French Toast Sticks

My last loaf of Bread Maker Bread did not turn out well. It did not rise properly and was too dense for sandwiches. So, to keep it from going to waste, I made French Toast Sticks with it. I cut the bread into one inch slices and then cut each piece into four sticks. I dipped the sticks into an egg and milk mixture and then cooked them on a griddle just like traditional French Toast. My kids really enjoyed eating the sticks with their hands and dipping them into syrup. (Two of my kids dipped theirs in Cinnamon Syrup and my little one dipped hers in Chocolate Syrup.)

 

I refrigerated the leftovers and reheated them in the toaster oven for my little one to eat for lunch the next day. Next time, I would like to try an oven version instead. Seems like it would be simpler and I wouldn't have to stand over the griddle tending to them. If you have tried making homemade baked French Toast Sticks, I would love to hear about it.

The Society

Do you collect jars? Peanut butter jars, jam jars, honey jars, spaghetti sauce jars, pickle jars? Well, I do and I am not ashamed to admit it. I use them to store dry foods like popcorn and banana chips in my pantry, for leftovers like chicken broth and bacon grease in my refrigerator, and for freezing things like bulk yeast and bread crumbs. And, this is not my first post talking about my love for jars. If you like, you can read more about my obsession here. My grandfather named this obsession many years ago when he noticed that my grandmother was saving all of her used jars. He called it: The Society for the Preservation and Protection of Old Pickle and Peanut Butter Jars. Are you a member?

I love my collection of jars, I'm just weird like that. Right now I am saving my jars for Christmas. I have two recipes picked out that I plan to give to neighbors, teachers, and co-workers. But, since many of these friends read You Can Make That, I will not be sharing my Christmas gift recipes just yet. 

Have you started thinking about your Holiday gift giving?

Bread Crumbs

When I am at my best, I make all of our bread. Bread is simple to make, inexpensive, and requires no special tools. We love it, but lately I have not been making it regularly. Instead, I am buying much of our bread at an outlet store. The deals are excellent. They offer a military discount, and a punch card program to receive free bread. However, no one at my house wants to eat the end slices of store bought bread. So, for a while now I have been saving the end slices in a bag in the freezer. I use the end slices to make Baked French Toast or bread crumbs.

I primarily use bread crumbs in meatloaf or meat balls (recipe coming up soon!). And, I make mine plain without seasoning. But, the addition of Italian Seasoning would be great if you prefer. As I continue to eliminate food waste from my kitchen and reduce my grocery costs, this had been a great solution for unwanted bread.

Bread Crumbs

6 frozen bread slices

Tear bread in half and place in a food processor. Process until finely ground. Store in a canning jar in the freezer. Use in place of store bought bread crumbs directly from the freezer.

This post has been linked to Inspiration Monday.

Rosemary

 

Last week, my neighbor called me on her way home from work saying that a friend had given her a huge bunch of fresh rosemary. I was thrilled to take some off of her hands. So, tonight I made roasted potatoes with fresh rosemary. Yumm!

And, when I did my grocery shopping this morning, I was thrilled to find a whole chicken that was reduced for quick sale. (Perfectly in keeping with my New Year's Frugal Kitchen Goal.) It is going to be so tasty roasted with my fresh rosemary! How do you like to use rosemary?

 

This post has been linked to Mop It Up Mondays.

Something for Nothing

We have two guinea pigs, Hercules and Thunder. We rescued them as soon as we moved to North Carolina last summer. They were skinny, unhappy, and very sick. However, we spent three months feeding them, loving them, and nursing them back to health. Since then Hercules and Thunder have provided us with endless entertainment and joy.

And those pigs can eat! Along with hay and commercial pet food they need fresh fruits and vegetables every day. When I plan my grocery shopping each week, I have to remember to get what Hercules and Thunder need too. Recently, we gave them some fresh spinach for the first time. They had a hard time figuring out how to eat it, which the kids giggled endlessly over. But, yesterday, while making a spinach salad for our dinner, I had a brainstorm. Instead of feeding them the leaves of the spinach, why not give them just the stems. They gobbled those stems up in no time and I was so pleased to find another way to make use of something that might otherwise have gone to waste.

Do you feed your pets food scraps?

New Year's Peppermint Bark

Photo Credit: Nestle Toll House

Each year on New Year’s Eve, we gather up all of the leftover candy canes that we collected over the Christmas season to make Peppermint Bark. None of us really care to indulge on plain old candy canes, so this is a good way to ensure that they do not go to waste. This year I didn't even buy candy canes for our tree and I still had enough from the gifts that we received and the treat bags from school to make a batch of our traditional New Year’s treat. My oldest is especially pleased with Peppermint Bark so she never lets me forget to make it!

Peppermint Bark

12 oz. pkg. white chocolate chips

½ cup crushed leftover candy canes or peppermint candies, divided

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Set aside. Add white chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until chips are melted and the consistency is smooth. Stir in all but 2 Tbsp. crushed candy. Spread onto prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining candies. Refrigerate until hard. Break into shards and serve.

This recipe has been adapted from the one found here.

Homemade Croutons

Food waste ruffles my feathers a little bit. And it is because we have lived through some very lean times in our marriage over the years. So, when I see recipes that literally create something from nothing, it does my heart good to know that others take food waste as seriously as I do. Cindy over at The Christmas Plan wrote a post recently titled When Life Hands You Lemons. Cindy talks about a ruined batch of sour dough bread and how she turned the inedible bread into tasty croutons.

Well, with the stale pieces of my recent loaf of No-Knead Beer Bread, I tested out Cindy’s recipe for croutons. Not bad for a first try. We ate more of them off the pan than in the salad. I think that I may have baked them too long because they were hard to spear with my fork, but still yummy. I will definitely be trying out this technique again to perfect it.

Be sure to check out Cindy’s blog to read more about her desire to live a simpler life while instilling within her children the meaning of true wealth. You will find recipes, craft projects, and fun stories about learning to raise ducks! Thank you, Cindy for sharing a great recipe that reduces food waste and illustrates “the joy of doing more with less.”

Blog Link: The Christmas Plan

Recipe Link: When Life Hands You Lemons (Crouton Recipe)

This post has been linked to Frugal Tuesday Tip.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

My kids love chocolate in the morning: chocolate waffles, chocolate oatmeal, and these chocolate banana muffins. They are just a variation of my basic muffin recipe and they are pretty enough to be served to company. Plus, they make use of bananas that might otherwise go to waste. 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

¼ cup melted butter

½ cup raw sugar

¾ cup milk

1 egg

1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

2 over-ripe, mashed bananas

Mini chocolate chips, optional

In a mixing bowl melt butter in microwave. Add sugar, milk and egg. Stir to combine. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Stir just until moistened. Add bananas. Scoop into a greased muffin pan and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Yield: 12 muffins

This post has been linked to Frugal Tuesday Tip.

Bacon Grease

Although we love bacon, we don’t eat it very often. The price tag seems a little high to me; especially when you consider all of the fat that is left over after cooking it.  So, it has become an occasional treat at our house. However, when I do cook bacon, I always save the grease. The last pound of bacon that I cooked rendered ¾ cup of grease! While still liquid, I pour it into a glass bowl and refrigerate it for later. I then use it as a cooking fat for searing pork chops or other meats. It is also great to use when making gravy. (I’ll tell you more about my gravy technique next week.)

Being mindful of food waste is a way of life for our family. However, for many this is new and unfamiliar. If you are learning to cut down your grocery bill, you may want to click on the Something for Nothing tag (located on the sidebar in the list of recipes) to see other recipes for kitchen scraps that you might typically discard. Or, click on the Frugal Tips tab above to learn some other ways to cuts costs on your food budget.

If you have a Something for Nothing tip, please share it in the comments below. I would love to learn what works for you!

This post has been linked to The Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party.

Quiche

On Friday, at my Investment Cooking Class, we made Quiche filling to freeze for future use. I love having homemade convenience mixes in my freezer and pantry; and, this one is so simple. The nice thing about Quiche is that it is so versatile. Any combination of cheeses, leftover cooked veggies or meat can be used making this a frugal way to eat up food that might otherwise go to waste. And, you can even bake this without a crust, making this recipe even simpler to make.

  

Quiche

4 eggs

1 ¼ cups of milk

2 cups grated cheese (Swiss, Monterey jack, mozzarella, cheddar, etc. or any combination of these)

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 can (4oz.) diced green chilies

Whisk together all ingredients and pour into a zippy bag. Freeze. Or, pour into a well greased pie pan, non-stick oven proof skillet, or prepared pie crust. Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes or until golden and set.

For Frozen Filling: Thaw overnight. Pour into a well greased pie pan, non-stick oven proof skillet, or prepared pie crust. Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes or until golden and set.

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This post has been linked to Mop It Up Mondays.

Something for Nothing

I had a super busy day yesterday. I got together with some lovely ladies in the morning, visited with a good friend in the afternoon, and then finished my day with homework and dinner with the family. We ate roasted chicken last night and I really wanted to use the carcass to make broth, but I just didn’t have the energy to tend to a simmering pot for several hours. However, I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that I could make broth in my slow cooker overnight. So, I did, and it turned out perfectly!

Slow Cooker Chicken Broth

1 chicken carcass, bones, and skin

Water

Place chicken carcass in the slow cooker. Add enough water to completely cover the bones. Cover with the lid and cook on low overnight. In the morning, strain the broth to remove the bones and ladle into canning jars. Store the broth in the refrigerator. After it is chilled, the fat will rise to the top and can be removed with a spoon. Use your homemade broth just as you would use purchased broth. Yield: Varies. This time I ended up with 12 cups broth.

Frugal Tip: Making your own chicken broth is practically free! One 12 cup batch saves me $6.81 over store bought broth.  

This post has been linked to Try New Adventures Thursday.

Green Onion Update

My green onion adventure is going really well. Pictured above is the bunch that I planted last week. I have also grown a second set of onions that still need to be planted, and I have just started growing a third batch.  With three sets of green onions growing on my kitchen window sill, all at different stages, I should have enough to keep up with the demand (we typically eat two bunches a week).

My grocery store sells bunches of green onions for $.68 each. This is a savings of $1.36 per week, or $70.72 per year. And, the side benefit is that I have something green and alive hanging out in my kitchen. With this success, I have some other indoor produce that I would like to try, but I will keep my plans a surprise lest my black thumb reappears!

Need some recipes for those green onions? Try one of these:

Asian Chicken Salad

Mandarin Almond Salad

Leafy Greens with Poppy Seed Dressing

This post has been linked to Try New Adventures Thursday!

  

Green Onions

I have a confession: I have a black thumb, and I kill plants. I desperately want to reverse this dilemma though. I want to have lush houseplants, a beautiful array of spring blossoms, and a garden full of fresh produce.  But, this is not the case. With that said, I have some spectacular news! I grew these green onions, all by myself. We ate them for dinner last night. They were simple, frugal, and oh so tasty in our salad. Is it possible that my thumb is beginning to turn green, maybe just a little bit?

To grown your own green onions, you need a bunch purchased from the grocery store. Cut off the green tops, leaving about 3 inches on the root end, and toss the tops into your favorite salad. Or, try this Mandarin Almond Salad. Then, with the rubber band still on the bottom of the onions, place them in a jar of water. Replace the water daily and watch them grow. They grow so fast, that two hours after cutting the onions for salad, we could already see new growth.Within 8 days, I had a brand new, full-sized bunch.  (Even if you are not a big green onion fan, this is a great project for your children. My kids were so pleased to see the growth every day.)

After doing a little research, I found that I now need to plant my second generation green onion roots into dirt. This is where it gets a little chancy, because of my tendency to kill plants. Today, I will plant my green onions and a week from now I will let you know if they are still alive and ready to be eaten. 

This post has been linked to Try New Adventures Thursday!

Ham and Bean Soup

Last week I pulled a ham bone out of my freezer to make this soup. I rescued the ham bone from a friend who was walking to the trash with it one day after a big meal together. In a panic, I said to her, "Are you throwing that out?" She said, "Yes." Well, after my near heart attack at the bus stop a few weeks ago over a blackened bunch of bananas, you probably can guess that I swiped the ham bone, put it in a large zippy bag, and put it in my freezer for later.

I made this Ham and Bean Soup with it last week. It is simple, frugal food and my family gobbled it up gladly. All five of us were amazed again that all of that goodness could have ended up in the trash (I would guess that there was about half a pound of meat left on the bone). My five year old, who is not that fond of beans, literally scooped this soup, with her spoon, up the side of her bowl into her mouth which was cupped over the edge it. I really wish I had a picture!

  

Ham and Bean Soup

1 lb. dry navy beans

Left over ham bone with meat

1 small onion, chopped

½ cup molasses

¼ cup raw sugar

2 Tbsp. mustard

Pepper to taste

Pour beans into a large bowl. Fill the bowl with water. Let soak overnight.  In the morning, drain the water and pour beans into a large slow cooker. Cover with fresh water and add ham bone. Cook the ham and beans on high for 1 ½ hours. Remove ham bone from the beans, pulling off any remaining meat to put back into the soup. Stir in remaining ingredients and cook on low for 4 hours or until you are ready to eat.

Frugal Tip: Save your leftover ham bone for soup!


This post has been linked to Frugal Fridays. 

Fascinating Find - Chocolate Banana Bread

My neighbor recently told me that she threw out a bunch of black bananas. I nearly had a heart attack right there on the sidewalk at the school bus stop. Black bananas are perfectly good for muffins, pancakes, bread, oatmeal, or cake. And, if you are not in the baking mood, you can freeze them with the peel on for later use.

Before we started our family, and I was still a working woman, I had a co-worker who brought me his old bananas about every ten days. With his bananas, I would bake two loaves of bread, one for him and one for us. In my mind it was the perfect arrangement. And, no bananas were wasted. Thankfully everyone at my house enjoys bananas and I can add them to my baked goods without anyone turning up their nose. So, when Crystal posted this recipe for Chocolate Banana Bread on her blog Money Saving Mom, I knew that my family would love it. And, I was right, chocolate goodness for breakfast. Yumm!

Recipe Link: Chocolate Banana Bread

Crystal’s Blog: Money Saving Mom 

When I made my Chocolate Banana Bread I used white whole wheat flour and raw sugar and it turned out beautifully, as you can see in the picture above. This bread will also freeze well, if you have the will power not to eat it all at once! Thank you, Crystal for sharing this recipe. Be sure to check out Crystal’s other recipes, money saving tips, coupon links, and inspiration on Money Saving Mom.

Baked French Toast

I am not a morning person. When we were first married, my husband never even spoke to me before I left for work. He waited until I had had several cups of coffee and then called me at the office. Although I am no longer clocking in at the office every day, I am still not a morning person. So, any recipe that allows me to do the work the night before is perfect for me. Plus, because you can use any odd ends and bits of bread for this Baked French Toast, it makes use of something that might otherwise go to waste. You can also dress this up by adding raisins, dried cranberries, or nuts.

Baked French Toast

5 cups bread cubes

4 eggs

1 ½ cups of milk

1 tbsp. cinnamon sugar mixture (optional)

Spread bread cubes into a greased 9X9 pan. In a bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Pour over bread cubes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes.  Serve with Cinnamon Syrup.

This recipe can be made the night before, refrigerated overnight, and baked in the morning. Or, it can be frozen, thawed overnight, and baked in the morning.

Frugal Tip: Keep a container in your freezer for odd pieces of leftover bread, rolls, and crusts. Cube the bread before you freeze it and when you have enough, make Baked French Toast.