(15) Minute Meal Thursday: Mashed Potato Chowder

Good afternoon, my dear friends! I finally have my computer back, and am so happy for that. I'm used to typing on Mike's computer, and now, to have a working keyboard, is like, crazy. I have to retrain my little fingers. I've just gotten over a cold, and I'm so happy to feel better. Yesterday, Dylan said "mama", which is great. He's also still getting his first tooth. I went for an invisalign consultation today, and the place I went was a total scam. They get you in there with a teaser rate, and then tell you it's twice as much. So that was really disappointing, but I mean, hey, it's not the most important thing in the world - or even close to it. It just sucked that I had to go alll the way out on the C line from the North End!

I'm kind of doing a "swan" type thing with myself. Since being pregnant and having the baby, my looks have kinda gone down the drain, so bit by bit, I'm trying to fix everything. I'm trying to eat less now that I'm done nursing, also. ANYWAYS!

Who wants a 15 minute amazing recipe? I bet you do! Guess what? Even if you don't, you're still gettin' it!

This is a recipe I invented to use up leftover mashed potatoes!

Mashed Potato Chowder
serves 6
you can easily half this to serve 3...or 2 very hungry little piggies

3 T. olive oil ($.36)
6 stalks of celery chopped, about 2 c. ($.60)
6 medium carrots chopped, about 4 c. ($.75)
1 medium onion ($.07)
4 cloves chopped garlic ($.08)
1 T. salt ($.02)
1/2 t. black pepper ($.03)
2 t. dried oregano ($.12)
2 t. dried basil ($.12)
2 T. red wine vinegar ($.12)
4 c. leftover mashed potatoes (it depends on how much you paid for your potatoes, but mine cost $2.00 plus milk and stuff $2.25)
4 c. milk (organic - $1.48)
1 c. water ($0.00)

Total is $6.00. That's $1/serving! It's sooo good!

1. Chop carrots, celery, onion, and garlic.
2. Over medium low heat, heat olive oil + salt + pepper + garlic + onion + carrots +celery + basil + oregano until onions and celery are softened (about 10 minutes). Keep covered, so that the moisture doesn't evaporate...if you keep the top off, the veggies will stick to the bottom. The steam that drips down keeps them cooking!
3. When the veggies are softened, add the red wine vinegar and allow it to simmer off for a moment. Help the veggies deglaze (get all the browned bits off the pot) by stirring them!
4. Add the mashed potatoes, milk, and water. Stir to smooth.
5. Over medium heat, cook until heated through.
6. Serve! Mmm, mmm...

scrimpyTips:

- Add crisped bacon or frozen corn to the soup. So amazing!

- This would be good with some fresh dinner rolls. The ones I make are $.15 each. I know, I know, I promised the breadmaking tutorial, it's coming this weekend!!!

(10) Minute Meal Thursday! Pizza Time!

This week's meal was going to be $5 Organic Red Bean Pasta, but that takes too long (as I figured out today), so that's going to be tomorrow's Freezermeal. Instead, I will share with you how I make my amazing pizza. It's soooo good. And quick. And cheap. What more could you ask for from a 3 ingredient (3 main ingredients) meal?

Pizza Pizza

serves 2 piggies 3 normal people

(I'd add a salad for 3, though - I could eat this by myself, but that's not saying much. I ate a large domino's philly cheese steak pizza by myself once - minus one slice)

1 Trader Joe's Premade Pizza Crust, room temperature ($.99)

1 c. organic crushed tomatoes ($.99)

1/3 lb. mozzarella cheese, cut in thin slices ($1.43)

1 T. olive oil ($.12)

1 t. salt (<$.01)

1/2 t. black pepper ($.03)

2 t. dried oregano ($.12)

Total is $3.69, nice!

1. Preheat oven to 500. If you're using a pizza stone, leave it in there to get it nice and hot.
2. When oven is preheated, take out pizza stone if using one, or just use your pan, and spread the dough out.
3. Pour olive oil over the top, and spread with your fingers all over the dough.
4. Pour crushed tomatoes on top, leaving an inch all around without tomatoes for crust.
5. Top with slices of cheese, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t. black pepper, and 2 t. oregano.
6. Bake at 500 about 7 minutes, or until crust is light golden brown.
7. Cool , serve, and enjoy!

scrimpyTips:

- This really works best with white dough. I used to try to be virtuous and use whole wheat, but it's just not the same. I buy store bought because it's so easy and I only save, like $.20 by making my own, and it never turns out quite right...

- I buy pizza dough and just freeze it that way I always have one in the freezer ready to go. I had the mozzarella cheese left over from the vegetarian lasagna of last week's Freezermeal Friday, and the tomatoes left over from the extra sauce I made to top it. So with 2 cans of sauce and 1 lb. of mozzarella, I made a lasagna, spaghetti and sauce, and a pizza. Nice! (I know my lasagna needs a whole pound of mozzarella, but I use 3/4 because I don't like a lot of cheese - I just know other people do!).

- If you only have whole tomatoes, just crush them in your hand before adding them on top of the dough.

- Add any toppings you like, we just love it plain!

- This makes a good, cold, leftover lunch.

- Trader Joe's is the best place to buy your pizza dough, both plain and whole wheat are $.99

What are your favorite ways to top your pizza?/Does anyone have a tried and true pizza crust recipe?

(30...well, 35) Minute Meal Thursday!

Hey all! Cooking while Dylan is awake is always a challenge, so I usually wait until he goes down at 6 to prepare dinner for Mike and me. However, with the time change and the summer coming up, we've been trying to keep him up later, so that we can enjoy him more. This means I'm stuck cooking dinner while he's awake (unless I've prepared it throughout the day, which I sometimes d0). There are tons of meals you can throw together in 30 minutes on a weeknight that are both satisfying and healthy. The following recipe for lentils and rice is a great example of that!

Mike and I eat dinner around 7 or 8 because it's enjoyable to sit and relax once the baby's down. With the baby staying up later, quick meals are great because I can put them together in almost no time at all, and still be eating at a reasonable hour. A little aside: Mike and I started eating later when we started putting Dylan down at 6, but it's turned out to be a great little change to our routing. Eating dinner later causes us to be too full to snack all night, saving us calories and money! Nice.

I found this recipe online, but I think lentils take a little longer to cook than 30 minutes...I guess we'll see...I'll tell you the result after the recipe, because I'm writing this while it cooks. How do I know it will be good? No clue, but I'm sure it will be. Hopefully.

Lentils and Rice

makes 8 servings

1 lb. lentils (organic - $2.39 - WFs)

1 t. salt (<$.01)

1 1/2 c. dry brown rice (organic - $1.20 - WFs)

1 medium onion ($.07)

4 medium carrots, finely chopped, about 2 c. ($.64 - organic)

2 cloves garlic ($.04)

1 1/2 T. olive oil ($.36)

1 t. salt (<$.01)

1 dash black pepper ($.01)

1/4 t. red pepper flakes ($.02)

1 t. dried basil ($.06)

1 T. red wine vinegar ($.06)

1 t. salt for brown rice water ($.01)

Total is $4.88. That's mostly organic and serves 8 people. Lentils are also amazing for you. That's $.61/serving, which is so cheap for an organic meal.

1. You're going to need 2 pots of boiling water. One medium-large one that can accomodate 1 pound of lentils. The other pot can be smaller, it's for the rice.
2. Fill one pot with 10 c. water and the other with 3 c. water 1 t. salt, set both on high.
3. When the water boils, add the lentils to the big pot, and the rice to the small pot.
4. Turn lentils to medium heat and rice to a low heat.
5. Simmer the lentils until tender (about 35 minutes) and the rice until cooked (about 30 minutes).

To make the vegetables:

1. Chop onion, and finely chop carrots and garlic.
2. Add 1 1/2 T. olive oil to pan over medium heat.
3. Let oil heat, and then throw the carrots, garlic, onion, basil, 1 t. salt, dash black pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried basil.
4. Cook until onions are translucent and carrots are tender. Leave a top on if possible, as this keeps the moisture in the vegetables.
5. When lentils and rice are done combine them with the vegetables and add about another 1 t. of salt, or to taste.
6. Serve and enjoy!

This is a great recipe. It's delicious as a vegan or vegetarian main dish or a side dish to meat or fish. We ate it as a main dish with a small spinach salad. Taste before serving and add more salt if necessary.

scrimpyTips:

- This is great for a cold lunch salad.

- This can be made with barley and short pasta.

- Mushrooms would be really great in this. I may buy some and add them in tomorrow.

- This is a good make ahead, just prepare the rice and add premade lentil-vegetable mix.

Sorry this is a 35 minute meal. It's worth the extra time, though! Let me know what you think :).

(20) Minute Meal Thursday!

Ok, so I am trying to get the 20 Minute Meal thing down, and it's a journey, I'll tell you that much. I think from now on it'll be "Minute Meal Thursday" and it will be either a 20 or 30 minute meal. I'll specify in the post title. Does this make sense?

When making a pasta dish, I'm confused...do I count the 10 minutes it takes to boil the water? I say yes. I'm going to include that time. So the timer starts when the water goes on the stove. During the time it takes the water to boil, I prepare everything. And during the time it takes to cook the pasta, I cook everything else. The 20 Minute Meals are mostly pasta dishes, but I plan to come up with some other ones, too, that aren't pasta based...those might fall into the 30 Minute Meal category.

Anyways! This week's 20 Minute Meal is Linguine with White Clam Sauce.

***I use 2 cans of clams, because the cans go on sale for $1.25 quite often at CVS and Stop & Shop...You can use either 2 cans of clams, or a can of clams and a bottle of juice. I like to use 2 cans of clams to keep the cost down. To make this serve 6, add another half pound of linguine and another can of clams. Usually I don't calculate the price of a meal using the sale price (because I don't know when you'll be able to catch the sale) but in this case I do. This is because this meal is inexpensive to make when I buy the ingredients on sale, but is almost twice as expensive if you pay full price for the ingredients. That defeats the purpose. So, I recommend you make this once you get your hands on some sale clams...Otherwise be prepared to pay over $7 for this meal.***

deby's Linguine with White Clam Sauce

serves 4

-2 cans chopped clams (I use Snow's, because they go on sale 4/$5 at CVS and S&S, so stock up then for this quick pantry meal) ($2.50)

or

-1 can chopped clams and 1 bottle of clam juice ($1.25 + $2.99 = $4.24)

-2 T. olive oil ($.24)

-1 T. butter ($.09)

-1 T. dried parsley ($.18)

-1 1/2 T. fresh chopped garlic, about 4 cloves ($.08)

-1/2 t. salt (<$.01)

-1 dash black pepper (<$.01)

-1/2 c. shredded romano cheese ($.73)

-1 pound linguine ($.99)

Total is $4.83 (2 cans of sale clams) or $6.57 (sale clams + bottled juice) depending on how you make it. That's $1.21-$1.64 per serving. Not bad. I originally had the pasta @ 3/4 lb, but I think it needs to be a pound. I've adjusted the recipe accordingly :).

1. Put on large pot of water to boil. While the water boils:
2. Slice 4 cloves of garlic, and add them to a pot with the olive oil, butter, salt, parsley, and pepper.
3. Cook garlic over medium heat until it's *just* fragrant and a tad bit golden, then add the juice from both cans of clams (or the bottle of juice and the juice from the can). DO NOT ADD THE CLAMS NOW (they will get chewy and tough if cooked too much). Bring pot to a simmer and then turn down to low, cover it, and allow it to cook (you're really just warming it and allowing the flavors to marry...you're not cooking anything).



4. The water should be boiling, so add the linguine.
5. When the linguine is almost cooked (after around 8 minutes of boiling), add the clams to the sauce and warm through. Then turn it off.
6. Drain pasta and ladle the sauce over the linguine.
7. Top with grated cheese.
8. Sit down to dinner and talk about how great the pasta is.

scrimpyTips:

-This is best served with fresh italian bread or a baguette

-This is great leftover

-This is a quick, pantry meal. You should stock up on clams and clam juice during sales so you always have these ingredients on hand. This is Mike's favorite, and it's SO easy (he could probably make it himself...but I doubt it)

-To make this serve 5 or 6, cook the whole pound of linguine (or a little extra, too, if you're all men) and add another can of clams to the mix

-This sauce is so flavorful, especially with the addition of cheese, that all you need is a nice ladleful of sauce over each bowl of pasta.

-This sauce welcomes the addition of some spice from red pepper flakes. Feel free to add in a pinch along with the oil, salt, garlic, and parsley.

-This is a good freezermeal. Just cool to room temperature, ladle into freezer bags, and lie them flat in the freezer. When you're ready to eat it, just put it in a pot to reheat, and serve over fresh pasta.

-This is a good make-ahead meal. I made it this morning, and will reheat it and serve it over fresh pasta later. Then I will post a picture for you!

This meal is a favorite in our family. Every time I come home, my Mom and I make white clam sauce (or plan to make it and never get around to it). Anyways, it's a delicious, simple, affordable meal and it couldn't be quicker to make. I hope you enjoy!

Stay tuned for a post on how to freeze your own fruits and vegetables later. Oh! And keep your eyes open for Freezermeal Friday tomorrow!

xo

Taylor

Sausage Skillet Recipe (made with $2.99/lb fresh sale sausage at Whole Foods)

DISCLAIMER: This is a 20 Minute Meal (17, actually!).

As promised, I've written a recipe using the amazing sausage that's on sale at Whole Foods this week (until Tuesday). This can obviously be made with any sausage, but Whole Foods makes their's fresh, and it's just about the most beautiful sausage I've ever seen. I don't even really eat meat, but this stuff is top of the line. I always take sausage out of the casing before cooking with it, and this sausage just has huge chunks of fresh pork in it. It's actually really impressive, and I never even knew that this is what sausage is supposed to look like. Plus, they're huge. They're 6 oz. each, which is the equivalent of two normal sausages.

awesome price

awesome sausage

So, since these are such a steal, I decided to use them in 2 recipes. If you're a sausage person, I would buy a few pounds of these and freeze them. They'd be great on the grill. We chose hot, but they have sweet and herb, as well. These are originally $4.99/lb and are on sale $2.99.

The recipes I've written are Hot and Spicy Sausage Skillet and Sausage, Mushroom, and Bean Meatloaf. I will share the first recipe, but not the second one (meatloaf). The meatloaf was good, but I haven't perfected the recipe yet. The point is, you can buy a pound of these sausages, a pound of mushrooms, and a can (or 1/3 bag dried) of beans and make 2 dinners that serve a bunch of people.

Hot and Spicy Sausage Skillet
serves 5-6 hungry adults

12 oz. spicy sausage (about 2 1/2 c. for those without a scale - 2 links from WFs - $2.24)

1 c. organic red beans ($.55 - TJs)

3 1/2 c. quartered white button mushrooms ($1.50 - Haymarket)

2 T. olive oil ($.24)

2 cloves sliced garlic ($.04)

1 t. salt (<$.01)

1 t. dried parsley ($.06)

1 t. dried basil ($.06)

1 dash black pepper (<$.01)

4 c. organic whole wheat penne ($.85)

Total is $5.50 for a meal that serves at least 5. That's $1.10/person. Not bad.

1. Bring large pot of water to a boil, with 2 T. salt.
2. While that heats up, quarter a 10 oz. package of mushrooms, which will yield about 3 1/2 c. mushrooms. Quartering means cutting into 4 chunks. Not 4 slices. I should've taken a picture of that, sorry. It's like cutting a cross in the top of the mushroom. OK. It's not that difficult. Also, while the water is heating:
   Squeeze the sausage out of the casing into bite sized chunks. Also:
3. Slice 2 cloves of garlic.
4. Add 4 c. penne to boiling water and stir.
5. In a LARGE skillet, over medium high heat, add 2 T. olive oil and let it get hot for a second. Then add in the sausage chunks, salt, parsley, and basil, and brown over medium-high heat until cooked (6 minutes or so).
6. Once cooked, add mushrooms, garlic slices, and beans, along with 2 ladlefulls of pasta water. Let it simmer over medium-high heat while the penne finishes cooking.
7. Once the penne is done, add that to the skillet (about half of the pasta water should've evaporated and cooked the mushrooms) and toss (still over medium-high heat). This helps the pasta absorb the sauce.
8. Serve and enjoy.

scrimpyTips for this recipe:

- You can use chicken or turkey sausage also.

- This would be delicious with some fresh grated cheese on top.

- You can make the sausage topping ahead of time, and then just reheat it with some pasta water. Toss with fresh pasta and you're good to go.

Ten Minute Meal Thursday...ok, like 15 (but that doesn't count the time it takes to boil the water...this is active prep time)

UPDATE: I've added pictures, and changed a couple of things...the cheese was a tiny bit more expensive than I had thought, so I updated the price, and the meal took a little over 10 minutes. That doesn't count the 5 minutes the water takes to boil, though. I'd prep the garlic and tomatoes while the water boils.

Here's the first Ten Minute Meal Thursday Recipe. I'm trying to incorporate a sale item from the area, which would be the organic cherry tomatoes over at Shaw's. Stay tuned next week for another Ten Minute Meal using the $2.99/lb pork sausage at Whole Foods!

Tomato Basil Toss
serves 4

- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes ($2.99 organic on sale @ Shaw's starting 2/27)
- 2 T olive oil ($.24)
- 2 cloves garlic ($.04)
- 1 t. dried basil ($.06)
- 1/2 t. salt (<$.01)

- 1 dash black pepper (<$.01)

- 1 lb. whole wheat or plain spaghetti or linguine (organic whole wheat @ Trader Joe's $1.29)

-1/2 c. grated fresh Romano cheese (I really don't know exactly what this costs, since I haven't bought it in so long, but I'm pretty sure that at TJs it's around $9.00/lb which would make a half cup (which weighs 1.3 oz) cost $.73)

Total: $5.37 for a mostly organic dinner for 4! Not bad.

1. Put on pot of boiling water and salt it well (with, like, more salt than you'd think, about 2 T./pound of pasta).
2. Slice garlic cloves into thin slices and cut tomatoes in half.
3. In a large (preferably nonstick) skillet, heat garlic, oil, basil, salt, and pepper all together at the same time on medium low (if you add garlic to a hot pan it will burn on the outside and stay raw on the inside). You could sprinkle in some red pepper flakes here if you're looking for spice (1/4 t.)
4. Your water should be boiling now, so put in the whole package of pasta.
5. Once garlic is just barely golden, add the tomatoes. Cook for about 3 minutes over medium high heat, or until they start to soften a bit.
6. Ladle out 2 or 3 ladlefulls of pasta water into the skillet and allow that to simmer together on medium until the pasta is done.





7. When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the skillet (turn off heat), tossing to coat with tomatoes and oil and such. You can add the cheese during this final toss, or add it to each bowl after it's served.

scrimpyTips:

- If you garden in the summer (I'm doing containers on the fire escape!), this is a great go-to meal. It'd be even better with fresh basil from the garden :).
- Reserve some of the pasta water, and if the pasta looks a bit dry try adding another ladlefull of pasta water.
- Taste this before taking it out of the pan, the recipe may under-do the salt. I figure everyone has different taste and you can always add a bit more in the end (however, it's always important to try to season your food to your taste while it's cooking, because salting something while it's cooking brings out and enhances the natural flavors of ingredients, whereas adding salt at the end mostly tastes salty).
- This is delicious leftover and cold, perfect for a microwave free lunch
- You can slice the garlic and tomatoes beforehand and store them separately so they're ready to go when you are
- This is easily made vegan with the omission of the cheese

- Add the cheese in very last, if you add it in while the skillet is hot it gets stringy

The next Thursday meal is going to be a 20 minute meal. I'm going to include the time it takes to make the pasta...10 minute meal is actually a little misleading...