Archive for August, 2012

Pie Central at Food Stamps Cooking Club

August 13th, 2012

The Club House will be transformed this week as “Pie Central” for the Johnson County Fair’s Food Stand!

It’s going to be a busy, busy week here!  Tomorrow some of the best pie bakers in Johnson County and our little church will gather to bake pies to be sold in  the Food Stand at the County Fair.  Since we live very close to the fairgrounds it is logical to stash all the pies here in the Club House.  The Normanator and I will cut them and put the slices into little take-out boxes and they’ll be shuttled to the Food Stand.  We are told this is a daunting assignment, because many pies per day will be brought in for “processing”!

Because of this extra assignment, there will be an absence of blog posts for the duration of the week.  You are reminded that we are also up all night, delivering newspapers!  We are hopeful we will not doze off while cutting pies! 

There is a recipe for you today-for a pie, of course.  Before we offer that we want to acknowledge all the great comments that have come in + the great replies you have made to one another in the Comments section of every post.  YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME.  There are emails coming in that warm our hearts, too.  It is so gratifying to hear from you that you are getting some concrete HELP from these posts!  Thank you so much!

If you are living on a dime, you could use a hand.  Those who have EBT cards for SNAP or WIC can use some helpful advice; so can those of you who get things from a food bank or a food pantry.  If you have food commodities you can benefit from some great ideas on their use.  If you are frugal by nature and get a hoot from s t r e t c h i n g your food budget you can garner all the great notions that are offered from any corner.  That’s what the Food Stamps Cooking Club is all about.  But we don’t do it alone; each of you is helping one another.  How can it get any better than THIS?

Harriet’s Peachy Summer Pie

INGREDIENTS:

10 – 12 fresh peaches, pitted and sliced

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 recipe pastry for 9 inch double crust pie 

METHOD:

Mix flour, sugar and butter into crumb stage.

Place one crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Line the shell with some sliced peaches. Scatter some of the butter mixture on top of the peaches, then layer more peaches on top of the the crumb mixture. Continue layering until both the peaches and crumbs are gone.

Top with second  pie crust, or make lattice strips of crust.  *You might even top it off with a streusel topping, so you’ll have plenty of room for the ICE CREAM when you serve pie a la mode!  **If you use a full top crust, cut vents into the top so it won’t dribble.

Place pie on a cooky sheet-in case of drips-and  bake at 350* for 45 minutes or until you like the color of the crust.  When pie is done, turn off the oven; let it sit in the oven to cool with the oven. This allows the juices to boil away and the filling will set to perfection. 

Make sure the pie is cool before serving. 

Mmm…peach pie a la mode always reminds me of my Grandma Wagner, because peach pie was our comfort food when I was a little girl.    You guys bake up some summer goodness in your kitchens and think of us pie cutters this week.  See you next week!

Remember that you are dearly loved.  Please consider yourselves hugged!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Always do business with those you trust implicitly.

PS/ Have you submitted your story to the Public Insight Network?  If not, they eagerly await hearing from you if you have ever used public assisstance, Social Security or Medicare/Medicaid.  Click here:  Public Insight Network.  Nothing to buy; they only want your story.

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Sharing Recipes at Food Stamps Cooking Club

August 10th, 2012

Sharing recipes and ideas for saving money is what this Club is all about!

Our mailbag has been BULGING!  Our members are sharing their lives, their favorite recipes and their ideas like never before!  It feels like a party!

Let me tell you a smidgeon about April.  April is so excited about learning and sharing that she sends her messages to us via her phone!  This is true dedication; I am so grateful to sit in April’s circle.  She wants us to have her go-to recipe for Fajitas.  She says they throw caution to the wind and splurge on these about once a month!

April’s Splurge for Fajitas

1  cup lime juice

2  teaspoons oregano

2  teaspoons cilantro

1 – 2  teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1  teaspoon cumin

1  teaspoon garlic powder

2  #  beef, cut into strips.  This could be a cheap roast, flat skirt steak, or whatever is on sale.  Can also use chicken.

3  to  4 bell peppers, cut into strips

tortillas

In a large bowl combine lime juice, oregano, cilantro, red pepper flakes, cumin, garlic.  Place beef into this marinade.  Cover and refrigerate from 2 to 24 hours. 

You can cook the meat and peppers in a pan over medium heat.  I love to grill these by placing foil over the grill grate and poking small holes in the foil.

~April

*Aprilalso sent along a muffin recipe that will be better suited for cooler fall weather.  I have set that one aside for later but it will be hard to wait to taste those!  Thank you so much, April!

April’s Fajitas remind me about the money saving ideas MikeMax sent in awhile back.  She talked in detail about how to watch for meat sales so we’ll have things like skirt steak or other cuts of meat on hand for easy, low cost meals.  The cost of food in general and meat in particular is really an issue all over the country right now. Carol is another member who is genius at finding grocery bargains and thinking ahead.  Lili also is gifted that way and they are all eager to share their wisdom.  It behooves us all to see all that they offer on their blogs and we would do well to look in on Pam, too!

Are YOU living on a dime?  Do you s t r e t c h your food dollars til they snap?  Are you a holder of an EBT card for SNAP or WIC?  Maybe you have goods from a food pantry or food commodities.  It could be that you are a frugal shopper or gardener or lucky recipient from a generous person with a green thumb.  In any case, this little blog is offered for YOUR benefit.  We dearly hope it helps.

The good folks at the Public Insight Network are hoping you’ll share your story of using any type of public assistance with them.  They are interested in people who use Social Security benefits or Social Security Supplemental money.  You could help them greatly by sharing.  Just click on this link:  Public Insight Network.   If you have questions about this, you are welcome to email Meg Cramer at cramer.meg@gmail.com

Everyone has a system of sorts for keeping recipes…it would be fun to know how YOU manage your collection.  Here’s hoping you’ll share your ideas.  We always hope for COMMENTS, too.  Mother Connie is as subtle as a Mack truck…

 

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Always do business with those you trust implicitly.


 

 

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Stuffing Tomatoes at Food Stamps Cooking Club

August 8th, 2012

Summer is a perfect time for tomatoes!

Whenever my mother hosted her card-playing pals, she wanted to delight their hearts. So she stuffed tomatoes.  She never made them the same way twice; she cooked creatively, by the seat of her britches.  She might have mixed up something with tuna one time; another time she might use canned popcorn shrimp.  Those bridge players fairly squealed with delight.  I wonder if Mom ever thought to try something like the idea you’ll see here today.

The summer tomatoes-especially in Nebraska!-are plentiful now.  They are ripe, plump, juicy and full of nutrition.  These are not the tasteless things that have the flavor of the sack you carry them home in from the market!  Foods purchased locally and in season are good and good for you!

Corn Stuffed Tomatoes

*This makes 4 servings.  There is no reason you could not expand it to feed 6 or 8. 

4  large, ripe tomatoes

1  1/2  cups cooked corn kernels, cooled to room temp  *you could use frozen or canned, drained corn and the Kitchen Police will never darken your door over it.

1/2  cup finely chopped ham  *optional OR you could use chicken or turkey

1/2  cup finely chopped onion

4  tablespoons mayo, divided

2  cups chopped lettuce

METHOD:

Cut the tops of the tomatoes and remove the pulp with a spoon.  Remove and discard the seed; chop the pulp.

Mix the pulp with the corn, meat, onion and 2 tablespoons mayo.   Fill the cavities of the tomatoes with the mixture and top off each tomato with a dollop of the mayo.

Divide the lettuce among the plates, place a tomato on each plate and serve proudly.

*This is Mother Connie’s version of a recipe found in the Lincoln Journal Star food section.

Stuffed tomatoes appeal to Mother Connie because it makes a quick, easy AFFORDABLE meal with very little clean up.  GRIN  When you serve this dish, all you need is some toast points and fruit for dessert.  Set out the good dishes and you have the makings of a party.  Take it to the picnic table and you are celebrating summer!  Oh, remember to make some iced tea with a dash of lemon just to make it more festive!

This blog has received some major love of late.  If you follow the comments, you know it has been helpful for some and they have said so!  Helping people is how Mother Connie pays her rent for living on this planet so it is gratifying to know her help is actually helpful!

If you are being helped with your food dollars by public assistance funds, it is highly possible you feel alone sometimes, and even unheard.  There  are folks who want to listen and help you.  Some of them are: The Public Insight Network  Another site you may find of interest is the Food Stamps site.  Just click on these links and you will be transported to the proper sites.

It’s possible you are not here because you hold an EBT card for WIC or SNAP.  You may not be one who visits a food pantry or food bank.  You may not have food commodities.  You may or may not be living on a dime.  You may just be a bargain shopper or very clever at keeping the food costs at a minimum and s t r e t c h i n g your food budget.  In any case, we value your presence here.  We also value your comments, hint/hint- and your emails to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com  !

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Always do business with those you trust implicitly.

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French Dressing at Food Stamps Cooking Club

August 7th, 2012

OOO-la-la!  French dressing for summer salads…or year around…is a winner!

There has been a great lot of discussion here and in the Comments section about affordable summer salads and how easy they are but in all the hoop-de-doo the world’s most famous dressing has been out of the loop.

Once upon a time in a small Nebraska town a woman who ran the eatery for a service club made a salad dressing that had the world beating a path to her door.  Everyone ranted and raved about this dressing and begged her for her recipe.  They even  encouraged her to bottle this salad wonder and sell it to them.  So she did.  For a long time it was only available to outlets in Nebraska, but times change and so do peoples’ minds.  I believe it is available all over now but boy, is it pricey! 

Last time it was on my shopping list the price was nearly $.6.00.  That’s beyond my reach.  I complained to my pal, Loretta, at the Action Center about how spendy this dressing is.  Loretta just grinned and reached for her recipe box.  She had figured out how to make a copycat version! 

Thanks to Loretta, here is the formula for that deliciousness.  I am thinking it could become YOUR favorite dressing, too!

Loretta’s Copycat French Dressing

1  1/2  cups vegetable oil  *I used corn oil

1  can   condensed tomato soup  * Do NOT dilute

3/4  cup sugar

1/2  cup vinegar  *any old kind will do

1  teaspoon lemon juice  *I used bottled juice

1  teaspoon paprika

1/2  teaspoon salt

1/2  teaspoon celery seed  *use more if your family likes this

1/2  cup salad dressing  *I got Miracle Whip on sale but I usually buy the store brand

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and whisk until smooth.  Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. 

Yield:  26 servings

I store my dressing in a quart jar.  To serve, I just pour some into a cream pitcher, set it on a plate to catch the drips.  If we have guests, I fill two cream pitchers and set them on the table so they are easily accessible to the diners.  Doing this saves spills and no one has to wait!

Do you use food commodities?  How about SNAP or WIC EBT cards?  Have you been to a food bank or food pantry?  The Public Insight Network wants to know how you FEEL about using these agencies. Just click on “Public Network Insight” and submit your story.  It’s all confidential and there is nothing to buy.

Maybe you have not used public assistance; you might just be plain old fashioned frugal  or you may just be living on a dime.  No matter what your situation is, we welcome  you with open arms here at the Food Stamps Cooking Club.  Everyone matters.  Everyone has something to contribute and we can all learn from one another.

Here’s hoping you all are holding up in the heat, readying the chicklets to get back into the classroom.  In any case, we would love to hear from you.  The comments section is your “bully pulpit”!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Always do business with those you trust implicitly.

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Facebook Friends + Food Stamps Cooking Club

August 6th, 2012

 

Sofrito is something one of our Facebook friends posted. It made my mouth water, just to see the recipe and see how easy it is to prepare!

 

Summer has savaged us this year.  It has been too hot to eat lately, much less cook.  If you cook on a shoestring, it’s even more daunting.  A Facebook friend, who is also a foodie, shared this recipe and I think it’s a winner.  Here is Loren’s recipe as it appeared on Mother Connie’s timeline:

SOFRITO

‎2 green peppers, cored and diced in chunks
1 red pepper, cored and diced in chunks
4 onions diced in chunks
3 medium size tomatoes, diced in chunks
25 cilantro leaves
3medium heads of garlic
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon of pepper.
Put everything in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. I freeze mine in ice trays, so I can use one at a time and it does not have to be cooked unless you use it in stews, roasting meats, etc. Enjoy!!
Thank you, Loren.  I’m sure we shall!
Another way to prepare an inexpensive summer meal is to use zucchini pesto.  Goodness knows the zukes are still coming and when you top pasta with pesto you have a quick, affordable meal that will tantalize the taste buds of everyone in your family!  This is DELICIOUS!
Another Facebook friend and foodie from across the pond in the UK offered this treat!
Zucchini Pesto
2 medium zucchinis, roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic
Approx 1/2 cup fresh basil or other herb  *MC here:  Use dried if that’s all you have.
Scant 1/4 cup sunflower seeds with no shells
Heaping 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan *MC again:  I bet the Kitchen Police will have nothing to report if you use whatever Parm you have available.  Unless you’re close to Italy, that is.  grin
Heaping -although oil doesn’t heap well- 1/4 cup olive oil *MC once more: Don’t mention to the K.P. if you have no olive oil and wish to substitute another veg oil.  I’ll never tell, either.
This a very quick and easy prep and can be made in 5 minutes from start to finish.  Pop your zukes, seeds, garlic, and cheese into the blender and process until chunky.  Start adding the oil in a slow and steady drizzle.  Continue to puree into the mixture is smooth.  Add salt to taste and you are ready to eat!
A zucchini pesto tastes like summer and since you can get it ready in mere minutes, it makes the perfect after-work al fresco dinner!
~Debs Parkes
Debs, thank you very much.  I’m sure our Members will appreciate having this summer specialty!
Are you holding an EBT card for WIC or SNAP?  Do you visit a food bank or food pantry?  Are you using food commodities?  Do you s t r e t c h your food budget as far as you dare month after month?  Are you living on a dime?   If any of these describes your situation, you may feel as if you are never listened to or never heard.  The good news is that someone does care.  The Food Stamps Cooking Club is loaded with people who are in the same boat AND you are invited to submit your story to people who want to know about it.
In our last post, we introduced you to Meg Cramer.  She is associated with the Public Insight Network.  She and her colleagues are really interested to hear from anyone who has received public assistance, so please share your story, if you are so inclined.  It’s quick, painless, confidential and there is nothing to buy.  In order to participate in this important activity, just click on the links that say “Meg Cramer” and “Public Insight Network“.  If you have questions, she welcomes your  email Meg at cramer.net@gmail.com .
If you have scoped out the blogs we have mentioned recently, you know how delightful they really are.  It’s noteworthy that most of the bloggers who receive comments are kind enough to reply to those comments.  You don’t often find that kind of attention to people who take the time to comment; how refreshing!  Again, we invite you to visit Creative Savv or CT On a Budget, as well as  Poor to Rich a Day at a Time.  Be sure to mention that Mother Connie sent you!   If YOU find blogs you think we’d appreciate, please feel free to share!
The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Always do business with those you trust implicitly.

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Posted in Cooking, Message from Mother Connie, Recipes, Uncategorized

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Need a Hand? Food Stamps Cooking Club

August 3rd, 2012

Sometimes we just need a little help along our way...

If you’ve ever stood in line to fill out an application for public assistance you know how that FEELS.

It doesn’t matter whether that assistance came in the form of food stamps or SNAP; if it entitled you and your youngster to an EBT card from WIC; or if you just needed a bag of groceries from the food pantry, you had to jump through some hoops to get the help you needed.

All over the country there are people who depend on food commodities and food banks.  They line up at various churches and other food distribution places to get something for their families to eat.  There are staggering numbers of people in this country who are living on a dime!

If you have ever gone through this, no matter how comfortable or miserable you found the experience to be, you may have wondered whether anyone really cared about your situation.  Maybe you heard snide remarks or perhaps you felt shame or guilt for needing food.  Hey, we all need help of some kind from time to time.  Here in the Club House we don’t care how you got here…we love you just the way you are.

You know how we love comments, of course.  Well, someone sent us a comment that knocked our socks off!  It came from a young woman who is asking us all for our STORIES.  Here is her comment:

“Dear Mother Connie,

I’ve been looking around your blog and I love what you do. First of all – I had no idea that succotash was anything more than sufferin’ succotash – but I’ll definitely be making some ASAP. Second of all – I love that this is a place for lots of different people to share stories with each other about challenges and successes.

My name is Meg Cramer and I’m part of the Public Insight Network – it’s a community of journalists and all kinds of other people  who share experiences and personal stories about how everyday people are affected by what’s happening in our communities.

I would love to give you and your readers the opportunity to be part of the news – and I would love to have the opportunity to listen to and share some of your stories.

Right now we’re asking people if they’ve ever needed services in the safety net -  like food stamps or Medicare -  to get back on their feet, and to share their experiences with us: http://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/form/marketplace/5ee4819b9f95/have-you-ever-used-services-in-the-safety-net-to-get-back-on-your-feet

But we’d love to hear from anyone, anywhere, with any stories! Really!

Thanks so much for your time, I hope to hear from you and some of your readers soon!

 If you’ve got any questions, shoot me an email: cramer.meg@gmail.com

Sincerely,
-Meg”

 

WOW.  She is inviting each of us to have 15 minutes of fame!  grin

I asked Meg what drew her to this blog.  She mentioned that we have a spirit of community here that she has not found elsewhere.  Does that mean we are not “increasingly irrelevant”?  Of course we are not.  We are the ‘over-the-back-fence-neighbors’ who help one another with the daily struggles of keeping body and soul together, sharing our lives, our kitchen tips, our recipes and other ideas that add to the quality of one anothers’ lives!

Here’s hoping you will be moved to share YOUR story with Meg’s network.  There are no strings attached; it’s all confidential, nothing to buy and it’s all up to YOU how much you tell about your situation.

Now let’s talk about FOOD! 

Spinach and Eggs Make a Delcious Brunch!

The ladies at Book Lovers Club mentioned spinach and eggs and my ears perked up.  I have eaten spinach salad with eggs but this was a new dish for me.  The discussion centered around the Dirty 30′s when there was dust everywhere, little money to be had and people lived on whatever they could scrounge up.  * There was no SNAP program in those days.

I took a package of frozen spinach, unwrapped it and placed it in a 2 quart skillet.  When it was thawed, I flattened it to cover the bottom of the skillet.  I put the lid over it and warmed it gently.  While it was warming I cracked 4 eggs into bowls to make sure they were OK.  When the spinach was warmed through I sprinkled a tiny bit of Rice vinegar over the veg.

SIDEBAR:  Rice vinegar is sweet.  Apple cider or distilled vinegar will work well but you may wish to dilute it with a bit of water and maybe a touch of sugar.  END SIDEBAR

Carefully, the eggs went in on little hollows I formed in the spinach.  I seasoned the eggs with salt and pepper, replaced the lid and let the eggs cook slowly.

When the lid came off about 6 – 8 minutes later, the eggs were done perfectly and the aroma was wonderful!

This was extremely economical to make.  The spinach cost $1.45 but canned might be cheaper and eggs are less costly than beef or pork.  These were medium sized eggs.  The nutrient content is over the top!

Do give this a go…your family might be pleasantly surprised at how tasty and filling it really is.

OK, kids.  You have homework:  Go to the website Meg gave us to share your story—RIGHT AFTER you post your comment here!  grin  Then fire up the stove and find some spinach and eggs; it’ll make for a quick, satisfying meal on the cheap!

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline.  Always do business with those you trust implicitly.


 

 

 

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Posted in Cooking, Message from Mother Connie, Recipes

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