Enjoy Life: FREE E-Cookbook – Gluten Free & Allergen Free Recipes

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by Amy on February 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Enjoy Life is offering their The Enjoy Life Foods E-Cookbook for FREE! This ebook has 94 pages of recipes that are gluten free and free of the 8 common allergens. You can download this ebook to your computer as a PDF file and either read right from your computer or print it out. You can also download it to your iPhone or iPad; it will download as a PDF file here too. I'm not sure how long this offer will last so, make sure you get yours before they're all gone!

Thanks Food Allergies on a Budget!

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RecipeLion – FREE Game Day Appetizer Recipes and Party Pleasers eCookbook

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by Amy on January 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Need some recipe ideas for your Super Bowl Party? Well, RecipeLion has 39 Appetizer Recipes and Party Pleasers, featuring 60 pages of tasty appetizer recipes, for FREE. This eCookbook is perfect for your 'Big Game' party. So, get ready for your big Super Bowl Party with these great recipes and impress your family and friends!

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Turkey Gravy from Scratch

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by Stacey C on November 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I love Thanksgiving.  I love a yummy turkey with all of the fixings.  I do not like gravy that comes from a jar or can!  We spend so much time making a beautiful meal and then ruin it with some strange beige colored stuff that is a mystery to me.  Well, my Mom always made her gravy from scratch and it was one of my favorite things to splash over the whole meal.  It is really simple and I will share it with you.

  • While you are cleaning your turkey prior to cooking, set aside the neck, giblets (all the good stuff in the bag inside your turkey) and the butt (yes, I said butt). 
  • Put all of these things into a stockpot on your stove filled with water. 
  • While you are cooking your turkey, allow this pot to simmer through the day. Now, I make a very large stockpot since we love gravy in our household, but if you use a smaller pot, be sure to add enough water to be able to simmer for several hours.
  • After a few hours, I remove all of the contents from the pot and let them start too cool on a cutting board. 
  • Once everything has cooled, finely chop all of the items, removing the bones and any larger pieces of skin or fat, and add the diced pieces back into your stock pot.
  • After the turkey is completely cooked, take the baking pan from the turkey and scrape all of the drippings into your stockpot – and I mean scrape!  Get all the nooks and crannies of that pan – that is where all the good flavors are. Bring it all up to a boil together to infuse the flavors.
  • Remove any grease by ladling the top portion of the gravy mixture into a fat separator (I use the OXO Good Grips 4-Cup Fat Separator).  Your gravy consistency will be of a hearty stock and is now ready to be served with your holiday meal. 

*If you want to have a thicker consistency, you can always whisk in a little corn starch or flour.

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Simple Applesauce Recipe

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by Stacey C on September 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment

So we love fruit in our house and inevitably, there are always a few bruised apples in the fruit drawer and a some browning bananas on the counter.  What do you do with yours?  Well, they can always get chopped up and go it the freezer bag for smoothies (me and my freezer bags, i know!).  Or they can become a great homemade applesauce instead.  Here's what to do:

—Peel and core your apples, then cut into chunks (this is where a 7 year old with a butter knife comes in handy)
—Depending on how many apples you use, cut a few bananas into the mix (5 apples, 1–2 bananas)
—Place all in a stockpot with a small amount of water on the bottom
—Cook on Med/Low heat on the stovetop for about 1/2 hour (covered)

You will be able to tell when it is ready when the apples can be mashed with a fork (and your house smells delicious).  There are many ways to turn your apples into “sauce.”  I prefer an immersion blender because it makes quick work of the mashing and you can blend it to your preferred consistency.

Serve it hot, straight from the pot or cool it in the fridge to use later.  Ours gets eaten so quickly, I never have any leftovers after 3 days.  The great thing about this recipe is that you don't have to add anything else –  no sugar, no thickeners, nothing except apples and bananas.  You can also get creative and throw in a few peaches and some cinnamon, but that is up to you.

Whether you are cleaning out the fruit drawer in the fridge or just back from apple picking this Fall, ENJOY!

 

This is a guest post from my very good friend and blog administrator Stacey C (not to be confused with me, Stacy S.).  Stacey is the Martha Stewart of Akron and she will be contributing great money saving recipes and ideas and on a regular basis. 

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Never Pay for Breadcrumbs Again

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by Stacey C on August 20, 2011 | 2 Comments

This is a guest post from my very good friend and blog administrator Stacey C (not to be confused with me, Stacy S.).  As many people have indicated that they would like to see more recipes, she is going to be contributing great money saving recipes and ideas and on a regular basis.  It's something I've always wanted to do, I just could never find the time.
 

Do you use Breadcrumbs in your kitchen?  I do.  I love to cook for my family and am always trying to find new ways to save money in our budget.  Here is a money saving tip I would love to share with you all.

In my household, I use breadcrumbs for a multitude of recipes:

  • Baked Chicken
  • Fried Eggplant
  • Stuffed Mushrooms
  • Fried Green Tomatoes
  • Crab Cakes
  • Schnitzel
  • Meatloaf or Meatballs (Filler)

But do you know what?  I haven't bought breadcrumbs in at least ten years!  Don't waste your grocery money on buying them, make them instead.  If you have a food processor, you can whip them up in a few minutes.  The trick is to keep a bread bag in your freezer.

What is your bread bag?  I have a Gallon Size Freezer Bag I use for my bread bag and it is where I store my miscellaneous bread items for my crumbs, until I am ready to process them.  Here is what you will typically find in my bread bag:

  • Heals of Sandwich Bread
  • Cut off Crusts
  • Garlic Bread (I always have one small piece left over – don't thow it away!)
  • Restaurant Leftovers (Olive Garden breadsticks, Boston Market corn bread, etc)
  • Pizza Crusts (my son always cuts them off)

About once a month, I take everything in my bread bag and make it all into bread crumbs.  I get out the old food processor and start chopping it up.  How coarse or fine you make it is completely up to your personal taste.  Now is also when it gets fun!  I have an herb garden and love to add Oregano or Thyme into my bread crumbs.  We love Garlic in our house so I will also add some garlic powder into the mix.  For more fillers, look around your pantry.  Do you have some crackers or croutons that are going stale?  Toss them in!  Be really creative in the kitchen.

When I am done chopping making this month's stash of bread crumbs, I store them in a freezer safe plastic container and take them out to use over the month.  It makes me feel great to know that I have added something unique to my recipes and also saved more money this month for my family!

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FREE Recipt Booklet from Kitchen Basics

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by Stacy on June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Click here to request your FREE recipe booklet, Cooking with Stock, from Kitchen Basics. Its a beautiful full color booklet with over 50 great recipes.

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