LAYERED SOUP

Autumn is right around the corner and it is that time of year where it is cold in the morning and warmer as the afternoon comes around.

It’s a time of year when dressing in layers is needed to fend off the morning cold at the bus stop yet peel off a sweater by lunchtime to accommodate the afternoon sun.

It seems to be the perfect time to also bring up the idea of cooking in layers. Many may be familiar with the “7-layer taco dip” appetizer especially during tailgate season. Lasagna is another table item that is cooked in layers.

Have you ever considered layered soup?

Old Mother Frugal has several varieties of layered soup.

There is the two-layer variety, the three-layer and the four-layer soup.

The two-layer soup consists of a base that starts with water in a pot. Add either cleansed vegetable peels or water with chicken bones brought to a boil and then a low simmer for about 45 minutes or 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. This is the first layer of your soup.

The next layer is a vegetable or vegetables. Season to taste with salt and pepper, garlic and onion if you have it available, and soup is ready when the vegetables are cooked to taste. Old Mother Frugal likes mushy vegetables, some like them crunchy.

For a three-layer soup, add a starch such as a noodle or rice to the liquid base. If the pantry is bare, Old Mother Frugal recommends the liquid with either the vegetable or the starch, whichever you have on hand in the pantry. If there is a bounty of both, add that third layer to your soup.

A four-layer soup includes meat. This is what could be referred to as “scrappy soup”. Scraps of meat can be used to flavor the soup. It is not a required ingredient. As each layer is added, it becomes optional, depending on the type of food you have on hand in your pantry.

Homemade soup is one of the most economical foods one can make on a tight budget. During the Great Depression, soup sometimes consisted of warmed water and stale bread with salt and pepper for seasoning. Soup had humble beginnings. Depending on your pantry, soup can be as expensive or inexpensive as you need for it to be.

SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: Did you add too much liquid to your mashed potatoes and now they are runny and watery instead of thick and fluffy? Since you’ve gone this far, add additional liquid (milk or water) and rescue your mashed potatoes with cream of potato soup!  Your dinner guests will never know that you accidentally added another course to your dinner.

 

                                              HOMEMADE CHICKEN BROTH
                                                free with chicken carcass

 

 

 

VEGETABLE GUMBO MIX

free with store coupon

 

 

STUFFIN MUFFINS

Real food, it’s what many home cooks today are buzzing about. Real food, it’s what home cooks of the Great Depression were all about. It was a different time back then.

Real food of the Great Depression could be dandelion leaves from the yard. Bread was made without a bread machine with yeast, flour and water. If it went stale before the loaf was eaten, it was incorporated into soup. Nothing went wasted.

Cooking was all about using what one had on hand or what your neighbor had on hand to share. Meat bones were never used one time. Neighbors would share a meat bone to flavor water for soup.

During the Great Depression, food was portioned onto your plate. Fathers ate first. In some families, parents ate first and children ate whatever was leftover.

Dandelion leaves from the yard. In today’s terms, that would be “farm to table”. Real food dining is “farm to table”. No added preservatives or unpronounceable words on a box.

An inventory of the food in Old Mother Frugal’s pantry is a combination of “real food” and boxed items. There are ingredients to create real food and there are boxes.

How is the busy home cook to move from boxes to “real food”? After all, one of the benefits of boxed foods is the convenience factor. Are home cooks ready to exchange time and convenience for an alternative form of meal preparation?

Some hacks that Old Mother Frugal has used over the years include:

§  Making master mixes of dry goods and storing them in Ziploc type bags such as cookies/muffin mixes, cupcake/cake mixes, pancake/waffle mixes.

§  Prepare and store spice mixes for tacos; rubs for roasts in the slow cooker.

§  Make your own flavored oatmeal mix and store in Ziploc type bags.

§  Make your own rice/spaghetti and freeze.

§  Create your own pumpkin pie and apple pie spice mixtures.

Using the freezer to store prepared “real food” saves time and money. Feeding your family “real food” is possible with some advanced planning and batch cooking. They say what goes around, comes around.  Come around to real food meal planning and save time, wealth and health!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Stuffin’ Muffins! Stuffing is a bread mixture that is inserted into meat. Dressing is a bread mixture that is baked in the oven as a side dish. If you have leftover corn muffins, make stuffing or dressing. It can be used in chicken breasts or pork chops. The mixture can also be “stuffed” into muffin tins and baked. The end result is stuffing that looks like a muffin but has that external crunch factor. As a bonus, it’s the perfect portion to accompany each dinner plate too!

 

BOXED FOOD VS REAL FOOD?

 

WHISK, WOOD SPOON OR MIXER

Rock, paper, scissors?

Over time, the home baker has used many tools to mix his/her ingredients for baking batches of savory or sweet treats.

Old Mother Frugal has witnessed two previous generations with the task of mixing and baking desserts.

“Grandma Frugal” was very basic. She used her hands. It was a common occurrence to see her elbow deep in flour.

My own “Mom Frugal” evolved through the years with various tools. Whisk. Wood spoon. Then there was the hand beater which was the precursor to the electric Hand Mixer. Mom was beyond excited to purchase the mother of all mixers…the standing, upright SUNBEAM Mixer. This was long before Kitchen Aide designed standing mixers for every color in the rainbow.

But Old Mother Frugal is partial to the hand-held, electric hand mixer. There is a shiny, beautiful, Cuisinart mixer with Captain Hook attachment perched in my kitchen cabinet. Yet time after time, I reach for my Betty Crocker 5-speed. Officially, it’s a BC-1205.

After decades of use, the beaters no longer hold firm around the rubber ring. Although the mixer works, the beaters fall out.

And so the search began for a replacement hand mixer, only to discover beaters are not universal to hand mixers and that companies no longer are in business to purchase replacement parts.

Where replacement parts are available, the cost is the price of a new mixer.

The hunt for a hand mixer began at the local Goodwill stores. Every Tuesday, there is an active treasure hunt. You see, on Tuesdays, Goodwill stores in my area discounts merchandise 25% for senior citizens. They also offer a “color of the week” with a 50% discount. No double dipping. On Tuesdays, you can only choose one offer.

At less than $3.00 for a hand mixer with beaters or beaters alone less than a dollar with the senior discount, through trial and error there were mixers…and beaters purchased….and there are now several complete sets.

The quest continues for a mixer using BC-1205 beaters and beaters for a Black & Decker model 4101. In the meantime, there is a variety of hand mixers now occupying the kitchen cabinet waiting for its turn at baking!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Someone’s trash just may turn out to be your treasure! Scout yard sales; thrift stores and online for replacements before opting for brand new.