Spicy Beans and Rice

Spicy Beans and Rice.

Note: I used garden ingredients, but I wrote the recipe for someone who might used canned or frozen items.

Ingredients:

1/4 tsp real garlic (I use the kind that is already chopped and comes in little glass containers)
About 1/2 cup of chopped or diced onions
about 1/4 cup of peppers (or canned diced green chiles)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of beans (whatever kind you like)
1 1/2 cup of dry rice (fix according to package directions.  I use the old fashioned kind)
1 lb hb meat, italian sausage, or chicken. (optional)
Either a couple of tablespoons of chili powder or cajun powder to taste.
(To stretch the dish, corn could also be added as well as a small can of tomato sauce).


Brown and drain meat.  Cook rice according to package.  Saute' garlic, onion, and peppers (unless they are canned, then wait) in oil. After the peppers are soft, add the canned items, meat, and rice.  Mix well.

Tater Tot Casserole

Tater Tot Casserole

1 pound of ground beef
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 bag of frozen tater tots

Brown ground beef and drain.  Mix in can of cream of mushroom soup (can add a little milk to help consistency).  Spread in a casserole dish (9x13).  Sprinkle top of meat mixture with cheese.  Top with frozen tater tots.  Bake according to tater tot directions. 

Some recipes say to bake for 30-45 minutes, but I find that if the meat is already hot when you put it in the oven, the most important thing is getting the tater tots done.  If the tater tots are done and meat mixture is bubbling, then it is perfect.

.

Chicken noodle soup

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP W/ vegetables


You need:


cooked chicken (a cup or two will do)

 

Amish style noodles or egg noodles

 

1 can of cream of chicken soup

 

1 cup of sour cream

 

a bag of frozen mixed vegetables or a can of mixed vegetables

 

garlic powder, onion powder, salt, & pepper to taste

 

****************************************************************************************
Instructions:

 

• Cook  chicken and shred it.
• Boil the noodles (I used a bag of Amish style noodles ...they are a little more expensive but they are delicious!), I didn't drain out the water. I just added it all in
• Boil a bag of frozen vegetables or add a can of mixed vegetables (like Veg-all). Undrained. 
• Mix noodles, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1 cup of sour cream 
• I seasoned with garlic powder (or garlic salt), onion powder, salt and pepper

Heat to desired temperature.

 

Everyone loved it.

 

 

 

Easy Home-made Pizza, using Self-Rising Pizza Crust

This is an extremely frugal meal if you just use cheese and sauce.  :-)

Self-Rising Pizza Crust (from HillbillyHousewife.com)

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry yeast

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil

I doubled the recipe, making a giant pizza on my giant cookie sheet.  If you don't have a giant cookie sheet, you can make 2 pizzas if you have extra pans and pie pans and such.

 The recipe above (undoubled) makes a 9x13 size.

In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and yeast.  Stir it up to distribute the salt and yeast evenly.  Add the water and oil.  You may need a spoonful or two more of water if the day is dry.  Mix he dough with a wooden spoon until it forms a big ball in the middle of the bowl.  It will be a little stiffer than biscuit dough.  Knead the dough about 10 or 12 times and then form it into a ball.  Place the ball in the center of a 16 inch pizza pan or a 9 x 13 inch rectangular pan.  Use your hands and a rolling pin, to press the dough into the pan.  I find a rolling pin most effective in this effort.  The dough will be a medium thickness.

For rolling out the dough, I use a mat I found at Walmart in the kitchen utensils section (near the cake pans).  It is  made by Wilton used to roll out pie crusts.  It is great for rolling out doughs.  You roll it up and dump the excess dough and flour into the garbage.  Hand wash on the counter with soap and water. Easy clean up!  I have found that I am more likely to do from-scratch dough recipes when I have an easy way to clean up.  I highly recommend it. Click here to see what it looks like.

 Top the crust with a sauce and toppings of your choice.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. 

My favorite quiche recipe

Easy Bacon Quiche

Pie crust  - put it in the oven while preheating to prevent sogginess
3 eggs
1 cup of cheese
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 package of real bacon bits (I like real bacon bits, but you can also do the soy kind and they are tasty too)
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all together and pour into pie crust.  Bake at 425 degree for 10 minutes, and then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes. 

If you are serving for dinner, add salad & fruit on the side.  Yum!
This is enough for one pie, but I always double this recipe and bake in a 9x13" pan.
Quiche is very versatile.
 Another favorite is to add asparagas or mushrooms, if you like those types of veggies (my favorites!).

Beef & Mushroom Lasagna

I clipped this recipe from a magazine. You can also find it at campbellskitchen.com. It was a hit with my family. :-)


Ingredients:

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/4 cup milk

1 lb. ground beef

2 cups Mushroom flavored spaghetti sauce

9 cooked lasagna noodles (I  have used both lasagna and egg noodles.  Egg noodles are very simple and easy... especially if you have children!)

1 cup shredded Italian-blend or mozzarella cheese

Directions
Heat the oven to 400°F. Stir the soup and milk in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth.

Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it's well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat. Stir in the Italian sauce.

Layer half the beef mixture, 3 lasagna noodles and 1 cup soup mixture in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, remaining beef mixture, remaining noodles and remaining soup mixture. Sprinkle with the cheese. Cover the baking dish.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the lasagna is hot. Uncover the baking dish.

Heat the broiler. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 2 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Next time I make this, I may try to layer cheese into the dish as well as on the top. 

Healthy Stew

I am watching my carbohydrates, but not avoiding them completely. This stew is really good because it cuts out high carb vegetables. Probably the highest vegetable I added was carrots, but in moderation it doesn't hurt.

I usually make stew with corn & potatoes, but I used cauliflower, cabbage, and green beans to substitute. This was a hit with my family.

Pound of ground venison (or low fat ground beef)
large can of tomato sauce
1/4 of fresh cabbage (chopped into bite sized)
1 bag of baby carrots
1 package of fresh, sliced mushrooms
1/4 of cauliflower (chopped into bit sized)
1 can of green beans
Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder to taste (you could also add a little chili powder if you want.)

Brown meat and drain. While you are browning the meat, boil all of the fresh vegetables in a large stew pot. After the vegetables are tender, add the can of tomato sauce, meat, and spices. Heat through and enjoy.
I usually thicken with cornstarch, but I didn't for this stew. It was still good!
Heat through and enjoy.

Salmon Salad

I am trying to go lower on the carbohydrates yet high fiber, so I invented a yummy salad:

Salmon Salad

This makes a giant batch; it fed my family of five and I had leftovers for today...

Mix the following:
2 cans of Salmon (with or without bones... mine is with)
1 can of water chestnuts (chopped or diced or whatever)
mayo - enough to make it stick
salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder to taste
dill - to taste
diced pickles, if desired or pickle juice!  I just poured it in and tested it until I liked the taste. 
sunflower seeds - I probably used about 1/4 cup

Fresh spinach leaves
Give everyone a portion of spinach leaves, and then top with the salmon mixture.
Yum!  High protein... low carb... high fiber

Creamy Chicken Stir-Fry

The other night I just kind of created as I was cooking and it turned out really yummy!
Here are my instructions:

• You need some cooked, diced chicken
• Boil stir fry vegetables (the kind with lo mein noodles)
• and white sauce or cream of chicken soup (or mushroom or celery)

After preparation, mix and enjoy a creamy one dish meal! 

*Edit: Thanks Lisa for naming my concoction!

Calzones

The last post was a recipe for home-made pizza. Since then, I have used the pizza crust to make a calzone.

It works very well; you just bake it longer.

Here is how I made the dish tonight:

• I made spaghetti
• I made the pizza crust
• Roll out the pizza crust and spoon the spagetti into the middle, (like you would for a burrito).
• Roll the crust up like a giant burritto, pinching the ends and placing it folded side down on the ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 400* for 30-35 minutes. After it bakes, slide it out and brush it with butter and bake for five more minutes to brown it (or if you are brave, put it on broil).

After I made the spaghetti calzone, I thought it would have been even better if I had sprinkled some garlic salt/powder or Italian herbs on top. Have fun with it!

Here are some good ideas for a large variety of calzones.

Chicken, Beef, Bean, or plain Cheese Enchildada

This recipe comes from Michael's aunt Carolyn. We love it!

This recipe is so versatile! The chicken mentioned can be replaced with refried beans, plain beans, cheese or beef! You can get my "from-scratch" recipes by clicking the highlighted words.

• 1 cup of boned chicken [or refried beans, chili beans, beans & rice mixed, shredded cheese only, or beef (hb meat or shredded)]
• 2 cups of grated Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup Chicken broth or water
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• Vegetable oil
• 1 can of diced green chiles
• 1/2 tsp of pepper
• 1/2 cup of chopped onion (I just use about a tablespoon of onion powder since Michael isn't fond of onions)
• 6 soft corn or flour tortillas

Chop cooked chicken, add diced onions (or onion powder), and let set. Add diced green chilies to cream of chicken soup and mix with chicken broth. Set aside. Take tortillas, add chicken and onion, tablespoon of shredded cheese and roll up and place into a 9 x 13 oil sprayed pan. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas. Cover with cream of chicken soup mixture and bake at *400 for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Chicken Vegetable stew

Today I made a very large stock pot of chicken stew. Here are my directions:

Ingredients: Chop or prepare the ingredients below (adding to or deleting to your taste), cover with water and boil until tender.

• One portion each of cooked chicken & one portion of chicken broth. *Option: This is roughly one or two cans of pre-cooked chicken or 2 chicken breasts and one 14 ounce can of chicken broth. You could also use beef instead!
  
• 2 diced stalks of celery
• 5 diced carrots
• 7 potatoes peeled and diced
• 1/4 of a red (or white) cabbage, diced
• 1 can of kernel corn
• 1 small can of mushrooms
• 4 tomatoes, peeled and diced *option: you can use a can of diced tomatoes
• Season with salt, pepper, dry onion powder, & dry garlic powder
  

After the above ingredients have cooked to tender add:

• 1/2 - 1 cup of sour cream, or plain yogurt, or milk, or a can of cream of chicken soup!
  
• 4 tablespoons of cornstarch: Get 1 cup of cold water and mix in the cornstarch well before pouring into the pot (after all ingredients are cooked and water is boiling)
• 1 cup of dry rice, cooked according to directions. Dump this in any time after the veggies are tender.
  

This makes a giant pot of chicken stew. If you think it is too much you can adjust by halving the ingredients, or sharing with friends and family!

I usually take all leftovers and freeze into single serving sized portion containers to heat up later for lunches!

How to Stretch a Chicken :-)

I know the title of my post sounds hilarious, but it is a skill of which a frugal Home-maker should be very aware!

Here are my humble instructions:

1. Boil or cook your chicken in a crock pot:

• Make sure your chicken is completely covered in water. Add garlic, onion or onion powder, salt, & pepper and poultry seasoning (optional). Dice fresh celery and add to the water.
  

2. Remove the chicken from the broth. Place the chicken in a covered bowl and refrigerate. Strain the broth and refrigerate in a separate bowl.

3. The next day (after meat and broth have been refrigerated all night), de-bone the chicken and separate the meat into zip-loc bags according to how many meals you want the chicken to be stretched. I usually separate our meat into 3 or 4 quart-sized bags (depends on the size of the chicken).

4. Take the broth and scrape the layer of fat (it will have risen to the top) away into the garbage. Separate the broth (will be a jelly-like consistency) into zip-loc bags according to how much you need. Most recipes will call for 14 ounces... so that is a good amount to pour into your bags.

Freeze all into separate containers. Now you should have at least 3 or 4 ready to go portions of cooked chicken and broth!

Country Style Meat- N- Taters

I fixed this for our supper tonight, and since it is done early I will share a tip I learned from my mother- in- law. If you want to keep your food warm, just wrap it in foil, a big heavy bath towel, and put it in a warm oven (turned off). It should stay warm for several hours. (good idea for Sunday dinners)

Country style Meat N Taters

Red potatoes
Ground meat (I used venison)
White gravy

• Boil red potatoes whole (clean well first, cut an "x" and place in a large pot, cover and boil until tender... Mudder [our grandmother] says to add a little oil to the water to speed up the cooking! It works!)
• brown meat and drain
• make a white gravy <---- click here for recipe

Quarter the tender red potatoes (I left the skin) and mix together with the browned meat. Top with white gravy. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder, & garlic powder. This would also be tasty topped with shredded cheese & mushrooms!

I made peas and carrots as sides.

Tortilla Chip Pie

If you need a quick, inexpensive meal this is the one! It makes a great weekend treat.

1 bag of corn or tortilla chips
1 or 2 cans of beans (chili beans or pintos work great, but you can try anything)
1 can of tomato sauce (aroud 14-16 oz)
spices: chili & cumin (either or... or both!)
1 bag of shredded cheese

Microwave beans. Layer on a cookie sheet:
corn or tortilla chips, heated beans, tomato sauce. Sprinkle with spices (however spicy you want!), and then top with shredded cheese.

Broil until cheese melts (don't leave the room! This only takes 1-2 minutes... set your timer!)

Variations:
Replace chips with Rice,
Add any or all of the following:
diced chilis on top of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, lettuce,sour cream, & black olives.

This is a good vegetarian (translate CHEAP) meal!!! We all love it!

Stir fry Ideas

I am crazy about stir fry dishes. They are really easy to make if you have some fresh veggies on hand.

First you need to decide if you want to have a home-made sauce or pre-made. I like to do home-made.. it's cheaper.

My sauce recipe:
To a couple of cups of water add the following according to your taste:
Soy sauce or bullion cubes, ginger, garlic, lemon juice
Thicken with cornstarch. I usually add 2 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch to a cup of water and mix. Then add that to the boiling sauces to thicken. Cover and set aside.

Daddy used to just use cream of mushroom soup. I remember that was pretty delicious too!

Brown meat: You can use beef, chicken, shrimp, crab or lobster or if you want a huge cut in your budget, go vegetarian! The peanuts will replace the protein!

Remove meat from pan and add around 2 tablespoons of oil.

Saute any of the following fresh vegetables (or whatever you have on hand):

broccoli
carrots
bell peppers
mushrooms
snow peas or sugar snap peas

Or you can buy a frozen mix.

I like to add peanuts or water chestnuts for crunch.

Pour over rice, cooked spaghetti (called lo mein), or chow mein noodles.