Clam chowder or potato soup in the insta pot.

This can easily be adapted to the stove top.

In the insta pot on sauté function, sauté  in oil until the bacon is cooked, and the celery is soft.
1T olive oil
1 celery rib , chopped
1 slice of bacon, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces.

Turn off sauté mode.

Add 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Six cups of potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
Salt and pepper
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp onion powder.

Cover, seal, and cook 25 minute on manual.
After the insta pot is done cooking, CAREFULLY de pressure.  USE a towel and an over mitt.  
Open the top away from you.  There will be steam.

Turn off the insta pot.
Use a blender stick to blend the soup.  Leave a few chunks.   (This step is optional)
Add enough milk or cream to reach desired consistency.

Garnish with parsley or cheese.  

For clam chowder.   Add the juice from the can of clams to the vegetable stock, and add the clams after the base has been made when you add the milk or cream.  

Note:   Half the amount of potatoes 🥔 took 10 minutes.  

Bullets: old salads, new again

Old salads we grew up with that can be new again .....

• Carrot and raisin 
• Pineapple and cottage cheese 
• Pear and cottage cheese with blue cheese in the hole 
• Apple and celery , with or without grapes 
• Jello with crushed pineapple, grated cucumber and green pepper.   (Lime jello) 
• Pear salad
• Cucumber and tomatoes with vinegar 
• Stuffed tomatoes 
• Tomatoes with a topping of breadcrumbs, parm, and basil - broil just until warmed and a little toasty.   
•  

Designer Green Bean Salad

...a good side for a chicken or fish entre or when dinner is low in protein.

3/4 lb Fresh green beans

2 T olive oil
1-1/2 T lemon juice
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T water
2 tsp minced garlic
1-1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey

2 cups cooked garbanzo beans , drained
2 cups grape tomatoes , washed
1/4 cup walnuts , rough chopped
Parm
1/2 can sliced black olives

1. Blanch green beans and trim into 1-1/2 inch pieces 
2. Make dressing from the next 7 ingredients.  
3. Mix green beans , garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and olives together and add the dressing.  Chill at least 1.5 hours.   
4. Add walnuts, parm, just before serving.   

Notes: 

1. Walnuts are already chopped in the bulk department at winco and less expensive.   
2. You can serve in a lettuce cup or a bowl .   
3. 
   

Enfrijolasas

This is a recipe from Betty Crocker.  The full recipe is most likely on the internet.   I will share it everywhere I can as they give you the options. 

1 can refried beans

I can chopped green chilies

1 cup thick salsa 

8 ounces Mexican cheese blend 

Six inch flour tortillas

Toppings:  sour cream, lettuce , tomato. Salsa, avocado 

1.   Mix first three ingredients in a blender/food processer.  Place in a 9 inch round pan. 

2.   Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 9 X13 pan.  

3.  Using tongs, dip both sides of the tortillas in the bean mixture.  Place in baking dish and spoon 2 T cheese in center.    Fold over on itself twice.  Lay in the prepared pan.  Over lapping as you go.  

4. Pour remaining bean mixture over the pan.   

5. Sprinkle with cheese.    

6.  Bake at 400 degrees 12-16 minutes.  

I’m guessing you want to bake until heated through and cheese is melted.  

Serve with toppings.   

Easy muffins

Muffin mix can be had at grocery outlet sometimes for .50.  


2 cups pancake mix
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 c syrup

350 degrees for 14-15 minutes

Option:
Add about 2 tbls of any of the following to an individual cup.

Sausage, cheese
Blueberries,
Chocolate chips
Cinnamon sugar
Bacon

Fred Meyer Sunday ad

Ground sirloin (10%) fat 3.77

Apples 1.49

Eggs .79

Blackberries .99

Sour cream 2/4

Red Barron 2.88. $$

Hebrew National hot dogs 3.49

Pumpkin pie 3.99

Half Pork Loi. 1.99 (top of my target list price )



My vote for the best place to shop this week would be Alberways .   Safeways has a just for you basket coupon for 5 off of 25.  If you stay close to 25, thats 20 percent.  

They have diced tomatoes , greenbeans and corn for .49. Which with a basket coupon.makes them .39.   A good time to stock up for the winter.   Diced tomatoes are the most versatile of the tomato products and I saw BPA free cans at Safeways.  

Don’t underestimate the close out bin at qfc.   I got pasta sauce for .79.   Our QFC had a 25 percent basket coupon that made it .59.   Add sale Barilla pasta, some parm cheese, and a can of green beans and a loaf of peasant bread and you have a meal for four at a cost of 2.30. TOTAL. Not per plate.  
You can still use coupons on the closeout baskets.   One time I got low sodium beans for free.  

Using every available means of discounting food is a way to cut your grocery bill dramatically.  We are averaging less than 55.00 a week for the first three quarters of the year/.  Last year it was 72.00.   Since then, I bought a  insta pot and that allowed me to scratch cook rice and beans and make scratch cooking easier.   I spend an hour to an hour and a half on Mondays doing kitchen management . But, I rarely spend more than twenty minutes at dinner time making dinner.  The  55.00 includes maintaining a small stock.  

Easy banana bread

Sometimes easy is the only way something is going to get done.   We prefer banana , oatmeal, blueberry bread because it is so nutritious.  This recipe is just what my husband calls cheap and dirty. —basically a no brainer.     

3-4 ripe bananas 

1 box of yellow cake mix 

2 eggs

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
• Grease a loaf pan 
• Smash bananas in a large bowl. 
• Add eggs and stir.  
• Add cake mix and fold until no dry pockets are observed.   
• Fill the pan 
• Bake 35-40 minutes or until the bread tests done.   The size of your pan or pans will determine if you need to bake it more time. 

Notes: You should be able to find cake mixes for a dollar.   I can usually find them at winco.   Dollar Tree always has an off brand.   Bananas ar 3 lbs for 1.39 at costco.   Total cost about 1.50/.  

Insta Pot refried beans

Making beans and rice from scratch in almost no hands on time is worth the price of adminision.   

2 cups dry pinto beans, sorted and rinsed 

1large onion, peeled and cut in quarters. 

4 cloves of garlic or 4 tsp of mixed garlic 

1 jalapeño , diced or 1 can of minced mild peppers

1 heaping tablespoon of taco seasoning 

1/2 cup salsa 

3 cups water or vegetable stock ( I use water and vegetable boullion.  ) 

Dump all ingredients in the insta pot.   Stir.  

Cover, set the vent, and process on manual for 28 minutes.   

When done processing, transfer bean mixture with a slotted spoon or spider to a food processer or food mill and process until the texture you want.   Add bean ‘juices’ as needed.   

Top with cheese if you are using them for a dip.   Heat in microwave to melt cheese.   

Kitchen Management 10/16/17

Kitchen management is a tool that requires you to set aside a hour or so a week to prep foods and deep clean in rotation the kitchen in order to save time during the busy dinner hour.

Based on the weeks meal plans....

1. Wash the kitchen floor.  
2. Wash and disinfect the counters, sinks and drains. 
3. Wax the south side cabinets. 
4. Wash vegetables and slice or dice for soup, stew and chicken and noodles 
5. Thaw pork. 
6. Clean refrigerator and note things to be used up.  
7. Straighten pantry.  
8. Cook sausage and any bulk meat .   

Meal plans for week of 10/16

Meal plans are the first start in kitchen management.   They take away a lot of stress and avoid the take out gremlins.

1. Soup/ bread 
2. Pizza
3. Pork stew/ rolls 
4. Insta Pot Chicken and Noodles , carrots 
5. Salmon, rice medley, mixed vegetables 
6. Tacos re-fried  beans
7. Breakfast for dinner.   

Notes :    

• Soup is a good meal when people are coming home at different hours.
• Pizza is a mainstay and cost 1.04 each 
• Pork stew is made from the ends of the pork loin where they taper down.   You can get two small roasts, stew, and center cut pork chops from a whole pork loin.   Cost is between 1.49 and 1.79 for RBP.   Its 1.99 for a half loin this week here. 
• Insta pot chicken and noodles.  - four minutes, thicken the stock after cooking.  
• Rice medley is a homemade mix with chicken stock and herbs.   
• Taco shells were purchased on a sale, basket coupon and coupons for .66
• Eggs have taken a hike, but we have dehydrated eggs.  Alternative is pancakes or waffles, a breakfast meat, and fruit in season.  Strawberries are really cheap here this week.

No Brainer Pasta

This is a recipe I made up.  My nephew named it.  He was a bachelor at the time.  LOL

1 - 27.5 ounce can or jar of pasta sauce

1 b dry pasta 

2 cups grated cheese of choice 

Water 

Leftover cooked meat in small dice if desired or cooked hamburger 

1. Place DRY uncooked pasta in a greased 9X 13 pan. 
2. Mix a can or jar of pasta sauce with equal amount of water. I just use the same can or jar  getting all the sauce out.  
3. Pour over pasta and stir.  
4. Cover, and bake at 425 for 45 minutes or until pasta is cooked.
5. Uncover, lower the hear to 375 and stir in leftover meat (optional) and top with cheese.  
6. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.  

Serves 6 for a cost of 2.68 or .45 a serving. 

Add a garden salad

You can pair the cheese with the type of pasta.  About any pasta will work except whole wheat or large shapes that usually take longer to cook.  

Hamburger and cheddar and three cheese sauce with wagon wheel pasta- “hamburgers” 

Spiral and mozzarella and pasta sauce with meat and pepperoni 🍕 

Penne and mozzarella with diced chicken and pasta sauce with veggies -Italian 

The possibilities are endless 

Pork sandwich

I have been studying and learning about economy cooking for about fifty years now.  Maybe a decade ago, I was published in a taste of home magazine.   I’m sharing it today.

Pork Sandwich Hero 

1 loaf french bread 

3 T OLIVE OIL

2 pounds pork loin, cubed 

1 cup green pepper, chopped 

1 cup red pepper, chopped 

1/2 cup chopped celery 

1 small onion , sliced thin 

2 tsp garlic powder 

1 tsp onion powder 

1 tsp pepper 

1/2 cup chicken broth 

2 cups diced tomatoes 

1/2 cup mozzarella, grated 

Cut top quarter off the french bread to make a boat.   Hollow out the bread leaving at least a 3/8 inch side.   Brush with olive oil.   Set aside.   Save the scraps of bread for breadcrumbs.   

In skillet, brown meat in olive oil.   Add vegetables and seasoning and cook until the vegetables are tender.   Add chicken broth and simmer until stock is reduced and pork is cooked.  

Fill the bread bowl with meat and vegetable filling.   Top with tomato and cheese, replace bread top.   

Wrap in foil.  Bake at 400 for 10-15 mnutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.   

Note:  now that we are trying to make things without foil, my mind goes back to the days when my mother would put things in a large brown grocery bag and run it under the water slightly and use it in place of foil.   I really don’t know how safe that is, but it seemed to work well then.   

Another option would be to leave the top off and run the loaf under the broiler for a few minutes.   

Serves 8 

Cucumber tomato salad

Cucumbers are still a good buy at winco.  Tomatoes are .88 at Alberways.  .   Yogurt is .33 at
Alberways.

1 medium Cucumber
Green onion
1 medium Tomato
Parsley
1 carton vanilla yogurt (individual)
Dash Salt
Dash Cumin

1. Peel the cucumber.  Cut in half the longwase and scoop seeds.  Cut into 1/2 inch slices
2. Wash tomato and cut in bite size pieces. Drain to remove liquid/ seeds 
3. Chop or cut green onion.  **
4. Place all ingreients in a bowl and cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.   

Did you know......coconut  milk is just coconut that has been steeped in boiling water.   Almost like tea using a piece of cheesecloth.   The remaining coconut  can still be used in recipes.    

Pumpkin pancakes

I am not a home ec major, so why things taste the way they do is beyond me.; but I have come to the realization that adding baking powder  and buttermilk to pancakes makes them fluffier.   YUM


1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
6T brown sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
1-1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
3T vegetable oil
2/3 cup pumpkin purée

Measure dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together.
Mix wet ingaredients into dry ingredients. Do not over mix.

Cook on griddle or in large skillet.  Use a 1/4 cup measure and turn pancakes when
The sides are brown and there is bubbles on top.  

Keep warm in a low oven on baking sheet.  

Notes:  pumpkin is cheapest at the dollar tree.   Spices can be purachased
In bulk cheaper than buying small jars of things that you don't use often.
Dry buttermilk is not cheap, but it is cheaper than buying fresh and taking a chance of wasting it.  
You can also make buttermilk by adding vinegar or lemon juice to milk and letting it sit
On the counter for a few minutes.   Vanilla is expensive.  Bite the bullet and get the real stuff.   It lasts forever and is a good investment.   You can make it yourself from vodka and a vanilla bean.

Meal Plans

Meal plans help assure you use up what perishables you have.  They are a tool to make dinner time less hectic.   You can schedule easy dinners the nights that you know a lot is going on. 

1. Soup, cheezy rolls, 
2. Pizza 
3. Hamburgers, oven fries, salad
4. Chicken enchiladas, rice, beans 
5. Tuna cassarole, peas and carrots 
6. Pork stew over noodles, California blend veggies, salad 
7. Pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, fruit plate.  

Notes: 

• Soup is an easy dinner when family has to eat at different times.   
• Pizza is always a favorite. 
• Hamburgers were purchased at qfc for three dollars a pound.  I am anxious to try the applewood smoked ones. 
• Chicken enchaladas are made with chicken from the ribs of chicken breasts.  Sour cream green sauce is easy and inexpensive.   
• Tuna cassarole....make with cream soup base . 
• Pork stew is made from the ends of the pork loin.   Cook noodles once, use twice.   
• Pumpkin pancakes -a fall favorite.    Turkey bacon bought on sale.