Crockpot Roast Chicken. Usually, a whole chicken in the crockpot falls apart on me, but I saw a new method and thought I'd try it. The seasoning was bland so I'll play with that next time, but the texture of the chicken was great. The trick is to crumple up some aluminum foil and put it in the bottom of the crockpot, and put the chicken on top of it, breast side up. The recipe I used called for just sprinkling the chicken with seasoned salt, but it was too bland for us. I'm thinking the sticky chicken spices on it could be really good though.

I also made some do-ahead mashed potatoes. Make your normal mashed potatoes, adding some sour cream and grated cheddar cheese, then put into a casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with more grated cheese and some paprika. Cover and refrigerate until you want to warm it up and bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes or so, until heated through.

These went well with my daughters' favorite cooked carrots. Peel and slice carrots (or use baby carrots) and boil till tender. (Timing depends on the size of the carrot pieces. Drain, then add some butter and brown sugar and stir till melted.

Chicken in Sour Cream Sherry Sauce. Saute 2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts in 1 Tbs olive oil and 1 Tbs butter until browned on both sides, then put them in a greased/buttered baking dish with a lid. Slice up an onion and saute until softened. (You can leave this out if you're not partial to onions.) Put the onions on top of the chicken. Mix together a can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup, 1/3 cup milk, and 1/3 cup sherry. Pour over the chicken and onions. Cover and bake at 325 for an hour. Remove the chicken and stir in 1/3 cup sour cream. Serve over rice or noodles. Note: I've made this without the onions and with a can of sliced mushrooms added and it was equally delicious.

Green Beans with Wine and Garlic. Saute trimmed and washed green beans in 1 Tbs butter and 1 Tbs oil for a few minutes while you peel and mince a clove or two of garlic. Add the garlic and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Add a spoonful of chicken bouillion and 1/2 cup white wine. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 more minutes, until done to the point you like green beans done!

Apple Puff Pancake.

Preheat the oven to 400. Melt 2 Tbs butter in a pie pan in the oven as its heating and swirl it around to coat the edges.

Mix together 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup flour, and a dash of salt.

Sprinkle 2 Tbs brown sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon over the melted butter. Peel and core an apple and slice it thinly. Lay the apple slices down in the butter. Pour the batter over the apple and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Take it out and turn it over onto a serving plate. Cut in slices and serve. Sprinke with powdered sugar, if desired.

Chicken in Sherry Cream Sauce

Tonight's experiment: Chicken in Sherry Cream Sauce. It started as a recipe in Mom's Updated Recipe Box, one of my "used every week" cookbooks. But I didn't have the cream of chicken soup the recipe called for, so used some cream of mushroom instead. Then, knowing one daughter really likes mushrooms, I figured I might as well add a can of sliced mushrooms since I was using the mushroom soup anyway. The smell is already driving us crazy!

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbs oil
1 Tbs butter
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 small can mushrooms (or use fresh and sautee with the onions)
1/3 cup evaporated milk (nonfat evaporated milk works great in recipes like this!)
1/3 cup sherry
1 can cream soup (mushroom or chicken)
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream


Sautee the chicken breasts in the butter and oil until browned. Remove to a buttered/sprayed 9x9 pan. Sautee the onion until soft. (Add the fresh mushrooms if using so they get sauteed as well.) Put the onion and mushrooms over the chicken. Mix up the soup, sherry, and evaporated milk. Pour over the chicken, onion, and mushrooms. Cover and bake at 325 for 1 hour. Remove the chicken and mix in the sour cream. Spoon sauce over chicken. Serve with rice or egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

Kid's Choice: Macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers

Just one girl for dinner last night so I let her pick. Macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers. I defrosted a couple of chicken breasts and cut them into strips and decided to try the recipe in The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet. Mmmmmm. There are several alternatives listed to moisten the chicken before pressing in the bread crumbs. I tried the 1/2 ranch dressing and 1/2 milk and it was great! While the sliced chicken was sitting in the milk/ranch mix I figured I might as well do a few extras and just freeze them. So I defrosted two more chicken breasts. Let them all sit in the mix while the oven was heating, then rolled in bread crumbs. Next time I might try seasoning the bread crumbs with some Parmesan and herbs, but I left them plain this time. I laid the leftovers on a small cookie sheet, not touching, and put that in the freezer. This morning I'll put them all into a freezer bag so I can just pull out a few for snacks or quick lunches or dinners.

Pizza

Dinner last night was Friday pizza - a tradition for many years around here. It used to be takeout, of course, but that is NOT a frugal meal--although delicious. Last night was the best pizza I've done yet, I think. I made a big batch of pizza dough with my dough hook in the mixer. I decided to bake the pizza dough before topping, not completely but just enough so the sauce wouldn't soak in--about 5 minutes at 400 degrees. I used some leftover jarred spaghetti sauce and spread it thinly, then topped with shredded mozarella and sprinkled with some grated Parmesan. I made two pizzas since we had company and left some plain cheese, and did various mixtures of pepperoni, olives, and sliced onions over the rest. Baked about 20 minutes more.

I used jarred sauce since I had some open and leftover from the polenta the other night, but I've often mixed up my own:

Take a can of tomato sauce, put some Italian herbs in and simmer for 10 minutes or to blend it. Suggested seasonings include an Italian blend, or oregano, garlic powder or chopped garlic, red wine...

A can of crushed tomatoes, seasoned as above

In a pinch, a can of tomato paste watered down, seasoned, and simmered

Middle Eastern Chicken Soup

My mom gave me this soup recipe a few months ago and for some reason I just got around to trying it. Delicious! A bit spicy for kids but I imagine you could leave out the cayenne pepper and it would be a hit. She had peas, dill, and lemon juice added at the end if those appeal to you. I'm not a big dill fan, didn't have any peas, and forgot the lemon juice! Her recipe called for raw rice but I had some leftover cooked rice so used that. I used a can of tomatoes because I didn't have a fresh one. Here's my version of Middle East Chicken Soup.

6 cups chicken broth
2 small onion, chopped finely
1 piece of celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup raw rice or 1 cup cooked rice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 large tomato, chopped, or one 16 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice

Simmer the broth, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, cumin, and cayenne (and raw rice if using) and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cooked rice, if using, the chicken, and the tomato and simmer 10 more minutes.

Once a Month Cooking

OAMC = Once a month cooking. If you want to stock your freezer with pre-cooked or pre-assembled meals, The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet is a great resource. From planning worksheets to storage tips, it's packed full of useful freezer information. And so far every recipe I've tried has been winner. Plus I love the format of the recipes! Each recipe's measurements are given in multiple yields, making it very convenient to try out a single meal's worth to ensure your family loves it. Then when it's time for the mega cooking session, you can easily double, triple, or quadruple any recipe in the book. This would come in very handy for potlucks as well! Don't miss out on The 30 Day Gourmet web site either. In addition to the two regular cookbooks, they have a nice selection of affordable e-books you can download. I just got the budget freezer e-book from them and will report back soon--though at first glance it looks great.


Tonight I tried the spaghetti sauce from the main freezer book, using some previously boiled and frozen ground beef. I had some extra children for dinner tonight and the meat sauce over some ziti pasta was a hit.

Polenta with Sausage

Lunch with my friend Jane today. She ordered polenta with some grilled vegetables on top and it looked delicious! My eldest daughter loves cornmeal mush. I had been going to make kielbasa and couscous for dinner but decided to do a polenta instead and concocted some Polenta with Sausage. Polenta or mush? Differences to the elite, perhaps, but not the cheap cooker! I adapted a recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook to suit my family's taste and size. First, I used ordinary cornmeal not coarsely ground cornmeal. I left out the onion (though I would have liked it), used a can of mushrooms instead of fresh, used Kielbasa instead of Italian sausage, and started with a jar of store-bought marinara sauce. The cornmeal cooked while the sausage browned and then simmered in the sauce. Put the cornmeal/polenta in 9x9 pan and dotted with some Jack cheese. Baked it until the cheese melted. Cut in squares and served with the sausage and sauce (on top for me, on the side for the kids!). Declared a repeat by the kids. And easily made vegetarian by either just leaving out the sausauge or adding some extra roast vegetables I think. Need the recipe? The CheapCooking site has it here.

Tacos with Boiled Hamburger

Dinner last night was great -- and easy. I pulled out a bag of boiled hamburger from the freezer and let it thaw. Put it in a frying pan with some taco seasonings, a small can of tomato sauce, and some water. Simmered it till thick enough. Served on taco shells with grated cheese, lettuce, and salsa. A can of refried beans rounded out the meal.

Boiling hamburger ahead of time is a great idea. Less mess. Healthier. Easier. And cheaper--because you can stock up when it's on sale. How can you lose? Put hamburger in a large saucepan and cover with water. (You don't need TONS of water, but enough to cover the meat and give you a little room to stir.) The looser you want the meat, the more you should stir it to break it up. If you'd like, you can add onions, green peppers, salt and pepper, whatever else you would normally add to the pan when you were browning it. The timing is pretty loose and it seems hard to overcook it. Just stir it now and then and cook till the pink is gone. Put a collander in your sink over a large bowl or jar and drain the meat. You can then simmer some of it with various specific seasonings (like the tacos above) if you want to freeze it already seasoned. Or just pack it in portions suitable to your family. A pound is about equivalent to 2 1/2 to 3 cups of cooked hamburger. If you have LOTS to cook, reuse the same broth. When you're done, put the broth in the frig overnight and the fat will rise to the top. Skim it off and you now have some nice lightly flavored beef broth for cooking or soups.