Food Saving Tips

I don't know about you, but there are various things that I often find we tend to throw out of our kitchens when they aren't necessarily bad and can still be salvaged in some way. So, here I have some tips that will hopefully save our food... and our money! (wink wink)

Homemade Shake n bake
So, I recently found something to do with those crumbs that always appear at the bottom of my cracker bags. I LOVE crackers, so they are a staple in our house. Now, they quite often have lots of crumbs at the bottom... not loving those so much, until now. I recently made some popcorn shrimp and wanted to make my own breading instead of using that shake n bake stuff. So... out come the bottom-of-the-bag crumbs. Just save them all (chips, crackers, you name it)! Put them in a ziplock and use the rolling pin on it. Then add spices as you like for your own homemade shake n bake!

Sour Cream
There are lots of recipes out there that use sour cream, and when you bake it into something it really doesn't matter if it's a bit past the expiry date. So, when getting a bit close to the expiration on the label, try baking it into something... like sour cream coffee cake!

Bananas
I find bananas quickly get overripe for me to eat... so I like to bake them into things. Well, you can freeze them easily for that purpose... I prefer to peel them first and put them into a bag so all I need to do is dump them right into the batter! And to keep the bananas from ripening too quickly, separate them. I don't know why, but it seems that when they aren't in as close contact to each other, they ripen a bit slower.

Bacon
Sometimes we have some bacon that isn't eaten after we've made it... so, turn it into bacon bits! Ready for the next salad... mmmm.

Bread Ends
How many of us really care for those bread crust end pieces (ok, besides me)? Dry them out and use them in recipes that ask for bread crumbs! You can also use them in making shake n bake. I like using them to make meatballs or hamburgers.

Old veggies/fruit
I haven't yet started doing this myself, but it IS in my 101 list. Compost it! Yup, all those veggies and fruits that don't look too edible in your fridge would make some great compost for your garden! Nothing like turning veggies into veggies... or flowers... haha.

Yogurt toppings
I love Shreddies, and they often have crumblies at the bottom that don't go so well with my milk (can you say soggy and gross?). Blech. So, I started saving these and putting them on my yogurt. Great to add a bit of crunch... and fiber.

So, I hope these little tidbits help!

Deep-Fried Breaded Shrimp

So, since we are not having any red meat on Wednesdays or Fridays for Lent, we wanted to still have something fun for our Friday night in, and pizza is always just the way for us. So, we had Margerita pizza, and wanted to have something else with it... but not chicken... something... fish. I thought, why not breaded shrimp!? Boo Yah!

Deep-Fried Breaded Shrimp

I'm not going to list ingredients here, mainly because it's super easy and didn't require a recipe in the first place. So, the meal here is a frozen margarita pizza from Costco, salad, and the shrimp.

To bread the shrimp, crush some crackers (or use bread crumbs) and add some spices to it, whatever you want (we used oregano, pepper, salt,). Put in a bowl. In a seperate bowl, put in some flour. In a third bowl, beat an egg till blended. Take the tail off the shrimp, dab dry, coat in flour, then egg, then the crackers. Deep fry until done! Now they're ready to eat. Make some of your favorite dips for it.

Honey Dill Dip
Mix together some mayo, honey, and dill. Voila!

Milkshake
Mix some icecream and milk in a blender. For various variations (wow... that's some fun with english), try the following...
Berry berry - add strawberries, blueberries, and yogurt of berry flavors
Vanilla - add some vanilla! To taste
Chocolate - chocolate sauce in there... awesome
Chocolate peanutbutter - add some chocolate sauce, and some melted peanutbutter... SOOOO good.

Pancake Day

Tuesday was pancake day, and I'm sorry I didn't post this then... oops. Anyway, I have this 'from scratch' pancake recipe memorized and thought, why not put it on my blog? So here it is!

Pancakes

serves 2-4

Ingredients
1 cup flour (I use whole grain)
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
dash salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Drop onto frying pan, flip when bubbly on top. Serve with butter and syrup (maple is the best).

For variations, try the following:

• Add one mashed banana to the batter for banana pancakes.
• Add chocolate chips (1/2 cup should do) and a mashed banana for banana chocolate chip pancakes.
• Add 1 or 2 peeled and chopped apples and some cinnamon (to taste) for Apple cinnamon pancakes.
• Add blueberries or strawberries or a mix of both for berry pancakes. Blueberries will turn the batter blue... it looks pretty cool. Maybe have some fun with it and add some food coloring for the kids.
• Get creative in adding different fruits and other things from the pantry to your pancakes to make them all your own. You can even serve them with ice cream, whipped cream, or just sprinkle some sugar on top.

Mega Meal

So, today we are having people over to eat, and I'm in charge of meat. I recently made slow cooker spaghetti and meatballs, and loved them, so decided to make them again. I thought, why not try to triple the batch? See how it works?

It worked great!

So, now I have 68 meatballs (yup... I counted them... not often I make something in such large supply) in my brand new 7L crockpot (my old one was far too small for something of this size... you could make a meal for 4 in there, but not for more than that)! I'm one proud mama! And I don't have to do anything more with them! Isn't that awesome?

Oh, and I have to say I noticed I have 50+ recipes on my blog now! How awesome is that!

Banana Macadamia Nut Bread

Well, I found this recipe while looking through my Brand Name Cookbook for something to bake that involved bananas... and just my luck, I had a few walnuts left over from a previous recipe. So, I decided this would be the perfect thing to try as I've gotten tired of making the same old banana bread recipe already.

Banana Macadamia Nut Bread

Ingredients
2 cups flour (I did 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup white)
1/2 cup sugar (this is less than the recipe asks for)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 tbsp grated orange peel (oops... didn't have this)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 or 3)
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup coconut (I halved this)
3/4 cup macadamia nuts or walnuts, chopped (again, I had less)

Heat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, butter, eggs, baking soda, salt, orange peel, and vanilla. Beat at low speed, scraping the bowl often, 2-3 minutes until well mixed. Add bananas and orange juice. Continue beating, scraping the bowl often, until well mixed (about 1 min). By hand stir in the coconut and nuts. The batter will be thick! Spread into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan (or 3 greased 5 1/2x3 inch mini loaf pans).

Bake 60-65 min for large loaf, or 35-45 min for minis, or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool ten minutes and remove from pan to cooling rack.

Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is one recipe I plan to make again. I grabbed it from Canadian Living.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
salt
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I just omitted this)
1 lb spaghetti, cooked

Meatballs
1 egg
1/2 cup onion
garlic
1/4 cup each breadcrumbs (or use crushed crackers) and Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp each basil, oregano, salt, pepper
1 lb ground beef

Meatballs: Mix all except meat, then mix in beef. Shape into 16 balls. Bake 400F on foil lined sheet for 10 minutes. Put in slow cooker.
Meanwhile: In skillet heat olive oil over medium heat and cook onion, garlic, oregano, salt, stirring occasionally till onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
Stir in tomatoes. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours. Add parsley. Serve with spaghetti (and toast and salad).

Chocolate Truffles

I found this recipe in one of my Kraft magazines and thought it looked good! So, I made it and found it tasted really good! Made a great Valentines gift.

Chocolate Truffles (adapted from Kraft)

time: 2 1/2 hours or more, 2 hours chilling time

Ingredients

16 squares Baker's Chocolate (70% cacao dark, or maybe try using bittersweet or milk, or white!)

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 Tbsp butter

icing sugar, chopped walnuts, sprinkles, etc

Chop 8 squares of chocolate, place in a microwave safe bowl, add cream and butter, and microwave on medium heat for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour (it needed longer, I ended up freezing it till solid, then nuked it for 30 seconds or so, stirred it again, and waited. It solidified to working consistency within minutes)

Shape into 24 balls and place on waxed paper covered tray.

Melt remaining chocolate (do only 2 squares to start, then 1 at a time till everything is done so you don't melt more than you need), use a toothpick (or fork) to dip the truffles into the chocolate. Sprinkle with nuts/sprinkles. Or instead of dipping and sprinkling, roll in icing sugar or cocoa or sprinkles. Chill for another hour in the fridge

Ugh

So, today I made 2 new things... one turned out great, and I will be making it again, and the other...

ugh...

I made S*x in a Pan (or Mississippi Mud for family friendliness) and it is FAR too sweet. I cannot emphasize it enough! I spent such a long time working on it too, and am super glad I only made a half recipe... blech. Hubby likes it, I could barf. I want to cry about my wasted cream cheese, the wasted tub of cool whip, the wasted almonds... the pudding doesn't bother me. I think it should have been made with whipping cream instead of already sweetened cool whip, and I should have put in way less sugar. I think this is one Valentine's flop... the recipe will be hitting the trash.

Spaghetti Squares

Ok, I found this recipe on Kraft and since I had some leftover green pepper and cottage cheese in my fridge I needed to use up before it went bad, I figured... why not? Of course, as usual, I modified it a bit. I divided the recipe into two containers and froze one for later...

Spaghetti Squares

serves 8

Ingredients
300g (1/3 pkg 900g) spaghetti, uncooked.
1 lb ground beef
red or green pepper
1 jar pasta sauce (700ml or 3 cup) OR, since I don't have that I used 2 cups worth of tomato sauce, some tomato paste and ketchup to make the remaining 200ml
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp butter
2 eggs beaten
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 350F. Cook spaghetti. Brown meat in the pan, drain, add peppers and cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Add pasta sauce.
Drain spaghetti. Toss with Parmesan, butter, eggs, and place in a greased 13x9 pan (or two smaller pans). Top with cottage cheese, then meat mixture. Add mozza to the top.
Bake 20 minutes until heated through. Serve with salad
From frozen: Bake at 400F for 40 minutes until heated through.