Two Hour Freezer Cooking

Today I began to do some freezer cooking. What I got accomplished only took me a little over an hour and a half.

First I put on some potato sausage, which I found at the meat market yesterday. It was only $1.38 a pound, so I bought three pounds. It has diced potatoes and green peppers, and a lot of seasoning in it. After tasting it, I wish I had bought more. I sautéed it in crumbled pieces, and then put it in a bowl to cool.

Next I put in some Italian Sausage to crumble and fry up. Once I had this in a bowl, I made sausage gravy out of the drippings and set that in a bowl to cool.

Once that was done, I cleaned the pan and put in about 4 pounds of hamburger to fry up with diced onion, green pepper, and carrots. I added garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Once finished, I removed a big bowl for tacos and another to mix with rice and tomatoes for stuffed peppers.

With the ground beef mixture that was left, I mixed in tomato sauce, tomato paste, and a can of crushed tomatoes, some Italian seasonings, and let simmer for an hour for a big pot of spaghetti sauce.

While that was simmering, I used my food processor to dice up onion, green pepper, carrots, and celery, and put them all in baggies so that I have them handy.

Later, I used the cooked ground beef, and made stuffed green peppers for dinner.

Now we have food all bagged up either in the fridge or freezer for things like tacos, nachos, chili, in eggs for breakfast, or whatever I can think of.

Tomorrow I am going to cook up some chicken to make chicken broth, and shred the chicken and bag it up for soups, sandwiches, salads, nachos, or whatever.

Homemade Febreze

My sister is also big on making her own things, or saving money. Okay, mostly saving money. She's made everything from her own laundry detergent to her own hamburger buns. Here is a way to make your own Febreze:

Febreze

1/8th cup fabric softener
2 Tbl baking soda
hot tap water
32 oz spray bottle

Mix and put in spray bottle

Food Watch: Chef Robert Irvine's Lasagna

How many of you watch Restaurant Impossible? We watch it every week. My son would love me to try some of Chef Robert Irvine’s recipes, so I am going to do that in a couple of days. This is my plan:

Winner’s Circle Lasagna Recipe

This recipe won awards, as well as I think most of Chef Irvine’s recipes. It looks really easy to make.

I am also going to make my own wonton wrappers to use. The recipe I got here:

Homemade Wonton Wrappers

These also look easy. If you try these recipes before I do, let me know how they turn out.

Food Watch: Homemade Bread

I have to introduce you all to this website: Steve the Bread Guy on Youtube.com.

I have been wanting to learn to make bread for a long time, and because of Steve the Bread Guy, I finally got it right! :) It really is easy. It took a few tries for me to get it right, but listen to everything Steve says. I do put in 2T of sugar into the bowl with the hot water to help the yeast work, but that's all I do different.

Bread Recipe

2t sugar
2cups hot water
2T yeast
1T salt
5 cups flour

Click for Directions

Food Watch: Homemade Gravy

Gravy

2 cups chicken/turkey/or beef broth/stock
2T flour
2T oil
milk or water

Put 2T oil and 2T flour into pan and stir for a moment.
Mix in stock and let come to a boil and thicken, stirring near constantly.
If it gets thicker than you want, pour in a little milk or water until it's your desired thickness.

Since I make so much broth, I can usually always make gravy. But if you don't have broth, you can use bouillon cubes and make your own broth first.

Food Watch: Homemade Chicken Stock

I make chicken sock all the time. I don't think you can ever have enough. It's very expensive to buy, so instead when I'm going to make chicken for dinner, I will usually make chicken stock out of it first.

I know a lot of people use big chunks of veggies and the strain the broth. I really like to chop veggies down real small in the food processor and keep with the broth. I just think it gives it more flavor. So you can do whichever way you want.

Chicken Stock

Chicken pieces (I usually brown a little on each side before adding everything else)
2 stocks celery (and if you want, you can use the center of the celery)
1 large onion
2 large carrots
2T parsley
6 chicken bouillon cubes (I just think it gives it more flavor)
Pot of water

Brown chicken on each side.
Chop veggies in the food processor. I think the finer the better.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot.
Cover and simmer for an hour and a half or so. I add a little more water as it evaporates.

You can strain if you wish.

Food Watch: Homemade Using Up Food

Using Up Food

I do try to use up most things that I buy, because I hate throwing food away. I often do, but I try really hard not to.

How to Use Make the Most

Last night for dinner, I had a package of 10 chicken thighs. I only made six for our dinner, so I had four leftover today. I put them in a pot with diced celery, carrots, onion, green peppers, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper, and water, and let it simmer for a couple of hours. This made a great broth.

I love having broth in the house. There's so many uses for it.

Broth

Gravy

I took out the thighs for our dinner. With this, I used a cup of broth with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and a cup of milk and made gravy. I made mashed potatoes to go with our dinner.

Potato Soup

With the broth, I diced up potatoes and onion, and made a big batch of potato and ham soup.

We had a little of the soup to go with dinner, and the rest will go with sandwiches for lunch.


These tips are how I try to make the most out of what I have.

Food Watch: Homemade Chili Cheese Sauce

This chili cheese sauce is like the stuff you buy in the jar. You can make this completely to your liking. Make it spicy by putting in a spicy salsa or spicy chili. Put in a lot of cheese to make it mostly cheesey. Or have a little more chili than cheese. You can also make it as thick or thin as you want. Here's a good recipe for cheese sauce, too.

Chili Cheese Sauce

Half of a block of Velveeta style cheese, diced
1 cup chili
1 cup salsa

Put in microwave for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

The measurements are just something to go by. Try it the way like it.

Here's a recipe for Zesty Chili Cheese Dip that sounds really good. I'll have to try it next time.

Food Watch: Homemade Chili Recipe

There are so many chili recipes. This is just one that I made today.

Chili

1 pound Italian Sausage
1 1/2 cups of salsa (I used homemade)
1 can or cup of beans (I used white beans this time because I boiled them from dry yesterday)
2 tablespoons of chili powder (or as much as desired)

Simmer until desired thickness. This can be spicy depending on how spicy the sausage and salsa are. Mine had a nice kick to it.

Food Watch: Chili Cheese Fries and Other Things

My kids wanted different things to eat today, so okay, "What do you want?"

My daughter said, "Chicken sandwich and fries with gravy."

My son said, "Chicken sandwich and chili cheese fries."

"Well, ya don't want much, do you? No problem. Gotcha covered."

I had Italian Sausage in the fridge, so I started frying that up. When brown, I took the sausage out, and put it in a saucepan along with a cup and a half of my homemade salsa. I boiled dry beans yesterday for bean soup but I had some leftover, so I put the beans in, along with some chili powder. Okay, chili simmering.

With the pan drippings from the sausage, I put in 2 tablespoons of flour and a little milk, stirring constantly. As the mixture thickens, add enough milk to make it your desired thickness. Okay, gravy, done.

I have potatoes on hand all the time. I peeled them, and sliced them into french fry slices and put on a baking sheet. I put a little oil on them, salt, pepper, and chili powder, and mixed it up so they all had the same amount of oil and spices. Preheat over to 350 degrees and bake until done. Fries done.

Taking a few scoops of my chili, I put it in a bowl with some diced up Velveeta cheese, put it in the microwave for 2 minutes or til cheese is melted. Stir. Instant cheese sauce.

Chicken breast in fridge leftover from night before last. I sliced it up and made their chicken sandwiches. When the fries were done, I put my daughter's plate together with her chicken sandwich and fries with gravy, and my son's plate had his chicken sandwich and his chili cheese fries. The gravy, chili, and cheese sauce turned out really good.

Food Watch: Impossibly Easy Sausage Breakfast Pie Recipe

This morning, I tried this Impossibly Easy Sausage Breakfast Pie. I was looking for something I could make that was different and that I had all the ingredients.

Impossibly Easy Bacon Pie

12 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (4 oz)
1/3 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

This was really good, and I ended up making two pies. One for today and one for tomorrow morning.

Food Watch: Apple Pie Filling

I found a great recipe this morning that called for apple pie filling. I don't have any. I know I can make some to use now, but was curious to know if I could make it to freeze for later. Of course, I can. I have all the stuff. It's apple season. Right now is a great time to buy bushels of apples. I got one for $4. Now I am going to make and store this (Oh, and for all those that think I have a big freezer. Nope. I wish I did. Right now it's crammed full of stuff. I will have to start carting things over to my mom's basement freezer soon.

Apple Pie Filling

18 cups thinly sliced apples
3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
10 cups water

Instructions

Now I will always have it in my freezer.

Food Watch: Making the Most

I try to make the most out of things, so tonight with my daughter wanting Sweet and Sour Chicken, I decided to triple duty the chicken. I love those triple duty foods.

First I used one whole chicken breast (boneless, skinless) and put it in a pot of water with diced onion, celery, green pepper, parsley, salt and pepper, and let it simmer for an hour and a half to make chicken broth to store in the freezer for soups. With half of the chicken breast, rice, broccoli, celery, onion, green pepper, and homemade sweet and sour sauce, I made the Sweet and Sour chicken. Tomorrow I have the other half of the chicken breast to make chicken salad for lunch tomorrow with a side dish of leftover Sweet and Sour Chicken. I wish I could do that with everything.

Food Watch: Sweet and Sour Sauce

Sweet and Sour Sauce in the store costs too much and isn't always that great. My daughter LOVES Sweet and Sour Chicken. I got sick of buying sweet and sour sauce, so here's what I make, and it's really good!!!

Sweet and Sour Sauce

2 cups water
2/3 cup distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (8 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained
3 tablespoons cornstarch

In a saucepan, mix all ingredients, let simmer until desired thickness.

I had all the ingredients on hand, so this was terrific.

Food Watch: Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese that is not out of the box is a LOT better. Make your own cheese sauce. I almost always make my own sauce, and my kids prefer it that way. Once in awhile I break out the box, but we've been spoiled with the real thing.

Cheese Sauce

2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons flour (either whole wheat or white)
2 - 3 cups of milk
8 oz Cheese (any type that you like)

For the cheese sauce, put the oil and flour into a pan. Stir for a minute. Pour in milk and stir. Let the milk warm up before putting in the cheese. Slowly put in cheese, let melt, put in more cheese, let melt. All the while stirring. Put in as much cheese as you like. You can either have it milkier or cheesier.

Boil macaroni until done. Drain. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni. Stir. You can make it as saucy as you like it. Salt and pepper to taste.

For a wonderful dish, pour the macaroni into a casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs and more cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese has melted.

In either version, you can also add things to it like diced veggies or chicken.

The cheese sauce is also good over steamed or roasted veggies.

Food Watch: Homemade Pizza Sauce

After using my homemade pizza sauce, I have found that the store-bought is tasteless. I don't think I will ever go back to store-bought pizza sauce unless I have to.

Pizza Sauce

6 large tomatoes, cut off stem top, puree in food processor
Palm full (like 3 tablespoons) of basil (fresh is best, but I use the dry)
1 clove garlic (put in more, if you desire)
Palm full of Parsley
Palm full of Oregeno
6oz tomato paste

Simmer pizza sauce together in pot for about a half hour or so. Let all the flavors blend nicely together and the sauce to thicken.

This pizza sauce freezes well.

Food Watch: Or Maybe Weight Loss

This last week has been an adventure cooking, experimenting, seeing what works, what doesn't. I've been cooking, cleaning, running out. I will admit to indulging in some of the things I've made, and yet, I've lost 3 pounds this week. I'm guessing it's because of the extra physical activity, and that I've eaten all natural foods, even the junk food.

The other thing is that in experimenting, I do not have a shortage of foods that I can make. I have a small stockpile of things like cookie mix, brownie mix, pudding mix, Bisquick mix, and my tomato stash of tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup, and salsa in the freezer. I also have quite a few containers of chicken broth. So if it's junk food, Italian or Mexican dishes, or casseroles, soups, or stews, I'm covered.

I don't know exactly how much I spent for things to know if it's that much more economical or not. I will work on finding out. I do have to say it's healthier and tastes better. I always have most of the ingredients at home to make these things, and when I run out of something, it's just one thing, so the cost seems minimal. Today I have to buy milk and cornstarch, and that's it for awhile.

So as you can see, it can be beneficial to make things from scratch. The stockpile is nice, and the weight loss is great, too.

Food Watch: Cookie Mix!

There's a kid in all of us. We all love cookies. It's easy, and expensive, to buy the cookie mix in the store. People don't know just how easy it is to make your own cookie mix and have it on hand whenever you want. This recipe is for a basic cookie mix. Just add a few things to it, and you have cookies or even brownies!!

Basic Cookie Mix Click the link for all the cookie recipes that you can make out of this basic mix.

6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
6 cups white sugar
2-1/4 cups dry milk powder
2 tablespoons and 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2-1/4 teaspoons salt

Mix this altogether in a bowl with a tight-fitting lid. It will keep for weeks this way.

Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brownies

Food Watch: Homemade Pudding Mix Recipe

Pudding Mix has become quite expensive, so I've stopped buying it. With the dry milk that I was given I made my own pudding mix.

Pudding Mix Recipe

1 1/4 cup dry powder milk
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
To use add to pot:
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon vanilla, and 3/4 cups pudding mix.
Stir in pot until it starts to rapidly boil and thicken. As soon as it begins to boil, take off heat. Let cool. Store in fridge.

This is very convenient to have on hand.

Food Watch: Freebies

I know how hard it is to make ends meet and these little freebies that I find probably won't help a lot, but what the heck. Thought you might want to know.


Burger King soft serve ice cream

Activia Lite

Free ICee at AMC Theaters

Free Green Mountain Coffee

Free popcorn

Free water

Free at Denny's Restaurant

Free at Checkers - Milkshake

More to come. Stay tuned!