Turkey Chili

A while back, Jeff bought three huge turkeys, because they were super cheap. Thank goodness we have a large freezer downstairs! Anyway, several days ago we cooked one of the turkeys, and of course we boiled up the carcass into some fantastic turkey broth. This dish was a great way to use some of the broth and leftover turkey. It also takes advantage of the fact that fresh cilantro is really inexpensive this time of year. This chili has a delicious flavor and, being a bit lighter than traditional chili, is a great meal for a spring evening.

I may or may not have eaten three bowls in one sitting.

Turkey Chili
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp oil
3 cups turkey broth
2 cans beans, drained, or equivalent beans cooked from dry (I used black beans and soy beans)
1 can corn, drained
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 cups chopped turkey

Cook onion, green pepper, and garlic in oil until tender. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes.

If you like your chili spicy, you can add some canned chilies, or some hot sauce.

Linked to:
Weekend Wrap-Up Party at tatertots & jello
Think Tank Thursday at Joyful Homemaking

Chocolate Soup

Every once in a while you just gotta have chocolate for dinner, you know? Tonight was one of those nights. I didn't feel like making a big dinner, it was just me and the kids. So we had some bread, some apples, and a nice steaming pot of chocolate soup.

I actually just used a recipe for chocolate pudding, but by calling it soup, I felt a little more justified in serving it for dinner. ;-)

Chocolate Soup
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla

In a saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and milk. Heat over low, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Since it was really hot but I wanted to serve it right away, I sliced a couple frozen strawberries into each bowl before ladling in the soup. The hot soup thawed the strawberries, and the strawberries cooled down the soup so the kids could eat it without scalding their tongues. They sure were excited to be having chocolate for dinner!

Not only is this good served warm as a soup, it's also good served chilled as a pudding. I had some later tonight with a dollop of whipped topping, yummy!

Spicy Italian Soup

I based this off of a recipe for Zuppa Toscana from The Olive Garden. But, being me, I changed and substituted so much stuff that I can't really call it that anymore. So Spicy Italian Soup it is. I made this for a church dinner we had last Saturday, and everyone who tried it raved about it. I was getting recipe requests and compliments all over the place. That always makes me feel warm and fuzzy. :-)

So here's the soup as I made it. Don't be put off by the number of ingredients - they're all cheap.


Spicy Italian Soup
1 lb. ground beef
1 large diced red onion (you could use any color onion here)
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. bacon grease (or oil)
10 cups water
5 tsp. chicken bouillon
1 tsp. ground sage
1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (reduce or eliminate if you don't like spicy)
1-2 tsp. salt, to taste
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 lb. sliced potatoes
1 cup milk
3/4 cup powdered milk
1 tbsp. margarine
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed

Brown ground beef in large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.

In the same pan, saute onions and garlic in bacon grease for approximately 15 minutes, or until the onions are soft.

Mix together the water and chicken bouillon, then add it to the onions and garlic. Add sage, red pepper, salt, and pepper. Cook until boiling.

Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.

Combine the milk and powdered milk. Add to soup along with margarine. Cook until thoroughly heated.

Stir in the ground beef and spinach. Heat through.

Salmon Chowder and Irish Soda Bread

In addition to all the delicious apple and pumpkin goodies that are floating around this time of year, fall is also a wonderful time to make comforting soups and hearty breads. Together these make a delicious and filling meal that warms you right up.

The salmon chowder is adapted from a tuna chowder recipe in an old cookbook I have. The soda bread is from my sister's blog, Fabulous Food! Both turned out delicious, perfect comfort food for a crisp autumn evening. As an added bonus, both were also fairly quick and easy.


Salmon Chowder
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
3 cups diced raw potatoes
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 1/2 tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
1 (14.75 oz) can salmon, drained, bones and skin removed, broken into chunks

Saute onion, celery, and carrot in butter until tender, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes, water, salt, and pepper. Heat to boiling and cook over medium heat about 15 minutes.

Combine flour and milk. Stir into potato mixture. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add salmon. Heat through and serve.

Irish Soda Bread
3 cups wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
2 cups buttermilk or milk soured with lemon juice

Sift the white flour and baking soda together. Add the wheat flour, salt, and brown sugar and mix well. Make a well in the center and add about 2/3 of the buttermilk. Quickly and gently mix the flour in with the milk, use your hands rather than a wooden spoon. If too dry, add some more of the milk. Shouldn't be too firm, keep it a little sticky. Kneading is not necessary, just dust your hands with enough flour so you can shape it without it sticking to your fingers.

Shape into a round loaf and place on a baking tray. Cut two deep slashes across the top, either side by side like a loaf of french bread, or criss cross. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then reduce to 400 and bake another 15. Take out, turn over and tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it is done. If it doesn't, pop it back in for another 5 - 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Biscuit Pot Pie

Here's a good, cheap meal idea that I made for dinner tonight and thought I'd share. I love having good ways to use leftovers, because otherwise they sit around in the fridge until we forget about their existence, and then they start to "multiply and replenish," growing lots of foul-smelling fuzzy creatures that threaten to take over the fridge ... yuck ...

Anyway, this is a delicious way to repurpose a good thick, hearty soup or stew. Tonight I used some potato soup made with ground beef and shredded carrots. Yum! It would be good with any soup or stew that's thick and chunky - chicken soup, bean soup, minestrone, chowder, hamburger stew, whatever! You could even use leftover casserole - just thin it to the consistency of stew with a bit of milk or broth.

Sorry about the pictures - they were an afterthought, I didn't think to take pictures and post this until after I'd already eaten my first serving and realized how delicious it was. Add the fact that it's evening and I had energy-efficient lighting - yikes.

Biscuit Pie for Leftover Soup
Leftover thick and chunky soup or stew (or thinned casserole)
Biscuit dough (recipe to follow)

Spread soup in a baking pan - you can use a small square pan or pie dish for a small amount of soup, or a 9x13 for a larger amount. You want it to spread to no more than 2 inches thick - the thicker it is the longer it will take for the biscuit topping to cook through. For reference, I had about 2 cups of potato soup and used a 9-inch pie plate.

Drop large spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top of soup, spreading slightly so that they're flat. Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes, or until biscuits are browned and cooked through. If you want, spread some butter or margarine on each biscuit after removing from oven.

Yes, I agree. I really should have used a clean bowl for the picture instead of just tossing it all into the bowl I had already eaten out of. Sorry... But it really is delicious!

Biscuit dough for Pie
Small pan (8- or 9-inch square, pie dish, etc):
1 cup flour (can use part wheat flour)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk

Large pan (9x13 or larger):
2 cups flour (can use part wheat flour)
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup milk

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry cutter, two crisscrossed knives, or a fork, until the mixture resembles crumbs. Stir in milk with a fork until blended. Drop by large spoonfuls onto soup. For my 9-inch pie plate tonight, I used the smaller batch and ended up with about 7 biscuits. You'd probably get 12 or 13 from the large batch.

*To use this dough for making actual drop biscuits - simply drop dough by large spoonfuls onto greased baking pan and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.

Voila! A delicious and easy meal that uses up leftovers and can be on your table in half an hour. I love cheap cooking! ;-)

Baked Beans with Hot Dogs - Freezer Meal

Just a basic Baked Bean recipe that I added hot dogs to. Beans freeze really well, so they make an ideal freezer meal no matter how you cook them! Like with the bean soup, I used half black beans and half black-eyed peas. Other beans or bean combinations can be used; the actual recipe suggests navy beans.

At this point I'm running low on room in the freezer, and bemoaning the fact that I have no room or money for a chest freezer! I may or may not have to go on a freezer meal hiatus after these beans, until I can use up some of the stuff we've got in the freezer and make more room for meals. :-) We'll see how it goes. But I sure am having fun stocking my freezer with all these meals! With these baked beans, there is now a total of twelve meals and twenty burritos in my freezer. Awesome.

Ick, yucky picture. Lighting is all weird lately. Too bright for the bowl, too dark for the beans. Sigh.

Baked Beans with Hot Dogs
1 lb. dry beans
2 quarts water
1/2 cup molasses (wasn't sweet enough for me, I also added 1/2 cup brown sugar)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 package hot dogs, sliced

Soak beans in water overnight or by quick method. In same liquid, bring beans to a boil and simmer until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Drain, reserving liquid.

Combine beans with remaining ingredients in a 2 quart casserole. Add bean liquid to cover. Bake 4-8 hours at 275, adding liquid occasionally if necessary. Cover during first half of baking time, then uncover.

Or you can do it in the crock pot - I chose to because I didn't want the added heat of running the oven for four hours! Combine beans with remaining ingredients in crock pot. Add bean liquid to barely cover. You won't need as much liquid as if you were doing it in the oven, because the liquid won't cook off. Cook on low overnight.

Freezer Meal: By now you should know the drill - let the beans cool, then spoon into freezer containers, canning jars, or freezer bags. Freeze. To use, thaw in refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan over medium heat.

Bean Soup - Freezer Meal

Here's the next installment in my freezer meal saga! Going through all my dry beans, I realized that I'm running really low; there was only enough for the refried beans, the chili, and these next couple of bean meals. So this soup and the baked beans (soon to come) had to be made with the only beans I had left - one pound each of black beans and black-eyed peas. I soaked them all together, then used half of that combination to make the soup and will use the rest for the baked beans. And yes, we bought several more pounds of beans when we did our weekly shopping yesterday!


I will take this moment to remind you (or rather, remind myself...) that when you decide to do several large freezer meals in a short period of time, make sure you have all the ingredients necessary. I took it for granted that we would have basics like carrots and onions, because we always have those! But I forgot to take into account that I've been using them in large amounts for the other meals I've done. So when I went to start chopping veggies for the soup, I realized I had only two small carrots and was out of onions. Jeff volunteered to walk to the nearby grocery store and pick up onions (I just can't live without onions), and I added a chopped green bell pepper in place of the third carrot. I could have avoided the need for an extra trip to the store had I made sure that we had all necessary ingredients before we did our shopping yesterday - even the ones that I take for granted!

Bean Soup
2 cups (1 lb) dry beans
2 quarts water
1 ham bone or several polish sausages, sliced (optional, I didn't include this)
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
1 quart tomato juice or stewed tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Soak beans overnight or by quick method. Drain and add fresh water, 6-8 cups. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 2 hours or more until beans are tender. Add more liquid if necessary. If you used a ham bone, remove meat from bones, chop, and return to soup.

Freezer Meal: Let soup cool, then spoon into freezer containers or canning jars in meal-sized portions. I don't recommend putting the soup in freezer bags, just because it's so liquidy. Freeze. To use, thaw in refrigerator, empty into a saucepan, and heat over medium heat. Should be good served with a loaf of fresh bread or some corn bread!


I'll probably cook the rest of the beans this evening and do the baked beans in the crock pot overnight tonight. That way I won't heat the apartment too much, which is very important. ;-)

Just a note to myself: I really need to start using more of what's already in the freezer - I'm running out of room to put all these freezer meals! I still have a few more planned and am just hoping that there will be room to squeeze them all in. Fingers crossed!

Home-Style Chili - Freezer Meal

I love this picture - makes me think of hard life on the trail, eating whatever foods you brought or could hunt up. Foods like chili and other simple one-pot meals topped the menu. This picture is found in the chili section of the book "Where's Dad Now That I Need Him?" The book is a lot more than recipes, but there is a sizable recipe section, including an entire chapter on chili.

This is the first recipe in that chili chapter, and it's super good! Simmering for a really long time, it starts very watery but over the hours it thickens and the flavors blend so deliciously. This is a chili that just gets better the longer it sits! That's also what makes it a great freezer meal.

For this recipe, since it already makes so much, I didn't have to double it or anything. Just made it as-is, and it made enough for 3 freezer meals for my family, plus enough for dinner tonight.


Home-Style Chili
3 cups dry kidney beans plus soaking water
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped celery (I skipped this, as I used up all my celery for the curry)
1 tsp. pepper
4 tsp. chili powder
6 cups water
1 #2 1/2 can tomatoes, pureed in blender (about 2 14-oz. cans)
2 cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp. celery salt

I also added about a cup of squash puree from my freezer, a couple sliced carrots, a seeded jalapeno, and a can of olives, sliced. I like lots of stuff in my chili! I also used TVP in place of some of the ground beef.

Wash beans; cover with water and soak overnight. In a skillet, cook meat and onions until meat is browned and onions are tender. Add to beans in a heavy kettle. Stir in remaining ingredients except celery. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 4 to 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Add more water if necessary to keep chili from scorching. Add celery and simmer 30 minutes more.

This could probably be done in a slow cooker - just toss everything in once you've browned the meat and onion, and cook for several hours.

Mmm, look at that big ole' pot of thick, chunky chili! Yum!


Freezer Meal: Same as with the curry - once chili is finished cooking, let cool and separate into meal-sized portions, into freezer containers, ziploc-style freezer bags, or canning jars. Freeze. To use, thaw completely in refrigerator, and heat in a saucepan over medium heat until heated through. Again, if you use freezer bags, freeze it flat to make best use of freezer space, and to allow for faster thawing.


I did the curry in gallon-sized bags, and the chili in quart-sized. With a fairly small family like mine, either size works fine.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

I used a recipe for Basic Cream of Vegetable Soup to make this warm and comforting dinner. After all the dips, spread, crackers, and chips at the church social this afternoon, I really needed something simple, healthy, and sort of "homespun" this evening. I liked this soup a lot (as did Thomas, he's busy scarfing down his third serving right now). I find it superior to the canned variety of cream soup - it's more flavorful and healthier. There's more calcium and other nutrients, and less sodium. All around good stuff.


Creamy Broccoli Soup with Cheese
1 cup frozen broccoli
1/2 small onion, diced
3 cups milk
1 tsp. bouillon, optional
2 tbsp. flour
1 cup shredded cheese

Combine broccoli, onion, milk, and bouillon in saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until broccoli is tender, stirring frequently. This took me about 40 minutes. You don't want to cook the broccoli quickly because the milk will scald and that changes the texture.

Once the broccoli is tender, you can either blend it for a smooth soup or mash it with a potato masher for a chunkier soup. Since my blender is dirty and I don't have an immersion blender (someday, sigh), I decided that I would definitely prefer a chunky soup today!

Gradually whisk in flour and cheese. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until the soup is thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.


To make this with other vegetables, simply substitute other veggie of choice for the broccoli. You can use peas, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, corn, celery, potatoes, etc. The cheese is optional. I can't wait to try a cream of potato soup, yum!

My Kitchen My World - Mexico

After a long absence from MKMW, I was eager to jump back on the wagon and participate this month. My Kitchen My World has changed around a little bit since the last time I participated. Now there are two countries each month, and recipes are posted on the second and fourth Saturday. The first country for May is Mexico, in honor of Cinco de Mayo - I knew I could do this one, because I love Mexican foods!

I have this great cookbook, the Better Homes and Gardens Mexican Cookbook, published 1977. It was my source for all the recipes in this post.


All I had to do was flip through the book and pick a few delicious-looking recipes. We have a plato mayor (main dish), sopa (soup), and postre (dessert).

Since I'm pregnant, we didn't do this whole menu all at once - we spread out the dishes over several days. If I were to try eating all this in one sitting, I would end up with a very upset tummy that would plague me for hours! Not to mention trying to plan and cook it all at once is just more than I could manage, even with Jeff doing a majority of the work. Doing each dish separately ended up being a great idea because we could enjoy and savor each individual recipe on its own, instead of having one big marathon meal where no one individual dish stood out. Also, it was like we got to celebrate Cinco de Mayo all week long! It worked out great!


The entree for our Mexican menu was an absolutely fabulous dish called Pollo Aguascalientes, or Chicken Aguascalientes-Style. Aguascalientes ("hot waters") is a region of Mexico located northwest of Mexico City. It is so named because of the abundance of hot springs in the area. Based on this dish, I would say that they have a pretty good handle on making good food - this was absolutely fantastic! I loved loved loved! the combination of flavors in this chicken and we will definitely be making this again and again.


Pollo Aguascalientes
2 1/2- to 3-pound broiler-fryer chicken, cut up (instead of buying a whole chicken, we used what we had available - two thighs and three drumsticks)
2 tbsp. cooking oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (I skipped the peeling and seeding and it worked fine)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. cornstarch

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In 12-inch skillet brown chicken in cooking oil about 15 minutes. Add onion and garlic, cook 5 minutes more. Add tomatoes, lemon juice, sugar, salt, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, and 1/2 cup water. Cover; simmer 30-35 minutes or till chicken is tender and cooked through.

Remove chicken to platter; keep warm. Measure pan juices; add water to make 2 cups. Return to skillet. Combine cornstarch and 2 tbsp. cold water; add to skillet. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly.

Spoon some sauce over chicken; pass remainder. Traditionally served with shredded lettuce, jalapeno peppers, fried potatoes (slice a potato or two, and fry in butter), and chorizo (we skipped the chorizo). Makes 4 servings.

This chicken dish, though supremely delicious, was a lot of work, so next time I really want to try cooking it in the slow cooker. I think the recipe will convert to slow cooker really easily. Just add the ingredients into the cooker all at once, then cook until the chicken is done. When we do it that way, I'll post how it goes.


The soup we chose to make was a deliciously simple Sopa Ranchera, or Ranch-Style Soup. With basic ingredients and easy instructions, the soup was quick and easy to make, and very delicious. This is another one that I wouldn't hesitate to make again.


Sopa Ranchera
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp. cooking oil
4 cups chicken broth (we used turkey broth from a turkey we roasted up a while ago)
1/4 cup long grain rice
1/4 cup tomato puree
1/4 tsp. salt
Dash pepper
1 cup frozen peas

In saucepan cook onion in hot oil till tender but not brown. Stir in chicken broth, rice, tomato puree, salt, and pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Stir in frozen peas; simmer, covered, 5 minutes longer. Makes 4 servings.


Dessert was absolutely delicious. I decided to make the same thing that we did for Cinco de Mayo last year - Leche Quemada, or Caramel Milk Pudding. It's basically sweetened condensed milk that's baked until it's browned and set - super rich and super delicious, it ends up similar to caramel. Last time I baked this in individual ramekins, but this time I poured it all in one pan, and we served it with fresh fruit and whipped topping.

My bowl, nice and pretty

Leche Quemada con Frutas
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 mango, sliced
1 banana, sliced
1 apple, sliced
Frozen whipped topping, thawed (or I guess you could do real whipped cream if you wanted)

Pour milk into an 8-inch square baking dish; cover with foil. Place in shallow pan; pour boiling water around it to a depth of 3/4 inch. Bake in 425-degree oven for 1 hour. Serve warm or cold over sliced fruit, top with whipped topping. Serves 4 to 5. We did one serving over mango and banana, then wanted more so did another serving over apple. It tasted like caramel apple! But we only took pictures of the mango/banana bowls.

Jeff's bowl, lots more whipped topping!

There will be a round-up of all the other Mexican menus at My Kitchen My World. I'm excited to see what everyone else made! Buen provecho!

Soup - Good for the Budget, Good for the Diet

I have really learned to love making soup. It's so easy and delicious, and you really don't have to follow a recipe. Soup is especially great for a couple of reasons particularly pertinent to me at this time. First, you can make it by just throwing in whatever you have on hand and therefore it can be extremely inexpensive. And second, when you make it full of vegetables and avoid high-calorie additions like cream, it can be very low calorie and super healthy!


Last night I made the perfect example of this type of soup (I like to call it "anything" soup because you can put anything in it). I chopped up a couple potatoes, some baby carrots (purchased on sale), and some onion. As these were boiling, I got to work adding all the fun stuff. Some leftover lentils from the fridge and a couple handfuls of texturized vegetable protein (TVP, a meat substitute) upped the protein, while chicken bouillon and a couple teaspoons of cider vinegar enhanced the flavor without adding calories. Last of all, when the potatoes and carrots were almost ready, I added some pasta. When it was tender, the soup was ready. It was delicious and filling, inexpensive and healthy.

To make your own "anything" soup, start with whatever fresh vegetables you have, put in a pot and start boiling. Carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, greens, etc. all make great soup - try to add as many colors of vegetable as you can! Add any leftovers you think might go well in soup (leftover meats and vegetables are good in soups, but don't discount stuff like casseroles or other random things - you'd be surprised what you can put in soup!). A small amount of vinegar (about a teaspoon or two per quart) really enhances flavor. You can add noodles or rice for a starch, or even make dumplings. If you do the dumpling route, make sure there's plenty of liquid in the soup because dumplings absorb lots.

I can't wait until Saturday, the day we post about My Kitchen My World. I cooked our MKMW meal on Tuesday night and it was so delicious, especially dessert! So keep an eye out for that. And in the meantime, go make some soup! :-)

Borsht!

I love borsht. I absolutely love it. In college, I clustered in Russian (cluster is sort of a mini minor). I took three Russian language classes and one Russian literature class, and I was involved in the Russian Club. During our monthly Russian Club meetings, we usually had some sort of refreshment, and it usually took the form of Russian cuisine - we had borsht and pirozhki and blini and pelmeni and all manner of delectable Russian foods. Borsht was always one of my favorites.

So I got online and looked up a recipe for borsht and tried it out. And it really didn't taste very good at all. But it was all I had, so I kept making it for several years. And every time, I would cringe a little because I knew that I really didn't enjoy that particular recipe.

Yesterday when we went grocery shopping, Jeff really wanted to buy a bunch of beets so we could have borsht for dinner. I balked a bit, but finally gave in on the condition that we finally find a different recipe! So I got online and googled "delicious borsht," figuring that ought to come up with some good recipes. And sure enough, it did.

This was the simplest recipe that I found, and didn't call for things like meat (which we're eating less of now) or cabbage (which we forgot to buy) or peppers (which we almost never buy). It also called for roasting the beets instead of boiling them, to preserve the amazing color and flavor. When I made it, Jeff and I agreed that this is definitely a much better borsht recipe and will now be our preferred method of making borsht. Enjoy!


Borsht
1 bunch of beets with greens (bunch is usually 3 or 4 beets)
2 potatoes, chopped
Small onion, chopped
Water
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Dill weed (fresh or dried; psst, dried is cheaper)
Sugar
Optional garnish of hardboiled egg, cucumber slices, and/or sour cream (okay, the eggs and cucumber might be optional, but the sour cream really isn't. It just isn't borsht without it!)

Remove the greens from the beetroots and set aside. Scrub the roots (don't peel them) to remove any dirt. Coat beets lightly with oil, wrap in foil, and roast at 400 degrees for about an hour, until you can pierce them. When you check them for doneness, be sure to use a sharp knife so that when it comes back bright red you can pretend that you cut yourself and freak your husband out. Lotsa fun! Anyway, set the beets aside to cool while you prepare the greens.

Rinse greens thoroughly, and chop - include both the stems and the leafy part. Place in large pot with potato and onion. Simmer in water to cover until very tender, about half an hour. Season to taste with the lemon juice, salt, pepper, dill weed, and sugar. Dice the cooled beets and add to the borsht; it is not necessary to remove the skins. Chill or serve warm with the garnishes mentioned.


Great bonus - along with being absolutely delicious, the entire pot of borsht ended up being only 500 calories. So each serving is only, like, 50 calories. How awesome is that?!

Taste & Create - Canberra's Baked Beans

I haven't participated in Taste & Create for what seems to me like a long time. But I'm back in the saddle, paired up with Cath, The Canberra Cook. She already posted in December about her experience with my pumpkin pie from homemade puree, here. She had some trouble with her oven, so the pie suffered a bit, but the mini pies she made turned out great!

Meanwhile, having looked through Cath's extensive list of recipes, I chose one that fit wonderfully with my budget and my family's tastes. Here is her recipe for baked beans. These aren't the Boston-style baked beans, they include tomatoes and are less sweet. But they were delicious. The whole family enjoyed these hearty beans.


Baked Beans
1 cup haricot or navy beans (I didn't have either of these, so I used pinto beans)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 onion (I substituted dry minced onion)
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
100g lean ham (I just used about half a can of DAK ham)
water
brown sugar, salt, pepper to taste

Soak the beans overnight in plenty of water. Drain, and dump beans into slow cooker. Chop the onion finely, and the ham into small cubes. Mix in with beans, add canned tomatoes, molasses, vinegar and mustard. Add about another tomato can of water to make sure beans are well covered. Do NOT add salt.

Cook on slow setting for 6-8 hours (here I had some problems - I think there was something wrong with my beans because after 13 hours, they were still kind of hard. Maybe I should have soaked them longer). Stir occasionally if you're around, and add a little water if it seems to be drying out. When beans are soft enough for your taste, add salt, pepper and brown sugar to taste.


I doubled the recipe, because I figure why cook half a pound of beans when you can do the whole pound. Hmm, maybe that's part of why mine took so long - my poor old slow cooker had twice as many beans to cook. Hmmm... Besides the cooking time, this recipe doubles very easily. Anyway, this made a whole big pot full of beans, and I plan on freezing the leftovers to enjoy later. The flavor was good, especially after adding the salt and brown sugar. I think this is a recipe I would be glad to make again.

Taco Soup, Tag, and Award

Three birds with one stone in this post. First up is the delicious soup I made tonight out of things that we usually don't have in our pantry and fridge. Tonight's dinner was all about making do with what we had on hand, and making dinner fast because it was too late and I was too tired and the kids were too impatient for me to do a big fancy meal.

We happened to have a variety of things in the fridge and pantry that just happened to go really well together. Jeff happened to boil up some chicken a couple nights ago, and we had the broth left from that (always save your chicken broth, you can use it in so many ways!). I happened to make some refried beans from bean flour the other night, and we had lots left from that. We made salsa a while back and there happened to be plenty of that in the fridge. I happened to have some TVP in the pantry (texturized vegetable protein, an inexpensive meat alternative) that I've been experimenting with in a variety of recipes.

I did some thinking and decided that taco soup would be a good way to use these miscellaneous food items. No real recipe here - my taco soup "recipe" is basically to throw together whatever foods we have that would make a good taco-like soup. Usually it includes taco meat and broth or bouillon. Tonight all I did was whisk together a couple cups of chicken broth, about 3/4 cup refried beans, 1/2 cup salsa, and a handful of TVP. I heated that over medium-high heat until it was hot and the TVP was reconstituted. Then I spooned it into bowls and topped it with shredded cheese. It was simple and quick, and surprisingly delicious! See, I told you that I might be utilizing some interesting ingredients while we're in the process of moving. :-)



Next up is a tag from Tina of The Adventures of a Working Mom and Hayley of Away With The Fairycakes. It's the Seven Random Things tag.

So here are The Rules:

• Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links.

• Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I have a sore throat right now that's really bugging me.

2. I absolutely love romantic chic flicks. But I don't like watching them with my husband. I always get the feeling that he's laughing at the characters and their problems, and at me for getting so caught up in the characters and their problems. So that's a treat I reserve for nights when the kids are in bed and Jeff is working late. And I like eating ice cream or other fattening desserts while I watch. :-)

3. Speaking of movies, we don't usually buy new movies. We wait for my younger sister to buy them, and then borrow them from her. Unfortunately, that won't work anymore after we move, because we won't live five minutes away from her anymore!

4. My 3-year-old daughter is going through a clothes-changing phase lately. She changes her clothes about six times a day, alternating between pants-and-shirt outfits and princess dresses. It's getting hard to clean up after her, so her room tends to be strewn with clothes most of the time.

5. I play the organ.

6. I wash my dishes in big red dishpans, because for the past several months our kitchen sinks do not drain, and management hasn't fixed them yet. They tried once, but it didn't work.

7. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, even more favorite than Christmas, because I'm totally addicted to all the delicious traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Especially my family's favorite Oven Smoked Turkey. That stuff is fantastic.

I'm tagging:
Megan's Munchies
Priscilla's Baking Adventures
Real Mom Kitchen
What's for Dinner
Tummy Yummies
Eat From Your Pantry
Life and Cooking With Littles Underfoot


And lastly, an award given to me by JadeMerie of Living Frugally. It's fun to receive awards, and it's fun to pass them on! :-)

Lucky everyone that I just tagged - I'm passing this award on to all of you! These are all blogs that I love to read, and I keep up with every post.

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! :-)

My Kitchen My World - Morocco

Judy of Judy's Gross Eats has chosen Morocco for this week's tour for My Kitchen My World. In Morocco, the main meal is eaten at midday, and is comprised of several courses - hot and cold salads, then stews called tagines, followed by a main course of lamb or chicken, then heaping plates of couscous with meats and vegetables. Lastly, meals are finished with sweet mint tea, which is like a dessert in itself. Bread is served at every meal, and is used, along with the fingers, as an eating utensil.

Being on a budget, as we are, I chose not to do a full Moroccan meal! Instead, I found a delicious tagine recipe that was hearty enough to fill us even without all the additional courses. I forgot about using bread with the meal until the meal was over, or I would have included a special Moroccan bread. As it is, here is the tagine upon which we feasted!


Moroccan Tagine
1 tablespoon olive oil (I used vegetable oil)
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into chunks
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used bottled)
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped (I substituted 2 yams)
1 (15.5 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (I cooked mine from dried *see note*)
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 (14 ounce) can vegetable broth (I used water and bouillon)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander (don't have any - substituted curry powder)
1 dash cayenne pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken, onion, and garlic about 15 minutes, until browned.

Mix the squash, garbanzo beans, carrot, tomatoes with juice, broth, sugar, and lemon juice into the skillet. Season with salt, coriander, and cayenne pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and continue cooking 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Serve over couscous.

Couscous
1 1/4 cups water
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup couscous

Combine water, butter, and salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in couscous, reduce heat, cover, and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until all water is dissolved. Fluff and serve.


*Note* I often cook up one pound of dried beans at a time. Once they are cooked, I separate them into 2-cup servings and freeze them in freezer bags. One pound makes 3 or 4 bags. Once thawed, they are as convenient to use as canned, but are cheaper and less mushy, and you have the satisfaction of knowing you cooked them yourself!

The Moroccan tea that usually follows a meal is a special green tea that is laced with sugar and spearmint after being steeped. We don't drink real tea in our family, but the occasional cup of herbal tea is okay. So we just bought some packets of mint tea from WinCo (9 cents per packet!) and served it with plenty of sugar! :-)


I am really enjoying this My Kitchen My World experience. I love to experiment with new recipes and new cuisines. I am finding that I love the exotic flavors and ingredient combinations that are eaten in other parts of the world. I have been adding cinnamon and other spices to my food a lot more often, now that I know how delicious it is! If you've gotten into a cooking rut, and want to break out, just look up recipes from other countries, and have a ball trying them! I think you'll enjoy it - I know I do!

Check out what the other members of My Kitchen My World made this week.

Zucchini Soup

This weekend was our Church's General Conference - where members of the Church gather to hear the messages prepared by the leaders of our Church. So yesterday and today, my family all gathered at my parents' house to watch the broadcast and spend time together. This naturally includes lots of delicious foods. We usually have a nice big lunch between the morning and afternoon sessions. Today's lunch was this delicious soup. This is a great way to use up some of those huge zucchinis left in your garden - just shred them up and put them in a soup! We ended up tripling the recipe because there were so many of us.


Zucchini Soup
1 1/2 lb. zucchini, unpeeled and sliced thin (or shredded)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 can chicken broth (or equivalent of water and bouillon)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup light cream (or evaporated milk)
Parsley for garnish (optional)

Saute zucchini and onion in butter til limp. Add chicken broth and simmer covered 15 minutes. Puree in blender. Add cream of chicken soup, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and cream. Mix well. Heat through and serve.

My sister Michelle made some amazing rolls to go with the soup. She has posted the recipe on her blog Fabulous Food! so go check it out!


Also, stay tuned here for the incredible cake that I made for yesterday's dessert!

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.