Looks tasty, doesn’t it?  It’s crisp around the edges with the perfect balance of saltiness and creaminess in the center.  It’s nourishing.  It’s delicious.  It fills you up.  It only takes five minutes to make from start to finish. But you know what else dings my chimes about this dish? It costs $3.42 for four large [...]]]>

Looks tasty, doesn’t it?  It’s crisp around the edges with the perfect balance of saltiness and creaminess in the center.  It’s nourishing.  It’s delicious.  It fills you up.  It only takes five minutes to make from start to finish. But you know what else dings my chimes about this dish? It costs $3.42 for four large servings.  And yes, that includes garnish.

And no, I’m not joking.

I sat down today prepared to write a little ‘how-to’ on saving money in the kitchen with a family favorite recipe thrown in to boot.  The keyword here was ‘little’.  An hour into writing, I realized there was no way to condense what is a way of life into one itty-bitty post with a recipe.  I have enough material to fill four posts and I will get to every bit of it.  I want you to come back for all of this.  Here’s the deal.  I know saving money in the kitchen isn’t exactly the sexiest topic.  I get it.  So I have a little incentive to offer.  But first, a question.

How much do you spend on food each month?  And how many people are you feeding?  You don’t have to tell me unless you feel so inclined, but just consider it for a moment.  According to the USDA’s Cost of Food reports (published monthly), my family of seven should be spending $804.40* per month on our food.

*This is calculated according to the ‘Thrifty’ food plan numbers given on the chart.  If I were to use the ‘Low’ food plan we would be expected to spend in excess of $1,067.  This trend continues on up through the ‘Moderate’ and ‘Liberal’ plans.

Here is my incentive.  I’m going to tell you what I spend every month on groceries.  I’m also going to tell you what another blogger buddy of mine, my dear friend Krysta a.k.a. Evil Chef Mom,  pays monthly to feed her family of six. Just one other question, though, before divulging our food budgets.  Would you agree, from all appearances here at Foodie With Family and over at Evil Chef Mom that our families eat pretty well?  You might even say a wee bit on the fancy-pants side occasionally?  I think that’s fairly safe to say, right?

I spend $500 a month.  I feed seven people and whatever friends or family happen to be hanging around at meal time out of that.

Krysta spends between $650 and $700 a month.  She’s feeding three, count ‘em, THREE teenagers, a pre-teen, a host of kids’ friends (also teenagers), and any family or friends who might be present at meal time.

We both make food good enough to share.

That puts me in at more than $300 under what the government believes is the least amount of money a family my size would reasonably spend per month in food.

Lest you should get the wrong idea let me tell you something important.  Neither of us coupon shops.  Neither of us obsessively watches sales.   None of us -ourselves, our kids or our husbands- feel deprived of the food we want or crave.  We are food lovers.

It’s really simple.  Really.  I wouldn’t lie to you!

Starting tomorrow we’ll go through a series of posts chock full of tips, tricks, and methods that can potentially help you save beaucoup bucks in the kitchen without sacrificing flavor or slaving away in the kitchen.  Unless, of course, you like slaving away in the kitchen.  The point is that it’s your choice.

Let me break down the food cost from today’s recipe:

• 2 cups of uncooked rice from a 25 pound bag.  The bag was $16.  There were 62.5 cups of rice in the bag. That translates to $0.51 for this recipe.
• 6 eggs from a dozen at a cost of $1.50 per dozen (from our own chickens).  The cost for the eggs was $0.75.
• 1 cup of shredded cheese from a 3 cup bag that cost $2.79.  The cost of the cheese for this recipe was $0.93.
• 1 Tablespoon of hot sauce from a bottle containing twenty tablespoons.   The bottle cost $2.99.  The hot sauce used in this recipe cost $0.15.
• 1 teaspoon of salt from a one pound box that cost $2.99.  The one pound box contained 283 teaspoons.  That puts the cost of the salt in this recipe at a fraction of a cent over $0.01.
• 2 Tablespoons of canola oil from a $1.00 jar that contained sixty tablespoons.  The cost of the oil is $0.03.
• 8 Tablespoons of salsa from a jar containing twenty two tablespoons.  This is the big splurge in our recipe.  Since the jar cost $2.79, the total cost of the salsa for the dish was a whopping $1.04.
• That makes the grand total for the whole recipe a bank-book friendly $3.42.  If you skipped the salsa you’d clock in at $2.38 for the whole entree.

This is great-tasting food, too.  You can make a whole batch of them, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and take a couple a day to work or school for lunch.  They reheat beautifully.  If you  need a little something extra, throw a handful of salad alongside.  Bang.  A complete meal.

There are more options.  You can mix in some leftover cooked meat or vegetables.  Wrapped in a piece of foil or a paper towel it’s a meal you can take on the road with you. No matter how you slice it, it’s going to be cheaper and more filling for the money than even the dollar menu.

Frugal does not have to look or taste like sacrifice.

Hang on.  There’s more to it.  It’s good for you.  It’s great for you.  The egg provides lean protein.  The rice provides a healthy carbohydrate.  The canola oil is non-hydrogenated. The salt is negligible.  On it’s own, it’s healthy.  If, however,  you compare it to fast-food or pre-packaged, processed food you’re going to come out leaps and bounds and miles ahead nutritionally.

How about it?  Are you interested?  Try the Savoury Rice and Egg Pancakes and then come back tomorrow.  This is going to be fun! I promise!

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Savoury Rice and Egg Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chilled leftover cooked rice
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup shredded cheese, whatever type you have on hand
• 1 Tablespoon hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons Canola oil (or non-stick cooking spray)
• 8 Tablespoons salsa
• optional: thinly sliced green onion tops

Break up the cold rice in a mixing bowl (or in a resealable plastic bag) with your hands so that no chunks remain.

Crack eggs into the rice, add shredded cheese, hot sauce and Kosher salt.  Mix thoroughly.

If your mixture is too thick or dry, you can crack another egg into it.  Eggs vary in size, so this may happen occasionally.  So, gee whiz, add another $0.10 to the total if you need to do it.

Add just enough oil to a non-stick skillet to lightly coat the pan.  Place pan over medium high heat.  When the pan is hot scoop a scant quarter cup into the pan.  Use the bottom of the scoop to gently pat the rice mixture out to a thinner patty shape.  The mixture will not spread on its own.

Don’t crowd the pan.  This 12″ nonstick pan can comfortably fit four pancakes at a time.

Cook for about two minutes per side, or until deep golden brown on each side.

Transfer to a waiting plate and repeat with the remaining rice and oil until it is gone. Serve with salsa.  You can plate it up all perty-like if you want.  And I want.

I have a problem.  Every single year a couple of days before Easter I tell myself I won’t go crazy on the egg-dying.  And every year I go nuts.  I remember sitting at our big old trestle table when I was a kid and decorating for hours.  My Mom is not a [...]]]>

I have a problem.  Every single year a couple of days before Easter I tell myself I won’t go crazy on the egg-dying.  And every year I go nuts.  I remember sitting at our big old trestle table when I was a kid and decorating for hours.  My Mom is not a do-the-holidays-halfway type person.  We would have dozens of boiled eggs and I would sit and use my little white crayon to lay intricate (to my kiddie eyes and mind) designs all over them.  Then I would do the ultra-complex dye-jobs on the eggs: half pink/half blue, one third yellow/one third green/ one third blended yellow and green, etc…  I made an egg for every single person in my family and had a grand old time.  I always strive to create the same memory for my sons.  So every year, I boil way too many eggs and watch my boys do bizzarro designs (this year included my eldest scrawling ’50%’ on one egg and ’25%’ on another, my next born drawing a single ‘A’ on every one of his eggs, my third born drawing crazy faces on his eggs, my fourth born doing one with a circle, one with a triangle, one with a square and one with his first initial and the rest with zigzags.) that take them five minutes or less. 

50%? What does that even mean in the context of egg dying? I don't understand my children.

Then I spend the next week fitting hard-boiled eggs into every meal whether or not they belong there (and more often than not it’s the latter rather than the former.) 

There's not even one among those eggs with a pretty daisy or a winding vine of ivy... They made zombie eggs and 'times new roman' monogrammed eggs. Boys.

This year, I wised up.  I called upon the wisdom of the forefathers.  Specifically, my father.

My Dad is a Michigan Tech alumni (and a ‘Twig’ if that means anything to you!) from back-in-the-day.  As in, before I was born.  So for more reasons than one I will not be telling you the year of his graduation.  I’ve heard many stories about Winter Carnival shenanigans including my Dad’s residence hall’s snow sculpture entry; a giant snow toilet whose ‘effluence’ pipe led straight to the kitchen of the dining hall.  Unkind, Father!  Unkind!  But other than casting aspersions on the poor cafeteria staff’s cooking skills, my Dad was an angel in college.  I’m sure of it.  When he tells stories about kids stashing gallon jugs of apple cider in the back corner of a dark, dank, cold Yooper dorm closet to bubble, ferment and churn itself into hard cider I’m sure he’s not basing it on personal experience.   And the stories about the pickled egg served with Tabasco and a cheap, ice cold beer (’cause really, is there anything OTHER than an ice cold beer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan?)?  Well, shoot, I’m sure he heard them from his compatriots and had nothing to do with the consumption of dozens of peppery pickled eggs and devil brew himself.  Right, Dad? 

At any rate, this recipe is a killer way (in more ways than one.  One word.  Gas.) to use up those dozens of brightly colored, hard boiled eggs that are languishing in your fridge.  From what I understand, third hand- since my Dad obviously never went to the bars surrounding MTU for pickled eggs and beer-, this recipe is pretty close to the eggs served at the famous B&B Bar in Houghton, Michigan.  And I can pretty confidently rely on my Dad’s fellow scholar’s opinions that the B&B egg is the egg by which all others are judged.  I know a lot of people eat the ubiquitous pink eggs that are pickled in beet juice, but these babies are the bees knees of pickled eggs. They have a spicy, salty bite to them that is really amazing. 

You have nothing to lose.  There’s no way you stomach enough egg salad to use up all those Easter eggs in your fridge anyway.  Whip up a jar or two of these, let them mellow in the chill-chest for a week or so.  To have an authentic Yooper ‘boneless chicken dinner’ serve a couple these pickled eggs with a bottle of Tabasco and an icy cold cheap beer.  Dose eggs pretty good, eh?

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Yooper Pickled Hot Pepper Eggs

Ingredients:

• 2 dozen hard-boiled eggs, peeled
• 4 cups cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1  jar (13.5 ounces) pepperoncini, with liquid
• 1 jar or can (about 16 ounces) pickled hot peppers (I used pickled Thai peppers for some serious HEAT, you can use pickled jalapenos or habaneros if you prefer)
• 1 Tablespoon salt

Place eggs in a large clean glass jar that has a tight fitting lid.  If you need to, divide eggs among a couple smaller jars, just be sure to leave about 3 inches of headspace in the jar to accomodate the hot peppers.

Add cider vinegar, water, pepperoncini and their liquid, pickled peppers and their liquid and salt to a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Pour boiling brine and peppers carefully over the eggs.  Tightly fix the lid on the jar and place in the fridge for at least a week before eating.  If you remember to, give the eggs a little shake once a day during the week.  These eggs are good for three months in the fridge. 

How 'bout dem eggs, eh?

Break eggs for breakfast.  I crack me up.  Oh someone stop me.  I’ll [...]]]> Today I won a battle in my semi-perpetual war to make myself prepare homemade breakfasts for my kids.  And I had a major ‘duh’ moment.  I made eggs.  DUH!  The original convenience food.  Why do I not break these out for breakfast more often?

Break eggs for breakfast.  I crack me up.  Oh someone stop me.  I’ll have egg on my face if I don’t quit soon.

A nice plate full of high-protein eggs is just the thing these wiggly worms need to eat to settle them down long enough to get math, science, language and handwriting done.  Their little bodies are so busy digesting all that lovely protein that it keeps them relatively calm.  (Nifty trick to remember if you want to settle your kids for an outing, church, school, etc… )

The kids wolfed down the eggs.  I went through -are you ready to hear this?  Really ready?- 14 eggs this morning.  That was just for the boys.   If The Evil Genius hadn’t already been on the way to work you could  have bumped that total by about 4 eggs.  And me?  I’m not so much a breakfast person.  High heresy I know, but I’m more of a “wide-open-IV-drip-of-black-tea” kind of person.  Be what you is and not what you is not…  But my kids?  They require the breakfast on a daily basis.  And they require it immediately upon waking.  And that is where omelets come in handy.

Much has been written about ‘the perfect omelet’ and how elusive it is.  I’m not talking about the perfect omelet here.  I’m talking about a really good omelet that is done -start to finish- in five minutes or less.  An omelet than can be made to suit the eater’s likes or dislikes.  An omelet that can be a vehicle for grated cheese, leftover cooked meat and vegetables, or  served pure as the egg itself with just a sprinkle of salt.    In short, it ain’t what I’d serve Thomas Keller if he was visiting -assuming he felt like visiting a house with five wild honyaks and their two nerd parents in Amish country- but it’s a darned good everyday omelet.

For a printable, non-picture laden version of this recipe, click here!

Everyday Omelet

Ingredients:

• 2 large fresh eggs
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• meat, cheese and vegetables for filling, optional
• minced herbs to sprinkle over the top of omelet, optional

Crack eggs into a medium bowl, add milk and whisk until evenly colored and loose.  Set aside.

If you are making filled omelets, dice and gently heat any meat or vegetables you will be using as filling.  If using cheese, make sure it’s already grated.   Omelets, like stir-fries, go like a run-away train once started.  If you don’t have something ready to go before starting to cook those eggs you’re better off leaving it out. Omelets wait for no man.  Or woman.

In a  non-stick skillet, melt the butter over medium-low to medium heat until bubbly but not brown.  Add eggs and use a silicone spatula to gently push the egg around the pan, scraping the bottom, while swirling the pan to fill in the open spaces with liquid egg.

Do this just until there is not enough liquid egg to fill in any more spaces.

Use the spatula to neaten up the edges of the omelet…

…and allow to cook, untouched for about 1 minute.  At this point you can go any of the following ways:

For a flat omelet that is firm all the way through: Slide omelet onto a plate and invert back into the pan.  Continue to cook until desired doneness is reached.

For a folded, plain omelet that is firm, but not brown: Turn one third of the omelet into the center using the spatula.  Slide the omelet toward the edge, so that the unfolded part is up against the lip of the pan.

Again, use the spatula to help turn the upturned part of the omelet toward the center.  Slide the omelet, seam side down, onto a plate and tent with foil for 3 minutes.  Remove foil and serve.

For a folded, filled omelet that is firm: Sprinkle desired fillings over the center third of the omelet.  Fold the omelet using the instructions for the folded plain omelet that is firm.

For a folded, filled omelet that is slightly custardy in the center: Sprinkle desired fillings over the center third of the omelet.  Fold the omelet using the instructions for the folded plain omelet.  Slide onto the plate, seam side down, and serve immediately.

If you like, and I do, you can sprinkle the top of the omelet with minced parsley or other green herbs.  My eldest boys like a little marjoram on top of their omelets.   But this is strictly optional.  Especially for that child who ‘hates the green stuff so much’.

Need some inspiration on what to use for filling in your omelet?  Pick something from each category and experiment a little.  It’s hard to go too far wrong with such a nice canvas…

Meats:

• Diced or thinly sliced chicken
• roast beef
• ham or turkey
• leftover taco meat
• leftover sloppy joe or loosemeat filling

Vegetables:

• Steamed or sauteed broccoli
• leftover small-diced homefries
• roasted potatoes
• asparagus-any-old-which-way
• caramelized onions
• wilted greens like spinach or kale
• shaved sauteed fennel

Cheeses:

• Cheddar
• mozzarella
• Parmesan
• Romano
• Stilton
• bleu cheese
• Munster
• Swiss

Some of my favorites:

• Ham, caramelized onions and Swiss cheese.
• Roast beef, fennel and mozzarella.
• Taco meat, avocado and Cheddar.
• Roast pork, broccoli and Munster.