Dinner tonight was Swedish Meatballs with Egg Noodles and Corn.  We had some Potato Rolls (one of my all time favorite things at Aldi) to go with.  Miss M joined us and we have no leftovers....

 Just like Mormor made.  Yummy!  Perfect for the chilly night (it's 39 right now, it was in the 60's yesterday) we ended up with!  I boxed up 24 meatballs for later.  I'll make more noodles then and I will use my homemade gravy mix for the gravy that goes with.

Tomorrow will be our bonus dinner of Pork Chops and Pilaf.  Can't wait!  I'll add a bit of lemon juice to the top of the chops before heating.  Probably grocery shop afterward.  We'll see.

Dinner went well.  Miss M joined us.  I figured I haven't made this in about 18 Christmas Eves.  That was when Miss K asked if we could eat something different since curry is so spicy.  Now we usually have Wednesday's dinner.  It's kind of ironic that I have them so close together in the meal plan.  I made Curried Rice with Golden Raisins to go with.  It was so yummy.  I packed up our dinners like normal, labeled them and they are waiting in the freezer for the 13th. 

 Friday's recipe is Turkey a la king.  This recipe almost seems like cheating because it uses soup, but sometime you just need convenience.

Chicken A La King Supreme

1 T. oil
2 ribs celery, diced
1 can cream of onion soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 soup cans milk
2 c. diced cooked chicken*
1 c. frozen peas, if desired

In a large saucepan, heat oil.  Add the celery to  the pan., cooking unitl transparent, but not brown.  Add the soups, stirring to combine with the celery.  Gradually add the milk. Stir constantly until thickened and well mixed.  Add the chicken and peas.  Heat until the meat is heated through and the peas are hot.  Serve over hot cooked rice or noodles.  Serves 6.

*Turkey also works well in this recipe.

I have also been known to swap the cream of onion soup for cream of celery soup.  If I do this, I add a diced onion to the recipe for flavor.

Tomorrow we go out with friends so our bonus dinners become lunch for Miss M and I.  :)  Yum!  Spaghetti for lunch!

December's list of recipes

So I've got the next recipe list for December put together.

14. Curried Chicken with Rice
15. Cheesy Ground Beef with Rice
16. Rogan Josh
17. Curried Meatballs with Rice
18. Dopiazah
19. Carolina Ribs
20. Curried Lime Chicken
21. Meatloaf
22. Roast Chicken
23. Singapore Noodles
24. Pastichio
25. Dusted Pork Chops

The plan is the same.  Cook Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Pack up bonus dinners for the freezer before serving dinner, label them with the serving date.  Serve dinner and have nothing to refrigerate when the meal is over.  Depending on what the meal is, I'll package it as a dinner for one or as an entree and a side dish.

Some days I end up with bones from our meat.  I freeze them and save them until I get enough to make soup stock (about 3 pounds).  I also freeze my vegetable scrapings to add to the making of the soup stock. Then I get bonus soup and stock for other recipes.  I love free meals!  Add a salad or a sandwich or just some crusty bread or crackers and voila!  Instant meal!  

This list gets us through the winter holidays which is great.  We have a two week break from school, so I'll likely clean out my freezer(s) [we actually have more than one, but I want to get it so we can just function with one chest freezer and move the extra fridge down stairs. I know, I know.]

Here's the recipe I promised: 

Swedish Meatballs

1½ lb. ground beef

½ c. grated onion

2 slices bread, crust removed broken into crumbs

1/3 c. milk

2 eggs

1 t. salt

½ t. pepper

⅛ t. nutmeg

Pinch allspice

2 T. vegetable oil

1/4 c. flour

1 c. water

            In a large bowl, combine the beef, onion, bread, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and allspice.  Form into 2 inch meatballs.  Brown the meatballs in the hot oil in a 12" skillet on all sides.  Into the juices, mix in 1/4 c. flour.  Whisk in 1 c. water to make gravy.  Bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer and simmer 5 minutes.  Add more water if the gravy gets too thick.  Serve with egg noodles.  Serves 6.

Thanksgiving dinner was awesome!  I love how this meal comes together when we have these big meals with our friends.  I also love how everyone has a buddy at the meal.  We go way back to preschool for the little one, but we've been doing Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter Dinners for so long like this I don't remember not doing them this way.  We also do the Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day barbecue thing too.  Love that as well!   The great thing about Thanksgiving turkey is  the leftovers to work with.  Historically (ok, for the past 35 years or so), DH has only eaten Thanksgiving leftovers.  Usually with Turkey Frame soup and Turkey in some other meal (like Monday's Turkey Curry).  We'll see if I can get this to go a bit further than I've gotten in years past.

Last night after dinner had been served, I cut off all the visible meat from the turkey and put it in ziploc bags in the fridge.  We had a 14 lb turkey which fed 8 people (we had 9 at dinner, but Miss L is pescatarian and had salmon).  I had 2 quart bags with enough turkey for 2 meals.  I broke up the carcass and put it in my 16 qt. stockpot.  I added a box of carrot sticks left from the week, a quartered onion and the carrot peelings from dinner prep, onion and celery trimmings from the stuffing prep that I had bagged up earlier in the day along with 1 1/2 gallons of water.  I brought it to a boil and turned the heat down to simmer and simmered it for about 4 hours.  The result was 1 1/2 gallons of the most gelatinous turkey stock I've seen in recent years.  I strained it into a smaller stock pot (8 qt.) and let the solids from the pan cool down so I would be able to pick the meat off the bones.  Again, I ended up with 2 generously full quart bags full of boiled turkey.  I took the stock out today and spooned about 4 ladles (approx 2 cups or so) into a 2 qt saucepan.  To that I added a handful of chopped turkey from the soups stock, 2/3 c. cooked rice from earlier in the week I had frozen, a rib of diced celery, 1/2 a diced small onion, a generous pinch of dried thyme, the leftover carrots from Thanksgiving (diced up), and 1/4 t. garlic salt.  The result was some yummy soup for Miss M for tomorrow's lunch.   That's my "Turkey Frame Soup" in a nutshell.  A bonus meal, plus turkey stock to use in place of the chicken broth in my Turkey Curry recipe.  Totally frugal, and totally a free meal.

Monday I'm making Turkey Curry.  This was our meal from the Turkey breast meat I'd cut off and freeze to use later.  I'm not freezing it this time since I'm using it Monday.

Turkey Curry
1 T. butter
1/2 c. diced celery
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
4 1/2 t. flour
4 t. curry powder
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. + 2 T. evaporated [NOT condensed] milk
3 c. cooked cubed turkey
1 red apple, cored &  diced
1/2 c. golden raisins

In a large saucepan, melt the butter.  Saute the celery, onion and garlic until soft; sprinkle with the flour, curry, ginger and salt; cook 3 minutes.  Stir in the broth and milk; bring to a boil, reduce heat.  Add turkey to the saucepan.  Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.  Stir in apple and raisinss; cook 5 minutes.  Serve over hot cooked rice.  Serves 4-6.  

I'll post my other recipes for the week tomorrow night.  

Peach Curry Chicken Dinner and a frugal tip!

Just like I promised...another frugal tip:  The Chicken Broth in the sauce was broth I made from the bones I froze after we had Baked Curried Chicken the first time and just added the bones from Saturday.  I made the broth Saturday night.  Some was held out for this recipe in a container and the balance was used for Chicken Soup with short flat noodles.  I used up all my little bits of leftover veggies and voila!  Bonus soup!  Another free meal!

This dinner was pretty yummy!  I say feel free to bump up the curry if you want a more savory meal.  I'd go as high as double the curry and ginger.  Let me know what you think.  The chicken was wonderful the coating stayed intact and the sauce was awesome.  I always expect this to turn out to be a clearer sauce because of the cornstarch but it looks a bit more like gravy when you serve it.  This would work well with apples and apple juice and for jam you could use apple butter.  Also we decided at that table after dinner that white rice is okay but boring.  A Chicken flavored rice or yellow rice would be better.

 I boxed up peaches and sauce in one container, chicken and rice in another.  I worry that the chicken may absorb sauce and I'll end up with a sauce that wants to be pasty again.  Not having that again. This is the last cooking before Thanksgiving.  We are hosting and we typically spend it with friends.  It's great because we can divy up who provides what.  My 14 1/2 lb turkey is thawing as we speak.  I'll make my gravy mix (both veggie and brown) and pies ahead of time.  We should have enough to feed an army!  And the leftovers...I love reinventing them.  There is Turkey Curry in the works for next week!  I'll post my recipes for next week and work on the calendar for December. School is out Wednesday through Friday, so it will be a nice break!  

Tomorrow should be our 4th Bounty dinner (Keema) for dinner, but we are going out for dinner with friends.  This will make an awesome lunch!  Can't wait.  I'll not post until Wednesday likely...

So I forgot in all the excitement yesterday, to post this recipe.

It is a variation on Curried PeachPork Chops that I came across.  I like to make this with chicken as well and so it goes like this:

Curried Peach Chicken

4-6 boneless chicken breasts ½ lb. each

¼ c. flour, seasoned with ½ t. curry powder & ½ t. onion salt

1 T. oil

1 T. butter

½ onion, chopped

1 t. curry powder

½ t. ground ginger

1 c. chicken broth

¼ t. seasoned salt

1 T. fresh lemon juice

½ c. peach juice (I use the juice from the can)

2 medium peaches sliced (or 15 oz. can)

2 T. peach jam

2 T. cold water

4 t. cornstarch

Dry the chicken with paper towels.  Dredge lightly in the flour mixture.  

Melt the butter and oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat and cook the chicken, for about 4 minutes before turning over.  Brown the chicken on the other side 4 minutes longer.  Remove from the pan.  

Using the same pan, lower the heat to medium low, and the onions and cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft (about 10 minutes).  Add the curry powder and ginger.  Cook one minute longer.  Add the broth, seasoned salt, lemon juice, and peach juice.  Return the chicken to the pan, bring to a simmer and cook, covered about 20 minutes or so.  Add the sliced peaches and cook, uncovered for 5 more minutes.  Remove chicken and peaches and place on a platter.  

Bring the sauce to a boil and add the jam.  Mix the cornstarch with the water and stir into the sauce.  Cook until the sauce thickens; let it cool.  Pour sauce over the chicken and peaches and serve.  Serves 4-6.

I'll be back later with the results.  😋 

So tonight was Bounty dinner #3, Baked Curried Chicken.  It was great!  I made rice pilaf to go with and mixed veggies.  Nice and easy.  It was a busy day, simultaneous race for some of the kids on the team and wedding shower at church.  The connection is that it was for one of our first runners.  It was great to be there to support her in her new adventure.  It was nice that dinner was so laidback and easy.

Tomorrow I will post the recipe for Monday, Peach Curry Chicken.  I also need to buy my Turkey for Thursday...I'll use part of that for another of my recipes next Monday. When we were first married and much of the time the kids were growing up, I would cut a big chunk of turkey breast off and freeze it for Christmas Eve.  I'd then make Turkey Curry and make Curried Rice with Raisins in it, because it was yummy, a bit dressed up and special.  I found early on that Miss K needed a different dinner.  We switched to Swedish Meatballs after a while and Roast Beef for Christmas Day with friends.  I think Miss K would be more willing to try this again.  Her taste has grown up a little.  We'll see.

Until tomorrow...

So I forgot to blog last night, forgot the picture, but last night's Bonus meal went very well.  The Salisbury Steaks were perfectly done.  There was plenty of gravy.  I made mashed potatoes and carrots to round out the meal.  It was delicious. 

Tonight I made the Easy Ranch Chicken with Bread Crumbs for half of the chicken and with cracker crumbs for the other half.  Looks-wise, I like the cracker crumbs.  We’ll see later about which crumbs are better suited for freezing.  It’s supposed to be crispier, but I figured that would be better as the bonus meal.  We will see.  I made Curried rice in the rice cooker and of course peas.  The bonus dinners are just the chicken and the rice.

Tomorrow night is the bonus Baked Curried Chicken.  Can't wait for that one!  Also going to make some Rice Pilaf and mixed vegies for that meal.  

I'm fighting to get the picture in, but I'm losing that battle.  Maybe tomorrow.

So I learned something today.  I need to keep my sauces separate from my rice, or the rice absorbs all the liquid and I’m left with very thick paste on my rice.  Fortunately, it’s great tasting paste.  Next time I will box up my One Pan Chicken Curry in a separate box from the rice.  Hubby was a champ and ate dinner and even had seconds from my dinner.  

The biscuits were yummy, but I think I need to grease the pan a bit more so they aren’t so stubborn to remove and serve.  I also adjusted the recipe because I forgot that you need more liquid to make drop biscuits.  I also topped them with a sprinkle of garlic salt and a few shreds of cheese.

Next time, separate containers.

Tomorrow will be a bounty dinner also:  Salisbury Steak.  I'm making potatoes to go with and I'll make carrots for our veggie.  Thinking about salad as well.

So tonight I made tomorrows dish, Turkish Pilaf.  DH and I will enjoy the first bounty dinner tomorrow.  Tonight worked like this:  I started the rice part of dinner in the rice cooker.  While that was cooking, I discovered I was short some lemon juice. (I had squeezed what lemons I had and was 2 tablespoons short!  Yikes! We have company coming that will never do!)  I called Miss K’s boyfriend J and he bailed me out!  Thanks J!  Mind you, the rice is still cooking.  I came home, measured the lemon juice.  I then sliced up my onions, melted the butter and measured my spices.  I was now ready to start the main part of dinner.  By the time the ground beef and onions were cooked with the spices, the rice cooker was nearly done.  When the rice shut off, I combined it with the meat, added the butter and lemon juice (and half a bag of peas ~ we like them, what can I say?).  I was then ready for my company and could sit and enjoy the meal.  I like this better than our friends come over to eat frozen dinners…This isn’t the 60’s and I don’t have TV trays.

Tomorrow, I will likely plate the food.  The idea of DH eating from a freezer container seems sad.  Plates are happy and inviting.  I think I’ll make some of my cheddar biscuits tomorrow as well.  I've posted the recipe below.

Cheddar Biscuits

2 c. baking mix (I like Trader Joes or my homemade mix)

1 c. milk

a handful of shredded cheddar cheese (I think its about 1/2 c.)

1/4 t. garlic Salt

Preheat the oven to 450℉.  Mix the ingredients together with a fork until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Drop by heaping Tablespoons on to a greased baking sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes about 10.

These can also be rolled out and cut with biscuit cutters to make uniform sized biscuits.  Decrease the milk to 1/2 cup.  When the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead dough 10-12 times.  Roll out dough to 1/2" thickness.  Cut with a floured 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter.  Place on a greased baking sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Again this makes about 10.

Tonight’s dinner was awesome.  The meatballs are spiced as evenly as the sauce.  Meal prep was easy.  Earlier in the day, I had measured the dry ingredients into two small bowls.  This would make forming the meatballs a cinch.  Half was for the meatballs and half for the sauce.  Miss M and Miss E joined us for dinner.  I portioned off the dinners for the freezer and served the remaining dinner tonight.  Glad cleanup was easy and prepping was easy as well.  I got klunked on the head today at school and am trying to keep tonight’s’ blog simple and easy so I can get more sleep in hopes of a full day’s work tomorrow.  Hope your day wasn’t as “bumpy” as mine!

Tomorrow we have friends over for dinner, so I’m swapping Tuesday and Wednesday.  Turkish Pilaf for tomorrow! J

Oven Fried Chicken & a bonus recipe!

The recipe I use for Oven Fried Chicken is surprisingly new and comes from the internet.  It is Easy Ranch Chicken from www.food.com.

This recipe also uses Ranch Dressing Mix.  I decided to make my own ranch dressing mix.  A canister of Buttermilk Powder will make 2 1/2 recipes.  It is not necessarily less expensive, but I know what's in it.  That recipe also comes from the internet.

It is Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix from SimplyScratch.com. As long as you have all the ingredients and a food processor, this takes no time to put together. In fact, I don't think I'll buy bottled dressing or dip very often anymore.  Note that I leave out the sugar from the original recipe.  You don't need it, the buttermilk powder has some sweetness all its own.  This is the only time in my life I've used parsley.  I know, I just talked yesterday about not using it, but the dried parsley adds something to the recipe.

I'm including both recipes, because I think the dressing mix with no preservatives is worth it.

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

1 c. Dry Buttermilk Powder

2½ T. Dried Parsley, divided

2 t. Dried Dill, divided

2½ t. Garlic Powder

1½ t. Onion Powder

1½ t. Dried Onion Flakes

2¼ t. Kosher Salt

½ t. Coarse Ground Pepper

½ t. Paprika

¼ t. Cayenne Pepper

In a small food processor or blender; measure and add in the dried buttermilk, 2 T. of the parsley, 1 t. of the dill.  Place the remaining ½ T. of the parsley and 1 t. dried dill in a small bowl and set it aside.  Measure and add in the onion powder, dried onion flakes, kosher salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne.  Turn on the processor and let it run until all the spices are blended into the buttermilk powder.  Transfer the ranch mix into a jar or container (with a tight fitting lid) and add the reserved parsley and dill.  Whisk to combine.  

3 T. of the mix is the equivalent to one packet.

Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 months or in the freezer for 6-8 months.

Now that you have your Ranch Dressing Mix, we can proceed with the Easy Ranch Chicken recipe.

Easy Ranch Chicken

4 Boneless Chicken Breasts

½ (1 oz.) package Ranch Dressing Mix (1½ T. of your mix)

1 c. Dry Breadcrumbs

2 Eggs

Salt

Pepper

Butter

Crackers (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Mix the dressing, salt & pepper to taste and dry bread crumbs in a 1 quart storage bag.  Beat 2 eggs in bowl.  Rinse and dredge chicken through the egg and then place in the bag and shake until the chicken is completely covered. Place in a buttered 13 x 9" glass baking dish. Place a pat of butter on top of chicken.  Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Note:  This works without the eggs and adding cracker crumbs makes the coating crispier. 

Frugal Tip:  Use the food processor right after making the dressing mix to make your breadcrumbs so the crumbs pick up the remaining ranch flavor.

Turkish pilaf is next on the calendar.  I do use my rice cooker to prepare the rice.  I just find it easier since my rice cooker has a nonstick surface.  My rice cooker is small though and will only make 2 cups of raw rice at a time.  I'd like a bigger one, but this works and fits on the shelf in my cabinet.  This is usually able to all come together as soon as the rice cooker shuts off.

Turkish Pilaf
1 c. long grain rice
2 T. beef bouillon granules, divided
4 t. cinnamon, divided
3/4 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, sliced
1 T. butter
1 t. pepper
1/2 t. curry powder
3 T. lemon juice
3 T. minced parsley
3 T. Butter, melted
1/2 t. salt
Cook rice according to the recipe on the box, but add 1 T. of the beef bouillon and 1 t. of the cinammon.  Saute the meat and onions in the butter in a large skillet, just until no pink remains.  Stir in the pepper, curry powder and the remaining bouillon granules and cinnamon; cook 2 minutes longer.  Add the rice mixture to the meat mixture.  Stir in the lemon juice, 2 T. of the parsley and the butter.  Cover; simmer 5 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary, adding the salt.  Garnish with the remaining parsley.
Serves 4. 

I also don't use parsley.  My family wasn't big on it when I was growing up, so I leave it out most of the time.  I'll be cooking this on Tuesday instead of Wednesday because we are having friends over for dinner.  Wednesday will be our first harvest of the frozen dinners

Until tomorrow with Friday's recipe!  

Today's aggravation and Tomorrow's recipe ~ Kofta Kari

Dinner was a little aggravating today.  I had to tweak the recipe twice.  It takes way longer to bake at 375.  I bumped the temperature up to 400 and had better results.  When I added the vegies halfway, I lost a good bit of the liquid which aggravated me.  Good thing it was a holiday with no practice or work.  I'd have been even more aggravated!

The rice was good and lemony!  Baked rice has a kind of creamy texture and paired with the pork chop it is awesome!  Which got me to thinking how tame in flavor and texture it really is.  My how our tastes have evolved!  You could totally substitute chicken breast in this dish. It would be equally yummy!

Here is the recipe for next Monday.

Kofta Kari

1 lb. ground beef

2 large onions, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2 t. ground turmeric

2 t. chili powder

2 t. ground coriander

1½ t.  ground cumin

1 t. ground ginger

2 t. salt

1 egg, beaten

Vegetable oil for deep frying*

½ c. ghee

1 c. water

Mint or coriander leaves to garnish

          Put the beef into a bowl and add half the onions, garlic, spices and salt.  Stir well, and then bind the mixture together with the egg.

          Form the mixture into 12 small balls.  Heat the oil in a pan until very hot.  Add the meatballs a few at a time and deep-fry for 5 minutes.  Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and set aside.

          Melt the ghee in a heavy pan, add the remaining onions and garlic and fry gently until soft.  Add the remaining spices and salt and fry for a further 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the meatballs and turn gently to coat with the spices, then add the water and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes.  Serve hot, garnished with mint or coriander leaves with rice.  Serves 4.

         

          *I do not deep fry these.  I just pan fry them.  We also don’t garnish anything with fresh coriander; I’ve been blessed with the “soapy” gene that will make the dish taste like soap to me.  My younger daughter has that as well.

From "The Encyclopedia of Asian Cooking," Octopus Books Limited, 59 Grosvenor St., London, UK, 1980.

It's been a surprising busy week.  Tuesday we ended up having Smoked Sausage, Julienne Cheesy potatoes and peas.  It's the most processed meal we've had in a while.  It also happens to be DH's favorite.  Except for potatoes, there were no leftovers.

Wednesday was our Cross Country Team Dinner and we had about 40 kids there.  I made my Spaghetti Sauce times 9 and 9 boxes of a combo of Penne and Rotini for all of our hungry kids.   We picked up day old bread from Jimmy Johns (7 loaves for $3.50 total) and 5 boxes of organic mixed greens, 3 cucumbers and 2 boxes of grape tomatoes to make a tossed salad for them.  The kids were amazing and brought about a million desserts!  There were so many, we had to send dessert goodie bags home with a lot of them! The sauce & pasta cost about $15, bread was $3.50, lemonade (mix I bought for $1 per container) was $2, and of course the salad stuff was $18.  The basic dinner was a total of $38.50 or less than a dollar per kid!  Your sure can't beat that. Our first year coaching, we took the team (much smaller by the way) to Olive Garden for a team dinner.  It set us back about $250.00.  I knew I needed a cheaper way to do this.  I found it.  Get the fellowship hall at church for the night (costs nothing), use the kitchen at church to cook dinner myself at church and lastly have the kids bring dessert if they want some.

After a long day of report cards at our respective schools, last night we went to our friends' house for dinner and guess what we had?  Spaghetti!  But, it was spaghetti noodles that you could twirl (Hubby loves that too!), and it was meat sauce.  Surprisingly that’s radically different for him.  Also there was coffee to linger over as well, another fan favorite!  

I'll post again tonight...dinner will be Pork Chops and Pilaf.  I haven't made this in a few years, It will be great to have something from the oven.  I'll also have Monday's recipe for Kofta Kari ready.

Until then!

Today’s meal went amazingly well.  The Keema was ready to go when the rice cooker shut off.  Talk about timing!  Miss M joined us as well as Miss E.  I did add about 1/3 pound of ground beef to the meal, but the rest was the same.  This is one of my favorite meals ever.  I added peas to stretch the meal but also because Miss M loves them.  So I spooned out 2 portions to freeze for DH and I on the 22nd, then I served the rest.  Guess what?  No extra leftovers!

Tomorrow is not a scheduled cooking day, but I'm probably going to make burgers or smoked sausage (two of Hubby's favorites) for dinner.  I also went to Aldi tonight and picked up some evaporated milk to have on hand for Thanksgiving.  59 cents a can, can't go wrong.

Thursday is report cards at school.  I still can't believe we are at the 1/4 of the year mark already, although I do appreciate my extra hour from Sunday.  I also appreciate the morning sunshine, albeit temporary morning sunshine!

Last night's baking for the Church dinner was almost a disaster for 2 reasons.  1.  I didn't have evaporated milk for the pumpkin pie I was making and 2. My apples were too soft for my apple peeler corer slicer.  It went of without a hitch because I found out at my recipes that I could use the milk I had on hand and just had to add cornstarch so it would be a thicker fluid and the right texture to work with my recipe. That and the apples peeled and sliced fine by hand.

At dinner, I had a slice from the pumpkin and DH had a slice from my apple pie ( I recognized the glaze and slice in the crust I made when transfering it onto the apples.).  Hubby enjoyed his as much as I enjoyed my pie.

Tonight we had the kids over for pizza from our favorite place.  I made a salad to go with dinner.  I was gathering the salad dressings and DH will only use Marie's brand Italian Garlic dressing.  It is expensive, but we buy it when it is on sale.  Which brings me to my point.  I looked at the date.  It was last month.  Hmmm, was it spoiled or still good?

Frugal Tip:  I went to Stilltasty.com and it told me that it was good for 6 months past the date!  I love Still Tasty dot com!  It's saved our budget many times!

Tomorrow I will make the Keema recipe for 4 and freeze 2 plates first from the skillet to serve on the 22nd.  We will eat the remainder in the hopes of no left overs like last week with the One Pan Chicken Curry.  That's the goal.  4 dinners total, serve 2 that night and freeze 2 for 3 weeks later.  

So far so good for us, I have room in the freezer because the meat in the meals came from the freezer.  Then I'll only need the space for the 14 dinners that will rotate out of the freezer.  I'm aiming for the bottom shelf of my freezer since there's a bit more shelf depth.  We'll see how that works.  My other thought is to use the basket in my freezer downstairs.  The problem with that is it needs to be defrosted, but I could do that if it would work better.

Dinner on Wednesday went well. We had Salisbury Steak as we planned. It flew together easily and I was able to freeze my extra dinners with lots of the gravy for Day 17. I will make more potatoes that night since Mashed Potatoes don't freeze really well. I may make them the night before when cooking our meal on Wednesday. We'll see when we get there. Miss M joined us for dinner and since there were sliced onions in the gravy, guess what was left behind on her plate? Yup, a few pieces of onion. That's my girl!

Then last night I made our dinner #3. Baked Curried Chicken. MMM Good! That is one of my favorites! I must confess, I did do something different last night. I made 2 separate batches of the seasoning sauce. I put one batch on early in the game, the second was put on the pieces after I turned them over. The result? The best I've ever made, well, except for the chicken skin sticking to the pan, but that made the seasoning get deeper into the chicken itself. I cheated a bit and used "potato boats" for our potatoes, but DH loves them, so who am I to deny him that at our meal? When I make the frozen dinner, I will make some curried rice to go with. That will be an awesome pairing! Can't wait for that one.

Frugal tip: Cutting back on the oil in this recipe not only saves calories, it saves money by saving the oil for another recipe. And it still works well, it is more of a paste that stays where you want it to!

Dinner tonight is with the kids from the team at a local restaurant here in Peoria. Our top kid is running tomorrow and his friends are here to support him. Dinner is our way of supporting him and his accomplishments. Tomorrow will be a long day. I have to bake apple pie when I get home for our church dinner on Sunday. Busy Busy weekend!

One of our first recipes ~ Pork Chops and Pilaf

This was a favorite when we were first married.  Love the rice.  It is similar in flavor to Greek Lemon & Chicken soup.  So yummy!

I cooked tonight and last night, I'll blog about them tomorrow night.  So tired tonight, getting ready for our trip to the State Meet.

Late night last night.  World Series and our fair city has the champion!  Lots of smiling tired kids at school today.  Here's the recipe for next Friday!

Pork Chops and Pilaf

6 lean pork chops

Seasoned salt

1 ¼ c. uncooked rice

1 ¼ c. sliced green onions w/tops (separated)

2 ½ c. chicken broth

1 T. Fresh lemon juice

1 ½ t. lemon peel, minced

2 c. cooked mixed vegetables

Preheat oven to 400°.  Sprinkle chops with salt and brown on each side in a lightly greased skillet.  Remove chops.  Add rice and white part of onions.  Cook until golden brown.  Stir in broth, lemon juice, and peel.  Bring to boil.  Transfer rice mixture to a 13 x9 inch covered casserole dish.  Place chops over rice mixture.  Cover, bake for 25 minutes.  Stir in vegetables and the green onion tops.  Adjust seasonings if necessary.  Replace cover and continue baking 25 minutes longer.  Fluff rice lightly with fork.  Serves 4-6.

*I guess I was so tired, I thought I posted this!  :p

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce...

This is how my Mom made Spaghetti Sauce when we didn't have fresh tomatoes from the garden.  We had a massive garden when I was growing up and Dad grew tomatoes, peppers and basil. Dad was an organic gardener in the 70's.  We had so many tomatoes and peppers that we would be able to process sauce at the end of the season that would take over our freezer downstairs.  It. was. awesome.  I have fond memories of putting the cooked sauce through the food mill and cranking that contraption until we had gallons of sauce.  Mom would use that instead of the canned sauce as it was not thick enough on its own.  I do remember asking my Dad the silliest question when I had a garden of my own.  He laughed when I asked how much water you add to the tomatoes when starting to make the tomato sauce.  Of course you add none, tomatoes are mostly water.

Spaghetti Sauce with Meat

½ lb. ground beef

1 diced onion

1 clove garlic, pressed

6 oz. can tomato paste

15 oz. can tomato sauce

¾ t. Italian seasoning

½ t. basil

½ t. salt, optional

Brown the ground beef in a skillet until no pink remains.  Add onion and garlic and continue to sauté until the onions are transparent.  Remove from heat and mix in the tomato paste.  Transfer the mixture to a saucepan.  Stir in the Tomato Sauce.  Heat to boil over medium high heat; reduce the heat and simmer over low heat.  Add seasonings and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.  Serve over hot cooked noodles.  Serves 4.

Keema for Everyone!

This is a favorite dinner of those who are currently in the nest.  Miss K finds it spicy, but I think if we just cut out the cumin and reduced the chili powder and black pepper, she'd have a change of heart.

This recipe comes from "The Encyclopedia of Asian Cooking," Octopus Books Limited, London, UK, 1980.  It was one of the first cookbooks I bought when first married.  It now has the requisite splatters on the well loved recipe pages and the binding is starting to break.  It is from the India, Pakistan and Bangladesh chapter.

Keema
(Spiced Minced[Ground] Beef)

1/4 c. ghee*
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 t. turmeric powder
2 t. chili powder
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. cumin seeds
1 t. salt
1 t. ground pepper
1 lb ground beef

Melt the ghee in  a pan, add the onions and garlic and fry gently until soft.  Ad the spices and seasonings and fry for a further 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Addthe beef and fry, stirring, until browned.  Continue frying untilt he meat is cooked and the curry is dry.  Serve hot over rice.  Serves 4.

*clarified butter ~  I've used butter with no issues
Frugal Tip:  I also add peas to this as well as cubed potatoes to stretch the meal.