Saturday, February 28, 2009

Recipe Search

Just to let you know, I actually use the search box to the right of your screen. It took me a while to remember to try it out after I installed it; but now I regularly go to it when I need a little help. This week alone, I have used it three times.



On Thursday night, we had Rachael Ray's Sloppy Joes and they were terrific! I don't do MSG, so the powder crap is out. Despite the fact that my kids have very sophisticated tastes when compared to my own palette at their age, they still like sloppy joes. If you want to prepare this classic dish, I highly recommend her version. Use very lean, all-natural, hormone-free ground beef and bakery made whole wheat rolls to make them healthier. Even with the meat and bun upgrades, this dish also passes the "recession test."



Tonight, rather than spending two hours looking through cookbooks, I typed in "roasted turkey breast" and decided to try Ina Garten's version, using rosemary and white wine. I also needed to refresh my memory on how to make butter beans (lima, to those of you not raised in the south) and ham-hocks for my side dish. I rounded off the meal with my very own creamed potatoes and we had an elegant, southern-style dinner. Everything was DE-lish!! The turkey breast was purchased on sale, as were the potatoes and the frozen beans. All-in-all, the whole thing cost around $10 to prepare. For a family of four, that's just plain cheap. Plus, the turkey breast is ample enough for plenty of leftovers. Just wait until you read about what I do with those!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Recession Strategies: Part I

In the spirit of wishing to pass on some great ways to save money while still providing your family with delicious and nutritious meals, I have decided to devote a weekly post to the idea. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that families from my generation get familiar with their kitchens. Even if you still have a well-paying job and decent benefits, you have no doubt felt the economic pinch somewhere in your life. One of the easiest ways to save money is to prepare your meals at home. I have friends who own restaurants and I believe in supporting locally owned businesses when we can, however, eating out gets expensive real fast. If you are looking to make the transition from take-out to homemade, there are a few tips that can make it easier. I want to focus on time-saving strategies and quick meal ideas as well as recipes using few and commonly found ingredients. I discovered a web site today where the sole purpose is to share recipes that are inexpensive to prepare - cheapcooking.com is a great place to get meal ideas that are guaranteed not to break your bank. Please share your own "recession minded" cooking strategies here as we try not to sacrifice taste, nutrition or family time.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Best Pasta Salad Ever

It may seem a little arrogant for me to say that this recipe is "the best pasta salad ever," but that is a direct quote from my husband. He likes pasta salad about as much as the next guy but he actually got up and got my camera to take a picture of it and made me write down the recipe. Like many great ideas, it was birthed from a lack of ingredients and a little ingenuity. I knew what I had to work with and I used it! I have repeated the recipe now with great success and would like to share it with you. I am including brand names here because any variation may change the recipe to, like, the second best pasta salad in the world (and we wouldn't want that, now, would we?) I'll post pictures for this later.

Tuna Pasta Salad
Cook 8-10 oz of mostaccioli pasta (small penne - or other small noodle) according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold running water until cooled.
For the dressing, in large bowl, whisk together:
1/3 cup Blue Plate mayonnaise
1/3 cup Daisy light sour cream
1/4 cup Nakano rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
Add to the dressing:
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
1/4 cup minced Italian flat leaf parsley
cooked noodles
Then, gently fold in:
1 pouch Star Kist Garlic and Herb Tuna
Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to serve. This goes great on top of a simple mixed-green salad with vinaigrette dressing.