Cheeseburger Pasta

I think everyone can always use another easy to make yet tasty pasta recipe. A few days ago one of my kids told me about a great pasta dish they had discovered so of course I just had to check it out. At the same time the question arose regarding dill pickle relish so I will be making a batch of that later this week. So I was off to explore.

Cheeseburger Pasta

The original family-favourite cheeseburger pasta recipe can be found here. I made a few changes to the recipe. The original recipe used ¾ lb lean ground beef but I used 1 lb. I exchanged the relish and eliminated the salt. I also used Swiss cheese instead of cheddar. Well you get the idea. I basically changed the recipe.

The Cheesburger Pasta dish has a lot of room to tweak to your own tastes. My husband does not like dill so I used a homemade sweet pickle relish that he does like and garnish mine with dill. Think about all the toppings you can have on a burger then go with that. I would recommend keeping the relish, mustard and ketchup proportions the same. Your favourite steak sauce could easily be substituted for the ketchup and I do think garnishing with homemade bacon bites would be nice. The next time I make this I will also add a bit of shredded lettuce as a garnish. Overall this was a lovely dish that can easily be customized to your taste.

Cheeseburger Pasta

2 c penne pasta
1 lb extra lean ground beef
½ medium onion, chopped
2 c diced tomatoes
2 tbsp sweet pickle relish
2 tbsp prepared yellow mustard
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp Montreal steak seasoning
¾ c shredded Swiss cheese

Bring about 1 quart of salted water to a boil. Stir in pasta and let cook until al dente. Drain and set aside. In the meantime, brown ground beef and the onions until beef is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer. Stir in the pasta. Remove from heat. Stir in the cheese. Cover and let sit 5 minutes then stir again. Serve as desired. Garnish with fresh tomato wedges, raw onions and a dill pickle slice (if desired).

Buying Locally

I've been running the Frugal Kitchens 101 each Monday since the first of 2009. I seriously cannot stress enough how important it is that if you want to save money on your food costs to eat locally. The closer to home you can buy any produce, meats or dairy the more you are going to save money. Now, buying locally doesn't mean you buy at the local grocery store. Buying locally means that particular food was grown and/or processed within a 160 km (100 mile) of your home. The shorter the distance the better it is. Anything you can grow yourself is within a few feet or yards of your house. There are no transportation or environmental costs providing you grow organically. Buying locally supports your neighbours, makes your community stronger while providing you with the freshest food products possible. This is a great video by Hellman's highlights buying locally.

We have had the good fortune to live in an area where produce, meats, poultry, eggs and fish are abundant within less than the 162 km range of our house. Sugar beets are grown and processed into sugar just under that 162 km range. Even salt including curing salt is produced within that range. I am seriously amazed at what I can buy that is grown within that range. There are even a couple of domestic cheese factories, breweries and wineries with online stores that will deliver right to our door! We try to eat as much as possible within the 162 km range. Unfortunately some foods like oils, olives, tropical fruits, teas, vinegars, coffees, sea salts, rices except for wild rice and some seasonings are not grown locally. Obviously there are a lot of other foods we eat that have their origins outside the 162 km range but for the most part the vast majority of the foods we eat are within that range.

We live in a world where global trade is the norm. We are used to all of the lovely food extras that are produced throughout the world. How wonderful it is to be able to enjoy them! I don't know a magical percentage for purchasing them but if you aim to keep these foods at 20% or less of your total food budget you will be saving money and the environment as well as supporting local growers.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Kitchen Wraps

Buy restaurant-sized aluminum foil, plastic wrap, waxed paper and parchment papers. These larger rolls are in most cases cheaper than smaller sizes.

Left Over Steak Dinner

Last Wednesday we hosted a dinner party and social for about 15. Steak and corn-on-the-cob was on the menu. The steaks were large so both of us cut our steaks in half to make a meal the following night. There was more than half of the husked, uncooked corn-on-the-cob left over and several baked potatoes. Left over steak bones went home with one of the guests as a treat for his dog. The next day I froze the remaining corn reserving just enough for dinner. Spotting the left-over potatoes and steak gave me an idea for dinner.

Steak Mixture

If you have been following this blog you will know my husband and I just finished up a recipe contest. As part of one of his contest recipes I made a bourbon grilling sauce that was so good I even canned two jars. The sauce got rave reviews at the dinner party so I used some of the left over sauce for the steak mixture. The mixture consisted of Vadelia onion slices sautéed in butter until translucent with baked potato and steak cubes. The bourbon grilling sauce was added to the mixture and allowed to come to a simmer then the mixture was removed from the heat and plated. The prep and cooking time for the steak mixture was under 15 minutes, ready for serving with boiled corn-on-the-cob for a quick, easy to assemble meal.

Left Over Steak Dinner

Larger gatherings by default generate left overs. It is very important to use whatever possible within the next day or two. If that is not possible any left overs should be preserved either the day of or the day after the event. It is also important that you do not try to preserve or use any food item that has been in the food danger zone (41ºF to 140ºF) during the event. If in doubt throw it out! This rule applies to all dairy foods or foods made with mayonnaise. Bones and left over meats can be given to dogs. Salad green and other vegetables that have been in the food danger zone can be given to chickens, pigs or composted.

Any time you can use up left overs you are in most cases making a frugal meal. In this case the only ingredients used in the meal that were not left overs were the butter and onion. Varying the presentation resulted in a different meal than the night before. It really was a tasty meal!