ThriftyFun Recipes - April 24, 2009

Thank you Jess, Judy, Raymonde, Elaine, Robin, melody_yesterday and Moogie for today's tips and recipes!

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Recipe Requests:

• DeLuca's Restaurant Basil Vinegar Dressing
• Freezing Homemade Cream of Potato Soup
• Marie Callender's Frozen Pie Crusts Instructions
• Homemade Tomato Paste

Today's Food Tips:

• Satisfy Sweet Cravings With Dried Fruit
• Use Wide Mouth Food Saver Sealer With Canister
• Saving Money on Dinner

Today's Contest Recipes:

• Butter Pecan Popcorn
• Swiss Ham Salad
• Homemade Taco Seasoning
• Pound Cake
• Asparagus Sea Bass

Robins's Recipe Corner:

• Chinese Noodle Candy
• A Complete Meal
• Italian Beef (Crock Pot)
• Yorkshire Pudding
• Frozen Fruit Delight Salad

Crafting for Fun and Money!

If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish.

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DeLuca's Restaurant Basil Vinegar Dressing

Anyone have a salad dressing recipe similar to DeLuca's Restaurant in Detroit? I had it yesterday while in town for a funeral and they said they sold the dressing, but I forgot by the time we finished our dinner and headed home. It was a sweet vinegar and oil with basil. It was outstanding!

By Jinzed from IN

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Freezing Homemade Cream of Potato Soup

Can homemade cream of potato soup be frozen? It has cream of celery soup, milk, onion, carrots, ham and potatoes. Thank you in advance!

By jmz2005 from IL

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Marie Callender's Frozen Pie Crusts Instructions

Could someone give me the directions for baking a Marie Callender's frozen pie crust?

DiAnne

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Homemade Tomato Paste

Does anyone know how to make their own homemade Tomato Paste?

By Jetts691 from Granite Falls, WA

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Satisfy Sweet Cravings With Dried Fruit

Satisfy your sweet tooth with simple candied fruit available at your grocers. Or make your own in your oven or dehydrator.

By melody_yesterday from Otterville, MO

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Use Wide Mouth Food Saver Sealer With Canister

I recently purchased a large canister for my Foodsaver on Ebay. It evidently is an older model (the lid has a white knob with a red center) and the hose for my new Foodsaver wouldn't fit on it - much less vacuum seal. I called Tilia and they said they don't sell the old hoses, nor will they sell a new lid - you have to buy the entire canister. So, I thought I'd really wasted my money.

I found out from another ebayer that I could take Foodsaver's Wide-Mouth Jar Sealer, place it over the white knob on canister lid, attach the hose to the jar sealer and then vacuum seal the canister. This works just great - the air is drawn out of the canister through the jar sealer, creating a perfect vacuum seal.

By Moogie from Denton, Texas

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Saving Money on Dinner

Here are tips and strategies for Saving Money on Dinner as suggested by the ThriftyFun community.

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Butter Pecan Popcorn

This tastes just like the popcorn you can buy but without the preservatives. Yum, yum!

Ingredients:

• 8 cups popped corn (about 1/2 cup unpopped)
• 1/4 cup margarine or butter
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup instant butter pecan pudding mix
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup peanuts (optional)

Directions:

Spray roasting pan with cooking spray. Keep popcorn warm in a 275-300 degree F oven. Melt butter or margarine. Stir in syrup, pudding mix and vanilla. Pour over popcorn. Stir well. Bake for 16 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes. Turn out onto foil.

Source: I have had this in my recipe file for years so am not sure of it's origin.

By Elaine from Iowa

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Swiss Ham Salad

Very simple and very tasty. Don't forget summer is coming.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound cooked ham, cut into thick slices, diced
• 3/4 pound Gruyere cheese, diced
• 6 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Romaine lettuce or curly endive
• Finely chopped parsley or fresh herbs

Directions:

Combine ham and cheese in a bowl. Make dressing with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour over ham and cheese; toss lightly. Refrigerate; leave about 1 hour to marinate.

Arrange lettuce in salad bowl. Pile ham and cheese in center; sprinkle with parsley.

Source: A friend Jean

By Raymonde G. from North Bay, Ontario

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Homemade Taco Seasoning

This will season 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of ground meat. I like things really spicy so you may want to half the recipe if you don't.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1 1/2 lb. ground meat
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp. dehydrated onion flakes
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 can of diced green chilies
• salt to taste
• 1/2 a cup of water

Directions

Brown your ground meat (we use venison for our tacos). Add dry spices, green chiles and a half a cup of water. Stir and simmer until as dry as you like your taco meat.

Source: My original recipe from necessity.

By Jess from Wooster, AR

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Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8oz sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 box butter recipe cake mix

Directions

Beat eggs and add sugar. Mix, then add oil, sour cream, vanilla and cake mix. Mix well and put in bunt pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.

Can add pecans, save a little cake mix to coat the pecans.

Source: From a friend

By Judy from Bolivia

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Asparagus Sea Bass

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 lb. sea bass fillets, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
• (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

Toast walnuts in dry skillet over medium high heat 1 to 2 minutes.

Toss sea bass in cornstarch. Coat skillet with nonstick cooking spray and set over medium high heat. Add sea bass and cook for 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove and set aside.

Add garlic to skillet and cook 10 seconds. Add asparagus, broth and juice. Cover and cook 3 minutes.

Return sea bass to skillet and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

By Raymonde G. from North Bay, Ontario

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Chinese Noodle Candy

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. butterscotch bits
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups Chinese noodles
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

Directions

Mix butterscotch and peanut butter in double boiler. Add noodles and marshmallows. Spoon out into small mounds.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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A Complete Meal

Recipe that is exactly what it says! Easy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lbs. ground beef
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 med. potatoes, sliced
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 1 med. onion, chopped
• 1 med. head cabbage, sliced
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 6-8 slices cheese

Directions:

Place ground beef in greased electric skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Layer potatoes, carrots, onion, cabbage and soup over ground beef. Arrange cheese on top. Cook, covered, on medium heat for 1 1/2 hours.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Italian Beef (Crock Pot)

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper
• 1 pkg. onion soup mix
• 1 cup water
• 3-4 lbs. beef roast
• 3 jalapeno peppers (opt.)

Directions

Put in crock pot on low for 18 hours. Can add barbecue sauce, if desired. Serve on steak buns.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients

• 7/8 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 eggs, beaten

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Sift flour and salt together into bowl. Add milk, mix thoroughly. Add eggs, well beaten. Gradually add water and beat until large bubbles appear. Bake in preheated pan with 1 stick of melted butter or margarine (Optional: Use half meat drippings and 1/2 stick butter.) Pour mixture into pan and bake 30 minutes, until crusty and golden brown. Serve in place of potatoes with gravy. Serves 4-6.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Frozen Fruit Delight Salad

Ingredients

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup Dr. Pepper
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 1 cup each of mandarin oranges, maraschino cherries, or fresh strawberries and pineapple chunks, drained

Directions

Blend cream cheese and Dr. Pepper until light and fluffy. Fol in remaining ingredients; pack into containers; freeze. Serve sliced, on salad greens. Serve 6-8.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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