ThriftyFun Recipes - March 25, 2009

Thank you Sandy, Coreen, Robin, Deeli, Raymonde, Lorimay and Tony for today's tips and recipes!

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Recipe Requests:

• Saving Money on Nuts
• Sugar is Too Moist
• Frozen Tomatoes Have Changed Color
• Making Mini Cream Pie

Today's Food Tips:

• Stretching One Meal Into Five
• Add Vegetable Oil to Hard Boiled Eggs
• Video: Easy Potato Peeling

Today's Contest Recipes:

• French Chicken Marengo
• Coconut Drops
• Lettuce Soup
• Mixin', Mixin' Chocolate
• Caribbean Cod Meal for Two

Robins's Recipe Corner:

• Texas Monkey Bread
• Three Vegetable Casserole
• Cream Cheese Salad
• Beef Bake
• Easy Taco Salad

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Saving Money on Nuts

Tips and advice for saving money on nuts. Do you have any advice to share? Feel free to post it below.

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Sugar is Too Moist

My sugar is too moist. What can I do?

By leclerc from Canada

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Frozen Tomatoes Have Changed Color

We have two bags of frozen tomatoes from the 2007 season that have turned quite dark in color? Would you use them? They don't have any odd smell but we are a little worried.

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Making Mini Cream Pie

When making a mini cream pie, how do you lighten up the caulk that is used for the topping? I would like it to be a little bit fluffier.

By Doris from Moline, IL

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Stretching One Meal Into Five

This is one of those meals that keeps on giving and changing into something new. It's the way I have been using roast beef. We love a good roast!

1. The first night, cook it as a pot roast, using plenty of water and some onions, potatoes, celery and carrots. Season well. I like Cajun seasoning, but salt and pepper are great.

2. The second night, slice it thin and serve it next to mashed potatoes and green beans.

3. The third day, have it for lunch. Make a sandwich with good whole wheat bread, guacamole and thin slices of beef. Have an apple on the side. Low cal and

4. The fourth day, you should be able to pull it apart after all that heating and chilling. Shred and put into warm tortillas. Add cheese, salsa and whatever you like for tacos. Or, saute some onions and peppers and wrap them with the meat in the tortilla and serve as a fajita. Sour cream is nice, but so is plain yogurt, so use what you have on hand.

5. This night, there are only scraps left, but still plenty of broth in the pan. Thicken the broth with a mixture of flour and water, then add a little milk if you want. Taste it for seasoning. Stir in the little bits of roast beef, scraping up the browned pieces on the bottom of the pan, and serve over a slice of bread or a biscuit alongside potatoes (which enjoy a bit of gravy on their own) and maybe some corn with butter and salt. Sometimes I mix in a tad of sugar if the corn isn't very sweet on its own.

That is how two people made five meals out of one roast this week, and didn't get tired of it even once.

By Coreen from Rupert, ID

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Add Vegetable Oil to Hard Boiled Eggs

Add a little vegetable oil to the water in the pot when boiling eggs. The shells absorbs just enough of the oil so that the shells then slide right off!

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Video: Easy Potato Peeling

I just received this tip from a friend who sent me the youtube website. It is a real time-saver for peeling potatoes, especially for potato salad.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Wash potatoes and score around the center with a sharp knife. Drop the potatoes into the boiling water and let cook for about 15 minutes. Remove potatoes from boiling water and put them into a bowl of ice water, one at a time, for about 10 seconds. Remove from cold water and pull the skins off from both ends.

Source: Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island is in this video on youtube.

By Sandy from Elon, NC

Here is the video:

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French Chicken Marengo

This rustic French dish was created to celebrate Napoleon's victory at the battle of Marengo in Piedmont, Northern Italy. After the battle Napoleon's troops sacked the countryside for chickens, plum tomatoes, oranges and local wine. This is the dish that Napoleon's chef came up with. If you can use authentic ingredients, it will add a touch of fun for your guests if you tell the story:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marengo

Make The Marinade:

Take 1 Tbsp. olive oil, the juice of one freshly squeezed orange (not from a carton of any kind), half a bottle of dry Piedmont white wine (or similar), 1 Tbsp. of runny honey, salt and black pepper. Work these ingredients together and smear all over 4 skin on chicken quarters in a bowl. Cover with cling film (cellophane wrap) and set aside somewhere cool (not the refrigerator) for two hours.

Prep The Herbs, etc:

You will need a good long sprig of fresh rosemary, five or six fresh leaves of sage, a small bunch of basil and two bay leaves. Strip the rosemary and chop roughly, tear the sage leaves into halves, roughly chop the basil and break the backs of the bay leaves. Put all but the bay leaves into a bouquet garni.

The Dish:

Into a deep pot, chop an onion and one clove of garlic per chicken quarter (or guest) and gently saute in olive oil. When the onions are clear, turn the heat right up and add the pancetta, fry for half a minute then add the chicken. Season the chicken now before it browns. Fry the chicken by constantly but gently moving it around the pan until it has colour all over. Now add two cans of Italian peeled plum tomatoes and all the juice. Roughly break the tomatoes over the meat.

Add about a third of a bottle of dry Piedmont red wine and stir until the sauce covers all the chicken. Now hang your bouquet garni into the sauce and add the bay leaves directly to the sauce.

Put a lid on the pot and simmer very gently for two hours turning the chicken occasionally. Just before the end of cooking add the zest of half an orange.

Serve in deep bowls with French bread and the two half bottles of wine you have left!

Tips

This is the authentic, original recipe. Don't be tempted by "cook book" versions of this recipe which tell you to use skinned meat, half the flavour comes from the fat in the skin seeping into the sauce. Also never be tempted by false version that tell you to use mushrooms (very nasty!) or not to use white wine in the marinade and red in the sauce. Lastly, there are numerous versions of this recipe around which don't even bother with the marinade stage - try mine then theirs - then write mine down.

Guilty tip - it's actually even better when re-heated the next day if left overnight in the pot.

Source: My mother!

By Tony from Birmingham, UK

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Coconut Drops

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 3 ounces sugar
• 4 ounces Self Rising Flour
• 3 oz. butter
• 3 oz.coconut

Directions

Beat egg and sugar together, add melted butter, add coconut and flour, mix together. Drop in teaspoonfuls on oven tray.

Oven bake at 350 degrees F. until golden.

By Lorimay from Perth, Western Australia

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Lettuce Soup

Ingredients

• 1 small head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 4 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• pinch Marjoram
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup skim milk

Directions

Clean and dry lettuce. Remove tough stalks and chop leaves into long thin strips. Bring chicken stock to boil and add vegetables. Simmer about 10 minutes. Add milk, lemon juice and seasonings. Heat but do not boil. Serve immediately.

Source: A friend, Judy

By Raymonde G. from North Bay, Ontario

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Mixin', Mixin' Chocolate

Pronounce it "chock-o-lata"!

Is there anyone -especially children-who doesn't love chocolate? My grandchildren are little chocoholics and love making this simple recipe with me.

Ingredients

• 3 dark chocolate squares
• 3 white chocolate squares*
• 1 - 12 oz. can of Spanish peanuts
• 1 Tbsp. Crisco

Directions

*I use CandiQuick from Food Lion. Melt the dark and white chocolate squares in a microwavable bowl. Put the peanuts and Crisco on top of the chocolate squares. Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes.

Remove from the oven and stir (mix) thoroughly. This is where the "Mixin', Mixin' Chocolate" chant comes in. We keep repeating the phrase as we stir it. I do the initial mixing and then let them have a go at it. Next, spoon out in teaspoon serving sizes onto wax paper and cool. I stick it in the freezer to speed up the process.

While the kids are waiting, I give them the bowl and a couple of spoons that we've stirred with and turn them loose. Soon you will have some chocolate covered, giggling children and homemade candies for them to enjoy. My fun is in watching them dive into the bowl that has been purposely not scraped too clean.

Store the candy in the refrigerator to keep it fresh. (You may not have to worry about storing it!) It is the easiest candy I've ever made and an inexpensive way to entertain your little ones.

Source: A friend whose mother had taught her to make it passed it along to me.

By Sandy from Elon, NC

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Caribbean Cod Meal for Two

Quick and easy. A tasty, healthy meal with just a smidgen of effort and time. And, of course, you can bake instead of microwave. ;-)

Ingredients

• 2 small cod fillets
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 cup red onions, diced
• 1 small tomato, cut into 8 wedges
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 2 tsp. virgin olive oil
• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced
• 2 lime wedges
• Rice or Baked Potatoes

Directions

Place cod fillets in a small microwavable casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place onion and tomato on cod. Sprinkle with lime juice and oil. Loosely cover and microwave on High until fish flakes easily with fork, about four or five minutes.

Serve cod and tomatoes with avocado, lime wedges, and rice or baked potatoes.

By Deeli from Richland, WA

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Texas Monkey Bread

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. dry yeast
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 lb. melted butter

Directions

You need 3 separate bowls. Dissolve yeast in small amount of lukewarm water. In another bowl, mix eggs, sugar, salt and 1 cup water. In third bowl, pour boiling water over shortening. Combine all ingredients and add 6 cups flour. Mix well and let rise for 1 hour. Knead until good consistency. Pinch off in small balls and roll in butter. Place in tube pan and let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Brush with butter before and after baking.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Three Vegetable Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. frozen lima beans (10 oz.)
• 1 pkg. frozen broccoli (10 oz.)
• 1 pkg. frozen cauliflower (10 oz.)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cheddar cheese soup
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1 pkg. French fried onion rings

Directions

Precook lima beans for 3 minutes. Pour the boiling water from them over the broccoli and cauliflower; drain well. Layer the lima beans, broccoli and cauliflower in a 9x9 inch pan. Mix mushroom and cheddar cheese soup and milk. Pour over vegetables. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees F. Put onion rings on top and bake 10 minutes more.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Cream Cheese Salad

Ingredients

• 1 can pimientos
• 2 pkgs. cream cheese (4 oz. each)
• 1 can crushed pineapple (drained)
• 1 pkg. lemon gelatin
• 1 large pkg. Cool Whip
• 2/3 cup chopped nuts (opt.)

Directions

Dissolve gelatin in drained pineapple juice. Let partially set. Cream pimentos and cream cheese. Add crushed pineapple and partially thickened gelatin mixture. Fold in Cool Whip. Refrigerate.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Beef Bake

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. beef chuck (1 inch thick) cut into strips
• 1 envelope onion soup mix
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 pt. tomatoes and juice
• 1 Tbsp. steak sauce

Directions

Place meat in a roasting pan, mix and add all ingredients and pour over the top. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for about 2 hours or until tested done. Serves 6-8.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Easy Taco Salad

Ingredients

• 1 head lettuce
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 bottle (8 oz.) Catalina dressing or Creamy Italian dressing
• 1 can pork and beans or chili beans (8 oz.)
• 1 bag taco flavored Dorito chips (crushed)

Directions

Cut up lettuce. Cut tomatoes into bite size pieces. Chop onion and shred cheese. Mix together all ingredients; add dressing and serve.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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