A simple sliced apple and a spoonful of peanut butter make a great after-school snack and has become my 15 year old’s newest favorite.

My eldest is suddenly taken with eating a sliced apple at breakfast, along with her Raisin Bran.  She skips the peanut butter though.

I like this for a late night snack/dessert. It would also make a good lunchbox addition. If you spritz the sliced apples with a bit of lemon juice and water they won’t turn brown so quickly.

Oh, and my pediatrician said the apples that do NOT turn brown are generally lacking in iron, among other things. So you actually WANT to eat the ones that do turn brown, but use the lemon juice spritzer trick to keep them from turning brown!

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tsp oil
• 20 oz frozen chopped broccoli
• 1 quart chicken or turkey broth
• 1 cup water (or just use 5 cups broth if you have it)
• 1/3 cup oatmeal (not instant, but 5 minute or so) * you can also substitute rice
• a pinch of nutmeg
• a pinch of cayenne
• a few grinds of the pepper grinder
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp dry mustard (optional)
• 8 oz grated or diced Cheddar cheese (optional)
• 1/2 cup half and half (or milk for a lighter soup)

Heat the oil and saute the onion. (Or if you’re really in a hurry I have skipped this step and just started with the broth and added the raw onion straight to it.)  After the onion has cooked a few minutes, add the broth, broccoli, oatmeal, and seasonings. Bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, 20 minutes or so, stirring now andthen. Basically, you want the broccoli cooked through.

Use an immersion blender, also called a  Stick Hand Blender (affiliate link) to cream the soup. Just stick it right in the pot and blend!  No more transferring hot liquids to your blender and making a mess.

After blending, stir in the cubed cheese, if using, until melted, then stir in the half and half or milk, warm up a minute or two and serve.

Cheese Quesadillas

I like to pan fry my quesadillas rather than microwave so they get a bit crispy on the outside.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Butter one side of a tortilla and lay it butter side down. Sprinkle grated cheese (Cheddar, Jack, Colby or a Mexican blend) to lightly cover.

Spread butter on one side of another tortilla and place it butter side UP. Cook a few minutes, till lightly browned on the bottom, then gently flip over with a spatula.

When the cheese is all melted, put it on a cutting board and cut into wedges.

Want less? Butter a single tortilla, start it cooking, spread the grated cheese over half the tortilla, then fold the tortilla in half. Flip when browned on one side, cook a few more minutes, slide out onto a cutting board and cut into wedges.

For a breakfast quesadilla, add applesauce and sprinkle with cinnamon, then add the cheese.

Tuna Melts

Bad picture but good tuna melts! A good friend sent me some English Muffins from Wolferman’s for Christmas. We started working together, whoa, something like 23 years ago I think and got along great.  Then  I quit work for a while to stay home with my kids and we drifted apart but still stayed in modest touch. Then she had her kids and quit work, but around that time  I was divorced and a single mom so the opportunities to get together were slim, although we still managed at least a yearly something I think. Just the past year or so, we’ve reconnected on a more regular basis for lunch and it’s been great.

And what a treat these muffins are! Big thick hearty fresh muffins.  We’ve been enjoying them from breakfast and I froze some for later. Tonight my youngest asked for tuna melts for dinner and I thought to use up the last of the “original” flavored muffins.

For 4 large English muffins, mix together:

• 12 ounces canned tuna, packed in water, drained
• enough mayonnaise to moisten
• capers if you like (my kids don’t, so I just add a few capers to mine

Toast the English muffins while you preheat your broiler and mix up the tuna.

Line a small baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup and put the toasted muffin halves on it, then divide the tuna among the muffins and spread out. (I had some leftover so you could easily do 6 halves. We only ate 1 each of these, along with some broccoli and cheese sauce.)

Top the adult portions with capers. Top each muffin half with a good slice of Cheddar cheese. If you added capers to any, add a caper or two to the top of the cheese so you can tell which have capers in them after they’re cooked!

Slide under the broiler for a few minutes, until the tuna is warmed and the cheese is melted.

We’ve got one leftover which one child has claimed for lunch tomorrow.

Candied Orange Peels

If you eat oranges, save a few peels to make this treat! I’m lucky enough to have an orange tree in the yard and this is their season so we’re enjoying fresh oranges, orange juice and this treat my daughter whipped up today: candied orange peels. I got this recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette back before there were books when I subscribed to the newsletter. This book is a great deal if you’re looking to pinch a few dollars out of your budget.

peels from 3 large oranges
3/4 cup water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
2 3/4 cup sugar  (divided)

Cut peels into 1/4″ strips. Boil in enough water to cover for 15 minutes and then drain. Boil the corn syrup, water, and 2 cups of the sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Add the orange peels and simmer for 40 minutes.

Put cookie racks on wax paper. Drain the orange peels. Put the peels onto the racks and drain 5 minutes.

Separate the peels and leave on the racks another hour.

Place the rest of the sugar in a paper or plastic bag, add the orange peels and shake to coat.

You can also make candied lemon peels and grapefruit peels.

peels from 3 large oranges
3/4 cup water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
2 3/4 cup sugar (divided)

Cut peels into 1/4″ strips. Boil in enough water to cover for 15 minutes and then drain. Boil the corn syrup, water, and 2 cups of the sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Add the orange peels and simmer for 40 minutes.

Put cookie

racks on wax paper. Drain the orange peels. Put the peels onto the racks and drain 5 minutes.

Separate the peels and leave on the racks another hour.

Place the rest of the sugar in a paper or plastic bag, add the orange peels and shake to coat.

Chicken Cutlets

I’m just guessing but I’m thinking Chicken Parmesan came about when someone like me made too many chicken cutlets.  You can turn them into pretty good chicken sandwiches (why else would they sell frozen breaded chicken patties?) and even Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches.

But I think the classic dish for leftover chicken cutlets has to be Chicken Parmesan. A while back I had made too many chicken cutlets and froze the extras.

Chicken Parmesan from Leftover Chicken Cutlets

Tonight I used up the last with some fantastic Chicken Parmesan. I thawed the leftovers just enough to separate them, then laid them in a shallow baking dish. I put a slice of mozzarella cheese on top of most of them, poured some reheated marinara sauce from the freezer on top, like this or this.  I topped with some grated Parmesan cheese and baked at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

During that time, I made a small Caesar salad and cooked up some angel hair pasta.  A perfect combo and a great way to use up some of my frozen assets.

If you’re new to trying to save money in the kitchen and need to learn how to shop wisely, take advantage of sales, plan menus and the like, you’ll love the front section of this book. I skimmed through that part because that’s pretty much what I’ve been writing about on CheapCooking.com for over 5 years.  Not that there aren’t some fabulous ideas–there are!  It’s just that I bought the book for the recipes.

The recipe collection is a great one, that will expand your culinary horizons in delightful ways. The migas recipe is one of my favorites so far.  And I know I’m going to be exploring a lot of recipes in this book!  Definitely a worthwhile purchase and a book that will more than earn its keep in my kitchen for many years, I’m sure.

There are a spate of new cookbooks from bloggers these days, but this one belongs near the top for any curious cook. Whether you’re after money-saving ideas, and who isn’t these days, or just want to expand your repertoire in the kitchen, this book fits the bill.

Black Bean Burgers

I don’t watch cooking shows very often, but these black bean burgers on Sandra Lee’s Money Saving Recipes were intrigued me. My parents came down on Wednesday to stay with us so my mom and I could start on Thanksgiving preparations. I knew they are always willing to try new foods and enjoy low fat recipes so I decided to try them out on my parents!  We agreed the flavor was wonderful but the burgers definitely fell apart. I was using sliced sourdough toast rather than hamburger buns so perhaps I made the burgers a bit larger than could easily bind. I might try making smaller burgers next time or adding more binding (more breadcrumbs and maybe more egg).

• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 Tbs)
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed, drained and divided
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup  bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Her recipe makes enough for about 6 burgers or you can set some of the mixture aside and make black bean echiladas or tacos later.

Put the onion in a food processor and pulse a few times until chopped. Add one can of the black beans (rinsed and drained), cilantro, parsley, egg and red pepper. Pulse a few times so the beans are mashed but not totally smooth. Move this mix into a bowl, add the bread crumbs and the other can of drained and rinsed black beans.  Mix together, adding the salt and pepper to taste as you combine everything.

Preheat your grill and form the mixture into roughly 6 patties (or set aside however much you’d like for enchiladas or tacos).  Cook 3-4 minutes on a George Foreman grill.  Serve on a tasted bun or bread with the condiments of your choice. We had lettuce, mustard, sliced tomato and pickles.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I served these with another batch of sweet potato fries, which came out awesome again. My parents loved both dishes.  Hardly a recipe but I peeled up some sweet potatoes and cut into thin strips by slicing the potato length-wise into about 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices, then stacking those slices and cutting length-wise again to form the fries.  Put these in a bowl and coat lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt, cinnamon and paprika.

Bake on a jelly roll pan at 425 for about 30 minutes, checking periodically and stirring a bit.

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.

First, I had some leftover Sort of Mexican Chicken Soup.  I added a large spoonful of this avocado pico del gallo and some crushed tortilla chips. Mmm!

I also used the last of the cooked chicken to make a chicken salad sandwich.  I am totally guessing at the measurements just to give any new cooks a starting place. You must taste and adjust!

• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1-2 Tbs sweet pickle relish
• 2-3 Tbs mayonnaise
• 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
• a dash of sweet curry powder
• a dash of salt

I toasted up some sliced sourdough for the sandwich part. Had I wanted a salad without the bread I might have added some diced apples and/or diced grapes.  I kept the curry powder very light. I just wanted a hint of it.  Really quite nice!\

Oh, and I don’t mean to imply this only made one sandwich!  There is more chicken salad for tomorrow!