Key Ingredient, Inc.

Vanilla Pudding Fruit Salad

This is one of those dishes that is great to take to summer potlucks or just to keep in the fridge to have with your dinner off the grill.  It is sweet enough it makes a good light dessert. 

It's also very simple. 

Tip #54

Vanilla Pudding Fruit Salad

1 can of sliced peaches in juice
1 can of pineapple chunks in juice
2 small cans mandarin oranges in juice
1 large can sliced pears in juice
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding

Open all the cans and drain all of the juice into a bowl.  Whisk in the vanilla pudding.  This will thicken the liquid but will still be a liquid consistency (it won't set up like a pudding).  Pour in the fruit and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

This is a very easy recipe to adjust for larger gatherings or make changes as to what kinds of fruits you like in there. 

Roasted Artichokes

This is one of my favorite quick and easy side dishes.  I make this one frequently! It is not the cheapest side dish I make (artichokes are not inexpensive) but it's really good and very quick and easy.  It also has so few ingredients that I thought it qualified as a money-saving side dish. 

Tip #50

Roasted Artichokes Side Dish

1 can quartered artichokes packed in water, drained
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Preheat broiler.  Mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and garlic in a 8x8 pan that can go in the oven.  Put artichokes into the 8x8 pan.  Pour bread crumb mixture over the top of the artichokes and then drizzle on the olive oil.  Stir together until artichokes are well-coated. 

Cook under the broiler for approximately 12 minutes until the bread crumbs are golden. 

I serve this with a spicy mayo (recipe follows) to dip them in but it's really good by itself. 

Spicy Mayo

2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 tsp sriracha (you can use more or less depending on your spice tolerance)

Mix together and keep in the fridge until you are ready to serve. 

Picture by magpie_mom

Homemade Rice Mixes

Rice has become one of my all-time favorite go-to items lately.  It's cheap, it's relatively healthy, and it's easy.  I am partial to brown rice because I love the nutty depth of flavor in it.  It's also really filling. 

I like to have seasoned rices with dinner but the rice packets that are available in the store are just not what I'm after.  They're convenient and so in a pinch they work but I really like to have the freedom to control the sodium level and punch up the health factor a bit more on these. 

These are just a couple of ideas that I like.  But I hope this encourages you to play around with rice a bit more. 

Tip #44

Rice is cooked at a 2:1 ratio.  So this means that for every cup of rice you will 2 cups of water to cook it.  If I'm going to make this I always make a double batch.  I can doctor up the leftovers 10 different ways for lunch or a second side-dish the next night.

I almost always use brown rice.  If I have the extra time I usually melt 1 Tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a heavy skillet.  When the butter has melted I dump in 1/2 of a small onion, diced.  I cook the onion until it's nice and translucent and then pour in the rice. Basically I'm toasting the rice.  It gets really fragrant and wonderful smelling and really seems to pull out some of the flavor.  If you don't have time, skip this whole part but I suggest you try it sometime. 

All of these seasoning mixes make more than one recipes worth so you'll want to have a small container to store the leftover spice mix in.

Chicken Mix
3 cups chicken bouillon granules
1/2 cup parsley flakes
1 Tbls. celery flakes (or just celery powder works here too)
1/2 cup instant mixed onion
1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix together in small container.  Use 3 Tablespoons of seasoning mix for every 1 cup of rice you are cooking.  Makes enough for 6 cups of rice. 

Curry Mix
1/2 cup instant onion
3 Tblsp. curry powder
3 Tblsp. chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

Mix together in a small container.  Use 2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon for every 1 cup of rice you are cooking.  Makes enough for 6 cups of rice.

Spanish Rice Mix
*When using this seasoning mix, replace 1/2 of the water you would normally use to cook the rice with stewed tomatoes.

2 Tblsp. instant minced onion
1/4 cup parsley flakes
2 Tblsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. turmeric

Mix together in a small container.  Use 1/4 cup for every 1 cup of rice you are cooking.  Makes enough for 4 cups of rice. 

Some suggestions for leftovers:

• Cook Chorizo sausage until browned.  Move aside in the pan.  Cook 1/2 of a small onion, diced in the same pan until translucent and starting to turn golden brown.  Drain 1 can of black beans and rinse.  Pour in to skillet with sausage and onion.  Add in leftover rice and heat through.  Makes a very hearty one-bowl lunch. 
• Pour leftover spanish rice in a bowl and mix in 1 cup cooked, shredded chicken, 1 can drained corn, 1 can of rinsed black or kidney beans, and 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  Wrap in warmed tortillas and serve with salsa and sour cream.
• Cook chicken breasts with curry seasonings.  Cut into bite-sized pieces and stir with leftover Curry rice and then return to the warmed skillet you used to cook the chicken.  Pour in approximately 1/2 cup chicken broth.  Add in peas (canned or defrosted frozen peas work here), toasted almonds, or chickpeas.  Pour in approximately 1/2 cup milk to make the sauce creamy.  Let simmer together until the sauce thickens. 
• With leftover seasoned rice add cooked brocolli and melted cheese.  Stir together and cook until warmed through. 

I hope you will try some of these ideas.  Enjoy!

Italian Rice Casserole

Another frugal recipe to share today.  This one is really good with garlic bread and a salad on the side.  I like to make it with brown rice to make it a bit more nutritionally sound. 

Tip #40

Italian Rice Casserole

1 lb ground beef
14 oz jar spaghetti sauce
3-4 cups cooked brown rice
Mozzarella cheese to cover top

Brown & drain ground beef. Combine meat & 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce. Spread evenly over the bottom of 13x9 dish (will be spread thin). Mix remaining sauce with rice. You can add 1/4 cup water to sauce jar & shake. Use up the last of the sauce in rice. Mix well. Spread evenly over meat. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover with foil. Bake 25 min at 350 degrees. Remove foil. Bake uncovered 15 min. Let stand 10 min before serving.

Chicken with Tangy Mustard Sauce

Tip #39

This is a great recipe.  It's ta-da enough to entertain with or take to a potluck but it's very simple and pretty inexpensive to make. 

Chicken with Tangy Mustard Sauce

8-10 bone-in chicken pieces (I like to just buy a whole chicken and cut it up for this)
1/3 cup apricot jam
1/3 cup dijon mustard
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup dry white wine (if you don't want to use wine, replace with chicken stock)
1 tsp. dried sage
2 tsp. paprika (I like Spanish paprika because it's somewhat smoky but use whatever you have)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Put your chicken pieces in a 13x9 pan.  Mix all the ingredients except the paprika.  Pour sauce over the chicken turning to coat both sides of the chicken.  End with the chicken skin side up.  Sprinkle chicken pieces with paprika.

Bake until chicken is cooked through, approximately 45-60 minutes.

I like to make this up in the morning, cover it with foil, and stick it in the fridge.  Then it can go in the oven about an hour before we eat and be ready to go. 

To serve I put a mound of steamed brown rice on the plate.  Place chicken pieces on the rice.  Drizzle some of the sauce over the chicken and rice and sprinkle with a few raisins.  We serve this with either steamed broccoli or roasted green beans. 

Slow Cooking

Tip #24
I have an intensive love for my slow cooker.  I actually own two slow cookers.  They are both 6 quarts.  One is oval and the other is round.  The oval one came from Goodwill ($12 thank you very much). 

It is one of my favorite tools in my arsenal for saving time and saving money.  I cook in it regularly all year round. 

The benefit of cooking with a slow cooker in the summer is not having to heat up the whole house and consequently not forcing your air conditioner to work harder to cool the house off.

Some of my favorite summer-time uses for my slow cooker are baked beans to accompany meat that's being cooked on the grill, "roasting" a chicken to eat alongside potato salad or on sandwiches, light summer soups to be served with a salad, steak or chicken fajitas, or a creamed corn side dish. 

In the winter we use the slow cooker at least twice a week.  Today I have a simple chuck roast, diced yukon potatoes, and carrots in there.  Later in the week I'm making chili one night in the slow cooker. 

One of my favorite things about a slow cooker is how it can transform an inexpensive and sometimes tough cut of meat into something moist and tender.  I like to find stew meat marked down at the supermarket and mix it with a package of Mrs. Grimes dry soup mix, some sauted onion, and 1/2 a jar of spaghetti sauce.  I cook it on low for 6-8 hours.  The meat is super tender and falling apart and the soup is thick and delicious.  I serve it with some homemade artisan bread for a terrific, hearty dinner.

What is your favorite slow cooker recipe?

Pie Crusts

I have been making homemade pie crusts for years.  They do take some practice but overall they are very simple, taste wonderful, and cost a whole let less than store-bought pie crusts or pies. 

My mom taught me to make pie crusts when I was pretty young.  I remember standing on a chair in our kitchen in Western Kansas.  The memory I have of it was her telling me how to "flute" the edges.  She told me that most woman have a certain way that they crimp the edges of the pie crust.  And it's part of the signature of their pies.  This was her way.  I remember feeling a little nervous at the prospect of having to come up with my own way of crimping the edges but she told me I can do it the same way she does it. 

There are lots of thing that I know my mom taught me to do.  But none of my memories are as specific as this one is about pie crusts. 

Tip #21
I have two pie crust recipes to share with you today.  One is the one my mom uses.  That is the Betty Crocker recipe.  This is a great recipe and very easy to follow.  The crust turns out very flaky.  I have found it to be a little bit hard to work with sometimes though. 

In 2007 I was making 6 pies for Thanksgiving.  I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with my daughter (I'm not sure that being pregnant had anything to do with the pie crust not working but it did make me much more dramatic about the whole situation).  I had all kinds of problems getting the pie crust to work for me.  It was either way too dry and falling apart or it was too sticky. 

I don't know what the problem was.  I have made this recipe countless times and it's always worked fine.  So I set out to find another recipe.

Since the Thanksgiving incident I've been using Ina Garten's recipe for pie crust.  It is fantastic and pretty much foolproof.  The only thing I don't like about it is that it's a bit sweeter than the Betty Crocker recipe.  But that's an easy thing to fix!

If you've never made a homemade pie crust before I encourage you to play around with these and other recipes and see how it goes.  Or, if you have a favorite pie crust recipe, post in the comments!

Bacon & Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls

This is one of those things that I get asked to take to family gatherings.  It's a great recipe for brunch, appetizers or a snack.  This is really more of an idea rather than a recipe.  You can really use anything mixed with cream cheese for this.  I've given you some other ideas below the recipe too. 

Tip #19

Bacon and Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4-6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

3 Tbls. chopped scallions (0ptional)

Mix together the cream cheese, bacon, and scallions (if using).  Open up the tube of crescent rolls.  Cut each wedge in two length-wise.  Place a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture inside the crescent roll dough and then roll up.  Bake following crescent roll package instructions. 

Variations:

• I have mixed the cream cheese with 2 Tblsp. brown sugar and 1/3 cup chopped pecans.  Then sprinkle the top of the rolled up crescent roll with a cinnamon and sugar mixture. 
• Mix cream cheese with 2 Tblsp. parmesan cheese, 1 Tblsp. sun dried tomatoes, and 1 Tblsp. chopped chives.  Sprinkle the rolled crescent rolls with paremesan cheese.
• Mix cream cheese with 1/4 cup of your favorite jam or jelly.  Roll in crescent roll dough. 

There are lots of options and variations with these.  The measurements are all approximate so don't be afraid to put your favorite combinations in the cream cheese. 

Photo by Neeta Lind

Kitchen Staples

There are many things that I think of as "staples" in my kitchen.  But some of them are what make it possible for me to cook inexpensively or add to a meal if I need to stretch it further. 

Tip #14

Rice - This is probably my all-time favorite frugal kitchen staple.  I can use it in a 100 different ways.  I always have rice on hand.  I use it in casseroles, fried rice, as a side dish, in a stir fry and even with a little milk, sugar and cinnamon for something sweet. 

Flour - I make a lot of baked goods from scratch.  Most of those rely heavily on flour.  It's also great to have on hand for thickening sauces or to coat chicken and fish. 

Dry Pasta - I always have a jar of spaghetti sauce and a package of pasta in my pantry.  If I need to get a meal on the table I know I can always put together a pasta dish of some sort.  You can jazz it up with meat, cheese and spices.  Or leave it plan for something simple and easy. 

Beans - We also usually have canned beans in the pantry.  One of my favorite things to keep on hand is canned chickpeas.  I use these in lots of dishes.  I like to toast them in the oven and put them on salads (or just eat them as a snack).  Make hummus or stir them in to soups.  We also use black beans for a number of different dishes. 

What are your favorite frugal pantry items?

Porcupine Meatballs

Tip # 13

Another frugal recipe

 

This is an easy and quick recipe. 

 

1 package (6.8 ounces) beef-flavored rice mix

1 egg, beaten

1 pound ground beef

2-1/2 cups boiling water

Set contents of rice seasoning packet aside.  In a bowl, combine the rice and beaten egg.  Add beef and mix well.  Shape into 1 inch balls.  In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the meatballs on all sides.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the reserved seasoning packet and boiling water.  Add to skillet; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the rice is tender.