So my calendar is up.  I think it's less intimidating if it is viewed as an agenda. I'll post all the recipes a week ahead of time.  Some of these have been in our family since hubby and I were dating and some as recent as this past calendar year. (When we discovered he'd eat ribs, he just hated bbq sauce--no smoke flavor or hot/spicy sauce for him)  We are evolving, it's slow (30+ years), but it is evolving.

Having a background rich in frugality (New England, Swedish, depression era grandparents), I was always trying to find new ways to make things cheaper, but better.  Some things worked and some things didn't.  One time I made an Onion Parmesan Quiche for dinner for my husband who hates eggs.  He tried to fix it for both of us by sprinking cinnamon on it (I would have gone for Garlic Salt or Curry Powder myself).  Needless to say, we tossed dinner in the garbage (mind you it was almost a dozen eggs, 2 cups of milk and the cheese besides) and we walked to McDonalds for dinner.  I cringed the whole walk over.  That was 34 years ago when $7 was a lot of money for us.  It was before kids, before 2 full time jobs, and when minimum wage was a mere $3.35 per hour!

I became wiser and learned how to cook for "Mr. Pickypants".  Soon afterward we would have 2 lovely little girls who, like their Dad, were picky.  Not exactly the same picky, and one was pickier than the other, but our family learned to adapt and then we were able to stick to a decently low food budget.  I tried to stay under $50 per week until my kids reached their teens, when $75 per week worked pretty well.  

Currently Miss K is out of the nest, Miss M is with us still and we have a track/cross country team of about 50 or so to feed, I now try to stay around at around $100 per week, especially with those "track snacks" and water bottles.  Love it when I can get fruit snacks for the team for 74 cents for a box of 10.  Rumor has it that Scooby Snacks make fast relays.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Anyway I digress.

Cooking starts tomorrow, Cross Country practice will be early, so I'll have enough time to make dinner before the little ones start ringing the bell.  I have space in my freezer for the dinners I'm freezing, so I am truly ready to start this adventure...  

So yesterday I was crazy busy, made some Potato Leek Soup for dinner (Yummy!) with some Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  I forgot how long it takes to puree the vegies by hand, but it was well worth it!  And now I have leftovers that I can freeze in smaller portions.

So the adventure begins on Monday, but that's also Halloween... Cross Country practice will be early likely (We did have one of our boys advance to the State Meet, so we are still practicing) because they'll have to take siblings out, and they will Trick or Treat as well.  Dinner will be okay because it is a skillet dish and takes about half an hour to prepare. I start the rice in the rice cooker and when it shuts off, my One Pan Chicken Curry is done as well. (Even when I use raw chicken to start!)

Monday I'll prep my ingredients when I get home, Hubby will get home about an hour later, so dinner can be ready when he gets home.  The trick will be timing the eating during the bell ringing.  Maybe we'll eat on the porch if it's nice enough out. That will be the treat,

I also realized that with this break in the weather, I can get the rest of my planting done Sunday.  We have a very fussy area in front in the parkway that I'm throwing the towel in on.  We are planting perennials instead of grass.  Shade loving perennials.  Lots of them.  Hopefully our rumored extremely snowy winter will not deter them from thriving.  If they take, I may be able to ditch the landscapers and save some money there too.   Wish me luck!

I also realized that I'll not be cooking on Friday because I'll be at the State Meet festivities.  Not sure If I'll adjust my cooking or not, likely not.  I may cook on Thursday instead so I have my calendar intact for the dinners I'll need later.  That's how I'm leaning at least.

Happy National Cat Day!

Fan Favorite ~ Baked Curried Chicken

Originally this called for 1/3 cup of oil.  While the taste is great, it does make it greasy if you use bone in chicken, especially with the skin on.  I’ve reduced the amount of oil so it’s a bit more of a paste.  This is so yummy.  I do this using just chicken legs or drumsticks when they go on sale at my favorite store for 10/$2.  Again a ton of protein paired with rice and cooked carrots will feed us for about $3.75 (using the 20¢ drumsticks) with, get this, leftovers!

Baked Curried Chicken

3T. oil

1 ½ t. curry powder

1 ½ t. onion powder

1 t. garlic salt

3 ½ lbs. broiler-fryer chicken, cut up

Mix the oil, curry powder, onion powder and garlic salt well.  Arrange the chicken, skin side down, in a 13x9x2 inch pan.  Pour or spread on the oil mixture.  Bake at 425°, turning the chicken once, for 45 minutes or until tender.  Serve hot or cold.  Serves 4-6.

Salibury Steak...or Flat Meatballs?

This wasn't our first recipe for Salisbury Steak.  I had one where I added either chopped onion or dried onion to the recipe.  Sometimes I still do.  When our little one was younger, she used to call this "Flat Meatballs"!  Love to have this with egg noodles and corn.  Love it because I can feed our family this for about $5 total (without the mushrooms, of course) including the noodles and corn.

Frugal Tip:  The bread crumbs are never store bought.  I save the heels of my bread and either break them up with my hands or whirl them in the food processor. 

Salisbury Steak

1 lb. ground beef

⅓ c. dry bread crumbs

½ t. salt

¼ t. pepper

1 egg

1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings

1 can (10.5 oz.) condensed beef broth

8 oz. sliced mushrooms**

2 T. cold water mixed with 2 t. cornstarch

Mix the beef, crumbs, salt, pepper, and egg.  Shape the mixture into 4 oval patties, each about ¾” thick.  Cook the patties in a 10” skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until brown, about 10 minutes; drain.  Add the onion, broth and mushrooms.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until the patties are done, about 10 minutes.  Remove the patties from the skillet; keep warm.  In the same pan, heat the onion mixture to boiling.  Stir the cornstarch mixture into the onion mixture.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Serve the gravy over the patties.  Serves 4.

** This would never fly at our house; fortunately, it’s great without the mushrooms!

From:  Betty Crocker 1-2-3 Dinner, General Mills, Minneapolis, MN, 2001

A recipe to start with ~ One Pan Chicken Curry

This recipe has been in our repertoire for a while.  This is typically a dish served with rice and I've been know to throw peas in it as well.  The peanut butter tempers the curry and is a fairly mild, flavorful dish.  I've made it with pork as well as with tofu (using vegetable bouillon granules).  All three versions work well.  It just depends on what my leftover protein is that particular day.

One Pan Chicken Curry

3 T. Butter

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed

3 T. flour

1½ t. curry powder

¾ t. salt

2 c. diced cooked chicken

1 ½ c. water

1 T. chicken bouillon granules

1/3 c. peanut butter

Melt butter in the pan.  Sauté the onion and garlic until transparent.  Stir in the flour, curry powder and salt.  Stir to coat.  Stir in the chicken.  Cook additional 2 minutes.  Stir in the water slowly.  Stir constantly so the gravy is smooth.  Add the bouillon.  Stir in the peanut butter until smooth.  Serve over hot cooked rice.  Serves 4

Note:  You can use raw chicken in this recipe, dice 1 boneless chicken breast or 2 thighs and sauté in 1 T. butter until no pink remains.  Remove from heat and incorporate into recipe as directed.

1. One Pan Chicken Curry
2. Salisbury Steak
3. Baked Curried Chicken
4. Keema
5. Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
6. Pork Chops and Pilaf
7. Kofta Kari
8. Turkish Pilaf
9. Oven Fried Chicken
10. Peach Curry Chicken
11. Turkey Curry
12. Swedish Meatballs
13. Turkey a la King (Chicken)

So did I mention my husband is picky?  These are all things my picky, or as he likes to say, "Discerning", hubby eats.  I'm so grateful to his childhood friend who entered his life at the age of 10 that introduced him to Indian Food.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

You will notice there is nary a mushroom, egg, any bacon or ham, sour cream, milk, BBQ sauce, hot sauce, chili, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, liver, sweet potatoes, turnips, lima beans or anchovies.  From spinach to the end of the list I understand.  I don't like them either.  He also won't eat, pancakes, waffles, french toast, most desserts, fish (except canned tuna in tuna salad), leftovers, bagels, English muffins, cheese on burgers, tacos, burritos, cottage cheese, Krispy Kremes and lots of others my brain can't think of now.

Given the litany above, you can understand that finding things he would eat was indeed a challenge.  Then enters daughter #1.  She was picker than him.  They had 2 vegetables in common and beef or pork for protein.  Dinner was very interesting--lots of pasta growing up and only Daddy can make mac & cheese the right way.  I was raising a "blue box" snob!

Daughter #2 was picky too, but differently.  She had texture issues that DH had generously passed on to her.  Also all her food had to kind of "go together".  She has a short list of things she doesn't eat, but they tend to be creamy textures that have lumps in it (unblended yogurt was a huge thing...no lumps of fruit for her thank you!), watery eggs, chocolate, and squash seemed to be the biggest problems.  There are others, but it's late and I can't think right now.

The girls are much less picky now that they are adults, but I still can't serve curry when my older daughter comes to dinner...too spicy.  But she eats burritos, now so that's good except, well, her dad won't touch them with a 10 foot pole! Ah, such is my dining life.

Until tomorrow...

And so it begins...my Monthly Cooking Calendar

I grew up in New England, raised by parents who grew up with Great Depression Era parents.  New Englanders are known for their thriftiness, I am no exception.  I would also go as far as saying I use my resources wisely, and get every bit of the toothpaste out before throwing the tube away.  (Sure wish I could figure out a practical use for the caps to those tubes...)

I was no stranger to the kitchen as a child.  My brother and I would actually argue about who was washing the dishes because we wanted to wash them.  Our Mom was a genius, she made sure the Revere Ware copper bottomed pans (I still have those pans!) were hand-washed last.  Although we had a dishwasher, only tableware went in there; pots and pans were washed by hand.  Mom was a genius on two levels, the pans lasted longer because they were gently washed by hand, but also done last because "the copper cleaner could not get into the dishwater".    We fell for it hook, line and sinker!!  It was way too fun to write you name with the copper cleaner, especially when you had the largest canvas in the house...the stockpot!  All the delayed gratification indeed paid off.

My love of cooking developed out of an eventual hate of those dishes (you can only be bamboozled for so long).  When I was in Junior High, we were able to take Home Ec or Shop.  I chose Home Ec and learned to sew (different story for a different day) and cook.  I tested every recipe from school at home.  The only disaster I remember was the mashed potatoes...alas, I did not test them enough, but my family managed to choke those horribly lumpy and dry efforts down (God Bless them!) and even allowed me to continue testing these recipes again and again.

The day I turned 15, I told my Mom I was not going to wash the dishes that night; she said OK.  The next night I told her I still wasn't washing the dishes.  She asked me if I wanted to cook the family dinner and I said "Sure!"  It was then that I found the kitchen a place I loved to be, planning, cooking and looking ahead to the next meal.

My girls are grown and one has moved out so our nest is kind of empty.  We coach track at a local high school in Chicago, so I guess you could say I have 2 children and about 50 kids.  Even so, our dinner life is beginning to downsize some, but I'm having trouble cooking for 2.  My recipes are for 4-6 and I can't seem to cut them down mostly because the amount of meat doesn't make sense and it's actually more expensive in a lot of cases.  Remember, I'm from New England originally.  So I got to thinking, there's got to be a way you can still cook all your family recipes that are tried and true and still save money.  Then I thought about how people do all of this bulk freezer cooking that serves 4 or more at a time, but that doesn't make sense if you are downsizing, or even just starting out.

My biggest obstacle is my Dear Hubby. I love him dearly, but he is very picky.  DH refuses to eat leftovers (he'll deny it vehemently) with the exception of another round of Thanksgiving dinner the next day.  Then I got to thinking about how he'll eat frozen food, so why not our own frozen food?

And here we are...(besides...enough background already!)

• I will assemble a calendar of meals where I cook "normally" 3 times a week.  Before I serve dinner, I will spoon off half into single serve containers for dinners later in the month.  To do the 3 x per week plan, you'll need 7 x #servings (in my case 2) to keep in the freezer.  If you choose 2 x per week, then you'll need 10 x #servings.
• By rotating  the dinners, they won't get lost in the freezer.
• As you gather the bounty (dinners) those non-cooking nights can be used for prepping ingredients for the next night so the next meal "flies" together.  On those first 6 cooking nights, you could purchase frozen meals from the store or use up what's in the freezer to make room for your 14 or so containers.

I'm using up stuff.  I can't help it, I'm too frugal.  It really bugs me to throw away food.  On one level, I know it's food I would have eaten had my plans not changed. Then there's the expense I incurred and it's like throwing that cash in the trash.  In that vein, I've decided that if I waste less food, I'll really end up saving more money.  I've always been one of those who tries to save 50-60% with or without coupons.  I've had my moments but the 40-45% range  is pretty common for me.

I've numbered my meals for the month of November.  Taking a break for Thanksgiving to do the Thanksgiving stuff made sense to me, so there are 13 cooking days in November with this plan; the last day is actually in December.  Christmas Day  and New Year are not cooking days either, so they are technically a break if needed due to school holidays and the like.  December will have 12 cooking days (OK, really 13).  After looking at this, it doesn't look as daunting.  I'm also thinking another savings will be time.  Hmm, I could use some of that.

Tomorrow I'll have my list of recipes for the next 2 months.  This will be a great adventure!