I broke my slow cooker...

It was a Sunday morning, the family was already full from breakfast, and I had a skillet of homemade green chili enchilada sauce simmering on the stove, and a pressure cooker full of chicken breasts cooking on the counter.

I had an ambitious Sunday planned for myself. A double batch of Chicken Enchilada Soup for the freezer, cooked chicken for lunches for the week, and a goal to get it all done before church started.

We have "late" church this year. Since we are Latter Day Saints (AKA Mormons), we alternate church meeting times with other wards each year so no one gets stuck with a bad slot forever. Last year we had 9:00 a.m. church, so this year we have 1:00 p.m. church.

Since I won't have afternoon naps to meal prep and get things done, I need to make the most of my mornings.

I popped the chicken seal on the pressure cooker to vent the steam and turned off the heat on the skillet of the worlds best green chili enchilada sauce. 

I walked over to our wire rack to grab my 7 quart slow cooker when i dropped it on the floor, shattering the inside container...

It wasn't even on a high shelf...

After a few minutes spent sweeping and mourning the loss of my slow cooker, we hit amazon to brain storm how we were going to fix dinner, still make our soup (since I had all the ingredients prepped), and do it from an economical stand point since we hadn't planned to buy a slow cooker this month. We checked amazon and were reminded that my slow cooker about $32 on Amazon... but that wouldn't get to us today, even if we purchased it again.

We have a smaller electronic pressure cooker that we were gifted from my mom, and since acquiring that, I have been using my slow cooker less and less since the pressure cooker is faster and doesn't heat up our house as much as the slow cooker does. I used to just use it to cook my dried beans, but last year we expanded and have used it for several different dishes.

So, I knew I could get half the soup into the pressure cooker and use the "slow cooker" setting. I just wasn't sure how much soup would fit in the pot since it's not 7 quarts like my slow cooker.

Instead of doubling the recipe like I normally do, I made a single batch, which meant I had extra enchilada sauce and chicken... so after verifying hubs liked the sauce all on its own, I just mixed the two together. We had impromptu green chili chicken tacos for Sunday dinner and I got about 9 containers of chicken enchilada soup for the freezer.

 and it was a VERY tasty accident.

As for replacing the slow cooker, I think we are going to wait and see if we can just live without it. I've been able to use the pressure cooker for a lot more and one less appliance in the kitchen would be nice, so we are going to give it a whirl.

What we do know, is chicken green chili tacos are sooooo happening again.

Recipe Savers: Chicken Enchilada Soup

Over the past 9 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, I've started to share my recipes, secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from a blog I found via Pinterest when I was searching for new recipe ideas! I give you Lil' Luna's Crock Pot Green Chile Enchilada Soup which has become an absolute staple in our house.

I make a batch up, we eat dinner and then we FREEZE these in Tupperware containers, making a quick and awesome lunch for busy mornings. I've Mild-Out the flavors because we have a toddler at home, and lately he hasn't really felt like eating this meal, but i'm happy to feed him a quesadilla when we make this just to stock our freezer up!

I will admit, I've modified her recipe a little adding in more corn and rice because its just easier to use a whole can then less, but either way you follow it, its amazing and people tell me it smells soooooo good when I heat it up at work.

Instead of canned Green Chile sauce, I use this recipe from Mel's Kitchen. I've roasted my own green chili's before and it made it to die for...  but with a toddler, i just don't have the time to roast and peel these suckers and end up using the canned green chili's instead. For my Recipe and math below, you need a double batch of Mel's sauce mixture.

So how much does it cost to make? $14.92 at Aldi for 16 servings... $0.93 each... 

Sauce:

• 1 Cup of Chopped Onion ($0.25)
• 4 garlic cloves ($0.25 / Whole minced jar is $2.19 so this is generous price estimate)
• 6 tablespoons Flour ($0.05)
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• 1/2 a teaspoon Oregano (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• 1 teaspoon Salt (too cheap to count)
• 3 Cups Chicken Broth ($0.25, using this homemade version)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper (too cheap to count)
• 4 cans of Green Chili ($0.55 each / $2.10 Total)
• 4 tablespoons of Oil: $0.20

Soup:

• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (about 2/3 a family packet at Aldi) $6.50
• 28 oz Chicken Broth already factored in above...
• Green Chili Sauce from above
• Cumin (already factored in above for an extra 1.5 tablespoons)
• Chili Powder (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• Onion Powder (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• Garlic Powder (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• Can of Corn (I use a whole can in mine) $0.49
• Rice - I just cook 1/2 cup to 1 cup of dry rice on the stove top and drop it in ($0.15)
• Cream cheese - $1.29
• (I don't add additional green chili's to the recipe), but if you want it spicy you can add $1.10)
• Block of Cheese to shred and top soup with: $2.89

It's just flat out tasty folks... 

Check out my other Recipe Saver Ideas:

$0.65 breakfast burritos 
$0.93 Broccoli Bacon Cheese Soup 
$1.27 Chicken Alfredo Bundles
$8.30 Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie (Serves 8)

Recipe Savers: Chicken Bundles

Over the past 8 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, I've started to share my recipes, secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from the makers of Pillsbury and is their Creamy Garlic Chicken Bundles ... but its been adapted to my families taste buds.

Do you know, this FREEZES amazingly well... So much so that I make a double batch so we can freeze some and we have plenty of leftovers for lunches or a quick dinner. Even the toddler eats this adaptation.

I use this recipe to make my own Alfredo sauce from scratch... it's so much better and doesn't take much additional time. I also add Broccoli instead of bell peppers and do more veggies than the original calls for because we like our greens and I think it makes it taste better.

So how much does it cost to make?

$20.31 for 16 servings at Aldi... that's $1.27 each... which is enough for 4 meals 

Heavy Whipping Cream: $1.99 (I've gotten it as cheap as $0.49).

Chicken Breasts: 6.25 (2/3 a family pack, about 6 breasts)

1 lb of Broccoli: $0.79

Butter: $1.34 (2 sticks of the 4 stick box -- whole box is $2.69)

Crescent rolls: $3.96 (4 cans @ $0.99 a can)

Minced Garlic: $0.40 (Whole jar is $2.19)

Parmesan Block: $3.79

Bag of Spinach: $1.29

Dried Parsley: $0.50

Step 1: Cook chicken in oven. 350 for 35-45 minutes.

Step 2: While chicken is cooking, Shred the whole Parmesan cheese block in your food processor or by hand. Put aside 3 cups for the Alfredo (your making a double batch)... Melt 2 sticks of butter in a sauce pan and heat the 2 cup container of whipping cream... then add the 3 cups of Parmesan until it melts and combines well. Stir in some minced Garlic and add some Parsley flakes... set aside.

Step 3: Wash and chop broccoli into pieces (I include the stem -- I just peel the thick skin off with a peeler or a knife) and steam in microwave. Then dump in a food processor to mince. add in spinach leaves so they get finely chopped as well. Put in a large bowl with the remaining Parmesan you shredded and with some more minced garlic.  

Step 4: Take Chicken out of the oven and after it rests and cools, put it in the food processor to shred.  Add shredded chicken to bowl of broccoli and spinach. Mix. Add 1/2 the Alfredo sauce from the skillet, and combine.

Step 5: Take the crescent rolls out of the tubes and place two of them to form a square/rectangle buy pinching the middle seams together (4 cans = 16 squares). Cram tons of filling (Chicken, broccoli, spinach mixture) into them and pull in the corners so they close the bundle. Bake in the oven 350 for about 25 minutes.

Spoon remaining Alfredo onto the tops of the bundles before serving. 

  

I'll serve this with some sliced fruit normally since the veggies are inside, so I treat it like a casserole meal. Hubs normally eats 2 at dinner, I eat one, toddler eats about a 1/2 a bundle, sometimes more, just depends. It also pairs well with salad. 

Pair my $0.65 breakfast burritos with my $0.93 Broccoli Bacon Cheese Soup and the have these tasty chicken bundles for dinner ($1.27) and a single person has three meals for $2.85! Grab an apple ($0.34), a glass of milk ($0.32); dunk that soup with 2 slices of whole wheat bread ($0.18) and its only $3.69... Just saying...

Recipe Savers: Broccoli Cheese Soup

 Over the past 7 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, i'm going to share my secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from 100 Days of Real Food and is one of our go to winter staples. Broccoli is one veggie I can get my hubby to eat regularly, so you'll probably see a lot of it on the blog.

Do you know, this FREEZES amazingly well... So much so that I make a double batch so we can have plenty of leftovers in the freezer for lunches or a quick dinner. The toddler doesn't get the concept of soup, so he normally ends up with a quesadilla and frozen peas on soup night, but we love this recipe. Below I just doubled the ingredients and I save time by making a double batch.

So how much does it cost to make?
$10.21 for 11 servings at Aldi... that's $0.93 each...

• Broccoli: $1.58 (Need 2 of the 1 pound packages, sold at $0.79 each) 
• Bacon: $2.79 
• Yellow Onions: $0.25 (About 1 cup)
• Chicken Stock: $0.25  (Homemade broth recipe)
• 6 tablespoons Flour: $0.09
• Cheese: $2.79 (1 blocks of Cheddar)
• Heavy Cream: $1.99
• 2 cups of Milk: $0.47
• Salt/Pepper: Too cheap to Count
• Oil: (still on a huge box from costco)

Pair that with my $0.65 breakfast burritos and your have dinner and lunch for $1.58! We normally eat it with a bit of bread to dunk, but its a meal on its own. 

Recipe Savers: Breakfast Burritos

Over the past 6 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, i'm going to share my secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe is actually my own concoction and is quickly becoming our breakfast go-to and morning time saver. I proudly present, Break Burritos!

Do you know, these FREEZE amazingly well... So much so that I make a batch of 30 at one time so I can freeze them and not worry about breakfast before work for 2 weeks!!!

So how much does it cost to make 30 breakfast burritos?
$19.47 at Aldi... that's $0.65 each

• Eggs: $2.37 (Need three dozen, sold at $0.79 each) 
• Sausage links: $2.85 (Need 3 packages of the frozen sausage links at $.095 each) 
• Yellow Onions: $0.90 (I got 4 small ones for $.90) 
• Cheese: $5.58 (Two, 1 lb blocks of colby jack, each $2.79)
• Burrito Sized Tortillas: $4.47 (Three packages, each $1.49) 
• Frozen hash browns: $3.30 (Need 2 packages, $1.65 each) 
• Salt/Pepper: Too cheap to Count

This process does take some time, so I normally do these on a Saturday afternoon when the toddler takes a nap and is insanely easier since we have a food processor (It's worth its weight in gold). 

1. Leave your tortillas out on the counter so they get room temp (less likely to tear this way) and start to cook the hash browns in batches while you prep other ingredients. Salt and place in a good sized bowl.* 
2. Shred both blocks of cheese, set off to the side. (Food processor is your friend here. Just drop those chunks in with a shredder blade and bam... We end up with a little leftover cheese when all is said and done so cheese to your preference).
3. Microwave sausage packets, then stick the links in the food processor to chop up. These should be put in a LARGE bowl (you will add the cooked eggs and the onion here too, so plan ahead and save on dishes).
4. Once the sausage is out of the food processor, put the raw onion in and chop it up. Simmer onion on stove until just translucent. I use a little cooking spray and stir it around for a few minutes so they soften up. Then DRAIN the onion liquid. This is key to not have soggy burritos. Just take a couple paper towels and let the onion cool on them and pad them down before your dump them in with the sausage. 
5. Grab your three dozen eggs and scramble them in batches, then mix with the onions and sausage. (Don't forget to keep swapping out the hash browns when you are waiting on the eggs). Since the hash browns take the longest, once I have the egg mixture done, i'll start stuffing the burritos while the last batch of the hash browns cook. 
6. You should have three bowls now, Potatoes, Onion/Sausage/Egg, and cheese.
7. Take tortilla, Put in a few spoonfuls of potatoes, few spoonfuls of Onion/Sausage/Egg, and sprinkle cheese... Then tuck and roll.

Notice the "narrow" end on the fold... By folding it with the wider side to you and a narrow closure on the side farthest from you,  it helps keep the insides, inside and prevents taring! Also, let your tortillas sit at room temp while cooking... makes them easier to fold and prevents rips.  

After we roll them, I wrap them in full sized parchment paper and freeze 6 to a gallon sized bag.

When you want to eat one, pull from freezer, unwrap and microwave 2 minute on high with a paper towel underneath... let cool a minute or so, then eat. We like to drop a little hot sauce on ours as we eat (that way they are plain for the toddler).

We actually re-use most of the parchment paper for the next batch too. We just have a little clip in our kitchen and we hang them there so the frozen/water crystals from the freezer can dry off... same goes with the zip locks. When they are empty, I dry them off and then tuck the parchment paper in there when its dry.

Recipe Savers: Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie

Over the past 6 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, i'm going to share my secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs, 100 Day of Real Food and it's for homemade chicken pot pie. We add a bit more filling to the mix because I use a deep pan, and I also use 2 crusts because lets be honest, that's the best part... so in our home we refer to this as double crust chicken pot pie! 

Full cooking directions and original recipe can be found here: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie.

So how much does it cost to make? 

$8.30 at Aldi

• Pie Crust: (2 per package): $1.99
• Chicken Breasts: $3.25  (3 large pieces, roughly 1/3 the family package)
• Carrots: $0.25 (Sold in a 2lb package for $0.96)
• Celery: $0.25 ($0.69 for the hole thing)
• Minced Garlic: $0.40 (whole jar is $2.19)
• Yellow onion: $0.25 (bought 4 for $0.90)
• Parsley: $0.50 (Whole container of dried parsley is $1.19)
• Peas: $0.50 (Whole bag is $0.96)
• 4 Tablespoons Butter: $0.34
• Chicken Broth: $0.25 
• 1 Cup of Milk: $0.32
• Salt/Pepper: too cheap to count.

I rounded up a lot on these prices just to make things easier. Technically the broth was free because I saved the bones from a whole chicken I had roasted in my crock pot last week and followed this recipe with what I had on hand to make my own broth/stock so I'm estimating it was about a $0.25 for the carrots, onion, celery and parsley I chucked in there with the bones. 

I also cheat and use a store bought crust because to make it from scratch costs me $0.94 for each crust and since I need two to double crust this tasty meal, i'd rather spend $0.12 to save the dishes and the prep time. I do, after all, have a toddler. :) I also skipped the egg wash, but you could add that in there for $.08 since Eggs are typically $0.89 a dozen.

This recipe yields us at least 2 dinners and about 2 or 3 lunches depending on how hungry the toddler is. Generally we will pair this with it a simple salad or just eat it by itself if its a crazy night.  Aldi carries bag Cesar salads with dressing, croutons and fresh Parmesan for $1.59 so even if you just grab a bag salad for a side, that's a full and complete dinner with leftovers for less than $10!

Now, if you are purchasing all the ingredients for the first time and need to initially buy each individual item (assuming you start with a bare kitchen), it will cost more. I buy my chicken in the family large packs to save some money and just freeze the leftover chicken and use it for a meal the following week, if that's not your style, you can simply buy a smaller package. You'll pay a bit more per lb, but not outrageously so because this is Aldi. Leftover Celery and Carrots can be toddler treats with ranch or peanut butter or used to flavor stock for future recipes; and who can't use a small jar of minced garlic? I know I could, lol. But in all reality, if I used the full purchase price and not just the amounts I used, we're looking at $22 and that includes a whole gallon of milk, brick of butter, and around 4 lbs of chicken. 

But the key to less waste and money savings is to properly store items to use in later meals, or plan your meals for the week to use the other ingredients while still fresh. 

Homemade "Instant Oatmeal"

South County Boy got a hankering for oatmeal the other morning... and we didn't have any more "instant" oatmeal packages laying around in the cupboard.

You see, I stopped buying them a while ago because they are really expensive in comparison to buying a bunch of oats... so I wanted to try to see if I could make my own instead.

I was playing on Pinterest and stumbled upon a bunch of different recipes to make your own instant oatmeal packets... so I decided to just make my own. Considering my husband eats 2 packets of oatmeal at a time (sometimes 3), getting those boxed servings would cost us about $3 a box... and that would give him only 4-5 servings.

Sprouts was out of organic oats when I stopped in so I just picked up regular ones... but that whole bag only cost me $2.84 (the picture of the bag was what was leftover after I made him his oatmeal packages). So it was definitely cheaper to make your own.

I did a double service for hubby in each container too.

Recipe: (Double serving)

• Dash of salt
• 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup of Rolled Oats
• 2 tablespoons "oat flour" (I took the rolled oats and put them through the wheat grinder, but you can use a food processor or a blender)
• 2 Teaspoons powdered milk
• Add 1 cup water and microwave

I also made one small "regular" sized container for me.

• Dash of salt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of oats
• 1 tablespoon oat flour
• 1 teaspoon powdered milk.

I made mine with milk in the microwave at work (I think I added around 1/2 a cup of milk to it... maybe a little bit more.

My only suggestion was to cook it a little longer then normal since the majority of the oats are whole in the homemade version versus the "quick" oats you can also get in the store...

But what made me happy was that the taste and texture were correct... which hasn't happened when I've tried the from scratch stuff in the past. I think the key is the extra ground up oats that get added in. That helps blend the two together.

Meals in April

Cooking again! Can I say its been a relief to actually get in my kitchen and attempt some meals? And what's really awesome... we only tossed out 2 pears this months... because they were didn't taste as awesome as the Asian Pear of my past that were amazing... but everything else we ate and didn't toss out! 

I forgot to take a lot of pictures, but I do have some to show you all.

A new take on Broccoli Cakes

I didn't have the energy to make Broccoli cakes and individually fry them up on the skillet. So I made the regular recipe and just put it in a baking dish, sprinkled a little cheese on top and it was yummy and so easy to make.... and had a lot less oil too.

We paired it was roasted potatoes and carrots. We got 2 dinners out of it which was nice when we had our hard work days. It was great that dinner was just gone.

For those of you who don't know the broccoli cakes recipe, I took it from here. So just take all the ingredients, put it in a dish and bake it in the oven till it starts to get brown around the edges and the top cheese slightly browns a bit. I think it was 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cilantro Lime Chicken / Salad / Tacos

We have some chicken in our freezer that's starting to get a bit more frozen then frozen if you know what I mean. (Read huge ice chunks all over it).

So I knew we needed to eat it soon so I took the frozen meat and put it in a bowl with some cilantro sprigs and sprayed a bunch of lime juice on top of the meat. (I'm trying to use less processed marinades and this seemed like flavors I liked).

I let it thaw for a couple days in the fridge and then baked it in the oven until the chicken was done. Then I served with sauteed zucchini and mash potatoes.

Hubby ended up just eating the zucchini and mash potatoes the nigh I cooked it because he was just in a comfort food night and those are his two favorite sides (I did that in case the chicken wasn't good) but he tried the chicken and told me he'd definitely eat it again if I made it...

But that meant I had a lot of leftover chicken from that one dinner.

Since I don't always get to eat dinner with SCB because of work, I finished off most of the ckicken myself. I tossed it in a tasty chicken and pico salad I made for a work lunch and then a work dinner for me during on of my late shifts...

Then we used the last of it for chicken tacos on a night I couldn't muster up the energy to make anything. They were actually really good. I had cilantro, onions, cheese and chicken in my tacos with some beans on the side. SCB likes to make his a burrito and mixes everything together.

Meat Balls / leftover Ideas

I made some meat balls my combining 4 recipes I found over the internet and improvising since I was out of eggs at the time.

I took a package of ground beef from Costco & chopped up about a head of garlic.

I took some already peeled carrots and shredded them with our cheese grader...

Instead of bread crumbs I used 1/4 cup of my oat flour... then added  some chopped onion and some lite salad dressing since I was out of eggs. The Salad dressing worked as an ok binder and added some good flavor, but i'll admit that some of the meat balls broke a little after baking so an egg would be a good thing to toss in the mix... then just add some salt and pepper.

Once it was good and mixed, I rolled them into balls and baked them in the oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

We were feeding the missionaries dinner (the sisters) so we had enough for 4 people. I made a box of whole wheat spaghetti to use as a side and we had salad and mash potatoes that were leftover from another night because it was a hot day and pasta isn't always that appetizing after a warm day so the idea was spaghetti and meatballs if that's your thing with salad... or meatballs, mash potatoes and salad... or just salad and meat balls. It went over well.

The leftover meat balls I took to work. I broke them up into little pieces and made some quinoa and steamed a whole head of broccoli and just mixed everything together... it ended up being a really good late work night dinner for me. I had washed and chopped the broccoli before work and had made the quinoa ahead as well so I just had to steam the broccoli in the microwave and then heat everything up and mix it in a bowl. It was quite good!

Homemade Bread

Just to tease you all... because I found some time to experiment with a few loaves of fresh homemade bread this month. These aren't the finished products, but once I workout the recipe i'll be sure to post about it here.

I made three loaves. One with 2/3 white, 1/3 wheat four.... one with 2/3 white, 1/3 oat flour, and one with all white flour for SCB to comment on the taste, flavor, and consistency of slicing/crumbling.

I only used:

• Flour
• water
• salt
• yeast
• olive oil (or any oil really... but it helps with shelf life)
• & wheat gluten (helps bread be less crumbly)

He gave me some good feedback so I'm going to continue to tweak and work on them. I've learned that Oat flour is great for baking for crumbly items like cakes, breakfast breads, and as a bread crumb substitute... but it doesn't rise as much as the others and is a bit crumbly so it either needs to bake longer or doesn't make for a good sandwich bread material. I'll probably be playing with more white and wheat combinations for sandwich bread.

The all white loaf looked the most like "real" bread so that's the one we froze in the freezer since there was no way we could eat three loaves before they went bad so we sliced and froze it up and we haven't eaten that one yet so more taste comparisons will happen over the next couple weeks. Apparently the plain wheat one is too "healthy" tasting for SCB so i'm going to experiment with adding some extra seasonings to it to see if that helps because I'd rather feed him wheat then white. I purposefully did not add any sugar to the recipes because everything now a days has way too much sugar... but I may add a little honey to the next one to see if that makes it more palatable for him.

I'm honestly thinking I might try and do one day a week with no "added" sugar to things in May and see what happens to my taste buds. I keep reading all these articles on-line where people have removed added sugars and felt so different!

Homemade Frozen Burgers

Last month I mentioned in my "grocery" breakdown that we had finally finished our last sleeve of burgers... It was a sad day folks.

Now I see some of you out there just rolling your eyes at me and trying to direct me to the freezer section of the grocery store. But that just won't work anymore as I have not been able to find any Frozen Organic Burgers... and we are trying to go Organic.

I was a little hesitant to attempt to make them myself since our previous homemade burgers of the past had resulted in grumbled bits of meat on our bbq grill... but I've since become a bit wise thanks to you all!

When we went to Costco last, we picked up a 3 pack of Kirkland Organic Ground Beef (85% lean). Each package has 1.34 lbs of meat in it and I decided to "try" out a single package first in case they were a disaster.

My Recipe/Directions:

• Empty Meat package into a bowl.
• Dice up a head of garlic... toss that into bowl.
• Splash in some Worcester cause hubs like that...
• Add 1/4 cup oat flour. (Aka, Organic Oats sent through my wheat grinder)...
• MIX it up.

I decided not to use egg as a binder since my other recipes with egg in the past have crumbled and broken apart... but I did try adding some grains by using the ground up oats (thought that was healthier then bread crumbs since its basically oatmeal) and that really helped solidify the meat. I also think I got away with no egg because the meat was leaner.

Because you all are so smart (Nadia), I decided to sacrifice the lid from my peanut butter jar to use as a free burger press. (It also helped that the jar was basically empty and needed to be replaced).

I basically took the meat out of the bowl and pressed it into the lid... then flipped it over on the counter (covered in parchment paper) and smacked the lid. I expected the burger to come right out... but it didn't work. I think the parchment paper didn't give the meat enough of a sticking surface to attach to so I ended up smacking the meat filled peanut butter lid onto a cutting board.. and the meat came out perfectly. I then transferred the patties over to the parchment paper.

I got a total of 7 burgers exactly out of one package of meat. No extra meat in the bowl and no slightly smaller or bigger patties much to my surprise. So each burger uncooked is around 3.1 oz, which is actually what the average serving size for meat should be for me (SCB generally has 2 with a meal so 6 oz is pretty decent for him as well).

Not wanting the patties to stick together when freezing, I transferred the parchment paper onto a baking sheet and I ended up just balancing the rack in my chest freezer between the two baskets since the lid had plenty of room to close.

They weren't completely frozen by dinner time since they were only in there for an hour and a half, so I just removed the three patties we planned on using... and to my complete delight, they stayed in tact on the grill and were really tasty. They didn't shrink much, but they were a little smaller than the buns we used to eat them with (the cheap ones from Costco) so it looks like i'm going to half to work on making our own because those burgers were too yummy to live on those crappy buns.

The next morning I took the frozen burgers and just put them in a Tupperware container in the freezer. (I cut the parchment paper up to place in between them so they don't freeze together.)

Now that I know that works, I'll do the other 2 meat packages (once I get more garlic) so we have a stock pile of them ready to go for a fast meal since we generally eat burgers a couple times a month since the weather normally cooperates with is in Orange County.

We had the burgers with artichokes, and fresh pico salsa! You can see the smaller diameter of the burgers here, but they were really thick still. I think I might toss in a few more spices next time... but a win all around.

Wheat Grinder Love!

For Christmas, South County Boy's brother got us a wheat grinder.

Now I know what your thinking, who would want one of those? but it's actually something I've been wanting for a while because I like to bake and cook (or at least try to) and fresher ingredients taste better.

It's also a lot easier to stick "whole wheat" into things when you can grind it fresh. When his brother and his wife were poking around for Christmas ideas for us, we mentioned this sale I saw for a $50 wheat grinder.

They decided to do one better. They got us a better model of a hand crank grinder that had the option for an attachable motor... and then got us the motor as well!!

This year we decided to switching to organic and to make more homemade foods instead of purchasing box crap foods at the store. Part of this means trying to add in more fruits, vegetables and whole grains into the mix so the quality of the food we eat is better for our bodies. Unfortunately to buy those types of foods in the store is more expensive... especially when they are organic. So i'm trying to save money by making things from scratch so we can afford the organic produce and cut out all those preservatives. So far things seem to be working out, but to do better than we are, I really wanted to get a wheat grinder so I could really get into making my own fresh breads.

I stopped for a while since we were buying that Organic Costco bread... but once we froze it, we learned that it doesn't freeze too well -- the bread gets tacky when it thaws... and they have also bumped up the price and with SCB taking at least 2 if not 3 sandwiches a day, I'm hoping to go back to making my own bread with simple ingredients (whether organic or not) to save money here.

The picture above is the grinder full of oats. Yup, just you basic Whole Round Oats that you buy in the bulk bin at the store for $0.99 - $1.50 lb depending on if you score organic or regular. (Not the quick cook oats, but the other type).

Considering how much a small bag of Oat Flour in the store is (then more for organic), I can make my own for half the price by purchasing just regular oats and grinding what I need with my grinder. If you don't have a grinder, you can use a food processor or a blender, but it won't come out as fine as flour without the grinder.

I also like that this simplifies what I have to purchase. I can just keep oats on hand for oatmeal, cookies, and now general cooking and just grind up what I need and store it in a small container. I found out that one of our storage containers works great as a "catching" basin and since the grinder hooks up fine to our dinning room table I just fill the basin with oats or wheat, turn it on and do other things while its grinding. Occasionally I come over and push the "flour" back using a piece of cardboard, but that's about it.

So far I've been experimenting with using "oat flour" and wheat flour in regular banana nut bread to make it healthier (also adding apple sauce and other items to cut down on the sugar), but I can't wait to try in a loaf or two of regular bread.

Once we finish our stock of all purpose white flour, we will probably just start buying straight wheat since we will have a way to grind it and wheat stores much longer that flour does.