The holidays are upon us! Make pies ahead of time! Pie crust and Unapple pie recipe...

Last night I made the pie crust and today I'll be baking my Unapple Pie, cooling it completely, and freezing it. It'll save time and stress on Thanksgiving Day. Come Thanksgiving I'll only have to worry about making the Pumpkin Pie-and that one is easy-peasy to make. Unapple and Apple pies are perfect for freezing, but I don't recommend it for Pumpkin Pie.

Simple Pie Crust

Ingredients:

2c flour

1t salt

1c Crisco Butter Flavored Shortening

½ cup ice cold water

In a large bowl mix flour & salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water. Form a ball with mixture (do not overwork.) Divide dough in half, shape into two balls, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Place wax paper on counter. Place dough on top. Cover with another piece of wax paper and roll out. Remove wax paper from top, flip crust into pie pan. Use as directed in pie recipe.

Unapple Pie: Zucchini Pie

Ingredients:

4-5 zucchini: peeled, seeded & sliced ¼” thick

1c sugar

1/4c brown sugar

2T flour

1 1/2t cinnamon

1T Cream of Tartar

1/8t salt

¼t ground nutmeg

1T butter, diced

1 recipe pastry for a double pie crust

Boil zucchini two minutes. Drain and cool. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together sugar and spices. Mix well with zucchini (after you’ve peeled, sliced, and seeded it). Place into pie crust and dot with butter. Place top of pie crust onto pie. Seal sides with fork tines. Poke a few times to vent and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees for 30-50 minutes, until pie crust is browned. Cool completely. This may be made ahead of time. Cool completely and freeze. To cook from frozen, put frozen homemade pie into UNpreheated oven at 350 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes. 

Some tips from my kitchen to yours….

Invest in small Tupperware containers to store and freeze leftovers. These are perfect for making little meals for the week. I find them at the Dollar Tree all the time.

I also save butter, yogurt, deli-meat containers-anything with a tight fitting lid. These are great for leftovers as well. Also, if you have a family gathering and want to send leftovers home, these are perfect and don’t need to be returned.

I will put what I paid for my items, but prices will vary from city to city, state to state.

I keep a slew of spices in my pantry-all purchased from dollar stores. When I mention using garlic or onion, it’s usually in dry spice form because I’m lazy and hate mincing garlic or chopping onion.

Always take advantage of sales at your local grocery store. Friday I bought a 2.65lb. Pork tenderloin for $7.92 (regular price $15.87) and a $10 Beef  Roast for $5.92. Weeks ago I purchased the same Pork Tenderloins for $5 apiece. I still regret not buying more.

Week Two Meal Ideas

Monday-Taco Soup

Tuesday-Cheese Raviolis & Salad

Wednesday-Pot Pie Night

Thursday-Easy Chili

Friday-Fun Meal Night-Nachos

Items needed from the store:

*2lb. ground beef ($5.98)

*1/4-1/2 cup diced onions (.99)

*4 15oz cans pinto beans ($3.96)

1 15oz can hominy (.99)

*3 15oz cans diced tomatoes ($1.98)

*1 15oz can kidney beans (.99)

*1 packet dry taco seasoning (.59)

(optional) 1 packet dry ranch dressing mix ($1.99)

*1 13oz bag tortilla chips ($1.99)

1 9oz package frozen Raviolis ($2.99)

*1 26oz can spaghetti sauce (.99)

1 bagged salad (.99)

*fat free ranch dressing ($2.99)

*Croutons (.99)

1 cucumber (.99)

French Bread ($1.49)

Frozen pot pies (.99-$1.50 each)

*Corn Bread Mix (.33)

*1 8oz bag shredded cheese ($2.99)

1 can sliced olives ($1.29)

*1 15oz can refried beans (.99)

1 can beer ($2)

*Spices (.99 each): chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion salt, ground cumin, garlic, salt and pepper to taste

*Condiments: (.99 each): Worcestershire, tabasco, vinegar

Optional: diced green onions (.99), sour cream (.99), salsa (.99), green chiles (.99)

Monday-Taco Soup

Brown one pound ground beef and ¼ cup onions (I use dried onions.) After browning, drain. Add 2 cans pinto beans (undrained), 1 can hominy, 2 undrained cans of diced tomatoes, one taco seasoning packet, one ranch packet (this is optional)and mix well. Simmer 30 minutes. Top with shredded cheese and tortilla chips. You can also garnish with salsa, sour cream, black olives, etc.

On the go method: Brown onion and beef the night before. Drain and refrigerate. Toss all of the ingredients (except tortilla chips, cheese and garnishes) into your crock pot and set on low all day. When you get home from work, top with cheese, tortillas and desired garnishes.

Tuesday-Cheese Ravioli and Salad

Cook ravioli according to package directions. Drain. Add spaghetti sauce & simmer until heated through. Meanwhile, rinse bagged salad, slice the cucumber and assemble your salads, adding croutons and dressing. Serve with buttered French bread.

Wednesday-Pot Pie Night

Sometimes the week is too hectic and you just want an easy meal. Sounds like a night for Banquet Pot Pies or the frozen pot pies of your choice. Follow package instructions for a quick dinner in 35 minutes. Serve with French bread.

Thursday-Easy Chili

Brown one pound ground beef and ¼ cup onions in a large skillet. Drain. Add 1T chili powder, 2T Worcestershire, 1T paprika, 1t garlic powder, 2 15oz cans undrained pinto beans, 1 15oz can undrained kidney beans, 1t onion salt, 2t ground cumin, 2t vinegar, 1 15oz can undrained diced tomatoes, 5-10 drops Tabasco, 12 garlic cloves and one can of beer.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer. Check every 30 minutes until desired consistency. Salt & pepper to taste. Top with shredded cheese. Serve with Jiffy Cornbread Muffins.

On the go method-brown beef and onions the night before. Add all ingredients to your crockpot and set on low setting. Let it simmer all day.

Friday-Fun Meal Night-Nachos!

Why not use your leftover tortilla chips from Taco Soup night and your garnishes to create some yummy nachos! Heat your refried beans in a small pan over medium heat. Spread the tortilla chips over a plate. Add beans, sliced olives, shredded cheese, salsa, etc. microwave on high until cheese is nice and melty. Top with sour cream and green onions.

A football weekend appetizer sure to please! Potato Skins!

*-ingredients I always keep on hand

Potato Skins

Ingredients needed from the store:

6 medium potatoes-scrubbed and pierced-$0.99

*butter-$3.99 a tub

*season salt-$1

*1 cup shredded cheese-$2.99/8oz. bag

Toppings

6 strips of cooked bacon-$2.99

reserved bacon grease

Preheat oven broiler. Scrub potatoes and pierce with fork. Microwave on high for about 6-10 minutes, until potatoes are soft. 

Meanwhile, cook bacon, reserving bacon grease. Cut lengthwise and scoop out potato pulp. Brush both sides of skins with butter and bacon grease.

Sprinkle inside of skin with season salt and broil skin side up for 3 minutes. Turn skin side down. Top with bacon and cheese and broil an additional 2 minutes. Yum-my!

Take your time method: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. After scrubbing & piercing potatoes, rub with butter and bake 60 minutes. Follow all other steps for amazing home-made potato skins.

Happy Halloween! Week One Meal Ideas...

Monday-Ghoul-ash

Tuesday-Hamburger Helper w/Salad

Wednesday Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chops

Thursday-Asian Barbecue Chicken

Friday-Grands Mini Pizzas

If you see this * it simply means this is an item I always keep handy in my pantry.

Items needed from the grocery store-

*2lbs. Ground Beef ($5.98)

* 1 15oz. can Corn, drained (.99)

French Bread ($1.49)

Bagged Salad (.99)*

*1 28oz. can Spaghetti Sauce (.99)

* 1 8oz. bag elbow macaroni (.59)

*1 8oz. bag shredded cheddar cheese ($2.99)

*1 box Hamburger Helper (.99)

3 Pork chops ($3.44)

1 box of scalloped potatoes (.49)

6 Chicken Drumsticks ($1.19)

Grands Biscuits (.99)

*Lemon juice (.99)

*Olive or Vegetable Oil ($2.99-5.99)

*Garlic Cloves (.99)-I use dried garlic

*Garlic Salt (.99)

*Lemon Pepper (.99)

*Dried Oregano (.99)

*Ketchup (4.99)

*Brown Sugar (.99)

*Soy Sauce (.99)

*Rice Vinegar (.99)

*Onion and Garlic Powder ($1.98)

Pizza Toppings of your choice: Olives (.99), Pepperoni (.99) or whatever you like.

Monday: Ghoul-ash

Brown one pound ground beef in a large skillet until browned completely through. Drain. Meanwhile cook the elbow macaroni according to package instructions. Drain. To the meat add the can of drained corn, the cooked and drained macaroni and the can of spaghetti sauce. I use half of the can and reserve the rest for Friday’s Fun Pizzas.

Stir together and heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once heated through top with shredded cheese if desired and serve with French bread. 

Tuesday-Hamburger Helper

This is going to be easy because tonight we’re going to prep our Lemon Herb Pork Chops. I’ll eventually give you my homemade hamburger helper recipe, but for tonight we’ll keep it quick and easy.

Brown one pound of ground beef and follow the instructions on the Hamburger Helper package. Serve this with the bagged salad.

Prep the pork chops: In a large resealable gallon bag place the following ingredients: ¼ cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 4 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper (regular ground pepper will do in a pinch), and ¼ teaspoon dried oregano. Mix well. Add the pork chops, seal the bag and rub marinade into the pork chops. Refrigerate overnight.

Wednesday-Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chops

Get the grill ready! Don’t forget to prep the Asian Barbecue Chicken for tomorrow’s dinner. You’ll grill those tonight along with your pork chops.

For the Asian Barbecue Sauce combine these ingredients in a medium bowl:

½ cup ketchup, ½ cup packed brown sugar, 4 Tablespoons soy sauce, 4 tablespoons rice vinegar and one tablespoon each of onion & garlic powder.

Mix well. Once your chicken drumsticks go on the grill, you’ll baste them with this sauce, grilling the chicken over medium-high heat, turning often for about 20 minutes. Cool and refrigerate.

Lemon Herb Pork Chops: grill these over medium-high flame-if they’re one inch thick, cook for 7 minutes one side, 5 minutes the other side. If they’re not as thick, start at 4 minutes one side, 3 for the other side until they are white and juicy inside. You do not want to see any pink in pork.

Let them rest for 5-10 minutes and serve with the scalloped potatoes cooked according to the package directions.

Thursday-Asian Barbecue Chicken

Serve these cold with whatever you’d like. I keep frozen vegetables and canned vegetables handy so I can just heat and serve. I also love to find great deals on veggies at Farmer’s Markets and grill those when I grill my meat. This works for zucchini, corn, squash, baked potatoes, bell peppers, etc.

Friday-Fun Pizzas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Open your Grands Biscuits and separate each biscuit. Press each biscuit into a 4”round. This makes a nice thick crust for each mini pizza. Place each mini pizza onto two large greased baking sheets. Top each pizza with 1 tsp. spaghetti sauce left over from Monday’s dinner, shredded cheese (also left over from Monday’s dinner), and two pepperonis. I also add sliced olives to mine.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until the bottoms are browned and the cheese is nice and melty. For thinner crusts, press each biscuit into a 6” round reduce bake time to 10-15 minutes. 

Frightfully Easy Dips for Football Sunday!

Who wants to slave in a kitchen on the weekend before Halloween? Not I! So here are two quick dip recipes sure to please. They’re time and budget friendly. Below are the prices I paid. If you see * this simply means I always keep this handy in my pantry.

Items needed from the store:

*2 10oz. Condensed Nacho Cheese Soup ($1.98)

*1 10oz. can Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles ($1.25)

*1 10oz. can Chili with Beans (.99)

1 13oz. Bag Tortilla Chips ($2.99)

In a medium saucepan, combine one can Condensed Nacho Cheese Soup and one can Rotel Diced Tomatoes. Simmer over low heat and mix well. Serve with tortilla chips.

One of my favorites: In a medium saucepan, combine one can of the Nacho Cheese Soup and one can of the Chili. Simmer over low heat until heated through. Mix well and serve. You can also throw this bad-boy into a crock-pot on low setting. Just add an extra can of chili. Serve with tortilla chips.

Optional-after heated through, sprinkle some shredded cheddar cheese over the top of your chili dip. An 8oz. bag costs me $2.99.

Happy Halloween and go Packers!

A Dose of Reality

I've just realized that I'm in a time crunch. Though I'm newly laid off from work, I just don't have the time I always think I have. Having just bought a house, I've realized I'll be dealing with paperwork, inspectors, appraisers and whatever else comes my way. Not to mention packing and moving. I dread the moving part. Anyhoo, I don't know how faithful I can be to this blog and realize it's not worth stressing about. There are far bigger things to worry about in life. However, I will do my best to update with meals and recipes from my own collection-tried and true and delicious and whatever other little tidbits pop into my head. But for now I'm off and running....

Welcome everybody!

Beginning Monday October 31st I intend to post weekly meals to help take the stress out of weekly meal planning. These will be meals for the workweek. You're on your own for the weekend, though I do recommend leftovers and/or grilling, weather permitting. Better yet, go eat out, money permitting.

These will be easy meals, super-easy meals, healthy meals, not-so-healthy meals, I-thought-you-said-this-was-easy-but-it's-not-so-easy-for-me meals. A plethora of meals just to give the average person a basic idea of what to make for dinner for the week and how much it will cost at the grocery store.

This blog is just for Lindsey who claims she'll be my biggest fan. We shall see, but I welcome everyone, especially Lindsey, especially Packer fans and most especially you!