The frugal gourmet
 

Most of us are in the same boat - don't have a lot of money to splash around these days. But that shouldn't stop us from eating well!

I've been cooking a lot from scratch these days, simply because I enjoy it, it's better for us (less preservatives, etc), better for the planet (less packaging and processing), it ends up cheaper, and I also know what's gone into it :) Besides, cooking from scratch tastes way better.

Anyway, I've been looking for recipes that are good but don't cost a lot.
So I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread to share these recipes and tips.

I hope Bit will come in and share her home made noodles recipe 'cause they are so so good and so much easier on the pocket than a packet of store bought noodles. That's a great example of good food, and frugal!

Ok, to start - I'm posting a link. Thinking of making this one tonight - it's from the 5 dollar dinners website which is a really handy one to know about:
http://www.5dollardinners.com/2009/1...y-mac-sou.html

I made the soup last night - with some modifications (just using what I had on hand). It was really really good! It's the kind of recipe you can rely on if you want to use up some left over vegetables.

Kris did kinda look at it and go "wtf? Mince soup?!" but after the first taste he was converted!

I omitted the peppers (and added beans, peas, baby spinach) and added some stock powder and a dash of worcestershire sauce. I really do think it needed the stock powder and worcestershire sauce, by the way - it might have been too bland otherwise.

K! That one's a keeper for me :)

Thank you Juney! I will have to give Madras curry powder a go :)

I've also been surprised that cooking from scratch often actually doesn't take that much more time, once you're familiar with the process.

I bought this book recently >>[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Skills-Cooking-Time-Honored-Recipes/dp/1906868069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274311735&sr=8-1"]Darina Allen - Forgotten skills of cooking[/ame]<< and I love it! It goes into a lot of the knowledge that used to get handed down in the kitchen from generation to generation, that many are missing out on these days with all the pre-packaged stuff and takeaways.

I might not go hunting my own game or smoking haddock, but it was really interesting to read about these things anyway. Am tempted to get some chickens though...

I'm also interested in this one: >>[ame="http://www.amazon.com/More-Less-Cookbook-World-Community/dp/083619263X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274311989&sr=1-2"]More with Less[/ame]<< I might get it next time I decide to buy myself a present.

Oh yes, the offspring would definitely love the chickens. One of her friends had some when she was younger, and she would spend most of the day carrying them about and offering them grass.

I wonder how they'd go with the dogs and the cat?

We're not supposed to have chooks in the area we're in, but I was thinking if I got some quiet variety without a rooster, we might be able to get away with it.

p.s. I noticed the "More with less" link I gave below went to Darina's book again, I've fixed it now :)

Here's a recipe for butterscotch sauce that I discovered last night.
It's OH SO GOOD (and oh so bad for you) - but I never knew butterscotch was so easy to make!

It was quite by accident - I baked some spice cupcakes and Kris said that they would go perfectly with butterscotch sauce, so I googled up a recipe.

I am never buying store bought butterscotch sauce again - this stuff is so incredibly good that I'm still eating it *despite* the fact that I know just how much cream, sugar and butter is in it.

It's been a bit eye opening, cooking from scratch - it's much easier to *not* really think about just how much sugar/fat is in something when you buy it pre-packaged.

---------------------------
BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE

Preparation Time
5 minutes

Cooking Time
15 minutes

Makes
330mls (1 1/3 cups)

Ingredients (serves 4)
160ml (2/3 cup) thin cream
155g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
50g (2 1/2 tbs) butter, cubed
2 tsp vanilla essence

Method
Place the cream, sugar, butter and vanilla essence in a medium heavy-based saucepan, stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until well combined.
Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove the pan from the heat. Set aside for 2 hours or until cooled to room temperature. Serve at room temperature.
Notes

Variation:

Chocolate sauce
Replace the brown sugar with 200g good-quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 6-8 minutes or until the chocolate melts and the sauce is smooth. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Storage: The butterscotch sauce (and variation) will keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving.

OHHH ain't THAT the truth!

And yanno, I haven't yet figured out how to cut the fat from my recipes without also sacrificing the texture and taste. It doesn't bother me so much when it's something that's highly nutritious, like nuts or cheese or whole milk yogurt, but when it's butter, well, I do feel guilty.

By the same token, if a recipe calls for sour cream and I substitute yogurt or yogurt cheese, I feel all virtuous, lol...

I will find my Gram's noodle recipe if you like, Ursy, but truth to tell I haven't made them in so long that you probably know it better than I do... I remember one egg, and half a shell of milk, and what, two cups flour to start with? But what about salt? Surely it needs at least a quarter teaspoon...

I am sooo excited to tell you that I just ordered a pasta machine! It's a relatively cheap one but even cheap machines flatten that dough very nicely. It should save my wrists a LOT and then Gryph can have noodles often enough that I won't forget the recipe again. :cheesy:

So have you tried making seasoned noodles? I routinely make seasoned tortillas (and I leave the salt completely out of them), so I wonder if it would work well to add garlic, pepper, Italian seasoning to noodle dough.

Also, have you experiemented with making flavored noodles, especially chocolate? Someone was joking about fudge lasagna and .....................

....................oh my that Butterscotch Sauce would be soooo good with fudge lasagna! *big eyes*

..............anyhow, I want to experiment and see if I can come up with something good. I'm thinking ricotta and yogurt cheese, fudge sauce... maybe fruit...

If it worked, it'd be a GREAT potluck dish!

There was this small, "oh."

"Have I horrified you?" I asked.

"Yes," Gryph said quietly... "Yes, you have."

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha fudge lasagna here I come!!!! :cheesy:

Well! Lucky I saved the recipe in a safe place :)
It's really a great recipe, I'm so glad you shared it!

one egg,
half an eggshell of milk,
1/8th teaspoon salt
beaten together until foamy;
one cup flour beaten in a little at a time,
one more half cup flour (or so... depends on the size of the egg)
kneaded in to make a dry dough.
Let rest ten minutes to half an hour, roll out, snip into noodles with scissors (or cut with a sharp knife... but not on your good countertop!).
Boil at least ten minutes; these stay al dente.
They don't break down and get mushy like commercial pasta does, so they're great in soup.
I make them thin sometimes, and double-thick others.
The double thick are like a cross between a noodle and a dumpling.

Hint: dry the pasta for 20 minutes before cutting, then dry the cut shapes until no longer moist and sticky.”

I haven't yet figured out how to cut the fat from my recipes without sacrificing texture and taste either. Though I do use the extra light sour light cream, and that seems to work ok for the most part.

In fact, I use it in place of mayonnaise - because it's much lower fat than mayo - and I like the flavour better anyway!

So excited for you and your new pasta machine! Let us know how it goes, ok?
I haven't tried seasoned or flavoured noodles. I did try to make ravioli but that was pretty darn fiddly and I don't think I'm going to try that again.

I'm pretty intrigued by the thought of chocolate lasagne with butterscotch sauce (LOL at the horrified Gryph! *chortle*) I think fresh thick whipped cream and raspberries would be the way to go - you know, in the layers. (Well, if you're going to throw virtuosity to the wind, you might as well go the whole hog!)

:chef2::chef2::chef2:

Does anyone have any good Diabetic friendly recepies they can share? Specifically anything dessert like?? My sweet tooth is DYING!!! lol Thanks in advance! :)

This one's from my friend Kim :)

I hope it's low sugar enough for you - I guess you could use all Splenda if you like. As you might be able to tell from that butterscotch sauce recipe, diabetic friendly is not exactly my forte :)


Banana bread!
It's low sugar and also milk free.

1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 cup sugar (or use all sugar)
1/3 cup margarine
2 eggs
3-4 medium bananas, mashed up
1/3 cup water
1 2/3 cup flour (self rising)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom only of a loaf pan.

Blend the sugar/Splenda and margarine till well mixed. Stir in eggs till well blended. Add mashed bananas and water. Beat about a minute. Stir in the flour and nuts and mix JUST TILL MOISTENED. Pour in a 9" loaf pan and bake about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (I test the center with a toothpick method)

8" pans take 65-75 minutes. :)

We joined a local farm, and we did have to come up with a hunk of money initially, but we will get more vegetables than we can possibly eat for about $18 a week.

I cook a lot of vegetables, so this is frugal for us.

Pete did start some herbs for me, and we will plant more, but I can't grow vegetables this year because of school and an ouch-y back.

We will also can some of what we get at the farm though so far Pete is mostly interested in recipes like Dilly Beans and Sweet Zucchini Pickles.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Cjco-cJ4aH...illy+Beans.JPG

Cool, Chancie! I wish we had something like that local to us.
I'd like to get into canning... maybe one day I will explore it.
I hope your ouch-y back gets better xx

This recipe makes the BEST hommus I've ever tasted!

It's taken from >>here<< (but I'm cutting and pasting the text below in case the web page ever moves)

Creamy Hummus
1 15 oz can of organic chickpeas (I use dried chick peas. They taste better and you can control the salt content, and I think they end up cheaper than canned. See below for prep for dried chickpeas)

1/4 cup organic tahini (I might up it to 1/3 cup next time)
Juice from 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp water

Drain and rinse the chickpeas and set aside. You can spend the time taking the little skins off each chickpea but it's pretty time consuming and not so much creamier that I think it's worth it. This recipe gets pretty creamy even without that step.
Combine the tahini and the lemon juice and blend until smooth and frothy. This is the key to getting it creamy, by the way. You have to combine these 2 ingredients first, essentially cream the tahini, or it just won't blend perfectly with the chickpeas.
*Note: I use a blender because I have a rockin' good oneand only a little mini prep food processor. The down side is there's always a little of the good stuff down at the bottom that's impossible to get out. You should use whichever appliance you have that you feel is best suited for this.
Add the garlic and salt and blend again.
Now add in the chickpeas about 1/3 of the can at a time and blend until smooth. Try to get as few skins as possible, this will also help with the texture. Scrap down the sides of the blender and push the chickpeas down to the bottom as needed. Once you've got all the chickpeas blended in, add the olive oil and turn on the blender and just leave it for a few minutes. I like to add in a little water too, to get the consistency just how I like it.
That's it. I'm sure that using dried chickpeas (soaked overnight then simmered until tender) would make this even better, but I am still after some level of convenience. Knowing that I can keep canned chickpeas in the cabinet means I'll usually have all the ingredients on hand and can whip this up with no advance notice. That's perfect for us.
For a fancy plate you can garnish with extra chopped garlic, olive oil, cumin, even pine nuts or slivers of roasted red peppers. Or you can take a page from my book and just eat it with pita chips straight out the damn blender. We like ours with pita bread, pita chips, blue chips, wheat crackers, our fingers, or even spread on toasted whole wheat English muffins.

-------------------------

Prep for dried chick peas (I used about a cup of dried chick peas - that's before soaking)

(taken from here http://humus101.com/EN/2006/10/14/hummus-recipe/)

1. Poor the chickpeas over a large plate. Go over them and look for damaged grains small stones, or any other thing you would rather leave out of the plate.
2. Wash the chickpeas several times, until the water is transparent. Soak them in clean water over night with 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Then, wash it, and soak again in tap water for a few more hours. The grains should absorb most of the water and almost double their volume.
3. Wash the chickpeas well and put them in a large pot. Cover with water, add 1/8th - 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and NO salt. Cook until the grains are very easily smashed when pressed between two fingers. It should take around 1-1.5 hours, during which it is advised to switch the water once again, and remove the peels and foam which float over the cooking water. When done, sieve the grains and keep the cooking water.
4. Put the chickpeas into a food processor and grind well. Leave it to chill a little while before you continue.

Thanks June! I love egg noodles, will have to give your Grandma's recipe a try. I was just saying to Cath yesterday, there's something special about Grandma recipes... :stillheart::stillheart::stillheart:

This is awesome!

I've found that going to the public market (May-Oct) has saved a lot, and yes lots more veggies and cooking from scratch. It feels better all the way around.

Also started a garden for the first time. Crossing my fingers that my thumb is more green than black. :)

Ursy - I'll be back in later to post a wonderful garden salsa recipe that my daughter and I started last year. Now, we crave it and can't wait for the local veggies to be ready so we can make it again.