Summer Meal Series #9: Tuna Melts!?

This summer, I’m going to be posting a series of fifteen low-cost, tasty, and easy-to-prepare meals that are literally straight from my own kitchen.

After returning home from two weeks of vacation, my wife and I planned out a very nice summery meal that would have made a great post for the Summer Meal Series. It required one key portion of the meal – either a pork shoulder or a few chicken breasts, depending on which way you wanted to go – to cook all day on low in a crock pot, then be used at the end of the day.

Yesterday morning, my wife and I woke up and planned out our day. She volunteered to get the pork shoulder cooking in the crock pot, after which we’d spend a pretty typical summer day at our house. She went downstairs, put it on to cook, and went on about her business.

That evening, we pulled the shoulder out of the crock pot and began to shred it with forks, which was part of the recipe (don’t worry, I’ll likely use it again near the end of the series!). We both noticed that this piece of meat had to be the toughest piece we’d ever met – it simply was not tearing apart at all.

Then Sarah realized what had happened.

Instead of setting the crock pot to cook on low all day, she set it to merely keep food warm all day. The shoulder we had in front of us was warm but completely uncooked. And, naturally, because raw pork had been sitting warm all day, it was a health hazard and had to be tossed out.

It’s now 6:45 PM. Our children are getting very hungry for supper and we want to get something tasty and kid-friendly on the table as quickly as possible. What do we do now?

We brainstormed. In about two minutes, we took a lightning-fast inventory of the refrigerator (remembering, of course, that we were pretty low on food since we had just returned from a two week trip) and the pantry. And we came up with a plan.

Tuna melts, with side dishes of sweet potato fries and a salad.

As we were preparing this substitute meal, Sarah suggested that I write about this entire endeavor. “Why not? These kinds of things happen sometimes in the kitchen, and we are coming up with a quick and fairly tasty substitute that isn’t just calling for delivery.”

We had the full meal on the table by 7:10 PM. Here’s what we did (I don’t have as many pictures as normal, of course, because we were running on extremely pinched time).

The ingredients for the tuna melts were simple. Buns, tuna, mayonnaise, tomato, pickles, and cheese.

All you do is take two cans of tuna, toss the contents of the cans in a bowl, and add a bit of mayonnaise. The amount you add is really up to you – the more you add, the runnier it will make the sandwiches. Then, swipe two teaspoons of pickle juice from the pickle jar and add it to the mix. Stir, stir, stir.

We then sliced up two tomatoes. On each sandwich, we put a big teaspoonful of the tuna mix, a slice or two of tomato, and a slice of cheese. These made for nice little sandwiches.

We then wrapped the sandwiches in aluminum foil and baked them in the oven at 375 F (about 190 C) for 10 minutes. In the end, we just had a plate of wrapped sandwiches on the table.

What about the sweet potato fries? Whenever we get a bargain on a bunch of sweet potatoes, we pre-make them into batches of sweet potato “fries” that our family loves. All we do is slice them lengthwise into quarter-inch fry shapes, then soak these fries in water for 30 minutes. When they’re done soaking, we pat them dry and put them into freezer bags in small bunches, freezing them.

When we pull them out of the freezer, we dump the contents of the bag into very warm water until we can separate the fries. We then dredge them all through a bit of olive oil, lay them out on a cookie sheet, and sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the top. They go straight into the oven under the broiler for about a minute, then we pull out the sheet, flip over all of the fries with a spatula, then put them back under the broiler for about a minute.

Once that was done, we left the fries in the oven to cook while the tuna melts were cooking – 375 F for 10 minutes. They were done perfectly – crunchy on the outside, a bit soft just under the crunchy, and a firm center. (I’m not the biggest fan of sweet potato fries, but my wife and children love the things.)

What about the salad? During the ten minutes that the other items were in the oven, I pulled out a lettuce mix we had picked up on sale at the store for a dollar, put it in a bowl, and put a bit of dressing in the bowl (actually, more than a bit – I poured in more than I intended to in the picture below).

I then added a few pinches of shredded cheese and a few leftover tortilla chips to give the salad a bit of crunch. I tossed it all together with a fork, leaving us a salad.

And that was our meal, from panic to dinner table in about 25 minutes.

It was a hit. Our children liked every meal element, as did my wife. I don’t like sweet potatoes myself, so I merely ate a tuna melt and a big pile of salad for dinner.

Here’s the big lesson to take home: a disaster like what happened at the start of this post is not a reason to order food and pay exorbitant costs for it. Be a little flexible. See what you can put together with what you have on hand. Most of the time, if you’re handy in the kitchen, you can quickly put together a reasonable meal in as lttle time as it would take for the deliveryperson to arrive – and much cheaper, too.

Continue reading Summer Meal Series #9: Tuna Melts!? …

From The Simple Dollar.

July 30, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Packing for a Picnic

Picnic season is upon us. Here are a couple of tips to help make things go more smoothly.

~ Bring a box or picnic basket with non perishable things and a cooler for your cold things.

~ When packing your picnic baskets be sure to pack them in the right order with the things you need first at the top. For example always put your table cloth on the top so you can spread it down first.

~ Your cooler needs 25% ice and 75% food. Place the ice on the bottom of the cooler and the sides if you can. Place the items which are heaviest or can spoil quickly on top of the ice. Be sure to use the smallest cooler you can so it is packed full. Like a freezer the more it is packed the colder it stays.

~ Remember larger chunks of ice melt more slowly.

~ Make it as elaborate or simple as you choose. Remember a loaf of bread with a package of bologna, some fruit and cookies can make just as great picnic memories as a full blown one with the fancy bar b q and all the assorted side dishes.

~ Be sure to bring plastic bags to store everything from dirty dishes, trash, wet clothes to dirty diapers.

It can be frustrating though to arrive at your picnic and find you have forgotten something so here is a list to help you not forget some basics. You can add to it or take away for your own needs.

Matches

Charcoal and lighter fluid

Hand towels or large towel if you are going to be by water. Trust me someone will get wet.

Sunscreen, insect repellent and a small first add kit

Bottle opener

Paring knife

Serving utensils

Condiments, sugar, salt and pepper

Plates, cups, silverware

Paper towels or napkins

Tablecloth, blanket

If you are going to be some place where the kids could get lost then provide them each with a whistle to wear around their neck.

Also don’t forget the baseball bat and an assortment of balls, sand buckets, shovels and Frisbees. What do you need to forget? Hand held electronics things and games. Leave your stress and worries at home. You can deal with them later when you get back.

Last but not least bring lots of sunshine, fun and love.

Jill

Continue reading Packing for a Picnic …

From Living On A Dime Blog » Living On A Dime Blog.

May 20, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Shrove Tuesday on a budget

The most well-known way of celebrating Fat Tuesday in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio is with a Polish donut called paczki. I do have a post on how to follow the paczki tradition on a budget, but … there is another alternative:

Fat Tuesday in other traditions is known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. Instead of stuffing one’s mouth with donuts, you are stuffing one’s mouth with pancakes.

Kids enjoy eating pancakes, and homemade pancakes are a very cheap breakfast or dinner. Just get your favorite pancake mix or recipe, look through your pantry and refrigerator, and think about these ideas:

Pour pancake batter in the griddle so it makes shapes. My mother did this a lot when my siblings and I were little. You can draw letters with a thin pour – or, use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to make shapes after the pancake is cookied.
Add chopped fruit, ground nuts, spices or other flavors to the pancake batter. Over the years, I’ve used ingredients such as mashed banana, applesauce, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon or vanilla in my pancakes. If you want to use chocolate chips, make sure the griddle is non-stick.
Experiment with different toppings. Maple-flavored syrup is a favorite, but what about strawberry ice cream topping, whippy cream, powdered sugar, applesauce, chocolate sauce or cherry pie filling?
The popular side dishes are very flexible and therefore budget-friendly. You can serve pancakes with fresh or canned fruit, sausage, bacon or eggs.
Get inspired by the McDonald’s griddle breakfast sandwiches: Smaller pancakes cooked with maple flavoring can become the “sandwich bread” for a sausage patty.

Do you find it difficult to cook pancakes evenly? The Pancake Lovers site has some cooking tips.

Continue reading Shrove Tuesday on a budget …

From Monroe on a Budget.

February 12, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Have a backup plan for disaster dinners

rotisserie Have a backup plan for disaster dinners
photo by koadmonkee

DEAR SARA: What do you do when dinner doesn’t go as planned? We stick to a strict meal plan. However, we’ve run into problems with it sometimes when something goes wrong and it can’t be fixed. For example, if the meat for the meatballs is bad and I don’t know it until an hour before dinner, then I don’t have a meal for that night. We’re stuck getting fast food. What are your ways of fixing this issue? What have you done in place of your strict meal plan that allows you to keep the price under control? — Tisha, Canada

DEAR TISHA: I’ve ruined dinner a few times through the years. At my house, if one of us wrecks a meal for whatever reason, the other spouse cooks. It’s nice. We always have something else that can be made quickly if something goes wrong. Even if it was a time when we were low on dinner ingredients because we needed to go food shopping, it’s still easy to put together pancakes, eggs, spaghetti without meatballs, soup, sandwiches, etc. Instead of fast food, consider picking up a rotisserie chicken at your grocery store. You can make your side dishes at home.

DEAR SARA: I work for a campground. When my boss was hired, he did away with all the things that had been working for years and started doing activities that interested him and his wife. People just weren’t interested in the things he wanted to do. So he stopped having any activities at all. People ask constantly about them, so in the three years I’ve been there, I’ve been trying to bring back some things on holiday weekends. My winter project is to come up with some fresh, fun ideas.

Here are the my problems:
– NO budget. My boss will donate prizes at times — things such as pool passes, etc. — but there is NO money for supplies, etc. All of that comes out of my pocket, and sometimes my co-worker will pitch in some money. I need a lot of ideas.
– My boss is a fuddy-duddy, and will turn down anything that sounds like fun. So I need a lot of options to throw at him.
– I need things that we can do from my office. With only two of us on duty at a time, we CANNOT leave the office to go out and do things with people. So they need to be options that work without us or things we can do from the office. I need things for kids to do, as well as some family things. — Sherri, West Virginia

DEAR SHERRI: A scavenger or treasure hunt would be fun. You can plan a cooking contest (soup or chili come to mind); potluck or progressive dinner; holiday decorating contest; karaoke or singalongs; bingo or game nights; pet parade; a fashion contest, such as pajama catwalk or crazy hat; murder-mystery games; movie night; craft night; handmade/homemade gift exchange; talent show; swap meet; or clean up the campground.

Continue reading Have a backup plan for disaster dinners …

From Frugal Village.

December 24, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Honor Your Vegetarian Guests At The Holiday Dinner Table – Fuzzy Wuzzy Wednesday

Autumn Harvest Nutritious and delicious meals are important to everyone when feeding a hungry family. However, food is more than nutrition for many people. If you’re like me, cooking a beautiful meal is one of the ways that I show love. Cooking makes me feel good.

Our holiday meals feature a traditional stuffed turkey as the centerpiece of the meal. Then we surround the bird all the fancy fixings. I’ve shared some thoughts last week about how to choose your holiday turkey – if you’d like to read it just click here. Then come on back and I’ll tell you what that post got me thinking about.

As I was writing about choosing a turkey, I thought back on several holiday meals at which we had guests who were vegetarian seated at our table. These guests were wonderfully polite and dug into all the vegetable dishes we had available, and there was quite an array. But, here’s my thought – why should our vegetarian guests be limited to eating our standard side dishes? Why can’t we create dishes that are more appealing, make more of a statement than a plate of, for instance, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes?

This year I am dedicating myself to making ALL my guests feel as special as I feel having them around my table. I’m working on some “bountiful” dishes that will qualify as fancy vegetarian main dishes for our holiday meals. I’ll share what I have so far with you so you can start developing a plan for your own vegetarian dishes.

Lentils & Pumpkin Curry with Apples

1 cup lentils
6 cups water

1 Tbsp. Canola oil
1 large sweet onion, diced

Cook lentils in water gently over medium-low heat for 45 minutes. Drain and reserve the cooking liquid.

Heat oil in large sauce pan, add onion and cook over medium-low heat until onion starts to get transparent.

Add the following ingredients to large saucepan with onion:

1 small can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
pinch of ground cloves
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper

Now, stir in the drained lentils and add 2 1/2 cups of the reserved liquid.

Add the following list of ingredients and continue to cook over low heat until vegetables are just fork tender, not mushy. This should take around 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how low you let this simmer:

2 cups of diced pumpkin (make sure it’s the cooking kind and not the jack o’lantern kind) or other winter squash that you like will be good too.
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes or may like to use red potatoes. Just scrub the potatoes, do not peel, and coarse dice.
1 small head of cauliflower, just the florets only cut into bite size pieces.
1 or 2 carrots, peeled and diced.

Now stir in the following ingredients and let cook for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. Be sure you don’t let this cook too long. You want the greens to be just wilted and the apples to be just fork tender, and not turn into applesauce.

2 tart crisp apples that are a good size. Wash but do not peel. Just core and coarse dice.
2 cups fresh chopped greens (kale, spinach, or what have you). I like kale because it stands up better than spinach does.

Serve in a pretty serving dish on a bed of brown and wild rice.

Here’s how you can make this dish even prettier. Serve it in a baked pumpkin or other winter squash “bowl.” Bake a pumpkin by cutting off the top to form a “lid” and scooping out the seeds and stringy stuff. Set the pumpkin in a baking pan and put a little bit of water in the pan. Place a sheet of foil over the opening in the pumpkin and place the “lid” on the top of the foil. You may want to wrap the “handle” with a little foil to keep it from burning up. Bake your pumpkin in a 375 degree oven for about an hour, but check it at 45 minutes by sticking a fork inside to see if the flesh is soft. Keep the pumpkin bowl warm until your dish is completed.

Here’s another spin on a traditional dish, especially for Thanksgiving.

First Thanksgiving Succotash In Butternut Squash Boats

Wash and cut lengthwise 2 medium butternut squash. Scoop out the insides and bake cut side down on a baking pan with a drizzle of canola oil covering the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes or until fork tender. Remove and let cool.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and saute these ingredients until the onion just starts to get transparent:

1 medium yellow onion diced
1 red bell pepper, diced small
1 green bell pepper, diced small
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Now, add to the large saucepan the following ingredients, and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally:

2 cups frozen baby lima beans
2 cups frozen corn.
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of nutmeg

When the baked squash has cooled down, carefully scoop out some of the flesh from the skins, being sure to leave the shells intact for filling. If that means you have to leave some flesh in the shells, that’s okay. Chop the flesh that you’ve removed and add to the saucepan. Mix together, then scoop the mixture back into the baked butternut squash shells. Top with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.

Place the stuffed squash underneath the broiler (about 6 inches) away and allow to brown, about 4 or 5 minutes should do it.

These dishes are pretty and festive, yes, but more importantly they are main dishes, not sides. These dishes are not an afterthought; they honor your vegetarian guests just like your vegetarian guests honor you by accepting your invitation to share a special holiday meal.

Choosing harvest vegetables, beans, lentils, and colorful brown and wild rice, will give you plenty of opportunities to create dishes that will not only please your guests, but will make you feel good about feeding them!

That is why I chose this topic for Fuzzy Wuzzy Wednesday, because the holidays are all about making our family and friends, and ourselves, feel good inside! I hope you have a great day today and a warm and wonderful holiday season.

Continue reading Honor Your Vegetarian Guests At The Holiday Dinner Table – Fuzzy Wuzzy Wednesday …

From Hillbilly Housewife Blog.

November 11, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Frugal Thanksgiving tips

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where it’s a little hard to figure out how to cut back on expenses.

The traditional menu is not all that expensive to begin with. The bigger headaches for dinner hosts involve logistics (Who’s cooking what? Who’s sitting where? How do I time the bird in comparison to the side dishes? Who’s doing the dishes?).

And there is little that can be done about travel expenses except hope that you can schedule an off-peak day to avoid the congestion. College kids sometimes get a bye and can bail out to a roommate’s or cousin’s home instead of traveling all the way back home (I went to a college roommate’s home one year); but family loyalties usually just have to be worked around.

But there are tips that the frugal living experts can share on how to deal with Thankgiving costs. Most of them involve planning ahead with menus and grocery purchases, rather than leaving the details to the last minute.

BeingFrugal’s Frugal Thanksgiving tips.
SavingAdvice’s Frugal Thanksgiving savings.
The Frugal Foodie’s 10 steps to a frugal Thanksgiving.
Creative Homemaking’s A frugal but elegant Thanksgiving buffet.

This week or next will be a good time to make a list of what foods you are expected to provide, or will be asking others to provide, for Thanksgiving. When the holiday feast sales start, and in my area the weekly grocery sales change over on Sunday or Monday, you want to be ready with your shopping list.

Just before or after Halloween is also a good time to look for any remaining fall / harvest decor or merchandise that may be on clearance while the stores move in the Christmas merchandise. I bought a fall wreath today for $5 that was originally selling for $20.

Continue reading Frugal Thanksgiving tips …

From Monroe on a Budget.

October 27, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Meals for those Really Hectic Days

Last night was one of those nights at Tawra’s house. We had one child’s teacher conference and right after it another one’s concert. As soon as Tawra got in the door with the kids from school it was full gear trying to fix dinner, get homework done, everyone dressed and out the door with dad coming home later from work.

I know I have said it before but it is important to have some quick and easy meals for these kinds of days. Today I will try to be more specific in my ideas.

Make a list of 5 meals on a 3×5 card to keep in your recipe file. They should have all or most of these qualifications.

1. Can be made the day before or early in the day.

2. Have ingredients which can be kept in the pantry or freezer and always on hand.

3. Can be kept warm easily.

4. Are one pot dishes (they are a whole meal in and of themselves, not needing a lot of side dishes)

5. Can be easily served to different people at different times.

6. Doesn’t need a lot of pans to make or dishes to eat with.

Let me give you a list of examples of what I mean.

Chili – This can easily be made the day before or morning of. All the ingredients are kept in pantry and freezer. It uses one pot. One bowl to eat out of and can be kept warm to eat at different times.

Stew – the same as chili

Veggie Soup – the same

Roast, Potatoes and Carrots – This too can be put in the oven or crock pot early in the day and slow cooked. It can easily be kept warm in the crock pot or oven and needs only one plate and is a full meal in and of itself.

Hamburger Casserole – Also the same and you can really use any of your favorite casseroles to do this.

Most of these seem like familiar dishes but there is nothing wrong with that. Did you know most families eat the same 10 meals over and over. Most families don’t really mind. The main object is to have a meal already cooked with very little mess in the kitchen from prep and from dishes used for eating.

You can of course add things like a salad, veggie, bread to the meal if you have time but the whole idea is if you don’t have time you don’t have to add anything at all.

Check out your Dining on a Dime. We have all of these recipes and a ton more plus a bunch of other ideas.

Make your life easier – plan ahead.

Jill

BTW, we have our Menus On A Dime series on sale this week for 1/2 price! Check it out here.

Continue reading Meals for those Really Hectic Days …

From Living On A Dime Blog » Living On A Dime Blog.

October 24, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Freezer Cooking Around The Holidays

I love the big holidays this time of the year, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. In our family we always cook some big holiday meals and I don’t have to tell you that that’s a lot of work, even if you aren’t doing all of the cooking yourself. I started using freezer cooking to allow me to spend more time with my loved ones on the holidays.

Here are a few of the things I make ahead of time and freeze:

Breads and Rolls
There’s just something about homemade bread, rolls, biscuits etc. with a nice holiday meal. Make your dough ahead of time, form your loaves and rolls (or cut out your biscuits) and then freeze them on a cookie sheet. Once they are frozen solid you can toss them in a freezer bag for easy storage. When you’re ready for them pop them in the oven and bake.

Casseroles
Most casseroles freeze well. I would stay away from those containing pasta, but most others will be fine. Prepare and cook your casserole, then freeze. If it has a cheese topping, leave that off. Thaw your casserole in the fridge overnight then bake to reheat.

Pies
I always have a couple of pies in the freezer. I cook them all the way and then just freeze. Most pies can just be thawed on the counter. If the pie has a whipped cream topping, leave it off and add it after the pie has thawed. For pies that taste best warm (think apple pie), briefly reheat them in the oven after they thawed completely.

Remember, it’s easy to make multiple versions of the same dish. This comes in handy when you know you’re supposed to bring a casserole to your mom’s house for Thanksgiving and your sister-in-law’s for the day after Christmas.

I also like multiple versions of side dishes, rolls and desserts in the freezer to go with leftovers. And speaking of leftovers, don’t forget to turn them into freezer dishes as well. No need to eat ham and turkey 7 days a week. Freeze it and use it a month or two from now when you’re actually looking forward to those meals again.
Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife

P.S. As a special thank you for reading this blog and Tawra and Jill’s newsletter, we put together a deal on my popular Freezer Cooking ebook and the recipe collections I’ve developed for it. Until midnight on October 19th 2009 you can get my entire freezer cooking system for 75% OFF (yes, you read that right)
Here’s where you can grab your entire freezer cooking system for a fraction of what you’d usually pay for it.