Chicken stock

As promised, here is my chicken stock recipe.

Making your own chicken stock is such a money saver and it is much more flavorful than the boxed stock.

Here's your ingredient list

• 3-4 lbs chicken bones (use the ones you have been saving)
• 1 tspn canola oil
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 celery ribs sliced
• 2 leaks sliced (as far as I'm concerned this is optional - I only use them when I have some leftover in the fridge)
• One onion quartered
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 5 quarts water
• 6 sprigs of parsley
• 3 sprigs of thyme 
• 8 whole peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Spay a baking pan with canola oil.  Put the chicken bones in the pan.  Brown the bones in the oven for one hour.
While the bones are baking, heat a large stock pot over medium high heat.  Pour the tspn of oil into the pan and swirl to coat.  Add the onions, carrots, leeks, and celery and cook for 5 minutes.  Cover the pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove the cover from the veggies and stir in the wine - bring to a boil and boil for 7 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients including the bones.  Bring to a boil, once boiling reduce the heat and simmer for about 4-5 hours.  Strain the broth and toss out any solids in the strainer.  Cover your stock and put in the fridge for at least 8 hours.  Toss out the fat that has congealed on the top and portion out the stock into one cup portions and store the portions in baggies - then freeze for later use.

Money saving tips Part 2

I can't believe I left this very important tip out on my last post.  Stop buying convenience items - particularly in the produce department.

I believe that anyone who reads my blog knows how to dice an onion, mince garlic, and chop a bell pepper or tomato.  When you buy the pre-diced, chopped, minced items you are paying a steep premium.  A container of pre-diced onion costs around $2 and guess what?  There's about 50 cents worth of onion in there.  Same for all of the pre-diced, chopped items.  It only takes a couple of minutes to do these tasks yourself and in the course of a year, you will save lots.

Happy eating.
K

Money saving tips

I am all about saving money.  It may sound silly but if you can lower your food costs by $5 a week - you are saving over $250 a year. 

The easiest way to lower your food costs is to set aside an hour a week to  plan the next week's menu.  I do this every week.  On Tuesday evening - I get out my recipe binder and with input from the family, plan the week's dinners.  I then begin a shopping list and write down everything I need for the meals.  On Wednesday I look at the weekly supermarket sale ads and break down my shopping list according to what store has something on sale. Shopping starts on Wed - we hit one store and do the bulk of the shopping.  We finish off the grocery shopping on Thursday and add fresh items as needed. It sounds more difficult than it really is.  By doing this we save approximately $50 a week.

I use home made chicken, beef, and vegetable stock 80% of the time.  It is easier than you think to make these.  And when you save bits and pieces to put into your stock pot over the course of a week or two - it's cheaper than you think.

Here's what I do.  When I have a recipe that calls for boneless, skinless chicken breast - I buy straight chicken breast - bone and skin on.  It usually costs $1.69 a lb versus $3.29 a lb.  I remove the skin and cut the breast from the bone.  Some of the skin and all of the bones go into a freezer bag and then into the freezer.  I just keep adding to the bag.  When I have enough to make stock (around 3 lbs or so), I put it all into a pot along with some veggies.  A couple of carrots, onions, whatever you have on hand. Add some white wine, parsley, thyme, a bay leaf - simmer for a few hours and you've got stock. 

The same goes for beef stock.  Whenever you buy steak - don't buy boneless - bone on is cheaper.  Cut the meat from the bone and put the bones in your freezer.  I supplement by purchasing neck bones for a couple of dollars.  When making veggy stock - I just pull out all the leftover veggies from the fridge and put them in a pot with water, wine, and seasoning.

Think about it - a quart carton of stock costs around $2.59.  When you make your own you get 3-4 quarts for the same price.

Another money saver (as I've mentioned before) is slice your meat before it hits the table.  When you serve meat with the bone on - people take an entire piece (1/2 a chicken breast, a whole steak, etc.).  When you de-bone these items before cooking - you have the opportunity to cut the meat into slices and your guests actually put less on their plates.  Instead of 1/2 a chicken breast being a serving - it becomes 2 servings. And you've got bones to put into your "stock bag".

I will start posting my stock recipes later today. 

I hope you find these tips helpful.  I use the saved money to make one more expensive meal a week.

French onion soup

This is an absolutely delicious French onion soup.  The key is carmelizing the onions properly.  As listed, the recipe serves 8 and costs approximately $2 per serving.  This recipe works equally well when halved to 4 servings.  French onion soup is typically finished in individual bowls - I don't have the proper bowls so I just put mine in a small casserole dish to complete the final step and let everyone serve themselves.

Here's your ingredient list:

• 6 tblsp butter
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• 3 lbs sweet onions peeled and sliced thinly (you can use yellow if you prefer)
• salt
• 1 tblsp flour
• 8 cups beef stock
• 2 cups white wine (whatever wine you prefer to cook with - I use a cheap one that costs $3 a bottle)
• black pepper
• Some sort of bread slices (I prefer a thickly sliced baguette but you can use dinner rolls, burger buns, or whatever you happen to have in the pantry)..
• 8 slices provolone cheese (gruyere cheese is preferred but is expensive - provolone works just as well).

As I mentioned above, carmelizing correctly is the key to this delicious soup.  I have read many different recipes that claim you can carmelize onions in 15 minutes (you can't unless you use sugar to speed up the process and use a higher heat that will wind up drying out or burning your onions).

Heat a stockpot on medium heat and melt your butter then add the olive oil.
Add the sliced onions, reduce the heat to low and cook stirring occasionally for 45-60 minutes.  They are done when they are very soft and a deep brown.
Raise heat to medium, sprinkle in the flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes while constantly stirring
Add 2 cups of the beef stock and stir to blend, then add the remaining stock and wine.
Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Brush your bread with the remaining butter and place the bread in the oven for a couple of minutes to brown.
Pour 1/2 of the soup in the casserole dish, add the bread, then pour in the remaining soup.  Top each slice of bread with a slice of cheese and place in the oven until the cheese has toasted.
Serve and enjoy.

Broccoli Casserole

This one is also heart friendly.  As listed, it serves 8.

Here's your shopping list

• Spray oil
• 1 bunch broccoli
• 2 cups plus 2 tblspns chicken broth
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 1/2 medium bell pepper (any color you like) chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 1/4 cup grated parm
• 1 tblspn finely chopped basil or 1 tspn dried (I used dried)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 dashes ground nutmeg
• 1 cup croutons (any flavor you like) crushed

Here's the recipe.

Preheat oven to 400 - spray a casserole dish with oil.

Cut the broccoli into 2-3 inch pieces and steam until just under tender.  Place the broccoli in  yourcasserole dish.

Heat 2 tblspns chick broth over medium heat then add your onion and bell pepper.  Cook for 4-5 minutes until soft.  While your veggies are cooking, start your sauce.

Whisk the flour and milk together then whisk that into the veggies along with 2 cups of chicken broth.  Reduce the heat to medium and whisk constantly until slightly thickened.  NOTE:  The sauce will just slightly thicken.  Once thickened, whisk in the cheese, basil, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  When mixed well, pour the sauce over the broccoli.  Sprinkle the crushed croutons on top and bake for 20-25 minutes.  It's done with the sauce is slightly bubbly.

Chicken breast with rosemary and a lemony yogurt sauce

Tonight's recipes is heart friendly.  Here is a tip for stretching your meat/poultry budget.  Use boneless and slice it before it gets to the table.  Your family members will take a few slices of boneless versus taking an entire 1/2 bone-on chicken breast.  I was able to serve 6 with the recipe as listed and it cost around $1.85 per serving.  Bear in mind that there are items on the list that I consider to be basic pantry items such as flour and I don't consider the cost of basic items in my per serving total.  As listed, I served 6.

Here is your shopping list:

• 3 large boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary (you can sub 2 teaspoons dried but I highly recommend the fresh for this recipe).
• Canola oil spray (or vegetable oil spray if that is what you have on hand)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (fat-free low sodium is preferred)
• 6 oz fat-free or light plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup white wine 
• 1 tablespoon butter (light margarine such as Smart Balance is preferred - but I like butter)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• Salt (use sparingly) and pepper to taste

Here's the recipe
Preheat oven to 350
Find a baking pan that is close to the size of your chicken breasts (don't use a pan where the chicken will look "lost" - the sauce will burn). Spray the pan with your spray oil
Rub the chopped rosemary all over the chicken breasts and place in your pan.  Spray the oil lightly over the chicken.
Cover the pan with foil and bake 30 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, it is time to make the sauce. 
Get out a medium sized sauce pan and whisk together the flour and chicken broth.  Cook over medium heat for approximately 3 minutes.  Whisk in the yogurt, wine, butter, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.  When all ingredients are incorporated, remove the pan from the heat.

Remove the chicken from the oven - drain any liquid from the pan.  Turn over each piece of chicken and pour the sauce over the breasts.

Bake the chicken, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes (mine took 35 minutes).

Place the chicken on a plate and let it rest for 5 minutes.  Slice the chicken thinly against the grain and place it on a serving platter.  Pour the sauce over it and serve.

You can serve this with a salad or a rice dish or a veggy dish.  Tomorrow I will post the recipe for the broccoli casserole that I served as a side.

Pasta with Clams

Tonight's recipe costs around $2.50 per serving.  The recipe as listed serves 6 but you can adjust it to serve anywhere from 2 to ????.  Your shopping list follows.

• 1 lb pasta - any shape
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced or chopped
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 3 dozen little neck clams
• 3 Tbsp chopped parsley
• Grated parm or romano to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

First and most importantly - clean and scrub your clams.

• Fill a large bowl with cold water and add some Kosher salt (a few tablespoons) and about 1/2 cup of corn meal.  Mix and then add your clams.  Soak the clams in the liquid for at least one hour - no more than 2 hours.  Sitting in this mixture will make the clams secrete their sand and waste.
• Remove the clams from the bowl using tongs or a slotted spoon and place them in a colander.
• Discard any clams that do not close tightly and those that have visible chips in the shell.
• Rinse the clams and scrub them with a brush to remove any debris (I use an old toothbrush).
• Now your clams are ready to incorporate into the recipe.

 Cook your pasta 3 minutes less then the package directions call for (it will cook more later) and drain it but remember to reserve some of the cooking liquid (around 1 cup).

 

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add 3 Tbsp oil.  When the oil is heated, add the garlic and cook until golden (1-2 minutes).  Add the pepper flakes and cook for another minute.  Add the wine and the cleaned scrubbed clams.  Turn the heat up to high and cover the skillet.  You need to watch the clams closely.  As they open, remove them from the skillet and place them in a bowl.  Depending on the size of the clams, this will take 2-5 minutes.

 

Once you have removed all of the clams, add 1/2 cup of the pasta liquid to the skillet and bring to a boil.  Once the liquid in the skillet is boiling, add the cooked pasta and toss constantly until it has had a chance to absorb some of the liquid (2 minutes).  Then add the clams and whatever liquid has accumulated in the bowl to the skillet.  Add the parsley, salt, and pepper, and toss to mix.  If the pasta seems dry, add more of the reserved pasta water. 

Serve your pasta and clams with a drizzle of some olive oil (optional) and garnish with the grated cheese.

Serve with a salad.  DELICIOUS!!