Split Pea Soup

1 bag dried split peas
2 quarters water
1 T. butter
1 c. chopped ham
1 chopped onion
2 carrots, sliced thin or chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
1 c. Half & Half

Rinse peas and dump into crock pot. Pour water over peas.

Melt butter in skillet. Saute chopped ham, onion and carrots. Add to crockpot.

Add bay leaves, salt and pepper. Simmer on low for 8 hours.

Before serving, add Half & Half.

NOTE: If I'm going to freeze part of the soup, I don't add the Half & Half til just before serving.

BBQ Cups

This is definitely a frugal meal and while I'm not crazy about it, Chad and Vince love it.

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion
1/2 c. BBQ sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. brown sugar
1 can refrigerator biscuits
grated cheese

Brown the ground beef and drain the fat. Add the chopped onion and stir til onion is cooked. Stir in BBQ sauce, salt and brown sugar.

Roll the individual biscuits or flatten them so that the fill fit into the bottom and up the sides of muffin tins. Spoon the ground meat mixture into the biscuit "crust".

Bake at 400 for 10 - 12 minutes.

Top with grated cheese and place back in oven til cheese melts.

Frugal Cooking

I'm such a sucker for bargains. We're at a point in our lives (we're old!) where we don't have to pinch pennies in order to make ends meet but I love it when I get good deal. Since we eat 99.999% of our meals at home, and since we love to eat really good food, I'm especially happy when I find good deals on food.

Yesterday I had split pea soup on my grocery list. The Campbell's brand was $1.30/can. We need 2 cans when I fix it along with a sandwich for lunch. $2.60 isn't going to break the bank but I think that's ridiculous. For .85, I bought a bag of dried split peas and have split pea soup in the crockpot now. I figure for less than $3.00, I'll get the equivalent of about 6 cans of soup and mine will be better! I'll post my recipe in a separate post.

This week the grocery store has canned Del Monte vegetables on sale - 4 - 6 packs for $10. That comes to .41666 per can. At Sam's, for a 12 pack case, the cans cost .656666 each so the 4 for $10 is a fantastic deal. This is the time to stock up!

Sam's also has 8 packs of stewed tomatoes for $5.32 and I got those at Big Lots last week for $3.50.

Any time I can find that kind of bargain, I buy all I can get!

And, our grocery store has been having a meat promotion for a while now. It's 5 for $25 and they have some interesting packages there. It isn't old, almost outdated meat but I think it's to encourage us to buy more than we normally would. Works for me! :) Yesterday I picked up 5 packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The regular price on each of the package I picked up was anywhere from $7.85 to $8.20 so figure I saved about $3 per package - that's $15 in savings.

I came home and made a huge pot of chicken creole which I divided up into 4 meals. I used two packs of chicken breasts and figured that the whole pot of creole cost about $13. That's not bad, considering that our meals will consist of chicken creole, rice, rolls (usually homemade which are way less expensive than storebought!) and a salad. The nights we have this meal, the whole meal for the three of us will cost less than $6. Not bad, huh?

Watch the sales at your grocery store and if you can afford to stock up when things are on sale -- do it. You'll have more money to spend on fabric or yarn! Seriously, it makes me feel really good when I can put a yummy meal on the table for less than $6 for three of us!

Chopped Salad

Chopped Salad

This recipe makes enough for 6 good size salads!

1/4 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped fairly finely
1/4 head of cabbage, chopped fairly finely
1 carrot, peeled and chopped finely
1/2 cup sweet pecans, coarsely chopped (see note below)
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 c. crumbled bleu cheese
Ranch Dressing (see note below)

Toss lettuce, cabbage and carrot. Add dressing to suit your taste. Place salad in individual bowls. Top with bleu cheese, crumbled bacon and chopped nuts.


Note #1 - Pointe Coupee Pecans has the most wonderful sugared pecans! These are what I've been using and I love them.

Note #2 - I use the packets of Ranch Dressing Mix and make it by adding 1 c. milk, 1 cup mayo and 1 cup sour cream.

King Cake Recipe

For the cake portion, you can use any brioche type recipe. The "cake" is more like a slightly sweet bread.

Ingredients:

1 envelope Active Dry Yeast
2 T. warm water
1 tsp. salt
4 T. granulated sugar
1/4 c. milk
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cardamom (If you don't have cardamon, use 1 tsp. cinnamon. Cardomom is a bit less common for most of us and seems a bit "mystical" but cinnamon will certainly work too.)
2 eggs, beaten
1 - 1/4 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into very small pieces.

Dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand til frothy.

Dissolve the salt and sugar in the milk. When dissolved combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture.

Mix the cardamom with the flour.

Add the eggs to the yeast/milk mixture. Gradually add the flour. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add a little more flour if needed but leave the dough slightly on the sticky side. Just as the dough is almost ready, add the chopped butter and knead only until the butter is incorporated into the dough.

Turn the dough into an oiled bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm spot.

When the dough has doubled in bulk punch it down, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll the dough out to a 8 x 20 inch rectangle. Spread the almond filling(recipe below) out in the middle of the rectangle along the whole length, leaving about 1 inch on each side. Fold the length of the dough over the filling and roll up tightly, leaving the seam side down. Turn the roll into a circle, seam side down and put one end inside of the other to hide the seam, and seal the circle. Place the cake on a baking sheet and let rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown (seems to only take about 20 minutes for me).

When the cake cools, spread on some of the glaze (recipe below). Decorate with the colored sugars and drizzle some of the thicker glaze onto the cake.


For the Almond filling:

1 can almond paste
1/2 stick butter
2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. almond extract

This gets real thick and it is better to use as stand mixer.

Mix the almond paste and butter. When totally mixed, add the bread crumbs, sugar and almond extract.


Glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. melted butter
Half & Half to make the glaze the consistency desired
1/2 tsp. almond extract

NOTE: Because I love lots of icing/glaze, I double this recipe.

Breakfast Banana Bruschetta

This recipe is great and very quick to fix.

6 - 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick slices sweet Hawaiian bread, or any French bread
1 medium banana, mashed
1/2 cup softened cream cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 medium bananas, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 c. brown sugar
Sifted powdered sugar

Toast bread and let cool. Combine mashed banana, cream cheese, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Spread some of the mixture over each toasted bread slice.

Place slices on a cookie sheet. Layer banana slices on top of cream cheese mixture. Brush bananas with melted butter or margarine. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Broil bruschetta 4 to 5-inches from the heat for 30 to 60 seconds or until banana slices just begin to glaze. Sprinkle tops with sifted powdered sugar and serve with warm maple syrup.

Wedge Salad

One head iceberg lettuce, cored and cut into quarters

Dressing:

1 c. plain yogurt
1/2 c. mayo
1 package Ranch dressing
2 T. spicy mustard

Mix the above ingredients and put in the fridge for a few hours.


Candy Coated Pecans (recipe follows)
1 c. crumbled bleu cheese or feta cheese
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 c. chopped tomato


Candy Coated Pecans - cut 1 c. pecan halves in half. Place in pan. Turn heat on medium. Add 1/2 c. sugar. Stir constantly til sugar melts. Dump onto a greased plate. Let cool and break apart.



To assemble salad:

Put a lettuce wedge on a salad plate. Top with crumbled bacon, chopped tomatoes, candy coated pecans and bleu cheese. Pour a generous amount of dressing over each wedge.