What's for Dinner on a Hot Day?

We've all faced that dilemma, when it's so muggy and hot you just don't have the energy nor the desire to heat up the whole house to have dinner.

We use our grill a lot during the summer, and we use it for the entire meal on those hot, hazy, crazy days!

The other night we had fish done on the grill.  Normally, I don't do fish on the grill, but well, you guessed it - it was just too hot for indoor cooking! 

I took a sheet of aluminum foil, placed the frozen fish on it after spraying the foil with cooking oil.  Then I drizzled a little olive oil with lemon juice right onto the fish fillets.  I proceeded to chop up some onion and roasted peppers, threw those on top, then crushed some garlic, sprinkled some parm cheese onto the entire packet.

This is how I put it all together before wrapping it up in the foil.

Fish Fillets

Then we prepared the tators pretty much the same way, except no lemon juice! 

Potatoes

Then you just wrap it up before plopping it on the grill.

Ready for the grill

You can actually add any assortment of veggies and herbs to the foiled packets that you desire.  We change it up pretty frequently.  Throw the foil packets onto the grill, then cook over medium high heat for about 30 - 40 minutes.  Poke through the foil for tenderness to determine when it's done!

I would have taken a picture of it when it came off the grill, but it was demolished rather quickly.  I wasn't quick enough!   

Quickie Dinners

Do you and your family have some easy, fast quickie dinners that you resort to when things get a little hectic?

We do, but I find that they are usually egg dinners, and I really don't like eating eggs all that often for healthy reasons.

Since my mother is less than a week out of the hospital and my dad just finished radiation treatment; I stop by and spend at least an hour every night after work with them.  So by the time I get home, I'm looking for something quick and easy.  I use my crockpot a lot, but sometimes you just want to do something different! 

I have a recipe for Crustless Quiche!  Thanks Denise!  We love having this, and I can whip it up pretty fast.  Here's the link to Denise's blog that has the recipe: Click here! 

Then there's the good old breakfast for dinner, which I find easy and quick, but once again it involves eggs.

I also found a recipe for baked eggs, which is awesome even if it doesn't sound that great, it tastes great!  Here's the link for that one:  Click here!

So if anyone can help me out with quick and easy dinners, it would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

New England Clam Chowder!

One of my all time favorite internet friends has asked for help!

GrammyGoo has asked for a New England Clam Chowder recipe that has been tried, tested and passed the test.

Well, GG, my dear MIL, may she rest in peace, once asked DH and I to make Clam Chowder for a family picnic.  We followed this recipe and MIL made it every single family get-together thereafter.  It's especially easy too!

It's delicious if you make it and then let it sit in a crock pot all day.

New England Clam Chowder

1 medium onion, choppped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup cut-up bacon or lean salt pork (we always used bacon)
2 cans (8 ounces) minced clams, drained (reserve liquid)
1 cup finely chopped potato
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 cups milk

Notations (we also added a slight bit of celery with the onion as it was cooking with the bacon)

Cook and stir onion and bacon in 2-quart saucepan until onion is tender and bacon is crisp.  Ad enough water, if necessary, to reserved clam liquid to measure 1 cup.  Stir clams, liquid, potato, salt and pepper into onion mixture.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until potato is tender, about 15 minutes.  Stir in milk; heat through, stirring occasionally.  (6 servings)

This is a light, wholesome, yet creamy soup!  Not too heavy!

Now, Grammy, we used to have over 50 people (with 10 children, just immediate family was 50 people) at the family get-togethers, so we quadrupled this recipe!  Yummmy!

Enjoy!

Homemade Bread Recipe!

I bake bread every Saturday morning (well, almost every Saturday morning). I bake four golden loaves of whole wheat bread.

The recipe that I use is the one listed below, except I multiply it by 4. I like baking bread once per week for my family.

I have calculated the four loaves of bread to equal 92 cents for all four loaves.

Heavenly Whole Wheat Bread
(makes a 1 pound loaf)

3/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup bread flour *I just use self-rising white flour...works fine!
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons instant potato flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Enjoy!

Check Out This Link!

I have used the Cornell Barbeque Sauce in the past, and it is awesome. I eliminate the salt. It does taste different, but I don't like a lot of salt in my diet, so it works for me.

The link is right here.

If you try it, let me know what you think. It sounds bland, but if you baste it every few minutes while cooking, it is good, good, good!

It also tastes much better over a mesquite fire! My girlfriend's dad has a pit, and it's the best way to use this recipe, but regular old gas or charcoal is decent.

Mashed Ranch Potatoes

Here is a recipe that I often make for my family. It's a recipe that I created on my own and I even get request for it.






Ranch Mashed Potatoes

Boil your potatoes and get ready to mash them just as you normally would for your own particular tastes by adding butter, margarine, milk, salt, and/or pepper.

Just before mashing them add:

2 heaping tablespoons of buttermilk powder (I buy mine at the nearby Mennonite bulk store)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes

Mash the potatoes.

It's easy and they taste so good.

Enjoy!

Taco Soup Anyone?

We have had this recipe twice within a week. Hubby and I tried it, then the boy came home for a long weekend and I wanted to have it again, as I knew he would love it! He did!

I got the recipe from 'A Year of Crock Potting." If you haven't checked out this blog, and you love using your crock pot (I do, as I work full-time, it makes my life sooo much easier) then you need to go visit.

Here's the link for the Taco Soup: Click here.

Taco Soup

2 cans kidney beans
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans corn
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 can tomatoes and chilies
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 packet of ranch dressing mix
1 lb hamburg
shredded cheese and sour cream

Brown meat, drain and add to crock pot. Sprinkle taco seasoning and ranch dressing seasoning on the meat. Drain the beans, add tomatoes. Add corn. Cook in crock pot 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.

Okay, so you all know Elcheapo Laurie and my methods, so I'll tell you what I did to make this meal even cheaper than it already is.

First off, I don't always use canned beans. I sometimes do use them. It depends on my time limitations. If I'm pressed for time, I use canned. I did make this both times with dried beans. I let them soak overnight and cooked up a humongous pot of beans. Some went into the soup and some went into the freezer. You must cook them for about 2 hours on a low simmer, so they are not tough. But when you do a humongous pot full of them, it makes it worth it.

I also used tomatoes that were frozen from our garden last year. Did you know that you can freeze tomatoes whole? I do, and they are real easy to work with. When the end of the tomato season rolls around, I usually can't keep up with the 12-18 plants that my hubby puts in, so I just go out and pick the tomatoes, throw them in a bag, and freeze them.

When you need them you can just grab what you need, throw them into some hot water and the peels just fall off. I mean, they really just fall off. I then core them with a sharp knife and throw them in the pot. They cook rather quickly as they are full of moisture and they become mush after just a few minutes of heat.

If you would prefer to core them before freezing, that works too. I usually am so pressed for time when I resort to this method that I don't bother.

Next I used these substitutions for the dry mixes. I got them from cooks.com


Dry Ranch Dressing Mix

1/2 cup dry buttermilk powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley, crushed
1 teaspoon dried dill weed (I was out of dill weed, so I just omitted it altogether)
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon salt (I always omit the salt - because our food already has enough salt, in my opinion)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Combine all ingredients together or you can whip it up in your blender or food processor. I just added the ingredients one at a time to the meat.


Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. each ground cumin (ran out of this one, yup, I just omitted it), garlic powder paprika, powdered oregano (I used dried), and sugar (I also omitted the sugar-I'm off sugar)
1/2 tsp. salt (Yes, I omitted the salt here too)

I also used frozen corn as none of us like the taste of canned corn.

Oh, the cheese and sour cream can be added to the bowl of soup when you go to serve it.

This is a rich, thick soup. It's sort of taco-y tasting, but not overbearing. Hubby's not nuts about tacos, but he loves this soup.

Enjoy!

Frugal Recipe Tips

I must admit that I hardly ever follow a recipe exactly. I usually play around with recipes and conform it to my family's preferences.

I also substitute cheaper items to make a recipe cost less.

Now, if you follow a recipe exactly to the letter, then that's fine. I think people who do that have less of a chance of making an awful meal.

I have made two bad dinners in my lifetime, which were lentils and cow dung. If you care to read about those two dinners, click here.

But back to some of the substitutes I use in my cooking....

For example, I substitute dry milk in recipes that call for fresh milk. (I probably should say I used to substitute with dry milk. Presently, the cost of dry milk is more or almost the same as fresh milk. So, I'll only go back to that once the price drops again.)

I also substitute for most canned soup. My family doesn't eat much canned soup, so I usually don't have it in my pantry. When a recipe calls for a cream based soup, I use the following substitution:

Cream Soup Substitute (celery)
Melt 2 tablespoons of margarine in a sauce pan. Saute 2 tablespoons chopped celery. Blend in 2 tablespoons flour, add 1/3 cup dry milk powder and 2/3 cup vegetable broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until smooth. (If you would rather use fresh milk, just add 1/3 cup fresh milk and decrease to 1/3 cup vegetable broth.)

If I want to make the above recipe Cream of Chicken Soup, I pass on the sauteing the celery and blend the flour, dry milk and chicken bullion broth.

I also substitute cheaper cheese for what a recipe may call for. If colby cheese is on sale, I'll buy that and substitute it for mozzarella. I know it will change the taste, but I'm okay with that as long as it's something my family will like.

When a recipe calls for wine, I might substitute chicken or beef broth.

I make my own bread crumbs from all the old crusts of loaves that no one ate. I just freeze them, then take them out and whirl them around in my blender on the 'crumb' setting. If the recipe calls for Italian seasoned bread crumbs, I just throw in some Italian seasonings.

If I'm making a recipe for my son and I, I might substitute canned tuna for imitation crab meat. Notice I said if I was making it for my son and I. My husband doesn't like tuna. Nope, his family of 10 children ate a lot of Tuna Noodle Casserole while he was growing up and he won't touch tuna for anything.

Did you know the little packets of seasoning in the supermarket labeled 'taco seasoning', are actually only chili powder, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne powder and cumin? I have all those ingredients in my cupboard and can throw that together in a flash.

The seasoned boxed rice you buy in the store can be made right in your own kitchen with ingredients that you probably have on hand. You can even make your own variations of seasoned rice. Just add the spices and ingredients that your family likes.

Same idea can be applied to those oatmeal packets with flavors such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and apples. Just make your oatmeal and add the spices and ingredients that you like. Real apples in oatmeal tastes better to me than the dried flavoring they add to the packets.

These are just a few of the tips I use in making my own substitutions that not only cost less, but are most of the time, much better for you.

Pizza Making

A few nights ago, my son decided to make pizza. I had planned homemade pizza for dinner, but he just insisted that he make it.

Note: when Bryce says he wants to cook something, he wants to do it "all by himself." The "all by himself" is defined by Mom can't touch anything, but she has to stand over everything he does and give a description of what needs to be done.

Have you ever tried to do that while someone (who is a novice in the kitchen) is trying to make pizza? It's almost impossible.

I kept wanting to pick the dough up and show him how to stretch it. I wanted to show him how you nicely spread that sauce around in a perfectly round circle with a uniform crust developing. (Note the sloppy edge.....I used to work in a pizza shop in my younger days, I guess it stuck with me all these years.)

Here's the dough recipe that I use from my Betty Crocker recipe book (the one I mentioned in this post):
Pizza Dough

1 package active dry yeast (we use 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees ) - We just run the water and wait 'til it's warm
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in remaining ingredients; beat vigorously 20 strokes. Let stand about 5 minutes.

Notice how it says to let stand about 5 minutes......

Well, our pizza dough sat for about 15 minutes as we were making the sauce while we were letting it stand. You know, it's difficult to make sauce in 5 minutes when you're instructing a 19 year old, then answering all his questions as you proceed.

Note: we doubled the dough recipe and we use a 14-inch pizza stone. We like the poufy, thicker dough.

Here's the sauce recipe that I use (It's one that I have developed through the years):
Pizza Sauce

2/3 can (12 ounces) of tomato paste (I freeze the remainder for next time)
1 teaspoon of minced garlic (Bryce added 1 tablespoon, he loves garlic!)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar, scant
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
water

You mix all the ingredients together until smooth.

Question: How much water? Ummmm, I eyeball it until it looks and acts like pizza sauce, of course. (I was driving the boy crazy with explanations like that one.)

The masterpiece pizza consisted of pepperoni and onions. We topped it with a good shake of Parmesan cheese and oregano.

When we were getting ready to put it into the oven, Bryce asked if it was supposed to look so bubbly! No, it's not, but it had actually risen a great deal while he was topping it. It took 1 hour to get it into the oven.

I told him you know you're an expert pizza maker when you can make dough, sauce, top the pizza and have it baked and on the table in 45 minutes. It took him longer than that just to top it.

I think I might let my pizza dough rise next time after stretching it onto my stone, because it was so light and fluffly. It had a sweet crunch to it.

It was very good!

Don't tell Bryce, but it was a darn sight better than my first pizza!

Meatloaf for Company?

Janelle's wonderful site about leftovers has inspired me to write a post about my meatloaf. She has some wonderful ideas!


Meatloaf for Company? you ask. Whenever someone is invited to my home for dinner, who has eaten my meatloaf, they usually beg me to make it! So I thought I would share. It's easy and basic, but oooh, so good.

I make a normal meatloaf mixture, but the twist is that I roll it out into a rectangle. I then lay any combination of numerous ingredients on top of the meatloaf rectangle as a filling, such as: ham, cheese, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, or even mashed potatoes. You can use any kind of filling that your little heart desires. Obviously, I use ingredients that my family likes. In fact, hubby likes ham, cheese and spinach; whereas, I like broccoli and cheese. So, I use the mini loaf pans and make two, one each to our liking.

Then you roll the rectangle into a loaf, plop into the loaf pan and cook your meatloaf just as you would normally do.

Absolutely delicious and it's usually more filling than the normal meatloaf, so we always have leftovers.

The Worst Meals

My son said to me the other night, "Mom, you're the best cook in the whole wide world."

Thank you, son!

That innocent comment got me thinking. I've probably cooked that boy over 6,000, maybe almost 7,000 meals in his lifetime (we don't eat out often).

I can remember his dad and him having conversations, such as, "Remember when Mom tried to feed us meatless meals of lentils?" and the other replying, "Eeeew! Do I ever! Or remember the time she made that real expensive, exotic dish and it tasted like cow dung?"


Various Exotic Herbs and Spices in Bowls

How is it that I've cooked all these meals all these years and the ones that my family remembers the most is the failures? I've probably only cooked 2 bad meals in my entire life! That's right, the lentils and the cow dung are the only 2 bad meals I ever cooked!

I've painstakingly cooked some wonderful, awesome meals, but the ones they can remember every minute detail about are the miserable ones.

Of course, you realize, that I'm only half joking, but they do have a tendency to really, really remember those horrible meals. We all have made them. Come on, admit it!

Then I realized for 4 months, my son had been eating meals at college. He didn't like the canned sweet potatoes, or the dried up quarter-sized tomatoes that were on his burger, or the mystery meat on that sub he ordered. Not to mention the time he had food poisoning when he ate 'free' food at the college deli one day. He told me that he knows now why it was 'free'. He said the guy behind the counter told him, 'Come back anytime, I'll give you a deal.' DS said that he got more of a deal than he bargained for.

So, I'm the world's greatest cook, you know, as long as you forget the lentils and the cow dung! I just can't seem to get those right....yet, but I'm working on it!


Green, Red and Brown Lentils (Lens Culinaris)

Homemade (Frugal) Pancake Syrup Recipe

Disclaimer: If your family is adept at recognizing 'fake' maple syrup, this recipe might not be for you. But, if your family is less than expert at distinguishing 'fake', then by all means read on.

My family has a tendency to not become overly concerned with the fakeness of cheap, maple syrup. They usually are quite happy to pour on this cheap imitation of maple syrup and enjoy!


Hand Pours Syrup onto a Stack of Pancakes

This is a recipe that I tweaked from Amy Dacyczyn (The Tightwad Gazette lady), which only costs 52 cents to make a 24 oz. jug.

Pancake Syrup

3 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla (I use imitation, remember I'm cheap, cheap, cheap)

2 teaspoons butter flavoring (I omit, because it doesn't alter the taste, in my opinion...remember, I'm cheap, cheap, cheap)

1 teaspoon maple extract ( I use imitation here, too. I bet you can guess why, right?)


Bring all to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves (a good rolling boil) for approximately 3 minutes. Turn off burner, but leave pot on burner until bubbling stops.

Let cool, put in old, generic-brand syrup bottle. Let set overnight and your family probably won't be the wiser if you're used to buying the cheap, generic-brand in the first place.

One other thing I'd thought I would mention. The really elcheapo brand in the store uses high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Now, there is a lot of controversy about HFCS, but some say it contributes to obesity, coronary heart disease and diabetes 2.

So, I think with that thought, I'll stick to my 52 cent, dirt-cheap, sugar based syrup!

Waffle Recipe

Here is a waffle recipe that I've used a few times in the past. It's pretty good.

I emailed this recipe to Yankee Gal, who reads my blog, and she said, "WOW, I just made your waffle recipe Lee! It ROCKS!....Anyway, the waffles were exactly the texture and chewiness that we were looking for. I used honey instead of sugar..that was the only difference.Thanks again. :o)"

So, I've decided to post the recipe for the whole World Wide Web to peruse.

Crisp Waffles

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted, or vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat waffle iron. Beat eggs with hand beater until fluffy, beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Pour batter from cup or pitcher onto center of hot waffle iron. Bake until steaming stops, about 5 minutes. Remove waffle carefully. THREE 10-INCH WAFFLES.

This recipe came from the Betty Crocker's Cookbook New and Revised Edition with Microwave Recipes included.

Now, this Betty Crocker Cookbook is NOT new and revised anymore as I received it as a gift for Christmas from my loving brother 24 years ago.

This is my all time favorite cookbook. You can tell when you take a look at it, because there are pages that have detached. I have repaired the binding with brown paper bag and duct tape. There are stains on the pages that I use the most often. I have variations of recipes that I've written into the margins and it has a few other recipes that I've written or printed out on my computer and shoved in between the pages.

To look at it, it doesn't look like much, but it's the best cookbook I own.

Christmas Breakfast Casserole

We had this wonderfully, delicious Breakfast Casserole posted in the Taste of Home with our Christmas mid-morning brunch at my house. Everyone marveled at how good it tasted. Well, everyone but my son. He doesn't like Egg Casseroles at all, so I made him Egg Muffins for his egg dish.

My son also had the stomach flu all night, so we just pushed the brunch back a few hours, and he felt well enough to eat with us. He's feeling better now, but he went to bed very early Christmas evening as he was mostly tired and wore out.

Christmas Breakfast Casserole

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 cup chopped onion
1 jar (7 ounces) roasted red peppers, drained and chopped, divided
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded provolone
Fresh rosemary sprigs, optional

In a skillet, cook sausage and onion until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a greased 3-qt baking dish (I used a 9x13 baking dish, as I didn't think it would fit in the 3-qt baking dish). Sprinkle with half of the red peppers and all of the spinach.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, Parmesan cheese, basil and salt. Combine eggs and milk; add to dry ingredients and mix well. Pour over spinach.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. (It actually took close to an hour for mine to cook through. I think it was because DH put it in the oven with a pan of sliced potatoes on top of it. We had so much in the oven that he criss-crossed the pan over the top of the casserole.)

Sprinkle with provolone cheese and remaining red peppers. Bake 2 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting. Garnish with rosemary if desired. (I didn't use the rosemary sprigs, because DH says that the sprigs remind him of eating sticks!) LOL!

It's very yummy!

I'm also not a biggy on egg casseroles, but this one is outstanding!

Easy Tomato Soup

Here's a little twist to the normal tomato soup and it's delicious!

Take a couple of cans of condensed tomato soup, add 1 can of milk, add 1 can of diced tomatoes, then (here's the good part) add 1/4 block of cream cheese! Heat until cream cheese melts throughout!

Yummmmmm!

This is so awesome and it's so creamy!

Easy Homemade Pancake Recipe

Here is a pancake recipe that I've used for years. It's so easy that when my son was around 10 or 11 years old, he started making them all by himself for snacks.


Easy Pancake Recipe

1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons shorting, melted butter or margarine, or veg. oil (I use melted margarine)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat egg with hand beater until fluffy; beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Grease heated griddle. Pour about 3 tablespoons batter from tip of large spoon or from pitcher onto hot griddle. Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges. Turn and cook other side until golden brown.

There are many, many variations to this recipe, but my all time favorite variation is to use whole wheat/graham flour (I found this at Walmart), then add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar instead of 1 tablespoon of white sugar.

I also 'cheat' and use 3 tablespoons of baking powder. I know, it's a lot, but it really makes the whole wheat pancakes light and fluffy. Hubby says it tastes like cake!

Laurie's Venison Stew

Last night, I thought I'd try this new recipe. It's called Brunswick Stew. It was on Chocolatechic's blog a long time ago and it sounded so good. Here's the link to her blog with the recipe, which is listed on the right hand sidebar under "Recipes".

http://chocolatechic.wordpress.com/brunswick-stew/

But, I didn't check my cupboards before I started cooking. Uh, oh, I needed to substitute and change so much of it that I named it "Laurie's Venison Stew" and here is my variation:

Laurie's Venison Stew

3/4 - 1 pound of ground venison (mine has sweet sausage mixed in with the venison which
added an extra nice flavor) - so I would think 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 sweet sausage would work.
6 - 7 medium sized potatoes (diced)
2 large white onions (diced)
3 cups beef broth (or bouillon)
2 - 14 1/2 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
1 - 14 1/2 ounce can of black-eyed peas
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the ground venison (or ground beef and sausage). Remove from heat and set aside.

Add diced potatoes and onions to the 3 cups of beef broth (just enough to just cover the potatoes and onions) and boil until tender.

Add diced tomatoes, black-eyed peas, cooked ground venison, salt, and pepper. Heat through and serve.



This makes a pretty big pot of stew. It made about 5 quarts, so it's more than hubby and I could eat in one sitting. Leftovers for lunch tomorrow, then maybe I'll pop it in the freezer for a quick lunch on another day. This was absolutely delicious. Hubby kept saying over and over again, "This is so good." It sure warmed the bones after having a chilly, windy day.