Bacon Salad

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The ingredients:

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1 lb slab bacon $2 @ WalMart

½ onion $0.25 @ Wal Mart

3 T balsamic vinegar (on hand)

1 T white vinegar (on hand)

2 t Dijon mustard (on hand)

2 t honey (on hand)

1 t black pepper (on hand)

4 large eggs, room temp $0.66

Fancy salad greens- ½ of a $3 box- $1.50

Parmesan cheese *optional, when budget allows.*

Total: $4.41 ($5 with parmesan)

Slice the bacon into ½ inch wide strips.

Slice the onion into thin half-moons.

Separate the half-moons.

You should have a nice mound of onion slivers.

Spread bacon evenly in medium skillet and heat over low heat.

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When bacon starts sizzling, stir it well

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Cover for 15 minutes or until desired crispiness. Don’t be tempted to raise heat; the low heat will help render the fat.

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1 lb slab bacon $2 @ WalMart

½ onion $0.25 @ Wal Mart

3 T balsamic vinegar (on hand)

1 T white vinegar (on hand)

2 t Dijon mustard (on hand)

2 t honey (on hand)

1 t black pepper (on hand)

4 large eggs, room temp $0.66

Fancy salad greens- ½ of a $3 box- $1.50

Parmesan cheese *optional, when budget allows.*

Total: $4.41 ($5 with parmesan)

Slice the bacon into ½ inch wide strips.

Slice the onion into thin half-moons.

Separate the half-moons.

You should have a nice mound of onion slivers.

Spread bacon evenly in medium skillet and heat over low heat.

When bacon starts sizzling, stir it well

Cover for 15 minutes or until desired crispiness. Don’t be tempted to raise heat; the low heat will help render the fat.

Use slotted spoon to transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.

Now raise the heat to medium and add the onion. Cook 4 minutes in drippings until fragrant, soft, and caramel-colored. Remove from skillet, but leave the skillet on medium heat.

Measure out the dressing ingredients-

3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons each Dijon and honey

1 teaspoon black pepper

Leave the bacon fat in there, this is where the flavor comes from.

Stir in 3 T balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, pepper right into the pan.

Whisk until dressing is thick, opaque and emulsified. Set aside on stove to keep warm.

Bring saucepan filled halfway with water to boil over high heat. Add vinegar.

Crack each of the eggs into teacups.

Slip eggs from cups into the pan. Cover and poach 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, divide lettuce between 4 plates.

Top with bacon…

..and the onions.

Rewhisk dressing then drizzle over salads.

Using slotted spoon, transfer one egg to each plate.

Grate some fresh parmesan over the salads.

Serve immediately.

My own basic meatloaf

Meatloaf! Who does not love meatloaf?! Yet so many people manage to make theirs taste like the stuff you do not want to stand in line at the cafeteria for. My secret is adding root vegetables. The carrots soak the grease and add texture and flavor to the meatloaf. This is my basic meatloaf and month to month; I make slight variations on my basic recipe. One month, I will want an Asian tang. The next, I will want a Mexican kick. Then I’m looking to go to India and yet another month, I’m looking for an Italian twist. You get the idea. The basics are the same. As I make more meatloaf later, I will update this blog to share how to make it taste different with just a few changes. Sometimes, if the lamb is a very good deal, I grab half a pound of ground lamb, but this month the lamb was marked really high at $10+ a pound so I passed that up.

Meatloaf takes a little bit of preparation work, which is why I like to just buy the family size and make four meat loaves at once and freeze the rest. The cost is a little higher initially, but works out to be lower in the long run because this makes four dinners and four leftover lunches the next day- that’s every Monday dinners and Tuesday lunches in the month right there! Just get it out of the freezer and pop in the oven. I like to enable myself to be lazy every once in a while, ya know?

Okay, let’s get started! Here are the ingredients for my basic meatloaf.

3# tube of ground beef $5.88 @ WalMart
2# ground pork $2.31 @ WalMart
1# tube of sausage (I chose hot, you may choose mild if you prefer) $2.88
bag of shredded carrots- 16 ounces for $1.22 (it is cheaper to buy whole carrots and shred yourself, but I did not feel like doing that this time, besides it’s only pennies.)
half an onion $1 each at Wal Mart – 50 cents
3 cloves garlic- one bulb is 50 cents- used about 5 cents worth (If you are not a big fan of garlic, use one clove)
2 eggs – 12 for $2.59= 22 cents each… 44 cents.
Oats- 1 cup (always on hand in this house hold)
Worcestershire sauce- always on hand in this household
Dijon mustard- always on hand in this household
Relish- always on hand in this household

Also, you need the seasonings- Oregano, salt, pepper

$13.28 total cost.
$3.32 each loaf.
40 cents for a generous serving.

Set everything out about 30 minutes before you get to work so that everything has a chance to come to just below room temperature. This way the eggs will break up easier and you do not freeze your hands off mixing the meat. That is right, take your jewelry off for this- you are going to get your hands dirty. While the ingredients are sitting out, you can get out the hardware you will need. A bowl, a cutting board and a good knife, four loaf pans, aluminum foil, freezer paper, and have hot soapy water in the sink ready for the dirty bowl when you are finished.

Place the three meats in a large bowl.

Mix the meats together. Do not squeeze, squish, or mash the meat. Just fold them together with your hands. If you know how to sign the word “grey” do that motion over and over in the meat. Think combing through the meat, that’s how you want to blend the meat. You want the texture to be intact, not all mooshed into tough fibers.

Now poke holes and start adding the two eggs. The poked holes helps make sure the meat is evenly seasoned with less effort. Break the yolks and add 1 Tablespoon each of Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and relish.

Now shake in the seasonings- one teaspoon each salt, pepper, and oregano.

Get the three cloves of garlic out and place on the cutting board. Awww, the poor things, they don’t know what’s about to hit them.

Gently balance the flat side of your knife on a garlic clove and with the side of your fist hit it; crushing the garlic. Sometimes, if you do it just right, the clove will slip right out of the papery covering! Watch for that, don’t want to shoot anyone’s eye out or cut a finger off. Now the garlic are whacked, it’s time to mince them.

Now that the garlic is minced, scatter them over the meat.

Get an onion and halve it.

Oh, wait, here’s a trick…. Lemon juice. A splash of it will help combat the tearjerking issues that come with chopping onions. If you are ultra-sensitive like I am, stick your head in the freezer for 30 seconds. No, I am not kidding. Seriously, stick your head in the freezer for 30 seconds. Go on, I’ll wait. Oh, while you’re in there, check on your ice supply as an excuse for how silly you will look with your body sticking out from the freezer.

Ready? Juiced cutting board and frozen eyeballs? Okay! Here’s one more trick of fighting the tears back. Leave the root alone! See, I left it intact. I learned from Alton Brown’s  Good Eats show that most of the chemicals are in the root end, so I leave it uncut as long as I can.

Cut the onion horizontally without touching the root end and then slice parallel to the cutting board without cutting into the root end. Now when you slice across the rings, they will fall off in a dice! Easy, huh? Add to the meat.

Now the carrots.

Now the oats.

You want to fold it in, not mash it in.

It is mixed through.

Now grab the loaf pans lined with foil.

Divide the meat evenly among the four pans and pat into a flat layer.

Fold the foil over and wrap down snugly. Run a hand around it to make sure foil is touching the entire surface of the meat.

Four meatloaves, ready to go.

If you tend to have trouble with freezer burn, like I do with my old freezer, double wrap it. Once in foil and once in freezer paper.

Lay on a 18 inch long piece of freezer paper and fold a corner over…

tuck corner under

Flip over twice

Tuck corners in and then finish rolling it and secure with tape.

To cook:
Thaw a loaf in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Unwrap one loaf and lay it, foil and all on a rimmed cookie sheet. The foil means minimal clean up. Bake for 1 hour.

Slice ½ inch thick and serve with your choice of side dishes. Our favorites are instant mashed taters and a bagged salad blend, bringing our total meal cost to $2.30 each serving, including second helpings of everything.

Indian takeout

I wasn’t feeling good lately so I ordered delivery. Here’s how I still stuck to my budget, yet treating us to some Indian takeout. I will share what I have learned about getting the most bang for your buck without seeming stingy.

First, get to know the delivery restaurants around your area. Ask around and talk to anyone that you know orders take out often. Which restaurants are generous and reward you for being a loyal customer? Which restaurants are very stingy with their portions? Which restaurants have a lot of free extras, such as condiments and drinks? See my local recommendations below.

Now, you want to stick to the soups and the appetizers or to the special of the day. They tend to be generous with soups and soup is a very filling food anyway. Eat the soup slowly; savoring the flavors and the fact you did not have to cook that evening. This will fill you up easily. This is a good family meal, just enjoy each other’s company.

Next, you do NOT want to be stingy with your tips. Over time, they will remember you and how well you tip. Make room in your budget specifically for tipping. If you do not have enough to tip, you do not have enough to order, simple as that. You really do get better service when you tip well. The drivers are doing this as their job, not as a courtesy. They will remember you and sometimes they will bring your food to you first, hence, making it faster.

Last night, I decided I wanted Indian. I recommend Gem of India. I ordered the Gem of India bread basket ($7.95), Gem of India platter ($7.95) and the coconut soup ($1.95) totaling $17.95 and I handed the driver $25 and told him to keep the change. I won’t factor in the delivery tip and go with $17.95 divided by 4 people which comes around $4.48 each and I divide that by half to account for the fact we had so much leftover we ate the same things for lunch today. This delivery comes out to $2.24 per serving. The photo is of my own serving, with the condiments we all shared included in the photo to show all the different things that each person got to eat.

I still have all except one of the condiments nearly full and I will be using these in rice, in my grits, in my oatmeal, etc. These are very flavorful and just a little bit goes a long way.

Here are my recommendations for delivery/take out in Springfield, Missouri.

Indian- Gem of India, of course! If you do decide to order an entrée, I feel their portions are generous enough to split two ways or for you to eat for dinner one evening and have leftovers for lunch the next day. If you do this, I recommend stirring all the rice into the sauce so that it doesn’t dry out when you re-heat it in the microwave the next day. The bread basket reheats beautifully. Just wrap each one in a paper towel and zap for 30 seconds. Their chai is amazing! If you happen to eat at the sit-in restaurant, order the chai! Free refills. It is sweet, but has a bite to it.

Chinese- China King. When they get to know you and recognize you as a loyal customer, they give you free boxes of almond cookies and very generous servings. Their lunch for one will easily feed my family of four and fill us with plenty to spare for leftovers. Their crab Rangoon is the best I’ve found in this city and although not budget-wise, I always order two bags- it’s sweet, syrupy and smooth with small bits of krabmeat throughout. Their fried rice reheats beautifully without any sauce because they are not shy about coating each grain in oil.

Thai- ThaiXpress. They don’t deliver, but they have a drive-thru and they are fast! Well, not McDonald’s fast, but you know what I mean. They make your order as you come in, your way. The reason they’re so fast must be because they have an efficient mise-en-place system going in the kitchen. Every time I have a special request, my order is still as fast as the others. Their crab Rangoon is really good too, with large chunks of krabmeat and scallions and fluffy cheese inside. They have very generous servings for a good price.

My favorite sushi restaurant does not deliver, so I won’t review it here.

Please vote on your cost of frugal meals.

I have been wondering what you all consider to be a frugal meal. Please vote below and when I see what the consensus is, I will stick to blogging only my meals below that cost.

Thanks and happy voting.

Tweaked Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

I am a recent recipient of the Crosslines food pantry and these ingredients were gifted to us. When I saw what we got, I immediately thought of one of my favorite standby recipes, from Bisquick.

I tweaked it a bit. I added a can of corn and a cup of salsa. Here are the ingredients I used tonight; all were free to me but total cost if you purchase the items is around four dollars.

½ cup biscuit mix

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 can corn

1 cup cheese crumbles

½ cup salsa

1 pound ground beef

(No cost to me- about $4 if bought from store)

Brown the beef in a skillet and heat oven to 400 degrees.

Add the corn and salsa to beef and stir through.

Dump beef mixture into pie plate and sprinkle with cheese.

Make the batter by whisking together the biscuit mix, milk, and eggs.

Pour over the beef mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Mmmmm, comfort food. And it is filling too! Sometimes, when I have hashbrowns on hand, I add that to the beef mixture to make it even heartier.

Dirty Rice

We have a guest blogger. My sweet husband made dinner tonight! He made dirty rice, one of my favorite foods. It also happens to be a very filling frugal meal.

Rice- 2 cups uncooked rice out of a $2 5-pound bag from Big Lots = $0.40

Chicken hearts and gizzards- $1.16

Flour and seasonings

Total: $1.56

Thoroughly rinse all innards before cooking, soak a few minutes in salted water. Drain and spread out on a cutting board.

Cut connective tissue between two lobes of gizzards, slice lobes in half lengthwise

Gizzard before cutting

Gizzards after cutting and trimming

Slice hearts in half lengthwise

A chicken heart

Sliced chicken heart

Dredge in flour

don’t crowd the frying pan, cook in batches

skewer several pieces together to get an accurate reading

Cook rice (garlic powder, thyme, salt, black pepper, cayenne based hot sauce), stir together and serve.

Dirty Rice

Mmmm, now I’m hungry for more! Leftovers are great!

Beany Ramen

For lunch, we had Beany Ramen.

Ramen- $0.30

Pork-n-Beans $0.44

Total: $0.74

Just cook ramen according to directions, drain. Stir in beans, toss through. Serve. This was enough for two people or for one very hungry teenager.

Suddenly Salad taken up a hitch!

Here are the ingredients.

Suddenly salad $1.25 @ Big Lots

Fish steaks- .85 ea @ Big Lots $1.70

Total: $2.95

Just follow the directions on the box and do an extra step of stirring in two tins of fish steaks. Dinner’s ready! If your bunch are ravenous, add rolls and hard boiled eggs, but my family was satisfied with this as is, although there were no leftovers.

Slow braised beef shanks

Slow Braised Beef Shanks

Beef shanks $2.91 @ Food4Less

Tomato paste $0.25 @ Big Lots

Frozen Peas ½ of a 10 ounce bag $1.98 @ Food4Less = $0.99

1 cup chopped carrots (3 carrots) $0.48 @ Food4Less

1 cup sweet red wine $5.99 for 750ml bottle =$1.89

*Note: I love St. James Winery brand, but you can use your favorite brand. Just remember that if you would not drink it straight, it will not taste good in a dish either.*

1 teapoon Dijon mustard (on hand)

salt and pepper (on hand)

vegetable oil (on hand)

garlic powder (on hand)

basil (on hand)

Total: $6.52

Start by heating your skillet over high heat and add a splash of oil. A tablespoon should do it. You want it smoking hot.

While you wait for the smoke, start salting and peppering both sides of the shanks.

Sear both sides of the shanks, about 3 minutes per side. This will boost the flavor tremendously, but if you’re feeling lazy, you may skip this step.

This is how the seared shanks should look. It is fine that the marrow is still raw, it will cook through in the slowcooker.

Fit the shanks into the slowcooker and scatter about ½ teaspoon each garlic powder and basil over the shanks.

Open the can of tomato paste and smear over the shanks as evenly as possible.

Now add the Dijon mustard and swirl into the tomato paste.

Pour the wine over the shanks.

Now scatter in the peas and carrots.

Set the slowcooker to low and leave it alone for a minimum of 6 hours, but it’s so good after it has cooked for 8-10 hours. Mmmmmm, Like butter, baby!

It is done! This is how it should look. You may serve it as a stew by ladling into bowls or you may use tongs to get the shanks out to serve as a main dish with a side such as rice, mashed potatoes, polenta, or couscous.

Dogaroni

Dogaroni

The ingredients:

1 pound macaroni (1/2 of a 2 pound bag $1.80 @ Big Lots) $0.90

1 can diced tomatoes $0.49 @ ALDI

1 package all beef hot dogs $0.69 @ ALDI

and ½ teaspoon of each of the following: salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, and oregano. (On hand)

(*NOTE* You can just use Italian herb diced tomatoes and exclude the herbs)

total: $2.08

Start some water to boil and while you wait for the water, slice the hot dogs into rounds.

When the water is boiling, dump in the macaroni and the hot dogs. Let the hot dogs float and cook for 4 minutes or until they’re puffy and heated through.

Get out a bowl and open the can of tomatoes into it. Add the seasonings then stir thoroughly.

Now that the four minutes are up, use a slotted utensil to scoop out the hot dogs and put in the tomato mixture.

Stir the hot dogs and the tomato mixture to blend and warm the tomatoes up.

After 4 more minutes, the macaroni is cooked al dente- time to drain it. I like my pasta al dente or a little bit firm so that it’s easier for my toddlers to pick up the food to eat. If you like your pasta softer, cook it a bit longer.

Anyways right after you drain your macaroni, immediately toss with the hot dog and tomato sauce to heat everything through and serve.

This dish is usually a big hit with the little ones and I love how it’s on the table in less than ten minutes, not counting the time it takes for water to boil.