Starting Up Again.

So I've been negligent in terms of posting and sharing, but I'm willing to try again. A lot has changed since I started this blog. Hubby and I recently finished graduate school (yeah!) and have both found gainful employment in the same town (yeah!). However we've also taken on a mortgage (a mixed bag of yeahs! and *sighs*) and we've had to start paying back our student loans (*SIGH*). All of that makes our budget pretty tight to start with. In addition, we're also expecting our first child any day now. So in an effort to help us save money, live within our means, and still be able to eat well, I've decided to focus on cooking items that will help us stretch our food budget.

Here are a few of the things I've started doing to help us save on groceries:

• Plan all our meals out for two weeks at a time. It takes some work, some creativity, and some patience. Living on a budget means less flying by the seat of our pants or by my whims on cooking. But it also allows me to be creative in how I buy and use food. Planning has also helped me think of new ways to stretch leftovers into a few different meals without having them be boring or mundane. Hubby thinks it exacerbates any OCD issues I may have, but having a plan gives me sense of control.
  
• Major grocery shopping trips every two weeks. By stretching our food dollars out this far in advanced, I can give myself a little leeway in terms of how much to spend each trip without going over each month. But to do this I have to plan out in advance and that's not just dinners, but breakfasts, lunches and snacks.
• Baking what I can. I might have been a fan of major brand cookies when I was a kid, but I like home baked cookies so much more. So I've started to try to bake one item a week for us to snack on. I've made endless batches of cookies, sweet breads, and muffins to help satisfy our sweet tooth and keep me from buying unnecessary snacks. Additionally, I've also started keeping stashes of pizza dough around and baking for potlucks and dinners at friend's houses.
  
• Shopping smart at bulk grocers. We've renewed our Sam's Club membership and I'm trying to stick to using it for those foods that really are cheaper to buy in bulk. For us to do this I have to (a) know how much it would cost per unit and only buy when the price is too good to pass up and (b) stick with items that won't go bad before we get a chance to use them up. It helps cut down on how much I spend during major grocery runs.
• Combining coupons with sale prices. I've been looking a lot more at how to combine coupons (available at CouponMom and tips from America's Cheapest Family) to help me try to get the lowest prices on items. Since we're still just two adults, it seems a little much to stock up on a ton of stuff, but I will stock up on essentials when the price is right.
  
• Use my iPhone to track how much I'm spending. I must look like a real techno-snob in the grocery store, but I found this app, GroceryIQ that helps me track how much I'm spending on each shopping trip, how much items have cost during past trips, and what coupons may be available for an item. So while I'm shopping I can enter prices (or put them in beforehand based on that week's grocery ads) and see what my estimated total should be. It's been really helping me stay within my means and know when I should put an extra item back and when I can get something extra.
  

All of these have been helping me drop our grocery bill from about $500 a month to under $300. I know it will get a little worse when our child grows older, but for now I feel like I have some control over how we're eating and how we're buying food to eat.

THIS WEEKS RECIPE: Pizza dough (from Giada deLaurentis)
I've tried a few different pizza dough recipes and this one is my favorite. It's simple, it tastes pretty good and it doesn't tend to get too dry. I think allowing it to rise twice helps with the texture and the flavor development. Plus it does well even when it's been frozen and allowed to warm to room temperature.

1.5 cups of warm water
1 packet of active dry yeast (.25 oz)
5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp. salt (I prefer Kosher Salt)
Olive oil

Put water in a warm bowl with a pinch of sugar. Sprinkle yeast and stir just until the yeast is wet. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow yeast to start working. It will start to get foamy.

In a large bowl, whisk flour and salt together. Add yeast mixture and stir until a dough forms. It should be a little sticky (but not goopy) and light (not heavy and hard). If need be, adjust with 1Tb at a time of water (if too dry) or flour (if too sticky). Transfer to a floured work surface and with floured hands knead the dough, folding it over with each turn until it is smooth and elastic, about 10-12 minutes. In a clean, dry bowl, drizzle some olive oil. Take the dough, use it to distribute the oil all over the inside of the bowl and then drop in the center. Cover the dough with a light towel or cheesecloth and place in a warm dry area (You can turn your oven on the lowest setting and place the dough on top of the stove). Allow the dough to double in size (anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours).

When ready, punch the dough dough and cut into three equal pieces. I will usually freeze two of the pieces at this point and then continue with the third piece as follows (or the other pieces when they have defrosted):

Allow to rest for another 30 min-1 hour. Remove dough and begin forming into loaves, pizza, or breadsticks.

More Savers

So because I'm a graduate student, I'm already on a tight budget. But I'm big into the idea of dressing cheap food up with fresh veggies. Today was a big example of doing that. I've always dressed up ramen (I usually buy the stuff from the asian market instead of the stuff at grocery stores) with fresh veggies, lunch meat, and sauces. I usually chop up some carrots, green onions, peppers, and broccoli and lately I've been adding in cilantro and peas afterwards. When the noodles and the veggies are cooked, I'll stir in the herbs and chopped up lunch meat (nothing sweet). I top the whole thing off with some sesame oil and chili sauce. It makes ramen so much better since you've got more veggies and I think it tastes better. A few years after being married I showed my husband how to do this and he has (thankfully!) been converted. My newest venture has been in dressing up macaroni and cheese. I usually buy one of the nicer boxes of mac n' cheese (I recommend Hodgson Mill whole wheat and white cheddar). They're a bit pricier but they're still only like $2-4. I'll heat up about a quarter pound of the seasoned meat with more chopped veggies (ex. mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, peppers, onions, parlsey . . . ) while the pasta cooks. When the pasta is done, I'll make the cheese sauce according to the package instructions and then stir in the meat and veggie mixture. The seasoning in the meat gives the cheese sauce a southwestern flavor and again veggies are always good. These are just some quick ideas on how to dress up cheap staples in ways that make them complete meals and a bit tastier.

Rough Times

In light of recent economic events, it becomes clear that knowing how to save money will be useful in the future. I don't invest and I don't own a home so my situation hasn't really changed much, mostly because I can't afford to. Limited financial aide and a lack of assistantships makes it difficult to do anything but buy groceries, pay for gas, and the occassional night out (without those I would be in bad shape). So in light, I figured I would share some of my recipes that keep me from buying over-price, high sodium, and full of preservative foods at the grocery store. One thing that I try to keep stocked in the freezer is marinara sauce. The following recipe was inspired by Giada De Laurentis with a few modifications. I'll make a large pot of it, divy it up into 2 cup portions, and freeze them. They last for abou 6 months and are great for a quick go to meal.

RECIPE OF THE DAY: MARINARA SAUCE

3Tbs olive oil
1 onion minced
5 cloves of garlic minced
2 carrots, minced
2 stalks of celery, minced
2 cans crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
2 Tbs tomato paste
1/4c chopped parsley
2 tsp. dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat up oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add carrot and celery (I will sometimes mince these in a food processor to save on time) along with salt and pepper. Saute vegetables until fragrant and soft. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, and basil. Mix together and bring the sauce to a simmer. Turn down heat to med-low and allow to simmer for about an hour to allow flavors to blend.

Summer Refresher

For a BBQ the other day I came up with this idea that sounded good. We mixed everything together and found it quite refreshing and a nice blend of flavors. And it's only three ingredients! It's an easy way to spruce up watermelon and makes for a nice thing to snack on during the day. The longer it sites, however, the more the lime breaks down the watermelon turning it into more of watermelon in juice. I don't know if this had ever been done before but I was quite impressed with the simplicity and flavor of it.

RECIPE OF THE DAY
Watermelon Salad
1 seedless watermelon, cubed
1/4 cup of chopped mint
Juice of one lime

Mix everything together in a bowl and enjoy!

Baking Madness

So in my little house that I am occupying now, I am without all the trappings that my kitchen in Arizona has. No mixer, no baking sheets, no scale. But I found a few recipes for baking that I wanted to try and attempted to make. My new favorite is Australian teacake. A perfect sized small cake that I bake in an aluminum pot with cinnamon and sugar on top. It's not an original recipe, I got it off of Crash Test Kitchen but it is really good, simple and quick to make. I ate a whole cake by myself in like two days. Not a light and fluffy cake, it's got some body to it making it a great cake to drink with a good cup of tea (My new fave is Chai by Good Earth Teas.)

RECIPE OF THE DAY: AUSTRALIAN CINNAMON TEACAKE

4Tb butter (1/2 stick)
1/2c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3c milk
1Tbs melted butter
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 355F. Grease a 8in cake pan with butter and then dust with flour. If available, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. In a small bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until the butter turns lighter in color. Mix in egg and vanilla until well mixed. Measure out flour and milk into separate container. Add the baking powder to the flour and sift. Add half the flour mixture to the egg mixture and blend until smooth. Add half the milk mixture to the egg mixture and mix until blended. Repeat until you use the rest of the flour and milk. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and make sure the batter is spread fairly evenly into the pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. Mix together the 1Tbs of sugar with the cinnamon and set aside. When the cake is done and allowed to cool, brush the top of the cake with melted butter and dust the top of the cake with the cinnamon mixture. Serve and enjoy.

Simply Stir Fry

I made this the other day as a quick dish and thought it was quite possibly the best stir-fry I think I have ever made. All the veggies were perfectly cooked, the sauce was good, and the shrimp was fantastic. There's that commercial that asks the questions :You know the secret to really good shrimp? My answer is always to cook them quickly before hand and then add then once the rest of the ingredients are done so that they don't get over-cooked. So many times people cook the shrimp and then add a bunch of ingredients on top of them to saute and you end up cooking the shrimp for like 30 minutes making them tough and flavorless. But this receipe is not only great but it's also simple.

RECIPE OF THE DAY: SHRIMP STIR-FRY

10-12 Shrimp, peeled and deveined (30-41 counts is a good size)
1/2 bell pepper
1/2 broccoli
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 med onion sliced
1 carrot. peeled and sliced
1/2 box of mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, sliced into 1/2" pieces
3 Tbls vegetable oil
2 Tbl chicken stock
2 tsp soy sauce
salt/pepper
chinese chili sauce

In a small bowl, combine shrimp with salt and pepper to taste and 1 Tbl of vegetable oil. Toss them around to coat. Heat a skillet over medium heat and pan fry the shrimp 1-2 minutes on each side until done. Place in a separate bowl to cool. In the same pan, add the rest of the oil, onions, and garlic. When fragrant, add broccoli, carrots and mushrooms and turn the heat up to medium-high. Saute for 5 minutes then add the rest of the vegetables, soy sauce, and chicken stock. Saute for another few minutes until the bell peppers begin to soften and the liquid in the pan has reduced. Add the shrimp back into the pan and mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper and top with chili sauce. Serve with rice or noodles.

Moving Menus

Since we are currently in the process of moving (and still on a very limited budget), meals have been largely dictated by what we have in the fridge or cupboard. We're trying to limit the amount of stuff we end up having to move to our new placce. Well, in the process of moving, I have also inadvertantly packed up alot of our cooking utensils, leaving me with a few pans, two pots, and a set of knives. With that in mind, we had to get creative yesterday when preparing dinner. Feeling like a bit of Cacciatore, I came up with the following recipe inspired by things found commonly in my cupboard.

RECIPE OF THE DAY: ITALIAN HUNTERS CHICKEN

1lb chicken breast (about 2 large whole breasts)
2Tbs olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 scallion
2 cloves garlic
1tsp dried oregano
1tsp dried sage
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
1 can artichoke hearts (drained)
1/2 dry white wine
10 leaves of basil in a chiffonade
2 cups cooked pasta
grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400F. Heat oil in a dutch oven on the stove, at medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken in the dutch oven until golden brown on each side (about 5 minutes each side). Remove chicken and add onion, scallion, and garlic to the dutch oven and cook until fragrant and soft. Add oregano and sage. Saute until fragrant. Add tomatoes and white wine. Add the chicken back to the pot, cover and place in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes and then add artichoke to the pot. Cook another 20 minutes. While the dish is cooking, cook the pasta until tender. Drain and dish into separate bowls. When the chicken has finished, spoon on top of the pasta and top with basil and parmesan cheese.