Economy Cooking from your pantry

[ams3651]

Forgive me for skipping ahead if I duplicated, I will have more time to read later, this is a great thread.

I use some of my great grandmothers depression recipies.

Creamed Eggs on toast, just sliced hard boiled eggs in a cornstarch and milk cream sauce.

Same sauce with frozen peas and dumplings cooked on top while the peas cook.

My mom used to make hamburger gravy over noodles with a vegetable from the freezer.

I use a box of hamburger helper or tuna helper and add a vegetable.

All I need is a can of creamed soup, sometimes cheese, a meat, rice or pasta and frozen vegetables to make a casserole. My son used to say, I dont know what it is but its good!

 

[Tutter]

Zookeeper, you're right, we've neglected dessert a bit! But yours sound so good, and easy! How did you know that chocolate and lemon were 2 of my favorite dessert flavors?

May I ask why the generic powdered sugar works better? I make my own...how would that work, do you think? It's less compacted than storebought, because it's not being stored, but seems the same in every other way, just fresher; never stale.

Thanks again, now I know a dish I have to post! lol!

Ams, those are good ideas! One of the first meals I made, as a girl, included white sauce like that, with peas in the sauce, and served over biscuits. (Served as a side dish to something else.) Thanks for the reminder and ideas!

 

[kisat]

You know a good alternative to try for Lasagna?

I didn't have the noodles for it - usually don't - and remembered a Martha Stewart recipe that used the Jewish crackers in place of the noodles. But, since I'm not Jewish and don't have those crackers around, I used Crackers. Regular, or Saltine, and simply place a layer of crackers in between the meat/cheese layers. Cook the same way. Delish!

Also, if you don't want the crackers lasagna, then you can boil noodles (depends how much with how big of dish you use) - any kind of noodles - and then rinse with cold water, mix with a little bit of milk (meaning bout 1/4 c per 3 c of cooked noodles), an egg, and some (couple Tbsp) parmesan cheese (or any cheese, or none at all) and spread in bottom of casserole dish. Cook about 20 min in 350 oven. Then, use a cooked meat mixture, mixed with marinara (or spaghetti sauce) to top the noodles. Cover with layer of cheese (any amount, any kind, but best with mozerella I think) and cook another 10 min, or until cheese is melted.

Also, quick and simple peanut butter cookie recipe I enjoy is:
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour (recipe originally called for 1 c sugar, but I think that's just too much!)
1 c all natural peanut butter (you can use the no-stir version, but I think flavor is better with the one that you have to stir)

Mix. Roll into 1 inch balls. You can slightly press them down, but remember that they won't rise so how you make them and place on pan is how they will cook.
Cook @ 325 for 8-12 min. Depending on the pan, the bottoms may burn slightly, but that is because the all natural peanut butter that you have to stir is a little more oily, but I think it sometimes adds to the flavor.
Options for the cookies are to do the above recipe, but add in 1 c mashed bananas or add 1 c choco chips or 1 c oatmeal or 1 c anything you want pretty much. It's very versatile. I've tried both those ideas and they are fabulous!

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Tutter isn't chocolate and lemon everyone's favorite LOL. I don't know how the homemade would work I am sure it would. The generic is creamier (now is that even a word, I know I spelled it wrong LOL). Give it a try I am not sure how much is in a package of powdered suger. Wait I went and looked there is 32 oz in a bag, so that would be 4 cups, 8 oz to a cup ? correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Tutter]

Good ideas, Kisat!

I think the difference between Saltines and matzohs would be that the latter are denser. If you've found that Saltines work well, then I wouldn't give changing another thought.

That's sounds right to me, Zookeeper! I used to buy powdered sugar, and thinking back, I doubt more than that is in the bag. Thanks!

 

[pdsavage]

Most of my economy cooking comes from here lots of recipes that have helped when theres to much month at the end of the money....
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index.htm <----i see ray posted it also hehe ...
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/1918/great.html
i have lots of other reciepes for substitution or making my own convenience foods...

here is a cheap easy dessert....

VINEGAR PIE

1/2 c. butter, softened
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 (8 inch) unbaked pie shell
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. sugar

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vinegar, and vanilla. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.

 

[Tutter]

This is my granny's original recipe. We would beg her to make it for us for breakfast, served with a glass of ice cold milk. Once in a while, as teens, we made it for dinner, but not often. Or, if you had a light dinner, a late snack, instead of chocolate cake, or some such.

Chocolate and Biscuits

Sugar, 1 cup
Milk, ½ cup
Cocoa, 2-3 Tablespoons
Vanilla, 1 teaspoon

Biscuits
Butter

Mix cocoa with sugar well in saucepan.

Add milk.

Heat, stirring constantly, until boiling.

Boil 1 minute without stirring.

Take off heat and add vanilla.

Serve over split buttered biscuits.

*********************************

Also, alternative lasagna has come up.

If you don't have lasagna noodles, or don't want the pasta, or have a lot of eggplant, try this:

Make lasagna sauce as usual.

Shred cheeses, as usual.

Peel and slice eggplants into 1/8"-1/4" slices, lengthwise. I fix them as follows:

Set colander into large pot. Layer sliced eggplant in colander, lightly salting. Set plate on top of eggplant, and weight with heavy cans.

Later, maybe an hour, lift out colander and throw away liquid which has formed in pot.

Rinse eggplants quickly, but well. Then dry very, very well with kitchen towels or paper towels.

Now, make lasagna as always, putting eggplant in place of the noodles.

Tips:

I always put the sauce as the first layer.

Make the sauce extra thick, since there's liquid on eggplant.

Use parmesan, as well as the other cheese/s.

 

[kisat]

Quote:
Most likely since Martha did also soak the matzos beforehand few a few minutes, so they probably don't soak in the liquid as it is cooking like the saltines do. But hey, how many of us constantly have saltines, or any other cracker usually in the cupboards, so it quite works and considering that my brother, his friends, and my mom pig out on it when I make it - obviously it tastes good!

Oh, but as an obvious note, if using the saltines, I'd cut back on the salt in all other aspects of the dish since they add a bit too much salt if not compensated for.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

This is known as "Skillet Dinner" in our family. It's one of those meals where you can toss in as much of each ingredient as you like... You can also substitute almost anything in this recipe with a similar item that you have available -- it's the flavors (tomato, beef and cheese), not the specific ingredients, that count.

- Ground beef (1 pound)
- 1 1/2 cups (when dry) cooked macaroni (or any other similar-sized pasta except spaghetti or linguine, though I suppose they would work in a pinch)
- Canned crushed tomatoes
- Velveeta (or similar) cheese
- Salt/pepper/garlic powder/onion powder to taste

1. Cook the pasta and drain well. Set aside.
2. Cook the ground beef; drain well. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste.
3. Melt Velveeta cheese with the pasta.
4. Drain crushed tomatoes. Add these and the ground beef to the pasta and cheese.
5. Toss until mixed and heated through. Serve.

You can also chop an onion or a green pepper and add it to this. I don't because (frankly) I don't like them. Mushrooms would also be delicious in this.

 

[kisat]

Remembered another oldie, but goodie. I don't remember seeing anyone having posted this, but this is from my Norwegian Grandmother. I'm sure in place of the hotdogs, there were other sausages, but I think she had hot dogs cheaper, so she used hot dogs.

Depending on flavors you'd like, you could have more of each, or less of each. This is just what my family prefers.

Hot dogs and Potatoes

About 3 hot dogs, sliced however thin you want, mine is usually about 1/8-1/4" thick
About 4-5 large potatoes, diced. Mine are about 1/2" sized. Cooks quicker.
1/8 c onion diced - again size depends of your tastes
1/8 (or so) c oil - I use veggie, but can use any

Heat pan, pour oil in to cover bottom. You can add some butter for extra flavor if you'd like. As oil heats up, add potatoes, onion, hotdog. Add seasoning salt (or plain) and pepper. Adjust to taste. Mix it all up.
(You'll know you have enough oil when you see it coating everything well. If you add too much, you can always drain it off later, but Norwegian grandmother didn't care about calories so it's not a big deal if you want use less oil. Jsut make sure potatoes don't stick. I mainly use cast iron, but I've cooked this even in stainless steel and as long as you have enough oil, it don't stick too bad. )
Simmer for about 20 min (or more depending on thickness of potatoes). And you're done.
What I love about this recipe is you throw everything in the pan, mix and walk away. Only really needs one or two stirs, but otherwise it's better left alone. Before you're used to cooking it, I'd keep an eye on it, since even now I've had it stick because I had too little oil, but overall very delish!

My Cornbread that goes with everything I make usually

3/4 c cornmeal (you can always do 1 c cornmeal, 1 c flour too)
1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs, mixed
1/4 c oil
1 c milk

Mix all into bowl. Mix just until all is moist and mixed in. Pour into cast iron skillet (9 in) that's been coated with shortening, then dusted with cornmeal. Let sit at least 5-10min while oven preheats to 425*
Cook 20 min, or just until lightly turning brown around edges.
Take out and turn on broiler.
Place under broiler until top is a darker brown, just before burnt - keep an eye on it!
Take out, spread honey over top of it and let cool before slicing.

Optional is to place icing on top of it for a pretty good cake, put in bowl with vanilla ice cream, or in bowl with some milk and sugar. So many options, but I have to make this constantly.