Lean Time Meals

[Hound dog]

How could I have forgotten the cornbread!!!!!! (A box of Jiffy corn muffin/bread mix is FABULOUS!!!)

Stang.........I'm beginning to wonder if we're related. I won't eat any other corn bread except Jiffy. Cheap and delicious. And I'd love to know your Mom's recipe for goulash as my Mom always cheated and used catsup (yuk). I made it once many years ago, but have forgotten how.

Hmmmmmm never tried boiling the bones of a chicken for soup.......I just save my broth from baking or crock potting it. Might have to try that, although my cats may disagree. (they get any leftovers lol)

 

[MyFriendKita]

One of our favorite quick and cheap meals (even picky difficult child likes it) is smoked sausage, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. Just cut up everything, cover it with water, add salt to taste, and boil until the vegetables are done. You can replace the cabbage with green beans if you don't like cabbage. husband likes this with cornbread, but no Jiffy mix, please...he says Jiffy mix is like eating cake (difficult child and I both prefer Jiffy mix, though).

 

[mstang67chic]

Rm, that sounds very similar to what my Grandma calls Hoosier Stew. Smoked sausage (preferrably Eckrich), potatoes and green beans. I loooooooooooove that stuff!!! She peels her potatoes, I'm too lazy! LOL I boil the potatoes and sausage together and then when the potatoes are cooked, I toss in a can of green beans juice and all for more flavor. Cook just long enough to heat up the beans. If you put the beans in at the beginning, they are almost mush but the time everything is done. Season with onion or onion flakes and black pepper. You can eat this all together in a bowl like a soup, or use a slotted spoon to get things out and arrange on your plate like a "normal" meal. It always seems to be better the next day when everything has absorbed all of the flavors.

 

[mstang67chic]

Stang.........I'm beginning to wonder if we're related. I won't eat any other corn bread except Jiffy. Cheap and delicious. And I'd love to know your Mom's recipe for goulash as my Mom always cheated and used catsup (yuk). I made it once many years ago, but have forgotten how.

Well, we DO live in the same general area! LOL I'll call mom in the next day or two and get her gulash recipe. Be warned though....it will consist of "throw in a bit of this....some of that, and cook till done."

 

[MyFriendKita]

Rm, that sounds very similar to what my Grandma calls Hoosier Stew. Smoked sausage (preferrably Eckrich), potatoes and green beans.

Of course, it has to Eckrich. There used to be a commercial (a lonnnng time ago, I think) where the mom served a different brand of lunchmeat, and the whole family complained to her, "It's not Eckrich!" That's what I hear if I buy any other kind of lunch meat or smoked sausage.

 

[mstang67chic]

Ok Daisy, I got the recipe! LOL For Mom's goulash she does the following:

Browns/drains hamburger with onioin, some sort of garlic (fresh, powder or salt)
Add dry macaroni and enough tomato juice (she said you can also use tomato paste and water or ketchup and water if you don't have tomato juice) to simmer everything and still be a LITTLE juicy after the macaroni is cooked. Also, she uses chopped tomatoes (fresh are better she said) and adds a bay leaf while it is simmering. She added that her mother used to put very thin slices of cheese across the top. Mom tried it before but never got the right amount figured out.

While we were talking, I remembered another recipe that we both do. It's basically a homemade salisbury steak. Use about 2 lbs or so of hamburger (or more if you have a larger family) and mix in an egg, salt, pepper, onion or onion flakes, crackers and maybe a dash of garlic powder. Once it is all well mixed together, make as many thick patties as you can get out of it. Brown the patties on both sides but don't completely cook the meat. Remove from the pan and add to the pan a can of Cream of Mushroom soup. (Generic works too but this is one case I prefer Campbells. The generic is just too salty for me) Add enough milk to make a good gravy with the soup and heat it up till it's thinned out a little. Put the patties back in the pan, spoon some of the gravy on top, cover the pan and simmer. I will usually flip the patties at least once to make sure they are cooked through and spoon more gravy over the top when I do. If the hamburger you use generates a lot of grease, drain the majority out of the pan but leave any "chunks".

 

[Hound dog]

Thanks Stang. Sounds like what Mom used to do, but like I said, she used catsup. lol Now Travis will be thrilled. It's his favorite meal and he keeps begging for it. lol

I'll have to try the salisbury steak one too. Sounds yummy.

 

[muttmeister]

with Thanksgiving coming in a little over a month, I forgot to mention turkey carcass soup. I always buy the biggest turkey I can. The bones weigh about the same in a big one and a little one so the big ones have more meat per pound. When the holiday is over, I remove most of the meat from the bones and freeze it. Great for casseroles, etc. Then, boil up the bones. Take off the meat that is left and save the broth. Use the meat and broth to make whatever kind of soup you like. Mine uses carrots, potatoes, celery, onions, celery salt, and maybe parsnips. When the veggies are about done, add noodles, either dry or homemade. You can also add some frozen peas at that point. It makes a huge pot so you can freeze some and I've been told by some people it is the best soup they've ever had - mostly from stuff other people throw away.

 

[KTMom91]

Southwest Skillet. My all-time favorite. Main ingredients are hamburger, rice, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and corn. I double the rice to make more.

My Nana made what she called Depression Food. Hamburger, onions, and potatoes all fried up together. Yum.

Chicken and dumplings. After boiling the chicken, use half the meat for chicken and dumplings and save the other half for another meal. I've seen whole chickens for 59 cents a pound.

Chicken with mushroom gravy (made from Campbell's soup) over rice or noodles.

Canned veggie soup. I did this one winter when we were getting by on food boxes from church. Started with a chicken broth base, then added peas, corn, green beans, carrots, and several other cans, but don't remember exactly what. Tossed in some pasta. It made tons, and was good with cornbread and biscuits.

 

[Abbey]

Mutt...I'm sorry, but I almost threw up in my mouth at turkey carcass soup. Just the name was, well... Now I'm laughing so hard I need to put my Depends back on.

Actually, even though I don't eat turkey, I make one each year and do the same as you. I can stretch that thing out for a long time.

The one thing I've never been able to tackle is the neck. I remember watching my mom boiling that thing down. I'd run screaming into the street. It's the little things of child abuse that stay with you forever. "Come here sweetie and have a nice chunk of boiled neck." AWWWWW...SCREAM...RUN...FIND THE DOG! He'll eat anything!

Abbey

 

[donna723]

I can get at least 7 or 8 meals off of a single whole chicken. I roast it in the oven, have at least two meals off of the white meat and a couple of days of sandwiches for work. Then I put what's left (won't call it a 'carcass'!) in a big pot with water and maybe half a chopped onion and simmer it for a while. Take out the 'what's left', take off the rest of the meat and put it back in with the broth, then add rice and let it cook. A little rice and you've got chicken with-rice soup - more rice and you've got chicken & rice - and several more meals. You can dress it up more, but that's the basics.

 

[goldenguru]

Poor mans stew. Brown a pound of ground beef. Drain. Add onion, fresh garlic, sliced potatoes, raw carrots and whatever spices. Add liquid (I usually throw in some sort of broth) and simmer till veggies are tender.

Goulash. Brown a pound of ground beef. Drain. Add onion, garlic, soy sauce and Worcestershire (to taste). Add 2 cans of tomatoes. Add a generous handful of raw pasta. Simmer till pasta is tender. Top with-grated Parmesan cheese.

Take 2 chicken breasts - dice. Brown chicken with-a little olive oil. In the same pan add either a box of flavored rice or noodles according to directions. Simmer until rice/noodles are done.

Red beans and rice. 2# raw pintos. Wash well and soak. Add plenty of onion, garlic, and green pepper. Cook till beans are tender. Add 1#or 2 # diced smoked sausage. Remove lid from bean pot and reduce down until bean broth is thickened. Add salt, pepper and Cajun spice to taste. Serve in bowls over brown rice.

 

[SRL]

We call these Butter Burritos but I think they're really Quesadillas. Thinly spread margarine on both sides of a flour tortilla. Fry on one side until it gets golden spots. Flip, add a layer of grated cheese (and veggie and meat toppings if you'd like). Cook that side, remove to a plate and then fold in the sides to the center. Serve with salsa.

Back to the pork chops--somewhere I think there's a chart comparing bone-in to boneless and at what weights it becomes more economical. I bought pork tenderloins buy one get one free yesterday which wound up being $3.25/lb but there's no waste at all so it winds up being $3.75 per meal.

 

[mstang67chic]

Thanks Stang. Sounds like what Mom used to do, but like I said, she used catsup. lol Now Travis will be thrilled. It's his favorite meal and he keeps begging for it. lol

I'll have to try the salisbury steak one too. Sounds yummy.

Mom got on me because I forgot to tell you that the Salisbury steak is better with Cream of Celery or Cream of Chicken soup instead of the mushroom. I always use the mushroom myself but only because I forget to buy the other.

 

[Hound dog]

gg that poor mans stew sounds good. But if I ate the beans and rice I'm afraid gas prices would bottom out as I'd have enough to fuel all the cars in the country. lol

 

[goldenguru]

If I ate the beans and rice I'm afraid gas prices would bottom out as I'd have enough to fuel all the cars in the country. lol

LOL. If only it were that easy!!