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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Squash the CleanUp?

March 18th, 2011

Squash as a pasta with no cooking? Sounds like a PLAN!

Do you use an EBT card for WIC?  Do you have foods you bought with SNAP funds?  Do you despise the cleanup aspect of the dinner hour?

How about Angel Food Ministries goods?  Or food from a pantry or food commodities?  Do you have those? Well, there’s still clean up whenever you prepare food…

In cruising around the web Mother Connie discovered a great idea for a no-cooking meal.  This is a great notion for the mom and dad who work all day and come home just too exhausted to cook and clean up the  mess!  The best part for me, though, is that this is an extremely healthy and delicious  meal.

From Living Frugally on LearnVest 3 18 11 by Allison Kade:

Healthy Squash “Pasta”

And Spinach-Parsley Pesto

5 to 6 large zucchinis and yellow squashes
1 ½ oz. Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup blanched almonds, chopped (these can be found ready-chopped)
About ½ cup olive oil
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
About 4 cups spinach – dried well and chopped
About 1 cup fresh parsley – dried well and chopped

With a vegetable peeler, peel the all of the zucchini and squash into thin strands. This easy step should take about twenty minutes, and you can actually eat the result as is. The zucchini and squash “noodles” have a pleasant, crunchy texture, and are heartier than a simple salad.

Combine cheese, garlic, almonds, and 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a food processor. (If you’re low on time or you don’t want to deal with a food processor, marinara sauce or pre-made pesto works well too.) Pulse briefly, until a paste forms. Add salt and pepper. Pulse a few more times, and then add in the greens. While the processor is on, add the rest of the olive oil. Make sure not to over-process the greens.

Spoon the pesto over the “noodles” and garnish with a sprig of parsley.

Zucchini and yellow squash make great companions!

This will be a wonderful summertime dish, too, because “no oven” preparation will not heat the kitchen.  Squashes are more plentiful and gentle on the food budget in the summertime, as well.  We are grateful to the folks at LearnVest for sharing that great recipe.

We continue to be amazed at the new Club Members joining our ranks; we can’t WAIT to see what they have to offer us in the way of comments!  You are encouraged to comment here or you are welcome to email us here: foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com.

Are you living on a dime?  Do you yearn to add additional income to your household?  If either of these is true for you, it might be wise for you to scope out a couple of our sponsors:  Living On a Dime and Rapid Cash Marketing. We have other sponsors, too.  We hope you pay today’s sponsors a call and let them know Mother Connie pointed you in their direction.

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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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Brussels Sprout Are Saving Dinner?

February 22nd, 2011

Like little baby cabbages, these beauties are LOADED with goodness and flavor! Best of all, they are inexpensive!

When I saw what the Dinner Diva had to say about Saving Dinner I wanted to share her thoughts with all of you Food Stamps Cooking Club members!  Here is what Leanne had to say:
“Brussels sprouts look like “little cabbages” and considering that they do belong in the cabbage family, it’s a good thing! The main growing season is between January and October but you can get them year round as they are grown year round in California.

Brussels sprouts are both loved and hated throughout the world. In my estimation, the hatred comes from a childhood experience of eating overcooked Brussels sprouts. Or not eating them. I remember in my own household sitting at the table by myself with a glass of milk trying to choke those hideous things down. A lot has changed since then!B

Lovely Brussels sprouts are packed with like beta-carotene, vitamin C and folate.  A cancer fighting veggie and natural detoxifier and cleanser for your body, these veggies are delightful when prepared correctly.


Here’s Today’s TRICK:

If you’re cooking rice in your rice cooker pop in the steaming shelf and steam your Brussels sprouts that way. It’s one of the few veggies that will not be over cooked with this method. Stuff the steamer full as they do shrink.


Here’s a TIP:

When picking your Brussels sprouts pick the ones that are firm and bright green in color with clean ends and a nice, cabbagy smell. If they have too strong a cabbage smell, this means they’re older than you’d like and the flavor will be off.
And Your RECIPE:

Lemony Brussels Sprouts

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon sea salt salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup slivered almonds
Water

Boil one inch of water in a pan big enough for the Brussels sprouts (or cook in your rice cooker or other veggie steamer according to directions), place sprouts in boiling water, cover, steam for 1 to 2 minutes. Uncover pot, and stir. Recover pot and cook for five to 10 minutes, stirring twice, until fork tender. Drain. Combine ingredients other than almonds and toss with sprouts. Sprinkle with almond slivers, serve.

Tip: Zest your lemon before you squeeze it!

Mother Connie here:  Great info, isn’t it?  I was sure I would not like these green babies but once I took a bite, I was hooked.  With lemon they will be appealing even to the pickiest of the picky eater crowd!

Leanne likes us to remind you:

Copyright (C) 2010 www.savingdinner.com Leanne Ely, CNC All rights reserved.

This recipe and all the tips and tricks will be most helpful for all home cooks, but especially so for those who use  EBT cards for SNAP or WIC or food pantries or food commodities.  If you use Angel Food Ministries food bundles this will help you stretch your food budgets, as well.  Maybe you are simply frugal; it might be that you are living on a dime.   Maybe you have a THING for Brussels sprouts.  In any case, we all win!

Thanks to you who have signed up for the series of cooking tips and occasional email messages.  We are so happy to have more members in the Club House.  We love your comments and your messages to us, too!  Won’t you send your mail to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com and make our day?

Our sponsors are  tickled to be a part of this so if you want to cruise by and give them your regards, that would be very cool.  Rapid Cash Marketing; ToothSoap; Living On a Dime and of course, Saving Dinner help to make this blog possible and we thank them sincerely.

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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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Do You Know A Muffin Man?

January 24th, 2011

What IS it about muffins that are so satisfying and yummy? Maybe it's that they are very easy to prepare and vanish in a wink!

We have been discussing a Magic Master Mix on this page lately and in case you’ve missed it, we are making it available once again.  It is very easy to put together and VERY handy to have on your shelf for quick breads and fast meals on the cheap!

MAGIC MASTER MIX

8 cups unsifted enriched flour

1/4 cup baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon iodized salt

1 1/3 cups nonfat dry milk powder

3/4 to 1 cup vegetable oil

!. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and dry milk powder.

2.  Drizzle oil over dry mixture; cut in with pastry blender, fork or fingers.

3. Store in covered container in fridge.

This yields about 10 cups and keeps for about 3 months.

NOTE:  When measuring for mix, stir lightly, pile into cup-no shaking-and level off.

To make muffins:

3  cup + 2 tablespoons Magic Master Mix

3  tablespoons sugar

1  egg, beaten

1  cup water

Combine Magic Master Mix and sugar.  Blend egg and water, add to mix.  Stir gently just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Mixture should be lumpy.

SIDEBAR:  How come my GRAVY recipes don’t call for LUMPY? grin  END SIDEBAR

Fill well greased muffin cups 2/3 full, bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.  Congratulations!  You now have one dozen doozies!

Of course, you are free to add berries or raisins to this mix.  This is only a basic recipe.  Be careful not to be overly generous with berries and such, for they can weigh down the dough.

You could use cupcake papers to make these or even little baking cups-my mom used Pyrex oven proof bowls for her muffins-but if you make sure your muffin tins are well greased, you should have no problem.  When the muffins come out of the oven, just upset the tin on a cooling rack or towel to remove the muffins. Oh, the aroma will be scrumptious!

Do you use an EBT card from WIC or SNAP?  Do you have food commodities?  Do you have goods from a food pantry?  Maybe you use Angel Food Ministries?  HowEVER you fund your food budgets, we are here to help.  Maybe you have ideas you would like to share with the rest of the club.  We welcome your comments and your mail!  foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com  or just make your comment here on the blog where it says “Comments”…MAKE OUR DAY!

Some of you are new here. and we welcome you with open arms! We know you are new because we see new names on our roster as you entered your name and email so you can receive our series of cooking tips and very occasional messages.  WE THANK YOU FOR THIS.

We are also happy that you have been visiting our sponsors which include Saving Dinner, ToothSoap and Rapid Cash Marketing. When you get to their place, be sure to tell them that Mother Connie sent you their way.

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.

10 comments »

Posted in Baking, Cooking, Recipes

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Popeye’s Favorite?

November 4th, 2010

Greens of any kind are filled with nutrients essential for radiant good health but Popeye's favorite was Spinach! Swiss Chard is a kissin' cousin to spinach and we have something great to share about that!

For those of you who are holders of EBT cards for WIC or SNAP; if you have food commodities or goods from a food pantry; if you have bundles from Angel Food Ministries or if you are simply watching every penny in your food budget this item and recipe may just hit your hot button!  Even picky little kids will like this nutrient-laden side dish!  And if you were clever enough to plant a fall garden you probably have loads of this stuff!

We are favored by The Dinner Diva, Leanne Ely and we thank her from the bottom of our hearts!

“Swiss Chard
By Leanne Ely, C.N.C.


Popeye sang it best “I’m strong to the finich Cause I eats me spinach”.  Okay, so Swiss chard isn’t spinach but it is a leafy green vegetable similar to spinach. And it provides a variety of health benefits that include making you strong like Popeye.

When shopping for Swiss Chard look for leaves that are vivid green in color and that do not display any browning or yellowing. The leaves should not be wilted nor should they have tiny holes. The stalks should be firm and crisp and depending on where your Swiss Chard was grown they can come in a variety of colors. Speaking of growing, Swiss Chard is also easy to grow in most climates.

DO NOT WASH Swiss chard before putting in your fridge as the exposure to water encourages spoilage. Simply place it in a plastic bag and wrap the bag tightly around the chard, squeezing out as much of the air from the bag as possible. Place in refrigerator where it will keep fresh for up to 5 days.

Swiss chard offers several vitamins and nutrients needed by the body. Large of amounts of Vitamins A, C, and K are present in the vegetable. Other nutrients that make up Swiss chard include magnesium, iron, calcium, and protein. Did you know one cup of Swiss chard offers approximately 20% of your daily fiber intake?

When you are ready to cook up your Swiss Chard be sure and wash the leaves thoroughly (remember we didn’t wash them before storing them in our fridge). Typically the only part eaten are the leaves, so removing them from the stems should be done immediately after washing them.

Boiling the chard can help reduce the bitter taste that is familiar with this family of foods. A common recipe for enjoying Swiss chard involves mixing a bunch of cooked, chopped leaves with olive oil, pasta, garlic, crushed red pepper, and lemon juice. You can also serve the uncooked leaves under a hot piece of chicken or fish. The heat from the meat will wilt the leaves. Here’s another great recipe:

Braised Swiss Chard

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons water
Pinch of dried crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon butter
Salt to taste

Rinse off the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly. Remove the toughest bottom part of the stalk and discard. Roughly chop or tear the leaves and stem into bite sized pieces.

Heat a saucepan on medium. Add olive oil, garlic and the crushed red pepper. Saute for about a minute. Add the Swiss chard. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. If it looks dry, add a couple tablespoons of water.  Flip the leaves over in the pan, giving those on top a chance to cook at the bottom of the pan. Cover again and cook until done. Add salt to taste, and a small amount of butter. Serve.

Copyright (C) 2010 www.savingdinner.com Leanne Ely, CNC All rights reserved.”
When Mother Connie prepares greens, as in Leanne’s recipe here, it’s always fun to toss in a handful of flax seeds and/or chia seeds for extra nourishment.  But no law says you must! Thank you again, Leanne!
If you have not scoped out Leanne’s website, I believe you will find it interesting and packed with awesome ideas.  I found Leanne when I was a “FlyBaby” and learning to declutter my home and my life.  She is a wonderful resource for the home cook, especially those of us who are BUSY BUSY BUSY.  Please go to her site and click on all the tabs at the top of the page. It’s a great way to spend a quiet moment just for YOU.
You can have more fun with websites if you have the time to visit our sister sites:
SoapyTeeth will give you the 411 on cost effective dental hygiene and dental care; if you are interested in learning about work at home opportunities, you might like to visit one of our sponsors, Rapid Cash Marketing.  Are you into health?  Wealth?  You might like to see The Healthy and Wealthy You or maybe you would like to see Mother Connie’s rants and raves on Mother Connie Sez.  You are welcome to offer your comments on all these sites AS WELL AS THIS ONE, hint/hint, and you could even email us at 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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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Sandra Weighs In On the Old Dead Chicken?

September 29th, 2010

The chicken is dead and well prepared; the table is set. LET'S EAT!

When Maxine shared her wisdom regarding old dead chickens and what to do with them, I just KNEW Sandra would weigh in.  Both Maxine and Sandra, along with so many other of the Club Members have been so faithful to contribute to the Community that is the Food Stamps Cooking Club.  You can imagine how delighted I was to find her comments on Maxine’s posts.

It seemed a shame to “hide” them in the comments section, so I have chosen to add her comments here as a post.

“Another idea – soup will definitely go farther – serve more. But you could use less water and make a chicken stew instead. Just use lots of potatoes, carrots, and celery plus whatever chicken you have. And voila! Stew!

Another idea is chicken pot pie which is just stew with a crust. You can use biscuit dough for your crust or make a pie crust. Easy enough.

You could make chicken pot pie cups just by lining muffin pans with biscuit dough and filling with your chicken stew. You can leave them open at the top or add a top – up to you. No kitchen police, right Mother Connie? :)

MOTHER CONNIE’S SIDEBAR HERE:  ABSOLUTELY, NO KITCHEN POLICE, SANDRA!  END SIDEBAR.

Or you could make chicken pot pie turnovers. Just add your stew to squares of pie crust or biscuit dough folded over on each other.

You get the idea! I find that even if it’s the same exact stuff, serving it in a different way provides variety.

Sounds really yummy. You can make this idea a weekly regular on your menu and never get bored just by changing what’s in it and changing the seasonings.

So one week you might add beans, onion, tomatoes, and taco seasoning.

Another you might add macaroni, white beans, tomatoes, and Italian seasonings.

Another you might add spinach, rice, and Italian seasonings or Mrs. Dash.

What a great idea Maxine!!  Love it!”

—Sandra

Sandra and Maxine’s comments do remain in the comments section but it’s easy to overlook them if you don’t know they are there.  That’s why they became a post as well.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!   Maxine had this comment for Sandra.  I knew she would reply and because I was afraid you might miss her reply I am adding it here:

“Sandra’s got some great ideas here–most of them more imaginative than anything I turn out. I make chicken stew, too, although I usually use more meat than I’d get from backs and wings. However, it occurred to me, if you’re trying to get your kids to eat “real food” (vs. tacos, pizza, etc.), putting stew in a crust, especially making turnovers they can eat with their fingers, might be just the trick. The English make pasties, which are basically beef stew turnovers, and they are great!”

–Maxine

SIDEBAR:  Oh, how Mother Connie loves the community we are building here, kids!  Keep those comments rolling!  It’s all good!  END SIDEBAR


There was an interesting gathering to which I was invited last evening.  A lively interaction ensued  about how to help people re-enter society after being away.  People who return from serving our country find rising grocery prices shocking; those who have been incarcerated are stunned to find out the complexities of finding affordable food.  It is the solemn DUTY and sacred MISSION of the Food Stamps Cooking Club to help people who find themselves in such predicaments.

If you know someone who is struggling with a food budget that is funded by WIC or SNAP; if you have someone in your circle who uses food pantry food or food commodities or Angel Food Ministries, you would serve them well by sharing this site with them.  We have a loving, supportive community here and it is wide open for anyone who can benefit.  If you are someone who can contribute, as so many of our faithful Club Members have done, that is just brilliant. We thank you.

Send your ideas to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com and post YOUR comments on the comment section of the blog.  Thanks, guys.

If you like this blog, you may enjoy reading our sister sites:  Mother Connie Sez or The Healthy and Wealthy You.  There is a business blog that presents ideas about additional streams of income, too: Rapid Cash Review.

Some of our sponsors include ToothSoap, Saving Dinner, and Rapid Cash Marketing. They love it when you pay them a visit and so do we.

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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Food Stamps Cooking Club: End o Summer EZ Do?

August 28th, 2010

Who wants to spend the last, lazy days of summer in a hot kitchen?

We are experiencing the last dog days of summer.  The nights are cool enough for delicious sleep and rest but the days are humid, breezy and way warmer than we feel is comfy.

One of my guilty pleasures is listening to Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s radio show that’s designed for people who love to eat.  She talks about food and how to prepare ordinary things in interesting and creative ways and it strikes my fancy.  Her food ideas are always simple and easy to duplicate.  Best of all, her concoctions never send me out to buy something special that I won’t have on hand!

As I am wont to do, I reworked one of her summertime supper notions and it is uber divine! I think it falls under the umbrella of “comfort foods.”   Here’s what’s for dinner tonight at our house:

MOTHER CONNIE’S VERSION:

PASTA, TOMATOES AND CHICKPEAS

1 ripe tomato for each diner.  Peel them if you like, or not.  As you prefer

1 clove garlic, finely minced-I only had garlic powder on hand

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon balsamic vinega

1 tablespoon basil-I used dried sweet basil from my pantry shelf

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Combine the tomato pieces with the garlic, salt, pepper, basil and oil in a large bowl. Add the chickpeas. Stir and adjust the seasonings to suit your palate.   This can stand, macerating all those lovely tomato juices for a few hours before you cook the pasta.

I cooked regular old $.99 cent sale priced spaghetti.  If you want to use the whole wheat or other styles of pasta products it would work just as well but might not be as cost effective.

We had freshly baked Foccacia bread with this and it was a big hit with The Normanator.  It’s hard to impress that man, so I took that as a very positive sign!

If you are swiping an EBT card from WIC or SNAP, this is a dish that will be very easy on your food budget.  If you happen to have goods from a food pantry, it is very likely you could easily put this together.  Maybe you’ll even put your own spin on it.  If you use food commodities, this dish will help those commodities to stretch as far as your month. For users of Angel Food Ministries food or Farmers Markets food, this is a superb way to manage those resources.  And for all those frugal, thrifty types-this will be very kind to your food budgets!

Besides,  who wants to hang out in a hot kitchen at summer’s end?

Maybe you would like to learn more about healthy eating.  Mother Connie Sez has some big ideas about how to get and stay well.  Her rhetoric and rants can be found on the Mother Connie Sez blog

It might even be that YOU should like to rant and rave.  You can leave us your comment-we’d be pleased-or you can send an email to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com.

You are most welcome to visit the sponsors of this blog: Saving Dinner, Rapid Cash Marketing and ToothSoap, too.  Each has interesting ideas and there may be possibilities for extra income for your family that you’d find appealing.

Connie Baum

The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post.  If you should click on them and sales result, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated.  Please do your due diligence when conducting business online or offline.  Do business only with those you trust implicitly.

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: What’s in the Fridge?

April 6th, 2010

Unless your kitchen is as modest as this one, you probably have a 'fridge...

Have you ever come home after a hectic day, realized you did not thaw the beef you meant to use for dinner and hung on the door of your fridge, making every effort to find something that would please every palate at your table? If you can’t relate to this scenario you must have servants!

Here’s what happened at our house.  LIFE.  We got so busy with whatever it was we were so busy with and when our tummies growled-THAT’S when I realized I was so busted.  I had to come up with something and I had to do it in a teeny, tiny time frame.

Here’s what I made: A Rice and Veggie Dish

I’m a big fan of cooking once and eating twice so I grabbed the container full of already browned and seasoned ground beef  ‘n onions.  I put broth on to boil so I could cook rice.  You could use any kind of rice and you could cook it in water, but I was blessed to have wild rice and broth on the shelf.  My second choice would have been brown rice.  As the rice cooked I chopped some carrots to add to the mix.  Next came the frozen peas.  The kitchen was smelling divine by this time and I had inquiring minds poking their heads in, wanting to know.

So the veggie count was way up:  Onion, carrots, peas, and a green salad with lettuce, radishes, cucumbers and a sprinkle of fresh corn.

It all came to the table with home made brown bread and real butter.  It made for a very nice meal.  Tabletop conversation was top notch, too.  Makes for ideal meals and wonderful memories.

It’s a funny thing about good food.  It just ruins your appetite.

Even if you are using food pantry foods or food commodities, you want to bring zest and excitement to your family table!  Same is true if you use SNAP or WIC or Angel Food Ministries or if you use none of the above!  Some people simply enjoy squeezing the buffalo on every nickel til the buffalo bellows.  Cool.   Whatever your motivation, we are here to support you and let you know someone cares and that you matter.

Club members are thoughtful and some of you have emailed foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com  to express your views.  Some of you actually post your comment in our comments section.  We love both and encourage you to continue to share your tips, recipes, ideas and experiences.

If you enjoy this blog, you may enjoy Mother Connie’s rants about health and healing on Mother Connie Sez or The Healthy and Wealthy You.  If you are in the market for some additional income to your family’s coffers you might be interested in what appears on Work At Home Freelancing or Rapid Cash Marketing.

In any case, we hope you are well and happy and will pop in whenever you can.

Connie Baum

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

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Posted in Cooking, Recipes

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Spice Things Up 4 Flavor?

February 19th, 2010

 

A snowy February day makes us all long for spring and gardening season!

WE PREFACE THE MESSAGE ON THIS BLOG TO BRING YOU  CRITICALLY IMPORTANT FOOD INFORMATION:

 

“For everyone who wants to keep up on how they slip aspartame into our foods, drugs, vaccines (yes, vaccines), OTC meds (especially child products), aspartame has a new name of AminoSweet. Since aspartame has gotten such a bad name (as it should), Ajinomoto has renamed this toxic chemical sweetener.   Start double checking your labels.“

Thanks and kudos go out to Rachel Kincaid, who gave us the heads up.  Thanks, also to Business Week  and Shaun Weston from FoodBev.com for providing great information to help us consumers protect ourselves.

Now we return to the blog’s main message:

You Food Stamps Cooking Club members are to be commended for your quick response to any post that hits you like a brick.

There was a delightful message from Max and here is what Max offered us:

“Just a couple of my own tips, learned from experience, to help stretch food dollars even more when it comes to dried spices and herbs.  I have found that the baking aisle is an excellent start to shopping for these products, but you can often find them additionally in the ethnic foods areas of many supermarkets, and other less-thought-of resources.

For many varieties of spices and herbs, those little red-capped bottles are kind of non-budget price, but if you go to a different aisle, you may find it more within your budget if you look under a different brand name, and sometimes in different packaging such as a cellophane packet.

I buy spices at the dollar store.  I find some things such as dried dill weed, at Ikea, if you live near one, in a very large paper/foil packet (look in the marketplace among the kitchenwares).  There is a large Asian supermarket near my home, I recently bought a large bottle of ground coriander for $1.69 there.  They also have many other varieties as well, paprika, cumin, ginger, even lemongrass powder.  Hispanic markets are another great source, as are Middle Eastern shops for even more variety.
One last thing: I have read that spices and herbs are past their prime when they no longer have a fragrance, but I find that if you can rub it in your hands and still have fragrance, it is still going to flavor your foods well.

I do think you should have specified whether you were talking about dill seed or dill weed; it’s the dill seeds that are used in pickling.  But it’s the dried or fresh dill weed that “makes” the dishes you mentioned.  I also sprinkle dried dill on the top of creamy tomato soup, and it goes into the pot when I make homemade chicken soup.

Can you tell I use lots of spices and herbs lol?  I hate boring food.  I have gourmet tastes on a food-stamp budget.  Also, I simply do not have the budget to allow me to dine out as often as I’d like, so I try to recreate different tastes at home.”
See?  Now THAT’S the kind of neighbor you wish you had if you do not live next door to Max!  Can you just imagine the wonderful aromas that waft from that kitchen?  Mmmmm…

For people who utilize SNAP or WIC funds; people who depend on food pantries and/or food commodities; for people who use Farmers Market Coupons and Angel Food Ministries; and for those who simply pinch pennies wherever possible to stretch their food budgets this is helpful information.

We are so happy and grateful to have the Maxes and the Sandras and the Rainys who are so faithful to share their kitchens and cooking ideas!  KEEP them coming, kids! Here’s where to direct them: foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com.

Are you something of a health nut?  You might like to visit

Do you need more income in your household?  These sites have ideas to help you with that, if you are inclined:  Rapid Cash Marketing and Work At Home Freelancing.

Our intention is to be helpful.  We are far more effective in that endeavor because of YOU, dear Club Members!  THANK YOU.

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

4 comments »

Posted in Food News, Shopping, Tips

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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Beans? AGAIN?

January 18th, 2010

 

 

Oh, how you will love this bean dish!

 

You could say the Food Stamps Cooking Club has a theme going on these days!  And we believe it is a tasty one, at that!  Today we have a scrumptious meal to tell you about.  I was sure we’d have leftovers-you know how we prize cooking once and eating twice-but we slicked up the whole thing!  This really qualifies as comfort food!

Here you go:

Mother Connie’s Sausage-Bean Dish

1  tablespoon oil

1  Polish sausage per person; depends on the size of the appetites!

2  cloves garlic, minced

1  apple, cored and chopped

1/2  teaspoon dried rosemary

1  teaspoon dried sage

1  bay leaf

1  can tomatoes, juice and all-I used a pint of our home canned

2 or 3 drops Tabasco sauce

4  cups cooked white beans, juice and all.  I used organic Northern beans because that’s what I had cooked up and stored in the fridge.

1  package frozen baby lima beans, rinsed

1  1/2 cups chicken stock, broth or water

black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

In a dutch oven over medium heat, warm the oil.

Add the meat and brown for 15 minutes.  Turn occasionally.

Transfer to a plate and cut meat into half inch rounds.

Add onions and garlic to pan and saute until they become soft.  This will take about 5 minutes.  If you cook garlic too long or too hot it will become bitter.

Add apple, rosemary, sage and stir in tomatoes, Tabasco sauce, beans, stock and season with pepper.

Bake covered for 1 hour.  Remove lid and bake and additional 15 minutes.

*For variation, you could also add 1 tablespoon of toasted barley to this; it would add another layer of protein and it will thicken the broth as it bakes.

Prepare to hear raves from your family!  The Normanator is not one to carry on about what is served but he made sure he let it be known that he’d like to find this on the dinner table again soon!

We want to take a moment to thank everyone for the great comments that have come in on the blog; we are excited to have added some new Club members to our roster and we note that the Food Stamps Cooking Club is being picked up around the world by people who are interested in what we are doing here.   This is because of you, our precious members and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We are giving high 5′s all around!

If you enjoy reading about health, you might like to see Mother Connie Sez or The Healthy and Wealthy You.   If you are even remotely interested to add some income to your household, you will appreciate what you find here:  Rapid Cash Marketing.

Users of Angel Food Ministries, food pantries, food commodities or those who depend on SNAP or WIC need all the help they can garner.  We mean to provide as much support and understanding as possible.

Connie Baum

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



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Food Stamp Cooking: Christmas Soup?

December 14th, 2009
Oh, if only you could smell and taste what's in this bowl: mmm, GOOD STUFF!

Oh, if only you could smell and taste what's in this bowl: mmm, GOOD STUFF!

I love to watch people cook on television, or in their own kitchen, for that matter.  It identifies me as a foodie, no doubt.  I saw Alton Brown make his mother’s Christmas Soup on TV the other day and there is a permanent drool stain on the carpet from my watching Alton’s demonstration of this comfort food.  I could ALMOST smell the soup as it simmered on Alton’s stove!

Well, I was sure I could recreate it.  Alas, I only had some of the ingredients he used so I improvised.  This is Mother Connie’s version of this hearty, festive soup:

MOTHER CONNIE’S VERSION OF CHRISTMAS SOUP

2 slices of bacon per dinner guest + 2 more for the pot, chopped

1 pound kidney beans, soaked and drained

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 red potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled, and rough chopped

2 large cans chicken stock

1 small package chopped spinach

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Fry the bacon pieces, drain on paper toweling and set aside.

Saute` the onions, then add the garlic just before the onions are ready (if you cook garlic too long it can burn or ruin the flavor).  Drain the veggies on paper toweling.

Combine the kidney beans, onions and  garlic in a large soup pot and add the broth.  Bring to a boil and allow it to simmer.

Add the potatoes, then the spinach.

Before serving, add the vinegar.  Season to taste.

I made this on Saturday to serve to Sunday guests and those flavors married all night so that when it was served the Rave Factor went WAY UP.  People asked for seconds!

I like to serve soup with toasted French Bread.  The big debate in our house is whether to pour the soup over the bread or just use the bread for dunking!

The red and green of this soup lends itself well to  Christmas tradition, but honestly, this is a soup you could make year around and those who bring their appetites to your table will be DELIGHTED.

This recipe is ideal for users of SNAP, WIC or food commodities.  If you have food from a Food Pantry, this is something you can prepare without fear of running out of food or food ideas.  It could be made with beans and rice or beans and ham, as well.  Be creative and see what you can do with it.  When you have results that please you, give us a shout out at foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com!  Thanks a bunch!

If you are using Angel Food Ministries foods we would love to know how you are creating dishes with those items, too!

Today your humble blogger sent out a little token of her Christmas love.  In case you missed it, you can download it by clicking here:  Food Stamps Cooking Club.

We really appreciate your comments and emails!  Thank you so much, everyone!

Connie Baum

*The FTC wants you to know there are links in this post, which, if clicked, could lead to a purchase.  In the case of that happening, your humble blogger would be compensated.  Please use your due diligence when making purchases either offline or online.  And please don’t worry; any resulting earnings will be tithed and spent wisely.



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