Trying something new...

I have created a new challenge for myself. Once a month I am going to buy a food I've never used before and experiment with it. This first month was walnut oil. I LOVE it! It is milder than olive oil, and has a nutty taste to it. So far, I've only made a few vinaitgrettes, but I understand you can cook with it as well. Tonight I made this simple dressing for my spinach, cashew, craisin and apple salad. It was great!

1/4 cup walnut oil
3T balsamic vinegar
1T honey

whisk together and toss with salad. YUM!

Have you tried anything new lately? Please share!

Dinner Tonight

Here's my awesome Greek salad with my lone baby cucumber. A taste of summer bliss to come. I can hardly wait til I have fresh tomatoes from the garden, too!
We also did chicken. We weren't really chicken drumstick people until the kids came along. The boys L-O-V-E chicken drumsticks! They get yummy chicken with a built in handle. We like to flavor them up, though, so I have a nice fall back lemon garlic marinade that I do.
I didn't set my Penzey's Tuscan Sunset out, but I use that as well. It's basically Italian Seasoning. And please note that we like a little garlic.
I smash the bulbs, take off the outer peel, then salt, and chop and smash. The salt helps break the garlic down.
Gotta have lemon juice.
And here's what they look like when they're all done. I ate two. The boys can each take out two as well, if they're in an eating mood. Baked potatoes and fresh cantaloupe rounded out the meal.

Tomorrow is easy button for the boys, as I'm working until about 8. So they're going to do hot dogs, and I'm baking brownies. Sunday I've rearranged the menu a bit because even though hubby's birthday is Monday, I think we're going to do birthday dinner on Sunday.

Precooking can help you with the budget

I am finding more and more that precooking certain foods can help you save substantial money. It also gives you the "convenience" foods that you would spend more money on if you bought in that form in the store. Here are some ideas that you can do on the weekend that could save you $$$ and time in the long run:

Beans- Canned beans are convenient, but cost more money than dried beans, and they have a LOT more sodium. Dried beans can take a lot of time, so cooking in advance and then freezing into separate servings give you a more economical, and healthier convenience food.

You can find suggestions on how best to cook dried beans at http://www.centralbean.com/cooking.html. Once cooked, portioning about 2 cups of beans per bag will give you the equivalent of 1 can of beans. For a LOT less.

Meats- For certain dishes, like tacos, or dishes that require cubed, cooked chicken, I find that if I just keep pre-cooked portions in my freezer, I save time and money. When I cook ground beef a pound at a time, I end up using a pound, whether I really needed that much or not. These days, I find it easier to cook 4 or 5 pounds of meat in the pan, then I portion it up into ziplocs. Reality is that I can probably get about 7 or 8 meals this way, which I wouldn't have gotten the other way.

For poultry, same rule applies. If you're doing a baked or grilled chicken dish, throw in a few extra, then chop and bag for the freezer. You can make that meat stretch a lot further. The other perk I've found is that pre-cooked meats take a lot less time to defrost, which gives you another go-to item when you're pressed for time.

Happy cooking, and happy savings!