My Kitchen My World - Ireland

I tend to be a procrastinator when it comes to My Kitchen My World. I keep forgetting to check what the country is until Thursday or Friday. Luckily, when I checked on Thursday I found that this week, Michelle from My Year to Get Skinny chose Ireland, the land of potatoes. Since I live in Idaho, the other land of potatoes, I figured I could skip an extra shopping trip (extra shopping trip = extra things I didn't intend to buy in the first place = extra money spent) by making a potato dish. We've always got potatoes around.

I lucked out when I found this recipe on allrecipes.com - it's almost entirely made of potatoes, plus a few common ingredients I always have on hand. Because of how totally cheap this meal was, I'm also submitting it to Frugal Fridays, another blogging event that I have been neglecting of late. This made enough for four, for way under $10.


Irish Boxty
1 1/2 cups grated raw potato
1 cup flour
1 cup leftover mashed potatoes (I made these yesterday on purpose so I could do this recipe)
1 egg
1 tbsp. skim milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup oil

Toss the grated potatoes with flour in a large bowl. Stir in mashed potatoes until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and skim milk; mix into the potatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drop in the potato mixture, forming patties about 2 inches in diameter (I made mine bigger, pancake size). Fry on both sides until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Serve warm.


These were crispy on the outside, soft and potato-y on the inside. They were quite good.

When I plated these for pictures, I thought it would look great to have some butter melting tantalizingly on top of the boxty. When I went to eat it, the butter turned out to be totally unnecessary - it made them a little too greasy. Kind of like buttering fried chicken. But it sure looked nice!


See what other delicious Irish treasures were created this week - My Kitchen My World.

Frugal Fridays - Vegetables are Cheap When They're Free

In honor of Frugal Fridays, I present to you this delicious meal for four, costing well under $10!




My parents recently gleaned enough onions and potatoes to last their family, our family, and my sister's family pretty much all winter. We came home with a bag full of onions about a week ago, and were eager to start using them. You see, both Jeff and I absolutely adore French Onion Soup, and now we had an excuse to make it! The recipe calls for 4 onions, but if you have onions like this...


...you may only need a couple!

This soup only cost us a few bouillon cubes, some seasonings, a bit of bread, and some cheese. Majorly cheap, and delicious too. I was also really excited to do this soup because it gave me an excuse to use these gorgeous soup pots I just got at a thrift store.


French Onion Soup
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
4 medium onions, sliced
2 cans condensed beef broth and 1 1/2 cups water (I substituted 3 1/2 cups water with 4 bouillon cubes)
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
4 slices French bread, 3/4 to 1 inch thick, toasted
1 cup shredded Swiss or mozzarella cheese (we only had cheddar, so that's what we used)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in 4-quart nonstick Dutch oven (or just a large saucepan. Whatever.) over medium-high heat. Stir in onions to coat with butter. You'll have a big pan full of sliced onions!


Cook uncovered 10 minutes, stirring every 3 to 4 minutes. The onions will be starting to get brown and wilted by now.


Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 35 to 40 minutes longer, stirring well every 5 minutes, until onions are light golden brown. See - they're getting all caramelized. By now the house smells like onions and everyone is crying.


Stir in broth, water, pepper, thyme, and bay leaf.


Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf. At this point, I served out the kids' soup, sprinkled it with some cheese, and gave them their soup with a slice of bread. But as for Jeff and me, our soup wasn't quite done yet.

Set oven control to broil. Place bread in 4 ovenproof bowl or individual casseroles (in our case 2 bowls). Add onion soup. Top with cheeses.


Place bowls on cookie sheet or in pan with shallow sides. Broil with cheese about 5 inches from heat 1 to 2 minutes or just until cheese is melted and golden brown. Watch carefully so cheese does not burn. Serve with additional French bread if desired.


For dessert I utilized some more cheap-as-free vegetables in the form of green tomatoes. This cake only cost me the basic baking ingredients found in every kitchen.


Green Tomato Cake
4 cups green tomatoes, finely chopped (texture is best when you use the food processor to get those pieces really small)
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until creamy.

Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Dough will be very stiff. Mix well.

Add drained tomatoes and mix well. Pour into the prepared 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

You can serve this as is, sprinkle it with powdered sugar, frost it with cream cheese frosting, or serve it warm with ice cream!


And there you have it, a meal made with free vegetables that ended up being so cheap I didn't even bother to add up the cost of the ingredients! :-)

Universal Recipes - Tightwaddery at its Best

I have this amazing book called The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. It has helped my husband and I through these first few years of our marriage, during which we've gone through both of us being in school, two children, and very little income. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to save money. It's a great book - a conglomeration of hundreds of random money-saving tips, ideas, and ... recipes!!! My favorite recipes are the universal formulas, in which Ms. Dacyczyn gives ingredient types and amounts, and you simply use what you have on hand. One example of this is the Universal Bread Recipe I used to create my Italian Herbed Tomato Bread a while back. Another example is the Universal Pilaf Recipe I'm about to share!

Universal Pilaf
Grain: One cup of uncooked brown or white rice, bulgur, couscous, or other favorite grain.

Fat: Two tablespoons of olive oil, butter, vegetable oil, or other favorite oil.

Base vegetable: Two or three cloves of diced garlic and one of the following, cut up: one small onion, three shallots, or one small leek (white part only).

Liquid: Two cups vegetable broth, chicken broth, cooking water from boiled vegetables, or water.

Meat or protein (omit if using the pilaf as a side dish): From 1/2 to 2/3 cup skinned chicken (may be diced and boned or left whole), tuna, cooked white or red beans, white fish, hamburger, or cheap steak cut into cubes.

Additional vegetable: About 1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas, cut-up carrots, frozen corn, green peppers, celery, and/or any other favorite vegetable except for leafy greens and potatoes.

Seasoning: Salt, pepper, chervil, parsley, whatever works well with chosen ingredients.

Directions: Heat fat in a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet. When hot, add the base vegetables and fry until golden and translucent. Add the meat and brown (but if using tuna, don't add it at this point). Add the grain and fry for a minute or so to coat it with the fat. Add the liquid and bring to a boil (add tuna now). Add the other vegetables, season, stir, return to a boil, lower the heat, so it just simmers, and cover. Check it often; if using whole grains, it will take up to 40 minutes to cook, while white rice takes only about 15 minutes. Don't stir too much. When the liquid is completely absorbed, it is done. Stir, season to taste, and serve.



Since this is such an inexpensive way to cook, and it's Friday, this meal is the perfect candidate for Frugal Fridays - serves four and costs under $10.







My ingredients tonight and their approximate cost:
Grain: 1/2 pound hulled millet - $0.45
Fat: Vegetable oil - negligible
Base vegetable: Bottled minced garlic and one onion - negligible, and the onion was gleaned and therefore free
Liquid: Water - free
Meat: 1/2 pound ground turkey - $0.68
Additional vegetable: one green pepper - $0.38
Seasoning: Bouillon and seasoned salt - negligible

Total cost: $1.51

Now that's cheap!!! I think it's my cheapest Frugal Fridays meal yet!


Normally I make pilaf with rice, but I chose to use millet tonight. Actually, this was my first time cooking with and eating millet. I learned a couple things - 1) millet smells funny while it's cooking; and 2) it tastes really good! I really enjoyed this pilaf, as did everyone else. And the best part is that is cost me next to nothing, because I was able to create it using inexpensive ingredients that I had on hand.

A Cheap Picnic Lunch

Another delicious Frugal Fridays meal (create a meal for 4 under $10). But this one is a little bit different from what we normally do...

We went out for a picnic at the park this afternoon. Even though we really didn't start planning this picnic until about 12:15 this afternoon, we were determined that we would have lunch at the park. Problem was, we didn't really have any picnic-appropriate foods readily available. So here's what we did:

Picnic Lunch
Go to Albertson's. Select at the deli:
1 4-piece chicken meal (2 thigh, 2 drumstick) - $2.99
1/2 pound macaroni salad on sale for 20% off - $1.10
1 pkg. 4 King's Hawaiian Rolls - $1.10

As you approach check-out lane, make impulse dessert purchase:
1 Oreo Go-Pak on sale - $1

Drive to park, spread out your homemade denim quilt, and chow down!

Total price (including 6% sales tax): $6.56

This was one of the most spendy meals we've done in a long time. As we tossed the Oreos in the cart I felt like such a spend-thrift! But every once in a while, it's good to splurge just a little bit, and have a good time with your family. Tomorrow it's back to eating frugal, home cooked, delicious meals. :-)

Frugal Fridays - Zucchini Lasagna

Recap: Frugal Fridays is a blogging event where you prepare a cheap meal - serves 4 for under $10 - and you post about it sometime between Thursday evening and Saturday morning. I've been a Frugal Fridays slacker lately - I've still been preparing frugal meals on Fridays (and every day!), but I haven't been posting them. They were a little too plain, I felt, to be submitted to a blogging event.

This is a plain dish. I decided to post it anyway. Sometimes you just have to have plain dishes when you're on a tight budget. But plain can still be delicious.

This was a really frugal meal - one of those throw-together-whatever-you've-got sort of meals. I had a zucchini in the fridge. I had some homemade spaghetti sauce (made from blending together canned tomatoes, onion, and seasonings). I had some pepperoni. I had some shredded cheese. So I layered them all in a little pan and cooked it up!

Price of ingredients:
Zucchini - this came free from Mom's garden.
Spaghetti sauce - since I made it a few days ago, I don't recall what all went in it. I'll say it cost about $1.
Pepperoni - I only used about 10 slices; it was leftover from making pizza last week. We'll say $0.50.
Shredded cheese - Shhh, this was actually fake cheese, or "alternative shred," because we discovered that it was much cheaper than buying real cheese. It cost $4.25 for 2 lbs, and I used about 2/3 cup. So that cost me about $0.70.

Total - about $2.20. Woot!

The recipe wouldn't feed 4 hungry people, though. It was just me and the little ones and we pretty much finished it off. To feed 4, double it. Even doing that, it would cost under $5.

Zucchini Lasagna
1 large zucchini
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
10-15 slices pepperoni
2/3 cup shredded cheese

Slice zucchini at an angle to make those fancy-looking long slices. Spray 8-inch square pan with cooking spray. Layer half the zucchini slices, half the sauce, all the pepperoni, and half the cheese. Then layer the remaining zucchini, sauce, and cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.


The zucchini slices were still a little crisp, and they were so tasty! The flavors went together better than I expected for such a simple, modest, inexpensive, thrown-together dish. Anyway, it cleaned out some leftovers in the fridge. :-)

Thomas (1 yr old) loved this, as long as I cut the zucchini pieces up really small. He kept wanting more. Zaylee (3 yr old) was less convinced. She had several bites, but decided she was done long before her bowl was empty. I ate two servings.

Frugal Fridays - Soup, Bread, and Dessert

Our menu this evening consists of a deliciously flavorful Garden Fresh Lentil Soup, served with French Bread. Dessert is Peanut Pistachio Pudding and Crackers.

Since this post is being submitted to Frugal Fridays, here is the price breakdown:

Lentils - 1/2 lb. - $0.35
Bacon - 1/2 lb. - $0.50
Flour - 4 cups - $0.45
Yeast - 2 1/4 tsp. - $0.17
Graham crackers - 1 sleeve - $0.40
Peanut butter - 1/4 cup - $0.20
Milk - 1 cup - $0.27
Pudding - 3.4-oz box - $0.75

Squash and tomatoes - free from parents' garden
Chicken broth - free from boiling chicken
Seasonings and simple pantry staples - negligible price

Total price: $3.09



Garden Fresh Lentil Soup


1/2 lb. lentils
Water
1/2 lb. bacon
1 large yellow squash
1/4 cup onion
2 large tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Cover lentils with water (about 3 or 4 cups). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until tender.

While the lentils are simmering, cook bacon over medium heat until it reaches desired crispiness. Remove bacon from skillet (leave drippings in skillet) and set aside. Chop squash and saute in bacon drippings. Remove from pan and set aside. Chop onion and saute in remaining bacon drippings. Set aside. Chop tomatoes.

Check on lentils. When they are tender, add chicken broth (my lentils had cooked off all the water. If there is water left when the lentils are done, drain it off before adding broth). Stir in vegetables and seasonings. Heat through. Garnish with bacon and serve.

The great thing about the end of summer is all the fresh garden produce available. Use what is growing, and you can eat delicious and nutritious foods, like this soup, for incredibly cheap.

I only included bacon in this recipe because it was a manager's special and we got it for a dollar per pound. Normally we don't have bacon. This soup is delicious without it, but incredible with it!



Bread Machine French Bread


1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp. yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in order suggested by manufacturer. If your machine has a setting for French Bread, select that. Otherwise, set it for basic. Once the machine is set, forget about it until it beeps at you to tell you it's done!



Peanut Pistachio Pudding and Crackers


Approximately 1 sleeve graham crackers
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
1 3.4-oz box instant pistachio pudding mix

Place graham crackers along bottom of 8- or 9-inch pan, breaking crackers as needed to cover the pan. I did two layers of crackers. Next time I might do one layer, then the pudding layer, then a second cracker layer on top. Either way. Set aside.

Place peanut butter in mixing bowl. Add milk and whisk until combined. Add pudding mix and whisk for 2 minutes. Spread on top of graham crackers. Chill for a couple hours, then cut into squares and serve.


The dessert isn't much to look at. I originally planned on using chocolate or vanilla pudding, but when I checked the cupboard this evening all we had was pistachio. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but gave it a try anyway. It turned out delicious.

Frugal Fridays - Eat Your Veggies!

Both of my recipes for today's Frugal Fridays entry have vegetables that feature prominently, but in such a way that kids will be eager to eat them anyway. Reminder of the Frugal Fridays rules - one meal, four people, under ten dollars. Let's go!

Ingredient Prices
Chicken leg quarter - $0.25
Potatoes - $0.15
Mayonnaise - $0.22
Cheese - $1.00
Flour - $0.45
Sugar - $0.12
Shortening - $0.40
Milk - $0.14
Margarine - $0.25
Brown sugar - $0.19
Egg - $0.09
Cocoa powder - $0.36
Chocolate chips - $1.20

Ingredients of negligible cost
Salt, pepper, baking powder, vanilla, baking soda - pantry staples
Zucchini and squash - free garden produce

Total Price: $4.82


On to the Meal!

Potato Chicken Pockets are a fun food to make and eat, and they taste great. Add to that the fact that they are very inexpensive, and you've got a winner recipe!


Potato Chicken Pockets
1 chicken leg quarter
2 medium baking potatoes
1/4-1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Biscuit Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk

Place chicken in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cook until chicken is cooked through. When chicken has cooled, remove meat from bone and shred.

Peirce potato skins with fork. Cook in microwave according to manufacturer's instructions (or use leftover baked potatoes).

Mash potatoes coarsely. Add chicken and mayonnaise. If too dry, use a little of the chicken broth, from when you boiled the chicken, to moisten the mixture. Stir in shredded cheese, then salt and pepper to taste. If desired, you can also add stuff like Italian seasoning. Set aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening using pastry blender or criss-crossing 2 knives, until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves side of bowl (dough will be soft and sticky).

Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Separate into 8 sections. Roll each out into 4- to 5-inch disks. Place about 2-3 tbsp. potato mixture onto each disk of dough, then fold over the dough and seal. Place pockets onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes 8 pockets, 2 per person.

These are good served with ketchup or Italian dressing.


On to Dessert!

This is the time of year when everyone with a garden is looking for zucchini and squash recipes, myself included. I'm actually not growing any zucchini, but I had some in the freezer from last year, and my parents have lots of zucchini in their large garden. I found a recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cookies, and doubled the chocolate by adding chocolate chips.


Double Chocolate Zucchini Cookies
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups grated zucchini (I actually used some zucchini from my freezer, and some squash from my garden)
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.

In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the grated zucchini. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frugal Fridays - a day early...

I'm early for this week's installment of Frugal Fridays, because we're leaving tomorrow afternoon to spend the weekend at a family reunion. Yippee!


I made this Garden Saute with Pasta last night for dinner, using a zucchini and a yellow squash from Mom's garden. I absolutely loved how simple, delicious, and easy it was. But I had accidentally left my camera at Mom's house (again!) and wasn't able to take pictures. I was all set and ready to give up on this recipe, which I made up on my own as I was cooking it last night.

But then I went to do laundry at Mom's house today, and there were some more zucchini and squash in the fridge. After some quick thinking, I decided that I had enjoyed this enough to make it again, and this time I had my camera! So here it is: my delicious, simple, and totally cheap recipe of Garden Saute with Pasta.


Garden Saute with Pasta
1 to 2 medium zucchini
1 to 2 medium yellow summer squash
2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper
8 oz. cooked spaghetti or angel hair pasta

Chop zucchini and squash into bite-sized chunks. Heat about a teaspoon or so of oil in a large skillet. Saute veggie chunks and garlic until veggies are tender-crisp. Partially drain can of tomatoes and add to squash, along with Italian seasoning, and s&p to taste. Simmer until liquid from tomatoes reduces down. Serve over pasta.

That's how I made it last night. When I made this again today, Mom didn't have any canned tomatoes. So instead we added 3 chopped fresh tomatoes with the squash. When the squash were tender, we added about 1/2 cup tomato juice and the seasonings. Again, simmer until liquid reduces. It was delicious either way.

Price of ingredients:
8 oz. spaghetti - $0.80
Can of tomatoes - $1.39

Everything else was either spice cupboard basics or free garden produce.

Total Price: $2.19

Serve with a green salad for a healthy, delicious, inexpensive side dish.

I didn't calculate how many calories this is, but if you stick with a moderate amount of pasta, I'm sure this definitely qualifies as a low-calorie dish.

One Good Meal, Two Blogging Events

Today being Friday, it's time for yet another installment of Frugal Fridays. This is also my entry for my first Taste&Create event. A quick description of Taste&Create - those who want to participate e-mail the founder and administrator of Taste&Create. She matches up all the entries so each person has a partner blog. Then you get to select a recipe from your partner's blog to make and post about. They in turn choose something from your blog and do the same thing.

My partner is [eating club] vancouver, a blog created by sisters TS and JS. I had such a difficult time choosing a recipe to make! The blog is full of delicious-looking recipes, but so many call for seafood and other exotic-to-me ingredients. But after a great deal of perusing (and drooling all over my keyboard, might I add), I was able to find several recipes I could actually afford to make. I showed them to Jeff and he helped me to pick the official Taste&Create recipe for this month - Curried (Easter) Egg Salad. There are definitely other recipes I want to try very soon (Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies, anyone?), but the deliciously unique egg salad is my actual entry.

And you have to have something to serve your egg salad on, right? At first I wanted to make pita pockets, but changed my mind when I found a really awesome recipe for Savory Pull-Apart Loaf. This will be one bread I'll make again and again. It was delicious and fun to make. When you see the loaf, you'll groan at what I'm about to say, but I'll say it anyway: It's the best thing since sliced bread.

And for dessert, a simple yet delicious pineapple sorbet.

Ingredient Prices:
Eggs, 4 - $0.52
Celery, 1/2 stalk - $0.10
Mayonnaise, 1/4 cup - $0.11
Milk, 1 cup - $0.27
Butter, 2 tbsp. - $0.13
Flour, 3 1/2 cups - $0.37
Yeast, 2 tsp. - $0.15
Pineapple, 1 20-oz. can - $1.00

Ingredients with negligible price:
Curry powder (this came free, it was given to us)
Dry parsley
Salt and pepper
Sugar
Green onions (from garden)
One tiny little garden tomato, and one cherry, for garnish

Total Price: $2.65


Curried Egg Salad

3 eggs
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 stalk celery, chopped
1 tbsp. dry parsley (I didn't have the cilantro called for, but that would be delicious!)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste
I also added some sliced green pepper from our garden

Boil the eggs: set in saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a rolling boil, then shut off the heat and cover the pan. Let sit for about 20 minutes. Then run the eggs under cold water until they're cooled enough to peel.

Coarsely chop eggs, then combine with remaining ingredients, and chill until serving.

Before stirring - beautiful!

After stirring - gooey and delicious!

Served nestled in lettuce atop a slice of homemade bread, this unique and flavorful egg salad completely hit the spot!



Savory Pull-Apart Loaf

1 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I substituted in 3/4 cup whole wheat flour)
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. active dry yeast

About 3 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tbsp. olive oil

Place 1st seven ingredients in bread machine in order specified by owner's manual. Program machine to dough cycle (or remove after first rise).

Grease 9x5-inch loaf pan; set aside. Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Form each piece into ball. Cover with clean towel; let rest 5 minutes.

Flatten each ball into 4x3-inch oval. Coat both sides of dough with olive oil. Sprinkle one side of each dough oval with rounded 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning.

Stand loaf pan on short end. Lay one piece of dough, herb-covered side down, in pan. Stack remaining 15 pieces of dough in pan so that herb-covered sides of dough are touching sides of dough not covered with herb mixture. (They look a little like pancakes, don't they?)

You can see that my pieces of dough were rolled a bit too thin - they didn't quite fill the pan.

With a little creative squishing and scooting, I got the dough to fill the pan.

Cover with towel; let rise in warm place 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 35 minutes or until top of loaf is golden. Immediately remove bread from pan and cool on wire rack.


These separate into individual pieces easier if you pull them apart while the bread is still fresh and warm. The longer you wait to separate them, the more difficult it is. Also, make sure you coat the pieces of dough really well with oil, all the way to the edges, to keep the pieces from sticking together.

Like I said, the best thing since sliced bread! :-)


Pineapple Sorbet

1 can (about 20 ounces) pineapple chunks (or crushed pineapple) packed in juice

At least a few hours before you want to eat this, open the can of pineapple. Pour into a large, flat freezer-safe container. Freeze until solid.

When you're ready to make your sorbet, take the fruit out of the freezer and let it sit out for 10 minutes to soften a little. Break up into chunks, and put chunks in food processor. Process until it is creamy.

The best part about this entire menu is that it's all make-ahead! This evening when I decided it was time for dinner, all I had to do was set the table and say, "Dinner time!" All the work - baking the bread, preparing the egg salad, and freezing the pineapple - had already been done. That's my kind of meal!

Frugal Fridays - Oven Pancake with Banana Cherry Topping

Once again it is time for Frugal Fridays! A chance to show off my financial prowess in the kitchen - and tonight was frugally fabulous!


I noticed I did two weeks in a row of marinated chicken, so I decided to change things up this week with a Breakfast for Dinner meal. While blog-cruising (one of my favorite pastimes), I came across a couple great recipes. Oven Pancake came from the wonderful blog, NotSoPerfect Housewife. Hers was much more beautiful than mine, but I don't mind, because the taste was spot on! I did end up overcooking the edges, as is clearly visible in all my pictures. It detracts from the aesthetic value, but the flavor was still wonderful.

The topping recipe is one I adapted slightly from a banana topping posted by Jo of Sugar & Everything Nice. Yesterday my mom gave me some cherries they had picked the other day, and I chose to add some to this delicious topping, in addition to increasing the honey. This topping is not only great on pancakes, but can also be used to top dessert items like cupcakes or ice cream.

Ingredient prices:
Eggs, 4 - $1.28
Milk, 1 cup - $0.24
Flour, 1 cup - $0.11
Butter, 1/4 cup - $0.50
Bananas, 2 - $0.37
Honey, 2 tbsp. - $0.25

Ingredients with negligible price:
Sugar - pantry staple
Salt - pantry staple
Cinnamon - pantry staple
Cherries - free from my mom

Total Price: $2.75



Oven Pancake
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 heaping tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, and salt until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour and cinnamon. Add to wet ingredients and whisk until smooth. Let stand 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (the recipe I followed said 500, but my pancake got a little overdone around the edges. I did a google search and found that most recipes say between 400 and 450). Place butter in a 9-inch pie plate, and put the plate in the oven until the butter is melted. Remove from oven.

Pour the batter into the pan. Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes, until puffy and golden brown. Don't let it get this dark:


During the last few minutes of cooking the pancake, start prepping your fruit for the topping so you can have the topping ready shortly after the pancake is done.

Banana Cherry Topping
2 bananas, sliced
10-12 cherries, pitted and quartered
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. honey

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Heat over medium-low until warm, and bananas are slightly softened. Spoon over oven pancake.

Frugal Fridays - Fourth of July!

Today was neat, since not only is it the Fourth of July, but it's also Friday, which means I got to plan a Frugal Fridays meal. This is pretty much what we would have eaten anyway, but it's fun to go through the ingredients and see exactly how much this meal cost us.

Once again (unplanned) we ended up making a meal with chicken, a salad, and a starch. Tonight we tried to keep the heat out of the kitchen, because today was HOT! Our meal featured: Grilled Lemon Chicken, a deliciously marinated main dish; Tangy Potato Salad, using microwaved potatoes and cheese instead of boiled eggs; and Dinner Rolls made from bread machine French bread dough, left over from lunch today (the heat the oven created when we made these this afternoon is the biggest reason we decided not to heat up the kitchen this evening).


Prices of ingredients, in order of appearance:
Lemon juice - 1/4 cup + 1 tsp. - $0.21
Chicken leg quarters - 1 lb. - $0.50
Potatoes - 3 - $0.40
Celery - 2 stalks - $0.20
Monterey jack - 2 oz. - $0.60
Mayonnaise - 1/2 cup - $0.22
Flour - 3 1/2 cups - $0.45
Yeast - 1 tbsp. - $0.20

Total Price - $2.78, but some of that shouldn't really count. We only ate four rolls tonight, but the recipe makes 12 and some were consumed earlier today for lunch. Even so, definitely under $10!

When you buy yeast in bulk (such as at WinCo), it is so very much cheaper than buying it in a jar, or (gag) in those dumb little packets. I don't recall the exact price per ounce that we got, but it was less than 20 cents. So I'm probably overestimating to say that our tablespoon of yeast (just over one ounce) cost that much.

Grilled Lemon Chicken

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. onion salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 chicken pieces (we used 2 leg quarters, separated)

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except chicken. Place chicken in quart-sized ziploc bag, pour marinade over the chicken. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, turning bag over every so often to make sure all the chicken gets marinated.

Grill chicken over medium coals for 45 minutes, turning and basting frequently.

Tangy Potato Salad

3 medium potatoes
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 oz. Monterey jack cheese, diced
1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. mustard
1 tbsp. dill relish
Salt and pepper to taste

In order to keep from heating up the kitchen, I microwave-cooked the potatoes. I think this would have turned out with a better texture had I boiled them. So cut the potatoes into chunks and boil them until done. Drain and cool. Add celery and cheese.

In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients, then fold gently into potato mixture. Chill until serving. Garnish with some paprika if desired.

French Bread Rolls

1 1/4 cups warm water

1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp. active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread pan of bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Set machine to dough cycle, or remove after first rise.

Place dough on lightly floured surface. Divide into 12 pieces. Shape each rolls. Place on greased baking sheet, cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size.

Bake at 400 degrees 15 to 20 minutes or until done.