Tostada with Ground Beef and Fixings

My youngest has a new friend spending the night and asked for tostados for dinner, a perfect request since we had a perfect ripe avocado. I pulled some ground turkey from the freezer and cooked it up with some taco seasonings.  A while back I bought a container of taco seasoning but I actually prefer this recipe with onions and tomato sauce and cumin.  But sometimes you’re in a hurry and the mixes aren’t all that bad.   You could also make up your own taco seasoning packets if you’d like.

While the meat was cooking, I served up small dishes of grated cheese, sour cream, lettuce, sliced olives, diced avocados, diced tomatoes and got out some bottled green salsa and hot sauce.  I also heated up a can of refried beans.

Tostado Fixings

When the meat was done, I removed it to a serving dish and covered it to keep warm, rinsed out the cast iron skillet I was using, then put in a small amount of canola oil and fried up some corn tortillas for the base of the tostados.

Leftovers will make a great taco salad or soft tacos.

<edited later to add pictures!>

White Bean and Ham Soup

This is from The Supper Book: 10th Anniversary Edition by Marion Cunningham. Kind of funny–you can buy a hardcover of this on Amazon (used) for $3 (plus shipping) but the paperback version, that I have is $8 (still a deal!). This is so simple, but so delicious. Certainly frugal, let’s see $1 for the beans, two onions for 50 cents maybe. The ham is the expensive part and that’s only because I actually did buy a small piece of ham just to make this. Normally I would have cooked a ham and used a ham bone but that’s hard to do with just the two of us! So I used about $2.50 of ham. Her recipe says 4 servings but I know we’ll get at least 6, likely 8. I’ll likely serve with a small sandwich, like a tuna melt.  So $1 / serving or less.  You’d pay more for a can of ham and bean soup and it wouldn’t be half as good and you’d get two small servings.

• 1 pound white navy beans or Great Norther beans
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 cups or so of chopped ham or smoked pork butt or a leftover ham bone with some meat on it
• water to cover
• salt and pepper to taste

Soak the beans, either overnight or by the quick soak method: cover with water, bring to a boil, cover, turn the stove off, and let the beans sit in the hot water for an hour or so. Then drain and use.

Put the beans, onion and ham in a large stockpot. Cover with water by 1 1/2″ . Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover partially and simmer 2 hours or so, until the beans are tender. Watch the water level and add a bit more if needed. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

This is ham and bean soup at its simplest and it’s delicious. If you want more in it, you could think about adding some carrots and celery (I would saute first in a bit of oil with the chopped onion then add the other ingredients.)  You could also use chicken broth if you wanted. But I think you will be surprised at how delicious this is in its most simple form.

I had a kielbasa sausage that need using up the other night and was also in the mood for beans and rice.  This was a pre-cooked kielbasa sausage, just fyi.  First I started the rice in my rice cooker, then I went on to the rest.

I would have used a green pepper if I’d had it but all I had was a red one. It would also be more Cajun if you used some Cajun seasoning but I didn’ t have anything prepackaged and didn’t feel like exploring much so just used some Montreal Steak Seasoning.  It came out quite good!

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 a red pepper, chopped
• 8 ounces cooked kielbasa sausage
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• seasoning to taste (Cajun or steak or whatever, just include some pepper!)
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with juice (do not drain them!)
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained or 1 cup homemade

Start your rice. I used about 3 rice cooker cups (smaller than our regular US “cups” so beware). If I were cooking on the stove I’d probably do 1.5 cups and 3 cups water.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the onion, cooking while you chop the pepper. Add the pepper and cook a few minutes, stirring, while you…

Cut the sausage into half lengthwise, then cut into 1/4″ slices (so you end up with small half circles). Add to the skillet. Add the garlic and seasonings. Cook 5 minutes or so, stirring.

Stir in the tomatoes and their juice plus the drained beans. Mix well and simmer until heated through. If you’re rice isn’t done yet, just turn the heat to low, cover, and wait.

Thanks to Cheap. Fast. Good! for the inspiration. I think we have had about 4 servings so far (1 hungry guy and 3 smaller ones) and I still have enough leftover for a lunch portion. I’ve had it for lunch once already and the leftovers were fantastic.

Lunch Box Idea

I think it would pack up quite well for a lunch if you followed the Bento box method of putting the hot food in the bottom of the container and then making a rice “top” to seal in the heat and keep the rice from getting too soggy. I wish I’d heard of that before when my kids were so willing to pack leftovers in a Thermos.

Tonight’s dinner was a total throw-together based on a request for “something Mexican” and what I had in my freezer and refrigerator.  I thought of past burrito recipes and modified several. You could easily turn this into a Mexican burrito casserole kinda dish if you wanted to cook up the beef, bean and salsa mix, heat the tortillas, lay a few spoonfuls of meat and bean mix down the center, top with some cheese, lay in a baking dish, then top with a bit more salsa and cheese and bake until heated through. Just depends on whether you like wet burritos or not!

As it was, I cooked up some ground beef, onions, garlic and red pepper, then threw in some chicken broth and tomatillo salsa and a can of drained black beans.  I served this in a bowl with grated Monterey Jack cheese, a bit more salsa (red and green!). I would have added sour cream and guacamole or sliced avocados if  I’d had either or both of those but we were out.

You can read the full green burrito recipe here or just wing it depending on what you’ve got on hand in your frig!  Let me know about your favorite Mexican inspired recipes in the comments. I’m always on the prowl for new recipes.

When you’re entertaining, you need to balance money, time and taste.  I just had a grad night party for my eldest and I won’t say it was the cheapest I could have done, but it was reasonable and balanced the time I had available with the money I had available.

My daughter wanted a “simple” barbecue, that is hot dogs and hamburgers. But we were inviting lots of adults, including a few vegetarians and a few who eat no pork.   So first off, I bought all-beef hot dogs. I also decided to buy preformed hamburger patties to save time since we had a few other things going on around the same time.  I decided to add some chicken breasts and a few portobello mushrooms as well.  The hardest part was deciding about how many of each thing to plan on for 45 – 50 people. I figured two hot dogs per person and figured on about half hot dogs, slightly more than half hamburgers, half a dozen mushrooms, and a large tray pack of chicken breasts. (Note: I marinated the chicken breasts in my favorite chicken marinade and split them into two bags. I had one bag left over at the end so just froze them in smaller packs of 2 breasts per bag with some marinade in each bag.  I also had leftover hamburgers, still frozen, and leftover hot dogs, easy to throw in the freezer for later, so those will all get used up.)  We cooked a bit more than we ate last night but had hot dogs for lunch and green salad with sliced chicken and the leftover mushroom sliced up for dinner.

The menu I ended up with was:

• hot dogs
• hamburgers
• barbecued chicken breasts
• barbecued portobello mushrooms
• vegetarian baked beans
• potato salad (homemade and brought by my niece)
• pasta salad with veggies (homemade and brought by my niece)
• Chinese chicken salad (homemade and brought by my girls’ stepmom by request)
• fruit salad
• green salad

For appetizers we had:

• hummus and crackers (brought by a friend)
• chips and salsa (brought by a friend)
• veggies wraps (olives, red peppers, cream cheese, spinach leaves, grated carrots)
• spinach dip (bought at Costco) and French bread cubes
• pretzels and crackers and various dips and cream cheese (my youngest talked me into some raspberry chipolte sauce we sampled at Costco and I had some wasabi mustard dip I’d bought a while back)

And I bought a large sheet cake for dessert. This ended up at about $1 per person and was far better tasting and looking than I could have done! For smaller groups, I would have made dessert but for larger ones this works out great.

Oh I also made two large relish plates for the burgers which included a head of iceberg lettuce, sliced onions, sliced pickles, and sliced tomatoes. Ended up with leftover onions and tomatoes but those will easily get used up in various things or I can always just chop and freeze the onions.

I haven’t added up the cost but my main point was that you need to balance the time you have availalable and figure out what things might make sense to buy pre-made. While I normally make our namburger patties, for a large party I felt good about my decision to buy the preformed ones. Likewise the spinach dip. But I bought fresh fruit and made the fruit salad based on what looked good and ripe at the store (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, watermelon, grapes and nectarines).  A neighbor was kind enough to loan me some fridge space (as well as outdoor table and chairs) so I made the salad up in the morning and refrigerated it till the party started. I did the same with the relish plates for the burgers.

Oh, for the bean dish I took this four bean casserole recipe in the crockpot and modified it to use vegetarian baked beans intead of the pork and beans and then left out the bacon. It was just as delicious as the original I think and might become my new standard since it’s a bit healthier.

Any of you have tips to share for large parties? This was fun but the largest one I’ve done that wasn’t a total potluck, although I did have some help as noted.  I don’t have an extra frig or freezer as some folks do so the neighbors’ offer of their spare frig space was a lifesaver. Same with the tables and chairs I borrowed. Oh, we did buy plastic table cloths to cover all the tables so they looked coordinated by the time we were done!  We bought a dozen helium ballons and tied a few to each table.  We lucked out with fantastic weather and I think the party was a success.

Cook up these easy and delicious white beans, Tuscan style, for an easy side dish. The recipes is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, a great resource for vegetarians and non-vegetarians looking to expand their repertoire.

1 pound small white beans (Great Northern, cannelini, navy, lima, etc.)
1 Tbs dried sage leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs olive oil

Cover the beans with 2-3 inches of water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat so the water is barely simmering. Add the sage, partially cover and cook, stirring now and then, adding more water as needed. When the beans start to get tender, after maybe an hour but it really varies, add the salt and pepper.

Continue to cook at a low simmer until the beans are tender. (Just taste one.) If there’s still lots of water, drain it. If there’s just a bit, take the lid off the pot and let it evaporate. Stir in the garlic and olive oil, then serve.

These were really good! They remind me of those cans of “lightly seasoned small white beans” you can find at the grocery store, which I use for an easy side dish periodically. They are very mild, yet have some flavor.

I made this for my dad’s 84th birthday as a side dish for those of us eating salmon and a main dish for those of us not. It comes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food

Everyone loved it, vegetarians and meat eaters. Should have doubled the recipe I think as there was not a spoonful left over! So I’ll blame that as the reason I went and grabbed a Subway veggie sandwich at lunch. No good leftovers!

• 1 cup brown lentils
• 3 1/2 cups liquid (I used 1 can of coconut milk topped with 1 1/2 cups water. You could use all water, some vegetable broth, or chicken broth if you’re not doing vegetarian)
• 1 Tbs curry powder
• 2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• salt and pepper to taste
• plain yogurt and fresh cilantro

Rinse the lentils. Heat the lentils, liquid of choice, and curry powder to a simmer, stir, cover partially and cook 15 minutes. Stir now and then.

Add the cubed potatoes and stir in, then cover the pan completely  and cook 10 minutes or so, depending on how large the potato cubes are. If the lentils start to look too dry, add some more water. You don’t want them soupy but they should be moist.

Add salt and pepper to taste and cook another 10 minutes or so. Serve with yogurt and cilantro.

Variation: Add 2 Tbs butter when you add the potatoes.

Ranchero Beans

I love it when I get a fabulous recipe right off the package of the main ingredient. In this case, the recipe came off the Safeway house brand of a 1-lb bag of pinto beans. I don’t bother soaking the beans overnight. I just cook them a bit longer and they seem to come out just fine. This is a great Sunday afternoon recipe. I’ll be serving them with a taco salad tonight (made with some leftover ground beef seasoned for tacos) and they’ll probably show up as a plain side dish later. Or maybe in some soup.

• 1 pound pinto beans, rinsed and picked through a bit
• 4 slices bacon, cut in small (1/4″) pieces
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 3-4 large cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook the beans covered in water until barely soft. Timing depends on whether you soaked them or not. If you did, check after about 40 minutes. If not, check after 1.5 hours or so. Drain the beans.

I just used the same Dutch oven to then cook the bacon. When it’s done, remove all but about 1 Tbs of the bacon grease (leaving the bacon). Then add the onions, peppers, and garlic and stir for a minute or so, then cover and cook on low for 10 minutes.

Add the beans back in along with the chicken broth and seasonings.

Simmer until most of the liquid is gone. Remove the bay leaf.

Bag says 8 servings so this definitely fits in the very frugal category!

This is so easy to fix because you don’t need to presoak anything! Yesterday I made it this way…

Put a little olive oil in the stockpot and sauté:

* 4 minced garlic cloves

* 1 chopped onion

* 1 chopped carrot

* 2 chopped celery stalks

Add:

* 7 cups of broth, (I used a mixture of turkey and chicken broth from my freezer)

* 1.5 cups of lentils

* 1/2 tsp black pepper

* 2 bay leaves

* 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

* 2 cups diced ham (also from my freezer)

Bring to a boil, then turn down to a lower simmer for about 45 minutes, until the lentils were cooked. I use my handheld mixer to blend some of it together. Alternately, you could pull out 2 cups or so and blend it in your blender. Or leave it alone.

This would be great with either leftover pork roast or pork tenderloin. I used the leftover pork tenderloin I’d barbecued a few days back but the book I got it from suggested leftover pork roast. I seem to be having an issue posting Amazon links so will forfeit the 50 cents I’d make off the link and say it was from Cheap! Fast! Good! This is pretty kid-friendly and makes good use of leftovers. I used some frozen mixed bell pepper slices since I didn’t have any fresh.

2/3 cup rice
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup frozen corn or 1 15 oz can corn
1 15 oz can black beans or 2 cups homemade

2 tsp oil
1 cup chopped bell peppers (red, green, or a mix)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 15 oz can “Rotel” tomatoes (diced with green chiles)
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups cubed/chopped leftover pork tenderloin or pork roast
1 cup shredded Cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Heat the water, salt and rice to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover, and cook 20 minutes.

Place the corn and black beans in a colander and rinse. If the corn is frozen, rinse a few times so it starts to defrost.

In a large skillet, heat the oil and then add the chopped peppers. Mince the garlic and add it. Add the cumin and chili powder and stir.

Add the can of tomatoes (with juices), the corn, the black beans, and the pork. Stir well. Cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until heated through, stirring now and then.

At this point the rice is probably done. If not, just leave the skillet over low.

When the rice is done, turn the heat off and remove the skillet from the burner. Add the rice, cheese, and sour cream and stir, then serve.