New budget

[frustratedearthmother]

Dang good idea, Bay....especially the part about making Gumbo!

 

[FarmerJamie]

Several weeks ago, I fried onions. I sliced them very thin, dredged through flour and fried them crispy. I was left with a skillet of browned flour and oil and a bowl of flour. I dumped the flour in the skillet and browned it too. I made a roux (pronounced roo) which is the base for gumbo. Why waste the flour and oil? I put it in the freezer. Took it out last night and made shrimp gumbo.

killing me. LOL

 

[Marianne]

Several weeks ago, I fried onions. I sliced them very thin, dredged through flour and fried them crispy. I was left with a skillet of browned flour and oil and a bowl of flour. I dumped the flour in the skillet and browned it too. I made a roux (pronounced roo) which is the base for gumbo. Why waste the flour and oil? I put it in the freezer. Took it out last night and made shrimp gumbo.

Graaaaavy. Gravy. Like sausage gravy to go over cornbread (that was the first thing I thought of). You can sure tell what part of the country we all came from, huh. LOL

 

[moolie]

Moolie, weren't you the one that posted an easy, no fail recipe for pizza crust?

I do make an easy one, is this the one you are looking for?

I used to work in a pizza place when I was a university student and got pretty good at making pizza dough. (I actually worked two jobs back then, my other job was in a fabric shop.)

I've never used a bread machine to make pizza dough, but it only takes 5 minutes to mix it up with a spoon, another 5 to knead, let rise 20 minutes, stretch on pan, top and bake at 450F for 20 minutes.

This is a completely fool-proof recipe that I've used for home made pizzas since I was 12 years old.

Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour, white or whole wheat or both
1 tbsp olive oil + more for bowl

Soften yeast in warm water for 5 minutes, mix in rest of ingredients in order. Knead for 5 minutes till smooth and elastic, pour another 1 tbsp oil into large clean bowl, place dough ball in bowl turning to coat with oil.

Cover bowl with a plate or clean towel and let rise 20 minutes in a warm place. Punch dough down, cut in half, and spread each half (stretching it with your fingertips) over 2 lightly oiled 10" pizza pans sprinkled with corn meal.

Spread with sauce, sprinkle with italian herbs (basil, oregano), top with meat and veggies of your choice and shredded mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with Parmesan.

Bake 20 minutes at 450F.

 

[baymule]

@frustratedearthmother it sure makes sense to use what you have instead of throwing it away. After I got through frying those onions, I had roux in the bottom of the skillet. I guess it would work when you fry chicken or something like that also.
@FarmerJamie told you we eat good around here!
@Marianne ROUX, not gravy!! Roux starts out like a gravy, but is a little thinner and it makes the gumbo (soup) base. Then toss in celery, onion, okra, bell pepper with chicken, sausage, shrimp or whatever. I have made duck gumbo, crab gumbo.....yummy!
I make gravy too! Roast beef makes a good juice and a yummy gravy to go over mashed potatoes or rice. We eat more rice than potatoes.

 

[baymule]

@tortoise, what's on sale this week? One of the grocery stores here has whole pork loin on sale for $1.99 a pound. I cooked one for supper tonight. I smeared lemon marmalade on it, upended a bottle of teriyaki sauce for a glug or two, couple glugs of cooking sherry in the bottom of the pot and in the oven for 3 hours. We've barely put a dent in it. LEFTOVERS!

Ok, need sides. I have one big chard plant that my dog didn't tromp down. ( I have hay-stringed and rebar staked off that bed now) so I stripped off the leaves, washed and tore in pieces. Chopped 1/2 onion in a skillet. I dipped some juice from the pork loin into the skillet and sauté d the chard and onion in it.

Baked a potato, skinned it, put butter and sharp cheddar cheese on it and nuked it in the microwave to melt the cheese.

Salad-leftover from last night-picked 4 yellow carrots and some broccoli. Shredded the carrots, chipped the broccoli, chopped 1/4 cup pecans, 1/4 cup golden raisins and a couple glops of mayonnaise.

The only thing left of tonight's supper is the pork loin. At least one night I'll shred some of it with some BBQ sauce and stuff a baked potato with it.

what's on sale this week? Limit 2 with $10 purchase? Want more than just 2? Easy-just make several trips.

 

[Denim Deb]

We try to get those pork loins on sale as well. Then, we'll cut them up into either chops or smaller roasts.

 

[Marianne]

I do make an easy one, is this the one you are looking for?

That's the one! It's my go-to recipe for homemade pizza crust. I had printed it off, but didn't have the author's name on it.

Bay! that's so funny! Yes, I know roux, that's the start of gravy here. When I married into this family, I had never heard of biscuits and gravy for breakfast. And how gravy on anything would make it edible. (Except for kale.) We eat a lot healthier now, but every so often the craving hits.

What all goes into gumbo that makes it different than soup? (honest question here)

 

[Denim Deb]

Something you can do is to write down on 3x5 cards each item that you typically buy as well as the lowest cost you find for that item. You can use either 1 card per item, or 1 card per type of item. For instance, you could list several types of cheese and their costs on one card. Then you can use that as a reference when you're shopping to be sure you're getting a good deal.

 

[Marianne]

Deb, that reminds me - I knew a gal that wrote down where (which stores) she could get the cheapest items. I remember she had the Asian market for rice, Dollar store for spices and some medicines, Aldi's for produce, etc. She didn't run from one store to the next, but would stop at one or the other on the way home from work, another on the way back from her mom's, etc. She had a pretty good system so she didn't waste gasoline, and spent only $100 a month for groceries (for her and her husband). There was nothing organic, plenty of rice and beans, some meat, etc. I was pretty impressed.
This also was just a year or two ago when we talked about it.