Frugal Kitchens 101 - A Easy Soup Week

Soup is like one of the most frugal, homemade meals you can make.  It is inexpensive if not downright cheap!  Many will make a huge pot of soup then serve that soup several times throughout the week.  While this is very cost effective it can get rather boring.  Now don't get me wrong as this method does work and is extremely frugal but I have developed an variation that keeps the soup from ever getting boring.  In fact you can have a different soup nightly simply by modifying a few ingredients once you have the basics in the refrigerator.  This week's Frugal Kitchens 101 shares how to create variety in soups without breaking the budget.

My husband was away at hunt camp.  I wanted homemade soup but the idea of eating the same soup for the rest of the week wasn't very appealing.  True I could have canned or froze it but I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner but the last thing I wanted was boring even though it was soup based on many of the same ingredients.  The key to making this work is to keep the prepared ingredients separate until making the actual soup of the day. 

Cooked ahead:

• broth - I made the beef broth like stock in the pressure cooker using 2 large soup bones.  I browned them first in a little olive oil then added the other ingredients as for stock but added 12 c of water and cooked in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes.  Once cooked I moved removed the soup bones with meat, strained the broth and set aside to cool for defatting.  You can use any type of broth you like as long as it is defatted.
• meat - I cut the meat from the bone, shredding and removing fat as necessary.
• pasta or rice or barley - Each night that I added pasta or rice or barley to the new soup pot.    All can be cooked quickly ahead of time the first of the week then the desired ingredient added to the soup pot.  At most make only 2 cups of either or 1 cup of each.

Prepared ahead:

• frozen vegetables -  I used 2 c of a broccoli, cauliflower and carrot mix but any frozen vegetables can be used.  Pour the frozen vegetables into a food storage bowl and place in the refrigerator.
• fresh vegetables -  Chop fresh onions, cherry tomatoes or any other desired fresh vegetable to sprinkle over the soup.  Place in a food storage container and put in the refrigerator.
• beans - I used home canned black beans for one soup variation but you can use and canned bean desired.

Seasonings:

• Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, Maggi, salt, pepper as desired

Garnishes:

• green onion, chives, grated Parmesan, or any other desired garnish

There should be at least 5 storage bowls for the refrigerator at this point.  Basically what you've set up is a mix and match system.  Now here is where it gets fun.  The first night add a few ladles of broth to a medium sized sauce pan,  stir in about 3 tbsp of meat and a 1/2 c of frozen vegetables.  Warm to just a low boil. Stir in 1/2 c or more of desired prepared pasta, rice or barley.  Stir in 2 - 3 tbsp beans as desired.  Season as desired with one listed or one of your choice.  Garnish and enjoy!  The next night start with broth then add desired ingredients perhaps changing out one or omitting one or changing the seasonings or garnishes.  When done this way you should be able to get five types of soup out of these ingredients depending on the number of people being served.

Caesar Salad Presentation

As a foodie I like to pay attention to presentation when eating out.  Presentation goes well beyond what the food actually looks like.  Unique cutlery or serving pieces can accent even a mediocre dish, giving it eye appeal mixed with a bit of pizzaz. What's interesting is a bit of uniqueness goes a lot ways when it comes to food presentation.

A few days ago we were out for an afternoon of fun at the casino.  Well, more precisely my husband had a businessman's luncheon to attend so he dropped me off at the casino where he would meet up after the luncheon.  I decided to stop at the bar there to get a Caesar salad.  The salad was pretty much average and at $4.95 you couldn't expect much more although there were real pieces of bacon and fresh grated Parmesan cheese. 

Just look at the bowl design the Caesar salad was served in.  Isn't it interesting?  I took the picture with the bowl facing 90º turned just to give you an idea of the presentation.  The ecliptic bowl sat on a very distinct angle displaying the salad to the diner.  I think the presentation had great eye appeal.  It was a unique presentation that made the salad feel a bit special.  I may just have to look for similar salad bowls!

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

We recently did our annual turkey runs taking advantage of the turkey sale prices during the week before the American Thanksgiving.  The deal we found involved buying $20 additional purchase per turkey and we bought 4 turkeys so making that $80 extra squeak was my primary goal.  I found a lovely 5 lb pork loin for $7 so that went into the cart.  I decided to divide the pork loin with half to be cured for pea meal bacon and the other half for a roast cooked in the slow cooker.

I decided to cook the pork loin in the same manner I would if cooking in the oven or countertop roaster so I could compare the result when cooked in the slow cooker.  I placed the pork loin in the slow cooker then covered with Diana Sauce and a few slices of onions.  I cooked the pork loin piece using the probe setting set to 71ºC (160ºF).  I served the pork loin slices with steamed carrots, calrose rice and baked beans.

The pork loin was cooked to perfection, juicy and tender.  It had a lovely flavour from the Diana Sauce but the sauce did not thicken as it does using other cooking methods.  That is one thing I am quickly learning about cooking in a slow cooker.  Liquids don't evapourate as they do in other cooking methods so if I want a thicker sauce I need to use a thickener.  There's nothing wrong with a thinner sauce though as I quite often make a thin gravy even when roasting meats.  Other than that the pork loin was very good!  

Harvesting Potatoes in Prince Edward Island

Many in Canada are so far out of touch of where their food comes from.  They don't realize that the food in the grocery stores comes from the hard work of Canadian farmers and producers.  If you ate today give thanks to the farmers and producers that made it possible.  I thought it would be interesting to show you how potatoes are harvested in Albany, Prince Edward Island with a video courtesy of my favourite Canadian funny man, Rick Mercer.

Canadians eat a lot of potatoes.  In fact each Canadian eats 154 lb of potatoes annually.  Potatoes make up for 50% of our vegetable intake each year.  The video shows how Innovator potatoes (a Yukon russet variety) are harvested.  A digger pulls the potatoes to the surface depositing them in straight rows ready for the harvester.  The Spudnick harvester goes along the rows of freshly dug potatoes lifting the potatoes onto a conveyor belt where dirt and stalks are removed.  They are then are transported through the boom into a truck that slowly drives beside the harvester.  Each truck takes about 6 minutes to load.  The potatoes are transported from the field to a large building via conveyor belt where rocks are hand picked from the potatoes moving along into storage.  Potatoes in the storage building are then transported to the bagging building where potatoes are bagged ready for shipping to grocery stores.

Just a couple of comments:  During harvest season, barring death, the farmer along with any family members working on the farm and other workers are glued to the farm.  The primary consideration is to get the crop harvested as quickly as possible to prevent any spoilage in the field.  The method for harvesting the potatoes is fairly close to the method for harvesting wheat, corn, soybeans, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, beets and sugar beets.  There will are slight modifications to suit the vegetable or grain being harvested but the basics is the same.  Standing on the platform picking rocks from the potatoes can trigger motion sickness so it is not a job everyone can do.  The video shows one commercial potato farm operation but there are many more like this farm throughout Prince Edward Island and elsewhere in Canada.  I hope you enjoy the video as you learn a bit more about where your food comes from.