Recipes on a Budget

Sausage Casserole

2009-08-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

This is a little something my husband kind of invented on one of the nights it was his turn to make dinner. It's a one pan meal and very cheap. Depending on what's on sale, it pretty much costs a dollar a serving (though it might cost you more or less). The sausage can be substituted with ground beef, bacon, ham, or even leftover roast beef.

1 package smoked sausage links, cut into 1 inch chunks
4-5 good sized potatoes, sliced
1/2 package frozen brocolli
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup water (or broth)
salt and pepper (to taste)
shredded cheese (optional)

In a large skillet heat vegetable oil until it is warm. Put in potatoes and sausage. Add salt, garlic, and onions. Pour in water and cover. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are semi-soft, stirring occasionally. When potatoes are semi-soft, add brocolli, bell pepper, salt and pepper. Cover and continue cooking until potatoes are soft and brocolli is thoroughly cooked. Turn off heat and cover with cheese if you choose. Cover and let sit until cheese is melted. Serve and enjoy!

Baking Powder Biscuits

2009-08-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

This recipe is a very basic recipe. The person who came up with this recipe should be immortalized in gold. As far as I can tell, this recipe hails back to the days when one had to make do with what one had. Anyways, throw some sausage gravy on it, or serve it up with butter and jam, it makes for a filling meal, or dessert. Enjoy.

2 cups sifted all-purpose Flour
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles course meal. Quickly stir in milk. Knead dough lightly. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness on lightly floured board. Cut in 2 inch rounds. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 13-15 minutes. Makes 12-16 biscuits.

Golden Cornbread

2009-07-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like the taste of cornbread on a cold winter night with a dish of thick chili or even with deep fried chicken. My kids were never big cornbread eaters, but I’ve always enjoyed it.
Now this recipe is very versatile with options too add in just about anything. You can add a little more sugar to make it more cake-like, or a little less if you don’t have a sweet tooth. I made a special cornbread for my husband, who never cared for the sweetness of regular cornbread. It was a little heavier, but he liked it… one man’s poison and all that…
I discovered this recipe on the side of a bag of corn meal, with a little adjustment, I made it my own. Less sugar than the recipe called for.

1 cup enriched yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2-4 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In large bowl, combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add milk, egg and oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about 1 minute.
Bake in greased or sprayed 8-inch square baking pan 20 to 23 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Variations
Muffins or Corn Sticks- Pour corn bread batter into greased or paper-lined muffin cups OR hot well-greased corn stick pans. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven 15-18 minutes.
Add-inns
Stir 1 cup whole kernel corn, 2 tablespoons chopped green chilies and ½ teaspoon chili powder into batter for Mexican-style cornbread.
Stir in 1 cup shredded cheese for a cheesy treat.
When using the muffin method, insert a piece of hot dog or sausage (cooked) into the middle. Makes a yummy snack.

Pizza

2009-07-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

This is a fun family-made meal. When my kids were small, pizza night meant not waiting for the delivery guy, but a contest to see who could put the most toppings on thier individual pizzas. It's way more cost effective to make them yourself, and gives you license to be as creative as you wish. There are so many combinations to choose from, like a stack of peperoni an inch thick without cheese (my son's favorite) to italian sausage, peppers, pineaple chunks, mushrooms, black olives, green pepper, onions, sun dried tomato, and parmesan cheese (my oldest daughter's favorite).
The point is, even though it doesn't come out perfect, it still tastes good.

Breadmaker Pizza Dough
1 ¼ cups water
2 tbl. Olive oil
½ tsp salt
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp. crushed basil
3 cups bread flour
2 ¼ tsp dry yeast
corn meal (set aside)
Add ingredients except corn meal into bread machine in that order. Set machine to the dough setting. When the machine is done, let dough rest for 20 minutes. Sprinkle a little corn meal on the pizza pan or cookie sheet. This will keep the dough from sticking on the pan, and give it a little more crunch.
Punch down dough and place on pizza pan and press or roll out until it fits the pan.
Top with your favorite toppings and then bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

To Bulk or not to Bulk

2009-07-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

That is always the question with me.

When considering bulk items, like flour, sugar, and pinto beans, one must consider many other factors as well...

Price per pound (or ounce, or gallon, or whatever). Most stores will have a unit price in tiny print by the original price, so it's easier to figure that sort of thing out. You might also have to consider if you have coupons.

Storage. The biggest issue I have with buying in bulk is storage. Flour will go bad if not stored properly. Also, if you have a bug problem in your area (like I do) then you will have to invest in airtight containers. Finding the space to put it can be an issue as well... I would not recommend buying large quantities of bulk items if you live in a tiny apartment, unless you are super-organized (which I'm not). A freezer is a must as well, if you want to buy large quantities of meat or vegetables.

Family. One of the other issues I have is family. The rule was new stuff in the back, old stuff in the front of the pantry. Yeah... that lasted 2 days at my house, especially since 2 out of my 3 kids are old enough to have jobs and buy their own food. Now I find all kinds of stuff in the pantry, just strewn about with someone's name scribbled in perma-marker over the label.

Finally, the last consideration is How hard are you willing to work? Storing bulk items takes dedication (ok... not a lot, but still...) organization, and willingness to keep up with it all... My pantry is a montage of canned goods, baking needs, and 3 huge containers... One for flour, one for sugar, and one for the 11 pounds of Reed's Ginger Chews (my one weakness). I like to keep things simple. I'm not running a restaraunt (despite what my kids tell me). I don't need to store mass quantities of food. Just enough to last through the next big hurricane that comes along. (we were without power for 2 weeks when Ike hit us... Yay for gas appliances!)

Next time: Pizza! Yummy, easy, and cheap!

Lasagna

2009-07-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Lasagna has to be my family's favorite dish. Over the years I've used the knowledge my mother gave to me, and tweaked it a little to fit the finickiest member of my family.

This recipe feeds my family of 5 with leftovers. (no leftovers when my son's best friend comes over, conveniently at meal time).

Starting with the cheese mixture

Cheese Mixture

2 cups parmesan cheese
2 cups romano cheese
2 cups mozzerella cheese
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground parsely
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground basil
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped as fine as you like it

Mix in a large bowl. I find that an old-fashioned potato masher works great for this, and it's fun for the kids too if they like to help. Refrigerate while going on to the next step.

Meat Mixture

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or more if you like garlic)
1 teaspoon olive oil (more if the ground beef is lower fat content)
1 teaspoon pepper

Place all meat mixture ingredients into a skillet and brown beef thoroughly. Using a spatula to stir, break up any large chunks into tiny pieces. You want the pieces small so it will spread evenly in the lasagna

Tomato Sauce

If you find you would rather skip this part, that's fine... Occasionally I discover jarred or canned spagetti sauce on sale and I snap them up as often as I can. However, lately those days are few and far between. So here's a simple recipe for the sauce.

2 twelve ounce cans tomato sauce
2 ten ounce cans diced tomatoes, drained well
1 diced bell pepper
1/2 diced onion
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon ground parsely
1 basil leaf or 1/2 teaspoon ground basil
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Add all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Turn heat to low and simmer until desired consistency, stirring occasionally.

Lasagna Noodles

Follow directions on the box... Different brands have different ways of cooking...
Personally, I find that the noodles you don't have to cook work just fine, even if it's not as frugal as I would like. But for the sake of time (which is also precious) it's what I do.

Now for the Fun Part... Assembly

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Spread a small amount of the sauce on the bottom of a large lasagna pan or casserole dish. Make sure it covers the entire bottom of the pan.

Place a layer of the noodles over that.
Spread a layer of the meat mixture over that.
Spread a layer of sauce over that.
Spread a layer of cheese mixture over that.
Place a layer of noodles over that
Repeat until you are out of ingredients, ending with sauce on the top layer, with a layer of Mozzerella cheese on the very top.

Cook for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve with garlic bread and a salad, and you have a yummy, filling meal.

The Beginning

2009-07-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is just a little something I started back when my children were small, and we were living on a tight (i.e. under $100 a month on groceries) budget. Every nickle, dime, and penny had to be accounted for, as my husband and I were unable to receive food stamps.

With a lot of help from my mother, (who could make ambrosia from a sack of flour and bacon drippings) we managed to save enough money for my husband to continue going to college, and for our 3 children to grow up without CPS knocking on our door (well, there was this one time... but I'll tell you about that later... amusing story).

Anyway, I'll try to get as many of my (and a few of my mother's) recipes that I've discovered, and changed to meet my family's needs.

Try them out and even change them to suit your tastes. Most can be double, or even tripled for those of you with huge families. Most of all... enjoy.