National Frozen Custard Day

So, we aren't actually making this today, but I wanted to post the link to this recipe anyway. I really want to try this sometime - it's cheaper than making ice cream because there's no cream in the entire recipe. None at all!

I wanted to make this tonight, but we've spent the afternoon and evening washing dishes (curse that eternal bad habit of mine to constantly leave dishes in the sink instead of washing them!) and haven't had time to make anything fancy or special. It's almost 6:00 and we haven't even decided what to do for dinner yet!

Anyway, for anyone who wants to make this delicious-looking frozen treat (though it will be too late to eat it to celebrate National Frozen Custard Day), here's the link:

Homemade Frozen Custard

At a later time, when I've made this, I'll get back on and post pics of it. I'm looking forward to it already!

Time to Go Shopping

"Sigh. Got to go buy some food. A mouse hung itself in my fridge and left a note 'can't live like this'."

— Ustas.

I thought this was a humorously appropriate quote. Tomorrow is the day we normally go shopping for groceries.

Root Beer Float - from scratch!

Today is National Root Beer Float Day. Most people, upon realizing this, would go to the store, buy root beer and ice cream, then go home and make root beer floats. The traditional, boring way.

Jeff and I aren't most people.

We chose to make our root beer floats entirely from scratch. So we dug out our root beer recipe, invented in ice cream-like concoction, and really made Root Beer Floats!

Root Beer
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. root beer extract
1 liter (just over 4 cups) cold seltzer water

Dissolve sugar in water. Add root beer extract and let cool. Stir mixture into cold seltzer water. Drink immediately or refrigerate in tightly-covered container.

Not Quite Ice Cream
1 cup powdered milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
3 tbsp. melted butter or margarine
2/3 cup milk (not powdered)

This recipe is basically my recipe for sweetened condensed milk, but with additional milk to thin it down.

Combine powdered milk, sugar, water, and butter in blender. Process until smooth. It may take a while for the powdered milk to all get incorporated, so be patient and occasionally turn off the blender to scrape the sides.

When smooth, add the regular milk and blend until incorporated.

Pour mixture into a large, flat container with a tight-fitting lid. Place in freezer for several hours. (You like all my frozen chicken that we bought for 50 cents per pound? Yeah, me too)


We left it in the freezer for 6 hours. I intended to put it through the food processor when I took it out, to make it creamy and more like ice cream. But when I removed it from the freezer, it was already spoon-able, so I didn't worry about it. I don't know if it would require the food processor if left in the freezer longer.

Just a note: This ice cream stuff has a strong powdered milk flavor. If you really can't stand the taste of powdered milk (I kinda like it, but everyone's different), you can just open up a can of sweetened condensed milk, then add the 2/3 cup regular milk and freeze as directed.


Root Beer Floats
Spoon ice cream (or Not Quite Ice Cream) into glasses. Pour root beer over ice cream. Enjoy!


Now, I don't know if this really qualifies as being the most frugal alternative for this treat. Maybe it would cost less to just buy a bottle of root beer and a half-gallon of vanilla ice cream - I didn't add up the cost for this. But you know, sometimes it's okay to sacrifice a tiny bit of tightwaddery for a lot of creativity and fun!

Italian Herbed Tomato Bread

****This recipe featured on Key Ingredient's blog, The Back Burner. Check it out here.

This post is for a new blogging event called I Love Baking, created by Ben of What's Cooking. The round up for I Love Baking will be posted bi-weekly (every two weeks). If you ask me, August isn't the ideal month to start an event that involves heating up the entire kitchen by turning on the oven, but I love baking enough that I decided to join in the heat anyway!


Italian Herbed Tomato Bread
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
1/2 cup V-8 or tomato juice
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
3-4 cups flour (I did 2 cups white, the rest was whole wheat)

Combine liquids, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and oil in saucepan. Heat until tepid (95 to 115 degrees). Pour into large mixing bowl. Add yeast and stir.

Add flour, one cup at a time at first, mixing well. As the dough thickens, add flour more slowly, stirring until the dough is kneadable. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, adding dough sparingly to keep the dough from sticking.

Cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and allow to rise in an oiled bowl until doubled in bulk. I happened to be cooking our dinner in the crock pot, using a plate as a lid, so I just set my bowl on top of the crock pot, and the dough rose quite nicely!


Punch down, and shape into two small loaves or one large loaf. Place in greased loaf pan(s). Cover and allow to rise again until the dough is not quite as large as you want the finished product to be. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes (35 for larger loaf).

I created this recipe as I was making it today. I have a "universal recipe" formula for yeast bread that lists ingredient types and amounts, and I get to decide on the exact ingredients I use. We happened to have a small amount of V-8 and chicken broth in the fridge, so in they went! I was very pleased with the savory and flavorful results of this baking experiment.

Universal Recipe Formula
1 to 1 1/2 cups liquid (water, juice, broth)
Up to 1/4 cup fat (oil, butter)
1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. yeast
Up to 2 tsp. salt
Up to 1/4 cup sugar or up to 1/2 cup honey (use less for savory breads)
3-4 cups flour (up to 1 cup low-gluten, like whole wheat, rye, soy, etc)
1/2 cup optional additions (grated cheese or vegetables, fruit puree, raisins, oats, etc)
Up to 2 tsp. flavoring (herbs or spices)

Combine everything except yeast and flour. Heat to tepid. Stir in yeast. Continue as directed above.


You know, I think this would work awesome as a pizza crust!

Scalloped Potatoes and Carrots

I decided around noon today that I wanted a Crock Pot dinner. So I began to peruse through my favorite slow cooking blog, A Year of CrockPotting. I knew that I would find what I was looking for. I didn't know what it was yet, but I was sure to know it when I saw it. That's the way I am around recipes sometimes.

When I came across Company's Coming Potatoes Augratin, I knew I had found it - tonight's dinner! As usual, I changed stuff around because I didn't have many of the key ingredients (in this case, parsnips and heavy cream). So it's pretty much a different recipe now, but that's okay. We thought it tasted great! And one day, I would like to try this with parsnips. I've never had parsnips before.

Scalloped Potatoes and Carrots
3 medium potatoes
2 small carrots
1/2 small onion
4 tbsp. butter or margarine
3 tbsp. flour
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Slice potatoes, carrots, and onion. Layer in the bottom of the crock pot. I have a 3-quart, that's why I halved the original recipe. If yours is bigger, use more ingredients so you can fill the pot. It cooks better when it's about 2/3 - 3/4 full.

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour. Cook and stir for a couple minutes. Slowly add evaporated milk and seasonings. Pour over veggies in pot.

Cook on low 8-9 hours or on high 4-5 hours. It gets nice and browned.


5 servings
250 calories per serving

This was a simple and delicious meal, and I think it's one we'll definitely make again.

A Couple Awards

Actually, these awards were given to me a while ago, and I either didn't see them or put off putting them on here. But I'm finally going to put them up, and pass them on!

This award was given to me by Kate's Kitchen. I love this website. Not only are there lots of simple, delicious, budget-wise recipes, but so many of her posts focus on better parenting, homemaking, and living in general.


I am passing this award on to:

Rachel's Family Favorites - Rachel takes delicious pictures of her delicious foods, and her recipes are great! Plus she's my cousin... :-)

Anjanette's Eating From Your Pantry - She works at a housing ministry where they provide a food pantry for their residents. Her blog is to provide wholesome recipes that use pantry foods. Good recipes for a good cause - now that's "Brillante!"




This award comes from Christy's Southern Plate. I love her blog! Her recipes and stories really capture the charm and hospitality of the south, and I just feel happier reading her blog. Her recipes are definitely "yum yum."







I am passing this award on to:

Priscilla's A Peek In Priscilla's Kitchen - This blog is written by "a sixteen year old girl in her Mom's kitchen" and it is fantastic! When I was sixteen, sure I loved to bake, but Priscilla has made it into an art, and she is so talented!

Jenny's Picky Palate - For being a dental hygienist, Jenny sure does bake a lot of sweets! I love looking at her pictures and reading her recipes, because they just look so yummy!

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.