Pot Roast with Potatoes, Carrots and Onions

If you have time in the morning to brown a chuck roast, you have time at night to eat it.  This is a great recipe for a crock pot and all you do is add the salad when you get home from work.

Ingredients

• 2-3 lb Chuck Roast (or any type of roast)
• 1 lb Potatoes (quartered)
• 3 Carrots (1 inch pieces)
• 2 Onions medium (quartered)
• 1 stalk Celery (1 inch pieces)
• 1 lb Mushrooms (fresh)
• 1 can Mushroom Soup
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/4 tsp Onion Powder (optional)
• 2 tbs Oil
• Flour for Dusting (2 tablespoons)
• Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. Place oil in skillet over medium heat.
2. Mix half of the Italian seasoning, Garlic, Onion powder, salt and pepper in flour and dust Chuck Roast on all sides.  Place in skillet and brown.
3. Cut up vegetables and sprinkle with remaining seasonings. (This can be done the night before and placed in the frig)

4.  Place vegetables and roast in a pre-heated crock pot.

5.  Pour Mushroom soup over the top.

6.  Place crock pot on low (for 8 hours) or medium (for 5 hours)

Serve with a side of salad, cole slaw or green beans and enjoy without the work.

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 Roast Pork w/Peach Glaze

Here is a recipe that I found for Pork and it was absolutely Divine.  Everyone loved it.  So here it is, my version of this recipe.

Ingredients:

• Pork Roast (4-5 LB)
• 1/3 cup Kosher (Sea) Salt
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar

Directions:

Turn the Pork Roast with the bottom up (usually this side has a layer of fat).  Cut diamonds shapes across the fat.

Mix the salt and sugar together and rub all over the roast.  Wrap the entire roast in plastic wrap and place in the frig for up to 8 hours. (this process can be omitted, but it does add the flavor to the roast)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place pork roast on a baking rake inside of a roasting pan.  Add about 2 inches of water to the bottom of the pan.  Do not cover roast with anything.

Roast until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers an internal temperature of 140 degrees F,  this will take about 4 hours. Remove from the oven and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm. Let rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

 Peach Glaze:

• 1- 15 oz can of Peaches (sliced and drained)
• 2 medium Onions (chopped)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar, plus 1 Tbs
• 1/4 cup Drippings (from roasted Pork, fats removed)
• 1 Tbs Whole Grain Mustard

Directions:

Stir the peaches, onions, sugar, 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar and the drippings together in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

Stir in 1 Tbs Whole Grain Mustard and 1 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar.  Set aside

Pour over Pork when serving.

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Italian Sausage Rigatoni with Mushrooms

Create an easy dinner tonight that everyone will enjoy. This is a fast and a kid friendly meal.  Serve it up with a salad and some homemade Garlic Bread 

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg Italian Sausage (any kind)
• 1 pkg Rigatoni pasta (1 lb)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 small can of mushrooms (chopped)
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1 jar of pasta sauce (26 oz)
• 2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese (grated)
• 2 tbsp parsley (chopped)

Directions:

• Cook sausage links according to package
• Cook pasta in a large pot according to directions on package, drain and set aside
• Heat large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil, mushrooms and onions. Saute until onions are soft, about 2 minutes
• Cut sausage into 1/4 inch coin slices and add to skillet
• Stir in pasta sauce and heat through
• Add pasta and combine, sprinkle with parsley and cheese

Make enough so if you have any leftovers, try putting the pasta on a pizza crust and add cheese and place in oven until cheese melts.  Makes a wonderful midnight snack or movie night treat.

Lasagna Roll-ups

This is so easy to make for a week night meal.  I think the hardest thing to do is to cook the lasagna noodles.  Try this one and I think you will be surprised how easy it is.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 jar tomato pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup of Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp dried Oregano
• 3/4 cup Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 9 pre-cooked lasagna noodles
• 1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained

• Place seam side down over sauce in baking dish
• Continue until you have rolled all the Lasagna
• Top rolls with remaining sauce, cover with foil
• Bake 30-40 minutes or until bubbly and thoroughly heated
• Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
• Bake an additional 2 to 4 minutes until cheese has melted
  

This is what it looks like right out of the oven.  Add a side salad and some garlic bread and you have a perfect weeknight meal that did not take long at all

Italian Bread Salad

I started to get really tired of the same salad, so I added a little of this and a little of that and came up with a salad that you can have a a complete meal.  The secret to the taste of this salad lies in the homemade dressing.

Ingredients:

Salad:

• 4 cups cubed French bread, toasted
• 1 large head of lettuce (or Romaine)
• 4 or 5 large plum tomatoes (chopped)
• 2 cups chopped ham
• 1 – 8oz package mozzarella cheese (cubed)
• 1 cup grapes
• 3 green onions (chopped)

Dressing:

• 6 tbs Olive Oil
• 3 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
• 2 Garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp dried Oregano
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 3/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried Red Pepper flakes

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven 350°
• Place cubed bread on baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil and stir
• Place in oven and watch closely until just browned slightly

•  Place all ingredients for dressing into a pint mason jar (or any container with a lid).  Cover tightly and shake
• Layer salad with lettuce, tomatoes, ham, cheese, green onions and bread
• Pour dressing over the top and toss.  Let sit for about 10 minutes until the flavors mix.  Serve

Shells with Cheese and Vegetable Medley

I usually take recipes from some of my cookbooks and do some creative things to change them up a bit, especially if I know they can be enhanced with some spices and/or other items.  So this recipe was created.  Hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

Shells:

• 1 (12-ounces) package jumbo shells pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pounds thick-cut pancetta,  or bacon cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 2 pounds frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 (15 -ounces) container whole milk ricotta
• 1 cup grated asiago cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 freshly grated nutmeg

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup cream
• 2 cups grated asiago cheese, plus 1/4 cup
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F

For the shells:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat.
• Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. drain pasta.
• Warm the olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. add the pancetta and cook until lightly golden about 5 minutes. remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a large bowl.
• Add the spinach, ricotta cheese, asiago cheese pepper and nutmeg stir to combine
• Stuff the shells with about 2 tablespoons of the spinach mixture each and place the stuffed shells in a large, buttered baking dish.

For the sauce:

• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.
• Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
• Add the cream and bring to a simmer.
• Turn the heat to very low and add the 2 cups asiago cheese, parsley and pepper. stir until the cheese is dissolved
• Pour the sauce over the shells top with remaining 1/4 cup asiago cheese
• Bake into golden on top about 25 minutes. remove from the oven and serve immediately

Fast and Easy Turkey Wet Plate

If you have been following the grocery savings this week, you know that Banquet family sized dinners are on sale at Frankfort IGA for $1.79 box (stock up on).

Here is a thrifty and time-savings way to make dinner one night:

Ingredients:

• Banquet Family Turkey Dinner
• Instant Mashed Potatoes (or whatever kind you like)
• Bread
• Vegetable of choice

Directions:

• Cook Banquet dinner as directed on box.
• Make instant mashed potatoes
• Take two slices of bread and place on plate.
• Put some turkey on the bread (however much you like)
• Cut sandwich in two and spread apart on plate
• Place dollop of mashed potatoes between cut sandwich.
• Pour gravy over all.

Add vegetables and dessert.  You have just created a Turkey Wet Plate like they sell in restaurants only you know exactly what is in it!  As surprising as this sounds, kids really do like this.

You could also make a quick dessert by looking for Mary’s peach cobbler recipe which she will be posting soon.

SHEPHERD’S PIE

This recipe is as about as DOWN HOME and COMFORTING as you can get.  It is a one dish meal that covers all your basic food groups.  It’s covered with mashed potatoes with a meat and veggie center.  And it is so easy to make.

Make a few in containers and freeze. What more can you ask for.

 Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cubed
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (90% lean)
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup half-and-half
• 1/2 tsp paprika

Directions:

•  In large pot, boil potatoes in salt water until tender about 12 minutes.
•  While potatoes boil, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add ground beef and season with salt and pepper.  Brown and crumble meat for 3-4 min.  Add carrot and onion; cook 5 min, stirring frequently.  Drain off any oil.
• In a small skillet over medium heat, cook butter and flour together for 2 min.  Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce.  Cook to thicken gravy, 1 min.  Add gravy to meat mixture.  Stir in peas.

• Drain potatoes potatoes and pour them into a bowl.  Add cream and cheese and half-and-half.  Mash with a masher until potatoes are almost smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Preheat broiler to high.  Fill a medium casserole dish with meat and vegetable mixture.  Spread potatoes evenly over top.  Sprinkle potatoes with paprika and broil 6-8″ from the heat for 2-3 min.  Serve hot.

When I made this recipe, I doubled it and used 4 foil mini baking pans. I  filled the pans 3/4 full with the meat and vegetable mixture and added the potatoes on top.

I browned these and cooled completely, then wrapped these in plastic wrap and  aluminum foil and froze.

To reheat:  Remove all wrapping and place in a 325° oven for 20 minutes or until heated thru.  Makes a wonderful last minute meal with salad.

MEALS FROM SAVINGS

This week I chose to make the following recipe with the items that were on sale at the local grocery stores.  Below the recipe is the total cost per serving when you use the sale items.

PORK CHOPS AND APPLES

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium unpeeled apple, such as Rome Beauty or Granny Smith
• 2 TBSP packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 pork rib chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cut each apple quarter into 3-4 wedges.  Place wedges in 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

2.  Remove fat from pork chops and discard.  Spray skillet with cooking spray, and heat over medium heat 1-2 minutes.  Cook pork chops in hot skillet about 5 min., turning once, until light brown.

3.  Place pork in single layer atop apple mixture.  Cover with lid or foil; bake about 45 min. or until the pork is no longer pink in center and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.  (For pork chops that are 3/4 inch thick, meat thermometer inserted in center should read 160 degrees F.

Pork chops and apples are the perfect pair in this easy dinner that is enough for two.  Nice side dishes would be green beans or broccoli, along with mashed or baked potatoes.

I used the pork tenderlion that was on sale at K-Mart for $1.99 lb. to make this recipe.  This cost me $15 for the pork chops.  I also used the apples that were on sale for $2.98 for 5 lbs. at Save a Lot.  After doing some math the approximate cost of this meal (meat) for two people is less than $2.  If you add the mashed potatoes and the green beans, then the cost increases to about $3.09 for two.  Not bad in this day and age.

• Pork Tenderloin – K-Mart – 1.99 lb. – around $1.50 for 2 chops
• 10 lb. Russet Potatoes – $1.99 at K-Mart – used 4 med. potatoes – about 40 cents
• Imperial Margarine – .9 at Carnival for 1 lb. quarters – used 1 stick

 CHICKEN & NOODLE SKILLET

This is the first in a series of recipes which I will be using with the grocery store sales each week.  Most ingredients are on the sales list.  At the bottom of each recipe, I will be posting the total cost per serving using some items on sale for the week.

 INGREDIENTS

• 1 TBSP Veg. Oil
• 1 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts – cut in bite-size pieces
• 1 med. onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 cup ready-to-eat baby carrots cut in half lengthwise
• 1 cup frozen cuts broccoli
• 1 cup uncooked egg noodles (2 oz.)
• 1 can chicken broth (14 oz.)
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (10 3/4 oz.)
• Chopped fresh parsley, if desired

DIRECTIONS:

1.  In a nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Cook chicken and onion in oil 6-8 min., stirring frequently, until chicken is brown and onion is just tender.

2.  Stir in remaining ingredients except parsley.  Heat to boiling, reduce heat.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Uncover and simmer an additional 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink in center and noodles are tender.  Sprinkle with parsley if desired.

I really like this recipe because it is tasty, fairly easy to make (takes less than 40 min.), and you can get kids to eat it even with all the veggies.  Also using items on sale makes it very budget smart, and it can be doubled if need be.

This meal serves four and costs approximately:

$3.65 for four – that’s just .91 a serving using the following sale items.

BEST BUYS:

• Chicken Breast – .99 lb. at Taylor’s IGA (can take out bone and use)
• IGA Cream of Chicken Soup – .67 at Taylor’s IGA
• Chicken Broth – .69 (bought at Wally World)
• Onions – .49 – 3 lbs. (used one medium) – 10 cents
• Carrots – $1 – (bought last week on sale) – .50 for recipe
• Broccoli – $1 – Kroger – .50 for recipe
• Foulds Noodles – 12 oz. – $1 – Carnival – about 17 cents for recipe
• 48 oz. Vegetable Oil – Corner Market – 2/$5 – 96 TBSP in 48 oz = about 3 cents a TBSP

Of course, I invited the other half of Frugal Creations over to sample this (she had just gotten about four spears of fresh asparagus out of her garden) so this was added to my version of the recipe.  No cost but tasted wonderful!   We added a small salad for a well rounded meal.