ThriftyFun Recipes - September 26, 2005

Does anyone know how to remove a wine cork without a corkscrew? Not the end of the world if I can't open it, but i am curious if anyone had any ideas.

Thanks,
Jodi

Post Feedback: Click Here

Thrifty Variety for my Work Lunch

I get bored with lunch, I need thrifty ideas and variety.

Lucy from West Covina

Post Feedback: Click Here

Baked Corn Dogs

I had a recipe for baked Corn Dogs lost it. If anyone has it I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Annette from ME

Post Feedback: Click Here

New Contest - More Prizes!

We are giving away 17 $25 prizes in a variety of categories.

Tip Contest!

To enter, visit: http://www.thriftyfun.com/contest.ldml

Photo Contest!

To enter, visit: http://www.thriftyfun.com/photo_contest.ldml

Contest ends October 31, 2005

Today's Recipes

Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza For Your Family
By Brandie Valenzuela

Making homemade pizza can be intimidating to some parents, but it really doesn't have to be. I know, some of you may be saying, "Why bother? Just dial up Pizza Hut and they have it here within the hour!" True, in our family, we do have pizza delivered about once a month, but I like to save money and recently I was pleased when my daughter and I had the following conversation:

Daughter: "What's for dinner tonight?"
Mom: "Pizza."
Daughter: "Homemade or delivered?"
Mom: (thinking that she was hoping for the delivered pizza) "Homemade."
Daughter: "YAY! COOL!"

Now that made me feel great! As I create our homemade pizzas that night, I knew I was making something that would not only save me a small fortune, but was something my family would be impressed with.

The last time I made my homemade pizza, I didn't buy much in extra toppings, but just used what I had in the fridge. Our local grocery store had a 2lb. block of Precious Mozzarella Cheese on sale for $4.99. I shredded the whole block up with the help of my son and used every bit! We made four large pizzas and one small one (I bake my pizzas on cookie sheets). At my best guess, I would assume that these five pizzas cost me no more than $8-$10 to make -- which would include the cheese, sauce and dough makings, and toppings.

You may be saying, "I don't need to make five pizzas for my small family." Well, neither does our family (there is only four of us), but I always make a large batch and I freeze the leftovers. As a matter of fact, right now I have two large whole pizzas in my freezer that are ready to be placed on their cookie sheet and baked -- talk about saving time!

One of the best ways to save money when you are making your own pizza is to make your own pizza dough. I don't really follow a recipe for it, but I will share a pizza dough recipe that I have used and it is very similiar to how I do mine, except that I would at least triple this recipe.

Basic Pizza Dough

1 1/3 warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt

Grease two 14-in. pizza pans or equivalent. In a cup or small bowl, mix the water and the yeast and let stand for 5 minutes. Add sugar and let stand until mixture is foamy on the top. Mix in flour and salt. When mixture begins to form a ball, remove the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for 5 minutes or until smooth. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let stand for 2 hours or until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough. Pat and stretch the dough onto your greased pans. You may need to let your dough "rest", if it keeps wanting to shrink back. Top with your pizza sauce, cheese, and other toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Pizza cannot be complete without pizza sauce. I usually prefer to make my own, but on occasion, I have used a jarred pasta sauce. Here is an excellent recipe so that you can make your own pizza sauce:

Brandie's Pizza Sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups water
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
Garlic powder, salt & pepper, sugar to taste

In a bowl, mix all of the above ingredients thoroughly, excluding sugar. If you find the sauce to be too tangy, add small amount of sugar. Makes about 3 cups of sauce, which should be enough for two 12 - 14-inch round pizza pans or 1 large size cookie sheet.

Now on to the fun part! I have made a variety of pizzas for my family during the years. If Domino's or Pizza Hut have it on their menu, I have probably made it. Here is a list of the type pizzas I have made often and how to make them:

Plain cheese: Just sauce and shredded cheese!

Pepperoni: Just sauce, shredded mozzarella, and pepperoni!

Hawaiian Pizza: Spread sauce on dough, top with shredded mozzarella, pineapple chucks (I used Dole's Fun Shapes..there are very small and the kids like the fun shapes), and sliced ham luncheon meat.

Bar-B-Q Beef: I cook one pound of ground beef with one small onion (chopped). When done, we stirred in our favorite bottled bar-b-q sauce. I then spread this mixture on top of the dough and topped with shredded cheddar cheese.

Mexican Pizza: I spread the top of the pizza dough with refried beans, and then topped it with shredded cheddar cheese. After baking, I added some drained (and patted dry) diced, canned tomatoes and shredded lettuce and served immediately.

Stuffed Cheese Crust: If you would like to make your pizza with a cheesy crust, just put string cheese on the edges of the pizza and fold and seal the dough over the string cheese. Continue around the edges of your pizza.

Veggie Pizza: Top your dough with sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, and an assortment of vegetables. Anything will do, but some ideas are: sliced bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, sliced black olives, and small broccoli trees.

Chicken Pizza: Do you have some leftover chicken breasts from another meal? If so, dice up the chicken and use it as a topping.

Meat Pizza: If you love meats, this is the one for you. Just use any or all of the following: cooked ground beef, cooked bacon pieces, cooked sausage, pepperoni, ham, etc.

Nacho Pizza: Spread your dough with a nacho cheese sauce, top with shredded cheddar cheese and sliced jalepenos.

Bacon Cheeseburger: Top your dough with sauce, and then the following: cooked ground beef, cooked bacon bits, and cheddar cheese.

Dessert Pizza: Spread dough with your favorite pie filling. Using apple? Top with a streusel topping. Using cherry? Drizzle with icing.

Alfredo Pizza: Get rid of that traditional tomatoe-based sauce! Spread your pizza dough with some delicious alfredo sauce, top with shredded mozzarella.

Of course, the above are just an example of the type of pizzas you can make. Every person in your family has their favorites, so just ask them what kind of pizza toppings they would like...I am sure they will answer you! Another idea is to invite the kids into the kitchen and have them help you with the preparations. Children love to create pizzas and this is the kind of meal that no one can mess up -- there is no "right" way to add the cheese and toppings!

So, if you have never made homemade pizza before, I hope my tips have inspired you. If you have made it before, I hope that you learned a new idea or two, but most of all, I hope that you have learned that pizza making isn't for a gourmet cook, and that any parent can learn to save money by making their families favorite meal, and not calling out to the local pizza parlor!

Brandie Valenzuela is a wife and homeschooling mom of three, who loves scrapbooking, cooking, and spending time with her family. In her spare time, she publishes "HomeMade Living", a popular weblog for mothers, at http://homemadeliving.blogspot.com

Homemade Pizza

This pizza may be adapted to be vegan (as long as the vegan eats yeast).

Ingredients:

Pizza dough
Red sauce (you can just use any spaghetti sauce for this).
Toppings: Pineapple, green pepper, etc..
Mozzarella cheese (optional)
Corn meal

Make Pizza dough in to a flattened circle.

Place dough on pizza spatula that has corn meal on it. Or on a pizza pan with corn meal on it.

Place a blob of red sauce in the middle, then proceed to smooth it out towards the edge leaving approximately 3/4 inch at the edge.

Now place mozzarella cheese covering everywhere there is sauce, if you are omitting the cheese skip to the next step.

Place your toppings on the pizza, remembering the pizza will be cut into triangle so you want to place more toppings on the edges rather than the center.

You will want to use a pizza stone to place your pizza on in the oven. Before putting the pizza on it you will want to place some corn meal on top of the stone so it will be easier to remove ( add corn meal on hot stone right before you are ready to put the pizza on it otherwise it could burn.

Instead of a pizza stone you can also use a pizza pan.

The pizza stone needs to be preheated with the oven, the pan does not.

Preheat oven 425 degrees.

Once preheated place pizza in the oven for 15 minutes then check if the bottom of the crust is brown if not leave in a little longer.

When crust is lightly brown take out of the oven, cut and serve.

Post your favorite homemade pizza recipes below.

Post Feedback: Click Here

Pasta with Olive Oil and Pine Nut Sauce

Ingredients:

Pasta- any kind, I like to use penne.
3-4 tablespoons (Tbsp) Olive Oil (Enough to liberally cover bottom of pan).
1/3 cup pine nuts.
1/2- 1 Onion.
2 cloves Garlic or one heaping spoonful of minced garlic (The kind in the jar).
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning, dried basil leaves or fresh basil leaves (Optional).
Black pepper to taste
1/2- 1 Zucchini (Not cucumber).
1/2- 1 Yellow squash (looks like zucchini but yellow).
1/2- 1 Green pepper

Bring large pot of water to a boil, once boiling add pasta, cook until soft.

Once pasta is done drain water.

Heat olive oil on Medium heat. Add Garlic before pan heats up.

Once pan is heated up add onion, cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add Zucchini, squash and green peppers.

Sprinkle on Italian seasoning and black pepper.

Cook until vegetables are tender.

Add olive oil sauce to the pasta, and serve.

Post Feedback: Click Here

Fruit Smoothies

Smoothies are a great way to start your morning, they help give you the energy you need plus 75% of your fruit serving for the day.

Ingredients:

1 Banana.
3/4 cup frozen fruit (Strawberries, mixed berry, peaches etc.)
1/2 cup of yogurt, complimentary flavor.
1/2 cup soy milk or regular milk.
1 Tbsp flax seed oil (optional, gives you your omega 3 and 6)

Note: If you do not have yogurt or milk you can use juice in their place.

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If it is not moving very well add more milk.

Post Feedback: Click Here

Simple Vegetable Fajitas

Ingredients:

Tortillas.
Cheese.
Sour Cream (optional)
Gaucamole (optional)
Green, Red, Yellow and/or Orange Bell Peppers thinly sliced.
Onions thinly sliced.
1/2 to 3/4 cup Salsa.
1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp Vegetable, corn, peanut or canola oil.
Can of Refried Beans.

Heat a thin layer of oil in a pan on medium high heat.

Add Onions and Peppers, cook for 5 minutes.

Empty can of refried bean into small pot on Medium heat, cook until beans are heated completely.

Pour Salsa on top of vegetables in pan cook until vegetables are tender and soft.

Grate cheese.

In a separate pan or same pan wiped out, thinly coat bottom of pan with oil on Medium high heat.

Place tortilla in pan when tortilla starts to bubble turn over, should only take 30 seconds or so.

Instead of cooking tortillas in a pan you can also heat tortillas in the microwave, approximately 30 seconds.

It is best to serve fajitas as a buffet. Take a tortilla and fill with a little refried beans, a little vegetables, cheese and sour cream, salsa and/or gaucamole.

Post Feedback: Click Here

Herb Garlic Bread

Ingredients:

French bread.
1/2 cube of butter.
2-3 Cloves Garlic or one spoonful of minced garlic, or 1 1/2 teaspoons (tsp) powdered garlic.
1/2- 3/4 Tbsp Italian seasoning.

Heat oven at 275 degrees.

If butter is hard, Place in a small bowl and put in microwave for 14 seconds until soft but not melted.

Add Garlic to soft butter, Mix.

Add 1/2-3/4 Tbsp Italian seasoning.

Cut French bread in half the long way.

Spread Garlic butter on both sides of bread.

Place bread back together and put in oven after about 5 minutes separate both sides so butter is facing up.

Bread is done when butter is melted

Post Feedback: Click Here

Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit your request here: Click Here

Today's Sponsors

Coolsavings.com

FREE grocery coupons and more at CoolSavings! Click Here!

http://www.thriftyfun.com/lk/cools.lasso

More Stuff

Coupon Swap!
Swap coupons with other ThriftyFun.com users:

Seed Swap!
Swap seeds with other ThriftyFun.com users:

Tip Contest!
Submit a tip and enter our contest.

Submit a Request
Frugal solutions to everyday problems.

Search ThriftyFun!
Use Google technology to search ThriftyFun.

Jump to Feedback | Post feedback