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How To Make A Stock Soup

7/7/2019

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Stock soups are made from stock (preferably MOO) with the addition of meat and fresh vegetables and a grain, cereal or bean i.e. dried lentils, kidney beans, rice or macaroni.
 
To make a basic thick soup you will need:
4 - 6 litres stock, including the meat from the bones
1 large onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 small turnip, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
2 cups soup mix - a mixture of lentils and beans
 
1. Bring the stock to a rolling boil in a large stockpot.
 
2. Add the vegetables and the soup mix and stir.
 
3. Turn the heat down until the liquid is at a rolling simmer. This is important because unless you want to stand and stir constantly for hours, you need the vegetables and soup mix to keep rolling around in the pot. If they settle they will stick to the bottom of the pot and burn, ruining the soup.
 
You can add any other vegetables you like to your soup pot. Potato makes a good addition, bulking out the meal and acting as a thickener when soup mix is scarce.  You can also add tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage - you are limited only by your imagination and the contents of your fridge.
 
To make your own soup recipe follow this outline:
 
1. Start with a stock (choose one)- chicken, beef or lamb.
 
2. Add a protein (choose one) - meat, chicken, lamb, ham or bacon bones
 
3. Choose a thickener (choose one, measure 2 cups) - soup mix, beans, lentils, macaroni, pasta twirls, broken spaghetti, rice or barley
 
4. Throw in the vegetables (as many as you like, about 4 cups) - onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, cabbage, capsicums, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnip, turnip, swede, squash, pumpkin, green beans, peas,
 
5. Season to taste* - salt, pepper, bouquet garni, thyme, parsley, chives, coriander
 
Bring the stock to the boil in a large stockpot. Add the other ingredients of your choice and simmer for at least 1 hour.
 
*It is better to under season and add more at the table than it is to over-season and have a soup that is too salty or too spicy.  If you do over-salt the soup, add two potatoes, peeled and halved, about 20 minutes before the end of cooking time. The potato will absorb some of the salt.
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Easy Pineapple Marinade

3/1/2019

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One of my biggest bug bears is wasting food. 

When you throw food out, or even put food in the bokashi, you are throwing your money away.

We have pineapple with our salads, and one tin does two meals for the five of us. When I open a tin, I take out the four slices we need, then tip the other slices and juice into a container and put it in the fridge until the next night.

The Aldi pineapple rings in juice are what we like. They are bought in bulk when I replenish the stockpile each year.

After I use the remaining pineapple slices, instead of drinking the juice, or worse, pouring it down the drain, I make a quick marinade with it.

I add a slurp of vegetbable oil, a dash of soy sauce and a pinch of garlic and give it all a shake.

Then I plan chicken for the next night, take it out of the freezer and pour the marinade over. Let it marinate overnight in the fridge and then it can be baked, fried or barbecued.

And nothing is wasted!
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Last Minute Christmas Gift No. 7: Nuts'n'Bolts

24/12/2018

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Nuts’n’Bolts
Ingredients:
500g Nutrigrain (generic equivalent works just as well)
375g salted peanuts
375g pretzels (broken into small pieces)
100g pumpkin seeds
1 packet Cream of Chicken soup mix
1 packet French Onion soup mix (generic works just as well)
3 tsp curry powder
Pinch chilli powder
1/2 cup currants (or sultanas)
3/4 cup olive oil, heated

Method:
Combine all ingredients except oil in a large bowl. Mix well to make sure everything is coated with the seasonings. Warm the oil and stir through the dry ingredients, making sure they are all coated completely. Store in a large, air tight bowl. If you are going to jar it up for gifts, wait two days. Stir the mix completely each day then on the third day pour into jars and label. This mix looks great in nut dishes on the Christmas table too.

If you don't have all the ingredients, don't stress. Add what you have, and substitute the rest. 

This makes a HUGE batch, so great for a few gifts, with plenty leftover for your Christmas snacks. 

Package it in jars or cellophane bags to give.

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Sweet Potato Chocolate Cupcakes

18/7/2018

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I have been making these cup cakes for ages, and until last weekend no one knew they had sweet potato or flaxseed in them.  They are so good, and so much like little mud cakes that unless you know they are packed with lots of goodness you really won't know.

If you want to get some extra nutrition into your family, without them knowing, and still give them a sweet treat, try these little cakes. The secrets are to make sure the sweet potato is very soft and very well mashed, almost a puree, so that it combines completely with the dry ingredients, and to beat the oil/egg/flaxseed mixture for at least 5 minutes, so that it is very thick and fluffy. Do not be tempted to skimp on the time or your cakes will be dry, hard little rocks.

Ingredients: 
1 cup of mashed sweet potato 
1 ¼  cups of spelt flour
¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
½ cup of buttermilk 
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup of olive oil
½ cup of raw sugar
1 large egg 
3 tablespoons of flaxseed meal soaked 
2 tablespoons of water

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare patty pans.
2. Prick one medium sweet potato with a fork (a lot) and cook in microwave for 5 minutes turning every minute.
3. Combine dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt
4. Combine buttermilk, vanilla and sweet potato until well blended. If you want to keep the sweet potato a secret, make sure you get rid of any sweet potato chunks no matter how small.
5. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium high, beat the oil while slowly adding the sugar. Add the egg, flaxseed meal and water – 1 at a time. Beat for 5 minutes. This is important, don't be tempted to skip this step or even shorten the time.
6. On low speed add the sweet potato mix, then the flour mix.
7. Use a 1/4 cup measure to fill patty pans and bake 15 – 20 minutes. Test after 15 minutes, as these cakes do not take well to being over-cooked.
8. Cool on a cake rack, then ice with your favourite chocolate icing.

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Finding a Substitute for that Weird Ingredient

11/11/2017

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I don't have strange ingredients in the back of the pantry. Or rather I don't have ingredients I don't use at the back of the pantry (some of the things I use may be a little strange to some folk). 

I tend to buy the same basic groceries over and over and over and just rearrange them into different recipes. It means my grocery bill rarely varies from month to month and is predictable, unless of course there is a price rise (drat those price rises). 

Wendy talked about using coconut milk in a recipe and finding it overpowering, so she gave it another go and that recipe failed the Family Approval Test too. In the end she donated the remaining can of coconut milk to a food drive.  

I use coconut cream in curry and satay and to make custard. My family likes coconut so it is a pantry staple in our home. Wendy's family isn't so keen on it and so it is an extra ingredient. Those strange ingredients in a recipe will depend on your taste, your budget and your daring as a cook.  

In the interests of keeping a happy family we try to have one new recipe a month. It may be a main meal or a side dish, it might be a cake or slice, sometimes it is a new jam, sauce or pickle. Everyone takes turns choosing the recipe from the dozens of recipe books on the shelf. 

Sometimes a new recipe is a hit and goes onto the regular recipe rotation; sometimes it is a dud and we all vow to never, ever try it again (like the infamous SALMON DISH - and yes the kids talk about it in capitals, they shudder at the very mention of it).

If a new recipe uses an ingredient that's not in the pantry I try to find a substitute I already have. If I don't have a substitute and I really want to try the recipe I buy the smallest size I can to try it. 

Then if we like it and it's an ingredient I can use in other things I'll look for the cheapest way to buy it.

Here's a list of substitutes you can use when you find you don't have all the ingredients you need for a recipe. 
Ingredient:
Substitute:

Allspice
Cinnamon plus a dash of nutmeg or cloves

Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar plus 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

Basil ​
Oregano or thyme

Bread Crumbs, fine dry - 1/4 cup
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs or 1/4 cup cracker crumbs or 1/4 cup cornflakes crumbs

Butter or Margarine, in baking or cooking - 1 cup
​1 cup lard or shortening or 7/8 cup vegetable oil

Buttermilk - 1 cup
1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to make one cup (let stand 5 minutes before using), or 1 cup whole milk plus 1-3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar, or 1 cup yoghurt

Cardamom
Ginger

Chocolate, Semi-Sweet - 30g
30g unsweetened chocolate plus 4 teaspoons sugar

​Chocolate, Unsweetened - 30g
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon shortening or cooking oil

Corn Syrup - 1 cup
1 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup water

Cornflour, for thickening - 1 tablespoon 
2 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour

Cream, Light - 1 cup
1 tablespoon melted butter plus enough whole milk to make one cup

Cumin ​
Chilli powder

Egg - 1 whole 
​2 egg yolks plus 1 tablespoon water

Egg, in baking - 1
​1 teaspoon cornflour plus 1/4 cup water

Flour, Bread - 1 cup
1 cup of unbleached plain flour plus 1 tablespoon (or 2 tablespoons for higher gluten) gluten

Flour, Cake  - 1 cup
1 cup of plain flour plus 2 tablespoons cornflour

Flour, for thickening - 1 tablespoon
1-1/2 teaspoons cornflour, arrowroot, potato flour or rice flour or 2 teaspoons tapioca

Flour, Pastry - 1 cup
Use 2/3 cups all-purpose flour plus 1/3 cup cake flour

Flour, Self-Raising - 1 cup
1 cup plain flour plus 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

Garlic -1 clove 
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Ginger ​
Allspice, cinnamon, mace, or nutmeg

Herb, Fresh - 1 Tablespoon any 
1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon of the same dried herb

Honey - 1 cup
1 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup water 

Italian Seasoning ​
​Combination of basil, oregano, rosemary and ground red pepper

Mace ​
Allspice, cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg

Milk - 1 cup
1/2 cup evaporated milk plus 1/2 cup water or 1 cup water plus 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder

Molasses - 1 cup
1 cup honey

Mustard, Dry (in mixtures) -1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Oil, in baking - 1 cup
1 cup unsweetened applesauce​

Onion, 1 small diced
1 teaspoon onion powder or 1 tablespoon dried minced onion

Poultry Seasoning - 1 teaspoon
3/4 teaspoon sage plus a 1/4 teaspoon combination of thyme, marjoram, savory, black pepper, and rosemary

Salt, Kosher 
A coarse, non-iodized (make sure there are no additives) Table Salt

Sour Cream, in baking - 1 cup 
7/8 cup buttermilk or sour milk plus 3 tablespoons butter

Sour Cream, in salad dressings or casseroles - 1 cup 
1 cup plain yoghurt or 3/4 cup sour milk plus 1/3 cup butter

​Sugar, Brown, dark - 1 cup
1 cup white sugar plus 2 tablespoon molasses

Sugar, Brown, light - 1 cup
1 cup white sugar plus 1 tablespoon molasses

Sugar, Icing -1 3/4 cup
1 cup white sugar + 1 tablespoon cornflour in blender until powdery, stirring often

Sugar, Castor
Process regular sugar in a food processor or blender for about a minute

Sugar, White - 1 cup
1 cup packed brown sugar, 2 cups icing sugar or equal amount of raw sugar

Tapioca, for thickening - 2 tablespoons
3 tablespoons plain flour

Tomato Juice - 1 cup 
1/2 cup tomato sauce plus 1/2 cup water

Tomato Sauce - 2 cups
​3/4 cup tomato paste plus 1 cup water

Shared from Debt Free, Cashed Up and Laughing
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Frugal Haystacks

28/10/2017

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Haystacks are a family favourite and we enjoy them regularly. They're quick and easy to make and topped with lots of lovely fresh veggies they are the perfect easy meal all year round.

I've no idea where the name came from, I first started making them about 35 years ago when I was a cook for school camps. The kids loved them because they were "junk" food, we cooks loved them because it is a one-pot wonder recipe, that can be made ahead, and is easy to serve. Now my family loves them, this really is a recipe that has stood the test of time.

This recipe is one of the most requested from the Cheapskates Club Recipe File. Every time they are mentioned in a meal plan or a newsletter I get emails asking what they are and for the recipe.

Frugal Haystacks
Ingredients:
2 tins baked beans in tomato sauce
1 tin red kidney beans (or dried equivalent, soaked and cooked)
3 tbsp MOO taco seasoning (or 1 packet)
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 tins diced tomatoes

Method:
Sauté onion, add taco seasoning and then beans and tomatoes. Heat through. Serve over corn chips or toasted pita bread or torn mountain bread (I've even put it over pappadums in a pinch) add salad to suit, top with salsa and sour cream.

I usually put the salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cheese, salsa, sour cream) out and let them make their own.

This makes a double quantity, so half goes in the freezer for the next time. Freezes well and it makes a great filling for stuffed spuds too.
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