Meatloaf Muffins.

Meatloaf: An inexpensive versatile meal that is sure to please. I read a lot of Old cookbooks, My great aunt sent me a huge pile of them. Many of them come with instructions on how to be a "perfect housewife". I am positive that meatloaf served with canned fruit cocktail and a green (beans or salad) at least 2 times a week in the 50's. Any way. Here is what I did. Remember, I hate to measure and my family is strange.

1lb lean ground beef (I actually only had 80/20 here which worked great but I suppose you could go much leaner or even use Bison)
1 Carrot
1/2 of an onion
1 Large Garlic Clove
About 1 TBSP Oregano
2 good pinches of celery seed (or if you have celery on hand add it instead, (I would say 1 stalk would be sufficient)
3/4-1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup ketchup mixed with 1 1/2 TBSP of Worcestershire sauce)
Salt and pepper to taste

(Funny note, no one says Worcestershire sauce right, except for My husbands Cousin who is of course from London. Except he calls it sauce, apparently it is automatically known that when you ask for sauce that is what is given)

Preheat oven to 350

So Because my family is stranger than strange I grate all vegetables so that they have no idea of the contents of what they eat, sad but oh so true.
With a cheese grater (largest holes) Grate your onion (and celery if you are using stalks instead of seed)
With the small holes grate the carrots and garlic

In a skillet with a small amount of butter (or olive oil) saute the veggies until they are completely tender.

While those are cooking get your meat ready Add your meat, egg, 1/4 cup ketchup, salt, pepper, oregano, celery seed (if using) and bread crumbs.

Add your sauteed veggies (it is best if you let them cool so you don't cook the egg or meat and you don't want to burn your hands ;) Live and learn baby, live and learn)

Mix together well but do not over mix, the more you handle it the greasier the meat will become.

Grease your muffin tin I got 8 muffins out of this. Make small balls and press them gently into the cups of your tin. Top each one with a generous amount of the ketchup/Worcestershire sauce mix.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350
I topped 3 of mine with a colby/jack cheese (after they were done I cut the oven off and popped it back in until cheese had melted) and I wish I had topped them all!

Loveocado

Avocado. You either love it or hate it. There is no in between. Well me, yeah I love it!

This meal will serve two if you do this with both avocado halves.

I have been absent from the blogging world because I have been cheating on blogger with pinterest, I have an addiction. :) Recently this pin has been floating around It is a baked egg in an avocado. Well if you know me you know I can't do anything by following instructions I have to make it mine! (and you should too!) I saw this as awesome potential. So here is what I did. I baked my egg and avocado (per instructions) but then popped it under the broiler to get that "crisp" outside but ooey gooey inside...

I prepared my bacon drained and crumbled it. In a skillet just before the egg was done I put the teeniest dab of olive oil and threw my minced garlic in there until tender (don't burn it!!!) once it was done I turned off the heat added 2 diced cocktail tomatoes and one large leaf of basil chopped and the crumbled bacon, removed it from the heat and swirled it around so that the tomatoes juice just started flowing (not to slimey though- yuck) topped my Eggvocado then topped with some fresh paremsan cheese.

Let me tell you, it was amazingness.

Cinnamon Struesel Muffins

So my Cousins came in to stay with me for a few days. I Feed 'em pretty good I think :) We had leftover chili with Chips Thursday night and Seafood Alfredo last night (recipe coming soon). Then last night while we were talking one said how she loved cinnamon struesel so I made a mental note and this morning got to work.

These were so moist and good warm right out of the oven with a tad of butter.

Streusel I eyeballed most of this. (see I told you I eyeball a LOT)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 pads of salted butter (about a TBSP each)

Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2-2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (I actually used a healthy pinch of kosher salt)
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled a bit
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, beaten

Heat the oven to 400°F with the oven rack in middle. I used liners but you could just use your muffin tin but spray or grease them generously

Streusel
Combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork or like me use your hands until the mixture is coarse crumbs (some will be larger than others)

Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

Mix the milk, melted butter, vanilla, and egg in another bowl Make a well into your dry ingredients and Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, only mix until the flour is moistened, scrape down the sides of the bowl, batter will NOT be smooth.

Divide the batter into prepared muffin tins then top evenly with the struesel topping.

18-20 minutes until greatness is done (or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, we really need an abbreviation for the toothpick method.)

potato cakes Breakfast for under $3

Potato cakes. Man these things take me way back. I loved having mashed potatoes with supper because I knew mom would make Potato cakes for breakfast in the morning. I would (as a child) smoother it in ketchup luckily my palate has matured a tad now :)

For potato cakes you need Left over Mashed potatoes (I had oh about 2 1/2 -3 cups left over) 1 egg beaten About 1/4 - 1/2 cup flour (plus some for light coating), salt and pepper to taste and optional diced onion (they are really good with onion in them but I used my last one in chili last night) *to make these gluten free substitute flour for rice flour or your favorite blend, lightly coat the potato cakes in either your flour blend or corn meal)

In a bowl combine your potatoes beaten egg, salt and pepper and about 1/4 cup of flour (add it a little at a time) you want it to get a little thick but it will still be sticky.

on a shallow pan or plate have flour ready for coating (season this with a bit of salt and pepper as well). With an ice cream scoop, scoop some potatoes and place in the flour plate shake around coating the entire ball.

In a skillet heat about 1 tbsp of oil (I used vegetable oil today some people use shortening or bacon grease but I am trying not to die of heart failure) Place the coated balls in the heated oil and

gently press down into "cakes"

Do not flip until a golden "crust forms" (don't do this on high gear medium heat is sufficient) Flip them once.

Place on platter (with a paper towel if you wish to drain them).

Fry an egg to put on top

Or top with Cheese and sour cream

The potatoes are leftovers so they are actually free the eggs are only about 10 cents each you could even use a little bit of sausage to patty up some mini patties you don't need a lot because the potato cakes are very filling!

This meal is easily made for under $3.

Pork chops, taters and peas Under $10 for 4 people

Tonight supper will be simple. Monday nights are dance nights for the girl so it is always busy and rush rush. Every time I say pork chops I go back to that Brady Bunch episode where Peter was trying to talk like Humphrey Bogart and Says "pork-chops and applesauce".



I hit the meat mark-down day at the local grocery store and scored a pack of thin cut center chops (5 total) for $3
As I mentioned before my husband likes the boxed/fake taters so tonight he wins, I scored big time with catching them on sale and having a .50 coupon that doubled. I always keep canned peas on hand, this is not cost effective because J likes those silver canned ones, ya know the ones that are like $1.69 EACH CAN...but you can save by using frozen or even store brand.


There really is no rocket science to this meal. I soak the chops in buttermilk for at least 2 hours (don't have buttermilk? make your own, 1 TBSP of lemon juice or vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup add milk to make 1 cup let sit 5 minutes.) I happen to have some bread crumbs that I made from left over crust that the kids (and I) don't eat. If you don't have any you can purchase it fairly cheap or dry out a few slices of bread in the oven. I mix a little salt, garlic powder, pepper and sometimes a tad of oregano or thyme, whatever I am feeling like at the moment. I pan fry them just long enough to get the crust golden then finish them off in the oven (350 for a few minutes the thin ones don't take long at all).

Tonight Betty crocker is making my potatoes, it cost me about $1.00 total to use that and it is super quick.
If you want to make them from scratch here is what I do. I peel (if desired) and slice the potatoes not to thin but not to thick about 1/4" or so, you can dice them too if you don't want to be all precise. Grate or dice one onion. Put the onion and potato in a large pot with salted water and a tad of milk, boil until ALMOST TENDER. put the parboiled potatoes in a casserole dish, salt and pepper and fresh grated cheddar cheese and some evaporated milk (I usually use about 6 large russet potatoes and just about an entire can of milk) If you don't have evaporated milk you can use regular milk. (or you can also make a roux in a pan with butter and flour then add part of your cheese and milk to that and pour over your taters and top with more shredded cheese, I find both ways are great but one is less time consuming)

The peas, well there isn't much to talk about there, dump the can into the pot, add some butter, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar let them get hot. However if you want to get all fancy and technical you can add a little cream (or half n half) and some flour you can even throw in some of those cute little frozen pearl onions too.

The youngest (the picky one) will eat the pork chops because I will lie and tell him it is a chicken nugget, we will make him eat the peas, there is no way around that one. Any suggestions on making peas fun?

Today my entire menu was:
Breakfast for the kids Scrambled eggs (4) .50 slice of toast with butter .30
My breakfast was one egg scrambled with a bit of onion, garlic and green olives. .30

Lunch:
1 PB&J (for the picky one) .50
1 box of Mac and cheese for The girl and I to split and have a serving left over. $1
J packed so he had left over beef stew and saltines (no cost since it was left overs)


Snack
cookies and fruit cocktail $1.75

Supper:
See above So the entire day cost less than $15


Tuesday's tentative menu:
Breakfast: dutch baby with strawberries
Lunch: grilled cheese with Carrots and ranch dip
Snack: fruit
Supper: crockpot Turkey breast (applewood smoked) Mashed potatoes and green beans.
The turkey breast will leave left overs for sandwiches and the mashed potatoes will leave left overs for potato cakes.

Wednesday's tentative menu:
Breakfast: Potato cakes and sausage
Lunch: Turkey sandwiches
Supper: Chili

Pizza Night

When money wasn't so tight pizza night was an every week ordeal that we all looked forward too. Me because it was simple, them because, well duh, it was pizza. With these menu ideas you can keep that pizza tradition but now it is more cost effective, still simple and much more fun. There is no better way to get your kids involved in the kitchen then having a pizza (or taco night) allowing them to top their own little pizzas and you pop them in the oven. They will gobble them up because 1. they helped and 2. well duh, it is pizza :)


Stromboli this will feed 2-3 adults or 2 adults and 2-3 toddlers

Refrigerated Pizza dough
Can of tomato sauce seasoned with basil and oregano (if using this add a tad of garlic salt to the sauce before using) or favorite marinara
Cheese (mozzarella)
and your favorite pizza toppings Pepperoni is the most popular here but I like mine with lots of veggies and sometimes bacon (cook and crumble the bacon first).

Roll your dough out and spread the marinara on the dough leaving one inch on each side spread your cheese and toppings on half the dough leaving one inch on the sides, fold the dough half with only marinara over the half with toppings pinch edges shut. Grease a cookie sheet and set Stromboli on the pan, prick holes in the top for steam to escape and bake on 350 for 15-25 minutes

Mini Pizza
One can of mini biscuits
Marinara sauce
Cheese (and any other toppings)

Flatten the biscuits with a rolling pin add marinara, cheese and toppings and cook according to can instructions, watch them closely because the time may be 2-3 minutes less than suggested.


Pizza bites
One can of crescent roll dough
Marinara sauce
cheese and any other toppings you like, I find that the diced pepperoni or ham work best in these

Before rolling your crescent rolls according to the package directions add your sauce, cheese and toppings to the widest end, roll, bake according to the package instructions

Calzone

1 loaf of frozen bread (double to feed 4-5 people, 1 loaf is enough for 2 adults and 2 (picky) toddlers)
1/2 lb of your favorite meats (deli meats such as ham, salami or pepperoni work best)
about a half a cup of marinara sauce
Shredded cheese

Roll loaf out until it is about 8" by 12"
Layer the meat down center (length wise 12" side)
Top with cheese
Fold in the two short sides about a half an inch
Roll (so that the roll is the size of you long side)
Bake, seam side down on a greased baking sheet @ 375° for 20 minutes or until browned
You should get 8 pieces per roll, serve with the warmed marinara sauce

*tip When adding these items to your menu you can purchase cheap spaghetti sauce for $1 or less (store brand) Freeze into 1/2 cup containers so that you don't waste it and it is always there for a quick meal.

Dutch baby with fruit for under $4

This is a great Sunday morning food. It is super cheap and so so easy, I had forgotten about this little dish until I saw it on Food network the other day.

If you are familiar with popovers then this will look super similar.

The best thing about these are you can make them your own. Top them with whatever you want. Fruit and Powdered sugar are my favorite toppers.

We have a nice little strawberry patch out back and Strawberries make the perfect topper. Blueberries are another fave with a bit of lemon zest but sometimes blueberries can be expensive!

The rule to this little beauty is 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of milk for each egg.

So here is what I do.

First make sure your pan is cast Iron OR Oven safe!

3TBS butter (.25)
3 Eggs (room temp) (.30)
3/4 cup whole milk (room temp) (.25)
3/4 cup flour (.14)
Heaping (and I mean heaping, don't be shy now) TBS of sugar (negligible)
2 tsp of Vanilla I eye ball it (you will find I am famous for "eyeballing") (.25-.50 depending on your vanilla quality/cost)
a pinch of Kosher salt (I always use kosher or sea salt but a pinch of table salt is fine as well)(negligible)
Fruit of your choice (assuming it is out of season we will say 2.00 a pint for berries)
Lemon (.33)
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat your oven to 400°

Place your butter in your skillet on medium- med/low heat (or stick it in your preheating oven) to melt the butter in the pan. This will grease your pan and melt the butter to be placed in your dutch baby batter. Now you can do this by hand if you want to but if you want to do it the easy way, pull that blender out (or food processor) Add everything but the butter and blend on medium speed until uniform. (if mixing by hand combine your milk and eggs first then add your other ingredients making sure to mix out all the lumps) Now grab that butter, swirl it around in the pan to coat it all and then pour into your batter, whisk to combine. Pour mixture into the pan and place in oven. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until puffy in the middle and golden brown around the edges.

While it is cooking prepare your fruit. You can use any fruit blueberries, strawberries, apples (baked), peaches.. Whatever is in season and that will cut your cost immensely. With berries, zest the lemon and add half the juice to the berries sprinkle with a tad of sugar. When it is done, pull it out of the oven and dust it with powdered sugar, cut into pizza like slices and top with the fruit of your choice. The possibilities are endless and the reward is, well so sweet.

You can change up the dutch baby by changing your extract, try lemon extract topped with blueberries, or maple extract topped with baked apples, or even with chopped nuts and drizzled with caramel. Don't like fresh fruit? Top it with some nutella or just some pancake syrup.

Want something more savory? use maple extract and serve with sausage patties!

You won't be disappointed and neither will your family!

I will be making this twice this week so be sure to check back and see the pictures of this baby!!