Parsnips & Beef Stew

Stews are the perfect winter comfort food. Much like soups and chowders, there is a basic method to making stews but the ingredients can vary greatly. Stews generally use a cheaper cut of meat so stewing over long, slow heat in a liquid is meant to tenderize the meat. The addition of vegetables adds flavour, colour, nutrition turning and thickening the liquid to form a gravy makes for a comforting, budget stretching meal. I previously posted recipes for beef stew, crockpot chicken stew, and French Canadian braised beef so today will present another beef stew that has a bit of a different flavour due to including parsnips as an ingredient.

Parsnips

Parsnips are a root vegetable that is often overlooked by many home cooks. While the resemble carrots they have a creamy white flesh and a stronger flavour than carrots. Parsnips can be cooked in many of the same ways as carrots but unlike carrots they are seldom eaten raw. They are richer in vitamins and minerals than carrots. Parsnips are rich in potassium with 600 mg per 100 g and a good source of dietary fiber.

Parsnips in particular is an ideal ingredient when making soups, stews and stocks. They add a depth and roundness in flavour.

Beef Stew

As with all of the stews I make this beef stew made use of what I had on hand. The end result was a lovely, chunky stew packed full of flavour and nutrition. I like browning meat before using it for stew as this adds more flavour. Once the meat was browned I put it into the crockpot then added carrots, parsnips, onions, bayleaf, potatoes and stock. When the potatoes were fork tender I added the corn and flour slurry to thicken continuing to cook for about 20 minutes. I added the frozen peas last letting them cook just enough to brighten. Pea are one of those vegetables that are best put into soups or stews last as they can easily over cook.

Come Make a Pot of Soup With Me

My last Frugal Kitchens 101 of 2009 focused on making homemade soups, stews, chowders and gumbos. Given the nature and writing style I use for my Frugal Kitchens 101 posts there were no pictures as to any methods. The reason for this is these posts are meant to be informative without any visuals. However sometimes visuals are needed for certain methods so I decided to ask you to come make a pot of soup with me. That way you can see how I do thing and where you can make changes so you too can make yummy, budget stretching soups at home that are sure to please.

Meat

I started with 2 beef soup bones, 1 parsnip, 1 large carrot, one rib of celery, ¼ Spanish onion with skin, bay leaf and enough water to fill the pressure cooker ⅔ full. [I'm sorry I forgot to take pictures of this.] I put the lid on the pressure cooker and bring to pressure then let cook at pressure for 25 - 30 minutes and let the pressure cooker depressurize. I remove the soup bones with tongs and pull the meat from the bone (1). The meat will basically shred without having to cut at this point. The stock with the vegetables remains (2).

While I'm on the subject of stocks you always use the mire poix (onion, celery, carrot). Do not peel the carrot or onion, simply wash and use as is for colour, flavour and extra nutrients. A parsnip adds a wonderful depth to the stock but it is a deep, mellow almost sweet note but not a distinct flavour that says this is parsnip. Pressure cooking is the ultimate way to make stock because it greatly reduces the cooking time.

Stock

I pour the stock with cooked vegetables through a fine mesh strainer (3). The resulting stock (4) shows signs of fat on top. While this does not have to be removed I prefer to chill the stock in the refrigerator for defatting. When the stock is well chilled the fat turns and opague white (5). It is a solid so is easily removed from the stock. This will seem like a lot of effort to some but if you consider it takes about 5 minutes prep time, 30 minutes cook time, 10 minutes depressurizing and perhaps an hour or so in the fridge for defatting it really doesn't take that much time from raw to a rich, flavourful, defatted stock (6) and meat for the soup (3).

Ingredients

Oh my now this is where I start having a lot of fun. Pictured are most of the ingredients I used (7). Soup needs seasoning and since I was making a beef soup I used Montréal Steak Seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, Grace's browning. Next I had to decide on the starch and/or protein. I could have used potatoes, pasta, beans, legumes or grains. I used pearl barley which just goes so niecely with beef. Just about any vegetable is fair game when I make soups. I added celery, green onions, Spanish onion, carrot, tomato, sweet peas, corn and mushrooms to this soup.

I add the ingredients in the order that they cook with longest cooking added first. I added the Spanish onion, seasonings and barley first (8) then cooked until the barley was tender. I also added 2 - 500 ml jars of de-fatted beef broth to the ingredients because it looked like I would need it. Barley tends to thicken and cloud the liquid when it cooks (9) which really isn't a problem. If you want clearer stock when using barley then you have to cook the barley separately and stir it in when the soup is finished cooking. Once the barley was cooked I stirred in the remaining vegetables starting with the mushrooms and ending with the tomatoes and green onions added in the last 5 minutes of cooking (10)

Beef, Mushroom & Barley Soup

The best part of making a homemade soup from scratch is the ultimate reward - rich, flavourful, nutritious soup. The tantalizing aroma fills the house as layers of flavour are added during the cooking process. There really is nothing more comforting than a bowl of steaming homemade soup on a cold winter evening!

This particular soup was loaded with vegetables that provide not only nutrition but eye appeal. It really ended up being a rustic, hearty soup! Nice bright, cheery colours are so pleasant when the day has been dull, grey and snowy.

See how easy it is to make a soup from scratch? Once you have chosen what meat to use the seasonings and other ingredients fall into place. The reward is a wonderful homemade soup sure to please anyone. Aren't you glad you stopped long enough to make a pot of soup with me?

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

Meatloaf has long been a staple meat dish in many homes. It really falls under the category of comfort meals. Not only is is comfort food it is a nice budget stretcher. I think every Mom makes a version of it. Meatloaf is one of those dishes that like my soups and stews is made on the fly tossing in ingredients that strike my fancy at the time. While onions are always added I quite often add zucchini, cabbage or carrots and sometimes I dress it up with shredded cheese or bacon or even stuff it.

Ready for Oven

The basics for making meatloaf are quite simple. I start with lean ground meat, in this case beef. Now here is where it starts to get interesting for me because most meatloaf recipes add mustard and ketchup. Just in those two ingredients along there are so many varieties a simple substitution can make for a very personalized meatloaf. I used ketchup, yellow prepared mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Heinz 57® steak sauce along with 3 eggs as a binder. The next ingredient any meat loaf has is some type of filler such as dry bread crumbs, oatmeal or crushed crackers. Just look at the options here for changing the taste! This is also the perfect opportunity to add a bit of fiber to your meatloaf so you can sprinkle in a little wheat germ or even stir in mashed cooked beans although I did neither for this particular meatloaf. I used homemade bread crumbs from a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread. After forming the loaf I tucked on 4 slices of a thick cut, smoked bacon.

Baked

I baked the meatloaf uncovered at 180ºC/350ºF until golden brown with an internal temperature of 71ºC/160ºF. Since I had used very lean ground beef and the gourmet bacon there was very little grease in the baking dish, less that 2 tbsp. Once the meatloaf was out of the oven I immediately placed it onto a wire rack over a plate to allow any additions grease to drain. There were a few drips but no more than a half teaspoon. The end result was a lovely yet flavourful and moist low fat meatloaf.

It really is surprising how much flavour bacon can add to many dishes including meatloaf. I've often used bacon is chowders, baked beans and anything venison based. It really is important to use premium quality, thick sliced bacon for maximum flavour. This is cost effective as well since you can get away with using a lot less. Avoid using thin cut, bargain bacon that lack flavour and contain a higher fat content.

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

I served the bacon wrapped meatloaf with baked potatoes and sweet peas. Yes I know we eat a lot of baked potatoes but popping a couple of potatoes to bake along with the meat is not only a frugal use of electricity but is also eco-friendly. Actually this time I baked 4 potatoes with the meat so I would have 2 for country cuts the next day. Baked potatoes when not heavily laden with toppings are also quite good for you providing a good for you, low in calories and high in fiber. If you've been following this blog you will know there are very few times I peel potatoes because it does reduce both nutrition and fiber.

Another thing you will have noticed if you've been following this blog is I grow as many vegetables as possible and buy local produce to supplement what I don't grow. I do grow sweet peas but only enough for fresh eating due to space limitations. I have not been able to find a good source for local sweet peas either. As a result sweet peas are one of the very few commercially frozen vegetables I do buy.

Tuna Croquettes

Food Network Canada is on most days here. I use the shows to get various ideas and learn more about different foods. Alton Brown of Good Eats is one of my favourites because his shows are all about learning all those interesting facts that make being a foodie fun. A few days ago I watched one of his shows that had a segment on tuna. It was very interesting!

Did you know if tuna is labeled as light or chunky is is skip tuna? If it is labeled as white or solid it is Albacore tuna which is a much larger fish than skip tuna. Solid tuna is exactly that, a solid piece of tuna cut from the fish. It is also interesting that james Beard said tuna 'is the one food that tastes better canned". The reason for this is apparent to anyone who home cans and that is because of the high processing time for fish so canned tuna is already well cooked when you open the can.

Tuna Croquettes

During this segment Alton made tuna croquette. I immediately thought that this could be made into a very easy low fat, low sodium and budget stretching meal. I modified his recipe and method a little then served the tuna croquettes with steamed spinach and carrots topped with a little butter and garnished with sesame seeds and a lemon twist.

The meal was good. We were both surprised at the change of flavour in tuna when it is hot. Thinking back this is the first time we have had hot tuna. So if you haven't had hot tuna before be warned it does have a different flavour, not unpleasant just different. There is a fair amount of room for tweaking this recipe.

Tuna Croquettes
modified from recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2008

12 oz light tuna, drained well
1 green onions, chopped fine
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ tsp sea salt
pinch freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup panko bread crumbs, divided
olive oil

Place ingredients except for last 2 in mixing bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup of the bread crumb. Stir to combine. Divide the mixture into 8 rounds. Set aside on a parchment lined pan. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Spoon half of the remaining panko over the rounds and pat in. Flip the rounds and repeat to coat all sides. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the croquettes. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Plate.

Note: Serve with tartar sauce and lemon wedge for an appetizer or vegetable sides as an entré.

Pork Pot Pie

A few days ago just a day and a half after the American Thanksgiving I read a comment on Twitter where the person was so sick of eating turkey. At the time this really rubbed me the wrong way especially so close after a day of giving thanks for the many blessings in life. Everyone who cooks has to deal with left-overs. It's just a given. Left-overs are a blessing because it means you have enough food that you won't go hungry like so many do world wide. A frugal home cook embraces left-overs knowing they become budget stretching meals. It's true that left-overs are not always glamorous eating when they are presented the same way three or four nights in a row. The trick therefore becomes not serving them the same way until they are used up.

My husband was fortunate to win a large package of 8 pork chops in a raffle at a recent community social. Saturday night I made oven baked pork chops in mushroom sauce that gave a new twist on an old family favourite. Sunday night we warmed up 2 of the pork chops with sauce served with hot buttered broad egg noodles and salad. Monday afternoon I cut the meat from the bone of the remaining 4 pork chops thinking I would turn it into a chowder. Then another idea came to mind which was to make a pork pot pie that would allow me to continue working on another project while the meal cooked.

Pork Pot Pie

Pot pie is an easy way to use up any stew-like dish. The crust can be a pastry type crust (eg. pie pastry, puff pastry) or simply a topping of bisquits. The bisquit topping can be made using a bisquit batter mix (preferable) or refigerator bisquit dough. Bisquit dough can easily be made with a homemade or commercially made baking mix.

While I wanted to use up the left-over pork chops and some of the left-over niblet corn I din't want the resulting meal to be a total repeat of the original. Pictured is the pork pot pie in the deep dish 2.6 L casserole dish. I used a bisquit batter seasoned with garlic salt and cheddar cheese for the topping.

Method: Spoon half the meat mixture into the casserole dish. Place a layer of corn on top then the rest of the meat mixture. Pour 3 cups of homemade or commercially made baking mix into a mixing bowl. Stir in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and about 1 tsp of garlic salt. Pour in enough milk to make a thick, spoonable batter. Spoon the batter over the meat mixture spreading to cover. Bake at 180ºC/350ºF until meat mixture is bubbly and bisquit topping comes clean in the center when poked with a toothpick and is golden brown.

Weekend Comfort Food

Over the years our food tastes do change but comfort foods tend to stay the same, quite often prepared the way we remembered them. Winter is quickly approaching and I've been under the weather for the last few days so we wanted homemade comfort foods over the weekend. The weather has actually been quite mild for the time of the year so Saturday night we grilled steaks for dinner with getting things cleaned up just in time for guests (about 30) arriving. We were both exhausted on Sunday so the meal was even simpler yet a traditional comfort dish.

Blade Steak

It's funny but when my husband and I first started dating the only way I would eat steak a steak was well done and with a steak sauce. Thanks to his influence I learned the error of my ways over the years. My taste buds have now changed to medium-rare/rare with occasional steak sauce but not very often. Grilled properly as I have learned the flavour of the steak becomes the highlight of the meal.

I served the grilled blade steaks with oven baked potatoes and herbed carrot coins with sweet butter and French Grey Sea Salt. Homemade sweet butter does not melt like store bought butter but the flavour is well worth it. IOven baked potatoes are very easy to make but you need the right potato. I like Russet or Yukon Gold for baking.

Method: The potatoes are simply washed well then dried. Poke a fork into the potato to help release the steam to prevent the potato from bursting and to keep the potato skins crispy. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) until flesh give when pinched.

Herbed Carrot Coins: Steam carrot coins until el dente. Place into bowl. Top with sweet butter and parsley flakes. Mix then plate. Top with a little French Grey Sea Salt.

Hubby's Mac & Cheese

Nothing says comfort more to my husband than cheese. I'm serious he would have cheese on everything if he had his way. Now this is what makes it so interesting having two people who like to cook in the kitchen because quite frankly we really do even similar dishes quite different. The way I make mac & cheese is quite different from his but both are quite good.

His method starts with pulling whatever cheese strikes his fancy from the fridge and like many meals we make there are no actual recipes. In this case he chose Asiago, mozzarella and Velveeta. Once the elbow macaroni [of which he cooked too much so I have extra to use up this week which is quite fine] was cooked and drained he mixed in some browned lean ground beef the stirred in the cheeses and baked at low heat 121º C (250ºF) until the cheeses were melted. After stirring he topped with dry bread crumbs then increased the heat to 180ºC (350ºF) until the top was golden brown. Simple, easy and comforting :)

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).

Vegetable Stuffed Meatloaf

One pot meals are generally casseroles, slowcooker dishes, soups, stews and pot roasts. The nice thing about one pot meals is this method frees up time for the busy cook. While the food is cooking other things can be done without worrying about cooking additional side dishes. One pot meals are an efficient use of energy as well something we all need to consider.

I took out a pound of extra lean ground beef from the freezer to thaw on Sunday evening for Monday's dinner. I wanted to try an enchilada casserole recipe I had found. My husband took a look at the recipe giving it two thumbs down so I decided to make meatloaf instead. Not just regular meatloaf, a nice kicked up version!

Method

This really is a fun way to make a familiar meal taste like a new one simply because it is just a bit different! The ingredients aren't written in stone making this a frugal, budget stretching meal. I made my meatloaf mixture then poured it onto a sheet of wax paper (1). Then I formed the mixture into a rectangle and starting with spinach (2) topped it with the fillings (3) much the same way you would top a pizza. After rolling the meatloaf I baked it (full instructions follow).

Ingredients

meatloaf:
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 tbsp prepared mustard
½ c ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 eggs
Montreal steak seasoning to taste
2 c dried bread crumbs

filling:
½ pk fresh spinach
4 med. potatoes, microwaved
10 - 12 button mushrooms
1 c grated Colby cheese

Wash and poke holes in the potatoes. Place on a piece of paper towel and microwave until just soft. Remove from microwave, cut in half and scoop out the flesh. Set aside. Clean, slice and sauté mushrooms in a little butter. Remove from burner and set aside. Grate the cheese. Wash and pat dry the spinach. Make the meatloaf mixture mixing well (see ingredients below) then poured the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper. Form the meatloaf mixture into a flattened rectangle about ½ - inch thick. Cover with spinach first (2) followed by the other filling ingredients (3). Starting at one narrow end and using the wax paper under the meat, carefully lift up and over to start the roll (4). Continue rolling to the other end using the wax paper to help lift. Once the meatloaf is fully rolled carefully place it in a heavy metal loaf pan. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) until cooked through. Remove from oven. Let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

Vegetable Stuffed Meatloaf

When the meatloaf was baked I carefully removed it from the oven then let rest on a cutting board for 5 to 10 minutes. Resting allows the juices to set up so the meatloaf slices cleanly without crumbling. Pictured is the vegetable stuffed meatloaf just after cutting. Doesn't it just look gorgeous?

I was quite impressed with the results! The vegetable stuffed meatloaf was extremely easy to prepare. It was very tasty and filling. If you look at the list of ingredients my most expensive ingredient was the extra lean ground beef at $2.35 per pound (price per pound across all bulk meat purchase cuts). Over all the entire meal cost just under $5 including the electricity (32¢) to cook it. The meatloaf would easily serve 4 to 6 ( 83¢ to $1.25 per serving) people making this meatloaf a lovely, budget stretching and frugal meal! Serve a tossed garden salad as a side.

Dinner

I plated the vegetable stuffed meatloaf rather simply without any further sides. The spinach really lost its lovely green colour during the baking so adding a bit of green would make the meatloaf sparkle. For proper presentation a spring of parsley would have been nice but I also think the meatloaf would look good on a bed of leaf lettuce. As soon as my leaf lettuce is ready for cutting I will make another meatloaf just to see how it plates up. A ladle of beef gravy would also be a nice addition although the meatloaf is moist enough not to need gravy. This meal received two thumbs up from my husband!

Hubby's Weekend Cooking

I have often mentioned on this blog my husband's wonderful cooking skills. He makes one of the best burgers you will ever taste but his real signature dish is his breaded pork chops! This past weekend he decided to take over the kitchen! Here's what he came up with.

Rib Roast

Thursday morning I was rummaging through one of the chest freezers holding our new supply of organic, hormone free beef. I wanted ground beef but as I was looking for that I spotted a rib roast that somehow had two corners torn. This does happen with bulk meat purchases from time to time with the transporting from the abattoir to home freezer. It was hot and humid not really nice roast weather day so I put the roast into the refrigerator to thaw.

Saturday my husband wrapped the roast tightly and cooked it on the grill. At the same time he cooked potatoes seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper then wrapped in foil on the grill. The side vegetables were cauliflower with a little butter and nutmeg, sliced tomatoes and cucumber quarters. It was a lovely meal that kept most of the prep heat out of the house.

Breakfast

Yes I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day but I have to admit that during the week we very seldom eat breakfast especially a cooked one. I'm quite happy with a bit of homemade yogurt with my coffee or latte while my husband occasionally enjoys a toasted bagel. When we are on vacation or on the weekends we make up for it by having a hot breakfast.

There were left over potatoes from Saturday's roast dinner and half a ream of frozen bacon left from the omelet made the weekend before. In true frugal fashion he fried the bacon on the indoor griddle then set it aside to warm the potatoes. When the potatoes were warmed though he put the eggs on while I made the toast. Once plated we sat eating and chit chatting while watching the beauty of the water.

Barbeque Rib Roast Pizza

The rib roast dinner on Saturday had been an unplanned meal. It was a larger roast as well so there were left overs. Saturday night as we watched a bit of television a commercial for a steak pizza came on. That became the inspiration for a different way to use up some of the rib roast.

I put in a batch of pizza dough just after 3 PM. With the heat and humidity the proofing went a bit quicker than expected. My husband took it from there. Instead of a tomato pizza sauce he used Diana Sauce® for the sauce. After spreading a even layer of Diana Sauce® he layered on thin slices of the roast beef and chopped onions then topped with mozzarella cheese. This mouthwatering pizza tasted every bit as good as it looked! What a wonderful and unique way to use up roast beef!

Rustic Cottage Pie

What's in a name? While still a newlywed I made a casserole dish that had been handed through our family under the name of Shepherd's Pie. Imagine my shock when one of our guests told me it wasn't Shepherd's pie. She then went on to tell me what Shepherd's Pie was so I just had to try making it. The casserole was a huge hit the first time I served it! The casserole dish that was handed through our family has remained a family favourite but has since been renamed Hamburger Casserole or affectionately known as Mommy's Surprise.

In recent years I learned that Shepherd's Pie is traditionally made with lamb. The same dish made with game meat is called Hunter's Pie. I have not found an actual name for the dish made with beef as it is widely referred to as Shepherd's Pie. I also make similar casserole dishes using ground pork or ground chicken. I think these types of country casseroles using beef, pork or chicken are best described as Cottage Pies. They are simple, frugal, budget stretching meals that really is what down home cooking is all about!

Rustic Cottage Pie

The beauty of country pies lies in their simplicity. They don't need to have fancy or expensive ingredients. Instead they should be kept simple but that doesn't mean they can't have a lot of flavour. I made the pictured country pie using lean ground beef. This yummy country pie had a rustic look because the top layer was on the chunkier side rather than the normal smooth mashed potato layer.

Rustic Cottage Pie

2 lb lean ground beef
½ medium onion
1½ c beef gravy*
1 c green beans (homecanned or canned)
1 c corn niblets
6 medium potatoes
3 carrots
½ c flavoured cream cheese
¼ c sour cream
milk

Wash potatoes and carrots. Peel carrots. Do not peel potatoes. Cut both into chunks. Steam until tender. Pour into KitchenAid® stand mixer bowl (or similar). Add cream cheese and sour cream. Use the beater paddle to beat into a chunky mixture. Chop onion. Brown the ground beef and onion. Drain. Stir in gravy. Pour the meat mixture into a casserole pan. Drain green beans and pour over meat mixture. Pour corn niblet on top. Spoon the potato mixture over the vegetable layer, spreading evenly. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) until about 30 minutes or until potato mixture is lightly golden brown.

*If you do not have left-over gravy on hand, use the same amount of canned or powdered brown gravy mixed with 1½ c of water.

Chicken Lettuce Tomato Pita Wraps

One nice thing I like about eating out is the opportunity to discover new dishes. That's what makes being a foodie so much fun! Some of these dishes will be dishes I enjoy enough to try making them at home. Some of them are this is good but I think I could tweak to make it better. Occasionally I come across a dish that I try duplicating and becomes an instant hit with my family.

Years ago I discovered a BLT spinoff at a university pub called a CLT. It was and likely still is one of their most requested dishes yet it is a very simple, home style sandwich. Instead of using a tortilla as a wrap, the sandwich was based on a Greek style pita. The filling consisted simple of boneless, skinless chicken breast strips, iceberg lettuce, tomato and French dressing. The sandwich was pinned together with a toothpick then wrapped partially in thin tin foil. These wraps were an instant winner!

Chicken Lettuce Tomato Pita Wrap

When I first started making the CLTs at home, I basically made them the same way as the pub did but it didn't take long before I started experimenting. Pictured is a CLT the way I make them now. They are extremely good and they are very filling!

CLTs are low fat the way I make them as well making this sandwich a nice, healthy choice. Use low or no fat salad dressing and mayo to reduce the fat further. They are a frugal, budget stretching sandwich as well since the focus is on the vegetables not the meat. One chicken breast will be enough meat for two wraps. Use Parmesan cheese for a lot of flavour without using a lot of cheese meaning less fat and cost. Finally if you make your own pitas substitute the fat with applesauce to further reduce the fat.

Method: The filling consists of: strips of lightly seasoned grilled or pan fried boneless, skinless chicken breast; chopped tomato, chopped red onion, leaf lettuce and shredded cheddar or Parmesan cheese. I use steamed homemade Greek style pocketless pitas but you can use store bought. I will be posting how to make pitas sometime this week so watch for that. Steaming the pitas serves two purposes. It warms the pita while making the pita more pliable for folding over the filling without breaking. Once the pita is warmed I spread with a little mayo, add the filling then drizzle just a little homemade vinaigrette over the filling. Then I fold the pita over the filling and secure with a toothpick. Serve with a small side salad.

Family Beef Pot Pie

If you have been following this blog you will have already read several posts regarding homemade soups. The reason being homemade soups are one of the most frugal meals you can make. A soup can easily be turned into a thick, stew consistency simply by adding a thickener. The thicken "stoup" as Rachel Ray would call a soup that eats like a stew, can then be used as the basis of a casserole. A thicken stew-like consistency can be used as the filling for meat pies. This allows you a lot of creative leeway when it comes to making meat pies!

Family Beef Pot Pie

Meat pies consist of either one crust or two crust pies with meat and/or vegetable filling with the consistency of a thick stew. For a two crust meat pie I recommend my Favourite Pie Crust. This dough freezes nicely either formed into shells, rolled or ready to roll. If you are making a one crust meat pie you can also use the same pie crust recipe or you can cheat a bit by using a pre-made puff pastry dough found in the freezer section of your grocery store. Do keep a few packages of puffy pastry on hand as it is a very versatile dough that can be used for both savoury and sweet dishes. While I have made puff pastry from scratch it is one convenience food that I recommend buying pre-made simply because making homemade puff pastry is a bit more tedious and time consuming than making a standard pastry dough. If you would like to try making your own you can try this method.

Pictured is the family sized beef pot pie I made a few nights ago using puff pastry for the top crust. I should have used a smaller casserole dish but wanted to use up all of the filling. Using a smaller casserole dish would have given an even, rolled edge around the pot pie something that is desirable. This is something I will avoid the next time simply for the visual effect.

Beef Pot Pie

Pictured is the cut pot pie. The crust serves as a substitute for bread in this meal. It is nice and flaky, perfect for this purpose. I used a ground beef filling for this pot pie.

Two thing I look for in any stew or stew based filling aside of flavour is texture and colour. In general corn, carrots and green beans pop on the background of meat, potatoes, mushrooms and gravy. Here's how I made the filling:

Method: Brown two pounds extra lean ground beef. Wash and steam unpeeled potato pieces. Sautée portebello mushrooms in butter. Place browned ground beef in large mixing bow. Stir in cooked potato pieces and mushrooms. Stir in 1 - 500 ml jar home canned green beans or equivalent. Stir in about two cups of frozen corn niblets. Pour about 3 cups homemade gravy oven the mixture and stir in. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish. Cover with puff pastry. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) until the crust is golden brown and filling bubbles.

Bulk Barn (Mississauga, Ontario)

Today is Earth Day 2009 so I thought it would be appropriate to share a bit more about one source for bulk food purchasing, the Bulk Barn®. If you recall I spoke of this bulk food store in a Frugal Kitchens 101 post recently (Buying in Bulk). During my recent visit to the we stopped at a Bulk Barn located at 3035 Argentia Road in Mississauga, ON on one of our morning shopping excursions. Trust me I don't need an excuse to shop at a Bulk Barn!

Bulk Barn

Bulk Barn is a chain of 120 stores across select Canadian provinces (ON, NB, NS, PE, NL, MB, QC, SK) that sells over 4,000 products. The stores are quite visible with their bright yellow and red signage. This colour scheme continues throughout the store interior. The vast majority of the foods sold in the Bulk Barn are in covered bins that the consumer scoops out the desired amount with provided scoops, ladles or tongs. Thin plastic bags, smaller spice bags and food grade plastic tubs with lids are available for your selections. Unfortunately you cannot bring in your own containers to put the food in due to health and safety issues but you can bring cloth shopping bags to carry your purchases home rather than using the heavy plastic grocery bags provided. Small white bread clip style tags are provided along with pencils to mark your purchases. This is important when you get your purchase home as some of the products such as flours look very similar. In addition to food, the Bulk Barn offers an extensive line of dietary supplements, packaged teas, organic boxed foods, bird seed, limited pet foods, non-toxic household cleaners and all natural bar soaps. They are also the place to shop for cake and candy supplies.

My Purchases

The Bulk Barn saves you money in three ways. The stores are smaller, compact stores with lower overhead. I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 or 4 employees at any given time in any of the stores I've been in. The vast majority of foods aren't packaged so you aren't paying for that either. Finally and most importantly you are buying what you need, not some pre-determined amount. For example you need ½ tsp of a particular spice for a dish you are trying. If you bought this spice in a regular grocery store you would be forced to buy it in an expensive glass bottle paying upwards of $4 for about 30 - 40 g depending on the spice. If you are buying for this reason and you don't know if you will ever use that spice again, it becomes a waste of money. If you buy 1 tsp of the same spice at Bulk Barn you will pay a few pennies and have enough to make 2 of the dishes allowing you to experiment with the flavour.

My purchases are pictured. Surprisingly I did not buy all that much other than a few herbs and spices I needed to restock a bit. My total bill came to $21.47 and while it doesn't look like I got a lot, I did. I'll go through what I bought and what I paid so you can compare these prices to what you would pay in a regular grocery store.

Receipt

I apologize that the receipt image is a bit small. I'm going to explain the receipt as item, (price per kg), amount bought and total price paid. On the receipt you will notice that 66¢ was paid between GST and PST, something residents of Ontario pay on most purchases. Of my purchases one was a spur of the moment mini Easter cookie cutter set. These adorable little cookie cutters will be used to make homemade animal style crackers for the grandkids and for cutting vegetable/cheese garnishes.

Here's what I bought:

• ground mace ($33.39/kg), 0.065 kg, $2.17
• ground allspice ($18.85/kg), 0.030 kg, $0.57
• ground thyme ($9.45/kg), 0.065 kg, $0.61
• ground oregano ($12.45/kg) 0.055 kg, $0.68
• ground sage ($14.97/kg) 0.065, $0.97
• ground nutmeg ($21.80/kg), 0.055, $1.20
• Merckens light moulding chocolate ($8.62/kg), 0.55 kg, $4,74
  
• Easter mini cookie cutters $3.99
• vanilla beans $4.79
• sesame smaps (3/$1.09), $1.09

You will notice I bought some ground herbs I also grow however, if you have been following this blog you will know I've been in the process of re-establishing our herb garden after our move here. To give you a rough idea of how much of each herb or spice I bought, it was about a 1 cup each. To give you a comparison this would be about the equivalent of 2 to 3 glass bottle containers depending on the spice in the grocery store. So if you consider I spent $6.20 on bulk herbs and spices. Had I bought the same amount in the grocery store at an average of $3 per bottle I would have spent* $36 to $54 if not a bit more total. That is a considerable savings! At the same time I reduced packaging by not buying something packaged in little glass jars or little metal tins. True in many areas these are recyclable but in a lot of areas they aren't so they end up in landfills. Reducing packaging is an eco-friendly thing to do that save both money and the environment. Savings can be found on a lot of the bulk products sold at the Bulk Barn but again you do need to know your prices. What is nice is they do carry a lot of dried products (specialty flours, snacks and etc) that a lot of regular grocery stores do not carry.

You really do need to prepare for a shopping trip to the Bulk Barn. Like any shopping trip you really will want some kind of a list but with the savings give yourself a bit of leeway to try a couple of new things as well. For example what I saved on the herbs and spices was more than enough to splurge on a couple of extras like the vanilla beans and cookie cutters.

* calculation - 6 kinds of hers/spices x number of bottles x average price per bottle

Tortellini Soup

Soups are one of the most versatile and frugal dishes you can make. They can be used as the main course or a starter for lunch or dinner. Soups can also be used as an ingredient in other dishes, especially quick assembled casseroles. Creamed soups in particular are ideal for forming the basis for sauces. If that isn't enough to convince you to make homemade soups consider that they are an ideal way to make a little meat go a long way as well as using up those little bits of left overs. Soups are extremely easy to make from scratch. You don't even need a recipe! Some of the best soups simply start out as an idea and evolve from there.

Tortellini Soup

The kids have been telling me for some time about a wonderful homemade tortellini soup they make. I know they have tweaked it from the original idea and like many soups it changes with what ingredients they have on hand. We enjoyed this hearty and flavourful soup for one of the dinners during my recent stay with them. Simply changing the vegetables or tortellini filling can make a difference in the outcome.

Method: There are no real measurements for this soup. Place about 12 medium sized peeled tomatoes in crockpot. Add about 3 cups of water or chicken stock, about a pound of ground chicken and one bay leaf. Set the crockpot to medium. Allow to cook for about 2 hours. Break up the tomatoes and meat. Add enough water or chicken stock to bring the liquid level to just under the ¾ mark. Pour in about 2 cups frozen cheese tortellini and 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables. Cover and continue cooking until tortellini is hot to centre.

Depression Cooking with Clara - Egg Drop Soup

Here's another video in the Depression Cooking with Clara series. This cooking series with Clara shows what it is really like to cook with only a few simple ingredients to make a substantial meal during very lean times. I think it is quite easy for people to get into the mindset that they need a lot of fancy ingredients to make good food. Yet that is furthest from the truth. You need good ingredients to make good food! Many are turning to the older ways of cooking realizing that all those convenience foods are not only costly but they don't guarantee good food.

Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken

Anytime we have a traditional or family favourite especially those from the days of being a young bride, I look for ways to improve it while still keeping the favour and feeling of the dish. Our fancy Sunday dinner when I was a young bride was Shake & Bake® chicken, mashed potatoes and niblet corn. I've talked about this before on this blog. This meal is still considered comfort food even though I have made a few changes. Quite often I serve this meal with baked potatoes because the oven is already on so making baked potatoes saves energy. The biggest change made was making my own coating mix for a fraction of the cost of store bought!

The Mix & Storing

Shake & Bake® is a simple, ready to use coating mix that comes with two packets of the mix and 2 plastic bags. When it first came out in the original flavour for chicken it immediately became quite popular. The concept was very simple - pour the mix into one of the bags, add the chicken pieces then shake to coat and bake the coated chicken.

The last time I looked and it has been quite some time ago Shake & Bake® was $2.49 for about 2 cups of mix or $1.25 per cup. The Bulk Barn sells a chicken coating for $1.49 per lb or 37¢ per cup. But if you make your own using homemade bread crumbs the cost per cup is 7¢ per cup. Not only is homemade chicken coating cheaper you can easily adjust the sodium and do a bit of tweaking to get exactly what you what. You are also eliminating any artificial flavourants, colourants and preservatives. The best part is whipping up a batch of this coating mix takes less than 10 minutes on a slow day! This coating mix is every bit as good if not better than store bought!

I use my KitchenAid® stand mixer to mix the ingredients thoroughly (1). This recipe makes 9 cups but for most uses only 1 - 1½ of the coating mix is needed so I vacuum seal in a 1.5 L mason jar (2) using my FoodSaver. This will keep the coating mix fresh until needed. The rest is put into a 1 L (quart) mason jar (3) for immediate use. About 1/3 of this jar was used for dinner but that could have been cut back just a little. I don't measure just pour a bit into a Ziploc® container then add as much chicken that will comfortably fit. Then I shake to coat well and remove the coated chicken to a waiting Silpat® lined baking sheet (4). I repeat this if needed adding a bit more coating mix if necessary.

Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken Coating
source:  Garden Gnome

4 c dry bread crumbs
4 c unbleached flour
2 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp organic cane sugar*
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried parsley
3 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp pepper
¼ c vegetable oil

Place all the ingredients except the oil into the bowl of a KitchenAid® stand mixer. Set to setting 1. Stir 1 minute. With the mixer still on setting 1 drizzle the oil into the mixture. Allow to mix well. Pour into jars for storing and vacuum seal.

Yield: 9 cups

*I have not tried this recipe using a sugar substitute but it should work fine although the substitute may not cause the same degree of caramelization.

Chicken Dinner

I use the coating mix just as you would store bought coating mix except I use a re-usable container to coat the coating in place of a disposable plastic bag. Anytime you an eliminate something disposable in the kitchen you save money and you lower your carbon footprint. Once the chicken is coated, I bake at 375ºF for 40 minutes or until juices run clear.
This mix is ideal for chicken (bone in or boneless) or you can use it for chicken fried steak.

Pictured is our updated shake & bake chicken using the homemade coating mix and served with baked potatoes instead of mashed for Wednesday's dinner. Occasionally I still serve this dish with mashed potatoes for old time sake. One thing that hasn't changed is the niblet corn although that is no longer store bought either. My husband gave the meal another thumbs up while enjoying this family favourite from our early married days.

Ham & Broccoli Casserole

We are preparing for our winter vacation which means we need to use up what is in the refrigerator before we leave. I've froze what I could. Last night I made a lovely casserole using up a bit of the frozen ham from Christmas entertaining. Some of the best casseroles come together simply by tossing simple but compatible ingredients together.

Ham & Broccoli Casserole

This really was a clean out the fridge casserole but there was a plan. In my mind ham is best served with scallop potatoes and not those fancy scallops but the real scallops the way my Mom made them. Whenever we have a ham I cut a thick slice into cubes then freeze for a quick start. These handy packets are great additions for casseroles and soups.

Ham & Broccoli Casserole

2 c ham, cubed
1½ c broccoli, chopped
4 mushrooms, sliced
4 med potatoes, cubed
1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
3 tbsp unbleached flour
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
3 c milk

Prepare ham and vegetables. Pour the seasoning and flour over the ham and vegetable mix. Stir to mix. Shred cheese and add to the ham and vegetable mix. Stir to mix. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish. Scald the milk. Pour the milk over the mixture. Bake at 350ºF until casserole is bubbly and potatoes are cooked through. Garnish with dried parsley or chives.

Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup (Pressure Cooker)

Another new year has begun. I hope everyone enjoyed their New Year celebrations and thank-you for all the well wishes for the new year. May 2009 bring you peace, joy, love and lots of yummy food!

Over the holiday season we did a fair amount of entertaining that resulted in a variety of left overs some that found their way into the soup pot. The weather has been quite cold with snow and blustery winds combined with being exhausted from the holiday season means the soup pot is working overtime. Soup is just so comforting! I especially appreciate that there is very little work to making soup as well.

Last Tuesday afternoon and evening we babysat oldest grandbaby while her parents went to a hockey game. At age two a favourite food is soup so I made a large pot of hearty vegetable beef soup. The basis for this soup is meaty soup bones. Soup bones are always very inexpensive even at the butcher shop where they cost about $1.50 each. These are nice meaty soup bones with enough meat on them for a larger pot of soup.

A common misconception is that making soup is a long, drawn out process when it isn't. Next to a stockpot the most often used kitchen appliance for making soup is a slow cooker. If you have been following this blog you will know that my slow cookers are the least used kitchen appliances I own. I prefer using a pressure cooker for making flavourful broth soups quickly.

Broth
2 meaty soup bones
2 ribs celery cut into chunks
2 carrots or 4 cocktail carrots
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Montreal Steak Seasoning
water to fill pressure cooker to ⅔ mark
Note: I would normally add a quartered, unpeeled onion except I was completely out of fresh cooking onions!

Vegetables
Note: I used home canned vegetables. To substitute store bought use 398 ml (15 oz) cans.
1 500 ml jar carrots
1 500 ml jar green beans
1 500 ml jar niblet corn
4 medium potatoes, cubed and cooked
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 rib celery, sliced

Place the ingredients for the broth into the pressure cooker. Cover with water to the ⅔ line and no further. Place the lid on the pressure cooker. Bring to a boil on high. When the lid begins to vent (steam comes out) place the weight on the pressure valve. Let come to pressure then reduce heat and to keep a gentle rock. Let cook 20 to 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the pressure cooker depressurize before removing the weight. Total time for making the both and cooking the meat will be about 45 minutes.

Finished Soup Bones

While the pressure cooker is depressurizing steam the potato cubes. Steaming gives a firmer texture to the potatoes, preferable for soups. Cooking them separately will keep the broth at a lovely clarity. When the pressure cooker has depressurized, remove the weight and lid. Use a large slotted spoon to carefully remove the soup bones. The meat will very tender and easily fall off the bone. It may already have fallen from the bone. Cut the meat into bite sized pieces removing any gizzle and fat (arrow) as you cut. Set the meat aside. Use a slotted spoon to remove the vegetable chunks. The broth will be rich and flavourful yet clear. At this point the broth can be quick chilled and defatted (for canning) or used as is. There isn't a lot of fat on soup bones so it is fine to omit defatting.

Return the meat to the broth. Add the green onion and celery to the broth. Bring the soup to a low boil. Drain the vegetables reserving the liquid for later use. Pour into the soup. Add the potatoes. Cook about 5 minutes to heat throughly. Serve with homemade bread or crackers.

Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup

The total time to make this hearty vegetable beef soup including prep and cooking was just slight of one hour. The majority of that time was cook time with very little prep that freed up time for me to entertain oldest grandbaby while the soup was cooking. The yield was about 6 L of gorgeous vegetable beef soup, more than enough for dinner and lunch the following day. Notice the clarity of the broth despite the soup being chuck full of vegetables? Don't let the clarity fool you either because the broth itself was very rich and flavourful. This was a lovely and easy to make soup perfect for a cold, blustery day! Oldest grandbaby really enjoyed it and I enjoyed being able to spend time with her instead of in the kitchen, not that being in the kitchen is a bad thing just this time of year I'm tired. Ah well, winter vacation time will be here shortly giving me time to rejuvenate.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Breads (4) Using/Storing

For the past month I have been discussing homemade breads, why they are frugal and how to save further when making them. This will be the final article on homemade breads in this series so please watch for a new poll that will give you a hint for January's topic. In this Frugal Kitchens 101 article I will focus on how to use and store your homemade breads.

Homemade bread is at its prime piping hot from the oven as anyone who has cut a thick slice then slathered it with butter can attest. The following day the homemade bread is good sliced for sandwiches. If there is any left after that it croutons or bread crumbs. So basically we are looking at a 3 day window for fresh bread storage. The reason for this is unlike store bought breads, homemade breads are not laden with preservatives to extend shelf life. For that reason I prefer to make several loaves spanning a number of days rather than making several loaves in one day.

Storing homemade breads:

1. fresh storage - Allow the bread to cool then wrap in wax paper (preferred) or plastic wrap. Store the wrapped loaf in a closed bread box. My bread box sits on a shelf inside a kitchen cabinet. A breadbox adds extra protection from both rodents and insects.
   
2. refrigerator - Some people keep store bought breads in the refrigerator. This does not work well for homemade breads as it tends to dry them out. If you want to store bread doughs or bread batters in the refrigerator, yeast doughs will keep 3 to 4 days while batters will keep up to 6 weeks. Bring yeast dought to room temperature, shape as desired, proof then bake. Batters can be used straight from the refrigerator.
3. freezer - Many freeze yeast and quick breads. I do not for the simple reason that from the moment a food goes into the freezer you are paying storage until you use it. Bread products simply are not what I consider frugal use of freezer space just on that one point. Compounding the problem is breads tend to develop freezer burn rather easily making then unpalatable reinforcing my reasoning for not freezing bread products. The exceptions to this is I do freeze bread crumbs in vacuum sealed packets and I keep a loaf or two of quick breads on hand for unexpected company. The bread crumbs are made from homemade breads. My experience has been that quick breads freeze better than yeast breads. Yeast dough freezes nicely when well wrapped. Thaw and bring to room temperature then proof and bake as normal.
   

Just because a dough is listed as a bread dough there is no reason why it cannot be shaped into rolls or smaller loaves or rounds. French bread dough can be shaped into baguettes and basic or whole wheat dough can be shaped into dinner rolls. Any bread dough can be changed by adding fresh or dried herbs. One of my best breads came about by tossing in a few cherry tomatoes! The dough can be set on corn meal or flour sprinkled with any number of toppings such as sesame seeds or oatmeal. With only a few basic yeast bread dough recipes you can make an incredible number of variations. Quick breads are even easier to change. Toss a handful of dried fruit or coconut or even nuts into muffin batter to make new and yummy combinations. Add blueberries, cranberries, chunks of apple, pear or peaches to pancake batter. There is room to experiment and have fun while having healthier breads on your table AND don't forget how much money you are saving per loaf!

Entertaining Leftovers

We hosted a large dinner party on the 19^th but the horrid weather conditions saw a lower attendance than expected. Several appetizers (crabmeat dip*, jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce, vegetable tray with homemade garlic & onion dip, venison balls) and drinks were served for the social hours before dinner. The menu included tossed salad, roasted turkey, spiral ham, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, gravy, home canned whole cranberry sauce, pickle tray and three kinds of homemade dinner rolls. Desserts included Victorian lavender cookies, shortbread cookies, chocolate dessert shells and banana cake. [Clicking the links will take you to the recipes for these dishes.] I was faced with the problem of a fair amount of left-overs, very limited freezer space and knowing that we were going to be away over the holidays.

Saturday we hosted a smaller get together so some of the turkey and dinner rolls were used for that as well as most of the cookies. I sent some of the left-overs home with the kids who were visiting for the weekend. Sunday morning we deboned the turkey and I set about making stock with the carcass. There was a fair amount of the ham left so I cut it from the bone and divided into two large vacuum seal bags, vacuum sealed then froze. I did the same with the ham bone to make soup with later. There were about 2 dozen of the whole wheat dinner rolls left so I decided to make bread crumbs.

Defatting Stock

Fat is a necessary part of making stocks because it adds a lot of flavour. It adds an element of depth and richness to the stock that cannot be achieved without the fat. Using the fat when making stock allows to to utilize all the flavour in the little bits of meat and skin that come along with the fat. Even though the fat is needed for good stock, the stock should be defatted for a healthier product.

Once the stock has been made it should be cooled completely either before or after straining the bones and vegetables out. The fat will harden as a layer on top of the stock. As pictured the fat layer can easily be removed using a large spoon. You can melt down the fat and strain for use in cooking if desired. The remaining stock is then strained again then canned or frozen for later use. You can also boil down the stock to make a concentrate and freeze it for later use.

Bread Crumbs

Homemade yeast breads do not keep well for extended periods of time. I find it best to make a loaf of bread or dinner rolls every second or third day rather than making a lot at one time. Homemade bread or dinner rolls that is starting to go stale is not tossed to the birds or discarded here as that would be wasteful on a few levels. What I do is turn it into bread crumbs. Making your own bread crumbs even if using store bought bread makes good frugal sense as you are using up something that would otherwise go to waste and you are eliminating one more commercial product you have to buy. Any yeast bread can be used for this purpose although I find dark rye and pumpernickel bread crumbs a little tricker to use in

Making bread crumbs using a food processor is as simple as breaking the bread into chunks and process a few at a time using the grind setting on pulse. The bread does not have to be totally dried to make bread crumbs when using the food processor resulting in a softer crumb suitable for quiche and quick stuffing. If you don't have a food processor and blender on grind and pulse will work as well. A KitchenAid® stand mixer or similar with a food grinder attachment is the preferable appliance to use for drier bread crumbs suitable for making meat loafs. I used a food processor for this batch of bread crumbs.

Stock & Crumbs

The yield from the turkey carcass was 7 L (quarts) of canned and 1 L frozen turkey stock. This is about the normal yield for turkey stock which allows the canner to run at full capacity. The remaining stock is usually used in a soup or stew for dinner that night if we are home or frozen for later use. I like using plastic freezer containers with screw on lids when freezing anything that is not going to be vacuum sealed.

The left over dinner rolls made enough bread crumbs for two 1 L freezer containers. These were frozen for later use. To use thaw although there is no need to thaw prior to using frozen bread crumbs as they tend to break apart quite easily. Any clumps can be broken apart using the prongs of a fork.

Quick Turkey Noodle Soup

Using a few simple pantry ingredients you can quickly put a nice meal on the table with very little effort. When we deboned the turkey, I cut the meat into cubes instead of slices. Dinner Sunday night was a simple soup using turkey that took under 15 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients

2 284 (10 oz) cans condensed mushroom soup**
1 can turkey stock
½ can whole milk
2 generous handfulls broad egg noodles
2 cup turkey

Cook the noodles until al dente in salted water. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat through. Serve with home made dinner rolls or bread.

* I used homemade cocktail sauce in place of the ketchup and horseradish mix. The result was even tastier!
** Substitute the equilivant home made cream of mushroom soup to equal 3½ cans of reconstituted soup total.