Posts Tagged ‘Cooking at Home’

Book Review: Storey's Basic Country Skills

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

storeys

I was first made aware of Storey’s Basic Country Skills, A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance by my brother. It has the appearance of a college textbook it is so thick, but after quickly glancing through the book I found it an easy read and an absolute must have for our kitchen library.

I forget how useful this book is when attempting to do something I’m not quite familiar with. It is full of detail and information, and gives me the support I need to start or complete a project. Because I live in the city and have a small yard, I rely mainly on Part Two and Three of this book. I do like Part One of the book though because it deals so much about home ownership that can be applied to a city dwelling as well. The book is divided into four parts for easy navigation. It is centered around the idea of not just living frugally, but living with the environment.

Part One deals with “Your Place in the Country”. While this part of the book focuses a lot of attention on places of residence that would normally be found on acreage in the country, many of the concepts can be applied to city dwelling as well. It gives an introduction to the basics on buying a home, construction of outdoor spaces, home heating, electricity, and basic home improvements. I found that many of the concepts would apply to any place of residence, weather you reside in the country or the city. 

Part Two focuses on “Your Garden, Yard, and Orchard”. While city dwellers aren’t able to do have a garden or orchard on a large scale, the same ideas and concepts can be achieved on a smaller scale. The book gives great information on gardening vegetables, and herbs. I liked the fact that it provides detailed information regarding many types of herbs and vegetables and find myself referring to this book because it is so complete. This part of the book also focuses on flower gardens, water, and rock gardens. It has great tips on improving your soil, managing garden pests, attracting birds and butterflies, and general lawn care.

Part Three addresses “Country Cooking & Stocking Up”. This part of the book deals with all things concerning cooking, preserving, and stocking up. I liked the detailed information the authors provide on preserving your harvest from the garden and creating jams and jellies.

Part Four concludes with “Your Barn, Stable, & Fields”. Deals with the upkeep and care of all things farm related. Although I don’t have a farm, I did like the chapter on small scale farming. It was interesting to see the profit potential a small scale farm could have.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Book Review | No Comments »

Meals for less than $10.00: Salmon, Rice & Mixed Vegetables

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

img_2863

This was another nice meal for four since my son demanded to eat a banana. We used ALDI’s frozen salmon, some white rice with some of our frozen mirepoix, and about 1/2 a bag of the frozen mixed vegetables I got on sale. To jazz up the salmon, I reached for my little canister of Old Bay Blackened seasoning. For those who are not from the south, “blackened” seasoning is a cajun type seasoning that is used mostly on fish or chicken. It contains a number of herbs and of course some cayenne pepper. All of the various Old Bay seasonings use celery seed or celery salt along with red pepper. The salmon was baked and the Old Bay is all I used on it. The oven is a good place to cook the salmon to avoid using a lot of oils in a skillet. I season the rice a little with some salt and pepper and garlic powder. This is a very simple meal. The salmon is Aldi’s private label brand and from the freezer section. It doesn’t even have to be thawed prior to baking. White rice is a very inexpensive thing to add to a meal for a small portion of starch. Frozen vegetables are always a great choice for a fresh tasting side dish.

4 frozen Aldi private label salmon filets ($4.76) 

1/2 cup white rice ($0.10)

1/2 bag store brand mixed vegetables ($0.66)

2 tablespoons Old Bay Blackened seasoning ($0.40)

1 teaspoon garlic powder ($0.10)

1/2 cup frozen mirepoix (mix of diced onions, carrots, celery) ($0.20)

1 teaspoon kosher salt ($0.05)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper ($0.05)

TOTAL: $6.32

Recipe: Bake the salmon in the oven on 400 degrees according to the instructions on the package. Boil 1 cup of water with the mirepoix and season with salt and pepper and garlic powder, cook rice covered on low after bringing to a boil. Heat mixed vegetables in pan with a small amount of water. I do not season the vegetables since it seems that the kids like to eat them with the rice or the fish.

NOTES: I do not use sales tax because many states do not charge it on food or groceries. This meal fed two adults and 12 year old twin girls. All prices are estimated for fractional use. Almost everything we buy is private label branded. Sometimes the prices fluctuate because my latest purchase is at a lower or higher price. We cook approximately 25-30 dinner or lunch meals at home per month. I have to keep things interesting and that is why I experiment with new seasonings or uncommon ingredients.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Meals for Less than $10.00 | 1 Comment »

Cooking at Home: How To Make Spaghetti Sauce

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Spaghetti sauce is one of the easiest things to learn how to cook. It is very easy to make a fantastic spaghetti sauce at home that you can use for one meal and then freeze for a future meal. When we decided to stop relying on restaurant food, spaghetti was one of the first things we learned how to make properly. My husband lived for several years on the east coast and watched some real Italians make spaghetti sauce. I’m going to share our recipe below and then link to a good demonstration on YouTube.  There are a few things that you need know about authentic Italian sauces.  First, real Italian pasta sauces have vegetables like celery, onions, and carrots. There are a few store bought sauces that have these vegetables (i.e. Del Grosso) but most do not and are very salty. Also, Italian sauces tend to use a variety of meat rather than just hamburger meat. In fact, ground beef is not as common in Italy as in America. They use a lot of lamb, pork, and veal in Italy because they don’t have much room to herd cattle. My recipe is a little bit mine, a little bit my husband and a little bit Mario Batali.

Kerri’s Spaghetti Sauce

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon dried basil (fresh in the summer time)

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon sea salt

5 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 small red onion (diced)

1/2 rib of celery (diced)

1 small carrot (diced)

1/2 cup of Italian flat leaf parsley

1/2 cup of red wine (the type good enough to drink)

1 lb Honeysuckle White ground turkey (or ground pork)

2 cans of crushed tomatoes (14.5 oz)

1/2 cup water or broth

1 8 oz can tomato paste

Heat pan on medium low heat with olive oil.  Place all vegetables, herbs and seasonings in the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add meat. Cook until browned. Pour in wine and simmer for a few minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and water or broth. Simmer covered on low for at least an hour. We love to make this sauce in the crockpot and let it cook on low all day long.  Check the taste of this sauce mid-way through simmering to make sure it is seasoned properly and to make sure it has the consistency you prefer. For thicker sauce, omit the water, for thinner sauce you may add a little more broth.  Be careful with the salt as the tomatoes generally are salted in the can.

Tags:
Posted in Freezer Ideas, Home Cooking | 6 Comments »