ThriftyFun Recipes - September 3, 2008

Thank you Deele, Rosie, Ellen, Robin, Betty, Susan, Linda, Madaine and Deloris for today's tips and recipes!

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Susan

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Recipe Requests:

• Jelly Is Too Thin
• Recipe For Zucchini Relish
• Buying Frozen Rhubarb

Today's Food Tips:

• Recycle Paper Napkins For Cleaning Up Grease
• Use Your Bread Machine as a Rice Cooker
• School Lunch Tips

Today's Contest Recipes:

• Dilly Beans
• Pumpkin Roll
• Lemon and Garlic Tilapia
• Frugal Meals for College Students
• Easy Chicken and Noodles

Robins's Recipe Corner:

• Fruit and Cereal Brunch Bake
• Tuna Fish Casserole
• Hot, Baked Chicken Salad
• Golden Punch
• Butter Brickle

Crafting for Fun and Money!

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Jelly Is Too Thin

My jelly is too thin, can I recook it? If so, how?

lil lavorato from Lakeside, Ca

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Recipe For Zucchini Relish

Does anyone have a good recipe for relish, using zucchini or tomatoes (like chow chow or similar)?

Mary from Oregon

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Buying Frozen Rhubarb

Can anyone tell me where I might be able to buy some frozen rhubarb? Or fresh would be better. Could it possibly come dried? I live in California's San Joaquin Valley and have searched and searched for rhubarb. It apparently won't grow around here, and I haven't found it for sale anywhere. Seems that Dole used to offer it frozen, but I can find no reference to that at all. Does anyone have any ideas?

wondernana from Clovis, CA

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Recycle Paper Napkins For Cleaning Up Grease

I recycle my paper towels by using them to soak up grease and other liquids that I put in the trash. At mealtime, my husband and I use paper towels for napkins. I felt it such a waste to throw all these paper towels away so I started putting most of them in my recycle bag hanging in the kitchen. Whenever I need to soak up grease, I grab the used paper towels.

After unplugging my George Foreman grill, I place a big wad of wet paper towels in the grill while it is still hot. It softens the stuff that is stuck to the grill and makes cleanup much easier.

To catch the grease drip from our Holland Grill, I put paper towels in the bucket. It beats having to clean that bucket. We even cook sausage and bacon on this grill. When doing this, it takes a lot of paper towels to absorb the grease but I don't have to worry with having a container full of grease to dispose of.

Whenever I fry and have grease left in the pan, I soak it up with paper towels, tie them up in a plastic grocery bag and put them in the trash.

By Betty from North Carolina

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Use Your Bread Machine as a Rice Cooker

It's not thrifty or FUN to have to throw away pot after pot of scorched, gummy, or undercooked rice. But that's just what I was doing time after time trying to get a decent pot of rice cooked. Good rice eluded me! I never cooked a pot of perfect rice on the stove, never, not once. But I did discover something that has worked for me and maybe it can work for you too.

My bread machine that I use almost everyday has a bake only feature that lasts one hour. One day I wondered if I could utilize that setting to steam rice, kind of like those expensive rice machines. I put one cup of rice and two cups of water in the bread pan, fashioned a lid from heavy duty aluminum foil, tucking it around the edges of the pan, and set the machine to the bake setting. It worked! I had made perfect rice for the first time in my life! Was I happy!

Now I have discovered that 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water is optimum for my machine size and I have rice leftover for another recipe. And if I'm careful, I can reuse the foil lid for batch after batch of rice. I let it dry and fold it up and put it in a drawer. I've even diced cooked chicken, and raw celery, onions and carrots and cooked it all in chicken broth the same way. I love my new 'rice cooker.'

Source: My own rice cooking desperation!

By Susan from Omaha, NE

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School Lunch Tips

Tips on school lunches from a pre-K teacher:

1) Invest in cold packs. You can get these at dollar stores. Paired with a thermal bag, the foods you send to school with your child will be protected.

2) Don't over pack. Our kids aren't allowed to trade foods, so what they don't eat is wasted.

3) Pack healthy foods. Kids really don't eat those little packaged lunches as well as they do last night's left overs! If you don't send sweets, they'll eat the good-for-you foods.

4) Again hit the dollar stores for plastic containers you can reuse instead of plastic bags or foil.

By Linda from Fort Smith, AR

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Dilly Beans

Ingredients

• 2 lb. fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
• 4 heads dill
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (opt.)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 1/2 cups vinegar
• 1/4 cup salt

Directions

Pack beans lengthwise into hot pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Add to each pint, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 clove garlic and 1 head of dill. Combine rest of ingredients and bring to a boil. Pour boiling hot over beans, leaving 1/4 inch head space, adjust caps. Process pints and quarts 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Makes about 4 pints.

Let beans stand for two weeks for flavor to develop

By Ellen from Taft, CA

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Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. salt

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 cup confectionery sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Beat eggs and add other ingredients. Pour into cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Sprinkle confectionery sugar on to a dish towel and invert the pumpkin onto it. Remove the waxed paper. Roll up in the towel and let cool at room temperature.

Mix filling ingredients together. Unroll pastry, add filling, roll up again. Slice.

Source: My Niece

By Rosie from Dunedin, Florida

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Lemon and Garlic Tilapia

Most often I am cooking for one so adjust the ingredients to this recipe accordingly. Lightly buttered rice sprinkled with slivered almonds and vinaigrette dressed salad are a nice compliment to this dish.

Ingredients

• 1 tilapia fillet (about 1/3 to 1/2 lb)
• 3 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/4 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped
• Pepper to taste, if desired
• Cooking spray, if desired

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a foil boat with a little non-stick cooking spray.

Rinse tilapia fillet and pat dry. Melt butter, turn off heat and stir in minced garlic and lemon juice. Place fillet in foil boat and evenly pour butter mixture over top of fillet. Sprinkle with parsley and pepper.

Bake in oven until the fish is white and flakes when tested with a fork, 10 to 30 minutes depending on oven and thickness of fillet.

Tastes good baked on the grill, too.

Source: Trial and error. ;-)

By Deeli from Richland, WA

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Frugal Meals for College Students

As a university student, I often founds times tight despite not being one to party like everyone else. I could just never understand why everyone always had money and I was often broke and pinching pennies for groceries. However, when I left school debt free and they spent years paying back credit cards, I was the one laughing!

Here are a few of my university student meals that I still love!

Curried Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• Any short pasta (I used elbow macaroni)
• Fresh stirfry mixes with peppers, broccoli, baby carrots, etc. (I bought these on clearance and usually cost under $2.00)
• Miracle Whip (I bought store brand)
• Curry powder (Which you can get at a bulk store or bulk section of your local grocery)
• Salt and Pepper

Directions

Cook a desire amount of pasta (rinse underwater if you will serve cold). Semi cook vegetables (al dente) (let cool if serving cold). Mix miracle whip, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and enjoy either hot or cold!

Another Good Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• Canned pink salmon (without bone) (1 can usually makes 2 servings)
• Macaroni
• Tomato
• Onion
• Celery and carrot, if you have it on hand
• Salt, pepper
• garlic (optional)
• Miracle Whip

Directions

Cook pasta (rinse with cold water and strain). Dice tomato (about 1/3 cup per serving worked for me). Dice to desired size onion and other vegetables and garlic. Mix together salmon, pasta, vegetables and add Miracle whip to desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Best enjoyed cold.

A Good Sandwich!

Ingredients

• Cubed pork (I always bought the cut offs from the deli and you can usually get 5+ pounds for under $5)
• Onion
• Peppers (if available)
• BBQ sauce (store brand original fine)
• garlic (if you have some)
• Hotdog buns

Directions

Brown pork, add in onions, peppers and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent. Add in enough BBQ sauce to properly coat everything. Let thicken (about 2-3 minutes). Serve on buns.

A Good Way To Stretch A Meal

Not sure if it has already been posted but:

Buy cheesy Hamburger Helper. Buy the cheapest box of mac and cheese you can find. Cook both according to directions, adding onion to hamburger during cooking and a drained can of mushrooms. When cooked, combine and enjoy.

By Madaine from Nova Scotia, Canada

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Easy Chicken and Noodles

Take whatever chicken pieces you want and put in bottom of pan (9x13 inch). Make cream of mushroom soup as you would for regular soup. Pour mixture on chicken. Cook at 350 degrees F until meat pulls apart. Drain and SAVE soup.

Make noodles. When they are fully cooked, add saved soup to noodles. Let noodles and soup cool some as soup will thicken from starch in noodles. Add favorite veggie as a side.

Enjoy! Let me know if you like this or not.

Source: just a simple one I came up with

By Deloris from Delphi, IN

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Fruit and Cereal Brunch Bake

Ingredients

• 1 cup Total or corn flakes
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 small bananas, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup raisins, if desired
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease square pan, 8x8 inch. Mix cereal and orange juice in large bowl; let stand about 2 minutes or until soft. Mix in oil, egg and bananas. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bake 45 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly. Mix together streusel topping and sprinkle evenly over warm cake. Set oven to broil. Brown cake about 5 inches from heat for 1 minute. Watch carefully to avoid burning. Makes 9-12 servings.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Tuna Fish Casserole

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup uncooked noodles
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup flaked tuna
• 1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• bread crumbs

Directions

Cook noodles in boiling salted water and drain. Make a white sauce of butter, flour and milk. Add chopped eggs, fish and seasonings. Pour into buttered baking dish. Bake in 400 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Hot, Baked Chicken Salad

Ingredients

• 4 cooked and chopped chicken breasts
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 onions, minced
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 5 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 package almonds, chopped
• 1 package potato chips, crushed
• 2 cans undiluted cream of chicken soup

Directions

Combine all ingredients. Place in large casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees F until very hot. Use in sandwiches or stuff a tomato with this. Very good!

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Golden Punch

Ingredients

• 1 can pineapple juice (46 oz.)
• 3 packages lemon Kool-Aid
• 1 small can frozen lemonade
• 1 small can frozen orange juice
• 4 cups sugar
• 5 qts. water and ice
• 1 qt. ginger ale

Directions

Combine the first six ingredients. Add ginger ale just before serving. Serves 50. Apricot nectar may be used in place of pineapple juice, if desired.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Butter Brickle

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
• 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, broken in pieces

Directions

Melt the brown sugar and butter in iron skillet. Bring to a boil and stir constantly for 11 minutes. Remove from the stove. Pour over the chopped almonds and chocolate pieces that have been spread on the bottom of a buttered cake pan. When the chocolate is slightly melted, drag a fork through it. Let it get cold. Break into pieces. It is like taffy.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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