here is her basic Vanilla Cupcake Recipe:

Basic Vanilla Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, whisk together the vanilla extract, milk and vegetable oil.

Cream together the butter and sugar with a hand-held mixer in a large bowl. Add the eggs 1 at a time and mix to combine. Alternate the dry and wet ingredients to the egg mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter 2/3 full into the cupcake tins and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before frosting.

One thing they did say was with a mix use buttermilk instead of water. I bet that is a good rich cupcake.

Now to ice them you use green icing. I always use either a buttercream or a 50/50 butter/ crisco ratio in the fall. If Texas has a hot day I would have to use all Crisco with powdered sugar and a couple of tablespoons of milk. Then you add green food coloring or the icing coloring.

The green in the peas is green M & Ms, the carrots are orange Starbursts rolled and sliced like chunks of carrots. You place them upright on the cupcake like you are slicing into a mound of peas and carrots.

Walmart now carries just green M & Ms I saw them the other day.

I plan on doing a test run so I will post a picture when I try the recipe out.

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Honey’s Beef Stew

October

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I am giving Honey the credit for this stew. Grandpa still loves to buy meat, and double packages were on special last week. He told me the general rule is one will be tender and one will be tough. His suggestion was to cook one as a roast and one as a stew, especially if the roast is very tender. Cooking of the other one as stew meat would assure it to be tender as possible.

Don’t tell Grandpa he is as brilliant as he is! The last time he gave me two roasts I cooked both as roasts and one was tough as leather! I know I will confess to Grandpa he called it correctly. What you do is trim the beef into bite size pieces, I make enough to save for lunches for a few days so I cook it all but you could make two or three stews out of it.

Roast you have trimmed and cut into bite size pieces

1 Tbsp of Tone’s beef base (whatever brand you find)

1/4 cup of flour

Salt, pepper and seasoned salt to taste

1 lb or more of carrots

2 big potatoes or whatever you have

1 onion

celery if you have it (I didn’t)

2 cups of water

1 6oz can of tomato paste

a can of tomatoes or diced tomatoes (if you have it)

can of peas (if you have it, I did)

The ingredient list is not as important as how you cook the meat, the technique is what makes the beef tender. I know I sound like a know it all but remember I spent my childhood wanting and craving good beef stew, now that I can make it I know what went wrong all those years. You need a great pot, cast iron works best because it can maintain the temperature. Take a little bit of olive oil and place it in the pot. Meanwhile take the trimmed, cut up beef and toss it in the flour with salt, pepper and seasoned salt. Then you put the meat in the pot that is fully flour coated. This will allow the meat to brown, but not fully cook. It will only take a few minutes of you turning and tossing until all sides are brown but not burned or fully cooked.

Once it is browned, put in two cups of water, beef base and cover. Cut up the vegatables, but don’t worry about the tomato paste or peas. Toss in the pot all at once (another very important step) all the veggies, and salt, pepper and seasoned salt to taste. Let it come back up to bubbling, Then about two hours from serving put in the tomato paste. Right before serving put in the can of peas. The diced tomatoes can be put in whenever you like.

This stew should cook 5-6 hours in total on very low heat for the entire time except when you are browning your meat.

This stew will be tender and flavorful, but the flavor is centered around slow cooked beef.

Oh I know you are welcome, once I tried it this way I knew I had to share with you the easiness of this recipe!

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Breakfast Ideas

October

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It is getting cool even in Texas for a few hours. Crock-Pot Oatmeal is a great breakfast for these days. If you have not tried it I suggest you try it. The Link is HERE.

If eggs, cheese and hashbrowns are more like you enjoy the Link is HERE.

You can always make what we call breakfast pizzas. You use cheapy can of biscuits, some of my pizza sauce, and about a tsp of mozzarella cheese. Work the biscuits out to be thin and flat, they will still rise but you get room for sauce and space.

Another thing we do for breakfast is bean and cheese chapulas. Take Fat Free Refried beans, or your own homemade beans pureed, with a sprinkle of cheese on a tostada. Heat for about 3-5 minutes.

We try doing either fiber rich or protein rich breakfasts, they both are great for your brain and body.

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Lemon Pepper DIY

September

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I am a spice girl. I love spices, and nothing is better on chicken than Lemon Pepper. K had told me to quit buying cookbooks and start going to the library. That way the few recipes you really want you get, and you give back the book. You come out recipe rich and money rich.

I found this book called The Perfect Mix by Diane Phillips. She has many mixes for all those gifts in a jar. I took one of her basic bean recipes and tweaked it for Sconicle and I. We still have quite a few chickens left in the freezer, and I have been hungry for Lemon Pepper.

Here is her recipe.

1 cup ground black pepper
1/3 cup dried lemon peel
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
1/4 cup dried minced onions
1/2 cup dried thyme leaves

What you need to know is she does mixes that makes a bunch. This recipe makes 2 cups, you could easily back off the proportions and get a smaller batch.

I have not tried this but it looks like that would be the flavors, any rate I like the cost of this versus buying Lemon Pepper.

As a side note I have used the lowfat popcorn twice, delicious!

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Paula Dean’s Coconut Cake

May

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At least once a week someone calls me to ask about something on the net. Do I know where this would be? How long does it take to get an ebay ID? You name it they ask it. My friend wanted a certain recipe for her mom’s birthday cake. I knew exactly what to look for, but not where to find it. She works two jobs, and so I knew if I didn’t find it her mom would wish I had.

So without further ado let me explain the recipe. Paula Dean’s coconut cake is the top seller at her restaurant. You want to try it, you know to be at the top of Paula’s list it ain’t shabby! Now I had seen Paula taught about this cake, you make it, sather on something and let it sit for three days, then ice it. When Karen asked me to find it, I thought it might be hard but never confusing. Karen is a country girl turned big city gal turned back to small town teacher. In many ways she is a farm food purist, a cake mix is not her idea of a cake.

The story about this cake is confusing because it was published using a cake mix by Paula. But the original recipe is a homemade recipe using the same three day technique. I had seen the cake mix cake, and people swearing it was to die for. Between jobs Karen was reluctant to use the mix, but time has a way of convincing a person that is over tired. Karen used the mix, the technique and her mom swore it was the best coconut cake she had ever eaten. Her mom had seen the recipe in the Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook. Here is where I found this recipe Chelsea Morning.

If you want the purist recipe here is the Link for that.

Coconut Cake

One 18 1/4-ounce package yellow pudding cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
12 ounces shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350*

Make cake by following directions on the package but substitute milk for the water. Divide and bake in three 9-inch round cake pans for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Then remove from pans.

Stir together sour cream, sugar and coconut. Spread between slightly warm layers, piercing each layer as you stack them. Store cake in container in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. This allows cake to soak up moisture from the coconut.

On the third day, prepare icing for cake.

ICING

2 unbeaten egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons light corn syrup or 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup cold water
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla (I use clear vanilla to keep the icing white)
Additional coconut to top icing (about 1/2 cup )

Place all ingredients except vanilla and additional coconut in top of a double boiler, but do not place over heat. Beat for one minute with an electric hand mixer.

Place over boiling water and cook, beating constantly, until frosting forms stiff peaks (about 7 minutes). Remove from boiling water.

Add vanilla and beat until it reaches spreading consistency (about 2 minutes).

Frost sides and then top of cake. Sprinkle with additional coconut.

Cover and store cake at room temperature. (In this heat, put this puppy in the Frig).

Remember Karen said her mom did not mind the mix, Karen didn’t mind the mix. She said this had to be shared as a great recipe!

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Depression Era Cooking

March

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I love to learn from other generations, I think that is what is missing so much today is the learning from experience of others.

I am a member of the The Total Money Makeover group, and this video was posted. What I wanted to tell you is since I grew up hearing about the depression I think every family had a different experience. My FIL speaks often about eating chicken every day, but that is because they raised chickens so that was what they had to eat. My mother lived in Dallas and they ate cream gravy and toast. This video has a lady who ate a lot of pasta. So what my original take on Real Frugality is totally spot on, you eat what you have. We all need to look around and see what we have that is available and cheap to eat. Depending on where you live it could be different.

Now on to the video, she is going to teach us how to cook a nutritious, cheap meal.

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Valentine Ideas

February

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I am on a strict budget, as I am sure many are. I could buy candy for my kids and Hubby. I have decided that it would be best to wrap love in a bundle of a turtle brownie.

This will be easy as pie! I want you to try and either do it or some other easy festive dessert for your family.

First you need a brownie. I prefer Ina’s Outrageous Brownies. The original recipe is here. Now if that is not your cup of tea, you can always buy a cheap mix and make them. For this project you will need at least a 13 x 9 pan of brownies.

Then you go get a heart cookie cutter. This is the one I have. I bought mine at Wal-Mart years ago. You can use any cutter, it is just easier when they are deep and sharp cutters.

So you are going to bake the brownies, you are going to cut a heart for each person you are making a special gift for! Which is why you need at least a 13 x 9 pan, the heart shape is just a bit big for a 9 x 9.

Next the caramel sauce, in the past I have tried to find the caramel squares from Kraft. Our local store never has them anymore. If you want to use those you can, but I am going to tell a trick that is a very old one. Homesteading Housewife has explained it well. Her recipe is here. That is exactly how we used to make caramel as a kid, the water is important! It is smooth and creamy!

Now you have your brownies, your caramel sauce. The only other ingredient for a turtle brownie is pecans! We have a bag of them in our frig. If you don’t have any, go get a bag at your local store.

Now you have a gift that is high calories but very tasty. It is a wonderful thing to give to anyone you want to give a special Valentine to!

I thought I would recap so you know what you need to buy.

Brownies (either mix or homemade) 13 x 9 pan

2 cans of Eagle Brand (that is what we call Sweetened Condensed Milk)

Pecans to sprinkle on top.

That is it, love in a nice little heart!

You are welcome! Your family is welcome! Start today, get your ingredients.

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Barley, Barley and Veggie Soup, Spend Bill update

February

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Spend Bill update

Update I found a great link here that is a detailed chart of spending! Thanks again to ReadtheStimulus

A Spend…Stimulus Bill is on us, there is still too much fat in it. The real problem after knowing that there is too much spending since it isn’t addressing the real issues we need to this new bill will not fix the problem. Then they will all want more money to fix another problem. Congress and Senate has got to be conservative with spending not frivolous. Here is the updated bill link. This is provided by ReadTheStimulus. These volunteers (note lack of payment or bailout) have done the work for you the tax payer.

Great Recipe for you!

I love good food. I love tasty rich food, but that doesn’t mean I want high fat food. I want my cake and eat it too. Friday I was inspired to make a barley, beef and veggie soup. I chickened out, I was afraid I couldn’t make it taste good, that somehow it would lower my expectations of a good meal.

Saturday I bit the bullet and tried what I figured would be an okay recipe. I had looked up recipes, but none looked like they were good enough for me. It is good, it is rich, and it is good for you!

Here is my Barley and Beef Veggie Soup

2 cans of 14 oz of beef broth

2 cups water

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 lb carrots slices

2 really big russet potatoes

1 lb. cooked hamburger

1 onion chopped

1 tsp olive oil

½-cup barley

Seasoned salt, salt and pepper to taste.

You brown the onion in the oil, add the rest and simmer for 2 hours. You get a rich, hearty soup.

Now I should explain my trick with hamburger. I buy in bulk packages of about 5 lbs at a time on the discounted bin. I bring it home and brown it all at one time, then I rinse it with water. Most of the fat is long gone by the time I put it into 1 cup silicone mini loaf pan. I actually add less than 1 lb. cooked. It is about 5 oz. I pre-freeze the hamburger for a couple of hours, then food save it.

I got the water trick from Hillybilly Housewife. It works like a charm!

What you should know about cooked hamburger is it does have a tendency to get tough when you reheat it. But if you only simmer or slowly heat it, the meat stays nice and tender. It is wonderful time saver, I make lasagna, spaghetti, you name it I cook it from my frozen hamburger.

Here is another way to make beef broth. I got this site from Tipnut.

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