Eatin' on the Cheap

Right now, in my mind, I am on vacation. I am not actually on vacation, I am somewhere towards the beginning of what will eventually turn into the busiest, most stressful, and exhausting month of my life.

The month of May has now been dubbed Hell Month.

Do you ever have one of those months? Where you just stare at your calendar in disbelief and wonder how all of this got so out of control?

I can’t complain too much. I will be busy making money, which is good. I have goals for crying out loud! And we are about to hit one of those goals this week! The hubby and I have been doing Dave Ramsey since about August, and although we fell off the wagon in December (poor planning on our part) and couldn’t hop back on until last month ( tornadoes and thefts will do that to you), we have managed to (nearly) complete Baby Step #3 of the Total Money Makeover! That is 3 months of salary worth of savings for those of you not familiar. WooHoo! Go us!

But anyway, back to vacation.

So, this month (I mean May) I will be running the crap out of my new catering business with no less than 3 special events,  4 weekly deliveries, 1 dessert buffet, and a couple of new on-site events that I am pretty excited about. Besides the catering, the winery’s new wine club is due for it’s second shipment and I cannot believe the astounding success we have had so far! As of today, I will be putting together nearly 60 shipments for our loyal customers! With the winery, there is also of course our Summer Events that are starting up; movie night, happy hour, Blues & Wine music series and a county wide tour called Hickman County Arts & Ag Tour that is now in it’s second year. And as if that wasn’t enough, one of the newspapers I write for has asked me to do 4 extra articles on top of the weekly column that I already write for them and that is all due by May 10th.

Oh! And our 9th wedding anniversary is May 29th (Happy Anniversary babe!).

And then…vacation.

I have never longed for a condo in Hot Springs, Arkansas so badly in all of my life. Thanks to my mother-in-law for allowing us to tag along all of these years. I have pretty much decided that vacation is less about where you go and all about who is there to help you watch the kids. Vacation is also about quick and easy dinners and, if you are close to the water, seafood.

Shrimp is a favorite of mine and I have totally been on this shrimp/fish taco kick lately. I can’t seem to get enough. So I whipped up this simple recipe and imagined that I was sitting on a balcony, overlooking the water with a cocktail in one hand and a shrimp taco in the other.

June can’t get here soon enough.

My guilty pleasure is Asian cuisine. More specifically, Chinese takeout. Back when we lived in Atlanta, I kept the local Chinese restaurant very busy, especially after the twins were born. I ordered so often that the delivery guy began to comment on how big the kids were getting and would notice when I didn’t call in an order for a while. They even recognized my voice when I called. If we would have stayed there any longer, I would probably start getting Christmas cards from them.

Needless to say, there are not many Chinese takeout spots way out here in the country. This is a good thing since there have been plenty of nights when I would have happily called in my order for General Tso’s chicken, crab wontons, Pepper Steak, and some Sweet and Sour Chicken for the kids.

Besides being expensive, Chinese takeout isn’t very figure friendly (and I’ve got high hopes for a smaller swimsuit this year). So, as I roamed the aisles of the new discount grocery in town, I found nearly all of the makings of some very yummy lettuce cups. Healthy and tasty. It’s the best of both worlds.

Life should never be this crazy. Swirling towers of wind should never come out of the sky at 2:30 in the morning and leave you and your family huddling amongst the winter coats and wrapping paper. No one should ever have to walk outside to see the war-zone that is left in the wake of an F2 tornado. But it happens and it happened to us about a week ago and I am more thankful than you can ever imagine that we survived to tell the tale. Although I am a little tired of telling the tale, so this will be the last time for a long time.

We were so very lucky. We lost just about every tree in our yard, but not a single one fell on the house. Thank God. The roof is a little peeled up in spots but we are still dry. There is now a dead animal under my house. I could have done without that.

That’s my brother who came with my Dad at 7AM to help us try to clean up. He’s 6’3″. That is the tree that didn’t hit my babies’ bedroom.It’s about 30 feet tall.

They got it worse on the other side of that hill though. My friend, Brandy, lost her house and because of her quick reactions none of her family was injured.

Lots of other folks lost everything. Those who didn’t will be paying to fix the damage for quite a while. The community has been so supportive and caring. The outpouring of love has been amazing.

There is a benefit at The Old Coble Store this Saturday if you are in the area and would like to help out. If you are not in the area and would still like to help out you can call First Farmers & Merchants Bank to donate at (931) 729-3522. I urge you to do so. This is a poor community with many families scraping by long before a  tornado came through.

So this week, for us, has been crazy and emotional and busy and we are slowly returning to some kind of normal. And normal for me is holing up in the kitchen and playing with my food. This pepper dish is one I have had rolling around in my head for a while. Its one of those comfort food dishes, perfect for a time like this.

It seems I have gone AWOL from this poor little blog lately. These things happen. For the last month, we have been hopping from one activity to another. Dance and T-Ball on Monday, Taekwondo on Tuesday and Thursday, T-Ball again on Friday. Of course there is also work at the winery, writing for the newspaper, and lets not forget laundry. The never ending laundry. The garden is also becoming more and more productive, there fore requiring more of my attention.

I will not complain about the garden. It is my happy little oasis in the corner of our yard. So far, we have gotten several delicious strawberries out of our patch as well as radishes, spinach and lettuce. And I am pretty excited to say that I will have fresh Summer squash a good month ahead of everyone else.

The point of all this rambling is to say that I have become well acquainted with the uber-quick dinner.  More than once dinner has been a grilled cheese sandwich and a bunch of grapes or some much unhealthier version of that. Lucky for me, BBQ season has started and thanks to my husband, our fridge is well stocked with lots of smoked and pulled meat. While BBQ sandwiches are always delicious, sometimes I need something with a vegetable on it ( call me crazy!). So, because I never throw away my food magazines I adapted a Food&Wine recipe to fit what I had in the fridge. I made this with chopped brisket but it will also work well with chicken, pork or even some grilled white fish.

I am a child of the 80′s. When I say “child” I mean I was born in the 80′s. You would not find me dancing to hair bands in my basement while combing my bangs into a perfect sphere that would reach the door a good 5 minutes before I did. Although I did have a perm ( briefly) and a t-shirt tie with stirrup pants and some Keds. Oh…and I loved “the Boss”.

Boorrrn in the U-S-A! 

I had a tape player, and a strawberry shortcake pillow, and I never missed an episode of Punky Brewster or Rainbow Brite. And I always looked forward to Mom’s ground beef meals. They were always so good. I think ground beef was the staple more so than chicken for us in the 80′s. Come to find out, nearly all of Mom’s best dinner recipes came from one cookbook, Betty Crocker’s Working Woman’s Cookbook.

Mom’s copy burned in a friend’s house fire and it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that Mom finally replaced the cookbook. And being the awesome Mom that she is. She sent it to me.

This book is so freaking awesome. There are so many great meals in here! And not only meals but freezer cooking recipes too!

So, because I’m in love with the cookbook and because some part of me longs for the 80′s, I’ll be cooking out of this cookbook all week.

Like totally!


So this is like a taco salad, but it’s really tasty. Even the kids loved. This horseradish dressing is surprisingly good. The Freezer Beef Mix can be used in casseroles or as a super quick taco mix.


Chili Beef Salads
1 portion of Freezer Beef ( recipe follows)
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. chili sauce
1 small head of lettuce, shredded
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
6 corn tortillas
oil for frying
Horseradish Dressing ( recipe follows)

Heat the oil to 350. Fry each tortilla in oil while holding down with metal whisk to shape a bowl.

Drain on paper towels.

Heat freezer beef, water, chili sauce in saucepan over medium heat until hot.
Arrange fried tortilla, lettuce, beef, tomatoes, and avocado on a plate and top with horseradish dressing.

Freezer Beef:
3 lbs. ground beef
2 large onions, chopped
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. salt
1 t. pepper

Cook and stir all ingredients until beef is cooked through. Drain and spread out on a large cookie sheet. Freeze partially then separate into 3 portions ( about 3 cups each) and store in freezer bags up to 3 months.

When I go shopping, I shop mostly for items that are versatile and can be used in a variety of different recipes for a variety of different dishes ( except for the training pants I still buy, which are only good for one thing). I also try to spend as little as possible while still being reasonably healthy. But like most people in the world I am also busy ( or lazy on occasion) and I really don’t want to put forth a whole lot of effort to get dinner on the table. It’s then that I reach for some kind of convienance. Something quick, something easy, you know?
The problem is that I have really started to hate paying more than I feel like I should for a convienance. Let’s take the very popular “cream of” soups. You use them in soups, casseroles, and one pot wonders but those suckers are at least $.80 each ( that’s store brand on sale). Campbells’ can be as much as a $1.50 each. That starts to add up when you buy several cans at a time. And have you looked at the ingredients? MSG, salt, artifical coloring, blah blah blah. Not really healthy.
So, here is the answer. Mixes! Easy to put together, stores well, and a fraction of the cost of store-bought convenience. Perfect for people who like to know what they are eating, save money and frequently run out of ingredients for their casserole. I priced out everything down to the serving except for the Taco Seasoning because I didn’t have those prices at hand to figure.
I also made some cute little labels that my husband snickered at, but he can kiss my butt… so there.

By the way, there isn’t any salt in these recipes. Feel free to add some or just add it to your dish when you cook.

Cream Soup Mix – $2.87 per batch, $.31 per use
2 c. dry milk
1 1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup chicken boullion powder
2 T dried onion flakes
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. thyme
1 t. basil

Mix and store in airtight container. To use: add 1/2 cup mix to 1 1/4 cup water for casserole consistency. Double the water for soup.

Onion Soup Mix – $2.67 per batch, $.45 per use

3/4 cup instant minced onion
4 t. onon powder
1/3 cup beef boullion powder
1/4 t. celery seed
1/4 t. sugar

Mix and store in airtight container. To use: add 2 T mix to one cup boiling water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Seasoned Rice Mix – $2.28 per batch, $.78 per use.

3 cups uncooked rice
1/4 cup dried parsley flakes
6 T chicken bouliion powder
2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. thyme

Mix and store in airtight container. To use: mix one cup mix, 2 T butter and 2 cups water in saucepan. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Taco Seasoning
6 t. chili powder
5 t. cumin
5t. paprika
3 t. onion powder
3 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Mix and store in airtight container. Use to taste

Note: I should have said that there is no ADDED salt in these recipes. The chicken bouillon powder I used contains salt. Sorry about that.  

Check out the new post: Money in the Mixes – Part II

I love it when a plan comes together. It rarely happens to me. Things always change or something unexpected pops up, but every now and then everything turns out just as good as you wanted them to, maybe even better. It is a wonderful feeling, even if that plan is only dinner.
So the plan was to cook the Braised Beef in Red Wine and then follow that up with some shredded beef tacos the next night. Well last night’s dinner turned out awesome which meant tonight’s dinner was gonna be just as good. I totally flew by the seat of my pants and the Shredded Beef Tacos turned out fantastic! I had to write everything down so I could use it again in the future. So here it is before I forget!

By the way, this is my one and only pepper I grew this year off of my one and only pepper plant. Ain’t it cute? Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Shredded Beef Fajita Tacos

1 lb ( about 2 cups) of shredded beef
2 bell peppers, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 T oil
2 T tomato paste
1 cup boiling water
1Tchili powder
1T cumin
1t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1 lime quartered
toppings for tacos ( lettuce, tomatoes, etc.)
corn tortillas

Heat oil in skillet and saute bell peppers and onions until softened.
Meanwhile, place tomato paste in a heat safe bowl and pour hot water over it. Stir to combine. Add in chili powder, cumin, onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.

Add beef to skillet and stir to combine. Pour tomato sauce over beef and stir. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Heat tortillas on a hot skillet and fill with beef , cheese and toppings. Enjoy!

So, just in case you are just now tuning in, I have been making meals from one pork loin that I cooked on Monday. Last night was the very end of the pork loin, and it was just as tasty at the end as it was at the beginning. To catch you up the first meal was a Spice Rubbed Pork Loin, then we moved on to a Mostly Moo Shu Pork Stir Fry , and then last night wrapped up Pork Week with Pork Tacos. The tacos were superb, but I would recommend that if you need to feed more than 2 adults that you buy a bigger pork loin in the beginning. The tacos last night only made enough to feed me and my hubby, which is okay since the twins don’t really eat tacos ( too much stuff touching).

Pork Tacos

1/2 chopped onion
1 clove garlic chopped
leftover pork, shredded or chopped ( shoot for at least 2 cups)
1 can diced green chilies
1/2 cup taco sauce
taco shells
toppings

In a medium skillet heat oil and saute onion and garlic over medium heat until onion is soft. Add in pork, taco sauce, and green chilies and heat through. Serve with taco shells and toppings.