Elementary Chef

Today was grocery day and after I’ve done all the damage to our checking account, I’m always interested in how to save money.

Chicken is one of the cheapest meats and is my least favorite to cook. But if you are looking to save money, then using chicken as a main ingredient will help to keep the cost of the meal down.

Pasta is another cheap food. You can also make meals more interesting by switching pastas. There’s spiral, spaghetti, elbow, etc. that you can use to make a meal.

Those weekly sales ads are worth checking out since you can find out which grocer has the best deals. I’m not one for shopping at several stores but if it means substantial savings, then I may just have to do it.

The best way to save money at the grocery store is to plan. Shop from a list and stick to it. We eat better and I take less trips to the store when I make a list.

Last night I attended my first Taste of Home Cooking School and it won’t be my last. I had such a good time and learned a lot in just two hours.

Michelle Roberts from the cooking school made 8 delicious dishes that were then given away as door prizes. I was so hoping to win one but did win a small, Tupperware door prize. There was a nice goody bag that everyone received for their paid admission to the show.

In the cookbook were all of the recipes made during the show and many more. It was really inspirational and gives me some ideas for dinner.

One of the dishes involved salmon. It was good to see her cook salmon since I usually stay away from cooking fish. I just don’t feel confident in knowing when it’s done. But seeing it cooked and hearing a few tips makes me think that I might can make it after all.

It was great fun and if a Tast of Home Cooking School comes to your town, make sure you attend.

There were many tips that were shared during the show. It’s a lot of knowledge packed into just a few hours. Also there were a ton of other door prizes from local and national sponsors.

It was a great time and was fun to see a live cooking demonstration. I will be making at least a few of the recipes over the next few weeks. I am even more looking forward to dinner time. I think this cooking show helped to raise my interest in cooking.

If you are looking to new recipes that are tried tested and true, then take part in a recipe exchange. This is where cooks send each other their favorite recipe. So you know that you are getting some well loved recipes.

Recipe exchanges are also fun to get to know new people. Some recipe exchanges might be holiday themed. I took part in one that was all about Valentine’s Day so naturally I received quite a few sweets/desserts. That was fine with me as I have a huge sweet tooth. Some recipe exchanges might be to send your favorite recipe. Those are always fun. One of my favorite recipes is Taco Bake. It’s a simple recipe that I got from the back of a Campbell’s soup label.

Message boards and forums are a good way to find exchanges or to start one. See who might be interested and go from there. It might be some work to organize one but well worth the effort.

Last week I took part in a children’s consignment sale and netted me enough money to buy a stand alone mixer. I’m so excited as I’ve been needing a mixer for quite a while. I’ve tried winning one and finally decided that I just need to buy me one. And thanks to a little extra money I was able to do just that.

It’s a Sunbeam 2350 Heritage Stand Mixer.While I’ve been drooling over a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, I recently heard a few say that the Sunbeam was just as good as the Kitchen Aid for a third of the price. She has a friend who is a chef so I figure I can trust someone who cooks more than I do when it comes to small kitchen appliances.

I can’t wait to give it a try. I have been putting off some baking because I didn’t have a mixer. Now I can get to baking. We’ve been wanting to make some homemade cookies since that should be fun for the three-year-old.

With the bread machine and now the stand mixer, my kitchen wish list is nearly complete. Now for a dish washer and I’ll be all set.

I have been using my bread machine at least once a week and love it. After trying a few of the recipes that came with the bread maker, I found a few more in a leaflet. One recipe was for banana/chocolate chip bread. It sounded really good so I gave it a try.

I wasn’t that impressed with it as the chocolate was semi-sweet and just seemed a little bitter. It definitely needed more banana. So I thought I would try the recipe again but with more banana and to substitute the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips - hence why I named it Elvis bread. Elvis Presley loved banana and peanut butter sandwiches.

When I went to make the bread, my husband had eaten some of my bananas so I had only one - the same amount I added to the first loaf. But I did flavor the milk with banana flavoring and hoped that would help give it more banana taste.

This bread turned out really well. The peanut butter chips all melted into the bread. It still could use more banana taste and maybe more peanut butter chips.

It’s definitely better to me than the banana/chocolate chip bread. I cooked the bread on a white bread cycle. If there was a way to make this a sweet bread, then I think it would be divine.

Hopefully next time I will have more bananas to give it a richer taste. It can’t be Elvis bread without the distinct taste of bananas and peanut butter. I will just have to buy more bananas and hope they ripen before they are all eaten.

Today is Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. It’s a time of indulgence as tomorrow begins Lent - a time of reflection and sacrifice. A lot of Catholics and non-Catholics give up something for Lent. A lot of times people give up something food/drink related. So today is the day to enjoy all those things you plan to do without for the next 40 days.

We will be eating out less and hopefully taking that money and giving it away - one of my Lenten promises(be more charitable). So today is all about celebrating. We are going out to eat tonight, so I don’t have to cook today. I get to pick where we will eat. It’s a tough decision because part of me just wants a greasy hamburger and part of me wants to go to a buffet just to eat.

I have been waffling on my diet for a few weeks, so Lent will be the perfect time to get back on track. That means I will be cooking more healthy meals and buying nutritious snacks. You can’t eat it if it is not in the house.

Thursday I will go grocery shopping as tomorrow is Ash Wednesday - a day of fasting(1 regular meal and two smaller meals). I know I will be hungry and if I go to the grocery store hungry I will spend way too much money. That will give me a few days to find some recipes.

Monday, February 16th will be a great day to catch up on ‘Ace of Cakes’ on the Food Network There will be an Ace of Cakes Marathon beginning at 11am. The marathon will run until 4pm - that’s five hours of some of the best, most creative cakes around.

Ace of Cakes has become part of my must-see TV. Recently they helped the cast of LOST celebrate their 100th episode with an awesome LOST-inspired cake full of small details from the show. I can’t wait for that episode that is suppose to air in early May.

Ace of Cakes airs on Tuesday and Thursday on Food TV and thank goodness for DVR so I won’t miss a single episode.

Baked potatoes are a good, quick dinner. It’s a comfort food that is cheap and so very easy. Making baked potatoes with all the fixings means that everyone can have their potato their way. How many times do you have a dinner that everyone raves over? Probably not often if your home is like ours. But serving baked potatoes definitely helps to cut down on the whine at dinnertime.

You can either microwave or bake the potatoes although microwave is a lot faster. If you microwave, then be sure to poke them with a fork and to keep an eye on the potatoes. When they start to get done, then they will begin to shrink and toughen. So try not to overcook the potatoes. Cooking time will depend upon the size of your microwave.

There are so many toppings for baked potatoes. This is where the fun comes in. Have butter, sour cream, bacon, and cheese so that your crew can prepare their potato their way. You can also have chopped ham or other family favorites on the table. Serve baked potatoes with leftover chili. You can get your family to eat leftovers if they get to dribble it over a nice, hot potato.

Baked potatoes are not only a good choice for dinner but can be a great lunch. Even leftover baked potatoes can make an awesome potato cake for breakfast.

Baked potatoes can be a great choice for a main dish or a side dish. They can be whipped up fast, so it’s good for those days when dinner is running late. Plus potatoes are always yummy and should please even the pickiest eater.

Have you ever had a recipe that called for some ingredient you didn’t have? Well there are some common kitchen ingredients that can be made with other common ingredients. Today’s example is baking powder.

Some recipes will call for baking soda when others will use baking powder. While both are leavening agents and are used for basically the same purpose when baking, it really depends on the other ingredients as to which one is used. It’s all about taste, so some ingredients are better when you use baking soda and others with baking powder. I would expand more on the subject but really that’s about all I know.

Baking powder does contain baking soda but it also contains cream of tartar and starch. So in a pinch you could make your own baking powder with these ingredients.

Try 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1/4 teaspoon of both cornstarch and baking soda. You can double or triple the recipe if you need more baking powder.

Ace of Cakes is one of my favorite shows. It’s on the Food Network and is a reality show featuring the owner and staff of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, Maryland. Duff Goldman, the owner of Charm City Cakes, went to pastry school and then afterwards decided to open his own bakery where he does fantastically awesome cakes.

Each cake is custom-ordered. They do wedding cakes, birthday cakes, special occasion cakes, etc. Each show seems to center around a week in the life of the shop and features a few of their more challenging cakes. What is really great is you get to see a little of the planning, a lot of the decorating, and the reaction of the clients to the cake.

It really makes me want to bake more and try cake decorating. I doubt if my cakes ever come close to what they make but still it would be fun to try. I actually decorated the three-year-old’s last birthday cake and found it to be a rather pleasant experience. Maybe I won’t wait until her next birthday to give cake decorating another try.

Starting a diet is not easy. The hardest part is getting used to a new way of eating. We started Weight Watchers the first full week of January. Here is how I get used to eating on a diet.

I buy frozen meals. It teaches you about portions as well as having the exact calories to your dish. What I do is start out with 4 frozen meals a week and cook one day a week. The weekends is every man for himself and is usually very ‘potpourri’ when it comes to mealtime. As the weeks progress, I take one more day off the frozen meal plan.

This gives me time to find recipes and work into the budget any extra ingredients we need. Seriously, have you seen the price of extra virgin olive oil? I hate trying a new recipe when it’s going to cost $20 to buy everything I need. I prefer to space that cost over a few trips.

Next week I will be down to 2 frozen meals and three cooked meals. It’s time to do some menu planning.

One of the easiest recipes that I cook is one that I found on the back of a Campbell’s soup label many years ago. Everyone just loves it and it’s super easy to make. It’s even easier if you just buy the Taco Bake kit from Old El Paso.

This is from the kit since I was being totally lazy. For the kit all you have to do is brown your ground beef, drain, add water and seasoning. Let is simmer for a few minutes. Then layer it and add toppings. Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

The homemade version is slightly more complicated but not too much. First the ingredients -

8 soft tortillas
1 can tomato soup
1/3 cup milk
1 pound ground beef
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pack taco mix

First cut up the tortillas into one inch squares. Set aside. Next brown the ground beef. Drain. Then add the seasoning mix and 1/3 cup water. Let is simmer down and then add the tomato soup, milk, and half the cheddar cheese. Once it is mixed well, remove from heat. Then place the tortillas into a casserole dish. Next add the ground beef mixture and stir it up. Cover with either a lid or aluminum foil. Cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and top with the rest of the cheese. Then recover the taco back so that the cheese melts. Let is stand for 5-10 minutes to cool. Then serve.

This makes about 4 servings. Sometimes I mix it up by adding corn and taking away the tomato soup to give it more of a Southwestern flavor.

You can substitute ground turkey and low-fat milk to make the taco bake a bit healthier.

Summer time means Sundae time! Next time you pull out that vanilla ice cream, forego the regular canned sauce and mix up a batch of this incredible hot fudge sauce!

Fantastic Hot Fudge Sauce for Ice Cream
1 1/2 cups corn syrup
3/4 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter
1 tsp. Vanilla

In a saucepan, combine corn syrup, cocoa and salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Makes 2 cups of sauce. Keeps well in the fridge and can be re-heated. Great with vanilla ice cream.

Celestial Seasonings has introduced a fabulous new “book club” — which translates loosely to mean FREE TEA! I signed up and will taking the several samples (and recipe cards!) they sent to my this-month book club. Sign up for yourself (with two proofs of purchase) at www.celestialseasoningsbookclub.com

For those looking for a little international flair to their repertoire, this recipe is easy but very tasty. Here’s a nice and tangy variation on the standard chicken breast. It’s not as overwhelming as some people find curry dishes, but it still has a nice “zing”! I recommend serving over jasmine rice, although if you’re being carb conscious, then brown rice (organic is definitely best!) will work well, too.

Breast Of Chicken Indonesian Style

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts – no skin or bone, please!
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoons of honey or brown sugar
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (or Real Lemon bottled lemon juice!)
1 tablespoons of ground cumin
1/8 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoons of turmeric
1 tablespoons of ground coriander
2 teaspoons of finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Mix together salt, pepper, soy sauce, honey, lemon juice, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, coriander and garlic. Blend well and then place chicken pieces in mixture to marinade. make sure the dish is large enough to cover the chicken well! Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Heat the oil in a skillet large enough to hold the pieces in one layer without crowding. Over medium heat, add the pieces of chicken and cook until browned on one side. Turn the pieces and reduce the heat to medium high. Cook until done. Total cooking time is about 10 minutes. Serve hot over white or brown rice.