Tag: recipes

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Every Day

My “Resident Chef” Cooks Again


Hubby is the “Resident Chef” around our home lately. After 50 plus years of cooking, I am tired of it. So he cooked dinner on Thursday night. 

He made Seared Scallops with Pan Sauce that he found on epicurious.com. Sea scallops, lemon juice, dry white wine, butter, garlic, and ground pepper. When we have fresh chives we put them on after it is plated. Our fresh chives are gone for the season so we just went without those.

However, he did make us a green salad as a side. 


To go with of all of this, he made a recipe of Green Onion Rolls that was in our Parade Magazine that was in last Sunday’s newspaper. They also had parmesan cheese in them. They were so delicious served warm with butter.


This is Hubby’s plate.

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Every Day

It’s Soup Weather

 I woke up this morning to the house being 66. It’s 55 outside as I write this. It is a bit chilly but I am not ready to turn on the heat yet. I am hoping to get a couple of more weeks without it. But we will see. Hubby gets cold very quickly. I went to bed early last night and I saw Hubby’s hot cocoa cup near the sink this morning so he must have been cold. He hasn’t has a cup of that since last spring. Fortunately, I have a good supply of cocoa.

Yesterday, I made a huge pot of chicken tortilla soup. It is one of our favorites. I don’t have a recipe I use. It is one of those a little of this and a little of that soups that I make. 

I used some of the chicken bone broth that I made the day before. Yes, that’s right only one container of bone broth hit the freezer. Hubby asked for some kind of soup when he saw that I was making the broth.  

I added a couple of chicken bouillon to the broth to bolster the flavor. The broth had some meat in it from the bones but I also added one chicken breast that was already cooked and in my freezer.

Next I added a can of corn, a can of rotel with green chiles, and a can of black beans.  We had just a tiny bit of rice left from dinner the other night so I threw that in too. Then I used a packet of Ortega hot and spicy taco seasoning.  I simmered all for about an hour so that the flavors could meld.


I served it with a choice of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and tortilla strips. I skipped the cheese but had a couple of strips and some sour cream.

It was so delicious and I am sure we will be eating off of this pot of soup all weekend. When we get sick of it, I will freeze the rest for another meal.

Are you ready for soup weather? What is your favorite soup to make? Do you have a recipe? Please share with all of us since the season is upon us.

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Every Day

Leg Of Lamb Recipe

This is for Mary or anyone else who likes leg of lamb.

1 Boneless Leg of Lamb or you could even use Bone In

2 Tbsp. Oil

1 Clove Garlic Minced

1 Can of Beef Consomme

1 8 oz. can Tomato Sauce

2 tsp. Salt

1 Tsp. Oregano

1/2 tsp. pepper

Brush the lamb with the oil. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and oregano.

Put in a roasting pan. Add garlic, consomme, and tomato sauce. Cover (I just wrap the pan in foil) and roast at 325- 350 for about 2 and 1/2 hours depending on how big the leg is. Remove from pan and let rest for 10 min. Then thicken the gravy in the pan.

My leg was almost 7 lbs. I used 350 temp and it was done in about 2 and 1/2 hours. That gave us medium meat. If you like it well done, just cook it longer.

I have used both a boneless leg and a bone in leg. They are both delicious with this recipe but the boneless is easier to cook.


I double the sauce recipe so that we have plenty for leftovers. Campbell’s carries the beef consomme.  

I throw some small potatoes in the pan an hour or so before it is done. We have also skipped the potatoes and served it on rice. 

Anyone who has an Aldi’s, they have butterflied leg of lamb on sale the week of Sept 6th for $ 5.99 a lb. Your price could vary depending on your area’s prices.
 

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Every Day

August 14: Low Spend Grocery Challenge Month

Today was a lazy day for me. Do you sometimes have lazy days? All I have been doing is puttering in my stockpile to try to make better use of the room I have.

Breakfast this morning was banana bread spread with cream cheese. Not Keto but it needed to be used up before it spoiled. One loaf I gave to my son’s family and West is really enjoying it. Hubby finished it up when he got up. 

About lunchtime, I was a little bit hungry so I ate a hard boiled egg with a little salt.

We had no leftovers this week. So for dinner, I made Low Carb Turkey Cutlets with Dijon Sauce. I pulled some frozen turkey cutlets from the basement freezer and found some dijon mustard in my stockpile. I skipped the little bit of regular flour this called for so that it was Keto. Almond flour is a staple in this household. 

I did not have any poultry seasoning but I did not run out to the store to get it. I made my own homemade poultry seasoning. I did not have the brand of chicken rub that was suggested so I used my own that was in the cupboard.


I skipped the salt and used Primal Kitchen mayo which is Keto friendly. I also used avocado oil instead of olive oil because I did not want to overpower the taste of the sauce. You only have to cook the turkey for a couple of minutes on each side so that it stays tender. The cutlets are thin so they cook quickly. I removed the oil before I made the sauce. There was so much seasoning on each cutlet that I was not worried about dumping some of the seasoning along with the oil. I reduced the sauce by a 1/3 and it thickened nicely.


Hubby raved about this and I loved it too. We each ate 2 cutlets because they were thin and this was delicious. It’s easy and I will be rotating this in our meal schedule at least once a month. I served mine with broccoli and Hubby made a side salad to go with his. 

I hope you all have a nice evening.

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Every Day

My Walmart Pickup Order

This is some of my Walmart pickup order this week. I had a lot of cancellations because of things being out of stock. But as you can see I got more bacon and the sausage that Top’s had none of. I even managed to get another bottle of bleach which is a good thing because I am wiping things down with it. I got really tired after doing the two shops in the morning and doing the pickup. So I didn’t take any more pics. Hubby was totally out of body wash. Eggs and meat are a necessity for my diet. I was grateful to get what I did. I ended up spending $ 172. on this order.

My young neighbor shops every Friday. They always ask what I need that they can get. Walmart cancelled my Romaine lettuce. I had everything for salads except the lettuce because they were out of stock. Today my neighbor left this package on my porch. I was so happy that they could find it. They won’t take any money from us the three times they have gotten food for us. They say we are always so good to their sons. But I will pay them back when things calm down.


Well, as if dealing with the virus, isn’t stressful enough. I had a dental emergency late Tuesday. My denture broke. I was able to talk with my dentist right away. He told me if I could get it to his office by 9am on Wednesday, he could take it to the lab to get it fixed. He said the lab is only open one day a week and that is Wednesdays. So I got it down to him. He called me early afternoon and told me to come in about 3:30pm because the lab had already repaired it. He was going to the lab to pick it up and would be back by then. I was not looking forward to it. But I needed my denture. I couldn’t eat. 

I was amazed. He had me wait in the car so that he could clean and sanitize it. Then he came to the door and waved to me. He had on a mask, gloves and special glasses that looked like magnifiers. He had a really good mask like his for me. I just wore it into the dental room. He brought me the denture and handed it to me to put in. He took a quick peek and told me it needed to be realigned but he could not do that until he opens back up again per the law that Gov. Cuomo had placed on dentists. He can only handle the emergency. I was glad to get out of there and home. But grateful to have my denture repaired.

I cooked another pound of bacon in the oven and pressure cooked a dozen hard boiled eggs. So that is what we have been eating for brunches.  

Last night, I cooked this recipe  because Hubby has been craving comfort food. 

The other things we have been doing are cooking, doing laundry, watching movies, working on a jigsaw puzzle and cleaning. Probably about the same things that all of you are doing.   


The only other news in my state is that Gov. Cuomo announced today that he is keeping all the schools closed through the end of the school year. Some people will be happy( like teachers and the kids). But if he ends up opening up NY after May 15th, it is going to put a huge burden on people going back to work. For employees who are not teachers, it creates other problems while getting ready for the new school year in the Fall.  For everyone who is not a school employee and has to go back to work, what do they do with their kids while they work?

Are your schools closed till the end of the school year?

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Every Day

Muffins for Breakfast and My Italian Breadmaker Recipe

Someone asked me yesterday for my Italian breadmaker recipe. I make a 1 and 1/2 lb. loaf. It is an Italian herb bread.

Ingredients:

1 cup + 1 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. oil

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 + 1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. dry milk

3 cups bread flour

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

2 tsp. active dry yeast

I bake mine on the French cycle. Follow the directions for your bread machine. I never took a picture because I didn’t see my reader’s question until after we ate and there was barely any left.

At 5:00 am this morning, I was baking muffins. I have a 24 count muffin pan that just fits in my oven.
I baked 12 homemade chocolate chip for West and 12 cranberry orange muffins for Hubby. The cranberry orange were from a mix that I wanted to use up.

When I went to make the chocolate chip ones, I realized my baking powder was expired. So I substituted 1 tsp. cream of tartar and 1/2 tsp. of baking soda in my recipe. Here is the chocolate chip muffin recipe: 

Chocolate Chip Muffins 


These got a little brown but West said they were delicious. I usually use my muffin tin for just one kind. But they each wanted different kinds. So I had to take the chocolate ones out to cool first and do the cranberry a few minutes longer.

What they don’t eat today and tomorrow will get frozen for another breakfast. 

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Every Day

This Recipe Is A Keeper – UPDATED

I cooked a half ham for our Christmas Eve dinner. It was just for the two of us so you can imagine the amount of leftovers we had. We usually make bean soup which I will today. The beans have been soaking overnight. 

I purposely soaked too many beans for the soup. So they got put in freezer bags to use to make minestrone soup for lunches later this month.

We ate some cold ham with veggies this week.Then there is always au gratin or scalloped potatoes to put it in. 

But I was looking for a new to us recipe and I found it. We made them last night and they were so delicious that Hubby couldn’t stop raving about them. He even ate three. I had two and we will split the last three for lunch today. They will reheat beautifully in the toaster oven or air fryer. The recipe is Leftover Ham Turnovers . 

So if you are looking for a new recipe for all that ham, try them. I don’t think that you will be disappointed. They are so easy to make. I just made up the filling in the morning and put them together before dinner. The best part is that I had all of the ingredients already in our home.



The soup I make today will use up more of the ham plus
the meat on the bone. The rest I will food saver into meal size
portions for some meals in January and February.

I hope you are having wonderful holidays. I am off to get my bean soup in the crock pot.  

Do you have any favorite leftover ham recipes that you could share with all of us? Please feel free to leave them in the comments.

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Every Day

Hubby’s Favorite Veggie Dip

Today, I made up another batch of Hubby’s favorite dill dip. He eats this with carrots and celery. Matter of fact he just had this for a snack. I am very happy when he eats this instead of junk food.

Here is the recipe he likes:

1 cup of lite Sour Cream

1 cup of Hellman’s Mayonaise

3/4 Tbsp. Dill Weed

Garlic Powder to taste.

Just mix and chill.

This makes the good size bowl pictured above. If you have a larger family double the recipe. This is what I did for company a couple of weeks ago.

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Every Day

Lasagna For The Freezer

I am making a big pan of lasagna to freeze in portions for Hubby. The first thing I did was get out the huge foil pan to bake it in and all of the ingredients.

OOPS! I forgot one ingredient. 

I sprayed the big foil pan on the sides and bottom with oil. Then I put down a layer of lasagna noodles which I smothered in spaghetti sauce. I never boil my noodles in advance. Cooking the lasagna in the oven for an hour cooks them perfectly.

Next I cooked up the ground beef and Italian sausage. I layered some of the cooked meat on top of the noodles. Then I layered some pepperoni. Next was a layer of fresh mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and some Italian seasoning. 

Then I layered the cottage cheese. I use that instead of ricotta because Hubby doesn’t like ricotta. I spread all with a layer of spaghetti sauce and Italian seasoning. Then I sprinkled a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. Then I started another layer of noodles again and layered everything else again. After I put the spaghetti sauce on top, I put another layer of noodles and some sauce and a good sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.

Next I covered it with foil and put it in the refrigerator until 15 minutes before I was going to bake it. I baked it covered all but the last 10 minutes at 350 degrees for 1 hour. The last 10 minutes I wanted the cheese on top to crisp up a little. When it cools, I will freeze it in portion sizes so that Hubby can pull one out the night before he eats it. All he will have to do is put it in the microwave on his dinner plate until it it hot. 

Now doesn’t that look good? So good that Hubby wanted a large piece for dinner. I cheated on my diet and had a very small sliver along with a huge green salad. It was so delicious! Just waiting for it to cool so I can food saver it in portions.

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Every Day

Preparing For Freezer Cooking

I will be going to Disney World the beginning of January. The closer it gets the more excited I get.

Hubby is not going so I know I have to prepare some easy meals for him. If I don’t he will go out and buy junk or eat snacks. He is not fussy about eating the same thing over and over again for days. So I have decided to make a lot of two different meals that he can pull out of the freezer and just nuke in the microwave.

I decided to make a large pan of lasagna because he loves my lasagna. And I will also cook some chicken so that he can just cut it up on salads. I will also make a chicken dish that he can throw frozen into the crock pot and cook all day. He loves salad and applesauce so he can do those for sides. There is always fruit and cut up veggies in the fridge for him to snack on. He will also have tortilla chips and salsa for snacks.  

I had no ground beef in my freezers. So I have been looking for a decent price to buy some. In yesterday’s flyer, Top’s advertised their 80/20 ground beef meal deal. You buy a 4-5 lb. package of the beef and you get 9 named items free. Now I know that the ground beef will not be a great price for this deal. And I rarely buy these deals because of that and the fact that the free items are things we don’t normally buy. 

So I set out to investigate whether this was a good deal or not. I called my Top’s meat department and asked what the price per lb. was that they were charging for the meat. They told me $ 3.99 per lb. Then I looked on Wegman’s website to see what they are charging for their 80-20 ground beef. I had already noticed that Walmart’s was $ 4.99 a lb. when I shopped there yesterday. Wegman’s was $ 2.29 a lb.
I estimated that a package would be 5lbs. So at Wegman’s that would cost me $ 11.45. The meat at Top’s would cost me $ 19.95. That is a difference of $ 8.50.

However Top’s was giving me 9 items free with my purchase that they estimated would be $14.00 if bought separately. I looked at the list and we could use all 9. If I used coupons with a sale price on those 9 items I estimated that on sale, I could buy those items for $ 10.95. So I am paying $ 8.50 more for the beef at Top’s but I am getting $ 10.95 in usable product. That is only a $ 2.45 gain. 

But Top’s is less than 7 miles round trip from my house and Wegman’s is 26 miles away round trip. With gas topping off at $ 2.60 a gallon, this was a no brainer. I also asked myself if there were other necessary errands that I could run down near Wegman’s. I could go to the bank and deposit six checks that I have sitting here. But I could deposit those checks via my mobile phone. So I opted to get the Top’s deal. This is the kind of thinking I do on anything I buy to make sure that I am getting the best deal.

I bought a 4.63 lb. of ground beef ($18.47), a dozen eggs for $.69 with a store Q, one family size bag of tortillas chips ($4.49), 2 large containers of cottage cheese ($2.79 each). The 9 free items were Italian bakery bread, Fresh Express lettuce shreds, a jar of spaghetti sauce, a bag of Mexican cheese, a can of chili beans, a can of diced tomatoes, a bag of taco wraps, 1 lb. of thin spaghetti, and a package of chili seasoning. My total grocery bill was $29.23. That leaves me $18.39 through December 9th to spend. I am done with the big shops for the week because we have snow in the forecast from tomorrow through Sunday. If we need something desperately like milk, I will send Hubby to the gas station which is close.

I came home and used my scale to measure out the meat into 8 oz. portions because that is what Hubby and I eat at a meal. I will use 16 oz. in the lasagna along with a lb. of Italian sausage that I am thawing from my freezer. To my surprise when I measured it, I got a full 5 lbs. of meat not the 4.63 lbs. that I paid for. So I will be using the 1 lb. tomorrow when I make the lasagna. Seven of the bags I put in the freezer. One I kept out for dinner. Hubby can pull one out if he wants hamburgers while I am away. I did not food saver the bags of meat because it will get used up over the next few months and Ziplocs are cheaper than food saver bags.

Tomorrow, I will make and bake the lasagna. When it cools, I will freeze it in individual portions for Hubby’s lunches and dinners.  I will post this meal with recipe when I make it. 

Tonight we will have taco salad using 8 oz. of the beef cooked with taco seasoning, the lettuce shreds, onions, fresh tomatoes, black olives, taco sauce, hot sauce and Mexican cheese. Hubby will have tortilla chips with his. I just eat it like a salad.