Thrifty Thursday: Pasta Night!

Every Monday night is Pasta Night on our menu rotation.  A few weeks ago I tried something new and decided that it was so clever, I would make it into a new habit. :)  After all, if I'm saving money AND time, I can't lose, right?

Introducing: Pasta Meets Soup, and they lived happily ever after.

It's a simple concept, really.  I make a large batch of soup to enjoy over the weekend.  This makes life more doable when we are busy on Saturdays or all enjoying our Sunday rest so much that we don't want to cook. A large pot of soup is a great way to feed a small army. 

Come Monday, I reheat what's leftover of the soup and serve it over noodles for the children. (David and I are avoiding pasta right now, so we either serve ours over cooked vegetables or just enjoy another steaming hot bowl of soup.) 

Truly, I think they like the soup as sauce over noodles than plain soup. I don't mind at all. Leftovers become Upcycled and that makes everyone happy. :)

Just some ideas for soup that can work well as sauce over noodles:

Plain old vegetable soup with legumes for added texture. We liked this over penne.
Taco Soup was great over long spaghetti noodles.
Vegan "cheezy" broccoli soup. 

The broccoli soup was something I tweaked as I was wanting to serve our Monday pasta in an alfredo fashion.  I found this recipe and then tweaked it to fit what I was looking for. It turned out delicious! Creamy, rich, and my husband's first reaction was "Mmmm...cheesy!" 

Big score. :)

Here's my personal version of the recipe in the link:

"Cheezy" Broccoli Soup

Serves a family of 11 twice (once as soup, once as sauce over pasta and veggies) 

Ingredients

• 2 medium red onion, diced (I used yellow onions
• 1 quart of mushrooms, finely diced
• 1 TBS minced garlic
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 5 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 10 cups broccoli florets (I combined raw and frozen)
• 2 cups nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (I was out of lemon juice so substituted ACV)
• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked
• 1 can (15oz) cannellini beans

Instructions

1. Set raw cashews to soak in hot water.
2. In a large pot, cook the onions and mushrooms in vegetable broth over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, salt, pepper and dijon and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Add the milk, broth and broccoli.
5. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until broccoli is tender.
6. Turn off heat and stir in nutritional yeast and lemon juice.
7. Pour cashews, soaking water, and can of beans into blender.
8. Remove about ½ of the soup (or as much as will fit in blender with other ingredients) and puree in a blender.
9. Pour it back into the pot with the remaining soup.

 

Thrifty Thursday: Time Savers

Thinking of being thrifty involves more than just pinching pennies.  Stop and think of how valuable your time and energy is.  You'll realize in a hurry how important it is to be frugal whenever possible. That's when you are thankful for two of your favorite time savers: A food processor and Leftovers.

Tonight's dinner prep took 15 minutes.  That's not bad for a veggie stir fry for ten people! 

I took about 10 minutes to get the brown rice cooking, veggies washed, peeled, and then run through the food processor.  Another five minutes to mix up a yummy pineapple ginger sauce, pull the bags of frozen veggies out to thaw and the raw cashews, and you're ready to put your feet up and blog about it for a good 20 minutes or so while that rice simmers.

 

 

Pineapple Ginger Stir Fry Sauce

 

2 cans of unsweetened pineapple chunks, juice only

1 tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp - 1 TBS of Bragg's Liquid Aminos (depending on taste preference)

1 TBS or more of garlic (you can use fresh, minced, or dehydrated like I used tonight)

2-3 TBS arrowroot powder or thickening agent of choice

 

Mix together and add to veggies about 5 minutes before serving to allow the sauce to thicken.  Stir in pineapples and 1 cup raw cashews just before serving.

 

I use whatever vegetables I have in the fridge, making Stir Fry a financially frugal meal at our house as well a thrifty time saver, especially if I have leftover vegetables from the week to use up.

 

Tonight's Veggie Mix:

 

Through the food processor, slicing blade, in this order:

 3 large ribs of celery

3 large carrots

1.5 yellow onion

half a box of baby portabella mushrooms

1/4 red bell pepper that needed using up

 

Frozen Veggies to be added:

1.5 bags broccoli

1 bag baby Brussels sprouts

1/4 to 1/2 bag of chopped collard greens

 

Other:

1 container of leftover green beans from the fridge (about 1-2 cups)

1-2 cans water sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed

1 can bean sprouts, drained and rinsed

Add the above ingredients just prior to adding the sauce. You only need time to warm them up and you don't want them getting too mushy in your veggie mix.

 

*Because I'm using some frozen vegetables, I allow for about 20 minutes to get everything cooked up and to the table. I generally need to use a large skillet wok and a large frying pan to cook all the veggies at first. Once they cook down, I can combine the veggies in the wok before adding the sauce, pineapple, and cashews. But really, with that 15 minutes of prep work done, this becomes and easy dump and serve meal.

 

 



Thrifty Thursday: Seasonal Selections

Did you miss me yesterday?  No time to get to the keys and today is needing to be short as well.

I'm working on getting into a rhythm of eating seasonal produce to keep our budget low for produce. I found this helpful chart that lists which foods are in season during each month.  This helps me to plan a weekly menu around some of those items as well as think through what I should be stocking up on to freeze or what to avoid for another time of year.

Also, now that I know which foods are out of season and, therefore, don't likely have their optimal taste, I can avoid wasting our precious pennies.

Hope this helps you as well! 

I may have shared this recipe for Cheesy Cauliflower Sauce before because it's a favorite that I make almost weekly.  But, since cauliflower is in season right now I thought I'd be sure you've got this recipe in your file. :)  We use it over vegetables, beans, and salads.

Thrifty Thursday: Vegetable Broth

My thrifty thought for today is to share my vegetable broth recipe. I did get it from a source.  I thought it was one of Dr. Furhman's books but I don't see it in there now. So, again, I can't site my source on this recipe.  Sorry about that.

I make this every week.  Well, sorta. I make vegetable broth ever week, but it isn't always the same. 

See, I start with this recipe as my primary guide.  But, I twist and turn a bit based on what I have on hand.  That's the thrifty part.

During the week I save some of the bits of vegetable scraps from our meals.  As I'm chopping mushrooms for G-Bombing our meals, I pull the stems off completely and toss them in a bag in the freezer.  Then, when I get to Saturday, I can just dump them and any other vegetable trimmings I have in the pot for my broth. 

I've learned that cruciferous vegetables aren't good for a broth, as they can make it taste bitter. So, I no longer add my broccoli stems to the broth.  Instead I reserve them for soup or to shred for salads.

I added a few notes to the recipe in parenthesis to show what I usually use in place of the listed ingredients.  I rarely have scallions, so those don't make it into my broth. Also, I don't measure the water. After I've put the vegetables in my large stock pot, I just fill it to the top with water.

Vegetable Broth
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, chopped
1 cup finely chopped scallions
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (1 28oz can diced, no-salt added tomatoes)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and halved crosswise (2 tsp minced garlic, no-oil)
3 bay leaves
1 cup chopped fresh dill (1-2 tbs dried dillweed)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (1 TBS dried parsley)
6 whole black peppercorns (ground pepper to taste)
1 tsp dried oregano
14 cups water

Instructions:
Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least one hour.  Skim and discard any foam from surface. 

Strain broth, discard bay leaves but reserve the vegetables to eat as is or puree them and use to thicken soups or sauces.

Can be frozen in small containers; will keep frozen up to 6 months.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the other thrifty thing I do with this mix.  Once I have strained the vegetables from the broth, I puree them in the food processor, like recommended.  When Monday Pasta night comes along, I have the perfect beginning for a home made marinara sauce. 

I dump the pureed vegetables in a pan and add a 28oz can of no-salt added crushed tomatoes and 1 6oz can of tomato paste.  Add in water or vegetable broth as needed.  Season with your favorite Italian seasonings (oregano, thyme, marjoram, basil, bay leaves, pepper) and let simmer so the flavors mix. 

And here's a new thing I did this week.  I had some sauce leftover at the end of the week. I dumped it in with the breakfast black beans and that gave them a new flavor.  Not one that everybody loved, but it got eaten.  I'm sure, if I try it again, it will be better received.  I find that, for most of my family, the first time I serve a new flavor to their old stand-by there is some resistance that wanes as they get familiar with it through further introductions.

So, there ya' go.  Scraps, trimmings, water, seasonings.  All mixed and made into some flavorful broth for cooking during the week as well as vegetable puree for some creative uses along the way. 

I'd love to hear what you use your broth and vegetable puree to create.  Leave me a note with ideas!

Thrifty Thursday: Ends Meet

I hear a lot of people say, "Isn't eat *that* way expensive?  I could never afford all those fresh vegetables.  I can't afford to eat like *that*!"

Thing is, compared to the cost of the medical care, supplements, and the TIME I've given over to poor health over the years, a few extra dollars to my grocery budget is minute in comparison. 

In what I spent in diabetic testing strips while pregnant I could have paid for a month's worth of groceries.

That said, I *do* feel the crunch of the cost of eating simple, whole foods. It amazes me that I can pay more per pound for a head of cauliflower than a whole chicken. Surely, it costs more to grow and process a chicken than plant a seed.  Alas, the government subsidies are greatly in favor of the meat and dairy departments in our society, thereby making it more economical to invest in their interests.  There are some interesting facts and data shared regarding that in the documentaries Chow Down and Food, Inc. if you'd like to know more.

There are great blogs and articles all over giving ideas on how to bring down the grocery budget on a plant-based diet.  I keep finding and reading them, hoping to get great advice.  Truthfully, there is little I read that is new to me.  I've been working to feed this growing family on a small budget for years, so I've developed, out of necessity, many tricks and tools to help me do just that. Some are big helps, like making a weekly menu and grocery list to guide me as I shop and keep me from overspending.  Others are tiny little things that seem not to matter, yet, put together, can create two or more meals out of what would have gone to waste.   The best strategy I've found in stretching dollars is to learn how to make IT myself, whatever IT is. 

At any given moment, you will find bags of vegetable trimmings in my fridge and freezer.  They all have some kind of value even if they aren't so appetizing as to don the dinner table.

This week, as I was making Creamy Coleslaw, I grabbed the large bag of broccoli stems I had sitting in the fridge. I don't use those to make vegetable broth, as I've read that cruciferous veggies aren't good to use in stock. 

 

 

I use them, often, to make vegetable soup, but this pile was huge. I was either making broccoli soup or, wait...great idea!  Broccoli Slaw!

 

 

Not only did I have another ingredient for the cole slaw I was making, but I had plenty leftover to bag and use on my salads during the week.  I find I like the texture of shredded veggies on my salads.  Especially those hard broccoli stems that would otherwise go to the rabbits.

 

 

 

 

Creamy Coleslaw

 

Dressing Ingredients

 

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews (about 2 ounces)



2 tablespoon Dijon or stoneground mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2-3 tbs golden  or regular raisins (or a couple diced prunes)

Salad Ingredients
3 cups chopped green cabbage (like cabbage confetti)
1 cup chopped red cabbage (like cabbage confetti)  *I rarely have purple cabbage. I often add in more green cabbage, or, like above, process some broccoli to add to the mix.
1 3/4 cup grated carrots
1  1/2 cup diced apple (skin on; about 1 - 2 apples)
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped red onion (I often just add some dried minced onion or onion powder to the dressing since I don't care for the taste/texture of raw onion)

Directions

1. Place all of the dressing ingredients into a blender and set aside (so that cashews can soften)

2. Chop (or shred in food processor - way easier) and prepare the salad ingredients.  Toss these together in a large bowl. 

3.  Blend the dressing ingredients until smooth. Pour into the bowl of vegetables and fruit, mixing thoroughly with a spoon.  While you can serve the coleslaw immediately, the flavors will have a chance to blend more thoroughly if chilled for at least one hour. (stir again before serving). 

Preparation: 20 minutes
Serves: 6 as a side dish (makes 7/12 cups)

Notes: 
This is my 14yo son's favorite salad.
I added in the raisins to the recipe because my family likes the dressing a little sweeter.
I keep meaning to decrease the mustard in the recipe, but forget each time.  That might make it so I need to add less sweetener. 
I double the dressing as I make it and reserve some in the fridge to use on regular salads during the week. This is one dressing I've made that the family does like.
I didn't site the source in my notebook where I got this recipe. Sorry!