What's for dinner? Burgers and potato salad

The meal that says "summer" to me has to be, hands down, burgers off the grill, corn on the cob and potato salad. Love love love it. The other night, I tried something a little bit different... I tried a version of the "poor man's burger" as suggested here. I had bought ground turkey at Wal-mart for about 1.79/lb. I mixed it with the remainder of a two-day-old loaf of homemade bread that I had shredded, some Worcestershire sauce, a little BBQ sauce and pepper, and made it into patties. It ended up making 8 good-sized patties, which was enough for two nights for us. And I found them to be quite tasty! I sort of noticed the bread pieces because I knew they were there, but there wasn't anything strange about the taste or the texture.

As we cleaned up after the second night of burgers, I asked my husband if he noticed anything "odd" about these burgers. He immediately became concerned and asked if he had cooked them wrong on the grill. "They seemed just fine to me." And then I made my little confession... that he had just eaten a Poor Man's Burger.

He literally did not notice, and in fact had enjoyed eating them. Spending 89 cents per meal on burgers is pretty darn frugal. The only thing that concerns me about the idea of stretching meat this way is that instead of getting a serving of lean protein, you're getting added starch in the guise of meat (although it is whole grains.) Most methods of stretching meat involve some form of carb (breadcrumbs, oats, crackers, etc.) Amy Dacyczyn (in her Tightwad Gazette) talks about using "TVP" (textured vegetable protein) to stretch ground meat. Although the idea of using another protein source is appealing, TVP seems to be a highly processed food product (I guess they use it as a filler in school lunch meats...) and I'm not sure that the cost per pound would really make using it worthwhile. Using beans might be a better idea- beans are much less processed and I know that we already like the taste. I think I will experiment with other ways to stretch ground meat and see how it goes.

As I mentioned the other day, I tend to make a huge bowl of potato salad that lasts for a few days. My husband could probably eat the whole thing in one sitting, but he tries to restrain himself. I didn't find potato salad appealing when I was growing up. When I was first married, hubby asked me to make some so I asked around and figured out my own recipe... I tried it, and then I was hooked. Now I like potato salad no matter who makes it, but I definitely enjoy eating my own recipe! I try to make it healthier than standard potato salad- it has low fat mayo and I add lots of fresh veggies so we get lots of vitamins and fiber and crunch without a lot of calories.

Rustic Potato Salad

6 medium potatoes
1/2 bell pepper, diced
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 c low fat mayo
balsamic vinegar
1 hard boiled egg (optional)
1-2 green onions, chopped (optional)

1. Wash potatoes- I don't bother peeling them (hence the rustic- it's healthier too.) Cut them into small pieces and boil them until you can easily poke them with a fork. Meanwhile, chop your veggies- sometimes I only have peppers, or I only have celery- it's good either way. Just increase the amount if you only have one veggie.
2. Drain the potatoes in the colander and rinse them gently with cool water. Mix them in a large covered container with the vegetables and let chill in the fridge at least 3-4 hours.
3. About an hour before serving, make the dressing. I take about 1/4 cup of mayo and put it in a little bowl. (I am picky about the mayo flavor, btw. I find Smart Balance and Kraft mayo taste good in this recipe. Hellman's and Trader Joe's mayo: not good.) I stir in balsamic vinegar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, until the consistency is like ranch dressing and the color is sort of a nice mocha brown. If you are adding a hard boiled egg, mash it and stir it with a little bit of mayo, then mix it with the rest of the dressing.
   
4. Add the dressing to the potatoes and gently toss to coat (I stir the potatoes up from the bottom to make sure they all get covered. If you feel like the dressing is a little scanty, you can always make a little bit more.) Top with green onions and let the salad chill for a little while longer so flavors can blend.
   

That's it. The other day I also added a little parsley and dill from the garden, which was definitely a nice touch. That's the best thing about salads, that you can mix and match and add all sorts of things to make a flavor that's uniquely your own.

Learning to like eggplant! Stop and Shop Bargain Meal

I have never been a huge eggplant fan, but I am trying really hard to like it, and to learn to cook it in tasty ways. It comes in handy when there aren't any great deals on meat to be had. So far, me (and the kids) prefer eggplant as an accent in a baked pasta dish. Eggplant is .99/lb this week at Stop and Shop, as is (good ole) zucchini & summer squash (we will definitely miss the zucchini/ summer squash sales in the dead of winter.)

Baked Pasta with Eggplant Parm Nibbles

1 medium eggplant
1/2 tsp salt
Bread crumbs
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 cups chopped veggies of choice (I choose... zucchini!)
1/2 box pasta (ziti, penne, rotini all work well)
1 jar pasta sauce or 2 15 oz. cans of tomatoes in some form
1/2 cup shredded cheese

1. First, you need to prep the eggplant. Erin gives a beautiful description on how to do this here. Basically, peel the eggplant, chop it into small pieces, put it in a colander, sprinkle a little salt on it and let it drain for a while (30 minutes to an hour.) You can prepare more than one eggplant this way and freeze some for later.
2. Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to package directions and chop up your other vegetables.
   
3. Heat the olive oil in your skillet to medium high. While it's warming up, take a bowl of bread crumbs and roll the eggplant in the crumbs, a few at a time. I find that the crumbs stick to the eggplant just fine without dipping them in egg or anything, but you could do that if you wanted. Then you want to saute your eggplant pieces in the oil until they are golden brown. You could probably get much crispier pieces if you deep-fried them, but I don't really fry things.
   
4. When the pasta is done, mix it in a 9 x 13 baking pan with the sauce and/or tomatoes. Stir the vegetables and the cooked eggplant in as well. Then top with cheese and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Serve with corn on the cob- it's on sale for 12 for 1.99 (about 17 cents an ear!)
   

Oooh... pork loin.. again!?!

I thought we just did this... Shaw's is having yet another sale on good ole pork loin. No worries mate; you can do a lot of things with pork. So if you pick up a pork loin, cut it into whatever you plan to use: roasts, strips for stir-fry, or pork chops.

The produce selections at Shaw's this week are a little on the pricey side (1.99 isn't too bad for a head of cauliflower though- and that's one of the few vegetables my kids are equally enthusiastic about. The dog likes it too... weird.) Anyway, cabbage is always a cheap staple, and Shaw's has it on sale for .49/lb. I found a number of recipes that called for pork and cabbage; these two are simple and earned good reviews: Pork Chop and Cabbage Casserole and Pork Loin and Cabbage.

If you're in the mood for barbecue but you don't have time to fuss with the grill (or your grill is full of bees- hi, mom and dad!) try doing barbecue pork in the slow cooker! Slow Cooker BBQ pork chops sounds delicious and so easy- you basically layer pork chops in your slow cooker with a bottle of barbecue sauce and let it cook all day on low. Then you can make some cole slaw with that cabbage and serve that on the side.

Saving Money During Grilling Season

As I mentioned before, the grocery budget can take a beating during the summer months if you cook meat on the grill often. During the cooler parts of the year, I only serve meat as a "main course" maybe once or twice a week. For the most part, we eat stews, casseroles, pasta and rice dishes that require only a little bit of meat, if any. Some suggestions for stretching your grocery budget further when you're serving meat as a main course more often:

• Buy meat on sale, of course. I look for all types of meat to be less than 1.99/lb, unless it's fish- I think fish for less than 3.99/lb isn't too bad. I stock up on different meats maybe once a month.
• When you buy your meat, put it in meal-size portions and freeze what you're not going to eat in a couple of days. Despite what most restaurant menus would have you believe, a serving of meat is only 3-4 oz., so based on that and the number of people in your household, portion meat accordingly.
• I also look for hot dog and hamburger rolls in the reduced section (at Shaw's of course). They often have them for .50 per package, and I freeze them for later.
• Don't spend extra for special marinades- I have some suggestions here for frugal marinade options.
  
• Plan ahead! I honestly think that planning your meals is where you get your biggest payoff for time invested. That way, you use up stuff that you already have and you don't buy more than you need. At the same time, be flexible-I often end up changing my plan mid-week due to unexpected circumstances. For example, last week my mom surprised me and showed up at my house with all kinds of food to cook on the grill. We ended up eating what she brought over all week long, and even freezing some for later.
• As much as I try to avoid making my kitchen into a restaurant, grilling can be one area where it pays off to make different people different things. For example, Pepper likes hot dogs and no one else does, so I keep a package around for her and throw a hot dog on the grill if we're having turkey burgers or something. This can also work well if the grown-ups want something more expensive that the kids don't like (like steak or fish...)
  
• Make side dishes that can last for multiple meals. I will make a big batch of potato salad and it usually provides us with a side dish for the next three dinners. With that and a garden salad, the only additional food I need to prepare each night is what we are planning to grill.
  
• Go veg. I was pleasantly surprised that most of my family members (except for Pepper, content with her hot dog) enjoy veggie burgers. Since we often get them on sale with coupons, they are a quick and convenient alternative. I don't find that they're necessarily cheaper than buying meat by the pound, though.
  
• Make sure you don't waste money on propane- only turn on as many burners as you need, run it only as long as needed, and shut the grill off immediately when you're done. According to The Simple Dollar, it's actually a little bit more expensive to grill rather than use the oven or stovetop. However, for most people grilling is an essential part of summer- the extra cost is worth it.
• On nights when you don't grill, look for lower cost menu options like using leftovers and making meatless dishes, to balance out higher costs on the other nights.

Also see:

Ten Frugal Tips for a Great Grilling Experience, from The Simple Dollar
The Frugal Barbecue Grill from Families.com
Grilling on a Budget from the Hillbilly Housewife
60 Cheap Marinades, by CheapHealthyGood

What is "London Broil," Exactly??? S&S and Shaw's, week of 7/24-7/30

Stop and Shop and Shaw's have this symbiotic relationship (or maybe they're just trying to compete with each other) where they often have the exact same stuff on sale, especially meats. This is one of those weeks. Both flyers feature something called "London Broil" on the top of the front page, so I decided to do a combined post for both stores. Stop and Shop is 1.79/lb, and Shaw's is 1.99/lb. Both good prices, but if you have the choice, of course, head over to Stop and Shop. But the question in my mind is, what on earth is London Broil? As I mentioned before, as a bargain grocery shopper I have made it my business to try all kinds of different forms of meat when they are on sale. So, I did some research about this so-called "London Broil."

First of all, I learned that London Broil is not a specific cut of beef- it is a cooking method for meat that would be otherwise tough. Basically the meat is marinated, you can broil it or grill it until it is medium rare (cook it any more and it will be too tough) and then you slice it across the grain at a 45 degree angle.

So I noticed that Stop and Shop is selling "Top Round" as London Broil, and Shaw's is selling "Shoulder Steak"- both different cuts of meat. Both come from the front of the animal, so they get lots of work when he is walking around- therefore they're pretty lean and have to be cooked carefully to be tasty. I found this handy-dandy chart that is really helpful- it shows all the different cuts of meat and explains how to cook them.

I'm not too keen on the London Broil idea... my husband and I both prefer our meat cooked a bit more than medium rare. So I wanted to know what other ways will work with these cuts of meat. It sounds like it is good for:

• slicing thinly and marinating- to use in stir-frys, fajitas, salads, etc. The key is to cook quickly over high heat.
• Some people suggest grinding it yourself, to make a lean ground beef. Or cut into cubes for chili.
• If you aren't going to cook it hot and fast, you need to cook it slowly... preferably in a slow cooker. It sounds like it is tasty in the crockpot- just throw it in with some vegetables, some form of liquid, and set on low all day.
  
• A burrito filling- put the meat in the crockpot with taco seasonings, a can of chiles, a can of tomatoes and a diced onion- cook on low all day- the meat should be easy to shred when it is cooked.
• You can also cut it up and cook it in a crockpot soup.
  

If you decide to grill the London Broil this week (I might even try it- I might try cooking it a little longer than suggested, and if I don't like it, I can put it in the slow cooker,) you definitely have to marinate it. You do not need to buy anything at the store to marinate your meat! There is plenty of stuff at your house that you can use. I always mix up a random marinade from things I have around the house... some suggestions of things you can use-

• a little bit of oil wouldn't hurt, especially a lean cut of meat
• any salad dressing
• vinegars
• wine or beer or cola
  
• condiments- ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce
• juice- apple is great with pork, orange is great with teriyaki and ginger
• soy sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, hot sauce...
• herbs and spices

Obviously, don't mix all of these things together or it will be gross- but you can play around and experiment with flavors that you know you and your family like. Make sure you cut the meat into meal-sized portions and freeze the rest- you don't save money if you cook 3 pounds of meat for a family of 4.

If you're shopping at Stop and Shop, you can pick up some elbow macaroni (Stop and Shop Pasta is .75 a box) and make a pasta salad. For pasta salad, I generally cook 1/2 the box of pasta and then add whatever vegetables I have handy (peppers, carrots, celery, tomatoes all work well.) Then you can mix it up with some salad dressing (ranch or Italian work well- Ken's Dressing is $2.00 a bottle if you don't have any at home) and maybe a little bit of mayo, and season with pepper and salt to taste. If you have cheese, nuts, leftover bacon, olives, etc., all of those things would be tasty additions. If that's too complicated or you're in a hurry, you can pick up a box of Suddenly Salad for 1.50 a box and let Betty Crocker take care of the pasta salad-making for you. There isn't much on sale for fresh vegetables this week- if you don't have anything at home, Green Giant Canned Vegetables are $1 a can (I bet the S&S brand is cheaper than that, though.) Also, Romaine hearts are 2.50 for a bag of 3, and I find those go a long way- I can get a whole week's worth of salads out of 3 Romaine hearts.

If you go to Shaw's, you can get corn for .33 an ear, which isn't great but isn't awful. And the Fresh Express Complete Salads are B1G1 free- there was a printable coupon out a couple weeks ago that would make this a great deal but I can't locate it now- if you printed it out, you have some close-to-free salad! If you need to pick up a starchy side, the Shopper's Value White Rice in a 20 lb. bag is 9.99, which is about .50 a pound, and should go a very long way. (Alas, I try as much as possible to use brown rice- I wish they had that in a 20 lb. bag on sale!) An easy rice side: cook the rice according to package directions, and then dump in a can of whatever non- condensed soup you have around and heat it through (drain off any extra liquid if it's too runny). We have so much soup that we've picked up on sale- that's an easy way to use it up.

Happy Shopping!

My Sad Little Garden

Every year I try to grow things in my garden, with mixed results. Last year, we had a massive zucchini plant that went halfway across the yard. My husband had to mow around it for months. We were so excited about all the great zucchini we were going to get. Finally, it produced... one... a single zucchini, the size and shape of a watermelon. We managed to cook it, but it was a little weird having slices the size of a small dinner plate. The only other things that grew were some beans (we got a handful of beans at a time) and these things called lemon cucumbers, which grew on a vine and were pretty successful. Nothing really got going until the end of the summer, though...

I tried really hard with my garden this year. I started lots of seeds in March and April. My whole kitchen table was taken up with little seedlings for months. I don't know if they didn't get enough sun or what, because nothing really grew. :-(

So when it was time for planting (the weekend of Mother's Day, according to local gardening authorities), I planted pepper and tomato seedlings that I bought. I planted squash, cucumber, and beans directly in the ground. And then... I waited.

There wasn't any late frost or anything, but the weather never really seemed to warm up. And then, it rained, and rained, and rained. I guess in June the sun only came out 25% of the time. (July is a little better, but still very cool and rainy overall.) So my plants kind of just languished in the garden, not dying but not growing either.

My tomato plants are finally growing. The peppers don't seem any bigger but are producing some flowers.
The squash and cucumber plants are finally starting to grow.

I set up a little pyramid for my beans to grow on. Too bad, I forgot that I was growing bush beans, not pole beans. They don't need to grow on anything. They are growing some beans, and I harvested a whole handful yesterday. I cut them up and cooked them in my rice pilaf.

I had strawberry plants from last year. The squirrels and birds ate all of the strawberries before they had time to ripen. My husband jokes that I put a lot of effort into feeding the local wildlife. I planted blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries all around my property. So far, only the raspberries are producing fruit, but again, someone keeps eating them...

Well, I still have hope. I don't give up on my garden until the frost kills it. I really wish I was able to grow enough food so that we wouldn't need to buy produce during the summer, and also have enough to can and freeze. Well, with results like this... I guess I better keep wishing!

Nummy Banana Bread and/or Muffins

Yesterday, I was making bread, and I decided, since I am heating up the oven anyway, why not make something else? With some overripe bananas on the counter, and a couple more in the freezer, it seemed like a good time to make some banana bread.

The recipe I have been using for a while is here, but I made some significant tweaks (adding whole wheat flour, using yogurt instead of applesauce, adding spice, reducing sugar...) to it, so it's basically a new recipe. I also doubled it, so it makes 2 loaves or 24 muffins... or, what I ended up doing, one loaf and a batch of muffins.

Nummy Banana Bread/ Muffins

4 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 mashed bananas
1/2 cup yogurt (plain, vanilla, or banana)
2/3 cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/4 cup stir-ins (optional- I used flax seeds... you could use raisins, chocolate chips, crushed nuts..)
1/2 cup granola cereal (for topping- also optional)

1. For this recipe, the oven needs to be preheated to 325. I wait to preheat my oven until I am almost done prepping the recipe, because either I am a very slow baker or my oven heats up very quickly, but the oven is always ready before I am. Spray whatever pans you are using with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs for five minutes. They will be fluffy and creamy.
   Then add the bananas, yogurt, milk, oil, and vanilla, and beat them together thoroughly.
3. In another large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices until well blended. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just blended. Add any extra ingredients and fold them in.
   
4. Pour batter into pans. Top with granola if desired (I used Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal that I got for free at CVS a couple weeks ago.)
   Bake loaf for about 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean; muffins should be ready after 25-30 minutes. Take out of pans and allow to cool on a wire rack.
   

I thought the addition of the wheat flour and the reduction of the sugar was really successful- the texture was very similar to the original recipe and we didn't miss the sugar at all. The texture is different than most banana bread/muffins- it's a little lighter with a slightly crunchy crust. We all really liked this recipe, although my husband had no idea they were banana muffins- I think with the addition of spices, the banana flavor is sort of subtle. So if you really like a strong banana flavor, I would eliminate or reduce the cinnamon & nutmeg.