BAKING WITH FLOWER

Old Mother Frugal began scratch cooking when Mother’s Little Helpers were young children.  It provided them with hand-eye coordination skills, academic skills about fractions with measuring cups and it was a fun activity for quality time with them.

One of the earliest lessons for each of them was baking with flour.

Initially, they thought flour was that fragrant smelling plant with petals growing outdoors in nature.  It came as quite a surprise for them to learn about the other kind of flour.  The one that when water was added to it, became pasty like glue.

However, it wasn’t until adulthood that Old Mother Frugal herself learned about cooking with their type of flower. The kind one can pick while foraging.

If you are not familiar with foraging, it would be gathering food provisions, usually plants or fruits, found outdoors growing in nature.

Old Mother Frugal grew up as a city girl and existing outdoors with nature was not a concept endearing to me. This could explain my previous blog entries about my failure as an unproductive farmer.

However, foraging intrigues the frugal cook within me.  Although still too timid to trust anything found in the woods provided by Mother Nature, recent foraging in my own garden, at the recommendation of a friend, proved to be a successful experiment in meal preparation. I could identify the item; no harmful chemicals were sprayed on them and they were ripe for picking.

They were zucchini blossoms!

A quick Google search on zucchini blossom preparation revealed a delicate meal could be served in less than ten minutes.  Old Mother Frugal had the ingredients in the pantries such as ricotta, parmesan cheese, black pepper and nutmeg. They take 3-5 minutes to bake in the oven at 375 degrees. 

Since they came from my own garden, they were free and most importantly, they were delicious!

SOUND THE BUGLE!  Today’s tip: Be open to offer your palette new tastes. When trying to maintain a frugal budget, free food can offset a month when there is more month than money. 

STALKING OUT THE GOODS

Old Mother Frugal can’t grow dirt.  That sums up my farming abilities. 

Growing one's own food is a frugal way to keep food costs low while also knowing a little something about what went into the food production. It’s healthy and sustainable. Yet year in and year out, it’s a talent that just has left me void of produce.

In the past, Old Mother Frugal has been known to save and freeze vegetable scraps for vegetable stock. A new purpose has been brought to my attention.  Some vegetables can be regrown!

For example, take celery but more specifically, the base of the celery.

Typically, one chops celery about 2” from the base and may take the base and freeze it for stock or toss it as trash. However, if the base sits in a bowl with about a half inch of water, over time it sprouts new leaves and grows roots. At the point where roots are seen, the celery base can be planted outdoors and it will grow tall celery stalks once again.

Who knew?  Just think how many shoppers just toss potential celery stalks in the trash.

Another “easy to regrow” vegetable is the potato.

When your potatoes start to sprout “eyes”, quarter the potato and plant it with the eyes faced upward.  Plantings should be approximately 9” apart. If you plant in spring, by autumn there should be potatoes below the surface of your garden. There are over a dozen of these potato plants now in Old Mother Frugal’s garden.

This technique of regrowing vegetables can be applied to green onions and lettuce as well.

Whether or not these plants will yield any edible produce remains to be seen. In the meantime, celery and potatoes are “eyed” a little differently in the kitchen now that they can regenerate into new plants. Being a frugal cook, it costs nothing to reuse and regrow these vegetables. Now that fits into Old Mother Frugal's buy once, use twice philosophy!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s Tip:  Celery leaves are a flavorful addition to many meals.  They can be included in chicken salad or tossed into a salad or added to soup. If you are one who would discard these flavorful goodies, try using them in one of these meals. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the flavor.

 

GONE BOWLING

When the youngest of Mother’s Little Helpers was in grade school, he had a fascination for bowling. 

Something that began as a summertime fun at the local bowling alley turned into an after-school activity when the school year began that Fall.

Like any sport that he played, he went after it will great gusto and became pretty good at it. Instead of driving to the soccer fields or baseball fields that year, we drove to the bowling alley on Saturday mornings.

Memories of a trophy that were half the size of my little bowler remain with Old Mother Frugal to this day as “bowling” has crept into my cooking cuisine.

Rice bowls, that is!

Have you heard of them? In place of taco bowls where one would use a flour or corn tortilla as the vehicle for serving a taco in a bowl, the ingredients are served over rice.

The bottom layer of the rice bowl is, well, rice. Pat cooled rice on the bottom and along the side of a bowl.

Then start the process of layering taco ingredients with seasoned beef/chicken/pork or refried beans topping the rice. If you start with meat, next add beans . If you start with beans, next add meat. Then continue with your favorite topping such as tomatoes, cheese, guacamole, shredded lettuce, sour cream and/or olives.

What makes this dish so versatile is that you can use whatever taco ingredients you have on hand as there is no set recipe for its success. Each family member can create their own favorite rice bowls allowing Mother’s Little Helpers the opportunity to make their own meals.

Score some points with your family and give this idea a try!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: To line the rice along with bottom and sides of the bowl, slightly wet your fingertips so that the rice does not stick to your fingers and interfere with your ability to press the rice into a bowl formation.

                                     BOTTOM LAYER OF RICE BOWL

 

CUTTING THE CORD

There is much discussion these days about “cutting the cord”. 

Whether it is the TV cord or the phone cord, folks are looking for ways to be free of being tied to an electrical line and of course, saving money.

Back in the day, when Old Mother Frugal was a younger woman, cutting the cord was an endearing term used for fathers in the delivery room upon the birth of their newborn child. Their role in the birthing process was to “cut the cord”.

Fast forward into a new century and old phrases take on new meanings.

In Old Mother Frugal’s kitchen, CORD is an acronym not related to untying oneself from something or someone. CORD is “Clean out the Refrigerator Day”. It's done weekly and it does not mean throwing out food into the trash.

For a quick, economical and nutritious meal, cleaning out the refrigerator involves defrosting chicken stock from the freezer. Then, take inventory of what exists in the refrigerator. Combine a protein, leftover vegetables and a carbohydrate with some seasoning and soup is in the pot!

No two pots of soup will ever be the same because usually there are never the same ingredients that go into the pot of soup.

Any type of soup stock can be the base for CORD soup.

Bone soup comprises a bone or bones and enough water to cover the bones.

 

These can be beef bones, ham bone, pork bones or fish bones. No bones available? Try using vegetable peels. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered for 45 minutes to an hour. Strain the bones/peels, allow the broth to cool before storing in the refrigerator. Skim off any fat and freeze. Refrain from seasoning, except for a bay leaf or two, until ready to use the broth for soup meal.

The combinations are endless and are as varied as your imagination. There will be leftovers for lunch the next day and can be paired with your favorite grilled sandwich! 

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Adding a tablespoon of vinegar to your bone soup will draw out the calcium in the bone for added nutrition in your soup! Serving soup before dinner will fill your stomach, leaving you and/or guests less hungry for the main meal. By serving soup first, you will be able to stretch your meal!

 

 

 

HAM I AM

HAM I AM

Old Mother Frugal has a founding frugal principle… never turn away free food. 

Around the holidays, there is an unspoken practice that the leftover ham bone never goes into the trash. It finds its way to Old Mother Frugal’s freezer.

It may take months to get from the cook’s freezer to mine, but as long as it’s been frozen, time is not an issue.

Frozen or fresh, it’s a good practice to scrape as much meat off the bone as possible. With the last bone that was donated to my freezer, almost 2 cups of ham meat was extracted from the bone.

The bone is a jewel of flavor, never to be used just once. The first use of the bone yields the most flavor however that doesn’t mean that future uses won’t be tasty. Oh contraire! Old Mother Frugal has used a ham bone as many as three times to extract flavor in various recipes.

The first round yields a lentil or a split pea soup. The second round is used to cook beans to give them additional flavor. The last round is used as bone broth. The broth can be used to cook rice or leafy vegetables such as collard greens or to soak cornbread that is not as fresh as when it is baked the first day. The broth is also useful when pureed beans are too dry and they need some liquid to moisten them.

Now the meat! There are so many tasty recipes to use ham bits. Need a breakfast waffle? Ham and cheese added to the batter makes a flavorful waffle. As an added bonus, homemade waffles freeze well and can be toasted or reheated in your microwave. Grab and go out the door in the morning on your way to work or to the school bus.

For a brunch, try a ham and cheese potato patty cake and serve with a fried egg. Another brunch menu item is ham and broccoli quiche.

Finely diced ham bits flavor a split pea or lentil soup for lunch or dinner with a grilled sandwich.

When meat is used as the “accent” and not the main feature, you will reduce your food costs and not compromise flavor of your meals while stretching your food dollars.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Need ham but don’t want to buy a whole ham and don’t have a ham bone? Consider a ham steak. With a coupon and a good sale, ham steak can be diced into small cubes to stretch your food dollars. Freeze leftovers for your next meal.

                                                 HAM AND POTATO CAKE WITH

                                                          FRIED EGG

 

 

CRUSTLESS HAM BROCCOLI QUICHE

 

HAM LENTIL SOUP

                          

                                HAM AND CHEDDAR CHEESE WAFFLE

WHAT'S UP DOC

Old Mother Frugal has been on a self-imposed pantry challenge.

You ask, “What is a pantry challenge”?

It’s when you create meals based on what you have in your pantry. No shopping in advance. No big shopping while on the pantry challenge. It requires taking inventory of your pantry and eating accordingly.

You design your own “rules” on when to spend money, if any at all… for milk, eggs, perishable fruit; how much you will spend, it should be minimal in amount, and for how long the pantry challenge will take place.

If your family does not enjoy leftovers, any leftovers that you have from one meal is recreated and transformed into another meal.

Last month, Old Mother Frugal’s pantry challenge covered 18 days. This month, the challenge has taken place all month. The fun part about a pantry challenge is the creative juices that flow from such an event.

An added bonus is the savings that takes place at the end of the challenge. During my challenge, I had a low of $10 spending for the week and never exceeded $13 for a one-week period.

You experience what it is like to have a finite amount of money to spend and having to rely solely on what you have in your pantry for meals.

Until this event, homemade waffles with carrots and cinnamon would never have crossed my mind. They were delicious. What’s up with that? A dish called “cowboy beans” was an epic fail until they were transformed into a bean mixture for bean burritos. There were no flour tortillas in the house. The first successful stack of homemade flour tortillas were made during this challenge without a tortilla press.

At least once a week, a pot of “The Week in Review Soup” was made from broth in the freezer and any meat/vegetables that were left uneaten over the course of the previous day’s dinners.

If there are unexpected bills coming up and you need to find some cash, consider doing a pantry challenge of your own. If you’re blessed to have a large stockpile of food on hand and you have had items for a very long time, use them up with a pantry challenge.  Whatever your reason for doing so, if only for a week, you may just surprise yourself with the results!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: There are several websites that will help you in a pantry challenge. One that comes to mind is www.allrecipes.com. Insert your ingredients and the website will direct you to a recipe.

                                                CINNAMON CARROT WAFFLES 

 

HOMEMADE FLOUR TORTILLAS

 

 

 

PINTO BEAN MIXTURE

 

 

FILLED AND ROLLED BEAN BURRITOS

 

BEAN BURRITOS READY FOR THE FREEZER

 

 

FOUR MOTHERS

Old Mother Frugal’s ancestors came from Italy back in the early 1900’s.  The family is now into its fifth generation here in the United States.

Passed down throughout the generations has been the family red sauce or red gravy recipe.

The sauce or gravy, as referenced by some Italian families, has another name. Sunday Sauce.

Before there were blenders, microwave ovens, crock pots and Insta-Pots, there was a gas stove, a pair of hands, a large pot and a wood spoon in a walk-up apartment in Little Italy on Mulberry Street in New York City.

This was a time when “clean eating” and “whole 30” was a way of life, not a style of eating. It was a time when meal planning during the Great Depression meant having a family member standing on a line for bread or food. It was a time when there was no food waste.

It was also a time when neighbors took care of neighbors.

The story goes that in Old Mother Frugal’s family, Grandma and Grandpa Frugal had jobs so they cooked and fed the families in their apartment building when families had no food. The sharing of food was passed down to the next generation, Old Mother Frugal’s parents. They in turn passed food sharing onto their children. Old Mother Frugal now cooks and shares food with her Mother’s Little Helpers.  Mother’s Little Helpers are now cooking and sharing as well.

Four generations of mothers. Four generations of cooks sharing their love of food with others. The newer gadgets that have been invented since the early 1900’s have improved food preparation. What has lasted through generations are good hearts, a large pot, a good pair of hands and a wood spoon.

SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: There are plenty of recipes on the internet on “how to” make spaghetti sauce. Here are two tips that will make your sauce successful. Allow one hour/28 oz can of simmering time and when your wood spoon can stand on its own in the center of the pot, your sauce is ready to be served. Mangia!