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.

I am enjoying this thread. Hope to see, and post, some low carb/glycemic recipes.

*waves hello to everyone*
 

Bless you Ursy, and thank you for finding Gram's noodle recipe! It would take me an hour or more to find it right now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In general for diabetic cooking, bananas and dates are not allowed, nor is honey--and since fat converts to sugar in the body, too much fat isn't allowed either. But you can substitute unsweetened applesauce for butter or shortening in most quick-bread recipes, and grated zucchini for bananas.

I sometimes make home-made applesauce for dessert. It's pretty easy to make. Here's the technique for Spicy Applesauce.

Gather several kinds of apples (you can use just Red Delicious, but it's a little blander), wash them, and peel them if you like or leave the peels on. Cut them into chunks or slices--thinner slices cook faster--put the seeds and cores in your compost pile, and put the apples in a saucepan with one tablespoon of melted butter in the bottom. If you are cooking entirely fat-free, you can use water--but the butter makes a big difference, and is a small amount for that many apples.

Cook them on medium heat, stirring often, until they start to soften.

For every six to eight big apples, add in one teaspoon of cinnamon and one teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (you can easily adjust these amounts up or down). Stir well and continue cooking. The apples will continue to soften. Add just a little more water if needed to keep them from sticking, but be VERY cautious--it won't cook out very easily if you put in too much; better to turn the heat down and just keep stirring. Mash the apples as you go (a handheld potato masher works for this); they'll get easier to mash as they cook.

When most of the apples have cooked down and been mashed, stir in two teaspoons of vanilla (optional but oh, so good!). Finish cooking and mashing. Serve warm--don't burn your tongue!<---voice of experience, lol--or cold.

Apple suggestions:
Red Delicious
Golden Delicious
Jonathan
Rome Beauty
MacIntosh
Gala
Any other sweet eating apple

Avoid Granny Smith apples for this recipe unless you like tart desserts.

Here's the recipe.

Spicy Applesauce

6-8 big apples, washed, peeled if you like, cored and sliced
1 Tbsp butter or water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter in saucepan, pour in apples. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until apples start to soften. Add cinnamon and pie spice. Continue cooking, stirring and mashing often. When most of the apples are mashed, stir in the vanilla. Cook until all the apples mash down. Serve warm or cold.

Hey Chancie! How cool that you joined the farm!! I've often wanted to do something like that.

My sympathies on your back and the lack of gardening. I noticed for myself that just growing herbs in pots made a huge difference for me; hope that having your own fresh herbs will make things better for you, too!

like many here I grow in season which can be pretty long here in southern virginia. There is no way i could afford to eat what i eat if I had to buy it fresh. But off season or if I'm busy and can't grow as much as I consume I bake a whole chicken once a week. I eat two meals from this and then prepare a noodle soup. Whatever chicken is left I can pretty much get a quart or two of soup so one batch I might make a broth and meat with coconut milk, lemon grass and curry. I'll add hopefully shitaki mushrooms I buy in a can from Ollie's for a buck a can (I buy 20 cans use them all the time) I add roasted red pepper I also buy at ollies unless its season and I'm growing them. I then add some kind of Japanese Somen, rice noodle or the like. I love this soup.

I make another batch with big egg noodles or ziti, chopped celery,basil portabella mushrooms. More of an Italian chunky soup.

Sometimes a Chicken Cacciatore. It's light on chicken but I can get at least 2 meals from a left over chicken.

So I eat the legs and thighs, my favorite, 2 meals and the rest goes towards meals I freeze. Lots of bang for your buck and everything I cook and eat is gourmet. I never skimp on ingredients.

How interesting, June! Do these come out tasting more like the egg noodles in the store? And does the recipe make a lot of noodles? It looks just from the flour amount like it's double my Gram's recipe, which makes enough noodles for a HUGE pot of soup that lasts two hungry people several days.

Anyhow, if it does make loads of noodles, have you tried drying them? How well does it work?
~~~~~~~~~~

Ursy, I hear you about ravioli being fiddly. Have you tried a ravioli press? I saw them when I ordered my pasta machine. There's even a ravioli rolling pin, and a ravioli stamp like a cross between a biscuit cutter and a cookie stamp! Here's a link to an amazon page. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Ravioli-Maker-and-Press/dp/B000BBGV0G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1274371466&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Norpro Ravioli Maker and Press: Home & Garden[/ame]
Someday after everything has settled down financially, I want to try one, probably one of the mold-type pans that makes a bunch at once.

edited to correct the link, again and again... oy... maybe this last one will go somewhere.... *crossin fingers*

How cool is that ravioli press?! I am going to keep an eye out for one of those!
Thanks Catie! xx

Oooh, ooooh, OOOOH!

I just came across this and I had to share it -
http://www.aldenteblog.com/2009/03/f...g-horrors.html

AAACCCKKKK!!! My eyes, my eyes!!

My "favorite" (NOT) was the armadillo.

I just discovered this tomato sauce recipe and I'm dying to try it.
Just 3 ingredients - a can of tomatoes, butter, and an onion (ok, 4 if you count salt).

It sounds too simple, but so many people are just raving about it (for example, the 3 links below - not to mention the accompanying comments on each post), I have to give it a try -

http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/to...er-and-onions/
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2007/0...ato-sauce.html
http://racheleats.wordpress.com/2010...e-of-the-year/


28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)*
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Basically, you simmer it for 45 minutes, then you throw away the onion.

Fresh Garden Salsa
 

We've made this a couple times for church events and parties last summer. It's been a big hit. It is a little time consuming, but it's fun when multiple people work on it together. The first time we did it, my mom, daughter and I all chipped in and we had an abundance of salsa!

1. Visit the farmer's market! Get locally grown, fresh picked, in season, organic produce... that's made the difference, and what you'll find may vary from time to time. :)

This made a large batch - adjust quantity as needed!
6 ears of corn
6 tomatoes (depends on size)
2 bell peppers (we picked multicolors when they're available)
2 hot peppers (we found several variations)
2 onions (vidalia, and purple are great for this)
bunch of cilantro
4 garlic cloves

2. Take the silk out of the corn, but leave the husk. Soak corn with attached husk in cold water for 10-20 min. Grill the corn. Cut corn from ear.

Chop the remaining ingredients very small.

Throw it all together and mix well.

Add 1-2 tsp of lemon juice and salt to taste.

Put it covered in the fridge overnight.

:)

I bought one of these when Pete took me to The Vermont Country Store.

I haven't used it yet, but I can't wait to try it out!


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/...baa5fd9ece.jpg

I am currently in lust with all versions of these bagged wonders for the microwave:

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/s...00931506PM.jpg

I have a pork roast in the fridge. It started life as a New England Boiled Dinner, and it's morphed several times. All the taters and sauerkraut are gone, and the last of the carrots got used up tonight. The broth has made spaghetti a couple times and penne rigata once. I've reboiled the roast a couple times and added significant amounts of water to the broth each time--it still gels, so I know there's still calcium coming out of the bones (yay for us!).

I topped the first two pastas with shredded cheese (4 cheese Mexican blend); tonight I topped it with homemade yogurt and discovered that yogurt is GREAT with pork! I dumped in the carrots, too, and tonight also dumped in a can of generic diced tomatoes w/jalapenos.

The flavor of the meat and broth just keeps getting better. I never knew you could cook like this!

The final destination of the broth (probably a couple batches) will be rice.

The final destination of the meat--after I use some to make burritos or enchiladas or something--will be pulled pork, with honey mesquite barbeque sauce.

I think the label on the pork said "shoulder arm picnic roast" or some variation on that, and it was a ten pounder on sale for $1.39 a pound.

I'll be doing this again!

Tomato acid hint
 

Btw, wanted to share that I've discovered there isn't really such a thing as low-acid tomatoes, only high sugar tomatoes. That makes them like oranges, yanno? So much sugar that you just don't taste the tartness--but the acid is still there.

Gryph is allergic to the high acid content, so I fugured out how to neutralize it--baking soda! One 14 or 15 ounce can of tomatoes + 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon baking soda = no acid reaction! It does make the tomatoes foam up (just like baking soda and vinegar), so make sure you have enough room in the pan if you try it--and of course, raw baking soda is not exactly delectable, so you want to do this only in dishes that will be cooked.

It's really nice to be able to use tomatoes again!

PS, thanks to PearlsNLace for doing the research about the low acid tomatoes!

I so love roasted vegies - really brings out the flavour.
I never really liked sweet potato until I tried it roasted with sour cream on top. That's the best way to have it, if you ask me!

Anyway Chancie, your pasta sounds yum!

Wow Cath, $1.39 a pound is a pretty amazing price. I don't think we'd ever find a special like that here in Australia. The best I've seen is about $4.00 a kilo (now the online converter says 1 kilogram = 2.20462262 pounds, but I don't want to think that hard so let's just say $2.00 a pound) but that's a very rare find. That was for a pork roast.

Meat is getting more and more expensive. The cheapest meat here is turkey mince (something like $2.50 a pound). I imagine it's because turkey meat must be relatively cheap to produce, but I wonder why? Chicken mince and beef mince is more like $5.00 - $6.00 a pound, on average. It would be interesting to do a comparison.

Oh, yeah... but that was Australian dollars... too many variables - I give up!

Ursy -

When you say mince, is that comparable to what I'd call "ground"? When I read mince, I think something like paste. It can't be the same, I think.

I've been striving to not by meats (as much), or to look for local sources rather than chain super markets. I do buy a lot of turkey (ground), and fish when able. I don't mind paying a little more for the right meats when I know I'm saving money elsewhere (produce).

Oh yes Freckle, I think you guys call it ground. Funny how we have to negotiate different terminologies across the ocean. I read an amusing discussion about biscuits and cookies just this past weekend - here it is:

http://ask.metafilter.com/43569/What...biscuit-abroad

Because what you guys call cookies, we call biscuits. We tend not to have biscuits in the U.S. sense at all. It intrigued me greatly when I first heard of them. I think I'm going to have to try them!