Easy Cheesy Mac Supper

Usually I plan a weekly menu to take the guess work out of my daily preparations. However, I had a crazy busy week, so my menu planning didn't happen.... I had to wing it! I was craving a cheeseburger, but I really didn't want to bother taking the time to make up patties, so I opted to try a "Hamburger Helper" type of skillet meal.

I browned my meat with some chopped onion; drained it, then added some American process cheese, ketchup and mustard. Stirred and cooked until the cheese was melted, then added in some cooked pasta... turned out pretty good and the kids loved it!

I didn't really measure anything, so the measurements below are approximate..
If you want to try it, totally experiment with your quantities!

1 lb ground beef
1-1 1/2 C cubed American processed cheese
1/2 C ketchup
1/8 C mustard
1/4 C chopped onion
1 C dried pasta, cooked then drained

Ok, my pic makes this look like dog food, LOL- but it was good.  Like a super cheesy cheeseburger sans the bun. I wish I'd had some bacon to cook and crumble into this...mmm..bacon cheeseburger!

Sweet treat- Peanut butter Chocolate bars

I love peanut butter.

 I love chocolate.

Combine the two and I am one happy camper!

Here's a super simple recipe that is soooo not healthy for you- but is soooo good! Reminds me of Reese's peanut butter cups.. OK, not as fantastic as those, but probably not as bad for you as those candies....but a nice substitute and certainly cheaper! Next time you get a craving for pb and chocolate, try this out!

PB & Chocolate bars

2 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
1 C creamy peanut butter
1 C butter, melted
2 C pwd sugar
2 C semisweet choc chips

Combine the crumbs, sugar, peanut butter and butter in a bowl. Mix well and then press into a 9x13 pan.

Melt the chocolate; pour and spread over the peanut butter mix. Chill for about 5-10 mins, then cut into squares.
Let the chocolate set before serving (about an hour, depending on the temp of your kitchen). If it's not crazy hot in your kitchen, you can leave it out, covered. Otherwise, you may want to refrigerate (but then the chocolate gets really hard :( ).

I cut it into 32 bars.

Home maintenance, remember your drain traps!

Most people likely do not think of drain traps in regular home maintenance.. but I do. In my old house, I would remove the drain traps twice a year (spring and fall) to be sure they were clear of build-up. Nobody wants to deal with a clogged drain, and by inspecting them regularly I have been fortunate to avoid said problem. We've lived in our "new" home only for 3 months, and we've encountered many hidden issues that have needed to be addressed, as well as some not hidden ones (ie no HVAC, but we've taken care of that now!) So cleaning the drains hasn't crossed my mind.. until today!

My youngest informs me the bathroom sink is full and not draining, which made me realize not everyone is as diligent on trap cleaning as I am.. Side note: hair, gunk and whatever nasty build up is gross to pull out of plumbing regardless, but knowing you're pulling out some strangers nasties...yuck! Anyway..

Cleaning traps is really quite easy, especially if you have pvc pipes. You just put a shallow bucket under the trap, then unscrew the connectors and pull the trap out. Drain it, and clean it out.

Now for the pipe running from the sink to the trap, I use a metal clothes hanger I untwisted. (favorite tool there.. works good for drains and unclogging the vacuum hose) I remove the sink stopper and shoved the hanger to scrape and push any gunk straight down into the bucket. Then put it all back together.

Today, I removed what looked like a matted drowned rat! Ok, not a real rat, but a huge clump of  soppy tangled hair... Sorry I have no pics for what I pulled out, but 1) at the time I wasn't thinking "hey, I can post on this" and 2) would you REALLY want to see the gross balled up clump of unknown origins?? (if so, ewhh!!)

In short, remembering to remove and clean your drain traps periodically can really save you aggravation on having a clogged sink, and then having to deal with the issue when it may not be so convenient!

Homemade yogurt using your slow cooker

You can make yogurt so many ways it's incredible.. the main points are heating your milk to 180-200 degrees, cooling your milk to about 110 degrees, adding your tempered yogurt and keeping it warm enough for a few hours to do it's job. I like the crock pot (slow cooker) method because it's predictable timing, and my resulting yogurt had the same consistency, smell and taste as the store bought Dannon plain yogurt! Oh, about that store bought yogurt.. separate it into 1/2 cups and freeze so you have fresh starter many more times. Just take what you need out of the freezer and thaw it in refrigerator before you need to add. You can use your homemade plain yogurt as your starter, but you can only do that a few times before it's kinda worn out and you need fresh.

What you need:

1) 2 quarts milk- pasteurized (ie store bought). Doesn't matter if it's whole, low fat or skim.. your preference. You can use powdered milk too.. (3 C dry milk powder and 2 quarts water)

making yogurt using powdered milk

2) 2+2/3 C Additional nonfat dry milk powder (the extra milk protein helps make the yogurt firmer)

3) 1/2 C store bought yogurt- unflavored, cultured. Make sure the product states it contains live (active) yogurt culture. It should state CONTAINS.. not made with.. I use Dannon All Natural plain yogurt. You need your starter yogurt to contain the live bacteria!

4) sugar or honey (optional, (I use about 1/4 C sugar))

You  need a 4-5 qt crock pot. ( or slow cooker ) :).. and a towel!

Of course make sure all your utensils and crock are CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN!
Okay.. Pour your milk ,milk powder and sugar/honey into the crock pot and stir. Cover, plug in your crock and cook on low for about 2 1/2 hours. What you're doing is warming that milk up enough (between 180*-200*) to kill off any bad bacteria that may be in there plus any antibiotics (if your store bought milk has been treated with it) Why?? Well, your yogurt culture IS a bacteria- L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus are the main ones, plus some yogurts contain L. acidophilus and /or B. bifidum. All those are the good bacteria we want in our tummies! LOL, ok.. enough science.

After 2 1/2 hours, turn off your crock and unplug it (just so ya know it is in fact off.. I have made that mistake before!) Don't peek under the lid.. leave it alone, untouched for 3 hours..


After 3 hours, if you have a candy thermometer, check the temp of your milk. It should be pretty close to 110*-115*.. the ideal temp for your yogurt cultures to "live free and multiply"! If your milk is warmer than 120*, well, it will kill your cultures. Lower than 100* is too low to wake them up and get them kicking. If you don't have a candy thermometer and it's warm in your kitchen, give it about 15 more minutes and you should be good to go (but no guarantees!)

Okay, remove 1 C of your milk into a bowl and add your 1/2 C yogurt. Mix it well. You are tempering it. Add that all back into your crock and stir.. (If you want to add a little pure vanilla extract at this point you can.. I use 1 T, but really it's to taste)

Put the lid back on and wrap in a large, thick bath towel. You want it to be nice and warm and cozy! Again, you leave it alone. For 8 hours.




 After 8 hours, unwrap your present! SCOOP! (DON'T STIR) the yogurt into clean containers and refrigerate. Chill before serving.

all nice and thick!

scooped into containers

You don't wanna stir your yogurt because it breaks up the little bonds those cultures have formed. That's why even your store bought yogurt will get runny. You see the whey (the liquidity stuff) on the top, you stir it back in... now your yogurt's not as firm :( So, that's why you don't stir..

Now, you can filter your yogurt with a cheesecloth or coffee filter to separate the yogurt from the whey to produce a firmer (Greek) yogurt. Do that overnight and then you will get yogurt cheese! (kinda like a soft cream cheese).

To flavor your yogurt you can do whatever you want. I've been using freezer jams and berry sauces  I made, but you can use any preserves, jams, fruit sauces, fresh chopped fruits of your choice, just honey or cinnamon. Heck, you can use it in place of sour cream so why not mix in some taco meat and cheese! LOL!

About the recipes I share-

I wanted to throw a quick explanation on how I write up my recipes.. looking back through them, I began to wonder if everyone abbreviates measurements the same way I do. To hopefully end any confusion, here's what the abbreviations stand for:

C = cup
T = tablespoon
tsp = teaspoon
pwd= powder
bak pwd = baking powder
pwd sugar = powdered sugar
qt = quart
pt = pint
oz = ounce
lb = pound

dry milk = instant non-fat dry milk powder
A side note- I try to post recipes that are cost effective, healthy(ok, not always..lol) and tasty... Most of my recipes could stand more seasonings and extras to give them the wow factor...but my goal is frugal, not gourmet!  Almost always, I don't follow my recipes exactly as written.. sometimes I add more of this, less of that, or add in something, use substitutions and use ball park measurements. Just depends on what I've got in stock.






That's what I love about cooking.. easy to experiment to match your personal tastes!

make your own Taco Seasoning

If you find you're out of those packets of taco seasoning and are wanting to make a recipe calling for it, make your own! It costs less, plus, if you keep a well stocked spice rack, you'll always have the ingredients on hand to whip up a batch.

I've got 2 recipes for taco seasoning: one mild and the other a bit spicier.  Whereas I like the spicier, I'm out voted in our household... not that the spicier one is that terribly spicy, but my guys have more sensitive palates... so mild seasoning is what I make most often. (I haven't bought the packets since using these recipes!)

Mild Taco Seasoning

2 T chili pwd                                                                                 

5 tsp paprika                                                                                   

4 1/2 tsp ground cumin                                                                  

1 T onion pwd                                                                              

2 tsp salt (table or seasoned)                                                          

2 1/2 tsp garlic pwd                                                                        

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper                                                                   

1/4 tsp dried oregano                                                                               

                                                                                                     
Spicy Taco Seasoning
2 T chili pwd
1 tsp paprika
1 T ground cumin
1/2 tsp onion pwd
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic pwd 
1/4 tsp cayenne pwd
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp pepper

Mix all spices together and keep in an airtight container. 2 tablespoons = 1 packet envelope of store bought.



pic courtesy of  dreamstime

Basic Bean Soup

Here's my version of a bean soup I whipped up one night.  I used only what I had on hand, so it's pretty basic. Adding more seasonings and maybe celery (didn't have any) would really put this over the top, but for a budget conscience meal, this fit the bill nicely. You can use canned beans if that's what you have, maybe 3 cans worth? Rinsed and drained. And if you have chicken stock to use in place of some of the water and bouillon- try that! (I ran out of stock, and haven't gotten around to making more)



Basic Bean Soup

2C dried beans (I used 1C red, 1C navy) soaked, drained and rinsed*
8C water
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp pepper
3 chicken bouillon cubes (or 3 tsp granules... or even try beef bouillon!)
1/4 tsp pepper
6 slices bacon (I used turkey bacon, cause it's usually cheaper, and it's what I had!)

Cook the beans in 8 C of water for about an hour or so... until they are almost as tender as you like. Cook bacon in a skillet. Remove bacon, drain and chop. In the same skillet, saute carrots, onion and garlic in the bacon drippings until tender (I added a T of olive oil, because my turkey bacon left no drippings).

Add bouillon, bacon, veggies and pepper to your pot of beans and simmer @ least 30 mins to combine all the flavors.

As prepared above, I thought this made a pretty darn good soup. However, certain people in my household are either not fond of soup, or of beans..... so I continued on to appease different tastes. I had a package of hot dogs handy, so I cut those up, browned a bit in the same skillet I used to cooked the bacon and veggies, then tossed that into the soup.

Then I thought- what's hot dogs without ketchup? So I put about 1/4 C of that in... although I didn't notice a change in taste..
I finished off with some shredded cheddar after ladling out the soup, and served with a side of corn bread.

I rather preferred the soup sans the hot dogs and cheese, however the kids were thrilled with the additions and gobbled up their servings! This made plenty for the 5 of us, plus enough leftover for a second meal! I tossed that in a container and put in the freezer, for  a quick meal later down the road..



*if you've never prepared dried beans before, you take them and put them in a pot with 6-8 cups of water (pick thru your beans first, and toss any that look bad) put a lid on it and let it sit overnight. The next day, drain and rinse, then cook. 
Or you can do the quick soak method, which you put your beans in the water, heat until boiling, cover and take off the heat. Leave it covered for 1- 1 1/2 hours. Then, drain, rinse and cook.