Cass Cooks, Too!

posted by Cass on Jun 22

Ok, so we made a couple of changes in the kitchen. The three teens are each taking 2 nights a week, and that leaves me with one, which was tonight and I made this:

I served it with rice, coucous, tomatoes/okra/corn and baby lima beans. It was so good to get back in the kitchen again, and also so very good to eat! I do love my own fried chicken.

Now, I don’t have a real recipe for friend chicken. I basically dip it in seasoned flour and throw it in hot grease. I vary the seasoning each time, depending on what I am in the mood for. Tonight, it was seasoned salt, garlic and a bit of thyme because I saw just a bit in the bottom of the jar and thought I might as well use it up. There ya go.

I do have three tips regarding fried chicken, though, that I can share. First and foremost, buy chicken with the skin on it. There is nothing healthy about fried chicken, and if you are gonna eat it, you might as well enjoy it. I prefer to fry thighs because they cook fairly quickly and very evenly, but I will also do breasts and drumsticks.

Second, hot grease. I use an electric skillet and I turn it to 350 and that’s where I keep it. I turn mine about 4 times, so each side cooks twice, and that gives a nice crispy skin. See above and live a little.

Third, and this is something Grandmother taught me just a few years before she died, long after she’d stopped cooking: the chicken is done when, after you turn it, the grease does not sizzle up. This is something you hear rather than see, but if the sound gets louder when you flip the meat, then you need to cook it longer. I haven’t pulled half cooked chicken out of the pan since she told me that.

posted by Cass on Mar 23

Okay, remember that lovely soup I told you about last time? It was even better over tater tots.

Put the tater tots on the plate, pour the soup over, and then smoosh them up a couple at a time to let them soak up the soup. It’s like…potato cheese broccoli soup.

posted by Cass on Dec 11

Yeah, I know I didn’t list this in the upcoming recipe list. However, it really is the best roast ever, so I felt like I just had to share! So I am.

I used about a ten pound Boston Butt to make this. And actually, it was so easy that I just called out the directions to my 15 year old as I walked out the door.

Start a bit of oil heating in a large skillet. Combine some lemon pepper seasoning with some flour. Use a proportion like you were breading something to fry it. Roll the roast in that mixture until it is coated well. Then sear it in your hot oil. Put the roast in a covered pan and cook it in the oven at 250 degrees for several hours. Like 3 or 4. But if you have to go a bit longer you can. Or you can put it in the crock pot. See, I’m easy.

Serve the roast with a starch and a veggie the first night. For the lunch the next day, serve the chopped leftovers on hamburger or hot dog buns with a slice of cheese. Yummilicious.

If you were lucky enough to find the pork on sale for 89 cents a pound like I did, then you have 2 meals there for around $10. Less, if you aren’t feeding an army of 9.

posted by Cass on Dec 3

So, I set out to have BBQ ribs the other night. Angel Food had some delightful baby back ribs in their boxes this month, and I thought they would be real tasty. We put the ribs in the pan, and opened the pantry to get the BBQ sauce out, and there wasn’t any. Oops. Then we opened the fridge. I always have a couple bottles in there! And so I did. Two bottles with 1/2 inch of sauce each in them. Double oops. I threw those away, frowned and turned back to the fridge. I pulled out a bottle of sun dried tomato vinaigrette and mixed about 3/4 cup of that with 1/3 cup of honey, and poured that over the ribs. I simmered them in my large electric skillet at 250 for about 4 hours, and they were so good and tender! I pulled the bones out with tongs and piled the meat on a platter. We served them with diced sweet potatoes and field peas. Yum-i-licious.

Now that picture above, it’s not of my ribs. That would mean I remembered to take a picture, which I did not. Bad food blogger, bad food blogger.

posted by Cass on Oct 24

It’s week #52 for Four Foods on Friday!

#1. Name something you use cream cheese in/on.
#2. Do you use yogurt in any recipes?
#3. Macaroni salad. What do you like/put in yours?
#4. Share a recipe that you use sour cream in.

1. I use cream cheese on turnovers. Yum!
2. No, but I would love to learn how to make cucumber yogurt sauce. And also the gyros that goes under it..
3. I made this tonight! I used radiatorefor the pasts. I mixed a packet of ranch mix with 3/4 cup or so of mayo. I added canned mushrooms, tomatoes, and some salad topping. It looked like this:

and it was sooooooooooo good!

4. Another recipe? Geez! You’re killing me here!
Okay, Easy Cheater Beef Stroganoff

Diced leftover steak or roast, or meatballs, or stew meat, browned
Cream of mushroom soup
mushrooms, canned or fresh
onion, if desired
garlic
sour cream

Brown the onions if you are using them. Throw the garlic and mushrooms (with a bit of the liquid if canned) and diced beef in the pan. Add the soup. When it’s bubbly, add the sour cream. Serve over egg noodles.

posted by Cass on Oct 10

#1. Pasta. How do you tell when it’s done? Do you cook on medium or high?
#2. Deep frying. What kind of oil do you use?
#3. Grilling. Do you grill on foil or directly on the grill?
#4. Share a recipe that involves cooking something two different ways.Example, for lasagna you might fry the meat and bake the whole dish.

1. I time it, and also it smells. I cook it on high, but sometimes, I turn ot off and just let the hot water do it’s thing. That buys a little time if the sauce or whatever is a little slower getting done than you thought.

2. Canola. The end.

3. On the grill.

4. I guess that would be rice stuffed chicken. Cook flavored rice on the stove top, and then shove it into a chicken. Bake the chicken. Viola, dinner! No one said it had to be a complicated recipe!

posted by Cass on Oct 6

Boy, am I glad this week for a full pantry and freezer. Times are tough all over, and we didn’t have much money for restocking this week. That’s not a huge issue, because I’ve been shopping the good deals, and also, there is still a lot of food left from Angel Food. A little milk and oatmeal, and I can eek us out for another week, and we can eat well without taking out a personal loan for food.

Learning to shop frugally is an ongoing adventure for me. Right now, we are spending between five and six hundred dollars a month. 6 months ago, we were regularly spending between eight and nine hundred. I’ve shaved the equivalent of a auto loan payment off our grocery choices, just by making better decisions in the store. We are eating healthier and we are eating a better variety, and we are doing it for less. I’m really happy with that, and I haven’t even started using coupons yet! I said yet, because I do plan to start using them as soon as I make myself sit down for a few minutes and figure out how to start getting my hands on the Sunday paper for less than 2 bucks a week.

You may notice some repeats on this weeks menu. There were several nights last week where we had something off the “official” menu. Both of my older girls like to cook, and so if they have something they want to make, I let them do so, as long as we have the ingredients. This week’s menu is a little more rigid, since we will be using up the tail end of the frozen foods. That’s ok, because I will be going shopping this coming weekend. I don’t know exactly when, since we have football all day Saturday, and I have church on Sunday morning and I am singing in a talent show on Sunday night. Anyway, here’s the menu:

~pintos (these are already cooked and the famfam says they are delish. I started them before I left for the day yesterday, just adding a large can of diced tomatoes, about half a cup of dried cilantro and a bit of salt to a pound and a half of pintos, then cooking all day in the crockpot.)

chicken on a can
ribs
chicken and pastry
fried catfish
burritos

Hey, here’s an question for ya. How do you think the recent bailout will affect food prices? I know at first glance it seems like the two are unrelated, but I’ve found that everything effects food prices in one way or another. Is the government’s 700Billion dollar attempt at saving the banks a good thing for the people? Or do you think more families will be needing debt consolidation just to afford the basics? And if they do need it, will they be able to get it with the tighter strictures on lending?

posted by Cass on Sep 5

That’s right, ya’ll! You heard me correctly. And it cooks in the crock pot, so you don’t have to steam!

You will need:
4 chicken thigh, approx. cost $2.55
1 20 count pkg small flour tortillas, approx cost $1.90
salt and pepper

Throw the chicken thighs in the crock pot around lunch time, on high, with salt and pepper and just let them cook. And cook. And cook.

About half an hour before you plan to eat, take the thighs out of the pot, get out your tortillas, and cut them into 8 sections each.

Deal them into the pot (just like cards, LOL) one piece at a time, stirring after each stack is added.

Now, remove the skin and bones from the thighs, shred the meat (if you need to–it will most likely fall right apart) and add the meat back to the pot. Cook until the tortilla pieces thicken up, adjust the seasonings to taste, and serve. Yumm!

Now, I am not going to lie and tell you that this chicken and pastry tastes just like your Grandma’s. Or even your Mama’s. But it is pretty tasty, it’s fairly easy and quick, and it’s filling. And also, very, very cheap. This recipe fed my family of nine, with broccoli on the side, and we had leftovers.

posted by Cass on Aug 15

Ok, I hope you are ready. I told you you would need:

2 pounds of pinto and/or black eyed peas for around $4
A hunk of salt pork (or bacon ends) for around $3
Rice, 5 pound bag for around $3
Tortillas for around $2
A bag of precooked sausage patties for around $4
A chub or roll of sausage for around $2
Shredded cheese, 2 cups for around $2
Sour cream for around $2

I’m estimating prices, and I am estimating high. Like, Rachel Ray, spices are freebies, but you’ll need salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, and thyme. So, we are coming in under $25 and I can feed my family of 9 at least three times, and there will be some sausage patties and rice left, along with sour cream.

So, the first day, around noon, wash your beans and put them in a pot with the salt pork. Cover them in fresh cool water and bring them to a hard boil. Let them boil maybe five minutes and then turn them down to medium. Let them simmer for several hours. Check the water now and again so they don’t cook dry. When it is time to eat, cook enough rice to serve with the beans, and also one sausage patty per person. Just before you serve, season the beans to taste with the spices listed above. You can discard the salt pork as well, unless you can afford the fat and calories. This is meal one.

For the second meal, fry up the chub sausage, and make sure it’s in small pieces. Heat up the beans and mix them together. Heat your tortillas and spoon the mixture into them, about 1/3 cup for the small tortillas and top with a little sour cream and a bit more of the bean and sausage mixture. That is meal two.

Meal three (and possibly four) are repeats of those two meals. We love the Mexican food around here, so we chose the tortilla option for lunch on the third day. Yum, yum!

To get the absolute most use out of the $25 you spent, add some eggs and a loaf of bread to your shopping list. Then you can serve scrambled eggs and toast along with the remaining sausage patties for breakfast one day.

I think that would bring us up to 4 meals for 9 people for $30 or less.

posted by Cass on Aug 12

That title will make much more sense if you read it like Hank Jr. used to sing the lead-in to Monday Night Football, back when it was still played in Monday nights. However, I refuse to digress about FOOTBALL today, for crying out loud, so let’s get on to the point.

I made my menu and shopping list yesterday, and the dinner menu includes:

sloppy joes
BBQ sandwiches
manicotti
stuffed peppers
tacos
hunters chicken
meatloaf
chicken parmigiana
pork chops
enchiladas
chicken and rice casserole
spaghetti
salmon
steak

Sound good to you? I’ll be talking about some of it over the next couple of weeks. Provided I can chisel out time to get to the grocery store. Otherwise, it’s going to be PBJ until we’re ready to gnaw off our own arms!