Have you ever thought about a ALTERNATIVE to the old standby, "PB & J"?
Hang onto your hats, kids! I have an idea for you whose time has come!
What kid-or grown up, for THAT matter-doesn’t love a good old fashioned peanut butter and jelly sammie? It has gone into lunchboxes and picnic baskets since forever and we have a new twist on it for you: HUMMUS!
Who’d a thunk it? I never ever would have even considered marrying those elements. But I heard Lynne Rosetto Kasper talk about it on her radio show and I just HAD to try it. I just so happened to have hummus made up because I wanted to use it for a sandwich spread with leftover chicken.
Don’t run to the store and BUY hummus; it’s just too easy and much cheaper to make it at home. Here’s how I threw mine together:
Mother Connie’s Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans, liquid and all
a shake or two of onion powder *Use real onion if you have it. Measure it by how much or how little YOU like.
a shake or two of garlic powder *Use real garlic cloves, if you have some on hand. One or two cloves per can of beans should do it.
a squirt or two, maybe three of lemon *Use real lemons if you can. If you have bottled lemon, just don’t mention it if the Food Police stroll through your kitchen.
a generous palm full of cumin
a pinch of cayenne pepper and/or chili powder
Enough vegetable oil to make it the consistency you like. For dipping you may want a thinner hummus; for sammie spreads you might like it to be thicker.
I used the food processor but if you use your your blender it will work just as well. It takes some time to break up those garbanzo beans, because they are so firm, so be patient with it.
When it has finished blending it is ready to be spread or dipped into! YUM Apple or orange slices dipped into hummus are delectable. Celery, broccoli or carrots are also yummy when dipped into hummus. Or you might use toast points; even crackers.
SIDEBAR: NO CHIPS, PLEASE. MOTHER CONNIE DOES NOT WANT YOU TO USE CHIPS, FOR THERE IS NO NUTRITIVE VALUE, thank you very much. END SIDEBAR
HERE IS THE TWIST: Spread bread slices with hummus and add peanut butter and jelly just the way you ordinarily would. Your taste buds will be SO HAPPY!
If you are a user of food commodities you are very likely to have canned garbanzo beans. If you are a user of food pantry food it is a distinct possibility you might have garbanzo beans as well.
This does not preclude your cooking your own dry beans! Just wash them, soak them overnight and cook the daylights out of them BEFORE you salt them. This would be extremely cost effective. It would NOT be considered ‘fast food’…grin.
Do you use an EBT card for WIC or SNAP? This idea might just be the ticket for you! If you have bundles from Angel Food Ministries, this will help your bounty go even farther.
We can’t leave this page before we thank everyone for their keen participation in commenting and signing up for the series of cooking tips. You’ve been sending your friends! We can tell! And we appreciate it mightily.
Please remember you are welcome to send your comments to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com or leave us your comment on this blog. We prefer you do not leave spam messages; it’s not fair to all the faithful Club Members when you are inconsiderate in that way.
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Maxine has all the lowdown for us and is talkin' turkey!
Hey! It’s November…time to talk turkey! Maxine, one of our faithful members has graciously come forward with her best effort regarding old dead turkeys and how best to deal with them!
We are so fortunate to have this information, particularly if we use Angel Food Ministries or have an EBT card from WIC or SNAP. Some of us are users of food commodities and some of us have goods from a food pantry. Still others are simply frugal and want the most for their food dollar-and who can blame them?
Here is what Maxine tells us:
“It’s November—let’s talk turkey!
I’ve got lots of good ideas, but I know you know things I haven’t even thought of…so, together, let’s write the definitive book!
I always buy at least two turkeys at Thanksgiving, when they are dirt cheap. Although we don’t normally eat turkey at Christmas, this is the time to buy the Christmas bird, because turkeys are never cheaper than they are at Thanksgiving.
If you don’t have a freezer, ask a friend or relative if they’ve got room for your extra bird.
Let’s talk first about what to buy. My in-laws, who were in the restaurant business, taught me that turkeys 20 lb. and larger are a much better buy because they have more meat relative to bone.
My mom taught me this: if the turkey is too big, have the meat cutter saw it in half for you. They can do this frozen. If the thingy that holds the feet together is metal, they can saw right down to it. When you get the turkey home, leave it on the counter for an hour or so, and you’ll be able to pull out the thingy with a pair of pliers before the bird thaws. Re-wrap and freeze.
I usually buy one big bird and one smaller one. Often I will cook a 13- to 15 lb. bird for Thanksgiving, and freeze both halves of a 20+ lb. turkey for later.
When it is time to cook the bird, what are you going to use for a pan? If you don’t have a roasting pan, don’t waste $5 on a disposable foil turkey pan. Discount stores will have roasting pans on sale that you can wash and use forever for as little as $10. They often have a rack inside, which is nice. If you don’t have $10, just use the broiler pan that came with your stove, and cover the bird with foil during part of the roasting time. I’ve done that a few times with great success.
I’m using the turkey pan my mom bought in the 1950s, and I expect my grandchildren will be roasting their turkeys in it, too.
Most turkeys come with a pop-up timer to tell you when the turkey is done. The one I bought last year didn’t have one, and I couldn’t find my meat thermometer. A friend who was visiting told me she always just follows the roasting times printed on the turkey label. That’s what we did—and that turkey was perfect! So don’t sweat it if you don’t have a meat thermometer Or can’t find it.
We’ve bought the bird-and an extra, too-and roasted it…what’s next?
Eating it, of course! Here’s to the big Thanksgiving feast, and many more to come! I’ll let you choose your own menu.
By the time dinner is over, you may find yourself getting nervous about the leftovers. Dealing with the leftovers needn’t be daunting. You just need a plan.
The first thing to do is to strip the meat off the bones. I do this while I am cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Some men are good about this—makes ‘em feel like Attila the Hun or Henry the Eighth–so if you get an offer of help, don’t turn it down. I try to remove the breast in one big piece. It’s nicer for slicing.
Once you’ve removed all of the meat you can, put the bones and skin in a stock pot, cover with water, add onion and celery, and simmer until the meat literally falls off the bones. If you don’t have a stock pot, use your roasting pan and make the stock in the oven. A big Crock Pot works really well, too. You might have to break the breast bones to make them fit in your pot.
When the stock is done, cool it and remove the bones, meat and skin. Skim the fat from the broth, either by refrigerating it overnight and removing the hardened fat from the top, or by using a gravy separator-one of those plastic cups with the spout coming up from the bottom.
Pour off a small amount of broth and save it to make extra gravy. Just use flour and water thickening. No, it isn’t quite as good as gravy made from the pan drippings, but it’s waaaaaaaaaay better than what you can buy in a jar or foil envelope, and a heckuva lot cheaper. I freeze a couple of cottage cheese cartons full of broth for this purpose—another tip I learned from my mother.
Pick the meat from the bones and discard the bones and skin. Use the meat and the rest of the stock to make a vat of turkey soup. We like turkey noodle, turkey rice, turkey vegetable…you name it, we like it. You might have enough meat for a batch of turkey and dumplings.
Sometimes I get started on the stock while I’m doing the Thanksgiving dishes, and sometimes I make it the next morning. Sometimes it takes all day for me to get everything done. No worries—I’m just puttering, not putting forth any serious effort. I’ve found the really important thing is to start dealing with it right away, before anyone has the opportunity to get tired of the leftovers.
You’ve still got a ton of turkey meat, right? Save out enough for another meal and maybe a few sandwiches. Then, before anyone has the opportunity to get sick of turkey, cube all of the leftover meat and freeze it in 2-cup packages. Why two cups? Nearly all recipes call for 2 cups of chicken or turkey. Thanks to PaulaF at The Frugalista Files for this tip! If you’ve got a small or extra-large family and typically use less or more in your recipes, that’s how much to put in each package.
I use quart-size zippy freezer bags for my turkey. You can make a decent vacuum by sticking a straw in the top, closing the zipper to either side of the straw, and sucking out all of the air. Pull out the straw and seal the bag the rest of the way.
In addition to Thanksgiving dinner, we will typically eat leftovers on Saturday and make clubhouse sandwiches on Friday or Sunday. Then we are done with the bird, until I start using what is in the freezer. Often I will freeze all of the soup, too, although sometimes we eat it with the clubhouse sandwiches: turkey, bacon, lettuce and tomato between 3 slices of bread, cut in quarters and held together with a toothpick.
I would hate to guess how much turkey gets thrown away in this country because people put the carcass in the refrigerator, eat on it intermittently for about a week, and throw away what is left. Shoot, I’ve done that myself! But never again. Now I view that soup and those packages of cubed meat as money in the bank. Especially toward the end of the month.
Just a reminder that you can substitute cubed turkey in any recipe calling for chicken, and that turkey makes excellent Mexican food!
Now it’s your turn to share more tips and recipes!”
Jeepers! Creepers! What a boatload of info! Even seasoned cooks can find many good tips in this message! THANK YOU SO MUCH, MAXINE! For those of you who have not yet cruised on over to visit Maxine at Frugalista Files, please treat yourself and do so today!
Mother Connie has some off the topic notes for you, as well. My good blogger pal from iamtheworkingpoor has a contest going on. I so hope you will cruise on over to HER adorable blog and get in on the fun! She has some interesting books that will appeal to those who are interested in living frugally as prizes, so please visit her at your earliest convenience, won’t you?
Well, we offer three cheers and a toast to Maxine for all her wisdom and for sharing here today. I just can’t WAIT to see all the tips and ideas the rest of you pour into the mailbox: foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com
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Leanne Ely has favored us with after school snack ideas today!
After School Snack Ideas By Leanne Ely, C.N.C.
Dear Friends,
They walk in the door and before you can even say “Hi, how was your day?” they’re saying “I’m hungry!”. It’s easy to grab a bag of chips, a cookie, or a can of pop but you want to offer them something different. You’re looking for quick and easy but healthy too. Is there such a thing? You bet there is and I’m here to help you fill their empty bellies with after school snacks you can give your children with confidence. And don’t forget, preparing these snacks with your kids is a great time for some of the best conversations. You can find out a lot about your kids and their lives while talking and working in the kitchen together.
Here’s just a few ideas to get you thinking:
Mini Pizza – English muffin pizzas offer a healthy dose of calcium and are quick and easy to create. All that is needed are whole wheat English muffins, pizza sauce, and shredded cheese. Apply a bit of sauce to each muffin, and sprinkle with the cheese. Heat in the oven just until the cheese is melted. You can engage your kids in conversation as you prepare this snack together.
Fruit – A common after school snack, but you can spice it up by adding some a healthy fruit dip. Simply mix some plain low-fat yogurt, lemon juice and honey. You can experiment with this dip and change it up by adding some cocoa instead of lemon juice or molasses and cinnamon instead of honey. Use your creativity and your cupboards to their full potential. Your kids can help you by washing the fruits while you prepare the dip.
Mix It Up – Tossing together a variety of ingredients can make for a special blend of trail mix. Items such as almonds, popcorn, dried fruit, cashews, and pretzels, can be added to make a unique yet tasty snack. Consider the preferences of your children when combining the foods for this snack. Trail mix will last for days, so you can make up a big Rubbermaid bowl full over the weekend for a quick snack that requires no preparation.
Users of EBT cards from SNAP or WIC; consumers who avail themselves of Angel Food Ministries and those who visit food pantries and use food commodities will surely find worth in Leanne’s ideas. So will those who simply follow a frugal path and watch every food dollar closely. Besides that, Leanne makes us drool!
The big excitement around here is the “birth” of a new baby sister blog: SoapyTeeth! It’s kinda cute and it’s all about saving money on your dental bills with state of the art dental care. You might wanna cruise on over there and scope it out. Connie Baum
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Fast food is not really edible. It SO belongs in this trash can.
By Leanne Ely, C.N.C.
Dear Friends,
Everyone knows that fast food isn’t the healthiest option out there. However, with increasingly hurried lifestyles, it’s easy to give in to the temptation to head to your local drive-through and pick up a quick meal. Complicating matters even further, brightly painted playgrounds and characters with friendly faces lure your children to fast food restaurants. And let’s not forget those tempting plastic toys.
But just how bad is this food? Can you even call it food? In one famous experiment, a New York City artist purchased a happy meal from McDonald’s and took photos of it every day. By day 137, the plain hamburger and fries looked nearly identical to the way they looked on the first day. How many preservatives do you think are in that food so that it shows no signs of decay after more than four months? Are you putting all those chemicals in your body or your children’s bodies? Of course, you can do as one popular fast food chain says and “have it your way”. But is that really your way?
Real food has a short lifespan. Natural food will not look the same even one day later, much less 137 days later. It if was once living it will decay.
If you think you’re safe from the chemical overload when you order from the light menu, think again. Even the so-called healthier meals at these places are loaded with salt, sugar, and fat. Certain menu items may indeed be lower in fat but they are still pumped with preservatives to help prolong their shelf life and reduce the company’s overhead. Fast food is indeed cheaper than buying fresh food at the store. That’s because the food they sell bears little resemblance to what you would buy in the grocery store. If you’re often in a hurry, look into meal planning like our Menu-Mailers and freezer cooking. If you’re on a budget, clip coupons and scour sales flyers.
Think about it: one fast food meal usually contains more sodium, fat, and calories than you should consume throughout an entire day. YIKES! It’s also full of unnatural chemicals that your body doesn’t recognize and doesn’t know what to do with. DOUBLE YIKES! Is it really worth saving a little bit of time and money tonight if it means shortening your life in the long run? You still “lovin’ it”?
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Despite their best efforts, the hens could not escape Maxine's meatballs!
We can be fairly sure the Kitchen Police and the Fun Police are not, nor have they ever, been patrolling in Maxine’s kitchen. Here is why: Maxine sent us yet another fine example of frugal cuisine. Please help yourself to a napkin before you READ this. It could make you drool on your keyboard. OK, kids, you have been warned. And Mother Connie is grinning.
“The last half of the carton of sour cream stared me in the face every time I opened the refrigerator door. It was left from the sour cream I used in the Chicken Paprika a couple of weeks ago, and the pull date on the carton was getting perilously close.
Ingredients such as sour cream really aren’t expensive if you cook mostly from scratch and use them up. It’s when they are allowed to turn fuzzy and pink and green, and eventually tossed, that the cost of food really goes up. (I never pay more than $1.50 pint for sour cream, and often get it for less. It sometimes costs more than $1.50, but I won’t buy it then).
So…I really needed to use this. But I wasn’t in the mood. I’d gotten 80% ground beef for $1.99 lb. at the 12 Hour Sale at Super One, and meatballs were calling my name. Specifically, Chinese meatballs—a sweet and sour recipe from the More-with-Less cookbook.
I went ahead and made baked meatballs according to my own recipe. When I got around to checking the recipe for Chinese meatballs, I discovered I lacked too many key ingredients. With my meatballs already made, and not feeling like anything involving spaghetti sauce…what to do?
The sour cream was really talking to me now. So, I went to AllRecipes.com and typed in “ground beef” and “sour cream” as ingredients I wanted to use, and “cream of mushroom soup” as an ingredient I DIDN’T want to use (because I didn’t have any, and also because I generally prefer to make sauces from scratch). Just to be sure, I typed in “Swedish meatballs” as an additional keyword. When that didn’t bring up any recipes that appealed to me, I cleared the field and typed in “stroganoff.” Bingo!
The recipe I chose also called for a few ingredients I didn’t have, including beef consommé, but I was able to fake it with what I had. Faking it is my specialty, LOL.
I’m not going to share the recipe, because it was good, but it wasn’t a stand-out. I just wanted to make you aware of the allrecipes.com ingredient search feature. If you’ve got some ingredients you’re trying to use up, give it a whirl.
I’m going to share my recipe for meatballs. They are tender, have a lovely flavor, and don’t gunk up the kitchen with grease. I usually make a double batch and freeze half, after they are cooked. (You can freeze them raw, but why go to the bother of baking twice?). Since I made a double batch tonight, I’m sure I’ll be making Chinese meatballs soon. Next time, I’ll share the recipe and introduce you to the More-with-Less cookbook.
BAKED MEATBALLS
1 pound ground beef *MOTHER CONNIE USED GROUND CHICKEN!
¼ cup dry bread crumbs (I use heels of bread to make my own in the blender)
¼ cup milk
1 egg
½ tablespoon dried minced onion ¾ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Combine all ingredients and mix with fingers until blended. Shape into balls, using about 1½ to 2 tablespoons of mixture for each. Place on a 10×15 rimmed cookie sheet* and bake for 12 minutes, or until just slightly pink inside. Makes about 24 meatballs.
*For easier clean-up, line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray foil with nonstick spray.”
*Mother Connie here: The Kitchen Police will never know if you used beef or chicken in this dish. Your family may not figure it out, either.
For those of you who have boxes of Angel Food Ministries foods, or hold EBT cards from SNAP or WIC, this could help you tremendously. If you use food commodities or food from a food pantry, this might be just what you are looking for. Golly, even if you are simply frugal and stretching your food dollars the best way you know how, this could be exactly what will tickle your palate while pleasing your wallet!
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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.
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.
It's a shame you cannot smell this delectable quiche, let alone taste it! O my stars and garters, but it's delish!
Are you a fan of Leanne Ely, The Dinner Diva? She is out in the world Saving Dinner. I was completely enthralled with her recent offering for a quiche recipe. I was not prepared for how utterly delicious and how ABSOLUTELY EASY it is to prepare.
Of course, you know Mother Connie. She had to put her spin on it so here’s what we had for lunch today:
Mother Connie’s Pared Down Version of The Dinner Diva’s Quiche
This will serve two hungry people twice. And both people will be happy two times, I guarantee it!
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 scosh (a scosh is my mom’s word for just a dab) of milk or water
salt and pepper just the way you like it. I like lots of pepper.
1/2 of a 10 oz package of frozen spinach, thaw and squeeze the excess moisture out (Save the other half for your next salad)
1 leek, sliced and soaked in salt water to get rid of the grit. Drain and saute until the leeks are tender.
4 oz taco cheese, grated
Beat the eggs, milk or water, and seasonings. Add the leeks. Into a greased pie plate, pour the whole works and top with the cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees-I started mine in a cold oven so the oven and the mixture could warm together. After 20 minutes, check for doneness. It will have a nice brown crust on top and should be firm. If you over bake it, your quiche will be tough. If you under bake it the eggs will be runny. YUCK
This far exceeded my expectations for lunch! I hardly had room for the chunk of Foccacia bread and dish of cinnamon applesauce I had set out! Here’s hoping you like this dish as much as we did.
We have two wedges left from this recipe; they will become breakfast sammies on Foccacia bread tomorrow! I can hardly wait to wake up to that hearty, protein-packed breakfast! With a small glass of juice, we’ll be set for a great, productive, healthy day!
Again we thank Leanne Ely for a great idea we could tweak. You can get her great ideas, too, by signing up for her email messages on Saving Dinner.
Leanne is always on the hunt for recipes and ideas to save time and money in the kitchen and to share. Who isn’t?
If you are holding an EBT card for SNAP or WIC; if you utilize Angel Food Ministries foods; if you have access to food commodities or a food pantry, this is the place to come for help and encouragement.
Maybe you love comfort food; it could be you are just frugal and want clever ways to save on your food dollars. This is the place for you.
We so love hearing from all of you. We appreciate your ideas and tips and comments. foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com will get your messages to us.
Our sponsors, like Saving Dinner, love to hear from you, too.
We also invite you to pop by The Healthy and Wealthy You, as well as Mother Connie Sez and Rapid Cash Review for your reading and learning pleasure. There is a wealth of information out there in cyberspace and some of it has been captured on these recommended sites.
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.
You won't BELIEVE what is happening to our healthy choices!
SOMETIMES Mother Connie is sure her head may explode! Get a load of THIS: There is an advertising campaign which takes baby carrots, packages them like junk foods-e.g. chips, cookies, etc-and trots them out to tempt children!
Oh, this is fraught with issues. #1, it’s probably a clever concept and someone will likely be handsomely paid for thinking of it.
#2, I have serious issues with baby carrots. Yes. Baby carrots are NOT healthy, NOT nutritious and in some cases they are downright dangerous.
#3, is it kosher for people to appeal to kids in this way? It makes me squeamish.
The reason why baby carrots are not good is that the clever food processing people take all the ugly, misshapen carrots and make them look perfect because after all, we eat with our eyes first. Right? Right.
The problem is that after they get them shaped just so, they dunk them in a vat of slush that purports to keep them sanitary. That vat has CHLORINE in it in order to kill the bad guys that might be growing there. Those carrots sit in that brine from the time they go in to the time you use the little critters. Didn’t you ever notice how LONG those things keep and HOW SLIMY THEY ARE? Yuck!
The manufacturers can dress them up any way they like to sell more stuff. But if you dress up a pig and put lipstick on it, IT IS STILL A PIG.
Does Mother Connie make herself clear, people?
Families who are managing their food dollars with the help of WIC or SNAP and an EBT, need to have accurate information about the food they purchase. For people who use Angel Food Ministries, for those who have items from a food pantry or use food commodities, these are important considerations. If you have goods from a Farmer’s Market or are just plain frugal and you love food, especially comfort foods, you need to have good information about the food you and your loved ones consume!
Good food is good food. It should be good FOR you, not just perfectly pretty.
If you have REAL carrots, with their imperfections and all, I want to share a prep tip with you. And if you get your kids involved in shopping or growing or digging or cleaning the produce the chances of them EATING it are much, much greater. Here’s what’s really good:
COOKED CARROTS
1 pound of real carrots, scrubbed, not peeled. Do cut off the end pieces for your stock pot.
Cut the carrots the way you want them to look. They can be grated, cut crosswise, chopped into chunks-however you like them.
Put them in a heavy saucepan and add some water and salt. Bring them to a boil; reduce the heat to a simmer and allow them to cook till fork tender.
Drain them, add a spoonful of butter to them and let that melt. Add 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and a sprinkle of nutmeg. These will smell divine, taste so elegant and those kids will beg for second helpings!
DON’T EAT THE BABY CARROTS, NO MATTER HOW THEY ARE PACKAGED!
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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.
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.
Is anything so luxurious as freshly baked bread? And the aroma...DIVINE!
My dad always declared that home made bread was his favorite perfume! He and I used to sit on the front porch with thick slices of Mom’s home made bread, smeared with butter and sprinkled with sugar! The aroma of fresh bread baking takes me all the way back to being three years old! What a journey!
It was an ordeal for Mom to bake bread. This gave me the mistaken impression that it was a difficult task. Bless Mom’s heart; she did not have YouTube videos or The Dinner Diva or many of the learning opportunities I have at my disposal.
It just so happens that I found a fabulishous, easy and inexpensive recipe for a good and rustic bread that goes really well with soup or salad! Even though it’s hot these days and heating up the oven may not suit your fancy, I promise you that you’ll be glad to have this bread product. Remember, bread is the staff of life. Or is it the STUFF of life? In any case, you must prepare this baked yumminess!
• 1 3/4 cups warm water
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Put the bowl in a warm, not hot or cool, place until the yeast is bubbling and aromatic, at least 15 minutes.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1/2 cup olive oil and the yeast mixture on low speed. Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes on a medium speed until it becomes smooth and soft. Give it a sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface, then knead it by hand 1 or 2 times. Again, give it another sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
Coat the inside of the mixer bowl lightly with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
Coat a jelly roll pan with the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. (Chef’s Note: This may seem excessive, but focaccia is an oily crusted bread. This is why it is soooooooooo delicious!).
Put the dough onto the jelly roll pan and begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan. Turn the dough over to coat the other side with the olive oil. Continue to stretch the dough to fit the pan. As you are doing so, spread your fingers out and make finger holes all the way through the dough. (Chef’s Note: Yes, this is strange. But when the dough rises again it will create the characteristic craggy looking focaccia. If you do not make the actual holes in the dough, the finished product will be very smooth.)
Put the dough in the warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Liberally sprinkle the top of the focaccia with some coarse sea salt and lightly drizzle a little oil on top. Bake the dough until the top of the loaf is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let it cool before cutting and serving.
Oh baby!
For those of you who have seen Chef Anne working in the kitchen you know she oozes personality and loves good food! Her warm personality is surely expressed in this wonderful recipe. We thank Chef Anne for this great offering.
NOTE:
If you, like me, do not have a mixer with a dough hook, worry not. Work the mixture by hand. It’s good exercise and this product is worth the extra effort!
We salute users of SNAP, WIC, food pantries or food commodities as well as Angel Food Ministries. We understand your work to feed your family is not easy. We also acknowledge those who just want to keep their food budgets in tow because they are frugal and thrifty. Here’s hoping the material we share with you is helpful and helps to bear your load. We understand you are tired and weary at meal time; we hope to be of help. It’s not as if we are in your kitchen helping you to chop veggies but we do what we can from here!
We LOVE LOVE LOVE hearing from you! Our mailbox has been full of late. Some comments and emails are not worthy to publish but each message is read and considered. Comments which do not relate to preparing meals with food provided by public assistance, meal ideas, cooking tips or things food related will not be considered for publication. They will be considered spam and not the kind you fry!
You may be interested to add a stream of income to your household. If that’s the case you will want to check out the ads on the right of the blog and study those opportunities.
We hope you are enjoying your summer! Today’s recipe for Focaccia bread is going to be a great hit with the people who sit around your table! ENJOY!
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Food Stamps Cooking Club: Maxine is Talkin’ TURKEY!
November 1st, 2010Maxine has all the lowdown for us and is talkin' turkey!
Hey! It’s November…time to talk turkey! Maxine, one of our faithful members has graciously come forward with her best effort regarding old dead turkeys and how best to deal with them!
We are so fortunate to have this information, particularly if we use Angel Food Ministries or have an EBT card from WIC or SNAP. Some of us are users of food commodities and some of us have goods from a food pantry. Still others are simply frugal and want the most for their food dollar-and who can blame them?
Here is what Maxine tells us:
“It’s November—let’s talk turkey!
I’ve got lots of good ideas, but I know you know things I haven’t even thought of…so, together, let’s write the definitive book!
I always buy at least two turkeys at Thanksgiving, when they are dirt cheap. Although we don’t normally eat turkey at Christmas, this is the time to buy the Christmas bird, because turkeys are never cheaper than they are at Thanksgiving.
If you don’t have a freezer, ask a friend or relative if they’ve got room for your extra bird.
Let’s talk first about what to buy. My in-laws, who were in the restaurant business, taught me that turkeys 20 lb. and larger are a much better buy because they have more meat relative to bone.
My mom taught me this: if the turkey is too big, have the meat cutter saw it in half for you. They can do this frozen. If the thingy that holds the feet together is metal, they can saw right down to it. When you get the turkey home, leave it on the counter for an hour or so, and you’ll be able to pull out the thingy with a pair of pliers before the bird thaws. Re-wrap and freeze.
I usually buy one big bird and one smaller one. Often I will cook a 13- to 15 lb. bird for Thanksgiving, and freeze both halves of a 20+ lb. turkey for later.
When it is time to cook the bird, what are you going to use for a pan? If you don’t have a roasting pan, don’t waste $5 on a disposable foil turkey pan. Discount stores will have roasting pans on sale that you can wash and use forever for as little as $10. They often have a rack inside, which is nice. If you don’t have $10, just use the broiler pan that came with your stove, and cover the bird with foil during part of the roasting time. I’ve done that a few times with great success.
I’m using the turkey pan my mom bought in the 1950s, and I expect my grandchildren will be roasting their turkeys in it, too.
Most turkeys come with a pop-up timer to tell you when the turkey is done. The one I bought last year didn’t have one, and I couldn’t find my meat thermometer. A friend who was visiting told me she always just follows the roasting times printed on the turkey label. That’s what we did—and that turkey was perfect! So don’t sweat it if you don’t have a meat thermometer Or can’t find it.
We’ve bought the bird-and an extra, too-and roasted it…what’s next?
Eating it, of course! Here’s to the big Thanksgiving feast, and many more to come! I’ll let you choose your own menu.
By the time dinner is over, you may find yourself getting nervous about the leftovers. Dealing with the leftovers needn’t be daunting. You just need a plan.
The first thing to do is to strip the meat off the bones. I do this while I am cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Some men are good about this—makes ‘em feel like Attila the Hun or Henry the Eighth–so if you get an offer of help, don’t turn it down. I try to remove the breast in one big piece. It’s nicer for slicing.
Once you’ve removed all of the meat you can, put the bones and skin in a stock pot, cover with water, add onion and celery, and simmer until the meat literally falls off the bones. If you don’t have a stock pot, use your roasting pan and make the stock in the oven. A big Crock Pot works really well, too. You might have to break the breast bones to make them fit in your pot.
When the stock is done, cool it and remove the bones, meat and skin. Skim the fat from the broth, either by refrigerating it overnight and removing the hardened fat from the top, or by using a gravy separator-one of those plastic cups with the spout coming up from the bottom.
Sometimes I get started on the stock while I’m doing the Thanksgiving dishes, and sometimes I make it the next morning. Sometimes it takes all day for me to get everything done. No worries—I’m just puttering, not putting forth any serious effort. I’ve found the really important thing is to start dealing with it right away, before anyone has the opportunity to get tired of the leftovers.
You’ve still got a ton of turkey meat, right? Save out enough for another meal and maybe a few sandwiches. Then, before anyone has the opportunity to get sick of turkey, cube all of the leftover meat and freeze it in 2-cup packages. Why two cups? Nearly all recipes call for 2 cups of chicken or turkey. Thanks to PaulaF at The Frugalista Files for this tip! If you’ve got a small or extra-large family and typically use less or more in your recipes, that’s how much to put in each package.
I use quart-size zippy freezer bags for my turkey. You can make a decent vacuum by sticking a straw in the top, closing the zipper to either side of the straw, and sucking out all of the air. Pull out the straw and seal the bag the rest of the way.
In addition to Thanksgiving dinner, we will typically eat leftovers on Saturday and make clubhouse sandwiches on Friday or Sunday. Then we are done with the bird, until I start using what is in the freezer. Often I will freeze all of the soup, too, although sometimes we eat it with the clubhouse sandwiches: turkey, bacon, lettuce and tomato between 3 slices of bread, cut in quarters and held together with a toothpick.
I would hate to guess how much turkey gets thrown away in this country because people put the carcass in the refrigerator, eat on it intermittently for about a week, and throw away what is left. Shoot, I’ve done that myself! But never again. Now I view that soup and those packages of cubed meat as money in the bank. Especially toward the end of the month.
Just a reminder that you can substitute cubed turkey in any recipe calling for chicken, and that turkey makes excellent Mexican food!
Now it’s your turn to share more tips and recipes!”
Jeepers! Creepers! What a boatload of info! Even seasoned cooks can find many good tips in this message! THANK YOU SO MUCH, MAXINE! For those of you who have not yet cruised on over to visit Maxine at Frugalista Files, please treat yourself and do so today!
Mother Connie has some off the topic notes for you, as well. My good blogger pal from iamtheworkingpoor has a contest going on. I so hope you will cruise on over to HER adorable blog and get in on the fun! She has some interesting books that will appeal to those who are interested in living frugally as prizes, so please visit her at your earliest convenience, won’t you?
Well, we offer three cheers and a toast to Maxine for all her wisdom and for sharing here today. I just can’t WAIT to see all the tips and ideas the rest of you pour into the mailbox: foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com
Enjoy the ride, kids! Life is so short…
Connie Baum
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Posted in Club Member Comment, Cooking, Tips
Tags: Angel Food Ministries. Cooking Tips cooking with turkey EBT card food commodities Food Pantry foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com kitchen oven Saving Dinner SNAP-Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program WIC